February 13, 2006

New York Times review of Happiness: A History, by Darrin M. McMahon
A brief recollection of Mark Van Doren.

A Q&A With Darrin M. McMahon

...author of Happiness: A History

"In the 1990s, Darrin M. McMahon was teaching a "Great Books" course
at Columbia University ("from Plato to NATO," he calls it), and one
subject - happiness - 'was leaping off the page in all these major
texts'. . . .

"Times: Why did the ancient Greeks believe that you had to be dead if
you wanted to call yourself happy?"

February 03, 2006

Four Things Meme

Matt tagged me.

Four jobs I've had:
1. paper boy
2. fast food jockey
3. selling home stereo speakers out of a white van by flagging down other motorists
4. postproduction audio engineer for small broadcast TV studio

Four movies I can watch over and over:
1. Annie Hall
2. The Godfather
3. Barfly
4. Brazil

Four places I've lived:
1. Kansas City, MO
2. San Diego, CA
3. Pasadena, CA
4. Big Sandy, TX

Four TV shows I love:
1. The Sopranos
2. The Larry Sanders Show
3. The Office (BBC)
4. Home Movies

Four places I've vacationed:
1. Vail, CO
2. Jerusalem
3. Amman, Jordan
4. Some sugary white beach in Florida when I was a boy

Four of my favorite dishes:
1. potato leek soup
2. yer good ol' pepperoni pie
3. spicy Thai dishes
4. turkey 'n mashed taters

Four sites I visit daily:
1. news.google.com
2. kottke.org
3. blogger.com
4. bookfinder.com

Five places I would rather be right now:
1. in a bar
2. in the sack
3. somewhere far, far, away from computers with like babbling brooks and hiking trails and whatnot
4. on stage playing my drums
5. NYC
 
I tag  . . . wait I don't know any more bloggers.