Kate Nash

So I saw Kate Nash play at the Fillmore last night, and I have a question for the audience: could she possibly get any cuter? My inclination is to say that she probably can't. If she got any cuter, there would be no cuteness left for anybody else. In any case, it was a great show on all counts. I know people like to hate on her forced Cockney accent, but I love it. She informed us that she hates seagulls, but she liked the sea lions because they reminded her of her dog. Also, she was wearing a belt with an enormous gold bow on it, but despite yelling, "Hey, lemme borrow that belt" a number of times, she did not seem to hear me.

I have a crush on Freddy Lewis

I don't really know why. He just seems like a nice guy. Also, he played really well last night, despite the fact that the rest of the Giants kind of sucked. It could also be due to the fact that our seats were in the outfield just past 3rd base, so I got to stare at him a lot.

I read this today, a.k.a. I <3 Joan Didion

So, lately I've been whipping through Joan Didion's entire body of work, which is one of the most enjoyable tasks I've undertaken in awhile. Needless to say, when you read Didion, you come across particularly great passages every few seconds or so, but this one really needed to be shared. It's from her piece Political Fictions, a collection of essays on the American political landscape, and from the particular essay "The West Wing of Oz." I think her words pretty much speak for themselves, so here they are:

"December 22, 1988

In August 1986, George Bush, traveling in his role as vice president of the United States and accompanied by his staff, the Secret Service, the traveling press, and a personal camera crew wearing baseball caps reading "Shooters, Inc." and working on a $10,000 retainer paid by a Bush PAC called the Fund for America's Future, spent several days in Israel and Jordan. The schedule in Israel included, according to reports in The Los Angeles Times and The New York Times, shoots at the Western Wall, at the Holocaust memorial, at David Ben-Gurion's tomb, and at thirty-two other locations chosen to produce camera footage illustrating that George Bush was, as Marlin Fitzwater, at that time the vice presidential press-secretary, put it, "familiar with the issues." The Shooters, Inc. crew did not go on to Jordan (there was, an official explained to The Los Angeles Times, "nothing to be gained from showing him schmoozing with Arabs"), but the Bush advance team in Amman had nonetheless directed considerable attention to improving visuals for the traveling press.

Members of the advance team had requested, for example, that the Jordanian army marching band change its uniforms from white to red. They had requested that the Jordanians, who did not have enough equipment to transport Bush's traveling press corps, borrow the necessary helicopters to do so from the Israeli air force. In an effort to assure the color of live military action as a backdrop for the vice president, they had asked the Jordanians to stage maneuvers at a sensitive location overlooking Israel and the Golan Height. They had asked the Jordanians to raise, over the Jordanian base there, the American flag. They had asked that Bush be photographed studying, through binoculars, "enemy territory," a shot ultimately vetoed by the State Department, since the "enemy territory" at hand was Israel. They had also asked, possibly the most arresting detail, that, at every stop on the itinerary, camels be present."

And now I leave you to your own devices to ponder what this has meant for the American political process ever since.

And by the way:

The Lee Friedlander exhibit was amazing, and Sunday, May 18th is the last day, so GO SEE IT.

So I went to the MoMA, and I bought a trash can.

It is pretty and biodegradable and it only cost me 15 bucks. Hurrah! But seriously, they sell some random shit in that gift shop. I also bought a yo-yo. I found this yo-yo interesting because it was designed in Italy, made in the Phillipines, and sold in the United States. Why exactly it made it to the MoMA store is beyond me, but I like it nonetheless.

p.s. "If you outlaw yo-yos, then only outlaws with have yo-yos."

It's Burma, dammit! Burma!

I do not like calling Burma "Myanmar." It feels like conceding defeat. And I don't like losing. I am thinking of this, naturally, because of the current crisis surrounding the Cyclone Nargis. Trust me, there's a connection here.

So here's the low-down on the name issue. The name was changed from Burma to Myanmar after the military junta passed the 'Adaptation of Expressions Law,' which is just one example of an extensive process of top-down political and cultural reform to which the country's citizens have been subjected. This might all seem cut-and-dry, but the issue goes a little deeper when you consider that a number of Western governments (the United States included, believe it or not) refuse to recognize the military regime ironically known as the State Peace and Development Council. Currently lead by Senior General Than Shwe, the SPDC holds its national power through pure force, has been accused of human rights abuses by a number of countries and organizations, and has driven its people into ever deeper poverty via gross economic mismanagement. It makes sense that we would not recognize a government of this nature, yes? And until now, the U.S., among many others, has stubbornly refused to use the name Myanmar, continuing instead to call it Burma.

Until NOW.


It's been six days since Cyclone Nargis hit, but the military government is still preventing large-scale foreign relief efforts. Aid drops from the air, typically one of the most effective means of distribution, would require permission from the Myanmar military junta. So although plane-loads of relief supplies have been offered from governments around the world, they continue to sit in airports, unused, while Burmese officials remain reluctant to cooperate with the outside world. Most people are without shelter. There is no power, and in most areas, no clean drinking water and no food. Outbreaks of diarrhea and malaria are now being reported in many areas, as can only be expected in circumstances involving large amounts of stagnant water and a lack of drinking water. And naturally, as is being reported by Richard Bridle, a Deputy Regional Director of UNICEF, young children are going to bear the brunt of these disease outbreaks, meaning the death toll can be expected to continue climbing steadily. There is no way of predicting when the SPDC will allow substantial foreign aid, or how many people will die before they do.

So I ask you: does this seem like an appropriate time for every media outlet from the New York Times to the PBS News Hour With Jim Lehr to start wussing out and calling it Myanmar? Because in my mind, this seems like a pretty good time to insist on calling it Burma.

But I guess that's just me.

I don't know this guy, but...

he makes some cool art.


His name is Grant. Here's his website.

Also, he will be in a show soon, hosted by my dear friend Deli, on Saturday May 10th.

You should definitely come to this show, since there will be rad art and zines and cupcakes and none of the pieces will cost more than 50 bonez.


Please do not forget to bring your party hats. I mean, hatz. K thnx.