01/05/2009

Tess of the DePressedVilles

Saw part 1 of the new Tess of the D'Urbervilles on PBS last night. It was really well done, though I generally hate Thomas Hardy books. I think this was one of those novels I only pretended to read in High School, so I'm in a major cliffhanger until next week when I find out what happens. Knowing Thomas Hardy, all the people will probably kill each other (and their children) at the end, but I'm hopeful that I'll be surprised.

01/04/2009

The Uniform

I've been noticing a dominant fashion note in women's winter casual wear. Here's the uniform:

1. Boot cut jeans (dark wash)
2. High heeled boots, pointy toes
3. Close fitting stretch turtleneck knit
4. Nylon, slightly puffy vest
5. Blown back hair

So I'm curious about the origin of this "look." As I learned from the book "The Substance of Style" by Virginia Postrel, fashion is far from arbitrary. It's not that a particular shade of blue becomes "the hue" for the year arbitrarily. Some designer somewhere does a good job with a particular color causing other designers and the consuming public to see the color in a new light. Then it spreads from whatever original sphere of design (product, fashion, interior, industrial) into the other areas of design and eventually Pantone recognizes that color in its palette for the year. Same with complete looks, lapel sizes, hair styles, etc.

So, I'm trying to think back to where I may have seen this "look" and I keep picturing an actress dressed this way. I know it probably wasn't at Sundance because they've been wearing those UGG-like boots there for a few years since it is always in a cold month and there have been skinny jeans there on display lately too. Saks even wants men to be wearing the puffy vest now. I'll pass. But I have to wonder if someone doesn't have tongue in cheek to put gloves without fingers on a mannequin wearing a coat without sleeves. There is at least some kind of consistency there. Perhaps I've seen Cameron Diaz wear this look?

Anyway, it would be interesting to track down the origin of this particular look since it is so recognizable and tends to come as a package. Obviously, the look must be on the way out if everyone is selling a puffy vest from WalMart to Kate Spade. But there is probably a good reason for the look's popularity. I remember the first time a puffy vest was popular. Michael J. Fox wore a jean jacket under a puffy brown vest in Back to the Future. All the people back in the 50's asked him if he had "jumped ship."!

01/01/2009

Happy New Year from the Barlows

(Jon always forgets the words)

May We No Longer Be Silent

By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS

The title of my article comes from the sermon of the Episcopal Bishop of Washington DC, John Bryson Chane, delivered on October 5, 2008, at St. Columba Church. The bishop’s eyes were opened to Israel’s persecution of Palestinians by his recent trip to Palestine. In his sermon he called on “politicians seeking the highest office in [our] land” to find the courage to “speak out and condemn violations of human rights and religious freedom denied to Palestinian Christians and Muslims” by the state of Israel.

Bishop Chane’s courage was to no avail. When America’s new leader of “change” was informed of Israel’s massive air attack on the Gaza Ghetto, an area of 139 square miles where Israel confines 1.4 million Arabs and tightly controls the inflow of all resources--food, medicine, water, energy--America’s president-elect Obama had “no comment.”

According to the Jerusalem Post ( December 26), “at 11:30 a.m., more than 50 fighter jets and attack helicopters swept into Gazan airspace and dropped more than 100 bombs on 50 targets. . . . Thirty minutes later, a second wave of 60 jets and helicopters struck at 60 targets . . . More than 170 targets were hit by IAF aircraft throughout the day. At least 230 Gazans were killed and over 780 were wounded . . .”

As I write, news reports are that Israel is sending tanks and infantry reinforcements in preparation for a ground invasion of Gaza.

Israel’s excuse for its violence is that from time to time the Palestinian resistance organization, Hamas, fires off rockets into Israel to protest the ghetto life that Israel imposes on Gazans. The rockets are ineffectual for the most part and seldom claim Israeli casualties. However, the real purpose for the Israeli attack is to destroy Hamas.

In 2006 the US insisted that the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank hold free elections. When free elections were held, Hamas won. This was unacceptable to the Americans and Israelis. In the West Bank, the Americans and Israelis imposed a puppet government, but Hamas held on in Gaza. After unheeded warnings to the Gazans to rid themselves of Hamas and accept a puppet government, Israel has decided to destroy the freely elected government with violence.

Ehud Barak, who is overseeing the latest act of Israeli aggression, said in interviews addressed to the British and American publics that asking Israel to agree to a ceasefire with Hamas would be like asking the US to agree to a ceasefire with al Qaeda. The terrorism that Israel inflicts on Palestinians goes unremarked.

According to the London Times (December 28), “Britain and the United States were on a collision course with their European allies last night after refusing to call for an end to Israeli airstrikes on Hamas targets in Gaza. The wave of attacks marked a violent end to President George W. Bush’s sporadic Middle East peace efforts. The White House put the blame squarely on Hamas.” The British government also blamed Hamas.

For the US and UK governments, Israel can do no wrong. Israel doesn’t have to stop withholding food, medicine, water, and energy, but Hamas must stop protesting by firing off rockets. In violation of international law, Israel can drive West Bank Palestinians off their lands and out of their villages and give the stolen properties to “settlers.” Israel can delay Palestinians in need of emergency medical care at checkpoints until their lives ebb away. Israeli snipers can get their jollies murdering Palestinian children.

The Great Moral Anglo-Americans couldn’t care less.

In his 2005 Nobel Lecture, British playwright Harold Pinter held the United States and its British puppet state accountable for “the systematic brutality, the widespread atrocities, the ruthless suppression of independent thought.” Everyone knows that such crimes occurred in the Soviet Union and in its East European empire, but “US crimes in the same period have only been superficially recorded, let alone documented, let alone acknowledged, let alone recognized as crimes at all,” this despite the fact that “the United States’ actions throughout the world made it clear that it had concluded it had carte blanche to do what it liked.”

Soviet crimes, like Nazi ones, are documented in gruesome detail, but America’s crimes “never happened. Nothing ever happened. Even while it was happening it wasn’t happening. It didn’t matter. It was of no interest. The crimes of the United States have been systematic, constant, vicious, remorseless, but very few people have actually talked about them You have to hand it to America. It has exercised a clinical manipulation of power worldwide while masquerading as a force for universal good. It’s a brilliant, even witty, highly successful act of hypnosis.”

America’s is “a scintillating stratagem. Language is actually employed to keep thought at bay. The words ‘the American people’ provide a truly voluptuous cushion of reassurance. You don’t need to think.”

Pinter presents a long list of American crimes and comes to Iraq: “The invasion of Iraq was a bandit act, an act of blatant state terrorism, demonstrating absolute contempt for the concept of international law. The invasion was . . . an act intended to consolidate American military and economic control of the Middle East masquerading--as a last resort--all other justifications having failed to justify themselves--as liberation.” Americans and their British puppets “have brought torture, cluster bombs, depleted uranium, innumerable acts of random murder, misery, degradation and death to the Iraqi people and call it ‘bringing freedom and democracy to the Middle East.”

“How many people do you have to kill before you qualify to be described as a mass murderer and a war criminal?” Pinter’s question can also be asked of Israel. Israel has been in violation of international law since 1967, protected by the United States’ veto of UN Resolutions condemning Israel for its violent, inhumane, barbaric, and illegal acts.

American evangelical Christians, who are degenerating into Zionists, are Israel’s greatest allies. Jesus is forsaken as Christians swallow whole the Israeli lies. A couple of years ago the US Presbyterian Church was so distressed by Israel’s immorality toward Palestinians that the church attempted to disinvest its investment portfolio from assets tainted with Israel. But the Israel Lobby was stronger. The Presbyterian Church was unable to stand up for Christian principles and knuckled under to the Israel Lobby’s pressure.

This is hardly surprising considering that the US government doesn’t stand for Christian principles either.

America’s doctrine of “full spectrum dominance” means that, like Lenin’s dictatorship, America is not bound by law or morality, but by power alone.

Pinter sums it up in a speech he had dreams of writing for President George W. Bush:

“God is good. God is great. God is good. My God is good. Bin Laden’s God is bad. His is a bad God. Saddam’s God was bad, except he didn’t have one. He was a barbarian. We are not barbarians. We don’t chop people’s heads off. We believe in freedom. So does God. I am not a barbarian. I am the democratically elected leader of a freedom-loving democracy. We are a compassionate society. We give compassionate electrocution and compassionate lethal injection. We are a great nation. I am not a dictator. He is. I am not a barbarian. He is. And he is. They all are. I possess moral authority. You see this fist? This is my moral authority. And don’t you forget it.”

If only our ears could hear, this is the speech we have been hearing from Israel for 60 years.

Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He is coauthor of The Tyranny of Good Intentions.He can be reached at: PaulCraigRoberts@yahoo.com

Crowded House - Sounds like a Crowded Studio Too

"In December and January, Neil Finn (Crowded House) will reunite the core band from his 2001 Seven Worlds Collide project with additional special guests to create a new album at Roundhead studios in Auckland, New Zealand. Guests confirmed are Radiohead’s Phil Selway and Ed O’Brien, guitarist Johnny Marr, Soul Coughing’s Sebastian Steinberg, Lisa Germano, Wilco members Jeff Tweedy, John Stirratt, Glenn Kotche and Pat Sansone, KT Tunstall, as well as NZ musicians Liam Finn, Don McGlashan and Bic Runga. All proceeds from this recording will go to support Oxfam International."

Some of my favorite musicians..... wow.

12/29/2008

Supdog

Got an old school, double-sided safety razor for Christmas - my uncle found some of my grandfather's old ones and of the two, I'm supposed to choose the one that works the best. Don't have blades for it yet, but I think it will work out well. The boys had a happy Christmas - they love seeing all their cousins, aunts and uncles, and grandparents. I like Christmas and bringing the kids to see relatives, but I feel like I don't get to see the kids much on these trips. I don't know how to parent in public and I don't want to get in the way of relatives' playing with them. I feel like I do a better job in private. When I'm around other people, with the kids, I feel like I can't be myself, and so half the time I kind of just fade away... Anyway, it would be nice to have a vacation after the traveling, but alas, work and the rest of life begins immediately after we get home. Ann's parents and my parents both gave me a set of pajamas. Which is great because perhaps it will prompt me to begin sleeping again. Lately, I just can't give up raging against the dying of the light. I don't want to go to bed - it feels like failure - and I've been sleeping in my clothes for years. Anyway, foolish as I am, I need to start sleeping at least.

Before we left St. Louis, we finished reading Proverbs. We'd been reading a little bit each night before the boys went to bed and it went by rather quickly. Such a challenging book. Lately, I've felt like such a fool. Proverbs was telling me I was a big fool, and a few bold persons have told me how foolish I am. It is getting to be an internal Greek chorus following me around everywhere I go. Thankfully, I've spent a lot of time loathing myself, so a few less fans isn't that devastating, but it is difficult to admit to oneself that one has failed so utterly - it can drive a guy to a very consistent misanthropy. Anyway, perhaps there is still time to turn around this story, but we're going to have to bring in some better writers to help punch up the script a bit!

Have a great week, dear readers.

12/25/2008

Christmas Day

Merry Christmas, dear readers - if any of you is still there.

My perfect Christmas would be a big cabin in the woods - snowed in - with all the visitors staying under one roof unable to leave, with five bathrooms and a dormitory wing. The common room would have a fireplace and two large tables - one for the adults, one for the kids. There would be a keg of dark beer, coffee, turkey and the fixings, homemade pies, cakes and cookies. We would have pancakes, eggs, and thick bacon for breakfast. Then we'd open presents and sit around and talk and eat and drink 'til lunch. Then, we'd have a huge lunch and then go outside and play in the show. Then, we'd retire back inside for some coffee and pop popcorn and watch a Pixar movie together. Then we'd have leftovers for supper. Then, when the kids go to sleep, the adults would sit around and play games or do karaoke and drink and carry on 'til midnight.

Grammar Geek

Use "enormity" as a noun. Yes, usage panels are changing their minds about this one, but using something inherently pejorative as a neutral adjective will either amuse or confuse people who take the more traditional meaning . Such as "the enormity of his kindness" - you may hear "he has immense kindness" but many (most) folks will hear "the atrociousness of his kindness." If you want to talk about the "bigness" of a situation, stay away from "enormity" - use "immensity".

12/24/2008

Merry Christmas!

12/23/2008

Este dia en St. Louis

Es muy frio y humedo en la ciudad de st. louis hoy. Llevo en coche hoy en la calle nueva 64/40 y es muy suave. Estoy feliz hayan terminado el trabajo. Ahora yo puedo llego en mi casa desde trabajo en treinta minutos!

12/20/2008

Brrr

It's been a cold winter already in St. Louis. I played the grasshopper and not the ant with regards to lawn work and had to do some catch-up leaf raking today in the cold weather. I have some new neighbors who appear to be Korean. I need to go over and meet them - they were cooking something outside in a Fry Daddy tonight and it smelled amazing. I was laughing to myself because southerners do the same thing when they fry - outside deep-frying keeps the smell out of one's house. Nathan and I went fossil hunting last weekend for a few hours and I found a few nice aquatic plant clusters. No fauna though. I've heard of a place in St. Charles where you can find trilobite pieces. We didn't have a chance to send out Christmas cards this year, so if you didn't get one, don't feel snubbed. We have kids in four separate schools, I commute now, and I don't think I've properly seen our house in the daylight hours in three or four months besides the one or two Saturdays when I've had the chance. Our time to do anything voluntary + sociable has evaporated. My office had a Christmas party last weekend and it was fun; the karaoke was a hoot. Seeing your co-workers sing "Short Skirt and a Long Jacket" by Cake is priceless. My friend George said he is working on an idea for a perpetual motion machine. Obviously, he and I both know it won't work, but it is more the thrill of seeing why it will not work that leads people to build such things. We're driving down south for Christmas this year, as usual. Gotta change the oil in the van and make other prep this week. Hopefully it will not snow. I had a blowout on my car this week on the interstate and raced to change the tire myself before the motorist assist guy could get there and cross thread my lug nuts. I almost beat him, but he gets out of the car with a cordless impact wrench and ... what are you going to do? So I let him use it. I don't even pay someone to cut my hair, much less turn a bolt on my car, so I was a bit skeptical, but anyway, so far so good. Gotta wrap the boys' presents tonight. I think the tree will look much better with something underneath it. Everyone is getting just one or two main things and all the gifts have arrived except for one from Amazon, but the package looks like it will be here Monday, so we're doing okay in finding all the happies that the boys wanted. Lego is an evil corporation, though I love them too. One disappointment was that I couldn't find just a plain old normal Nerf football for the boys. We used to always get a nerf football for Christmas. They're all fancy now with plastic coatings or spiral shapes. It's like putting plastic lucky charms in playdoh; leave those childhood favorites alone, already. The odd thing about xmas shopping this year was that Target and WalMart felt deserted. WalMart had a pitiful selection of toys - two or three aisles max - and Target was very picked over. ToysRUs did slightly better, but even there, I couldn't find a normal remote control car for the youngest who wanted a "race car" and a "snow globe" for his presents. Ann made some hellagood cookies today. Growing up, I would never have thought to listen to Black Sabbath. I mean, the name is repulsive. I suppose I imagined some kind of devil music weird rock stuff. Anyway, I finally heard the song "War Pigs" this year for the first time in my life and it was amazing. No one ever told me that Black Sabbath was basically a four man blues band with an amazing lead singer. In "War Pigs" you have an antiwar song where Ozzy compares the gathered armies to witches. He's not glorifying witches, he's comparing the evil generals to witches. Anyway, go figure. I suppose it is a bit like finding out that Kelly Clarkson has some good songs too. This random stream of consciousness brought to you by utter exhaustion, coffee, and those great cookies I mentioned. Peace out, dear readers.

12/18/2008

Lars and the Real Girl

This is one of the sweetest movies I have seen in a long time. I was blown away. It is a very high concept kind of movie done with such a light touch; just amazing. The basic plot is that Lars's mother died in childbirth and he was raised by a grieving father. Lars (played by Gosling) has a psychosomatic aversion to being touched, so he doesn't shake hands or give high fives. It actually gives him pain. He begins to like a girl at the office, but it is impossible for him to act on the desire to get to know her better, and the next thing you know, a crate arrives at his house. That evening, he introduces Bianca to his brother and the brother's wife. She is, he says, a former missionary who is very religious that he met online. He wonders if she can stay in their spare bedroom. The brother and the sister in law handle things delicately and take Bianca in. Lars wheels Bianca, a life-sized girl doll, into their house. The way that the town handles Lars's delusion is amazing. One of my favorite scenes is the first time Lars brings Bianca to church. He even turns the hymnal to the right page for her. I won't summarize any more, but the brother works out a conceit with the local doctor that requires Lars to bring Bianca in for weekly checkups - some kind of condition that needs monitoring. This gives the doctor (played by the mom from Six Feet Under) time to chat with Lars once a week. I will say that the movie has a happy ending, and that the titular "real girl" is not Bianca - so you get a romance story too. A perfect kind of movie for when you want to be surprised by how good a movie can be but you don't want any violence or sex or car chases. Come to think of it, I can't think of any movie, period movies excepted, that wouldn't be improved by a good car chase, but I'm just saying.

12/14/2008

Odd Compliment

Got a weird compliment last night - "Barlow, you're like David Byrne; you really embrace your whiteness."

I love David Byrne (former bandleader of the Talking Heads) and so I chose to take this as a good thing, but I wonder if it was a critique of my dancing prowess.

12/13/2008

NuvaRing

In the nuvaring commercial notice that it is the "Monday" girl who unwraps her banner and leaves the tiresome schedule of daily oral contraception doses. I don't know if this is intentional, but the Monday girl walks out and it strikes one as though her banner says "MOM" instead of "MON" and the lady symbolically removes her "Mom" shackles to become the yellow bathing-suited poolside gal with no cares in the world.

American Idol

So glad to hear that they're changing the format to focus less on the bad singers. Nothing is so fleeting as the entertainment one gets from making fun of bad singers, especially when you know that the producers are setting these bad singers up just for the purpose of our entertainment.