Roger Michel

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/24/opinion/sunday/roger-michel.html

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Roger Michel is the founder and executive director of the Institute for Digital Archaeology, an academic consortium that uses technology to conserve, study and even re-create ancient treasures, such as a two-thirds-scale marble reproduction of the Palmyra Arch of Triumph, which was unveiled last week in Trafalgar Square in London. Last October, the Islamic State destroyed the second-century original in central Syria.

READING I am working my way through Kyril Bonfiglioli’s Mortdecai novels. It’s basically P. D. James meets a combination of Dashiell Hammett and Louis L’Amour. Silly and superb. I also am rereading “Crusader Castles” by T.E. Lawrence in anticipation of retracing part of his journey at the end of the summer. The letters to his mother are very sweet and make you think about Lawrence in a whole new way. And finally, I am reading “Death in the Afternoon.” I wish I weren’t. Nonfiction Hemingway is, well, troubling, particularly his misogyny. Dating advice: If a guy is a big Hemingway fan, that’s a red flag.

LISTENING I met Cat Stevens at the World Government Summit in Dubai and it has set me on a “Tea for the Tillerman” jag. I also like the soundtrack to last year’s “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” movie. I don’t know any of the artists on it but it’s very lively and upbeat with great harmonies. Other than that, it’s all Bill Evans, an amazing jazz pianist whose heroin addiction cut his career way too short.

WATCHING I’ve been sitting in Trafalgar Square watching people take pictures of the arch — touch it, feel it. There are guys in Carnaby Street suits mixed with young people in hip-hop clothes and Syrians in traditional dress. It’s the crossroads of humanity, and that was what Palymra was.

As for movies, I re-watch the ’80s cult classic “Buckaroo Bonzai” every few months. It’s basically a “nerd saves world” kind of movie. I find it’s a positive indicator of folks I’ll find interesting in other ways if they like “Buckaroo Banzai.”

FOLLOWING I have to confess I’ve never looked at anyone’s Twitter feed. For me, that would seem a very impersonal way of relating to someone; it would alienate me from the person. My dad and lots of my friends send me links and stories throughout the day and it starts conversations. I like to experience the world through personal relationships.

SHOOTING I’m totally addicted to my Braun Super 8 movie camera. I love the sounds it makes, loading the film, shooting at eye level and the manual zoom. And people do things for the Braun that they would never in a million years do if you were pointing your phone at them. They know it’s not going out on the web; it’s just between you and them. I guess I like things that are between two people and not you and a thousand people.

TIMEKEEPING I collect, repair and swap old watches. As much as I complain about the West’s fetishism of objects, I am an inveterate collector myself. I love old things and the way they connect me to the past. Every time I strap on a fat ’70s dive watch I’m 18 again and pulling bonefish out of Harrington Sound. Put on a gold Patek from the ’50s and I’m Cary Grant. Prediction: In 2017 men’s watches are going to get small … again.