“u can’t always walk a straight line, especially if the line is crooked”
— This and other Twitter gems from Ryan Lochte via NYMag. I still haven’t watched more than 45 minutes of the Olympics in total though.
“Summertime, oh summertime, pattern of life indelible, the fade proof lake, the woods unshatterable, the pasture with the sweet fern and the juniper forever and ever, summer without end; this was the background, and the life along the shore was the design, the cottages with their innocent and tranquil design, their tiny docks with the flagpole and the American flag floating against the white clouds in the blue sky, the little paths over the roots of the trees leading from camp to camp and the paths leading back to the outhouses and the can of lime for sprinkling, and at the souvenir counters at the store the miniature birch-bark canoes and the post cards that showed things looking a little better than they looked. This was the American family at play, escaping the city heat, wondering whether the newcomers at the camp at the head of the cove were “common” or “nice,” wondering whether it was true that the people who drove up for Sunday dinner at the farmhouse were turned away because there wasn’t enough chicken.”
— E.B. White on summer in “Once More to the Lake” (1941), discovered while browsing on the lovely food site Orangette.
More on the Magic Mike/Olympic swimmer comparisons. Olympians and their celebrity doppelgängers here.
“Let’s face it: Jamaica is having a moment,” said Lee Jasper, a civil rights advocate and one of the organizers of the Splash. “For an island of 2.7 million people, if you look at the sports and the culture and the music, they’re …” He considered for a moment an apt comparison. “Well, they’re the Irish.”
— New York Times on the celebration in the Caribbean neighborhood Brixton of Usain Bolt’s victory. Brixton, which the Times says “is on the way to becoming, for want of a better word, Brooklyn — or at least the Brooklyn of Bushwick and Bedford-Stuyvesant and Fort Greene” is also the former home of Geoff Dyer. Now that it’s becoming hip, maybe this means they’ll soon have some vegan Caribbean bakeries or fancy juice bars a la Miss Lily’s? Anyway, go Usain! Look at him go: here’s a recap of the 100m spring with really weird music that I would have a hard time imagining anyone actually running to.
So far, my favorite part of the Olympics has been wondering how I can get my abs to look more like Michael Phelps or Ryan Lochte—or at least the female version, and without the “hip-hop tropical frat boy” outfits. I’ve only spent about an hour actually watching the games. After unsuccessfully trying to go to a local Carroll Gardens sports bar full of flaming tiki drinks and muted television, I resorted to streaming NBC and googling swimmers routines. As suspected, the only answer is hard work. “If there’s no pain, there’s no gain,” NPR aptly sums up.
The Daily Beast agrees. “Sure, the Olympics brings together the best athletes in the world and their skills may be unparalleled, but they are also ripped.” In the ongoing performance of this years Olympics, the Daily Beast notices the men look an awful lot like another phenomenon of this summer. It just so happens to be Steven Soderbergh’s Magic Mike, starring Channing Tatum, who in fact has always had great abs (She’s the Man, anyone? Mr. Tates stars as the ripped love interest of Amanda Bines—of All That fame—in this soccer-themed Shakespearean riff)
For your amusement, The Daily Beast put together this little ab-centric quiz: Magic Mike or Olympics? Exotic male dancers and Olympic swimmers have a lot in common, as it turns out.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be visiting Pinterest in search of smoothie recipes for the next month, as Phelps’ 12,000 calorie/day diet likely won’t cut it.
“Refueling can resemble an episode of “Man v. Food,” with dinner consisting of things like a pound of pasta drizzled with olive oil (about 800 calories), a dozen eggs (840 calories), an entire cheese pizza (perhaps 2,000 calories) and a pint of Ben & Jerry’s cheesecake-brownie ice cream (1,000 calories). These foods (although not this exact lineup) were described to me by dietitians and officials who work with Olympians as common training-table choices for elite endurance athletes, particularly men. Plus beer (about 150 calories a bottle).”
— The diets of elite Olympic athletes via New York Times. They are, after all, burning 4,000 to 6,000 calories a day, at the rate of 15 to 20 calories per minute. And one can only eat so much tofu. More of these “insane” diets here. And here’s a sample diet of what a rower in Olympic training would eat on a daily basis. Hint: It’s 6,000 calories/day.
A portfolio of people reading across the world via theparisreview. See the rest of photographer Steve McCurry’s incredible series of photos.
“Embarrassingly idyllic, really. Like living in the fifties—so philoprogenitive. You know, pregnant women everywhere—prams, kids. I like that. Just a gentle atmosphere. I don’t think I’d like Manhattan anymore. I like looking at it from a distance—it awes me. But it’s too noisy. The city that never sleeps—yeah, that’s right, the city where you never sleep.”
— Martin Amis on Brooklyn, America, politics and other thoughts. Guess he hasn’t run into those crazy regressive hipster partying moms led by Amy Sohn (whose friends are “Hookers, Sluts, and Drug Addicts.”) Not so gentle they are.
“Following the style of the summer’s erotic hit [50 Shades of Grey], Clandestine Classics is offering sexed-up versions of perennials ranging from “Jane Eyre” to “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.”
— Wow. According to THR, on July 30, “sexed up” versions of Pride & Prejudice, Jane Eyre, Sherlock Holmes: A Study in Scarlet, Northanger Abbey and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea will be published. Claire Siemaszkiewicz, Total-E-Bound Publishing founder , parent of imprint Clandestine, said, “We’re keeping the original prose and the author’s voice. … But we want to enhance the novels by adding the ‘missing’ scenes for readers to enjoy.” She’s also “100% convinced” that there’s a market for this. Clandestine has created hilariously cheap-looking covers for the new titles that carry co-authorship with the original writers. For instance, P&P is “written” by Jane Austen and Amy Armstrong. Poor Mr. Darcy. No. A thousand times no.
Calories (kcal) 350.8
%Calories from Fat 53.8
Fat (g) 21.0
Saturated Fat (g) 12.5
Cholesterol (mg) 141.3
Carbohydrates (g) 38.2
Dietary Fiber (g) 0.7
Total Sugars (g) 30.4
Net Carbs (g) 37.6
Protein (g) 3.0
Sodium (mg) 131.6
Nutritional ingredients (and recipe!) for Christina Tosi of Momofuku Milk Bar’s deliciously addicting and aptly named Crack Pie. (via Bon Appetit). Related notes: Tosi’s daily diet, which includes fudge for breakfast and Honey Bunches of Oats for snacks.
“I think it’s a book about a haunted theme park and it stars a magical magic guy and he’s good and evil and he’s trying to get rid of the ghosts. And I think at the end, since it’s haunted by a ghost, he tried to make the park go on fire and it did. ”
— A six-year-old judges the topic of The Great Gatsby based on the cover. More guesses here.
Consumption (not just a 19th century disease)
Recently…
Books I finished:
- Sheila Heti’s How a Person Should Be (I thought I was really going to like this, but I felt slightly disappointed. I was reading it concurrently with Seating Arrangements, and found myself much more charmed with the prepster East Coast neuroses of Shipstead’s lovely book. This says a lot about how I am as a person: I want to read the experimental book full of sex, drugs and antics, but ultimately disinterested and lean elsewhere.
- Seth Greenland’s The Angry Buddhist
- Maggie Shipstead’s Seating Arrangements
Books in progress:
- Dale Carpenter’s Flagrant Conduct. This book is about Lawrence v. Texas. Let’s get real: I realistically am not going to finish this anytime soon but it’s served so far as a powerful motivator.
- Nicole Krauss’ The History of Love. Beautiful.
Food:
- Homemade shrimp tacos with mango salsa
- Tapas and sangria at Tertulia
- Chicken with beurre blanc at Chez Moi to celebrate Bastille Day
- Family-style Chinese dinner at Hunan Larchmont (shrimp, tofu, chicken, the works)
- Fish tacos from Oaxaca Taquiera (yum)
- Smoothies with our new blender (wedding gift—yes!). So far, have tried: Banana, Almond Milk, Ice & Strawberries; Banana, Yogurt, Ice, Peanut Butter; Peaches, Almond Milk, Ice. Looking for more ideas.
- Aperol Spritz at Eataly (so good)
- Frozen Greek yogurt with honey at the newly opened Yogurt Culture Company, aka the new food craze.
- Lots more coffee than usual; less green tea
- Limoncello from Brooklyn Social that was taken home in a plastic cup and enjoyed on the fire escape
TV:
- BREAKING BAD! Yes.
- Workaholics. Quite possibly my favorite show on TV.
Film:
- Ghosts of the Southern Wild. Felt like a Beirut music video wrapped up in a Levi’s commercial, but otherwise was promising.
- Melancholia. Emo.
![newsweek:
reuters:
DEVELOPING: Shellie Zimmerman, the wife of Trayvon Martin shooter George Zimmerman, has been arrested on one count of perjury, a press release issued by the Seminole County Sheriff’s Department read Tuesday afternoon. [Photo: Seminole County Sheriff’s Department]
Watch Reuters.com for more on this story
Things that happened while we were in that meeting.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m5itudXvsB1qmaoalo1_500.png)
DEVELOPING: Shellie Zimmerman, the wife of Trayvon Martin shooter George Zimmerman, has been arrested on one count of perjury, a press release issued by the Seminole County Sheriff’s Department read Tuesday afternoon. [Photo: Seminole County Sheriff’s Department]
Watch Reuters.com for more on this story
Things that happened while we were in that meeting.
(via dailydot)
