Parries
December 2012
Some Consumer Affairs
I’ve tried to enjoy schlepping water, thinking that it serves to keep us to some human roots.
April 2012
From Nokia N95 to iPhone 4S
Annoyances and upsets with the iPhone 4S have been more than offset by its screen, the silkiness of its surfaces, the camera, and the third-party market for both software and hardware.
February 2012
2001: A Space Odyssey: Dry, Juicy, Linear, Luminous
After they finished watching the Bond movies, I figured the next series John Gruber and Dan Benjamin would discuss on The Talk Show would be Stanley Kubrick’s oeuvre. But Gruber refused — too personal for podcasting, he said. Disappointed, I rewatched 2001.
January 2012
A Scheme of a Number of Friends
Instead of acknowledging the wisdom of leading from behind, the Right jumped on the Obama administration’s handling of Libya as yet another example of at best incompetence. They lost me there.
October 2011
The Mouse and the Cantilever
Steve Jobs we lost at the age of 56; when Frank Lloyd Wright reached that age it was still only 1923, the time of merely his second comeback with Tokyo’s Imperial Hotel.
March 2010
Friendship is for Weenies
It’s amazing, given the adulation he enjoyed elsewhere, that the Israeli public knew from the start not to trust this US President.
Before the Setup
Nobody from usesthis.com has asked me what my setup us, nor is likely to anytime soon. So I’m just going to mouth off here about it. But first, some background.
February 2010
Walter Russell Mead steps gingerly into the Wieseltier/Sullivan imbroglio
On the Leon Wieseltier/Andrew Sullivan spat, Walter Russell Mead seems to want to have his strudel and eat it too.
October 2009
My Hope: Obama’s Change
Defeat in the Olympics bid may focus the mind in the Oval Office where it should be: Afghanistan.
July 2009
At Modi’in Mall
There’s nothing else around here except empty desolate pretty hills. The Israel Trail passes by a bit to the west. It’s a hot July Wednesday morning. Things are reasonably busy. The shops are mostly franchises, almost all homegrown — Super-Pharm, Aroma, Tzomet Sfarim, Cup O’ Joe’s, LaMetayel, Mega, Fox, Castro, H&O.
Israel, the Bad So Far
I’m surprised at the general appearance of Tel Aviv folks. Yes, it’s hot, but people appear dressed as if they’re in, I don’t know, Be’er Sheva. And the people in Be’er Sheva, last time I was there, looked to me like they’re dressed for Gaza.
June 2009
60 Days of Bikram Yoga
Tomorrow morning I return to Bikram Yoga practice after two days off. I’ve just done 60 days in a row. So what has it done?
March 2009
Namaste, Dharma Workmen
What do the Lost characters mostly want these days? It’s not to get off the island. Increasingly, the island is just where they live and love. If anything, they’ve found home — or, rather, their home found them.
February 2009
24, Lost Get Soft
When life gets fast, unlike how it’s lived by most of us out here in the dark, loyalties are quickly superceded by new circumstances. This is not despite values but because of them. Such Darwinian churn is a theme shared by the very different Lost and 24 and so might just be a defining one for our times.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Buddha
If someone is living life in reverse time while the rest of us are living it forwards, then our world is Buddhist, because such an impossibility falsifies reality, which must therefore be a dream.
January 2009
Shanghai Europe
So, finally, we stopped yesterday; the Israeli assault of late 2008/early 2009 on Gaza is over. With it, Israel lost moral purity and made vital strategic gains.
Panning for MacBook Pro
Even if it did nothing, was just a prop in a futuristic movie, the MacBook Pro would be impressive. It’s like a sculpture of my previous computer, the MacBook, except it’s actually an improved computer! So even though I’m looking at it now and touching it to write these words, I’m going to stop now just to look at it and touch it.
December 2008
Stop Yesterday
Is the goal of Israel’s assault on Gaza to discourage Hamas from firing rockets, or is it to render Hamas incapable of firing rockets? These are two very different projects, yet we are hearing about both from the government, which worryingly suggests that the government isn’t quite sure.
Short-circuiting Place-based Longing
If there is one tangible benefit to having lived in a variety of places it’s that it furnishes evidence of the futility of longing to be elsewhere.
October 2008
Ebullience, Please
A President of the United States must be ebullient. At the presidential debates we should have seen McCain like we saw him at the Al Smith dinner.
September 2008
History Tonight, McCain vs. Obama
McCain pulled through but he’d better improve, better get relaxed. This was the big one, and Obama came off a 21st century Brat Packer.
Encounter at Wetherspoone’s
As if those glass double doors belong to a wild saloon wherein one must repulse brigands just for a peaceful drink.
August 2008
A Crawl Across Crawley, Part 1
Irit, the Jam and I walk from Brighton to Gatwick Airport.
July 2008
Suddenly Seymour
Time was, Seymour Hersh’s dispatches were a cause for minor celebration. They were full- and deep-throated journalistic tours de force, possible changers of paradigms. But his latest, “Preparing the Battlefield” on funding covert ops in Iran, leaves too many clues that reveal precisely where he’s coming from.
June 2008
Another End of Times
With the recent reported training exercises over Crete, perhaps Israel’s strike on the Iranian regime’s machinery of genocide has already begun.
Dead Till Eilenspiegel
Beyond steadfastness and vigor in prosecuting Islamofascism, John McCain seems an American president I’d love even more than the great liberator George W. Bush (most of you just left, I know) because he is more American on immigration than either his party or the other.
All So Simple
First, there is a general moode and desire to write.
March 2008
Why AAPL
Apple’s operating system will, I believe, become in time the dominant one, and with a current market share of only 6% or so, that’s a lot more computers to sell. And as the only operating system seller that also sells the computers it runs on, as well as owning the shops they’re sold from, Apple stands to become a colossus, even a frightening one.
Clash of the Midgets
My phone! One of the reasons I didn’t want an iPhone is that I’m invested in the T9 text entry method and like it. But while I do like the Nokia N95’s slider, it creates discomfort when entering text because all the weight in the phone is further up.
January 2008
Dangers of the Gaza-Egypt border breach
Hamas may try to use Egyptian territory to stage cross-border attacks on Israel, aiming to operate in parts of the Sinai as Hezballah does in southern Lebanon.

Photos
Some Hayarkon Park horizontals and verticals
Sunday, May 19th, 2013; Tel Aviv, Israel
Some Hayarkon Park horizontals and verticals
Sunday, May 19th, 2013; Tel Aviv, Israel
Down to a Frank Lloyd Wright public toilet
Sunday, April 21st, 2013; Florida Southern College, Lakeland, Florida, United States
Welcome to campus by Frank Lloyd Wright
Sunday, April 21st, 2013; Florida Southern College, Lakeland, Florida, United States
Thomas Edison’s back garden jetty
Saturday, April 20th, 2013; Fort Meyers, Florida, United States
Around the back with Frank Lloyd Wright
Friday, April 19th, 2013; Florida Southern College, Lakeland, Florida, United States
Moving through Frank Lloyd Wright’s Florida Southern College in the late afternoon
Friday, April 19th, 2013; Florida Southern College, Lakeland, Florida, United States
College passageway by Frank Lloyd Wright
Friday, April 19th, 2013; Florida Southern College, Lakeland, Florida, United States
Bag. Coat.
Thursday, April 11th, 2013; Brighton, East Sussex, England
Drum in the snow
Tuesday, March 12th, 2013; Brighton, East Sussex, England
Thank you, Taylor Street Baristas
Monday, March 11th, 2013; Brighton, East Sussex, England
Audience and art at the Saatchi Gallery
Friday, January 25th, 2013; London, England
I’m Too Sexy for My Tiles
Saturday, January 19th, 2013; Brighton, East Sussex, England
So lovely, this champagne bar alongside Eurostar — the wood, the sconces, the intricate roof, the deliberate warm colors, the proportions — it’s like being inside a giant Frank Lloyd Wright living room.
Glory of St Pancras
Monday, November 19th, 2012; London, England
Glamorous Grandma
Monday, November 19th, 2012; London, England
Family visit
Sunday, November 11th, 2012; Brighton, East Sussex, England
Using HDR does seem to add a touch of unreality to things.
Watery Sussex sun
Tuesday, November 6th, 2012; Brighton, East Sussex, England
Bumpers
Monday, October 15th, 2012; Brighton, East Sussex, England
Pure Erechtheum
Thursday, October 4th, 2012; Acropolis, Athens, Greece
Sky ceiling
Thursday, October 4th, 2012; Acropolis, Athens, Greece
My other goat is a camel
Tuesday, October 2nd, 2012; Hod Hasharon, Israel
Beep beep
Monday, October 1st, 2012; Tel Aviv, Israel
Cousins
Sunday, September 30th, 2012; Herzlia, Israel
Telawiwi
Tuesday, September 18th, 2012; Tel Aviv, Israel
Happiness is a Cold Goat (Yoghurt)
Sunday, September 16th, 2012; Tel Aviv, Israel
Helpmeet
Sunday, September 16th, 2012; Tel Aviv, Israel
At the airport
Thursday, September 13th, 2012; Athens, Greece
Into the woods
Monday, September 10th, 2012; Brighton, East Sussex, England
Jam’s closest grass these days
Thursday, August 2nd, 2012; Brighton, East Sussex, England
Hand
Thursday, July 12th, 2012; West Sussex, England
Gazing along the River Adur
Tuesday, June 12th, 2012; Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex, England
Jubilee
Monday, June 4th, 2012; London, England
By Ishihara Kazuyuki Design Laboratory. This won Best Artisan Garden at the 2012 Chelsea Flower Show.
That’s Satoyama Life, folks
Friday, May 25th, 2012; London, England
I’m walkin’ here
Monday, May 21st, 2012; Brighton, East Sussex, England
Jet Age Jim
Tuesday, May 15th, 2012; Brussels, Belgium
Jolly Bannister of Atomium
Tuesday, May 15th, 2012; Brussels, Belgium
Hold that thought
Monday, May 14th, 2012; Belgium
Tree and Tubes
Monday, May 14th, 2012; Brussels, Belgium
Raw Brussels
Sunday, May 13th, 2012; Brussels, Belgium
In a way it is indeed Eden’s garden, as he wouldn’t be here were it not for the courage and decency of its owners during WW2, Victor & Christiane D’Ansembourg, who hid his great grandmother Hannah on the grounds. For doing so, they were recognized in 2010 by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations.
A Garden of Eden
Saturday, May 12th, 2012; Belgium
Five
Thursday, April 26th, 2012; Brighton, East Sussex, England
God Morgen
Tuesday, April 24th, 2012; Brighton, East Sussex, England
We made this
Tuesday, April 17th, 2012; Brighton, East Sussex, England
Self-Portrait in Dreich
Wednesday, March 14th, 2012; Brighton, East Sussex, England
London Road Railway Bridge
Thursday, March 8th, 2012; Brighton, East Sussex, England
Daddy, You are Part of the Rebel Alliance and a Traitor
Thursday, March 8th, 2012; Brighton, East Sussex, England
I Climb
Tuesday, November 29th, 2011; Brighton, East Sussex, England
Call of the Even Slightly Wild
Saturday, November 26th, 2011; Brighton, East Sussex, England
Let the Messiah In
Thursday, November 24th, 2011; Tel Aviv, Israel
Mensch Bench
Saturday, November 19th, 2011; Herzlia, Israel
Yeah Yeah Yeah
Sunday, August 28th, 2011; Brighton, East Sussex, England
Nephew
Sunday, March 20th, 2011; Israel
A favorite of mine. Feel I got lucky with both the light and the poses here.
Mother & Baby at Mini-Israel
Sunday, March 20th, 2011; Israel
Psychedelic Blankets
Thursday, March 17th, 2011; Hod Hasharon, Israel
Israel on My Mind
Saturday, March 12th, 2011; Kibbutz Almog, Israel
Northernmost African Tree at Kibbutz Almog
Saturday, March 12th, 2011; Kibbutz Almog, Israel
Down to a Lifeless Sea
Saturday, March 12th, 2011; Kibbutz Almog, Israel
Still Life at Dead Sea
Friday, March 11th, 2011; Ein Bokek, Israel
Typica Israeliana
Tuesday, March 1st, 2011; Hod Hasharon, Israel
A Visit to England
Saturday, August 28th, 2010; Brighton, East Sussex, England
Vertical Delight
Saturday, June 19th, 2010; Brighton, East Sussex, England
Chambers St
Saturday, May 8th, 2010; London, England
Cathedral in the Snow
Saturday, January 9th, 2010; Helsinki, Finland
City View
Saturday, January 9th, 2010; Helsinki, Finland
Boat & Chimney
Friday, January 8th, 2010; Helsinki, Finland
Boat in the Frozen Harbour
Friday, January 8th, 2010; Helsinki, Finland
Furry Balcony
Friday, January 8th, 2010; Helsinki, Finland
A Town as Pretty as Asian
Friday, October 23rd, 2009; Leiden, Holland
Walk to Work in Leiden
Friday, October 23rd, 2009; Leiden, Holland
Jam Out Back (Nicer Reprise)
Wednesday, October 21st, 2009; Brighton, East Sussex, England
Look Back in Sighing
Thursday, October 15th, 2009; Brighton, East Sussex, England
Two Figures on a Beach
Saturday, September 19th, 2009; Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex, England
Birthday at Longleat
Tuesday, September 15th, 2009; England
Tourists in London
Wednesday, August 26th, 2009; London, England
At Gate B6, Ben Gurion Airport
Saturday, August 1st, 2009; Israel
Woman Crosses Pedestrian Bridge
Thursday, July 30th, 2009; Tel Aviv, Israel
At Modi’in Mall
Wednesday, July 29th, 2009; Israel
Jerusalem Train to Beit Shemesh
Tuesday, July 28th, 2009; Judean Hills, Israel
Looking Down towards Tel Aviv from the Judean Hills
Monday, July 27th, 2009; Judean Hills, Israel
A Walk along the Dead Sea front
Tuesday, July 21st, 2009; Ein Bokek, Israel
Dead Sea Life
Tuesday, July 21st, 2009; Ein Bokek, Israel
Sunrise at the Dead Sea
Tuesday, July 21st, 2009; Ein Bokek, Israel
Good for the People
Tuesday, June 30th, 2009; Brighton, East Sussex, England
Jam’s Place
Thursday, June 11th, 2009; Brighton, East Sussex, England
Picnic’s Chicks
Sunday, May 24th, 2009; Brighton, East Sussex, England
Who Do You Think You are Kidding, Mr Finjan?
Sunday, May 24th, 2009; Brighton, East Sussex, England
Reminds Me of Chigley
Saturday, May 2nd, 2009; London, England
Magic Pavilion
Thursday, April 23rd, 2009; Brighton, East Sussex, England
Canal House
Saturday, April 18th, 2009; London, England
Brighton Life
Tuesday, March 31st, 2009; Brighton, East Sussex, England
Still the Same Old Life
Tuesday, March 31st, 2009; Brighton, East Sussex, England
Homes Sweet Homes
Sunday, March 29th, 2009; England
Still Life with Pretty
Sunday, March 29th, 2009; London, England
Glib Glug
Saturday, February 21st, 2009; Brighton, East Sussex, England
A Hard Day’s Hike
Saturday, January 31st, 2009; East Sussex, England
First House, 35 Years On
Monday, December 8th, 2008; Newton Mearns, Glasgow, Strathclyde, Scotland
Around the Back at the Mearns Cross Shopping Centre
Monday, December 8th, 2008
Miserable-looking Yet Mythic Mearns
Monday, December 8th, 2008
Signs of the Old Times
Monday, December 8th, 2008
Thames View
Thursday, November 20th, 2008; London, England
A Favorite Spot of Mine, Too
Tuesday, November 18th, 2008; Ein Bokek, Israel
A View to a Bark
Sunday, October 12th, 2008; East Sussex, England
Happy at Gatwick
Wednesday, September 10th, 2008
At Notting Hill Carnival 2008
Monday, August 25th, 2008
Crossing the Thames
Sunday, August 24th, 2008; London, England
The Climb After Crossing the M25
Sunday, August 10th, 2008
Back of the Pub
Sunday, July 27th, 2008
Jam at the Indian Monument
Sunday, July 27th, 2008; Brighton, East Sussex, England
Magic Garden
Friday, July 4th, 2008
The Family Shardik
Saturday, June 21st, 2008
Cadbury’s Blighty
Saturday, June 21st, 2008; Brighton, East Sussex, England
Father’s Day
Sunday, June 15th, 2008; East Sussex, England
Classical Structure Somehow
Thursday, June 12th, 2008; London, England
Gay Day at the Park
Thursday, June 12th, 2008; London, England
Hot Piping
Sunday, May 18th, 2008; Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, United States
Forlorn Sundown Strip
Sunday, May 11th, 2008; Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States
Indiana Jones and the Krispies of Coco
Sunday, May 11th, 2008; Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States
Across the Universe
Saturday, May 10th, 2008; Key Largo, Florida, United States
Sanctuary’s Path
Saturday, May 10th, 2008; Key Largo, Florida, United States
Sweetlife
Saturday, April 26th, 2008
Israel, the Life
Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008; Tel Aviv, Israel
Tel Aviv New View
Thursday, April 17th, 2008; Tel Aviv, Israel
I love this branch of the Aroma coffee chain. It seems so decadent and wholesome at once that all these national basics, these pleasures, are available down at the Dead Sea and at the same price as anywhere else in the country.
Tabletop Aroma
Friday, April 11th, 2008; Ein Bokek, Israel
There’s a unique haze down by the Dead Sea, and this camera’s lens is good enough to have captured it in the smoothed out palm tree leaves.
Early Morning Ein Bokek
Friday, April 11th, 2008; Ein Bokek, Israel
A personal favorite. I do try to get things horizontal but occasionally it’s the very angle that makes the photo.
Vroom of Arabia
Thursday, April 10th, 2008; Israel
Preston Park’s Church
Saturday, March 1st, 2008; Brighton, East Sussex, England
Bagjam
Sunday, February 3rd, 2008; Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex, England
The Man and City
Sunday, November 18th, 2007
New Pedestrian Bridge
Thursday, November 15th, 2007; London, England
Guy Fawkes Night parade
Monday, November 5th, 2007
Jam’s UK Arrival
Friday, October 26th, 2007; Brighton, East Sussex, England
Typica Romana
Tuesday, October 16th, 2007; Monteverde, Rome, Lazio, Italy
From a Tuscan Town
Sunday, October 14th, 2007; Cortona, Tuscany, Italy
Quiet Life with New Lime Panda
Sunday, October 14th, 2007
Columnated Ruin Dominoed
Sunday, October 14th, 2007; Cortona, Tuscany, Italy
Upright #2
Saturday, October 13th, 2007; Cortona, Tuscany, Italy
Country Living (Rather Boring)
Saturday, October 13th, 2007; Cortona, Tuscany, Italy
He Stoops to Concur
Friday, October 12th, 2007; Cortona, Tuscany, Italy
Living on the Island
Tuesday, October 9th, 2007; Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States
New York (Bionic) Eye
Tuesday, October 9th, 2007; Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States
City
Sunday, October 7th, 2007; Queens, New York City, New York, United States
Elegant Mosaics in the Subway for Goodness’ Sake
Sunday, October 7th, 2007; Africa, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States
Cable Car & Towers
Saturday, October 6th, 2007; Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States
Manhattan Shapes
Saturday, October 6th, 2007; Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States
Rise & Shine with the 59th St Bridge
Saturday, October 6th, 2007; Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States
Misty Mythie City
Saturday, October 6th, 2007; Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States
Smooth & Heavenly
Sunday, September 30th, 2007; Miami, Florida, United States
Scooters… in America!
Sunday, September 30th, 2007; Miami, Florida, United States
Typica Americana
Friday, September 28th, 2007; Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States
Talk to Us
Monday, September 24th, 2007; Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States
Welcome to Tropical Florida
Saturday, September 22nd, 2007; Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States
On the Loch
Friday, September 14th, 2007
Rest Awhile
Friday, September 14th, 2007; Loch Ness, Highlands, Scotland
Good to Get North
Friday, September 14th, 2007
Turquoise Yet Dreary
Wednesday, September 5th, 2007; Eastbourne, East Sussex, England
Ministreets #1
Saturday, April 14th, 2007
Daytime at the North Laine
Saturday, April 14th, 2007
A religion of individualists
Tuesday, April 10th, 2007
Scary seafront
Saturday, March 24th, 2007
Abstracted Seaside
Saturday, March 24th, 2007
Contented Cows
Wednesday, March 14th, 2007
Smooth Pillar
Wednesday, March 14th, 2007; Arundel, West Sussex, England
Mini at Home
Wednesday, March 14th, 2007
Castle in Blue
Wednesday, March 14th, 2007; Arundel, West Sussex, England
Down by the River
Wednesday, March 14th, 2007
Little Old Bridge
Wednesday, March 14th, 2007
Life has been Good to Them Too
Wednesday, March 14th, 2007
Hotel Sea View
Wednesday, March 14th, 2007
Spider Pier
Wednesday, March 14th, 2007
Splendid Hometown
Monday, February 26th, 2007; Brighton, East Sussex, England
Magic Castle
Wednesday, January 24th, 2007; Brighton, East Sussex, England
My Mum likes this one and has printed it out and hung it up!
Narnia-on-Sea
Wednesday, January 24th, 2007
Orient Gong
Saturday, January 6th, 2007; Brighton, East Sussex, England
The Most Photogenic Fun Fair
Sunday, December 24th, 2006
Baroqueness by the Beach
Tuesday, December 19th, 2006; Brighton, East Sussex, England
Happy Campers
Sunday, December 17th, 2006
Christmas Spirit
Wednesday, December 6th, 2006
Woman and donuts near pier
Saturday, December 2nd, 2006
Who’s been drawing on Corn Dolly Cottage?
Saturday, December 2nd, 2006
Smart Car and West Pier
Saturday, December 2nd, 2006
Can we ride this little tripsmobile?
Wednesday, November 15th, 2006
Historic Isola
Sunday, October 29th, 2006
Some Royal College of Engineering
Tuesday, October 24th, 2006
Back to Blighty
Monday, October 23rd, 2006
Brighton shops
Thursday, October 19th, 2006; Brighton, East Sussex, England
Good morning and angels
Friday, September 22nd, 2006
Beach Baskets
Tuesday, August 15th, 2006
Rockwell Moment
Tuesday, August 15th, 2006
I have a sneaking interest in seeing what references to WWII I can find in Germany. Perverse I know. I thought this one was interesting in that it shows the town’s dead from the wars in an equal way, even though the rest of the world would, I think, see Germany’s role in WWI as very different to WWII.
Two Wars
Friday, August 11th, 2006
White Guys Planning
Thursday, August 10th, 2006
‘Orrible title I know.
Samsung and Delilah?
Wednesday, July 12th, 2006
Mika and Gidi
Saturday, July 8th, 2006; Cinema City, Herzlia, Israel
Palm Forest
Thursday, July 6th, 2006; Tel Aviv, Israel
Eucalyptus at the world’s best urban park
Thursday, July 6th, 2006; Tel Aviv, Israel
My favourite little bridge
Thursday, July 6th, 2006; Tel Aviv, Israel
Eucalyptus and Sailing School
Thursday, July 6th, 2006; Tel Aviv, Israel
Bikram hits Tel Aviv
Wednesday, July 5th, 2006; Tel Aviv, Israel
Prune guy at Jaffa
Saturday, July 1st, 2006; Jaffa, Tel Aviv, Israel
Adam at 36 at AIS
Saturday, July 1st, 2006; Herzlia, Israel
A really futile and stupid gesture
Wednesday, June 28th, 2006
Gidi on the Floor
Wednesday, June 28th, 2006; Ra'anana, Israel
Reflections on a Roman hill
Monday, June 12th, 2006
It had become a regular routine but just at this moment the potential would seem open and endless.
Jam on the morning walk
Sunday, June 11th, 2006; Villa Pamphili, Monteverde, Rome, Lazio, Italy
Pregnant Sky at Rome
Friday, June 9th, 2006; Rome, Lazio, Italy
Favourite Felafel
Tuesday, June 6th, 2006; Tel Aviv, Israel
Fire on the Fountain
Wednesday, May 31st, 2006
Such a Perfect Day
Friday, May 26th, 2006
It’s a Happy Jam
Sunday, May 21st, 2006; Villa Pamphili, Monteverde, Rome, Lazio, Italy
Vote for me, whether despite or because
Thursday, May 11th, 2006
At the park
Wednesday, May 10th, 2006
Log sweet log
Sunday, May 7th, 2006
I like you
Friday, May 5th, 2006
Urban gardener
Friday, May 5th, 2006
Charming blight of Genoa
Sunday, April 30th, 2006; Genoa, Liguria, Italy
Sky Above Genoa Port
Sunday, April 30th, 2006; Genoa, Liguria, Italy
Genoa Docks
Sunday, April 30th, 2006; Genoa, Liguria, Italy
Brighton’s Collapsed West Pier
Tuesday, April 18th, 2006; Brighton, East Sussex, England
Oh No I Must Away to My Mum in Disarray
Tuesday, April 18th, 2006; Brighton, East Sussex, England
The Elm at the Royal Pavilion
Monday, April 17th, 2006
Man in Eccentric Oasis
Monday, April 17th, 2006
Here by the pier
Monday, April 17th, 2006; Brighton, East Sussex, England
Twenty-four Hour Treasures
Sunday, April 16th, 2006
Everything I’m Dreaming Of
Sunday, April 16th, 2006
Daniela in the meadow
Thursday, April 13th, 2006
I Still Want My Pink Panther Cake
Wednesday, March 15th, 2006; Rome, Lazio, Italy
At Home on the Tram
Thursday, March 9th, 2006; Rome, Lazio, Italy
A Nice Rock in the Park
Tuesday, February 7th, 2006
Pretty Enough Spot in Italy
Sunday, January 29th, 2006; Italy
Spazzes at Spania
Sunday, January 29th, 2006
What went wrang?
Monday, January 23rd, 2006
Bad business - way in
Sunday, January 22nd, 2006
Three wannabe umbrelli
Saturday, January 21st, 2006
Looking up from my beer
Saturday, January 21st, 2006
Not oppression
Tuesday, January 17th, 2006
Some Bright Spark
Tuesday, January 17th, 2006
Italian signage looks something like vintage American signage from the 50s except here it never become retro chic, it just stayed up.
Courtyard at RAI
Wednesday, January 11th, 2006
She Klazy
Thursday, December 29th, 2005
Purple Rain
Monday, December 26th, 2005
Backpack, garbage truck, Big Mac and Pantheon.
I may start using ixPix for names of possible pubs. I like The Jam and Fountain, and here, howbout The Backpack and Pantheon?
Western Civ
Monday, December 26th, 2005; Rome, Lazio, Italy
Miles and miles and miles of heart. Yes it helps to be a genius, of course, but don’t put that horse before the cart. Yes you’ve gotta have heart. —the Peggy Lee version
Auguri from Piazza Venezia, Rome. This monument behind the tree is that of Vittorio Emanuel II.
You gotta have heart
Wednesday, December 14th, 2005
Judaism has some things I deeply adore, among them the beautiful meaning bestowed upon the rainbow. When snapping this one in Villa Pamphili three months to the day of Maddie’s passing, I was taken aback by its beauty and how close the pot of gold seemed. Later, while looking at the result, with Jam standing there mute and tiny, came an emotion fresh to this heavy period: the rainbow feeling of renewal — a pitter-pattering of it at any rate.
Rainbow with Jam
Wednesday, December 7th, 2005; Villa Pamphili, Monteverde, Rome, Lazio, Italy
This is the clearing behind the runner’s hut in Villa Pamphili.
Turquise sky after rain
Wednesday, December 7th, 2005
This is the house the park is named after.
Villa Pamphili
Sunday, November 27th, 2005; Villa Pamphili, Monteverde, Rome, Lazio, Italy
Jam on the lookout for ducks.
Who’d good?
Sunday, November 27th, 2005; Villa Pamphili, Monteverde, Rome, Lazio, Italy
Jam! No swim!
Saturday, November 26th, 2005; Villa Pamphili, Monteverde, Rome, Lazio, Italy
Cute bum
Thursday, November 24th, 2005
Monday morning and happy to be back
Tuesday, November 8th, 2005; London, England
Greenwich wet time
Sunday, November 6th, 2005
Even unto death
Sunday, November 6th, 2005
Trapped on a Whitehall it never paved
Sunday, November 6th, 2005
I seem to be making a habit of taking pictures in coffee shops with blurred workers.
Coffee talk
Wednesday, October 19th, 2005
Because it’s so splendid. A treasure in the Vatican Museums.
Why a duck mosaic
Wednesday, October 19th, 2005
Achieving desultory toilet
Thursday, October 6th, 2005
Modern Madonna and children
Sunday, September 25th, 2005
Trumpton on the Tiber
Saturday, September 24th, 2005
She wanted Europe
Saturday, September 17th, 2005
Who’s the Jam?
Saturday, September 17th, 2005; Rome, Lazio, Italy
Looks like they should be reading the Financial Times.
The civilized dog
Friday, September 16th, 2005; Villa Pamphili, Monteverde, Rome, Lazio, Italy
Can a bench be lonely
Friday, September 16th, 2005
so pleased to speak with you
Thursday, September 15th, 2005
Taken just 8 days after her mother accidentally died at this house, I believe Jam’s faraway look here is due to the trauma and loss.
Jam the Thoughtful
Thursday, September 15th, 2005; Rome, Lazio, Italy
Ah, Venice
Saturday, January 22nd, 2005
Reflections on the Accademia vaporetti stop
Saturday, January 22nd, 2005
Jacket and train
Sunday, January 16th, 2005
Maddie goes feral
Sunday, January 16th, 2005; Rome, Lazio, Italy
The Jam at Rome
Sunday, January 16th, 2005; Rome, Lazio, Italy
Pantheon pidgeons
Sunday, January 16th, 2005
Dogs and trees
Sunday, January 16th, 2005; Rome, Lazio, Italy
On the #8 tram
Sunday, January 16th, 2005
Goody Music
Sunday, January 16th, 2005
Pantheon with square canvas umbrelli
Friday, January 7th, 2005; Rome, Lazio, Italy
Jam’s rib
Wednesday, October 13th, 2004; Israel
The road to Gimzo
Wednesday, October 13th, 2004; Judean Hills, Israel
Rock and distant concrete factory
Wednesday, October 13th, 2004; Judean Hills, Israel
Beneath a rail and traffic bridge to Modiin, currently under construction
Maddie with lopsided wolfpack
Wednesday, October 13th, 2004; Judean Hills, Israel
View from outside Neve Shalom
Tuesday, October 12th, 2004; Judean Hills, Israel
Totally candid — I did not try to get them into this position — they were collapsed during a break on our 4-day hike from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv. As I write this, 24 April 2007, Maddie on the right, mother to Jam on the left, has been gone from us for 19.5 months. Jam is still in Italy. The seat of my own self still feels to be somewhere in the center of this image.
How different their coats are. Jam’s is shorter and silkier, Maddie’s was tuftier and flyaway, wilder. Jam has a snout that tapers a bit meanly, Maddie had a snout more generous, perfect and shapely than a Rolls Royce grille. (I did think of them as my Bentley and my Rolls as well as my Harvard and my Yale).
I love how their heads touch here. It really shows the nice bond they had.
Two exhausted dogs
Tuesday, October 12th, 2004; Israel
Exhaustion disguised as calm
Tuesday, October 12th, 2004
Mountain Maddie
Tuesday, October 12th, 2004; Israel
Funky Jerusalem
Friday, September 17th, 2004; Jerusalem, Israel
Guy at market
Saturday, August 7th, 2004; Jerusalem, Israel
But don’t mix ‘em up
Saturday, August 7th, 2004; Jerusalem, Israel
Guy’s friends at market
Saturday, August 7th, 2004; Jerusalem, Israel
To the Wall
Saturday, August 7th, 2004; Jerusalem, Israel
Grand Jerusalem
Saturday, August 7th, 2004; Jerusalem, Israel
These old city walls
Saturday, August 7th, 2004; Jerusalem, Israel
Exercise in negative space
Saturday, August 7th, 2004; Jerusalem, Israel
Essay on the Decalogue by the Orthodox Union.
I Am to Not to Covet
Saturday, August 7th, 2004; Jerusalem, Israel
Sultan’s empty Pool
Saturday, August 7th, 2004; Jerusalem, Israel
Well, I’m the only one here.
You talking to me?
Saturday, August 7th, 2004; Jerusalem, Israel
Tripsmobile
Saturday, August 7th, 2004; Ein Kerem, Jerusalem, Israel
Closing time
Thursday, August 5th, 2004
Pipe to Red Sea
Saturday, July 31st, 2004; Eilat, Israel
Shlomi at table
Friday, July 30th, 2004; Eilat, Israel
Chefs
Thursday, July 29th, 2004; Eilat, Israel
Trinket shop
Thursday, July 29th, 2004; Eilat, Israel
Pillars and ships
Thursday, July 29th, 2004; Eilat, Israel
Red Seaside
Thursday, July 29th, 2004
Sweeping up
Thursday, July 29th, 2004; Eilat, Israel
Architect and chef, pre-opening night
Wednesday, July 28th, 2004
Head chef and father
Wednesday, July 28th, 2004
The only thing that moved in this longish exposure was Aaron’s eyes, hence the satanic look.
Satan eye
Wednesday, July 28th, 2004
This is Aaron, sitting down after opening a new restaurant.
My goodness
Wednesday, July 28th, 2004
Moonsprite
Wednesday, July 28th, 2004; Israel
Self-portrait with wendy-house
Saturday, July 17th, 2004
Mika Widescreen
Saturday, July 17th, 2004
In Tel Aviv no littering
Saturday, July 17th, 2004; Tel Aviv, Israel
Formerly known as “dirty laundry.”
Black laundry
Saturday, July 17th, 2004; Kikar Rabin, Tel Aviv, Israel
Pigeons in yellow major
Saturday, July 17th, 2004; Tel Aviv, Israel
Bon chance
Saturday, July 17th, 2004; Tel Aviv, Israel
Kibbutz cleavage
Friday, July 16th, 2004; Even Sapir, Israel
Wing to mouth
Friday, July 16th, 2004
Will, wonder I, ever live in such picturesque again?
Flower and back yard steps with hills
Sunday, July 11th, 2004; Even Sapir, Israel
Oh no it isn’t!
This is a pipe
Sunday, July 11th, 2004; Even Sapir, Israel
Don’t ask me. A hairdressing salon perhaps?
OuiSet
Saturday, July 10th, 2004; Jerusalem, Israel
My first foray into macro.
Jerusalem flower
Saturday, July 10th, 2004; Jerusalem, Israel
Round and round
Saturday, July 10th, 2004; Jerusalem, Israel
Building with mirrored windows
Saturday, July 10th, 2004; Jerusalem, Israel
Once, when I thought I was not long for this world, my perception of our elders shifted totally; instead of pitying them their frailty and physical devastation, I envied them their achievement and acquisition of elderliness. Although I remember having that feeling, I can no longer feel it.
Old man reading newspaper at Aroma
Saturday, July 10th, 2004; Jerusalem, Israel
Mon 23 April 2007: I miss this view, that place, those times constantly. It was a high water mark.
View from my yard
Wednesday, July 7th, 2004
Now all propped up and ready to slush internally rather than infernally.
My sewage pipe
Wednesday, July 7th, 2004; Even Sapir, Israel
Actually the bucket is a nasty fly catching apparatus and Aaron Livingstone shat in it.
Wall and bucket
Wednesday, July 7th, 2004; Even Sapir, Israel
This is what I see when I step out my front door, albeit a bit less tightly cropped.
Lady Liberty or Medusa, depending
Wednesday, July 7th, 2004; Even Sapir, Israel
Leafy branches and vine
Wednesday, July 7th, 2004; Even Sapir, Israel
Dog and fire with white plastic chair
Saturday, July 3rd, 2004; Even Sapir, Israel
Here I follow an edict of Aaron Livingstone, namely to make what South Africans have christened brei and chicken wing as often as is humanly possible. Charcoal is for weiners. Use log!
Log on fire
Saturday, July 3rd, 2004; Even Sapir, Israel
Er is this interesting at all?
Street gardener
Tuesday, June 29th, 2004; Jerusalem, Israel
Long-hairee man on hill
Tuesday, June 29th, 2004; Jerusalem, Israel
Israeli architecture: austerity with a dollop of blatant borrowing.
Three flags and hills
Tuesday, June 29th, 2004; Jerusalem, Israel
Holy places thataway.
Up up and away
Tuesday, June 29th, 2004; Jerusalem, Israel
We’re born free, Rousseau told us, but alas and alack everywhere in chains.
Man and chain
Tuesday, June 29th, 2004
Mobile fruit stall
Tuesday, June 29th, 2004; Jerusalem, Israel
Aye, we’re here too you know.
Scottish church in Jerusalem
Tuesday, June 29th, 2004; Jerusalem, Israel
Cinematheque and hills
Tuesday, June 29th, 2004; Jerusalem, Israel
Flower truck
Tuesday, June 29th, 2004; Jerusalem, Israel
Paint your house for NIS 1399
Tuesday, June 29th, 2004; Jerusalem, Israel
This way
Tuesday, June 29th, 2004; Jerusalem, Israel
In the US, you’d think this might be a famous person hiding from the paparazzi. But she is, I presume, a non-celebrity albeit sexy Israeli gal lost in thoughts unrelated to grocery shopping.
Woman with groceries
Tuesday, June 29th, 2004; Jerusalem, Israel
Parking for residents only!
Tuesday, June 29th, 2004; Jerusalem, Israel
Railtracks behind Talpiot
Tuesday, June 29th, 2004; Jerusalem, Israel
Built by the Mandate, abandoned by the State.
Colville 1933 sleeper
Tuesday, June 29th, 2004; Jerusalem, Israel
Tel Aviv’s most photographed buildings and the back-end of a Beemer.
Azrieli Towers again
Sunday, June 27th, 2004; Tel Aviv, Israel
This is a great gas station on Highway 1 between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, though you can only reach it when travelling west. It’s quite charming that the young folks behind the counter there are fiercely proud of the excellent highway coffee they brew.
Pazgaz at Sha’ar Hagai
Sunday, June 27th, 2004; Judean Hills, Israel
I didn’t even know I took this – I must have pressed the shutter while fumbling about in the car reviewing the morning’s shots. Sadly it is more interesting I think than most of my more deliberate efforts.
Fiat Uno steering wheel
Tuesday, June 22nd, 2004
South Tel Aviv train station
Tuesday, June 22nd, 2004; Tel Aviv, Israel
Is this ghastly or lovely; I’m of at least two minds myself.
Color toilet
Tuesday, June 22nd, 2004; Jean Jeures St, Tel Aviv, Israel
South American embassy in Tel Aviv
Tuesday, June 22nd, 2004; Jean Jeures St, Tel Aviv, Israel
Palm tree urban refuse
Tuesday, June 22nd, 2004; Tel Aviv, Israel
1 Jean Jeures St
Tuesday, June 22nd, 2004; Jean Jeures St, Tel Aviv, Israel
Much of Tel Aviv’s beauty is in its lived-in crumbliness. That said, I find it slightly horrifying that the back yards of apartment blocks in the center of town, eg, Sheinkin, are just treated as garbage dumps. This is valuable urban space that the tenants can’t get it together to utilize.
Crumbly balcony with towels
Tuesday, June 22nd, 2004; Jean Jeures St, Tel Aviv, Israel
Count ‘em.
Four buildings
Tuesday, June 22nd, 2004; Tel Aviv, Israel
Or my dogs.
For the cats
Tuesday, June 22nd, 2004; Jean Jeures St, Tel Aviv, Israel
OK so I used Photoshop’s Motion Blur filter to try to make this one a bit more interesting.
Mellow cello
Monday, June 21st, 2004
Such luscious reds. It seems to me in my photographic ignorance that with a digital camera it’s easier to get OK shots indoors. Or maybe I was less willing to try when using film.
Hat and bootleg
Monday, June 21st, 2004; Jerusalem, Israel
Una paloma blanca!
Bird in the sky
Sunday, June 20th, 2004; Even Sapir, Israel
These Mei Eden mineral water holders are a cultural icon.
Yard with used water holders
Sunday, June 20th, 2004; Even Sapir, Israel
Morning sky
Sunday, June 20th, 2004; Even Sapir, Israel
Rakish Zula
Sunday, June 20th, 2004; Even Sapir, Israel
I capitalize the “v” cos my thoughts are still with Los Angeles. A favorite.
Hadassah and Vine
Sunday, June 20th, 2004; Even Sapir, Israel
Yes, she’s looking scrawny as a wild starved animal. Always was really beneath all that fuzz.
Maddie as Lion
Friday, June 18th, 2004; Judean Hills, Israel
Cactus ears
Friday, June 18th, 2004; Judean Hills, Israel
Dogs have Climbed
Friday, June 18th, 2004; Even Sapir, Israel
Jam by a wall
Thursday, June 17th, 2004; Even Sapir, Israel
24 April 2007: They’re not morose really, I see now, 2 years 9 months later and counting, just super relaxed. They were so happy here, totally free to come and go, and I was too. This was their spot, at the top of the garden before the drop down to the level below to the chicken batteries, visible in the background. Maddie’s face just sets my soul poised, and Jam is a picture, what with that eyebrow — reminds me of Rembrandt or someone painting themselves into a big crowd scene. If there’s a picture of mine I wish myself into, it’s this one.
Morose Maddie and Jam
Wednesday, June 16th, 2004; Even Sapir, Israel
Straw bury Jam
Wednesday, June 16th, 2004; Even Sapir, Israel
Tatty blue Jerusalem
Thursday, June 10th, 2004; Jerusalem, Israel
At the Banana Beach, of course.
Moped with forcefields
Wednesday, June 2nd, 2004; Tel Aviv, Israel
Can I have this day back please?
My So Very Regal Beagle
Tuesday, June 1st, 2004; Even Sapir, Israel
24 April 2007: Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium is one of my favorite spots in the world. It’s so magnificent yet so amcha, of the people, and I had one of my loveliest, most thrilling afternoons there. This is a photo taken a decade after this area was part of my environment.
Blue Dog and Shedd Aquarium
Saturday, May 15th, 2004; Chicago, Illinois, United States
Leaving Shedd Aquarium north
Saturday, May 15th, 2004; Chicago, Illinois, United States
The Berghoff
Saturday, May 15th, 2004; Chicago, Illinois, United States
It was simultaneously shiny and desolate because it was a bereft bus station early on a Sunday morning yet there was an unexpected brightness. You can see why if you look to the ceiling – the light in there is all natural. Someone was taking kindly to the poor folk who must ride the bus despite being Americans.
TV chez Greyhound
Saturday, May 15th, 2004; New York, United States
Japanese garden on Wilshire
Wednesday, May 12th, 2004; Los Angeles, California, United States
Black and white at the Gaylord Apartments
Wednesday, May 12th, 2004; Los Angeles, California, United States
Life has been good to me
Wednesday, May 12th, 2004; Los Angeles, California, United States
Man crossing Wilshire at Serrano
Wednesday, May 12th, 2004; Los Angeles, California, United States
27 April 2007: A high water mark for me.
Adam on the Hollywood Hills
Monday, May 10th, 2004; Los Angeles, California, United States
Jen among flowers
Monday, May 10th, 2004; Los Angeles, California, United States
At the Getty Museum
Angel City cactus
Friday, May 7th, 2004; Los Angeles, California, United States
These were outside a gas station with an adjoining Denny’s.
Supersized desert-style
Sunday, May 2nd, 2004; Utah, United States
I awoke to this view on my 34th birthday. Bloody freezing it had been, the night before. I looked at this view for precisely as long as it took to take the photo.
Morning with mountains
Sunday, May 2nd, 2004; Colorado, United States
The USA is so full of delights. I had never heard of the Garden of the Gods at Colorado Springs. Nor actually had I ever heard of Colorado Springs, but it is quite a substantial city.
Trees on Mars
Saturday, May 1st, 2004; Colorado, United States
Adam and fan
Monday, June 23rd, 2003
Road perhaps taken
Thursday, November 21st, 2002
Seoul housing estate
Saturday, September 21st, 2002; Seoul, Korea
North Kyoto nestle
Thursday, September 19th, 2002; Kyoto, Japan
Outrageously tiered temple
Thursday, September 19th, 2002; Kyoto, Japan
One of my favourites. It was early morning in this gorgeous eastern old part of town. There was nary a soul about.
Three umbrellas
Thursday, September 19th, 2002; Kyoto, Japan
I rode this one too, to Kyoto. Just a bit disappointingly, it’s like any other train once you’re inside, except for the profusion of wooden take-away sushi lunches.
Bullet at rest
Wednesday, September 18th, 2002; Tokyo, Japan
Happy at the train station
Wednesday, September 18th, 2002; Tokyo, Japan
Like desperadoes waiting
Wednesday, September 18th, 2002; Tokyo, Japan
More bullet train
Wednesday, September 18th, 2002; Tokyo, Japan
Moped with Forbidden City
Saturday, July 20th, 2002; Beijing, China
A favourites of mine, this tightly-trousered Chinese gentleman was crouching without a camera or an easel, just, I think, in order to get a more pleasing view off of his Great Wall.
Purple rain and Great Wall
Saturday, July 20th, 2002; Great Wall, China
Welcome to Christiania
Thursday, March 21st, 2002
By the lake
Thursday, March 21st, 2002
Just outside Christiania
Thursday, March 21st, 2002
23 April 2007: Increasingly one of my favourite photos, though sentimentality plays a part in that.
Upright #1
Monday, July 2nd, 2001; Napoleon Hill, Ramat Gan, Tel Aviv, Israel
Not a very lovely view, but this was sort of a first for me, staying in a hotel in Asia under my own power as opposed to a hotel paid for by my employer. Actually it was a bit nasty, and in retrospect I think hostels are nicer than cheap hotels.
Bangkok hotel room view
Thursday, June 21st, 2001; Bangkok, Thailand
Outside this central compound in Bangkok, where I had to rent long trousers in order to be properly attired to go in, I noticed that the stray cats lounging on the sidewalk don’t bother to move for passers-by, who must step over them.
Cat and the Green Buddha’s temple
Wednesday, May 23rd, 2001; Bangkok, Thailand
This is pushed in varies ways in Photoshop, and perhaps it’s only of sentimental interest to myself, being a picture of two homes ago and an arrangement of furniture – all of which I still have in this room today in 2004 – that I had forgotten.
Studded study wall
Friday, June 23rd, 2000; Tel Aviv, Israel
One of my favourites – impossibly serene, like a 19th century painting, but real.
Roman view
Sunday, June 20th, 1999
Israeli British Council librarian
Sunday, March 21st, 1999; Tel Aviv, Israel
Rich winter trees
Tuesday, October 20th, 1998
Oh, Randy
Friday, August 28th, 1998; Tel Aviv, Israel
Two students talk
Tuesday, April 19th, 1994; Chicago, Illinois, United States
Morose Pose
Saturday, June 23rd, 1990; Ra'anana, Israel
Piety, curiousity, contempt, lust
Sunday, July 27th, 1986
Howdy!
This web site belongs to Adam Khan. If found, please contact me at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Parries is the blog, Photos the photoblog. Words listed are those I needed to look up, the Books those I recently read.
Latmag, Queen of Letters, is astounding 800-word excerpts, and the Trail links to web pages that I appreciated and hope you will too.
Latmag
September 2011
Frank Lloyd Wright, The Natural House
New Sense of Repose in Quiet Streamline Effects
“ Vistas of inevitable simplicity and ineffable harmonies would open, so beautiful to me that I was not only delighted, but often startled. ”
April 2010
Evelyn Waugh, Black Mischief, Chapter 5
Azanian Propaganda
“ It was from the least expected quarter, the tribesmen and villagers, that the real support for Seth’s Birth Control policy suddenly appeared. ”
January 2010
Leon R. Kass, The Beginning of Wisdom, Pp. 406-7.
Jacob’s Summary
“ The biblical counterpart of Odysseus, Jacob must solve the fundamental human difficulties illustrated in the pre-Abrahamic chapters of Genesis. ”
September 2009
Daniel Patrick Moynihan, A Dangerous Place, Chapter 1: A Half-Life, p8-9
An Act of Courage and of Daring
“ In that I was a member of the Cabinet, protocol provided that I step out of Air Force One behind the President and ahead of Kissinger, who was also on the journey. Somehow Kissinger invariably reached the ground ahead of me. ”
Philip Roth, The Plot Against America (paperback edition), p210-1
A Well-Scrubbed, Cute Little Boy
“ I couldn’t manage to be anywhere near a nun, let alone a pair of them, without a mind awash in my none-too-pure Jewish thoughts. ”
Ian Fleming, Diamonds are Forever
Rue de la Pay
“ It was natural to bring out the small change and jerk the handles and watch the lemons and the oranges and the cherries and the bell fruits whirl round to their final click-pause-ting, followed by a soft mechanical sigh. Five cents, ten cents, a quarter. Bond gave them all a try… ”
May 2005
David Pryce-Jones, “Jews, Arabs, and French Diplomacy: A Special Report”
The Zionists Must Understand
“ The Zionists must understand once and for all that there can be no question of constituting an independent Jewish state in Palestine, or even forming some sovereign Jewish body. ”
September 2003
Charles Darwin, The Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals, Chapter 1, General Principles of Expression
Purposeless Remnants of Habitual Movements
“ It is well known that cats dislike wetting their feet, owing, it is probable, to their having aboriginally inhabited the dry country of Egypt; and when they wet their feet they shake them violently. My daughter poured some water into a glass close to the head of a kitten; and it immediately shook its feet in the usual manner; so that here we have an habitual movement falsely excited by an associated sound instead of by the sense of touch. ”
Edward Lear, Journals of a Landscape Painter in the Balkans
Were it Not for this Protector
“ Not the least annoyance was that given me by the persevering attentions of a mad or fanatic dervish, of most singular appearance as well as conduct. His note of ‘Shaitán‘ was frequently sounded; and as he twirled about, and performed many curious antics, he frequently advanced to me, shaking a long hooked stick, covered with jingling ornaments, in my very face, pointing to the Kawas with menacing looks, as though he would say, “Were it not for this protector you should he annihilated, you infidel!” ”
August 2003
Robert Graves, I, Claudius
Ask Me Anything
“ The drink was as remarkable as the food, and Caligula became so lively as the meal went on that, deprecating his own generosity to Herod in the past as something hardly worth mentioning, he now promised to give him whatever it lay in his power to grant. “Ask me anything, my dearest Herod,” he said, “And it shall be yours.” He repeated: “Absolutely anything. I swear by my own Divinity that I will grant it.” ”
the United Nations, The Declaration of the Universal Human Rights of Man
Born Free and Equal
“ On December 10, 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Following this historic act the Assembly called upon all Member countries to publicize the text of the Declaration and “to cause it to be disseminated, displayed, read and expounded principally in schools and other educational institutions, without distinctions based on the political status of countries or territories.” ”
George Orwell, a letter (the new book referred to is 1984)
You Have to Leave Glasgow about 8am
“ We also have to shoot rabbits when the larder gets low, and grow vegetables, though of course I haven’t been here long enough to get much return from the ground yet, as it was simply a jungle when I got here. With all this you can imagine that I don’t do much work however I have actually begun my new book and hope to have done four or five chapters by the time I come back in October. ”
E. M. Forster, Aspects of the Novel
Curious Shockheads
“ Curiosity is one of the lowest of the human faculties. You will have noticed in daily life that when people are inquisitive they nearly always have bad memories and are usually stupid at bottom. ”
January 2003
Peter Davison, an interview with Stanley Plumly
On The and Story
“ The subtext of narrative is time, the subtext of time is mortality, the subtext of mortality is emotion. Try to remove the narrative sense of things and you take out the heart, the cause of the effect. ”
December 2002
Jack London, Call of the Wild
A Dog’s Daydream
“ Sometimes as he crouched there, blinking dreamily at the flames, it seemed that the flames were of another fire, and that as he crouched by this other fire he saw another and different man from the half-breed cook before him. This other man was shorter of leg and longer of arm, with muscles that were stringy and knotty rather than rounded and swelling. ”
Trail
Sat 25 May ’13
Why, by the William Shatner School of Toupological Studies.
Tue 21 May ’13
The horror, the horror. Spengler looks at Syria. What we’ve seen so far, he says, are merely the preliminary skirmishes of Sunni-Shi’ite war.
Sat 11 May ’13
Cary Grant’s 1963 op-ed in This Week magazine on dressing well.
Thu 9 May ’13
Galei Zahal (IDF Radio)‘s Arab Affairs correspondent looks acutely at the Syrian civil war from Hezballah’s perspective. It’s all-out Sunni-Shiite confrontation.
Some advice for Disney from fellow artist Frank Lloyd Wright on February 25, 1939, at 11am in Projection Room IV.
Wed 1 May ’13
Peres and the Pope as covered by the Voice of America (Reuters). This meeting has not gotten much coverage.
Sun 7 Apr ’13
Read Parul Sehgal, book reviewer extraordinaire.
Australian-born himself, rising Israeli statesman Tal Becker does the regional lowdown at the Lowy Institute.
Tue 2 Apr ’13
Bracing clarity from Krauthammer on the meaning of Obama’s visit to Jerusalem.
Fri 22 Mar ’13
Hanna Rosin writes on the iPad and young children. The beginning could have appeared anywhere, the middle in any number of magazines, the end in only a small handful. And a rather relevant topic at the moment in this house, where Good Morning is spoken as “Where the iPad gone!”
Thu 21 Mar ’13
Jeffrey Goldberg imagines what Obama would really like to be doing on his visit to Israel.
Sun 17 Mar ’13
Welshman Tom Doran explains why, as a liberal secular humanist, he must stand up for Israel.
Fri 8 Mar ’13
Considering how central it is for Londoners, Why is the Tube so underrepresented in stories? The writer suggests that, like sex and prayer, and unlike on the street, any human significance down there is internal.
Surely the definitive article about internet wunderkind Aaron Swartz. Only eating white or yellow food seems a glaring sign that not everything there was quite right.
Moving piece about the writer’s father, a sportswriter, who could not give up cigarettes.
Sun 17 Feb ’13
Not that this article needs anybody else to promote it, as it’s also the cover story on Esquire, but it’s like watching Zero Dark Thirty through one of the other characters.
Sat 19 Jan ’13
Wow. Dan Kois, a senior editor at Slate, heads to Portland for a week of serious karaoke.
The 20 Most Popular Homes in Dwell. Many of these homes are small so encourage ingeniousness and are in general encouraging.
Fri 18 Jan ’13
It’s official: women are mate-poachers. I would have wagered on this anyway. “Offered a single man, 59% [of single women] were interested … But when he was attached, 90% said they were…”
Wed 16 Jan ’13
Adam Garfinkle at The American Interest waxes catholic and sensible on the runaway American health care system — or, more accurately, disease repair system.
Tue 15 Jan ’13
Gadamer’s Floor by Jacques Herzog, in which the Swiss starchitect relates designing the Tate Modern. Actually, forget it, it gets boring, drifting off to installations within the museum and other projects, as if the job itself wasn’t interesting enough to warrant an entire little article.
Given that this is the second time I’ve ended up at this story, I can’t miss adding it to the Trail: The best houses of all time in L.A. by the LA Times.
“The Bashar al-Assad regime commits atrocities that are designed to be unforgivable,” Spengler postulates, “in order to persuade their base to fight to the end.” His conclusion? “Let the Alawites have their enclave, and let the Sunni Arabs have a rump state, minus the Syrian Kurds, whose autonomy would be an important step towards an eventual Kurdish state.” Me, I’d be willing to wager just three things about the Middle East in 50 years: there will be Israel, there will be Kurdistan, and there will be Arabs. PS — Doesn’t Goldman look like Gary Oldman playing James Baker III?
Mon 14 Jan ’13
The ABC of Architects, a great short animated film.
Wed 2 Jan ’13
The visual effects of Iron Man on YouTube.
Tue 1 Jan ’13
Happy 2013! A look back at 2012 with WhatCulture’s Top 12 Of Everything film wise including top 20 movie posters.
Thu 13 Dec ’12
All 8 Kraftwerk shows at Tate Modern, £60 per, sold out quicker than the museum’s servers could handle.
7,500-year-old cheese discovered. “The most important ingredient for cheese-making is milk and only domesticates can be milked. Thus, it is unlikely that the origins of cheese-making predates the Neolithic,” says the researcher breezily.
Mon 3 Dec ’12
Check out the “Beneficial effects of sauna bathing for heart failure patients” by Arnon Blum and Nava Blum, an article published by the US National Institutes of Health. Turns out people with heart problems not only can use the sauna, it’s a therapy.
Some pro-sauna theory: Sweat Therapy Theory by Stephen Colmant. “From clinical experience, sweating induces commonly observed effects of exercise on mental health, such as reducing anxiety, depression, and stress and improving body image, self-esteem, and sense of well being.”
Sun 2 Dec ’12
Loudness, pitch and timbre: in a study, newer pop music really does all sound the same.
Stand up for your work! Or as The New York Times puts it, “Taking a Stand for Office Ergonomics”.
Sat 1 Dec ’12
The best piece of James Bond movie criticism I’ve read: “My favourite Bond film: You Only Live Twice” by Phelim O’Neill, at The Guardian film blog. Muscular, yet pitch-perfect, and deft with what to throw in from the film(s) to illustrate his compelling argument.
Thu 22 Nov ’12
Dense, readable, utterly informed, worth re-reading almost as if literary: “How to End the War in Gaza: What an Egypt-Brokered Cease-Fire Should Look Like” by the inestimable Ehud Yaari (now requires registration).
Mon 19 Nov ’12
Walter Russell Mead explains why Americans tend to view Israel’s actions so differently than does the rest of the world. In brief: “In America, war is not a sport.”
Sun 18 Nov ’12
Gershon Baskin, the man who negotiated Gilad Shalit’s release, writes in the New York Times that he believes it was a mistake for Israel to kill Ahmed Al-Jabari, as a long-term ceasefire was in the works.
Fri 16 Nov ’12
The writer’s bias is clear but still it’s hard to dispute the gist of this exploration of Israeli chauvinism, even if it’s unfair to expect too much more given the circumstances.
Wed 14 Nov ’12
The changing face of London. A series of aerial photographs by Jason Hawkes posted as a slideshow in The Telegraph. Exciting.
Tue 6 Nov ’12
What is wrong with these Pennsylvanians? Mural of Obama with Change and Hope etc inside a polling station in Phildelphia.
Mon 5 Nov ’12
James Bond and the Jews in The Forward. While the article itself is unfortunately flimsy — I could have done better myself — there’s some knowledgeable discussion in the comments.
Sun 4 Nov ’12
The New York Observer and New York Daily News switch to Romney.
Sat 3 Nov ’12
For the Kurds, an independent state a question of if not when. This rich, dense yet clear piece surveys their situation and is particularly interesting in laying out the Turks’ “schizophrenic” yet sophisticated policy towards them. Also, Israel’s omission is glaring in its absence.
Michael Barone predicts it’s Romney, and handily. Seems to me that Hurricane Sandy was the last opportunity for Obama’s America to demonstrate its superiority to Bush’s. Looks like it failed, so that it now seems fully prudent to give the competent-seeming turnaround artist and former governor a try.
Thu 1 Nov ’12
Check out the Moby Dick Big Read, British persons each reading a chapter of the novel. Tilda Swindon reads Chapter 1, Loomings; Stephen Fry reads Chapter 10, A Bosom Friend. Nice.
Dutch scientists are testing self-healing concrete. The method is bacteria that produce limestone when wet.
Wed 31 Oct ’12
The Daily Mail gathers dozens of images of the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.
Tue 30 Oct ’12
Andrew C. McCarthy in National Review: The challenge is Sharia.
Mon 29 Oct ’12
Finally, a clear-headed review of Skyfall over at FT: “New director Sam Mendes wants to combine a Bourne-like lack of quips and frippery with Christopher Nolan-ish solemnity and gigantism.” Why eschew what you view as your own franchise’s banalities only to take others’?