What I’m watching/reading/listening to: A Touch of Cloth. You can’t go wrong with a show that has John Hannah and Karen Gillan (ok, only for 1 season). And the dialogue is sometimes better than Police Squad:

I haven’t laughed since my wife died
Why did you laugh when your wife died?

Recently affected by: I’ve actually bookmarked this to see it every month. It’s good to have a reminder of your mortality. It’s a helluva motivator. As Steve Jobs said, “…Death is very likely the single best invention of Life.”

Weekly bits: Just a great, short story about Dreams of the Rocket Man

Quote o’ the week: Every day we change the world, but to change the world in a way that means anything, that takes more time than most people have. It never happens all at once. It’s slow, it’s methodical, it’s exhausting. –Elliot (Mr. Robot)

Song o’ the week: How ’bout a whole musical? Ragtime the musical…honestly I didn’t have very high expectations, but…Wow! This musical is amazing!

What I’m watching/reading/listening to: Salman Rushdie – Haroun and the Sea of Stories. Salman Rushdie has an incredible way with words, and I think he’s at his best when he’s telling “fairy tale” type of stories. This is one of them.

Recently affected by: I’ve been watching 13 Reasons Why. It’s probably not the best show in the world to binge watch. Even with the depressing storyline, it still makes me nostalgic about my youth. Do I have regrets about my youth? That’s a tough question… I do miss making mix tapes, though. That was always a lot of fun.

Weekly bits: Truly stunning amazing photographs of the undersides of icebergs. Really gorgeous. Nature is just incredible. It’s a damn shame some people don’t care about preserving the beauty in the world.

Quote o’ the week: A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. -Leonard Nimoy

Song o’ the week: Mozart’s Concerto # 23. This is the slowest version I’ve come across but I like the mood.

What I’m watching/reading/listening to: This is the kind of conversations I miss having…

Recently affected by: What if the purpose of love is to get us out of relationships, not into them? It’s been a while since I’ve read something so topsy turvy yet thought provoking.

Weekly bits: Nutella croissant @ Ramini Espresso Bar NYC…why don’t more bakeries have this?!? But at least some Starbucks now have a hazelnut croissant, that’s similar. Yum!

Quote o’ the week: The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him. -Tolstoy

Song o’ the week: Harp Twins – Nothing Else Matters. Harp…twins…rocking out…!

What I’m watching/reading/listening to: the Miracle of the Modern Banana
Wait, what…bananas? Yes! How can you resist an article with when the sub-title is “Explore the dark and dangerous ways the banana became the world’s dominant fruit and why its future is at risk.” Whew!

Recently affected by: Dudamel Conducts Tangos Under the Stars w/the L.A. Philharmonic @ Hollywood Bowl. It’s SO GOOD! So passionate! So dang good!

Weekly bits: The Orbiting Human Circus is already a good podcast if you like old-timey type stories, but their multi-part special “The 2nd imaginary Symphony” is really excellent. Worth a listen

Quote o’ the week: There are many parts of my youth that I’m not proud of. There were… loose threads – untidy parts of me that I would like to remove. But when I… pulled on one of those threads – it’d unravel the tapestry of my life. -Captain Jean-Luc Picard

Song o’ the week: The Interstellar soundtrack is wonderful, but this…this is a religious experience!

What I’m watching/reading/listening to: All About Lily Chou-Chou…a bit hard to follow, especially if you’re not used to Japanese cinematic aesthetics, but it’s beautifully nostalgic and has a soundtrack that blends peace and melancholy into the fabric of this coming-of-age story.

Recently affected by: if you’re up to date on this kind of psychology or listen to podcasts like You Are Not So Smart, this is nothing new. but it’s still an amazing lecture on how we’re really not as in control of ourselves as we’d like to believe. Plus, it’s Dan Ariely!

[ted id=548]

Weekly bits: Perspective is all-important.

Quote o’ the week: “When I was small,” he said, looking into the distance, “I used to look at the snow falling. I’d press my forehead against the cold windowpane and watch it fall outside. I suppose everybody does. It’s nice the way it makes no sound. You can’t see very far and there’s no noise at all, as if the human race has vanished and nothing is moving and the snow will go on falling for hundreds of years. I like snow better than any other weather. -Still Lives

Song o’ the week: Arabesque, by Salyu from the Lily Chou Chou soundtrack.

What I’m watching/reading/listening to: Arrival. Beautifully shot movie, languid pace. Otherworldly soundtrack

Recently affected by: The Tail End. Some people might think it’s morbid to think about your eventual death, but for me, it’s a constant meditation on life and the importance of…well, figuring out what’s important in my life. As Steve Jobs said, “…death is very likely the single best invention of life. It’s life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new.”

Weekly bits: “People are generally better persuaded by the reasons which they have themselves discovered than by those which have come into the mind of others,” -Blaise Pascal

So writes Adam Gopnik on Darwin’s Brilliant Strategy for Preempting Criticism and the True Mark of Genius. One of the brilliant things about Darwin is not just his groundbreaking work on evolution, but the way he presented his ideas.

Quote o’ the week: Among people, a great majority don’t feel comfortable at all with the unknown ― that is anything foreign that threatens their protected daily mould ― so for the sake of their security, they construct chosen patterns to justify. -Bruce Lee

Song o’ the week: This week, a twofer from the Arrival soundtrack. Put on your headphones and just let your mind flow.

What I’m watching/reading/listening to: Legion (the FX tv show)! David Lynch! Wes Andeson! Stanley Kubrick! Terrance Mallick! Pink Floyd! Mix in a bit of this and a bit of that and some amazing writing and this is what you get!

Recently affected by: Parking. Yes, parking. These two articles make me looking at parking in a whole new different light. I never thought I should care so much…about…parking.

Weekly bits: Man is a credulous animal, and must believe something; in the absence of good grounds for belief, he will be satisfied with bad ones. -Bertrand Russell. Did you know that trying to convince someone that they’re wrong, even if and especially if you have overwhelming evidence, often backfires and makes that belief even more entrenched. Here’re some techniques to help fight that. And in case you think you’re somehow immune to the backfire effect…you’re probably not.

Quote o’ the week: Sometimes a man wants to be stupid if it lets him do a thing his cleverness forbids. -East of Eden”

Song o’ the week: Erin and Her Cello. You gotta love a song that rhymes “you” with “poo”!

What I’m watching/reading/listening to: the Magicians. This season is spectacularly fun! Random & irreverent at times…a spell that makes the castle staff do a rendition of One Day More from Les Miz?!? Brilliant!

Recently affected by: An interview with Richard Rohr. His take on prayer and religion is fascinating.

Weekly bits: Really enjoying my new bluetooth earpiece. It was cheap, and the sound quality is meh but that’s all I wanted to listen to my podcasts while hiking. It started getting a bit uncomfortable after 1-1/2 hrs but it’s still a cool glimpse into the wireless future.

Quote o’ the week: Too many people are ready to carry the stool when the piano needs to be moved. – Anonymous

Song o’ the week: Guide My Sword

What I’m watching/reading/listening to: Victoria, the PBS show about Queen Victoria. Clara Oswald & Obergruppenführer! Together again for the first time!

Recently affected by: SPEAK, MEMORY “When her best friend died, she rebuilt him using artificial intelligence.”
If you watch Black Mirror, this idea is not new, but this is something that just might happen in the next 20 years or so. For some of us, this could be our future.

Weekly bits: The Memory Palace podcast. My oasis of peace, one 10-minute story at a time.

Quote o’ the week: Sorry, I forgot that it’s hard for people who haven’t been fucked with to understand people who have. -Deadly Class

Song o’ the week: Actually, many of the Petra Haden a capella songs are incredible.

First up, Petra Haden sings Love My Way

Bonus: Petra Haden sings the Blade Runner…theme…song…?!

What I’m watching/reading/listening to: Limetown, the podcast, a very odd but gripping story. I’m hooked!

Recently affected by: The Little Prince movie (the 2015 version) and soundtrack. It’s based on the Antoine de Saint-Exupéry book, yes, and even though some of the added parts are a bit heavy-handed, it’s touching.

Weekly bits: 5 Calls. Liking/sharing Facebook stories and Tweets may make you feel like you’re changing the world, but you’re actually doing jack. If you really want to do something to change the world, start with 5 Calls. They do most of the work…pick the issues that you want to influence, and 5 Calls will not only give you the phone number of your government representatives that you should call, but a simple script to follow. Spend a minute, make a phone call, and help make a difference.

Quote o’ the week: You know, the very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common, They don’t alter their views to fit the facts. They alter the facts to fit their views. -Doctor Who

Song o’ the week: Marian Hill – Down