For those of you thinking about converting to the electronic book, in this case, the Kindle, you might want to check out this post on Clusterflock asking for comments on people’s satisfaction, agitation or indifference.
Until
the
last
moment
anything
is
possible.
~Dalai Lama
L’esprit de l’escalier or esprit d’escalier (stairway wit) is the sense of thinking of a clever comeback in an encounter when it is too late.
The phrase can be used to describe a riposte to an insult, or any witty, clever remark that comes to mind too late to be useful— when one is on the “staircase” leaving the scene of the encounter.
The phenomenon is usually accompanied by a feeling of regret at having not thought of the riposte when it was most needed or suitable.
Featured: Stairway at the Louvre, Paris, 2007
“A man
should look
as if he bought
his clothes
with intelligence,
put them on
with care,
then
forgot
about them.”
-Hardy Amies
“Life itself is the proper binge.”
~Julia Child
As I bounce around online looking for images I always look for the extraordinary, the esoteric, the naive, and the emblematic of a time; works that are not the pieces we often see in design history books.
Just as a map helps us find our way and shows us where we are, looking at design from years past helps us better understand the trajectory contemporary design has taken. DesignObserver.
The novelist Alison Lurie wrote: “Whatever is worn on the head is a sign of the mind beneath it.”
Stephen Jones, the greatest milliner of his generation, disagrees.
“Whatever is worn on the head is a sign of what a person would like to be."
“The golden moments
in the stream of life
rush past us
and we see nothing
but sand.
The angels
come to visit us,
and we only know them
when they are gone.”
-George Elliot
“I’d Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fake Chanel”
Following her counterfeit faux pas, the culture’s rebellious “bad girl” Courtney Love has been granted a reprieve by Karl Lagerfeld’s court. Fortunately, the iconic rock star is now decidedly back in fashion.
In this classic novel of old New York, Edith Wharton recreates the city of her girlhood in the 1870s. The Arion edition has been illustrated with photographs of the actual settings of the story.
“Truly a thing of beauty” according to Forbes magazine, this edition celebrates a classic of American literature. The book has a special status as an affectionate record of the streets and buildings of New York City. At every moment of the novel the reader knows where the characters are, walking down a particular street, standing in front of a certain address, looking out the window of a familiar room.
The Arion Press edition is illustrated with images of the novel's actual setting, as they are today, captured by noted photographer Stephen Shore who brought to this project a personal knowledge of the historic buildings and streets that made up Wharton's New York world.
New York Times art critic Michael Kimmelman raved: "The work’s laconic eloquence speaks of an era and a nation."
Francis Bacon's sickly serene Self Portrait 1971 is a refracted faceted face akin to some of Paul Cézanne's self-portraits which are reminiscent of cut precious gem stones reflecting light. Bacon painted with a very dry brush giving the sensation of a granular, grainy effect.
The melancholia mood is of a man melting before you: a disturbing image of a disturbed man in a disturbed century. This is one of the last great self-portraits Bacon painted before he went off the rails and went back into to the lazy worn grooves of inane illustration.
The Errant Aesthete©
July, 2007 - January, 2012
The Errant Aesthete©
All Rights Reserved
If you would like to reprint an article or repurpose a photo, please email for permission.
EMAIL: worddrawing@gmail.com
I’ve had my Kindle since Dec/ 4th, have over 500 books on it, and absolutely love it.
NOTHING MORE TO SAY!
I’ve had my Kindle since Dec 12th and consider it my most-used of all my electronic gadgets. I have purchased 22 books from Amazon and downloaded 58 public domain books. I now love and eagerly look forward to reading on the easy-on-the-eye e-ink screen, increase or decrease the text size as needed and always have my favorite reading available for travel or waiting in doctor’s waiting rooms, shopping lines, etc.
I haven’t tried a Kindle yet, so I’m not really qualified to comment, but I do have a question: do either of you miss the touch of paper, the physical quality of a book in your hands? I read news content online all day, but I love to sit with the newspaper or read a magazine. It’s a very satisfying experience and I wonder if a Kindle would do the same.
I haven’t purchased a Kindle yet either, and I’m hoping that I’ll never be forced into buying one with today’s advancing technology. Things going too fast for my satisfaction. But I’m agreeing with Anna on this one. How could the Kindle experience possibly match that of the book or the newspaper in hand. It can’t. I’m curious to hear from people that do own a Kindle to comment on what Anna said.
I am a new Kindle owner, and had the same reservations, but as I was running out of book shelf space, made the plunge.
I love my Kindle. It fits very nicely in the hand, pages turn back and forth easily, the screen is eye friendly and adjusts type size to your preference and it does all kinds of cool extra things. Read about them at the Amazon site.
For the esthetics, I bought an after market red leather Kindle cover, which handsomely keeps the device safe and allows for easy holding and protection.
There are some drawbacks, of course, which include the cost, need to recharge [once a week usually if not connecting to the net via Whispernet] and the fuzzy reduced size reproduction of pictures in black and white. I will still buy “real” books for well illustrated volumes, but truthfully, reading text on the Kindle is just as easy and comfortable as from a “real” book, and more convenient.
I took my Kindle with me on a recent European trip instead of several heavy books … it was bliss. I only needed a simple adaptor plug for charging, as it automatically adapts to the local electrical current.
Mimi,
Having just returned from an overseas trip with “too many books” weighing down my luggage, compromising my form and dampening my holiday spirits, the Kindle sounds like the perfect traveling companion. Thank you for the endorsement.
The Errant Aesthete