Saturday, September 26, 2009

Hard to Be Soft, Tough to Be Tender
Noble-prize winning economists Joseph E. Stiglitz and Amartya Sen believe we need another metric other than G.D.P. (gross domestic product) which measures sustainable growth with an eye towards human welfare. Toronto-based band Metric (sounds like the Pixies):



Inglourious Basterd (...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead) HUGO STIGLITZ (no relation):



My grandfather Siegfried passed away recently at the age of 94. He was first generation German-American and had lived through the Great Depression. He was drafted into the US Army in November of 1942, served in the South Pacific, receiving a battlefield commission.

His mother had come to America by boat and had five sisters who remained in Germany. They all lived into their 90s or 100s. (Two of his cousins were sent to the Eastern Front and were never heard from again.) His father was a construction worker in New York City and was crushed to death by some girders while on the job. His mother took my grandfather and his sister to Duluth, Minnesota and became a podiatrist. She never remarried.

Before the war, he played football in college. They wore leather helmets without a facemask. After the war, he and my grandmother moved to the Chicago suburbs. They were the last ones on the block to purchase a television, because he believed it was a passing fad. He was a cheery, honest man with a good sense of humor.

When I was a kid he nicknamed me "Petrovich" whether because in his eyes I had Communist tendencies or a Russian soul, I never found out. But it was flattering that I was the only grandchild he nicknamed and it always heartwarming the way he'd call it out as if he was surprised to see me - "Petrovitch!" - whenever we met.


This new derby movie directed by Drew Barrymore looks like it could be good. Ellen Page stars as Babe Ruthless and Barrymore's character is Smashly Simpson (does she not like Ashly or are they friends?). Kristin Wiig is Maggie Mayhem, Eve is Rosa Sparks, Zoe Bell is Bloody Holly, Ari Graynor is Eva Destruction, Juliette Lewis is Iron Maven, and looks like Andrew Wilson (brother of Luke and Owen) is the underdogs' coach. There's also the Manson sisters and Jaba the Slut.