Pre-production artwork from The Lion King

“The tendency toward determinism is somehow implied in the method of retrospection itself. In retrospect, we seem to perceive the logic of the events which unfold themselves in a regular or linear fashion according to a recognizable pattern with an alleged inner necessity.” (Baruch Fischoff)

I’d just like for us to wipe the smugness off our faces, the certainty from our headlines, the recriminations from our thinking. Everything is always far muddier than it appears to be from the benefit of hindsight. And no matter how fair we think we’re being in our judgments, it’s safe to assume that we’re not, really. Not in the least. It’s easy enough to gauge the past from the future, and awfully hard to discern it in the present. (Maria Konnikova)

Jamel Shabazz

Marco Guerra

“This sentence has five words. Here are five more words. Five-word sentences are fine. But several together become monotonous. Listen to what is happening. The writing is getting boring. The sound of it drones. It’s like a stuck record. The ear demands some variety. Now listen. I vary the sentence length, and I create music. Music. The writing sings. It has a pleasant rhythm, a lilt, a harmony. I use short sentences. And I use sentences of medium length. And sometimes, when I am certain the reader is rested, I will engage him with a sentence of considerable length, a sentence that burns with energy and builds with all the impetus of a crescendo, the roll of the drums, the crash of the cymbals–sounds that say listen to this, it is important.”

— Gary Provost

For decades in art circles it was either a rumour or a joke, but now it is confirmed as a fact. The Central Intelligence Agency used American modern art - including the works of such artists as Jackson Pollock, Robert Motherwell, Willem de Kooning and Mark Rothko - as a weapon in the Cold War. In the manner of a Renaissance prince - except that it acted secretly - the CIA fostered and promoted American Abstract Expressionist painting around the world for more than 20 years.

Albeit headed by a slightly sensationalist title, this is a pretty interesting read.

Insane zither playing on a Hungarian folk song (Még azt mondják - They Say So), by Hungarian violin virtuoso Felix Lajko and singer Magdolna Ruzsa.