Oh my. I'll limit it to ones I've seen relatively recently that really impressed me: 13 Assassins, Red Cliff and The Black Cat

Well, look, I understand why a lot of leftist protest movements went with it, in various forms: they were reacting to over-centralization and hierarchical structures they didn't feel were inclusive enough. Their critiques had a real point but, for my two cents, the solutions were often lacking.

Thing is, every structure is set up for a purpose, and consensus structures classically aren't set up for efficiency (in the sense of quick adaptability and decision-making), they're set up to maintain broad agreement.

Now, there are places where this works quite well. For a tribe, a monastery or a communal living situation, for example, you need to keep people of similar backgrounds or ideals comfortable enough to keep living together. So a consensus structure makes a lot of sense as a way to resolve disagreements, because your main goal is to keep everyone relatively amicable.

On the other hand, as a structure to govern and resolve conflicts among diverse groups of people and quickly decide on a course of action (a.k.a. politics), it's generally terrible. Because of the huge thresholds for agreement, consensus structures tend to be extremely prone to assholes and opportunists who can bring things to a grinding halt, even more so than more traditional majoritarian structures.

Note that most of the activist movements that have adapted it have failed miserably by any criteria of practical accomplishment. I've heard more than one experienced activist cite something along the lines of "no consensus, no death by committee" as their prerequisite for joining a group.

Decentralization, whether in consensus or another form, isn't a panacea any more than centralization was. Both are choices about structure and balance of power, each with drawbacks and advantages, each devastating if taken too far. Generally the best set-ups are some form of hybrid, balancing the needs for action and accountability.

Not yet.

No, as I'm covering my local Occupy protest, I'm obviously not participating in it. I'm trying to follow it as best I can so Asheville's public can make their own decisions.

I've expressed my skepticism, many times over the years, about protest culture in general and consensus decision-making in particular (at least when it comes to larger scale politics). I've also been disgusted by the crackdowns in Oakland and elsewhere that have demonstrated how seriously messed-up much of police culture has become.

Beyond that, we'll see where it goes.

The fact that we keep trying and, every occasionally, we get something right.

Off the top of my head: Daniel Larison, Radley Balko, Andrew Sullivan and P.J. O'Rourke. I can list a litany of disagreements with each, but they're all right on some issues and intelligent writers worthy of consideration (by the same token, I'm hard pressed to think of any leftist writers I don't have a few grumbles about, either).

Balko, in particular, has done some incredible work exposing abuse of police and governmental power; something needed from all political sides. O'Rourke's "Parliament of Whores" remains one of my favorite books on government, and he's a canny enough observer to poke at the drawbacks in his own philosophy. The chapters on the drug war and town meetings, in particular, are a must-read for anyone trying to better understand the deeply absurd (and utterly human) nature of politics.

Relax, write, read and do a long, hard workout.

No. I find some of the debates around it interesting, however.

Liu Pang, Elizabeth I and FDR

No.

A tie between Spanish and Chinese (Mandarin or Cantonese).

No, not remotely.

Orange, because I had a triceratops that color when I was 3.

Ohh, good one. When someone has threatened someone else, or when someone is intent on refusing any help or initiative to get out of a bad situation. Both are absolutely human, and both make me very angry, something I try to keep a very close watch on. Still, every rule has an exception and, on rare occasions, there is a time to be neither polite nor humble.

Take a good long soak in a hot tub. I have a slight muscle injury that's worsened from the amount of writing I've had to do this week.

Because I believe in human error and human ignorance.

"I'm Batman!" Kidding. If it's been a good day, I feel relieved and happy about where I've ended up. If it's been a really good day, I feel good about where I'm going to.

A delusion.

This wasn't technically my first, but it looms the largest, by far, in my early life.

When I was 12 my father died suddenly and unexpectedly of a massive heart attack. He was 39, a brilliant, extremely decent man, and we were very close. It made the early years of my adolescence even more difficult, to put it mildly. But we survived, because there wasn't really another option but to go forward day by day.

In retrospect, it meant I went through my teenage years without any sense of invincibility, which explains a lot of the chaos I dealt with. Despite all the trauma involved, that may have saved my life, and it still shapes the way I look at things.

Because of my sanity and impeccable good looks.