<div> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Daily-Rituals-How-Artists-Work/dp/0307273601%3FSubscriptionId%3D0ENGV10E9K9QDNSJ5C82%26tag%3Djackbaty-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D0307273601" target="new" class="product-title title">Daily Rituals: How Artists Work</a></p> <div> Knopf </div> <p> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Daily-Rituals-How-Artists-Work/dp/0307273601%3FSubscriptionId%3D0ENGV10E9K9QDNSJ5C82%26tag%3Djackbaty-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D0307273601" target="new" class="buy-button"><input type="button" class="sqs-amazon-button sqs-system-button sqs-editable-button" value="Buy on Amazon" /></a> </p> </div></p> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div> <div> <div> Fascinating look at the daily grind of many artists and intellectuals. I learned that Scotch and or barbiturates are a requirements.</p> <p> </p> </div> </div> </div>

<div> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Sum-Forty-Afterlives-David-Eagleman/dp/0307389936%3FSubscriptionId%3D0ENGV10E9K9QDNSJ5C82%26tag%3Djackbaty-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D0307389936" target="new" class="product-title title">Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives</a></p> <div> By David Eagleman </div> <p> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Sum-Forty-Afterlives-David-Eagleman/dp/0307389936%3FSubscriptionId%3D0ENGV10E9K9QDNSJ5C82%26tag%3Djackbaty-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D0307389936" target="new" class="buy-button"><input type="button" class="sqs-amazon-button sqs-system-button sqs-editable-button" value="Buy on Amazon" /></a> </p> </div></p> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div> <div> <div> An imaginative collection of vignettes describing different possible afterlives.</p> <p> </p> </div> </div> </div>

It seems like I post a photo of one or more of my dogs every week. This is not because I think my dogs are especially interesting or photogenic (although they are that,) but rather it’s because I can’t think of anything else to photograph. Some days I walk around the house or neighborhood looking for things that might make interesting photos. Nothing. Then I play with the dogs. They’re so energetic and fun that I’m reminded how much I enjoy photographing them.

Studio photography has never really interested me. I take mostly “situational” photographs which require no setup or planning or, frankly, skill. Recently, however, with my continuing move to medium and now large formats, adding a little control to the process seems like a good idea. As a baby step, I set up a “studio” in my garage. It consists of a backdrop, one strobe, and a small window. Once I get the 4×5 camera rolling, I plan to try a few portraits here.

If I were making lots of huge landscape prints, having a 4×5 camera would be an advantage. I’m not making huge prints of any kind, so having a 4×5 camera is entirely unnecessary. With that in mind, I just bought a Burke & James 4×5 Speed Press. As you do. I have film and a JOBO. All I need is a few 4×5 film holders and I could actually use the thing.

<div> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Archer-Ultimate-Espionage-Cocktails/dp/0062066315%3FSubscriptionId%3D0ENGV10E9K9QDNSJ5C82%26tag%3Djackbaty-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D0062066315" target="new" class="product-title title">How to Archer: The Ultimate Guide to Espionage and Style and Women and Also Cocktails Ever Written</a></p> <div> By Sterling Archer </div> <p> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Archer-Ultimate-Espionage-Cocktails/dp/0062066315%3FSubscriptionId%3D0ENGV10E9K9QDNSJ5C82%26tag%3Djackbaty-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D0062066315" target="new" class="buy-button"><input type="button" class="sqs-amazon-button sqs-system-button sqs-editable-button" value="Buy on Amazon" /></a> </p> </div></p> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div> <div> <div> Everything about Archer makes me laugh, including this book.</p> <p> </p> </div> </div> </div>

I’m sure I don’t have anything special to add to the debate about the future of Google Glass. I just want to go on record with my vote: Fail. There is nothing about Glass that interests me enough to make me wear something that douchey. And I’m going to be one of those folks who refuses to remain in the company of those who do.

I choose Sirens of Titan as my first Vonnegut book and was unexpectedly disappointed. I found it occasionally funny, but otherwise empty of things to keep me interested. The only character I cared about was Salo. “He” showed up late, and then it was over.

I don’t know what it’s like having grown up with the Internet. In “We, the Web Kids” Piotr Czerski writes from the perspective of someone who does: We grew up with the Internet and on the Internet. This is what makes us different; this is what makes the crucial, although surprising from your point of view, difference: we do not ‘surf’ and the internet to us is not a ‘place’ or ‘virtual space’.

Arguably: Essays by Christopher Hitchens Reading Christopher Hitchens thrills me. I am thrilled by his range and depth and ability to make me shake my head or my fist. Stimulating.

Kurt Vonnegut: Letters I have never read any of Vonneguts books, but after reading “Letters” that will have to change. I had no idea that the guy was funny; very funny. His letters made me laugh, but also moved and inspired me.

Here’s what Wikipedia says about the Commonplace book. Commonplace books (or commonplaces) were a way to compile knowledge, usually by writing information into books. They became significant in Early Modern Europe. Such books were essentially scrapbooks filled with items of every kind: medical recipes, quotes, letters, poems, tables of weights and measures, proverbs, prayers, legal formulas. Commonplaces were used by readers, writers, students, and scholars as an aid for remembering useful concepts or facts they had learned.