Month: February 2006

  • Safety Glass

    Peter Beinart went quietly into the night as the editor of The New Republic, and no one noticed except David Carr, who is of course paid to notice such things. TNR has lapsed into almost complete irrelevance, along with the putative political party it was long associated with. In fact, if it is possible to…

  • This Planet of Dreams

    Surely you’re aware that there are dreams all around you. You’re moving through them everywhere you go. They’re on every block and corner of the city you live in, and flickering behind the curtains and shades up and down every street. Open the Yellow Pages of your local phone book –what is that if not…

  • The Blah-Blah Cha-Cha-Cha

    In this moment my body wants to evacuate my skin, rattle its bones, and, dancing, dream itself free. Or dreaming, dance itself free. But my mind swings so wildly, and in this moment –a moment later– I feel like I am blindfolded, with a broken broomstick in my hands, flailing at a cement pinata. Meanwhile,…

  • The Basic, The Fundamental, Aspirations

    To be a good man. To do no harm. To see clearly. To do my laundry. To keep an open heart and mind. To acknowledge my blessings, to share them. To eat something. To give away happiness even when I have little or none to spare. To feel the pain of others. To laugh at…

  • SF Jazz Collective

    Saxophonist Joshua Redman put together the SF Jazz Collective in 2004, and in two short years this ensemble has become one of the more adventurous and diverse jazz outfits working today. The roster includes hotshot New Orleans trumpeter Nicholas Payton, pianist Renee Rosnes, and vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson, a man with one of the most eclectic…

  • Peninsula Malaysian Cuisine

    This is not just another Asian place on a street lined with Asian places, as evidenced by the drink menu alone: Peninsula offers a refreshing green bean with grass jelly freeze and a smoothie made from durian, a spiky Southeast Asian fruit that has an odor reminiscent of very old gorgonzola. In fact, the entire…