Small Streams

Jean Paul Sartre for Dodge Dartre

"In my journey to the end of night, I must rely not only on dialectical paths of reason. I must have a good solid automobile, one that eschews the futile trappings of worldly ennui and asks only for basic maintenance. My Dodge Dartre offers me this elemental solace, and as interior parts fall off I am struck by the realization of their pointlessness. I might not know if the window is up or down. It is of no consequence."

Wendell Berry Coming to Town

Poet and farmer Wendell Berry will be at Oakland's Carnegie Lecture Hall on Wednesday as part of the International Poetry Forum. I've never read his poetry, or eaten or smoked his farm products. I have read his essays/jeremiads, though, and they are brilliant and moving; and if the show is not sold out, I'll be there.

Lord of the Rings: The Funny Bits

I know that John Rhy-Davies as Gimli was supposed to be the comic foil, and he delivered his lines well: "Certain death. Small chance of victory. What are we waiting for?" and a game line after Legolas does a tour de force stunt of climbing and subduing an elephant-like war machine.

I personally liked the part where Eowyn tells Merry that even though his sword is short that it's admirable, but he's going to need to take it to the smithy for sharpening. Perhaps Eowyn was hoping for a longer sword, but Aragorn gets his sword fixed at the behest of Arwen. So naturally Aragorn owes his long swordedness to Arwen. After a loving pan shots of Aragorn's sword it's off to battle we go.

I'm kind of guessing that there's a lingering sense of Tolkien's world where race mattered, and in the 21st century it's a little embarrassing to see beerhalls of people talking about the preservation of mankind, and all those people are blonde nordic-types (these are supposed to be the good guys). That's not so funny. What's funny is the classism that seems to be magnified in the movie. The orcs all sound like characters from England's industrial north and midlands.

I also liked the scene where Sam, Frodo, and Gollum approach a place with gargoyles, and then you see this great big lightning column. I thought that must have been Peter Jackson's homage to Ghostbusters.

Something Fishy Here

This AP article discusses music downloading and the record industry's attempts to stop illegal downloads. I have to wonder why one-time defendants are happy to appear in news article confessing their guilt and the amount of money they have to pay. What's in it for them. I realize that this is a conspiracy theory, and that maybe I should take the downloaders' stories at face value. But something tells me there's more to these settlements than meets the eye. Any information regarding egregious behavior on the part of RIAA would be most appreciated.

Not the Duquesne Club, but . . .

Just a note to say that the "Pittsburgh Signs" project was partly inspired by the earnest looniness that is Ground Zero, which has held court for more than three years on Thursday nights at the Chart Room.

I found out this morning that the Chart Room has shuttered its doors (let's hope only temporarily), and this article by Brian O'Neill makes it clear that more than beer is at stake. But implied in O'Neill's article is the case that beer, alone, is stake enough. Just possessing a public place to drink a not-too-expensive beer -- or cup of coffee -- and talk about the issues of the day is a rare asset getting more rare every day.

I've visited the Chart Room a couple of times on Thursday nights, drank a few Irons, shared a few of my own pipedreams, and now I have one more: Maybe the Chart Room could retool with free wireless, video-conferencing, and an endless supply of free pretzels, become a premier meatspace for the New Economy, the latter day equivalent of a 17th century coffee house, giving rise to new possibilities in finance, technology, commerce, and publications. But beer is enough, isn't it?

Why does the movie Brassed Off come to mind?

Connectedness

While the New York Times Magazine has made explicit their bias toward consumption with their debut of the "Consumed" column, this week's issue has two enlightening articles about the food chain and how consumption can be sustainable and unsustainable.

Michael Pollan's article "Cattle Futures" concludes that seeing the effects of modern, industrial agricultural practice will probably make us think more about our food sources.

For several years now, an alternative, postindustrial food chain has been taking shape, its growth fueled by one ''food scare'' after another: Alar, G.M.O.'s, rBGH, E. coli 0157:H7; now B.S.E. Whatever science told us about the risks of these novel industrial entrees and sides, something else told us we might want to order something more appetizing: organic, hormone-free, grass-finished. It might cost more, but it's possible again to eat meat from a short, legible food chain consisting of little more than sunlight, grass and ruminants. Back to the future: a 21st-century savanna. If, as seems probable, this landscape should now expand at the expense of the feedlot, then something good -- even beautiful -- will have come of this poor mad cow.

Russell Shorto's article on the Farmers Diner in Vermont, illustrates how one man is using his connections to subvert a vertically-integrated food industry.

Why the fuss? Because ''local food'' has become almost an oxymoron. In an era in which 10 companies supply more than half the food and drink sold in the United States, in which processed and prepackaged are the norm and hydrogenated oil is practically a national beverage, in which the average apple, chicken breast or lettuce head travels more than 1,500 miles from grower to consumer, the Farmers Diner is so old it's radically new.

Investors are now trying to figure out a way to franchise owner Tod Murphy's enterpreneurial networking approach to running a diner.

Help Me

I need help in putting together a photoblog template for Pittsburgh Signs. I'm looking to have something where I can load about ten photos a day and accompanying copy. Any advice or assistance would be much appreciated.

I would do a traditional photoblog, but I haven't seen a traditional photolog that does what I want, which is to present a front page gallery and reserve enough space on the side for some background info. Beggars, however, can not be choosers, so send on whatever suggestions you can.

Listen Up!

My friend Dave Graham is starting a Pittsburgh radio station, and I'll be helping him. The station, PACO, is dedicated to acoustic music in Pittsburgh. I'll consider the designation of "acoustic" later. I know we had to draw the line somewhere. Perhaps the definition of "acoustic" is like the definition of pornography, which as a Supreme Court Justice (I think it was Clarence Thomas) once said, "I know pornography when I see it. I've never seen any. Never rented any. Not me. You must be thinking about someone else."

Visual Pollution?

The following quote from Learning from Las Vegas gives a little perspective to what George Nelson has to say in How to See.

. . ."visual pollution" (usually someone else's house or business) is not the same order of phenomenon as air and water pollution. You can like billboards without approving of strip mining in Appalachia. There is no "good" way to pollute land, air, or water. Sprawl and strip we can learn to do well.

Although I'm not sure if I would actually agree that strip and sprawl could be done well, I do think that issues of landscape design -- although inextricably entwined with everything else -- are not issues of public safety or public health, as Nelson might have one believe.