A great, great swimsuit

From Anthropologie.

Camus

Controversy over Camus.

John Gray

This is an old interview with from The Philosphers Zone...and oldie but a goodie, as it were.

A little something to laugh at

Classic English humour.

Lists

This cute list reminds me of the article about Umberto Ecco and his exhibition on lists at the Louvre.
Enjoy.

Wowza

This post conveys my feelings with an almost unsettling congruence.
Freaky.

Happy Boxing Day

Hope you had a nice Christmas, whether you celebrate it or not. I ate tooo much food both for breakfast and for lunch...then had my mother's amazing cauliflower and crab soup for dnner, because, you know, its Christmas. This was washed down with two bottles of champagne - Cattier and Bolinger (only la france knows how to make champagne!)

The only thing I missed was the morning paper, although I compensated this morning with the Saturday papers and two cups of coffee (I believe I had made mention of my excitement at reading The Guardian next year).
Thats about it for the Christmas rundown - lots of The Office and laying about  a la the kitten above, reading the next 50 Popular Penguins which was a complete surprise and joy to receive; first on the list: Austen's Persuasion.
...so thats it.

oh, and I leave for the UK in ONE WEEK!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas, I'm off to eat copious amounts of delicious food (including - but not limited to - Pimms and dry ginger ale, turkey (of course) and tiramisu); and watch The Royle Family; undoubtedly one of the best shows on television.
See you soon!

Book Review

Bryan Appleyard on John Gray on religion.
Good stuff.

The world today

An article about the changing nature of international politics today.

Atheism

A great article about atheism by John Gray.

American Journeys

I have finally read Don Watson's American Journeys which lived up to - nay, exceeded - my (substantial) expectations.
Amusing, clever, insightful and as another of my favourite writers David Sedaris concludes on the book's cover: "the best book written by an outsider about America". Somehow, it acheives what I think is a sign of truly great writers; an ability to perfectly encapsulate the indescribable.

" Something at the centre of the American spirit cannot tolerate human insignificance. There can be no defeat, spiritual or temporal. Americans are geared to believe in themselves: and if that is not possible, they must believe in Jesus risen, or Elvis risen, or the president, or sports stars, or movie stars, or a brand of motor vehicle or soft drink, or the United States itself, or any other surrogate for the imperfect self. No other culture is so disinclined to believe in the futility of existence. The cross, the high-five  and the facelift all express the same conviction that life is winnable. For the outsider, at first this feels unnaturally positive: but in time the same radical notion takes hold, and he finds himself wondering if the really unnatural thing is to think life lacks meaning and death always wins. He thus regains his innocence and becomes and American in spirit."

There you have it, the paradox of the American psyche explained in a paragraph.


More to go on the reading list: Reappraisals by Tony Judt.

Bryan Appleyard

Bryan Appleyard's website is great, with many of his articles, and a particularly funny spiel on his page of links:
"Internet “bookmarks” or “favourites” have – along with iPod playlists and eBay auctions – become contemporary character attributes replacing star signs, favourite colours and taste in clothes. These new self-signifiers are much more exact than the old ones and much more easily shared. At the same time, they are more random and capricious. They may change daily and they may simply be the result of idle browsing. This is, of course, in the post-modern context, fair enough. Who believes in stable selves any more? Anyway, here are some links. I will not explain them and, it goes without saying, they are not “self”-explanatory."

Under my thumb

This song is a classic...I can't stop listening. Enjoy.

Take a moment to pause

Girl on a motorcycle

    Style.

An Education

I recently (finally) saw An Education. Great film with rich sets and a killer soundtrack; and no overacted characters.

Two weeks

Two weeks until I leave for the UK!
Time is ticking!

Books that changed the world

A great, great article on books that helped to change the world.
Enjoy.

Yes please

Virginia Woolf was right, every woman needs a room of one's own.
Mine would have to be light filled, contain many books and preferably have a beautiful view.

I found these pictures on a great tumblr called Home Sweet Home.

Some exciting news to share

Hooray, The Go Between now has a follower!

Absolutely Fabulous (1992)


Saffie: My life just flashed before my eyes.

Edina: What was it like? A Bergman film without the jokes?
 

Reading

Hair...because at the moment, I need to live vicariously

Wise words

“ One should always be drunk. That’s the one thing that matters. In order not to feel the horrible burden of Time, which breaks your shoulders and crushes you to the ground, one should be drunk without ceasing. But on what? On wine, on poetry, or on virtue, as suits you. But get drunk….


— Baudelaire
 

MMMM Neon.

Great, great, great

Yet another book to add to my reading list

The Greatest Show on Earth by Richard Dawkins.

A great, bonfire-burning rage against what I must admit, is a viewpoint I have little time for: creationism.

Hackneyed

An article about cliches.

The art of travel

A really spectacular extract about Somerset Maugham. 
Well written travel writing is really one of my favourite genres.

Your thoughts?

Is Woody Allen now an anachronism?

Babies

Paris, 1962

Great, great photos.

Great New Show

Great looking new show featuring some of the guys from Arrested Development. Seems everyone is going to the UK!

Black Boots

...just cuz.

Food for thought

An interesting book review.
In all his photos, however, he looks slightly uncomfortable.

Essential reading for the holiday christmas party season

mmmmmmm jazz

This makes me want a cat

A little bit of eccentricity

A great interview of eccentric Italian novelist Umberto Eco about, among other things, lists.
As a lover of lists myself, it was nice to know this bordeline obsessive-compulsive habit is not uniquely mine.
He has a new exhibition at the Lourve, ipso facto, a photo of Paris (although who really needs an excuse?)
Enjoy.

Food for thought

An interesting article about journalism and philosophy.
I very much like the idea of the newspaper as a morning prayer; its the closest I come to worship!
I'm especially excited for the Saturday papers tomorrow.

Cool dress

Funny stuff my friend says

Greetings,
I am posting this from the bedroom of my friend Kate, who is in the shower. We went to see some cool bands last night, although we missed Valar, so I'm doing a catchup with itunes.
Good stuff.
 Also on the listening mix, Bon Iver. Classic Kate comment:

 Int. Morning, Bedroom.

K: Yeah I heard he had mononucleosis.

CS: What's that?

K: Let's google it.

Googles.

So, turns out mononucleosis is actually just glandular fever.

K (emphatically): Americans always fuck everything up!

I really think transcribing this removes the humour, but I'm laughing anyway.
And now, another personal joke for Kate.
Sorry

A little bit of Paris in Sydney

On anothe French related note, Sydney now has an absinthe salon! Comme c'est chic
One to try.

Pucker up

Great looking French comedy out on Boxing day The French Kissers
Yay!

Words