rantlust

Posted by papi on January 04th 2007 in Books, Language, Literature, Rants
::  [Print This Post]

This morning’s NYT had a headline story on the Democrats taking back control of Congress. As usual, both parties made the same empty pledges of cooperation and “bipartisanship” that we always hear, but which rarely, if ever, happens. However, this time leaders of both parties used the same “pudding” metaphor, which was odd enough that the NYT even remarked on it. What was stranger to me (but perhaps not so strange after all) was that both the senators used the same incorrect version of the proverb - “The proof is in the pudding.” The correct proverb, of course, is - “The proof of the pudding is in the eating.” The latter actually makes sense, but I guess career politicians shy away from verbal constructs that have any real meaning. The proverb was first used by Cervantes in his epic work Don Quixote in which the Don’s squire, Sancho Panza, is a virtual fount of earthy wisdom, usually dispensed in the form of proverbs quoted out of context. But the sight of two senators mangling his proverb would make even good Sancho fall off his donkey.

I was going to write a longer post about this, but found the following which says it all.

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/magazine/articles/2004/02/08/a_loss_for_words/

Comments(4)

Posted by anupcs on December 05th 2006 in Books, Food & Wine, History, Travel
::  [Print This Post]

Recently, I read a fascinating book called “A Tale of Two Valleys: Wine, Wealth and the Battle for the Good Life in Napa and Sonoma” by Alan Deutschman. The book chronicles the author’s stay in Napa and Sonoma at the mansions of his rich Silicon Valley friends. There he engorges on the daily lives of the locals from cheese makers to cult winemakers such as Jean Philips of Screaming Eagle. The book offers a rare glimpse into the real life battle brewing between long-term locals and the fresh nouveau riche arrivals. It’s an easy read and highly recommended for those interested in wine and the quirky goings-on in the two valleys.

While we have often been to Napa, Mendocino, and some other wine regions in California, we hadn’t really visited Sonoma before. We had driven through the valley once without stopping at any of the wineries. Spurred on by the book, I thought the Thanksgiving weekend was a good time to head out to Sonoma. In the seven hours we spent there, we visited four wineries and learned a bit about this region.

(Read more…)

Comments(0)

Posted by tafkap on November 30th 2006 in Books, History, Language, Law, Politics, Raves
::  [Print This Post]

Just and Unjust Wars: A Moral Argument With Historical Illustrations. The title says it all. I haven’t finished reading the book. I have very little free time these days and the book is not exactly an easy read. But I can already tell you that it is a most excellent book. The kind of book that I will come back to in years to come.

The book is a reprinting of an earlier edition with some new updates. The author Michael Walzer among other things is a moral philosopher. He is particularly concerned with practical philosophizing and avoids the metaphysical. For example he presupposes the existence of a moral world about which rational people can reason about using a shared vocabulary. He does in the beginning expound a little bit about this, but moves on to the main topic of the book.
(Read more…)

Comments(2)

Posted by anupcs on September 06th 2006 in Books, Humor
::  [Print This Post]

In 1995, Ted L. Nancy discovered a six day underwear. It had three leg openings. You were supposed to rotate your legs over one opening every day. Once three days were up, you turned the underwear upside down and got three more days. It even had a cleaning agent in the fabric that agitated as you moved about and laundered the shorts. He wanted the “underwear executives” at Hanes to take notice and meet with him to discuss this invention. Sara Lee Corporation (owners of the Hanes brand) responded kindly and encouraged him to sign some papers and send it back. Their creative department would work with him after that.

Mr Nancy is a man of letters and over the period of a year (’95-’96), he sent a smattering of such letters to corporations, hotels, and other businesses. At the urging of Jerry Seinfeld, Mr Nancy published these and their responses in a collection, aptly tilted “Letters from a Nut.” Due to the legal implications of writing such nutty letters, Ted L. Nancy is of course a pseudonym of the prankster.
(Read more…)

Comments(0)

Posted by renéejo on August 10th 2006 in Books, Business, Society
::  [Print This Post]

In one of our most popular posts, ‘To Burn or to Compost‘, there was a good discussion around ‘death care’ … what happens to your body postmortem. In that discussion, a few of us offered our own preferences on what should be done with our cadavers. Some of you who want to donate your bodies to science and be cremated might want to think again. The ash urn that is supposed to contain your mortal remains might be a blend instead of your own. The parts of your body (except for the liver of course) that you want to donate to science might end up being used for creating cosmetics. The going price for your head is around $900 and legs around $1000.

The body parts industry is big business and the lack of regulation, unlimited demand, and poor supply makes this business a breeding ground for unethical practices. As an article from Wharton reveals, the industry and its shady practices are very well documented in a book titled ‘Body Brokers: Inside America’s Underground Trade in Human Remains‘ by Annie Cheney. The cover and topic are similar to the previously discussed ‘Stiff’. I haven’t read the book yet but the Wharton article does a good job in summing it up.

Comments(1)

Posted by renéejo on June 22nd 2006 in Books, Rants, Sex, Women
::  [Print This Post]

I admit it. I am one. Why should men get to have all the fun? I watch porn. I go to raunchy clubs. I used to be an exhibitionist in beaches in the south of France. I have done my fair share of naughty behavior in nightclubs. And though I haven’t gone to the extremes of the characters described by Ariel Levy in her wonderful book ‘Female Chauvinist Pigs‘, I surely would love to.

This is a book for the post-feminists. We, who like to think we are finally coming to terms with why our men like porn or strippers. If you can’t beat them, join them, as the cliche goes. Levy is an American living in New York and the book is about how being raunchy and sexy (think Paris Hilton) is the in-thing for the American women. She talks about the wild women of Girls Gone Wild and Playboy. Funnily enough, both of these are run for the most part, by women. The book is well-written but is sure to offend many. This was a present from a friend and I devoured it in a couple of hours non-stop. Even the male dominated rantlust crowd should check it out, if only for sheer voyeurism. I now understand why fleshbot, Jenna Jameson and Jordan are so mainstream these days. Poor old Traci Lords was way ahead of her time.

Comments(1)

Posted by anupcs on May 19th 2006 in Books, Movies, Religion
::  [Print This Post]

Fellow blogger bab and I went for an early showing of “The Da Vinci Code” today (from work).

The book was highly readable despite a lack of style. Dan Brown keeps us on the edge but he has the annoying habit of filling his paragraphs with italics. How much emphasis do we really need?

The movie, which is sure to unseat MI:III from the top of the box office heap this weekend, religiously follows the book with very minor variations. Some scenes are omitted and some of the secret code is different. I wasn’t that pleased with the performance of Tom Hanks, an actor I have deep respect for. He didn’t have to try very hard to portray Robert Langdon. Audrey Tautou was ideal for the part of Sophie Neveu. (I am glad that Kate Beckinsale, who’s best when fighting vampires in skin-tight clothes, wasn’t chosen for this role, as was rumored.) Sir Ian McKellan, Jean Reno, and Paul Bettany do a good job in supporting roles.

I felt that the movie got slow at times, more so than the book. However, the end result is not as bad as most of the critics made it out to be. I would suggest waiting for DVD though.

Comments(3)

Posted by anupcs on April 26th 2006 in Books, Nature, Outdoors, Raves
::  [Print This Post]

As a rat race victim, I often take solace in the mountains during weekend outings. Backpacking is one of my favorite activities… often with fellow rantlusters. Most of these outings are the two-day one-night variety. We normally head out early morning on Saturday to Tahoe’s amazing Desolation Wilderness and head back Sunday night. Our last stop in civilization is the Lake Tahoe ranger station where we pick up our permits. The ranger station has well-maintained restrooms among other things. So it’s often here that we conduct our proper morning rituals before heading out into the wilderness. For the next 36 hours or so, I try my best not to go for the big one in the woods. This is what Kathleen Meyer defines as “avoidance constipation.”

If words such as shyte, turd, crap, piss, leak, dump, defecation, stools, scats, dung, chips, pellets, number one, number two, tinkle, poop, poo-poo, doo-doo, load, excrement, etc., fill you with disgust, then read no further for what follows is some serious shit.
(Read more…)

Comments(31)