The writing of John N. Gray
Sometimes pessimism is more encouraging than optimism, because more is true. I’m a huge fan of Straw Dogs, but the English counter-Humanist philosopher’s Heresies is just as bracing: ‘Belief in progress is the Prozac of the thinking classes’. Living in Los Angeles, where a brittle, self-obsessed ‘hopefulness’ is everywhere, I might need this writer (who certainly shouldn’t be confused with the Men Are From Mars guy) even more than you do. But you do, you do.
Tagged: John N. Gray
Also by MATTHEW SPECKTOR
People contort all kinds of ways to describe a really original writer, but Big Machine is an amazing piece of work. A true American Gothic ‘horror’ in the vein of Poe, or Melville or James — this book is authentically scary, compulsively strange, and hugely exciting on the sentence level. It’s also funny as hell. A riff about the Washerwoman cult, who rewrite the Bible in bizarre contemporary idiom, is worth the price of admission by itself. Read more
More timeless than current’. But I recently finished a long and complicated novel about Hollywood in the 60s, 70s and 80s, and am just now buckling down to write a short nonfiction book about this film, part of a series for Soft Skull Press. A little peremptorily written off as a mere ‘entertainment’, and also overshadowed by the in-fact-not-quite-as-good Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid, this is a pretty dazzling effort: a coded Watergate-conspiracy narrative, a comment on the perils and pleasures of being fooled that’s also twice as much fun to watch as you remember. Which was pretty fun to begin with.
Whether or not you give a damn about baseball cards, you should read Josh Wilker’s captivating blog, Cardboard Gods. Using vintage Topps imagery — the stagey, shaggy and strange captures of forgotten ballplayers in the 70s — as a launching pad, Wilker takes off on flights about everything from memory to athleticism to middle-aged failure. The guy’s such a great writer it hardly matters. Post after post after post is a winner. Read more
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Laura K. McMillan, a textile artist from the west coast of Canada, combines art and science in her embroidered cells and hand-spun wool amoebas. She is developing an artistic practice that pushes textile art into a whole new realm, away from its modern craft fair affiliations.
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This entertaining documentary follows a group of seemingly clichéd American teenagers in their last year of high school. Through a comprehensive recording of their lives it reminds us that, when examining anything in detail, there is no such thing as a cliché. The naivety and hope of each student shines through, providing a memorable and accurate portrait of a middle-American high school. Read more
Holy cow! This renovation of an existing loft apartment and sprinkler tank house in downtown New York, gets full marks for ingenuity: ‘The tank house was conceived as the quintessential retreat, a place for reading, relaxing and listening to music’, explains architect, Brian Messana. Read more
Because I don’t waste enough of my life on Facebook, I need some other sites to while away the time. I love Dear Blank Dear Blank. It’s a good laugh. Read more
NASA has released some pretty amazing audio recordings of sounds from the moons of Saturn. The weirdest thing about them is that they actually sound like Theremin warbles and echoey whooshy sounds from ‘50s movies about space.
Perhaps the reason men are not known for their shoe fetishes is because when it comes to mens shoes in general, there are really only two must have varieties: vintage street wear and sartorialist leather. Read more
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Communication prosthesis by Sascha Nordmeyer
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Honest Food Preparation Instructions
Yes, we’ve all been there: the chinese food from last week that still looks edible amongst the bare surrounds of an empty fridge. But really, we shouldn’t. Just let it be. Or College Humor will expose you! Read more
Mathematics? Leave me out. Fashematics? Now you’re talking! This gem of a site is a runway equation that adds up to a whole lot of wonderful.
How ’bout this Jose Manuel Hortelano-Pi guy, huh? Quite the illustrator, yessiree Bob. From Spain, too. Spain is great! Read more
Nerd-attack! Man, this TARDIS zipper robe is so much cooler than any Star Wars crap people are hawking this days. This is for the true gangsta nerd.
Too sweet for words, these beautiful hoop earrings by Sydney-based designer Carmel Taylor are a real touch of origami for your ears. Read more
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