I took the russian novelist's mother out for a nice dinner and then never called her again

By which I mean to say that I finished Fathers and Sons on saturday. Why was it so easy to read this time, and so impossible the others? I think this time benefitted from some combination or factors beyond my comprehension and also the realization that the book really picks up after the first few pages. All told, this is a fantastic book - is there anyone better than the Russians at subtext? - but Tolstoy worried for no reason. He's still the best.

I have since started reading Brave New World.

Do you want some good reading? Here's the story of the only POW dog (you have to scroll down a little).

Where's Clubber Lang when you need him?

You have no doubt by now heard of Katrina survivor Rockey Vaccarella, depicted in the media as this common man on a mission, who drove his FEMA trailer to D.C. hoping to meet with the president and make sure he remembered the job unfinished in New Orleans.

What's that you say, Rockey? You're thanking Mr. Bush for the job he's done, and you have something else you'd like to offer? "But now, I wanted to remind the President that the job's not done, and he knows that. And I just don't want the government and President Bush to forget about us. And I just wish the President could have another term in Washington."

Um...that's...odd. Isn't it? This is pretty great for Bush, what with the Katrina anniversary and all, if it's all good, but why would this guy say that to Bush, whose handling of this crisis was, at its very best, totally incompetent?

And if Rockey intends to hold Mr. Bush to task, why would Bush - who's known to be insular as far as dealing with the public is concerned - agree to meet with him but not with Cindy Sheehan?

Who can help us unravel this mystery?



(That's our special rocky-themed, i-made-it-in-45-seconds graphic. I'm sure you can understand)
Anyways, it turns out that things are too good to be true. This guy was a GOP candidate. He's hardly a "small man," as he claims: he's a very successful businessman who owns 31 restaurants. And his meeting with Bush was scheduled beforehand. I'm not saying the guy didn't suffer greatly from the Hurricane. But things here are not as they are presented. Rove's up to his old tricks again, plain and simple. What's worse, though, is that the administration puts forth this schill (that's what he is) as though he were the mouthpiece for all the victims who therefore appear to have no ill will toward Bush. Meanwhile, things in New Orleans are still downright terrible and the government is still wasting time and money. Ugh. Heck of a job, eh?

The Devil vs. Billy Markham and Dr. Science vs. the Russian Novelist

While I'm stuck at work - literally waiting for water to evaporate - I thought I'd offer a quick note on what I've been up to. Last week I took my chances again on the Fringe Festival and attended The Devil and Billy Markham, a one-man show presenting an epic poem by Shel Silverstein. That's right, the author of Where the Sidewalk Ends and other enduring children's classics wrote a poem about a human blues guitarist trying to out-trick the Devil. No, scratch that. The author of enduring children's classics wrote an incredibly profane and obscene epic poem about an anti-hero out-cheating the devil and god. (yes, you can follow that link to the text, and yes, it is actually very entertaining)

Who knew? Apparently Mr. Silverstein has a large body of adult-oriented work, even larger that that of his children-oriented work. It was very, very strange to hear those words being said with the same lyrical facility I recognize from poems read as a child. As for the play itself, it was a bit of well-played raunchy fun.

And now for literary matters from a different continent. In need of a new subway book (for which the criterion is that it must fit into my pocket), I have decided, once again after four failures, to try and tackle Turgenev's Fathers and Sons. Listen, this shouldn't be that hard - I love Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. Tolstoy felt like he was always trying to live up to Turgenev's work, especially this book. But for some reason...I just haven't been able to get into this book enough to read it. Yet. 5th time's the charm, right? Right?

Anyways, I'm posting my subway-reading challenge here in the hopes that doing so will in some way hold me accountable for finishing what I set out to do. We'll see.

In which I meet with a Titan and attend a mediocre play, all before cupcakes

The blooming of the Titan Arum was quite a thing to behold. It opened up at a time that was not so convenient for me (how rude!) but I was able to dash over on Saturday to check it out. Simply gorgeous.






I included a person in that image for size comparison. Pictures don't do it justice. It's this huge, dark flower that blooms desperately once, maybe twice in a person's lifetime. It didn't really smell much, and I was told that when it first opened it was sweating some kind of horrible putrid liquid, but by the time I got to it that had stopped, thankfully. It really was a sight to behold!


Later than evening, after a fabulous dinner at a nearby cuban place, my ex/good friend Elizabeth and I took in a show from the Fringe Festival. Although not the show we intended to see - there were some complications wth our plan - this show was not all awful. It was about two boys, friends, who are accused of planting a bomb at their school. The play examines the roots of violence in the home, although in a not terribly enjoyable/captivating/moving production. Well, that's Fringe for you. You spin the wheel and you take your chances.

From there we went to Magnolia for some cupcakes. At almost midnight on a saturday night, the line was around the corner and down the block! I recall when my sister Patience first took me there years ago, and informed me that they have a limit of cupcakes per customer. The place is still as busy as ever!

Because Al Qaeda hates PowerPoint, or, Today it's no liquids; what's next, no snakes?

Via Arms and Influence, from Thomas Ricks' new book Fiasco: the American Military Adventure in Iraq comes this, an explanatory powerpoint slide created by the Joint Task Force IV, the group responsible for planning the final transitional stage of the US presence in Iraq. He includes this slide with the account of one senior military officer's problem that Rumsfeld's command failed to give clear orders with clear goals.



Um...you think? Seriously, if we're trying to put this plan into action it is no wonder everybody thinks we're jerks. My favorite is the arrow that points toward "stability." Why didn't they just make one pointing to "awesomeness?"

And while I've talked to a few of you about this, I just want to underscore my uncomfortability with the security response to this most recent plot against air travel. We get a big show, and people feel better sacrificing their conditioner and Fiji Water so that they feel safe on a plane. But medications could still be take on, right? And are they really going to check every prescription to make sure it's legitimate? It's not like they can make you take a big swig of your medication in front of them - some medications are lethal in high doses.

Maybe..I don't know, I'm just saying...maybe we could work on our foreign policy a little so that fewer folks would want to blow us up? It seems like all those civilian deaths in lebanon might not be a bad place to start.

sigh...only 5 more days 'til snakes on a plane!

Well, that used to be good news.

I was informed today that my microscopy and imaging hero, Dr. Bechara Kachar, saw our lab's most recent paper, and more specifically, my pictures therein. He said, I am told, that he really liked the pictures and found them convincing.

Which was great to hear for about six and a half seconds, before I realized that the guy whose work I've been trying to match will probably see my stuff in the future. Hooray for more pressure!

Le Sigh.

p.s. Yes, these were the same pictures I didn't find convincing and asked that we hold off on publishing, which now have been described as "convincing" by the reviewers and Dr. Kachar. So maybe I just don't know what I'm talking about.

A Very Busy Week (part five of five)

Whew! I'm getting winded just typing about all that happened this week, and you're only getting a few of the highlights! Restaurants, walks in the city, and more had to be left on the blogging room floor, so to speak.

In all this adventure, I was very strongly reminded of what a fantastic place Brooklyn is. Yes, all of NYC is a fun-and-garbage-filled wonderland, but Brooklyn has such heart, such honesty and sincerity and it feels so family-friendly. On saturday I passed by a free reggaeton concert where some costumes for the upcoming West Indian Cultural Festival were displayed, and this girl was standing with her family, and, I don't know, she just looked like Ms. Brooklyn, or something.


Afterwards we swung by Celebrate Brooklyn for part of the African festival, where good-smelling food and happy-sounding music were on display.



I mean, c'mon. Brooklyn even has its own Statue of Liberty! (though, admittedly, it's in a parking lot)


Next weekend at Celebrate Brooklyn it's Jill Scott, Erykah Badu, and Queen Latifah! Maybe this very busy week will become a very busy month.

A Very Busy Week (part four of five)

What's this? Back at the Tokugawa gardens in Nagoya? Wrong! Brooklyn! This is the Japanese pond garden at Brooklyn's unbeatable 54-acre Botanical Gardens.



The Gardens, with flowers and herbs from all over the world, is a lush environs for spending a summer day with friends. You get to see all sorts of beautiful flowers and plants, from the lily pools to the rose garden and on and on.






BUT! There is excitement afoot! Big happenings! The BBG's Titan Arum plant (pictured here with people for a size reference) is about to bloom! This hasn't happened in NYC since 1939, and won't happen again for forty or fifty years! When it blooms, it produces a four-to-seven foot flower that is one of the largest in the world! Also, it will smell like death (hence its nickname, the "corpse flower."). I will go to see it when it blooms, and until then you can read more about it - and even watch it bloom online - right here at the Garden's website.

A Very Busy Week (part three of five)

KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIJUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kaiju Big Battel! At the Warsaw in Brooklyn! Danger Happened!

It was Hell Monkey vs. the Grudyin in an intra-tag-team battle for a new team name! Shrooma Tango vs. Powa Ranjuru (which became Powa Ranjuru vs. the CIA, which became the CIA vs. Powa Ranjuru and Dusto Bunny!)! Hero-in-Training vs. all comers in a test to protect the new Brooklyn Bridge! Call-me-Kevin vs. Super Wrong in a "biggest loser in Kaiju" match (which, when super wrong roller-skated off the stage, became Call-me-Kevin vs. Louden Noxius)! And, in the biggest main event ever! Pedro Plantain, seeking revenge for the recent murder of his brother, teaming up with Kaiju Champ Kung Fu Chicken Noodle to battle Pablo Plantain's murderers, the brainwashed hero-turned traitor Silver Potato and the nefarious mastermind, Dr. Cube!












Oh, you want more? More better? How about the show opened with my favorite Japanese punk band, Peelander-Z? Although my company was a little unsure at first, by the end of the evening everyone agreed it was a night of monster-sized fun, not to be forgotten!

A Very Busy Week (part two of five)

The Brooklyn Museum of Art is hosting an exhibit on Graffiti. While is is quite limited in terms of size and the time span it represents, the exhibit does showcase some beautiful pieces by very important artists.






I just wish there had been more by modern writers, as the stuff kids are doing today is crazy, all 3D and photoquality and whatnot.

A Very Busy Week (part one of five)

This week I was joined in NYC by a group of kids from ann arbor, some of whom were looking for a place to rent in their impending move to the city, some of whom were just along for the ride. I got to play host/guide for a good chunk of that week, and ye gods did we ever get into some stuff.

The first highlight on this reel was the BODIES exhibit. This was breathtakingly amazing, humbling, and fasctinating. It presents preserved human bodies in various stages of dissection, and makes accesible to all comers a view of the intricacies and complex beauty of the human machine that would never be possible otherwise. The histological preservation is expert, and what is shown is unbelievable. Attendance was made an unofficial requirement for all NYU med students. I have wanted to go for some time, and this week the A2 gang wanted to go, too.

I admit to knowing that there is some controversy around this show - that some of the bodies were not donated, but rather "collected" from "unclaimed or unidentified" bodies at the exhibit's point or origin, the University of Beijing. Meaning, technically, that some of these anatomical donations were not made with informed consent. And while, yes, this is a matter to be taken very seriously, the contributions this exhibit makes to the field of science and education were clearly obvious at the exhibit itself, on the faces of those in attendance. Anyways, decide for yourself, but not before seeing this exhibit!