Like a Jhumpa story

Usha-Kiran Ghia and Rahul Rajkumar

The Times wedding section: Usha-Kiran Ghia, a daughter of Urmila Ghia and Kirti Ghia of Cincinnati, was married on Thursday morning to Dr. Rahul Rajkumar, the son of Dr. Urmil Aneja Gupta and Dr. Raj Kumar Gupta of Somers, N.Y. Mayor Thomas C. Rink of Indian Hill, Ohio, officiated in his office. Today, Pandit Navin Trivedi, a Hindu priest, is to perform a traditional Vedic ceremony at the Manor House, an estate in Cincinnati. ...

The bride and bridegroom met six years ago, when Ms. Ghia needed a ride from Westchester County Airport back to Yale after a vacation. A friend who knew them both had suggested calling Mr. Rajkumar because he lived close to the airport. "Out of the blue, I asked him if he didn't mind picking me up there," she said.

For his part, "I thought she was beautiful, charming and had a natural glow about her," he said. They soon became friends.

"One night I brought her a cup of coffee while she was up late writing a paper," Dr. Rajkumar remembered. "I was looking through some of her notebooks and saw my name written in beginner Hindi in one of them. That propelled me to ask her out. From then on, we knew."

Five years later, on another visit to the Westchester airport, he proposed.

I guess it's just the wedding pages, but the Times missed the story here. He lived close to the airport--but where did she live?

Assuming she lived at or near Yale, the school's travel services says Westchester airport is 59 miles away!

So this man with a law and medical degree agreed to drive out of the blue 120 miles round-trip for a stranger? My gosh... his friend must've emphasized her extreme cuteness. And what kindof a girl is she, to allow him to do that for her?

I'm very curious what the dynamics of their married life are like.

'Honey, would you mind driving to the next state to get me some chapstick?'

Photo of Usha-Kiran and Kirti by Steve Lyons photography via the Times.

Silver screen indeed

Have decided to write up a list of the films on my 'to watch' list. Since the most highly-regarded lists of top films are those done by the British Film Institute every ten years, I started there; basically put in all the films on their lists I haven't seen.

Here are the ten films directors around the world consider the best:

Citizen Kane (Welles)
The Godfather and The Godfather Part II (Coppola)
8 1/2 (Fellini)
Lawrence of Arabia (Lean)
Dr. Strangelove (Kubrick)
Bicycle Thieves (De Sica)
Raging Bull (Scorsese)
Vertigo (Hitchcock)
La Régle du jeu (Renoir)
Rashomon (Kurosawa)
Seven Samurai (Kurosawa)

I've seen all of them, except for Citizen Kane and La Régle du jeu. I like all of the remaining films; but I'd rank them like this:

Seven Samurai (Kurosawa)
Bicycle Thieves (De Sica)
Lawrence of Arabia (Lean)
Rashomon (Kurosawa)
Vertigo (Hitchcock)
8 1/2 (Fellini)
Dr. Strangelove (Kubrick)
Raging Bull (Scorsese)
The Godfather and The Godfather Part II (Coppola)

Everything after Vertigo probably wouldn't be on my personal top ten. I'd probably include films from Satyajit Ray, John Ford, Sergio Leone, Hou Hsiao-Hsien, Abbas Kiarostami, Charlie Chaplin and Edward Yang instead.

Here's how the critics voted:
Citizen Kane (Welles)
Vertigo (Hitchcock)
La Régle du jeu (Renoir)
The Godfather and The Godfather Part II (Coppola)
Tokyo Story (Ozu)
2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick)
Battleship Potemkin (Eisenstein)
Sunrise (Murnau)
8 1/2 (Fellini)
Singin' in the Rain (Kelly, Donen)

Sunrise is the one additional film I haven't seen.

Looking at the directors full list, and the critics full list, I've seen 29 of the directors' top 50, and 28 of the critics' 60. For the most part, I liked the films or at least found them worthwhile (an exception being The Travelling Players by Theo Angelopoulos, which after watching about half of its 4 hours became the only film I've ever left, because I was falling asleep not because of any great dislike).

It's interesting how Western and old school the lists are. There's only one female director on the entire list of top films; and there aren't any films more recent that the 80s (maybe this was a ballot stipulation)?

Same trend holds true for the list of top ten directors as chosen by the directors, where Kurosawa's the only non-white male. The critics list adds Ozu.

Oh well; times change, I'm pretty sure the next list--in 2012--will be more accurate as the list of voting directors and critics changes and as Westerners become less myopic.

A bout de souffle, Jean-Luc Godard 1960
-#31 in Sight and Sound's Directors poll 2002
-About an American girl student's encounter with a young hoodlum in Paris. Also known as Breathless.

Amarcord, Federico Fellini, 1979
-#31 in Sight and Sound's Directors poll 2002
-The life of a small provincial town near Rimini during the Fascist rule of the 1930s as seen through the eyes of a 15 year old boy.

Au hasard Balthazar, Robert Bresson, 1966
-#19 in Sight and Sound's Critics poll 2002
-A donkey, symbol of purity and sweetness, goes from bad masters to worse during the course of his life, as he encounters the sins of the world.

Barry Lyndon, Stanley Kubrick, 1975
-#27 in Sight and Sound's Critics poll 2002
-An ambitious but naïve adventurer is determined to gain a higher place in life, during the time of the Seven Years War in the 18th century.

Chinatown, Roman Polanski, 1974
-#24 in Sight and Sound's Directors poll 2002
-A matrimonial investigator finds himself involved in a complicated web of murder and corruption with big wheels in California of the late Thirties.

The Conformist, Bernardo Bertolucci, 1970
-#41 in Sight and Sound's Directors poll 2002
-Study of a young bourgeois man who during the Mussolini regime joins the fascist's cause.

Fanny and Alexander, Ingmar Bergman, 1982
-#19 in Sight and Sound's Critics poll 2002
-The title characters are children in the exuberant and colorful Ekdahl household in a Swedish town early in the twentieth century. Their parents, Oscar and Emilie, are the director and the leading lady of the local theatre company. (imdb)

The General, Buster Keaton, 1926
-#15 in Sight and Sound's Critics poll 2002
-Johnny Gray, a locomotive driver, is refused enlistment for the South, but in 1862 gets his chance. His engine and he, partly by audacity and largely by a set of curious chances, are instrumental in rescuing his girl from the Northern troops.

Greed, Erich von Stroheim, 1925
-#45 in Sight and Sound's Critics poll 2002
-Drama reviling lust for money.

Intolerance, D.W. Griffith, 1916
-#45 in Sight and Sound's Critics poll 2002
-The theme of "Intolerance" is the emotional basis of history.

Ivan the Terrible, Sergie Eisenstein, 1945
-#27 in Sight and Sound's Critics poll 2002
-Story of Ivan the Terrible's assumption to power in 16th-Century Moscow.

L'Atalante, Jean Vigo, 1934
-#15 in Sight and Sound's Critics poll 2002
The film is devoted to the passing of a barge along the waterways of France. A newly-married couple, a barge-master and a boy take part in the action.

L'avventura, Michelangelo Antonioni, 1960
-#24 in Sight and Sound's Directors poll 2002
-When Anna mysteriously disappears during a sailing trip around the Aeolian Islands, her boyfriend Sandro and her best friend Claudia begin an affair.

La Grande Illusion, Jean Renoir, 1937
-#24 in Sight and Sound's Directors poll 2002
-Story of three French prisoners of war in Germany in the Great War, officers of different rank thrown together by circumstance.

La Règle du jeu, Jean Renoir, 1939
-#9 in Sight and Sound's Critics poll 2002
-Tragedy and comedy effortlessly combine in Renoir's country house ensemble drama. A group of aristocrats gather for some rural relaxation, a shooting party is arranged, downstairs the servants bicker about a new employee, while all the time husbands, wives, mistresses and lovers sweetly deceive one another and swap declarations of love like name cards at a dinner party.

Le Mépris, Jean-Luc Godard, 1983
-#22 in Sight and Sound's Critics poll 2002
-American producer Jeremy Prokosch is in Italy to make a version of The Odyssey with Fritz Lang as the director. Prokosch wishes to engage the scriptwriter Paul Javel. When Prokosch meets Javel's wife Camille he immediately makes a play for her attention which Camille finds repellent. Also known as Contempt.

Les Enfants du paradis, Marcel Carné, 1945
-#31 in Sight and Sound's Directors poll 2002
-Nostalgic story of two actors, and the mysterious woman in their lives, set in the atmosphere of the mime theatre in Paris in the 1840s.

Letter from an Unknown Woman, Max Ophuls, 1948
-#45 in Sight and Sound's Critics poll 2002
-Story of a tragic love affair between a young Viennese girl and a famous concert pianist, set in Vienna in the early 1900's.

Man with a Movie Camera, Dziga Vertov, 1929
-#27 in Sight and Sound's Critics poll 2002
-The film is a montage of Moscow life, showing the people of the city at work and at play.

Ordet, Carl Dreyer, 1955
-#45 in Sight and Sound's Critics poll 2002
-Parable of a village girl miraculously brought back to life.

Persona, Ingmar Bergman, 1966
-#41 in Sight and Sound's Directors poll 2002
-The interaction of two women who resemble each other very closely physically. One keeps silent and the other carries on a monologue.

Pickpocket, Robert Bresson, 1959
-#41 in Sight and Sound's Directors poll 2002
-Psychological study of a thief.

Pierrot le fou, Jean-Luc Godard, 1965
-#45 in Sight and Sound's Critics poll 2002
-A young man leaves wife and home in an effort to find a new life with a girl he meets. But she entangles him in perpetual violence and crime.

Sansho Dayu, Kenji Mizoguchi, 1954
-#45 in Sight and Sound's Critics poll 2002
-Eleventh century Japan. Zushio and Anju, respectively the son and daughter of a deposed nobleman, lead a struggle against the feudal corruption that is practised by Sansho the cruel bailiff.

The Seventh Seal, Ingmar Bergman, 1957
-#31 in Sight and Sound's Directors poll 2002
-Knight returning, disillusioned, from the Crusades, postpones his death by playing a game of chess with Death.

Shoah, Claude Lanzmann, 1985
-#45 in Sight and Sound's Critics poll 2002
-A nine-hour documentary on the victims, perpetrators and witnesses to the Nazi extermination camps in Poland.

Sunrise, F.W. Murnau, 1927
-#7 in Sight and Sound's Critics poll 2002
-A young farmer is seduced by a woman from a city and for love of her attempts to drown his wife.

Sunset Blvd., Billy Wilder, 1950
-#12 in Sight and Sound's Critics poll 2002
-A middle aged film star lives in solitary splendour and nostalgia, determined to recover her old glory. When an unemployed script writer happens upon her home, she forces him to stay and re-write the script with which she plans to make her come-back.

Sweet Smell of Success, Alexander Mackendrick, 1957
-#41 in Sight and Sound's Directors poll 2002
-Sidney Falco is an unscrupulous Press agent who does a famous columnist's dirty work to further his own ambition.

Taxi Driver, Martin Scorsese, 1976
-#31 in Sight and Sound's Directors poll 2002
-Ex-Vietnam marine Travis Bickle takes a job as a New York cab driver, working the night shift to try to escape his oppressive sense of alienation from the corruption and filth that he sees all around him.

The Third Man, Carol Reed, 1949
-#41 in Sight and Sound's Directors poll 2002
-Story of an American writer who goes to Vienna just after the Second World War and tries to track down people who knew his friend, Harry Lime - a racketeer who has supposedly been killed in a street accident

Tokyo Story, Yasujiro Ozu, 1953
-#5 in Sight and Sound's Critics poll 2002
-A poignant story of family relations and loss, Ozu's subtle mood piece portrays the trip an elderly couple make to Tokyo to visit their grown-up children. The shooting style is elegantly minimal and formally reticent, and the film's devastating emotional impact is drawn as much from what is unsaid and unshown as from what is revealed.

Two or Three Things I Know about Her, Jean-Luc Godard, 1966
-#45 in Sight and Sound's Critics poll 2002
-Examines life in a large housing estate in Paris, following particularly one woman.

The Story of the Late Chrysanthemums, Kenji Mizoguchi, 1939
-#24 in Sight and Sound's Critics poll 2002
-Follows the career of a Kabuki actor whose inexperience leads him to initial failure on the stage, but who is encouraged to greater success by the girl who originally pointed out his shortcomings.

Ugetsu Monogatari, Kenji Mizoguchi, 1953
-#27 in Sight and Sound's Critics poll 2002
-Japan, 16th Century. Legendary love story about the passion of a ghost Princess for a poor potter.

Wild Strawberries, Ingmar Bergman, 1957
-#27 in Sight and Sound's Critics poll 2002
-The life story of an old professor, recounted through his dreams and his attitude to his family and friends.

All descriptions save one from the oddly eratic BFI database.

More films to see, from various sources:

-The Parallax View, Times: In Alan J. Pakula’s 1974 film “The Parallax View,” the nefarious Parallax Corporation uses a questionnaire to recruit potential assassins. Sociopaths and psychopaths are weeded in with a battery of questions that expose their psychological strengths and weaknesses, secrets and predilections. At the opposite end of the moral spectrum, and with utterly benign intent, the General Social Survey has been performing a similar exploration of the American psyche for 34 years.

Torino 2006

All XX Olympic Winter Games posts in one place.

Torino takes a bow

Rich get richer

Off the field

Red melts ice

All shades of red

Unexpected pleasures

Lull before the storm

Highest to gauchest

Some victories are sweeter than others

Nowhere but up

Old stories and new

Neither here nor there

Underdogs leap to gold

In the midst of change

She passes the torch

Some rise, most fall

Rings of fire

Torino Winter Olympics--Opening Ceremonies

Culture clash

Hotel removes booze and porn as Saudis arrive

Saudi Arabia arrived in Germany on Saturday becoming the fifth World Cup team to settle into their training base with just under two weeks to go until the tournament begins with the opening match on June 9.

The three-times Asian champions went from Frankfurt airport to the Hotel Dolce, north of Germany's financial capital in Bad Nauheim, which has been especially prepared for their arrival.

The hotel has removed alcohol from the minibars, blocked adult entertainment and other free-TV channels showing naked women and taken down tasteful nude photos in the fitness area.

Consumption of alcohol is forbidden in Islam and is a grave offence in Saudi Arabia, a country that enforces strict Islamic laws that also prohibit what it regards as pornography.

The article's juxtaposition between the 'tasteful nude photos in the fitness area' and 'prohibit what it regards as pornography' cracks me up.

What kindof a hotel has nude photos anywhere, let alone the fitness area? And you can call it tasteful, but nude photos are pretty universally regarded as pornography, whether you're a Muslim or not.

It's even funnier when paired with this article, Chile players sent home after women found in rooms:

Two key members of Chile's national squad have been sent home from a European tour after women were discovered in their hotel rooms, an official said on Friday.

The official said midfielder Mark Gonzalez and striker Reinaldo Navia had been ordered to fly home from Ireland after Chile beat the home team 1-0 on Wednesday.

Chile, who failed to qualify for the World Cup, are playing a series of friendlies in Europe to prepare for a regional Cup in 2007 in the Americas and for qualifying matches for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

'There was a disciplinary problem with our players...they had women in their room, so together with (coach) Nelson (Acosta), the head of the delegation and I decided to send them home,' Reinaldo Sanchez, president of Chile's national professional soccer association, told Cooperativa radio station.

Navia played for the Mexican teams America and Monterrey and Gonzalez belongs to Liverpool although he is currently on loan to Spain's Real Sociedad.

The coach discovered the women in the players' rooms in the early hours of Friday morning.

American Idol season five

All 34 posts for the season, in one place.

American Idol's prom king

Taylor vs. Katharine

Their last time

Two left standing

Hard cut to three

Hound dogs

Bye-bye, American Idol

Doing her own thing

American surprises

Guests steal the show

Six to join Andrea

Kids go classic

All the Queen's subjects

Whitewashed Idol

Countrified

Goal draws nearer

The kids disappoint

The sky falls for one

Barry's bunch

Feeling their way into it

Tears and smiles

The cool and the crazy

All ends well

Down to the sweet 16

Boys and a man

Seeking their groove

Down to XX

Boys are back in town

Greater than ever

Lucky two dozen

Idle, Idol, Ideal

Idolwood

All-American Idol

Hooray for Hollywood

Amazing Race 9

All my posts for the season, in one place.

Amazing last race

Like it was scripted

A real race

Hippies come back

Stripped down

Latin to Greek

Usual race

Pros and the fools

Rushing through Russia

Not-so-amazing race

X-tra questions

Saw X-Men: The Last Stand tonight. Liked it, it was interesting. Continues series' central themes of science as a double-edged sword, and it's what's on the inside that matters, not what's on the outside.

Movie has some specific real-world applications, can think of the persecuted mutants in the movie as gay people; or, because some of the mutants fight back violently, as Muslims. The film centers around an industrialist developing a drug, derived from a mutant boy's power, that makes someone who's a mutant 'normal'. The company makes the drug available to any mutant who wants to take it, which engenders first demonstrations and then when Eric/Magneto's band gets involved, war.

Significant side plot is Dr. Jean Grey--who seemingly sacrificed herself at the end of the previous movie to save the X-Men--actually still being alive, having built herself a 'psychic shield' underwater.

And apparently she's such a powerful mutant that Professor Xavier had had to instill 'mental barriers' in her mind after he first met her to allow her to control her powers. The uncontrolled personality calls herself 'Phoenix', and has been suppressed all these years.

The film starts with Professor Xavier and Magneto visiting Jean Grey as a girl, essentially the Professor convinces her to come to his school, although at first she's reading his mind and levitating things outside outof pique.

After that there's what looks like a battle, but it turns out it's just a simulation at the school meant to help four of the students--Rogue, Iceman, Kitty Pryde and Colossus work on their fighting skills. It's interesting, Wolverine has Colossus throw him, he cuts off the head of the robot. He's always hated technology.

Meanwhile, the president and his staff are meeting, they show their director of mutant affairs that they've captured Mystique, while she was trying to steal information the FDA has about the anti-mutant drug the private company developed. I think this is important--it's no longer bad governments we have to fear, but companies operating beyond the reach of elections, driven by profit or other motives.

Around this time, Scott leaves the school, because he keeps on hearing Jean mentally calling to him, he assumes he's going nuts, goes to Alkali Lake where he last saw her. There he's overcome by the strength of her calling, kindof goes nuts and winds up shooting an energy beam into the lake, which releases her (a phoenix traditionally needs to be burned alive before it's reborn, in this case I think it's not that literal, his heat vaporizes the water above her she's been using all her strength to hold back, allowing her enough space to create a whirlpool, which sucks her out).

They kiss, she tells him she wants to see his eyes, saying she can control his heat, he winds up taking off his glasses, and that's the last you see of him. Meanwhile, the government's announced the availability of the anti-mutant drug, mutants hold a meeting at which Eric reveals himself, preaches fighting, and gets some new followers, including a mutant who can locate other mutants, he uses her to find where Mystique is being held.

Around this time the owner of the company decides to test the drug, on his son--who earlier had been trying to saw off his wings. He changes his mind, but they try to continue, he manages to bust outof the lab and flies off.

Back in school, the professor's teaching some kids, they show a training video with a nurse and a man in a coma who's alive but has no brain functions, question of whether if you could transplant consciousness is it okay to put somebody else into this body. The session's interrupted, the company's announced the drug is available for any mutant who wants to take it.

At some point Wolverine and Storm come to look for Scott, Storm clears the area of its mist and it turns out everything's floating free of gravity. They find Jean passed out, take her back home, the Professor tries to reharness her mind, but the process is never finished or doesn't work.

At any rate Wolverine is looking at her when she reawakes, they start kissing passionately--Phoenix is uncontrolled so while Jean Grey had managed to repress her feelings for Wolverine outof consideration for her relationship with Scott, Phoenix has no such restraints. But he realizes something's wrong, this isn't like Jean at all and although in some ways he likes it, he always wants it to be authentic and really her, not some uncivilized animal. Interesting, because he's always fought this battle with himself, tells you he's really been convinced by Professor Xavier, it's not brainwashing. Jean, however, tells Wolverine to kill her now, that she as Phoenix is too dangerous; Wolverine doesn't believe her, but does stop kissing her, then Phoenix--who'd been levitating things and generally making a mess of the room in the throes of passion--hurls him against a wall and walks out.

After that you see Magneto and his band busting up the convoy that's shuttling the imprisoned mutants around the country, significantly a guard who's not quite dead manages to fire a dart filled with anti-mutant serum at Magneto, Mystique takes the dart instead, but after she's 'transformed' back into her human self Magneto leaves her, he only deals in mutants. She's left upset, ultimately angry.

The Professor and Magneto meet up at Jean Grey's childhood home--they tell their comrades to stay outside, go inside, each attempting to persuade Jean--the Professor asking her to return so they can work on controlling Phonenix, Magneto saying she shouldn't submit to his control anymore. She basically ignores Magneto, she and the Professor engage in a battle of wills, she's so powerful she destroys the house, throwing Magneto into the kitchen, and levitates the Professor; all the chaos brings the others in, but fighting, Magneto's forces get the better of it but Wolverine is able to work his way into the room, where he sees Phoenix dispersing the professor into a million particles, but not before the Professor appeals to Jean to control her powers.

Phoenix/Jean kindof goes limp, Magneto convinces her to come with him, off they go to his mutant army camp. There's then a funeral at the school for the Professor, after that they decide to keep the school open after a short discussion of closing it, the winged boy shows up and has some impact on the discussion. Storm's now in charge, as the Professor had said to her earlier she would be. Iceman and Kitty Pryde have a moment out on the ice, Rogue sees it, along with a few other things is jealous and sad, decides to take the anti-mutant drug so as to be able to touch her boyfriend.

Wolverine hears Jean calling him, goes to her, has to fight his way in, hears Magneto telling his troops he's planning to go to war. He tries to make his way to Jean afterwards, but Magneto fights him and knocks him outof there. He doesn't want her talking to Jean....

After that Pyro firebombs the distribution center for the drug, Magneto goes on tv to say it's the opening of the war. He decides to take over the drug facility and the mutant it's all based on, as part of the war. Meanwhile, the government decides to attack his camp; they launch the attack, but it's empty, just one mutant pretending to be hundreds.

Eric and his troops are gathered overlooking Alcatraz where the drug headquarters are, he drags the Golden Gate bridge over so they can get over to the island. Wolverine, Storm, Dr. Hank McCoy/Beast--who's resigned from the government to rejoin his comrades--and the four kids get ready to try and stop Eric, Wolverine tells them all they have to fight and can't let what the Professor stood for die, Storm at the end tells him I hope you're ready to do what you have to.

Final big battle, Eric's side is doing well, sends in Juggernaut and a couple others to get the kid while most of his forces are fighting the government out front. The X-Men show up, they stand with the troops and battle Eric, while Kitty walks through walls and stuff to find the mutant boy, gets to him before Juggernaut, nobody's powers works around him, they take advantage of that and Juggernaut knocks himself out running into, instead of through, a wall.

Magneto and Pyro are getting the better of the battle, Wolverine comes up with a plan, sends Iceman to battle Pyro one-on-one, Iceman wins. Meanwhile Wolverine gets Colossus to throw him, Magneto stops him, says you never learn, Wolverine says actually I do, Beast has come around behind Magneto and stabs him with four anti-mutant darts, he loses his power.

It's an interesting moment, not just because the mutants had to use anti-mutant technololgy to defeat the greater evil but also because Wolverine/nature warped by technology is able to defeat Magneto/ultimate representation of technology in that he controls metal only by using Beast/nature at its most pure stripped of his suit-wearing ways. So there's a time and place for the fury of nature, but only when consciously directed by the intellect.

The government's reinforcements arrive, however, and fire a bunchof darts at the X-Men. Luckily Jean/Phoenix stops the darts; she basically stops everything in their tracks, but then starts destroying everything. Wolverine tells Storm to lead the others, including the mutant boy, out, only he can stop Phoenix. He approaches her, she tries to disintegrate him but he self-heals pretty quickly, gets close to her, tries to reason with her, she's outof control, so he gets closer, winds up killing her. As she dies Jean is back, says thank you or words to that effect.

Film winds down with Jean's grave and Scott's next to the Professor's; school is back in session, Beast is appointed UN ambassador to represent all Americans internationally. Final scene is Eric in a park, trying--perhaps succeeding--in regaining his power to move metal, via a chess piece that wobbles.

Then, after the credits--a quick scene, the nurse and patient in a coma, then the professor's voice, then the nurse says 'Charles?' Nobody else saw this, but I don't think Charles' voice came from the body, it came from the left, like in a chair off to the side or something. Not at all sure about this, and unclear why it would be true.

[Further Internet research: the 'nurse' is actually Moira MacTaggert, who's apparently the leading human associate of the X-Men, a scientist, and the former fiancee of Charles. She's at her computer, hears a voice to her left say 'Moira', turns around, says 'Charles?']

In any case, Charles apparently isn't 'dead' although he's lost his temporal body, either he himself was able to put his consciousness into this body, or Jean was able to help him in response to his last-minute appeal to her to control her power.

Phoenix essentially is uncontrolled Jean; too much of a good thing is always bad. Throughout Phoenix's powers are extremes of Jean's. Jean has always had the ability to read people's minds, Phoenix does that to the point where Scott is in pain and thinks he's crazy. But later, it's Jean who uses the calling to get Wolverine to come find her at Eric's mutant army camp (and kill her), so Jean is clearly not just present but sometimes able to counteract Phoenix.

Another power Jean's had is the ability to 'freeze' time, which I read actually as the ability to manipulate particle movement. The freezing is always localized, not worldwide. Also, this same power explains her levitation power--she simply stops the natural tendency of particles to fall toward earth (gravity's pull). But in Phoenix's hand the uncontrolled power means things 'explode', or actually objects disintegrate. Read this as she just accelerates particles' natural movement to the point where it's outof control (like Juggernaut, who once he builds up momentum is unstoppable]

A friend asked afterwards why does Jean/Phoenix kill Scott. It's a good question, taps into the larger issue of who is Phoenix and why is she necessary in the film. Possible explanations:

1) She needed his energy. Phoenix definitely needed Scott initially, his burst of energy is what frees her. After that, while they were kissing and she told him to take off his glasses, it was almost like she was sucking in his life force or something. Jean Grey's been trapped for so long her hair has grown really long, maybe she was 'hungry' as well and sucked his life force out of him.

2) It was a mistake. After being freed, Phoenix says something you can imagine a grateful lover saying to another, take off your glasses, I want to see your eyes--and don't worry, I can control your fire. (This echoes Iceman in X-Men 2 saying to Rogue he wanted to kiss her, and could prevent her from killing him; but miscalculating and almost dying (as she sucks the life outof him), having let love rule his head). Likewise, maybe Phoenix was wrong, was still finding her own strength and her powers are too strong/uncontrollable, trying to control Scott's fire (mentally?) she killed him by mistake in the heat of passion. There is some support for this, when Wolverine/Storm find her she's unconscious herself.

3) Phoenix fights against control. She was kissing Scott, realized his love of her is controlling because he wants her to suppress her feelings for Wolverine and just be with him, kills him outof an inability to abide any control now that she's been freed from Charles' inhibitors.

Slight corollary to this, Phoenix, or uncontrolled Jean Grey, is inherently unstable and thus bad, so things like this happen when passion is unfettered. It's interesting, she doesn't kill people she doesn't love. She throws away Magneto like he's not even worth dealing with at the house--when she threatens him later in the camp, it's with the anti-mutant serum, not with dissolution. The Professor, on the other hand, she engages with; but I think is swayed in part by Magneto's words that Charles wants to control her, so fights against that. She doesn't try to kill Wolverine the first time around, though--maybe because she recognizes that he's at heart an unfettered animal like her. He actually controls himself in deciding not to have sex with her.

At the end of the movie she does try to kill him, but only in the act of destroying everything around her (Samson pulling the temple down), besides which by that point she's deteriorated mentally and Jean has almost no control over Phoenix.

I think this last explanation fits with the theme of the movie, that powerful forces have to be kept under control, otherwise even if they're 'good'--like science--they become bad. In essence, to be effectively human is to be aware yet restrained. Wolverine with just his animal nature is bad, as we see in the first X-Men movie. So is Beast, he needs to be a scientist and dressed up in suits and take part in politics and engage humans in order to be effective and do good in the real world.

So by this theme, of course uncontrolled Jean kills even or especially those she loves, since they're the ones who are in closest proximity to her. She kills oddly enough not out of hate, but in some ways because she cares too much. When the Professor came for her, she didn't just listen to him, listen to Eric, and then walk away with Eric--she sat and listened to Charles only and engaged with him, ignoring Eric--literally throwing him out of the discussion.

Unfortunately for Charles' wheelchair self, the intensity of the battle of wills grew too much and she wasn't able to control herself. It's probably worth noting this battle took place in her childhood home; given that Charles had taken her outof this home and put her in therapy to try to control Phoenix, the therapy was unsuccessful so he had to resort to instilling subconscious inhibitors in her, it's not surprising that Phoenix returns to where she last was, before she was boxed up (links also to how therapists always root everything in childhood).

In a sense, you could say Phoenix is the original wild child, man's savage nature before things like schooling/society/civilization tamed it or at least controlled it somewhat. hat traditionally harkens back to Adam and Eve, of course--and the movie definitely has a substrata of woman vs. man (Mystique vs. Magneto, Rogue vs. Iceman, Kitty vs. Juggernaut, Phoenix vs. Scott/Charles/Magneto/Wolverine) that feeds into nature vs. technology, passion vs. intellect, excess vs. control, orthodoxy vs. tolerance.

Each of these women/men pairings end in death or great pain, which doesn't bode well for the outcomes of the conflict between the other extended metaphors. But that's a topic for another day.

It's interesting by the way that the one relationship in the film that perhaps doesn't end horribly, Rogue vs. Iceman, requires the woman to kill an inherently destructive but also innate part of herself in order to try and make the relationship, in her mind at least, work.

Maybe the movie really should have be called XX-Men.

American Idol's prom king

Ah, the last American Idol of the season... so sad in some ways, yet it's probably gone on just about enough. Carrie Underwood comes out singing to open the show. Then Taylor in a white suit joins her. The Katherine, all in white too, completes the picture. Ah--to more screaming the rest of the top 12 come out, everyone's in white. It's like a preview of the concert tour. Just some 'Up With People' type song, we made it through being the chorus. And then the opening credits roll.

And out comes Ryan, everyone's cleared off the stage. Ben Stiller and Heather Locklear are in the audience, together. 200 million watching worldwide, Ryan says. They run clips of Randyisms, mostly dude, throughout the year. All spiffed up in a suit. String of Paula's emotional moments are shown, she's in nice gown. Funny clips of Simon touching himself, looking fit in a suit. Taylor's supporters are going nuts in Birmingham, the twins who were cut early host shrilly. Kat's supporters, much less rabit and smaller in Universal City, CA with Tamara from season one.

Paris next, they pick the pro to kick things off, sings a bit, then out comes Al Jarreau to do a duet with her. She skats a little too, it's smooth and easy--she's totally ready for the big-time. Ryan says that was Paris singing with her idol; then Chris sings with Live. He totally fits in, is like mirror image of the lead singer. So this is how they're gonna fill two hours... it's enjoyable listening to Chris, but not super-compelling. Crowd loves it.

Kellie Pickler and her sassy new short hair cut hangs out with Wolfgang Puck. She's hilarious, tries on his glasses, he says you look smart, she says maybe now people will take me seriously. They bring out escargot, she says she doesn't think she can eat it, says it's creepy, doesn't wanna eat it. She pretends to eat it, says hmmm, he forces it into her mouth, she spits it out; this is like classically funny. He can't say her hometown's name, Albermarle.

Meatloaf joins--Katharine?! Crazy, doing It's All Coming Back to Me Now. Who'd have thought this. He's so emotional to start, almost like a parody, shaking and trembling. She comes out in black, this is so weird. She looks horrible, all in black, he's doing all this stagey stuff with her, it's like bad opera. He's even singing in this fake deep voice, it's a train wreck. So bizarre, they're not even in synch or on key, like something you'd see on public access, late at night. She's not what you'd call a classy gal.

Back with some strange routine where Ryan's complaining about never winning an award, they're gonna give themselves the Golden Idol. Brought to you by Coca-Cola and Ford, of course. This is gonna be stupid; it's all making fun of people, worst clips show come back. It's mean-spirited and totally a waste of time. The worst male vocalist, Dave Hoover, actually is there, runs out on stage barefoot, screaming and yelling. It's pathetic and an example of how bad this show can be when it's feeling its oats.

Back with more Puck n' Pickler. They put a whole live lobster right next to her, she jumps onto the floor, it's hilarious. He's just teasing her. She's poking at it with a fork, this is so funny. It's by far the best part of the show. The five non-Taylor guys come out and do some stupid group song; Taking Care of Business. It's actually not bad in spots, Chris and Bucky are good. Out comes Taylor halfway through, playing his harmonica, big man on campus. He actually does take over, effortlessly. This is pretty good after all; Ace is totally ridiculous, as is Kevin; Elliott's okay, but Chris/Bucky are good, and Taylor rocks. Ace is really bad. Crowd is going nuts. They segue into Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow, which brings it all back down again. Then they work the crowd, ugh. Okay, this song is bad for everyone.

Back, and believe it or not there's a Ford commercial... with clips and outtakes from the season's other commercials, Taylor/Katharine just sit in the car and laugh. Thye give them both keys to a new Mustang, sheesh. Are excited but not so much so. Go back to stupid Golden Idols thing, this time it's proudest family moment. Elliott's mom, Katharine's dad, Chris' wife--she should 'win'. This is stupid, they're gonna say one moment is better than the others? And they pick Elliott's mom, give her a trophy, it's so ridiculous. He asks her to introduce Elliott, tells her to say Ladies and Gentlemen, Elliott Yamin... she, no dummy, takes mike and says Ladies and Gentlemen, my Elliott Yamin. So American.

He's singing One Love, it's okay; whoah, then Mary J. Blige comes out to sing with him. Where's Paris?! She's not discernibly better than Paris, actually. She's wailing actually, kindof not good. Back, Carrie Underwood, ugh. She's not very good. Another award, Randy Jackson award for public speaking, to that crazy cursing girl. It's a staged segment, stupid.

Taylor back, doing In the Ghetto--with Toni Braxton. He's not at all outof his element, it's not bad. Back, girls in all back; doing Man, I Feel Like a Woman; then Bad to the Bone, and some other stuff, it's not any good. Except when you-know-who takes the lead; Lisa Tucker's good too, they have a fun little duet together. Katharine has to assert herself to stay out front. Overall all it's pretty forced, not so entertaining. Lisa actually really stands out; best moment is Paris on You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman.

Next award is Best Impersonation, it's so painful. More Kellie and Wolfgagn! The 'winner', so-called Clay Aiken look-alike shows up on stage, clueless as always--he sings ridiculously bad, coming out behind him is real Clay Aiken, the guy's like why's everyone cheering, and is totally in shock and jumping around when a very-different looking Clay comes out to sing with him. It's actually pretty funny; like they do this nutty duet. He keeps saying oh my god, Clay after a while kindof ignores him, does his own thing. It's quite entertaining.

I hate to say it, but am actually enjoying this crazy two-hour thing--there's this weird mix of awful, tone-deaf stuff and truly entertaining content. Sortof like the show itself. Bert Baccarat, plays piano, Taylor then Katharine sing What the World Needs know. Then stupid Ace, don't remember him being this bad, it's like he's gone through a nervous breakdown and is put back together, but slightly off. Chick who was first of 12 to be axed sings with him, truly painful moment. Kellie next, looking and singing very 70ish; that would've been her time, everyone was discovering calamari and sushi together then. Her voice if a little thin for what she's singing. Bucky does Raindrops are Dropping on My Head, it's not bad. Mandisa belts out something, then Lisa against the piano does a quiet and nice slower number. Elliott next, both of them would be perfect in cabaret-like settings, he's doing a House is not a Home. Where are Peter, Paul and Mary?! They should do a folksong night next year; or Dylan.

Show's starting to drag a later, they need to liven it up. Kevin does a ridiculous What's New Pussycat, so the opposite of Tom Jones, it's pathetic. Look is totally wrong, tone isn't the worst but it's not believable. Chris comes out, kindof gives him a little tap, takes over; Ace and Kevie flank him, but may as well be oohing and aahing. Paris sings Why Do Birds Suddenly Appear. Everyone else is there to do backup. She introduces Dionne Warwick, who gets big applause. Such a bizarre collection of pretty good singers, but from other eras. Like a Time Life commercial.

Pacing is so uneven, it's totally a grab bag. Warwick sings a rendition of That's What Friends Are For that has everyone screaming in recognition, Taylor and Katharine join, then the others. Yeah, it's like a motely prom, they're pushing all the emotional buttons, sometimes it connects sometimes not, no flow to the evening, very disjointed and leaves you jittery.

Best Male Bonding--Ace and Chris's big hug; Ryan and Taylor's joint floor dance; and the cowboys mock trailer, which actually I liked. Man, I hope they bring these guys out. And yay, they come out--and sing! This is great. And you know, they're quite good. Doing Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys.

Ryan says no more surprise guest stars... results portion. Crazy chick dancers, then--oh my god! It's Prince! Holy holy cow! That is so unbelievable! I mean, this show is so crazy, people are going crazy. It's so entertaining and fun to listen to; he's such a natural performer. Man, if he can come on the show, there's no end to who they can get--there literally is nobody too big for this show, Prince has given it his stamp of approval. It's like a real performance too, he does two song, neither of which pander to the crowd. My gosh.

Taylor comes out singing Time of My Life; then Katharine. Words are very appropriate for both of them. It's a pretty good performace, they both seem totally happy, do a bit of dancing. Now Ryan... 63.4 million votes were cast, it's crazy. He says it's more than any president has ever received; well, generally in presidential elections you can't vote more than once. Bring out some accountant, hands the results to Ryan, and it's....

Taylor Hicks. Of course! His hometown crowd is totally going crazy, he's bent over in emotion for a few seconds, it's a nice moment. He screams out Soul Patrol at the end.

And another season's over. Pretty darn good... they have stuff to improve on, but overall, my favorite television show. It's a long way from January, can barely remember back that far. But I think the 'right' person won, in the sense of someone who gets the fans excited.

Can't wait for year six. Still can't believe Prince sang.

Their last time

Taylor vs. Katharine, at the big Kodak theater in Hollywood. As if the show wasn't already giant enough, now they're singing in front of a live audience of 3,000. Everybody's a bit more dolled up; Simon looks odd in a sport jacket. Three songs each, three numbers each, four numbers to vote.

They show their intro videos, from the beginning on. Simon's prediction that Paula and Randy and America wouldn't put Tyler in the final group turned out pretty wrong. Girl vs. boy, West vs. the South Ryan intones. How about fake vs. real?

Taylor won the toss, going second. Wow, short commercial breaks tonight. Chris hanging out, Kellie too? Katharine doing Black Horse and the Cherry Tree... that song she did when she sat on the floor, this time she's standing. Does that mean she's gonna finish with Somewhere Over the Rainbow? It's not interesting the second time around, something's lacking, maybe she's just a bit restrained or something. Not a very melodic song, odd first choice. Randy says it looked like you were having fun, but not sure it was that super-exciting the second time around. Paula says fun way to open, but expects more and better. Simon says good with a small 'g', occasion is bigger than that song, it's a warm-up. She says after she liked doing it before, liked it; belly on display. Apparently people from her fan club sent her a bunchof roses.

Living for the City by Taylor, in this crazy purple outfit, starts in the audience--perfect choice, totally shows off his tone of voice. Shot of all the past competitors in the audience. High energy, he's rocking right from the start. And some crazy dancing too. I think he'll win, and pretty easily, his fans are crazy and will vote a million times. Randy's like yo, the audience keeps cheering; he says he was worried about a Stevie Wonder song, but you made it your own as always, it's a hot one. Paula loves his dancing, and says they match. Simon says it was a great way to start the show, a smart choice of song--arguably the worst jacket I've ever seen in my life... round one, to Taylor. He's totally comfortable in front of the camera, cool guy. Although you can tell he's no pushover.

Sheesh, and she's doing Somewhere Over the Rainbow again. Why?! Sitting again too. It's good, again; and I think she does change it up a bit toward the end. But still, why not end with this, and do something new for your second song? Her dad's crying, audience cheers a lot. Randy's like it was hot, even if a repeat. Paula says you have a lot of talent. Simon says this was again your best performance of the competition. She says afterwards her equipment didn't work, that's so Katharine; why mention it at all?

Taylor's doing Leave On, again--although I think he last performed it before the top 12 round. It's slow and he's in control, audience totally caught up in it. It's a very professional performance, a bit restrained but vocally quite good. Randy says nice song, but a bit pitchy. Paula says good, great. Simon says what you just said makes no sense, Paula; Katharine won the second round, all up to the last song. Jeez, funny how neatly that works out.

Back, Katharine's parents say she's always been singing. Doing My Destiny, which will be her first single, nice to get a commercial in. Funny, it's like a Broadwayish song, chance for her to ham it up. She looks like Sandra Bullock; it's a good performance, bit lacking in energy, also not a great dress choice; as usual her movements are unnatural. Bit sedate as well; not sure who's gonna buy this, apart from the die-hards--pitch problems too. Worst of the night so far for me. Choir comes out on stage near the end; song feels forever long, it's almost like she's tired and is just howling to finish it out, really not good. Ovation not that great. Randy's like you look amazing, you sounded really good, but didn't love the song. Paula says it's not your fault, you're brilliant; Randy says the song is average. Simon says I'm sorry, it's quite good, but... basically remember the second song, not this one.

Hmm, they still have 15 minutes to kill, so besides Taylor they say they have a special guest. Can't be a past Idol, that'd overshadow them. Some celebrity who won't sing? Odd. Or a past Idol who's not as good? Taylor's dad says Taylor taught himself how to play the harmonica. Do I Make You Proud. Too bad he doesn't play harmonica. They song is actually pretty bad--he delivers it as best as he can, but so weird, the song doesn't fit at all. Who's picking these songs? I think he drops a lyric. Choir comes out again. He's sedate, not a classic Taylor performance, some pitch problems and the pacing is totally messed up. He brings some energy at the end, but too late. Crowd cheers, he's just jumping up and down yelling Soul Patrol, has look in his eyes, he knows it wasn't his best. Randy says slightly better song, you make it your own, yeah! Paula says you were better than the song. Simon says you've just won American Idol. Crowd goes crazy; Randy and Paula are dogging him for saying that. Randy and Paula are on the Taylor bandwagon, they say Simon was the one who didn't want him outof Vegas.

So I'd vote for Taylor, based on his body of work. Looks like he'll win, too; he's got the big mo. But it's all kindof anti-climatic; songs weren't great tonight. If Katharine had finished singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow for the first time tonight, she'd have won in a walk.

Wow, Daniel Powter sings So You Had a Bad Day, live. That's cool. Some technical problems, he's not sure when to start, so he actually is outof synch with the video. Heck, it's the best thing we've seen--he'd have won.

Katharine II
Taylor II
Taylor I
Katharine I
Taylor III
Katharine III

Slap is just a slap

Macek's slapping Rath no crime but misdemeanour

This weekend's attack on Health Minister David Rath by Miroslav Macek, former Civic Democrat (ODS) deputy head and current adviser to President Vaclav Klaus, will be assessed as a misdemeanour against the public peace, not as a crime, state attorney Tomas Blaha told CTK today.
He said that he had assessed the incident on the basis of TV recordings, along with the police, and considered either to qualify Macek's action as breach of the peace, a crime, or as an offence.

"We finally qualified it as an offence," Blaha said.

Macek (senior opposition ODS) slapped Rath (for the senior ruling Social Democrats, CSSD) from behind in his head, in front of TV cameras at a conference of the Czech Dentists' Chamber (CSK) which Macek, a dentist by training, was to moderate.

Later Macek threw himself on Rath with his fists, but Rath parried the attack before a by-standing official tore them apart.

To explain his action, Macek said Rath had made unflattering utterances about his wife.

A Czech blogger has more on the story, which nobody would care about if not for the video.

It's an interesting example of how in our modern society those who believe in things like rule of law sometimes are at a disadvantage when confronted by those troglodytes who believe in might makes right. Rath comes across looking like a fool; but really, what could he do?

Top Letterman guests

Dave's got really good interplay with certain guests--usually it's people who are self-confident but not arrogant, and of course have a good sense of humor. As I write, he's making a big mess cooking and eating a stick of butter with Martha Stewart.

Now's he's drinking wine and pretending to hit on Martha Stewart (they're neighbors now, she says she keeps inviting him over for dinner and he keeps declining).

I actually think now that Koppel's retired, he's the best interviewer on late-night television, and may even be better than people like Russert at getting real answers out of people.

He's had quite a run on tv, see him as someone who's highly intelligent who's usually fighting boredom. Which makes the rare moments when he's really actually delighted or surprised even better.

-Drew Barrymore
-Sarah Jessica Parker
-Hillary Clinton
-Al Gore
-Dan Rather
-Robin Williams
-Martha Stewart
-Any kid

Uncredited photo of Al Gore on Letterman from Jewish World Review.

Billary

For Clintons, Delicate Dance of Married and Public Lives

Patrick Healy in the Times: When the subject of Bill and Hillary Clinton comes up for many prominent Democrats these days, Topic A is the state of their marriage — and how the most dissected relationship in American life might affect Mrs. Clinton's possible bid for the presidency in 2008. ...

The dynamics of a couple's marriage are hard to gauge from the outside, even for a couple as well known as the Clintons. But interviews with some 50 people and a review of their respective activities show that since leaving the White House, Bill and Hillary Clinton have built largely separate lives — partly because of the demands of their distinct career paths and partly as a result of political calculations. ...

The effect has been to raise Senator Clinton's profile on the public radar while somewhat toning down Mr. Clinton's; he has told friends that his No. 1 priority is not to cause her any trouble. They appear in the public spotlight methodically and carefully: The goal is to position Mrs. Clinton to run for president not as a partner or a proxy, but as her own person.

Many of those interviewed were granted anonymity to discuss a relationship for which the Clintons have long sought a zone of privacy. The Clintons and, for the most part, their aides declined to cooperate for this article and urged others not to cooperate as well. Their spokesmen, Jay Carson (his) and Philippe Reines (hers), provided a statement about the relationship:

"She is an active senator who, like most members of Congress, has to be in Washington for part of most weeks. He is a former president running a multimillion-dollar global foundation. But their home is in New York, and they do everything they can to be together there or at their house in D.C. as often as possible — often going to great lengths to do so. When their work schedules require that they be apart they talk all the time."

Since the start of 2005, the Clintons have been together about 14 days a month on average, according to aides who reviewed the couple's schedules. Sometimes it is a full day of relaxing at home in Chappaqua; sometimes it is meeting up late at night. At their busiest, they saw each other on a single day, Valentine's Day, in February 2005 — a month when each was traveling a great deal. Last August, they saw each other at some point on 24 out of 31 days. Out of the last 73 weekends, they spent 51 together. The aides declined to provide the Clintons' private schedule.

It's kindof a crazy article on face, but also necessary. I'm sure the Clintons would rather the Times not care about their marriage, but given that they and millions of Americans do, it's probably better that it run now than closer to 2008.

Which doesn't mean the topic of their marriage won't come up a million times between now and then. Oh well; it's still a sexist country and it's always interesting to me how much of the ugliness and odd sense of entitlement in people is brought out by Hillary. It's the same kind of disproportionate emotional response that Martha Stewart seems to engender, and that people mutter under their breaths at Oprah.

As I said to a friend this weekend, I hope Condoleeza Rice wins the GOP nomination--two women running against each other is the only way I can see America electing a female president anytime soon.

Some lines in the article made me crack up--it's like they're describing totally normal things as if it were matters of state. Plus it's funny reading speculation about what in the end is a pretty private thing between two people in Timespeak. I guess it's better than if they splashed an article about Bennifer on their front page.

Some friends say that they do not notice any tension now, though they are not sure when, or how, it lifted. ...

"Who knows how any couple conquers the issues in their marriage, but they did it," said Chris Korge, a Democratic fund-raiser who is close to both Clintons. "It's like when he bought her a new diamond ring recently, you just saw the look in her face. When someone shows you something like that, 'This is what Bill bought me,' kind of gleaming, it meant something to get it — it meant more to her that he bought it for her than what it actually was."

Photo of Clintons from the Turkish newspaper Hürriyet

Passing through

Saw a few interesting exhibits at the New York Public Library recently. Went primarily for Treasured Maps, which had about 50 maps spanning the last few hundred years. It's always neat looking at maps, and imagining what it'd have been like to live in the time period and space depicted.

Outside the exhibit was a smaller one, New York Street Photography. There wasn't much of a curatorial element to this one, which literally was hung in the hallway; but more so than the maps, a few images really stuck in my mind. Unfortunately, the library's website has hardly any of them....

I have no idea what the story is behind the interracial couple walking around the zoo with their chimpanzees; based on the exhibit, I concluded Garry Winogrand just has a knack for being in the right place at the right time, and knowing it. His photos jump out at you in person, if you look at them--it's a quality hard to capture online or in books. There's always something unexpected going on, sometimes more obvious than other, often something that makes you smile, and/or brings to mind something socially relevant.

I also liked the works of Joel Meyerowitz, of whose exhibited photos the library's website says "share a similar irony with Winogrand’s work from the same period". His seemed a bit more stagey, not in the sense they're not authentic, but there's an almost-composed quality to them. He strikes me as someone who'd wait for hours to get just the right light and angle and confluence of events. I liked his New Year's Eve, NYC (Kiss Me Stupid), 1965 photo, and his photo of a woman outside Rockefeller Center, taken in 1970.

Afterwards, saw an okay exhibit, French Book Art. It was about how french artists from different genres collaborated on various books over the past century. Not sure what was notable about the exhibit topic--after all, Persian artists, for one, have melded art and literature for centuries (the Met had a good one just recently about works done in India under Persian influence). A similar point was made in a New York Sun article on the exhibit. At any rate, the exhibit was okay, kindof zipped through it and didn't really see much that caught my eye. My friend really liked 'Liberty, I Write Your Name', were it not for her translation of the poem I'd have had no appreciation for it.

John Seller's "A Mapp of the World", 1682 via NYPL.

Central Park Zoo, New York City by Garry Winogrand via Getty Museum

1953 Liberte jecris ton nom, or Liberty, I Write Your Name, by the poet Paul Eluard and artist Fernand Leger from the Associated Press via Yahoo's Spanish language news feed.

Little yellow books

Scan This Book!

Kevin Kelly in the Times magazine: When Google announced in December 2004 that it would digitally scan the books of five major research libraries to make their contents searchable, the promise of a universal library was resurrected. Indeed, the explosive rise of the Web, going from nothing to everything in one decade, has encouraged us to believe in the impossible again. Might the long-heralded great library of all knowledge really be within our grasp?

Brewster Kahle, an archivist overseeing another scanning project, says that the universal library is now within reach. "This is our chance to one-up the Greeks!" he shouts. "It is really possible with the technology of today, not tomorrow. We can provide all the works of humankind to all the people of the world. It will be an achievement remembered for all time, like putting a man on the moon." And unlike the libraries of old, which were restricted to the elite, this library would be truly democratic, offering every book to every person. ...

Like many other functions in our global economy, however, the real work has been happening far away, while we sleep. We are outsourcing the scanning of the universal library. Superstar, an entrepreneurial company based in Beijing, has scanned every book from 900 university libraries in China. It has already digitized 1.3 million unique titles in Chinese, which it estimates is about half of all the books published in the Chinese language since 1949. It costs $30 to scan a book at Stanford but only $10 in China.

Raj Reddy, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, decided to move a fair-size English-language library to where the cheap subsidized scanners were. In 2004, he borrowed 30,000 volumes from the storage rooms of the Carnegie Mellon library and the Carnegie Library and packed them off to China in a single shipping container to be scanned by an assembly line of workers paid by the Chinese. His project, which he calls the Million Book Project, is churning out 100,000 pages per day at 20 scanning stations in India and China. Reddy hopes to reach a million digitized books in two years.

The idea is to seed the bookless developing world with easily available texts. Superstar sells copies of books it scans back to the same university libraries it scans from. A university can expand a typical 60,000-volume library into a 1.3 million-volume one overnight. At about 50 cents per digital book acquired, it's a cheap way for a library to increase its collection. Bill McCoy, the general manager of Adobe's e-publishing business, says: "Some of us have thousands of books at home, can walk to wonderful big-box bookstores and well-stocked libraries and can get Amazon.com to deliver next day. The most dramatic effect of digital libraries will be not on us, the well-booked, but on the billions of people worldwide who are underserved by ordinary paper books." It is these underbooked — students in Mali, scientists in Kazakhstan, elderly people in Peru — whose lives will be transformed when even the simplest unadorned version of the universal library is placed in their hands.

It's not a very good article--Kelly tries too hard to either stretch and draw grand conclusions, or shoehorn his theories into the piece--but these few paragraphs are interesting. For people who pooh-pah the idea of peasant China challenging the U.S. in our lifetime, it's a reminder that technology makes possible giant acts of leapfrogging.

So instead of taking years to erect telephone poles and string wires, China's just going directly to cell phones for everyone. Likewise, there's no need for a Chinese Carnegie to jump-start decades of library building; just scan and distribute via the Web.

You can't apply this to everything, obviously, and I think Americans have this irrational and racism-based fear of a yellow tide sweeping over us that makes it easy to see China, like the USSR, as a potential peer, rather than for what it is: A giant country that is going to be buffeted by technological change more than almost any other nation, and that faces many distinct futures.

In the best case scenario, it remains intact, tamps down economic inequalities, taps into the natural gifts of its populace and culture, and emerges as a democratic counterpart and counterweight to America in Asia.

Worst case all hell breaks loose and all the book learning in the world won't be able to civilize China's armies of millions of angry young men.

Image of Mao's Little Red Book via Chinese furniture importer Zitantique

Why Europe will always be second-best

Muslim's Loss of Dutch Citizenship Stirs Storm

The Times: The Dutch immigration minister's decision to cancel the citizenship of a Somali-born Dutch legislator has set off a political storm in the Netherlands, with Parliament demanding that the move be revoked.

At the center of the storm is Ayaan Hirsi Ali, 36, who gained fame — and received death threats — while campaigning against militant Islam and opposing the abuse she said Muslim women suffered even in Europe.

The immigration minister, Rita Verdonk, said she acted Monday after a television program last week that focused on lies Ms. Hirsi Ali told when she sought political asylum in the Netherlands in 1992 and citizenship in 1997. Ms. Verdonk said she had to be evenhanded after several highly publicized cases recently involving immigrants who had also violated rules.

Her action prompted an extraordinary session of Parliament beginning Tuesday that lasted almost 10 hours, until 3 a.m. Wednesday. Members from across the political spectrum fired a barrage of questions and attacks. Some accused Ms. Verdonk of politicking to enhance her own status in the polls for the next elections, when she hopes to become the leader of the conservative VVD Party. She has been called "Iron Rita" because of her tough stance on immigration.

Ms. Verdonk agreed early Wednesday to reconsider her decision after it had become clear that she had been virtually isolated. ...

The attacks on the immigration minister reflect the intensity of the debate about large-scale Muslim immigration as one of the most important themes in Dutch politics, and the high profile of Ms. Hirsi Ali in the Netherlands.

Her repeated warnings that militant Islam might be spreading in Europe and her criticisms about the plight of Muslim women in Europe have earned her many admirers. But she also has many detractors, who have described her comments as "Islam bashing" and who say she has made the already difficult integration debate more polarized.

Ms. Hirsi Ali, who has remained outspoken despite the death threats, worked with the Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh on a short film depicting the abuse of Muslim women, for which Mr. van Gogh was killed by a Muslim militant in 2004.

Clearly taken aback by Ms. Verdonk's actions, Ms. Hirsi Ali noted that she had long since admitted that she changed her birth date and her last name when she arrived in the Netherlands because she was fleeing an arranged marriage. She said Dutch social workers had recommended that to gain refugee status she claim to be fleeing Somalia, her homeland, where a civil war raged, rather than say that she had been living with relatives, who were refugees in Kenya.

In an interview on Monday she insisted that she had discussed all this with the leaders of her party — to which the immigration minister also belongs — when she was invited to run for a seat in Parliament.

Although Ms. Hirsi Ali is one of the country's most famous politicians, she had already decided not to seek a new term in 2007 and to take an appointment at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington.

On Tuesday, after being informed that her Dutch passport was being withdrawn, she announced her resignation from Parliament and said she would leave for the United States sooner than she had planned. What had earlier prompted her to decide to go to the United States, she said, was that in April, an appeals court ordered her to leave her apartment. Her neighbors had sued her, saying her presence made the apartment building unsafe.

I don't agree with all of Ali's position, but she's clearly a remarkable human being. The Dutch are lucky she's graced their country; it's crazy to me that a government minister would try to kick her out, and her neighbors want her out.

White Europe doesn't welcome immigrants or value their contributions; deep in their hearts, most of them if they could wave a magic wand and make them all disappear, would. And white European intellectuals are still parochial as hell and don't consider immigrants as having anything to offer on non-immigrant-related questions.

Which is why, like much of the world's best and brightest, Ali is coming to the U.S. In some ways the current American debate over immigration may seem like it echoes Europe's--but it's a difference in kind, not degree. In Europe, they still see immigrants as an aberration, and talk about things like mandating the teaching of 'British' values or keeping France pure, even as old Euorope heads for a demographic disaster only immigrants can save them from.

Here, for better or worse, immigrants are part of our national fabric, these debates are for the most part a family fight. And we fight it in the open, via marches and in the courts and in Congress. We're not perfect--the Times headline and first paragraph are ridiculous, she's a prominent Dutch leader and should be named--but immigrants aren't stupid, there's a reason why they all use Europe as a waystation to America.

Oh well. Welcome, Ayaan Hirsi Ali. It's too bad you're joining a conservative think tank--I wonder were Strom Thurmond still alive what he'd think of you and Condi in his tent.

Reuters photo of Ayaan Hirsi Ali announcing she's leaving Parliament by Koen van Weel for the Times.

Everything's being outsourced

Ad copy from India reads: Just opened, near Kimaya Kothrud.

Image from Ads of the World.com via BoingBoing.

Amazing last race

Go hippies! They start, recapping the season; I've seen every episode but the first and part of the Germany segment. Frats around the front, hippies usually close; Ray/Yolanda have been middling until the last few episodes. Really, frats have been the superior team all year, but hippies would be a worthy winner; RY are the wild card. Hippies and RY have some sortof friendship, will be interesting to see if they'll come into play.

Hippies should have a pretty good headstart, but pattern of final leg is they try to even it up early to make it more exciting. Oh, forgot Ray and Yolanda got to stay in a hotel, with Internet access. Hippies off at 11:18 p.m., taxi to small pavilion, elephants will give them product placement. Hippies have some problem finding a cab, get one after a while. Two hours later frats get going; hippies at the elphant place already, but not open until 4 a.m. R/Y a few minutes behind frats, who they call the frat girls. Frats show up, tell cabbie to wait; R/Y too, tell their cabbie to wait too. R/Y call them cricket boys, they exchange hugs. They all get product placement at about the same time, off to Tokyo. World's biggest intersection, scan video screens to look for next clue. Ray writes down the clue. Hippies already speak Japanese, and are totally psyched. Tyler says he knows it really well, Japanese girlfriend and all. Hmm, overconfidence.

R/Y at airport first, trying to get on an early flight. Hippies ask for ANA, which isn't the earliest flight. United flihgt for frats, 2:15 p.m., hippies figure it out too, R/Y too; very full flight though. R/Y get on, so are frats. But hippies... it's full already. They're in Thailand, so language skills are of no use. I'm sure they'll get on, they cut to commercial. And flight takes off without them, they try Thai airlines, later flight, 1.5 hours afterwards. They keep trumpeting ability to speak Japanese.

R/Y get a map, then off to hotel, they take a bus together. R/Y in car already, off they go--while frats smartly ask at front desk for directions; guy prints them up a map. These guys actually deserve to win, have been the smartest. R/Y ask for directions, gotta backtrack; find expressway, meanwhile hippies land, smartly get map on bus and ask for directions. Frats are impressed by lights, happy they have map; R/Y going by signs. Hippies on highway. Frats stubmle across right building, in intersection, R/Y still on highway. Tyler keeps exalting about how at home he feels. R/Y lost; frats in square already.

They start looking, find it pretty quickly. Find Hachiko, statue of a dog. Get directions, get clue from guy. Detour: maiden: either to tea garden, carry palaquin 1/3rd of mile; or messenger, put together bike, deliver packages to two buildings. Obviously maiden, directions a bit hard. Get cab, hippies show up second, find sign, find dog, speak Japanese to guy, off they go. They do the bikes, ugh.

Frats already doing their task; Tyler's using his Japanese, they assemble bike pretty fast, off they go to delivery. It's funny, small bikes, they look very natural though. And Tyler totally knows where they're going. R/Y still stuck in traffic.

Frats are good at spending a few minutes now to save lotsof time down the road; R/Y just run head-first into things. They ask directions, frats are done with their task. To capsule land hotel, to get next clue. Hippies yell 'crazy foreigners coming through, please excuse us'; deliver first package, off to second. R/Y still driving, finally park. Like 2 hours behind? Don't see their clue. Hippies get second package done, advantage is they're already in town. R/Y find clue on sign, find statue, and clue, do carry task. Frats find cab, off to hotel. Hippies just finish, off they go. R/Y show up at gardens, start carrying. Frats at hotel already, gotta stay till 9 a.m., so lead is gone, they crack up when they see capsules. R/Y chanting as they carry palaquin, hit a tree. Finish, off to hotel, say goodbye to girl; cabbie knows where to go.

Hippies get to hotel, leave 15 minutes behind frats. Not bad, saved 2 hours; R/Y are 30 minutes behind frats, join the party--pretty warm greeting. All three teams seem to like each other. Frats have to drive to amusement park at base of Mt. Fuji; get directions first, onto highway. Hippies don't seem to get much in the way of directions; R/Y go to Denny's, to try and get directions. All they understand is highway, but get on the correct lane. Ray's practicing asking diretions, he says. Frats still in lead, ask for directions, van guy says follow me. Hippies keep talking about how this is their ideal last leg. Hippies have caught frats, just follow them, then pass them. Frats are funny; tie at clue box.

Road block--someone's gotta take three rides in a row. And must see a message along the way--othewise, gotta do all three again, wow. This could suck for someone. Tyler asks others to help him on the ride. Frat guy says how can you read anything from here?! It's a pretty crazy ride. Hippy and frat are together; R/Y show up at toll booth, can't find their ticket....

A lot more commercials than usual for the finale. R/Y gotta go to some guy on the side, pay a bunch, ask him for directions. Hippy lets someone touch his beard on a ride, frats mutters you're an idiot. One's having fun, the other not so much. Middle rid e is probably where sign is, roller coaster. Nope, nothing. Third ride, Another roller coaster, they both see the sign. They both get clue, dumb, can hear each other say what they saw. Now to Lake Yamanka, at base of Mt. Fuji--gotta pedal a boat across to giant swan, pit stop. They're off, R/Y not even at amusement park; frats follow hippies. R/Y beginning to bicker, just get to park. Yolanda totally talking trash now, gotta do the rides, maybe she'll get it out of her system.

Hippies driving, both teams talking about how Tyler tried to psych frat boy out with false sign sighting. Yolanda sees sign, off they go; she seems to be in a much better mood. They find lake on map, off they go. More bickering.

Hippies at lake, totally happy. Hippies get to boat first, frats are just mocking them, hippies forget to untie boat, frats are gonna be much better at this. Hippies are totally going too fast, frats are just going steady. Not sure why they're both going crazy, who cares--hippies get there first, are happy. Win product placement. Frats say hippies are playing dirty, hippies say makes up for the cab. R/Y show up, last but still in the race.

Hour two. So great. 12th pit stop, mandatory rest; they eat a meal together. Hippies leave at 12:18 a.m. Fly to Anchorage next. They leave some money for R/Y. Hippies say they've been training for this their whole life; scrape off their cars, off they go. 2 minutes later frats go. Hippies are off, frats right behind them. Frats and hippiees go two different ways. Three hours later, R/Y take off, with just hippies' money, say it's nice of them. Gotta go begging still.

Hippies at hotel already, shuttle leaves at 6:10 a.m., get Internet access. Frats ask about Internet, guy at front desk lies, per hippies' directions. R/Y go to restuarant, ask for money, good luck in racist Japan. Some drunk guys says she looks like Janet Jackson, they give them money and stuff. It's hilarious actually.

Hippies researching flights, find Northwest flight, 10:53 a.m. Frats use telephone, get 7:50 a.m. to Alaska--earlier than hippies, on Air Nippon. So hippie trick of denying them Internet access didn't work. Hippies pretend they just showed up, frats are like we've been here for an hour, frats tell hippies there's no Internet, front desk people are laughing. On the bus, no R/Y yet; they're still paying tolls.

Bus at airport, frats ditch hippies, hide from them. R/Y show up at hotel, bright daylight. Frats get on their flight, off they go; smart. Hippies find out earlier flight, at airport, get on later flight to Taipei, but same flight to Alask. R/Y show up at airport, get on 2:40 p.m. to Anchorage, they're totally screwed. Check another airline.... Frats in Taipei, watching counter to see if anyone shows up. R/Y try to get to Taipei outof Japan, run, people say it's closed, they ask again if they can get on--how come you didn't tell us earlier--sorry... ah, racism, gotta love it.

Commercial breaks getting shorter, 45 minutes left. R/Y ask airline people to try, they do, and they get on flight. Hippies and R/Y on same flight, all get into Taipei--why didn't frats try stand-by or something? Everyone's on the same flight to Alaska; totally mad that R/Y show up too.

What a great race. Land in Anchorage, heavy snow. Frats run to cars, hippies get in first; gotta go to Mirror Lake, cluebox in the middle of the snow. R/Y 2nd, frats in last for once. Hippies get directions from guy at ticket booth; R/Y ask the brother same, frats same. Stewart highway, R/Y ask for directions just to be safe; frats in second now, I think. Hippies in front, frats pass. frats first, hippies right behind them. All get to cluebox around same time, detour: Drill it, ice fishing on a lake, drill 10 holes, push shack to cover two holes. Deliver it, load plane with medical supplies, then fly 150 miles to airfield roundtrip to airfield, deliver supplies--who's crazy enough to do that?!

Well, the hippies... weather bad, so they gotta drill it too. Hippies watching frats; in the lead; frats faster, hippies pretend they've got four done already. R/Y lost, as always; turns out they need to just go straight. Hippies at 8, frats at 9; frats done, hippies much slower. Frats already pushing shack, just stronger; almost done pushing, hippies still drilling. Frats done; hippies haven't even started push.

To Kincaid park, find chalet, put on snow shoes, search park for cluebox. Where are R/Y? Hippies done, like 10 minutes back I'd say. R/Y show up, hippies are leaving. Ray drilling super-fast. R/Y not having fun in the cold, counting on catching them at the airport. Finally done. Frats at park, hippies right behind; go right past snow shoes, can't see them; keep passing them, idiots.

Back from commercials, hippies finally find them. R/Y putting pressure on themselves in the car. Frats on the trail, hippies too. Element of luck here; frats find the cluebox, pretty fast. Now just fly to Denver... to Clear Creek History park for next clue. Frats already grab a cab, on way to airport. Hippies get cluebox, finally. To airpotr too. R/Y just showing up, it's dark, so much later. Frats get on 11:10 p.m. flight, earliest. Hippies borrow cabbies' cell phone, on same flight. R/Y finishing, keep saying they'll catch 'em at the airport. Hippies follow frats, to other terminal on bus. Night, R/Y get cab; at airport, everyone's on the same flight.

Denver, frats as usual in front. All in cabs to Golden; frats look for clue, find it first; off to Red Rocks. hippies show up as frats are leaving; Jeremy yells to cabbie do you know Red Rocks, hippies may have heard--find clue, maybe a bit behind. R/Y show up, have problems finding clue, they're out of it. Frats in a fast cab, they urge the driver on, in the lead by a matter of minutes.

Frats there, find box already; roadblock. Run into field of 285 flags, find flag of each of the nine countries they visited during the race; must put flags in the order in which they visited. Placard has flag guide, with extra flags; teammate can help by yelling, no physical assistance. Eric gets Brazil first, doing it smartly. Hippies show finally, frats already have done two. Brain game though. Eric's put a flag incorrectly. BJ doesn't recognize Russian flag, also wrong order. Frats smartly go backwards. R/Y haven't found clue yet, finally do in hen house.

Both flag teams are one off. Tyler totally encouraging BJ; frats having trouble. Frat has last three right; finishes, but doesn't have right order. They rethink; change up, still wrong. Frats only have two wrong, slowly getting it. BJ doing it backwards, getting them right. Jeremy tells Eric to go find another flag, he does, still wrong. Hippies are done, and are right!

They run, total victory lap, everyone's there cheering; and... did they do everything right--they're hugging, Phil wants to talk to them. And says they're the official winners.

Ah, brains over brawn in the end. So exciting. Phi says it did come down to brains. The world is a beautiful place, Tyler says, talks about the people they met. What great winners. Frats next, they don't show them figuring the flags out. And they're not at all happy. Eric says those guys are smart; Jeremy make a funny joke, didn't know the last one would be brains. They're good-natured kids.

Four of them shake hands, they're really pretty decend guys. Ray and Yolanda finish, lotsof cheering for them too. And they seem to have wound up on a good note, both strong-willed people. Hippies say being smart doesn't help as much as being aware in the moment.

I'm glad the hippies won, but really, if the frats had won I'd be happy too. What a great season. What a great show.

Taylor vs. Katharine

Live; and then there were two.... Ace and Kellie in the crowd, looking great. And some other past contestents. 50 million votes last night, not even the final. And Ryan claims the margin between them all was close.... Recap is pretty standard. They gotta pad a full hour, should be interesting. Assoicated Press did an interesting round of interviews with the three and those who know them.

Commercial, for once, is funny--the Idols are dressed up like old people, but still dancing. It's pretty hilarious, actually. Back, plug for X-Men 3, they give them a sneak peek of the movie, they're not like wow but do the obligatory X-Men 3, baby.

Going back home with all of them, first Taylor, on a radio show called Rick and Bubba. Then to the FOX station, does the weather, shots of him and his band, then police escort to parade--Birmingham, Alabama goes nuts for him, complete with cheerleaders, a key to the city, imitators. Then to Hoover, where he went to high school--wow, shopping center is totally packed, like thousands screaming. Jams again with his band; man, the other are not gonna be able to top this. Then to governor of Alabama's mansion; who proclaims it Taylor Hicks day. Back live, sings Taking it to the Streets. Dances with Elliott/Katharine, beckons them back down on stage with him to dance in the background for a bit. It's an okay song; he should sing that Gimme the beat boys and free my soul one, it'd be a good fit.

Katharine next. Sherman Oaks, CA. FOX show, no excerpts for some reason. To KROQ, then KISS; then a helicopter. She totally plays to the camera. Lands at her high school, Notre Dame high, to a pep rally. Seh's dancing around like a fool. Cool cheerleading routine, spells out her name. Mayor Villaraigosa shows; she sings while working the crowd. To her parents' house, with her dog and friends. And okay video, but none of the craziness that greeted Taylor. Back live, does Aretha, such a put-on performance.

Elliott last. He goes back to Richmond, he says he felt like he was the king and was touched. He's pumped starting from the landing, at 2:30 a.m., few hours later big crowd greets him as he goes to a radio station, this is like Taylor. Crowds along the route of his motorcade, to the pharmacy where he used to work--huge crowd. Downtown, another big crowd, sings a bit, very heartfelt. Meets governor, his mom is happy and tells him she voted for him. Gets a parade, people are going crazy; then to ballpark, which is packed with people along the way, his mom is jst in total shock. He's so pumped, this is really totally insane, everyone in the crowd is going nuts. Nice pitch too. Wow, so this is where his support is coming from, and he's in tears back live, his mom's crying, Paula's crying, it's amazing. "You're a good man, Elliott", says Ryan aptly. Such a sweet, nice guy, sings In the Mood for Love.

Simultaneously following Detroit-Cleveland game 5, crazily it's tied with 40 seconds left, Cleveland's really shown a lot of heart this series. And taping Amazing Race... what a tv night. Now Cleveland's up, it'd be amazing if they beat the Pistons three games in a row down the stretch.

So now, the vote totals, maybe. Promo upcoming CD, promo past CDs. Then Clive Davis comes out on stage, Paula stands for him but Simon just shoots her a look and Randy stays seated too. Clive is talking, unbelievably Detroit just lost to Cleveland. Ugh.... Clive still talking, and stumbling, and puffing Idol. So weird, a huge moment--the climax of the seasons to date--and they've got this guy up there slowing down the entire show and talking about 'units' sold. He talks as if this poster they're giving him for sales is a real award he's 'accepting'.

Back from commercial, vote totals now.... 33.06%, 33.26%, and 33.68%. Wow, crazily close. That just means phone lines were at capacity. Who's going home... they show the lowest vote percentage, and the name is--Elliott. He's nodding his head like he knew. Talks to Ryan, they clap for his mother, and they show his video. "I was so lost, for so long" he says. A lot of tears. "I'm just a counter clerk at a pharmacy, I've been waiting my whole life for a shot at this" he ends. Sings us out; what a great guy.

Well, the anticipated final two. Taylor, the front-runner the whole year, who's never been in the bottom three. Katharine, who almost seemed eliminated in the middle, but finished strong (with some help from Simon, in my opinion). Should be a doozy of a showdown.

Clear-eyed but tender

On the basis of her collection of short stories and her novel, Jhumpa Lahiri is one of my favorite authors. Her stories all feel immediately familiar; their subject matter and her style leave no barrier between the page and me.

You could say they're a little too carefully written, there's none of the torrent, sloppiness and glancing genius of Rushdie or Roth. Or the overreaching boisterousness and larger-than-life truths of a Bollywood film.

But I don't know; for me, she's in the Jane Austen school of well-crafted stories within a certain world that she brings to life. Her characters are so believable, and there are no ugly missteps that yank you out of the story. Her tone is so crisp and clean, she gets right words to describe the exact emotion and recall the precise situation and there's always something underneath the story.

I love reading them, and they linger and rattle around in my head afterwards.

Here are some parts of a new short story in the New Yorker, Once in a Lifetime--about an Indian family that goes back to India, only to return and stay with the narrator's family--that caught my ear:

Here they shopped together for groceries, and complained about their husbands, and cooked at either our stove or yours, dividing up the dishes for our respective families when they were done. They knitted together, switching projects when one of them got bored. When I was born, your parents were the only friends to visit the hospital. I was fed in your old high chair, pushed along the streets in your old pram. ...

Whatever the reason you were coming, I gathered from my parents’ talk that it was regarded as a wavering, a weakness. “They should have known it’s impossible to go back,” they said to their friends, condemning your parents for having failed at both ends. We had stuck it out as immigrants while you had fled; had we been the ones to go back to India, my parents seemed to suggest, we would have stuck it out there as well. ...

Cinema of a certain period was the one thing my mother loved wholeheartedly about the West. She herself never wore a skirt—she considered it indecent—but she could recall, scene by scene, the outfits that Audrey Hepburn had worn in any given movie. ...

I did my homework at the dining table, unable to use the desk in my room. I worked on my ancient-Rome report, something that had interested me until your arrival. Now it seemed silly, given that you’d been there. I longed to work on it in privacy, but your father talked to me at length about the structural aspects of the Colosseum. His civil engineer’s explanations went over my head, were irrelevant to my needs, but to be polite I listened. I worried that he would want to see whether I had incorporated the things he said, but he never bothered me about that. He hunted through his bags and showed me postcards he’d purchased, and though it had nothing to do with my report, he gave me a two-lire coin.

Photo of Jhumpa Lahiri by Robert Deutsch in USA Today