:-) :-( ;-) :'(

So I read this.

Sometimes I forget how blinkered psychology is as a discipline.

I guess since the perspective of the article consists of raising the question of whether "the period between 20-30 is truly a new developmental chapter in human life?", the lack of detailed social and political analysis can be explained away as not part of the scope of the article. Except, of course, if one actually wants to answer that question, one has to include that analysis.

I have a lot to say about this matter, being almost thirty and having failed to find my place in the world thus far, but, if I do write on this, I would, of course, include detailed social and political analysis. So you might have to wait a bit.

But to start:

1. Articles like this always amuse me. They are the "lifestyle" version of American Exceptionalism.

2. While I would assert that young people are failing to "grow up" because of social and political reasons, I would not assert that young people are failing to "grow up" for social and political reasons. Which is why I feel so lonely in "bohemian" Brooklyn.

Satisfaction

The New York Times wants you to know that, regardless of our new Cold War, things are STILL better. Or at least, that is what I am guessing they want you to know, because I certainly can't think of another reason to gloat about the fall of Communism right now.

Certainly I know it must have been wonderful, the liberation of personal desire from the shackles of (un)democratic societies. My cynicism only comes from the fact that the world we are living in right now is what that liberation wrought.

(Oh and yeah um it's not like, uh, those desires that were liberated were like, you know, ones biologically intrinsic to, uh, humans, and all, so yeah, like, freedom?)

... I Went

So this ended up being great.

I don't have much to add as Ebert summed up the most important aspect of it perfectly when we wrote "I've rarely seen a documentary quite like it. It has a point to make but no ax to grind."

While there are certainly notable exceptions, most of the best art and literature that tries to deal in social and political relations is of this type. Instead of supporting a cause, which risks not only alienating those who are not part of it, but also engendering complacency amongst the supporters, better to show as calmly as possible why the cause should exist in the first place.

What good would it have been to make a movie towards "Christer-baiting"? "They" would hate "us" even more and "we"* would deserve it.

* I don't drink Lattes but I have lived my entire life between DC and Boston. DC is actually the furthest South and the furthest West (!) I have ever lived.

I think I am going...

... to tonight's event.

May be enjoyable and will certainly be better than what I usually do on a Friday night, ie nothing.

I tend to enjoy participating in cultural events more at times when I "shouldn't". Friday night is a good night for politics, and Super Bowl Sunday is a good day for the Opera (I did this back in 2008 - I even got dressed up. The music itself was fantastic, which is really why I went of course, but it did feel nice emerging from the Kennedy Center with no clue as to what was "really happening" in the USA).

Anyone wanna come with? Send an email!

Understanding Wealth

It has been said (pre-recession, though I am not sure how much has changed) that many, if not a majority of Americans, consider themselves wealthy, which is why class-based politics "doesn't work". How can you propose tax increases on 1% of the population when 50% of the population believes they are in that 1%?

Many of those Americans don't live in NYC, DC, SF or LA, so maybe it makes sense that they felt (feel) this way.

I have a way to put it into perspective. Maybe this will convert one or two of the fifty to one hundred and fifty million people that need to be converted.

I have a client who spent $1 million on the A/V components insalled in his residence (oh and, of course, this is not his only residence, nor even his primary one). This person's net worth is reported at around $7.8 billion (he is NOT close to being the wealthiest person in America). Granted, that is not all cash, but still...

...spending that $1 million was the equivalent of...

... spending one cent out of $78...

or

... spending ten cents out of $780...

or

... spending $1 out of $7,800...

or

... spending $10 out of $78,000...

or

... spending $100 out of $780,000.

Even if you had $780,000 to your name and were to spend in proportion to the aforementioned person, you would just barely be able to buy a decent DVD player and a cable to hook it up to... your old TV.

In other news...

... probably many people only realized that Bush II sucked sometime around the 2006 mid-term elections. You own us an apology!

It's not that I'm going nowhere, it's that it is happening so slowly

Music.

Still good:

New to me as of a few months ago; now heard daily:

Waited 5 years for this to come out on vinyl since I first heard it, and they only put half on(!):