Climate change news: good, bad, and ugly

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

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

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.

Can Music Be Perfect? Vol. 3

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

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

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

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

Shame, shame, shame.