Category Archives: thinking out loud

Good water news for California this La Niña (to date)

As John Fleck reports, it's been an unusually good year for California so far, given that we're in a strong La Niña condition:  The precip map is showing a classic La Niña pattern – dry south, wetter north, though California seems to be doing better than they might have hoped: In fact, for left coasters, this doesn'tContinue reading “Good water news for California this La Niña (to date)”

Why a farmer’s market is better for you than a Trader’s Joe

A couple of years back I did a story on a new local farmer's market, and, in interviewing the founder, learned something. To his way of thinking, a Trader Joe's – despite its cool reputation among the hipster clan — was as much of a rival as a Safeway.  Turns out that for a local community, hisContinue reading “Why a farmer’s market is better for you than a Trader’s Joe”

Entertainment conquers reality: objective proof found

For decades the witty H.L. Mencken had a good time bemoaning the tase of Americans, decrying the booboisie. the philistines, the "swinish multitudes," but also insisting that "The United States…is incomparably the greatest show on earth."  In his book Life the Movie, a decade ago, the critic/writer Neal Gabler took this idea a step further, arguingContinue reading “Entertainment conquers reality: objective proof found”

What The New Yorker wants in a fiction photograph

Will Steacy, a photographer in New York, reveals some of the requests he's gotten from The New Yorker over the years for a photographic images to go with their stories:  -A man walking a white pit bull in the city – ideally with one front leg missing -A woman hiding behind a door – ideallyContinue reading “What The New Yorker wants in a fiction photograph”

How we see the world today — through the windshield

Does this look like a photograph? It's not…it's a painting by Gregory Thielker, who this year completed a series of phenomenally accomplished from-the-front-seat paintings called Under the unminding sky. Thielker writes: These paintings beame a way to explore how driving in weather shifts and changes the views outside the car as well how the drivingContinue reading “How we see the world today — through the windshield”

Tennessee Williams: the playwright at age two

Turns out Tennessee Williams' mother Edwina Williams published her memoirs, called Remember Me to Tom, back in l963. It's a very good thing she did, for she tells a slew of great stories. Reading her "as told to" book, it's easy to hear her speak, and easy to guess where Williams got the model forContinue reading “Tennessee Williams: the playwright at age two”

The future won’t be futuristic, says Douglas Coupland

Or it won't feel futuristic, according to Douglas Coupland, one of our most visionary novelists (inventor of the great phrase McJob, which today seems more apt than ever). Of the future, he says: It's simply going to feel weird and out-of-control-ish, the way it does now, because too many things are changing too quickly. TheContinue reading “The future won’t be futuristic, says Douglas Coupland”

The central conservative truth…

…and the central liberal truth, perpetually at war. "The central conservative truth is that it is culture, not politics, that determines the success of society. The central liberal truth is that politics can change a culture and save it from itself." Boy is that well-put. From a new book of letters written by Daniel PatrickContinue reading “The central conservative truth…”

What Tennessee Williams really thought of the movies

The writer character named Tom, widely agreed to be a stand-in for Tennessee Williams himself, in his aria on the movies from a great production of The Glass Menagerie running in Los Angeles now: Tom:Yes, movies! Look at them [a wave towards the theaters outside] All of those glamorous people — having adventures, hogging it all,Continue reading “What Tennessee Williams really thought of the movies”