Daily Links 1-17-14

Here are a few links to kick off your weekend reading. In today's edition: why we need lovely films, why Citizen Kane is considered the best film ever made, how to be a gentlemen and why, and more.

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Peter Robinson weighs in on Saving Mr. Banks and calls it a lovely film. It's the kind of film that we need. I'm planning to see it this weekend.

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Why is Citizen Kane so special? Read the article to find out. For one thing, it broke all the rules of filmmaking. For another, it's simply a great story.

True story: when I was in college I once met Ruth Warrick who made her film debut in Citizen Kane as Charles Foster Kane's first wife Emily. I was acquainted with her grandson at the time and he introduced me to her. However, I had not seen the film yet and had no idea that she had such a famous professional resume. All the things I would have loved to been able to ask her about this film if I had only had the chance....

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Food for thought: six deadly enemies of marriage. This is well worth a read.

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I'm always on the lookout for books to read but this recommendation from Dr. Albert Mohler about a book about books is particularly interesting.

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This is a yummy post: 11 desserts that changed the world.

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Mark Tapson on how to be a gentleman and why:

Because being a gentleman elevates you above the mass of men around you. Not in the shallow sense that knowing how to order a drink with confidence makes you more suave than the other guys in the bar; but in the substantial sense that conducting yourself according to an honorable code of behavior sets you apart from the crowd and sets the standard for other men. It isn’t about your looks, the kind of car you drive, your financial standing, your education, or any other superficial factor; it’s about, if I may borrow from Martin Luther King Jr., the content of your character. And character, to borrow from Heraclitus, is destiny.

He also offers eight simple rules for men who want to become gentlemen. Good stuff.

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Quote of the day:

Daily Links 10-23-13

In today's roundup of interesting things from the internet: an abandoned library, strengthening your writing, a how-to of the day, and more.

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Has texting destroyed proper spelling? I hope not.

I never took the home study course, but the texts and tweets and emails I send today are full of plz and thx and u and w and &, and that's true as well for most of the messages I get. I write coupla and wanna and lmk. i'm also -- the horror -- a lower case kind of guy. Many people rail against this as a degradation of language and a vandalizing of culture. I'm not one of them. I think it's efficient, occasionally ingenious, unpretentious and fun.

But I have my limits. Articles, resumes, professional work -- standard English only, please. In domains like that, I'm a hawk on spelling, grammar and punctuation. If you don't know the difference between your and you're, its and it's, affect and effect, I'm rigidly intolerant. I let myself get away with murdering the English language in an email, but for a job applicant I treat it like a capital crime.

The prescriptive case for standard English has always made sense to me. Good grammar, proper punctuation and correct spelling improve communication. Not only do they clarify the sending and receiving of messages, they clarify the thinking that goes into those messages. Plus there's a cultural argument: Language is constitutive of identity, and if the rules of language erode, the identity erodes.

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This is just......sad.(Hat tip: Book Riot)

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Settling the debate on who designed the famous shower scene from Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. Well, sort of.

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10 words you should cut from your writing.  This list probably could be longer but it's a good start.


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How-to of the day: a primer on darts. While this is only a guide to playing one particular variation of darts it's still a handy guide.

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Having a messy desk isn't such a bad thing after all. Makes me feel better about the condition of my own desk. (Hat tip: Blogging Theologically)

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The (flawed) logic of the second glance. And it's not just a guy thing.

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The power of the word no:

Learning how to say no is one of the most useful skills you can develop I found, especially when it comes to living a more productive and healthy life.

Saying no to unnecessary commitments can give you the time you need to recover and rejuvenate. Saying no to daily distractions can give you the space you need to focus on what is important to you. And saying no to temptation can help you stay on track and achieve your health goals. In fact not being able to say no, is one of the most biggest downfalls that successful entrepreneurs claim as their own key mistakes.