dear reader,
I’ve spent much of the past year reading about current events, economics, and policy. In the past few months my head has felt like it’s going to explode from all the news. I feel that now. It doesn’t matter what I was just reading that caused my latest attack, suffice to say that today’s elected officials are absolutely destroying our country.
They.
Are.
Destroying.
America.
This is why I was fired up eighteen months ago and tried to write “Forsaken”. Writing a book doesn’t come natural to me. So I’ve struggled, struggled, struggled. But I’m going to re-focus in a HUGE way starting this weekend. No, I’m going to start writing once I hit publish on this post. I’m going to bust my ass to get it done by the end of the summer. No, maybe even 30 days. Then I’m going to see how quickly I can distribute it. It might mean blog posts. It might mean self-publishing. It might mean a indy label. It might mean a big label. I don’t care at this point. I just want to stop feeling powerless to the insanity around me.
Our feckless ‘leaders’ have taken the greatest nation on Earth, and put it on the road to ruin. They are doing nothing short of stealing our future. We need to take the system from them and tear it apart. Limb from limb.
Stay tuned.
surya
dear hand baskets,
when people ask me what i’m buying these days (stock-wise), I respond, “hand baskets.”
“Hand baskets?” they respond.
“Yeah, everything seems to be going to hell in a hand basket these days, so I might as well own stock”.
(Credit goes to my boy Graig for coming up with that one)
But still, Mr. Basket, you must be a busy guy these days. America’s banks are imploding. The government is promising literally trillions of dollars in tax payermoney to bail out these institutions. People are losing their homes. People can’t sell their homes (9 months and counting for me…sweet!). People can’t afford gas. Almost every other commodity is going sky-high. Since jobs have been leaving the US for years now, and the middle class is heavily beaten down, spending is down and growth has gone from stagnant to negative. The aforementioned inflation is kicking ass. Stagflation. Sweet! My parents remember that well in the 70’s! Oh, yes, hand baskets, times most certainly are good for you.
And what is the media covering? Cartoons. When I did my previous entry on The New Yorker on Obama I had no idea about the cover. I didn’t think much of it, other than to add the PS. But it seems the media thinks that this is the important issue. Don’t look at the steady stream of hand baskets marching down the highway, look at the cartoons. Stewart captures it beautifully via Jarvis.:
So, in summation, I’m long hand baskets (you), short everything else (especially the damned media).
love,
surya
dear new yorker,
This is why I love you. This article is ridiculously long, but is was worth the time. It’s a deep-dive into one of the most under-reported and discussed times in Barack Obama’s life– his rise in Chicago politics. With a collection of quotes and research from a wide-spectrum of former advisors, mentors, and political colleagues, this is likely a side of Obama that you haven’t ever read.
And then there’s that other reason why I absolutely love you, New Yorker. While you may lean left, you don’t pull punches. You’ve written some gushers about Obama in the past. And I’ll bet a large part of your readership is still swooning over anything-Obama. But you invested heavily and ran something you saw as important, and reported on it fairly. Cheers to that.
I just hope that people will read this, even though it’s going to take, like, forever.
love,
surya
::Update added 7:57 PDT, 7/14/08::
P.S. OK, so I had no idea that they chose such…interesting…cover art. I’m not sure what to make of it, but my first thought is really, really weird. Are they mocking the right and the litany of rumors out there? Or are they adding fuel to the fire of the absurd? Both campaigns have condemned it.
Two good movies to recommend: Lions for Lambs and Charlie Wilson’s War. Charlie Wilson’s War in particular is fast paced, and an especially high-quality movie. Written by Aaron Soorkin, it contains all of the fast-paced, smartly written dialogue that you expect from the writer of the West Wing, The American President, Jack & Bobby, etc. And yes, Studio 60 sucked, but everyone gets a few passes.
This article in The Atlantic from ‘07 is rock-solid reading of Niebuhr and the present. It’s thick, but highly worth it. Niebuhr’s ‘middle against the ends’ fits precisely with my viewpoints on teh candidates, partisan politics, and most issues.
dear wall street journal,
it’s not you, it’s me. Actually, that’s a lie..it’s totally your fault (no one ever means that line, do they?). You’re one of the last major papers that actually matters. New York Times. Wall Street Journal. USA Today. You’re all clear national brands and all of you will almost certainly survive, and in all likelihood, end up thriving despite what happens with the rest of the newspaper industry.
Anyway, let’s get back to why I’m writing you. Europe. The European edition of the WSJ is super-sweet. What makes it better than the US version? It’s more compact. Both in number of pages, and measurements. It’s actually a convenient size to carry around, and read on a bus, train, etc. My god, this isn’t brain surgery– newspapers should be convenient. Especially if you want them to be a part of your readers’ every day lives. So a few suggestions:
- shrink the dimensions– like in half.
- cut down on the content a little bit to make it something that, if you really had a lot of time, you could actually read the whole thing.
- less articles per page, so that you can actually finish an article on the same page that you start it on. Newsflash: fumbling with the paper to continue reading is a giant pain.
That’s all. I love the articles. The reporting. Even the conservative balance to the NY Times. But you’re terribly inconvenient.
love,
surya
P.S. Unless your plan is to drive all of us to the wsj.com or the kindle. if that’s the case, my bad– good job making the physical product suck!
p.s. linkedin, bear stearns, and iran!
02 Jul
Posted by surya.yalamanchili as Technology, Politics, Business, Marketing, News, reading
P.S. Random chunks. Wondering what LinkedIn does? Watch the video.
P.P.S. Incredible article in Vanity Fair on what went down at Bear Stearns. Ridiculously fascinating read.
P.P.P.S. What the hell is going on with Iran? The New Yorker tells you. And it’s not exactly going to warm the heart.
p.s. this is a great long article about the chevy volt that is worth reading. if only for a different perspective on GM then we hear every day.
for you, my rage is boundless.
27 Jun
Posted by surya.yalamanchili as Technology, Politics, Life, Personal, News
dear media,
I once was sad for you. I wondered what the impact would be gone after you were gone. Of course, main-stream media (MSM), we’ve been predicting your demise for well over a decade now. Everyone said the Internet and new-media was going to kill you. And, once, I was terribly sad for this.
I’ve always wondered who would fill the place for responsible journalism. Reporting on the issues that matter. Going deep, and spending time digging into things being the banal and superficial.
For a while, MSM, I, for some bizarre reason, thought you still transcended the petty and reported on the substance. But I couldn’t have been more wrong. Over the past six months, I’ve tried paying attention. I’ve watched nightly news casts and even local news. Read headlines of newspapers. And, man, I am nauseous. You’ve forsaken us.
There is a war going on. And you ignore it. I don’t want you to take positions. I want you to freaking report on it. Report on the big successes that occur. Cover the deaths. Cover the injuries. Cover the heroism of our soldiers. Cover the people of Iraq who help us. Cover the sectarian violence. Cover the contractors and the unprecedented nature of private involvement in the war. For the love of god, please, just…cover it. Here’s a NY Times Op-Ed. This is the must-read piece of June.
As a people, we, the American public would rather not think about the things we find unpleasant. So we don’t ask for the coverage. And, very graciously, you bastards don’t provide it. But where we’re sending hundreds of thousands of America’s youth matters. Where we’re spending hundreds of billions of dollars matters. Yet, you wouldn’t know it. It’s been decided that the war is “old news.”
You’ve savaged your responsibility yet again. This goes perfectly with reporting on the trade deficit, the budget deficit, the state of education system, inner cities, the pathetic war on drugs, our crumbling national infrastructure.
You sicken me.
love,
surya
dear world,
holy crap.
as i look out the window driving down the 101 to Mountain View, I look out over the Bay. The water calmly rocks back and forth, but is strangely tinged with orange. I look up at the sky and it’s completely blanked with grey fog. Actually probably only some fog, and a lot of smoke since so much of California is currently on fire. I look up at the sky and it’s a dark red. For the pat three days the sun has changed colors. And California burns.
Inflation is running rampant around the world. Near double-digits in many parts of the world. Food prices soar. Gas is god knows how expensive. The financial markets tanked yesterday. Crude oil hit a record high a few minutes ago. We’re on pace for the worst June for the index since the Great Depression. And I keep hearing that phrase “Great Depression” more and more in the past weeks. Will people starve in the streets?
I’ve excised my comments on the 2nd amendment ruling yesterday. I’ll just say it was linked to this great article. I know you’re busy, world, you know– fending off the total collapse of consumer confidence, hyper-inflation, fires, etc, etc, but you should read the article. It’s good reading for fans of the Wire (which, dear world, I know you are) since it’s an interview with Burns. But where are our priorities? Where’s the outrage?
love,
surya
dear matt,
this is freaking awesome. make you want to travel? thanks to jared for the link.
Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.
love,
surya
dear barack obama,
Everyone’s wondering who you’ll pick as your running mate. I must admit, I’m quite curious as well. Both you and McCain face a wide-open field of candidates and big deficiencies with the electorate that you’re going to need to account for. I feel pretty confident that your worthy adversary, John McCain, will end up picking Romney. After all he’s young, and he’s got very solid economic credentials– both significant challenges for the Honorable Senator from Arizona.
Your biggest issue with the undecideds is likely your youth, and by virtue of that, relative inexperience. People really freak out about inexperience when they’re talking national security and foreign policy, so picking a relative grey-hair who has good foreign policy credentials is kind of all the more important. But I want you to go beyond that. If America is going to regain her footing in a tough world out there, we’re going to need to stop the internal squabbling. Stopping our petty infighting will be no small matter, and in fact, on it’s face, seems impossible. But you’re saying all the right things and have thus far relatively avoided fanning the flames of partisanship. Now, I want you to take it one step further:
Pick Chuck Hagel as your running-mate.
That’s right, Chuck Hagel, R-Nebraska. He’s got the foreign policy experience and you share common ground on some issues (immigration, the war in Iraq) and differ on others (environment, abortion, etc). But Chuck Hagel gets what’s eating away at America: partisanship and the two-party system as a whole. And the fact that you disagree with Hagel on many issues is a great thing. It will mean that there will be a diverse discussion inside the White House, and the eventual policies and bills that a Obama-Hagel administration (assuming you used him as more than a token) supports, would, for once, actually mirror the positions of most Americans. Most of us, as you know, aren’t extremists on the issues. It’s just that we’ve been forced to the edges, and had to pick sides. This is a first step to stopping that BS.
If we’re going to truly enact any kind of change, we need to stop being our own worst enemy. Democrats and Republicans arguing over the stupidest stuff enrages me. It’s like a married couple arguing about their kid’s bed time while he’s outside playing in traffic, about to get hit by a car. Anyway, I’m in danger of digression, and I get that you’re busy writing notes to Scarlet.
Throw America a bone? Hagel?
Wait a minute…Hagel’s policies are also far from Senator McCain’s policies. Maybe he can choose him and that would be close to a bi-partisan ticket. Maybe I should write him a let….
Love,
surya
P.S. Hagel! Hagel! Hagel!
dear reader,
I originally started this note “dear robert kennedy.” Then I quickly saw how hard it was to “write a letter to” someone who you, you know, revere. So I switched it up. And as an aside, yes, this *is* the new format. All posts are now a letter to someone, something, or you.
I can’t believe it’s been 40 years since that night at the Ambassador in California when RFK was assassinated. Now, clearly, I wasn’t alive back then. In fact I missed it by quite some time. But RFK, his life and death, has markedly shaped who I am. At some point between senior year in high school and graduation from college I became a huge fan of RFK. I’m talking own-over-twenty-books, read-hundreds-of-articles, know-speeches-by-heart,- obsessed. The Kennedy brothers appeal to a lot of people because of their aura, glamor, and maybe the hearkening back to some golden age. There’s some of that for me, but more so, I always identified with RFK. He was the scrappy younger brother. He couldn’t measure up to big brothers Joe or Jack. He was smaller. He lacked the polish. By grades he wasn’t as smart. But holy shit was he scrappy, passionate, fiery and loyal. He was, by all accounts, the very definition of tenacity. He was torn to shreds by his brother’s death and blamed himself. He was completely fatalistic. Anyway, for many reasons, the character of bobby kennedy has always captured me wholly. And forty years ago today, he was assassinated in a kitchen.
Now there’s so much to rfk. And it’s painfully hard to try and tear away the mythmaking to get at the man. His faults, his fatal flaws, and not just lionize him as perfection. So I want to stay focused on a couple of things.
1) The line his brother quotes of bobby, who’s actually quoting Shaw, is epic. We should all strive for it:
“Some men see things as they are, and say why? I dream things that never were and say why not?”
We limit our own possibilities. This, more than many things, is a fatal problem. We fail to re-imagine. We accept. We only go lower. Rarely higher. This quote gave me goosebumps when I first heard it. It does no less today.
2) A favorite blog, eotw, linked to this video today. While watching it I almost spit up. It’s a youtube video (below) of brother teddy’s eulogy of bobby. They put various pictures against it. Like the post, I didn’t care much for the pictures. But I love this speech. So I played it while I ate lunch at my desk today. I looked up every 20 seconds or so while I listened on my headphones. Towards the end, I look up and I almost choked. There was a photo of me. Seriously. They were a bunch of habitat for humanity photos, and there was a photo of a group of college kids hunched over in front of the house they had helped just build. At Rutgers I was part of a group that went to FL to help out for a week during spring break. (one of my very best memories, by the way) And somehow, that photo ended up in that person’s pile as he was making the video. Ridiculously random.
If that picture was on any random video, I would have thought it hilarious. On a RFK video. That I view on the 40th anniversary of his death. Sometimes life is nuts like that.
Anyway, if you haven’t read up on brother bobby ever, today is a good day. This newsweek article by the author of my favorite biography of RFK is a great place to start.
JFK gets all the love. But RFK is the one that helped shape me.
love,
surya
dear jeff van gundy,
Thank You. I’ve been on a kick for the last few weeks, watching nearly every playoff game. I haven’t done this in maybe 10 years. Anyway, I’ve been enjoying it but its reminded me how terrible so many of the announcers on TV are. That is, all of them, except you.
So why am I such a fan of yours? I mean, after all, I thought you were the devil when you coached the hated Knicerbockers. But just now, you were describing the defense the defense Detroit was playing on Ray Allen. What did you say? “Did you see that!!!?! You would get arrested in New York for less than that” (or something like that). Good stuff.
But more than that, you’re the only announcer who consistently calls BS. I hate watching a game when one of the announcers will say one of the most absurd statements you’ve ever heard. Like, I’m talking saying things which are ridiculously stupid. I’m talking Bill Walton caliber idiotic comments. Most announcers will pause, and then just move on. Not you, sir. You say “WHAT?” and totally call them on it.
You sir, are the voice of the people. And I appreciate it.
love,
surya
Dear Barack Obama,
If, you, unlike almost every politician I’ve ever heard (Cory, of course this doesn’t include you), actually tells it like its…we’re going to be cool.
So, those who know me understand my new (last few years) position of remaining non-partisan and working hard not to endorse any individual candidate. Barack, this position has been honed through years of painful political arguments about candidates (specifically 2004). It doesn’t work. You end up stroking the people who already agree with you, and not changing anyones minds. It’s a waste of time, and mostly serves the purpose of allowing us to babble in order to show off how smart we are and what you can learn from us. So, now I’m a registered Independent, and only publicly discuss specific issues. ‘Issues, not candidates’ is my new mantra. (and highly effective, I might add).
Ok, sorry, Barack. That’s enough babbling about how evolved my positions have become. I wanted to compliment you on your recent speech. Now, you’ll probably catch some crap for this. But tell it like it is. When you said….
“We can’t drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times … and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK,” Obama said.
“That’s not leadership. That’s not going to happen,” he added.
When you said that, you had me at hello. Well, you still don’t have me. But I like that. You see, Barack, once upon a time, John McCain had me. So we’ll see what happens.
Now I’ll go back to talking specific issues, and not specific candidates.
But nice job, dude. Getting our fuel consumption, sustainability of our food supply, and our general usage of resources in-check is, you know, fairly important. Those are issues I’ll get behind. And yes, Barack, if you get elected, I’ll stop calling you “dude”.
Love,
surya
Via eotw. It’s a two-for-one special here today. A great video courtesy of Chris Matthews freaking out. What a point though. how many of these talking heads (on both sides) reference terms, events, etc that they actually have no clue about?
(the background on this is bush, overseas, seemingly calling out obama as an appeaser.)
the donald gives ‘em hell.
15 May
Posted by surya.yalamanchili as Politics, Business, The Apprentice, Investing
This is the donald at his finest. Seriously. You MUST watch it. Whether you agree or not, super-entertaining. And, on balance, I agree with my boy, Mr. Trump.
Agree:
- Oil companies are just having a field day and making a freaking killing. There was a reason why we had public utilities at one point…some things are critical and necessary to an every day of life.
- I’m ambivalent on his OPEC comments. I would be interested to hear his thoughts on the weak dollar’s impact on oil.
- I think he nails it on the recession and oil’s impact as well.
- And he’s just ridiculously, ridiculously entertaining. This is the DT that I grew up loving and why, when I met him for the first time, I was giddy as a school boy.
Good article on fortune.com by Adam Lashinsky on where Google goes from here. Definitely worth a read.
It’s a fascinating question. Google was a company started by smart guys with a good idea. They stumbled into a helluva advertising model that printed money based on intent (goto.com actually did the work of invented that). They then used these funds to build the kind of company that people love working at, that rewards risk-taking and innovation, and have since been wildly successful. Now they have one product that mints money ($2B a quarter according to the article), and a bunch of other cool products that people love using…but don’t make any money. And now at 15,000+ employees, they face ‘big companyness’ creeping in and the great early employees deserting for their own startups and many of the younger ones (with a bunch of highly notable exceptions) decamping for -the- hot startup, Facebook. Where does Google go from here? The article doesn’t say it, but we’ll all get the answer when they miss earnings for a few quarters in a row. Though I don’t doubt that Sergey, Larry, and Eric could live with the stock punishment, I’m not sure how the employees will feel about it. Even as Google switches to RSU’s (Restricted stock units. they differ from options in that you get fewer, but you don’t have to buy them…you get the whole thing ‘given’ to you. so you’re much less sensitive to the price getting above a certain price (your strike price) and you make gobs of money just by having them), it definitely hurts morale when your stock is viewed as a dog, old employees retire or go do their own thing, and the kinds of employees you used to get stop coming. Do you double-down and risk big or pare back and try to nail earnings to get your momentum back?
It’ll be fascinating to watch. Disclosure: I have, and still do, own a few GOOG shares.
Like many others, Chris Paul of the Hornets has become one of my favorite players. Though it’s mother’s day, this is a great video about Paul & his grandfather. Also, Jack shared this quality Paul link.
There’s a short-piece (but impressive as a 2-page spread in the mag) about Jhumpa Lahiri and her new book in Time this week.
Lahiri is one of my favorite authors. I loved her pulitzer winning Interpreter of Maladies (though my mom liked it even more). The Namesake was almost a spiritual experience as much as it was an exercise in reading a book. I remember reading it straight through the night on the day it arrived in the mail. I was tired the next day at work, but I couldn’t stop thinking about the book. The newest addition, Unaccustomed Earth, was similarly devoured over the course of a couple of days. Read the rest of this entry »
So Fareed Zakaria has a helluva cover story for the latest Newsweek. OR maybe I’m biased because his article overlaps massively with the book that I’ve feebly been attempting to write. The article is sensationally titled “The Post-American World”, but the substance of the article is actually decidedly optimistic.
I’ve been writing since December of 2006. And that’s just in earnest, the idea was born Fall of ‘06. I’m currently on my third restart. The material was at first bad. Then it was good, but ridiculously dry. Now I’m trying to bridge good and readable into a draft 3. If it read like a hundred pages of blog posts that would work for me, but doing that and writing in general has proven to be way harder than almost anything I’ve ever done before. What keeps me constantly attempting to still write? It would have to be articles like this. They’re total validation of the topic and the way I’m looking at what’s coming. I’ve been writing for a little under two years, and in that time, book after book, and article after article has come out that reinforces that the next 25 years (and beyond) are going to be staggering. For America, for China, for India, and for the world at large. We are, no doubt, living through one of the most monumental periods of change. This is interesting. What’s more interesting (and infuriating) is the degree to which my government has been alternating between ignoring what’s going on or actually exacerbating the long-term harm to the American people through their actions. Anyway, I’m hoping to have a strong start to revision number 3 and get back to a rapid-fire delivery schedule on the sections. We’ll see…
And as a side-note, I’m sure everyone has seen Iron Man. Amazing. I love deep, heavy dramas. Those are easily my favorite. But what I also love is just a rip-roaring fun movie. And Iron Man is that to perfection. It’s witty, fast-paced, sharp, and action-packed…I want to see it again. You. Have. To. See. It.
In Vegas staying at the Wynn. This trip prompted a couple of random thoughts:
Flew Virgin America. It’s actually a pretty great airline. Their employees are shockingly friendly. The flight attendants in addition to being friendly, have this really upbeat attitude. They sound excited to be flying on a VA plane, and it rubs off. The colors make it seem like you’re in a club and you can text other seats to flirt with people, bother co-workers you’re traveling with, etc. All-in-all, a very different experience from dealing with disgruntled traditional airline employees, crappy planes, and late flights. But having said all that, I don’t get how anyone makes money flying airplanes. Here’s one industry that could use a little collusion. What other industry goes into bankruptcy en masse every few years?
The Wynn hotel is sweet. It’s across the street from Trump’s new gold-laden tower. Anyway, whenever I stay in a nice hotel, here the Wynn, when I was with P&G, the W’s, I would always have the same thought. “Man. I wish I could live here.” And I still think that. I’m shocked that someone hasn’t built one of these in the NY’s, LA’s, SF’s, etc and sold some units and rented them out. A lot of 20-somethings I know would be happy to have a small space that had a nice bathroom, and an efficient use of space. Young people also all love living with each other. Madness ensues. I feel like all of us, in some way, wish for freshman year of college all over again. Anyway, I think that business idea would kill. So if there are any rich people in Asia or the Middle East with a ton of extra money since you’re not investing in US treasuries any more would like me to build that for them, just say the word. Oh, and sovereign wealth funds are also open to apply to work with me.
I’ve been gone for a while. Life on the West Coast has been keeping me busy. Between work, the commute, trying to see friends, traveling, and of course, trying to make heads or tails of writing a book, this blog has been neglected massively.
I’m opening the blog up to more frequent posts about a broader range of topics. Until I update the about page, I figured this would be a good place to talk about what I’ll be ranting about from now on:
- the current political environment and news
- economic & financial related news
- international events
- silicon valley/SF
- technology (specifically, Internet related stuff)
- marketing & business strategy
- writing
- other random things.
For now, I’ll once again confess my undying love for Amazon.com. I’ve been buying from amazon since 1999 and it’s amazing how much it continues to delight me. In fact, just yesterday, I ordered four books:
Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East: 1776 to the Present
Mr. China: A Memoir
The Now Habit: A Strategic Program for Overcoming Procrastination and Enjoying Guilt-Free Play
Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics, and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism
And thanks to the magic of Prime, all four will arrive at my door about 18 hours later. Beautiful. Further showing off the power of Amazon in my life, when I first moved to SF and didn’t have a car (well, I still don’t…), I ordered all the random things I needed from Amazon (think shampoo, deodorant, random food stuffs, etc) and sure enough, not only was it convenient but way cheaper than buying the stuff from the expensive city supermarkets that exist solely to rub your face in the fact that they’re ripping you off.
Maybe the next post will be all about the different things that have totally changed my experience in the last 15 years. A “then and now” comparison.
Oh. And if you want something good to read: A NYT Magazine piece that examines Moody’s, et al.
So a summary: LOST is great. Amazon rocks. The economy is in tatters. Fuel and food prices soar. People are still losing their homes. I’m in my 7th month of paying a mortgage on a condo that sits empty. Gas is at an all-time high. OPEC thinks it will still go higher. Oil companies have made record profits. Airlines record losses. People still can’t afford fuel and food. The stock market miraculously is increasing each day. And somehow the Celtics and Hawks are tied 2-2.
Crazy times.
random mix:
from the left (and be taken w/grain of salt): “the myth of the surge”
a good piece on the current (and future investment market)…mirrors a lot of my sentiments: “shape of the future”
the new yorker on “the news business”
some good ones!
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Surya is...
an Internet entrepreneur turned Brand Manager. I've “returned” to my roots and today focus on emerging media strategy. And strange as it is, if I look familiar its because I was on the TV show The Apprentice. And, yes, I know it was terrible.
Click here for my bio.