Sometimes some restaurants go out of business completely unexpectedly. One day, it’s bustling, people waiting in line to get in. Next day, it’s gone, like Enron. Leshko’s at the corner of Avenue A and 7th Street had every sign of a happening place. Read »
The current market share of Jazz in America is mere 3 percent. That includes all the great ones like John Coltrane and the terrible ones like Kenny G (OK, this is just my own opinion). There are many organizations and individuals like Wynton Marsalis who are tirelessly trying to revive the genre, but it does not seem to be working. Why is this? Is there some sort of bad chemistry between the American culture and Jazz? As ironic as it may be, I happen to believe so. Read »
Google’s PageRank is now the de facto standard by which all websites are measured. This has certain political and philosophical implications. Could or should a private institution be trusted to govern the power structure of the Internet? If they do in fact control the power structure of the Internet, does that mean we should direct our criticisms and concerns towards them? Doesn’t that make them even more powerful? This article explores an alternative to picking a fight with Google. Read »
Jonah Brucker-Cohen is a new breed of artist working outside the box of established institutions of art. Rather than making gimmicks out of technology, as some digital artists do, he merely uses it as a vehicle for his artistic expression. This review of his work is based on his presentation at Upgrade!, a monthly meeting of digital artists at EyeBeam in New York City. Read »
There is now much talk about how “real” reality TV programs are. Sometimes we become hung up on word usage, which in turn make us blind to seeing something for what it is. This paper argues that expectation of “real” as something absolute is the source of this trouble. It uses as an example NBC’s reality TV series “The Restaurant”. Read »
The blackout of 2003 was unexpected in more ways than one. In our post-9/11 era, I found myself second-guessing the information I heard on the radio. It’s difficult to take anything at its surface value. However, despite the possibilities of terrorism, I was surprised by how relaxed everyone was. This is my account of how my blackout of 2003 was. Read »
The Peruvian restaurant on Avenue A and 4th Street, once lively and refreshing, died slowly by its own lack of passion after a brief period of success. It’s one thing to have a splashy opening, but entire another to keep it up. Read »
In the past several months, suddenly the name Leo Strauss has been all over the media. Before that, I had never heard of him. The media depicts a rather sinister picture of him being almost like the leader of a cult whose objective is clandestine domination of the world. This paper tries to demystify Leo Strauss. Read »
Winning is beautiful and ugly at the same time. How do we cope with this apparent contradiction? How can we benefit from it without getting hurt by it? Read »
It all started from talking about a film called “Half Cocked”. I described the film as a representation of the Grunge era. My co-worker, Steve, flatly rejected my claim and asserted that it was about “Indie Rock”, or “Indie” in general. Read »
“Live like there is no tomorrow” is a popular piece of wisdom. Most of us have tried to imagine what that is like, and have figured that it would not work. But, at the same time, the idea of it resonates in us in some way. How can we interpret the wisdom beyond the apparent logistical problems? Read »
The popular phenomenon on the Internet, weblog, has a deceptive purpose for the writer/publishers. It isn’t so much having something to say that drives them to create weblogs, but getting others to talk about them is the real incentive behind the effort. In this sense, weblog is passive entertainment like watching TV. Read »
American freedom is not the only kind of freedom that exists. American freedom is a very specific kind of freedom, and it is marketed fanatically in this country as if it is the only kind of freedom there is. It is overrated. This paper explores American freedom as a government-sponsored advertising campaign. Read »
When does art becomes art? These days, artists are not artists because they make art; they are “artists” before the fact, mainly so that what they make can be called “art”. The cause and effect have been reversed. Should one make art with the intent of making art? If so what does that mean? Could one make something without the intent, and could it later turn into art? Read »
If you are good at something, are you also passionate about it? If you are naturally talented with math, do you also love it? If you are a child prodigy of violin, does it mean you are passionate about music? I would say not necessarily; or at least there is no reason to believe that this is necessarily the case. Read »
About a month ago, a friend I hadn’t seen in years called me out of the blue. He explained to me that he was calling from Algonquin Hotel, and that he was with several of our mutual friends from our college days in the hotel bar. He told me to come up. It was around 10PM. I left my answer ambiguous, but decided to go with my girlfriend. Read »
What is happiness? This question is different from: What makes you happy? I have no interest in the latter, for it is entirely subjective. We can semantically and philosophically argue what constitutes happiness, but there is a certain amount of commonality in the way we use the word “happiness” in ordinary situations. This commonality, I simply pretend to be fixed in meaning in order to present the following arguments. When you see a friend whom you haven’t seen in a while, you might exchange a few pieces of information about the state of your lives. After that, you might ask, “Are you happy?” And, your friend replies, “Yes, I am.” Then you say, “Good, that’s what counts.” The happiness that I want to discuss is this particular one. Read »
Over-specialization can make an organization inefficient, as over-generalization would also. Where can we draw a line? What tasks can be specialized and what tasks should be generalized? Read »
To unite is to stabilize. To divide is to destabilize. But these forces are one and the same. Because every unity is artificial, it necessitates division whenever the artificial imposition of unity contradicts reality. Read »
As you get older, the nature of your relationships with others gradually changes. You do not relate to your friends in the same way you used to. On one hand, your friendships seem to get shallower because of the time you spend with your family or your significant other, but on the other, they become more enjoyable in many ways. In general, your relationships with others become more reasonable, natural, and sustainable. Read »
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