I sometimes cruise PLoS Biology, a free online biology journal that is slowly gaining a reputation, and they had a really cool article on Neural Activity When People Solve Verbal Problems with Insight. It’s worth a read through the abstract and introduction. There’s some fMRI stuff, a lot of brain anatomy that I know very little about, and some hand waving about Archimedes, but it’s pretty interesting to see (if you didn’t know already) how neuroscientists investigate problems like “insight.” Although many of my friends were Course 9 (Cog Sci), but I never really took any of those classes, hence my “gee whiz!” attitude.
Author Archives: Anand Sarwate
The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia
By Edward Albee. Every so often I get it into my head that family dramas are boring apolitical bourgeoise conceits that don’t really get me excited about The Theatre, but then I read something by Albee and realize how effectively and intelligently he cuts through our ridiculous facades in way that says something profound while remaining thoroughly theatrical. Martin, a 50 year old architect who has just won the Pritzker Prize and a huge new commission, has a dreadful secret.
In Scene One he is getting ready to be interviewed for TV by his childhood friend Ross, and bustles about the house with his wife Stevie. They love each other very much, and they love their gay son Billy. All is well. Martin is too distracted for the interview and Ross cancels it. They quarrel and make up, and in the process Martin confesses to Ross that he has been having an affair with a goat named Sylvia. Ross is incredulous and threatens to tell Stevie.
And in Scene Two, Stevie has the letter from Ross and she and Billy are letting Martin have it. Billy is sent to his room — Stevie and Martin continue to have it out. She trashes the apartment in her rage and threatens to hurt him as much as he hurt her. She storms out.
In Scene Three, Billy comes back down to find Martin in the ruins. They make up, sort of. Ross enters at an inopportune moment — Ross and Martin have it out, and at the end Stevie returns with Sylvia, the latter’s throat slit. A powerful stage moment if ever there was one.
It’s an amazing little piece of work, for the simplicity of the writing and the way in which the little beats in the dialogue build the characters for us but also further the action. There’s an economy in Albee’s writing, but it’s not an economy of text. It’s more that he doesn’t waste time in exposition, in having the characters have long reminiscences about events in the pre-story or speak of the present as an analogy to the past. It’s all in the present more or less, and the backstory is made part of the frontstory. I think the biggest lesson to take away as writer is that small things can be built into big things, and to let your dialogue scurry about — eventually it will find its way up.
my biggest fans
Appear to be purveyors of gay pornography. I deleted no fewer than 5 spurious comments/spam on my blog just now. Does anyone know if IP Banning actually works? I seem to get the same spam over and over again…
non-dangling conversations
I had three really good conversations with friends recently, but unfortunately only one of them was with someone local. Walking with Dave Taylor from downtown at midnight and talking about life and math and work and love made me realize how short the walk home really is. I caught up on the phone with Deb and talked about buildings and theater and life after school and the acting bug. And then I talked with Dustin about renovating your life, just obsessing about some new thing for a month as means of reinvigorating yourself, how to clear out back tension, and real life human ninjas. As I told Dave — if every night could be like those then my life would be most blessed.
I would issue a desultory philippic, but the urge to rant has left me of late. Perhaps it’s this Shins‘ album, Chutes Too Narrow, which is pretty good. Other fun new music in my ears comes from Les Sans Culottes. And now to finish my taxes. Vile ravishing (and impovrishing) beasts that they are. In California we write our check to the Franchise Tax Board, which, as Josh Kornbluth pointed out, sounds like a Mafioso family.
page of pentacles
I came across Cliff Johnson’s site today. In case you didn’t know, Cliff Johnson is the creator of my two favorite Mac games of all time, The Fool’s Errand and 3 in Three. I had almost given up all hope of playing these games every again, since I didn’t have my old Mac II, but I just found out that you can buy all of his games for the low, low price of $20 with support for OS X, or download them for free. What’s more, there’s a sequel to The Fool’s Errand coming out in October for Windoze and MacOS. This news just makes my day. And check out the rest of the site too, there’s all sorts of puzzle-y goodness there. I can feel my productivity slipping already.
Yokoso Nippon
Church and 15th. This place is also known as “No Name Sushi,” since there’s no real sign on the outside to identify it. This is hands down the cheapest sushi place I’ve ever been to — $4.75 for the 9 piece Nigiri combo, and the maki orders come with 16 small maki. Crazy crazy. This is a good place for a light lunch, but gets really crowded at night. The sushi isn’t bad — better price for value than other cheap sushi places. A good place to go before catching a movie at the Castro theater or heading off for further SF adventures. I give it 2 thumbs up.
Orphan Andy’s
One of the few 24 hour places in the bay area, Orphan Andy’s is a tiny little diner in a nook on the corner of Castro and Market. The campy decor and greasy diner food combine to disorient the visitor, but if you stumble in there at 3 AM you’re probably already disoriented. Nothing is really amazing here, but then again, that’s not why you go to a place like this. Recommended if you get the munchies late or want breakfast for dinner. The music was terrible last time I went, but perhaps that varies.
Rudy’s Can’t Fail Cafe
4081 Hollis St. (near 40th). This is one of those “fancy California diners” that has sunday brunch type food. If you go really early you can get some wicked early-bird deals, but who wants to do that on a Sunday? The punked out waitstaff and bottomless coffee are good reasons to come, as well as their hollandaise-sauce section of the menu, which will expand your mind beyond the simple realm of Eggs Benedict. The last time I went I got a tasty combination of bacon, tomato, ciabatta, poached eggs, and hollandaise, and it was yummalicious. Of course, it’s pricier than Mel’s, but the ambiance is more fun. Be wary of long lines and waitlists on weekends.
King Dong
Shattuck and Haste. This is a run-of-the-mill Chinese place. We got one of the “banquet meals” for N people, and it was a lot of food, but only about half the dishes were really tasty. I found the mu shu a bit watery, but the pot stickers were good and not as meaty as at some other places. The King Dong chicken was spicy and tasty. Overall, if you are in the area and have a hankering for Chinese right then and there, this place is your best bet, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to go here. If you can take the walk, Taiwan Cafe on University is much better.
pho 84
on 17th near Webster (a little farther East). This is a Vietnamese place with cute decor and friendly waitstaff, but the food was somewhat underwhelming. Dave said the pho was not even as good as Pho Hoa (a chain), and while I wasn’t sure if I entirely agreed, I would not recommend the Pho here over other spots in Oakland. Sarah got a grilled chicken dish which was really tasty, and Joanna got the bun (vermicelli) with roasted pork, another favorite of mine. It seemed heavy on the lettuce, but that might have just been my impression. The cafe sua da was good though. In a sentence: overpriced (closer to the $10 end of things) for the quality.
An Ergodic Walk 