mrs jefferies

stack o' books

Sun, 27 May 2012 10:42:06 -0400

Just finished:

The Disappointment Artist - Jonathan Lethem

A collection of essays in the “humorous but touching” vein. Not bad, quite enjoyed several, but it wound up in a rather self-indulgent fashion. If you read this one, just stop after the one about Cassavetes.

Still reading:

My Faraway One - the letters of Alfred Stieglitz and Georgia O’Keeffe, edited by Sarah Greenough

This one is going to take me forever. For. Ev. Er. It’s incredibly long, but I am enjoying it immensely.

The Ego Tunnel - Thomas Metzinger

Phenomenal, in the Philosophical-with-a-capital-P sense. The philosophy of mind and perception. His thesis: there is no self. We shall see if he can convince us.

Yet to start:

Trading Up - Michael Silverstein and Neil Fiske

Depressing stuff about marketing and greed.

French Women Don’t Get Fat - Mireille Guiliano

I’m vain. So sue me.

Gunnar’s Daughter - Sigrid Undset, translated from the Norwegian by Arthur Chater

A novel length fairy tale. (I hope.)

[As an aside, can I just say how very much I love our inter-library loan system?]

nevver: Shape it

Fri, 25 May 2012 13:21:30 -0400

nevver:

Shape it

"Sooner or later in life everyone discovers that perfect happiness is unrealizable, but there are few..."

Tue, 01 May 2012 13:21:19 -0400

“Sooner or later in life everyone discovers that perfect happiness is unrealizable, but there are few who pause to consider the antithesis: that perfect unhappiness is equally unattainable.”

- Primo Levi (via nevver)

newsweek: Our Arts Critic Responds to the ‘Useless Majors’...

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 09:28:41 -0400

newsweek:

Our Arts Critic Responds to the ‘Useless Majors’ List

When Blake Gopnik, Newsweek & The Daily Beast’s arts critic, saw that arts degrees made up the majority of our ‘13 useless college majors’ list, he was a little upset, so we asked for a post from Blake to put it all into context.

Here’s Blake (follow him on tumblr!):

I say we could simply re-title The Daily Beast’s survey as “The 13 Most Useful College Majors” and it would be equally valid.

After all, who’s more important today, Rembrandt or the people who bought his art? Monet or the people who bought his? Van Gogh or the rich idiots who FAILED to buy what he made? Useless is as useless does, I say, and it seems pretty clear to me that, across history, many of the people who made the biggest difference had training in the most useless professions. (Aristotle, anyone?)

Again, which is more useless, adding another million dollars to the millions you already have, or adding a new work of art, or a new thought, to the world’s store of ideas? The single biggest problem the world has today, by far is that people in the West are used to owning and using too much, and are setting an impossible example for the rest of the planet. (See the new movie called “Surviving Progress”). So there’s real-world, practical virtue in living modestly, “uselessly”, and taking your pleasure from the thoughts and ideas you acquired in getting your “useless” degree in art or poetry or philosophy. The world will not be a better place when more people have more money and stuff. It can ONLY be better when more people have better thoughts.

I’m proud to say that my first degree, in medieval history, and my second and third, in art history, are as useless as they come. I’d do them all over again.

PS: The most recent issue of Newsweek magazine ran a nice long and positive review of a book by philosopher Michael Sandel claiming that money is not the measure of all things – and that it’s ruining America’s values.

Read the Michael Sandel book review // Follow Blake on Tumblr

(Ed: Oooh! Ooh! We just so happen to have a live chat planned with Michael Sandel on Wednesday at 1pm ET. We swear this wasn’t planned, but so cool Blake mentioned the book review.)

nevver: Extinguishing Yourself

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 14:43:50 -0400

nevver:

Extinguishing Yourself

sandman-kk: Franz Kline, Black, White, and Gray, 1959 MET

Sat, 07 Apr 2012 23:42:51 -0400

sandman-kk:

Franz Kline, Black, White, and Gray, 1959 MET

Made with Paper

Sat, 31 Mar 2012 23:07:42 -0400

Made with Paper

Photo

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 14:46:03 -0400

I dreamt last night that I was lying on the ground, looking at burning sticks falling from the sky,...

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 06:55:17 -0400

I dreamt last night that I was lying on the ground, looking at burning sticks falling from the sky, and a mountain lion crept up to me. It laid down beside me and took my shoulder in its mouth. I could feel its teeth; it hurt but it didn’t bite through. The mountain lion let go and then went away.

I’m sure it’s a metaphor for something.

i12bent: Tonight’s spotlight falls on a seminal artist - in...

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 20:48:54 -0400

i12bent:

Tonight’s spotlight falls on a seminal artist - in both Germany and the US:

Josef Albers, German-born American artist, designer and teacher: March 19, 1888 - 1976…

Portrait: Henri Cartier-Bresson

Dinner table discussion began with Mr. Jefferies noting that Thing 1 looked a good bit like Luke...

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 19:56:00 -0400

Dinner table discussion began with Mr. Jefferies noting that Thing 1 looked a good bit like Luke Skywalker (M. Hamill version). This led to a discussion of who that would make everyone else.

The Ex - Darth Vader, clearly.

Me - Padmé, by association with aforementioned and my maternalness.

Thing 2 - well, he didn’t seem to want to be Leia, as would be indicated by the familial relationships. We agreed he would make a fine Han Solo.

Mr. Jefferies - Obi-Wan, by arbitrary but unanimous decision.

“In a nation ruled by swine, all pigs are upwardly...

Sat, 03 Mar 2012 14:36:19 -0500

“In a nation ruled by swine, all pigs are upwardly mobile—and the rest of us are fucked until we can put our acts together: not necessarily to win, but mainly to keep from losing completely. We owe that to ourselves and our crippled self-image as something better than a nation of panicked sheep.”
—Hunter S. Thompson, The Great Shark Hunt, 1979

i12bent: Arty type… No principles… Photo - Bryon Gysin: William...

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 23:21:54 -0500

i12bent:

Arty type… No principles…

Photo - Bryon Gysin: William Burroughs near the Beat Hotel (Naked Lunch Launch series, Paris, October 1959)

“What’s with the serum?”
I don’t know, but it sounds ominous. We better put a telepathic direction finder on Benway. The man’s not to be trusted. Might do almost anything…Turn a massacre into a sex orgy…”
Or a joke.”
Precisely. Arty type…No principles…”

― William S. Burroughs, Naked Lunch

a dispatch from the city of angels

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 19:54:14 -0500

2:00pm wheels down LAX
2:25pm retrieve baggage from carousel and stash coats inside
2:45pm board Flyaway bus headed for Union Station (coach style bus, comfy, fare $7)
3:20pm arrive at Union Station, retrieve luggage, buy metro TAP pass
3:35pm depart on Gold line train (light rail, above ground, fare $1.50) for Pasadena
4:00pm arrive Lake Station, Pasadena
4:20pm sitting in an outdoor cafe, drinking coffee, watching the people and the cars and the sunset, and sending dispatches…

"Look here Vita — throw over your man, and we’ll go to Hampton Court and dine on the river together..."

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 11:31:53 -0500

“Look here Vita — throw over your man, and we’ll go to Hampton Court and dine on the river together and walk in the garden in the moonlight and come home late and have a bottle of wine and get tipsy, and I’ll tell you all the things I have in my head, millions, myriads — They won’t stir by day, only by dark on the river. Think of that. Throw over your man, I say, and come.”

- Virginia Woolf, from a letter to Vita Sackville-West (via brainpickings)

nevver: Happy Birthday HAL

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 15:06:15 -0500

nevver:

Happy Birthday HAL

i12bent: Birthday of Simone de Beauvoir - Jan. 9, 1908 - 1986 -...

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 12:17:45 -0500

i12bent:

Birthday of Simone de Beauvoir - Jan. 9, 1908 - 1986 - a frequent flyer on OF…

“I am too intelligent, too demanding, and too resourceful for anyone to be able to take charge of me entirely. No one knows me or loves me completely. I have only myself.” ― Simone de Beauvoir

My role model.

moviebarcode: Rare Exports (2010)

Sat, 24 Dec 2011 18:34:23 -0500

moviebarcode:

Rare Exports (2010)

beauvoiriana: Simone de Beauvoir et Jean-Paul Sartre. Paris,...

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 10:03:58 -0500

beauvoiriana:

Simone de Beauvoir et Jean-Paul Sartre. Paris, 1959. Photo: Georges Pierre.

(À gauche, Évelyne Rey, actrice, soeur de Claude Lanzmann, qui avait une relation amoureuse avec Sartre).

— Celui-ci est le dernier post de 2011. Mais les rencontres avec Simone de Beauvoir continuent l’année prochaine. Happy New Year! —

"It’s hard leaving money on the table, especially if you don’t know where your next project is coming..."

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 11:08:58 -0500

“It’s hard leaving money on the table, especially if you don’t know where your next project is coming from. It takes character to turn down a big project from a respected brand, even when you know it’s the right thing to do. However it’s usually worth it. The number of times I’ve seen agencies take on a mediocre project only to have to turn down their perfect client a week later because they are already committed is astonishing. Turning down a project which is under budget closes one door, but you’ve no idea how many other doors this will open in the future.”

- Why Designers Are Holding Themselves Back, Andy Budd