We were just in New York and my daughter and I saw the extraordinary piece "Waste Not" by the Chinese artist Song Dong at the Museum of Modern Art. It was a collection of all the material goods that her mother had hoarded over the years because they might someday be useful (as well as her actual house). Very moving, particularly for those of us with parents who grew up in the Depression, who had a very different view of the value of money and material possessions than usa privileged baby boomers. The piece is no longer at Moma, but they have a good multi-media presentation at http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/96... Or see the piece if it's close to you. It's beautiful, fascinating and heart-breaking.

I'm amazed by this. It looks precisely like a double dorje to me, down to the smallest detail. Does anyone know any other pattern style, something Victorian maybe, that the set designer could have drawn this from? Meanwhile, we have a call in to the Leno show to see if they have any comment.

This is a great discussion. Thanks, Frank. I'd just like to recommend two pieces the Sun has published that will interest those concerned with death and the time of dying. They're both by John Tarrant. One is his story of experiencing the mind of no preferences while his mother was in hospital (it's in the Sun archives at http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=com_... in our archives) and the other is his story 5 Reasons to Get Cancer, on his own experience of prostate cancer. It's is not in our archives but can be read on John's site at http://www.pacificzen.org/pages/PopUpInfo/JT%20Re... We've published a lot of great stuff on death and dying--it is, after all, the Buddhist speciality--but I think these are two of the best.

Help! I've been misquoted. Terry said I called Harold Ramis' films "lowbrow" in my comments on the issue. In fact what I said (you can check the audio) is that he's the master of "highbrow lowbrow." This is actually a great compliment in my eyes, describing the movies I enjoy most. In this category, I would include Caddyshack and Ghostbusters (I and II), as well as Mystery Men, Spinal Tap, Undercover Brother, Christopher Guest's mockumentaries, and the great Australian comedy The Castle. TV-wise, I live on The Simpson's, King of the Hill, and Ren and Stimpy. All those I think of as highbrow-lowbrow. Having said that, I saw Year One last night with my daughter, and didn't like it. Kind of lacked the "highbrow" part of the equation. On Terry's "hype" charge, all I can say is that I think Harold Ramis is a terrific artist, and an even better human being (see not only Perry's story in the Sun but the documentary on the Groundhog Day DVD). If we're starfeaturing, that's the kind of star we're happy to feature.