Who's a chef?

Certainly not me, but I did have my first cooking class tonight, courtesy of Sur La Table. The menu for the evening:
Crostini with Homemade Ricotta and Roasted Red Bell Pepper Jam
Crispy Onion Rings with Homemade Tomato-Chipotle Ketchup (my team worked on this)
Polpettini: Little meatballs braised in tomatoes, garlic, and white wine
Asiago and Pepperoni Puff Pastry Pizzas
Mini Coconut Cupcakes with Coconut Cream Frosting

17 people attended and the class ran from 6:00 to 8:30. The instructor and assistants were great and the recipes were fairly easy to follow. I tried making onion rings once before (with much assistance) and I'm happy to say that should I ever try again, I now know some tricks to make things easier. The ketchup is fantastic and truly easy to make (toss everything into a blender, blend, and then heat for about 20-30 min). Everything we had was pretty spectacular and while the Polpettini was voted favortie dish of the class, my vote went to the surprisingly good Crostini with Homemade Ricotta and Roasted Red Bell Pepper Jam (who knew making ricotta cheese was so easy?).

All in all, a very fun evening and I'm hoping to do more of this kind of thing in the near future.

Pundit Smackdown #2: Greenwald takes Joe Klein's pride

It's really rather sad the Glenn Greenwald doesn't have a more visible pearch than his current one at Salon, because if he did, this column would probably succeed in removing Joe Klein from the ranks of the Highly Serious Beltway Priesthood. The post is a complete and total indictment of Klein (and the mindset that pervades the work of other, "consensus" minded pundits, like as David Broder and David Ignatius of the Washington Post). I can't wait to see Klein try to respond.

John Yoo - Despicable Hypocrite

Boalt Hall lends credence to the idea that John Yoo should be taken seriously by keeping him on staff and that is an notion that is beyond me. This man has provided the (compromised) moral justifications for virtually every power grab the Bush Administration has attempted or enacted (he was a co-author of the notorious "Torture Memo" and has tried to advance the theory of the "Unitary Executive" to name just two examples).

Per the usual, Glenn Greenwald delivers a withering takedown of Yoo here.

A book I need to read

I just heard about Deer Hunting with Jesus and I have to admit I'm ready to go out and get it now. Seeing as the book is about a guy who grew up in a small town in Virginia (which I did), then moved to the West Coast (which I also did) and then moved back to Virginia with liberal politics (which I won't do...move back to VA, that is), I want to see how much his experience jives with mine.

A review of the book from Tapped can be found here.

From the "You Don't Say?" Department

This, via Andrew Sullivan:

I'm a terrible long-term planner

- secretary of state, Condi Rice in Businesweek.

My problems with Edwards supporters

I should (and will) go more deeply into this at some point, but for now, my problems with John Edwards' supporters can be mostly found in this comment section over at Tapped.

I understand the idea of wanting to go to the mat for "your guy" (or girl), but even as I find myself gravitating towards one candidate over the others, I'm willing to entertain the idea that my preferred candidate might indeed not be the best one. But what I see from Edwards supporters (at least in the progressive blogosphere) is an arrogance based only in self-righteouness.

I get the appeal of the Edwards' "Two America's" campaign (especially coming from a rural area of Virginia and now living in San Francisco), and I do admire his commitment to both poverty issues and making universal health care a reality. But, let's not forget that Edwards voted for the Iraq War (despite his loud change of course, he still cast the vote), that he is viewed by many, rightly or wrongly, as a slick huckster due to his making millions as a personal injury attorney , and also, despite being from the south, couldn't even deliver his home state to his running mate in the last presidential election (he also looked bad getting a draw out of Dick Cheney in the V.P. debate that should have gone the way of Kennedy/Nixon in 1960, given the aesthetics of the participants). He also has just about as much legislative experience as a certain senator from Illinois who happens to be running for president (if inexperience is used against one, it should used against both, though Obama really isn't all that inexperienced).

In any case, none of what I mentioned above should automatically dismiss Edwards as a viable candidate. However, it should be enough to understand why one might have pause about his nomination. Personally, I think it's too early in the game to get into the tank for one guy. It seems like people have short memories and are forgetting about things like this .

Update: Something else I wanted to mention...to me, one of the major contrasts between the Edwards and Obama campaigns is that one seems to be emphasizing (maybe too strong a word) divisions (Edwards with the "Two Americas") while the other is talking about reconciling our differences (Obama). Both Edwards and Obama, I think, want to usher the country into a healing process, but I think the economic rhetoric that Edwards represents will be a bit radical for some (not everyone is enamored with using government funds to help the poor or to create a single payer health care scheme). A lot of this is packaging, but packaging is important. Obama, while not necessarily "post partisan", strikes a chord with a lot of people who are tired of politics as mudslinging. The last six years have been filled with a very high level of partisan vitriol and, with our image around the world in tatters, many want us to get back to "traditional" American ideals (whatever you hold those to be). Obama's emphasis on community, family, education and rebuilding our alliances abroad are all very appealing. In any sense, I think that a good portion of the progressive blogosphere is reading this moment in time wrong; they're looking for a fight when a lot of people are tired of fighting and while the generally pugnacious nature of Edwards' campaign appeals to that instinct, I'm not sure that is what the electorate at large is ready for. 8 years in Bush's America would make even the most skilled political infighter wary of going another round in the ring. Having said all that, I could very easily be wrong.

And for another take on this, Matt Yglesias contributes some nuanced commentary here:

I agree with Ross and with Jason Zengerle, that Ezra Klein's account of why John Edwards can't get ahead (lack of media coverage) isn't very plausible. If anything, Edwards has gotten more coverage vis-a-vis Bill Richardson than he seems to deserve.

That said, I don't think Ross is quite right either. There's actually nothing to explain here. Ex ante a former one term Senator and former losing Vice Presidential candidate just doesn't have a very good chance of winning the presidential nomination. Given the objective realities of the situation, his campaign's doing pretty well. He's leading in Iowa. Lefty intellectuals love him. Progressive bloggers love him. Labor leaders love him. If he continues to establish a lot of good will among opinion leaders on the left, plus continues to be a white man in a world where a lot of people think a white man is more electable than a woman or a black guy, and pulls off a win in Iowa, then he just might be able to "bounce" his way to victory. How much better could he realistically be doing?

Update II: Mark Schmitt wonders out loud about Edwards' commitment to poverty issues and a massive flame war breaks out in the comments.

Ezra also chimes in on Mark's post here.

Update III: Oliver Willis offers another take on Edwards and his poverty message.

Weekend!

Friday: Dinner at Terzo and drinks afterwards. Solid.

Sat: Canoing on the Russian River with co-workers. The weather could not have been better and many good times were had.



Sun: Oysters on Hog Island for Rebecca F's birthday! Great scenery and good people.

Monday: Patrick Wolff trio with the lovely Ms. Drea post work. Nice little show in an intimate venue on the Stanford campus.

Insurance

Young Ezra is frustrated:

Delta Dental is currently arguing that my root canal -- done at an in-network dentist -- does not merit much in the way of reimbursement, and is telling me that my share of the procedure comes out to around $2,000. A procedure, mind you, that's already been done, and that appeared to be fully covered. A procedure, too, that was by all accounts medically necessary. This is what you get when your insurer makes its money by not paying for your claims. I'm pretty sure that this will eventually be covered, but not without a lot of hassle and argument, all of which is designed to convince me that it's not worth the trouble and I should just fork over the cash, which would then count as pure profit for them.

This is how they earn money, people. This is how it works.

I, too, have Delta, but thankfully have not had to go in for any major dental work in the last few years. I did, however, have to get orthotics for my flat ass feet and my HMO (PacificCare), in its infinite wisdom, decided that this was a "cosmetic" procedure, and, as such, is not coverable.

So getting me these things now to help my walking for $400 isn't cheaper than the long range prospect of having to treat back/spinal issues that could arise from the problems with my feet?

Ok.

What do you mean you won't cover fighter jet damage?

Awesome.

So, the cooking thing

On the upside: I made a nice, tasty, quick and cheap chicken chow mien from Trader Joe's for dinner.

On the downside: I set off both fire alarms and almost started a massive fire in the kitchen. Note to self...adding water to a skillet that already has vegetable oil in it = bad idea.

Pundit Smackdown #1

Shorter Gregory Djerejian on David Brooks:"Dear David...stop acting like the rest of us are as lacking in foresight as you are."

Do "The Rules" still apply?

In today's interesting "Modern Love" column in the N.Y Times Style section, Sari Botton addresses a central sticking point of contemporary relationships, the crucial question of who makes the first move. During the course of her commentary, Botton recounts her father giving her a copy of the famous (or infamous, depending on your point of view and dating status) The Rules, a "how to" plan to help woman met the men of their dreams.

What's funny about the column is that it, to me, illustrates how out of whack dating has become. This may have to do with the jaundiced eye I'm forced to cast on the relationship scene where I live, but in reading the column, I was shocked at how the observations made by the female author could just as easily apply from a man's perspective (sub in "girlfriend" below):

Of course, I was complicit in my misery. No matter how badly my men behaved, I hung around for more. I remained the best, most low-maintenance girlfriend in the world, requiring next to nothing. I would get out of my boyfriend’s way whenever I sensed he needed space — anticipating it so he wouldn’t even have to ask. I would never ask for a thing, fighting back tears when he flirted with other women or forgot my birthday.

I would tolerate his negligence, just as my mother had, racking up resentments as ammunition until I couldn’t take it anymore. Then I'd walk, and my favorite part would begin: I would get flowers and love letters and promises of better behavior. He would plead for a second chance, but by the time we had reached this stage, I was already out the door. Sometimes I had my eye on someone else, who would no doubt turn out to be even worse, and the cycle would repeat.

There's a lot of painful truth here. It's terribly frustrating to fall into a series of relationships that you know, deep down from the outset, aren't going to help you evolve as a person, and yet, you can't seem to find a way to break free. Most of this has to do with how we judge our own self-worth, but it is, of course, hard to be at peace with who you are when you find yourself in dating relationships that reinforce your own worst suspicions about how others view you (and how you view yourself).

Continuing on, Botton relays an episode with her therapist (again, subbing in "woman" or "girlfriend" where necessary):

I'd had therapists before, most of whom worked slowly and let me keep getting in my own way. Not this guy. He wasn't the central-casting version of a male therapist, the paunchy, bearded, paternal Judd Hirsch. No, he was a ruggedly athletic man in his late 40s who was into rock climbing. He worked fast and didn't mince words. He dubbed me the Needless Wonder because of my doormat ways. At the end of a session, he would open his office door and bellow into the empty waiting room, "There she goes, ladies and gentleman, the Needless Wonder, able to exist on air alone."

I was unnerved when he tried to persuade me to take an active role in courtship, and to ask to have my "healthy needs" met in a relationship. Didn't he know about "The Rules"? Didn't he, as a man, know that a boy chases a girl until she catches him? That guys respond not when you ask them for stuff, but when you blow them off?

"There's a term for that," my therapist would joke. "It's called 'sadomasochism.' You don't want the guys who respond to that."

Again, there's a certain sad truth to that passage (I'm not even going to address the the insanity of "the chase" in dating...that's another post, altogether). While I have an immense distaste for the touch-feely sounding nature of the term, "healthy needs", I do have to admit that I often (always?) fail to define my limits/expectations about the direction of a relationship, and in so doing, I prevent both myself and the person on the other side of the ledger from getting the maximum takeaway from the experience (that sounds like an economist talking, but whatever).

So being happy with one's self and knowing what you want are keys to having lasting and fulfilling relationships. Earth shattering! Common knowledge, yes, but building a positive view of self while also possessing a sense of reality about the things you want versus the things you actually need is much easier said than done. I've found that most people often get into relationships taking into the account the "wants" but disregarding the "needs" side of things, and in so doing, end up in situations that are more complicated than they need to be at the outset. This, to me, is the ass-backwards way of approaching things, but, sadly, we have to initially judge based on the superficial (looks, perceived social status, school, money, etc.) rather than the other way 'round. There's an important caveat to dating here that I should mention, however. Sometimes we don't "need" anything from another person; we simply want them to puff up our egos, be available to us when we want them to be, and generally serve as emergency hook-up partners/people you can have mindless fun with. This is most often, but not always, seen in the wake of a break-up when a person goes on a spree of "dating" (however you define that) in order to validate to themselves that they are indeed still desirable to members of the opposite sex. This could be called trophy dating - "sit there, look good, and don't say something stupid".

Ok, enough for that extended aside. To get back to the unfocused musings of this post, I want to address the idea of who can make the first move in a relationship before I tackle a few loose ends in regards to wants vs. needs.

At least here in San Francisco, I don't think there's any question that either a girl or a guy can initiate something should they feel strongly enough about it. My general thought, though, is that most girls would still prefer to be asked out rather than do the asking themselves, but the notion that a woman can't make the first move is a remnant of courting days long since come and gone and, as such, it should be retired. If stereotypes are to be believed, men have no clue what's going on half the time anyway, so why wouldn't an attractive woman go ahead and make her intentions clear upfront, whatever they may be? Guys have to do this all the time and it has somehow become akin to accepted fact that men shouldn't have a problem with this stare of affairs. Again, this is antiquated thinking. Why people don't recognize how absolutely terrifying it can be to approach a woman you're interested is beyond me. Most of the guys I know don't indiscriminately hit on every single girl in a bar that catches their eye. Does that mean we're more discerning? I'm not sure. But I think a lot of guys have an innate sense about how they think their advances are going to be received, and if they think they're going to crash and burn, they save themselves the humiliation by doing nothing.

Now, I can anticipate the rejoinder that would come from a lot of self-confident, successful woman to the above. They'd all say the same thing in slightly different ways ("Man up" or "Grow a pair" for those who were being nice about it; "Stop being a pussy" would flow from the mouths of the more crass members of that cohort). Yes, you certainly can't win if you're not playing, but sometimes you have to be aware of the game that's being played before you try to get involved. This lines up somewhat with the hilarious complaint that I sometimes hear voiced from good looking women who say that no guys talk to them in bars. Note to attractive women: If you're out with a group of your friends, and you're not especially welcoming to advances by a guy here or there, other guys won't waste their time because they will assume (probably correctly) that they have less than a snowball's chance in hell of talking to you. If you're a guy that doesn't think of himself as especially good looking, it is beyond intimidating to go up to a gorgeous woman to attempt small talk. If you're a totally hilarious guy, or a guy that doesn't have a problem making a fool of himself, you can get past that, but otherwise, it's not easy (related: This is of course why the vast majority of social interactions take place in the presence of alcohol. It's not called "liquid courage" for nothing).

So, to wrap this back around to who makes the first move...ladies, if you see a guy that catches your eye, make a move. If we have to suffer the indignity of rejection, you should too. It's a world of equals, right? So, to answer the question in the title of this post, no, the rules do not in practice have to apply.

Back to wants and needs (via another passage of the article):

Stop living in a women's magazine version of the world," he would plead, trying to prod me into action. Start being real — and having needs. You won't have a satisfying relationship until you do.

First off, I think I need to find Botton's therapist. On a serious note, though, we're all guilty of living in our own little dreamworlds in regards to relationships. The highs and lows I can conjure up in my head are (generally) pretty far off from the reality of what is actually going on. To that end, forming a real view of yourself requires divorcing yourself from the fantasies that populate your mind and instead making yourself take a cold hard look at the facts of who you are. Turning inward to admit your own faults can be very difficult, but, therein, one can find a certain catharsis that is needed to move on to the next step, which is coming to terms with who you are...and who you are not. Finding that middle ground is what can lead you into a "real" relationship with well defined needs.

A semi-related point (or two). Despite the fact that I'm about to mention a few clichés nobody wants to hear, they are generally true and they should be heeded (however grudgingly). Most often, people find something during periods of self-discovery/improvement, which typically follows after swearing off dating due to some recent bad experience. Personally, I know I need to embrace this period of living and doing for myself, rather than wasting it by playing the "what if?" game. Every day is new, and it brings with it an opportunity to change your way of thinking. Additionally, it is counterproductive to try and assign blame for the untimely demise of a relationship. The central point has to be that the relationship is over and, try as you might, you can't fix it (at least not now, if you even want to).

A few weeks ago, a friend encouraged me to draw up my own list of things that I was looking for in a relationship. I can't say for sure that this is a complete list (nor can I say it's a permanent one), but it represents what I'm feeling now:

• I need to be involved with someone who recognizes that I will not be a supremely confident person every day of my life. Some days I will question my abilities, and, perhaps, my own self-worth. I want someone who can understand that growth can come from introspection and critical observation of self and that I will, from time to time, need them to be strong enough to accept that and realize that from this I can become a better person for not just me, but for her as well.
  
• I need to be with a person who wants to be with me.
  
• I need to be with a person who can be completely and totally honest with me about everything. There's nothing worse than being fed a line or harboring the feeling that what's said to you as truth is not what's said to others as the same. It's patronizing, and frankly, it shows a lack of character. Have the courage of your convictions and say what you mean.
  
• I need someone who is able to understand and appreciate who they are.
  
• I need someone who is going to make an attempt to meet me halfway and who is going to be present emotionally in the relationship. Being emotionally distant is oh so very outré.
  
• I need someone who has a certain sense of adventure (traveling to Asia, yes; base jumping, probably not so much), a dash of cynicism, and an ability to find beauty in gestures, both grand and subtle.
  
• I need someone who will, at the bare minimum, tolerate my obsessions with music, books, sports and politics. I know fantasy football is fucking stupid, but I enjoy it.
  
• I need someone who is willing to let me try to act like the gentleman I was raised to be. I may not be the most handsome man you'll ever lay eyes on, or the wittiest, the richest (this I will certainly never be), or the most funny, but I will certainly always try to treat you with respect and I will always endeavor to be what it is you need me to be.
  
• I need someone to understand that while I may not be overly religious, I am indeed spiritual.
  
• I need someone who can encourage me to follow my dreams...and who is willing to help me achieve them.
  
• A simple, but crucial point: Don't equate being a nice guy with being a pushover. There's a line there, and while I certainly have a higher tolerance for bullshit than a lot of people do, that's not an open invitation to try to take advantage of my easy going nature. Laid back doesn't mean stupid.
  
• I need someone who won't go running at the first sign of trouble. We will frustrate each other. We're going to fight. Sometimes, we may not even like each other very much. But, if we still believe in what brought us together in the first place, then that person needs to be willing to stick it out. Anything worth wanting is something that's worth fighting for. This is a cheesy way to illustrate the idea, but it works (and besides, who doesn't like New Edition?).
  
• Related to above, I am cheesy sometimes. Deal with it.
  
• I need someone who is willing to be truly be themselves around me.
  
• I need a person who is passionate about life and what it means to be alive.
  

Ok...so that's the start of my work in progress. I will revisit this from time to time to see how my feelings on these things evolve. It should be an interesting journey.

The History Boys

The late, great David Halberstam on the Bush administration and historical revisionism.

More Than Meets the Eye

Yes, Transformers is fucking money.

Why no buzz about the MLB All-Star Game?

Mahini, blogging over at the Sabre, the main fan board/discussion site for my alma mater, wonders why there's no to do about the All-Star game landing in S.F. next Tuesday:

Some sports-related observations about here. San Fran is hosting the MLB All-Star game next week. If my buddy’s wedding had been a week later, maybe I’d be observing a different atmosphere - but as of one week out, doesn’t seem like many people here care. In fact, the amount of billboards and other marketing related to the biggest week in baseball between opening day and the World Series is shockingly low. Even the big sporting products companies don’t seem too energized. Surprising.

As an S.F. resident for 7 1/2 years, I have to say I'm not all that surprised at the general apathy about this game. For my money, the biggest sports story in the Bay Area since I've been here was the Warriors run in the 2007 NBA playoffs. Though they flamed out in the 2nd round, the entire city was on a collective high during the series against the Mavs. Part of that is due to the fact that the Golden State had not been in the playoffs in 15 years, but the team was also a lovable motley crue, which boosted the appeal. As I was here for both the Giants run to the World Series and for the Raiders Super Bowl crash and burn, my feeling is that people were kind of "eh" about both of those things, too.

I think part of this is just the nature of the place...it's not that big (it's one of the smaller American cities, though it expands quite quickly if you include the rest of the Bay Area), and people are into so many different things that the All-Star game may just not be on the radar. S.F. has tons of events, conferences and festivals (not to mention movie shoots and the like) all year long, so while it's not L.A. or NYC, this isn't a city that drops what it's doing at the first celeb sighting.

Additionally....and this is strictly my opinion, the All-Star game sucks. It's just a walk through exhibition, just like the Pro Bowl or the NBA All-Star game. I'd much rather watch the Home Run Derby (it will be great to see how many balls go screaming into McCovey Cove) but past that, there's little exciting about watching A Rod play third for two and half innings. It's just a boring exercise (despite MLB's efforts to inject some importance into it by giving the winning league home field advantage during the World Series).

Ratatouille

Just got back from checking out the newest Pixar flick and I have to say it's probably my favorite entry to date. Very funny (some of the sight gags are spectacular...the "gym" rat tenderizing the steak was classic) it's a beautifully rendered movie. Paris actually comes alive. And, of course, there's a great message about finding your true calling in life.

Well worth the money to see.

Here's A.O. Scott review from the New York Times.

Love and Happiness...Indeed

To the considerable surprise of a great many people (myself included), my sister eloped this past weekend and tied the knot in Las Vegas. My mom was "shocked" at the news, but, to me at least, this made perfect sense; my sister, ever the rational attorney, found a sense of reckless abandon in a deep and obvious love and took a chance. I could not be more happy (and, judging from the pictures of the ceremony, neither could she).

To keep this from becoming a completely maudlin post, I shall make this brief. Tracy and I are 11 years apart (though we don't look it), but since I've become an adult, our relationship has evolved from its early beginnings with me being a spoiled brat and she being the highly tolerant, over-achieving (but very loving) overseer to...me being a slightly less spoiled brat and she, the highly tolerant, over-achieving (but very loving) world beater. In all seriousness, we now act as each other's sounding boards, and, on occasion, we function as mischievous co-conspirators, as only brother and sister can.

I am not an overly religious person, but from time to time, I find myself contemplating the existence of heaven and hell, saints, sinners and angels. Guardian angels specifically. If ever there was such a thing, I feel confident in saying I know one and she continues to look over me at all times and from all places. It is beyond comforting to have that kind of presence in your life.

Tracy Michele, I love you dearly and I am overjoyed at what you have found. No one I know deserves this more than you. No one.

To Brian, welcome! I promise we're not all crazy (not all the time at least). Basic rules:
-Don't speak ill of Georgetown, the University of Virginia, or the New York Giants. Past that, you can figure out the rest.

All of my love to both of you.

MP

Michael Minna Ain't Got S#$t On Me

Watch out...I shall unveil my (minimal) culinary skills to the world July 26th.

Speaking of Dick Cheney

The Washington Post is running a four part series on the most powerful V.P. this country has ever seen. If you're at all interested in understanding how and why America's status in the world has tumbled in the last six and half years, this is vital reading.

I've read Parts I & II and all I can say is that for as bad I thought Cheney was, this makes him out to be much much worse. Cheney, David Addington, the veeps legal counsel, and John Yoo seem to have complete and utter disregard for the rule of law, and they also seem to possess a, "total indifference to public opinion".

Dick Cheney = GOD

Really?
No one can be that delusional.

Song Lyric of the Day

We expected something, something better than before
We expected something more
Do you really think you can just put it in a safe behind a painting, lock it up and leave?
Do you really think you can just put it in a safe behind a painting, lock it up and leave?
Walk away now and you’re gonna start a war

From this album, which gets better and better every time I listen to it. Lyrically, this album is very vivid and begs for repeated listens.

I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends

The other day I was having, more or less, a crisis of confidence. This is not an unusal occurrence. This particular bout, for a variety of reasons, was especially acute. A good friend, playing both the role of clear eyed realist and motivational speaker, told me that there are certain things you can't control in life and that you have to take some things at face value. When faced with situations that I have no control over, I image contrived scenarios (in which I'm somehow imbued with God-like powers) to explain why some thing I said, or some action I didn't take, causes things to go awry. This friend told me that everyone goes through these things, and while that is surely true, it never makes you feel any better to be mired in a real or imagined personal hell. The friend went on to suggest to me that I make a list of the things I wanted in my life as a way to order my thoughts, see my goals, and figure out how to get to where I want to be. I haven't made that list yet, but I will...primarily because it's the right thing to do, but, on another level, I don't want to let this friend down. People who care don't offer advice for the sake of hearing themselves talk. They do so because on some level they are invested in you and they want to see you in a better place. It's my job to hear (and, perhaps more importantly, understand) what's being said. You have to take what's offered to you and apply it in an effort to improve yourself.

To that friend, thank you. And to everyone who is a friend to someone else, don't ever underestimate the power that your consideration, guidance, and support can have.

A Song

Sometimes you come across a piece of music that just FLOORS you. Maybe it's due to circumstances you're going through, or maybe the tune congers a long forgotten memory, the face of a long lost friend or a stolen moment with a former lover. Perhaps, while lost in your own little world, you find yourself setting this song into the soundtrack of your life. Whatever it is, there's something rather catholic in the realization that someone you'll almost certainly never know can verbalize feelings so intensely personal to you.

With that, and not tipping my hand at all as to which of the above categories I might fall in to, here are the lyrics to Wilco's "One By One":

One by one the teardrops fall as I write you
One by one my words come falling on the page
One by one my dreams are fading in the twilight
One by one my schemes are fading fast away

One by one the flowers fading in my garden
One by one the leaves are falling from the trees
One by one my hopes are vanished in the clouds clear
One by one like snowflakes melting in the breeze

One by one my hair is turning gray
One by one my dreams are fading fast away
One by one I read your letters over
One by one I lay them all away

One by one the days are slipping up behind you
One by one the sweetest days of life go by
One by one the moments stealing out behind you
One by one she'll come and find not you or I

One by one I hear the soft words that you whispered
One by one I feel your kisses soft and sweet
One by one I hope you'll say the words to marry
One by one to one by one forever be

Currently in Heavy Rotation on the iPod

Warm in the Wake's Gold Dust Trail EP.

The National's Boxer.

A couple of early release tracks from Ryan Adams' Easy Tiger.

Cold War Kids' Robbers and Cowards. This album has one of my favorite recent singles, "Hang Me Up to Dry", and you can see the video for it below.



And...lots of stuff by these guys. The fact that I just discovered "California Stars" a few weeks ago is something of a minor tragedy. I should be going to my first Wilco show in August and can't wait.

As The City Turns

First we had the Gav fessing up to bedding his campaign manager's wife and entering rehab for alcohol addiction. Now, we're in the midst of the, "Oh no! Ed Jew!" residency scandal. But yesterday, Sup. Chris Daly upped the bracket with thinly veiled accusations of cocaine use by Mayor Newsom.

Seriously, what the fuck is going on? How can one city government be this utterly in disarray?

SFist has more on Daly's comments. A Chronicle editorial argues that Daly should be censured.

Everything's Not Lost

It should be readily apparent to to any functional observer of our culture that we live in particularly vapid times. The biggest story in the most recent news cycle was easily Paris Hilton's prison soap opera. That's why it was so nice to read the remarks given by Dana Gioia, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, at Stanford University's commencement exercises this past weekend. Money quote:

There are so many other ways to lead a successful and meaningful life that are not denominated by money or fame. Adult life begins in a child's imagination, and we've relinquished that imagination to the marketplace.

Of course, I'm not forgetting that politicians can also be famous, but it is interesting how our political process grows more like the entertainment industry each year. When a successful guest appearance on the Colbert Report becomes more important than passing legislation, democracy gets scary. No wonder Hollywood considers politics "show business for ugly people."

Everything now is entertainment. And the purpose of this omnipresent commercial entertainment is to sell us something. American culture has mostly become one vast infomercial.

I have a reccurring nightmare. I am in Rome visiting the Sistine Chapel. I look up at Michelangelo's incomparable fresco of the "Creation of Man." I see God stretching out his arm to touch the reclining Adam's finger. And then I notice in the other hand Adam is holding a Diet Pepsi.

When was the last time you have seen a featured guest on David Letterman or Jay Leno who isn't trying to sell you something? A new movie, a new TV show, a new book, or a new vote?

Don't get me wrong. I love entertainment, and I love the free market. I have a Stanford MBA and spent 15 years in the food industry. I adore my big-screen TV. The productivity and efficiency of the free market is beyond dispute. It has created a society of unprecedented prosperity.

But we must remember that the marketplace does only one thing—it puts a price on everything.

The role of culture, however, must go beyond economics. It is not focused on the price of things, but on their value. And, above all, culture should tell us what is beyond price, including what does not belong in the marketplace. A culture should also provide some cogent view of the good life beyond mass accumulation. In this respect, our culture is failing us.

As the kewl kidz say, read the whole thing.

Weekend highlights

-Running into my sister in line at Cobb's Comedy Club while walking to Golden Boy from Kennedy's
-Eating at aforementioned Golden Boy
-House party for the North Beach Festival
-"FREEEBIRDDD!"
-OK GO on Youtube

From the"Bad Idea Department" (the first entry in an ongoing series)

Waking up at 5 a.m. to go to the gym just isn't a fucking smart thing to do.

New Changes EP

My favorite recent act out of Chicago has a new EP of unreleased material out. Dope.

Overheard...at a Polk St. Starbucks

Barista #1: "You know what sounds good right now?"
Barista #2: (Shakes head in a disinterested fashion)
Barista #1: "Wendy's chicken nuggets."
Barista #2: (Scrunches face in abject horror)
Barista #1: "Those are like the best chicken nuggets evar!"
Barista #2: "You know, all chicken nuggets sound unappealing."
Barista #1: "Why?"
Barista #2: "Well, because...chickens don't have nuggets...well, some do. They're called roosters and you don't want to eat those nuggets. But you do know what sounds good?"
Barista #1: "What?"
Barista #2: "Buffalo wings with hot sauce from Polkers."

ATL Wedding: The Main Event

I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say this was probably the most lavish wedding I've ever been to. Rumor has it that the floral centerpieces at the dinner ran $50K. I initially thought the whole weekend was going to be in the $150k range. Upon further examination, I think this was in the $500k range. Highlights:

• The martini bar (made of ice)
  
• The man packing and rolling cigars on site (we think he was a real Cuban)
  
• The fact that the well bourbon was...Maker's Mark
  
• The black opera singer at the ceremony who looked like Len Elmore
  
• The sliders and lamb chops that served as apps that could have served as dinner by themselves.
  
• The cake that was almost as tall as I am
  

ATL Wedding: Day 1

The rehearsal dinner at Trois last night...WOW. There was a menu, but it was more for reference than for anything else...we had steak, and chicken, and seafood...AND gnooci. Duck fat fries. Fried green tomatoes. Zounds. My heart, it is clogged. And that's not even mentioning the cocktail hour before the sit down dinner...or the three deserts as well...peanut butter cup cake, strawberry shortcake and amazing ice cream.

Breakfast today...cheap, and I had grits and biscuits with perfectly sweetened tea. Sometimes, the South ain't half bad.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Atlanta bound tomorrow morning for the last wedding...of this quarter.

Hope to resume regular posting soon. The last few weeks have been a roller coaster...work, friends, life...a change of scenery will be welcome.

Just downloaded the new Ryan Adams single, "Two". The song and the setting sun right now are doing me good. Adams' lyrics can be devastatingly simple, such as they are in this song:

"I'm fractured from the fall
and I want to go home
It takes two when it used to take one
It takes two when it used to take only one

Well my money's no good
When I'm up to no good
No good ever comes from it all
I got a really good heart
I just can't catch a break
If I could I'd treat you like
like you wanted me to
I promise"

The Promised Land

Sigh.

Union Street Fair 2007!

Heading out the door to get it going it a few, but a quick mini-review of last night's Arcade Fire show at the Greek. Good energy, amazing band (many of them play multiple instruments and trade off between songs) and the highlights of the evening were a raucous version of "Power Out" that transitioned into "Rebellion (Lies)" and the closer for the night, a huge, crowd pleasing sing along to "Wake Up". Not even the fog in Berkeley could keep that song from soaring.

Voxtrot at the Great American Music Hall, 5/30

Caught the kids from Austin last night with Lindsay, Rebecca, and Victoria after pizzas at Olive. Voxtrot, as expected, were full of energy and very upbeat. They played the majority of their self titled long play, opening with "Introduction" and "Kid Gloves". "Ghost", my favorite song off the new album, followed and Ramesh took over on piano for the next three songs (he commented that he's "not a very good piano player"). He got by just fine on "Ghost", "Steven" and "Soft & Warm". That was followed by "Brother in Conflict" and "Your Biggest Fan". If I recall, they snuck in a spirited version of "Fast Asleep" and closed the set with two more favorites, "Raised By Wolves" and "The Start of Something". Ramesh came on to do a solo acoustic reading of "The Future, Pt.1" as an encore.

It should be said that these guys are kids (I think the majority of the band, including lead singer Ramesh) are probably under 25 (if they're even that old) but their enthusiasm is infections and pockets of bespectacled hipsters danced like nobody was watching and the folks in the balcony had a blast. You couldn't help but tap your foot and nod your head as the band made their way through the set and you can tell that they really like playing together and that they're also in the process of building a formidable stage presence (Ramesh might need to tone down the arm flailing a bit,though). I will definitely check them out again the next time they are in the area.

Big Week

Last night, had dinner with my sister and finally got the story of her engagement. Wedding in the Grand Cayman Islands, President's Day Weekend 2008 FTW!

Tonight: Voxtrot at the GAMH.

Friday: Arcade Fire at the Greek in Berkeley.

Saturday: 31st Annual Union Street Fair.

And there's an outside chance I make the Citizen Cope/Alice Smith show tomorrow night, too.

Woot!

Voxtrot album review

Just downloaded the self-titled debut album from the next big thing out of Austin. From the opening track, "Introduction", the long play album differs from their previous EP's ("Raised By Wolves" and "Mothers, Sisters, Daughters & Wives) in a few ways. The overall tone of the album is very subdued (which is fine, considering that they sound like an American band channeling Britpop). There's nothing as carefree as "The Start of Something". Strings dominate several songs, including the aforementioned "Introduction", and "Ghost". Recollections of broken relationships are everywhere:

From "Kid Gloves":

Everytime I close my eyes I see you in front of me
Prentending in a love like this
I have no choice but to put you in back of me
Don't cover my footsteps
Dead weight alright, I know you're no good for me
Dead weight alright, I know you're no righteous leader
Dead weight alright, that's fine but get your hands off me
You have to touch me with kid gloves
You have to touch me with kid gloves

From "Ghost" (which swirls at the outset with an urgent push from the piano, guitar, bass and strings):

I have no choice but to be vicious on my feet
I never sleep
I never eat
I am learning how to be lost completetly
I want to be found
We crave the things we push away
These patterns cut like every day
I need you to reach
I need you to need me

& the bridge/last verse:

I don't ever want to be alone like this
Haunted by the presence by of the things I miss
I don't ever want to be alone like this
Haunted by the presence by of the things I miss
I am becoming a ghost of myself
I am becoming a ghost of myself
Chopped little secrets
Little things we never tell
No, I am becoming a ghost of myself

As is sometimes typical with Voxtrot's songs, the music (which ends up kind of soaring at towards the end of "Ghost") belies the starkness of the lyrics.

"Firecracker" (and the song that follows, "Brother in Conflict") contains a punky swagger, and, to me, "Firecracker" is going to be a monster song in concert (and one you'd want to crank up at home when you're alone) due to the chorus:

I will kick the wall
Smash the lights
Rip the shades
Burn it all
Firecracker
Firecracker
I will not complain at all
I will never be tricked by you
I will never be tricked by you

The big ballad sits near the end of the album. "Real Live Verison" is the "get your lighters out" set closer and it's filled with almost mournful strings and quiet piano.

As has been noted in many quarters, people who like smart pop (which is sometimes taken to only mean "British Pop" will find a lot to like here). The oft made comparison is to Belle & Sebastian, but I don't find Voxtrot to be quite as pretentious as B & S. In any case, it's nice to buy an album that is this highly consistent from track to track and I think it's best consumed as a single listen whenever you decide to spin it. Highly recommended.

What I Did Today

God, I love this city.

Anatomy of a MUNI Ride

5:50 p.m.
Location: 4th and Townsend St.
MUNI Line: 45 (Union/Stockton)
On the iPod: "Up Against the Wall", Peter, Bjorn & John

For reasons unexplained, our MUNI driver, a middle aged black gentleman with a bushy mustache who wears his hat at a jaunty angle, grants rider amnesty. Backdoor boarding, usually frowned upon, is encouraged. This Friday Freebie, while nice, doesn't affect me since I have a FastPass, but who am I to look down on this charitable deed? I take a corner seat on the last row and select some light reading from my bag. All is well.

5:51 p.m. A homeless man, taking advantage of the generous free ride, selects a spot right by the last row. While fully clothed, he smells of slightly warm garbage and b.o. Riders in the back row suddenly become mouth breathers.

5:58 p.m.
Location: 3rd and Harrison
On the iPod: "Down South", Tom Petty

The homeless man, who desperately seemed to want off at the previous stop, gives some woman a full whiff of his armpit while reaching for the stop wire. He disembarks and the back quarter of the bus commences nasal breathing.

6:01 p.m.
Location: 3rd and Market
On the iPod: "Read My Mind", The Killers

Standard day after Thanksgiving shopping style test of wills between riders attempting to get off and people attempting to get on through the back door of the bus. It looks like a rugby scrum, only with chicks in 3 inch heels and fake fingernails. One day a riot will ensue. But (thankfully) not today. Should it ever come to blows, I've got my money on the short Asian ladies.

6:07 p.m.
Location: Post and Kearny
On the iPod: "Supersonic", Oasis

The man sitting directly in front of me, speaking slightly accented English, launches into a conversation on his cell phone at a cringe inducing level.

6:12 p.m.
On the iPod: "Slide Away", Oasis

I am deliberately deafening myself to avoid hearing the details of the ongoing conversation in front of me but I can still hear virtually EVERY WORD. The old woman in the raspberry colored sweater next to the man looks panicked. I think she wants to climb out the fire escape hatch.

6:19 p.m.
Location: Stockton and Broadway
On the iPod: "Cherchez LaGhost", Ghostface Killa

Loud Talking Guy finally shuts the hell up.

6:20 p.m. I get a call. Nine times out of ten, I would have let it go to voice mail, but it was about a ticket hook up, so I take it. I keep it quick and make sure my voice is low (I'd look like a hypocrite if I was broadcasting my conservation like the jackass in front of me).

6:22 p.m. I hang up and Loud Talking Guy begins another blaring conversation with God knows who. I think I hate him.

6:24 p.m.
Location: Stockton and Columbus
On the iPod: "The Start of Something", Voxtrot

Loud Talking Guys exits bus. There's no applause. I should have started it. A couple of Chinese tourists almost fall over when the bus screams out across the intersection.

6:27 p.m.
Location: Union and Columbus
On the iPod: "One More Time", The French Kicks

The rest of the ride is shockingly uneventful.

6:31 p.m.
Location: Union and Jones
On the iPod: Nothing

Home again, home again.

Fin.

Peter, Bjorn & John at Bimbo's, 5/16

Caught PB & J at the venerable Bimbo's last night. The evening got underway over at Kennedy's, where my partner in crime for the evening, Catherine, and I enjoyed the cheap beer and people watching (there was a rather intense game of beer pong going on right inside the door and the lights at the pool table were so bright as to make you think you were playing outfield at a night game in the Phone Booth). The bar at Kennedy's has been remodeled, so where the jukebox once stood, the bar now extends and, behind it on a ledge, were a collection of hookahs and stacked on the floor beneath sat an odd array of cowboy hats (at least one of which was pink). The hookahs I get, the cowboy hats, not so much, since Kennedy's bills itself as an Irish Bar and Indian Curry House.

The doors for the show opened at 7, but PB & J were not coming on until after 10. Thankfully, we missed most of the first act while at Kennedy's, so we ended up passing the time in the lounge at Bimbo's watching the depleted Suns (that's bullshit, David Stern, by the way) lose a close one to the Spurs.

As expected, the crowd contained a multitude of hipsters (both foreign and domestic) and the vibe was mellow, but good. PB & J hit the stage to much applause and immediately launched into "Roll the Credits". The third song in, if I recall correctly, was "The Chills" and Peter announced that they were going to do it with "a different beat". They did and it was a great...the song morphed from the industrial drum machine driven version on the album into a slinky come on, with Peter channeling Prince as he purred out the lyrics with Bjorn adding the "shh-shh-shh" for effect.

Bjorn provided the vox on "Amsterdam", which was performed as an acoustic duo with Peter on guitar. Very well done, as was "Paris 2004", with Peter on harmonica (Peter remarked after the song was over that, "It can't be cheesy if it's true", alluding to the lovey dovey nature of the lyrics).

Towards the end of the set came spirited renditions of "Objects of My Affection" (watch those Swedes jump around!), and, of course, the big one, "Young Folks" (with the band's manager taking over the bongo duties and Peter singing both his part and Victoria Bergsman's (and running around the stage brandishing something that looked like a martini shaker).

The set closed out with my favorite song from "Writer's Block", "Up Against the Wall". With Peter exhorting people to dance, the band charged in and really dug into it, building to a careening crescendo of guitars and propulsive drumming.

A great evening with a truly fun band.

Share Our Joy

I lol'ed.

Where have I been?

Here, mostly...had yet another wedding (that one in Chico, CA) the weekend after my trip to Marietta. Chico was a blast...we even "snuck" into a bar...

Well, the Warriors dream post-season ended last night. They gave it a good go, but I Baron Davis and Stephen Jackson haven't looked right since game 3 in Oakland. I think the fatigue finally caught up with them. Still, what a ride!

This weekend...many birthday's, the Oyster & Beer Fest, AND Bay to Brakers.

Oy.

B Diddy

2-1 Jazz, but the Warriors are coming...

@werk

A classic site. I only wish is was still being updated. Comedy of the highest order.

Obama in the New Yorker

An in-depth profile from Larissa MacFarquhar. I'm not quite done reading it, but it's one of the more interesting and nuanced takes I've seen on the man yet. It might raise a few eyebrows here and there.

Four Short Crushes

Hilarious.

More G.S.

There is a certain part of the population that looks down on sports...not quite getting how visceral it can be.

I sit here...it's 3:06 a.m. and I am STILL shaking about the Warriors. To this point, the only other clearly transcendent sporting experience I ever had was the UVa defeat of FSU my first year at Virginia back in '95. To anyone who thinks they are above the utterly raw power that sports can bring, I command you to reconsider in light of tonight.

Random weekend stories/thoughts

• Great weekend in Marietta for the wedding of a friend from my first-year dorm at UVa. Good to see the old crew, looking no worse for the wear after all these years.
  
• Why do we still let people smoke in bars?
  
• I was called a "good looking brother" by a barfly on Friday night. I love the South.
  
• Something really needs to be done about infants on planes. I sat beside a grandmother who held a six month old that screeched for the vast majority of the 4 1/2 hour flight back to San Francisco from Atlanta. It didn't help that the child had soiled himself and grand ma ma didn't do anything about it. To top it off, the TWIN of the screeching six month old, who was seated behind me, also screeched the entire time, terrorizing the entire back of the plane.
  
• Purchasing beer at 11:50 p.m. from a Shell station on Saturday night to bypass the slow service at the hotel bar was the best move of the weekend.
  
• It is very, very strange to see a former flame happily married.
  
• Throw up that W...Warriors up 3-1 on the Mavs!
  
• Should you ever end up in Marietta, Ga don't walk back to the Conference Center from Hemmingway's bar.
  
• What's gotten into the San Francisco 49'ers? Two great draft picks in the first round AND they scored D Jax in a trade from Seattle. I love it.
  
• I get to do the wedding thing again this coming weekend in Chico, CA. I've heard so much about this place now...it had better deliver.

Westside, Westside to the Coast

Robert Farley is right and Matt Y very wrong about sports viewing on the West Coast vs. the East Coast.

As Farley notes, you get out of bed on a Sunday morning and there's a NFL game on. NFL Sunday's in Cali are the BEST. Games at 10 a.m., 1 p.m. and the "night" game at 5:30, which is pretty much perfect. An entire day wasted between CBS, FOX, NBC and obsessive compulsive viewing of fantasy football scoring updates.

West coast viewing becomes slightly problematic during college basketball season (with games starting at 4 p.m. PCT multiple days of the week), and during college football season (Thursday games at 4, some bowl games starting at 5 p.m.), but otherwise it's not an issue. Missing the first quarter of a regular season NBA game? Who cares?

The West side superiority becomes apparent when Monday Night Football is put into the mix. Every now and again, you get one of those outrageous games (like the Cards vs. Bears last season) that demands you stay up for the finish. On the East Side, that game is probably veering close to a midnight finish...out here, that same game is over between 9 and 9:30.

[Edited to add]: College football Saturday's are like manna from heaven. Games at 9 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 4:30/4:45 p.m., and 7 p.m. Literally all day long. Unbeatable.

The Bay is in the House

Stealing one in Dallas to take the lead in the series 1-0.

Baron Davis with 33!

A Weekend of Good Eating

Friday night, steaks with Heidi at El Raigon. A fine celebration for Heidi getting into nursing school.

We started with the Empanadas Caseras and the Provoleta El Raigon (baked cheese FTW)! Heidi had the Ojo de Bife (rib-eye) and I had the Entrana (skirt steak). We both agreed that the skirt steak was the better of the two; it was very juicy and flavorful.

Saturday night found us at Farmer Brown for the April Supper Club. Despite the slow service, the meal was quite good. We ordered the hand cut fries and the angel biscuits to start and we happily devoured those along with the house cornbread. Among the six of us, we had the chicken and dumplings, the pulled pork sandwich, the catfish, and the bass. Too full for dessert, we shuffled out into the rain to Dalva and Elixir for a nightcap.

Newt Gingrich

Still an idiot.

Atheism and the V.T. massacre

Dinesh D'Souza has been on quite a roll recently. First he released his utterly repugnant (and throughly discredited) book, The Enemy at Home - The Cultural Left and Its Responsibility for 9/11. Now this week, he has decided to use the killings at Virginia Tech as an invitation to smear atheists.

D'Souza's comments are beyond the pale, and bloggers across the political spectrum have ripped Dinesh. However, the best response comes from a diary over at Daily Kos. An atheist and professor at V.T. responded with some fantastic remarks which can be read here.

I should say that I'm not an atheist. I was raised a Christian, and am still one at least in name, but I can say I am far more sympathetic to the views of agnostics and atheists than I have ever been previously. Along those lines, I want to highlight a particular comment from the Kos diary. The author writes:

I don’t need to live forever to live once and to live completely.

That's some powerful stuff and worth remembering.

"My Love is Your Love"

I just thought about this song tonight, but the chorus reminded me of how we can all bond together to get through the tough times...so this one's to the folks in Blacksburg..."it would take an eternity to break us".

To honor V.T. today

The Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund

I just gave. You should too.

The School

C.J. Chivers, a freelance writer for Esquire, has just been awarded the Michael Kelly Award for his masterful account of the terrorist takeover of a school in Beslan, Russia in 2004. It is a tragic but vital piece of reporting.

It's a little unsettling that Chivers' story, which deals with terrorists brutally killing innocent people, was recognized now, given recent events. It does serve as a reminder, though, that unspeakable acts can occur even in the most bucolic of settings.

Here, in full, is Chivers article:
"The School"

Who is this man?

And how did he become Leader of the Free World?

Candidates for 2008

McSweeney's gives you the pro's and con's.

"That Was the Desk I Chose to Die Under"

A gripping and must-read narrative of the Virginia Tech shootings by David Maraniss of The Washington Post.

I doubt I will read a better piece of reporting this year.

Continuing Evidence That Surveys Are Useless

Via SFist, I've come to find out today that San Francisco is one of the, "Top five cities to find a mate."

Not to toot my own horn, but one of my first posts on this blog was about dating in San Francisco, and I'm more or less convinced that it's still on target.

My question is...do they actually ask real live people who live in San Francisco about this?

More Imus

Matt Taibbi is one of my favorite writers. He's pretty much willing to say anything and he has no problem killing sacred cows.

With that said, here's his take on Imus-gate. Not for those who hew to myopic points of view (or are afraid of bad language).

The Best Buildings in San Francisco

Interesting.

Revisionist Thinker of the Day

Self-proclaimed chickenhawk, John Derbyshire.

The Day After

It is surreal to be writing a "day after" post on the same evening an unspeakable tragedy is still playing out, but, for me at least, this is how I have to attempt to make sense of what happened on the campus of Virginia Tech today.

We're told that "the day after" something like this happens, maybe the healing can begin. But, in reality, most of us know this isn't true. For at least 32 people, there will be no tomorrow. Young men and women going to class, some of whom were about to graduate, others perhaps looking forward to a summer working and living in Blacksburg with good friends, had what matters most, their futures, ripped away in one of the most cruel fashions imaginable.

Tomorrow, there will be no resolution or peace for those left to wonder "why?". In a very real sense, for some of the families and friends of the victims, their lives ended today as well.

I can't pretend to be able to effectively sympathize with what this feels like. Never have I had someone taken from me so coldly and quickly, their physical existence removed from this earth for reasons that could never be explained. In the most selfish part of my heart, I truly hope that I will never find myself going through such an experience. I take no pleasure in admitting that, but I would be fooling myself if I did not say so.

In any case, my thoughts have been squarely focused on the quiet rolling foothills of southside Virginia all day. I grew up about 90 minutes from the V.T. campus in Martinsville, Va. I had two cousins play under Frank Beamer. Several classmates from high school went to Tech. I am proud to count many Hokies among my best friends in San Francisco. We are nominal rivals in sports, as I went to the University of Virginia, but, as I said to my mom when we spoke today, everyone in Virginia, especially where we're from, knows someone who went to V.T. I've attended Hokie/Hoo weddings. The ripple effect of this depraved act will spread itself over the entire Commonwealth. I pray for my state tonight.

As anguished as I am about the shootings, I feel an equal amount of anger at those who are already seeking to politicize this moment. Today is not the day to have a "conversation" about gun control. Today is not the day to speculate about arming citizens in an effort to prevent this kind of thing from happening again. To the people who want to go down that road today, I have two simple words:

FUCK. YOU.

Tomorrow, there will be time for questions. Tomorrow, we can ask what in our society has gone so awry that a young man felt that the only way to deal with his problems was by arming himself and slaying innocent people. Tomorrow, the day after, we can start this conversation.

But not tonight.

Shootings at Virginia Tech

This is horrible

I grew up near V.T and had cousins that played football there and I know and am friendly with many, many Hokies.

CNN is reporting at least 20 dead on the campus. I feel numb...I don't even know what to say.

Afternoon update:
New York Times is reporting 32 dead in what is being called, "the deadliest shooting rampage in American history".

Why?

Lucky

At the moment I'm watching a huge Hanjin container ship make it's way out into the San Francisco Bay, floating slowly by Alcatraz before fading out of sight. Turning at my kitchen table, I can see Coit Tower and North Beach spreading out to the east, drenched by the last light of the day as the sun sets behind the Golden Gate Bridge. American flags on nearby rooftops whip in the wind. Besides the trickle of the koi pond in the neighboring back yard, it's virtually silent. It could not be more perfect.

America in 2007

Your land of civil liberties.

MJ. Rosenberg on David Brooks, Israel, and Palestine

Fantastic read on how conservatives seem to have their heads in the sand in regards to why Arabs are continually angered by the stall in the peace process between Israel and the Palestinian people.

An excerpt:

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the only issue about which all Arabs (and, in fact, Muslims) are in general agreement. Sunnis and Shiites may not agree about much but they all want the post-’67 occupation to end. The Arabs Brooks encountered want to talk to Americans about it because the United States is Israel's number one backer in the world. Arabs understand that without US involvement in ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it will simply not end.

I imagine that the reason Brooks was surprised is that, like so many Americans, he does not take Arab and Muslim concern for the Palestinians seriously.

People like Brooks believe that Palestine is a pretext. For Brooks, it is not, it cannot be, the main reason so many Arabs and Muslims have such strong antipathy to the US government.

And the fact is that the Palestinians have often been used as a pretext for incitement against Israel and Jews by the same forces that have done virtually nothing to ease the Palestinians’ plight. And also, of course, as a pretext for war. Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah professed love for the Palestinians while he was attacking Israel last summer and killing Palestinians along with their Israeli neighbors.

But, for the most part, Arab anger about (and sympathy for) Palestinians is utterly genuine. Why wouldn’t it be?

Saturday Afternoon Music Blogging

I've just started to get into Canadian artist Feist. Her music is a mash up of styles. She can do pop, bossa nova, and who knows what else. Anyway, here's a profile from the New York Times and check out the video for her new song, "1234". It was done in one long continuous take and I actually almost got motion sickness watching it...good stuff though.

Follow up to "Love isn't a Black or White thing"

Via Matt Yglesias, a report of a surge of a very different (and most welcome) sort.

What a week...

Some Friday links:

Paul Wolfowitz is in trouble at the World Bank for helping his girlfriend get a nice raise and transfer. There's also a huge profile of Wolfowitz in last week's New Yorker.

I am shocked, SHOCKED, that the White House might have lost e-mails regarding Attorney-gate.

Imus-gate...probably the topic of the week. There's been so much written already, but allow me to link to some of the better pieces:

Gwen Ifill does a take down of Imus in the form of an op-ed in the New York Times.

Jason Whitlock, sports columnist for the Kansas City Star, argues that the controversy over Imus is just another way for the black community to avoid facing its own issues.

Jonathan Weiler has two long (but fantastic) posts on the topic over at new sports blog, The Starting Five.

Kurt Vonnegut, counterculture author of the classic Slaughterhouse-Five, passed away at 84.

Why nice guys don't get hot girls

Ouch.

Love isn't a Black or White Thing

Frankly, I don't look at the society pages in the New York Times. There's no reason that I would have to especially look at them under any normal set of circumstances.

However, due to this post over at the RBC, I feel compelled to link to the same story in the "Vows" section of this past Sunday's paper. It gives me hope that we're slowly but surely moving to point in our society when race matters less and who you are matters more. And, as is noted in the original post, the picture that accompanies the article is essentially perfect.

Exodus

The declining black population in San Francisco gets the front page treatment in today's San Francisco Chronicle. Having lived here for over 7 years (!) this is certainly not new news. I've lived by Union Square, in Noe Valley and Russian Hill over that time span, and I don't think I've ever had more than a few black people on any given block that I lived on. San Francisco's major industries (banking, law, advertising, medicine) don't typically have large numbers of African-Americans among their ranks (though my sister and several of her friends are attorneys).

As is mentioned in the article, there's really no easy way to fix this (if it can be fixed at all). The Bay Area is prohibitively expensive in many ways and there's no simple way to "create community". Communities grow through a largely organic process and an important part of any community is its shared history. Historically black neighborhoods like the Fillmore have seen the many lively jazz clubs and other haunts close in favor of upscale restaurants and botiques (this isn't about to turn into an anti-gentrification screed; the influx of the middle class can do good things).

The only thing I can think of off the bat would be for the city to aggressivly promote affordable housing initiatives to see if that would spur any action.

More PB & J

"Up Against the Wall"

My favorite song from the incredible "Writer's Block" by Swedish pop stars Peter Bjorn and John. I can't wait to see these guys live next month.

Guess I should have caught your call
But I just had to waste the phone forget it all
Bones are trembling hands are cold
You don't know how it feels you've got me up against the wall

Maybe we could make this work
But now you start to leave before it's getting worse
I don't know what you came here for
It's almost that I wish we hadn't met at all

Your slap just like a wake-up call
The bruises on my face don't bother me at all
Bones are trembling hands are cold
It's almost that I wish you had me up against the wall

If you're in the mood for something a little more upbeat, try "Young Folks".

Being scared

Fear can either be a tremendous motivator or a remarkably paralyzing force. To this point in my life, it has definitely been more of the later than the former. I don't know how, but I think it's time for me to finally face down some of my demons. I've seen too many opportunities pass me by and left too many things unsaid because I was afraid...not anymore.

Sam Harris and Rick Warren on God

Thought provoking conversation in the current edition of Newsweek between well-known atheist Sam Harris, author of The End of Faith - which I've started, but not finished - and Letter to a Christian Nation, and Rick Warren, pastor at the 25,000 strong Saddleback mega-church and author of the The Purpose Driven Life.

Harris comes off in this interview like he comes off in his books; he's combative and not especially welcoming of differing points of view. That may be due to the fact that he seems to be truly scared by the threat he attributes to religion. I doubt reading the conversation will change anyone's mind on the topic, but it's an interesting exercise in any case.

Note to you: Your writing sucks

A little harsh, but true.

Shamesless Self Promotion

Some thoughts I posted over in the comments section at the great Sports Media Review were elevated into a follow up post. The original,unedited comments can be found in the thread on O.J. Mayo, the West Virginia prep basketball phenom who is headed to USC this fall, here.

(I would be Mike P.)

"This Low"

Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova (A.K.A. The Swell Season). The song feels like a dream. Amazing.


We made a plan that was subject to change
So whatever was it works out we both get the blame
In the arms of this low
And you took the wind right out of my sails
By sweating me out on all the little details
In the arms of this low
In the arms of this low

So thread the light
So thread the light

We made a choice and we knew we would pay
For stealing the joy and trying to escape
From the arms of this low
And if by some chance you break from the pack
You know I'll be waiting to welcome you back
Into the arms of this low
In the arms of this low

Thread the light,
Thread the light,
Thread the light,
Thread the light,
Shine the light,
Don't hide the light,
Live the light,
And give the light,
Seek the light,
And speak the light,
Crave the light, and brave the light,
Stare the light,
And share the light,
Show the light,
And know the light,
Raise the light,
And praise the light,
Thread the light,
And spread the light

Chomp!

Congrats to the Gators, first back to back national champs since the '91-'92 Duke squads. OSU kept it respectable this time around (after a 26 point blowout earlier this season), but still couldn't get over the hump. Greg Oden, in probably his final college game, gave one of his better performances, going for 25 and 12. If Oden were to come back, he and Conley, Jr. might be able to lead the Buckeyes back to the Final Four next season.

Life

Sometimes it just ain't that easy, you know?

Loose lips

I found the cover story in this week's New York Times Magazine to be extremely disappointing. I'll comment more later on this, but my main gripe is that the author seems to overlook the complicity that some journalists share in disseminating bad information, or outright lies, in favor of protecting "back channels". Spare me. If there's anything the Iraq War has shown about the press, it's that they are far too often preoccupied with listening to the wrong people in an effort to protect the wrong things.

In a word, clueless

Glenn Greenwald takes the DC pundit class to task.

Obama in Oakland

The Chron has the run down of Obama's St. Patrick's Day rally in Oaktown.

Anyone who still doubts that this man has can't be a transformational figure in American politics need to only look at pictures like these. The crowd is young and old, black, white,Asian...people see something in Obama that just isn't present in the other candidates. He stirs passions and makes people believe in hope again.

And, seriously...where can I get one of these totally pimp t-shirts?

2 article of interest

A fascinating article in the current issue of the Stanford Magazine that deals with how embracing adversity can be good for you.

Barry Schwartz, a professor at Swarthmore and author of The Paradox of Choice, has an op-ed in today's Los Angles Times that deals with selective college admissions and how the standards that are employed to judge applicants are unrealstic. He argues that a lottery system might be more equitable for all parties.

Sunday Bloody Sunday

I've always disliked the University of Tennessee...mostly because of the odious Phil Fulmer and the shameless football factory that he heads. Their obnoxious glowing orange jerseys and the fact that the school fight song, "Rocky Top", gets played approximately 45,300 times during a two hour game also add to my negative impressions of UT.

I now have another reason to hate the Volunteers.

My one question about this game...how the hell did Sean Singletary not get the continuation on the drive near the end of the game?

The Dance

Wow...Friday and Saturday have been epic.

Xavier w/the worst heartbreaker?

Great 2 OT game with Vandy.

My Hoos are now down 3 to Tenn...come on boys!

Too much going on

Josh Marshall is all over the growing U.S. attorney scandal.

Gen. Peter Pace puts foot in mouth over "don't ask, don't tell".

And then there's this dance thing people have been talking about...

The Changes

Solid set by a good new act out of Chicago at the Rickshaw Stop for Noise Pop last night. They played the majority of their fine first album, Today is Tonight (All Music Review here). Truly a band that defines any easy description, The Changes draw from several genres ("When I Wake" sounds like a lost 80's hit, full with cheesy synthesizers, "Such a Scene" is driven by a propulsive backbeat and charging guitars) but are still firmly grounded as a pop band. Last night's set list (off the top of my head):

Modern Love
On a String
Water of the Gods
When I Wake
Such a Scene
Her, You & I
When I Sleep

Quite a good show...especially for $10. And the extended guitar freak out in "Her, You & I" was choice.

Racial Inequality and Economics

Tim Harford, author of The Undercover Economist, has a very interesting article up in the Forbes about the achievement gap that separates African-Americans from the rest of the population.

I highlight this a) because it's a very good read and b) because within the article is yet another mention of the "acting white" syndrome, a situation that's been getting a decent bit of ink recently. This was an interesting passage:

Now Loury's young co-author, Harvard's Roland Fryer, is attracting attention for his study of "acting white," where black kids who work hard at school are said to be ostracized by their peers. Despite a lot of talk about the problem--Barack Obama raised it in his famous speech to the Democratic National Convention--some academic researchers weren't convinced that it existed. Their surveys showed that kids who were doing well at school, whether black or white, had lots of friends

.

This goes back to the discussion from a few weeks ago over at Extra Credit on the "acting white" phenomenon. One thing I'm noticing is that a lot of people are overlooking the racial make-up of the schools they are examining when this issue comes up. When you have a student body that is mostly homogeneous (in this case, let's say a mostly black or mostly white elite private school with a strong academic reputation) you're still going to have cliques; nerds, jocks, emo kids, hipsters...what have you. But the difference is that each student's actions will be judged within the context of the mostly similar student body, so, if you have an all black school where there are a lot of high achievers, no one is going to get singled out for "acting white" by doing well in class; that student might be called a nerd, but since everyone else is, in theory, also hitting the books hard, that student doesn't have an additional stigma attached to him.

However, in the context of a racially mixed school with students from a variety of economic backgrounds, you start to add additional layers of judgment (for lack of a better way of putting it). You get the same kind of social groupings (jocks, nerds), but now those groups exist in comparison to one another and they are also subject to differing levels of achievement within each group. That is to say, a black kid who was not out of the ordinary at the all black elite private school for being an academic star might now potentially be an abberation at the mixed school because the other black kids there don't care about academics as much and they now have an outside group against which they can can compare him to (the white students). And, if it's generally assumed as fact that the white kids are going to try to do well in the classroom, and the black student is also trying to do the same, some of the black kids might begin to judge him in that context and deem their peer to be "acting white".

Greenwald writes

You read.

Since everyone was up in arms over some ridiculous comments by anonymous commenter's at HuffPo, will the same people lose their shit due to Ann Coulter calling John Edwards a "faggot" at the biggest conservative event of the year?

Speaking personally, I know a fairly large amount of people who have social positions that are a good deal to the right of mine, but NONE of them, not one, would be proud to be associated with the likes of truly odious Ann Coulter. In fact, I would guess most of them are embarrassed by her. It's one thing for liberals and conservatives to disagree on issues and policy; reasonable people can, after all, disagree and most people are fairly reasonable. But the kind of venom that spews forth out of Coulter's mouth is something all together different and it will be telling to watch the media reaction to this situation.

Little Earthquakes

While sitting at dinner tonight with a friend, who's been on pins and needles awaiting news of great importance to her life, we were jolted by a little earthquake. It lasted only seconds...just long enough to rattle your nerves, but not long enough to (pardon the word choice) shake you to your core.

After dinner, I walked with my friend into her apartment to check her mail, to see if the news had arrived. The letter was there, sitting on the little yellow folding chair, just outside her bedroom door. It was not exactly what she wanted to see. In many ways, the news she did get might have been more cruel than what I would have taken to be the worst case scenario; she'd been waiting weeks for this letter, and now she was finding out, to her considerable dismay, that it could take several more months before there was a resolution.

My friend was shocked, and she had a right to be. Few people I know have her dedication and she had given a lot, maybe more than any person should be expected to, in an effort to chase a dream. And now, after all her hard work and persistence, she is sitting in purgatory, awaiting the judgment of people who, if they were able to see her shine, even just for a moment, could spend the rest of their days looking for a more perfect candidate, yet ultimately come to recognize that their search would never yield one better than her.

So, to her...tonight was just a little earthquake. It rattled your nerves, but it shouldn't shake your core. You are made of sterner stuff and don't ever think otherwise.