"We all want to put on the style. It is part of presenting our public self, like getting dressed up for a party. Often, when we actually get to the party all gussied-up, we’ll take great pains not to act that way, to show that the high style hasn’t really changed us, that we’re still just folks….We are, we like to think, what we are, whether in public or in private. No back-stage/front-stage difference divides our lives. This is an illusion, but we cherish it."
"Anonymity can be useful not just to cloak your identity or to try to fool people. It allows people who might pass something along to not be too caught up in the question of ‘who’s behind this?’. Instead, the idea exists on its own terms, which makes people a little more inclined to actually press Forward on the email."
Genevieve and I went to the Henri Cartier-Bresson at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie. All the men in his photos look like Picasso, and all the women look like a Matisse. I actually liked this best, a photo of Cartier-Bresson drawing his self portrait, taken by his second wife Martine Franck.
Woman outside the Notre Dame, peevish: “These TREES weren’t in the way last time.”
Man in backpacker garb to silent girlfriend: “I mean, if I worked on the top floor in a big building, I’d have a parachute. You have to be prepared for anything.”
Woman in supermarket to other woman, uncertainly: “I think I’m going to try some of this French pasta.”
Bikes in Paris: There are so many, but I passed by a second-hand bike store today (just an average one, not a vintage or hipster joint) and the cheapest one cost 350 Euros, what!
"It’s a common complaint that the Web makes us more impatient, but most of us use it to track (or create) long-running stories and debates. I’ve been following the career of folk-rock star Roger McGuinn for more than 30 years, and now I use the Web for that. If anything, the essence of Web life is that we are impatient to discover the next installment in our planned programs of very patient long-term interest. That’s a kind of impatience we can be proud of, just as a mother might be impatient to receive a call from her teenage daughter away at college. It’s a sign of caring and commitment, not superficiality."
"More and more, “production” — that word my fellow economists have worked over for generations — has become interior to the human mind rather than set on a factory floor. A tweet may not look like much, but its value lies in the mental dimension. You use Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and other Web services to construct a complex meld of stories, images, and feelings in your mind. No single bit seems weighty on its own, but the resulting blend is rich in joy, emotion, and suspense. This is a new form of drama, and it plays out inside us — with technological assistance — rather than on a public stage. Online, you can literally create your own economy. By that, I mean you can build an ordered set of opportunities for prosperity and pleasure, analogous to a traditional economy but held in your head."
— “One Lesson from the Crisis: It’s Time to Create Your Own Economy,” Tyler Cowen Fast Company via Kottke
OMG my favourite fashion magazine Russh is on Tumblr, and look at this genius video - where they flip through the entire magazine to tantalise you about its contents!
"A bit further back in line, Wayne Fox, 54, had two poodle-looking dogs poking out of a duffel bag. He explained they were actually the Bichon Frise breed, and he carried them with him everywhere - even to work - because his wife died recently and he had no one to take care of them. The dogs were his wife’s main companions. “I’m on my way to work - they go to work with me and sleep at my desk,” said Fox. “I already have an iPhone but I want a video camera to take video of the dogs."
— Unexpected poignancy in this article about the 3G S iPhone launch, via my friend Ali.
"Knee-jerk contrarians on the Internet (those delightful people who find fault in anything and everything, dismissing months or years of work with a few words) are nothing new. It’s as old as communication itself. I’m sure that the moment man discovered fire, there was some guy nearby saying, “Too smoky. Can burn you. Lame."
— This description of the internet Devil’s Advocate taken (with slight changes for ease of quoting) from “Abort, Retry, or EPIC FAIL,” Waxy.org. And here he links to thoughts on the slightly less agressive but still pernicious cousin of FAIL, “Meh.”
