Japanese vending machines

cool britannia

on gambling in China

"Their culture is about fate, that your life is predetermined, out of your control. It's why Macau is 10xs the size of Las Vegas." 

Why art?

Battle Between Marduk And Zu, Sumerian c. 3500 BCE

"Art helps to form the connective glue of society. It is no accident that art is a feature of every human civilization that has ever existed. Furthermore, the enjoyment of art plays a direct part in the life of each individual person. In other words, an individual may spend part of his time reading books, part of the time looking at paintings, etc. Even if the time we spent listening to music had no effect whatsoever upon our other activities that time would still represent some not insignificant fraction of our lives. However art does affect our other activities, and in some sense our whole life. Art connects us to our souls; it expresses our deepest feelings and validates them for us."
- Michael H. Hart [born 1932]

the arts took a new direction

Sense of forward movement.

blue

Before George Carlin, only stupid people were thought to curse.

sui generis

"We're not about 'First' we're about 'Best.'
- Tim Cook

"If there's not at least a 50% chance of diarrhea, it's not worth eating."
- Anthony Bourdain