Speed of Life

by Gregg Chadwick Peter Clothier's Mind Work explores the history and spiritual dimensions of his inspiring life. Clothier is known for insightful writing on the arts and artists which adds luminosity to the events depicted in  Mind Work . The volume delves deeply into a life well lived and inspires us to consider our own lives in a spirit of humility and acceptance.   The book is  structured into a series of essays that reflect an admiration for Montaigne's writings. In this spirit, each chapter of  Mind Work  dwells upon a singular idea and illuminates this idea with episodes drawn from Clothier's experiences.   Mind Work  deftly weaves Peter's family history into essays rich with metaphysical questioning. Looming behind much of Clothier's life is the recurring struggle to both live up to his father's dreams for him and to overcome them. In one pivotal chapter, Clothier and his wife Ellie encounter, for the first time, Michelangelo's sculp...

For Super Bowl XLVI, Honda has released an homage to Ferris Bueller's Day Off  starring Matthew Broderick in a reprise of his iconic role. Only, this time Ferris is a grown up film star who calls in sick.  The truant hops in his bright red 2012 Honda CR-V and relishes a day in L.A.  According to Honda, over two dozen movie references are hidden throughout the ad directed  by Todd Phillips. For the Twitter inclined - Use the hashtag #dayoff and  find them all My favorite scene is with the walrus...

by Gregg Chadwick Henri Maillardet's Automaton at The Franklin Institute  In November 1928, the fire scarred remains of a mechanical boy were dropped off at The Franklin Institute  in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Left in pieces, it took months of painstaking work to reassemble the automaton. Little was known about the history of this extraordinary object. Like the automaton in Brian Selznick's magical, graphic novel  The Invention of Hugo Cabret  and Martin Scorsese's wonderful film adaptation of the book now simply entitled  Hugo , the machine itself provided the clue to its origins. When the complicated cogs and mechanisms were repaired and the machine was rewound for the first time in decades, the automaton's hand began to draw.  Remarkably the machine's mechanical memory, held four drawings and three poems  (illustrated below). One of the poems finished with a signature in French, "Ecrit par l'Automate de Maillardet." The mechanic...

by Gregg Chadwick President Barack Obama sang the first line of Al Green's hit "Let's Stay Together" at a January 19, 2012 fundraiser at New York's historic Apollo Theater and, according to  Billboard ,  sales have increased almost 500% this past week after the video of the moment went viral. Al Green was at the event and evidently inspired our President to surprise the crowd and his staff with a confident a cappella rendition. Al Green's "Let's Stay Together" sold 16,000 downloads in the week ending January 22, 2012 according to Nielsen SoundScan. This is the best sales week for Green's classic song since SoundScan began tracking downloads in 2003. President Barack Obama and Al Green Photo Courtesy Billboard

State of the Union 2012 President Barack Obama - January 2012 (Full Text) Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, members of Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow Americans: Last month, I went to Andrews Air Force Base and welcomed home some of our last troops to serve in Iraq. Together, we offered a final, proud salute to the colors under which more than a million of our fellow citizens fought – and several thousand gave their lives. We gather tonight knowing that this generation of heroes has made the United States safer and more respected around the world. For the first time in nine years, there are no Americans fighting in Iraq. For the first time in two decades, Osama bin Laden is not a threat to this country. Most of al Qaeda’s top lieutenants have been defeated. The Taliban’s momentum has been broken, and some troops in Afghanistan have begun to come home. These achievements are a testament to the courage, selflessness, and teamwork of America’s Armed Forces.  ...