the paris review – Zoë Lance.

Link Party: 6/27-7/1

July 3, 2016July 3, 2016 by zoelance, posted in Link Party

Here’s what I read last week:

1. I will really, really miss The Toast.

2. Bill Cunningham was a rare gem and I was very sorry to hear of his death. Because I really, really think you should know about him, here are two articles.

3. The present and future of the Washington Post, courtesy of Jeff Bezos.

4. What President Barack Obama does during the evenings.

5. An investigative journalist returns from an undercover mission in North Korea — only to face her critics.

And a bonus: I need to use it more often, but I love the idea behind This. — a social media network where you can only share one link per day. I get a daily newsletter sharing links from my network and the editor’s top picks. Sign up, find me and we can turn up the Link Party.

Have a great holiday weekend.

Link Party: 4/25-4/29

April 30, 2016 by zoelance, posted in Link Party

Up close and personal with my brother's fish tank. — Up close and personal with my brother’s fish tank.

Here’s what I read this week:

1. This essay about working for a tech company in Silicon Valley is harrowing.

2. A glimpse of Larry Gagosian’s art empire.

3. I didn’t live on campus when I was in college, but I appreciated this essay about campus dining hall food.

4. An interview with the woman who fits celebrities’ Met Gala, Oscars and Vogue cover outfits.

5. The most copied fashion designer you’ve never heard of.

And a bonus: Postcards from Google Earth.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Link Party: 11/23-11/27

November 28, 2015 by zoelance, posted in Link Party

Brush lettering fun. — Brush lettering is fun.

Here’s what I read this week:

1. People actually used to talk at the movies.

2. The Paris Review’s author interviews are really the best. Here’s a fantastic one with Ernest Hemingway.

3. How the New York Times’ City Room blog helped spark its digital evolution.

4. The millennial housing crisis.

5. I first read Nora Ephron’s “My Life as an Heiress” in one of her essay collections, but it popped up in a New Yorker newsletter this week and I remembered how much I liked it.

And a bonus: I can’t stop watching/listening to this classroom instruments version of Adele’s “Hello.” Jimmy Fallon is a national treasure.

Have a wonderful day.

Link Party: 9/14-9/18

September 18, 2015 by zoelance, posted in Link Party

Grandview Beach is the most perfect beach in the entire world, no contest.

Here’s what I read this week:

1. I follow Anne Helen Petersen on Twitter, and was not surprised that this profile on Alison Brie was so well-written and so thoughtful. A must-read. (Also, I like how Buzzfeed is stepping up its design game.)

2. This is a great article that explains the history and methodology behind emoji. FYI: The middle finger emoji is not in iOS 9.

3. Sadie Stein, a contributing editor at The Paris Review, was on a train from Myrdal to Flåm when she got off to visit a tourist spot. Little did she know some local artists were going to perform Kate Bush’s “Wuthering Heights” video and that is was going to be awesome.

4. Because Seinfeld will never not be relevant, someone actually drew comparisons between Festivus and the second GOP debate. I love the Internet.

5. This dude named Hyrvoix de Landosle obviously loved to annotate. Marginalia is great.

And a bonus: I posted this on Facebook earlier this week, but I cannot get over this Reggie Watts song. So good, yeah.

Link Party: 9/7-9/11

September 11, 2015 by zoelance, posted in Link Party

I’ve had this quote from Ira Glass saved for awhile, but one of my closest friends, Valerie, sent it to me this week — a very trying week for me — and it is so incredibly profound to me now that I’m trying my very best to remember it.

Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, and I really wish somebody had told this to me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But it’s like there is this gap. For the first couple years that you’re making stuff, what you’re making isn’t so good. It’s not that great. It’s trying to be good, it has ambition to be good, but it’s not that good. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is good enough that you can tell that what you’re making is kind of a disappointment to you. A lot of people never get past that phase. They quit. Everybody I know who does interesting, creative work they went through years where they had really good taste and they could tell that what they were making wasn’t as good as they wanted it to be. They knew it fell short. Everybody goes through that. And if you are just starting out or if you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Do a huge volume of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week or every month you know you’re going to finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you’re going to catch up and close that gap. And the work you’re making will be as good as your ambitions. I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It takes awhile. It’s gonna take you a while. It’s normal to take a while. You just have to fight your way through that.

Here’s what I read this week:

1. I’ve been following Jedidiah Jenkins on Instagram for awhile, and he’s in the middle of writing a book about riding his bike from Oregon to Patagonia. Based on this essay, I’m even more excited for his book to arrive.

2. The A.V. Club covered Force Friday in Chicago and it sounded insane. There are a lot of components to this that stuck with me: that this was a marketing and PR ploy more than anything else when it really should have been about the fans and the ethos, that people didn’t end up getting what they wanted and that the merchandise sounded and looked sub-par.

3. This discussion about freelance writing in 2015 and the state of online media is actually pretty frightening. I think it is a Real Problem when it’s more lucrative for writers to write multiple shallow articles than it is to write an in-depth longread. (Also, if you don’t click through to read the essay, he doesn’t get paid.)

4. Apparently there’s a story behind the company most famous for boxed wine that is essentially a soap opera. (I have never and will never understand the appeal of slap the bag.)

5. Do you miss Oliver Sacks? I miss Oliver Sacks a lot. This essay about his relationship with gefilte fish is very important.

And a bonus: These photos of David Bowie from the Ziggy Stardust era are everything.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Link Party: 8/3-8/7

August 7, 2015 by zoelance, posted in Link Party

Morning walks are fantastic because I get to see my neighborhood in bloom. — Morning walks are great because I get to see my neighborhood in bloom.

I had a really difficult time this week getting interested in what I was reading and finding stuff to write about — the motivation for a forthcoming blog post. Here’s what I read that I actually found insightful:

1. Adventures in typography.

2. Infiltrating a white pride Facebook group and turning it into a LGBT Southerners for Michelle Obama group is a hardcore example of trolling that’s going to be hard to top.

3. I’m sad to say that it might be time to break up with Drake.

4. Why is Jean-Michel Basquiat’s artwork so woefully underrepresented in museum collections?

5. Beryl Markham might just be the greatest feminist icon most of us have never heard of.

And a bonus: Fascinating historical photos of New York City, decorated to welcome WWI allies in 1917.

Have a wonderful weekend and week.

Link Party: 7/20-7/24

July 24, 2015 by zoelance, posted in Link Party

I love brunch. Whoever came up with the idea for brunch is a genius.

I had a good week and I hope you did too. Here’s what I read:

1. A Paul Ford discussion on Internet security in light of both the Ashley Madison hacks and the latest Gawker controversy.

2. I finished “The White Album” earlier this week, so I am loving this Paris Review interview with Joan Didion.

3. Inside couture ateliers, with photos.

4. An interesting profile on the artist Damien Hirst.

5. Honestly, this 200+ Tweet essay of Joshua Clover’s decision to quit his job at Spin is just absolutely and totally fantastic. If you read anything on this list, please make it this. You will not regret it.

And a bonus: This supercut of Don Draper saying “what” is the best thing in this entire universe.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Link Party: 6/29-7/3

July 3, 2015 by zoelance, posted in Link Party

There are these small trees that line my street, and they have beautiful flowers. If you know what they're called, please let me know! — There are these small trees that line my street, and they have beautiful flowers. If you know what they’re called, please let me know!

Here’s what I read this week:

1. I didn’t notice how many X should buy Y articles there are out there, and now I will.

2. I’m not a fan of Taylor Swift, but after reading this essay I understand her cultural pull a little more.

3. The Notorious RBG.

4. I haven’t watched the new Daft Punk documentary because I don’t remember enough French to get by without subtitles, but this list of trivia mined from it is awesome.

5. A linguist explains how we use sarcasm on the Internet.

And two bonuses, because I’m the best: Behind-the-scenes footage of “Inherent Vice,” and a really great song from The Arcs, the side project of The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach.

Have a wonderful holiday weekend!