Alan Sepinwall’s Interview of Matt Weiner →

Matt Weiner, responding to Alan Sepinwall’s asking why no actor on Mad Men has ever won an Emmy for their performance:

I don’t know. I don’t know. There’s always a story every year, is all I can say. There’s always a story why someone else should get it or what it is. I don’t understand awards handicapping, but I do not vote in the actors’ categories. I’ll tell you one thing. No one treats them like they haven’t won. They are revered, and I see the way other actors respond to their work. It’s the way you want. It’s like part reverence, part jealousy. They’re competitive. They are at the top of that pyramid in whatever way you want. And being nominated means that, and having the work means that.

But I have one personal theory, which is that the acting style is different on the show. That it’s very naturalistic and that is not a showy — you know, I don’t write Emmy scenes for them, either. Maybe that’s it. Elisabeth Moss always jokes that whenever she works somewhere else people are always like, “Cry your eyes out.” And I’m almost like, “Don’t cry. Do everything you can not to cry,” because I feel like that produces more emotion in the audience. But maybe it’s too much of an ensemble? I don’t know.

That’s good art—successful art—in a nutshell. Not crying when everyone else thinks you should cry.

An NPR Reporter Chauffeurs A Chinese Couple 500 Miles To Their Rural Wedding →

Frank Langfitt, writing for NPR:

I went to Rocky's wedding in part to try to understand how he'd made the leap from farmhouse to Shanghai law firm — quite a feat in China's hypercompetitive society.

Xiao Piao offered one theory: "The entire village thinks his family sits on good land, good feng shui," she said, referring to the house's location vis-a-vis the natural environment.

Rocky politely disagreed: "Everyone's fate, career and job are the result of one's struggle. If I didn't take the bar and sat around at home, what use would good feng shui have been?"

There’s the single chocolate chip world that you know—and then there’s the entire rest of the cookie. Take five minutes out of your day and treat yourself to this piece—you won’t regret it.

/via Ben Thompson

IBSWTD’s Favorite Podcasts: Home of the Brave: ‘The Neighborhood’ →

There’s a new episode of I Better Start Writing This Down coming in four days, which means a few things:

1. There’s still enough time to listen to the most recent episode, ‘Miniature Boxes of Cereal.’
2. I need to make another IBSWTD Favorite Podcast pick.

Luckily, I’ve known what it would be for a couple of weeks now.

Scott Carrier is one of my Mt. Rushmore storytellers. He’s known for his work on This American Life, as he should be. He’s lived quite the life and somehow, lived to tell about it. And tell he does. He’s got one of the most distinctive voices I’ve ever heard—nasal and child-like and somber and melancholy and honest and—dare I say—happy. All at the same time. And his capital-V Voice as a writer is pretty damn distinctive as well. He’s always thinking and saying and relating unreasonable thoughts and ideas in the most reasonable of ways.

When I heard from Nick van der Kolk (the creator of Love + Radio, another outstanding source of stories and sound design) that Scott Carrier had started his own podcast, something that I’d always hoped he’d do, it was as close to a prayer being answered as an atheist can get.

‘The Neighborhood’ is the “weirdest” of the stories Carrier has released so far, a sound collage that makes perfect sense and none, all at the same time. IBSWTD owes a debt of gratitude to Scott Carrier. I can’t say for sure, but I’m pretty certain that, had I never come across Scott Carrier’s work, I might not be making my own little podcast of my own.

Not a Homeroom Mom →

Bryan Reardon, writing for Galleys, on Medium:

In the effort to blaze a trail and smooth gender relations for generations to come, I have delved into the wisdom I gleaned from ten years of being a stay-at-home dad.

I’ve done a lot of things in my life that, at the time, I thought were important and could (and should) have an impact on The World. Never once did I imagine myself as a stay-at-home dad and certainly not as the father of a little girl. But now that I’m in the midst of it, I’m starting to imagine the next twenty years or so, and what it will be like sending my daughter out into the world, the product of a home that does not reflect most of our society, and certainly not many of our societal norms. I literally buzz with excitement when I think about it.

Facebook May Host News Sites’ Content, Fit of Shit Ensues →

Ravi Somaiya, Mike Isaac And Vindu Goel, writing for The New York Times:

With 1.4 billion users, the social media site has become a vital source of traffic for publishers looking to reach an increasingly fragmented audience glued to smartphones. In recent months, Facebook has been quietly holding talks with at least half a dozen media companies about hosting their content inside Facebook rather than making users tap a link to go to an external site.

I’m shocked/not shocked by the internet’s reaction to this news. On one hand, yes, it is a dumbing-down of sorts. And it will, by extension, put different hierarchies of news outlets all on the same level within the eyes of the FB masses. But at the end of the day, in 2015, you have to pick: do you want to be a fossil in a museum—or an attraction in a well-trafficked zoo?

I Love Apple, But We Should Be Leery of Them Anointing a Particular Version of Their History

Brian X. Chen and Alexandra Alter, writing for The New York Times:

The book-on-book criticism is a rare public cavalcade from Apple executives, who under Mr. Jobs kept quiet about the company’s activities. It shows the lengths that Apple is going in its effort to reshape the posthumous image of Mr. Jobs as a kinder spirit, rather than a one-dimensional mercurial and brash chief. To that end, Apple gave the authors of “Becoming Steve Jobs” interviews with four executives, including Mr. Cook. In another sign of the company’s implicit approval of the biography, the writers will discuss the book and field questions about it on Thursday at the Apple store in Soho.

Apple is also promoting the book heavily in emails and in the iBooks Store. And just to be clear, I pre-ordered the book. I’m excited to read it. But I cannot not point out just how wrong The Apple Press is about this topic in general.

I don’t doubt the sincerity of the friendship that Tim Cook, Jony Ive, et al., had with Steve Jobs. And I’m not even willing to say that their frustration with elements of the Walter Isaacson biography (a biography, as the above linked-to piece points out, that “Isaacson interviewed Mr. Jobs more than 40 times and spoke to more than 100 of his friends, relatives, rivals and colleagues, including Mr. Cook, Mr. Ive and Mr. Cue” for) isn’t real or sincere.

But the fact of the matter is that, going forward, Steve Jobs still plays a role at Apple—as part of the Apple mythology. And I don’t say that in a negative way. I think it’s totally reasonable. But let’s face it—a company that is currently set to release “the most personal product [they’ve] ever made,” a product that allows you to literally send someone a recording of your heartbeat (as well as a company that is poised to start selling their company brand as the hub of all of their products) is harmed, even in the smallest way, by the element of the Apple mythology that includes a cuss-spouting, employee badgering, disabled vehicle parking spot-taking founder. It’s the kind of stuff that any Apple Follower (myself included) knows at least a couple of stories about. And we all chuckle about them in that that’s-kind-of-horrifying-but-man-he-was-cool! way, but from a business perspective, it’s a conflicting message to say the least.

Tim Cook, Steve Job’s friend, might, for very real, personal reasons, want to see a biography that paints a more serene picture of Jobs. But Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple? As well as all of the other members of Apple’s senior leadership that have spoken out against Isaacson’s book by way of speaking up for Becoming Steve Jobs? (By the way—nobody in The Apple Press find its at least a little coincidental that this newfound disregard for the Isaacson book is only coming to light now that there’s a new, much more favorable book about to hit the shelves? Yeah, sure, they don’t talk much, but Isaacson’s book came out in October of 2011. If they found it that flagrant, I’m sorry, it would have come up by now.) You’re totally off in La La Land if you can’t see the conflict here.

I trust Apple with an awful lot of information about my life. And I don’t regret it. But the last thing we should trust them to do—or expect them to do—is abide by journalism ethics and standards. I’m going to read Becoming Steve Jobs, and I’ll probably enjoy it, but I won’t ever be able to totally forget the gross way in which Apple tried to get me to.

Inside Apple's Top Secret Health and Fitness Lab →

Good Morning America and Yahoo! News:

Apple, known for keeping its product developments under the strictest of lock-and-key, gave ABC News exclusive access into its top secret health and fitness lab, where only Apple employees became test subjects for the new Apple Watch.

Apple engineers, managers and developers have been secretly volunteering for the past year in this state-of-the-art lab to participate in rowing, running, yoga and many more fitness activities in order to collect data for the Apple Watch’s inner workings.

Serious question: do other tech companies go to these extremes?

Movie of the Week: ‘The Tree of Life’ →

Richard Brody, writing for The New Yorker:

With “The Tree of Life,” Malick liberated his cinematic vision by going to its source. It’s a personal film that tells stories about Malick’s own life, but it also delves into the very origin of Malick’s imagination. It plays like a cinematic self-psychoanalysis.

If you saw “The Tree of Life” and you weren’t totally clear on what was going on, Brody sums it up really, really nicely in about four minutes.

The Invention of the Perfect Cup of Coffee

Steven Levy, writing for Backchannel, on Medium:

The AeroPress gets its name from a sister product made by the same company: the Aerobie, a dinner-plate-sized ring that outflies a Frisbee by a mile. I know all about the Aerobie because one of its most fervent enthusiasts is the famous MIT hacker Bill Gosper, who travels with a trunkful of Aerobies in his car. (Gosper’s license plate reads… “Aerobie.”) I found it fascinating that the same wizard of aerodynamics who had invented the Aerobie has whipped up turbulence in the world of coffee.

If there’s a better way to make a single cup of coffee, I don’t know what it is.

My Saga, Part 2: Karl Ove Knausgaard’s Passage Through America →

Karl Ove Knausgaard, writing for The New York Times Magazine:

On the other side of Duluth, the road continued through the wooded Minnesota landscape, the blazing sunlight filtering through the treetops creating ceaseless, shadowy patterns on the snow-covered asphalt. I had told Mark we would arrive around 5 p.m., but it soon became obvious that we would never get there on time. I tried texting him, but the message didn’t go through, probably because there was no money left on my phone account. Peter offered to call him, and I accepted gladly.

When he hung up, Peter said that Mark sounded like the archetypal American. I asked him what he meant. He shrugged, it was nothing specific, just the way he spoke.

I considered the strangeness of that: That everything Norwegian, all that was particular to the west coast of Norway and to the Hatløy family, had been completely obliterated in just two generations in the U.S. If it had been my grandfather Johannes who had emigrated instead of his younger brother Magnus, I could have been the one sitting there, up in North Dakota, an American waiting for my Norwegian relative who was roughly the same age as me and to my surprise had announced his arrival this very Sunday.

I told Peter. He laughed and said he had never met anyone less American than me.

Part 2, of an overall mind-bogglingly good piece, is not quite as romantic as Part 1 (he gets out of his head more and has to do some actual reporting), but it does the trick. I thought the ending needed a bit more ruminating, but I savored reading this, putting it off the way you save a good bottle of wine for an important night.