Basic Instincts

-via Scott McCloud from Understanding Comics

Only Collect

"Only Collect; that is to say, collect everything, indiscriminately. You're five years old. Don't presume too much to know what's important and what isn't. Photocopy journal articles, photograph archives; create bibliographies, buy books; make notes on every article or book you read, even if it's just one line saying "Never read this again"; collect newspaper clippings and email them to yourself; collect quotes; save your ideas for future papers, future projects, future conferences, even if they seem wildly implausible now. Hoarding must become instinctual, it must be an uncontrollable, primal urge. And the higher, civilizing impulse that kicks in after the fact is organization, or librarianship. You must keep tabs on everything you collect, somehow; a system must be had, and the system must be idiot-proof (that is to say, you should be able to look back on it six months for now and not be completely stymied as to why you've organized things that way -- the present versions of ourselves are invariably the biggest idiots, and six months will make that clear)."
- via Rachel

Barcelona

Just back from Spain, mostly Barcelona. Upside; chocolate, mild winter, wine, cheese, coffee, public transport, graffiti, museums, churros, a gorgeous transition of architecture and design from the ancient Romans through Gaudi and Cadafalch to the MACBA, bicycling, patient locals, trees, cheese, bike lanes, strauss festival orchestra at the Palau de la Musica, del Born, the amazingly friendly Pakistanis of del Ravel, cathedral upon cathedral, swap meets, parks, miro and picasso everywhere, oh, and did i say cheese?

Downside, um...lots of mullets(not of the ironic persuasion), dread locks, smoking in public, smoking in bars, smoking in cafes, smoking in line for anything, smoking in restaurants, smoking while smoking, everything shuts down for christmas on january 5th for the arrival of the 3 kings, construction on everything worth seeing due to low tourist traffic, and, i shudder to say, ug...human statues (sadly i guess i just dont understand why i should pay somebody for dressing up like spiderman or a pile of fruit and holding perfectly still). see photos HERE if you want.