Subscribe
Jason Kottke's weblog, home of fine hypertext products since 1998
Featured
“Eating the right foods in the proper quantities, 16th-century Britons believed, balanced mind and soul. So in Shakespeare’s plays, roasts, ales, and pies are not props, but clues to characters’ souls, moods, and motivations.”
I guess this is as good an explanation of contemporary culture as anything.
Hungover from a world that told us we could be anything, we decided to be DJs. We don’t create our own music. We curate playlists, recirculating songs that will make people think we’re cool. And we do this through the labels we wear, the books we read, the people we hang out with, and the opinions we parrot. The DJ figure, ruled by the same logic, is just another celebration of self.
The Flow State podcast recently celebrated their 300th episode with a 2h41m mix of instrumental music sourced from a group of “musicians, curators, label heads, music fans”. They even let me pick a song.
I just updated the 2025 Kottke Gift Guide with some new suggestions, including inflatable tube men (for your front yard; your neighbors will love!), some of the year’s best cookbooks, ramen kits from Japan, and some low- of no-spend gifts.
What is happening? Orcas started wearing dead salmon as hats again and chimps are once again putting grass in their ears. “We were even more shocked that they were doing their own spin on this by also inserting the grass and sticks in a different orifice.”
Funniest McSweeney’s piece I’ve read in awhile: The Mastermind Box Cover: What the Hell Were They Thinking? “Warmth is for Sorry! This is not a hug. This is a chess clock in a stranger’s living room telling you your parents are getting divorced.”
Thread: What was typography like in the Soviet Union? “They did not just have 1 font everyone had to use. As a matter of fact, there were 39.”
New evidence suggests that Neanderthals were making fire in the UK 400,000 years ago. The previous earliest date of human fire-making was a mere 50,000 years ago.
I hate how good this is: Radiohead sings Santa Claus Is Coming to Town (There I Ruined It).
The loose flap of skin around the elbow is called the what now??
