David Bowie Is Waiting: The above David Bowie gif was submitted for Staff Picks without comment by Maureen, our fearless leader, though not before she sent it around to ask about assignment updates.
Full Eyes, Clear Hearts: For someone who has never seen Friday Night Lights, never will, and doesn't really want to, I [mis]quote their signature phrase surprisingly often. Not unlike, as it turns out, Mitt Romney in 2012 - though he at least got the phrasing right. While searching for the actual quote this week, I came across this gem of an article from the last presidential election about catchphrase plagiarism and Mitt Romney making "unconscious" football analogies about cancer patients. - Molly
The Fairy Godmother of Punk: Here’s a complete surprise I came across while doing Patti Smith prep; video of her singing “You Light Up My Life” from the 1978 TV show “Kids Are People Too”. It is just so wonderfully unexpected from the Queen of the Downtown Scene who could well have played at CBGBs that very night. There’s a kind of sweetness to the song, but also in how she plays to the audience. Something I discovered in spades when I interviewed her. - Virginia
No One Really Likes Their License Photo:? A light news story for a tough week. Some surprisingly cogent thoughts in this article, given the subject. - Taylor
On A Serious Note - The Resilience of Paris: In the wake of last Friday's attacks, the New York Times' Alex Toledano published a piece on the 'uncommon resilience of Paris'. Although so much media attention has been heaped onto the city, seemingly at the expense of cities like Beirut which was also the site of a terrorist attack on Thursday, the story has a unique and heartening perspective.
Paris is lucky to have a built environment that is resilient against change, as it only makes the rhythms and practices of urban life harder to change…Its architecture invites people to continue to explore, to take wrong turns, to fall in love, to protest and simply to have a drink in the same places, streets and buildings that countless others have in the past…In the long shadow of the horse-drawn carriage, it is unlikely that will change.
