Plate o' Shrimp

Sometimes, you see an idea and suddenly you start seeing it everywhere. Sometimes that synchronicity is so sharp, it's kind of uncanny.

While I was on vacation, I finally got around to reading a couple of books that had been sitting on my nightstand for a while. The first was a remarkable near-future science fiction novel called The Windup Girl, by Paolo Bacigalupi. This wildly imaginative and original book is set in Thailand in a future where the earth is depopulated by plagues, where food and energy are so scarce that calorie efficiency is a constant concern. Like the best speculative fiction, you finish this one with a lingering fear that this could really happen. It's an impressive first novel by Bacigalupi, well-paced and literary.

I'd been struggling for a while to get through Deleuze and Guattari's two volume Capitalism & Schizophrenia, when a friend suggested Manuel De Landa's A Thousand Years of Nonlinear History as kind of an introduction/distillation of the ideas.

It is an incredibly thought-provoking book on its own, but read immediately after Bacigalupi's, it's a revelation. De Landa offers a materialist re-interpretation of modern history as the movement, trade and governance of matter and energy that provides a philosophical Rosetta Stone for The Windup Girl's imagined world. These two books are like a great art-house double feature -- each one informs and enhances the other. Worth a look.

Thoughts on the American Idol Finale

In many ways, this year's finale was an odd repeat of last year's: the earnest heartland guy overcomes the splashy stage kid for the crown. Last year it was Cook over Archuleta; this year it was Allen over Lambert.

Lambert was a much stronger competitor than the lightweight Archuleta, and would have made a worthy winner this year. He was made for television -- his histrionic goth/vampire vibe, his faux sincere mugging at the judges' constant praise, his risky interpretations and his vocal pyrotechnics were ratings gold for Fox. In a lot of ways, his theatricality was more reminiscent of David Cook, who has proved to be a mediocre recording artist now that he's standing on his own. Lambert was not my favorite -- I thought he always over-sang his songs. I think people who thought he was robbed of the title need to listen to him without looking at him.

A lot will probably be made of "America not being ready for a gay American Idol." I think that's mostly nonsense. Lambert's sexuality was never an issue in the competition (no more than Allen's background as a worship-leading neo-Christian). On TV, he read more glam than gay, and I think he suffered in a zeitgeist that doesn't value glam as much as authenticity. In a different America (a time of Bowie, or Boy George), he might have won hands down.

Allen can certainly sing. He is not nearly the "star" that Lambert imagines himself to be, but he plugged away all season and rarely missed the mark by much. I thought the pairing with Keith Urban during the finale was genius; Allen held his own, vocally, and you could imagine a crossover niche he could fill in the music industry after that performance. He was much less well-served by the horrible theme song "No Boundaries" penned by the relentlessly annoying new judge, Kara DioGuardi.

The finale also demonstrated that the best two contestants were in the final. In performance after performance, the eliminated contestants showed their limitations. The three numbers featuring the finalists -- Allen with Urban, Lambert with KISS, and Allen & Lambert with Brian May of Queen -- were the highlights of the evening.

As an entertainment franchise, Idol is a juggernaut. The steady string of industry talent on stage this season (Kanye, Flo Rida, Miley Cyrus, Slash, not to mention the parade of B-listers in the finale) is testament to the self-reinforcing nature of Idol. Fox & Freemantle aggregate huge audiences, the sponsors (Coke, Ford, etc.) drool over the kind of reach that no longer exists in network television, the industry talent lends legitimacy to the contestants, and that talent is motivated to show up by the potential of performing to the huge TV audiences. It's a perfect marketing virtuous circle.

Idol's ability to generate stars is somewhat less certain. In terms of sales, only two of the show's seven winners have generated any real heat: Season One winner Kelly Clarkson in pop and Season Four winner Carrie Underwood in country. Two other contestants have had great careers launched by the show: Jennifer Hudson, who won an Oscar for Dreamgirls; and the amazing Chris Daughtry, the North Carolina auto mechanic whose post-Idol record became the fastest selling rock debut in history. Oh, and Clay Aiken, whatever you want to make of him.

I am a sucker for reality TV that dramatizes creative people at work (i.e., Project Runway, Top Chef). Idol has clearly gotten a bit ponderous and self-reflexive lately, and it takes itself oh so seriously. But at its core, it's about talent and performance and character cast up in the tense high-wire act of live TV and popular voting. I don't see our appetite for that kind of entertainment going completely away any time soon.

Why the Lahore Cricket Attack Matters

In Lahore, Pakistan, a group of up to a dozen terrorists brazenly ambushed two minivans carrying the Sri Lankan national cricket team and officials, killing 7 police and civilians, and injuring 9 of the cricketers.

Just another sad and pathetic day for Pakistan, fast becoming the Somalia of South Asia? A blow to Pakistan's government, which -- after the destruction of the Islamabad Marriott, the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, and the Mumbai attack fiasco -- appears to have no control over the security situation inside its country? All certainly true, but I think, ironically, this incident is potentially more profound in its regional implications.

The government of Pakistan has recently embarked on a new strategy for dealing with its internal security issues. After failing to defeat the Islamic militants in combat over the last year or two (despite inflicting mass casualties on the Talibs in Bajaur and elsewhere), and after failing to root out the Islamist sympathizers in their internal security services, Pakistan has started a campaign of appeasement, including several cease-fires and an agreement to allow the propagation of Islamic sharia law in the Swat Valley. The theory seems to be to grant autonomy and an Islamic identity to these loosely-governed regions in exchange for peace in the rest of Pakistan.

Meanwhile, the Obama administration continues to assassinate Taliban and al Qaeda leadership inside Pakistan, with 4 CIA drone missile attacks killing 90 people since the new president took office. These attacks have been brutally effective but wildly unpopular inside Pakistan; viewed there as both a provocation of the enemy and an infringement of Pakistani sovereignty.

And, now, the Lahore attacks. This is not like Mumbai (an attack on an old enemy), or the Marriott (an attack on a symbol of American influence), or Bhutto (an attack on a controversial politician) but rather an attack on what is probably an institution second only to Islam in Pakistani esteem: cricket. If you think I'm exaggerating, you've never been to South Asia during a test match. I was in Mumbai and Delhi a couple of years ago when the Indian national team was visiting Pakistan for a series of one day internationals, and these huge cities were literally shut down during the matches. I was trying to get a deal done, and my Indian counterpart was getting a text message from his wife after every couple of balls were bowled. After India won, there was rioting in the streets of Mumbai.

The ICC (the FIFA of cricket) has already questioned whether Pakistan can participate in the 2011 World Cup as a host (they were going to co-host with India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh). No team is going to go to Pakistan to play, and it's equally unlikely that the Pakistan team is going to be welcomed abroad.

I think this could be the tipping point for the moderate majority in Pakistan. Up until now, I think you could be a moderate, worldly Pakistani and still be an apologist for Islamist terror. There is widespread popular support for the Taliban as freedom fighters in Pakistan, widespread hatred for the US and India, and the usual Islamic tendency to blame a long string of political, social, and economic failures on outsiders.

But this is by all indications a home-grown attack, on a national institution that will serve to punish and humiliate average Pakistanis in an area, cricket, where they are reasonably competitive (World Cup winners in '92, runner's up in '99). This attack is indefensible to even to the Pakistani apologist. There is not going to be a solution to the Pak-Afghan terror crisis without the political support of the majority of Pakistanis. And if there is not a change in mindset after this attack, it's likely time to consider a more aggressive worldwide censure and isolation of Pakistan.

Fite Dem Back

I've been listening to a lot of Linton Kwesi Johnson lately. For those of you who don't know him, LKJ was a British dub poet of West Indian origin, who recorded several amazing and incendiary reggae albums in the late 70s and early 80s. LKJ is, sadly, the perfect soundtrack to the current political and economic circumstances.

LKJ was at the height of his powers as a poet during a time of tremendous racial strife in England, with the anti-immigrant National Front on the rise, and frequent acts of violence perpetrated against blacks and Pakistanis by dead-enders and skinheads, and more subtle institutional racism perpetrated by the police, through the infamous "sus" laws. LKJ took on the racism of British culture with calm fury that still resonates as clear as a bell today.

Earlier this year, with the war still raging and the Democratic primaries in full swing, I was attracted to the dark, apocalyptic tones of "Time Come," with its rock-steady beats and lyrics of dire warning. Later, over the summer, I spent more time listening to his incredible "Independant Intavenshan" with its passionate call for personal political action, against a backdrop of jaunty horns.

But in the last couple of weeks, as the Republican demagogues have unleashed the race-baiting, xenophobic anger of the extreme right (and particularly the "Christian" conservative base), the song I keep gravitating to is LKJ's "Fite Dem Back." To wit:

Fascists on the attack!
No botha worry 'bout dat
Fascists on the attack!
We will fite dem back
Fascists on the attack!
We will countah-attack
Fascists on the attack!
When we drive dem back
We gonna smash they brains in
'Cause they ain't got nothin in 'em

This election gives us a clear chance to repudiate the toxic brew of hate and ignorance that passes for populism on the extreme right, and perhaps to end the unholy influence of evangelical christianity over the Republican party.

In times like these, when fascist cops can get on stage and spew thinly-veiled race hatred with impunity, we have a moral duty as Americans to fite dem back. To smash them. To demoralize them and end their power as a movement.

Paso Robles

Over the Christmas break, our whole family (10 of us) drove up to the central coast for a vacation. We spent a few nights in Paso Robles and a few nights in Santa Barbara.

Paso Robles and the Edna Valley, to the south of San Luis Obispo, have really become extraordinary wine regions. I actually prefer it to the more hyped Los Olivos/Santa Inez regions outside Santa Barbara.

We tasted at 17 wineries during the trip. The Rhone-style wines from this region are really getting good: the weird and wonderful Linne Calodo wines; the ersatz Chateauneuf du Papes at Tablas Creek; the single-vineyard Syrahs from Adelaida; and the huge, chocolatey Syrahs from Alban. Also picked up some unique Roussannes, Marsannes, and Viogners, as well as the obligatory Santa Barbara/Santa Maria Pinot Noirs.

This part of the central coast feels to me like Napa or Sonoma 25 years ago, before the wine tourism. At many of the Paso Robles and Edna Valley wineries, the owner/wine-maker was there, in rubber boots, making wine. Totally unpretentious.

Goodbye, Sleater-Kinney

During the summer of 2006, while I was on a hiatus from blogging, the amazing band Sleater-Kinney announced the sad news that they were no longer going to record or tour as a group.

From my perspective, there have been three truly great "alternative" guitar bands in the last 25 years: Husker Du, Sonic Youth, and Sleater-Kinney. These bands produced a diverse catalog of music over many recordings and many years, but always with a signature sound -- complex and musical, but unmistakably punk in inspiration.

Like Thurston Moore's guitar feedback, Corin and Carrie's screechy vocals put a lot of people off. Their queer politics put others off. They never really got mainstream recognition - although some indy radio stations did put "Entertain," from S-K's final album, The Wood, in rotation.

To me, the unbridled punk lyricism of their guitar playing was magical. Check out "Not What You Want" on Dig Me Out, or "Light Rail Coyote" on One Beat, or "Far Away" - one of the best post-9/11 songs ever - or the classic rock-inspired tunes on The Wood. You'll see what I mean.

Comics

My 10 year old daughter, who is an avid reader, started getting into comics. The gateway comic for kids her age is Archie, which she devoured. Then she started reading the comics page of the LA Times. Then she started drawing her own comics.

Being the geek dad, I got her a copy of Scott McCloud's classic Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. If you haven't read this book, and you work in a creative field, you are in for a treat. She didn't get everything, but she understood and internalized a lot of it.

Around the same time, I came across this story about important recent comics and graphic novels. And there was the success of 300, based on the Frank Miller comic. So I ordered a bunch of the ones that looked interesting.

One thing that has struck me is how much modern American comics owe to Heavy Metal. My brother and I used to read Heavy Metal in high school -- they had some great artists working during the late 70's. You can really see the influence of guys like Moebius in the art styles, and there's a lot of the nihilism of RanXerox in the Spider Jerusalem character in Transmetropolitan.