Month: August 2022

Desultory Pics – Denver, August 2022

Apology for Idlers – Robert Louis Stevenson

He who has much looked on at the childish satisfaction of other people in their hobbies, will regard his own with only a very ironical indulgence. He will not be heard among the dogmatists. He will have a great and cool allowance for all sorts of people and opinions. If he finds no out-of-the-way truths, he will identify himself with no very burning falsehood. His way takes him along a by-road, not much frequented, but very even and pleasant, which is called Commonplace Lane, and leads to the Belvedere of Commonsense. Thence he shall command an agreeable, if no very noble prospect; and while others behold the East and West, the Devil and the Sunrise, he will be contentedly aware of a sort of morning hour upon all sublunary things, with an army of shadows running speedily and in many different directions into the great daylight of Eternity. The shadows and the generations, the shrill doctors and the plangent wars, go by into ultimate silence and emptiness; but underneath all this, a man may see, out of the Belvedere windows, much green and peaceful landscape; many firelit parlours; good people laughing, drinking, and making love as they did before the Flood or the French Revolution; and the old shepherd telling his tale under the hawthorn.

Quote from the essay, Apology for Idlers, which you can find here:
The Lantern-Bearers and Other Essays
Robert Louis Stevenson

Provocative Drama – Cassavetes on

When people were walking out of Husbands and Faces en masse I never felt bad about that because I thought that it was pain that was taking them out of the theater and I thought that it wasn’t the fact that the film was bad. It was that they couldn’t take it without changing their own lifestyles, which made both those films very successful to me. I thought at the time that Husbands was anti the lifestyle of almost everyone in America. We presented a lifestyle that went against their lifestyle. People walked out because they didn’t want to accept the fact that there could be anything wrong with the way they lived their lives.

It doesn’t matter whether audiences like it; it matters whether they feel something. I feel I’ve succeeded if I make them feel something — anything. The hope is that you don’t make it so easy for an audience that when they go to your movie they have nothing to think about except, ‘That was wonderful. Good. Next! What else are you going to entertain my great appetite with?’ I want to make you mad. Yeah, that’s going to take longer. And yeah, when we have it we’ll let you know, I mean. And we’ll put it there.

Cassavetes on Cassavetes
John Cassavetes, Ray Carney

Standing With Salman Rushdie

The gathering, “Stand with Salman: Defend the Freedom to Write,” was organized by the library in collaboration with free speech nonprofit PEN America and Rushdie’s publisher, Penguin Random House. Notable writers—including Paul Auster, Reginald Dwayne Betts, Andrea Elliot, Jeffrey Eugenides and Gay Talese—gave remarks before a crowd of hundreds at the hour-long event.

As Salman Rushdie Recovers, Renowned Writers Read Aloud From His Work
Paul Auster, Jeffrey Eugenides and others championed free speech at the New York Public Library
Smithsonian Magazine

Free Work Advice

AMA from your profession, and I’ll answer like I know it from AMA

StrawberrySpots
A table had an allergy and they didn’t tell their server – their kid is having an allergic reaction, what do we do?

cutelittlebytes
Gaslight them kid’s just craving attention

dafencer93
How do we treat type III pulmonary hypertension?

cutelittlebytes
Pilates

Physical-Apartment-4
So what do you think about going for a prismatic coefficient of 0.55 for our next project?

cutelittlebytes
That’s tiny, you should try higher

ArtManely7224
When replacing a Flugal gear connector, is it better to use a 3/8 inch Johnson valve or a 1/4 inch Lipmen socket?

cutelittlebytes
The more inches the better

The_War-Chief00
What kaizen activity should we implement in order to reduce our production hours KPI and increase our OTIF?

cutelittlebytes
Yell at each other until you find a solution

Cows_Go_Huh
What kind of permeable aggregate is usually laid for underground utilities? Why do the inspectors care so much!?

cutelittlebytes
They’re just a bunch of pussies that need to chill. You can use any

reddit

Rock Star Service at King Soopers / X-Files Reference

At my local grocery store sometimes I hear this over the storewide address system: “Rock Star service at the front please.”

I’m thinking it’s some sort of management promoted worker morale technique. Maybe it’s something else. Maybe I’m mis-hearing it.

Anyway, reminds me of this scene from the X-Files

Mulder enters prisoner visiting room. Eddie Van Blundht is wearing a hat that says Superstar.
MULDER: “What’s with the hat?”
EDDIE VAN BLUNDHT: “My court-appointed therapist makes me wear it. She says it’s meant to bolster my self-esteem.”
MULDER: “Does it?”
EDDIE VAN BLUNDHT: “Not really.”

Small Potatoes
Five unrelated women in a small town give birth to babies with small tails. The prime suspect is a man who can shape shift into whomever he wants.

Reverse Psychology, Example of

2014 – Pazz and Jop Poll – Top 50 Singles

Via Waybackmachine

1. Future Islands, “Seasons (Waiting on You)”
2. FKA Twigs, “Two Weeks”
3. Taylor Swift, “Blank Space”
4. Taylor Swift, “Shake It Off”
5. Kendrick Lamar, “I”
6. ILoveMakonnen (ft. Drake), “Tuesday”
7. Sia, “Chandelier”
8. Charli XCX, “Boom Clap”
9. Beyoncé (ft. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie), “***Flawless”
10. DJ Snake (ft. Lil Jon), “Turn Down for What”
11. Perfume Genius, “Queen”
12. Flying Lotus (ft. Kendrick Lamar), “Never Catch Me”
13. Pharrell Williams, “Happy”
14. St. Vincent, “Digital Witness”
15. Sam Smith, “Stay With Me”
16. Future (ft. Pharrell, Pusha T and Casino), “Move That Dope”
17. Alvvays, “Archie, Marry Me”
18. Run the Jewels (ft. Zack de la Rocha), “Close Your Eyes (and Count to Fuck)”
19. tUnE-yArDs, “Water Fountain”
20. The War on Drugs, “Red Eyes”
21. Caribou, “Can’t Do Without You”
22. Beyoncé (ft. Jay-Z), “Drunk in Love”
23. Mark Ronson (ft. Bruno Mars), “Uptown Funk”
24. Meghan Trainor, “All About That Bass”
25. Tinashe (ft. Schoolboy Q), “2 On”
26. Courtney Barnett, “Avant Gardener”
27. Rich Gang (ft. Young Thug and Rich Homie Quan), “Lifestyle”
28. Iggy Azalea (ft. Charli XCX), “Fancy”
29. Sturgill Simpson, “Turtles All the Way Down”
30. Drake, “0 to 100/The Catch Up”
31. Ariana Grande (ft. Iggy Azalea), “Problem”
32. Dej Loaf, “Try Me”
33. Spoon, “Do You”
34. Usher, “Good Kisser”
35. Jeremih (ft. YG), “Don’t Tell ‘Em”
36. Jenny Lewis, “Just One of the Guys”
37. Beyoncé (ft. Nicki Minaj), “***Flawless (Remix)”
38. Hozier, “Take Me to Church”
39. Sleater-Kinney, “Bury Our Friends”
40. ILoveMakonnen, “Club Goin’ Up on a Tuesday”
41. Kira Isabella, “Quarterback”
42. Jenny Lewis, “She’s Not Me”
43. Spoon, “Inside Out”
44. Sharon Van Etten, “Your Love Is Killing Me”
45. Rae Sremmurd, “No Type”
46. Maddie & Tae, “Girl in a Country Song”
47. Cloud Nothings, “I’m Not Part of Me”
48. Rae Sremmurd, “No Flex Zone”
49. Lana Del Rey, “West Coast”
50. New Pornographers, “Brill Bruisers”

Hitting Up Used Book Store

The Rector of Justin
Louis Auchincloss
Friend from college days said this was exceptional.

As If By Magic
Angus Wilson
Never heard of this one. Author Angus Wilson is familiar. He has two books on Anthony Burgess’ 99 Books List

Grendel
John Gardner
Read this a long time ago. Will it hold up?

Paco’s Story
Larry Heinemann
Vaguely remember when this came out. It received fair amount of acclaim.

RIP – Anne Heche

I liked this movie and it’s not a bad one to remember Anne Heche with. Recall her character, a therapist, saying, “I think I’m fucking my patients up worse.” (Paraphrased from memory.)

IMDB

Just as Amelia thinks she’s over her anxiety and insecurity, her best friend announces her engagement, bringing her anxiety and insecurity right back

Jared Kushner White House Memoir – NYTIMES Review

“Breaking History” is an earnest and soulless — Kushner looks like a mannequin, and he writes like one — and peculiarly selective appraisal of Donald J. Trump’s term in office. Kushner almost entirely ignores the chaos, the alienation of allies, the breaking of laws and norms, the flirtations with dictators, the comprehensive loss of America’s moral leadership, and so on, ad infinitum, to speak about his boyish tinkering (the “mechanic”) with issues he was interested in.

This book is like a tour of a once majestic 18th-century wooden house, now burned to its foundations, that focuses solely on, and rejoices in, what’s left amid the ashes: the two singed bathtubs, the gravel driveway and the mailbox. Kushner’s fealty to Trump remains absolute. Reading this book reminded me of watching a cat lick a dog’s eye goo.

Jared Kushner’s ‘Breaking History’ Is a Soulless and Very Selective Memoir
In this lengthy book, Kushner recounts the time he spent in the White House during his father-in-law’s term.
Dwight Garner

Vronsky Sees Anna for the First Time – Anna Karenina Quote

Vronsky followed the conductor to the carriage and at the door to the compartment stopped to allow a lady to leave. With the habitual flair of a worldly man, Vronsky determined from one glance at this lady’s appearance that she belonged to high society. He excused himself and was about to enter the carriage, but felt a need to glance at her once more – not because she was very beautiful, not because of the elegance and modest grace that could be seen in her whole figure, but because there was something especially gentle and tender in the expression of her sweet-looking face as she stepped past him. As he looked back, she also turned her head. Her shining grey eyes, which seemed dark because of their thick lashes, rested amiably and attentively on his face, as if she recognized him, and at once wandered over the approaching crowd as though looking for someone. In that brief glance Vronsky had time to notice the restrained animation that played over her face and fluttered between her shining eyes and the barely noticeable smile that curved her red lips. It was as if a surplus of something so overflowed her being that it expressed itself beyond her will, now in the brightness of her glance, now in her smile. She deliberately extinguished the light in her eyes, but it shone against her will in a barely noticeable smile.

Anna Karenina
Tolstoy

Denzel Washington Honors August Wilson’s Legacy at House Opening

PITTSBURGH — On Saturday, crowds gathered outside August Wilson’s childhood home in the historic Hill District here to celebrate the grand opening of the August Wilson House. After a yearslong fund-raising and restoration effort, the house where the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright spent the first 13 years of his life will now be open to the public with the goal of extending Wilson’s legacy and advancing Black arts in culture.

Wilson, who died in 2005, is perhaps best known for his series of 10 plays called the American Century Cycle, which detail the various experiences of Black Americans throughout the 20th century. Nine of these plays are set in this city’s Hill District — a bastion of Black history, arts and culture — and one, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” is set in Chicago.

Denzel Washington Honors August Wilson’s Legacy at House Opening
After fund-raising and restoration efforts, the childhood home of the playwright will offer artist residencies and other programming.
Ollie Gratzinger

Quantifying Hospice Chaplain Productivity

‘Spiritual Care Drive-Bys’
IN THE FIRST MONTH after joining the group of hospice chaplains in Minnesota, the Rev. Heather Thonvold was invited to five potlucks. To endure the constant sorrow of the work, the more than a dozen clergy members ministered to one another. Sometimes the cantor in the group played guitar for his mostly Protestant colleagues. There was comfort in regarding their work as a calling, several of them said.

In August 2020, the productivity revolution arrived for them in an email from their employer, a nonprofit called Allina Health.

“The timing is not ideal,” the message said, with the team already strained by the pandemic. But workloads varied too widely, and “the stark reality at this point is we cannot wait any longer.”

Allina was already keeping track of productivity, but now there would be stricter procedures with higher expectations. Every morning the chaplains would share on a spreadsheet the number of “productivity points” they anticipated earning. Every evening, software would calculate whether they had met their goals.

But dying defied planning. Patients broke down, canceled appointments, drew final breaths. This left the clergy scrambling and in a perpetual dilemma. “Do I see the patients who earn the points or do I see the patients who really need to be seen?” as Mx. Thonvold put it.

The Rise of the Worker Productivity Score
Across industries and incomes, more employees are being tracked, recorded and ranked. What is gained, companies say, is efficiency and accountability. What is lost?
By Jodi Kantor and Arya Sundaram
Produced by Aliza Aufrichtig and Rumsey Taylor