2wice

James L. Dyson’s classic book “The World of Ice” brings a mastery of geology, geography, and history to explore the world’s coldest places. In the following passage Dyson describes the similarities between ice and rocks, giving a scientific basis to our habit of ordering drinks “on the rocks” or referring to diamonds as “ice.

Breakfast cereal is probably the most highly designed food on today’s grocery shelf, an emblem of industrial artifice. Shape is the key factor in cereal design. Besides being one of the few distinguishing factors in a market flooded with products, shape enables a cereal to belong to a certain category or consumer: the serious cereal, the frivolous cereal, the child-oriented cereal, and the classic (or purist). The Periodic Breakfast Table displays these typologies of shape, allowing readers to note certain patterns: intensity of color is usually accompanied by intensity of sugar content, and protein value generally decreases in proportion to the “realism” of visual references (see French Toast Crunch). Aesthetic and culinary purists will note with pleasure the presence of Puffed Rice and Puffed Wheat: their shape is wholly determined by mode of manufacture (puffing) and their sugar, protein, and sodium content is non-existent.

ROLL AGAIN short story: JIMMY GLEACHER

checkers On their first date Jack and Jill are cordial to each other. They sit at a small table taking turns exchanging polite remarks and safe jokes. Jack tells Jill he once bungee jumped at an amusement park but she tops him with a story about skydiving in New Zealand. Jack insists on paying the bill.

chess They’ve been dating five weeks. Jill still won’t sleep with Jack. Jack is determined and plans an entire weekend trip just to get laid. It works but Jill feels like a tramp. When Jack drops her off on Sunday she leans in his car window, kisses him on the cheek, and lies: “I’ve been planning on sleeping with you for a long time.” Then she walks away without turning around.

Picnics played an equally pivotal role in the work of the Eameses. Guests and clients visiting their office in Los Angeles enjoyed exquisite outdoor spreads — delicious testaments to the care demanded of every design project, no matter how ephemeral. Charles and Ray also imbued the picnic with educational status: less daunting than experiencing art in a museum, artfully arranged picnics made aesthetic values more accessible to children and adults alike. Selections from Charles and Ray Eames’ voluminous archive of 35mm slides documenting their picnics and daily rituals. Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Washington D.C.

In the years since Merce Cunningham moved his enterprise to the top floor of Westbeth, a big blocky apartment building on the corner of Bethune and West Streets in lower Manhattan, his dancers have lived the usual studio life, augmented by a kind of ongoing offhand picnic. Their vie bohème has been enhanced by the adjacent rooftop, where they can sneak off to eat lunch, smoke, gossip, or catch a breeze off the Hudson River.