Are You A Zionist?

Must be among the dumbest questions in our current discourse. As I understand it, Zionism was a movement to make the country of Israel in the Jewish ancestral homeland. The country of Israel exists. Whether one is a "Zionist" is as relevant as asking whether you are a supporter of the American Revolution or the Communist Revolution in China. 

Pointing out in 2026 that Israel shouldn't have been formed in 1948 has got to be one of the dumbest, most pointless, and self-defeating of all current political ideas. If anything, we should be creating more "Israels" - dynamic countries that people will be proud of and fight for. It's the countries and people that oppose a place like Israel that are the problem. What do they imagine? Should people continue farming olive trees in the same place their ancestors did for the next 1000 years? Should we turn the San Fernando Valley back into orange groves? For what purpose?

Logging

Film: Perfect Days

Only watched 1/3 or so last night before jet lag caught me. But my wife asked while I was watching, "what's the story?" And I said, a man wakes up and goes to clean toilets. Good use of sound design and music thus far... I got really excited about what he was going to eat for lunch.

Democratic Party

As far as I can tell, the only thing the Democrat party really can rally around and accomplish quickly is renaming things.  

Cesar Chavez

The lionization of the guy in the first place was obviously affirmative action. Because of demographics, we "needed" a Latino MLK, so we got one. Another nail in the coffin for the DEI/Affirmative Action movement, although they won't see it for what it is.

Final Day - Japan

Attempted to get up to Tokyo Skytree, but it was sold out. I've been to the tops of big buildings before. Relative to Taipei 101, or Burj Khalifa or Sears Tower, Tokyo Skeetree feels like it gets short shrift. It's massive and impressive. In the two films I watched last night and on the plane, Rental Family and Perfect Days, Skytree was featured. 

What else? An Indian meal. It was fine. More ice cream - banana flavored place in the Skytree mall. What is it about traveling and ice cream that goes together so well?

Plane ride home is shorter, more manageable. Films: Rental Family and The Family McMullen. I enjoyed both; perhaps I actually liked Rental Family a bit more. I feel so much more generous about films on planes. Maybe I should watch all movies this way. How much of our grumpiness about films and Hollywood simply reflects negative mood affiliation? I don't know. Or are things worse? The Family McMullen certainly felt "worse" than the Brothers McMullen, although I haven't seen that film in quite a long time.  I actually felt the beginning of the film was off, but once it got going, it picked up...felt like the actors weren't able to rehearse, so the opening scenes felt clunky. I wonder about this - my prediction: they didn't get rehearsal and shot the movie in order. The acting was very up and down. Michael McGlone was good except for this one terrible scene in the beginning. I hold Burns accountable for letting him embarrass himself. Connie Brinton, Tracey Ross, Burns were all good. A few of the younger people were good, too. But I thought the brother and sister dynamic didn't work at all. At no point did I believe these two were siblings. The sisters of the Italian love interest were great, but underutilized. 

Final thoughts on Japan:

1) I want to go again.

2) Best thing about it - truly feels like a different society than the "West" - down to every detail. Things are smaller, neater, more organized, and more modest in a way. More technological. Creative in a much different way. You feel less like an individual and more part of a "society," thus you pick up all your trash, clean up, don't overuse things, act polite, etc. You are also way less "free" or perhaps individualistc. People aren't as hungry to "stand out" - so you see far less idiosyncratic behavior, dress, etc. Probably for good and bad.

3) Biggest complaint, perhaps related to the above, some aspects of living there seem overly complicated. Metro system downright confusing. Events are in some ways over-organized. Why are they so stingy with things like napkins and towels? Personally, the bathroom system, while clean is a bit much with all the systems.

4) Best thing to do: shop. 

5) Best thing to eat: ramen, waygu, sushi

6) Tokyo by far is the best city big I've been to for kids

7)  For all the talk of Japan's declining demographics, I saw quite a few kids around

8) Highlights: everything related to baseball - including game, seeing cherry blossoms, origami museum and making, wandering around the quieter streets especially early in the morning, eating 

Iran Prediction

Trump will pull back and claim a limited victory, and the people who warn of a decades-long quagmire will complain rather than celebrate getting what they "want."

Japan Day 5

Kidzania all day. A place highly recommended by parents, Kidzania is half an amusement park and half a job training program. Basically, it's a "mini-town" where kids sign up to become workers in different jobs throughout the day. Examples: construction engineer, toy maker, shoemaker, fireman, police, nurse, etc. The place is pretty nuts and unlike anything I've ever seen. It needs to come with a warning for parents - prepare for Disneyland without the rides. You just wait until your kid completes their job, so yeah, it's not that fun. However...a cremia soft serve ice cream place exists right outside. Highly recommend. 

For dinner, a long journey to find the "ramen corridor" and a very specific ramen place that comes highly recommended. Wow. Tricky. What's weird in Tokyo, the metro stations are enormous and overlapping. Meaning, to get to a particular "station," you might ride one line to a particular area, but then need to exit the station and find another station with the exact same name that is on a different line and goes to different destinations. Add on some major stations have malls, restaurants, businesses, underground and above ground areas and thousands of people -- google maps isn't quite up for the task. It probably took us 30 minutes circling this one area to even find the ramen spot - which we eventually did and it was good. But bear in mind, there were probably 50 other ramen spots right around there that would've been good too. Just an interesting aspect of Tokyo.

Day 6

Cherry blossoms! We found an early bloom in Sumita Park. Felt like a great success. Wandered across the Sumita river to Asakusa - a bustling, crazy, and touristy area. Found Senso Ji Temple where a lot of tourists were dressed up in kimonos to take pictures. This is the oldest temple in Tokyo. You can take a ride with a ricksaw driver here. Near the temple are highly sought after treats - including a creme brule sweet potato and fried bread with cream and fruit. We ate them all.

For lunch, we went to one of the conveyor belt sushi spots, a chain called Sushiro. A fun, unique dining experience. Dining in Tokyo is truly different than elsewhere. At ramen you order from a machine and sit, at Sushiro food comes out on a conveyor belt delivered to you, at yakiniku restaurants they often just reject you at the door because there is no space. Many restaurants are tiny, like 6 counter seats is all. This evening we ate at a French-Japanese place called ETape, a fixed omakase style dinner that had one table and 6 bar seats. We were the only people in the restaurant until the end. Wandered Sumita to find a bar, but couldn't find anything that looked good. 

But prior to dinner, we went to Kappabashi street, an area that sells massive amounts of dinner, cookware, and Japanese knives. Again, the scale of commerce and "stuff" is beyond anything I've seen elsewhere. 

Day 7

Our last full day. Because I took the kids for awhile in the afternoon the day before so the wife and sister in law could shop, I got a free morning. Traveled to the Shibuya Crossing just to see it. Got a photo with the Akira dog, wandered the area, saw people still drunk from the night before. Got a sense of "Tokyo." Then went off to Shimokitazawa, a bohemiam area some compared to Haigh Ashbury without the homeless. Perhaps because it was early and raining, but it was quiet here other than a Pachinko parlor which had a line outside. Looked like a fun place to eat lunch, but it was too early for me so all I had was a nice coffee. First real "nice" coffee of the trip. Prior, I had been drinking 7-11 and Lawsons - pro tip: Lawson's better if you can figure out the machine in all Japanese. Finally the thrift stores opened up, I peeked in a few. They sold mostly old American brands liked Starter, Stussy, among others. And not particularly cheap. I don't like vintage shopping in the US, so I fail to see how I would like it in Tokyo. 

A thing to note - it takes about 1 hour to get here from Sumita City. A lot of Tokyo is like this - shockingly far from each other - just in case you want to see a large part of the city. 

For lunch, met up with everyone for a Sumo Show. A bit touristy and kitschy, but it's for the kids. A thing I notice about Japanese stuff - they do a lot of explaining - so for the show they spend the first 3/4 "teaching" about sumo, all the moves, the rules of the match, how they train, etc. And only in the last 1/4 do they wrestle. In America, I have this feeling we would've just jumped into the wrestling with a bang and expect people to catch up. 

Later this evening, we had our first major trouble with restaurants that you hear about in Tokyo. I guess we forgot it was Friday night, but we were back in Asakusa and couldn't get into the yakiniku places we wanted. Finally just found one on the streets that one kid later said was the "best restaurant" they'd ever been to. I'm not sure sure on that because later one member of our party got sick.

Last thing we did was found the Asakusa underground street, an old tiny corridor that runs under the street - tiny bars, etc, I thought it was awesome. 

Japan Day 2 - cont

Caught one cherry blossom, took a rest before taking kids to a "Capybara Cafe." These are essentially petting zoos inside buildings. It's pretty strange. You go up to what feels like an apartment, but inside is a little business with 3 capybaras just hanging out. This was in the neighborhood of Shinjuku, a bit livelier and more social than ours. We met up with an old friend at the cafe, who then took us to a chicken restaurant. Fun to reminisce about old times - the restaurant had a few interesting dishes - a chicken soup stew type, a cold chicken skin dish, and sides that felt like Korean banchan. Drank some Asahi.

Day 3

Found a local origami museum. Kids enjoyed, bought a book each, along with some paper. An observation about Japan - within 2-3 days, you immediately become "more Japanese" - suddenly conscious of litter, noise, tidiness, and all the kids (and I) wanted to make origami. I've never had an urge before. What can explain this?

Late morning at the Tsukiji Fish Market. Waded through the crowds, tried A5 level Waygu, melons, mochi, and finally, the tuna. Sure, the fish was delicious. But could my tongue discern something "more special" than good sushi in the US? Not really. But the price was right. 

After sushi, we explored Ginza. Felt like the Beverly Hills of Tokyo. Onisuka Tiger off the charts crowded. All the adults bought shoes. Price point is significantly lower than in the US. Around $113, which amounts to 2/3 of the price. Went into the Grand Seiko store, wanted to check out the watches, but immediately felt out of place. Quite fancy Seiko watches...

Made our way into a Don Quijote, perhaps the most unusual store I've ever visited. Part Costco, part Temu, part Ikea, part Daiso. I don't even know how to explain the place. I hated it. But that's just because I hate those sorts of things.

By this evening, we were exhausted and wanted to eat locally. Found the best-rated ramen shop under the idea that every neighborhood in Tokyo probably has a good ramen spot. I was not disappointed. Chuka Soba Mugiwara - I had the spicy one. You order at a vending machine, hand over the ticket, sit down, and they bring you the ramen.  

Drank Sapporo at home.

Day 4

In the morning, we got lost. Tried to get to one park, ended up in Kinchi park instead. Kids ran around. I stumbled upon a men's league baseball game playing at around 10:30am in the morning. They weren't wearing helmets and seemed to be playing with a hardball. Interesting that Japan feels a ton less safety conscious/neurotic than America. I joked with a friend that if things went sideways in my life, I could come live in Japan and play rec baseball and eat ramen and sushi all day. Not a bad option. 

For lunch, we wanted to try a pizza spot. Rumor has it that Japan makes some of the best pizza in the world. Tried a place called Pizzeria L'INSIEME. It was as good as something like Pizzeria Mozza in LA. 

A bit of rest before our big night at Tokyo Dome for a preseason baseball game. Prior, we ventured to a baseball store called Baseman. I nerded out, splurging for a Japanese-made baseball mitt. The last few years, with little league, the Dodgers being in the World Series, and baseball being huge in our Southern California area, I've been playing and re-falling in love with the game. So this felt like a fun thing to do. I've been playing with the same mitt I used in high school. I love it, but it's 30 years old. Will it last the rest of my life? I've started noting this thing lately - a product of getting old - there are things I'm thinking about buying that feel like the "last one of those" I'll ever get. Like - this might be my last pair of ski boots, or my last baseball mitt, or my last fill-in-the-blank. Afterwards, we went to Tokyo Dome, had terrific seats. The Yomiuri Giants played the Yakult Swallows and won 3-2 in a comeback in the bottom of the 8th. Maybe others have said the same thing, but something about the Japanese game seems more eclectic and weird than MLB. On the Giants, they had a shortstop that looked about 5'6" with an unusual batting stance. They had 2-3 American players who I later looked up. They played some MLB, but obviously weren't able to start or have significant impact in MLB.

Assigned

Honestly, they could've assigned high school students in a Gifted and Talented program to build this Wildlife Bridge in LA, and they would've built it for free. But instead, they make it a jobs program for retards. 

Iran

Al Jazeera is saying the war is working. Destroyed in 10 days what Iran took decades to build. Interesting take. I would like to point out the following re: the Straits of Hormuz card. If push came to shove in a war against China over Taiwan, couldn't the US Navy do the exact opposite and close the straits using our naval power? 

Japan - Day 1 (and part of 2)

Flew Singapore Air from LAX-Narita. Overall solid flight. Films viewed: Weapons, Austin Powers Goldmember, Predator Badlands. Enjoyed Predator and Weapons quite a bit -- maybe on the plane, with the other option being looking at the back of the seat, makes the films better. Only now I realize they are making an Alien-Predator greater cinematic monster universe which isn't as offensive as I thought it would be. Read a little: Wind Up Bird Chronicle by Murakami to prepare myself for Japan.

Upon arrival, got a car to our Airbnb in Sumita, near Honjo-azumabashi. Rode in a mini-van but in true Tokyo form, it was smaller and more compact than US mini-vans. Along the way, I admired all the cars - for the most part, they are skinnier and smaller. Surprised how fast the driver weaved through the highway and Tokyo. At one point, I thought he was going to run into a toll arm but at the last moment the arm whipped up super fast and we zoomed past. I literally flinched (riding in the front seat). Since then I've been admiring the Kei cars, especially lusting after a small Sukuzi SUV that looks like the Japanese version of the Ford Bronco.

Airbnb clean, tight, 3 bed, 2 bath. 2 stories. Ran into major confusion about the toilet with a sink on top. Experienced problem the first night where the sink overflowed when you flushed the toilet. Took me awhile to figure out a little paper was blocking the connection from the sink water to fill the toilet bowl. The system they have here - the sink is used to wash hands after using the toilet and the dirty water flows into the toilet bowl to be the target of the next BM. Inventive idea to save water, but can't say I'm a huge fan. Like Taiwan, I find the home appliance situation a bit overcomplicated. Maybe it saves resources? But each room has a heater, A/C unit. The washer and dryer is one single unit. The hot water needs to be turned on at certain locations around the house. The toilet seats are warmed and all have bidets. But they don't have an oven, just a grill and hot stove and microwave. What I see are more points of failure and need of maintenance. But again, maybe it saves resources.

That first night we did the obligatory 7-11 visit to stock up on basics. Tried the famous egg salad sandwich - yes, quite good and the right price. Eldest son loved the chicken katsu. 

Day 2

Familiarized self with neighborhood. Sumita is about a 10 minute walk from the Skytree Building and Solamachi Mall. Versus my impression of Tokyo, it feels like a quiet neighborhood. We are right across from a middle school. Sitting outside the apartment waiting for the family, I listened to a bird caw and a stray cat wandered the street - which incidentally is the same scenario that begins the Wind Up Bird Chronicle novel. A bit weird. 

In the morning, we walked to the mall to shop and explore. Visited a Uniqlo and a Studio Ghibli store among other things. Passed a little river and an interesting outdoor gaming facility. They were playing a racket sport that seemed to be a mix of tennis, picke ball and squash. The court looked pickle ball sized, they played with tennis ball, but could play the ball off the back wall of the court. 

For lunch ate a pork katsu restaurant at the Solamachi Mall. One of my favorite meals so far. Every detail done right. Cabbage salad with delicious sesame dressing, pork cooked for perfect juiciness, dipping sesame seed katsu sauce flavorful (although I liked it better with just a dash of the salt). Soft serve ice cream for dessert. Caught part of the World Baseball Classic on a big screen at the mall with a huge crowd watching outdoors - reminded me of world cup games in Korea 2002, albeit significantly smaller crowd. Saw one Otani at bat that ended the game. Japan lost. 

On the way home, saw one cherry blossom tree.  A few other things - a lot of bikes, no one wears helmets. Of all the home design elements, the one thing I like best - the shower room. A separate room with a tub and shower, but half the room is I'll call a "wet floor" with a drain and where one could shower if you wanted. Or wash a dog, or dry off. It has shelves and a mirror. I love this idea. If I designed a home from scratch, I'd include a separate shower room. Really cool idea. 

Day 2 tbc...

The Straits of Hormuz 

So, in the past 50 years, has anyone looked at a map and thought about railway lines from the ports in the Persian Gulf across Saudi Arabia to the Red Sea? Can't we just go around? Sorry, what am I missing here?

Blusky

Never been and don't intend to go. But this is brilliant.

Bluesky is Sartre’s No Exit

A “safe” place where moral hypocrites are trapped together to torture each other 

Their misery is self inflicted but they refuse to stop 

The door is unlocked but they refuse to escape 

Hell is other people indeed

I just hope we can keep it contained. It's seeping into California. Maybe our only hope is the high cost of living. 

Logging

Film: Silver Linings Playbook

This here is a damn good movie. I venture to say, one of DeNiro's last truly, truly great performances. And the "bench" on this film? It has acres of talent oozing out in every direction. They hardly even use Jackie Weaver, Shea Whigham, John Ortiz...

I didn't even mention the stars.

Problem

Seems like Trump and Israel thought decapitating or pressuring the mullahs and IRGC would lead to a popular uprising to take back power. But the problem is the same as it has been since 1979 - the population hates the mullahs but doesn't have the will, firepower, or army to take back power from them. Seems like we should've at least had some sense that the army or some other institution would've been willing to turn their guns on the IRGC. If not, what did we expect would happen exactly? 

Logging

Film: Rear Window

When I first saw the film, I found it boring. Next time I watched, I understood it to be darkly hilarious. Now I find it boring again. Although I can see why the movie would be fun to direct.

UPDATE: One of the funniest conceits in film is that the "watched" object cannot perceive or sense being "watched". Like, wouldn't all these people close their shades? In detective films, it's so hilarious when you have the "detective" in a car across the street watching a house and someone leaves. If I'm leaving my house, I basically know the cars in the neighborhood, and if I see a weird car running with a dude watching me, I'd notice in like 3 seconds if he followed me. 

Living in LA, I Realize It

Upper-class Americans live like upper-class Brazilians. It's gross how we let our communities go to shit. People talk about why kids don't ride around the neighborhood? Because they are guaranteed to run into an insane homeless person.

Alternative Energy

For all the decades of investment in alternative energy, it seems oil still lubricates the global economy. A 10-day war with 5 days blockage of a single shipping channel sends the world into a panic state? So what did we get for all that investment? It seems no less dependence on oil. Cleaner air...

Hezbollah and Hamas

Among the most preposterous claims by "moderate" Arabs like Taleb are that Israel created Hamas and Hezbollah. Granted, I know nothing of the region, but this strikes me as absurd as saying that Abraham Lincoln created the Ku Klux Klan. These fools seem to think Arabs have no agency in these matters.

UPDATE: These takes require believing two things at once - Israeli's are evil geniuses capable of manipulating events to create bastardized homegrown "movements" in neighboring Lebanon and Gaza. But at the same time, they are so stupid that they've created lethal foes who plot to murder their children and destroy the state. I guess that's why people say such things are anti-semitic, especially when coupled with admiration for countries like Iran, etc. 

Theory

There's a theory that the new leader of Iran is already dead, and the announcement amounts to an intelligence operation to mislead Israeli assassination attempts. How funny would it be if this were true, then Trump abruptly ends the war, and Iran is stuck with a fake Ayatollah? Even 90s screenwriters couldn't come up with such a scenario.

If We and Israel Are the Destabilizing Bad Guys In The World...

...How come the only countries we attack tend to be the biggest, gaping, assholes? Doesn't it seem like once in a while (if we were the bad guys, remember), we'd attack some more normal country like Canada or Belgium or Mexico? 

Speculation

Seems no one has seen Mojtaba, so he might not be the successor after all. My guess: he's figuring out how to secure his family wealth and exit plan. 

Bad

I've heard this guy is worse than the father, so no, not a good sign.

And great line:

"I think this might be one of the few instances in modern history where a greater percentage of the society being bombed was supportive of military action than the society that was doing the bombing." -

So Now...

We can make fun of disabled people at awards shows. 

Where are the "punching down" people at?

Heard on a Podcast

Baby boomers hold more wealth in their retirement accounts than all the sovereign wealth funds in the world combined. Crazy. It partially explains why things cost so much, though in certain parts of the US. 

The Iran Thing

Look, I know nothing about any of this and am trying to figure out, like everyone, but a few things...

What are we (and Trump) doing?

Much of the discussion is about what we're doing wrong, but to discuss that, I feel we must first understand what we are doing at all. My impression is that a new theory and practice of war is developing. One modeled around the perceived success of Israel's operations against Hezbollah and Hamas last year. Israel, one-by-one, took down the small enemy forces surrounding itself, thereby significantly weakening their "grand enemy," Iran. (NOTE: Whether this is an intelligent strategy is a separate question altogether. It seems to me Trump concluded direct personal talks with Putin couldn't get a ceasefire, and he realized in fact, the US is facing a powerful coordinated enemy coined by Velina Tckahkarova as the "Dragon Bear." We are, in fact, already in Cold War 2.0. So how to win Cold War 2.0? We need to strike around the edges to punish anyone who decides to ally with the Dragon-Bear to reestablish deterrence. The other option is to wait for the Dragon-Bear to strike, in which case, we get surprises like Putin's invasion of Ukraine or Hamas's invasion of Israel. Anyhow, that is the best I can surmise about what is going on behind the scenes. 

Tactical efforts

Seems the war plan is to take out layer upon layer of the leadership structure to avoid putting boots on the ground. It seems like Trump keeps offering offramps to the Iranians but the Iranians no longer trust ceasefire options because they feel it will just weaken them more. Part of me is tempted to say it would've been smarter to do all this before Iran killed 30K protestors but it seems that was logistically impossible. I wonder if the mullahs did the massacres in a way to cement loyalty within the 15% or so parts of society who support them. They implicated masses of people in the crimes so that those 15% would fight to the death for fear of reprisals. 

Trump

Definitely not what Americans signed up for with Trump...voted for him on the promise of less Middle Eastern wars, but it should tell us something about the nature of that region that no matter who the President, their hands always seem to get pushed to take action.

The Israel Thing

Everyone who thinks we are "doing Israel's bidding" need explain to me why none of the other countries in the region try to similarly influence American foreign policy. Is it because they are too noble? Somehow I doubt it. 

Me

I hope it works. I'm worried it won't. What more to say?

Iranian Women

I'm sure none of the people who celebrated Kaepernick will similarly celebrate the Iranian women who refused to sing the national anthem of the Islamic Republic.

What Powerful Logic

This guy argues we are attacking Iran now because Israel feels it can no longer anticipate American support in a decade. 

Like all anti-Israel/anti-US logic, it ends up being circular and two things at once. We are attacking Iran not because we support Israel, but because we will eventually not support Israel. Makes a ton of sense.  

Money

There is money to be made by creating spaces either coded "no AI" or banned AI. Like one movie studio at least should simply say: we don't use AI at all. Or one news organization. Or internet site. Or schools.

Logging

Film: Love and Death

Enjoyed quite a lot...although in hindsight Woody Allen's creepiness seems maddeningly obvious. Not by the plot mechanics, by the way, but simply his face in this film. 

Film: The Pink Panther (2006)

The kids liked it and are now asking a lot of questions about Steve Martin and Clouseau...so the film deserves some credit.

Film: Clovers 

Weird to write about a friend's film...but screened at Slamdance. Terrific movie and hope it finds a wider audience.