You mean you lost a contest?

Just remember that they're all 18-19 year old kids, and if you are assertive and moderately articulate the majority of them won't give you any trouble. I put so many hours into my lectures my first semester of teaching, only to realize how little they question the specifics of anything I'm talking about. I care about…

This same thing has happened to my friends with Comcast internet multiple times. I really do think it has to be intentional. They've spent hours on the phone to get their bill corrected, and at a certain point it's almost "cheaper" to just pay the extra money.

Or even some of the essays - Consider the Lobster and A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again are readily available online, and would give you a taste of his style.

I had to get rabies shots last fall because of a bat in my house. I was getting ready to go to bed when it flew into my bedroom and went in circles around my head. I hid under the covers (like any reasonable adult) until I had calmed down enough to run into the other room, then opened the front door and waited until I…

Gang of Four - "I Found That Essence Rare"

Gang of Four - "Damaged Goods"

I second In the Bleak Midwinter and We Three Kings. I also really enjoy Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence, which I rarely hear.

mise en abîme!

Nicolas Winding Refn was at my university for a two-day festival of his films. I designed the poster for the festival, and he autographed one for me. I didn't actually meet him, though - the poster was left for me at the cinema office.

It's great in so many things though. In undergrad, my friends and I used to throw a pumpkin party every year. Pumpkin curry, pumpkin soup, pumpkin risotto, pumpkin cheesecake, and, of course, many growlers of pumpkin beer from a local brewer, which I think was the impetus for the whole thing in the first place.

I also saw him on his last tour (at Red Rocks, a last hurrah before leaving my beloved mountains to move to the midwest) with the all-female band, and they were amazing. Fiddle strings and white skirts flying everywhere. It didn't hurt that they played some of my favorite White Stripes, Dead Weather and Raconteurs…

I watched the new episode yesterday, and I really like Peter Capaldi as the Doctor (though I felt that the episode itself was a bit scattered). I really enjoyed Matt Smith's performance, but have been increasingly annoyed by Moffat as showrunner through seasons 6&7, to the point that I more or less stopped watching…

Yeah, me too. Unless it's Marian Bantjes. There's an incredible amount of depth to her ornateness.

Yes, and I think the whole cycle has been sped up (or at least becomes apparent sooner) because of the internet and all of the design blogs/portfolio sites etc. And most of the major publications like CA don't offer much in the way of intelligent commentary - they are often just print versions of the same stuff that's…

I disagree. If good design is effective visual communication, then you want the visual tone/voice to match the message you are trying to communicate. Simply applying elements that are trendy (and thus, usually generic) is not going to produce design that has a distinctive voice or do much to strengthen your branding.…

I'm a grad student in design and teach typography, and it's a constant struggle to convince my students not to just imitate whatever happens to be trendy at the moment. Right now, hand lettering is a big one. They all have Pinterest boards full of poorly drawn flourishes, and they slap them on everything, regardless…

I read them for the first time in high school, and have enjoyed them as an adult as well (with Perelandra being my favorite). I didn't find the theological underpinnings off-putting, for the reasons Inkling articulates below. I don't think I've reread the third one - I remember it being less engaging than the first…

L'il Drogon already ate L'il Sebastian and all his goat friends.

You should check out Tokyo!; the segment directed by Michel Gondry features a character who is a chair.