Archive for August, 2008
Saturday, August 30th, 2008
Books August 2008
Amongst other things during the month of August, including replenishing my supplies, I read the following four books and have just started The Confederacy of Dunces:
The Radiance of the King by Camara Laye;
Netherland: A Novel by Joseph O’Neill;
De Niro’s Game: A Novel by Rawi Hage;
When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris.
Here is my […]
2 Comments » - Posted in literature by eric
Friday, August 29th, 2008
The Schizophrenia of the VP Choice
The old pick the young. The rookie picks the veteran. The Hawiian picks the continental, and the continental picks the Alaskan. The black canidate picks the white guy, the man picks the woman. The dark hair picks the white hair, and the white the dark.
Is it all a lack of creativity? The need for balance? […]
2 Comments » - Posted in Essays, Obama 08 by eric
Friday, August 29th, 2008
Brooks and A Little Balance to My Obamaism
To give a little balance to my forthright Obama support, I recommend you read conservative (yet extremely balanced) New York Times columnist David Brook’s satirical piece today entitled “A Speech to Delegates“.
He does a great job of poking fun at how ridiculous and over-the-top the DNC Convention and the speeches have been (even though I […]
No Comments » - Posted in Essays, Obama 08 by eric
Friday, August 29th, 2008
Dear Spain, We are Not Caricatures
After the infantile expression of how the Spanish define and theoretically honor Asians, and after receiving comment after comment by my Spanish friends blindly defending such characterizations, I come once again upon an example of how the Spanish media reduces all things foreign to childish diminutives.
In today’s El Mundo article by Luis María Anson entitled […]
3 Comments » - Posted in Essays, Living la vida española by eric
Thursday, August 28th, 2008
Bob Marley, Burning Spear and Old Marcus Garvey
The other day I was talking about Burning Spear with my brother and about how he must see the old time Reggae great in concert this week in New York. After Bob Marley, Winston Rodney (aka”Burning Spear”) is one of the central most important figures in the history of Reggae, and one of the foremost […]
2 Comments » - Posted in Digressions by eric
Thursday, August 28th, 2008
Bill Can Speak
I have never hid the fact the I both admire Bill Clinton’s great political gifts and despise how he wastes those gifts with his divisive antics. I also have to admit that the Democratic Convention, and I am sure the Republican one will be the same, is a load of over-the-top only-in-America trash. Having said […]
No Comments » - Posted in Essays, Obama 08 by eric
Wednesday, August 27th, 2008
Bill Gets Dissed
A lot will be written (mostly today) about how Hillary’s speech, although well delivered, was merely a half-hearted praisal of Obama. Richard Cohen called it “when you can’t say something nice“. But can anyone really be surprised about Hillary making it all about herself? She talked about herself, her issues, her campaign, her outfits, and […]
No Comments » - Posted in Essays, Obama 08 by eric
Monday, August 25th, 2008
The Press, Obama and McCain
As I have mentioned previously, the press may talk more about Obama than McCain, but they are easier on McCain. Regardless of the evidence, it is always Obama who has problems with women, white men, and is fairing poorly in the polls. Obama is an unknown entity, and we all know exactly what McCains thinks […]
No Comments » - Posted in Essays, Obama 08 by eric
Sunday, August 24th, 2008
Humming Birds, Flowers, Eric Dolphy and More
Conversations is not the easiest Eric Dolphy LP to get your hands on. Iron Man, recorded at the same time, is much more accessible. Nevertheless, Conversations is a very interesting Dolphy recording, with great performances by a wide range of artists. For example, the song in this video, “Music Matador”, features Dolphy alongside Prince Lasha […]
No Comments » - Posted in Digressions, Jazz by eric
Sunday, August 17th, 2008
Dazed and Confused
I just read, finally, a great op-ed by Frank Rich called “The Candidate We Still Don’t Know” that addresses the very point I have been making for a long time: the media is playing it easy on John McCain. No one is pressing him on his George W. Bush-like mental agility and missteps, his extremist […]
