beer and twins: anatomy of a jingle (nyt magazine)
"John Ferreira, a 35-year-old music producer who is known for television commercials, is adamant about the nature of his signature recording. 'It is not,' he says with disdain, 'a jingle. I hate that word. I mean, I've done the 'Power of Cheese' ads, so I know a jingle. This' -- he pauses -- this is rock and roll.'"
(Sunday, January 26, 2003)

gates offers $200 million (nyt)
the gates foundation has been giving a lot of money to fight disease in third world countries. still think bill is evil? think again.

as i told someone a couple of years ago, i don't like microsoft, but i love where bill sends his money.
(Sunday, January 26, 2003)

what it's like to have the only segway in new york (nyt)
"It's got this redolence of New Economy foolishness," said Thomas Frank, a social critic and the author of "One Market Under God" (Anchor Books, 2001), which skewered the dot-com heydays. Even the Segway's playfulness, its appeal to the inner child, he finds galling. "It's as though being a responsible adult is a burden of the working class," he says, while the more fortunate "get to posture as special, exalted beings of wonder and innocence."
(Wednesday, January 22, 2003)

living in a garage (nyt)
"Neither of them had dealt extensively with contractors and tradesmen. The only things Mr. Jennings, a native of South Africa, had built were models for Frank Gehry. And Ms. Tarnopolsky, a Canadian-born landscape architect trained at the University of Guelph in Ontario, had designed, but not installed, small landscaping jobs."

This is pretty inspiring, both for the end result (a studio that looks great) as well as a case study in how an inexperienced architect (I can count myself among them) can start building.
(Monday, January 20, 2003)