Month: February 2016

And when things didn’t go quite as expected, Americans lost their shit.

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Haven’t read fiction in months.

Sharon Guskin‘s debut novel is an Amazon Best Book of February, 2016.

I don’t believe in reincarnation.

NY Times Book Review: “Sounds ludicrous. It shouldn’t work. But Guskin pulls off the silly premise with a gripping, deft and moving mystery.” 

And, swept away by this page turner.

Here’s a biscuit…

“This never would have happened in India. In India they understood that life unfolded the way it unfolded, whether you liked it or not: the cow in the road, the swerve that saves or kills you. One life ended, a new one began, maybe it was better than the last one, maybe it wasn’t. The Indians (and the Thais, and the Sri Lankans) accepted this the way they accepted the monsoons or the heat, with a resignation that was like simple good sense. Damned Americans. Americans, unschooled in the burning dung heaps and the sudden swerves, Americans couldn’t help but cling tightly to the life they were living like clutching a spindly branch that was sure to break … and when things didn’t go quite as expected, Americans lost their shit. Himself included.”

~ Sharon Guskin, The Forgetting Time: A Novel

Notes:

Monday Morning Wake-Up Call: At Attention!

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Say Cheese!

Boys dressed up in school uniforms pose with king penguins at the London Zoo, 1953.

Don’t miss other “found” photos from National Geographic archives – some never published before at: Natgeofound

Source: My Modern Met

Saoirse Una Ronan

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She is the second youngest two-time Academy Award nominee in history receiving a Best Supporting Actress nomination in Atonement (2007) and a Best Actress nomination for her role in Brooklyn (2015).  Saoirse Ronan, is a 21 year old Irish-American actress born in the Bronx, NY.

If you missed CBS Sunday Morning this morning, DON’T MISS Jane Pauley’s interview of Saoirse Una Ronan found at the video clip here:

CBS Sunday Morning: Saoirse Ronan, from screen to stage

JP: I remember reading that early fame is particularly challenging for young women.

SR: I’m not surprised that it affects young women more because there is more pressure not only for the superficial stuff – the way we look – the way we are all compared to each other – what we wear and how that’s compared to what someone else may wear on a red carpet for example, but even beyond that when it comes to success it’s almost something you have to be apologetic about.

It’s very weird to have your face plastered all over, even though I do get quite shy about that sort of stuff, there is something about seeing your name or your face attached to a Broadway theatre that makes you say, oh wow, this is a bit of a dream.

And don’t miss this video clip where Jane Pauley reads lines with Ronan:

Saoirse Ronan runs lines with Jane Pauley

Her other film roles include parts in The Lovely Bones (2009), Hanna (2011), The Way Back (2010), Byzantium (2012), The Host (2013), and The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014).

Let’s just say that this young lady is inspiring…

Image: wallpapers

Death Valley Bloom Explosion

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“About once every 10 years, Death Valley is coated in millions of flowers, becoming the valley of life. The conditions have to be just so, in order for the flowers to bloom, including the perfect amount of rain combined with conducive temperatures. About 20 species of wildflowers are currently blooming in the desert, northeast of Los Angeles. Those interested in seeing the super bloom should go sooner rather than later because if temperatures reach above 100 degrees, the flowers will wilt and die. Strong winds can also dry out the flowers, nipping the super bloom in the bud.  If the temperatures stay under 100 and no strong winds come, the flowers will likely stick around until April.

The last time the blooms exploded on the desert floor was in 2005.”

Inspired by Emily Dickinson’s poem “To Make a Prairie” (1755):

To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee,
One clover, and a bee,
And revery.
The revery alone will do,
If bees are few.

Video & quote source: Grindtv

Miracle? All of it.

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NY Times Letter to the Editor:

“The Chirp Heard Across the Universe” (editorial, Feb. 16), about the recent discovery of the gravitational waves that were predicted by Einstein a century ago, asks, “Does science, or knowledge, really need a justification?”

The answer, of course, is no. But in a culture that has become saturated with the idea that only commercial value matters, we’ve become afraid of expressing an impulse as natural and basic as this.

Much like literature, music, philosophy and art, enjoyment of the natural sciences — and of nature itself — has intrinsic value. No further justification is required. Curiosity, wonder and beauty are enough.

~ Mark Bessoudo, Toronto

Notes:

  • Related Posts: Miracle? All of it.
  • Photo: Aberrant Beauty
  • Inspired by Albert Einstein’s quote: “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”