Author: Alesh Houdek

100 best films of the decade

The Times’ 100 best films of the decade. Great list! But!: I like the Bourne series too, but number2?! Also overrated: Slumdog Millionaire (#6), Borat (#11), and Bad Santa (#54). Underrated: The Royal Tenenbaums (#88), Milk (#53), and the films of Spike Jonze, of which Being John Malkovich is #29, and Adaptation and Synecdoche, New York are missing. Also missing: Rachel Getting Married. (via)

Invest in a human being

Here’s a bizzaro idea — Invest in a human being. You: a rich person. Them: broke but very promising. The terms: You give them a big chunk up front for a percentage of their pay for the rest of their lives, maybe with a buy-out clause. This is perfectly reasonable as a thought experiment, but it’s also a slightly creepy real thing that actually happens, with actual contracts and numbers and I guess audits. Not related, but fun anyway: how to sell a dollar for more then a dollar, and what it means for politics.

Weekendly Clickables XVIII

  • Ritual cleansing of child soldiers in Sierra Leone.
  • David Hanson is spending three months canoeing the Chattahoochee River.
  • Choire finds some gems in the coming auction of the Lehman Brothers art collection.
  • Having a pet can be as bad for the environment as an SUV
  • The 10 worst food trends, DEBUNKED.
  • When is the film better than the novel? Maybe when it’s one of these. But I think there’s a distinction to be made between movies made from classic literature, and movies made from pulp thrillers. I’ve never read Elmore Leonard’s Get Shorty, but I think comparing its quality to the (pretty great!) film is a much less interesting exercise than comparing, say, the film and book versions of Catch 22.
  • I am not sure if I believe Slate’s battery tips. Keeping your laptop unplugged while using it? Trying to stay between 20% and 80% at all times? FISHY.
  • So, I gave in and paid the $5 for Brushes, the famous iPhone app, and let me tell you it is great. Doodling and painting, together like never before.

Adblock the real world

As augmented reality moves from handheld devices like the iPhone to graphical-overlay glasses (soon!), it will be able to — for example — block out real-world display advertising. Sort of the way ads are currently digitally inserted into broadcast of sporting events. (A passing thought from an article on AR in The Atlantic, which yes, I am going to keep linking to every single month, because the Atlantic is the best magazine evar.)

Terence Riley resigns as director of the Miami Art Museum

I’ve been just informed that Terence Riley resigned as director of the Miami Art Museum. This indicates one of two things — either they’ve raised the money they need, and the new building is happening, or he’s realized that it ain’t gonna happen and he’s bailing. The former reason is what is stated, but the latter seems disturbingly more likely, especially given the lack of a fundraising update with the announcement. This majorly blows. Update: here’s the longer story. But scant new info: the fundraising numbers are 6 months old(!). “Riley said he leaves the job with very few regrets. One is that he didn’t do enough to muster the support of Miami’s art heavyweights.” Yikes!