IDIOTS GALORE!

An idiot according to Webster’s Dictionary is a mentally deficient person with intelligence in the lowest measurable range….Throughout my life, I have found that this is not an uncommon condition among humanity and you sometimes find it all around you.

Specifically, I have been banking with HSBC since 2004 and have generally been happy with their service especially as compared with Malaysian banks….If you want to see real idiots at work try banking with Maybank….Unfortunately, my current employer forces me to use them for receipt of my monthly pay….My only experience with them was when I set up my account and I specifically indicated and even signed a form to the effect that I wanted the highest withdrawal rate possible as I move my paycheck as soon as it clears….Of course, this didn’t happen and I spent an entire morning screaming and shouting at sub-mental functionaries over the phone until finally I spoke to a vice-president who raised my limit.

Anyway, generally satisfied with HSBC, I was sadly surprised at something that happened….I had wanted to move a sum of money I had borrowed from my sister in law….She had banked it into my account last year and I wanted to transfer it back to her….I went in person to the main branch of HSBC and filled out a form to do this….The whole transaction was quick and uncomplicated….The woman who helped my wife and me seemed to know what she was doing.

The next day, my wife was in KL for the afternoon and received a call from HSBC….Apparently, I am not able to transfer that much money out my account at once and would need to find another way to transfer money….My wife’s initial question was why couldn’t you tell us this at the time and save us the trouble?....To that, the HSBC person (It was the same woman who had helped us the day before) had no answer and just kept repeating herself over and over again like a parrot looking for a cracker.

As I prepare for the Chinese New Year to end and for school to begin again, I am also thinking about the idiots I encounter every day (and by that I mean for the duration of my whole life not just the people I work with now).

It is my theory that there are the two main groups….

1.) THE AGGRESSIVE IDIOT – Someone who can’t help but force their stupidity on you and are also very argumentative….Sometimes they are just very old and bordering on senility….Other times they are living proof of the Peter Principle….It is better to avoid contact with them and go over their heads to the boss or principal….Arguing with an aggressive idiot is pointless and bad for the blood pressure as they tend to repeat the same old nonsense again and again.

2.) THE PASSIVE IDIOT – Someone who quietly goes about their incompetence despite what guidance they have received from a manager or coworker….This person has tunnelvision and is also completely unhelpful when asked for something such as a computer password or a question about paperwork….They will also try to dump their work on you….Laziness and stupidity go hand in hand….Potentially more dangerous than an aggressive idiot because sometimes they are not immediately recognizable….Sometimes, they will continue doing something wrong even if they know it is wrong….Once you have recognized the passive idiot, speak only to them when others are around as witnesses as they tend to give deliberately misleading and vague answers to routine questions.

I think despite the response of the HSBC idiot she is more of a passive idiot than an aggressive idiot as she just goes about her mundane existence….People like that are the human equivalent of blobs of jelly!

MARCEL PROUST AND LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE

The film, LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, which I saw recently, ties in to the work of Marcel Proust through one of the main characters, a college professor and self-proclaimed number one Proust scholar in the country….He has recently attempted suicide and is dragged along on the cross country excursion that makes up the bulk of the movie’s action.

The key scene is where he comforts his nephew who discovered along the way that he is colorblind and will be unable to fulfill his dream of joining the air force academy….He then tells him about what a “loser” Proust was but then makes the point that Proust understood that suffering was key to his character and missing out on suffering meant he wouldn’t have been the person he was and consequently wouldn’t have been able to write the same way.

Well, I don’t know if Proust ever said that….I do know I found myself either incredibly flattered or incredibly insulted (depending how you look it and your own literary tastes) to have my own writing compared to his twice - once by a literary agent(albeit as part of a rejection letter) and once by a friend….For me, it’s flattering as I do like Proust very much….I originally started off writing a series of autobiographical novels not thinking at all of IN SEARCH OF LOST TIME but instead influenced by Henry Miller and TROPIC OF CANCER/CAPRICORN….However, by the time I completed the fourth one, a little bell went off in my head and I realized Proust was the closer model to what I was doing.

It’s funny because the writings of Marcel Prost are filled with stylistic errors….He will build up a character and then have the key moment (often his/her death) in that character’s life occur off screen or mentioned as an aside by another character totally missing the whole point on spending so much time building up the character to begin with….He will introduce characters as if they were to be very important and then they are never mentioned again….He has no sense of drama and pacing and the literary device he uses to mask discussions and presentations of homosexuality which is having all the gay characters be lesbians, so many lesbians in fact that every female character seems to be a closeted lesbian, just makes certain parts of the narrative utterly ridiculous.

But the six volume IN SEARCH OF LOST TIME is a seminal work and it is an amazing and deeply influential body of writing….What Proust did was find a way to make the biographical merge with fiction writing in a way that has been copied countless ways since but had been not been done much before….His eye for minutiae and detail as well as character’s odd little quirks is without parallel as his portrayal of the fallibility and infallibility of the human memory….I’ve never read a writer who describes group scenes, get togethers, parties better (especially the endless dinners and teas and other high class social functions the narrator attends throughout the books)….Proust is a great writer and one of my favorites for those reasons.

Two writers influenced by Proust that I also like and respect very much are Thomas Wolfe and Jack Kerouac….Both of them described their mission as writers as something along the lines of being like Proust except being a healthy embracer of life instead of being a wealthy hypochondriac shut-in who never worked a day in his life….Your life as a story has merit in proportion to how much honesty there is in it therefore the details of Marcel Proust’s life are not that important except in helping in to understand the story….By documenting his life in this way, Proust developed a blueprint for all writers who look to their own life for inspiration….I think it was a major accomplishment in the history of literature.

SEASICK YET STILL DOCKED

YOUR ARSENAL is my least favorite Morrissey CD….On that one, his fourth solo release counting BONA DRAG which was largely a collection of stand alone singles, he seemed eager to flaunt his new muscular sounding backing band….As a result, the songs had less lyrics, usually one or two phrases repeated again and again, as well as less interesting melodies.

I say this as a lifelong fan of both Morrissey and the Smiths….They were the first band I ever heard that actually said something that I could actually identify with namely how hard it is to fit in and find companionship.

And even on YOUR ARSENAL, I found buried at the end a gem entitled SEASICK YET STILL DOCKED….With its oxymoronic title and the glam bashers that preceded it one would have expected another big flashy musical spectacle….Instead, over a stand-up bass and a haunting, spare guitar riff, Morrissey chants a list of the usual agonies (how alone he is and how alone he always will be)….The lyrics are not among Morrissey’s best but his singing and the melody which accompanies it are memorable as is the heavy atmosphere the slow, unwinding pace and sound of the song create.

Morrissey’s next CD VAUXHALL AND I would be his very best filled with a number of his greatest solo songs but looking back to YOUR ARSENAL or for that matter any less than great release by a musical artist one admires, there is to be found at least one tune like SEASICK YET STILL DOCKED, a minor miracle in an otherwise mediocre collection.

Here’s the song….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdVHr3QHrIE

MY LETTER TO MY LOCAL AMERICAN EMBASSY REGARDING THE WAR CRIMES IN GAZA

I’ve been thinking lately about what I could do about the recent slaughter of innocents in Gaza by the repulsive, amoral, fascistic, and racist Zionists-the true lowpoint of humanity.

Well there’s not much….Israeli goods are already prohibited in Malaysia (which also does not recognize the Israeli passport)….When people talk about boycotting America products which on the surface seems like a very good idea, it is perhaps too late as local companies owned by and employed by Malaysians in franchise arrangements would be the ones most hurt….The time to boycott was before the invasion of all things American….Now American and Malaysian businesses are too entwined like a weed attached to a plant.

Anyway, here’s my unsent letter to the local American embassy in Kuala Lumpur….

DEAR SIRS,
As an American citizen, I thought I had seen it all in the last eight years – Detention without trial, the invasion of a sovereign nation under false pretenses, torture as a matter of public policy, American contractors allowed to behave as they please not to mention the murder of tens of thousands of innocent people in Iraq and Afghanistan.

However Israel’s recent rampage in the Gaza Strip which was totally out of proportion to the threat posed by Hamas and which seemed to target civilians in an excessively cruel and malicious way, is a new low.

Unlike the news networks in our home country of America, the news in Malaysia is not censored or biased by powerful Zionist organizations therefore we have heard the whole story.

Israel used phosphorus bombs, nail bombs, and micro pellets on Gaza’s population. These weapons have no real strategic military use if your operation is to get rid of smuggling tunnels, missile launching sites, and bomb making factories. There only real use is to inflict horrible, disfiguring injuries on civilians in what I consider a deliberate act of terror.

In addition, the stories coming out now that the ban on journalists has been lifted about Israeli troops deliberately targeting civilians (and these stories are nothing new) are disgusting as are the game alleged to have been played where points were gained by shooting children.

But most heinous of all was that while the Gaza atrocities were being committed, America was busy shipping weapons to Israel to continue the slaughter while with a wink and a laugh urging restraint.

All of these actions are clearly terrorism and since I believe terrorism is morally wrong, I can no longer pay my taxes to the Unites States government as I believe it is a terrorist supporting entity.

If the USA ceases to engage in terrorist supporting activities (such as the support of Israel) and takes action (such as the calling for the arrest of Israelis who engaged in war crimes) then I will once again start paying my taxes.

Yours Respectfully,

PATRICK MCGOOHAN RIP

I’ve been meaning to write on the recent passing of Patrick McGoohan….He was an actor I think who eschewed the normal path to a boring predictable Hollywood career instead choosing more interesting roles and also co-creating and starring in one of the most fascinating TV shows of all time THE PRISONER….Whether this was a deliberate choice or just the way his life went I don’t know.

I do know he was an engaging film and TV presence whose eyes showed a mischievous intelligence….When he played villains, it was with a flamboyant and hammy pomposity….When he played heroes, it was with a roguish twinkle and a smile of practiced sincerity.

THE PRISONER was of course the high point of his career….It is still one of the most unique and interesting and thought provoking shows ever to be shown on television….I think it had a big influence on the show LOST….It was also a lot of fun….I also found his appearances on COLUMBO as several different villains to be memorable and entertaining….He was the perfect foil to Peter Falk’s Lt. Colombo….His best villainous film role was as the king, Longshanks, in BRAVEHEART….I also liked him in SILVER STREAK, ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ, and SCANNERS.

Orson Welles had one word to say about Patrick McGoohan after seeing him in an early stage production “intimidated”.

A MONK WITH A LAPTOP

Yesterday, I was at Ipoh Parade in a coffee shop looking for a place to plug in my laptop to take advantage of the free Internet when I came across the sight of a reclining Buddhist monk surfing the net on his laptop which was gold colored and very flashy looking.

I just thought this was funny….It reminds me of the time I visited a Hindu temple at the behest of my wife to see a visiting holy man only find he had cell phone around his neck and kept pausing during the ceremony that followed to receive and send sms’.

That sight of that Buddhist monk in his robes and mandatory poverty and the laptop and the implied contradiction made my day!

MY TOP 50 FAVORITE POEMS

Here’s the list….Only comment I would make is good poetry rarely comes out of a happy or calm state of mind or remembrance….Death and/or a dislocation from life (and especially other human beings) is a frequent inspiration.

1.) MY HEART LEAPS UP WHEN I BEHOLD by William Wordsworth
2.) THE HEAVY BEAR THAT GOES WITH ME by Delmore Schwartz
3.) THE SECOND COMING by William Butler Yeats
4.) NOT WAVING BUT DROWNING by Stevie Smith
5.) THIS BE THE VERSE by Philip Larkin
6.) THE HOLLOW MEN by TS Eliot
7.) HER KIND by Anne Sexton
8.) THE EMPEROR OF ICE CREAM by Wallace Stevens
9.) AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CLASSROOM IN A SLUM by Stephen Spender
10.) THE IDEA OF ORDER AT KEY WEST by Wallace Stevens
11.) YOU WOULD TAKE THE ENTIRE WORLD TO BED WITH YOU by Charles Baudelaire
12.) SUNNY PRESTATYN by Philip Larkin
13.) I SING THE BODY ELECTRIC by Walt Whitman
14.) SHE WALKS IN BEAUTY by Lord Byron
15.) FUNERAL BLUES by WH Auden
16.) OH LOVE SWEET ANIMAL by Delmore Schwartz
17.) DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT by Dylan Thomas
18.) COMPOSED UPON WESTMINSTER BRIDGE SEPTEMBER 3 1802 by William Wordsworth
19.) MY PARENTS KEPT ME FROM CHILDREN WHO WERE ROUGH by Stephen Spender
20.) THE POISON TREE by William Blake
21.) THERE WAS A CHILD WENT FORTH by Walt Whitman
22.) THE CIRCUS ANIMALS’ DESERTION by William Butler Yeats
23.) ALL MY PRETTY ONES by Anne Sexton
24.) BEREVEMENT by Percy Bysshe Shelley
25.) TIRED AND UNHAPPY, YOU THINK OF HOUSES by Delmore Schwartz
26.) ESSENTIAL BEAUTY by Philip Larkin
27.) THE PYLONS by Stephen Spender
28.) THE PATERSON POEMS by William Carlos Williams
29.) SONG OF MYSELF by Walt Whitman
30.) THE WASTELAND by TS Eliot
31.) SAILING TO BYZANTIUM by William Butler Yeats
32.) THE WORLD IS TOO MUCH WITH US by William Wordsworth
33.) DEEPLY MORBID by Stevie Smith
34.) ONE NIGHT I LAY WITH A FRIGHTFUL JEWESS by Charles Baudelaire
35.) ON THE GRASSHOPPER AND THE CRICKET by John Keats
36.) THE LIFE WITH A HOLE IN IT by Philip Larkin
37.) THE TRUTH THE DEAD KNOW by Anne Sexton
38.) LINCOLN by Delmore Schwartz
39.) ULTIMA RATIO REGUM by Stephen Spender
40.) STOPPING BY WOODS ON A SNOWY EVENING by Robert Frost
41.) DRUGS MADE PAULINE VAGUE by Stevie Smith
42.) DAFFODILS by William Wordsworth
43.) THE WALL by Anne Sexton
44.) THE VAMPIRE by Charles Baudelaire
45.) SONG by Adrienne Rich
46.) ONE WORD IS TOO OFTEN PROFANED by Percy Bysshe Shelly
47.) ODE ON A GRECIAN URN by John Keats
48.) FIRE AND ICE by Robert Frost
49.) MID-TERM BREAK by Seamus Heaney
50.) KADDISH by Allen Ginsberg

A PRESIDENT WHO CAN SPEAK WELL PLUS ANTI-INTELLECTUALISM IN THE USA

I think that President Barack Obama’s inaugural speech set exactly the right tone going forward….This isn’t going to be easy, Rome wasn’t built in a day, and sacrifice will be required from every one….It was sober and mature although a drastic departure from his we can do anything rhetoric from the campaign which to be brutally honest I occasionally found hollow.
But any improvement in speaking abilities would be any improvement because the president of the United States should be an articulate, intelligent and quick-witted spokesman as he is the public face, the spokesman for the country.

The last eight years we have seen a president who could barely string two sentences together and whose gaffes were a constant source of embarrassment and ridicule for America.

The newspaper recently ran a list of George W. Bush’s almost endless stream of verbal errors….A lot of them were reversing the order of a sentence (I recall a rumor that Bush is dyslexic), not having memorized what he was supposed to have said (a sign of mental laziness) or just plain stupidity (there’s a lot of blue blood inbreeding on Barbara Bush’s side of the family).

But there is a side to America that likes this….Much as there are many Americans who don’t believe in the dinosaurs and believe the earth is only 10,000 years old as well as still believing that Global Warming is some kind of hoax and smoking is not bad for you, this is only a symptom for a greater anti-intellectualism that has deep roots in the USA.

While not as overt as the days people mocked Charles Darwin and “pointy-headed” types, there’s still a deep strain of resentment for those who cure diseases, invent things, and otherwise make life better for the world as well as art (books, movies etc.) that is not just car crashes and explosions but requires some kind of thought

One can recall Adlai Stevenson, Michael Dukakis, and other losing presidential candidates criticized as being too intellectual….In my most sarcastic tone, YEAH YOU WOULDN’T WANT A PRESIDENT WHO’S TOO INTELLIGENT NOW WOULD YOU?

The funny thing is that those people who loved the fact that George Bush was/is dumb as they viewed it as some sort of poke in the eye of the establishment were themselves ignorant of who George Bush is….He’s from a mega-wealthy family, attended one of the most exclusive prep schools in the country, has degrees from Harvard and Yale (bought with donations from the Bush family)….He’s hardly an everyman.

George Bush always reminded more of one of those idiots children of royalty who are a source constant of humor with their buffoonery….Unfortunately, having a president who is borderline mentally retarded the last eight years was not really that funny as it led to the destruction of the economy not to mention mass murder and torture in Iraq, Palestine, and elsewhere.

CONTINUATION OR MY HISTORY OF BLOGGING

Well here we are....Years ago, I had a blogspot blog which no one ever read then last year I started a Xanga blog (http://www.xanga.com/rgdinmalaysia )which due to slow connection speeds is no longer feasible for me.

So here I am back on blogspot.

Whooopppeee