“It’s All a Life” is the title of Stuart Stevens’s book on the GOP. Stevens managed Republican campaigns, and while I haven’t read his book, I believe the basic point is that the Republicans never believed in conservative principles or values. I tend to agree, and I guess we can thank Trump for exposing this. The list of these principles and values is long, but in this thread I’m focusing on the claim that the GOP values cutting government waste, fraud, and abuse. I believe this was one of the primary rationale for the cuts by Elon Musk and DOGE, but I want to highlight one story that indicates that Republicans don’t really care about waste, fraud, and abuse. The story is about the DOJ dropping the case against a man accused of vandalizing the Reflecting Pool. I’ll put a gifted link below, and I’ll try to explain why I think it proves my point later.
Revisiting Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Atlantic recently featured two articles about this book. One of the article mentions that pop culture has “flattened” Holden Caufield into an “irritatingly male, misanthropic whiner.” The author thinks this is unfair, and I agree, but I wondered if I would feel this way if I read the book now. This has been one of my favorite novels, and I’ve read it once or twice since the first time I read it in my twenties. It’s always held up well. I thought it was a good time to re-read the novel to see if I would feel the same.
After finishing the novel again, here are some random thoughts:
Continue reading “Revisiting Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger”Things You Wish Were in Hawai’i And The Reasons We Can’t Have Them
“Man, I wish we had a good Armenians restaurant in Hawai’i.” That’s the type of thing I’ve been saying recently. And I’ve been saying things like this because I’ve been researching restaurants and activities in NYC. Inevitably, I’ll come across something cool and wish we could have something similar in Hawai’i. And the examples don’t always involve restaurants. For example, NYC has a lot of great walkable neighorhoods, with appealing destinations and lively streets populated with people. Why can’t we have a non-touristy place like that in Hawai’i?
I want to use this thread to keep a list of these things as well as discuss the challenges for having them in Hawai’i. Here are two general reasons Hawai’i doesn’t have some of the cool things a cool city like NYC has:
Continue reading “Things You Wish Were in Hawai’i And The Reasons We Can’t Have Them”Countries of Origin for Far East Asian Foods
While driving with my family, we had a conversation about Far East Asian (i.e., China, Korea, Japan) foods, and where those foods originated from. (We didn’t include Taiwan, but we could for this discussion. Same with Mongolia.) After the discussion, I thought of looking up some of these, particularly the ones I wasn’t sure about. For example, I would guess yakiniku actually originated in Korea and then Japan just adopted it. In general, assuming that most foods originated from China is a safe bet, but I don’t know of any Chinese restaurants that feature customers grilling food. (Actually, come to thing of it, I can’t think of a lot of grilled food in Chinese cuisine. I’m sure Chinese cuisine does have grilled foods. Indeed, I believe they do grilled skewered proteins.) And for some reason, I assume that Japan adopted Korean bbq–primarily because Japan usually is the adopter, not the “adoptee,” if you get my drift. But is this correct? I could search online for the answer, but I thought it would be interesting to discuss this with you all–maybe some of you already known the answer. (Question: What foods, indigenous to Japan has China and Korea adopted? Are there any foods? Did Taiwan adopt kakigori (shave ice)? Or did shave ice originate in China? Korea?)
Now, I’m going to list below some of foods and their countries of origin–at least based on what I believed to be true. If I’m wrong, please let me know.
Continue reading “Countries of Origin for Far East Asian Foods”Films of Kenji Mizoguchi
In terms of the greatest Japanese directors, my sense is that films critics tend to mention three: Ozu, Kurosawa, and Mizoguchi. Of the three, I never really understood the reason Mizoguchi made the list. I should say that I’ve seen far less of his films than the other two, but I did see Ugetsu Monogatari and Sansho Daiyu, perhaps two of his most famous internationally. I liked those films, but they didn’t seem to warrant putting him as one of the best Japanese filmmakers (at least after the first viewing).
So I’ve been trying to watch more of his films recently. I re-watched the films above, and I did appreciate the visual aspects of the films a lot more, and I thought both were good-to-very good. After those two, I watched Osaka Legacy and Sisters of Gion. Both were good, especially the second one. Isuzu Yamada’s feistiness stood out, reminding me of Stanwyck’s and Magnani’s feminine spunk. The fact that Mizoguchi made what can be categorized as feminist films, in 1936 Japan, also surprised me.
2026 NFL Draft
Thoughts on the 2026 NFL draft. What does your team need?
Raiders: RT, OG, DT, edge, CB, S, WR
Seahawks: OG, edge, DT, CB
Music 2026
What are you listening to in 2026?
2025 NFL Offseason/2026 Pre-Season
How do you like the moves your team has made so far?
With the Closing of Ideas Books and Music (Jelly’s), an Era Comes to an End
A few months ago, I went to Ideas Books and Music and discovered, to my dismay, that the store had permanently closed down. Although I hadn’t been going to the store as much, the closure saddened me, primarily because the store had been a big part of my life, starting in my 20s. Not only that, but the closing represents the end of era for me–specifically, going to used cd stores, which was a major leisure activity for me.
Before I say anything else, let me describe the two motivating factors sending me to these stores.
Continue reading “With the Closing of Ideas Books and Music (Jelly’s), an Era Comes to an End”“Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public.”
That was White House spokesperson, Caroline Leavitt, responding to a video featuring a depiction of the Obamas as apes that Trump posed on Truth Social. Fake outrage? Really? Trump’s posting that video really angers me, but this response takes it to another level.
Trump has crossed so many red lines, which should have caused Republicans to abandon their support for him. This is another. For me, this has crossed a specific line as well. I’ve been somewhat circumspect about calling trump a racist, even though he’s repeatedly said and done racist things. This latest incident makes me feel foolish for even taking approach.
Trump responded to reporters on Air Force One about the incident, giving excuses that should insult an intelligent person who has followed Trump’s presidencies. Bottom line: he doesn’t apologize
Speaking to reporters on Air Force One on Friday, Mr. Trump said he only saw the beginning of the video. “I just looked at the first part, it was about voter fraud in some place, Georgia,” Mr. Trump said. “I didn’t see the whole thing.”
He then tried to deflect blame, suggesting he had given the link to someone else to post. “I gave it to the people, generally they’d look at the whole thing but I guess somebody didn’t,” he told reporters.
Still, Mr. Trump offered no contrition when pressed. “No, I didn’t make a mistake,” he said.
Here’s the video, with commentary from the Washington Examiner (right-leaning outlet):