eden

The closer men came to perfecting for themselves a paradise, the more impatient they seemed to become with it, and with themselves as well. They made a garden of pleasure, and became progressively more miserable with it as it grew in richness and power and beauty; for then, perhaps, it was easier for them to see that something was missing in the garden, some tree or shrub that would not grow. When the world was in darkness and wretchedness, it could believe in perfection and yearn for it. But when the world became bright with reason and riches, it began to sense the narrowness of the needle's eye, and that rankled for a world no longer willing to believe or yearn. Well, they were going to destroy it again, were they -- this garden Earth, civilized and knowing, to be torn apart again that Man might hope again in wretched darkness.

A Canticle for Leibowitz

Walter M. Miller Jr.

vanity

'He doesn't ride the donkey,' Thon Taddeo stated, 'because this morning the donkey was loaded down with corn. It doesn't occur to him that the packs are empty now. What is good enough for the morning is also good enough for the afternoon.'

'You know him?'

'He passes under my window too. Every morning and evening. Hadn't you noticed him?'

'A thousand like him.'

'Look. Can you bring yourself to believe that that brute is the lineal descendent of men who supposedly invented machines that flew, who traveled to the moon, harnessed the forces of Nature, built machines that could talk and seemed to think? Can you believe there were such men?'

Apollo was silent.

'Look at him!' the scholar persisted. 'No, but it's too dark now. You can't see the syphilis outbreak on his neck, the way the bridge of his nose is being eaten away. Paresis. But he was undoubtedly a moron to begin with. Illiterate, superstitious, murderous. He diseases his children. For a few coins he would kill them. He will sell them anyway, when they are old enough to be useful. Look at him, and tell me if you see the progeny of a once-mighty civilization? What do you see?

'The image of Christ,' grated the monsignot, surprised at his own sudden anger. 'What did you expect me to see?'

The scholar huffed impatiently. 'The incongruity. Men as you can observe them through any window, and men as historians would have us believe men once were. I can't accept it. How can a great and wise civilization have destroyed itself so completely?'

'Perhaps,' said Apollo, 'by being materially great and materially wise, and nothing else.'

A Canticle for Leibowitz
Walter M. Miller Jr

When Wallpaper Strikes Back

Using pictures of people in this way is a form of wallpaper video. But it's worst than other forms of wallpaper because instead of using generic pictures to illustrate a story, we're using specific pictures. There's no such thing as a "generic" person. Every face has attached to it a real person with a real name and a real address and real rights, who's real likely to hire a real good lawyer to hit you real hard with a real ugly lawsuit. If there's a recognizable face in your video, then that video is specific, not generic-- and some might construe your story to be about that individual. So if you're using a "crowd shot" to illustrate a story about something negative or embarrassing such as STDs, and Ethel Icetea recognizes herself in your video, she isn't going to be happy. If she gets a call from her neighbors kidding her about it, she's going to be less happy. You might then get a call from the law firm of Ketchum and Cheatham that will negatively affect your happiness.

Broadcast News Handbook, Third Edition
Television News Story Forms--The VO

C. A. Tuggle and Forrest Carr

"undetermined"

The fourth most worthless word in television is the word "undetermined" in connection with a bank robbery or other theft. One, it's not conversational. When was the last time you turned to someone and said, "The robber got away with an undetermined amount of cash"?

Two, it's not factual--or at least, it's not always factual--and it leaves the viewer with a false assumption that the amount of money missing will be determined later. Guess what, folks. Often they know exactly how much money the bandit got away with, for the simple reason that he probably has a "bait bag" with a dye bomb inside it and a well-known amount of bait cash. If they don't know, they'll find out very quickly. But believe this: They might never tell you how much cash the bandit got. There's a good reason for this: Revealing the amount of cash the bandit took is the worst form of advertising for the bank. The bandit might have escaped with a nice wad of cash. If the bank reveals the amount, it's essentially throwing out a challenge for other robbers to try to match or surpass the previous robber's haul.

Forrest Carr

Deadly Copy Sins and How to Avoid Them
Broadcast News Handbook, Third Edition

settling

The irony of our human condition is that God has put us within sight of the Himalayas of His glory in Jesus Christ, but we have chosen to pull down the shades of our chalet and show slides of Buck Hill -- even in church. We are content to go on making mud pies in the slums because we cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.

John Piper

How I Became a Christian Hedonist

反

What can it profit a man to gain the whole world and to come to his property with a gastric ulcer, a blown prostate, and bifocals? Mack and the boys avoid the trap, walk around the poison, step over the noose while a generation of trapped, poisoned, and trussed-up men scream at them and call them no-goods, come-to-bad-ends, blots-on-the-town, thieves, rascals, bums. Our Father who art in nature, who has given the gift of survival to the coyote, the common brown rat, the English sparrow, the house fly and the moth, must have a great and overwhelming love for no-goods and blots-of-the-town and bums, and Mack and the boys. 

Cannery Row

John Steinbeck

via one note to play

浅意识

Dreams appear much more prominent and clear when the dreamer is in an unhealthy state -- they have an extraordinary semblance of reality. Most monstrous pictures are put together but all the circumstances are so subtly interwoven, the details so artistically harmonious in every minute respect, as to defy human imitation, be the artist a Pooshkin or a Tourgeneff. Such morbid dreams are always recollected for very long, and produce strong impressions on the disordered and already excited organs of the dreamer. 

Crime and Punishment

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

restoration

In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation. 

1 Peter 5:10 NLT

"...Jesus had washed me and made me whiter than snow."

Debra Blanarik

Victim to Victorious

genius

Man is a coward, and can get accustomed to anything!

Well, if I am wrong, if man is not necessarily a coward, he should trample on every fear and prejudice that stand in his way!

Raskolnikoff
Crime and Punishment

100 thing challenge

I totally believe that living without an abundance of personal possessions for an extended period of time is the first step we ought to take in order to realise that we don't need ever-more stuff.

- Dave Bruno

zombie

"Why should I be alarmed by these trifles when I am contemplating such a desperate deed?" thought he, and he gave a strange smile. "Ah, well, man holds the remedy in his own hands, and lets everything go its own way, simply through cowardice--that is an axiom. I should like to know what people fear most: whatever is contrary to their usual habits, I imagine. But I am talking too much. I talk and so I do nothing, though I might just as well say, I do nothing and so I talk. I have acquired this habit of chattering during the last month, while I have been lying for days together in a corner, feeding my mind on trifles. Come, why am I taking this walk now? Am I capable of that? Can that really be serious? Not in the least. These are mere chimeras, idle fancies that flit across my brain!"

Crime and Punishment
by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

isle of yew

happy mother's day, ma.

post title quoted from Bell Jar, in Catherine Lim's Deadline for Love and Other stories

a million love songs later

akris resort 2011

i love these looks. i got to know akris via this blogger. i wish i could wear them.

photographed by myself from the teen vogue handbook

i wish i could wear hi-cut shoes, or just those shoes that don't make you look like you have really short legs.

do you have the same problems? 

 

when i saw audrey's outfit, i was once again tempted to give shorts a shot. my shopping bag on asos is still void of a pair of shorts that i think might work for me. what scary's now is that asos is offering free shipping worldwide, i fear i want to get sucked into it. i've never shopped at asos for some reason... it could be the prices. and since i've always preferred direct shipping and now that it's free, should i not give in to my weakness? hah. the prices are still not too friendly for my wallet, honestly. and once again i was looking at boots. i think i finally found a pair of mannish chelsea boots. not the best choice but at least they're my size and not exceedingly expensive.   

 

  in other news, the men's polo shirts from american apparel ordered through reebonz have finally arrived. quite pleased for now. i think my menswear phase should soon end. after i try out their shorts, perhaps...

mane issues

"Beauty shouldn't be taken too seriously. Life is stressful enough! Hair should be creative and crazy."

- Guido Palau

head case (teen vogue)

Palau considers ponytails to be the perfect hairstyle: "They're ideal for every day. Low-maintenance but chic!"

extracted from:

the teen vogue handbook

countess of excess

embedded in this clip is a lesson on... minimalism, or call it whatever you will. a big bloody "aha!" moment for me for sure.

i've been buying things again. received one package today and immediately got so sick of myself. i heard myself say in my head, " no more" and before the sky turned dark, guess where those words went?

von restorff

We often have "aha!" moments but don't act; in fact, we're famous for it in the church. Remember those retreat highs followed by the inevitable lull? Or the excitement you felt on your first mission trip but forgot shortly after returning home?

chapter 10: the crux of the matter
crazy love by francis chan

basic

"There is an epidemic of spiritual amnesia going around, and none of us is immune. No matter how many fascinating details we learn about God's creation, no matter how many pictures we see of His galaxies, and no matter how many sunsets we watch, we still forget."

Francis Chan
in Crazy Love

authentic

"I do remember some "bad advice" I gave myself. I failed miserably when I tried to emulate the gruff, cynical veteran reporter sitting next to me. I learned I had to be myself, even if it meant being bumbling and insecure."

Nancy Guaader,
Omaha World-Herald

found in:

Inside Reporting: A Practical Guide to the Craft of Journalism, by Tim Harrower

lede

"The most important sentence in any article is the first one. If it doesn't induce the reader to proceed to the second sentence, your article is dead. And if the second sentence doesn't induce him to continue to the third, it's equally dead."

William Zinsser,
author, On Writing Well

pastiche

Why should she feel so awkward about it? she asked herself. Why was she, an honest person, ashamed to say, "Listen up, folks, I've never read a word of Jane Austen and I don't intend to"? What was wrong with that?

She'd be branded a philistine. Who cared?

These kids would despise her. So what? There wasn't a law, you can't be a decent person, or count yourself as having a brain, unless you've read all the works of Jane Austen. Think of all the people in the world who had never even heard of Jane Austen.

Lucky them.

writing jane austen, Elizabeth Aston