You've Been Starbucked

Starbucked is written by Taylor Clark and I recommend it as it's well-informed, cogent, and entertaining.

It's just the sort of book to read on a long flight. However, you might not end up reading much on the flight itself if you happen to sit next to folk who are easy to comment on anything Starbuckian.

But I digress.

Starbucked reads fast and while it might not deter one from picking up another latte, it manages to contextualize the rise of the Starbucks Corporation most eloquently.

And, what truly sells this book to me, is the way it weaves investigative journalism with cultural commentaries. It's, if nothing else, a witty interpretation of our contemporary culture.

One of the sentences I came up with upon experiencing Clark's text is, 'oh, I reckon, I've been Starbucked.'

graph per amazon

Steely Dan's Regurgitations on Music

I ran into this superb piece by Steely Dan's Donald Fagen via Richard Florida's blog Creative Classroom.

I have also often wondered about what it is that marks British rockers as different. As I pointed out on RF's blog, that uniqueness could be contributed to the fact that many of them have a philosophy and literature background. However, upon further thought, I don't think that this characteristic is mostly observed only among such well known British acts as Muse, Stereophonics, Franz Ferdinand, et al. A similar thing may be traced in the work of such non-UK performers as Death Cab For Cutie, Modest Mouse, The Postal Service and so forth. A bit from the article says:

Most all the musicians of my acquaintance know the legend of Robert Johnson, the great Delta bluesman. At a crossroads at midnight, Robert meets the devil (or Eshu or Papa Legba) and, in exchange for his immortal soul, comes away with supernatural skills as a singer and guitarist. Many versions of this Faustian story put the crossroads at Clarksdale, Miss., where Highway 49 meets Highway 61. Muddy Waters was raised in Clarksdale. John Lee Hooker and Sam Cooke were born and grew up there. Ike Turner was a Clarksdale boy, too. This was the 1930s in the Deep South. Real bad stuff happened. Nevertheless, by the time he was a teenager, Ike could bang out a boogie on the piano and play the guitar with an authentic Delta twang. But, in truth, talented as he was, there wasn't anything really supernatural about Ike's skills as a musician. His singing was always spirited, but, relative to the wealth of local competition, no big deal. What Ike excelled at was leadership: conceptualization, organization, and execution. It's intriguing to think: If Ike walked down to the crossroads one moonless night, what exactly did he ask for?

Read more here.

Getting a Doctorate in Less Than a Decade? You Bet!

Hat tip to Tyler for leading me to this feature.

This is an excellent article about doctoral degrees and how some Humanities programs can encourage their doctoral candidates and the faculty advising them to expedite their graduation process. Here is a snippet from it:

For doctoral students, the clock is always ticking. How many years of fellowship support do you have left? How long can you delay starting a family or bringing home a real paycheck? How old do you want to be while still being a student? How many good jobs will disappear before you have a Ph.D.?

But what about the professors who supervise doctoral work? Does the clock tick for them enough to motivate them to be realistic about dissertation expectations, to be sure to get comments back on that chapter draft, and to both encourage and prod their Ph.D. students to the finish line?

A series of new policies in the humanities and the social sciences at Harvard University are premised on the idea that professors need the ticking clock, too. For the last two years, the university has announced that for every five graduate students in years eight or higher of a Ph.D. program, the department would lose one admissions slot for a new doctoral student. The results were immediate: In numerous departments that had for years had large clusters of Ph.D. students taking eight or more years to finish, professors reached out to students and doctorates were completed.


The life of a doctoral student is a mentally taxing and intense one. Much work needs to be done while life is also happening simultaneously. It's a big juggling act. Life appears to be in limbo which, to me at least, was a big incentive to be done as soon as possible.

While some of us have had very supportive advisers without whose help we would not have been able to finish as fast we we did, others might not have the same luxury. However, that's where policy comes into place. The Harvard example is indeed an encouraging one for all parties involved. And I am pretty sure that candidates generally speaking pine for academic closure.

Why Kitsch Sells

Hat tip to Richard Florida for making me aware of this book.

Carl Wilson is the author of Celine Dion's Let's Talk About Love: A Journey to the End of Taste.

For more of the following text by Wilson read here:

'Musical subcultures exist because our guts tell us certain kinds of music are for certain kinds of people. We are attracted to a song's beat, its edge, its warmth, its idiosyncrasy, the singer's je ne sais quoi; we check out the music our friends or cultural guides commend. But it's hard not to notice how those processes reflect and contribute to self-definition, how often persona and musical taste happen to jibe.'

There are a lot of reasons to read this book. Those who have some experiential knowledge of that Dionysian urban concoction called Las Vegas will especially enjoy Wilson's reading of kitsch artistic expressions and the city itself.

The premise of the book is fundamentally a 'reading' of taste. What is it about such performers as Céline Dion that allows them to evoke either extreme dislike or utter adoration? Is it, perhaps, that we need the presence of kitsch as much as the presence of substance?


Mostly, I am of the belief that what kind of music we invest in and listen to reflects our very natures. Hence, doing a reading of musical tastes reveals many things of substance about us.

Wilson's book is the kind of fast read that forces one to ask lasting questions. And that can never be a bad thing.


graph per b&n

Snowboarding When Covered and Physically Healthy

While not many of us will ever come close to snowboarding like the a Flying Tomato or a Danny Kass, we can still enjoy the sport and the unique release it offers. And if we can leave the slopes with all our bones intact, then even better. Mission accomplished, I would say.

Snowboarding is no walk in the park. It is an intense sport. But what I find truly gripping about this activity is the equalizing effect the snow seems to have on everyone. Girl, boy, short, tall, soft boots, those who are especially interested in the clothing aspect of the sport and those who have to be on the slopes because they have to, and so forth. While some are more likely than others to damage, say their tail bone or a left foot, both examples being highly hypothetical, of course, when first standing on the board everyone seems the same. There are no observable differences and all appear to be the same. Till one actually gives in to the laws of physics and carefully tries to master the art of balancing one's weight on the board, of course. While the scenery is idyllic and one might feel like writing poetry while breathing the fresh air and being surrounded by white, one should first and foremost try to be safe.

After all, treatment for physical injuries that occur on the slopes is responsible for a third of all travel insurance claims.

So, if you're busting a huge air, or simply enjoying the surroundings while on your soft boots, first and foremost remember to have good coverage and be safe.

Graph of Shaun 'Flying Tomato' White

Hotel Theory: Where Fiction and Nonfiction Meet

Wayne Koestenbaum's Hotel Theory is a book that marries two narratives in one. The first is a semantic discussion of hotels and the second a fictional account entitled Hotel Women in which some of the characters are Lana Turner and Liberace. What makes this book unique is the way it manages to marry the fiction and nonfiction. Koestenbaum genders the hotel space and the characters he features in a contextually entertaining way.
Definitely a good read. And those of you interested in literary theory and depictions of urban concepts in literature, Hotel Theory will be most enjoyable.

graph per amazon

Science of Sleep: What Dreams May Come?

Whether it’s visual poetry, creative linguistic exchanges, or cross-cultural communications, The Science of Sleep or as the French release has it, La Science des Rêves, is a unique film.

Its premise is about an existential space where dreams and imagination encounter reality.

While the film seems to concern itself primarily with francophone Bohemia, it might just be a universally appealing film. And the linguistic transitions from English to French to Spanish, coupled with a soporific soundtrack are simply gripping.

Charlotte Gainsbourg, the daughter of the legendary musician Serge Gainsbourg, plays the role of Stéphanie. I have trouble imagining anybody else in this role. And Gael García Bernal portrays Stéphane Miroux. Bernal simply owns the screen from the very beginning of the film.

Here are some quotations from the film:

-'P. S. R. Parallel Synchronized Randomness. An interesting brain rarity and our subject for today. Two people walk in opposite directions at the same time and then they make the same decision at the same time. Then they correct it, and then they correct it, and then they correct it, and then they correct it, and then they correct it. Basically, in a mathematical world these two little guys will stay looped for the end of time. The brain is the most complex thing in the universe and it's right behind the nose. [plays drums] Fascinating!'

-'Distraction is an obstruction for the construction.'

quotes per wikipedia
graph per apple

Beppe Grillo, the Italian Stand-up Comic, Says: Basta, Already!

I am interested in Italy on account of my personal history and as a result I follow the socio-cultural developments in the country with some measure of regularity. The following NY Times article attracted my attention today. It's on the politically and socially aware Italian comic Beppe Grillo.

From the article:

'“Basta! Basta! Basta!” Beppe Grillo, a 59-year-old comic and blogger with swooping gray hair, howled in an interview. The word means “enough,” and he repeated it to make his point to Italy’s political class clear. In recent months, Mr. Grillo has become the defining personification of Italy’s foul mood. On Sept. 8, he gave that mood a loud voice when he called for a day of
rage, to scream across Piazza Maggiore in Bologna an obscenity politely translated as “Take a hike!”'

The Accounting-trained stand-up comic whose critical 'reading' of Italian politics can be traced decades ago and is well-known to Italians and many Europeans, is actively involved with social reform. Grillo is one of the best-known Italian bloggers and he has managed to evoke much interest among the young in Italy. He is encouraging young people to run for public office in an effort to engender good political reform. A lover of the internet, he is employing cyber space tools actively and his blog receives much daily traffic. Grillo himself is not interested in running for political office. His sole mission seems to be one of informing the masses about the political nature of things and why they need to be proactively involved with their government and the goings-on in the Palazzo Montecitorio, i.e., the Italian parliament.

I suppose in the case of Grillo, we see an artist who considers art, in this case his stand-up routine, as functional to a specific socio-political mission.

Eco-Friendly Clothing and Cost

Eric Wilson's article "A World Consumed by Guilt" has an interesting premise. It problematizes green clothing and how it is marketed. He observes:

Some clothes, like Loomstate’s $295 organic cotton jeans — sold unwashed
and not color-fast, to save energy — require unusual care. A pair of
2(x)ist soy underwear, $24 at Macy’s, include a warning that
imperfections are to be expected. “These characteristics should not be
considered flaws in the fabric,” the packaging says, “but rather as an
intrinsic quality contributing to the uniqueness of the garment.”

Some designs marketed as environment-friendly might include only a
fraction of organic cotton, or a tag made of recycled paper. And some
so-called green fashion may be downright silly, like the Goyard canvas
shopping tote shown in the Barneys “Have a Green Holiday” catalog: the
bag is $1,065, plus $310 for painted monogramming of a triangular
recycle symbol in gold. The canvas, the catalog says, is “100%
recyclable.”

Being environmentally conscious is crucially important and such awareness should extent to all facets of life. Fashion should not be any different, naturally. It is, after all, a multi-billion dollar business, hence it begs for attention. So, I applaud the designers' individual desires to make visible efforts to be green. This is all about acquiring the right behaviors of consumption, right?

However, would we be more environmentally conscious if we consumed less? I admit, I do enjoy my new Ben Sherman items and I am always [secretly] looking forward to what the next new line will look like. However, teaching myself how to hold my desire for unneeded new things in check is, de facto, more beneficial to me and the environment.

Using what we already own till it's time to update is a more environmentally conscious move. Minimalism, I believe, informs environmental awareness. Of course, designers have to think of their profit margins and by choosing to provide green clothing they are providing alternative options for those who have the resources to only acquire $285 organic cotton jeans and $1,065 'green' bags.

But the rub would lie in the following, I would reckon, and that is: how can the average shopper be adequately reached and informed about issues of consumerism and their overall immediate purchasing effect, or 'carbon footprint' on the environment?

graph per nyt

Textile Conformity and Dress Camaraderie

The following paragraph comes from Virginia Postrel's "The Substance of Style."


'Today’s aesthetic imperative overturns the simplistic dichotomy
between "rebellion" and "conformity," or "individual" and "mass": The result is selective conformity, an implicit or explicit drive for finer and finer gradations and the looks that identify them. Rather than choose between standing out and fitting in, we conform in some ways and diverge in others, choosing (consciously or unconsciously) a mix of meaning and pleasure, of group affiliation and individual taste. Friends develop what zoologist and author Desmond Morris calls "costume echo," adopting similar conventions of dress and carriage. Morris first identified the phenomenon when he "noticed two women walking down the street who dressed so similarly, they could have been in uniform.'

Clothing serves as a marker of individuality and conformity. The sign of the collective oozes a powerful aesthetic but somehow I think that much more verbal attention needs to be placed on what the subtext of "textile conformity" - as I have termed it - consists of. As Postrel observes, we do confirm openly in some ways while diverging in others. The question I raise is: What is it that we derive out of voluntary dress conformity or lack thereof?