It's Not Swan Lake...

... but it's certainly graceful and entertaining. This is a dance that Eva choreographed herself and performed with another girl from her dance class (I love that Eva is giving instructions during the performance itself). The video was made by Eva's dance teacher.

The Real Reason I'm Voting for Obama

(Make that: the real reason I voted for Obama. Three cheers for early voting!). No, it's not his cool intellect and steady presence. No, it's not his economic policies or the good will that his election would generate for the US throughout the world. Forget all that trivial stuff. It's this:

I vote for the guy who cleans up after himself after he gets some ice cream at the local burger joint. That's my kind of guy. (photo from http://digitaljournalist.org/issue0810/callie-bp.html)

If You Think My Taste in Music Is Abrasive and Pretentious...

... I'm generally quite happy to agree. However here's something that might be pretentious--it is "foreign," after all--but it's not abrasive. Souad Massi is an Algerian singer who relocated to Paris in 1999 after receiving death threats for playing pop music with a political edge. Her album Deb has been on my playlist recently; it's not exactly challenging stuff, musically speaking, but it's nice. Here's a track entitled "Yemma." As always, if you like the music, support the artist by purchasing a legal copy of their work (click here).

When It Comes to Cardboard Boxes in the Wild...

... suffice it to say that Simon is a cold-blooded killer. Alex was invited by a friend to go to a BYU football game yesterday, so Simon and I went up Hobble Creek Canyon so he could practice his mad archery skills. So, how does he stack up to his dad? Let's just say you can call him "Little Nephi."

Two Hot Dogs, Hold the Mustard

The regular reader (singular! You know who you are!) of my blog has long since figured out that, in addition to my obsessing about the political horse race, I have this thing for really off-the-wall music. So, it's about that time again. I don't know why, but I find this track by the Montreal-based trio Les Georges Leningrad absolutely fascinating (much to the chagrin of my long-suffering family). Here's an excerpt from a track called "Caamckne Nechn," from the album Deux Hot Dog Moutarde Chou (available here). Consider yourself warned.

Bombs Away!

It took more than a month, but we finally got an opportunity to celebrate Alex's birthday with a visit to Hill Air Force Base. I took Alex, along with three of his best friends, to the Air Museum on the base and they had a great time (Alex took over one hundred photos of the aircraft). After spending a couple of hours there, we headed back home, where the boys had pizza and cake.

Two Thoughts on a Sunday Morning

1. I'm disappointed to see the McCain campaign try to score cheap political points by insinuating that Obama is a socialist. There is no term more abused nor less understood by the hard-core Republican base. But for McCain to make such an accusation after he had just signed off on a 700 billion dollar federal bailout is just loony. To be sure, Obama's economic policy is leftward of McCain's. But to accuse him of being a socialist is like a guy with 7 houses telling a guy with 8 houses that he ought to live more modestly.

2. I can't think of too many ways the reasons for my support of Obama's candidacy differ from the extremely articulate and thoughtful endorsement offered this morning by Colin Powell on Meet the Press. WMD debacle aside, here's hoping that there's a place in the Obama administration for a man as talented and eloquent as Powell.

The Birth of the Cool, or Miles Davis for President

We just finished watching the final presidential debate. To be honest, I respect John McCain in many ways. But he's just no match for Obama. Here's the deal with Obama: he's Miles Davis, circa 1950. Totally cool, totally collected, always in control. This was a masterful performance. I manifestly do not agree with all of Obama's positions. But there's no question that he would be a more steady presence in the White House than his opponent.

If You Can Spare Two Hours Between Now and November 4 ...

... watch this extraordinary Frontline documentary on the 2008 election (the whole thing is available online as a stream). I happened to tune in last night half way through the first hour and was mesmerized. I haven't yet seen anything as even handed and insightful as this documentary (not to mention the impeccable production standards and first-rate photography). Whether you lionize Obama (or hate him) or think McCain is the bee's knees (or can't stand the guy), your views will undoubtedly become more nuanced after watching this program. You won't find much here about their policy positions. But the program offers a fascinating perspective of the two men as politicians, conducting political campaigns. I'd love to see this become required viewing for anyone casting a ballot on November 4, whatever their political persuasion.

Celia Cruz Would Have Been Proud

The Queen of Salsa would have been proud of the Laraway family yesterday: an early freeze had been forecast for last night so we ended up harvesting our tomatoes earlier than we would have liked and ended up creating our own salsa assembly line.

Before...

During...

And After...

John McCain Has Been Courting the Black Vote

That's "black" as in "black helicopter."

But now he's not sure if he's supposed to want it.

I find this all tremendously disheartening but unsurprising. I think many Americans fail to appreciate how toxic the right-wing populism of Fox News, Sean Hannity, and Rush Limbaugh really is. Heaven knows that there's a place for thoughtful conservative voices in our political culture: I daresay we need them now more than ever. But the Fox-Rush-Hannity trifecta represents the dumbing down of conservative thought in the US. It's a shame, really. The NY Times' own token conservative, David Brooks, has lamented precisely this de-evolution of conservative thought. But it's not just that the Fox-Rush-Hannity crowd dumbs down complex political ideas: it's that they (a) lead their devotees to believe that by listening to their programs they therefore know all they need to know about any given issue; and (b) demonize anyone who disagrees with them. The result is a pernicious echo-chamber culture whose inhabitants become absolutely unhinged when dealing with anyone that doesn't share their world-view. Of course one can find equally unsavory things on the political left as well. But the rhetoric at Obama / Biden rallies hasn't become nearly as incendiary and borderline violent as it has with the McCain / Palin crowd. Thoughtful conservatives should be just as dismayed at this kind of thing as liberals.

Phillip Luque, 1950-2008

I don't know that I'll ever meet a better man than my uncle. I'll replace this clip with something better as soon as I get more video footage.

Now for Something Really Scary...

It's now October, which means it's time once again to drag out that classic cut, "It's Halloween" by The Shaggs. The Shaggs were three sisters that formed their own garage band in the late 60s and somehow managed to find their way into a recording studio and cut a number of tracks. The result is the essence of homemade / outsider music: utterly amateur and utterly fascinating. If you've never heard The Shaggs before, you're in for a treat. It's not just that they're bad: there are thousands of incompetent bands out there. It's that they're bad in such an intriguing way. It's as if you were to come across some Martians who had never heard music before and you handed them some instruments, gave them a five-minute lecture on what pop music was, told them to write a song and that you'd be back in an hour to see what they came up with. "It's Halloween" is a pretty fair sample of what you'd get.

[only a 30-second clip seems to be available. But that may be all you can take anyway.]