tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-377826622024-03-13T16:46:10.079+00:00Tinted Veinsstuff & thingsBenjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03403310247534902784noreply@blogger.comBlogger52125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37782662.post-52799715732380653902010-10-01T14:17:00.001+01:002010-10-01T14:17:58.899+01:00graham on how to waste timethe most dangerous traps now are new behaviors that bypass our alarms about self-indulgence by mimicking more virtuous types. And the worst thing is, they're not even fun.Benjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03403310247534902784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37782662.post-44416878654664620872010-05-03T13:06:00.002+01:002010-05-03T13:08:49.585+01:00quote of the dayyou can quickly appreciate why they have such a problem in Afghanistan playing this<br />-man playing videogameBenjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03403310247534902784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37782662.post-26114023544666161492010-03-22T21:13:00.003+00:002010-10-01T14:28:12.985+01:00Feminism and sanctimonyTo what extent do the two come hand in hand?<br /><br />I couldn't begin to pretend to know anything about what it's like to be a woman. But...<br /><br />Feminists seem to have a screw loose somewhere. The overwhelming image of the modern feminist is of a female, cropped haired, beret-less che guevara.<br /><br />intentional? really? cos that has "healthy childhood" written all over it...Benjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03403310247534902784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37782662.post-74110380005867898202008-09-11T15:28:00.001+01:002008-09-11T15:31:10.011+01:00Ebert on movies..."the movies are an empathy machine, drawing us into other lives, allowing us to identify with those of other races, genders, occupations, religions, income levels or times in history. Good films enlarge us, and are a civilizing medium. Bad films narrow us...<br /><br />...No film at all impoverishes us."Benjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03403310247534902784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37782662.post-28208012887809748962008-05-15T18:22:00.001+01:002008-05-15T18:22:54.292+01:00Everything he wants to do is illegalhttp://www.mindfully.org/Farm/2003/Everything-Is-Illegal1esp03.htmBenjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03403310247534902784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37782662.post-47744296573710117582008-05-14T02:11:00.001+01:002008-05-14T02:11:32.611+01:00Swartz on intelligenceBeing intelligent doesn't mean you're knowledgeable; it means you're curious.Benjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03403310247534902784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37782662.post-16863318445698496522008-05-09T23:40:00.001+01:002008-05-09T23:40:56.222+01:00Maroon on fashionThat’s what men’s fashion should be aiming for, the “if you step on my Italian leather shoes I may just collapse your windpipe with my knuckles” look.Benjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03403310247534902784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37782662.post-60330710127450182172008-05-01T16:04:00.000+01:002008-05-01T16:05:26.508+01:00McCarthy on compassionCompassion is contempt with a human face.Benjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03403310247534902784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37782662.post-23996910521038631002008-04-21T23:10:00.000+01:002008-04-21T23:11:04.893+01:00Graham on benevolenceThere's a lot of external evidence that benevolence works.Benjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03403310247534902784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37782662.post-35032746230938988832008-04-04T18:01:00.001+01:002008-04-04T18:01:59.562+01:00Graham on livingIn an artificial world, only extremists live naturally.Benjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03403310247534902784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37782662.post-60398636074263190592008-03-14T01:44:00.001+00:002008-03-14T01:44:30.662+00:00Graham on tricksWhat counts as a trick? Roughly, it's something done with contempt for the audience.Benjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03403310247534902784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37782662.post-13681671888660646602008-03-14T01:29:00.004+00:002008-03-14T01:52:56.279+00:00Graham on artIf good art is art that interests its audience, then when you talk about art being good, you also have to say for what audience. So is it meaningless to talk about art simply being good or bad? No, because one audience is the set of all possible humans. I think that's the audience people are implicitly talking about when they say a work of art is good: they mean it would engage any human.<br /><br />...it's good art if it consistently affects humans in a certain way.<br />...Since there's such a thing as good art, there's also such a thing as good taste, which is the ability to recognize it.<br /><br />So the most important consequence of realizing there can be good art is that it frees artists to try to make it.Benjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03403310247534902784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37782662.post-63287589434172066072008-03-10T10:57:00.002+00:002008-03-10T11:02:30.145+00:00Graham on how not to die...if you want to get millions of dollars, put yourself in a position where failure will be public and humiliating. ...and you don't get that kind of money just by asking for it. You have to assume it takes some amount of pain.Benjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03403310247534902784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37782662.post-19465349818977844222008-03-02T23:52:00.000+00:002008-03-02T23:53:21.615+00:00Ebert on BamboozledThat's the danger with satire: To ridicule something, you have to show it, and if what you're attacking is a potent enough image, the image retains its negative power no matter what you want to say about it.Benjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03403310247534902784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37782662.post-51763242186155016312007-11-26T02:40:00.000+00:002007-11-26T02:41:02.167+00:00quote of the dayBut every artist must work in his medium, and the medium of film does not exist unless there is an audience between the projector and the screen.Benjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03403310247534902784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37782662.post-71229889915179822202007-11-22T19:08:00.001+00:002007-11-22T19:10:58.046+00:00QuestionWhy do humans gravitate towards consistency + familiarity when the essense of human nature is inconsistency and unreliability?<br /><br />A Biblical frame of reference explains this.Benjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03403310247534902784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37782662.post-40995062491761593742007-10-02T07:51:00.000+01:002007-10-02T07:52:11.028+01:00Old Joy"Sorrow is just worn out joy"Benjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03403310247534902784noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37782662.post-20055973597327248262007-09-24T18:38:00.000+01:002007-09-24T18:39:18.752+01:00Quote of the dayThe most valuable way to approach the current philosophical tradition may be neither to get lost in pointless speculations like Berkeley, nor to shut them down like Wittgenstein, but to study it as an example of reason gone wrong. - Paul GrahamBenjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03403310247534902784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37782662.post-11938204396477025542007-08-30T19:53:00.000+01:002007-08-31T00:26:41.146+01:00Reason in the showerIs it legitimate to call one's faith ones own eg "my faith"?Benjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03403310247534902784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37782662.post-68949917791932486322007-08-30T14:11:00.000+01:002007-08-31T00:27:51.239+01:00http://www.zefrank.org/user/image/view/7460<a href="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/186/373062053_fd218b899e.jpg?v=0"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px;" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/186/373062053_fd218b899e.jpg?v=0" border="0" alt="" /></a>Benjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03403310247534902784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37782662.post-58036825667653763772007-08-27T17:35:00.001+01:002007-08-27T17:35:36.660+01:00Quote of the dayWords are the children of reasonBenjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03403310247534902784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37782662.post-12570071971797272622007-08-24T02:22:00.000+01:002007-08-24T02:23:14.175+01:00Quote of the dayThe most important thing is to be able to think what you want, not to say what you want.Benjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03403310247534902784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37782662.post-44491087657168738052007-08-23T14:32:00.001+01:002007-08-23T14:32:37.495+01:00Gore Vidal<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/UcO4WD5Z81c' name='movie'/><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/UcO4WD5Z81c'/></object></p></div>Benjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03403310247534902784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37782662.post-27379928458388895232007-08-14T19:29:00.000+01:002007-08-23T14:33:21.852+01:00Quote of the dayHappiness consists of being able to tell the truth without hurting anyone.Benjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03403310247534902784noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37782662.post-4032248182918074462007-08-10T18:12:00.000+01:002007-08-10T18:13:14.706+01:00Quote of the daylovers never lose cos they are free of thoughtsBenjhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03403310247534902784noreply@blogger.com0