I fell in love with this magazine the first time I laid eyes on it. The layout, the drawings, the consistency. There are no ads! The design is elegant. The front cover and rear cover of each issue are always lovely paintings of food by two different artists: Robert Papp and John Burgoyne.
Not only does it look good in the graphic arts sense, but the articles and recipes look to be a cook’s delight.
It’s tied in with the TV and radio shows America’s Test Kitchen.
There was a well-written, funny, perceptive article in the New York Times today (actually dated 5/1/13) by Henry Alford on Williamsburg (in Brooklyn). I’ve been telling people over the past few years that these twentysomethings are different.; they’re a new ballgame.
Henry not only gets what’s going on with young people, he likes them:
“I like this generation of young folk. Their food is terrific, and they find even the most insignificant things “awesome.” I admire their adventuresome quality vis-à-vis fixed-gear bike-riding and their non-prudishness in the face of nudity. Yes, their attention to detail on the fronts of locavorism and beard care can verge on the precious, but I’d much rather have a young Abe Lincoln serve me his roof-grown mâche than I would have an F. Scott Fitzgerald vomit all over my straw boater. Today’s twentysomethings are self-respecting, obvi.
If every youth movement says as much about the status quo as it does about itself, then this new eco-conscious, agrarian-seeming, hair-celebrating nexus of locavorism is maybe telling us that the rest of us need to plunge our fingers into the rich loam of the earth, literally and metaphorically.…”
Click here. I subscribe to the Times, so get the full stories on their website. If you don’t, I’d go buy today’s paper if possible, this article (in the Style section) is worth it. I think it’s a journalistic reporting masterpiece. Very funny, and some exquisite turns of phrase. Ridic. Obvi.
Meaning “Too long; didn’t read.”
This really caught my eye. It was in a NYTimes article a few days ago about a 17-year-old who sold his company to Yahoo for 30 million dollars. What was way more interesting than his youth and all the money was his idea: “…his algorithmic invention…takes long-form stories and shortens them for readers using smartphones, in its own mobile apps…”
“…he started coding at age 12. Eventually he decided to develop an app with what he calls an “automatic summarization algorithm,” one that “can take pre-existing long-form content and summarize it.” In other words, it tries to solve a problem that is often summed up with the abbreviation tl;dr: “too long; didn’t read.”
I’ve now got a sign, TL; DR posted by the computer. Like keeping videos under 2 minutes. And it’s a new world coming, with pocket sized screens the norm for young people. Keep it short & sweet, I keep reminding myself…
I send out one of these email newsletters every few months to about 750 people. Here’s the latest:
https://www.shelterpub.com/_gimme/_2013-02-04/gimme_shelter-2013-02-04.html
I’ve mentioned many times how the CoolTools blog has been so invaluable to me. It contains reader-written reviews of any number of tools. It’s almost embarrassing how many things I’ve learned about and purchased as a result of CT. For me, it’s the electronic Whole Earth Catalog.
It was started by Kevin Kelly, former Whole Earth Review magazine editor, and one of the founding fathers of Wired magazine. Today it was announced that Mark Frauenfelder, founder of Boing Boing (my other favorite blog) and editor-in-chief of Make magazine, is partnering with Kevin; he’ll be editor-in-chief of CoolTools and is working with Kevin on a paper book on the best of CoolTools. This is a killer duo.
Check out:
-Mark’s announcement on Boing Boing here
-Kevin’s announcement on CoolTools here
-The tools on CoolTools here
Deek Diedrickson of https://relaxshacks.blogspot.com pointed out this excellent website, https://tinyrevolution.us/, billed as “… an Internet home for people interested in simple, minimalist living, and less square feet than most master bedrooms.” For example, here’s an interesting post titled “How to stock a minimalist kitchen”: here. Scroll down to the long comment by Susyn153 about paring down your belongings for living on a sailboat.
Jeez, has this been a shitty week. And jeez, am I a big baby. Yes. Any body part goes wrong and I’m devastated. I look at friends like Sherm in his wheelchair, can’t move a muscle or talk these days and he perseveres, and gets a twinkle in his eye when I give him shit. Or a bunch of my high school friends, who I saw recently at a 60th reunion. I should not complain.
I had surgery to repair a rotator cuff repair a week ago,and it was only arthroscopic, for christsake, you know, “…minimally invasive.” Well I’ll tell you, my body does not like any kind of invasion. My arm’s been strapped to my side,with the bladder for an ice machine inside the bandage, all week. Can’t tie own shoes. Can barely sleep, have never slept on my back. After 3 days of the pain pills (oxy), I felt so groggy and shitty, I quit them. I don’t understand people taking oxy “recreationally”). Makes me feel like I’m in a hazy, fuzzy tunnel. I’ll deal with some pain in exchange for some mental clarity.
Anyway, just started getting into gear last night. I had given Lucky Peach magazine several hundred of my photos to do a story in their next issue, which is on “the apocalypse.” The angle on me being homemade shelter, gardening, foraging, stuff you can do for yrslf in tough times. They let me comment on the 6-page layout (turned out great, they used about 50 of my photos), and I went through it with them yesterday (Sunday), and this got me back into the communication groove. Issue will be out mid-Feb.
Really nice review of Tiny Homes in today’s Charlotte Observer; great to have a reviewer that gets it:
“Editor and former carpenter Lloyd Kahn’s new book takes us into the world of small homes at a time when big homes, big mortgages and the ruins of a big housing bubble have demonstrated the perils of excess.…”
Here are just a few or so… Like you I get caught up scrolling and seeing all kinds of stuff… Solar energy articles from the 30’s… gotta love it huh?
===========================
Camping Trailer PM May 58 pg 149
================================
Boy have I been in a funk. Partly due to a banged-up shoulder, partly the hot dry weird windy weather, partly lack of exercise, partly too much time on road. Takes me days to catch up upon return. I’m stayin home a whiles.
Weather shifted dramatically this morning. Way cooler, clouds in sky, feeling of vibrancy about. Along with 2 tiny cups of crema Malabar Gold monsoon espresso, and a great blues selection by Bill Wax on Sirius radio’s blues station, things are lookin up. For ex., “Ax Sweet Mama,” by James Luther Dickinson.
Tiny Homes on the Move: Wheels & Water is rolling (and floating), about 40 pages laid out. Each book we do is like setting sail for an unknown destination. Here we’re out in the ocean, wind in sails, charting course as we go. Exciting!
Google Do I love it! I can find just about anything. For example, at times I’ll get a Goole Alert to an article I’m interested in; if the link doesn’t go anywhere, I can type in a sentence quoted in the article, and bingo!
TV of Late
Treme Great episode last week, lots of good music (by previously obscure authentic New Orleans musicians), wonderful scene between La Donna and the Chief (who was Lester in The Wire), exquisite acting (and communication and humor) between two powerful people.
Boardwalk Empire I’m back into it. Gave up on it last season, but it’s now in a really good mode. Nucky more human; costumes, era (prohibition—1920s-30s) impeccably portrayed.
Bill Maher The closer the election gets, the more relevant Bill is. Last night the most contentious panel ever, but with great appearances by Gary Hirshberg of Storyfield Farm with totally convincing reasons to vote yes on requiring GMO labeling, and Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone telling politics like it is.