Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Radio Time (2 cents)

I spent a fair amount of time this morning in the car, and had the radio on, and am pleased to report that I found three interesting things to listen to (and that I did not turn anything off in disgust):

1. The president's speech at Anapolis on Iraq strategy. Like the contents or not, it was a good speech, well delivered and interesting to hear.

2. The Supreme Court argument on Planned Parenthood's challenge to the state of New Hampshire on requirements for parental notifications before abortions can be performed on minors.

3. The Kojo Mnambe show with British mystery writer P.D. James.

This was especially refreshing, since so much of what you hear is just drivel.

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Quick concert notes

You can attend free concerts in Washington. Another reason this is a good place to retire.

Saturday, at the Andersen House, we attended a piano-cello recital of pieces by Schumann (Immanuela Gruenberg and John Kaboff) and today I went to Grace Episcopal Church and saw solo pianist Joseph Currie. Currie played Schumann's Arabeske (a familiar piece) and Liszt's Annes de Pelerinage (2nd Annee), which I had not heard before. Gruenberg and Kaboff played pieces that were unfamiliar to me: Three Romances, Five Pieces in Folk Style and Fantasy Pieces. Most were written originally for instruments other than the cello, and transcribed by Schumann. Gruenberg and Currie gave interesting introductions to what was played.

The musicians were all of high quality, although none of them will probably solo with the New York Philharmonic.

Barry Rubin at Politics and Prose

My Monday Night at Politics and Prose this week led me to hear Barry Rubin speak about his new book on the prospects for democracy in the Middle East. I am not sure how many books Rubin has written over the past thirty years. Based on his presentation, it must be thousands. No matter what question was asked him, he answer was "I did not deal with that subject in this book. But I have written two others concentrating on the point."

Any insights? Two items of importance that I picked up. First, that Rubin thinks that democracy will come to the Arab Middle East, but that it might take another millenium or two. Second, that what the United States does in the Middle East has limited effects on what happens there. In other words, we may be disrupting Iraq with our presence, but are we really changing Iraq? Probably not -- stick around another millenium or two and see.

TV News Hits New Low!! (2 cents)

With Larry King's show tonight dedicated to Hugh Hefner and his three live-in girl friends. A new low!

Monday, November 28, 2005

The News!

They say that fewer people are reading newspapers, and that the average newspaper reader is 55 years old. They say that the largest group of people, and especially young people, are getting their news from the internet, where they look at only selective subjects whose reliability is questionable.

Some people get their news from the radio, where there are some acceptable all news stations such as WTOP is Washington, but where news is generally limited to repetitive five minute bites, or dangerous right wing crazies.

What about television? Obviously, a lot of people watch a lot of television, but the network newscasts have lost significant numbers of viewers, and are clearly in transition mode.

For a while, you could turn on CNN, or CNN Headline, or Fox, or MSNBC and get news virtually anytime day or night. (Of course, this was a very short while.) Now, it is impossible. Prime night time TV time has third-rate biopics or crime stories on NBC, absolute loons on Fox News, Larry King and his third rate interviews, followed by a too cute Anderson Cooper 360 show on CNN and, of all people, strident, unwatchale Nancy Grace on CNN Headline News, the station that should provide 'round the clock information. But graceless Nancy Grace is not the only deficient news host. Look at Shawn Hannity and Bill O'Reilly, who disgrace the legitimate right wing, and Allen Combs, the "liberal" who plays Abbot to Hannity's Costello. Then there is the perpetually unpleasant Greta van Sustern, and the perpetually silly Joe Scarborough. They almost make Geraldo Rivera look good.

This is a big country, with a lot of talented people. Where are today's Ted Koppels? Why did Aaron Brown get canned? How is it that the networks and the cable stations feel obliged to put mediocrity or worse on the air? Have they no pride whatsover?

Street Musicians: There Ought To Be a Law (1 cent)

I have given it much thought. The law should provide encouragement to, and subsidies for, those musicians of whom I approve, and punish with permanent exile and banishment those whom I do not care for.

Sunday, November 27, 2005

The Textile Museum

Here is a place to visit in Washington, off the normal tourist trail. Located in the Kalorama neighborhood, in an elegant house, it features special textile exhibits, has an extensive library, and offers classes of various sorts. It is free, and parking is easy. There is a gift shop. The museum appears to be very well maintained.

There are two exhibits now.

The first, Rozome Masters of Japan, closes on February 12. It has a number of largely contemporary art works on fabric, created using an old hot wax technique, where the wax is applied with brushes. Most of the pieces are screens, mainly flat mounted on the wall, but there is also several kimonos and other items.

I cannot understand the technique, which is apparently about 1500 years old, but which had gone out of fashion and has only been recently revived. The designs went from realistic nature designs (birds and flowers, mainly), to social settings of various sorts, to abstract designs, some soft and some harsh.

My favorite is called Upheaval Seashore by Chie Otani, a four part screen of a bright and highly textured bring orange-red-brown shore, with protruding rocks, which look almost like helmets left from a recent battle. Some I did not like at all, particularly those that were the most abstract.

The second exhibit, which runs until February 26, is called "Silk and Leather: Splendid Attire of Nineteenth Century Central Asia", and that is what it is. Adult and children's clothing, men's and women's, cloaks, boots, hats, belts and more.

The colors tend to be very bright. The embroidery techniques are quite old. According to the material available at the exhibit, the 19th century in what is now Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan was apparently properous enough to engender a revised interest in highly decorative apparel, and this exhibit shows a variety of what was produced.

Worth seeing. For a preview, go to www.textilemuseum.org.

Good Night and Good Luck

'Good Night and Good Luck', the George Clooney-directed movie about Edward R. Murrow and Joe McCarthy was, to me, a bit disappointing. I was expecting something riveting, but I found it to be relatively shallow. The movie looked good - black and white, and all that. And the acting was good enough, and I assume it was historically very accurate, since so many of those involved are still around. But you really did not learn anything about any of the characters, and it only dealt with a small period of Murrow's career. Not that it was bad; it was just disappointing.

Thanksgiving Reading: Two Quick Books (3 cents)

I am not exactly sure why I chose either of these to read this weekend, but...

I first sat down with "a novel of suspense" called "The Floating Girl" by Sujata Massey, published in 2000. It is the third of a series of books set in Japan and starring a young journalist/antique expert, who has a pension for getting herselves involved in murder mysteries. The author is American, of German/Indian parentage (see Vikram Seth's "Two Lives"), who lives in Baltimore and writes about Japan, where she has apparently spent a fair amount of time. The victim is an American living in Tokyo involved with the production of pirated manga books (Japanese serial comic books); it all has to due with Japanese gangsters horning in on the sparse profits of this enterprise. You learn a little about some aspects of contemporary Japanese life, but the story is a little weak and far fetched. Not sure why I kept reading, but the fact that I did must say something. But it does not say enough for me to search out the others in the series.

The second book is, I guess, part of my "catch up" reading. It was Kitty Dukakis' "Now You Know". Daughter of BSO first violinist and Pops conductor Harry Ellis Dickson (I learned that Dickson was changed at Ellis Island or thereabouts, and that Harry Ellis Dickson's first cousin was Eddie Duchin.), and wife of Massachusetts governor and presidential wannabe Michael Dukakis, Kitty D. was a golden girl, who (like her golden mother) was apparently always an insecure mess underneath. This book is about her psychological battles, with alcohol, diet pills and depression, and her several hospitalizations. And that is all it is about. Not that that it not a lot, but she obviously was a very accomplished person, moving amongst accomplished people, but this all gets lost in the dust. For periods of time, Kitty seems able to keep her demons in check, and then something happens (like her husband losing the election) and all hell breaks loose. A sad story. You feel not only for her but for her husband, her father, and her children. Perhaps the book was cathartic; I do not know what has happened in the fifteen years since she wrote it. But it is certainly not a book that I, had I been her, would have wanted to write.

Friday, November 25, 2005

Recurrent Dream and More (9 cents)

I have had the same dream a number of times. It is about my grandmother, who lived 100 years and died in 1972. The dream is that in fact, she hadn't died, but had been living the whole time and I just forgot about her, until I found her in a nursing home, very old, but still alert. How I found the nursing home, I don't know, but a felt terrible, as you would imagine, that she had been left alone all these years, that we thought she had died, and who knows what she was thinking about us. But she seemed fine and happy to see me, and not at all mad at me or anyone else, and I knew I couldn't let this happen again. That's the dream. Quite spooky, and who knows what it could mean.

But yesterday, I am reading an article called "Keeping alive the Memory" about the Weissensee Cemetery in Berlin, the largest Jewish cemetery in the city, with about 115,000 graves, still in use. The cemetery, located in former East Berlin, has opened its archives to the public, and now is getting a number of visitors from other parts of the world. The article was in the November 2005 Atlantic Life.

I quote: "The elderly lady from Brazil was one such visitor - at least she thought she was. Borgmann [caretaker of the archives] describes how the woman arrived at the cemetery hoping to find the grave of an aunt. Less than an hour later, she was standing stupefied in front of the headstone of the grandmother she thought had been killed by the Nazis. The death of her grandmother had weighed on the consciences of the family for more than six decades. They had left her behind when they fled to Palestine. Using the archive, Borgmann had been able to find out the grandmother had survived the war, and lived until she was 93 years old in a Jewish nursing home in Berlin."

I assume that the lack of possible communication was very much exacerbated because the grandmother was caught in Communist East Germany, but nevertheless, the story seems impossible, doesn't it? But then, so does my dream which, each time it recurs, seems as real as can be.

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Yoram Meital

Yoram Meital is the head of the Chaim Herzog Center and on the faculty of Ben Gurion University. He spoke last night to a small group of BGU supporters. He was scheduled to speak on changes in the political structure of the Arab middle east, but concentrated more on Israel in light of the recent major changes in that country.

He described himself as optimistic in some areas, and pessimistic in others. An "opssimist".

The optimism comes from the naming of Peretz as new head of the Labor Party, mainly because of his Morrocan background and his union/Histadrut background. He believes that Peretz will bring domestic, social issues back to the forefront of Israeli consciousness, something that has been missing for decades.

The optimism also comes from the withdrawal of Sharon from Likud, and the formation of a new "centrist" party. He believes that most Israelis (right or wrong) are comfortable with the Sharon foreign policy, and with the Peretz domestic policy, so he believes that the next government may be set and stable.

He recognizes the need of the new part to be more than a one-man party. (In the car, after the session, as we were driving him back to his hotel, Meital said that BGU president Avashai Braverman has been approached by Sharon to come into a new government; Braverman's term as president of the university is ending.)

His pessimism comes from the short term inability of any Israeli government to reach an accommodation with the Palestinians. Apparently, Sharon, who is now in favor of reconciliation, believes that a minimum of 70,000 West Bank settlers will be affected. After the turmoil of 7,000 in Gaza, Meital does not know how this can be handled domestically. He also believes, and believes that Sharon thinks, that Abu Massen does not have sufficient control over Palestinian affairs and that Hamas will strengthen. But, he thinks, that if Hamas comes to power, you can't tell whether they will hold on to their current strident position, or modify it. Look at Begin, he says, or De Gaulle, or Nixon in China.

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Exhibitionism (2 cents)

I believe that I am the only person in Washington who has seen the American Silver exhibit at the Renwick, the Adolph Cluss exhibit at Sumner School, the Napoleon exhibit at the National Geographic and the The Pope and the Jews exhibit at the John Paul II Cultural Center.

What's wrong the rest of you guys?

Monday, November 21, 2005

Vikram Seth's "Two Lives" Is an Odd Book, and Disappointing

I went into it with so much hope. A renowned writer, whom I had never read. A sparkling presentation at Politics and Prose. A subject matter (Indian great-uncle/German Jewish great-aunt in Germany and England) with so much promise. Where did it go wrong?

First, the source material could have been expanded. Why, for example, did Seth pay so much homage to the often fascinating correspondence of his Aunty Henny and her pre-war German friends, without apparently ever trying to contact those friends (or their children) to see what more could be discovered from this perspective? Why, as his Aunty Henny and Shanti Uncle were married for almost forty years, and together as close friends for more than a decade before that in England, did he not talk to their English friends? Why rely virtually exclusively on one trunk of correspondence of his aunt's, his interviews with his sick, octogenarian great uncle, his own memories, and a few communications with his own relatives, mainly in India?

Second, what was this book about? Henny and Shanti (obviously an interesting topic)? Was it about the way the story was uncovered and the book put together (sort of like that classic "The Search for Corvo")? Was it about Seth and his realization that the world was a bit more complicated than even he, with all of his sophistication and intelligence, dreamed?

You get the clear feeling that Vikram Seth struggled with this book. (In fact, from the length of time he apparently spent writing other books, you get the feeling that he does a lot of struggling to finish a book - although you cannot tell if it is because he agonizes so much over every page, or because he is easily diverted. My hunch is the latter.) I also came away with the conclusion that it was published well before it was finished. That it would have taken substantially more work and time to track down more of the story, and that it needed a fair amount of editing. Hard editing.

Perhaps Seth was tired of the subject; perhaps his concentration is limited; perhaps his publisher was impatient. Perhaps, one day, someone will write "Vikram Seth - One Life" and we will find out.

Sunday, November 20, 2005

It is Show Me You Care time

All readers: please respond and say hello.

Senator Giovanni (1 cent)

We went to see The Forgotten Opera's production of Don Giovanni last night at, of all places, the Alexandria Masonic Hall. TFO is a small local company made up of singers about town who have put together several food length, staged operas, with small music ensembles (in this case a 5 piece orchestra cum conductor). Scenery is minimal, but it shows that you can put on an opera, with a very small budget, quite successfully, if you don't expect Met quality.

The updating was interesting. Don Giovanni is a womanizing senator who would like to be president. Elvira is his old girl friend who took the fall for him when he hit and killed a young woman in an auto accident, and has been in jail 8 years. The opening scene is the retirement party of Justice Callahan, whose daughter is attacked by the Senator in the mask, after which Giovanni murders Callahan by accident. It is Callahan who comes back at the end to haunt Giovanni and carry his soul to hell. Leporello is Leporello. Zerlina is the new wife (and former intern) of Representative Brady, who carries on with the Senator, either for her own, or perhaps for her husband's, eventual gain.

They hammed it up and handled it like a farce. The company did its own, very witty translation (which I would like to see in print). They kept their clothes on, but through their translation and some of the handprops, played this seduction opera with the R rating it deserves.

All in all, good fun. To bad it is only being performed twice, and that more people won't have an opportunity to see it.

Arthurthinks readers know that we saw Don Giovanni in Prague, its original home, this summer. A more polished and more lavish performance, to be sure. But The Forgotten Opera was much more fun.

Thursday, November 17, 2005

No Child Left Behind? (11 cents)

A recent internet poll from Belief.net shows that 55% of Americans believe the Genesis story of creation and, presumably, that any opposing scientific information should be ignored.

Another recent poll conducted by CNN shows that 40% of Americans believe that human life will end at some point through divine, supernatural intervention, and that a large number of those Americans believe that it will happen in their lifetime.

Talk about failure of American education!!!

One of the common beliefs of how the world will end, of course, is with a rapture, where believing Christians will be swept up into heaven (I guess it's heaven), and everyone else will perish. My question here is: will all of the children be swept upwards, or will there be Some Child Left Behind????? Oh, my. W. W. J. D. ????"

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Vikram Seth

has written a book about his uncle (Indian Hindu) and aunt (German Jewish) and their entertwined lives. I have just started reading it, after hearing is terrific presentation the other night at Politics and Prose. What a charming presenter.

Is the book well written? Here is from the final chapter (I didn't cheat; he read this portion at the store):

"Behind every door on every ordinary street, in every hut in every ordinary village on this middling planet of a trivial star, such riches are to be found. The strange journeys we undertake on our earthly pilgramage, the joy and suffering we taste or confer, the chance events that ccleave us together or apart, what a complex trace they leave: so personal as to be almost incommunicable, so fugitive as to be almost irrecoverable.

Yet seeing through a glass, however darkly, is to be less blind. That is what has motivated this effort; that is all I have hoped would result. These two people whom I love and who loved me may not, in differing degrees, have wanted every stroke - sometimes distorted, sometimes overexplicit - of this portrait. but they are dead and past caring; and I want them complexly remembered - in sickness as in health, in weakness as in strength, in secrecy and in openness. Their lives were cardinal points for me, and guide me still; I want to mark them true."

A Singular Cingular Experience ($10.03)

Some of you might remember my posting about the Zips man. Here is Mr. Cingular.

My cell phone has only been successfully charging about half of the time. The other half of the time, when I put it in the charger, there is a message on the phone that says "unable to charge". This has been going on for several months.

I stopped by a Cingular outlet to ask what the problem might be. He told me that he did not have any diagnostic tools. He said it could be the charger, it could be the battery and it could be the phone.

I asked him if he could test the battery. He said that he couldn't, that he did not have any battery testing equipment and in fact he did not have any replacement battery for my phone.

He asked me if I had the charger with me; I said no, and asked him if I should bring it in. He said then he could see if it charges. I said half the time it does and half the time it doesn't. I said: if it charges, you will tell me it looks OK, right? Right, he said. And if it doesn't, you will tell me that it might be charger, it might be the battery and it might be the phone, right? Right, he said. So, what good would it do me to bring it in? No answer.

He then took the phone and put it into another charger. It started charging. He told me that. I told him that it does that half the time. No answer.

He then said that the phone might be getting old and need upgrading. I told him it was just a year old. He said, you know, in cell phones, one year is like ten. I asked him what that meant - 10 years old didn't seem so bad. He said, well, they build them to become obsolete, particularly if you don't take care of them.

I told him I took very good care of my cell phone. He looked at me. No answer.

I wanted to suggest that he might be in the wrong business; maybe he should be managing a Zips.

Sunday, November 13, 2005

Recent Books (2 cents)

I have not published any references to recent books I have read, so here I go:

1. "The Adamses, 1735-1918" by Richard Brookhiser contains brief biographical sketches of John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Charles Francis Adams, and Henry Adams, four generations. It is a relatively short book, contains some interesting segments, but was, for me, inspiring. It may be that the Adams family just does not inspire. Remember, that a few weeks ago I heard Garry Wills talk about his new biography of Henry Adams, and it left me quite cold.

Two interesting tidbits. First, Brookhiser says that John Adams ranked 14th out of 24 in his Harvard class.....but that in those days, Harvard ranked not by grades but by social standing. Second, there is one John Adams quote that I repeat a lot (and misquote, of course). Its sentiments are right on, but it shows less than an adroit sense of human nature:

"I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study matematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy.......in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry and porcelain."

Brookhiser's writing is grammatically correct and to the point, but it is not inspired. It is as if I had written the book. I would not go out of my way for this one, but would not avoid it, either.

2. "Lindberg" by A. Scott Berg. This book is long, almost three times as long as Brookhiser's. It is better written, and its subject is someone what more interesting. Lindberg was a daredevil (the first person to have to parachute out of airplanes four times to avoid being killed) in his youth, and certainly when he flew the Spirit of St. Louis to Paris. But then he turned scientist, working on a number of medical inventions (such as artificial heart pumps to permit more sophisticated heart surgery, and with Robert Goddard, rocketry), spent a lot of time avoiding publicity unsuccessfully, dealing with the kidnap and murder of the eldest son, being at various times very close to and virtually estranged from his talented writer-wife, traveling the world over again and again and again, and dying of lymphoma in his early seventies. While it seems clear that he was not a Nazi, he certainly was an America Firster, and an isolationist believing and speaking against entry into World War II, and while not a religious person, he clearly had a strong anti-Semitic streak in him. Not someone you would want to spend a lot of time with, although he clearly was attractive and had, when he wanted to, a great deal of charm. The book won a Pulitzer Prize. Worth reading.

3. "Tinasima", by Elena Poniatowska, who in spite of her name is a Mexican author, journalist and feminist. The book pretends to be fiction, but it is history based fiction (and probably as close to a biography as many books purporting to the a biography). I thought it was a terrific book.

Tina Modotti (the subject) is of Italian ancestry, raised in California and becomes photographer Edward Weston's model and later his mistress, moving him away from California (and his family) to Mexico. There, she becmes a photographer in her on right, Weston leaves and goes back to California, and she becomes involved in left-wing politics as well as her art, and becomes extremely well known amongst Mexican and communist circles. Eventually being forced out of Mexico, and having given up on her photography, she moves to Europe and eventually to Moscow in the 1930's believing that all the deprivations she sees are necessary to move to the communist paradise. She has a couple of other coworker/lovers, becomes a Russian spy, becomes a nurse during the Spanish civil war, and is eventually sent back to Mexico, where the movement has lost most of its steam. At an early age (I believe in her 40s), she get ill (presumably a form of cancer) and dies.

Shortly after finishing this book, I was at an elementary school book sale, and noticed a coffee-table size soft cove book about a woman named Lee Miller. After looking at it, I purchased it for $2 or so. Miller also started off as a photographer's model, and then herself became a photographer, and an excellent one, although she too left the craft for a long period of time, engaging in other artistic ventures, raising a family, and falling prey to depression. From what I have seen, Modotti's photographs are good; Miller's are spectacular.

By coincidence I saw an actual biography of Modotti for sale at Second Story Books in Dupont Circle. Looked at it; the facts seemed just as written in the novel, "Tinisima".

4. False Starts. I tried to find my next fiction book, but started three and stopped each shortly after I started them. Books by Ian Pears, Jennifer Egan and David Veronese. Still looking.

Thursday, November 10, 2005

Napolean

is at the National Geographic. 250 items are on display. most are part of a private collection on display for the first time. Maps and books belonging to him, clothing and furniture, sculpture and paintings of him, and a good description of his life and deeds as you move along.

no reason to miss it.

Monday, November 07, 2005

St. Paul Vignettes (37 cents)

Four days in St. Paul, Minnesota. Vignettes.

On Thursday morning, I had coffee and a bagel at Dunn's (sort of a local Starbucks). The Dunns is in an office building at the corner of 5th and Wabasha. It shares it space with an eyeglass store. Weird, I thought....., but then.......

I decided I needed to get my shoes shined, and I found someone who shined shoes while wandering the St. Paul skywalks. The shoeshine stand sits right in the middle of the office of a mortgage loan company (Bell is the name of the mortgage company; I was told it was the largest private residential mortgage lender in Minnesota).

In Washington, DC, there are some parking meters where it would cost you almost $2 to park for an hour, and it is difficult to find a parking lot where $2 would buy you an hour of parking, but......in St. Paul, I found a place where you can park all day for $1.25.

I had two firsts, when I had lunch at a restaurant on University whose name is something like Chang Geng (but not exactly). The first first is that I had never been in a Cambodian restaurant before; the second first is that when I asked the very nice waitress how the chicken, mixed vegetables and peanut sauce was, she said: "It is not something that everyone can eat. Are you allergic to peanuts?"

We saw the Friday night "dress rehearsal" performance of Prairie Home Companion at the Fitzgerald (yes, it is F. Scott) Auditorium, and were surprised that it is a show. Garrison Keillor does not sit at a desk like Jay Leno; he struts and walks; there is a set consisting of a two story Lake Wobegon house, there is a five piece combo, etc. It was much more entertaining than I thought it would be, but went on very long......like 2 1/2 hours. Best line, I thought, was when Keillor was talking (in his very very clever opening monologue, much better than his later visit to Lake Wobegon) about the strange young men and women with their many tattoos who you see near university campuses, including one young man whose face looked like he had fallen head first into a tackle box.

Terrific food at the St. Paul Grill (been there before; still as good), Fhima's (not Brownie's outfit), A Rebours (best new restaurant in the Twin Cities in 2005, says their version of the Washingtonian Magazine) and even the Carousel in the Radisson Riverfront (or at least as far as the walleye goes). The Cambodian food (sans peanuts, I decided) was also good.

Looking for Joan Didion's new book, my wife was told at the Border's in St. Paul that, as Didion had just spoken in town, the book was sold out at all the Border's and that you probably could not find it anywhere in the Twin Cities. That sounded weird, but we stopped at the Borders on the way to the airport, and lo and behold - - - they were out as well. So........where did we find it? In the bookstore at the airport that apparently had no problem keeping up with their stock. My wife says that Border's is becoming like CVS: they are guaranteed to have everything except the one thing you want.

Very friendly place, St. Paul. Very friendly. And everyone talks with a Jesse Ventura accent, and says "Yah" and "OhhhKay" a lot.

Ohhhkay? Yah!