More controversially perhaps, Ms. McGregor unapologetically puts her career first — ahead of children, husband and friends, she says. Among her top tips for women who want to make it to the top: accumulate skills (if you’ve got a mediocre degree from a mediocre university, get another one from a good one); build your network; become financially literate (not least so you know what interest rate you’re paying on your credit card debt); outsource at home and delegate at work; scrap the sentence “I can’t do it” from your vocabulary (Ms. McGregor, 49, learned how to fly a plane at 47 and how to shoot a gun at 43. “Do men take you seriously if you are 49 and have a B.M.I. of 37?” she asked. “No, but they do if you have a gun in your hand.”); and, crucially, learn to say “No.”

[via]

1. Finish Ph.D.
2. 60K
3. in shape
4. remarry
5. another culture
6. house + land
7. pay off debts (taxes)
8. memoirs of Indon.
9. spir. develop (ilmu batin)
10. raise Maya well
11. continuing constructive dialogue w/ Barry
12. relations w/ friends + family (corresp.)

Guest submissions from Veronica Forman
1. Bradford pear
2. Birch, “although they’re kind of played out”

Nominate your own in the comments section.

1. “A Separation” is a very good movie, and Tehran! The star of the show. Via WikiTravel, which is not at all biased and actually home to some nice prose: “A combination of factors make Tehran a pleasant place to visit: The dry climate which is constantly cool (at least in the evenings), the proximity of the mountains, the parks and gardens where flowers blossom all through the year, the alleys of trees in the avenues or even smaller streets, and even the water that runs down from the upper city along deep and wide gutters which look like small rivers during spring.”

2. “Homeland” is a very good program, seeing as I watched the first season in one week (which is actually slow, but hey, MegaVideo), and read all the online recaps (“Well, there have been a lot of ‘Amazing Races’ on … and I had to watch them and then go online and write comments about them.” -Liz Lemon). But yeah, it is all an allegory about gender interplay? It is!!! Men are terrorists of the heart and mind, and when women like Claire Danes question them they are written off as crazy and then have to get electroshock therapy. An allegory for the ages. TV is sad/bad.

3. [Redacted] is a very good book. Too ashamed to admit to the global audience of leahfinnegan.com that I greedily read [Redacted] in less than six subway sittings. If you would like to know what I’m referring to and have a clandestine book club about [Redacted] email me ASAP.

Best Books
1. And The Band Played On, by Randy Shilts. 600 pages of mastery.
2. The Devil and Sherlock Holmes, David Grann. Delicious longform candy.
3. Newjack, by Ted Conover (reread). Journalistic lesson: If a state prison system won’t give you access, become a prison guard.
4. The Looming Tower, by Lawrence Wright. Unreal.
5. Unbearable Lightness, by Portia DeRossi. The ’90s were so treacherous. (It was FREE, okay!?)

Best Movies
1. Splendor in the Grass. Never date a crazy oilman’s son.
2. National Geographic Explorer: Solitary Confinement. I identified with this.
3. National Geographic Explorer: North Korea. Chilling.

SEE YOU NEXT YEAR!

A crooked peace officer is just a damned abomination. That’s all you can say about it. He’s ten times worse than the criminal.

-No Country For Old Men, p. 216

via Leigh Patterson, via