January 2008
“We believe that the most reliable guide for our country is the collective wisdom...”
– [ from the 2008 SOTU ] George Bush is such a jerk.
4 tags
On Daniel Day-Lewis and his lucidity
Daniel Day-Lewis is my mother’s celebrity crush. From about eleven years old till about eighteen, that’s how I thought of him: the man my mother would stalk should my father happen to die. Since then I’ve seen him in a few films and he’s moved up in the ranks a bit to Oh Yes He’s An Actor—I particularly enjoyed his turn as Cecil in ‘Room with a...
“There’s a terrible sadness. The last day of shooting is surreal. Your...”
– Daniel Day-Lewis [ via IMDB ]
“The study, published in 2005 by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston...”
– [ Nice Resume. Have you considered Botox?, from the New York Times ] I didn’t realize even young women needed to send off 19 resumes per one interview. I’d thought the number would be somewhere closer to three. Suddenly I feel much better about my finding-a-job experiences.
“It’s little surprise that virtually all judges when asked to comment on what...”
– [ Which way now?, from johnson banks, London design consultancy ]
“Instant messaging, a synchronous form of typed, computer-mediated communication,...”
– That is, like, the dumbest thing I’ve heard since I started saying “like” when I was twelve. In 1992. Way before IM. [ It’s Like, IMing Is So Like Talking, via Discovery News ]
“This game technically has no end; the player will be given new boards to clear...”
– [ on the Pac-Man split screen level, via Wikipedia ]
“Let me put it this way: when Leonardo da Vinci finished his big statue of David,...”
– [ Fake Steve Jobs, accepting his Crunchies Award ]
“In the next few years I foresee the abandonment of music collections. The burden...”
– [ Llewellyn Hinkes for the Morning News’ MP3 Digest ]
“The coffee trade is unhealthy for two reasons, Clark says: because the United...”
– [ Drip Grind by Doron Taussig, in Washington Monthly ]
6 tags
On Finer Points in the Spacing and Arrangement of...
I have a confession to make: I have never managed to get more than fifty pages into Robert Bringhurst’s The Elements of Typographic Style, aka the typographer’s bible. I’m not sure why; the writing is fine and the subject matter is fascinating, but for some reason I pick up the book and never manage to finish. By contrast, I received Goeffrey Dowding’s Finer Points in...
“However, wiser counsel has prevaled; we recognize the redemptive quality of art....”
– from Solomon, I have surpassed thee: A blog from Westminster Cathederal
3 tags
“Based on [director of the center for public health nutrition at the University...”
– [ A High Price for Healthy Food, in the New York Times ]
“Despite an improved economy, many Japanese are feeling a sense of insecurity...”
– [ Losing an Edge, Japanese Envy India’s Schools, in the New York Times ]
“Kolata notes that the food-obsessed, sneaky, guilt-ridden behavior of fat people...”
– [ Secrets of Weight Loss Revealed!, in Reason Magazine ]
“From fourteen to twenty-three [Cary Grant] performed as an acrobat, juggler,...”
– [ Becoming Cary Grant, in The Atlantic Online ]
This use of the apostrophe, also quite common with native English speakers, is sometimes referred to as Deppenapostroph which means moron’s apostrophe. Its counterpart is the Deppenleerstelle, also called Deppenleerzeichen which means Idiot’s Whitespace. [ from Denglish, at Wikipedia ]
