How our food became bad

Fans of Fast Food Nation and the Omnivore's Dilemma will want to watch Mark Bittman at the Entertainment Gathering. Those who haven't read those books should watch the video and then go get the books. He provides a discussion of how our food became so bad for us.

I have Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, which will open your eyes to the range of vegetarian choices. It will also tell you how to properly cook a number of vegetable you have probably turned into a bland mush

Odds and sods

Here are a few links while I ponder Pennsylvania Avenue and Armageddon.

Walter Kirn's Up in the Air is being made into a film. Huzzah!

Bill McKibben says we better hurry with the global warming abatement or things are going to really start suckin'.

Speaking of suckin', take a look at the scary things one of John McCain's key advisers had to say about Georgia (Stalin's, not Jimmy Carter's.)

Do you want to hear more covers? Sure we all do. Have a gander at all these covers by Sonic Youth. The Beat on the Brat is quite good.

Good vid

I am really loving this Helio Sequence song at the moment. It makes me think of Wilco, the National, Band of Horses and maybe R.E.M. Bonus, the video is shot in many PDX locales. See what you can identify.

Armageddon

There are so many books about the Second World War, it is difficult to know where to start. Max Hasting's Armageddon is a great choice for those wanting a serious, thoughtful book that isn't too dense for non-specialists, but is also takes strong stands that can inform those who are well-read in the subject. What will attract many is the analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the American, British, German and Soviet armies in 1944 and 1945. Also of great interest is the exploration of incidents that are not well known to Western readers.

Hastings constantly reinforces the scale and the intensity of suffering in World War 2. While we recall the Holocaust, we tend to ignore the full range of the horror of life in early 40s Europe. Hastings spends some time on one of the more controversial subjects, the sufferings of German civilians. The bombing of German cities does not generate the same level of controversy as the atomic bombing of Japan, and the wholesale rape of German (and Polish) women by the Red Army is practically unknown. The issue of collective guilt overlays this and makes it more difficult to discuss.

One incident that is well known in Germany and less known elsewhere was the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff. As the vengeful Red Army approached East Prussia, Gauleiter Erich Koch refused to evacuate civilians. Once the atrocities began piling up, the civilians began to be evacuated, but in much more dangerous conditions. The Wilhelm Gustloff was a liner loaded with up to 10,000 refugees when it was sunk by a Soviet submarine. There were survivors, but somewhere between five and seven thousand people drowned, making it the worst maritime disaster in history.

These deaths are but a small piece of the total loss of civilian German life. Hastings gives a figure of one million missing German civilians and a hundreds of thousands confirmed dead. Of course, the Germans had much more Russian civilian blood on their hands, a fact also little known in the West, but again, there is much more to this war than is commonly known in the West.

Been oversleeping on Monday, I don't care let's pretend that it's Sunday

Today I had jury duty, which I only remembered about 30 minutes before I had to be there. And I had to get three kids to two different schools and then run by work to pick up the summons. Needless to say I was late. I ended up being dismissed after a few hours. On the happy side, I read quite a bit of Max Hasting's astounding Armageddon.

On Chesil Beach

Ian McEwan is one of my favorite writers, but thanks to negative reviews and the short length, I put off reading On Chesil Beach. Upon seeing it on the recommended shelf at the library, I took it home and read it an evening. While it doesn't stand up to some of his longer works, it delivers what I look for in McEwan's books, the intricate exploration of human emotion and relationships.

It is worth noting some of the reasons people dislike this book. This Guardian blog post nicely summarizes the main complaints. Set in early 60s English wedding night, McEwan made some anachronistic errors and many found the idea that this bridal couple could be so sexually inexperienced. To the first point, the book isn't historical fiction. It isn't supposed to immerse the reader in the era. To the second, the book does not seek to examine British society of that era, rather it uses the setting to show the terror of the wedding night for two people who don't really know each other.

McEwan ably depicts these two callow people who don't have the vocabulary or the assurance to express their feelings and find themselves making a series of bad decisions because they are too afraid or too unsure to do the right thing. There are a number of cliched elements, such as class differences, the possibility of abuse, in the story, but in the end, the story is worth reading to watch these two people try to connect. Our ironic generation doesn't do well with edifying stories of rectitude (aside, perhaps, from Goofus and Gallant,) I suppose we don't like to be told what to do. Instead we have stories which warn us about what not to do.

The most legitimate complaint is that this is a minor work. If you are expecting something with the depth of Atonement or the Innocent, you will be disappointed. If you want another tragic look at how people attempt to communicate with one another, then this will satisfy. And finally if you get cheesed off when an author says the Rolling Stones released a song earlier than in real life, maybe you should read a different book.

Speed Racer

Yikes, Peter Suderman really didn't like Speed Racer. But his review is entertaining at least. Read it instead of seeing the movie.

Speed Racer opens with a shot of a boy, perhaps six years old, trapped in a school desk, anxiously tapping his foot while daydreaming of a racecar-inspired fantasyland. That pretty much tells you everything you need to know about this spastic display of multicolored auto-mania. The whole film has been designed to look like a Hello Kitty on bad acid — splashes and swirls of garish color fuel every frame — and all of it flies by with the painful rapidity of a machine gun. It’s not so much a movie as a barrage of computer-generated twitches stitched together for an audience that has trouble paying attention through an entire commercial.

It's not too surprising as there isn't a lot with which to work with Speed Racer. Much better would be a film version of Star Blazers.

Founding Faith

Founding Faith is BeliefNet founder Steve Waldman's cry of Time Out in the culture wars. Using a wide of scholarly and original sources, Waldman stakes a middle ground between the hardcore secularists and the theocrats, aruguing that the Founders, on the whole, did want separation between church and state, but they were also not, on the whole, Deists, but were people of varying degrees of spirituality.

He also describes the role that faith played in colonial and revolutionary America, showing that the religious plurality played a role in the development both of the revolution and the development of political openness. While the nation was initially founded to either spread Anglicism (Virginia) or to allow Puritanism to flourish (New England), immigration rapidly turned the country into a religiously pluralistic society. The need to address the desire of many constituencies and the oppression of religious minorities (meaning Quakers and Baptists, as well as Catholics and Jews) in both North and South informed the thinking of political leaders about the need to prevent any religion from becoming the national establishment.

Waldman examines the faith lives of many of the Founders and describes how it influenced their political views, particularly on the question of religion and the state. Waldman pays the most attention to James Madison, who fought hardest for language about the separation of church and state. What may surprise many is that he thought this would strengthen religion, as a connection to the state would enervate and corrupt religion. Independent American religions have certainly thrived.

The book's chapters are short and are well balanced between the thoughts of the Founders and Waldman's analysis. The book itself is well written and relatively short (about 200 pages) which makes it less daunting than many other revolutionary histories.

Written from a center-left perspective, the book will most likely appeal to centrists of all stripes and those with limited investment in the culture war. By making concessions to both sides arguments, he may get the more open-minded to consider the views of the opposing side. For all readers, it is instructive to see the role that religion played in the development of the country. Religion is a taboo subject for many Americans and the general lack of understanding blinds us to the importance of religion in our country but also of other religions in other countries.

Majoring in Ayn Rand

John Allison, CEO of BBT, is out to raise the profile of the philosophy of Ayn Rand. To do so, he is funding classes in Ayn Rand studies around the nation. Listen to the story here at NPR. While I agree that the majority of American students outside of business courses are unaware of the importance and value of business to American life, I don't think Ayn Rand is going to convince them.

Like, from the toilet?

Idiocracy is hilarious but slightly scary. The movie presents what five centuries of what Susan Jacoby describes in Age of American Reason might bring us. As a bit of subversive performance capitalism, Brawndo is now actually being produced.

Books to movies

I watched Gone, Baby, Gone last night. It's a good movie that readers of the book and general viewers should like. Quite a bit of emphasis is placed on the realistic portrayal of Boston, but it is also just a good, twisting tale. I am happy that we now have two (and soon to be three) Dennis Lehane movies, but I think we won't be seeing any more Kenzie Gennaro movies. While I slightly prefer Darkness Take My Hand as a story, Gone, Baby, Gone has much more emotional heft then the other bookds, and it is the climax of the Kenzie-Gennaro story arc. While I would happily watch adaptations of any of these books, I suspect many would feel let down by some of the others.

The counterargument is what happened to the James Lee Burke novels featuring Dave Robicheaux. The first movie came from an early book, Heaven's Prisoners, which was okay, but really a harbinger of greatness to come. That one fell flat and just now are we seeing another Burke movie. This time they are using In the Electric Mist with the Confederate Dead, a much better story. The focus on race relations will give it buzz as well. In a bit of pop culture referencing, the character of Confederate General John Hood is played by Levon Helm, who sang (but did not write) The Night They Drove Ole Dixie Down.

Burke is more prolific, and has been writing longer, than Lehane, so there are lots of books from which to choose. Black Cherry Blues would work and so would Dixie City Jam, which has neo-Nazis as bad guys. Everybody hates neo-Nazis, well, except for this guy running for office in Indiana.

Speaking of books and movies, why, why, why are there no Alan Furst movies? People still like World War 2 and spies don't they? It's true, left-leaning European intellectuals are not that popular in Hollywood, but these are usually Nazi-fighting, spy left leaning European intellectuals. I suspect the main problem is that the books are so heavy on atmospherics and light on plot that they would be hard to translate. I wish someone would try.

Impacted on the surface

I had seen a lot of Internet buzz about Scott Sigler's Infected, so I put a library hold on it. Sigler started as a horror story pod cast author and Infected is his first dead tree book. While I will give a book I purchased or was given about 100 pages to prove itself, library holds get 50 pages at best. I gave Infected about 50 and put it in the back to the library pile. While it has some inventive and gag-inducing gore scenes, the writing is middling (which puts it ahead of most horror, admittedly) and the characters are uninteresting. This one may please gore-hounds, but others should look elsewhere.

Another reason I put this one down is that among the opportunity costs was holding off on reading the second half of Steven Erikson's mammoth Reaper's Gale. If you have been anxiously checking the Web for updates on the next George R.R. Martin, you should give Erikson a look. While his books lack the characterization of Martin and the byzantine political machinations, they are better on exploring the role and uses of power. And there is lots more ass-kicking.

Top kids books

A company called Renaissance Learning surveyed 3 million children to find out what they are reading, the Post reports. The story quotes some analysts that notes that the children prefer classics and that non-fiction rarely makes the list.

I would think that non-fiction is relatively specialized and it is a rare book that will rise to the top overall. On the other hand I have a hard time remembering non-fiction books I read as a child. Today, I (slightly) prefer nonfiction over fiction, but as a youngster it was mostly fiction. I am not sure if this is a demand or a supply issue. I tend to think it is a supply problem as writing for this age group has to be hard, and will probably leads to howls of protest from some interest group or other.

Here are the lists for each grade level.

Sometimes a fresh start helps

The other day, my buddy Matt and I were discussing various graphic novels we liked. Had he read Ultimates 2? Yes. Had I read Ex Machina? No, but I will. After touching on the likes of From Hell and Powers, he asked if I had read the New Frontier. When I said I started it, but put it down, he looked at me as if he never really knew me.

After that, I had to go back and try again, which I did yesterday. After the kids went to sleep I picked up the Absolute Edition of The New Frontier at the library. I then sat on the couch and read it cover to cover. I suppose the oddly angular 50s style of the art initially put me off, but once I tried again I loved it.

The story is about the genesis of the Justice League of America in the late 50s. The story includes the fall of prior heroes, McCarthyite persecution of super heroes, Superman and Wonder Man in Vietnam (shades of the Watchmen there,) the rise of John Henry to fight the KKK, secret government projects and much, much more. There are references aplenty, many of which are described in the notes to the Absolute Edition.

This one has something for everyone. Starting at the tail end of World War 2 and extending to the election of President Kennedy, the story paints a complex picture of life in the 50s; it brings in a huge number of characters; it has huge action scenes as well as interesting character development. Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman serve as story elements for the likes of the Martian Manhunter and Green Lantern, two characters who are central to the story.

If you can find it, read the Absolute Edition, otherwise the story is collected in two paperbacks.

Linky links

This is fun. SF Signal asked a number of scifi/fantasy authors which genre books had the best and worst endings. I have to go with Player of Games by Iain M Banks for best and Naked God by Peter Hamilton as the worst. It is still one of the finest space operas of all time, but that ending...sheesh.

The Guardian UK asks "Why are all the good historians right wing?" The focus of the article is the excellent (and to some) infuriating Niall Ferguson. His War of the World is sitting with a number of equally tantalizing histories on one of my shelves. He returns to his roots as an economic historian with his upcoming Rise of Money.

Do you enjoy disturbing videos? Well here is one, a particularly nasty scene from a Japanese horror movie. It is not safe for sanity.

Here horror novelist Joe Schreiber reflects on True Romance. If you haven't read his Eat the Dark, then by all means do so.

Tyler Cowen points to an interesting book on museums.

The Edgar winners have been announced. It went to John Hart's Down River. I find the Edgar to be a reliable award (although I really didn't like Jan Burke's Bones) and the book is set in North Carolina, a state to which I am partial.

Check this lengthy, hilarious review of one of John Ringo's books. I had thought the men's adventure genre had died a deserved death.

Back to History Reading Challenge

The year is 1/3 over and I am just 1/6 of the way through my Back to History Reading Challenge books. Whoops. I am hoping to get to most of them this year, but I am also going to swap some titles. One on my list is Dorothy Dunnett's Queen's Play*, and I am just not that into it. So I am going to replace it with Steven Waldman's Founding Faith, which I am very much into. Waldman starts from the premise that the left and right today misunderstand and misuse the faith lives of the founding fathers. He also discusses how the changing mix and character of religion in the colonies influenced the eventual Revolution and the formation of government. It is an well-written book that clearly explains the subject. So after this I will be 1/4 of the way there, yay!

*Speaking of Dunnett, a few years back, I picked up ten or so of her books at the Arlington (VA) library for about a quarter each. They had been taking up space for some time and I didn't think I would ever get to them, so I took them into Powells for trade. Along with a bunch of other odds and ends, I managed to get enough credit to buy a new copy of the boardgame Railroad Tycoon. Yahtzee! As if I didn't love Powell's enough already.

Free comic book day

Today is Free Comic Book Day, which means your local comics retailer has some free comics and maybe a few other things. Things From Another World had a stuffed version of their alien mascot. I picked up Ultimate Human, as I like the Ultimates universe as well as Pigeons From Hell. I'd like to say I bought it because Joe Lansdale adapted the story, but mostly I like the name. Comics are damn expensive these days ($3!) but they are fun.

Library of America Sale

The warehouses must be getting full over at the Library of America. Check out their sale, I picked up the Writing Los Angeles and the American Sea Writing anthologies for ten bucks each.

Forgive Us Our Debts

Among the nation's many problems, the national debt is one of the easiest to ignore. The consequences, although severe, are many years away and the news, cultural business, and political cycles tend to work in three months (at most) increments. In Forgive Us Our Debts: The Intergenerational Dangers of Fiscal Irresponsibility, Andrew Yarrow argues that we need to start fixing the debt problem now to avoid bequeathing our children a badly hobbled economy and decline in living standards.

Yarrow begins the book by describing how the United States shifted from a frugal nation to a spendthrift one. While many would look to the New Deal, Yarrow points to the deficit spending of Kennedy and in particular Johnson as starting the debt accumulation train. And, with the brief Clinton exception, the debt has continued to pile up. Making matters worse, the per capita Social Security burden is increasing and Medicare costs are exploding. So why do we care?

As Yarrow notes, the debt payments suck capital out of the market that could be invested in new businesses, new technologies, new infrastructure and other means of improving the overall economy. It is also leads to lower priority government spending, like National Parks, to decline with all of the attendant negative effects. What's worse, the debt will grow faster with the rise of other costs leading to severely compromised future for the next generations.

Many would simply say, take money away from the Pentagon. Yes, defense spending is high, and should be cut, but even taking it to zero would not be anywhere near enough. Defense is discretionary, meaning the government chooses to spend it or not (although the latter is a rarity) while Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security are non-discretionary meaning they must be paid by statute. This chart shows that half of the spending by the government is non-discretionary and with a growing elderly population and with exploding health care costs, either the share is going to get bigger or taxes are going to go up.

Yarrow gives two alternatives: either the country wakes up now to make changes, or it will have to make emergency measures when the economy comes close to collapse. He lists a number of solutions, including tax reform, improved tax collection, heath care reform and political reform meant to lead to better budget decision-making. Given the scale of programs necessary to correct the problem, it seems more likely that the people and the leaders will react only when things get truly bad.

This book is a good starting point for understanding the problems at hand, while providing some potential solutions. The book is a concise survey, so it will not provide the final answer on how to fix health care, but it will educate the perplexed and help them to read further. The book will also force American readers to take a critical eye to our overwrought consumption and short term outlook.

Assorted fun

Happy May/Loyalty Day!

Richard K Morgan's Thirteen won the Arthur C Clarke Award for best science fiction or fantasy novel. Huzzah! You might want to put prior award winners on your science fiction reading list.

Beautiful Swimmers is a book I remember seeing on my parent's bookshelves, but never read myself. It concerns the blue crabs of the Chesapeake Bay, a species gravely imperiled today. Some of my favorite memories of living near the Bay are of catching blue crabs off my grandmother's pier. The author, William Warner, died this week from complications related to Alzheimer's. Now would be a good time to pick the book up.

Here is a creepy story about a possible serial killer spree.

Not all nerds are like this, I swear.