February 20. 2011

Today's NYT Magazine has an article about the U.S.A. Memory Championship. I remember reading The Art of Memory and The Memory Palace of Mateo Ricci and applying the same techniques. They work.



Saw The Social Network and it was OK, thought-provoking and Jesse Eisenberg does a great job capturing the awkward genius at work. The dialogue is good but cannot approach anything by Paddy Chayefsky.

Vanity Fair has a good interview of Sean Parker , the person played by Justin Timberlake.

Gage: Mr. Zuckerberg, do I have your full attention?
Mark Zuckerberg: [stares out the window] No.
Gage: Do you think I deserve it?
Mark Zuckerberg: [looks at Gage] What?
Gage: Do you think I deserve your full attention?
Mark Zuckerberg: I had to swear an oath before we began this deposition, and I don't want to perjure myself, so I have a legal obligation to say no.
Gage: Okay - no. You don't think I deserve your attention.
Mark Zuckerberg: I think if your clients want to sit on my shoulders and call themselves tall, they have the right to give it a try - but there's no requirement that I enjoy sitting here listening to people lie. You have part of my attention - you have the minimum amount. The rest of my attention is back at the offices of Facebook, where my colleagues and I are doing things that no one in this room, including and especially your clients, are intellectually or creatively capable of doing.
[pauses]
Mark Zuckerberg: Did I adequately answer your condescending question?



Dominick's Hot Dogs voted the best in NYC by the Daily News. I agree, they're great.



Newly found Dashiell Hammett short story to be published later this month by The Strand.



I'm canceling my subscription to Newsweek, only 48 pages recently and a lot of good writers have jumped ship. I get a lot of magazines, a habit from school fund-raising appeals. Time will probably be canceled next.

The New Yorker still puts out a good magazine and I just subscribed. This week's piece on Scientology is worth reading, long, detailed and fascinating. Their on-line archive is also terrific and available to subscribers.



Serge Ibaka had an interesting stunt in the NBA All-Star Dunk Contest. Blake Griffin won the thing by jumping over a car.