James Gandolfini, R.I.P.

Remember when he played "Bear" in "Get Shorty?" A marvelous actor. Gone way too soon.

[I recall asking my wife to watch a show called "The Sopranos." She thought it was a PBS program about opera singers, but later got hooked on its shots from her old neighborhood.]

Artistic Distance

Steven Pressfield writes about its importance for novelists but you can apply it to any line of work.

Music Break: "On the Road"

Cultural Offering is cranking it up for Wednesday with a Lee Roy Parnell video.

"These are your kids on books"

The Hammock Papers has a great poster.

Lights Off in Germany: Cities Reduce Debt

The fact that Goslar has disappeared into complete blackness has less to do with the fog than with Junk, who turned off every one of the city's street lights, with only a very few exceptions. Every day, when the clock strikes midnight, the lights go out. Goslar needs to cut expenses, Junk explains, and that applies to lights too. "This saves €100,000 ($134,000) a year," he says.

Read the rest of the Spiegel article here.

Art Break: Matte Paintings

Art Contrarian looks, with a critical eye, at some matte paintings. Star Wars and Citizen Kane fans should be prepared.

Don't Put It Off

Not that you ever suffer from it, but here are some thoughts on The Procrastination Infection.

Toddler Skills

Nicholas Bate, whose blog should be a daily read, on "7 Things We Did as a Toddler."

[I think the most important is either 1 or 4.]

The Impatience Mix

We describe some individuals as impatient and yet few of them are impatient in all matters. The person who becomes frustrated at a fast food restaurant line may be the mellowest person on a crowded rush hour freeway. 

That odd combination can cause us to misjudge ourselves since it is more likely that we'll recall our moments of great patience than the times when we were chewing the carpet. I confess to being in this mixed category. On most matters, I can "listen to the rocks grow" and flow through events that drive others to shouting. At other times, however, I don't yell but catch myself rushing when I should slow down. I also slip into wishing others would rush as well. If I had a tattoo it might read "Get to the point."

This practice has advantages but it also has drawbacks. Since recognizing this tendency, I've wondered how many times my conduct would have been improved with added patience. That can be disconcerting because those of us who are results-oriented may have an equal dedication to high quality.

Check yourself out. You too may be a patient/impatient mixture.

Quote of the Day

A gentleman is one who never hurts another's feelings unintentionally.

- Oscar Wilde

The Conference Call

Cultural Offering has a brutally accurate account of a conference call.

Learn it. Know it. Live it.

And Many Happy Returns!

The Economist: The rights to the song "Happy Birthday" are in dispute. [Is that a lawyer in the corner?]

Beach

Take a moment today and read FutureLawyer's poem - yes, he's a poet and an attorney - about vacations.

Travel in Egypt

Egypt is on many a must-see list of travel locations. For those of us who've wondered what has happened to Egypt's tourism industry, the news is not promising.

IRS Update

TaxProf Blog updates his links on the Internal Revenue Service scandal.

Denouncing The Classics

Because “The Great Gatsby” has yet again caught Hollywood’s wandering eye, this last piece has received the most attention and sparked the most debate. Apart from the fisticuffs among the groundlings in the comments box, Joyce Carol Oates remarked on Twitter that “Hating ‘The Great Gatsby’ (the novel) is like spitting into the Grand Canyon. It will not be going away anytime soon, but you will.”

Read the rest of The New Yorker essay by Sam Sacks.

[HT: Arts & Letters Daily]

Art Break: Going British

Underpaintings has an auction preview of Christie's Victorian and British Impressionist Art.

When They Think You're Stupid

When they think you're stupid, they'll lie to you and expect not to pay a price. They will parse words and feign indignation. They'll send out minions who, if paid enough, would have insisted that Charles Manson was a fine family man. They will claim special circumstances and hint there is hidden knowledge which, if only they could speak freely, would cause you to jump to their defense. They will do all of this with a sincere smile and, on occasion, a somber expression more fitting for a vicar. Their boldness will cause you to question your own senses because you hold the quaint belief that what you saw and heard was what happened but they'll respond, "No, you're mistaken. It was something else." And they'll keep saying that.

Because they think you're stupid.

Quote of the Day

Standards are always out of date. That is what makes them standards.

- Alan Bennett

Miscellaneous and Fast

• Good news: Sensory Dispensary is back.
• Scientific American: Do artists differ from bank officers?
• Well, no wonder I haven't bought an iPhone. They cost more than $30,000. 
• Historian Andrew Roberts on why America's military must be strong.
• Lee Smith on Iran's new leader.
• Michael McGarrity's hot new western: Hard Country.
• The Telegraph: The world's best prison hotels.
• The Hammock Papers has some Keith Richards.
• Wired: A smart lounge chair for travelers.

Focus

No interruptions. No music. No talking. Just the slow movement from one task to another and the deliberate, careful performance of each task.

More will be done in three hours than is normally done in eight.

How Some People Listen

A and B: "We hope that X's speech covers how to deal with G. That's our prime concern."

B: "X didn't say anything about G, but her ideas about H, K and L were very helpful."

A: "X didn't say anything about G. I stopped listening at that point."

How to Be Unhappy

Want to be unhappy? These strategies are time-tested.

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In the early 1900s, as Rockefeller vied with Andrew Carnegie for the title of the world's richest man, a spirited rivalry arose between France and Germany, with each claiming to be Rockefeller's ancestral land. Assorted genealogists stood ready, for a sizable fee, to manufacture a splendid royal lineage for the oilman. "I have no desire to trace myself back to the nobility," he said honestly. "I am satisfied with my good old American stock." The most ambitious search for Rockefeller's roots traced them back to a ninth-century French family, the Roquefeuilles, who supposedly inhabited a Languedoc chateau - a charming story that unfortunately has been refuted by recent findings. In contrast, the Rockefellers' German lineage has been clearly established in the Rhine valley dating back to at least the early 1600s.

- From Titan: A Life of John D. Rockefeller by Ron Chernow

Perhaps There is a Reason Why

The other day I heard a man state he was very proud because his staff never said, "We've never done it that way." All of us know what he meant by that and yet I hoped he does not automatically associate the new with the good.

Placed in a different light, "We've never done it that way" is an indirect compliment to the judgment of past management. Were they dull? Did the idea never cross their desks? Perhaps not.

The statement does not necessarily mean "So let's not consider it." It can mean, "Let's study it with an open mind but also with an open eye as to why it may not have been done." That is not mindless resistance. It is sound decision making.

Quote of the Day

You are the most difficult person you will ever lead.

- Bill Hybels

"Old Dad was history."

For Father's Day, a classic scene from "Father of the Bride."

Find Something Beautiful Today

Father's Day Weekend

Watching "True Grit."

Also on the list: "The Asphalt Jungle" and "Restoration."

Someone Else's Idea

"She doesn't think it's a good idea?"

"No, she thinks it's a great idea, but she'll never admit it."

"Why not?"

"Because it wasn't her idea. I've seen this happen before. She regards people with great ideas as threats."

"So we don't stand a prayer of getting that project off the ground."

"Oh, there's always hope. With time and some clever adjustment, you may be able to present it as her idea. If that happens, she will enthusiastically support it."

"This is very strange."

"Some people are very strange."

Electric Weather

The pictures at Anderson Layman's Blog remind me of days in Tucson when the big lightning storms would roll up from Mexico. Dangerous as hell but fun to watch from a safe place.

Art Break: Munnings

Underpaintings looks at the work of Sir Alfred J. Munnings.

Related to this story: The trailer for the new film, "Summer in February."

Book Recommendation

"To War with Wellington: From the Peninsula to Waterloo" by Peter Snow.

Fascinating. Beautifully written and with plenty of insights into the Duke of Wellington's leadership. An excerpt:

But he knew how much his men mattered to him, rascals though they might be. He spent hours superintending the detail of their supply arrangements and was incensed when the essential needs of his men were not met. He didn't often show emotion but he was ready to go to great lengths to ensure that the wounded were well cared for. After one encounter  he heard that some wounded men whom he had ordered to be housed in officers' quarters were actually having to sleep in the open air in rough conditions. He rode thirty miles to see what had happened and found that his orders had been disobeyed. He had the men moved inside and brought all the officers before a court martial.

Quote of the Day

Only three things happen naturally in organizations: friction, confusion, and underperformance. Everything else requires leadership.

- Peter Drucker

Entertainment Break

The trailers for:

• "Withnail and I"
• "Orlando"
• "Bad Timing"
• "Gone With The Wind"

50 Leadership Techniques That Don't Work

1. Applying a lower standard to yourself than to your followers.
2. Not doing what you say you will do.
3. Leading from behind.
4. Knocking down straw men.
5. Relying on speeches instead of actions.
6. Hinting.
7. Tolerating unethical conduct.
8. Fostering dependency.
9. Emphasizing your tenure and status over accomplishment of the mission.
10. Engaging in turf wars with peers.
11. Rewarding yourself first.
12. Failing to delegate.
13. Rewarding negative behavior.
14. Hiding.
15. Ignoring internal customers.
16. Adopting passive-aggressive behavior.
17. Neglecting your homework.
18. Suppressing dissent.
19. Hiring sycophants.
20. Keeping incompetents.
21. Failing to clarify.
22. Continually reorganizing.
23. Choosing reaction as a policy.
24. Failing to control the staff.
25. Making frequent excuses.
26. Acting as if your responsibilities belong to someone else.
27. Failing to maintain skills.
28. Running from conflict.
29. Ignoring reality.
30. Lowering standards.
31. Failing to communicate.
32. Failing to analyze.
33. Not sharing credit.
34. Personalizing everything.
35. Giving lip service to humility.
36. Lying to customers, be they internal or external.
37. Letting ego overcome judgment.
38. Parsing words in order to fashion excuses.
39. Demanding loyalty from everyone but yourself.
40. Being controlled by events.
41. Not choosing the right battles.
42. Denigrating associates.
43. Letting staff filter key information.
44. Rubber-stamping important decisions.
45. Over-extending yourself.
46. Failing to prioritize.
47. Setting too many goals.
48. Exhausting resources.
49. Exhibiting weakness.
50. Not having a higher purpose.

First Paragraph

In the spring of 2007, Valdosta State University took vigorous action against an undergraduate student it believed was a "clear and present danger" to campus. What had Hayden Barnes, a decorated paramedic in his early twenties, done to terrify the VSU community? He had publicly protested the decision by the university's president, Ronald Zaccari, to build two parking garages on campus. Believing that the $30 million price tag was an exorbitant expenditure ($15,000 per parking space) and that more environmentally friendly parking options were available, he had written a letter to the editor of the student newspaper and contacted members of the board of regents to voice his objections, politely, by all accounts.

- From Unlearning Liberty: Campus Censorship and The End of American Debate by Greg Lukianoff

Quote of the Day

We do not remember days, we remember moments.

- Cesar Pavese

Gift Guide

The Wall Street Journal gift guide for Father's Day. If my children spent this much on a gift for me, I'd feel I'd failed to convey the concept of thrift.

Inexpensive aftershave and used paperback books will do just fine.

Staggering

Kurt Harden at Cultural Offering works in health care benefits administration. Check out the photo and commentary on the Obamacare regulations.

The law of unintended consequences is about to kick in.

Entertainment Break

The Dish has a paper city.
That Mitchell and Webb Look: Homeopathic ER.
Diana Krall: "Cry Me a River."

Fleeting Fame

Consider the following:

1. Whittaker Chambers
2. Rube Goldberg
3. Neville Chamberlain
4. Booker T. Washington
5. Wallace Beery
6. Amelia Earhart
7. Willie Sutton
8. Ronald Colman
9. Betty Boop
10. Ngo Dinh Diem
11. Jack Anderson
12. Eric Hoffer
13. Lenny Bruce
14. Dean Acheson
15. Dorothy Parker

Mention those famous names in front of an audience nowadays and you'll have a sizable portion of people who won't recognize many of them. In some cases, that is simply a sign of changing fashions and with others it signals a decline in the knowledge of history. Whatever the case, it is important for speakers to remember that fame is fleeting and making assumptions about celebrity can be dangerous.

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The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.

- From Neuromancer by William Gibson

Pearl Harbor Mentality

Oh, come on. Probably won't happen. Might not happen. Hasn't happened in years. There are people who look out for that. They'd never let it happen. We've got other things to do. Don't be alarmist. You're scaring people. If it happens, it won't be that bad. We've gone through things like this before. You're just a pessimist. The glass is half-full. Let's go to the game. What's on TV?  What? That's terrible! Who could have imagined? How could that have happened? We'd better do something about it. [Repeat]

Quote of the Day

The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right.

- Learned Hand