IDEAS

A MINIBAR FOR THE MIND?

Kassia St Clair — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 20:25:08 +0000

The School of Life operates out of a smart shop in London’s Bloomsbury, but this is not the place to buy knick-knacks. Rather, this is where to go if all the knick-knacks fail to gratify. Dissatisfied with your high-end job? Wonder where all the time has gone and why your days don’t make sense? Then perhaps it is time for a lesson at the School of Life, where words like “soul”, “mindfulness” and “fulfilment” circulate with sincerity. You might consider attending the “How Necessary is a Relationship” class, or a “sermon” on “being yourself”. There is always a “Bibliotherapy” session, where a “bibliotherapist” will listen to your literary history and prescribe some titles to fill that book-shaped hole in your life. read more »

AN URBAN LABORATORY

Fri, 01 Oct 2010 17:29:26 +0000

This morning brought an interesting announcement about a new initiative that is meant to consider the changing needs of urban life. BMW and the Guggenheim Foundation have come together for something called the BMW Guggenheim Lab, a six-year initiative to "engage a new generation of leaders in architecture, art, science, design, technology, and education, who will address the challenges of the cities of tomorrow by examining the realities of the cities of today." The Lab is ultimately an attractive mobile unit for sharing ideas and solutions about urban environments, which will start in North America in late summer 2011 before moving on to cities in Europe and Asia. The plan is to promote a multidisciplinary forum for exploring new approaches that balance our desire for "urban comfort" with our need to be more environmentally responsible.

This is all well and good. I'm all for big corporations to spend money on thought experiments that may ultimately, one day, far off into the future, have a positive effect on how we live our lives. Despite all of the vague language and the promise of much hot air to come (tell me: has anything ever been accomplished at a forum?), it is churlish to complain about these Labs, which are innovative and full of good intentions. read more »

THE Q&A: ELIZA GRISWOLD, AUTHOR

Ariel Ramchandani — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 18:33:37 +0000

Though history tells us that Islam and Christianity were both borne out of a small sliver of the middle east, the world's largest population of Muslims today is in Indonesia. In her new book, "The Tenth Parallel", Eliza Griswold, an award-winning journalist and poet, turns her eye towards Indonesia, as well as Nigeria, Sudan, Somalia, Malaysia and the Philippines, countries where the war between Islam and Christianity is being waged in full force. These countries all lie along the titular tenth parallel, a latitudinal line 700 miles north of the equator. More than half of the world's 1.3 billion Muslims live along this line, as well as 60% of the world's 2 billion Christians.

Griswold spent seven years travelling through the war-torn cities, drought-ravaged fields and the near-empty deserts between the tenth parallel and the equator, encountering poverty, inequality and violent conflict at nearly every turn (indeed, from what she recounts, it seems a miracle she lived to tell the tale). The book is a compilation of painstaking interviews as she parsed, person by person, the conflicts over land, resources and souls. The daughter of a prominent liberal Episcopalian Bishop, Griswold brings to her story a remarkable humility and a deep understanding of the power of faith. Despite the audaciousness of her exploits, Griswold is careful to train the lens of her book on the amazing people she meets along the way. Ultimately, each country presents its own set of tangled problems and predicaments, with no easy answers. read more »

AN OPIUM FACTORY IN "SEA OF POPPIES"

Ariel Ramchandani — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 14:35:28 +0000

WHAT is it about novels set in India and their ability to completely transport a reader? Lately I've been reading Amitav Ghosh's "Sea of Poppies", trading New York's mercurial weather for the lush, squalid banks of the Ganges. Set in the 1820s, the novel (an Economist book of the year in 2008) catalogues the adventures of the crew of the Ibis, a slave ship turned able vessel in the opium wars. Ghosh's book has a grand Dickensian feel, encompassing men and women from different walks of life, speaking in different accents and dialects. The places are carefully drawn in dusty Indian technicolour, the characters are so lovingly rendered that when you re-encounter them it feels as though you are meeting old friends.

"Sea of Poppies" is an adventure story, but it is also a book about opium, as the title implies. Though there are references to the seedy dockside haunts in London and Canton that confirm standard perceptions of opium use in the 19th-century, Ghosh also sketches the farming, production and trade of the drug. The images of poverty, violence, corruption and addiction are startling, and also woefully familiar. read more »

FROM THE DEPT OF AWKWARD ALTRUISM

Emily Bobrow — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 22:29:05 +0000

As reported in the Telegraph: "Atheists offer to care for Christians' pets after the Rapture":

All the atheists signed up by Eternal Earth-Bound Pets are self-confessed sinners and blasphemers, guaranteeing they will be left behind when the chosen are selected...

According to some polls, as many as 55 per cent of Americans believe in the notion of the Rapture.

"You've committed your life to Jesus. You know you're saved. But when the Rapture comes what's to become of your loving pets who are left behind?" the group's website asks.

"Eternal Earth-Bound Pets takes that burden off your mind."

For $110, the firm promises lifetime care for almost all domestic pets if their owners are transported to heaven within the next ten years.

Nice. But who will water my plants when it turns out I'm not inscribed in the book of life? I've got a pocket-warming ten-spot to ensure all those leafy greens are otherwise spared that "strong hand and an outstretched arm".

~ EMILY BOBROW

"PECHA KUCHA": DOING THE ELECTRIC SLIDE

Kristi York Wooten — Mon, 11 May 2009 19:11:13 +0000

PowerPoint slides flash across a large screen in the corner of a coffee house in Atlanta, Georgia. In a presentation called "Chocolate Lab", a woman named Kristen expounds on the dissection of cocoa beans to a rapt crowd. She has exactly six minutes and 40 seconds to get her point across (20 images, 20 seconds apiece). After a quick plug for her local candy boutique, Cacao, Kristin hands the mic to the next presenter, who can’t wait to talk about fractals, interior design, mountain climbing or animé. The cycle continues for at least an hour. Then there’s lots of chatter.

What is this? The love-child of a French Salon and a stockholders meeting?

It’s called "Pecha Kucha", a trendy (and patented) presentation system popular among architects, designers and otherwise creative folks. Pecha Kucha Nights take place anywhere with space for a projector and a few willing participants. It’s free to present, though topics must be pre-approved by organisers and brevity is key. Afterwards, everyone networks and drinks, and the next day podcasts are often posted on iTunes. Weeks later, a new crowd gathers and does it all over again. read more »

SOME THOUGHTS ON RELIGIOUS FLUIDITY

Ariel Ramchandani — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 18:17:37 +0000

After attending a seder at my house on Passover, a friend sent me Judith Warner's "This I Believe". On her New York Times blog, Warner described being thrilled at the prospect of "celebrating Passover with our motley Jewish-Catholic-Episcopalian crew, commemorating events we don’t believe in, confirming an identity that doesn’t quite fit, united in the love of one another." read more »

BRINGING SEXY BACK

Ariel Ramchandani — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 21:12:36 +0000

Among the reasons I have to feel grateful that I did not come of age in the 1970s, the "buttered bun" and the "grope suit" rank high on the list. Both of these terms are explained in the first edition of the "Joy of Sex", published in 1972 by Dr Alex Comfort, an English gerontologist who, according to a piece in today's New York Times, "practised his own joy of sex by ditching his wife and moving to a free love commune in California." His book, with its "hairy man" illustrations and titter-provoking subject matter, was a huge success, with 343 weeks on the New York Times Bestseller List, and on night-tables everywhere. read more »

FOUR IRRELEVANT QUESTIONS FOR ZBIGNIEW BRZEZINSKI

Gary Moskowitz — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 19:30:16 +0000

A foreign policy lecture at London’s renowned international affairs hub, Chatham House, isn’t the sexiest way to spend an evening. But with Zbigniew Brzezinski as the invited guest speaker, the discussion was complex, enlightening and stunningly direct.

Brzezinksi was America's national security advisor to President Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1981. Now he’s professor of foreign policy at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC, and a scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He’s a no-nonsense man with a slick haircut and a sly sense of humour. On this recent occasion, he sported an impressive double-breasted pinstripe suit.

It was interesting, as an American in London, to sit in a room full of professional Brits listening to a Polish-American talk about what’s going on in American’s minds when it comes to world politics. For an hour Brzezinski delivered his take on America’s view of the world in 2008, in light of Barack Obama's win. He lamented the fact that there isn't a politically unified Europe right now. He pushed for a renewed transanlantic dialogue and a worldwide coalition of partners committed to interdependence and global management (the guy sitting next to me responded by shifting in his seat and exhaling loudly, repeatedly). Also, America and Europe should be more engaged with China, Russia and Iran, and Afghanistan needs to be de-militarised. read more »

"PROP 8 - THE MUSICAL"

Emily Bobrow — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 01:41:04 +0000

This is pretty good:

"Prop 8 - The Musical" starring Jack Black, John C. Reilly, and many more... by Jack Black

Reminds me of that notorious letter to Dr Laura--that bossy, conservative meddler of the radio--that once circulated the internet. And frankly, it makes me feel somewhat sheepish for continuing to keep my diet shellfish free. ~ EMILY BOBROW