clock … watching time, the only true currency

GETTING THERE The science of driving directions by Nick Paumgarten earned an immediate printing, because (a) it’s 10 pages long in the printer-friendly version and I can’t sit in this chair and stare at this screen any longer and (b) it’s about maps and (c) it’s The New Yorker, whose deep dives are always worth [...]

[Read more →]

A return to Alistair MacLean snacking, with When Eight Bells Toll, set on the western coast of Scotland. Crisp enough, if not surprising. I wonder if the movie is worth seeing, if only for a young Anthony Hopkins? Book was written in 1966, and the movie was released in 1971, when Hopkins was only 34. [...]

[Read more →]

Read Wilbur Smith for historical action set in Africa, usually with a strong dose of Empire. But don’t expect anything filling, or you’ll be disappointed. The man has written 30 “Epic African Adventures” according to his website. I’ve read several in the past, but hard to remember which, given the titles and subject matter. The [...]

[Read more →]

Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan felt right in line with Lethem, but with more of a William Gibson flavor. The language didn’t thrum like Gibson’s, but the world-framing theme of ‘sleeves’ (human bodies as replaceable wrappers for your ‘core,’ or brain in a digital form) read well, and even original when taken to its [...]

[Read more →]

I welcome the United States media near-blindness to European soccer, as it lets me enjoy English Premier League games on my TiVo. I have little need to watch the games live, even were that possible, because as long as I avoid using the world in world wide web, it’s child’s play to avoid getting scores [...]

[Read more →]

Last week, I received e-mail two invitations to the same conference. Why? Here’s part of the introducton to the first invitation, with the identifying information removed: As a VIP, the cost of your airfare, hotel accommodations and conference registration will be paid for by (removed). The [organizers have] identified you as a senior level marketer [...]

[Read more →]

On Thursday, April 6, 2006, CNET achieved a cultural milestone. 42 Down, four letters: “Popular online tech. news source” in the New York Times crossword puzzle. CNET is more than news, but gift horse, mouth, etc.

[Read more →]

The Perfect Mile taught me a lot about an event I thought I knew. The Englishman Roger Bannister was first to break four minutes for the mile, but there was a race (virtually) to do so. John Landy, an Australian running in Finland, knocked 1.4 seconds (a huge chunk) off Bannister’s time six weeks later. [...]

[Read more →]

Via Peter Merholz, I watched the opening main titles of the movie Thank You For Smoking. I’m interested in seeing the movie, and it’s still fascinating to me that there are studios and individuals who focus on making titles. The morbid thriller Seven is famous for its titles, among other things. Scroll through this essay [...]

[Read more →]

Vin Crosbie comes out from under a a recent NDA… I prefer the frieNDA.

[Read more →]