For the sake of my own sanity, I don’t keep up with the day to day developments of the world’s centers of crisis. Syria, however, holds a special fascination for me, given how stark and seemingly clear the lines of conflict are (as opposed to, say, the moral muddles of Iraq and Afghanistan). But the more I read, the more I despair, because it seems Syria’s battle lines are perhaps even more crooked than anywhere else the U.S. might consider... Read more
I had a thought. I’m hazarding a guess that this is the bane of Jony Ive’s existence, the knife in his heart, the reminder of his own imperfection, and the image that haunts him as he tries, in vain, to sleep. That’s right. Asymmetry. That’s the bottom of the iPhone 5, “The most beautiful device we’ve ever made,” according to Phil Schiller. 8 rows of speaker holes on the right, but only 5 rows of mic holes on the left,... Read more
It’s hard to explain. At the beginning of the year, I was pretty sure that the way I consumed content and worked pointed pretty strongly toward a tablet smaller and lighter than a traditional iPad. I had also determined that an iPad mini would not suffice because of its screen, which looks atrocious compared to a Retina display. I would have to explore, then, the world of Android. I bought a Nexus 7, and as my many blog posts on... Read more
Stephen Evans realizes how off-base some myths about the German people are, including the idea that they are somehow humorless (most of my own ancestry is German, not that you’d know it from my Portuguese name): The other day, I went to the site of an unexploded World War II bomb. They frequently turn up in building work and this one was near the main station in Berlin. The bomb disposal man was there. He is the chap who walks... Read more
I once began watching a film I had felt was important for me to see. Universally acclaimed to a level seldom seen, it was a cinematic box I knew I needed to have checked, a head to mount. The film opens with a live performance of some theatrical dance piece, very arty, very heavy. It’s entirely unexpected as the opening of a movie. But it shouldn’t have been, because I’d seen it before. The film was Talk to Her, and... Read more
This comment is my final word on why this blog is here and not at Freethought Blogs. Long and the short: please chill out. Read more
A couple of years ago, I resolved to write at length about my four years living and working in Washington, DC. If I did it well, if I was diligent, it might even turn into a book: the story of a professional actor who leaves it all behind to study and practice politics in the nation’s capital, and how that city violently spit him out. But I wasn’t writing every day for a living at the time I started the... Read more
Gesundheit. But seriously, folks. In 2016 NASA’s going to launch a probe, OSIRIS-REx, to make contact with, and then bring back a sample of — you guessed it — a near-earth object. The object in question is the asteroid Bennu, and the whole operation is described in this NASA video which, I must say, seems to have been produced by whoever it is that does retail store training videos and airplane safety instructions. But still. (Hat tip Steven.) Read more
A billion years ago, I wrote a song intended for a production of The Merry Wives of Windsor I was in at the time (I played Slender, la!). We never wound up using the song, other than a bit of the main riff for scene transitions, but it is on my old 2004 album Paul is Making Me Nervous. It’s written loosely from the perspective of the Anne Page character, as the other characters all see her as a vehicle... Read more
What’s this now? This blog seems familiar, yet somehow alienating. I no longer hear the hum and din of other bloggers tapping and opining around me. Where am I? This is the new home of Near-Earth Object. The design may or may not be final, so we’ll just have to see. It’s just like always, with same content moved over here, but also something of a clean slate. And that’s kind of nice. One small item of clarification for those... Read more
iMortal
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