Things That Bore Me
In homage to my friend Andrew, here are some things that bore me: 1. Hearing about Simpsons episodes 2. The board game “Risk”- This should be up my alley, but isn’t. 3. Any movie by Wes Anderson or...
View Article2008 Retrospective
I remember a scene in the early 1990s film City Slickers in which Billy Crystal, Daniel Stern, and Bruno Kirby are horseback riding slowly through the desert. They were having a discussion about the...
View ArticleBlogging and Formal Writing
Since graduating from college in 2004, the vast majority of writing that I’ve done–excluding e-mails–has been in this and other blogs. Overall, I’ve probably written enough words to fill a couple of...
View ArticleOut of the Music Loop
Every time I go back to the US, about once a year or so, I realize how much further I’m out of the loop. One way is in money; a lot of my old friends are doing well financially. About a year ago, I...
View ArticleMetric System
I’ve spent five and a half years of my life living in countries that use the metric system, which isn’t such a remarkable accomplishment when you consider that the United States is the only country...
View ArticleA Tale of Two Weddings
Nothing sums up my experience of being an expat quite like the two weddings I’ve attended this year. The first wedding, held in early May, took place in a tiny village in rural south Yunnan Province,...
View ArticleLiberals, Conservatives, and Open-Mindedness
At Marginal Revolution, Tyler Cowen asks his readers whether self-identified conservatives are more ‘closed-minded’ than self-identified liberals. To me, the answer is quite plainly yes, and not only...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Food Ressentiment
Via Roger Ebert’s Twitter feed comes word of a Chandler, Arizona restaurant that specializes in serving unhealthy food to fat people. The gory details: The burgers are free-all day, every day-at the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Being Alone in a Strange Land
Cafe de Paix, Paris Roger Ebert may no longer be able to speak, but it is clear he hasn’t lost his voice. In this blog post, he writes movingly about being a stranger in a strange land, a theme that I...
View ArticleAsian Women and Food Photography
From the random observation department…today, while perusing my VPN-supported Facebook feed, I realized that nearly every Asian woman I know has at least one oft-updated photo album containing...
View Article
