Notes on Culture

Arts & Letters Daily (25 May 2009)

Tue, 26 May 2009 14:04:03 -0400

Arts & Letters Daily (25 May 2009):

The cowboy and cactus art hanging in the White House is coming down. Going up in its place: Richard Diebenkorn, Ed Ruscha, and Franz Kline… more

The idea that religion is destined to die out…

Fifth Business (Penguin Classics) by Robertson Davies

Tue, 26 May 2009 13:13:27 -0400

Fifth Business (Penguin Classics) by Robertson Davies

The new jeffmacintyre.com and linkblog has soft-launched.

Tue, 19 May 2009 07:38:53 -0400

The new jeffmacintyre.com and linkblog has soft-launched.: The linkblog at jeffmacintyre.com replaces this Tumblr. Thanks for reading here and I’ll see you on the other end!

The Moonstone (Modern Library Classics) by Wilkie Collins

Sat, 16 May 2009 02:26:45 -0400

The Moonstone (Modern Library Classics) by Wilkie Collins

New Grub Street (Modern Library Classics) by George Gissing

Fri, 01 May 2009 20:17:23 -0400

New Grub Street (Modern Library Classics) by George Gissing

"Queer theory and its cousins have had more influence outside the academy than anyone might have..."

Sun, 19 Apr 2009 05:45:53 -0400

“Queer theory and its cousins have had more influence outside the academy than anyone might have imagined.”

- Ideas and Trends - Lit Critics Who Peer Under the Covers - NYTimes.com

Who's In the Monkey Bar Mural? [Society]

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 19:54:24 -0400

Who's In the Monkey Bar Mural? [Society]: Wispily pompadoured Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter’s new midtown venture Monkey Bar is a bar/restaurant for rich people. There’s even a giant mural commemorating some of between-wars…

"When each side wants to believe certain scientific conclusions for extra-scientific reasons,..."

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 09:06:51 -0400

“When each side wants to believe certain scientific conclusions for extra-scientific reasons, skepticism is the better part of rigor.”

- Book Review - ‘Intelligence and How to Get It,’ by Richard E. Nisbett - Review - NYTimes.com

"Wikipedia can no more be completed than can New York City, which O. Henry predicted would be “a..."

Sun, 29 Mar 2009 16:55:21 -0400

“Wikipedia can no more be completed than can New York City, which O. Henry predicted would be “a great place if they ever finish it.””

- Wikipedia - Exploring Fact City - NYTimes.com

"Today, others believe science now addresses the human condition in ways Snow did not anticipate. For..."

Sun, 22 Mar 2009 14:21:06 -0400

“Today, others believe science now addresses the human condition in ways Snow did not anticipate. For the past two decades, the editor and agent John Brockman has promoted the notion of a “third culture” to describe scientists — notably evolutionary biologists, psychologists and neuroscientists — who are “rendering visible the deeper meanings in our lives” and superseding literary artists in their ability to “shape the thoughts of their generation.””

- Essay - Our Two Cultures - NYTimes.com

The New York Times Makes Comical Statements About the Internet, 1995-2009 [Standards]

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 14:12:18 -0400

The New York Times Makes Comical Statements About the Internet, 1995-2009 [Standards]: The New York Times has issued a formal set of standards for their in-house blogs, marking the first time blogs have ever had standards (No “snark”). The latest in a rich history of…

WSJ Editor: 'New Nomenclature Alone Will Not Generate News' [Without Comment]

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 14:12:17 -0400

WSJ Editor: 'New Nomenclature Alone Will Not Generate News' [Without Comment]: Wall Street Journal editor Robert Thomson urged his charges to work faster. To underline the point, some system that feeds WSJ stories to Dow Jones Newswires will now be called…

"Celebrated as a one-man bastion of high Western culture and admired for his moral subtlety by some,..."

Sun, 15 Mar 2009 15:01:17 -0400

“Celebrated as a one-man bastion of high Western culture and admired for his moral subtlety by some, Steiner was attacked as pompous, pretentious and inaccurate in scholarly matters by others. His bracing virtue has been his ability to move from Pythagoras, through Aristotle and Dante, to Nietzsche and Tolstoy in a single paragraph. His irritating vice has been that he can move from Pythagoras, through Aristotle and Dante, to Nietzsche and Tolstoy in a single paragraph.”

- Essay - Our George Steiner Problem — and Mine - NYTimes.com

Seed Magazine tries on a little dataviz

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 12:43:18 -0400

Seed Magazine tries on a little dataviz

"At the moment, deploying a mix of cloud and noncloud apps seems to be the sensible middle way. But..."

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 18:28:54 -0400

“At the moment, deploying a mix of cloud and noncloud apps seems to be the sensible middle way. But there is something freeing and almost intoxicating about embracing the cloud mindset. What if I stopped lugging around 7,000 photos and just put the 200 best on Flickr? What if I just let Google figure out who my most important contacts are? Do I really need all my college papers on my hard drive? Computers can be very heavy and depressing. Send in the clouds.”

- Kill your computer and join the cloud. - By Michael Agger - Slate Magazine

"What still amazes me, in spite of my scholarly concerns here, is the nostalgic punch of early video..."

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 18:17:30 -0400

“What still amazes me, in spite of my scholarly concerns here, is the nostalgic punch of early video games—how transporting the blocky sounds and sights can be.”

- How the 2600 forged the home video game future. - By Michael Agger - Slate Magazine

"It’s an old cliché that the more repressed a society, the more extreme its pornography—but..."

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 17:53:51 -0400

“It’s an old cliché that the more repressed a society, the more extreme its pornography—but more upsetting than RapeLay is the social environment that birthed it. The premise here is that a wealthy man is out for revenge against the schoolgirl who had him jailed as a chikan, or subway pervert.”

- Should the United States ban RapeLay, a Japanese “rape simulator” game? - By Leigh Alexander - Slate Magazine

"In 1964, when [Walker] Evans gave a slide lecture at Yale University about his postcard collection,..."

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 17:52:25 -0400

“In 1964, when [Walker] Evans gave a slide lecture at Yale University about his postcard collection, his theme was “lyric documentary”…”

- Walker Evans’ and Zoe Leonard’s postcards. - By Sarah Boxer - Slate Magazine

Gilead: A Novel by Marilynne Robinson

Sun, 08 Mar 2009 22:52:45 -0400

Gilead: A Novel by Marilynne Robinson

Scoop by Evelyn Waugh

Sun, 08 Mar 2009 22:52:44 -0400

Scoop by Evelyn Waugh