2010: A space odyssey

This weekend, I leave you with a 2010 space odyssey. It was created by Nowness, which is doing some really amazing things online and seems to be part of a web 3.0 movement in which luxe is everything, another example being the lovely Luxirare.

"Aanteni" stars supermodel Guinevere, takes place on "the deserted grounds of Paypal founder Elon Musk’s Space X jet lab in Hawthorne, California," and was shot by Todd Cole. The beauty wears Rodarte. It's about the promise of space, body as machine, and escapable wastelands.

"The Earth is just too small and fragile a basket for the human race to keep all its eggs in." -- Heinlein

I'm off the record ... again

I started blogging -- and by "started," I mean I wrote one post -- over on True/Slant in early January, but the following Monday, I found I had kidney stones, and spent the next six weeks in pain. In any case, now recuperated, I am back at it again. Join me there, won't you?

So far, I've written about "The Hurt Locker," Susannah-brand journalism, and the monkeys at the Playboy mansion.

I'm rather enjoying it. I'm trying to get down some stories and/or ideas that I haven't told thus far, demanding of myself a modicum of greater seriousness, and, who knows, in the coming weeks, I may even offer up something approximating investigative journalism, or its limp-wristed cousin Maury who whines during dinner and then passes out in the foyer. He's so embarrassing.

The rules of writing fiction

"Do not place a photograph of your ­favourite author on your desk, especially if the author is one of the famous ones who committed suicide."

-- Roddy Doyle, "Ten Rules for Writing Fiction"

Your daily shoe porn

I may have quit Twitter, but I've resurrected a popular tidbit I used to do on it over at The Frisky, "Your Daily Shoe Porn." Basically, it's one hot/sexy/weird shoe of the day. Not a lot of text. Just you and the shoe. In case you're wondering, women like shoes because they will never make us ask you, "Do these make me look fat?"

Pictured here, Pleaser's bordello polkadots for $60, courtesy of Gala Darling.

If you're a girl who loves shoes, or a guy who loves girls in shoes, a few other of my shoe favorites:

Jak & Jil
The Shoe Girl
Sea of Shoes

Live from Afghanistan

Boston.com's "The Big Picture" has posted its latest roundup of photos taken on the frontlines in Aghanistan, "Afghanistan, February, 2010."

"In southern Afghanistan's Helmand Province, thousands of American, Afghan and British troops entered Marja in the biggest offensive of the war, with the goal of destroying the Taliban's largest haven and restoring government presence in southern Afghanistan. Resistance was sporadic and fierce as troops seized positions around the area. Stricter combat rules and a concerted effort by the Afghan government and NATO forces were aimed at not only protecting the civilian population, but planning for the aftermath, building infrastructure, support and trust in an area long dominated by the Taliban."

Here, a Marine with 1/3 Charlie company patrols a poppy field in Trikh Nawar.

"Afghanistan, September, 2009"

"Afghanistan, October, 2009"

"Afghanistan, November, 2009"

"Afghanistan, December, 2009"

"Afghanistan, January, 2010"