The Early Years (2002-2005)

Got my eyes checked on Thursday - the Neuro-Vision thing that I blogged about seems to have worked. I’m down to 6/5 vision in the left eye and 6/9 in the right, which means effectively with both my eyes open I’m at 6/5. Good stuff. Who’d imagine that staring at a computer screen could improve vision? And the concept of being better than 6/6 (that’s 20/20 for those Americans among you) is weird but cool. Just call me Hawkeye.

Got to see Moshe Safdie today giving a talk at a HDB-organised conference on community bonding. Moshe Safdie! Man, I love his buildings, like Habitat ‘67. Back in the day, I wrote a paper on his Class of 1959 Chapel at the Harvard Business School (pictured above), comparing it with Eero Saarinen’s Kresge Chapel at MIT.

Wow, Tom Wolfe writes a HST obit: Hunter’s life, like his work, was one long barbaric yawp, to use Whitman’s term, of the drug-fueled freedom from and mockery of all conventional proprieties that began in the 1960s. In that enterprise Hunter was something entirely new, something unique in our literary history. When I included an excerpt from “The Hell’s Angels” in a 1973 anthology called “The New Journalism,” he said he wasn’t part of anybody’s group. He wrote “gonzo.” He was sui generis. And that he was.

A warm welcome to anyone who’s stumbled onto this site via Mr Brown (thanks mb!). This here blog is where I publish random thoughts about anything under the sun, although I do maintain separate blogs for film/music/book reviews and baseball. And you don’t have to be a registered user to post comments.

For my final year of JC (aka high school for Americans or sixth form for Brits), I took a class where you could design your own reading list and basically set the syllabus. So I decided to do “American novels of the mid-20th century”, and these were my books:

Awful news, especially since it was his son that had to find the body. Farewell to the gonzo pioneer.

Sometimes, even trees need a Lunar New Year break. People from across Hong Kong and nearby mainland China, as well as tourists from around the world, have long come to light incense and make wishes beneath the spreading limbs of a huge Chinese banyan here in Lam Tsuen, a bustling village near the mainland border. Respect for the banyan, which is hundreds of years old, is based partly on feng shui, a Chinese system of philosophy that emphasizes harmony with nature, and partly on centuries-old local beliefs about the mystical value of trees. The tree is so popular that it shows up on highway signs and has its own expressway exit.

Speaking of dogs, I’ve just been watching the videos of the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show judging. Funny that even Championship-level dogs get all excitable and just want to play.

If “The Gates” wasn’t your kind of art, maybe this might be: But only if you pony up 590 grand at auctions! Ouch. Why not buy a nice reproduction?

The San Francisco Chronicle has a fun article on band names (thanks to Michelle for the link). It’s true, not everyone can play guitar, but everyone has some random ideas for band names. Imaginary band names are, I think, our tenuous way of clinging on to the adolescent dream that we, too, could be rock stars.

Yes, I am a Toto winner. I matched the numbers in the Chinese New Year draw. I am Luck personified. … Okay, so I only got 4 out of the 6 numbers and won $30, putting me with 96897 other schlubs, but it was still nice to make a profit.

Having just watched the clips on NBC’s website, I would say the American remake of “The Office” looks like an awful idea. For one, it’s too shiny. By this I mean - the clips have a certain overly polished sheen, whereas the original version had that brilliantly awkward mockumentary feel to it. And for another, it just seems to be trying too hard to hammer in the “office life is terrible” theme. Of course, you can’t judge a show by a few clips, but this does not look promising for a show whose original incarnation I love.

I’ve always loved the names application on the US Social Security website, which lets you see the relative popularity of names over the years, at least in America - it’s an interesting sociological exercise. Well, the Baby Name Wizard lets you track the info visually - so for example, my name peaked as a baby name in the 60s at #179, and didn’t do too shabbily in the 70s at #207 (and I am, indeed, a 70s kid who knows a fair number of fellow Daryls), but has been declining in popularity ever since. The alternative spelling, Darryl, seems to have peaked and fallen similarly.

Since I’m pottering around the New York Times website, here’s their review of Damien Hirst at the Boston MFA. Unfortunately, they don’t have the cows, man - the pic’s from an exhibition at the Tate Britain last year.

This New York Times article on 50 Cent’s life in the sleepy suburb of Farmington, Conn., is quite wry - But a cook at China Palace said Mr. Jackson could save 10 percent on any order over $30…

Anyone who knows me knows I love my burgers. Best burger I’ve had in Singapore? Brewerkz’s King Brew Burger (two patties (480 grams) of beef with cheese, bacon, sautéed mushrooms and beer chili). Best burger in Boston, at least while I was studying there? Dead heat between Bartley’s, my favourite burger joint, and the poshness of the Harvest.

You know the thing about Barbie creating an anatomically impossible standard to live up to? No guy finds Barbie attractive. Not that women have to do things to please men, but just thought that should be mentioned.

Since lately this blog has been quite academic-sounding, what with art and linguistics talk, I thought I’d point out something lighthearted: the Candy Heart maker. They even let you see what other people have recently printed on their faux candy hearts (usually something bitter).

Does anyone else have the same Firefox problem where if a link goes to “javascript:void(0);” it becomes a dead link? Edit: I guess this is similar to what I’m talking about.

I’ve been following Henry Blodget’s financial column in Slate with interest, including this one where he makes quite a comprehensive list of all the reasons from behavioural finance why investors might behave irrationally.