ON PERVERTS

SCIENCE, with the aid of its little brother, PIE CHART, explains everything again:

chat roulette from Casey Neistat on Vimeo.

FRIDAY LINK PARADE

I always knew Oliver Stone was a beautiful human being

The AV Club

RIP Lee

The Guardian

Fleshbot or Facebook? You figure it out. I'm not going near this.

NYMag

Even though I can't see how this will work, these guys get a free pass. Not you, Lucas.

Movies.ie

Bet you didn't know he was one of the good guys.

The Guardian

Creative: Unblock thyself.

ISO50

Daily blogging quota achieved. I claim my prize.

ON GRASSY KNOLLS

"Here's my argument in a nutshell. People are too much at cross purposes with each other, too stupid, too self absorbed to ever effectively conspire to do anything."

- Errol Morris, in conversation with Adam Curtis, 2005

- originally published in The Believer

ON THE PERILS OF FREE TIME

Putting pictures of books online is almost as good as writing one. Certainly, they're more satisfying in the short term. So here are a few examples of how I spent my free time in January:

BOOKS ABOUT THE TRUTH, MAN

The Suspicions of Mr Whicher

BOOKS I PROBABLY SHOULDN'T ADVERTISE, IF I WANT PEOPLE TO THINK I AM DEEP AND MEANINGFUL

Before They Are Hanged; Last Argument of Kings

BOOKS I FINALLY GOT AROUND TO READING AND WAS IMPRESSED/INTIMIDATED BY

The Lazarus Project; Gentlemen of The Road

BOOKS I HAVEN'T FINISHED READING YET

Legend of A Suicide; A Fraction of The Whole

BOOKS I HAVE BEGUN TO READ TO MY ALMOST NINE YEAR OLD SON. THUS FULFILLING MY PURPOSE ON EARTH (SOMEONE ELSE CAN SHOW HIM HUNTER S.).

The Lord of The Rings

BOOKS WITH GREEN COVERS

The Manual of Detection

BOOKS ABOUT MATHEMATICS

Uncle Petros & Goldbach's Conjecture

COMIC BOOKS. OR, THE BEST BOOKS I HAVE READ THIS YEAR

Logicomix; Asterios Polyp

BOOKS I AM WRITING

Are at just over 40,000 words.

ON BEAKER

I've been thinking of making some internet videos in my copious spare time, but I fear public humiliation. I probably shouldn't have watched this, then:

ON DISTRACTIONS

Want to write a screenplay? Wondering what's the next few years of films might be like?

ScriptShadow

Preparing for disaster

BLDGBLOG

Stepping over your grandmother's grave: Oscars 2010.

New York Magazine

The scaredy-cat guide to success: Gladwell on entrepreneurs.

New Yorker

You shouldn't be reading this. I shouldn't be typing it. Oh, man, I'm so depressed.

LA Times

No, actually, now I'm depressed.

The Big Picture

ON ADVERTISING

This ran during the Superbowl last night. It is (apparently) the first time the 'Don't be evil' gang have advertised on TV.

All I'm saying is: if you changed the soundtrack to the Arcade Fire and had the tagline: 'from the mind of Spike Jonze', you'd be in hipster heaven.

Or if the camera pulled back and John Hodgman was typing on the screen, we could be looking at the new Apple iPad ad.

I'm not saying you should, or that every advertiser chasing the hipster dollar is doing the same thing. I've just got too much time on my hands.

YOUR DAILY WODEHOUSE

"A melancholy man, [he] had the appearance of one who has searched for the leak in life's gas-pipe with a lighted candle."

- PG Wodehouse, (from The Man Who Disliked Cats in The Man Upstairs)

ON INFORMATION

Too tired and too behind to write a blog post tonight. You know what that means, ladies and gentlemen...

EMBEDDED VIDEOS! LINKS! LOLCATS! PRON!

Productivity Corner

Here's a great talk by Clay Shirky on why our problem is not too much information, but our inability to filter effectively:

Will Self on WG Sebald

Taking forward planning to predictably nerd-based ends

Some people might say: 'Hey. This is just a loose collection of impressions.'

To which I reply: 'So's your face.'