.: Blogroll Planet

What lessons does the Leaning Tower of Pisa have for creative souls? Should we worry about what the audience wants? Or should we rely on the deepest regions of our…

There are two problems an artist faces: what to paint and how to paint it. That’s Bonnie Clearwater in an interview about Frank Stella, in this week’s episode of The…

Prior to 2020, it never occurred to me—as a near-lifetime career activist—that one could simply be too overwhelmed to stay active in the work. I mean sure, life happens, but…

Some debate over the merits of Minicircle, the gene therapy startup. It's a case of "in theory, it shouldn't work", with "working" defined in the most damning way: probably not…

When I received a wax wrapper (Polish: woskowijka), I decided to give a try folding it. Wax wrappers are sheets of fabric soaked in beeswax, and advertised as a reusable,…

The Three Musketeers: Milady (2023) • View trailerFour stars (out of five). Not rated, and akin to PG-13 for violenceAvailable via: Amazon Prime and other VOD optionsBy Derrick BangNo surprise: The second chapter of…

. "I always tell my writing students not to try to wrap things up in a neat little bow when they’re actually complicated and unresolved. That the lack of closure…

Fireside this week! Next week, with luck, I’ll have my ‘On the Reign of Alexander III of Macedon’ up as an addendum to our discussion of Hellenistic armies. But in…

It’s been about what how has it been almost 8 years since I overhauled an old blueberry muffin recipe in the archives to turn them into what I consider the…

The seasons shift. I sit at tables half exposed to the weather, one whole side of the bar opened up to the street. It will remain like this for much…

No fancy corporate titles, giant mansions or flashy paychecks for me.

A friend shared a speculation this week that, as you get older, your openness to new ideas goes to the extreme – either you ossify or you maintain (and build!)…

I get confused about chapter books, I think it’s meant to be just another term for a book that’s too short. But in 2003, Paul Auster wrote a full-length novel…

Ridgeline subscribers! Hello! As I wrote last week, my new pop-up newsletter/walk — The Return to Pachinko Road — begins on May 14. Subscribe here if you feel so inclined…

This week I gave a talk at the 11ty International Symposium on Making the Web Real Good. It was about Question Mark, Ohio and about how the web is still…

I have a weird story about scallion pancakes. It goes like this. Around this time last year, I was walking down my street in San Francisco when a woman waved…

That was part of the one of the two topics that I was planing to suggest for the IndieWeb Camp Düsseldorf. I will not be able to attend because of…

I’ve been a bit surprised by how much Albini’s death has affected me. I’d always liked some (actually a lot, it turns out) of the music despite what I would…

Introducing Your Future Humans of earth. I have an announcement to make. I am going to be a musician. Now, just to be completely upfront with you, I don’t know…

I’m a bit delayed on my end, but I’ve started emailing with Justin Wong this month. Justin is a software developer who has an awesome website, wonger.dev., and is a…