Fine Writing: the Last Word on Super Tuesday

Obama vs. the Phobocracy

The Washington Post(02.04.08)

by Michael Chabon

With all respect and praise to Toni Morrison, in this piece, Michael Chabon has written what I feel is the finest endorsement of this presidential campaign thus far. (Click the title "Fine Writing..." for Chabon's article)

Favorite Art from Childhood (part 1)

Icarus
by Henri Matisse

When I was 10 or so, I asked for a poster of Icarus, this famous work by Herni Matisse -- probably the first one I asked for specifically. It hung in my room, until the house burned down some years later. At the time, I wasn't sophisticated or curious enough to know that the piece came from Matisse's 1947 book titled Jazz, or that the piece makes reference to a character from ancient Greek mythology. No doubt, I was drawn to the primary colors and the basic expression of weightlessness...and the fact that it looked like something I could have put together. That's enough to make me like some pieces of art even now. I haven't changed much.

Not mincing words: a definition

To not mince words:
Inflected Form(s): minced; minc·ing
Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French mincer, from Vulgar Latin *minutiare, from Latin minutia smallness — more at minutia
Date: 14th century

1: to say what you mean clearly and directly, even if you upset people by doing this.

Barack Obama in September 2002:

"I don’t oppose all wars. What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war. What I am opposed to is the cynical attempt by Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz and other armchair, weekend warriors in this administration to shove their own ideological agendas down our throats, irrespective of the costs in lives lost and in hardships borne."

My Architect: A Son's Journey (1/11)

Nathaniel Kahn made this documentary about his father Louis, the great American architect. My Architect features interviews with several giants of modern architecture, including I.M. Pei, Anne Tyng and Philip Johnson. The film was nominated for the 2003 Academy Award for Documentary Feature.