WORK

“The Three Oddest Words”

When I pronounce the word Future,
the first syllable already belongs to the past.

When I pronounce the word Silence,
I destroy it.

When I pronounce the word Nothing,
I make something no non-being can hold.

—Wisława Szymborska (translated by Stanislaw Baranczak & Clare Cavanagh)

WORD

scumble. verb. To soften the color in a painting by layering over an opaque or semi-opaque color. Also, noun: scumble/scumbling,

“The hills and distant bay are scumbled into a mighty haze.” (R. Redgrave)

‘“I agree. And here—” tracing midair the ugly arc where an over-eager cleaning had scrubbed the paint down to the scumbling.’ (Donna Tartt)

WEB

• A little abstract for the purists, perhaps, this fingerstyle guitar cover of Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb” as seen by a GoPro is fun to watch and rather pleasing to my ear.

• Studying the intersection of creativity, genius, IQ and mental illness will always be the softest and most fragile kind of science. But “Secrets of the Creative Brain” is an interesting read by a neuroscientist who has a lot to share on this endlessly fascinating topic. See also: “The Mad-Genius Paradox”.

• Remember those photos of abandoned places last week? Well, one abandoned Bangkok mall has been taken over by fish.

• A cultural history of the elevator (in the guise of a book review).

• In honor of her birthday today, some of Wisława Szymborska’s poems in multimedia form: an animated version of “Advertisement” and a fine reading of “The End and the Beginning”.

As always, I welcome comments, suggestions, thoughts, feedback and all manner of what-have-you. Just press "Reply" or mail to: clippings@katexic.com