The Coolest Things in the World
There are seven things that will destroy us:
Wealth without work;
Pleasure without conscience;
Knowledge without character;
Religion without sacrifice;
Politics without principle;
Science without humanity;
Business without ethics.
- Gandhi (1869-1948)
Wealth without work;
Pleasure without conscience;
Knowledge without character;
Religion without sacrifice;
Politics without principle;
Science without humanity;
Business without ethics.
- Gandhi (1869-1948)
"So this guy," I said, standing in the doorway of the living room. "Francois Rabelais. He was this poet. And his last words were 'I go to seek a Great Perhaps.' That's why I'm going. So I don't have to wait until I die to start seeking a Great Perhaps."
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1. "The Paperhanger" by William Gay.
Part 1 and Part 2 If you want to know what contemporary literary horror looks like, this is the place to go. For me, the power of this story lies in the familiar, the trust of one person believing in another, specifically the people you let into your home—electricians, painters, and plumbers. When you look down on somebody there is always the risk that you will insult them and set them off. And in this story, we see the worst possible fear of a mother come home to roost, with an ending that is absolutely devastating. 4. "Emergency" by Denis Johnson
If you haven’t read his collection Jesus’ Son, by all means pick it up now. It is essential reading. If you own ten books, it’s one of them. It’s just that good. This story is very dark, and yet funny, and then ultimately, heartbreaking. The violence of the hospital, the fate of the two goofballs that are driving around in the truck, the bunnies—what can I say about the bunnies. Makes me sad, crushes me, whenever I think about it. He is a powerful voice, one that you need to know "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut
This is a great story that everyone should read.It's Really awesome! It has stayed with me for thirty years. What I love about this story is that it totally catches you off guard. It lures you into this strange world where everyone is handicapped—the beautiful wear masks, the strong wear heavy weights, the smart wear headphones that pipe in excruciatingly loud noises to disrupt their thoughts. This might be one of the few stories that actually made me cry. It’s that powerful. 10. "Father, Son, Holy Rabbit" by Stephen Graham Jones
I know that Stephen isn’t a big name, and to put him on a list like this is probably a bit premature, but dammit if this story (and he’s written so MANY fantastic stories over the years) doesn’t stick with me. The power of a father’s love for his son, the lengths he will go to in order to save the boy’s life when they are lost in the forest, covered in snow, well, it’s shocking, and so moving, that it stays with me, and haunts my waking life. This collection, The Ones That Got Away is a mandatory purchase, so just go pick it up. |
2. “A Tiny Feast” by Chris Adrian (The New Yorker)Titania and Oberon, the immortal Queen and King of the Fairies, live under a hill in a modern city park. To save their marriage, they adopt a mortal toddler and begin to raise him, only to discover he has developed terminal leukemia. What follows, set in a fairy den and an oncology ward, is one of the best (and, somehow, realest) short stories ever written, a haunting exploration of love and death that has followed this reader, at least, into marriage, parenthood, and nearly every subsequent day spent on this earth.
5. "Harvey’s Dream" by Stephen King
You knew I’d have at least one of King’s stories on this list. I could have picked ten, and maybe that will be a list I do some other day, but this story, which originally ran in the New Yorker, has always stayed with me. The way he sets it up, with the clues right out in front, sitting right there for you to stare at for page after page; it’s an escalation, a slowly dawning realization, and when the knowledge sinks in, it is your undoing. I love his voice, and think that this is a story that flows along nicely, for the most part a happy story, until it turns the corner. Sometimes dreams come true, and sometimes those dreams are nightmares. 8. "The Things They Carried" by Tim O’Brien
I don’t think you can have a list without this one on it. It’s a list story, sure, and it’s surreal at times; a tragedy, most definitely, but overall it’s just a powerful love story, one that leaves you in the trenches with the soldiers; a victim of war, of fate, of everything that makes us human. I see this collection at a lot of garage sales and used bookstores, so pick it up if you run across it |
3. "Where Are You Going", Where Have You Been" by Joyce Carol Oates
I’ve always been a fan of JCO, and her writing is literary fiction that isn’t afraid to take you over the cliff, never to return. This is probably her most famous story, and an extremely popular and well-known one, in general. When a teenage girl stays home, trying to exude angst and resentment, something she has set in motion leads her to a horrifying moment. It is one of the creepiest and most unsettling stories I’ve ever read. And nobody gets killed. The violence and tension are all up front, all in your head, right there beyond the screen door, asked for and granted. If you want to figure out how to write tension, this is a great example.to a horrifying moment. It is one of the creepiest and most unsettling stories I’ve ever read. And nobody gets killed. The violence and tension are all up front, all in your head, right there beyond the screen door, asked for and granted. If you want to figure out how to write tension, this is a great example. 6. "Puppy" by George Saunders
If you aren’t familiar with George Saunders you should really pick up some of his work. He’s a funny guy, but also surreal, and his tales always pack an emotional punch. I ran across this story in a Best American Short Stories anthology and have been a fan ever since. It’s all about perspective, poor vs. rich, and how you can look at the same situation from two sides and have one person see something as abuse, and another see the same actions as unending love. Such a bittersweet story, this one, as many of the best ones are. 9. "The Veldt" by Ray Bradbury
I grew up reading Bradbury and Heinlein but didn’t read this story until a few years ago. Many in the literary community consider it a story that transcends genre, and it’s in the Norton Anthology of Short Fiction, the academic bible of contemporary and classic stories. It’s a story of power, of parents vs. children, and it’s a magical tale, one that asks you take a leap of faith, to suspend any doubts you may have, as certainly the parents do, by the end of the story. It’s a social commentary of course, as much of Bradbury’s work was, but it’s also a fascinating tale. |
“Lorry Raja” by Madhuri Vijay (Narrative Magazine)
One of the newest voices on this list, Vijay tells the story of Indian children mining the ore used to construct Olympic stadiums in China with remarkable poise and vision. While the inherently political nature of the story is certainly important and the writing is ruthless in its detail, to approach “Lorry Raja” in only that way is to miss the quiet power of Vijay’s prose, as well as its ability to look honestly into the subtleties of family and the scales of desire without denying beauty where it lurks |
“Bluebell Meadow” by Benedict Kiely (The New Yorker)
Published in 1975 at the peak of The Troubles in Ireland, Kiely’s unlikely story of a small country park and the two young people who spend a few afternoons together in it is sly, funny, and tremendously affecting. A lesson simultaneously in understatement and heart, this story is really about the near misses of the lives we almost live, as well as what time does to the things that could’ve been. Long forgotten by most, author Colum McCann miraculously resurrected it for The New Yorker‘s fiction podcast, and it is best experienced in his wonderful voice. |
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The hottest things are apparently also the coolest. While the iPhone was a comfortable winner in the British poll to find the '100 Coolest things on the planet', the other choices were not so obvious. From GHD hair straightners at No.14 to the Northern Lights phenomenon at No. 24, there were plenty of surprises in the study conducted by Costa Coffee to mark the launch of its new Iced Cold range of summer drinks. Here's a look at the Top 50 Coolest things in the World.
Page 1 of 51 1 2 3 4 5
Read more at: http://goodtimes.ndtv.com/photos/the-50-coolest-things-on-the-planet-7816?cp
The hottest things are apparently also the coolest. While the iPhone was a comfortable winner in the British poll to find the '100 Coolest things on the planet', the other choices were not so obvious. From GHD hair straightners at No.14 to the Northern Lights phenomenon at No. 24, there were plenty of surprises in the study conducted by Costa Coffee to mark the launch of its new Iced Cold range of summer drinks. Here's a look at the Top 50 Coolest things in the World.
Page 1 of 51 1 2 3 4 5
Read more at: http://goodtimes.ndtv.com/photos/the-50-coolest-things-on-the-planet-7816?cp
Arguably, the Ten Greatest Novels
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Arguably, the Ten Greatest Novels of the 20th C. |
1. Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges (1964).
2.Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov (1962). 3. Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini (1921). 4. Moby-Dick by Herman Melville (1851). 5. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (1813). 6. Tales of Mystery and Imagination by Edgar Allan Poe (1836–47). 7. In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust (1913–27). 8. Paradise Lost by John Milton (1667). 9. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez (1985). 10. The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler (1953). |
1. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (1955).
2. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925). 3. In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust (1913–27). 4. Ulysses by James Joyce (1922). 5. Dubliners by James Joyce (1916). 6. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez (1967). 7. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner (1929). 8. To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf (1927). 9. The Stories of Flannery O’Connor (1925–64). 10. Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner (1936). |
100 More Great Choices...
1. Ulysses by James Joyce
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The 50 Most Beautiful Things Ever Written
http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/04/the-10-best-things-to-do-on-the-internet-this-weekend-27-28/
On August 9, 1945, America dropped the atomic bomb codenamed “Fat Man” over the Japanese city of Nagasaki, killing an estimated 40,000 people on impact. Thousands more would die later from burns and radiation sickness. The scene was hellish, as thousands lay dead or wounded underneath the debris. The city had been reduced to rubble.
Even on first glance, we see that this is a very powerful image. What’s really striking, though, is that this photo was taken 20 minutes after the explosion. The destruction is immense, still hanging in the air. What’s more, on the right side of the photograph, three people stand in awe of what just happened. We really can’t even imagine what had to be going through the heads of witnesses to such destruction. |
Taken out of context, you may not have even guessed that this image wasn’t taken on our own planet. This is in fact a Martian sunset, which looks very much like a sunset on Earth—a reminder that other worlds can appear to be strangely familiar.
This incredible image was taken by the Mars Rover Spirit, over the rim of Gusev Crater. Apart from taking pretty pictures, the rover was actually deployed to help study the Martian atmosphere, in addition to looking out for ice and dust clouds. The reddish color is due to fine particles suspended in the thin atmosphere, but the photo has a bluish tint due to the dust, which scatters light forward. Also worth noting is that the Sun appears to be smaller compared to what we see on Earth. This is because the Red Planet is farther than we are from the Sun. |