R.I.P Molly Ivins:

Molly Ivins, the liberal political columnist who made Texas and George W. Bush her endlessly entertaining subjects, has died after a long struggle with breast cancer. She was 62.

Ivins's column was syndicated in more than 350 newspapers. She wrote in a style I call H.L Mencken after 3 tallboys, brawling, proud, and profanely intelligent. You didn't have to agree with her to like her because her leading agenda items was common sense and fairness. She once called Dallas a town “that would have rooted for Goliath to beat David" and a colorless politician "the pet rock of the state house."

I only met Molly Ivins once when I lived in Austin and staffed an event for Texas Folklife Resources. She was a tall woman with a presence like an oak tree who managed to be both world weary and eager for a fight in the same breath. When an audience member told her how much they liked her work, she asked if they too lives in Austin. When the audience member said yes, Molly Ivins replied "Honey, then you know as well as I do. With Texas politics, anyone could do it. It's all in the material."

Molly Ivins's best material is, in my opinion, her three collections of columns: "Molly Ivins Can't Say That, Can She?", "Nothin' But Good Times Ahead" and "You Gotta Dance With Them That Brung You.". I've read each and enjoyed every word.

Molly Ivins was a giant of journalism and the written word, a troublemaker and therefore the best kind of patriot. I will miss her and her work very much.

The Texas Observer, Ivins's first paper, has dedicated their website this week to remembering her.

Word of the Day: "Spurious"

Spurious (adjective): "False, lacking in authenticity"

Usage: "The claim that I have super powers is only spurious to those of weak imagination"

Spurious claims throughout history: The "flat earth", the "Surgeon's Photo" of the Loch Ness Monster, and a few things Nostradamus had to say.

Thought of the Day: "Your Thoughts"

""If in the last few years you haven't discarded a major opinion or acquired a new one, check your pulse. You may be dead." --Gelett Burgess (via The Writer's Almanac)

Gleanings: State of the Union, State of Alternet, State of SXSW:

On my mind and in the reading queue this week

• President Bush's approval ratings hits an all-time low (30%) following his State of the Union address (via Alternet).
• Rudy Giuliani may be running for president. And he may not be.
• Alternet now has RSS Feeds for all of its columnists including Jim Hightower, Annalee Newitz and Molly Ivins. Which makes me all kinds of happy
• Puzzlehunt is a series of puzzles leading to a final answer where puzzlers compete against each other over a continuous block of time. Microsoft's famous puzzlehunt started in 1999. MIT does one called the Mystery Hunt. Someone told me about puzzlehunts at dinner last night which got me way excited. I love these things
• A NY Times article about black indie rock fans. Yes, they exist (via LHB).
• Wired's article on RSS supping up has got me playing with all sort of cool stuff including RSS reminders of what's playing at your favorite movie theater.
• I've been visiting Done Waiting's SXSW Music blog everyday now in hopes they will post a list of bands playing this year. Thus far only dribs and drabs. Maddening.

Read Recently: "The Tennis Partner: A Doctor's Story of Friendship and Loss" by Dr. Abraham Verghese:

Title: "The Tennis Partner"

Author: Abraham Verghese.

Synopsis: Dr. Abraham Verghese is an internist specializing in infectious diseases. In the early 1990s he accepted a job in El Paso, Texas. With his marriage failing and two sons to raise, he befriends a medical student and former professional tennis player David Smith. Smith, a former drug addict, relapses.

Backstory: "My Own Country", Dr. Verghese's first book about running an AIDS clinic in rural Tennessee in the early 1980s was a gift from my mother and a favorite of mine.

Notes: Much of the writing and storytelling gifts Verghese displayed in his first book are here (W.P. Kinsella called his prose "clear as spring water"). Short chapters will tempt you to speed up but don't give in. You'll throw the gentle, sad tone of the story off.

Verdict: Dr. Verghese's writing is as strong as ever but there's really not a booklength story here. More like a long magazine article. At times, "The Tennis Partner" feels stretched and padded to accomodate those demands. Or perhaps those of an anxious publisher, looking to capitalize on the success of "My Own Country".

I hope Dr. Verghese has a third book in him. I wait eagerly for it.

What the World Needs Now:

Is caffeinated doughnuts. Mornings will never be the same.

Word of the Day: "Pedant"

Pedant (noun): "a person who overemphasizes rules or minor details."

Famous pedants throughout history: Lady Bracknell, Dean Wormer, Seymour Skinner.

Thought to be pedants but in the end were not: Professor Kingsfield.

One Sentence Movie Reviews: "Born Rich"

Born Rich (2003): "Fortunate people have issues too."

Notes: There's a good movie to be made about the psychological baggage of being born rich but this isn't it. The filmmaker, heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune, is too close to the subjects (his friends and peers) to ask burrowing questions. Or maybe they just won't answer them. I'd like to see a similar film about beautiful people, who may be more willing to talk about their good fortune than folks with tons of cheddar are. I may have to make it myself.

Too Busy to Blog:

So hey. Sorry I haven't been around much these last few days. Finished up a book review for the Chronicle, working on another for the LA Times and trying to swim my way through the molasses that is the research for my next book. But things appear to be clearing up.

Word of the Day: "Fecund"

Fecund (adjective): "Productive, fruitful, prolific"

Notes: A big SAT word. The focus of of a great joke in the movie "Clueless"

Music's Gaping Contradiction:

In her weekly music commentary, Celia Hirschman offers some sobering statistics for the state of the music industry: This week was the lowest sales-week ever since record keeping began in 1991. According to SoundScan, the number-one album in the country only sold 60,000 copies.

Ms. Hirchman, whom I've worked with before and whose opinion I respect a great deal, goes on to say "Clearly, the industry will never return to the past glory days, because the record business will never have that much power again, nor will the leadership ever be the same." That's for sure. Music is now less about chart position than fan loyalty, less about format than portibility, less about being a star than earning it. And while the industry flails about arresting DJs and performers, and sqaundering whatever good will they have left, I can help shake my head at the contradiction: While these are dark times for the music industry, it is a golden age for music fans. Thanks to the internet, downloading legal and illegal, and the relative affordability of music festivals at no time in the history of recorded sounds had it been this easy to find music you like faster, deeper, cheaper and easier.

This should be cause for the industry to celebrate. After all, it reveals that the appetite for music is boundless. That they are failing in the midst of such plenty is no one's fault but their own.

CSI: LA?

According to this week's espisode of The Business, CSI:NY is actually filmed in Los Angeles not New York. It's actually cheaper to shoot the program on soundstages and special effects in backdrops than to schlep the whole cast and crew to the east coast.

Who knew? Certainly had me fooled.

One Sentence Movie Reviews: "Children of Men":

Children of Men (2006): "How we act when we know the end is near is the truest test of our character"

Side Note: Can anyone explain to me what the infertility plot and the "we hate illegal immigrants" plot have to do with one another? Am I missing something?

Gleanings: Obama, Buchwald, and Burnin Man tries green:

• Senator Barak Obama is all but in for the 2008 presidential race. Here's the video where he makes the announcement.
• Humorist Art Buchwald has died. The New York Times has included a video obituary from Buchwald himself which is part of the newspaper's new project to get liviing video testimonies from famous people about their lives. A little on the end of his life...

  But perhaps no year of his life was as remarkable as the last. It became something of an extended curtain call. Last February doctors told him he had only a few weeks to live. “I decided to move into a hospice and go quietly into the night,” he wrote three months later. “For reasons that even the doctors can’t explain, my kidneys kept working.”

  "Refusing dialysis, he continued to write his column, reflecting on his mortality while keeping his humor even as he lost a leg. He spent the summer on Martha’s Vineyard, published a book, “Too Soon to Say Goodbye,” in the fall and attended a memorial for an old friend, the reporter R.W. Apple Jr. of The New York Times. He gave interviews and looked on as his life was celebrated.

  “The French ambassador gave me the literary equivalent of the Legion of Honor,” he wrote. “The National Hospice Association made me man of the year. I never realized dying was so much fun.”

• According to a recent article, the majority of American women are single, not married. In 2005, married people became a minority in America for the first time in the nation's history.
• Cooling Man is an attempt to make the annual Burning Man festival a carbon neutral city.
• Booksfree.com is trying to do for books what Netflix did for movies. Anybody tried this (via Written Road).

Today, yes that:

9:30 AM Go to martial arts class

11:30 AM Drive to Microsoft in Silicon Valley to have lunch with my friend Kristy.

2 PM Begin drive home.

2:15 Stop in nearby Starbucks to check email.

3 PM Continue trip home.

4 PM Arrive home to realize have left wallet at Starbucks.

6 PM Make whole trip again during rush hour traffic. Arrive at dinner with my friend Britton with about 3 minutes to spare.

8 PM Attend City Arts & Lectures with Britton to see Barbara Ehrenreich

10 PM Arrive home to realize have left cell phone on floor of theatre.

10:20 PM. Write this post arguing that I am the stupidest person on the face of the earth. Close computer and crawl into bed.

One Sentence Movie Reviews: "Once in a Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of the New York Cosmos":

"Once in a Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of the New York Cosmos" (2006): "Grand beginnings do not guarentee graceful exits"

Notes: A fascinating yet surfacey documentary telling of New York Cosmos soccer team, who set the town on fire in the mid 1970s only to flame out and dissolve by 1985. Pele played for them as did many of the world's greats. The teams history overlapped with my favorite period in New York, that of the blackout, the Son of Sam, Studio 54 and the birth of hip hop. Has all the right elements but little depth.

MLK Day:

Today is the birthday of one of my heroes Martin Luther King Jr. The "I Have A Dream" speech has inspired me throughout my adult life, particularly since going into public speaking. I listen to it every Fourth of July, every year on Dr. King's birthday and whenever I need reminding of what my country can be.

Full text and streaming of the speech at American Rhetoric.

On a Slow Sunday...

The staff of Kevin Smokler.com recommends posing your friends like an iconic movie poster.

Update: And the lunacy continues.

2007 Two Weeks In:

Today is the 13th day of 2007, a number with no special signifcance for me. You might have some. If you suffer from Triskaidekaphobia, stop reading now and seek help.

Over here, I'm amazed at how busy the first two weeks of the year have been. Part of that's because I was out of two for the last two weeks of December and am now catching up with friends I haven't seen in a while. Part of it the excitement of beginning a new year and wanting to attend every meetup/lecture/party/flea circus that Upcoming throws at me. But mostly it's because I've laid out 7 massive New Years Intentions (my wise friend Holly calls then "intentions", something you will do instead of "resolutions", something you wanna do but probably won't) which will set the map for for my accomplishments this year.

It's exciting as hell to see in print (okay, legal pads tacked to my bathroom wall) all I want to happen for myself and my community this year. I haven't quite figured out how to pace myself so I don't feel constantly behind (Behind? It's still January! The insanity!) but like they said in Stripes, "We are willing to learn."

I'm going to do a giant post about said New Years Intentions soon. In the meantime, what are your New Years Intentions?

Read Recently: "A Country that Works: Getting America Back on Track" by Andy Stern

Title: "A Country That Works"

Author: Andrew Stern.

Synopsis: Andy Stern is president of Service Employees International Union, which represents hospital and home care workers, janitors and security guards. SEIU is the fastest growing union in America. This book is his prognosis for how organized labor and corporations can work together to create a stronger, wealthier nation where "working people aren't always getting the squeeze."

Backstory: I heard Mr. Stern interviewed on Fresh Air and was impressed enough to buy his book.

Notes: A quick read, short, forceful, a few too many anecdotes. Mostly reads like a book-length Op-Ed piece.

Verdict: It's clear Mr. Stern is good at what he does and the new 21st Century directions he seeks for labor (management-employee cooperation, international organizing, merit based internal advancement) are sorely overdue. But he never answers the fundamental question that hangs over this book like a downsizing: If corporations don't play along, does any of it matter? What leverage do SEIU and its members really have over the employers? Striking and public embarassment have been around for a century and yet, according to Mr. Stern, the future for working people has gotten darker, not brighter. If his methods are the way forward, his refusal to acknowledge their conditional effectiveness is either arrogance or wishful thinking. I'm hoping for a third answer I haven't thought of.

This is a fine book if you are interested in labor and the state of the American workplace. But you'll probably finish it wishing there were more.

Word of the Day: "Luthiers"

Luthiers (noun): "One that makes or repairs stringed intsruments"

Heard at a dinner party last night.

Literary Birthdays: Star Studded

The hits keep on comin: Today is the birthday(s) of Jay McInerney, Horatio Alger Jr., Lorrie Moore and Edmund White.

How's that for a dinner party? (via The Writer's Almanac)

Gleanings: Dodd, Wilson, Spree:

• Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut has announced that he's running for president.
• R.I.P Robert Anton Wilson (via Laughing Squid).
• New York magazine reports that Norman Mailer has enemies. And the earth is round (via Readerville).
• According to their myspace page, The Polyphonic Spree's third album titled "The Fragile Army" will be released this spring.

Killer Day for Literary Birthdays:

William James, Walter Mosley and Haruki Murikami (via The Writer's Almanac).

Thought of the Day: "Common Sense"

"Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing." --William James (via The Writer's Almanac)

Read Recently: "Old School" by Tobias Wolff

Title: "Old School"

Author: Tobias Wolff.

Synopsis: A semi-autobiographical novel of a senior at an elite New England prep school in the early 1960s. He dreams of becoming a writer and much of his semesterly excitement is the arrival of a visiting writer and a contest the school holds to offer one student an audience with that writer.

Backstory: My friend Brenden and this wise person recommended it to me. I loved "This Boy's Life" when I read it many years ago.

Notes: Not a long book (200 pages give or take) so you could finish it quick if you wanted. But then you'd missing out on its gifts.

Verdict: Lovely, lovely book. Nearly every page has at least three turns of phrase you want to hold up to the sun like precious stones. Read with a notebook or a highlighter. Wolff gets more heart and grace out of one short novel than most writers get out of their first 3. Also should be required reading for anyone who thinks that "sophisticated writing" needs to be tangled and wordy. Wolff is as clear and refreshing as a deep breath.

Highly Recommended. Like best-book read so far in 2007 recommended.

Word of the Day: "Chevron"

Chevron (noun): "A badge consisting of stripes meeting at an angle, a v-shaped pattern." Also a military insignia, a fabric pattern and a petroleum corporation.

Usage: "Driving a snowmobile downhill in a chevron pattern is ill-advised"

One Sentence Movie Reviews: "Blood Diamond"

Blood Diamond (2006): "Will G-D ever forgive us for what we've done to one another?" --Line from the film.

Notes: A great companion piece with director Ed Zwick's interview on KCRW.

Gleanings: Surges, iPhones, Cartoons

• The "surge" of troops into Iraq may be over before it begins. This morning Senator Kennedy of Massachusetts introduced a bill requiring congressional approval before any additional troops are deployed. Look for a showdown between not only the White House and Congress but the first real test of Democratic unity. Senators Lieberman and Graham both support the surge (via Huffington Post).
• How are you monitoring the announcements at Macworld? I've got Gizmodo and CNET rollin' with the geeky goodness.
• I'm dying to listen to Sacha Baron Cohen's interview (not in character) on Fresh Air.
• After 16 years in the Bay Area, Keith Knight of the K Chronicles comic strip, is moving to LA. Sigh.

Synagogue Bulletin Bloopers:

My dad was kind enough to send me this list. Funny s*it.

SYNAGOGUE BULLETIN BLOOPERS

All the mistakes in spelling and typing were left in.

These announcements were found in shul newsletters and bulletins.
Even spell check wouldn't have helped.

1. Don't let worry kill you. Let your synagogue help. Join us for
our Oneg after services. Prayer and medication to follow. Remember
in prayer the many who are sick of our congregation.

2. For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a
nursery downstairs.

3. We are pleased to announce the birth of David Weiss, the sin of
Rabbi and Mrs. Abe Weiss.

4. Thursday at, there will be a meeting of the Little Mothers Club.
All women wishing to become Little Mothers please see the rabbi in
his private study.

5. The ladies of Hadassah have cast off clothing of every kind and
they may be seen in the basement on Tuesdays.

6. A bean supper will be held Wednesday evening in the community
center. Music will follow.

7. Weight Watchers will meet at 7 PM at the JCC. Please use the
large double door at the side entrance.

8. Rabbi is on vacation. Massages can be given to his secretary.

9. Goldblum will be entering the hospital this week for testes.

10. The Men's Club is warmly invited to the Oneg hosted by Hadassah.
Refreshments will be served for a nominal feel.

11. Please join us as we show our support for Amy and Rob, who are
preparing for the girth of their first child.

12. We are taking up a collection to defray the cost of the new
carpet in the sanctuary. All those wishing to do something on the
carpet will come forward and get a piece of paper.

13. If you enjoy sinning, the choir is looking for you!
14. The Associate Rabbi unveiled the synagogue's new fundraising
campaign slogan this week: "I Upped My Pledge. Up Yours."

Soap: The Movie...

Anybody seen the trailer for the movie "Soap"? An do you know the name of the song playing because I dig it.

Word of the day: "Ignominious"

Ignominious (adjective): discredible, humiliating.

Usage: "An ignominious exit is made even more so with an open fly."

Welcome Back Arcade Fire:

The Arcade Fire, the most popular band your friends back home haven't heard off, will release their second album Neon Bible on March 6, according to the video shown here. They're playing 5 shows in New York to preview the new songs. Apparently the concerts sold out so fast that not getting tickets created its own meme, the 21st century measure of "having it".

One Sentence Movie Reviews: "Dear Frankie" (2004):

Dear Frankie (2004): "Those we seek to protect may have already done the job for themselves."

Notes: The movie Charlotte's Web should have been. A modern fairy tale, thorough, honest and kind. Equally good for children and adults. A joy.

Word of the Day: "Tidings"

Tidings (noun): "news or information."

Usage: "No one receives tidings that are neither happy or sad. Tidings of indifference are simply called 'news'"

Birthday Bounty:

Today is a kalidoscopic day for literary birthdays with Carl Sandburg and Kahlil Gibran blowing out candles on that big cake in the sky and E.L Doctorow wearing a paper hat here on earth (via The Writer's Almanac).

Thought of the Day: "Your Example"

"The power of your example is far greater than what you say." --The Dropkick Murphys.

One Sentence Movie Reviews: "Charlotte's Web" (2006):

Charlotte's Web (2006): "Money spent on voices does not show up on the screen"

Notes: What the hell? I've read Charlotte's Web about 500 times, seen the 1973 cartoon version and this retelling, with unlimited resources at its disposal looks ghetto. Ghetto like someone blew the bank on voice talent and forgot there was a movie to make. Wilbur's barn has the effervescence of a loading dock while the town looks like the backend of a studio prop warehouse. The human characters barely rise above sketches so the movie misses out on the gruff kindness of Homer Zuckerman, the loveable idiocy of the farmhand Lurvy and the mischief of Fern's brother Avery. Even Dakota Fanning as Fern seems hustled out of the frame so the filmmakers can parade all the money they spent getting Oprah to voice a goose.

Bottom line: This has half the magic Charlotte's Web should. For a moment, it did remind me that this is also a story about friendship and loyalty as much as about the passage of time and the cycle of life. But only for a moment.

Word of the Day: "Filigreed"

Filigreed (adjective): "Decorate, ornate, fanciful"

Usage: "My filigreed toilet seat is a hit at parties but hard on the hindquarters"

Congressional Pomp:

I have a weekness for the old-fashioned pomp and circumstance of government so I loved reading this article about the first convening of of the 110th Congress, headed by Speaker-Elect Nancy Pelosi.

Some of the rituals I didn't know about:

1. The Speaker of the House election is the only time the Speaker addresses Congress from the dais. All other times, the Speaker is on the House floor like everyone else.

2. It's also the only time votes are announced out loud. Otherwise they are tabulated electronically.

3. Tradition dicates the Speaker is nominated by the head of the majority parties caucus, in this case Rahm Emanuel of Illinois.

4. Swearing in of the new speaker is done by the most senior member of the house, in this case John Dingell of Michigan who has served continuously since 1955.

SF: City of Self-Righteous Idiots:

One thing you don't see much of in the tourist literature is than San Francisco has more self-righteousness per square foot than any place this side of the nearest graduate student seminar. I think it's probably because the town is small geographically and has been a haven for the dispossessed throughout its history. Therefore everybody guards their piece of it like a toddler with the last cookie. Except in this case, the toddler is probably has a double masters degree in folklore and making an ass of himself while claiming to serving the interests of whatever marginal community they belong to. Put another way, I'd never seen an interest group for canine physical fitness until I arrived here. They've probably got a member on city council and are perennially aggreived by the lack of respect dog agility receives in this town.

Never been here? Exhibit A: A guy gets on a bus with an expired pass. Can't ride the bus with an expired pass. In his indignation at this enforcement of the law (an unjust law!), he manages to turn the whole bus against him and get the cops involved. All over the $1.50 it would cost to ride the bus home.

San Francisco: Home of the Golden Gate Bridge, Mission Delores, and the mountain out of a molehill.

One Sentence Movie Reviews: "The Pursuit of Happyness" (2006):

The Pursuit of Happyness (2006):

"Poverty is a crime where 100% of the victims are innocent."

Big Loses, Small Pleasures:

Never mind that my beloved Michigan Wolverines have just lost their 3rd bowl game in a row by getting creamed 32-18 by USC (Oscar, I owe you a beer and a burger). I'm taking small joy in my review of the Tenacious D movie showing up on the film's blog.

Quiet in the peanut gallery. I know it's not an even swap.