Philip Greenspun’s Weblog

We had a full house last night for an Oscar’s party of sorts (TV is upstairs in a little loft area so people weren’t forced to watch).  I was sad because Titanic couldn’t win again; it was such a great film that they really ought to give it Best Picture every year in perpetuity.  I was confused when a neighbor sung the praises of the movie Rushmore and its genius director, Wes Anderson.  The movie was fun but if there were profound ideas in it, I’m not sure what they were.  Books, on the other hand, have been much more thought-provoking for me.  Is there any reason to expect that books are a better source of serious thinking than movies?  One possible theory is that people who have profound thoughts shy away from the committee and group work characteristic of filmmaking.  Even if Joe Director finances a film himself and has 100 percent authority he will still spend a tremendous amount of time and effort communicating his ideas to subordinates, many of whom will misunderstand what he says.  Thoughtful writers, by contrast, tend to be solitary figures who stay at home in the Connecticut woods (Philip Roth, Edward Tufte).  One of our friends is a truly brilliant and original scientist (i.e., more or less average for Cambridge).  This tenured professor says “I don’t like to read, write, or teach.”  What does he enjoy doing?  “I like to think.”

Would anyone like to take up my neighbor’s position that Rushmore is as profound as any book?

Professor John Grotzinger is giving a talk at the MIT Faculty Club on March 8 on “Evidence for Water on the Surface of Mars”.  If you’re an MIT alum I can recommend this talk highly as Grotzinger is an outstanding scientist and teacher.  The event is run by the MIT Club of Boston and includes drinks and dinner starting around 5:30 or 6 pm.  The talk itself is at 7:30.  Doug Robinow and I are going.  Register at http://bostonclub.mit.edu/events/050308.html

(If you’re not an alum you might be able to talk your way in.)

The only thing that attracts more New England women than a Larry Summers hatred rally is the IKEA furniture store in New Haven, Connecticut.  Inner minivan harmony was achieved by stopping there on the way back from New York City last night.  In ancient times I ran a small company and hired an architect to set up our new building.  He chose systems furniture (cubicles) that cost $3000 per employee.  When delivered the desktops were so shallow that they couldn’t hold a 20″ CRT monitor.  One of our customers had a similar big open office.  They bought each employee a desk and a table from IKEA for $300-ish.  Their office looked a lot better and was more functional with more work surface per employee.

One thing that struck me as odd about IKEA: many of the carpets for sale there are labeled as being from “central Persia” or “east Persia” and smaller tags say “Land: Iran”.  IKEA is importing carpets from Iran!  How do they do this?  My impression was that we had a trade embargo against Cuba, Iran, and North Korea.

[Within about six months Bostonians won't have to drive to New Haven for their complete-with-plumbing-and-appliances $2000 kitchens.  IKEA is opening a store in Stoughton.  It is unclear why they didn't pick sales tax-free Nashua.  Maybe Scandinavians aren't comfortable unless they are being sufficiently taxed.  IKEA tried to open a store in the Assembly Square slum/highway area of Somerville but various community groups objected (this is one reason that residential property taxes in Somerville are about 2X as high as in Cambridge; there are few business taxpayers).  Meanwhile, Somerville thrives on conceptual art projects.]