Everything needs a revolution: Steve Martin was 'Born Standing Up'
Born Standing Up is Steve Martin’s autobiography about his stand-up days. He takes you from childhood (and issues with his dad) all the way through to the days when he was the highest ticket grossing stand-up comic of all time. And then, the moment at which he walks away from stand-up forever and never looked back. By the way, did you realize that he was the highest grossing stand-up comic of all time?
Video game idea: Steal it and send me a copy
I just had an idea for a fun Internet video game. The idea is that it’s a game for two players. It’s a chasing game. The idea would be for one character to be a big, tough, Doom sort of character. The other character would be a smaller, quicker, less strong character, but, that character would have more strategic abilities. Like, he could climb walls, pick locks, set traps of various kinds and hide.
Leah Beeferman draws what buildings think
TTWP offers another glance inside the head of an artist who visited Philadelphia’s shores recently (rivers have shores, and we have two rivers — so there). Leah Beeferman came here to do a show with Brooke Inman at SPACE 1026. Previously, we spoke to David Kessler. TTWP: We met face-to-face at your opening in Philadelphia, and you told me about this computer game you used to play. Let’s start there. Tell me about that again.
Gardner Dozois
When I was in high school I used to really believe that I had this whole writer thing in me. I’d send stories off to different magazines pretty regularly. I didn’t have any sense for where I fit on the literary continuum then. I’d mail anywhere. Esquire, Omni, Harper’s and others. One stood out in my mind, though. Isaac Asimov’s Fantasy and Science Fiction. I sent more work there than I think I sent anywhere else.
Writers tools — them little sticky tabs
I remember when Post-it came out with those little sticky tabs. Like the ones you see sticking out of my notebook above. When I saw them, I thought, who could ever possibly keep track of those little things on their desk? I pretty much ignored the sticky tabs for the next ten years or so, but I’ve recently found a use for them. So what follows is a post about a tool that can be useful for a certain sort of scrivener.
Rhythms of India: The Art of Nandalal Bose
The Philadelphia Museum of Art has a great exhibition up with its Rhythms of India: The Art of Nandalal Bose. I’m generally interested in all things Indian. I am also generally interested in any artist who is strongly inspired by his or her faith to do work, and this is certainly true of Bose. Bose was a contemporary of Gandhi’s and put a lot of energy into doing artwork that would support Gandhi’s efforts.
Why I rock a fixie
I read this idiotic essay in Adbusters on-line that tears into hipsters. You know an article is going to be insightful when it refers to the fad for riding fixed gear bicycles as “the apex of absurdity.” Really? Does a fad for a kind of bike really merit that kind of language? I can’t help but think that “the apex” is something a little more meaningful. Like the widespread belief that Barak Obama is a Muslim Extremist.
A new ethics for email
Some ideas are kicking around the Internet about Email. Seth Godin’s email checklist is a great place to start exploring this conversation. Basically, they come down to this: there is too much. People with important jobs and a lot of responsibility get so much email that they can’t even come close to keeping up. It’s not even just forwards and chain mail and list stuff. The truth is, they just know too many people with too many questions and they just get a lot of email from folks they really work with or do business with.
TMBG: Real American Heros
I watched Gigantic again this weekend. I hadn’t seen it for a while. It’s crazy to think that Flood came out 18 years ago. It’s really been that long. It’s funny how an album can work like that one does. At the same time, it feels as though it just came out, as if I’ve only listened to it a few time, yet it also feels like it has always been a part of my life.
“'Killing Time' part 2: I WAS THERE!
Last night, I made it out to the student-curated show of “Killing Time” at The Art Institute Gallery. All of the art work really had been covered in black drapes. From the Philadelphia Weekly’s On-Line Coverage of “Killing Time” yesterday: Just as the witch doctor or the tribal wise woman makes an image of the evil that needs to be eradicated and destroy (in the superstitious belief that this would make the real evil go away), so modern conservatives—absolutely convinced none of our problems could possibly be systemic—are forever casting around for images of evil to ban or destroy, in the magical belief that this will somehow eradicate evil in the real world.