July 2012
55 posts
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Jad talks about the early days of Radiolab
JAD: So, what do you remember about the beginning?
MIKEL: What do you mean? Like how we got it on the air?
JAD: Well, about…about…like if you step back from the particulars and you think broadly about that time. What sticks in your mind the most?
(pause)
MIKEL: Gut churn.
JAD: Gut churn.
MIKEL: Like years and years of being sick to my stomach.
JAD: Yeah, yeah. Totally.
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The New Inquiry: Though some feminists regard... →
thenewinquiry:
Though some feminists regard “rape equals devastation” as sacred fact, the notion that a man can ruin me with his penis strikes me as the most complete expression of vintage misogyny available. Common sense instructs us that it is far more “dangerous” to insist to young women that they will be broken by an unwanted sex act than it is to propose they might have a happy,...
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“Why, for example, do the great writers use anticipation instead of surprise?...”
– Roger Rosenblatt (“How to Write Great,“ New York Times Book Review)
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“It is by an extreme capacity for defiance that certain unusual people who have...”
– André Breton (Nadja)
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“If a woman writes about herself, she’s a narcissist. If a man does the same,...”
– Emily Gould (via sparkamovement, meredithbklyn)
I’ve noticed that I often see “the human condition” on the dust jackets of lesser books by Roth/McEwan/Rushdie/etc., plugged in when there’s really nothing else to say about a book that retreads the same thematic terrain as...
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toasterwaffles replied to your chat: Zoe Kazan on Writing Ruby Sparks and Why You Should Never Call Her a ‘Manic Pixie Dream Girl’ | Vulture.com
Hm. I always thought that term was derisive toward the writer, referring to their lack of creativity in developing a real character. Hence, someone is very defensive about their script… But I’m also a hater of all Hollywood scions.
Yeah, agreed. I...
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Zoe Kazan on Writing Ruby Sparks and Why You...
VULTURE: Do you think of Ruby as a manic pixie dream girl?
KAZAN: [Makes a face.]
VULTURE: What? What do you think of that term?
KAZAN: Well, I am not a fan. Look, I don’t think of her as that; I hope other people don’t think of her as that. I think if they do they’re misunderstanding the movie. That term is a term that was invented by a blogger, and I think it’s more of a term that applies in critical use than it does in creative use. It’s a way of describing female characters that’s reductive and diminutive, and I think basically misogynist. I’m not saying that some of those characters that have been referred to as that don’t deserve it; I think sometimes filmmakers have not used their imagination in imbuing their female characters with real life. You know, they’ve let music tastes be a signifier of personality. But I just think the term really means nothing; it’s just a way of reducing people’s individuality down to a type, and I think that’s always a bad thing. And I think that’s part of what the movie is about, how dangerous it is to reduce a person down to an idea of a person.
VULTURE: Well, yeah, there's a line in the movie that basically questions the idea of manic pixie dream girls: “The quirky, messy women whose problems make them appealing are not real."
KAZAN: Sure. What bothers me about it is I think that women get described that way, but it's really reflective of the man who is looking at them, and the way that they think about that girl. Not about who that girl really is or what her personality actually is. I think that to lump together all individual, original quirky women under that rubric is to erase all difference. Like, I’ve read pieces that describe Annie Hall as a manic pixie dream girl. Katharine Hepburn in Bringing Up Baby. To me, those are fully fledged characters that are being played by really smart actresses. I just think it’s misogynist. I don’t want that term to survive. I want it to die.
(Full interview here: http://www.vulture.com/2012/07/zoe-kazan-ruby-sparks-interview.html)
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“Maybe the internet has made all of us think our little lives, all listless and...”
– Richard Lawson, The Shrinking Boundaries of Being a (Certain Kind of) Twentysomething (via theatlantic)
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“The whole point of crying was to quit before you cornied it up. The whole point...”
– Richard Yates (Revolutionary Road
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“The current obsession with the analog, the vintage, and the retro has everything...”
– Nathan Jurgenson (“The IRL Fetish,” The New Inquiry)
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My friend wrote his first OkCupid message ever and...
F: What are your thoughts on contemporary art?
F: ...anyway I thought I'd stop talking about art before it glides down the muddy slope into a rant... so um, what are the requirements of a message like this?
F: Seriously, how do people write these things?
F: Well, if you feel inclined to reply then please do. It matters to me... a moderate amount.
F: I mean it won't be the best thing ever but it'll brighten my day, if only a little.
F: Also you can ask me questions!
F: I mean you know that of course I wouldn't presume that you wouldn't know that you could ask questions.
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This Podcast Is Kicking Ass: How 99% Invisible... →
99% Invisible is seriously sweet.
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“Nobody will protect you from your suffering. You can’t cry it away or eat...”
– Cheryl Strayed (Tiny Beautiful Things)
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“Is the meaning of life to get excited about someone, genuinely feel interested...”
– Megan Boyle (via muumuuhouse)
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“Thayer Prime, a 32-year-old strategy consultant who lives in London, has even...”
– Alex Williams (“Friends of a Certain Age,” New York Times)
…Is this me in ten years?! Nooooo. I hate the prospect of friendship/life/happiness attrition.
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“People don’t change. They merely hide things from you, and lie.”
– Don Lee, The Collective (via wwnorton)
I really need to read his stuff.
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Dear sex ed in Ohio: please exist.
My brother just sent this to me via his iPad (parenthetical is his):
Random Fact 4
Both Hitler and Napoleon were missing one testicle. (Is that a groin?)
Poor kid.
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“The raw thrill of both “How Should a Person Be?” and “Girls” (and let me...”
– Anna Holmes (“The Age of Girlfriends,” The New Yorker)
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Texts from Jane Eyre →
laphamsquarterly:
JANE JANE I BOUGHT YOU A DRESS MADE OF TEN THOUSAND PEARLS AS A BRIDAL PRESENT where on earth would I wear that YOU COULD WEAR IT ON THE MOON that seems impractical how would i even breathe on the moon? I WOULD BREATHE FOR YOU MY JANE
And more proof that Rochester would make a pretty annoying boyfriend over at The Hairpin.
All caps was a nice touch.
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99% Invisible: Episode 57- What Gave You That... →
99percentinvisible:
Starlee Kine’s friend Noel works in advertising. In 2003, Noel was working in at an agency in Richmond, VA. Everyone wanted to work on flashy spots like Apple or Nike or Gatorade. Do you know what wasn’t flashy? Insurance. Which is why when a company called Geico became a client…
Awesome episode - inspirational and quick and fascinating. Now off to read some George...
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Why You Should Date an Artist
wwnorton:
“What can you expect from civilians? They can’t understand. They see an unremittingly sad film, and they think it’s depressing, whereas we’re fucking enthralled, because the catharsis for us is in witnessing great art, seeing the undiluted truth, in the shared recognition that life is pain. You need to go out with an artist.”
—from The Collective by Don Lee
[Enter to win a copy of...
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“More than the illicitness of the sexuality, there’s a sexuality to the...”
– Lisa Taddeo (“Why We Cheat,” Esquire)
Holy shit this is written so.
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“The media is biased. Not in the way that people think it is, but it’s certainly...”
– Radiolab host Jad Abumrad, who dropped by last week to talk about the Decline effect, which is when results from scientific experiments become less and less replicable over time. (via onthemedia)
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