Archive for February, 2009
Friday, February 27th, 2009
A Huge Deficit and Nothing But Guns to Show For It
In today’s Washington Post, ultra-conservative commentator Charles Krauthammer writes that Obama wants to make the U.S. like Europe. Some Americans like me who actually live in Europe don’t think that is necessarily a bad idea.
I think I have already made this point ad nauseum, but I will repeat myself: throughout continental Europe, health care is […]
5 Comments » - Posted in Essays by eric
Thursday, February 26th, 2009
More Fascism than Socialism
Recently, I have been making the argument that the U.S. should be defined more by government intervention than by truly free market capitalism. Since Reagan in the 1980s, in spite of the propaganda to the contrary, we have seen a consistent and significant increase in deficit spending and in the government’s share of GDP (i.e., […]
10 Comments » - Posted in Essays by eric
Tuesday, February 24th, 2009
Hairstyles of the Damned
I just finished Hairstyles of the Damned by Joe Meno, a coming of age tale about high school students set in 1990-91. Meno does a fantastic job of portraying all of the angst of high school: the conflict between trying to fit in and be unique at the same time, hormones run wild, parents and […]
2 Comments » - Posted in literature by eric
Monday, February 23rd, 2009
Penelope Oscar Barcelona
I suppose it is no surprise when mediocrity is rewarded with an Oscar. Nevertheless, I always feel a sense of dismay whenever a tearful actor or actress expresses gratitude to loved ones for some remarkably average performance in some remarkably average movie that deserves to be classified merely as a “show” rather than art.
Penelope Cruz’s […]
9 Comments » - Posted in Essays, Living la vida española by eric
Sunday, February 22nd, 2009
Jazz Loft and Treasure Trove
In recent years some great live Jazz performances, dust-ridden and forgotten, have been discovered in the back of some warehouse. The most famous of these is a live performance of John Coltrane and Thelonious Monk playing together at Carnegie Hall. Perhaps even more exciting is the new discovery of 3,000 hours of tapes from a […]
No Comments » - Posted in Jazz by eric
Wednesday, February 18th, 2009
When You’re Allowed to Be Racist
I just read this article about how a man kills his wife by cutting her head off. The title of the article is “Muslim TV exec accused of beheading his wife”. Maybe I could understand if this article were written say in the Spanish press where the nationality or religion of a crime suspect (when […]
11 Comments » - Posted in Essays by eric
Friday, February 13th, 2009
Time for a Wake Up Call
I love my country. I love the fact that we are a nation based on a political ideology of separation of powers and separation of church and state. I love our notions of equal protection and due process, and the uniqueness of our civil rights movement. I love that we are a nation of immigrants […]
2 Comments » - Posted in Essays by eric
Thursday, February 12th, 2009
Eric Dolphy and the Bass Clarinet
Most people do not think of the bass clarinet as a jazz instrument, but multi-reedist Eric Dolphy made it part of his regular repertoire (along with the alto sax and flute). Like Sonny Rollins, Dolphy was also one of the few reedists of his time to record unaccompanied solos. In the first video, Dolphy plays […]
No Comments » - Posted in Jazz by eric
Wednesday, February 11th, 2009
25 Things About Me
After first being tagged by William (requesting only seven things) and subsequently by Sanjeev, Sorin, and Paul through Facebook, I have finally gotten round to compiling my own self-absorbed list. Here is the list that I published on Facebook:
2 Comments » - Posted in Digressions, Friends / Family by eric
Tuesday, February 10th, 2009
Dubai
My recent conspicuous absence was due to having spent the past few days in Dubai, UAE where I went to get a feel for the place and visit my friend, Deema (who has been there now for close to two years).
Dubai is, without a doubt, a very strange place indeed. In particular, it is incredibly […]
