Bill Sundstrom's Blog

What's for dinner, Mark?

2012-02-01T16:32:00.000-08:00

This young Zuckerberg fella is a neighbor of mine. Now that he's worth $28 billion or so, I think he can afford to invite me over for a nice meal. I wonder if he has a hot tub...

Inventing the next cinema

2012-01-29T19:28:00.000-08:00

I did not see Avatar, which sounds like exactly the kind of movie I would find annoying, so I guess I have not seen the pinnacle of modern 3-D film-making. One of the Harry Potters I saw had some 3-D scenes, which were fairly entertaining, but little better than the 3-D version of Dial M for Murder of many years ago. And now I see that they will be releasing a 3-D version of one of my all-time least favorite movies, Titanic.

So, is 3-D doomed to be a techy gimmick, adding a visual boost to action movies but otherwise creating the impression of a children's pop-up book? For the argument that there is more to it, look to recent documentaries by two of the great German auteurs of the postwar generation, Werner Herzog and Wim Wenders. Herzog's Cave of Forgotten Dreams is a fairly static rendering of the paleolithic Chauvet cave paintings in France. It is a lovely if slightly silly film, enhanced (maybe) by Herzog's spacy narration and goofball existentialism.

But for a movie that gives a much better idea of the potential of the 3-D technology, Wenders's bracing Pina is where to start. A tribute to the German choreographer and dancer Pina Bausch, the film occasionally veers toward hagiography, but the dances are so brilliant, witty, and moving, you can forgive. Dance is an art of movement and music, but also an art of space, and it is space that Wenders evokes exquisitely using 3-D. This is hardly surprising, because Wenders himself is an artist of space (think Paris, Texas). Pina's version of The Rite of Spring is well worth the price of admission. We saw it opening weekend in Palo Alto, and the theater was nearly empty. Go see it, so we can get more Wim Wenders and less James Cameron... please?

Woodrat project, vol. 3

2012-01-28T16:17:00.000-08:00

Featuring a glimpse inside the den and some nice mystery photos taken in Palo Alto's Foothills Park.

From Woodrat project, vol. 3

Sad news for this oak

2012-01-28T15:39:00.000-08:00

This strange looking stuff is apparently Hypoxylon thouarsianum, a fungus that often occurs when sudden oak death has just about finished off a tree.

Crazy as shithouse rats

2012-01-26T20:07:00.000-08:00

I was raised Republican, but really now, Newt? President Newt? Newt Gingrich?!!

The Grey

2012-01-26T15:12:00.000-08:00

I doubt I'll be seeing this one, but if I do, I'll be rooting for the wolves big time.

Oscars

2012-01-24T10:58:00.000-08:00

Of the nine (!) nominees for best picture, I have seen all of two: "The Descendants" and "Midnight in Paris." Both quite respectable entertainments. Yawn. The best new movie I saw last year was not nominated for anything, as far as I can tell: "Take Shelter."

Lesson number 1 from "Alien"

2012-01-19T22:33:00.000-08:00

If somebody says, "I've never seen anything like it," it's definitely time to get off the planet...

SOPA protest

2012-01-17T20:56:00.000-08:00

My blog won't go dark, because nobody reads my blog. But if that should change and you happen to read this on Jan. 18, check out what Cory Doctorow has to say when his blog reappears Jan. 19. Then call your congressperson.

Bones

2012-01-12T21:24:00.000-08:00

Bones is really a pretty dumb show, featuring an ensemble of fairly mediocre supporting actors and lame plots centered on gross-out forensics, in the tradition of the truly awful CSI franchise, albeit with a welcome modicum of humor. But all of this is the modest price you pay for one of the classic TV romances, between actors Emily Deschanel and David Boreanaz. Boreanaz is a fortunate fellow indeed, having now played the hunky but sensitive love interest for two of the great female characters in TV history, Buffy Summers and Temperance Brennan. They light up that little screen.

Liebesleid

2012-01-11T18:23:00.000-08:00

Purity of expression does not require purity of tone or technique!

The past is a foreign country...

2012-01-03T20:19:00.000-08:00

... and then there's Iowa!

Midlife crisis economics?

2011-12-27T17:27:00.001-08:00

Like Paul Krugman, I find myself in deep disagreement with this pessimistic column by David Brooks. Brooks compares our own time unfavorably with the era of the Great Depression, when, he alleges, the economy was in its "adolescence" and its underlying potential to create mass prosperity was far greater than it is today. Krugman makes the simple but important observation that a similar attitude of defeatism was widespread during the 1930s, only to be rapidly turned around with the wartime recovery and subsequent postwar expansion. In Krugman's view, a substantial boost to aggregate demand is all the anti-depressant our depressed economy needs (presumably something other than World War III would be the best prescription).

There are other serious problems with Brooks's diagnosis. One claim is that the structure of the global economy today is much more prone to generating severe inequality in advanced countries than it was in the 1930s. Perhaps, but the data suggest otherwise to me: Top income shares were just as high in the 1930s as they are today. The following diagram, downloaded from the fantastic World Top Incomes Database page, tracks the top 1 and 10 percent shares in the United States:

Judging from this chart, as of the late 1930s you might have concluded that a profoundly unequal distribution of income was built into the very DNA of the U.S. economy. The ensuing four decades would prove you wrong, obviously.

The regulations that Brooks decries as creating a "lack of institutional effectiveness" have made the United States a much cleaner, healthier, and safer place to live. These improvements are not counted in conventional GDP or income measures, but they are every bit as real as a hamburger, haircut, or iPhone. Of course regulation could be smarter and more efficient. But do we really want less of it?

There are undoubtedly very real challenges facing that U.S. economy that did not exist in the 1930s. Health care costs are indeed outrageous and rising without any clear plan for controlling them. Advances in educational attainment have stagnated. Inequality has returned to Depression-era levels. Climate change is coming on faster than anticipated. Some of these problems we know how to fix and have chosen not to; others we are not so sure. Personally I have little doubt that the richest and most technologically advanced country in the history of humanity could get it all done, with a mix of can-do political will and technocratic competence. What most depresses me is how many people seem to mistake the current mix of political dysfunction and malignity for a genuine crisis of possibilities.

Some good news for fish

2011-12-26T11:46:00.000-08:00

Not all the environmental news is gloom and doom. Nice to see Yao Ming sticking up for the sharks.

Oh no!

2011-12-24T21:29:00.001-08:00

Far be it from me to suppose that a couple of dudes who can't get it together sufficiently to file a few signatures by a well-known deadline may not be the best choice to be elected the leader of the free world.

Season's G-rattings!

2011-12-21T14:33:00.001-08:00

Paulism

2011-12-20T09:47:00.000-08:00

Ron Paul has some political views that I find attractive, such as his (relative) anti-militarism, and his opposition to drug prohibition. On the majority of issues, however, he is a crackpot, or worse. And he is too cowardly or slimy to own the truly ugly statements that have been made in his name; whether he agreed with them or just didn't care enough to do anything about them, they are equally as damning and disqualifying.

Mittens is looking better every day.

Can Music Be Perfect? Vol. 6

2011-12-19T14:08:00.000-08:00

Louis Armstrong is the one jazz musician who had an indisputable claim to being first-rank in two distinct instruments: trumpet and vocals. He is also the most important American musician (period). So why not treat yourself to an album on which both of his instrumental gifts are amply displayed, and the music is altogether irresistible?

Louis Armstrong Plays W.C. Handy (Columbia Jazz).

Kim Jong-il + Vaclav Havel = 0

2011-12-18T22:55:00.000-08:00

In my more optimistic moments, I'd probably say > 0.

Harakiri (1962)

2011-12-18T10:42:00.000-08:00

Masaki Kobayashi's very fine film Harakiri is not subtle in its critique of authoritarianism, nor in the stark contrast it draws between individual moral virtue and a corrupted code of honor. The basic plot, in which a single good man stands up to abusive power, is well-worn, and a staple of action movies from Shane to Bourne. But Harakiri messes with genre expectations and is rich in sub-themes; it also resonates in various ways with the politics of our own time.

At one level this is a simple tale of vengeance, but there are ironic and unexpected twists. Our avenging impoverished ronin hero, Tsugumo, turns the tables on his enemies, the Iyi clan, not primarily by drawing their blood but by using their own code to disgrace and humiliate them.

As in many classic westerns, the manly public sphere of action, honor, and violence is contrasted with the feminine sphere of family and domesticity. Yet in another poignant reversal, the widower Tsugumo finds himself filling the role not only of father but of mother as well, as he cares for his weakening, consumptive daughter and her sickly young son.

The plot unfolds slowly through storytelling and flashbacks, steadily building tension and suspense. The acting is strikingly naturalistic, especially in comparison with what one has grown to expect from the classic Kurosawa samurai films of the same period. Tatsuya Nakadai, as Tsugumo, is a commanding presence. The wide-screen black-and-white cinematography is exceptionally beautiful, sequences of carefully framed stills of courtyards and interiors juxtaposed with dramatic facial close-ups, wind-whipped grass, and swordplay. The music, by the great composer Toru Takemitsu, evokes both ancient and modern.

I think I'll watch it again.

More rat nests

2011-12-17T21:10:00.001-08:00

Some very fine work (by the rats, not necessarily the photographer). See the other highlights of today's hike here.

From Woodrat project, vol. 2

Christopher Hitchens, 1949-2011

2011-12-16T09:12:00.000-08:00

I eagerly read his column in The Nation back before he and the magazine parted ways over his enthusiasm for the disastrous Bush-Cheney war in Iraq. I have never been a fan of his proselytizing brand of atheism, despite my sympathies for the cause. One suspects he was, in sum, an asshole. We were fortunate to have him around, and will miss him now he's gone.

Good news for chimps

2011-12-15T18:41:00.000-08:00

It won't satisfy everyone, but this is good news. That chimps deserve "special consideration and respect" seems obviously correct to me, and not because they share most of their genes with us, but because they have moral standing. How do I know that? I know it when I see it. You do too. Or if not, let Peter Singer convince you.

Can Music Be Perfect? Vol. 5

2011-12-13T11:38:00.000-08:00

I lived in Cincinnati for about a year when I was 6-ish. I have very fond memories. And now it's home to the best rock band in the world. Who knew?!

The studio albums have a fantastic sound, but the songs stand on their own, even when performed in an RV...

Rat-bloggin'

2011-12-12T15:53:00.000-08:00

There are many great animal builders on our planet, but very few of them are mammals, with the notable exception of our own species. Beyond humans, beavers are certainly the best known. But pound for pound our local dusky-footed woodrat (Neotoma fuscipes) gives the beaver a run for its money. Woodrats build conical dens from sticks and twigs that can be a meter or more in height, and just as big across... not bad for a critter that is, well, rat-size.

The woodrat is alleged to be a solitary creature, which makes the relative scale of the den all the more impressive. How do they do it, and why? Solitary notwithstanding, the dens are often found in groups not far from one another, stick huts in a woodsy village. One can't help thinking there is some kind of secret nocturnal social life going on here after all.

As engineers, woodrats are opportunists, taking advantage of brush piles, fallen trees, and thickets to provide support for their structures. As a consequence, getting a clear line for a photo can be a challenge. On the other hand, there is a kind of busy, chaotic beauty to the setting of most woodrat dens. My first attempt to capture this beauty, including the following, can be found here. I expect it won't be my last.

From Woodrat project, vol. 1

My favorite radio DJ

2011-12-11T15:05:00.000-08:00

Saturday afternoons had just not been the same since Trinity stopped doing her regular show on KFJC... until I found something even better: New World Disorder, with Sadie O., on KZSU. Frankly, Sadie herself has an obnoxious voice, and talks a little too much. But Sadie, take no offense, because you make up for it by having the best damn taste in music out there. Eclecticism in the best possible sense. Unfortunately, this being the Stanford station, Sadie is sometimes preempted by a sporting event. Too bad. Give it a listen (they stream): you'll surely hear something fantastic you've never heard before...

David Montgomery, 1927-2011

2011-12-09T22:46:00.000-08:00

There's little question that Montgomery's influential studies painted a vivid picture of the complex political culture and shopfloor experiences of American workers in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Yet what exactly was there in the new labor history that an aspiring young economic historian interested in labor markets could use? Deep description, yes, but tainted by a certain willful ignorance of the overall record of market capitalism in (eventually) raising living standards and opportunities. To me, the contrast between the approach taken by the mainstream of my discipline and that taken by the historians (and some radical economists) remains an unbridged divide, one that raises an unanswered and profound question: What is the relative importance of power vs. opportunity in shaping the lives and prospects of ordinary people?

Strange bedfellows

2011-12-05T21:38:00.000-08:00

The Complete Tony Bennett/ Bill Evans Recordings captures the famous collaboration of these two giants of American music in 1975 and 1976. Tony Bennett is a great pop vocalist, but as much cabaret as jazz, while Bill Evans is the most understated and intellectual of jazz pianists. Does it work? More often than you'd expect. "Waltz for Debbie," originally an Evans instrumental masterpiece, becomes something of an embarrassment when put to words. But then, "We'll Be Together Again" is divine, sending a chill. To my ear, it's a piano album. Four years later, Evans would be dead, of "the longest suicide in history." On the other hand, Tony B, it seems, is immortal.

Full Belly

2011-11-28T21:23:00.000-08:00

Glorious organic artichokes from Full Belly Farm, braised with shallots in sauvignon blanc and a squeeze of lemon. Not bad.

$4 million for Ohio State football coach

2011-11-28T21:17:00.000-08:00

Congrats to Coach Urban, but so what? Santa Clara U. just offered me $6.5 million per year to teach micro, plus a bonus of $50,000 for every student who can correctly identify the deadweight loss triangle in a sales-tax diagram.

Ruth Stone, RIP

2011-11-27T11:55:00.000-08:00

I have been reading her latest collection of new and selected poems, What Love Comes To, and just today learned of her death at 96. "New readers discovered a poet of varied and uncommon gifts, fierce and funny, by turns elegiac, scathing, lyric and colloquial." Yup. You can buy the book from Copper Canyon Press (link to left).

Paul Motian, RIP

2011-11-27T00:01:00.000-08:00

I have been listening to jazz since I was a kid, and of course the music has changed a lot during that time, but nothing has undergone more change than jazz drumming: the techniques, the styles, and the role of percussion in the ensemble. Nobody was more responsible for these changes than Paul Motian, who has died at age 80. The NY Times obit quotes one of his many fine collaborators, Greg Osby: “He was an economist: every note and phrase and utterance counted. There was nothing disposable.” Well, that's a nice compliment to any economist!

The uses of enchantment

2011-11-26T12:40:00.000-08:00

We watched My Neighbor Totoro again at about midnight on Thanksgiving... a contender for the most beautiful movie ever made. Maybe drinking wine for the preceding 9 hours straight had something to do with my assessment, but the first time I saw it with the kiddos I was stone cold sober, and I had the same reaction. Coincidentally, this showed up at Boing Boing today.

The Party of Lincoln

2011-11-21T21:45:00.000-08:00

Whaddya think, Abe?

The Notorious George Eliot

2011-11-20T14:40:00.000-08:00

I read Middlemarch some years ago and loved it. I was not listening to gangsta rap back then, so I did not think to compare George Eliot's style with Biggie's. Then again, who would? Ta-Nehisi Coates, of course, and damned if he doesn't pull it off.

Can Music Be Perfect? Vol. 4

2011-11-18T18:43:00.000-08:00

Are you known to rock a microphone? Not like this you ain't.

Randy Newman

2011-11-13T21:27:00.000-08:00

"Austin City Limits" gave Randy Newman an hour to sing a bunch of his songs. He could have gone on for another 4 hours, as far as I'm concerned. His songs are great, and really nobody sings them better than the man himself. He is a clever piano player too, who makes a virtue of his limitations.

An audience member requested "Rednecks," and he simply said, "No, I can't sing that." It's one of his best, but every other word is the N word, so it's a nonstarter for PBS. Too bad: The song is a spirited if not very subtle condemnation of racism and racial hypocrisy in the United States. No matter, he has plenty of fantastic politically charged songs where that one came from.

Watch Randy Newman "You've Got a Friend in Me" on PBS. See more from AUSTIN CITY LIMITS.

Bil Keane, RIP

2011-11-12T19:49:00.000-08:00

In "The Family Circus," Bil Keane had unfunny down to a science. There was an art to it, and sometimes there was a little social commentary to it as well.

GOP debate... again?!

2011-11-12T19:08:00.000-08:00

Convinced that Romney will inevitably be the last man/woman standing, and that debates are at best bad political theater, I haven't been paying much attention. But from the reports, I give Cain a point for opposing going to war with Iran over nukes, at least not immediately. Reassuringly to the base, however, he supports torture, like pretty much everyone in his party, save Huntsman and Paul. Those guys are toast, obviously. The set for this debate, I must say, is quite pleasing, like Jasper Johns reimagined by Ikea.

Exquisite

2011-11-12T13:47:00.001-08:00

This almost impossibly delicate and lovely fungus popped up around the new manzanitas. It would appear to be Coprinus plicatilis, a common variety of inky cap.

What a swell party this is!

2011-11-09T19:53:00.000-08:00

Somehow the continuing sitcom that is the GOP presidential race reminded me of the greatest Cole Porter cover evah! It's... well... it's... swellegant!

Michiko rocks

2011-11-08T22:17:00.000-08:00

Great critics are very rare. In the New York Times, which I peruse daily, there is only one whom I read without fail, and rarely with disappointment: Michiko Kakutani. It is not only because I agree with her taste in books; nor is it merely because she appears to be as smart as her dad, beloved of all economists of my generation for his fixed point theorem; it is also because she can write a turn of phrase like this, capturing the very essence of Bill Clinton in seven words: "freewheeling policy wonk and genial retail politician." Nifty.

Walmart, bank-slayer

2011-11-08T22:12:00.000-08:00

Yes, lefty friends and allies, I know we don't generally shop there, but remind me again, why is it we don't like Walmart?

Babbage

2011-11-08T22:02:00.000-08:00

Charles Babbage may indeed have invented the first computer, but he was also not at all shabby as an economist. He quite sensibly suggested that one significant advantage of the division of labor, overlooked by Adam Smith, was that subdividing the tasks made it possible to save on labor costs by hiring low-skilled specialists who were very adept at only one thing, and thus cheap. This simple "deskilling" argument strikes many of us as more compelling than any of the advantages proposed by the Adam.

Heavy D, RIP

2011-11-08T20:41:00.000-08:00

Who are the great jazz instrumentalists?

2011-11-07T19:56:00.000-08:00

I don't mean the great composers (Ellington, Monk, Shorter) or great bandleaders (Ellington again, Basie, Blakey, Miles) or even the great revolutionaries (Ellington again, Miles again, Ornette). Miles and Ornette could blow your mind, and did so frequently, but they were not the guys who make me ask: Can a human being possibly produce sound so grand and beautiful? Armstrong, Hawkins, Holiday, Parker, Rollins, yes. Somewhat reluctantly, Art Tatum and Wynton, yes. Max Roach and Tony Williams. Eric Dolphy, in my book. Coltrane... hmm...

A question inspired by Rudresh Mahanthappa. A guy still in the running.

Garden plant of the year, at least in my garden

2011-11-07T07:45:00.000-08:00

Solidago californica, one of our native goldenrods. Here it is November 7 and even the late-blooming California fuchsia are nearing their end. But the solidago has been in bloom for nearly three months now, with no sign of letting up. A little burst of sunshine on a gray November day.

Planet Money

2011-11-04T18:56:00.000-07:00

Every time I hear the "Planet Money" correspondents on "All Things Considered," I reach for the change channel button. The reports are invariably cutesy, trite, and somewhere between uninformative and misleading. Now we have Adam Davidson colonizing the NY Times, promising to "demystify complicated economic issues." His first installment? Creating jobs is "practically impossible in our current capitalist democracy." After the obligatory bow to "he said, she said," featuring one-line caricatures of archaic Keynesians and do-nothing Chicagoans, Davidson offers platitudes, urging us all to buck up and make the most of it. "An economic downturn is a great time to learn things." Yes, in your unexpected surfeit of leisure time you could learn to sell apples on the street corner, or turn tricks.

Not-so-guilty pleasures

2011-10-31T10:53:00.000-07:00

Is it wrong that "Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay" makes me proud to be an American?

Defend yourself against tear gas

2011-10-30T20:12:00.000-07:00

I've participated in a few demonstrations over the years (not recently, I must confess), but never one where the authorities used tear gas on the crowd. Peaceful protest being one of our most fundamental and cherished rights as Americans, proper education in civics calls for some knowledge of practical measures one can take to defend against tear gas attack and other abuses of power. And your friends at boingboing are here to help. Remember: Only for good, never for evil!

To sing as the host sings in his house

2011-10-30T10:14:00.000-07:00

One of the benefits of having had a woefully incomplete education in literature (poetry in particular) is that one can reach the age of 53 and discover something wondrous brand new in the written word... even if the poem has been around for decades...

To breathe and stretch one's arms again
to breathe through the mouth to breathe to
breathe through the mouth to utter in
the most quiet way not to whisper not to whisper
to breathe through the mouth in the most quiet way to
breathe to sing to breathe to sing to breathe
to sing the most quiet way.

To sing to light the most quiet light in darkness
radiantia radiantia
singing light in darkness.

To sing as the host sings in his house.

From John Taggart, "Slow Song for Mark Rothko." Read the whole thing here.

Game 6

2011-10-27T21:24:00.000-07:00

I really don't like baseball at all. Except sometimes...

Patience?

2011-10-26T21:37:00.000-07:00

It seems logical to me that the officials of cities like Atlanta and Oakland might be losing their patience with the Washington politicians and their wealthy paymasters who have failed to undertake sensible fiscal policies to alleviate the real pain of their citizens in these hard times. Instead, they decide that frustrated protesters, the large majority peaceful and orderly, need to be forcibly removed from downtown parks and plazas because... because...? Oh, the sanitation problems. Never mind that a few porta potties probably cost less than the tear gas canisters that are putting people into hospitals.

Kevin Spacey

2011-10-23T19:10:00.000-07:00

We watched Horrible Bosses this weekend, a dumb comedy that provided more than a few good laughs. Kevin Spacey was one of the three horrible bosses. He could play this kind of amusing creep in his sleep, and judging from the performance, that's pretty much what he did. Ditto for Colin Farrell. Of the three bosses, only Jennifer Aniston, as a nympho-maniacal dentist, clearly put some effort into it. She is very funny.

Spacey first came to my attention in the late 80s TV series, Wiseguy, in which he guest starred as a twisted, drug-addled gangster. The creepiness factor has served him well ever since then, in American Beauty (a movie I didn't care for), in which he turns out to be a creep with a heart of gold, and Seven (a movie I liked), in which he is a creep beyond redemption.

Which brings us to Richard III, the role Kevin Spacey was born to. We were lucky to be there opening night in San Francisco. The production is brilliant. The other actors range from solid to excellent. But it is, as I guess Shakespeare intended it, a one-man show. Every Richard is evil, and it would have been natural for Spacey to model his Richard on all the other humorously creepy villains he has created. The evil is there, and the humor too, to be sure. But evil does not exactly define this Richard. Spacey as Richard is more pure life force. Twisted, wracked with pain, this Richard nonetheless seems to relish every second. The physicality of the performance is astonishing. The set is deep and largely empty; "crippled" Richard charges across it, in full command of his space, as dangerous as a wounded animal, as devastatingly effective as Walter Payton running the football.

But this is Richard, after all, and in the end this life force must get his comeuppance (quite literally, as it turns out, in this staging). Only in a cheesy horror movie would such a villain's corpse come back to life to wreak havoc one last time. I'm sure I was not the only member of the audience wishing that it could happen here too, just this once...

Occupy the classroom

2011-10-23T10:59:00.000-07:00

Kristof is right on. A humane society surely will do what it can to help out the unfortunate whose life chances have been constrained by upbringing, prejudice, or some other kind of bad luck. In the process, some deemed "undeserving" will be helped as well. Sorry, insurance just works that way. But a just society will do its best to equalize life chances in the first place. Efficiency and equity both served.

Climate change news: good, bad, and ugly

2011-10-21T09:01:00.000-07:00

Good! California adopts cap and trade for greenhouse gases. California alone cannot make much of a dent in global warming, but we can demonstrate that life will go on pretty much as usual after cap and trade. The great state of CA will still be vibrant, growing, diverse, and politically dysfunctional.

Bad: No matter how carefully you massage the surface temperature data, global warming is happening, and fast, confirming the data reported by NASA and other reliable sources. And this research comes from a one-time climate change questioner, if not a denier.

Ugly: Economists prove that coal sucks. These are not your tree-hugger economists, if such exist. These are distinguished, hard-nosed microeconomists who have leaned toward the "don't do too much too fast" view on climate policy.

Take Shelter

2011-10-16T09:43:00.000-07:00

The film Take Shelter just opened within the last week or so, but already on Saturday night the Guild Theater in Menlo Park was nearly empty. Perhaps word has gotten out that the movie will subject you to two full hours of existential dread... and who needs that? Well, you do, if you value a gripping, thought-provoking story and first-rate writing, directing, and acting. I won't tell you what I think of the ending. Highly recommended.

Bertel Bruun, RIP

2011-10-14T22:57:00.000-07:00

I confess, I was a kid birder. We had a feeder outside the kitchen window of our Connecticut house, and the folks bought a copy of Roger Tory Peterson's Field Guide, the standard reference at the time. When I started heading out into the woods and marshes looking for birds beyond the back yard, for some reason I acquired a copy of Birds of North America (first ed., 1966), co-written by the late Bertel Bruun (along with Chandler Robbins and Herbert Zim).

I found the book much more user-friendly than Peterson's guide. For one thing, I thought, and still think, that the illustrations were more life-like and true to the birds than Peterson's iconic paintings. But more important, the book's design placed the full text descriptions adjacent to the plates, rather than elsewhere in the book as was Peterson's norm. No annoying fumbling and flipping back and forth in the field. The NY Times obit notes that this eminently sensible design was Mr. Bruun's innovation and principal contribution to the book.

I now also own a copy of the definitive Sibley guide, a beautiful achievement and a wonderful reference. But when I see a bird I'm unsure of, my first move is still for Mr. Bruun's masterpiece.

Me and Mr. White

2011-10-14T22:41:00.000-07:00

Some of my students have taken to claiming that I am the spitting image of a certain meth-cooking high school teacher on TV. I fail to see the resemblance, but you be the judge...

Can Music Be Perfect? Vol. 3

2011-10-12T20:43:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite reviews from my favorite pop music critic, Robert Christgau, was his A+ review of DeBarge's In a Special Way:

I know of no pop music more shameless in its pursuit of pure beauty--not emotional (much less intellectual) expression, just voices joining for their own sweet sake, with the subtle Latinized rhythms (like the close harmonies themselves) working to soften odd melodic shapes and strengthen the music's weave. High energy doesn't always manifest itself as speed and volume--sometimes it gets winnowed down to its essence.

Of course, very rarely you get the deepest expression and the purest beauty all at the same time--Louis Armstrong comes to mind. I am unwilling to claim that Andy Bey approaches that exalted level. But when it comes to high energy in the service of shameless beauty, hiding itself behind suave and smooth, I put American Song right up there.

Black Saint

2011-10-06T21:58:00.000-07:00

Back in the 1970s, some crazy Italians apparently decided that it would be a good idea to record the most creative but least commercially viable musicians in America. The result is a discography to drool over. My hunch is that every single record offers something transcendent. Because transcendence is the unifying theme of avant-garde jazz. And avant-garde jazz lived on Black Saint.

Not in my name

2011-10-01T20:26:00.000-07:00

I have little sympathy for guys like Anwar al-Awlaki, who represent about the exact opposite of what I love and admire in modern human society. But one of the things I love and admire is due process under the rule of law. An eye for an eye with a wink and a nod doesn't cut it.

Can Music Be Perfect? Vol. 2

2011-09-22T21:26:00.001-07:00

I own a serviceable vinyl copy of the Pogues' Rum Sodomy & the Lash, with its excellent altered Gericault cover. Like most of my vinyl, it stands idle in the "record cabinet." I always remembered it fondly, and recently stumbled across a CD copy at... where else?... the library book sale. I love sea shanties, and I love Scotch-Irish American folk, and I love 80s punk, and Shane MacGowan makes me think there may not be that much difference between 'em. Pass the Bushmills!

Troy Davis

2011-09-21T20:05:00.000-07:00

Shame, shame, shame.

Congratulations to all winners

2011-09-20T09:11:00.001-07:00

Once again I was passed up for a genius award, but I try not to be bitter. I'm particularly happy to see grants go to Roland Fryer, a brilliant and fearless* economist who is intent on figuring out how to make things better for America's most disadvantaged children; Jeanne Gang, who designed one of the most beautiful buildings in Chicago (a city with more than its share of beautiful buildings); and Dafnis Prieto, a drummer who kicks butt. As for me, there's always next year!

* By this I mean that he has taken on hot-button topics and let the facts take him where they will; e.g., the racial test-score gap in early childhood, the possibility of "pay for performance" for school kids, etc.

Nader again?

2011-09-19T20:34:00.000-07:00

Not long ago I would have said that even if he ran for president again, Ralph Nader could not possibly carry enough votes to be a spoiler, but now I'm not so sure. Obama is in real trouble, but so is his opposition, so 2012 may well be pretty close. In swing states, disgruntled leftists and assorted crackpots who might defect to Nader could be numerous enough to play a deciding role. Which is to say that I agree with everything James Fallows says here. If you, like me, are one of those disgruntled leftists or assorted crackpots, take a long hard look around you, then a long hard look deep inside yourself, and tell me you really could vote for Nader again. Really?

Politically correct racism

2011-09-15T08:40:00.000-07:00

As usual, Ta-Nehisi Coates nails it. I won't be too hard on Michael Moore, because I am sure I have been guilty of saying something similar, and plenty of good liberals I know occasionally lapse into ethnic generalizations; these are "permissible" if they point to what are considered positive rather than negative cultural attributes, never mind the casual empiricism and questionable sociology. Let's all agree to stop doing it.

Ringer, cont.

2011-09-14T17:11:00.000-07:00

Alas, it kinda sucked. Sorry Sarah, next time make sure your old boss Joss W is the creator...

Ringer

2011-09-12T21:03:00.000-07:00

So, Sarah Michelle Gellar has a new series on the CW, premiere tomorrow. It appears to be based on one of the oldest and often lamest premises in the book: the evil twin or maybe the mysterious doppelganger plot. But I will dutifully watch. After all, Sarah was the star of what was arguably the greatest television series of all time. So I am prepared to cut her some slack.

Twenty Lakes Basin

2011-09-10T20:08:00.000-07:00

The scenery in the Hoover Wilderness just east of Yosemite is so spectacular, one could be excused for failing to look down.

From 20 Lakes Basin, Sept. 2011

But look down one should, if only to avoid what our family refers to as "fishy foot"...

From 20 Lakes Basin, Sept. 2011

An even better reason to look down is that this area features a fantastic jumble of old volcanic, metamorphic, and granitic rocks that provide a colorful architecture around the many small lakes that dot the basin.

From 20 Lakes Basin, Sept. 2011

Spring, which came in late August this year, brings a number of interesting flowers that decorate the rock walls and meadows. Like this one, which I believe is (aptly named) rockfringe, Epilobium obcordatum:

From 20 Lakes Basin, Sept. 2011

Do look back up occasionally so as to avoid bumping your head on the ice...

From 20 Lakes Basin, Sept. 2011

... and because you might catch the last patch of blue disappearing above Greenstone Lake and Mt. Conness, if a late-summer squall kicks up.

From 20 Lakes Basin, Sept. 2011

Although it is a designated wilderness area, the Twenty Lakes Basin is easy to get to from Saddlebag Lake, a few miles off Rte. 120 near Tioga Pass. The little fishing resort at Saddlebag will water taxi you to the far (north) end of the lake for $11 round trip, which saves you about 4 miles total of walking, and you can devote the extra time to exploring this remarkable and beautiful area. Or trout fishing, if you are so inclined.

Late summer

2011-09-04T17:10:00.000-07:00

I have my google calendar set up to show one week at a time. All summer long, when Sunday arrives, the new week pops into view, and for the most part the calendar has been pure as the driven snow, a field of empty white time slots. But alas the first week of September has brought a nasty checkerboard of blue appointments and meetings.

Still, late summer has its virtues, including the beautiful organic cranberry beans from Full Belly Farm, pulled fresh from the pod.

From September 2011

Opportunity!

2011-09-01T21:19:00.000-07:00

“All in all, we have a very senior rover that’s showing her age,” said John Callas, the project manager. “She has some arthritis and other issues, but in general, she’s in good health.”

It's easy to forget how amazing "her" journey has been... and she sure takes some nifty snapshots...

Alan Krueger nominated for CEA chief

2011-08-29T10:32:00.000-07:00

"Among economists Dr. Krueger is known as a voracious data hound..."
And this is really the best breed of econ dog. Excellent choice, Mr. President.

Serra at Stanford

2011-08-27T10:06:00.001-07:00

Richard Serra's Sequence is now installed and open to the public at Stanford's Cantor Arts Center. Walking through it reminded me of hiking in one of those southwestern box canyons, glimpses of bright blue sky opening and closing above the curved rust-colored walls. But the human, industrial origins of the thing are unmistakable too... it could be the rusting hulk of an abandoned ocean freighter. It is evocative, fun, and beautiful. And heavy!

The Cantor Center is a Bay Area treasure. It is free and open to the public, and has an excellent and wide-ranging collection. It's small enough that you won't be overwhelmed, but big enough that you will find something new and rewarding on every visit. The Serra, which will be at the Cantor Center until 2016, has amazing company nearby: Rodin's Gates of Hell, and Andy Goldsworthy's Stone River.

Sad day for pop music

2011-08-22T22:37:00.000-07:00

RIP Jerry Leiber and Nick Ashford. Between the two of them they provided an awful lot of pleasure to an awful lot of music lovers...

Keeping things in perspective

2011-08-21T16:59:00.000-07:00

Matthew Yglesias: "One [of] the oddities about the current economic doldrums afflicting the developed world is that if you look at the global average, this is almost certainly the best time to be alive in human history."

Hardly a screech

2011-08-20T17:15:00.000-07:00

Lying in bed last night at 2 a.m. after son the elder had landed from his evening's flight, I discovered that he was not the only night owl in the neighborhood... "The double note is a primary call although not as frequently heard. This is generally associated with an excited owl." (source) Palo Alto after midnight... excited about what, I wonder?

Can Music Be Perfect? Vol. 1

2011-08-14T21:54:00.000-07:00

It was certainly a perfect summer afternoon yesterday in downtown San Jose for the final sets of the San Jose Jazz Festival. On the salsa stage at 6 p.m., Fito Reinoso y su Ritmo y Armonia sizzled in front of a beautiful San Jose rainbow crowd. Playing salsa Cuban style, the band is a well-oiled machine, and Reinoso is a charismatic front man. His baritone is so rich I kept wishing for a ballad, but the band and the dancers in the crowd would have none of that. The horns were tight, the timbales driving the rhythm without punishing your eardrums, the piano providing that propulsive montuno riff. The answer, in short, is yes.

Earlier we caught the first half hour of Miguel Zenón's quartet. The band seemed tentative and a bit disorganized at first, but by the time I left to check out some other stages, they were cooking, mastering tough chord changes and bizarre meters as if it were the 12-bar blues. Zenón plants his feet and wobbles around on bent knees while he solos on alto. I'm not sure I've heard a better saxophonist in some time.

We walked by the main stage twice, hearing a bit of Ramsey Lewis one way and then George Duke/ David Sanborn coming back. Is it funk jazz? Smooth jazz? Arena jazz? Whatever it is, it's popular, and it kind of sucks.

Yay!

2011-08-13T18:22:00.000-07:00

Michelle first, Ron second! If the past is a foreign country, the GOP must be a different planet. Feelin' bad for Tim, though...

It's all yours, chimps!

2011-08-12T09:39:00.000-07:00

"Rise of the Planet of the Apes" features your standard sci-fi plot No. 3, whereby science with the best of intentions goes awfully awry. The movie has its moments, but is generally ho-hum. The acting is uniformly middling. James Franco sleep-walks through the whole thing, substititing a kind of befuddled concern for Charlton Heston's angry burn in the original. Freida Pinto is here strictly for ornamentation, although she does get to deliver the obligatory "Some things are not meant to be changed" line.

Critics seem to love the performance-capture technology used to turn actors into chimps, but frankly I found the chimps even less inspiring than the humans. Our chimp hero Caesar (Andy Serkis) has a very narrow emotional range, usually somewhere between pouting and brooding. Give me Roddy McDowell and Kim Hunter mugging through their layers of makeup any day.

Eventually our army of chimp rebels escape from their prisons and gallop across the Golden Gate, facing down the CHiPs and our nasty corporate antihero. Their objective? Muir Woods, where Caesar plans to make their new home. The Muir Woods are indeed lovely, but redwood forests are actually rather barren of vegetation, and I found myself wondering, "What will they eat?" But then I remembered that they are in Marin! If they get hungry they can swing over to Bradley Ogden's Tavern at Lark Creek for a bite... if they can get a reservation, that is...

Carson Pass country

2011-08-11T21:00:00.000-07:00

The mountains surrounding Carson Pass are widely renowned for having the most beautiful wildflower display in the Sierra Nevada. Spring came late to the high country this year; even a week into August there was plenty of snow to traverse. Abundant moisture is perhaps compensating for the shortened growing season. To a great degree the flowers come in predictable combinations: on the sloping meadows, lupines, tall red paintbrush, and golden mule ears; in the swampy patches, blazing pink and yellow monkey-flowers and head-high corn lilies; the high rocky areas dotted with sulphur buckwheat and penstemon. But Nature is eager to experiment with the color palette, and especially along the margins between plant communities one finds the most striking and unexpected combinations. I took a few pictures.

Columbines among the boulders...

... that pink kind of monkey-flower...

... the corn lilies is as high as an elephant's eye...

... every garden benefits from a water feature...

... and don't take the rocks for granite...

Grrr... that damn Obama...

2011-08-11T18:35:00.001-07:00

... nothing could make me vote for that clown again... oh... wait...

Charlie Neibergall/Associated Press

Noblesse oblige... sans irony

2011-08-03T18:36:00.000-07:00

Three cheers for Bloomberg and Soros. They say the devil is in the details, but jobs, and somebody actually giving a shit, have to be a good start. Especially when Washington is single-mindedly intent on making matters worse.

The employment crisis

2011-08-02T11:00:00.000-07:00

Here's the employment-population ratio for prime-age (25-54) black men since 1994. Yes, down by ten percentage points in just three years. What is the debt plan doing for these folks?

Addendum: the longer view, black men 20 years and older... the lowest level since we have been collecting modern data...

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, seasonally adjusted

Too optimistic

2011-07-31T10:02:00.000-07:00

Sure, political dysfunction, economic disaster, but he didn't even mention global warming...

99 and a half...

2011-07-23T14:58:00.000-07:00

... just won't do for John Boehner, or perhaps it's his tea-drinking friends...

Hey Rocky...

2011-07-22T12:47:00.000-07:00

... watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat!

I keep hoping that Obama will produce the debt ceiling rabbit, but Prof. Krugman seems to think the GOP bear is more likely. I fear he is correct. He usually is.

Charlie Hunter and Scott Amendola

2011-07-19T14:49:00.000-07:00

Heard them from the second row at the Dana Street Roasting Company, a smallish coffee house in Mountain View. Wow. You should catch them if they visit your neighborhood. They play, and they play, as in playful.

If you are unfamiliar, Hunter finger-picks a 7-(or 8-)string guitar, thumping out the bass line while improvising on the higher strings. His technique is kinda superhuman, although it does impose some limitations on the fluidity of his solo lines. Amendola is a jazz drummer in the modern mold, specializing in Caribbean-tinged grooves and funky backbeats. Good with the brushes as well. The highlight of the night for me was his quiet solo on "Body and Soul" (I think): the sticks swishing and tapping the cymbals, maintaining an evolving ringing tone while he explored the rhythm on the skins.

Kudos to Dana Street RC for bringing real music to our boring little suburb.

Beautiful Chicago

2011-07-14T20:13:00.000-07:00

Highlights of my latest (and Laura's first) visit included...
...the extraordinary Chicago Cultural Center with two (count 'em) spectacular stained glass domes, one surrounded by intricate Tiffany glass mosaics...

...the glorious prairie gardens in Millennium Park...

... caldo with Alexi at Rick Bayless's Xoco...

...staying in the Burnham Hotel, in Atwood, Burnham, and Root's extraordinary 1895 Reliance Building...

... funky blues at Kingston Mines...
By the way, the Chicago climate sucks...

Budget politics

2011-07-05T20:18:00.000-07:00

Maybe I'm missing something, but it seems the recurring pattern is that each time the parties are near "agreement" on a plan for raising the debt limit, Congressional Republicans introduce new demands, and the President gets a little petulant, but then, statesman that he is, he "compromises" by capitulating to the previous set of Republican demands. This is not a good dynamic.

Most reliable music genre

2011-07-04T20:49:00.000-07:00

Say you are browsing internet radio by genres. What genre of popular music is most likely to be quite acceptable, or LEAST likely to be unlistenable? I vote for "alt-country." You?

Top underpaid players

2011-07-04T20:39:00.000-07:00

You really do have to feel for LeBron, underpaid to the tune of $20 million a year. I wish someone would do this sort of calculation for university faculty... I am sure I must be underpaid by at least $20 a year.

Happy 4th!

2011-07-02T20:22:00.000-07:00

It wouldn't be Independence Day without some Sousa, and why not from the man himself?

Matthias Munches Muhlenbergia

2011-06-29T16:19:00.000-07:00

The Unhappy Medium

2011-06-28T17:55:00.000-07:00

Somewhere between punk, with its anger, energy, and utter artlessness, and heavy metal, with its virtuosity and insufferable bombast, lies the bliss point of hard rock. Nirvana nailed it.

Now with links!

2011-06-28T09:32:00.000-07:00

Some of my favorites, over on the left below my beautiful portrait. This presentation by Mark Bernstein (or read the paper) discusses his simulations of the concentration of traffic on the web under different assumptions about linking. The take-away for me was that including links to a variety of web sites (a blogroll) creates a positive externality that helps preserve what Bernstein calls the "long tail" of diverse and potentially important but infrequently visited web sites. That kind of web "biodiversity" is worth preserving. Of course, the links can only do any good if someone gets to them in the first place... dear reader...

Stay in school

2011-06-26T10:00:00.000-07:00

Yeah, the job market for new college grads sucks right now, and lots of evidence suggests they will suffer the ill effects for years, maybe decades to come. But it infuriates me to see people drawing the conclusion that college doesn't pay. David Leonhardt lays that notion to rest in yesterday's column. And money aside, it's not such a bad thing being an educated person.

What's in bloom in the garden

2011-06-25T17:49:00.000-07:00

Two kinds of native buckwheat...

...and of course monkeyflowers.

Congratulations, New York

2011-06-24T20:24:00.000-07:00

A victory for humans, but especially for the gay ones who'd like to be married. I'm waiting for California to catch up. Always so strange reading the objections of the opponents...

"If it passes, we feel it's going to ruin our state and our country," said Dawn Adams, a coordinator of the Norwich Tea Party Patriots.

Really, Dawn? REALLY?

Even with the protections, the state's Catholic bishops, led by Archbishop Timothy Dolan vehemently opposed passage of a gay marriage bill, calling it "bad for society." "Marriage has always been, is now, and always will be the union of one man and one woman in a lifelong, life-giving union," the bishops said in a statement. "Government does not have the authority to change this most basic of truths."

Really, Tim?
I guess it's unsettling, hearing that whooshing sound as history passes by you...

Peter Falk, RIP

2011-06-24T13:05:00.000-07:00

I loved and still love "Columbo," one of the few cop shows of its era that still holds up, entirely because Peter Falk was so good. The NYT obit fails to mention, I believe, that he also had a wonderful turn playing himself in Wim Wenders' "Wings of Desire."

Update/correction: The print edition does refer to "Wings of Desire."