PROMOTIONAL APPEARANCE FOR THE RETURN OF THE MAGNIFICENT NINNY PART 2 - MY APPEARANCE (ON THE GO TV PROGRAM) RAN YESTERDAY

http://rgdinmalaysia.blogspot.com/2010/08/promotional-appearance-for-retunr-of.html

Yesterday My TV interview for THE RETURN OF THE MAGNIFICENT NINNY AND OTHER POEMS for the show ON THE GO taped previously was shown ( I wrote about the taping at the above link) and I would say it was a success.

It was well edited and showed the URL of my publisher’s site under the screen….I think it did the job of getting the book across to those who saw the program

I focus more on goals than on plans in life….Hopefully, this will be a very positive end to a means.

TWO BANDS WITH NOTHING IN COMMON WITH ONE ANOTHER - SLAYER AND ABC

Two bands that have nothing to do with one another I’ve been revisiting musically are Slayer and ABC.

Slayer is a band I’ve always had deep respect for due to their instrumental chops-the speed at which they play plus their lack of sloppiness and awe inspiring virtuosity….Their tweaking of religious sensibilities only makes me like them more….Whatever hellish process they go through to make their music it’s worth it.

SOUTH OF HEAVEN is my personal favorite of their releases but REIGN IN BLOOD is the important one….Here is where the burgeoning thrash metal meant punk head on….I think Slayer forged something completely new here- Metal power riffing with punk tempos and lyrics halfway between sensationalism and protest….Their 90’s albums found them caught in a bit of a rut but their work in the last decade find them once again operating at 120 mile an hour velocity….The 2000’s albums GOD HATES US ALL, CHRIST ILLUSION, WORLD TURNED BLOOD are all excellent.

ABC’s first album THE LEXICON OF LOVE was different from others of the New Romantics New Wave sub genre in that it relied less on synths and more on strings and big arrangements….They mated the lush sounds of Scott Walker’s 70’s stuff with Roxy Music’s evolution from glam prog hybrid to AVALON jazziness….The end result was a masterpiece – a record full of clever songs each one as catchy as humanly possible.


BEAUTY STAB the follow-up added loud guitars to the mix and the end result was a very good record not on the level of LEXICON but still featuring some great songwriting….After that, they turned into a synth pop band and became more inconsistent with the occasional brilliant tune to remind you of what went before.

TRAFFIC, the first new ABC album in more than decade, came out in 2008 but I have only just heard it….Now basically down to singer Martin Fry and anonymous sidemen, this ABC had the good sense to work with Gary Langan again whom they had not worked with since STAB….The end result is a fun record not completely synthetic full of catchy tunes and Fry’s crooning….A pleasant surprise.

A CASE FOR ELIMINATING THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

In 1994, Newt Gingrich led the Republicans to takeovers of the US House and Senate using the Contract of America as his main marketing tool….Of course, many of the items in the Contract With America such as term limits were given up on as soon as the Republicans took power.

One idea proposed in the Contract with America was to shut down cabinet level government departments particularly the Department's of Education, of Energy, of Agriculture, and of Commerce in order to save money and eliminate waste.

I can’t say I agree with the idea of closing the Department of Education considering that many states are barely able to do the job of educating their own students but the others are worth discussing especially closing the US Department of Commerce.

The US Department of Commerce’s main task is according to its charter is "to foster, promote, and develop the foreign and domestic commerce." That’s a vague but otherwise well intentioned statement. However many of its tasks are done elsewhere.

The United States Trade Representative which is itself a cabinet level position is the main crafter of trade based policy and legislation. The Small Business Administration (SBA) whose job it is to encourage the creation of small businesses in America isn’t under the Department of Commerce. The Commerce Department includes an economic analysis wing but the most complex reports on the US Economy come from the Budget Director’s office and the Council of the Economic Advisors not to mention the Department of the Treasury.

Overlap with other departments and no clear and pressing mandate for a separate Commerce department so why then do we have a Department of Commerce?

Well it’s worth noticing that many of the more recent Commerce secretaries were money people, bag men for winning presidential campaigns – Robert Mosbacher for George HW Bush, Ron Brown, Mickey Cantor, and William Daley for Bill Clinton, Don Evans for George Bush, President Obama wanted New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson another well connected campaign money type but allegations of corruption derailed the nomination. It seems like the commerce department has become the vehicle for sitting presidents to focus on fundraising.

When the Commerce and the Labor departments split into two separate entities in 1913, Labor continued on with a clear set of duties. The Commerce Department, however, became a vague entity with no clear mandates that weren’t already being done in a bigger way by other departments. In the days of tightened belts and out of control deficits, if America wanted to save a little money closing down the Department of Commerce would be a start.

USE OF THE THE WORD "PARTNER" - A PET PEEVE

I don’t like the sound of the word “partner” when it is applied to human relationships….It feels chilly and cold not like a descriptive term for someone you love.

Partner as a description of someone one is involved with in a relationship is a somewhat recent addition to the public lexicon….The latest edition of Oxford's Dictionary does include this as a third definition….The other two being about business involvement or any activity an individual might be doing with another person.

The word “partner” has evolved I believe as a gender neutral politically correct term of description because of the large number of married couples who stay together for years and may even have children but never legally get married and gay couples who lack legal recognition of their marital status.

I just think it feels like a very impersonal word without any sense of what two people can mean to one another….Wife, husband, girlfriend, boyfriend are all better I think even lover which seems more vulgar as it refers to the sex act.

That’s just my feeling and I mean no disrespect to the different classifications of relationships in today’s complicated culture….I just feel words that convey that two people are in a relationship should carry more warmth and not be so legalistic as if their love was on a contractual basis

PROMOTIONAL APPEARANCE FOR THE RETURN OF THE MAGNIFICENT NINNY AND OTHER POEMS - ON THE GO TV SHOW- AUGUST 22ND 8:30PM CHANNEL 201

Yesterday, I was interviewed for the television program ON THE GO which airs Sundays at 8:30 on Channel 201 in Malaysia about my recently published book of poetry THE RETURN OF THE MAGNIFICENT NINNY AND OTHER POEMS by Raj Dronamraju….The show I appeared on will air on August 22, 2010….I will be getting my own copy of the show at some point after that in 2010 and will upload.

It was an interesting scene….The host of the program is the beautiful and poised Lakshmi Appadorai, former Miss India Worldwide runner up/singer/actress and tv personality ….The interview took place in the California Pizza Kitchen in KLCC with the backdrop of the park behind the twin towers visible through a window.

The questions were good as was the exchanges they produced….Straightforward and direct….They filmed for an hour or so for an 8 to 10 minute segment….We will see how much of what I said (I also read three poems) makes it into the final interview.

Best Question of the night – What is bad poetry to you and what is good poetry? This allowed me to talk about meaning and definition vs. simple description.

Onwards and upwards !!!!

THE DRIVER'S SEAT BY MURIEL SPARK

While reading THE DRIVER’S SEAT by Muriel Spark, I kept having songs by The Smiths running through my head in particular WHAT SHE SAID with its lines “I smoke cause I’m hoping for an early death” and also “I need to cling to something”.

THE DRIVER’S SEAT is the story of a young woman named Lise who leaves London, her home, on a vacation….From the beginning, she takes a number of actions that are bound to get attention-Wearing a ridiculously loud outfit, leaving important things behind where they will be discovered by others or cause her to remembered, striking up strange teeth clenchingly awkward conversations with strangers she meets along the way….In other words, she wants to be remembered by those she meets and the reason is because she is going on this trip to meet the man who will ultimately murder her.

Who this man she doesn’t know and neither do us the readers until the end of the book….His identity is a clever surprise….We are never sure why this bold stroke of fatalism is being undertaken by Lise….We have clues-The boredom of her humdrum job and accompanying monotony, the lack of any real friendships in her life, her eccentric, off-putting behavior but whether these are symptoms or the disease itself we never know. She also clearly wants other people she encounters along the way to remember her in order to tell the police something afterwards

While reading this book (and it’s a short book, a very quick read, barely over 100 pages) the main impression I got was of some kind of grand bedsit miseryguts, perhaps the high queen of bedsit miseryguts, packing each paragraph with rainy day uncomfortable statements on life coupled with really black English wit which in turn was often coupled with a type of CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM social faux pas humor.

I should say in discussions about this book there is a bit of debate about Lise’s mental health and what she does….I would argue it is clear she has some level of precognition about the events of the books….She knows that someone she has never met her before is going to kill her at a specific place and it happens….How much visualization plays a part here is up for debate….But I don’t think insanity plays a part in her mental make-up at all….In a strange way, this book is kind of about taking control of your life.

I actually think more of this book the further I get away from it (I read it about six weeks ago)….It certainly stayed with me as I thought about Lise’s existential plight and her extra-sensory solution….I’m about to start another book by Muriel Sparks entitled MEMENTO MORI….She is a writer with a real streak of black humor and great descriptions of the dark absurdities of life.

TONE DEAF OBAMA

Let’s be clear about something….George Bush took more vacation days than anybody else as president….He was frequently ridiculed about this especially once America started fighting two wars and then later when America slid into an economic downturn.

I think some of the current criticism of Obama’s vacation time is silly….The grasping at straws of the Fox News distortion team who never found molehills they couldn’t make a mountain out of or videotape they couldn’t distort or someone they couldn’t unfairly slander.

But like it or not there is a certain appearance of uncaring, and appearance of aristocratic apathy towards economic suffering that one gets when they see the First lady in Spain doing aristocratic things and hanging out with the wealthy and with royalty or seeing the president relaxing at wealthy vacation hotspots like The Hamptons or shooting baskets with NBA players.

Obama and family fall right into the hands of the Fox News gang when they are seen engaging in activities such as these during times of high unemployment and home foreclosures….Herbert Hoover, who contrary to popular belief, was not solely responsible for the great depression was tagged for the blame because people didn’t felt he was engaged or cared.

Going back to my earlier point, George Bush did take many vacations but the vast majority of them were to his ranch in Crawford where he was seen to clear brush and other “common” pursuits.

I’m not saying Obama has to re-roof his house or be seen fixing the plumbing but the a lot of the battles this presidency has lost have been on the public relations front….It’s as if the ass kicking political team who won the election were replaced by mushy headed drones when it came to actually being the president and the day to day .

What I’m saying is Obama doesn’t need any more PR headaches….Tone down the fancy vacations….Go somewhere more low key where it can appear he is contact with people and can share what their lives are about….It’s too bad but we do live in a photo opportunity culture.

 

OPPOSITION TO THE MUSLIM COMMUNITY CENTER NEAR GROUND ZERO AS A VEHICLE FOR BIGOTRY

Sometimes an issue appears that allows those with underlying prejudices to give vent to them while claiming the fig leaf of arguing a particular point….I think the argument over the building of the so-called “Ground Zero mosque” has brought out a lot of people who incorrectly blame all Muslims for 09/11 and/or who just hate Muslims in general.

Case in point is the definition of what is actually being created here….It’s not just a mosque per say rather it’s a Muslim cultural center which will include a mosque (as well as a swimming pool and restaurant).

The other point worth mentioning here is it’s not exactly at Ground Zero but rather 500 feet nearly two blocks away….Hardly in the shadow of the 9/11 site.

Many of the arguments against the construction of the building are built on faulty illegal premises….For example comparing it to building a German community center near Auschwitz….One can’t deny that Nazism was a key part of the German identity in the 30’s leading up to World War II….Islam is a broad religious faith with many different types of practitioners….The Islam in Saudi Arabia has not so much in common with the Islam of Malaysia or for that matter Uzbekistan and the other Central Asian states in terms of the effect it has on their societies and the way in which it is practiced.

In addition, The USA has scrupulously avoided any hint that it may be at war with Islam itself (even if their actions don’t necessarily follow their deeds) The argument that there should be no Muslim community center near Ground Zero seems to send the exact opposite message.

The intent of what the community center is trying to accomplish is another point of debate. Is it a gesture of Islamic warfare with America, as a perceived victory symbol….ummm no here’s what those who are behind the project had to say (excerpted from the New York Times)

The location was precisely a key selling point for the group of Muslims who bought the building in July. A presence so close to the World Trade Center, “where a piece of the wreckage fell,” said Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the cleric leading the project, “sends the opposite statement to what happened on 9/11.”


“We want to push back against the extremists,” added Imam Feisal, 61.

TIME MAGAZINE'S DISHONEST COVER....

The recent TIME magazine cover showing a young Afghani woman whose nose was cut off by family members in a marital dispute deliberately places the words WHAT HAPPENS IF WE LEAVE next to her picture….

At best this is duplicitous, at worst it’s a dishonest way of jacking up support for a failed conflict, a place we should have left a long time ago.

WHAT HAPPENS IF WE LEAVE is a dishonest statement because it assumes that is why we are there in the first place….We are not….The US is in Afghanistan because two planes were deliberately crashed into the World Trade Center by an organization that was given safe harbor in Afghanistan.

We didn’t invade Afghanistan to free the women of Afghanistan. No matter how worthy a cause that is it is not the mandate of the US armed forces.

Second it is also dishonest because it assumes that this something the US military and NGO’s can actually fix….It cannot….This is neo conservatism at his most evangelical….You cannot force change on a culture, the beliefs of a group of people when that you are trying to change has its roots in centuries of cultural practice…..This is not Nazism a rock star like cult that used natural German subservience to authority this is something much deeper and part of that society that has surfaced in the last couple of decades because of foreign military excursions first the Russians now the Americans.

After all what about all the other countries in the Middle East not to mention Africa where women are treated this way?

This type cover is a Remember the Maine, Gulf of Tonkin propaganda tactic from a magazine run by Democratic Party loyalists….Afghanistan is an unwinnable conflict- what exactly is the goal here? At least in Vietnam there was a goal albeit not a realistic one.

As America enters into a state of constant war at different spots around the globe (Iran is coming up), we have become like the Roman Empire a distracted people are too tired, too unfocused to complain unless they themselves are affected. The only reason people aren’t in the streets about Afghanistan is because there’s no draft. The next stop on this journey is complete bankruptcy and complete military quagmire.

Here’s the original cover and article …. http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2007238,00.html