Satisfaction
I have to admit that I actually like that Wendy's commercial with the techno and the robot voices and the burgers pumping up and down to the music. I would play that if I had the record, definitely. But those burgers with like eight patties on them, that's effed up. And it's even worse that they're like pumping up and down. Large amounts of meat, pumping up and down, I do not need. Especially not after my night at the Buenos Aires Grill.
Holy Fuck That's a lot of Meat1
Tonight we went to The Buenos Aires Grill. In case you weren't sure from the name, the menu reveals that it is a: grill. Just about everything on the menu consists of meat that has been grilled, on a grill. Tom and Sami got the special, which was grilled meat. It being a special, it also had demi-glace of some kind, and some portabello mushrooms. I, on the other hand, got the "Parrillada" which is, like, a mix of grilled meats. I wasn't sure if maybe it was for more than one person, but it was the price of a regular entree, so I figured it was just like a sampling of a few things.2 So anyway, we got our beef empanadas and our lamb empanadas (not grilled), which were pretty good. That makes two different sorts of meat. so far.3
The White Witch
I don't know how this Narnia movie is going to be, but I'm totally down with Tilda Swinton as the white witch. That is frickin inspired. Even better casting than Cate Blanchett as that elf queen. mmm... white witch.
Best Car Ever?
Jeremy Clarkson on the Bugatti Veyron. He gives it 12 stars (out of 5). Some choice quotes:
In a drag race you could let the McLaren get to 120mph before setting off in the Veyron. And you’d still get to 200mph first. ... engineers were horrified. But they set to work anyway, mating two Audi V8s to create an 8 litre W16. Which was then garnished with four turbochargers. ... somehow the giant had to be cooled, which is why the Veyron has no engine cover and why it has 10 — count them — 10 radiators. ... you can top 400kph. That’s 370ft a second. ... the length of a football pitch, in a second, in a car. ... and you will pull up from 250mph in just 10sec. Sounds good, but in those 10sec you’ll have covered a third of a mile. ... you come round a bend, see what appears to be miles and miles of dead straight road, bury your foot in the carpet and with a big asthmatic wheeze, bang, you’re instantly at the next bend ... From behind the wheel of a Veyron, France is the size of a small coconut. ... . It makes even the Enzo and the Porsche Carrera GT feel slow and pointless. It is a triumph for lunacy over common sense, a triumph for man over nature and a triumph for Volkswagen over absolutely every other car maker in the world.
etc. His review is short but fascinating, because he talks a bit about the kinds of forces that are at play around a car going 200+ mph. The wind, for example, is enough to lift a jumbo jet into the air. And the veyron not only handles all that, it apparently does it smoothly (though not quietly). It seems the ultimate realisation of the sort of Audi approach to performance, which is using lots of technology to make everything work perfectly (as opposed to, say, the Lotus approach to performance, which is to keep everything as light and simple as possible). Anyway, holy crap.
A Fencer of the Woodcut School
Inspired by a monochrome woodcut my Mother gave me, I've been working on some monochrome woodcut-style images. Maybe part of an eventual ukiyo-e style series "37 views of modern Japan" (with robots!) or something.
French Anti-Americanism
The New Republic has a seven-page opus this week on the roots of French anti-Americanism, and whether there is such a thing anyway. Here it is (free registration required, or use bugmenot). I wouldn't normally even try to persuade anyone to read a seven-page (and that's seven web pages, each multiple screens full) TNR opus reviewing several books and unifying the whole thing into a historical and contemporary tour de force, but it's really good. And, I think, to most Americans it will be a little surprising. I mean, to most of us, the French are sort of a running joke, a bit clownish, a bit malicious, but deep-down, we assume, it's more like the sparring of siblings than anything serious. But the point of the article and the books reviewed is that French anti-Americanism has deep roots, going back to colonial attitudes about the new world, and snobbery about its culture compared to that of Europe. Then there's the anti-semitism, which generally I try to ignore but lately has been giving me the willies. Anyway, if you read one vast online historical book review opus this week, this is the one.
RSS Reader
Anyone using a good web-based RSS reader? I'm thinking about ditching the one I wrote because it gets sort of annoying dealing with bad XML.
Ikiru
Unlike Kurosawa's best-known masterpieces, Ikiru doesn't get talked about that much. It doesn't have the grand samurai battles or epic struggles or shakespearean tragic events of some of his better-known movies -- a central plot element involves a civil servant trying to get a city playground built -- but it stands in company with some of his best. The story is simple: a man learns that he has cancer and perhaps a year to live, and realizes that he's wasted his life being a pointless functionary in a city office. He resolves to figure out how to live (the title is usually translated as 'to live'), and makes it his goal to get the playground built. I went into this movie with no real idea of what it was about, which is always a good way to approach a good film. Though the basic plot is revealed in the first few minutes, if you want to wait and see how it's realized, don't read the rest and just get the movie.
Takashi Shimura (the lead samurai in Seven Samurai, and a Kurosawa regular) is Watanabe, the lead character, and he's great. He manages to convey both his pitiful state of sickness (and a sort of abject despair) and his inner determination to make something of his remaining time. One of the best parts of the film is when Watanabe meets a novelist who, learning of his fate, promises to take him out for a night of truly living. What follows is a sort of Faustian montage of every possible vice and corruption. It's brilliant. Next, Watanabe befriends a young co-worker from his office, and you can see him visibly revel in watching her devour food and life, in a way that he can't.
Finally, he hits on the idea of helping a neighborhood replace a dangerous cesspool with a playground, and devotes his remaining time to doggedly seeing it through. Here, Kurosawa makes a directorial decision that works great. Instead of showing this struggle, he flashes forward to Watanabe's wake, where first we see the soulless Deputy Mayor and his cronies take credit for Watanabe's work. Then we see his coworkers gradually come to understand the transformation that Watanabe had undergone and how it led to his work on the playground, and, realizing any one of them could die at any time, vow to treat life as he did. It works brilliantly -- these coworkers had mostly been generic faces in the background, most seemingly bureaucratic automatons. But as they come to understand Watanabe the viewer, who already understands him, re-experiences and deepens his identification with Watanabe's situation.
On its surface, Ikiru seems such a simple film, but it manages to be deeply affecting -- tragic, funny, and inspiring all somehow at the same time. Without taking anything away from Seven Samurai, which most of you probably know I consider to be the finest movie ever made, it seems much easier to make a great piece of art out of a story so epic in its scope; doing the same with something so small and personal is not so easy.
Bonus fun: see how many actors from Seven Samurai you can spot! I counted like eight.
The Benefits of Working Out
A new study shows that working out regularly increases your lifespan. Finally, the kind of solid, explicit evidence we need to show everyone that it's important to stay in shape. Here's the money quote: People who engaged in moderate activity -- the equivalent of walking for 30 minutes a day for five days a week -- lived about 1.3 to 1.5 years longer than those who were less active. Those who took on more intense exercise -- the equivalent of running half an hour a day five days every week -- extended their lives by about 3.5 to 3.7 years, the researchers found.
The doctors who conducted the study are very proud of the results: "Being more physically active can give you more time. ... This should encourage people to be more active -- to take a more active role in their own health and not just sit and wait for a pill to prevent this or that or save your life." And they observes that even a little makes a difference: Adding just a little activity to the daily routine can have major benefits. "What we're talking about is small changes," Hill said. "We're telling people to get out and walk more. Fifteen, 20 or 30 minutes of walking each day is probably enough."
Well that's great news. But wait.. so 30 minutes of vigorous exercise 5 days a week can save me 3.6 years? How much time am I spending on that exercise anyway? Add in time for changing/showering etc, and let's call it 5 hours a week. That's about 3% of my time. If I live to be 72, 3% of my time adds up to about 2.2 years. So my net gain from all that vigorous exercise? About 15 months. Of course, I'm buying that 3.6 extra years of being old with hours of being young. Is that a good deal? Doesn't sound like it. The deal is even worse if you listen to what they say about "moderate activity". Let's say that 30 minutes of walking only costs you 30 minutes, so about 1.5% of your week. 1.5% of your 72 years is a little over a year, so your net gain is a measly 3 months. I wouldn't give up a lollipop for three months of being 72. And, of course, this is all assuming the study is actually correct. Say there's an 80% chance the study is right; which would you rather have, half an hour now, or an 80% probability of 45 minutes in 40 years? (Assuming you aren't hit by a car first; if you assume some chance of getting hit by a car, being in a plane crash, or being shot by your mistress's jealous husband, the value of sacrificing now for possible future gain becomes even lower.)
Of course, the doctors also say that there are many other gains to exercise, which there are (though they're more vague about how valuable those gains are). And yet they seem sort of cutely bewildered that people won't exercise. The explanation the doctors find for this is apparently that people are stupid or, more charitably, ignorant. But maybe people are just capable of doing some cost/benefit analysis (unlike doctors, apparently). Oh, I don't deny the benefits of exercise. It's a good idea for many, or most, people. But really, it's less about vague threats of vague future costs than about the effects right now. If they want to sell exercise, maybe they should focus on how it improves your life now. And for god's sake, stop treating people like they are idiots.
But one thing I did learn from the study: if you're going to spend the time to exercise, do it right. It's just about a net waste to diddle around with a little walking here and there. Run a marathon or something.
Japan
Well, the trip isn't officially over until you've blogged everything so NOW it really is over. Here are the pictures one last time. Grand total: about 500 (that's AFTER editing). A fun time was had by all. When are we going back?
Japan 10/06: Lunch in Tsukiji
On our last full day in Japan, Sami and I met up with Raymond and Koto (from the Mifune Productions outing) for lunch with Raymond's brothers-in-law and some of their friends, all of whom work at the Tsukiji fish market. They usually work from about 2am until 11am, and afterwards they get together at this little restaurant to eat sushi and drink for a few hours. Pictures. Unbelievable amounts of fish and shochu were consumed. Some of the guys had known each other since they were kids, and the dynamic among them was remarkably like between our gang; in fact, after watching a couple of guys affectionately dissing each other (in Japanese of course), I had to teach them the phrase "talk shit". This lunch and the sushi we'd had on Monday morning after our visit to the market were some of the best sushi I've ever had, no question. I also got some more pictures as we walked around the neighborhood, and that night at dinner.
Japan 10/6: Kamakura
On Thursday, I made a day trip on my own to Kamakura -- the others had either already been or didn't feel like going. I'd heard about the giant Buddha and interesting temples from them and from my parents (who went in 2003 after I flew home) and was also planning on tracking down Akira Kurosawa's grave.
Unfortunately, it was a gray, drizzly day. Though it didn't rain too much, it was sort of depressing and not very good for photos. Anyway, I started off by walking up to the Hachiman Shrine, a large, much-visited shrine pretty much in the middle of the city. It's perched dramatically on a hill, with a great view of Kamakura. What really caught my eye though was a bunch of flags on a little island by the side of the main path.
Next I wandered around a bit, bought some ceramics, and eventually stumbled into a more out-of-the-way temple with a beautiful cemetary. Where I also petted a cat.
After that I went looking for the obscure little temple that holds Kurosawa's grave. I had a few wrong turns and mistakes (amazing how many cemetaries you can stumble across in parts of Kamakura), but I eventually found it. I asked a temple worker where the grave was (actually, I said "Kurosawa Akira?" and she said some stuff in Japanese, and then drew me a map and wrote out the Kanji so I could find it). I eventually found it (or hope so) and left an offering.
Finally, I hopped a bus and went and saw the big Buddha who, it turns out, is really big.
Only one more set of photos to go!
Japan Swag
Swag photos. Compared to previous visits, this one trip was less about pottery and more about cute toys. It would seem.
Workin'
Well, it's official. I'm no longer an Amazon employee and, as of this morning, work for Pipestone, a very early-stage startup doing adaptive web stuff. I was enjoying the people and projects I worked on at Amazon, but this was an opportunity not to miss. More about what we do when I know myself (or at least know what I can say).
More Dull Economics
Why progressives should support eliminating/replacing the mortgage interest deduction.
As Gene Steuerle and his co-authors at the Urban Institute have documented, more than 80 percent of the major tax incentives for housing go to the top 20 percent of Americans ...while less than 5 percent go to the bottom 60 percent. ... The commission proposes to scrap the mortgage-interest deduction and replace it with a "Home Credit" that allows families to reduce their taxes by 15 percent of mortgage interest on borrowing up to $227,000 to $412,000 (the limit is set at 125 percent of the median sales price for each county).
and so on.
Smoking Ban Passes
She admitted, however, to a hankering for what will soon be the good old days. "I'd like there to be two or three underground places where I could still smoke."
"It's called your house or your car," interjected Smith, who had no idea she'd walked into the pro-law rally, as she put it.
From the PI. Nothing like a self-righteous health zealot.
The NO! Party
My default policy in the election today was simple: when in doubt, vote against the initiative, vote against the incumbent, or vote against the Democrat (this city is pretty much entirely run by a good-ol-boy network of Democrats). I am not usually a big fan of the "throw the bums out!" approach to political decision-making, as it's usually a cynical ploy by perfectly well-connected insiders to differentiate themselves. However, I'm starting to feel that, by default, increased government activity is bad, and the way things are done is bad. I know money in politics is a perennial thing, going back at least to the Romans or the Greeks, but the influence of lobbying vs the "will of the people" seems especially high lately. And since the Republicans took over all three branches and became officially a big-spending party, there's no one in Washington interested in spending less or in keeping an eye on what other people are spending.
So I was idly thinking about how far you could get running for office on a NO! platform. Whatever comes up in congress, you promise to vote NO! New taxes? no. Tax cuts? no. Spending increases? no. Spending cuts? no. Going to war? no. Coming home from war? no. Roads, bridges, prescription drug plans, tariffs, subsidies, agencies? no, no, no, no, no, and no. The beauty of this is it avoids a lot of the dangers of government, most of which seem to come about from somebody deciding (usually inspired by a lobbyist) that we're not doing enough about something, and that the government should spend more money on it.
The problem of course is that there are some good things that you'd have to vote NO! on, to keep your promise. I suppose you could make the platform a little more complicated: NO! on everything except whatever shrinks government. e.g., spending cuts yes, ending wars yes, agency consolidation yes. Obviously, there are things we really do need, like an intelligence agency and an army and, like, stuff. The NO! party would probably not make a good ruling party. But as the opposition in a time of rampant crap? I think it's the only solution.
So, who wants to help me make buttons, t-shirts, and a web site, and who wants to run for congress next year?
Death, Taxes, and Sprawl
Slate looks at the myth that urban sprawl is a modern, American disease. Some bits of trivia:
As long ago as the Ming dynasty in the 14th century, the Chinese gentry sang the praises of the exurban life, and the rustic villa suburbana was a common feature of ancient Rome. ... During the 17th and 18th centuries, while the poor moved increasingly eastward, affluent Londoners built suburban estates in the westerly direction of Westminster and Whitehall, commuting to town by carriage. ... suburbs now constitute the bulk of European metropolitan areas, just as they do in America. We marvel at the efficiency of European mass transit, but since 1950, transit ridership has remained flat, while the use of private automobiles has skyrocketed. ... Polls consistently confirm that most Europeans, like most Americans, and indeed most people worldwide, would prefer to live in single-family houses on their own piece of land rather than in apartment buildings ... Ireland and the United Kingdom now have higher single-family house occupancy rates than the United States, while others, such as Holland, Belgium, and Norway, are comparable.
And so to the punchline:
Most American anti-sprawl reformers today believe that sprawl is a recent and peculiarly American phenomenon caused by specific technological innovations like the automobile and by government policies like single-use zoning or the mortgage-interest deduction on the federal income tax. ... sprawl is not the anomalous result of American zoning laws, or mortgage interest tax deduction, or cheap gas, or subsidized highway construction, or cultural antipathy toward cities. Nor is it an aberration. ... Sprawl is and always has been inherent to urbanization. It is driven less by the regulations of legislators, the actions of developers, and the theories of city planners, than by the decisions of millions of individuals—Adam Smith's "invisible hand."
In other words, if you don't like sprawl.. well, good luck.
Washington Election Dilemmas
I finally sat down with my voter information pamphlet last night and attempted to actually figure out what to vote for. Most of it is pretty bland, but there are some initiatives that I'm still mulling over. Feel free to make your arguments.
That's My Baby
J was playing at a bank banquet last night and managed to slip in the Tetris theme, played on the harp. She was disappointed that no one seemed to notice.
Natsuo Kirini - Out
wow. I picked up Natsuo Kirino's book Out (written in 1997, the first of her books to be translated into English) on a whim off the mystery table at a Barnes & Noble. It's not really a mystery per se, but it's definitely in the noir family. In a classic noir story, an innocent is dragged into a bad situation by an accident or a minor misstep. But the situation gets unavoidably worse, until the innocent finds himself in hell. Basically, that's noir (skipping over the traditional stylistic elements anyway). And this book is almost perfectly in that tradition, though none of the innocents is very innocent. But the bad situation is bad, and the hell is even worse.
The basic story is: a young woman kills her loser husband in a fit of anger, and appeals to her friends at work to help her cover up the murder. What follows is gore, domestic strife, infighting, blackmail, brushes with the Yakuza, and much more. It's incredibly dark and grim, and just when you think it can't get grimmer, it does. And yet it's full of well-drawn characters, even the worst of whom are sometimes sympathetic, or at least understandable. The ending manages to be neither entirely tragic nor inappropriately sunny.
A good deal of what moves the main characters revolves around their relationships with each other and with spouses and lovers. The book has a lot to say, obliquely, about relationships between men and women, about marriage, about friendship and being alone, about strength and weakness. The writing doesn't draw attention to itself -- the style is not flashy, but vivid and insightful. It would make a brilliant movie, though audiences could probably not handle seeing some of what happens on the screen.
It's perfect noir: grim, violent, cool -- and obsessed with the question of just how low a person can sink.
Latest Tax Plan: Screw the Blue States
Slate has a summary of a new proposal from the president's panel on tax reform. Summary: screw people in blue states. The basic idea is to cap the income tax mortgage deduction, and make state and local taxes no longer deductible. The main people this affects are those living in expensive-property areas with high local taxes -- i.e. in urban areas where people have elected to tax themselves highly to pay for school or transit or whatever. If you live in one of these areas and have bought recently, or are considering buying, like, ever, then you'll be screwed if this passes, whoever you voted for. Unfortunately, there's probably nothing anyone can do about it.