“in full view of ESPN’s radical new 3-D cameras … we’ll see the tragedy of Icarus unfold right there in primetime.”
—The Birth And Death Of Big Air
July 2010
52 posts
“We have to open Schrödinger’s box every time, having a conversation to figure out whether it’s OK to have a conversation.”
—Clive Thompson on the death of the phone call - Wired
“I’m almost 40, and I don’t desire much more out of life than riding my bike, drinking cheap beer, smoking a little ganj, and playing softball.”
—I have no legs. I have no legs. I have no legs. | MetaFilter
“@GayTaleseEsq RT @OldBlueEyes: I’m feeling kind of sniffly. Think I may be coming down with something.”
—Six classic American magazine stories reimagined for the digital age - The Pitch
“The only genuinely heavy coincidence started with a letter and will continue for the length of a popular TV series.”
—songs you taught me: It got weird
“Hello sinners. Since yesterday’s pile of tracts seems to have been enjoyed, I’ll post some more.”
—PUBLIC COLLECTORS
“With every year of playing, you want to relax one more muscle. The more tense you are, the less you can hear.”
—Yo-Yo Ma: The Ever Curious Cellist - WSJ.com
“We feel like willful creatures, blessed with elbow room and endowed with the capacity to pick our own breakfast cereal.”
—My first act of free will - Jonah Lehrer - Wired Science
“When we go to a lean six sigma process, we will be able to eliminate editors.”
—A Fourth of July lesson in the value of editors - Writing For Digital
“We want people to see dreams as the means to discover themselves, and that Freud will show them how.”
—McSweeney’s Internet Tendency: Freud: The Rebranding.
Jessamyn West shares her student evaluation from David Foster Wallace. Grade: B+
At a TMN gathering this summer Paul Ford explained how Metafilter admin Jessamyn West is one the best editors working today for her work maintaining Ask Metafilter and crafting it into such a thriving community.
AskMeFi is a wonderful place on the web to take a ramble, with myriad comprehensive answers to every question you’ll ever ask. It’s one of my favorite places online, much in thanks to Jessamyn’s work keeping the place in ship-shape. Look to “Popular Favorites” to witness the power of the hive-mind.
Paul Ford isn’t alone in high praise for Jessamyn. Twenty-three years ago she was a student at Hampshire and took classes at Amherst College. Her Assistant Professor of English there was David Foster Wallace. Jessamyn recently shared DFW’s student evaluation of her fiction:
Her ear is very good, her flair for rhythm in dialogue, description, even juxtaposition of scenes impressive…an impetus toward greater breadth in Jessamyn’s range would help deepen her (already quite good) stories into the kind of complex, non-judgemental, compassionate attitude fiction depends on.
Course grade: B+.
David Foster Wallace, Assistant Professor of English.
The praise rings true now; and I can’t think of anywhere on the web with greater breadth of stories and non-judgmental compassionate attitude than AskMeFi, all thanks to Jessamyn guarding the gate.
“Even if you don’t ever want sluthood for yourself, you’re going to be called upon to support a slut.”
—My Sluthood, Myself. — Feministe
“If you bring a groupie back to your room, don’t leave her in there alone. She will take photos of everything.”
—A Guided Tour Of Darren McFadden’s Hotel Room, As Hosted By His Road Beef
“A contemporary Belfast wild boy, Higgins may never have understood how he achieved his brilliance.”
—Alex Higgins obituary | Sport | The Guardian
“Stuntmen run around wielding flaming clubs, large squibs simulate cannonball impacts, paratroopers break bricks and tanks dance in their odd, clumsy way.”
—Tank Ballet, Paratroopers and Combat Dogs: Live Video from the Russian Arms Expo - Popular Mechanics
“The tiny mandibles of a bark beetle can bring quick death to a jungle giant.”
—Green I Love You Green by Nalini Nadkarni : Poetry Magazine [article/magazine]
“This proved unexpectedly helpful for tagging posts when, months later, Don Draper finger-blasted Bobbie Barrett outside the powder room on Mad Men.”
—What It’s Really Like To Be A Copy Editor - The Awl
“He will seal off the defense, and you will be wide open. You just tap it in. But do not dunk it. You do not have time to dunk it.”
—Joe Posnanski » Blog Archive » Dean
“I see now that “LeBron” was just making a Decision, just as you or I might make a Decision, say, to eat a wet cigarette butt or pursue an erotic encounter with Helen Thomas.”
—The LeBron Letter, Take 2 - WSJ.com
“I hope that our post-organic nervous systems will occasionally light up to the archived index of Diagonal Thoughts.”
—Film Society of Lincoln Center
