Original sin

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Interesting analogy about the plagiarism flap between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

Nevertheless, to understand why Clinton’s borrowing is worse than Obama’s, I’ve prepared some analogies of my own. First, consider what Obama did to his friend, Deval Patrick. Let’s say that last night I was out two-stepping at some tavern along the Monongahela River and I spotted a young and barefoot, curly-haired deli girl from the Giant Eagle wearing tight jean cut-offs and a red-checked restaurant napkin for a top. I suddenly remembered a line you used to great success when we were trolling the singles bars during the 2003 Appalachia Festival of the Book, a line that this gal would surely go all Patsy Cline for.
So I walk up to her and I pull my lower lip all the way out so she can see my tobacco chaw, big as a Bumblebee Hummingbird, and then I drop my cell on the bar—just the way you did—and I say, “Sweetheart, if the governor of Pennsylvania calls on this phone tonight, it’s because he heard your tongue might be trapped in the Skoal mine.

Hilton Als on activist actors

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In his post "On Heath Ledger" Hilton Als denounces the activist-actor:


When an actor’s charming, vulgar, and childish desire to be seen and felt by a large number of people becomes perverted by self-seriousness, the performer slips into insipidness, thus deadening the carnival spirit that should inform his theatricals.



And if an actor forsakes greasepaint and sparkles to make public pronouncements about the evils of the media, Hollywood, the red carpet, or certain Third World countries, pomposity is never far behind.



Simply put, the craft of acting can’t bear the weight of ideas. Nor can the actor. Acting is thought in action; the character is merely a figment of the script and the director’s imagination. We’re interested in an actor’s personality, not his Op-Ed-informed mind. And when a performer asks to be taken “seriously

A good weekend for Obama

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Washington, Nebraska, Louisiana, Maine, and even the Virgin Islands (carrying with them all of 3 delegates), and all by healthy margins. And he beats out Bill Clinton for a Grammy! In my lifetime, I've never known so many of my peers to attend a caucus as did this past weekend up in Washington. It's proof of the transformative power of Obama that he has aroused my generation's political hopes. I may be hasty in assigning so much credit to Obama for galvanizing the youth vote, but whatever is happening, the number of 18-29 year olds turning out for primaries and caucuses is up significantly over 2000.




In the process, perhaps we're seeing a weakening of the so-called political establishment. It certainly feels that way when you see Obama out-fundraising Clinton by collecting small amounts from many donors, rather than large amounts from fewer but thicker wallets (some enclosed in serious baggage). It feels that way when you see that Obama has won nearly every caucus state, where passionate supporters are critical. Let's hope it's a movement that isn't derailed by the peculiar Democratic Party subspecies known as superdelegates.


Arnold Kling writes:


Some day, instead of an exit poll saying that X percent of people listed health care as the number on issue, I would like to see an exit poll saying that Y percent of people were able to correctly identify correctly the differences between the candidates' proposals on health care. I think that Y would be less than 5 percent.



If the United States had a multi-party parliamentary system with proportional representation, our patchwork of prejudices would likely yield a government comparable to Italy's.


He might be right, but this young interviewee must fall into that 5%. His answers during this interview are great and seem to win over the conservative interviewer:




Clinton would make a very capable President, of that I have little doubt. And I almost certainly believe she suffers from some prejudice against women, which is unfortunate, just as Obama's skin color is an obstacle for many voters. But the chance to move past partisan politics is so potent a possibility, and it's one that I only envision with Obama. Even though Clinton-hate is less about Bill and Hillary than about those who feel it in their heart of hearts, the net effect is the same; a return to that disillusioning and toxic mood of politics in the mid nineties.


Ken and I wondered if Obama would be the first black candidate to be elected head of a country in which blacks were not a majority of the population. Does anyone know? If so, it adds to what would already be a historic victory.


I wonder how possible a Clinton-Obama ticket would be. Such a pairing would be unbeatable. For the good of the party? Doubtful now given how many blows they've dealt each other in the ring. Ken read somewhere that if Clinton won, she'd neutralize Obama by nominating him for the Supreme Court. That made me laugh.


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A healthcare system I could get behind

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I don't know much about the French healthcare system, but if it's anything like the one depicted in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly then I'm all for instituting something similar in the U.S. All of Jean-Dominique Bauby's nurses are gorgeous. His girlfriend, the mother of his children, even his literary assistant are all attractive. Having just awoken from a stroke to this assemblage of beauties, Bauby muses that he must be in heaven.


The truth is a great deal more tragic: Bauby has locked-in syndrome. A stroke has left his mind is alive but paralyzed nearly every muscle in his body. The one part of his body that still serves him is his left eye, and in time he learns to communicate using a system of blinking in response to a series of letters arranged in order of frequency of occurrence in the French language.


It's a subtle but smart choice to cast so many striking women. Bauby's recognition of their beauty reminds us of how alive he still is, despite his condition. The mind that survives need not be a sterile one, bereft of the pleasures of the opposite sex.


In addition to being a moving true story, the movie also serves as a fascinating intellectual examination of the value of communication in the human condition. A simple but brilliant movie.




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State of the arts

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Bryan Caplan on Tyler Cowen on the state of the arts:



From the standpoint of the consumer, the supply of great art has clearly never been better. And even from the standpoint of the producer, it is easy to argue that, overall, this is the best of times.

From Caplan's five points on why that is:



5. One of Tyler's best points: The past often looks better than the present if you compare the best to the best. There is no living composer as great as Bach. Nevertheless, the present looks much better than the past if you compare the fifth-best to the fifth-best. Who even wants to listen to the fifth-best Baroque composer? But the fifth-best punk rock band (say, the Dead Kennedys) is excellent.

That's almost certainly true for television. In music, thought CD sales are down, distribution via the Internet means I can more easily discover new music than in the days when radio was my primary means of exposure.


I'm less certain about the quality of movies overall, but there's no doubt that accessing classic movies via DVD and services like Netflix has broadened my viewing canvas in a huge way.


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Super Bowl ads

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Wow, what an upset! Tom Brady can take solace in being one of the few people in the world for whom this ad is not aspirational.


We've posted all the ads from the Super Bowl at Hulu. If you have an invite, you can see them here. If you don't have a Hulu invite, you can see them here.
I also have some Hulu invites to give out, so leave a comment with your e-mail address if you're interested in one but haven't gotten in yet.

Musical notes

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That catchy ditty from the Macbook Air commercial? "New Soul" by Yael Naim.




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Okay, I could barely fit on the bandwagon by the time I climbed on board a few weeks ago, but the new Vampire Weekend album is a lot of fun.




You can preview a few of the tunes at their MySpace page, and you can also snag the MP3s from Amazon's MP3 store where it is currently the number one album.


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I thought this would be the year that broke my Sundance visit streak, but a few last-minute breaks brought me back out to Park City for opening weekend. One of the movies I caught out there was U2 3D.


It was, flat out, the most immersive 3D movie I've ever seen. The technology has come a long way. You still wear goofy-looking glasses, but the 3D technology (this movie used tech by 3ality Digital) has come a long way. It's even more impressive than the 3D from this summer's Beowulf which I thought was decent. It's hard to imagine ever watching a plain old 2D concert movie and being satisfied. 3D is all grown up.


The celeb-packed screening was like a rock concert. During the introduction of the movie, when Geoff Gilmore, director of the Sundance Film Festival, uttered the words, "Ladies and gentleman, the greatest rock band in the world...", all I heard afterwards was a collective eruption from the crowd as everyone shot out of their seats and clapped like pre-pubescent girls at a Hannah Montana concert.


Even if you're not a U2 fan, the movie's worth seeing to experience what I believe is a groundbreaking moment in the evolution of film technology.


Here's one of my pics from that screening. A handful of my other pics from Sundance are here.


U2 (minus Larry Mullen Jr)


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Gnarls Barkley has a new album coming out April-ish, and one of the tunes that's leaked off of it is "Run."


The label is playing whack-a-mole and pulling it down wherever it pops up, but if you're persistent and web-saavy you can probably catch it somewhere. It's funkalicious.


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DFA

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One of the better articles of 2007 was this Michael Lewis piece for Conde Nast Portfolio: "Evolution of an Investor."


Lewis profiles investment adviser Blaine Lourd, who went from a stock picker and salesman to a convert to the efficient market hypothesis. What caught my eye about the article was the prominent role played by Dimensional Fund Advisors (DFA). Their mutual funds are targeted at investors who believe in buy-and-hold, passive index funds, diversified portfolios, the type of investing philosophy touted by people like Larry Swedroe. They don't sell direct to individual investors but only through select advisors who they feel espouse the same investing philosophies as they do.


I just happen to have most of my savings invested in DFA funds. I used to do a lot of individual stock investing, and I enjoyed it, but over time, I realized there were other things I enjoyed doing more keeping track of public companies. It's a lot of work to stay on top of a portfolio of individual stocks. I still keep a portfolio on the side of individual stock investments, but it's mostly for fun and invested in the only category I feel I have some more insight than most, which is in some premium Internet or tech brands. Other than that, I don't worry about my savings other than an occasional rebalancing.


DFA's funds are really low-cost, and they provide some very unique index funds that are hard to find on the open market, helping you to build a really broad, diversified portfolio. Being able to diversify into very particular markets has proven its value again and again. Last, year, for example, was not a strong one for U.S. equities, but my portfolio was helped by the strong returns in Emerging Markets.


If you're interested, you can find an investment advisor who has access to DFA funds through this webpage. I'm a firm believer that most people would benefit from not just DFA funds but the type of investment philosophy that their funds are associated with, and in making that statement I'm putting my mouth where my money is.


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Liftoff

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Tonight's episode of Mythbusters settled, among other things, that long-standing Internet debate about whether or not an airplane on a conveyor belt moving backwards (like a treadmill) at a speed equal to the airplane's normal ground speed during takeoff would lift off or not.


The answer? The plane does take off. The thurst of the airplane engines acts on air, not on the ground through the wheels.


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Conan O'Brien playing Rock Band

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Since I got my repaired guitar for Rock Band (looks like there was a design flaw that they've since corrected in other shipments, thankfully), it's the only game I spend any time playing. When I hear a song that's in Rock Band come on the radio, my ears try to pick out the guitar or drum line, and I visualize the notes in the guitar line scrolling down towards me as in the videogame. It really does engage you with music in a very deep way. It's the same bond I feel with classical pieces I played when I was in the violin section of various youth orchestras.


I'm not the only one who feels that way. In just two months since Rock Band launched, players have purchased more than 2.5 million new songs to add to their game libraries! I'm responsible for at least a good 10 to 12 of those song purchases. $1.99 for a song I can play forever in the game seems entirely reasonable to me. I would love to see them allow third parties to offer songs for the game, though, as the trickle of 3 new songs a week already feels paltry (though they added some Oasis songs this week--can't wait to try my hand at those!).


This past weekend, the morning after one particular late-night Rock Band session, I found a notice hanging on my front door for a Community Violation. The box for "loud music" was checked off. At first I was perturbed, but then a certain sense of pride took hold as I realized I was still young enough to keep the neighbors up.


My one and primary complaint is that stand-alone guitars are still not available for the game, so you can't play with a full four piece band. Unless you invite over a Rock Band-playing friend who plays it on the same console as you do and is willing to bring over their guitar, you're limited to playing either guitar or bass but not both. That guitars from one game, like Guitar Hero, don't work with other games, like Rock Band, is extremely disappointing as they all use the same basic control scheme.


My only guess on this is that they rushed the game out for the holidays and couldn't ramp up production in time to have stand-alone guitars available. Forecasting in the gaming industry seems dodgy, at best. You'd think after so many years that the Nintendo Wii would be readily available, but no.


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2000

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I rated my two thousandth movie on Netflix today. I've probably seen more that I haven't rated, but that's a pretty good approximation of how many movies I've seen in my life. That works out to about 1.1 movies a week, or 58.8 movies a year for my lifetime. Given that I didn't start watching movies until I was probably in my early teens, it's probably more like one and a half movies a week.


Not as many as a movie critic, but still a lot of hours of my life.


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It's your birthday

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Yesterday was, alas, one more tick of the odometer on my life gauge. Yesterday some friends of mine decided to accelerate my progress towards the grave by taking me to Cut, the acclaimed Wolfgang Puck steakhouse in the Beverly Wilshire hotel, a 2007 nominee for "Best New Restaurant" by the James Beard Foundation and the winner of Esquire's 2006 Restaurant of the Year award.


It's one serious luxury steakhouse with one heavy-hitting menu. Walking in we strolled past a Bentley and an Aston Martin and several dozen middle aged people whose dress and mannerisms screamed of old money. If I knew what many executives in town looked like I probably would have spotted several seated in the dining room


The first three starters listed:


  • Kobe Steak Sashimi, Spice Radishes

  • Prime Sirloin "Steak Tartare", Herb Aioli, Mustard

  • Bone Marrow Flan, Mushroom Marmalade, Parsley Salad


It went on to include starters such as...


  • Austrian Oxtail Bouillon, Chive Blossoms, Chervil, Bone Marrow Dumplings

  • Prime Filet Mignon "Carpaccio", Celery Hearts, Shaved French Black Truffles

  • Maple Glazed Pork Belly, Asian Spices, Sesame-Orange Dressing, Winterella Pear Compote


Even the breadsticks and bread, laced with parmesan, tasted decadent. Cut serves four levels of beef (listed here from expensive to obscenely expensive):


  • U.S.D.A. PRIME, Illinois Corn Fed, Aged 21 Days

  • U.S.D.A. PRIME, Nebraska Corn Fed, Dry Aged 35 Days

  • American Wagyu/Angus "Kobe Style" Beef from Snake River Farms, Idaho

  • True Japanese 100% Wagyu Beef from Kagoshima Prefecture, Kyushu, Japan


Before our meal, the waiter brought out five huge slabs of beef wrapped in cloth, three slabs of American Wagyu and 2 of true Japanese Wagyu. The marbling in the meat was apparent to the eye, just beautiful and mouth-watering.


I went with the American Wagyu 10oz Rib Eye, while others ordered Bone-In Filet Mignon, New York Sirloin, Colorado Lamb Chops with Cucumber Mint Raita, and Kobe Beef Short Ribs "Indian Spiced" and cooked for eight hours.


For a starter I had the bone marrow flan. I still prefer the cleaner and simpler mix of flavors of the Beef Marrow with Oxtail Marmalade at Blue Ribbon Restaurant in New York, but the bone marrow flan is damn impressive. Transformed into flan, the bone marrow lost a bit of that marrow flavor I love so much, but in combination with the mushroom marmalade it made for one fancy bread spread.


Seven waiters delivered our entrees, setting them down in front of us with the choreographed timing of a theme park fountain show. I cut a piece of my rib eye, cooked rare plus, and dipped it into the shallot-red wine bordelaise sauce. Then I put it in my mouth, and about 1.7 seconds later, as I finished my first bite, I went to a happy place. The marbling produced a rib eye with the consistency of foie gras. It was spectacular.


Dessert of banana cream pie and chocolate souffle brought traffic in my remaining arteries to a standstill. As far as steak dinners go, this was one of the more memorable ones of my life. I may not eat another piece of beef for the remainder of the year, but if so, the memory of the various cuts I tasted last night will tide me over.


Happy birthday to me


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