Anyone else notice that among President Bartlet's personal possessions which were removed from the Oval Office on the series finale of The West Wing Sunday night was a Foucault volume? A slight jab at Francophobes, perhaps, and at the current administration's anti-intellectualism and xenophobia ( Read more... )

A delicious description, courtesy of Tom Constanten, of those ubiquitous, county-fair-playing, one-original-member-if-you're-lucky incarnations of classic rock acts:

"I was driving through the Midwest and I saw a sign on a ranch that says 'We have Abraham Lincoln's ax,'" the 62-year-old Constanten chuckles. "And there it was, mounted and ( Read more... )

Newspapers, fine coffee and sunlight! My favorite café offers all three, though to absorb the third of these essential elements of my day I sit at a sidewalk table watching the masses thread by. I invariably bring with me far too many books for the time my schedule allows; on a particularly busy news day they may never make an appearance. ( Read more... )

Half a league, half a league, half a league onward...

Some truly reprehensible backpedaling from Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) on tonight's Real Time With Bill Maher. Responding to the charge that the U.S. invasion of Iraq has turned that nation into a hotbed for Al-Qaeda recruitment, the good solon tried to spin rampant terrorism there as ( Read more... )

Not much to see here during these past few months, I know - lots going on, most of it not easily communicated verbally, however. Those few of my loyal readers who were expecting a list of last year's reading list highs and lows will instead get regular updates on what I'm currently perusing. They'll get the normal kvetching, yes, but filtered ( Read more... )

You might avoid placing your large turkey deep-fryer in a precarious location ( Read more... )

Another religious manifestation for your enjoyment or dread.

An amusing San Francisco Chronicle article on the latest "WTF was I thinking?" phenomenon, drunk text-messaging. I was reminded of this Onion piece from several years ago ( Read more... )

I'll get my Scrooge out of the way early. Have you read this disturbing piece yet? Apparently "the reading proficiency of college graduates has declined in the past decade." Well... the authors of the study should certainly have figured into their analysis the fact that many of the subjects were going to shitty colleges that didn't require a ( Read more... )

Kenneth Rexroth would have been 100 years old yesterday. Not only was he a poet of rare gifts, he became one of the leaders of what is now called the San Francisco Renaissance - a revolution in poetry and philosophy that reverberated worldwide - through the literary salons that took place in his home, his writings for many national and global ( Read more... )

I moved my shopping plans up to Friday after a conversation with my friend Sara, who's a merchandise guru and can tell quality from pure crap with one glance of her finely-tuned eyes. Union Square, a few funky boutiques in the Haight, a late lunch at the Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market and then home in the early evening, I think. I don't have a lot ( Read more... )