There is a hot yoga studio hidden about a hundred yards from the door of my Fremont office building. The studio is located at the funky convergence of a tattoo parlor, a Burlington Northern train of garbage dumpsters, and, so help me God, a stray alley cat somebody fitted with a nose ring. If nobody has kicked into […]
Author Archives: Adam Nathan
November
10
Kenneth Katzner’s English-Russian Dictionary (More Notes of the Film Gravity)
posted by Adam Nathan
(Spoiler alert: if you haven’t seen Gravity, but have plans to, stop here. If you haven’t read my first set of notes on the film, they are here.) Visiting with my son and my brother’s family last night in New Jersey, I saw Gravity for a second time. When I came out the first time, […]
October
20
MissTweenster.com
posted by Adam Nathan
My daughter Alannah started a blog recently called “miss tweenster.” She’s created a daily theme – Funday Monday, Whatever Wednesday, Saturday Shopping – for girls her age. (She’s 11) I liked today’s post on favorite songs – as much for the shout-out to Dad buried in there (see if you can find it) as to […]
October
05
7 Provocative Comments About the Film Gravity
posted by Adam Nathan
I am one of those people that gets really enthusiastic about the things he instinctively loves, throws out wild, barely-considered assertions, and then aggressively and vehemently defends them. Here goes: 1. Terrence Malick needs to see Gravity so that he can learn how to incorporate beautiful images into an actual story. Call it poetry class. James […]
October
04
How to Win a Civil War: Advice for the President of the United States of America
posted by Adam Nathan
When my son turned three it was like a wild west rodeo buzzer went off. One minute I was staining the front deck and my child was kind and lovely and full of blond curls and questions like “what’s daddy’s doing?” and overnight I was the father of the angriest child in the world. It was […]
September
21
Why the Airlines Are Not in Trouble
posted by Adam Nathan
Thanks to everyone for your help on the exit row dilemma, especially the comment this morning that said I’d only be “panicky” and “I’m unlikely to be of much use” from this fellow who has looked in depth at the challenge of sharing middle seat armrests on international flights. Best advice was to “get out of Dodge” and “I’ll […]
September
19
Read Me, Daniel
posted by Adam Nathan
From the moment I finished Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs I’ve wanted my son, Daniel, to read it. For one thing my son is a gifted engineer in the making. He has fashioned a whole manner of weird and wonderful things: weed whacker engines turned into RC plane motors, a firefighting robot that he […]
September
18
Exit Row Passenger Protocol
posted by Adam Nathan
Everybody knows that if you sit in the emergency exit row you have to agree to the job of clearing the door out, and you need to be a certain age and understand instructions, and if you’re unhappy for any reason they will relocate you. But at dinner tonight the question came up about […]
September
02
Top 10 Reasons To Use 1942 Farkas Vintage Eye Black Grease (Amazon Product Review)
posted by Adam Nathan
Amazon Product Review: “1942 Farkas Vintage Eye Black Grease“ In no way do I intend any SO-CALLED DISRESPECT, but the previous reviewer has never played football BY HER OWN ADMISSION and has no idea what she is talking about. Basically I COULD wash this product out from my jersey and it did not take FIVE […]
Camino de Santiago Photo of the Week – August 25, 2013
posted by Adam Nathan
* This half-hour film gives a great feel for the daily life (and sometimes grind) of the Camino. It is recorded in Spanish, but there are functional English translations at the bottom through captions. It covers three friends, the strangers they meet, the fellow pilgrims, and the ducks, geese, frogs, calves, foals, and goats met […]
August
24
The Droid They’re Looking For
posted by Adam Nathan
* I remember Patient Zero. My company was subbing a contract for a larger consulting firm and the project minder who kept tabs on my team had an early Blackberry. He didn’t sit down a lot when he came in. He’d stand there with his Blackberry, his coat still on, his neck hunched over, his […]
August
17
Camino de Santiago Photo of the Week – August 18, 2013
posted by Adam Nathan
People always ask me what’s it like to walk the Camino. What’s it like? What’s it like? Well, it’s kind of like these three pictures all taken at arrival in the great square in front of the cathedral. Thanks to Jean-François Aillet who assembled them as a trio on his site and forwarded the images on to […]
August
12
Camino de Santiago Photo of the Week – August 11, 2013
posted by Adam Nathan
Honestly, this is what I thought pilgrims looked like by the time they reached Santiago. Ben Heine, a multidisciplinary artist from Belgium, published a set of photos from his Camino here. Home page of the artist here. More on the iconic subject of the photo here. <– July 28, 2013 Camino Photo of the Week […]
July
30
Camino de Santiago Photo of the Week – July 28, 2013
posted by Adam Nathan
* This is a week when the city of Santiago de Compostela is in the news for the most tragic reasons. There have been powerful pictures from a number of news services, but this one caught my eye because of a detail pilgrims will recognize. The cement wall in the background is adorned with the […]
July
22
Camino de Santiago Photo of the Week – July 21, 2013
posted by Adam Nathan
* A new follower on twitter this week (Kei Tachibana @Rikka1535135) had a fascinating scroll of images from two separate pilgrimages. The first of her recent pilgrimage to Santiago, the second of a Japanese Buddhist pilgrimage she is currently undertaking. But what jumped out among a number of terrific images was a picture of a […]
