Drawing via Pixiv from Gummy Star.

Serious Eats presents Tony Mantuano’s Pea, Bacon and Pecorino dish.

[Photo Credit: Nick Kindelsperger]

Class is in session.

Stanley Speaks!

Via Open Culture.

Let’s dream a little dream, shall we?

[Photo Via: This Isn’t Happiness]

Via Kottke, check out this Q&A over at Fast Company with the wealthy and successful inventor, James Dyson:

You once described the inventor’s life as “one of failure.” How so?

A: I made 5,127 prototypes of my vacuum before I got it right. There were 5,126 failures. But I learned from each one. That’s how I came up with a solution. So I don’t mind failure. I’ve always thought that schoolchildren should be marked by the number of failures they’ve had. The child who tries strange things and experiences lots of failures to get there is probably more creative.

Not all failures lead to solutions, though. How do you fail constructively?

A: We’re taught to do things the right way. But if you want to discover something that other people haven’t, you need to do things the wrong way. Initiate a failure by doing something that’s very silly, unthinkable, naughty, dangerous. Watching why that fails can take you on a completely different path. It’s exciting, actually. To me, solving problems is a bit like a drug. You’re on it, and you can’t get off. I spent seven years on our washing machine [which has two drums, instead of one].

What’s the main lesson from those 15 years’ developing the vacuum?

A: It can take a very long time to develop interesting products and get them right. But our society has an instant- gratification thing. We admire instant brilliance, effortless brilliance. I think quite the reverse. You should admire the person who perseveres and slogs through and gets there in the end.

Love this.

The look of love. Lesli Camhi talks design over at the Times.

[Photo Credit: Torontoist]

“Medicine Bottle,” By Larry Forte (2012)

Speaking of Coltrane…

[Photo Credit: DeeZet]

[Painting by Phillip Barlow]

Apricot Jam from our man in Paris, David Lebovitz.

Permanently. 

I just can’t get enough of this man’s music. Makes me happy, ya hoid?

[Photo Credit: Inspiring Pictures]

Drawing by Pierre.

I have tried to read Richard Ford’s “The Sportswriter” on a few occasions and have not be able to get into it. His short stories have been recommended to me, and after reading Andre Dubus III’s glowing review of Ford’s new book, I may have to give him another shot:

Willa Cather once wrote that “a creative writer can do his best only with what lies within the range and character of his deepest sympathies.” By that measure, and any other, Richard Ford is doing his very best in his extraordinary new novel, “Canada,” his first book since “The Lay of the Land” six years ago. Here, Ford is clearly writing within the range and character of his deepest sympathies — in this case, from the point of view of an abandoned 15-year-old boy — and he’s doing it with a level of linguistic mastery that is rivaled by few, if any, in American letters today.

…On a purely plot-hungry basis, turning the page seems the only thing to do, but — as is so often the case with the fiction of Richard Ford — what actually happens in the story feels secondary, or at best equal, to the language itself. In the hands of a lesser writer, this can create problems: the prose begins to feel self-indulgent, written not to illuminate any truths but to please the writer, and in the process, story itself is lost and the reader is left behind. But “Canada” is blessed with two essential strengths in equal measure — a mesmerizing story driven by authentic and fully realized characters, and a prose style so accomplished it is tempting to read each sentence two or three times before being pulled to the next.

Here’s the Paris Review interview with Ford. Dig in.

Blueberry crumble pie? Seriously? Oh, hell yes.

[Photo Credit: Lauren Weisenthal]

The Manhattan Project by Cameron Michael.

The Manhattan Project HD1080P from Cameron Michael on Vimeo.

This is great.

“House of Cards,” By Tony Luciani (2011)

Hey Claudia, would you like to come over to my house and listen to some albums?

Via the most-amazing site, Kottke, check out this bit of hipness from John Boswell and Fred Rogers: