http://joeposnanski.com/a-drive-to-charleston/

“There’s an easy trick to this column writing business,” he told me. “Write about people.” That, I remember vividly. Write about people. Kenny was the sports columnist at The Charleston Post & Courier in Charleston, S.C., which made him a hero to me. All sports columnists were heroes to me, but Kenny was in particular. He lived the only life I ever wanted. “Forget the sports,” Kenny said. “Write about people,” That’s what he did. I have never known a sportswriter who cared so little about sports. He was surrounded by people (like me) who had gotten into this business, at least in part, because they loved the games. Kenny did not. He got into it because had had just finished being a political writer, and the Charleston paper had a lousy sports section. and the executive editor was an ex-Marine who’d had enough. One day he called Ken into his office and said, “Fix it.” Ken stayed in it because, he quickly realized, sports gave him a unique opportunity to see people as they really are, under the strain and tension and elation of victory and defeat. People can in daily life spin scandals into triumph, tragedy into political gain, but in sports there is the black and white reality of winning and losing, and Ken loved to see how people handled each. He could be as unsentimental as a hanging judge — he invented the term “fire a friend day,” for that moment when coaches are on such a hot seat that their only hope of survival is to sacrifice a longtime coach or coordinator. He also could be deeply nostalgic and wistful and Southern. He loved to tell the everyday stories of people who overcame failure or defeat or adversity or their own blunders. The writer Pat Conroy has said nobody ever wrote about the wonders of sweet tea as well as Ken Burger. Write about people. I cannot tell you how many times those three words crossed my mind over the last quarter century. He was amused by how much the sports themselves bewitched me (“Lots of numbers in your column today, Bubba,” he’d say. “Nobody to write about?”). For him, the sports were barely a backdrop. He played golf, but other than that I doubt Kenny ever spent a single afternoon of his free time watching or playing a game he wasn’t writing about. I know he never got an autograph in his entire life. Well, that’s not quite right. He got one. That’s a story.

croissant

http://www.chowhound.com/post/croissant-bakery-buttery-762938

every time the word ethnic is used

http://thoughtcatalog.com/heidi-priebe/2015/10/each-myers-briggs-personality-types-preferred-love-language/17/ To receive love from an ENTP, notice the ways in which they’re inviting you into their world. This wacky, off-the-wall type is perfectly fine exploring life independently – so if they’re inviting you to explore alongside them, it means you’re important to them. As they grow more comfortable around you, the ENTP is likely to shower you with verbal and physical shows of affection as well – this type is anything but shy and though they may not be the most doe-eyed lovers out there, they will let you know that they care.

https://medium.com/maxistentialism-blog/review-of-the-zojirushi-sm-yea48-fb30776663d0#.ewl7eo9c1

"no one to bear the weight of who he is."

louie 313, "new year's eve"

is amazing.

nz meat pies

http://luckypeach.com/the-meat-pies-of-new-zealand/

chocolate souffle cookies

http://pastrystudio.blogspot.com/2011/05/chocolate-souffle-cookies.html

http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2015/10/15/9539347/blue-jays-rangers-alds-game-5-7th-inning

comments

http://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/Giants-announce-spring-training-game-dates-6546558.php

writing warmups where you get in the zone and sweat just a little bit / peak performance eww this got weird

this is embarrassing: twee coffee shop, late night. mix on the speakers overhead finds bon iver. i'm already listening to the song in my headphones.

aw, thanks ww.

you're a thinker. you don't see things in black and white. (something about seeing things alternatively) connecting underperforming with passion + actual talent and failing. i really don't know what to do with that year and a half of my life. but i won't be the writer i'm meant to be until i reconcile it, until i reconstruct my self and until i really learn that conversation, collaboration is more important than me being heard. you know, until i stop being an attention monster.

next gen of fantasy league is betting on ourselves: our records when we go to our favorite team's games

http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/restaurants/best-of-phoenix-2015-how-phoenixs-pizza-revolution-began-with-chris-bianco-7680116

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/12/t-magazine/rihanna-miranda-july-interview.html?smid=tw-tmagazine&smtyp=cur&_r=0

‘‘What impresses your mom?’’ ‘‘She’s always impressed when she sees me being a little sassy or sharp, when she sees me defending myself. It makes her feel safe, like she doesn’t have to worry about me.’’

(never apologize for something you can't control)

http://www.foxsports.com/mlb/just-a-bit-outside/story/mlb-organizations-pitcher-development-arm-strength-maximum-velocity-082515 http://www.foxsports.com/mlb/just-a-bit-outside/story/san-francisco-giants-young-players-performance-matt-duffy-joe-panik-brandon-crawford-082015

i just made a theater analogy for the first time in my life. "it's like rush seats at pantages!" (it never occurred to me someone could have seats close enough you could hear players talking in the dugout)

http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/phil-and-carol-search-new-home-warmer-last-man-ear-225958

If there was one major problem with the first season of The Last Man On Earth it’s that it really buried the lede. It wasn’t the story of a man coping with loneliness and depression as he struggles with being the sole survivor of a global viral extinction as the pilot alluded. Instead, it was the story of man struggling to reconnect with humanity and discovering along the way that he’s terrible at the one thing he desperately needs to survive, i.e. people. Every week last season, protagonist Phil Miller learned that the selfishness he indulged in when he was alone couldn’t drive his actions when he lives amongst people. He learned the hard way that actions have far-reaching consequences, and that there are no shortcuts to being a good person. It takes hard work, dedication, and a core selflessness that requires constant maintenance and upkeep. The Last Man On Earth was about how the true test of empathy is to connect with people who are not like you. If you constantly act upon your own self-interest, you’ll slowly drive people away, no matter how few people are actually left on Earth. That’s not to say that The Last Man On Earth’s first season was perfect. At its worst, it was one-note, shrill, and obnoxious, leaning on Phil’s core selfishness a little too harshly, as Will Forte channeled the incorrigible David Brent a little too well. But I also believe the show overall got a bum critical rap. At its best, The Last Man On Earth made a profound argument for the necessity of other people by illustrating what happens when you don’t take them seriously. It also illustrated the difficulties of being a good person, and that no matter how many second chances you get from the Heavens, it’s all for nothing unless the goodness comes from within. By the end of last season, Phil is cast out into the desert and left for dead, realizing that he fucked up his opportunity for a second life, only for Carol to take pity upon him at the last possible second. They drive off into the great unknown as they start over yet again with a host of experiences and endless possibilities.

The series constantly argues that living with other people, whether in a planet that’s populated or deserted, isn’t easy, but the alternative is so much worse. It’s that knowledge, plus a quick look through Carol’s sketch book, that drives Phil to do the one thing he doesn’t want to do: Drive to Tucson to find Carol.

http://articles.philly.com/2014-05-12/sports/49773611_1_jake-diekman-nebraska-cloud-county-community-college

The words will overflow the stadium, but Jake Diekman will not hear them. He visited a therapist in Nebraska two winters ago, and it was not until then that Diekman accepted it. The anger of a 20-year-old college kid morphed into the positive outlook of a 27-year-old major-league reliever. "Oh, say, can you see . . . " and this is the moment Diekman treasures. "I talk to her every day during the anthem," Diekman says. "It's like 2 minutes and 15 seconds we have to ourselves every day."

Diekman bought his father a house in Beatrice, Neb., right next to his older brother's. He returns to Nebraska every winter. Sometimes, he talks to a therapist about his family's loss. "You can't hold it in," Diekman said. "You're going to blow up someday." It hurt until Billie's next lesson: Diekman started to appreciate the little things. The game slowed down when he had fun. He invoked his mother's spirit rather than avoiding it. "The drive and determination she had for all the projects she did, how hard she worked, the dedication she had for her job," Diekman said. "It really paid off. It really came to me. I thought, 'If I have a job, I want to put in the time and dedication like she did.' " That is how Billie Diekman's legacy perseveres. It is why a young man from tiny Wymore, Neb., will cherish Sunday's rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" at a baseball stadium in New York with his own lyrics.

http://www.foxsports.com/mlb/just-a-bit-outside/story/tim-hudson-barry-zito-mark-mulder-oakland-athletics-san-francisco-giants-big-three-retire-092615

http://www.bkmag.com/2015/09/28/30-under-30-the-envy-index/

What’s some advice you’d have for people looking to get a foothold in your industry? LA: It’s important when you’re getting started to be hungry, but you have find the right ways to articulate it. An early piece of New York advice I got was just say “yes” to as many things as you can. It wasn’t meant in a low key “I’m down for whatever” way, but as a way to emphasize that you’re ready to work. It puts you into situations you wouldn’t find yourself in if you hesitated: working events as a volunteer, informational interviews, weird industry get togethers. It will help you meet like-minded people, and it will help you figure out what your path forward can look like.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/19/fashion/the-wedding-toast-ill-never-give.html?_r=0 http://thewireless.co.nz/articles/the-pencilsword-on-a-plate http://www.fastcompany.com/3016689/leadership-now/10-paradoxical-traits-of-creative-people

one week away two long weekends three weekend trips

http://grantland.com/hollywood-prospectus/genius-a-conversation-with-hamilton-maestro-lin-manuel-miranda/

Outkast did what both Rent and Wesleyan did for you: They taught me I could write and that I could write about home. Part of my job is to tell a story about my home when I’m not there. Because once you leave, you become a representative of what a lot of people know about a place, and people are going to take cues about a place off of what they get from me. You’re an ambassador. They gave a lot of people that confidence to do that about their home. That’s part of their arc. They’re our Lennon and McCartney. They’re hip-hop’s Lennon and McCartney. Down to the double album where they each do one thing, which was like the “White Album.” And you’re just grateful that they did shit together as long as they did.

...

Something that happens so often with minority figures, in the arts or otherwise, is this sense of responsibility. Have you wrestled with that? I’m sure you felt it in In the Heights, too. I did, and I got pitched every Latin-themed anything that was coming from anywhere. So, we’re not Hollywood actors, in that we do the thing once and then we hope they like our movie in a year. We’re chefs. And not like Raekwon, like we got a five-star review and you’re coming to see our show tonight and we’ve got to cook the same meal for you that we cooked for the critic that gave us the five-star review. It has to keep going, and it keeps you humbled. I’m drinking this shit that’s fucking terrible with parsley and lemon and ginger and swiss chard, because it’s good for me. Because you have to keep making the meal. Just the work of that is humbling. But the relaxing two hours and 45 minutes of my day or spent during the show, because I’m not supposed to be doing anything else but that. Everything else is crazy.