Spring has sprung

To left, the fantastic and easy California native currant, Ribes sanguineum glutinosum.

Below, Ceanothus "Dark Star" is covered in these this time of year, the buds even prettier than the flowers.

Slime mold of the day

Saw something very much like this on the trail in Foothills Park on Sunday, but lacking a camera I must now rely on the wonderful folks at Mykoweb for the photo. These were quite tiny, looking like minuscule, brilliant salmon eggs carefully arranged on a bay laurel log. What the world needs is a nice full-color field guide to the slime molds. Don't you agree? (By the way, they are not fungi, despite the label below.)

Damages

Watching the current season, and catching up on season 1 via DVD. Glenn Close, with her beady animal eyes, raptor beak, and plastic mouth, is perfect, and clearly enjoying every moment. I haven't yet decided whether the other actors are up to the task of taking her on. But it's a kick so far.

A Most Wanted Man

John le Carre's Cold War spy novels are among my favorite books: meditations on the peculiar character of their time, but also on the human condition. Not to mention that they are highly effective thrillers and beautifully written. Few novelists have achieved so much so efficiently, working in so narrow a genre, and so entertainingly.

Post-Cold War, there was a gradual decline. I'm somewhat reluctant to admit that I eventually lost interest... until I was browsing for some escapism recently at Kepler's Books, and Alan Furst's endorsement of A Most Wanted Man jumped off the cover. OK, Alan, you sold me.

And it's a good read. The plotting is, as they say, brisk, the writing unmistakably le Carre. So what's not to like? Well, the characters, for one. Our hero, Tommy Brue, is a le Carre stock character, the almost washed-up, 60-year-old Brit trying to live up to, or live down, the legacy of his dad. The love interest, Annabel, is further evidence that le Carre is constitutionally incapable of creating a compelling female character. OK, he still has the remaining 50 percent of the human race to work with, right? Wrong: the hapless victim of this intrigue, a Chechen named Issa, is himself a crude caricature.

Is there then a single well-rounded, believable character in the book? Indeed there is, thankfully: the German spymaster Bachmann, a highly competent Smiley-type whose little shreds of conscience and credulity prove to be his undoing.

We read le Carre for the Smileys and Bachmanns, but we also need a supporting cast of convincing foils for our flawed heroes. We don't get them here. Maybe the master has lost his touch, but I am inclined to think that the source of the problem is his righteous outrage at the post-9/11 new world order, with his despised American spooks firmly in charge. We can only hope that the age of Obama, whatever its flaws, will restore John le Carre's faith in moral ambiguity, in all its glorious shades of gray.

Vatican top ten pop albums

As an employee of a Catholic institution of higher learning, I feel eminently qualified and indeed entitled to comment on the Vatican's recently released top ten list, which is presented below in order of release. I give +1 for good choices and -1 for bad, 0 for neutral. Tally at the bottom.

Revolver by the Beatles: Off to a great start, Benny! (That's how we refer to the current Pope when we see him around campus.) +1

If I could Only Remember My Name by David Crosby: I confess I don't know this album at all, but any list that includes Crosby, Stills, or Nash to the exclusion of Young is a non-starter. -1

The Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd: What you been smokin', Benny? -1

Rumours by Fleetwood Mac: Annoying, but kind of a cheese-pop classic. (Note: the only women on the list... no Aretha? No Madonna?... Papa don't preach, I'm keeping my baby?) 0

The Nightfly by Donald Fagen: The best Steely Dan album of all (sorry Walter), and a pretty hip choice. +1

Thriller by Michael Jackson: No-brainer. +1

Graceland by Paul Simon: A very pleasant album, but maybe not Paul's best, and let's face it, this would be nothing without the South African backing band (and their tunes). 0

Achtung Baby by U2: Another safe but boring choice. First step toward Bono's beatification? 0

(What's the story) Morning Glory by Oasis: Honestly, this is the best you can come up with for alternative rock? No Nevermind? No 3 Feet High and Rising? -1

Supernatural by Carlos Santana: Santana only has one guitar solo, but it's a damn good one. Too bad you can't say the same about the songs. -1

Total: -1

OK, that's close enough to neutral to earn a passing grade.

New rules for vampires

We were desperate for some dumb entertainment last night, and the Twilight movie hit the spot. No, it was not nearly as good as the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series, but who could expect it to be? For the remaining three or four people in the world who have not yet read the books or seen the movie, the plot is easily described: Hot human teenage girl and hot vampire boy fall in love at first sight; love cannot be physically consummated lest boy suck life out of girl; much heaving of bosoms and soulful longing eye-gazing ensue. Girl begs to be bitten so she may live eternally with boy; boy declines, perhaps fearing commitment that could last... like... FOREVERRRR! Bad vampires make things even more complicated than they already are.

Fans of the Buffy series should note the following important changes in vampire etiquette and behavior:
1. Apparently vampires may now enter your home uninvited. This eliminates one of the most sensible ways to avoid being bitten: Don't go out at night!
2. The slaying of vampires has become considerably more difficult. The simple plunge of a wooden stake into the heart, followed by implosion of vampire into a cloud of sooty dust, seems no longer to suffice. Vanquishing now requires that the vampire in question be subdued by other vampires and then set ablaze. With all due respect to Buffy's amazing abilities, this would have made her life a lot more challenging.
3. Exposure to sunlight no longer causes vampires to blister and writhe in pain. Rather, they merely glisten most appealingly. The only reason they avoid the sunlight is to avoid detection by humans... as if they blend right in as it is...
4. Vampire business is serious business: No humor allowed!

Muhal Richard Abrams

Two of my favorite jazz albums are The Hearinga Suite and Blu Blu Blu by Abrams and his big band, both dating back to around 1990. A founder of AACM, he is one of the most important American musicians of the past half century. So it was nice to see him recognized with a Jazz Masters Award by the NEA. Co-recipients Cedar Walton and Kenny Barron highly deserving as well.

Wolf Hall

Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall is a big, old-fashioned historical novel full of wonderful characters and grand ideas, from religious intolerance, to the uses of political power, to the bourgeois virtues. Speaking of the last of these, our hero Thomas Cromwell is a merchant and self-made man, a man of action who cuts moral corners because the alternative is surely worse. His relationship with Thomas More, a sympathetic monster, is the novel's centerpiece, with Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, and Cromwell's retinue of surrogate sons play supporting roles. One of those books I was truly hoping would never end...