Newsletter 993
Best of the Moment
Guantánamo Memoirs
Mohamedou Ould Slahi | Slate | 30th April 2013
Prison diary. Last of three extracts from journals of man arrested in Mauritania in November 2001, shipped via Bagram to Guantánamo, and subjected to "one of the most stubborn, deliberate, and cruel Guantánamo interrogations on record." More than a decade later he is still is jail, though in somewhat better conditions. A US District Court judge ordered his release in 2010; the Obama administration is now appealing that order
60 Thoughts About Turning 60
Ian Martin | Guardian | 29th April 2013
A joy throughout. Number 9: "Compatibility is hugely overrated. I have little in common with most of my friends and with just about the entirety of my wife." Number 35: "There is not a single bad mood that cannot be lifted, however grudgingly, by reading a Larkin poem." Number 60: "When people finish a sentence by saying 'the list is endless', it always means they have run out of things to list"
The Painter In Chief
Morgan Meis | Smart Set | 28th April 2013
On the paintings of George W Bush. He has a natural talent, and a distinctive style. Seriously. He is a realist — like Edgar Degas. "Comparing the paintings of Bush and Degas is an absurd undertaking if we are talking about quality. We would be comparing a hobbyist with one of the great masters. But I am not suggesting that we compare in terms of quality. I am suggesting that we can learn something about the Realist mind"
Home Away From Home
Nick Carr | Rough Type | 29th April 2013
What Facebook reveals about itself through its advertising. It pretends to be about connection, but it's really about distraction, alienation. The contradiction is out there in the open. Facebook knows it is living a lie, and it doesn't care. The corporate spirit is cynical, nihilistic. "For Zuckerberg, and for Facebook, 'sincere' and 'insincere' are equally meaningless terms. Everything is bullshit"
Video of the day: Steven Spielberg's "Obama"
Thought for the day:
"Art is magic delivered from the lie of being truth"— Theodor Adorno