F. Scott Fitzgerald: Things to worry about →
From a letter to his 11-year-old daughter.
Buzz Andersen's Weblog
From a letter to his 11-year-old daughter.
My girlfriend commissioned some Photoshop work from me tonight as part of a gag. I’m pretty pleased with the results, if I do say so myself.
I think I’m going to make one of these for my own desk, plus an accompanying sign that adds “…and neither is unit testing.” (via pbowden)
slaughterhouse90210 (via Matt Lehrer):
“Some very considerable part of the gestural language of public places that had once belonged to cigarettes now belonged to phones.”
—William Gibson, Zero History
The absolute best moment in the entire three season run of “Deadwood.” Al Swearengen is my hero. “The world ends when you’re dead. ‘Til then you’ve got more punishment in store. Stand it like a man and give some back.”
(Source: youtube.com)
I had never seen this internal Microsoft video mockingly imagining how the company might redesign Apple’s iPod packaging, but it’s a brilliant parody of the worst excesses in packaging design. (via MacRumors)
(Source: youtube.com)
jstn:
[Robot and Frank] also features a number of near-future devices with fictional user interfaces imagined and designed by myself, which was one of the funnest projects I’ve ever worked on. I have a new appreciation for the needs of a real, functioning interface versus the kind you see in the movies. I don’t want to spoil anything, but if you wind up seeing it keep an eye on Frank’s TV and everyone’s cell phones and tablets.
It’s a joy to work with people who do amazing stuff like this. Can’t wait to see the film!
I think Disney should do an entire line of Peter Saville-inspired designs to go along their new Joy Division shirt. The “Blue Monday” single is practically begging for the Mickey treatment!
I still want to see an independent tech weblog that covers the many startups and subjects I never see listed on the current tech blogs. I hate seeing a glowing post about some new startup and know the writer and CEO regularly joke with each other on Twitter. I hate when a popular startup is given a pass because most of the writers attended the founder’s bachelor party or got an exclusive on a new feature. This is the game that goes on and the righteous belief that there isn’t one bothers me.
The “Oh, we simply don’t get Washington/Wall Street/the Establishment because we’re such an enlightened, transparent meritocracy out here” narrative is one of the aspects of Silicon Valley’s self image I’ve always found least convincing. The valley has power networks every bit as influential and insular as the older centers of the American elite and in many cases those networks play as much a part in the success of a company as the more altruistic triumphs of execution that we laud on glib startup advice blogs. Lamenting that is a bit like lamenting that there’s no Santa Claus, but, as Andre points out, it mainly bothers me that people try to pretend that the tech industry is somehow more fundamentally enlightened than the rest of human society.
One of the things I love about the Momofuku restaurants is that I get the feeling that everyone who works there — bartenders, folks behind the register, and waiters — all embody and promote a culture of enthusiasm for the food and passion for doing things the right way.
hello typepad: The Bo Ssam Miracle (via sippey)
I couldn’t agree with this more. What makes Momofuku special isn’t so much that they’re innovative, but rather that their enthusiasm for what they do is so infectious. David Chang is kind of like the Quentin Tarantino of cooking, in that he clearly appreciates food on a deep level and has the ability to convey a bit of his love for it to everyone who works at or eats at one of his restaurants. I’ve rarely experienced a restaurant where the staff seems to care about the diner’s experience more sincerely and where people seem to be having a better time.
In some respects my love for Momofuku reminds me a lot of my affection for another great New York food and drink institution: Milk & Honey. As I’ve written over on my cocktail blog, there are probably bars out there today who are more avant garde, but M&H remains my favorite bar in the world because of their extreme commitment to customer service and the details of the experience.