The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Recommending noteworthy reads from Tim Prudente and Stokely Baksh, Rachel Aviv, Abby Tickel, Nick Zarzycki, and Andrea Sachs.
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“The Virtues of Coffee” Explained in 1690 Ad: The Cure for Lethargy, Scurvy, Dropsy, Gout & More
According to many historians, the English Enlightenment may never have happened were it not for coffeehouses, the public sphere where poets, critics, philosophers, legal minds, and other intellectual gadflies regularly met to chatter about the pressing concerns of the day. And
Semantic algebra
Doing math problems in your head is a skill. No one is born knowing the answer to, “You have 35 coins in nickels and quarters. They add up to $4.15. How many quarters do you have?” but we can learn. And some people find it easier than others, but yes, we can learn. The same […]
RIP David Sanborn: See Him Play Alongside Miles Davis, Randy Newman, Sun Ra, Leonard Cohen and Others on His TV Show Night Music
It’s late in the evening of Saturday, October 28th, 1989. You flip on the television and the saxophonist David Sanborn appears onscreen, instrument in hand, introducing the eclectic blues icon Taj Mahal, who in turn declares his intent to play a number with “rural humor” and
Merging Past and Present, Tavares Strachan Wrests Light from Darkness in His Expansive Installations
In 1887, an African-American man named Matthew Henson was hired by U.S. Navy engineer Robert Peary to accompany a team of explorers to be the first to navigate to the Geographic North Pole. On April 6, 1909, after several failed attempts, Henson was the first to arrive with the
Spray-Painting “Me Too” on a Courbet Is Not the Feminism We Need
Deborah De Robertis’s protest performance signifies precisely what is wrong with current feminist discourse.
Required Reading
This week, remembering writer Alice Munro, double standards for student protesters, the cinematic history of cigarettes, BBC ’s iconic jingle, and more.
In case anyone else is on a bedside lamp acquisition journey, I...
In case anyone else is on a bedside lamp acquisition journey, I got some ideas out of this Strategist post , as well as from this Architectural Digest roundup . 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →
Man Ray’s Beguiling and Bemusing Filmscapes
Man Ray’s Return to Reason film series anticipated the extent to which the motion picture would inform how we curate and call up memory.
My Trans Awakening—at Age 66
"The day I came out to her, it was like the sun shone for the first time."
One Strange Side Effect of Parenting
The other day while singing to my daughter, I realized that I can, in fact, sing better than I used to. I think the sheer amount of “Wheels on the Bus” and “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” did the trick: I enjoy it more now and feel like I’m hitting more of the right notes. I’m still
The Monstrous Femininity of Maureen St. Vincent
The artist’s aquatic pastels represent women who cannot be domesticated or controlled.
A View From the Easel
“I like to work in the afternoon and evening when the sun is crescendoing to absorb the beauty of the golden hour.”
Weathered Wood and Marble Visualize Time Passing in Stefaan De Croock’s Poetic Portraits
Lush with material textures, Stefaan De Croock ’s portraits have no identifying attributes. The Belgian artist ( previously ) puzzles together fragments of wood or marble into figures with distinctive postures and presences but no facial features. Anonymity can lend itself to
Addicted to Exercise?
If you don’t like exercise or are getting sick of your workout routine, a few recent essays will keep you in good company. Last fall, Aja Frost wrote I Was (Am?) Addicted to Exercise for the newsletter Platonic Love: I never deviated from or relaxed my exercise routine; it was
Leonora Carrington Masterpiece Sells for $28.5M, Shattering Records
The Surrealist work, acquired by Argentinian museum founder Eduardo F. Costantini, makes Carrington the most valuable UK-born woman artist on the public market.
The 40-hour workweek isn’t “a biological necessity,” per a recent episode of...
The 40-hour workweek isn’t “a biological necessity,” per a recent episode of History Unplugged . “In fact, for much of human history, 15 hours … was the standard.” I haven’t listened yet, but 15 hours sounds pleasant. 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →
OXH Gallery Debuts Exhibition Exploring Motherhood
Women artists from around the world delve into the complexities of maternity and the body in this new show in Tampa, Florida.
Diary Comics, Dec. 26-28
It’s another Thursday Afternoon With Edith! In these comics from last winter, our baby was just born. ( Previously .) Tags: diary comics 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →
Cicadas and Prime Numbers
You may have heard that this year, for the first time since 1803, two different broods of cicadas will emerge at the same time . This year, though, will be a rare event. Two groups, or “broods,” are waking up during the same season. There will likely be billions, if not
Tang Shuo Casts Himself as Members of His Small Chinese Village in a New Series of Paintings
In The Narrators , artist Tang Shuo inserts himself into the stories of his native Boulder Hill by painting himself as the protagonist. He envisions life as a sweaty worker hunched over a field of weeds or a child angling to capture a butterfly. Like previous bodies of work ,
The movies that influenced Star Wars, from Flash Gordon & Buck Rogers...
The movies that influenced Star Wars , from Flash Gordon & Buck Rogers to The Hidden Fortress by Akira Kurosawa to The Searchers & Metropolis. 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →
Trailer for Season Two of The Rings of Power
I am apparently one of the few people who really liked the first season of the Lord of the Rings prequel series, The Rings of Power . I mean, it had its rough spots and maybe there was a little too much table-setting, but in general it left me wanting to see what was going to
I Was Shot in Vermont. What if It Had Been in the...
I Was Shot in Vermont. What if It Had Been in the West Bank? “Why did reporters…interview our mothers and take our portraits when young men my age have been shot at by snipers, detained indefinitely without trial and treated as a statistic?”
Scope of Work is holding a contest around the idea of “umarelling”,...
Scope of Work is holding a contest around the idea of “umarelling” , the act of pausing to observe construction work in progress. 💬 Join the discussion on kottke.org →
I Went Undercover as a Secret OnlyFans Chatter. It Wasn’t Pretty
"Your online influencer girlfriend is actually a rotating cast of low-wage workers. I became one of them."