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Wonderful interview with someone who is always a wonderful interview no matter who he is interviewed by. Yet, it is so much more satisfying when it is by someone who is a wonderful interviewer.

I’m now convinced that Pollock wrote his name in large letters on the canvas—indeed, arranged the whole painting around his name. As far as I can tell, no one has previously made this assertion. Nor is there evidence that Pollock himself, who was loath to talk about his art and left behind few written records, ever mentioned this coded gesture.

Beyond fascinating.

Linked by everyone today and for good reason.

I’ve read through this whole post now several times and each time a new little nugget of truth is revealed. David Byrne remains one of my all time heroes.

This is one of the cleverest pieces I have read in a while. Even more so for what it does not say (“the pen is is mightier than the sword”) than what it does. It is like the perfect school piece on how to write – Tell a story in a few words as possible, avoid cliché, respect your audience and their time, etc. I have tucked this away for future reference because this is how all writing should be.

malumelegans:

Dan and Chip Heath for Fast Company:

Van Halen buried a special clause in the middle of their contract. It was called Article 126. It read, “There will be no brown M&Ms in the backstage area, upon pain of forfeiture of the show, with full compensation.” So when Roth would arrive at a new venue, he’d walk backstage and glance at the M&M bowl. If he saw a brown M&M, he’d demand a line check of the entire production. “Guaranteed you’re going to arrive at a technical error,” he wrote. “They didn’t read the contract…. Sometimes it would threaten to just destroy the whole show.”

I have been aware of this for years but it is always a good reminder. Having attended a show on just about every Roth era Halen Tour, I can vouch that they were always some of the most impressive and deftly executed rock shows ever staged.

That said, many other bands and performers use similar methods to ensure not only technical perfection but also give them an easy out of their contracts with a venue should anything not be just so. People often look at this stuff as arrogance but, as you can see above, most of the time it is simply to ensure that all parties are paying close attention to detail.

The first project that will be putting ThinkTank to use is for the White House itself. The President has identified a series of scientific and technical challenges that are as important to the future as the moon landing was. And we want to help drive feedback on that list, and even suggest what other items should be on there that haven’t been included.

This looks like a really interesting project and an exciting opportunity for Gina and crew. Congrats!

Nothing I love more than interesting and historical facts about things that are so ubiquitous that we tend to take them for granted.

Funding future creativity is a real investment — there’s a chance these kids will build, write, draw or play something that will fill theaters, clubs, stadiums, web pages, whatever. The dead guys won’t write more symphonies.

So many wonderful thoughts a points here. David Byrne remains one of my all time heroes. Now that JD is gone, he is at the top of my list of someone I would love to spend a few hours with.

“Before his death, JD Salinger’s publisher, Hamish Hamilton, worked with him to produce jackets for reissues of his books (originally planned for June, they are now due out next month) … [said]Simon Prosser, publishing director, Hamish Hamilton: "There are strict rules about JD Salinger’s covers. The only copy allowed on the books, back or front, is the author name and the title. Nothing else at all: no quotes, no cover blurb, no biography. […] We commissioned Seb Lester, the highly regarded type designer, to hand-draw a font; that font, on the cover of these re-issues, is a one-off and is known in-house here at Hamish Hamilton as the ‘Salinger’.”

Love, Love, Love, Love, Love.

Also, fascinating.