starting off

So to kick off my first blog entry, I might as well share what's been on my mind recently. Finals are just starting here at Columbia, so this probably isn't the best time to start a blog, but the thought occurred to me that if I didn't start now, I might never do so.

Musically, I've been dipping into Amon Tobin pretty heavily...even, in an unironic way--believe it or not--the soundtrack he did for the Tom Clancy game Chaos Theory. Also the Iron & Wine live session off the insufferable iTunes Music Store...I hate to shill, but go and spend your damn $6 to get this album. 100% worth it, and to the best of my knowledge, really hard to find illegally. With the wireless headphones on at night it's like they're giving a live performance in my room. Plus you get two new tracks, a New Order cover and an amazing, if not particularly groundbreaking new single. I&W is a great example of a group that doesn't cover a particularly wide ground, musically, but doesn't need to. It's like a neighborhood restaurant that does one thing, and does it well.

Speaking of neighborhood restaurants, props to Saigon Grill for sending us enough food to last for days, not to mention unbelievable cha gio. Something about the combination of a perfectly fried roll wrapped up in lettuce with herbs and crunchy pickled vegetables...it delivers a double punch of crunch and a great flavor contrast: oily/meaty pitted against crisp/herbaceous. I bought the new Anthony Bourdain cookbook--or maybe it's not that new--and hopefully once finals are done I'll get a chance to set into some of the nicer looking stuff inside: a lamb daube with neck meat, pork shoulder braised in beer...you know, light, healthy stuff.

Back in the real world, Hamas and Fateh seem to be close to ending the recent...er...unpleasantness that's been plaguing Gaza over the last week or two. My prediction is that we'll see new elections called early--whether as a result of the deals they're making now, or as a result of pressure from the international community. Ultimately, as corrupt and ineffective as Fateh is, they represent a more realistic chance for the realization of a peaceful Palestinian state: but it's important to remember why they lost the last elections. They may lose even forced elections unless they figure out a way to appease the anti-Israeli sentiments of their voting body, many of whom are being killed on a daily basis even after the "withdrawal" from Gaza, without becoming anathema to the eyes of the international community, as Hamas has done. We've seen the economic ramifications that has for the Palestinian people: since Hamas-related suspension of aid has taken effect, their already miserable living conditions have become even worse. It's a tightrope, and I don't envy the men who have to walk it.

So on a less serious note, I'm trying to get our Xbox 360 repaired in time for my last final, so that I can start playing Gears of War obsessively again. We started getting the infamous "three lights of death" just after I got about halfway through the campaign. I swear to God, I got genuine withdrawal symptoms. Not to brag, but the A/V setup we've got here is pretty amazing (96" DLP projector displaying upscaled 1080i HD, and a nice fat subwoofer to make our neighbors love us), and gaming on it--especially with a next-gen game like GoW--is really, well, frankly, addictive. We can still watch DVDs and TV, but it ain't the same. I picked up the DVD for Little Miss Sunshine, a movie I've been meaning to see for a while. I got suckered in by mentions of gay Proust professors and heroin-addicted grandpas. Plus they use Sufjan on the soundtrack!

One more thing before I go--if anyone wants to get me something for the "holidays" (whichever one you like, I'm not picky), something from WickedLasers would be great. I promise I won't do anything bad with it.


I'll leave you with a beautiful image--an installation I saw at the Met a couple of years back when it was still there. Click for it.