The Pier Glass: Archive

“31 percent of the men who graduated Oxford in 1913 were killed.” —On today’s Fresh Air, historian Adam Hochschild explains why WWI was different than other major conflicts: “It was different because it was the tradition in most of the major countries for upper-class young men to have military careers, and then it became those young captains and lieutenants.”
(via nprfreshair)

Apr 27, 2012212 notes

An Open Letter to Brooklyn Industries

When you launch a campaign called JUNGLE FEVER

And release this t-shirt on the same day

Any good intentions you might profess about celebrating either Spike Lee’s work OR Brooklyn’s diversity are going to be completely obscured by your naked attempt to grab attention through controversy by reiterating racist tropes.

I used to like your store a lot, but unless you apologize thoroughly for this offensive campaign, I will be buying my dresses, handbags, and cardigans elsewhere.

Apr 27, 20124 notes

Daniel always stands up for us when it really counts.

thepinakes:

The Librarian’s Blend is named for that person who always told you to keep quiet when you were studying. This blend is representative of the soul of the librarian: steady, reassuring, and always there with that slight edge of eccentricity. It has a bold base with a bit of sparkle. Here’s to good…

I was all set to refute John’s rebuttal of Intelligensia Coffee’s Librarian Blend (in short: let’s all stop being so worried about the stereotype. It’s a fun stereotype. I like it. I wear my corduroy blazer with pride, and when it starts to fray, I’ll add elbow patches)…until I realized this swill is Decaf.

This will not stand. No librarian drinks decaf. I will not tolerate this insult.

Apr 25, 201243 notes

Apr 23, 20121,949 notes

“I may not be able to prove that my literature class makes a difference in my students’ test results, but there is a positive correlation between how much time students spend reading and higher scores. The problem is that low-income students, who begin school with a less-developed vocabulary and are less able to comprehend complex sentences than their more privileged peers, are also less likely to read at home. Many will read only during class time, with a teacher supporting their effort. But those are the same students who are more likely to lose out on literary reading in class in favor of extra test prep. By “using data to inform instruction,” as the Department of Education insists we do, we are sorting lower-achieving students into classes that provide less cultural capital than their already more successful peers receive in their more literary classes and depriving students who viscerally understand the violence and despair in Steinbeck’s novels of the opportunity to read them.” —(Taking a brief break from Sanders, but only because I can’t read books openly when I’m on desk.) Teach the Books, Touch the Heart - NYTimes.com

Apr 23, 2012

“

The Tsar and his family were shot, along with most of our relatives and friends.

My Uncle Bob got a job playing the cello in a cinema in Finland, and eventually become a professor of biology in Sweden.

My Uncle Jack became a professional house guest until his welcome wore thin. Then he became a guest in the wrong sort of houses until in the end he died of syphilis on the Riviera.

” —Memoirs of a Professional Cad, p.13.

Apr 23, 2012

“One of the greatest heroes of my childhood, my Uncle Jack, contentedly pursued one of his favorite pastimes. From his great carved bed, a .22 caliber pistol in his hangover-shaking hand, he would shoot flies that had gathered to eat the jam he had smeared on the ceiling. Liveried footmen stood by with champagne, extra rounds of ammunition, orange marmalade, and strawberry jam.” —Yeah, warning, this whole blog is probably just going to be amazing quotes from Memoirs of a Professional Cad for the next few weeks, sorry. This is another one describing life proceeding as usual in St. Petersburg during the Revolution.

Apr 23, 2012

“The supply of, and demand on, the services of the hard-working prostitutes remained in fine balance.” —George Sanders on life in St. Petersburg during the early parts of the Russian Revolution, from Memoirs of a Professional Cad.

Apr 23, 20122 notes

“Years previously the director of the San Francisco Opera Company heard Sanders sing at a Hollywood party and instantly offered him the role of Scarpia in Puccini’s Tosca. Sanders said he was not interested in being an operatic singer. When asked what it was that most interested him he replied, ‘Sleeping.’” —From the introduction to George Sanders’s Memoirs of a Professional Cad. Yes, I’m absurdly smitten.

Apr 23, 2012

Apr 20, 20122,220 notes

Apr 20, 20121,822 notes

“He was my bosom buddy friend to the end, one of the last true great spirits of my or any other generation. This is just so sad to talk about. I still can remember the first day I met him and the last day I saw him. We go back pretty far and had been through some trials together. I’m going to miss him, as I’m sure a whole lot of others will too.” —Bob Dylan in response to Levon Helm’s passing (via newportfolkfest)

Apr 20, 201247 notes

Apr 19, 2012

“Dear World, I am leaving because I am bored. I feel I have lived long enough. I am leaving you with your worries in this sweet cesspool. Good luck.” —I know it’s a little morbid to admire a suicide note, but you’ve got to admit George Sander’s note is pretty elegant. Self-Styled Siren: George Sanders

Apr 18, 2012

“Charles Boyer and Marlene Dietrich. The Continental accent, married to a naturally resonant speaking tone. Forever thrilling and (to borrow a line from Clive James) forever calling Americans across the sea to a place so sophisticated that people have sex with the lights on.” —Going through all the posts tagged with “George Sanders,” as I long ago should have. Self-Styled Siren: Voices of the Screen

Apr 18, 20121 note

Listen

This song has been stuck in my head all day, despite the fact that it’s been at least a year since I listened to this album.

Apr 17, 2012

It’s fascinating to me that I’d never heard of this before.

Apr 14, 2012

“Our children—both boys and girls—lose when we constrain their reading preferences. Ironically, what is acceptable in books for girls today is a much wider range of characters and themes, thanks to the advances of feminism, while what is acceptable for boys is still sadly influenced by what I assume is homophobia and an intolerance of effeminacy. A girl reading Homer Price, Sherlock Holmes, or anything by Robert Louis Stevenson or Mark Twain would be viewed as a reader of classics, but a boy reading much of Louisa May Alcott, the Brontës, or Jane Austen would have a harder time with his image. Girls, at the same time, are harmed by believing boys cannot be interested in female heroines and authors.” —A great post that, hilariously, makes me less apprehensive about (HYPOTHETICALLY) raising boys. I might be able to read them Dealing with Dragons, too! On the Rights of Reading and Girls and Boys — The Horn Book

Apr 13, 20122 notes

magicaldeductions:

ok lets see if that thing with glasses chicks suddenly becoming super weird feminine when they whip off their glasses works

woop

well that was anticlimatic wait

wait

WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON

What that is dumb and does not happen.

Look,…

Apr 10, 2012234,087 notes

Play

Apr 10, 2012

The Pier Glass

April 2012

49 posts