El Vez

My friends Michelle and Jaime took me to see El Vez, the Chicano Elvis impersonator. It was quite wonderful and hilarious; El Vez channels Elvis, but at the same time he alters Elvis, messes with him, “Mexicanizes” (or “Mexican-Americanizes”) him. The show is quite an extravaganza, with costume changes, male strip tease, rewriting of Elvis’ lyrics, etc. There’s the Quetzalcoatl costume; but there was also the black vinyl look, the East LA gang look, even the S&M look with a tall dominatrix. I can’t say anything about the cultural significance of El Vez’s act, that hasn’t already been better said by Michelle Habell-Pallan. But I can testify that the set was a sheer, high-energy delight.


My friends Michelle and Jaime took me to see El Vez, the Chicano Elvis impersonator. It was quite wonderful and hilarious; El Vez channels Elvis, but at the same time he alters Elvis, messes with him, “Mexicanizes” (or “Mexican-Americanizes”) him. The show is quite an extravaganza, with costume changes, male strip tease, rewriting of Elvis’ lyrics, etc. The picture here shows El Vez in Quetzelcoatl costume; but there was also the black vinyl look, the East LA gang look, even the S&M look with a tall dominatrix. I can’t say anything about the cultural significance of El Vez’s act, that hasn’t already been better said by Michelle Habell-Pallan. But I can testify that the set was a sheer, high-energy delight.

Hereditary Succession

As far as I know, there are only five countries in the world today that are backward enough, or corrupt enough, to have hereditary leadership (I mean actual, effective leadership, not kings or queens as symbolic figureheads) today:

North Korea (Kim Jong Il, son of Kim Il Sung)
Congo (Joseph Kabila, son of Laurent Kabila)
Syria (Bashar Al-Assad, son of Hafez Al-Assad)
Indonesia (Megawati Sukarnoputri, daughter of Sukarno)
United States (George W Bush, son of George Bush).

As far as I know, there are only five countries in the world today that are backward enough, or corrupt enough, to have hereditary leadership (I mean actual, effective leadership, not kings or queens as symbolic figureheads) today:

North Korea (Kim Jong Il, son of Kim Il Sung)
Congo (Joseph Kabila, son of Laurent Kabila)
Syria (Bashar Al-Assad, son of Hafez Al-Assad)
Indonesia (Megawati Sukarnoputri, daughter of Sukarno)
United States (George W Bush, son of George Bush).

Colossal Colon

Today I visited the Colossal Colon. It’s a forty-foot long tunnel, representing a human colon; you can crawl through it, and see all the diseases to which the colon is subject, culminating in full-blown cancer. I had to go because I am hereditarily predisposed to be at a high risk for colon cancer; but mostly because of the sheer perversity of such an anal representation. And indeed, though the purpose of the exhibition is high-mindedly educational–to warn people of the medical risks, and urge them to get tested for colon polyps or cancer–it really best works as a bizarre piece of participatory installation art. Somehow I erased my photo of the entire thing, with me entering it at the upper (intestinal rather than anal) end; so instead I have put up a photo of the repulsive interior.


Today I visited the Colossal Colon. It’s a forty-foot long tunnel, representing a human colon; you can crawl through it, and see all the diseases to which the colon is subject, culminating in full-blown cancer. I had to go because I am hereditarily predisposed to be at a high risk for colon cancer; but mostly because of the sheer perversity of such an anal representation. And indeed, though the purpose of the exhibition is high-mindedly educational–to warn people of the medical risks, and urge them to get tested for colon polyps or cancer–it really best works as a bizarre piece of participatory installation art. Somehow I erased my photo of the entire thing, with me entering it at the upper (intestinal rather than anal) end; so instead I have put up a photo of the repulsive interior.

Testosterone Worship

Another ludicrous scientific study (via Metafilter) showing that it’s possible to “prove” nearly any pre-established thesis, as long as you extrapolate from a small enough sample and generalize wildly without any sense of context: ” Satoshi Kanazawa, a psychologist at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, compiled a database of the biographies of 280 great scientists,” and discovered that almost none of them continued to do important work once they got married and had children. Well, it is often said (though I have no idea whether this is more than an anecdotal observation) that scientists, in particular do their best work when they are young. If true, this may have to do with the energy of youth, or with a fresh mind free of preconceptions, or who knows what else. In any case, certain creative endeavors (discoveries in mathematics, perhaps) seem to be done best at a younger age, while others (writing long novels?) seem to be done best by people who are older. As for marriage and children, it is obvious that the higher the age, the larger percentage of people will have been married and have had kids. (Not to mention that, as I am experiencing daily, having a small child consumes a great deal of your time, energy, and attention, unless you are a complete pig who leaves it all to your partner, or so rich, as well as indifferent, that you can hire servants to do all the work for you). But these are mere trifles for Kanazawa. Not only does he take his database of scientists (chosen according to what criteria? we are not told in the newspaper account at least) as representative of the larger category of “creative genius and crime” (!), but he further concludes that the reason for the alleged fall-off in creativity after marriage and having children is that “a single psychological mechanism is responsible for this: the competitive edge among young men to fight for glory and gain the attention of women. That craving drives the all-important male hormone, testosterone. After a man settles down, the testosterone level falls, as does his creative output, Kanazawa theorises.” I suppose Kanazawa considers the testosterone/creativity link to be so obvious that it does not need to be tested, or even explained. Yet another case of a “social scientist” who wouldn’t understand culture and society if they bit him on the ass.

Another ludicrous scientific study (via Metafilter) showing that it’s possible to “prove” nearly any pre-established thesis, as long as you extrapolate from a small enough sample and generalize wildly without any sense of context: ” Satoshi Kanazawa, a psychologist at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, compiled a database of the biographies of 280 great scientists,” and discovered that almost none of them continued to do important work once they got married and had children. Well, it is often said (though I have no idea whether this is more than an anecdotal observation) that scientists, in particular do their best work when they are young. If true, this may have to do with the energy of youth, or with a fresh mind free of preconceptions, or who knows what else. In any case, certain creative endeavors (discoveries in mathematics, perhaps) seem to be done best at a younger age, while others (writing long novels?) seem to be done best by people who are older. As for marriage and children, it is obvious that the higher the age, the larger percentage of people will have been married and have had kids. (Not to mention that, as I am experiencing daily, having a small child consumes a great deal of your time, energy, and attention, unless you are a complete pig who leaves it all to your partner, or so rich, as well as indifferent, that you can hire servants to do all the work for you). But these are mere trifles for Kanazawa. Not only does he take his database of scientists (chosen according to what criteria? we are not told in the newspaper account at least) as representative of the larger category of “creative genius and crime” (!), but he further concludes that the reason for the alleged fall-off in creativity after marriage and having children is that “a single psychological mechanism is responsible for this: the competitive edge among young men to fight for glory and gain the attention of women. That craving drives the all-important male hormone, testosterone. After a man settles down, the testosterone level falls, as does his creative output, Kanazawa theorises.” I suppose Kanazawa considers the testosterone/creativity link to be so obvious that it does not need to be tested, or even explained. I suppose, as well, that he doesn’t think women are capable of high-level creativity. Yet another case of a “social scientist” who wouldn’t understand culture and society if they bit him on the ass.

A Note on “Cracker”

Here’s something that has been puzzling me. I mentioned a few posts ago that my infant daughter’s first word was “cracker.” Now, nearly every white person I have told this to has immediately made some joke on the order of, “is she talking about her daddy?” (I am white; my wife and daughter are black). No black people to whom I have told this have had any such reaction. Indeed, my wife, and other black people, have expressed complete puzzlement as to why so many white people would spontaneously make this “joke.” So, my own question is this: why do so many white people seem obsessed with black people supposedly calling white people “crackas” (which they freely interchange with “cracker”)? What kind of strange racial imaginary is behind all this?

Here’s something that has been puzzling me. I mentioned a few posts ago that my infant daughter’s first word was “cracker.” Now, nearly every white person I have told this to has immediately made some joke on the order of, “is she talking about her daddy?” (I am white; my wife and daughter are black). No black people to whom I have told this have had any such reaction. Indeed, my wife, and other black people, have expressed complete puzzlement as to why so many white people would spontaneously make this “joke.” So, my own question is this: why do so many white people seem obsessed with black people supposedly calling white people “crackas” (which they freely interchange with “cracker”)? What kind of strange racial imaginary is behind all this?

Anti-Harry Potter-ism

I kind of think the Harry Potter books are merely OK reading, not particularly great. And I do think they are ultimately right wing and crypto-Christian, as has been recently argued. The great contemporary children’s author is not J.K. Rowling, but the anti-religious humanist, Philip Pullman. But, that said, I have no sympathy for the current high-minded backlash of anti-Potterism…

I kind of think the Harry Potter books are merely OK reading, not particularly great. And I do think they are ultimately right wing and crypto-Christian, as has been recently argued. The great contemporary children’s author is not J.K. Rowling, but the anti-religious humanist, Philip Pullman. But, that said, I have no sympathy for the current high-minded backlash of anti-Potterism…
Continue reading “Anti-Harry Potter-ism”

On the Corner

I’ve been listening a lot lately to Miles Davis’ On the Corner, originally released in 1972. I am in general partial to Miles’ early-70s electronic period, but On the Corner is unique. More than thirty years later, this album still sounds absolutely radical, fresh, and contemporary. It’s swirling, propulsive funk, probably the most abrasive, explosive music Miles ever made. Pure rhythmic bliss, riffs weaving in and out, dense but never murky, atonal but never grating, “world music” (listen to those Indian tablas) but never sounding like mere touristic sampling. On the Corner can be heard behind nearly every interesting musical innovation of the last decade or so, from Aphex Twin to Timbaland to D’Angelo to UK drum ‘n’ bass and garage to microglitch, but in a real sense none of these artists or trends have yet matched its full intensity.

I’ve been listening a lot lately to Miles Davis’ On the Corner, originally released in 1972. I am in general partial to Miles’ early-70s electronic period, but On the Corner is unique. More than thirty years later, this album still sounds absolutely radical, fresh, and contemporary. It’s swirling, propulsive funk, probably the most abrasive, explosive music Miles ever made. Pure rhythmic bliss, riffs weaving in and out, dense but never murky, atonal but never grating, “world music” (listen to those Indian tablas) but never sounding like mere touristic sampling. On the Corner can be heard behind nearly every interesting musical innovation of the last decade or so, from Aphex Twin to Timbaland to D’Angelo to UK drum ‘n’ bass and garage to microglitch, but in a real sense none of these artists or trends have yet matched its full intensity.

Planetary/Batman: Night on Earth

I was alerted by Boing Boing to Warren Ellis’s new issue of Planetary, which is also a Batman (!) comic: Planetary/Batman: NIght on Earth (illustrated by John Cassaday). This is the most hilarious pisstake on the Caped Crusader since Grant Morrison presented him as a schizophrenic unable to resist the logic of a deliriously postmodern Joker in Arkham Asylum. In Ellis’ vision, a passage through a series of alternate Earths, with alternate Gotham Cities, gives us glimpses of a variety of Batman incarnations (Batmen? Batmans?), from raging psychopathic vigilante to empathetic New Ager (well, almost). It’s ridiculous to the point of nearly being sublime. Another direct hit for the incredibly prolific Mr. Ellis. (Did I mention that I am an obsessive reader of his blog, Die Puny Humans, as well?)

I was alerted by Boing Boing to Warren Ellis’s new issue of Planetary, which is also a Batman (!) comic: Planetary/Batman: NIght on Earth (illustrated by John Cassaday). This is the most hilarious pisstake on the Caped Crusader since Grant Morrison presented him as a schizophrenic unable to resist the logic of a deliriously postmodern Joker in Arkham Asylum. In Ellis’ vision, a passage through a series of alternate Earths, with alternate Gotham Cities, gives us glimpses of a variety of Batman incarnations (Batmen? Batmans?), from raging psychopathic vigilante to empathetic New Ager (well, almost). It’s ridiculous to the point of nearly being sublime. Another direct hit for the incredibly prolific Mr. Ellis. (Did I mention that I am an obsessive reader of his blog, Die Puny Humans, as well?)

First Words


My ten-month-old daughter’s first word is “cracker”; she likes to eat various sorts of biscuits, cookies, crackers, teething biscuits, etc., and this is her term for all of them. Sometimes she speaks the word, as if asking for a cracker. But she always repeats the word a number of times, whenever we give her one. What’s striking is the happiness with which she repeats the word; her pleasure at being able to say “cracker,” her delight at having expressed a meaning, far exceeds the pleasure she gets from eating the cracker itself. A pretty good exemplification, I think, of what it means to be human.