What about this guy?!

(another old piece - "the heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of." :-))

Talking about Clinton

So many times I wanted to write about my fondness of Bill Clinton and as many times I was glad that I did not get to it. Now, after all these turmoil years (for him, not really for most of us in the same sense), I am surprised by myself for still holding fairly postive opinion of this guy. It is particularly puzzeling considering meanwhile I have also been such
a dedicated reader of the Wall Street Journal - not a single day has passed by without some Journal editorial sneering at him (usually rightly so).

Politicians as a breed bore me. Back in 1992, however, I was quite impressed by the young and energetic pair, Bill and Al. Al lost his appeal long before his disastrous presidential election; yet Bill has kept his attractiveness from the ruins of his own making. I still consider 1998 a bad year because I spent way too much time worrying about his fate. Favorable and unfavorable events seemed to alternate each day and I would only read "good" news, rumors or not. So I never bothered with that Starr report, yet was pleased when Betty Currie lied to protect her boss (no principle on my part certainly). Of course, when I barely breathed a sigh of relief towards the end of his tenure, he had just got himself into the deep water of a pardon scandal. Now I have pretty much resigned to the fact that, from this guy, there is always another dirty shoe waiting to fall. Nonetheless I am still interested in reading any good things about him and hope somehow he continues to manage whatever trouble he is going to run into next.

I know it is again my soft spot for complicated personalities. I generally like people inflicted with extremes, strength and faults, Clinton being an example, not an exception. He has a shiny personality (well, at least on surface) and he has intelligence (not in all matters); and he seems down-to-the-earthly communicable (just my perception). Whatever impossible situation he gets into seems to me a demonstration of an inevitable struggle with the evil side of oneself, of the complexity of a being and of the futility of life, all making him, well, quite interesting.

Still it is all too embarrassing and un-sought for, this unwavering fascination with someone so principle-less, faith-less and reckless. Now Clinton is laughing to the bank with the likes of me still wishing the best of him and with my favorite Journal seething with incredulity. What do I have to say? Not every matter can be rationalized; least of all, one's feelings. there, there. :-)

What is it in this garbage

(i can't seem to keep a straight face for long; so i wrote this one right after the previous article about WSJ. just to "balance out". ;-))

Reading tabloids

If you've ever wondered who make up that large readership of the much discredited tabloids, well, count me one. I used to define a cozy afternoon as one sitting alone on my apartment floor with a large bag of potato chips and a thicket of tabloids (It feels cozier, even luxurious now since I don't have that kind of time anymore). I often do not mind the long waiting line at the supermarket check-out -- I would always pick up a tabloid and scan it contently....

The best thing about a tabloid is that it is like one's earnest friend: it only cares about pleasing you. A tabloid goes out of the way (yeah, I know­.) to find out what you might really want to know about some celebrities or some shocking events. It is always enthusiastic about the tasks, as evident in its chatty tones and flashy styles. Contrary to those authoritative and mission-ridden newspapers, the Wall Street Journal coming to mind, a tabloid would never give you any pressure by being so judgmental, argumentative, superior and sophisticated. Nor is it pretentious -- it cheerfully and unapologetically carries news which is not "worth printing".

A tabloid is a showcase of the sad side of life. It illustrates the very famous in full-color and in off-color: how a young beautiful deteriorates into oblivion; how a glamorous becomes aged and ugly. It immortalizes those who have died young. In a tabloid's casual tone, one comes to realize the frailty and irony of life. A tabloid is never forgetful. Instead of getting just "one annual report" in a regular paper, some of the best known culture icons are forever "regulars" here. Under this light, a regular paper looks duty-bound while a tabloid is almost humane.

Oh, don't expect me bad-mouthing tabloids here; others have done that one thousand times over :))

In praise of a newspaper

(an old piece written around 1999)

On The Wall Street Journal

I always enjoy reading newspapers. The habit went back at least as far as the wartime between China and Vietnam in the late seventies. I used to fight with my father daily to get to read "the International News for Reference (?)" first. Only in recently years had we subscribed to the Wall Street Journal, for obviously practical reasons. I didn't warm up to it right away. The format was drastically different from any other newspapers I had ever read. It did not have colorful pictures; major figures mentioned in articles were sketches in black&white - interesting yet strange. Over all, the paper looked, well, it looked boring. Newspapers to me are mainly for entertainment these days. News comes from TV and, increasingly, from internet. And I had no interest in investment or business in general.

I guess I have to admit that environment does modulate one's behaviors. With the bulky journal scattering around the house all the time, I gradually picked up some short sections and long articles. Then one day I had an important discovery - the journal is the most informative, entertaining and educational newspaper I had ever read! It was certainly embarassing to admit that I had been so oblivious to the "most influential newspaper in the world" for so long while claiming myself a rigorous newspaper reader. Still it is better late than never. I am simply happy that I have got to know this paper eventually.

So what is it about the Journal that is special? Granted that whoever reads it must have very different opinions, here is my own take on it.

Other newspapers emphasize daily news (by definition; nothing wrong about it). But daily news nowadays is ubiquitous. One gathers the same information from internet, TV, radio or the first paper one picks up. The Journal, on the other side, provides only title size for most of the world and national news. This leaves the front page for other things it cares to carry. They are not all business-related, often about something new or strange in my opinion (one does not often read about them in other frontpages) and always written in a very interesting and personified style. In other words, they are more like stories than news and they make one ponder or simply delighted.

I always devote sizable time to the Journal editorials and opinions. The Journal has very strong and clear ideology standings: pro-business, pro-religion and socially conservative. I had never learned so much about American politics, cultural issues and ideology conflicts in any other place. In fact, I wasn't even aware of the existence of many of the particulars. I have become enormously interested in these issues and started to clarify my own views. The journal's position is somewhere to my right. Interestingly, despite its enormously influence over me, the Journal's position has remained, well, somewhere to my right through the years (I will talk more on this topic in other writings).

I also enjoy reading book reviews and reviews on music, art, theatre and sports. Again they are somehow different from what I read in other spapers and seem more entertaining. I had taken the book reviews seriously and stopped following the NYT bestsellers.

The Marketplace section carries more business-related news and trends in selected industries. I can usually find at least one interesting enough to follow. I had never missed the humourous "tofu" block (taken off since). Often, at this point, I run out of time. Otherwise, the Money&Investing is not that boring after all; or I will dig out other news between the pages.

Weekly, a special section would come along, introduicng an emerging industry, summarizing all one needs to know about certain investment or reviewing social changes of a past time frame of choice (mutual funds; internet; e-commerce, the world after the fall of berlin wall, etc, etc). It again makes a good leanring experience.

And as if it's still not enough! The Journal recently introduced a weekend section published every Friday. Wow, talk about favorites within favorites. It provided so many fun and original topics already that it has become a fixture of my weekend routine. Once a main article introduced the best art works in some of the most famously museums around the country. I am a total foreigner to arts and usually do not bother to learn. But this piece was not made of the usual laundry listing; instead, it was written in such a thoughtful and delightful way (probably with ingorant people like myself in mind) that I followed eagerly to track down the most storied, the most forgotten and the most controversial arts in the museums. It also helped that the article was illustrated with the works it talked about. The next time I walked into the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, I was surprised by my own knowledge and appreciation of a couple of art works exhibited there!

Several things about the Journal stand out. 1). the quality of writing. I don't know how to describe it but one could simply feel the flow and elegance of style (even the constant manipulative playing of words). It makes plain contents fanciful and unfamiliar topics intimating. 2). the orginality and creativeness. So often I would come across something, a piece of news or an opinion, from other media sources after I have already read it first in the Journal. 3). The authenticity and that little bit of arrogance. It impresses me how the journal takes clear stand on various social, cultural and business issues, takes pride in its authenicity and resourcefulness, and takes it upon itself to educate and influence readers and the society as a whole.

What else could be asked of a daily newspaper?!

Transexual but not transcedental

Enjoyed Transamerica, a movie exploring the awkward experiences of a male-to-female transexual who eventually succeeded to have the life she wanted. Coincidentally, read the next day on WSJ about Dr. Ben Barres, a female-to-male transexual i met many years ago, before his "transformation".

In the WSJ interview, Barres held strongly that there is really no difference in intelligence between males and females, himself being the living proof. and he recounted how he was then discriminated as a she and now well respected as a he. Adding to the amazing personal experiences was his expert knowledge on the well-established plasticity of neurons.

What can be more convincing? ! Well, not to get into the debate of intelligence per se, i have to say i am rather disappointed by his arguments.

For one, any personal experience, no matter how extraorindary, is not necessarily a path to truth. therefore, all he had said needs to be qualified as "me thinks ...". Because, to prove what he believes, he still has to conduct scientific studies, to define intelligence and to compare large enough numbers of boys and girls. Secondly, as badly as he had portraited it, one can also argue that discrimination against Dr. Barres as a scientist and against him as a transexual was actually not powerful enough to have prevented him from obtaining the professorship in the former or changing his sex in the latter case, suggesting that something more fundamental was at work. To me, it is evident that there exists biological basis determining both human sexuality and gender differences in obtaining knowledge, both of which can be readily, albeit imprecisely, appreciated in daily life and can be studied seriouslly by scientists.

Thus, it is a benignly rational, if irratating to some, hypothesis that the innate difference could be ONE OF the contributing factors to a disproportional representation of the two sexes in scientific research, which does not really diminish discrimination against women being another key factor, as Dr. Barres so acutely experienced and recounted. And one should not ignore the slow but profound societal improvement/adjustment which has yet to reflect upon the current composition of the scientific minds. Knowing them all helps us learn how we have become us, as individuals and as human beings.

You and me together - from English Traits

in The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson

Emerson quoted Wordsworth: “Christ died on the tree; that built Dunscore kirk yonder; that brought you and me together. Time has only a relative existence.” - pp. 476

Classics which at home are drowsily read, have a strange charm in a country inn, or in the transom of a merchant brig. I remember that some of the happiest and most valuable hours I have owed to books, passed, many years ago, on shipboard. - pp. 483

As we neared the land, its genius was felt. This was inevitably the British side. In every man's thought arises now a new system, English sentiments, English loves and fears, English history and social modes. Yesterday, every passenger had measured the speed of the ship by watching the bubbles over teh ship's bulwarks. To-day, instead of bubbles, we measure by Kinsale, Cork, Waterford and Ardmore. There lay the green shore of Ireland, like some coast of plenty. We could see towns, towers, churches, harvests, but the curse of eight hundred years we could not discern. - pp. 483

Alfieri thought Italy and England the ony countries worth living in: the former because there Nature vindicates her rights and triumphs over the evils inflicted by the governments; the latter because art conquers anture and tarnsforms a rude, ungenial land into a paradise of comformt and plenty. - pp. 484

The practical common-sense of modern society, the utilitarian direction which labor, lawers, opinion, religion take, is the natural genius of the British mind. The influence of France is a constituent of modern civility, but not enough opposed to the English for the most wholesome effect. The American is ony the continuation of the English genius into new conditions, more or less propitious. - pp. 485

Many a mean, dastardly boy is , at the age of puberty, transformed into a serious and generous youth. - pp. 498

Art, in a sorry age for a long while - from Pale Fire

by Vladimir Nabokov

All artists have bene born in what they call
A sorry age; mine is the worst of all:
An age that thinks spacebombs and spaceships take
A genius with a foreign name to make,
When any jackass can rig up the stuff;
An age in which a pack of rogues can bluff
The selenographer; a comic age
That sees in Dr. Schweitzer a great sage. pp. 270

VN's verses such as this one are very rational hums; they are rhythmic but short of emotions. It makes one think, not feel. :-)

on Parody - from Pale Fire

by Vladimir Nabokov

I have a certain liking, I admit,
For Parody, that last resort of wit:
"In nature's strife when fortitude prevails
The victim falters and the victor fails." pp. 269
Parody: whenever i could, i would. :-)

VN thought of God - from Pale Fire

by Vladimir Nabokov

Line 101: No free man needs a God

"When one considers the numberless thinkers and poets in the history of human creativity whose freedom of mind was enhanced rather than stunted by Faith, one is bound to question the wisdom of this easy aphorism." -pp.116

Interesting argument, but VN has mixed up two issues: the existence of God and the belief of the existence of God. What he observed could as easily be attributed to the latter. :-)

"Just behind (one oozy footstep) Frost" - from Pale Fire

I am in the mood for poetry recently. came across this passage in Pale Fire and loved it.

"Frost is the author of one of the greatest short poems in the English language, a poem that every American boy knows by heart, about the wintry woods, and the dreary dusk, and the little horsebells of gentle remonstration in the dull darking air, and that prodigious and poignant end --two closing lines identical in every syllable, but one personal and physical, and the other metaphysical and universal. I dare not quote from memory lest I displace one small precious word.

With all his excellent gifts, John Shade could never make his snowflakes settle that way." - p p.203

The last sentence made me smile - some writing to have made VN humble! ;-)
Needless to say, I, too, love this wondrous little piece of pearl:

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Robert Frost

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.