Category: Thoughts

It’s an old joke that the New York Times “Living” section is really the “Having” Section, and that’s fine, in its own way. Of course, Times readers have also become accustomed to the Sunday Styles section as an absurdity. Especially at Wall Street bonus time, it’s like National Geographic went on an expedition to Neiman Marcus. But I did not know until today that the bias toward wealth and mad consumerism had infiltrated the Science section. Witness an article about consumer behavior by John Tierney:

What is the difference between a tightwad’s brain and a spendthrift’s brain? What neurological circuits stop you from buying a George Foreman grill but not a Discovery Channel color-changing mood clock? Why is there a $2,178.23 balance on my January Visa bill?

What struck me most about the article was that it was published on the same day as this article about a shantytown in Miami. Yes, a shantytown. Just like they have in the other parts of the world that suffer from huge wealth disparities and kleptocratic governments.

Has the Times jumped the shark? Has the American dream?

The fighting in Cochabamba has stopped, at least for now. The what, you ask?

Evo Morales was elected president following several years of instability caused primarily by… well, Evo Morales and the MAS party. Now that he’s in charge, he’s got to walk the fine line of balancing the needs of his rowdy constituents, the needs of the rest of the country, and the desires of the international community (i.e. the US and the World Bank, which want to see less coca and a more stable economy). Mostly he seemed to be doing a pretty good job of it: there was leftist rhetoric, an increase in allowable coca harvest, increased spending on social programs, some threats to renegotiate oil and gas contracts, but no major nationalization of industries.

However, regional prefects (governors), especially in the province of Cochabamba, have been frustratingly independent-minded. In the past few weeks, that’s heated up to include “independent” and “spontaneous” protests (organized and paid for by MAS). After a few hundred injuries, a couple deaths, and some buildings torched, we’ve gotten a truce.

Evo has created a monster. Will it eat him, or Bolivia, or both? I don’t know.

Page of the day intro for American Idol: With just seven days before the premiere, the idolatry is in full swing. Some of you might be looking forward to hearing some great new singing voices, but there’s a special place in our hearts for the worst performers. Not the ones who can’t sing but want to be on TV anyway– they’re just greedy for attention. We’re talking about the kids who think they can sing and only discover the awful truth when Simon says it. Their televised humiliation makes our mediocrity feel like success, reassures us that striving for greatness is a sucker’s game, and delivers the guilty rush of watching someone else get hurt while we’re safe at home.

Vomitola has inspired me: my resolution is “no being a shit.”

Of course, I have already broken it once, but that’s only one out of 8 days so far this year: that’s a resolution 87.5% kept, which is a passing grade.

We just started a Beauty and the Geek page on TTS and I’m wishing I was running it now. It’s brilliant. A girl was just asked if she was more red-state or blue-state and said “I’m from California, so I’m from the Golden State!”

Here’s a clip of one of the geeks:

Do I come to your job and smack the dick out of your mouth?

Today there was a long, long line at the train station as people lined up to buy new subway passes. They had not figured out that January was a new month and that they needed a new pass. Nor had they read any of the notices or editorials over the past six months predicting, announcing, and arguing about the fare increase. Nor had they checked the new fare structure, so they were surprised that there is no subway-only or bus-only pass any more. There was a lot of confused morning line-standing going on.

Feeling smug and superior is a great way to start a week.

Tomorrow is my 30th birthday. It’s a milestone. The number itself doesn’t bother me. But it’s a good time to reflect: If I’m lucky, I’m about a third done with my life. If I’m not lucky, more than a third.

Conveniently, I also did a lot of reflecting when I turned 25, and made myself a five-year plan. I don’t know where it is right now, but I remember at least a few things from the list. It included having some poetry published in a major national magazine (duh, nope) and moving in with my ex. I never did achieve either of those.

But there’s a bunch of stuff in there I did achieve, or things I did which are close to things on the list: I had an article published in a major technical website and shacked up Bookdwarf. There was freelance editorial work, and getting a promotion and a raise. Of course, after the raise came the layoff, but whatever. I’ve got a job I like now, and I’m saving my pennies so when I’m too old to feed myself I can pay someone to do it for me. I seem to be on track for the usual yuppie goals. (How old do you have to get before you’re no longer a yuppie? Forty? Fifty?)

Living the dream, whatever that means:

Earlier this month I made a list of goals for 2007. It included getting some more tattoos, learning to shoot a gun, and getting a vasectomy. It’s looking like I’ll be oh-for-three on that, though: I don’t know what the hell I’d get for a tattoo, the gun thing seems like a total dumb waste of money now, and the vasectomy seems like more trouble than it’s worth. So, my current goals seem to be “keep on truckin’.” I guess I could do worse.

Bookdwarf, or at least her chest and arms, are featured in the Times this week as a backdrop to John Edwards. Now that’s fame:

Back when they still called it “techno” I was just entering high school and James Brown Is Dead was not a song you could just find on the radio or something. I heard it because I knew a guy with an extensive collection of LPs, and I thought it was brilliant. Of course, I was 14, so I thought all sorts of stupid things. Regardless, I expect LA Style’s 1991 club hit will get some play this week, since its shock-value sample has finally come true. Here’s the video: