Required Reading: "Ty Cobb, Monocle Magazine, and Failing as a Smart Person"

• New evidence in Ty Cobb's family show he why he might have been the greatest baseball player ever and the meanest, too.

  An Adam Carolla quote I like, here, quite applicable. "Parents. F*ck with your kids and they will F with you," with "you" as shorthand for "humanity." (via Give Me Something to Read.com)

• 10 Exceedingly Patriotic American Comic Heroes and the odd relationship between the flag and the capes.

  I guess take patriotism where you can find it? I'll stick with eagles and bottomless cups of coffee. (via Hi Lo Brow).

• Business Week interview with Tyler Brule on his Monocle Magazine and its unlikely success

  Someone making magazines profitable in 2010. I could learn a lot from this fellow. (via All About George.com).

• Why Intelligent People Fail: Same reasons everyone else does

  Scary and still great reading (via kottke.org).

• Finland makes broadband a 'legal right': BBC News

  on the next Jetson's tube for Helsinki. (via Arts Journal.com).

Required Reading: "Arts Funding, David Foster Wallace Commencement Address and Xerox Machines."

I like Caterina Fake's idea of an "Unordered List" so I'm going to be adding a bit more commentary to these things.

• Is network TV actually doing better than we thought? This year's upfronts suggest so. I'd like to know if "upfronts" have been recalculated based on ads skipped by Tivos and the like. Also, do products placements count in this total?
  

• Perhaps everything we thought about arts funding needs to change.
  “The real problem is the narrowness of the frame within which we think and talk about culture,” Exactly. (via Arts Journal)
  
  
• The Atlantic profiles the first Xerox Machine, "the device that birthed the Information Age." Just why I read this magazine.
  
  

• Legendary David Foster Wallace commencement address now available on iTunes.
  Just downloaded and listened. Required for anyone who feels constantly annoyed and frustrated by the daily travails of life. (via kottke.org)

• Book owners have smarter kids: Salon.com Well duh. Now stand aside and let the sanctimony fly.
  
  
  
• Efficiency and Beauty in an Underground Mountainside Hotel
  You said it!
  
  

Required Reading: "Nina Simone, CEOs and The Economics of Creativity"

• First Aid box gets its design patched up
  Looks amazing...
  (tags: Firstaid design)

• How To Be a Better CEO: BusinessWeek
  I need to read this
  (tags: leadership business)

• LA Times: A Nina Simone biography and movie is on the way
  (tags: ninasimone music musician biography book biopic movie)

• New York Times Magazine on the economic value of artistic creativity
  0$ is a possibility (via Arts Journal)
  (tags: culture economy free art value creativity robwalker)

Required Reading: "Celebrity Sex Tapes, Sex and the City 2 and Other Great Jobs"

• Are celebrity sex tapes the signature art form of our age? Reason Magazine
  Perhaps...(via Book Forum)
  (tags: sex celebrities fame culture voyeurism)

• Forbes.com on the world's best cities for jobs...
  (tags: jobs cities work employment)

• "Sex and the City 2" advanced tickets going for over 100$
  or 1/8 a pair of Manolo Blahniks...
  (tags: sexandthecity movie tickets)

• The iPad, the Kindle, and the future of books : The New Yorker
  A must read...
  (tags: apple ipad literature books publishing reading technology)

• Top 50 Twitter feeds for the arts: The Observer UK
  I'll be in here someday... (via Arts Journal)
  (tags: arts twitter web2.0)

• NYTimes review of "Age of Persuasion" new book about advertising based on the incredible radio show of the same name
  via Arts Journal
  (tags: marketing advertising book review ageofpersuasion)

Required Reading: "Collective Ventures, Real Authors and Healthy Garlic"

• Founder Collective: A collective venture capital company...
  Now that is way cool...
  (tags: venturecapital vc entrepreneurship capital collective)

• San Francisco's Chinatown is getting a new movie theater - SFGate
  I never thought I'd see the day...
  (tags: movietheaters sanfrancisco)

• BrandFreak
  ...is a blog about brands and advertising..
  (tags: advertising brands blog brandfreak)

• Will the real Zadie Smith please stand up? The New Republic
  via BookForum
  (tags: criticism zadiesmith novels books writing writer literature)

• A few words on How to Be Black from my friend Baratunde Thurston
  (tags: race technology presentation baratunde)

• Interview with Andy Spade, creator of Jack Spade Men's Wear: A Continuous Lean.
  (tags: interview business apparel clothes branding)

• Why you should really be backing everything up all the damn time: Daring Fireball
  I have learned this the hard way (via 43 folders).
  (tags: backup hardware advice storage hardrives data)

• Garlic is really really good for you: NYTimes
  I knew this but it still makes me happy
  (tags: food recipe garlic health)

• Is workplace diversity training actually doing any good? The Boston Globe
  via AL Daily
  (tags: business culture diversity education gender race employment)

Required Reading: "Sledding Tigers, Self-propagating Magazines and Talking Zoo Keys"

• Bill Watterson, creator of beloved 'Calvin and Hobbes' comic strip breaks 15 year silence with this interview: Cleveland.com
  Welcome back.
  (tags: writing calvinandhobbes billwatterson calvin&hobbes comics cartoon)

• Greg Sandow's great blog on the future of Classical Music
  a must read on evolution of the arts (via Salon97)
  (tags: music classicalmusic gregsandow future criticism arts trends)

• Talking Zoo Keys
  Self-explanatory and a great name for a band
  (tags: toys nostalgia animals zoo products)\

• First, care. | 43 Folders
  The hippocratc oath of creativity (via girlwonder.com)
  (tags: creativity motto projects effort work merlinmann)

• MYMAG: Indivdually curated magazines by "tastemakers"
  Intriguing. Tasty? (via BookForum)
  (tags: magazines celebrity business media mymag)

• 115 Magazine and Media Predictions for 2010
  Ironically from the now closed Folio Magazine (via BookForum)
  (tags: magazines trends predictions print business media)

• Sam Sheppard has a new collection of short stories:
  
  (tags: literature samsheppard stories book review)

Required Reading: "A Girl Named Drive, A Game Named Zelda, A Fall At 35,000 Feet"

• How to Survive a 35,000-Foot Fall: Popular Mechanics
  via The Awl
  (tags: howto survival falling lifehacks)

• Netflix Adds About 300 Indie Films For On-Demand Streaming: TechCrunch
  I'm getting mopey with joy.
  (tags: movies netflix streaming cinema films independentcinema)

• Can PepsiCo Make Soda and Chips Healthy? BrandChannel.com
  I'd like to see them try...
  (tags: pepsi food chips branding soda products)

• Indie Promoters worried about TIcketmaster/Live Nation merger: LA Times
  As am I...
  (tags: spaceland ticketmaster livenation merger tickets livemusic music concerts venues)

• SPD.ORG: Society of Publication Designers official site.
  Great blogs (via Subtraction)
  (tags: design publishing typography magazines art associations organizations)

• Economium to The Legend of Zelda "The Greatest Video Game Ever Made."
  No argument here (via Buzz Anderson)
  (tags: games videogames nintendo zelda gaming nostalgia)

• Chocolate Theme Park Opens in Beijing - PSFK
  Quivering...
  (tags: chocolate amusementparks china beijing tourism)

• The ‘GirlDrive’ Project: A roadtrip to examine contemporary America's attitude toward feminism: Bomb Magazine
  (tags: feminism roadtrip book girldrive gender)

Required Reading: "Metered Models, Branded Dummies and Untrained DJs"

• Running the numbers behind The New York Times "metered model" proposed this week: Reuters
  I'm cautiously optimistic... (via Tigerbeat)
  (tags: business publishing newspapers media future trends meteredmodel)

• Independent Culture in the Google Age: Broken Pencil Magazine
  Fascinating instead of complainy...
  (tags: culture technology web2.0 music)

• White House Tapes.net: Audio recording of presidents and their dealings...
  Please check out LBJ talking to his tailor.
  (tags: politics presidents whitehouse audio recordings archives)

• Brand Channel.com study of the "For Dummies" books
  (tags: books branding dummies business)

• Why do Black authors have their work adopted less into movies - The Boston Globe
  via Arts Journal
  (tags: film literature black race adaptation)

• On The Boards TV: Free, on demand videos of plays and performance art
  Killer! (via Culturebot)
  (tags: video performance web2.0 theater technology)

• Photo exhibition on abandoned Drive-in movie theatres: NY Times
  Sad, haunting (via Cinema Treasures)
  (tags: movies photography photos drivein american).
  
• How do we explain the enduring crazy love for the novels of Jane Austen? Salon.com
  I'd have to read them to tell you...
  (tags: janeausten austen books novels literature)

• ARE WE TOO PROFESSIONAL? | More Intelligent Life
  This web-only publication by The Economist can do no wrong.
  (tags: business professional creativity professionalism thought)

• Out-of-Work Architects Turn to Other Skills: NY Times
  Like ice cream that looks like buildings. Hmmm
  (tags: architecture recession entrepreneurship design jobs architects)

• djay » The DJ Software for iTunes
  Must get immediately *scratch* *scratch* (via Danger is My First Name)
  (tags: music technology dj mixing software)

• What Many Media Companies Don’t Get About Building An Audience | paidContent
  Only one thing? (via All About George.com)
  (tags: business media audience engagement content strategy)

Required Reading: "Things Killed by the Internet, Make Worse by Booze, and Make More Complicated by Technology"

• A disjointed but dazzling decade in books: Cleveland Plain Dealer
  You can say that again (via Arts Journal)
  (tags: books decade publishing literature future trend)

• Restaurants Use Menu Psychology to Entice Diners : NYTimes.com
  Works on me. (via All About George)
  (tags: design food marketing psychology restaurants menus business dining)

• Archive of Gourmet Magazine finds home at New York University: NYT Dining Blog
  Finality. Yum. (via The Elegant Variation)
  (tags: food nyu library gourmet archive magazine)

• Pandora Radio: Coming to a car near you: GigaOM
  How to "Thumbs Down" while keeping both hands on the wheel? (via Hear 2.0)
  (tags: pandora music car stereo automotive technology)

• New Yorker profile of John Mackey, founder of Whole Foods
  Now 23% more organic...
  (tags: wholefoods john-mackey entrepreneur newyorker profile food health)

• Project52: An effort to add fresh content to one's website every week for one year.
  Sorry needed, probably neglected (via Kimberly Blessing)
  (tags: writing blogging gtd projects 2010 project52)

• South Dakota driver sets state record for blood alcohol content: Yahoo! News
  We all need to strive for something (via Fark)
  (tags: crime alcohol drinking)

• GOOD Magazine runs down The Decade in Food
  I for one welcome our comfort food overlords.
  (tags: food list topten decade aughts)

• Video: Top 10 Things Killed by the Internet
  An old saw but a servicable one (via MediaBistro)
  (tags: internet culture list future trends)

Required Reading: "Indie Sweethearts, Why the Simpsons No Longer Matter and the Death of RSS"

• io9 on the decade in comic books and graphic novels.
  Thawoop! Bang!
  (tags: book comics graphicsnovels decade)

• Interview with Tom Waits focusing on his acting career
  Growling expected... (via Largehearted Boy)
  (tags: tomwaits interview acting movies q&a)

• 20 pieces of music that changed the world: CBC Radio
  via Kottke.org
  (tags: music culture history arts cbc audio)

• Which airlines will be wi-fi equipped in 2010?
  Too few of them, to be sure.
  (tags: internet wifi travel wireless airlines 2010)

• When indie sweethearts (Zooey Deschanel, Ellen Page, and Luke Wilson) pitch products (cotton, Cisco, and AT&T): Slate.com
  File under "who cares?"
  (tags: advertising celebrity indie culture commercials products sellingout)

• Is RSS the 8-track of information consumption? The Steve Rubel Lifestream
  hmmmm...
  (tags: technology rss information)

• The New Republic on why America no longer makes anything...
  The answer will surprise you (via Arts Journal)
  (tags: business economics management manufacturing economy mba businessschol)

• Why The Simpsons no longer matters: Salon.com
  Sad but probably true...
  (tags: culture media tv television Simpsons)

• Do Books release us from the "Tyranny of The Moment?"
  One hopes...
  (tags: books reading time entertainment productivity)