open.substack.com/pub/ordinaryplots/p/bernadette-mayers-walking-like-a
Everything about this.
Wodehouse, Cricket and Root
Watching Joe Root bat is to be transported in time to the school stories of Wodehouse with boarding schools, dorm houses and boys playing cricket.
He has such a lovely boyish smile. No doubt, the quintessential keen player.
José González Vargas’s Chiripas
By then we had learned to live with the chiripas. Sometimes you would squash one, but it was more a gesture done out of habit than a true, heartfelt effort. Like any collective agony, we coped by making fun of them.
Chiripas by José González Vargas
How a nation devolves with the coming of bugs. So much commentary here– economic, personal and the socio-political. Certainly hits close to home.
saib
In the words of Spike Spiegel, the wise philosopher from a broken down jazz ship cruising around Mars— whatever happens, happens.
In the meantime, saib…
The Perfect Lever
Our story today is “How to Say I Love You with Wikipedia” by @Beth_Goder. It’s a sweet, sweet story starring an adorable Mars rover that will set your heart singing to the stars, and features a gorgeous illustration by @CatONeil — check it out! https://t.co/zplrph2Nsy pic.twitter.com/WzAe8QeJpm
— Pablo Defendini (@pablod) April 16, 2019
The Banality of Banality of…
There is this moment in the documentary ‘Banksy does New York’ where Banksy puts up a roadside stand in NY and has an old gent sell his works, $60 a piece. There are just three takers for his works. Each piece is now valued at 250k or more.
The documentary itself is a wholesome slice of humanity. There are those seeking to monetize his works: art dealers, enthusiasts, the public, and then there’s him: going around town and just ‘creating’.
Tessellations, In A Greater Hand
a story I wrote about mortality, childhood demons and grandmothers…
Thanks to Strange Horizons. Podcast by the wonderful Anaea Lay here .
On communities and transactions
“In close-knit communities, few transactions are explicit exchanges of broadly equal values. A mother nurses her child with no thought of sending a bill for services rendered, while we ply dinner guests with food and wine with no concern of when they will reciprocate. As ties get weaker in the community, more reciprocity is expected, but usually in such a way that the original gesture is never fully reciprocated so as to “close the account.”
— The Third Pillar by Raghuram Rajan
Not the key idea behind the book. The economist talks more on the balance required between State, Market and Community; how the third pillar has languished in the face of ICT revolution. But this nugget on communities did stand out for the truth it speaks.
Leaving a note here on ‘The Court Magician‘ by Sarah Pinsker for its choice of narrator and the tone of its prose. Brilliant and ties curiously well to the beginning of the tale.
A sort of genius
I stopped watching for ridicule, the scorpion’s tail hidden in his words. He said what he meant; he was puzzled if you did not. Some people might have mistaken this for simplicity. But is it not a sort of genius to cut always to the heart?
— The Song of Achilles, Madeline Miller
Art-o-Tart 