Random Recommendations

To read:

• "The Paradox of Choice"- Basic premise: the more choices we have, the more difficult it is to make a decision, and the more fraught with anxiety the decision-making process becomes. clearly see this in my own life, and am hoping to become more aware of how I make decisions, and how to stress out about them less.

To see:

• Exhibit "American Cool" at the National Portrait Gallery (through September 7, 2014)   

As described on the Gallery's website:
“American Cool” is a photography and cultural studies exhibition featuring portraits of such iconic figures, each of whom has contributed an original artistic vision to American culture symbolic of a particular historical moment. They emerged from a variety of fields: art, music, film, sports, comedy, literature, and political activism. “American Cool” is the zeitgeist taking embodied form. “American Cool” is captured by a roll call of fine-art photographers from Henri Cartier-Bresson to Annie Leibovitz, from Richard Avedon to Herman Leonard to Diane Arbus. 

To watch (one reasonably entertaining although wholly predictable films and one TV show):

• "Last Vegas" - The tale of four old friends who get together for a bachelors' weekend in Las Vegas before a wedding.
• "The Americans" - Now in its second season on FX, I've been watching the first season via Amazon Prime. Set in the DC area in 1981, the show features a married couple who are deeply embedded KGB spies.