« May 2013 | Main | July 2013 »
June 25, 2013
Flaubert on Writing.
Writing is the art of discovering what you believe.
--Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880)
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
June 21, 2013
Famous No-Wins: The Judgment of Paris
Paris was a bold man who presum’d to judge the beauty of a Goddess. --John Dryden
The Judgment of Paris, Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553)
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:59 AM | Comments (0)
June 19, 2013
Oran, Algeria: "Our citizens work hard."
Our citizens work hard. Their chief interest is in commerce, and their chief aim in life is, as they call it, "doing business".
--Narrator describing Oran in opening pages of The Plague (1947), by Albert Camus
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:58 PM | Comments (0)
June 16, 2013
June 16, 1904: Bloomsday All Week. Everywhere.
The day you meet your wife can be its own world. June 16th will mark the 109th Bloomsday, honoring James Joyce and recreating the events of his novel Ulysses, all of which take place on June 16, 1904 in Dublin. It's celebrated dutifully in Dublin, New York City, Paris and every city, village and hamlet on the planet with pluck, verve, and a spring in its stagger or step.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
June 15, 2013
Dr. Johnson on Habits.
What we hope ever to do with ease, we must learn first to do with diligence.
--Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
Posted by JD Hull at 12:59 AM | Comments (0)
June 12, 2013
Law: The Ultimate Backstage Pass.
Law is the ultimate backstage pass. It's the new priesthood.
--John Milton/Satan (Al Pacino), in L’Associé du Diable (1997)
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:08 PM | Comments (0)
June 08, 2013
The Press.
Yonder sits the Fourth Estate--and they are more important than them all.
--Edmund Burke (1730-1797), likely in 1792, looking up at the Press Gallery of the House of Commons.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 07:59 AM | Comments (0)
June 06, 2013
Turgenev's "Fathers and Sons".
After about 25 years, I re-read Turgenev's 1862 novel Fathers and Sons (or "Fathers and Children") which, in addition to being the best of all stories about generational conflict, has some of the most beautiful conversations between human beings to appear in literature. If you work with other people who are profoundly and even hopelessly different from one another--that should mean most of you, hopefully-- do take the time to read it. Bonus for my fellow white-collar semi-literates: it's a Russian work under 250 pages. We can make a big dent in it during commercials.
Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev (1818–1883)
Posted by JD Hull at 11:41 PM | Comments (0)
June 04, 2013
Marketing: The "Old" Marketing is Stunningly Persuasive and Cheap.
From our still-disturbing if elegant 12 Rules of Client Service, Rule 6 is When you work, you are marketing. It's our favorite. This one presupposes that you love practicing law, and that you want to do repeat work for good clients you like. And it's the one that's hardest for lawyers and other service professionals to grasp. Right now, in June of 2013, do you work for that Fortune 100 or 1000 client you prize with the same passion and at the same level you did in 2003, when you first landed it?
.jpg)
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:20 PM | Comments (0)
June 01, 2013
Les Bouquinistes: "More than a tower or a statue, or an artist's or soldier's name on a plaque or post."
Paintings and photographs for 400 years: Notre Dame, Les Bouquinistes by Antoine Blanchard ("Marcel Masson") (1910-1988)
Posted by JD Hull at 12:59 AM | Comments (0)