My favorite new iPhone app is PhotoTropedelic by Larry Weinberg ($1.99). I’ll say upfront that v1.0 auto-adds a credit to your photos – BOO for a paid app – but the developer heard the cries of his public and has submitted a 1.1 revision which he promises will eiminate this annoyance. Here are a few…
… and how you can, too. I received this email late on Saturday from Lee Kagan, our personal physician and longtime friend: Dear Friends: The photo below was taken today (Saturday, Jan. 16) at the hospital in Jimani, Dominican Republic, where a medical team from the International Medical Alliance (www.imaonline.org) is now working. The town sits…
A dear friend, who’s three years my junior, learned yesterday that the breast cancer she’s fought fearlessly for a dozen years will soon have the last laugh. She sent a typically wry email around to announce this news to her “Best Beloveds.” In it, she muses about how best to use her remaining time. “Does…
A welcome, perhaps even necessary, bit of perspective as we ring in the New Year, this short film vividly depicts the Universe as scientists best know it. Produced by Michael Hofman and directed by Carter Emmart, it’s well worth six minutes of your time. Click left or below to view. The Known Universe Scientifically Rendered…
On the Sunday after Christmas, we (Tom, Steve, Sims and I, accompanied by Jefferson, S&S’s chocolate lab) hiked the lovely Shelf Road Trail in Ojai. Below, some iPhone photos from our walk:
By Ben Wszalek I love watching movies, and once I moved into my college dorm room, I wanted better sound and picture than my laptop provides. This is what I’ve devised so far: my dorm room bed – aka “The Screening Room.” This sheet acts as a curtain that helps to keep light out. It’s…
Sundown, Christmas Day
The pond is plenteous The land is lush, And having turned off the news I am for the moment mellow. With my book in one hand And my drink in the other What more could I want But fame, Better health, And ten million dollars? – Kenneth Burke
You can purchase this, and similarly imaginative Seb Lester prints, here. You can also follow him on Twitter, where he’s @seblester.
For the past two months, I’ve been following a near-Vegan, near-gluten-free diet for two reasons: 1) to improve my general health and minimize chances of further disease and 2) to lose weight. Only time will tell if I achieve goal number 1, although my already-low cholesterol had dropped another three points by my physical last…
This recipe was sent to me almost a decade ago by my Aunt. It was from the February 2001 issue of Food & Wine Magazine, and credited to Alex Urena, executive chef of Manhattan’s Blue Hill Restaurant. Servings: 2 to 4 Ingredients: 3 tablespoons canola oil One 14-ounce vacuum-packed jar of cooked and peeled chestnuts…
I’m a longtime fan of Michael Josephson. He’s the founder of the Josephson Institute of Ethics, and provides the “Character Counts” segments to which I listen on KNX radio here in Los Angeles. (He’s also the uncle of a close friend of mine, but I didn’t know that until long after I became a devoted…
As my mom likes to say, “there are pros and cons on both sides” to Twitter’s new RT function (at this writing, still being rolled out in Beta). Here are what I perceive them to be at this point. First, the good. It makes the process of retweeting much easier. Just click a button. No…
Everyone’s all atwitter (forgive the pun) over the service’s new Lists feature. It is, if you will, a glamorized, organized version of the site’s ubiquitous “Follow Friday” meme, in which users recommend people for other users to follow. Some seem to regard the Lists function with a combination of fear and contempt: that it will…
This is my friend Cliff’s pug, Hiccup. I want to hug him.
The brilliant poster, designed by LeAnne Wagner, for a Bard College program held earlier this year. It examined ‘the manifesto as a context in contemporary art.”
The five generally agreed-upon human tastes are bitter, salty, sour, sweet and umami. I propose a sixth: Context. Dodger Dogs don’t taste the same at home as they do at Dodger Stadium, even if it’s the same dog, bun and relish. Guinness tastes different at the brewery than it does from the tap at your…
We spent the weekend with our friends Steve and Sims at their lovely ranch in the Upper Ojai Valley. A good portion of Saturday was taken up by the preparation of an amazing eggplant parmesan for dinner that evening. Steve is a master gardener, and Sims a master chef, so we knew we were in…
Twitter is on the verge of implementing a new feature: the ability to automatically append your location (via latitude and longitude) to your tweets. This feature will be affirmatively opt-in. In other words, the default is that the functionality will be turned OFF, and you must request it to be turned on in your settings….
Tom and I just returned from a splendiferous weekend in Las Vegas, which we undertook in a slightly early celebration of our 21st wedding anniversary. (The actual date is October 1.) Since we head to Sin City more often than many of our friends, we’re usually asked for recommendations, so I figured I’d just write…
An irresistible combination: three of pop culture’s greatest performers, as depicted by one of pop culture’s greatest artists, SHAG. If you’re unfamiliar with SHAG’s work (SHAG being the moniker of Orange County’s Josh Agle), he’s well-known for his stylized images of mid-Century Los Angeles, of all things Tiki, and of several anniversary artwork creations for…
Our son just started his first year at Bard College. (I digress here to note that Bard’s illustrious musical alumni include The Sherman Brothers, Steely Dan, and our friend Nelson Bragg of the Brian Wilson Band. Spectacular connections right there, but that’s not my subject for today.) Rhinebeck, NY is a lovely town about 8 miles…
The haze from the Station Fire north of Los Angeles causes the sun to cast an orange glow as it sets. Taken in Sherman Oaks, CA on September 1.