Gaga has Left the Building...

*At the very high speed of living, everyone needs a new career and a
new job and a totally new personality every ten years.

-Marshall McLuhan, "Probes" (1960s-70s)

Gagaians,

On wise and careful consideration, I will no longer write the Gaga
saga nor send them to your email addresses.

I have been at this for about ten years. I have filled your mailboxes
with well over a million words over that time, and it is time Gaga
retires to pursue other interests.

It has been a fun and fruitful experience for me to write these probes
over the years. It is time to throw off the Gaga monicker and start
afresh.

The Gaga Blogs will remain in place, but I will not write to them.
Here are links to the main sites:

FUQ (Frequently Unasked Questions)
Satories

There are links from these Blogs to all the other writings I've done online.

I will end by including these thoughtful McLuhan probes I felt germane
to the zeitgeist.

If you would like to contact me, I will respond; however, I won't be
initiating any more correspondences in Gaga mode.

May you and your loved and unloved ones be well.

May 1, 2006
Bangkok, Thailand



McLuhan Probes

*Man works when he is partially involved; when he is totally involved
he is at play or leisure.

*Literate man, civilized man, tends to restrict and to separate
functions, whereas tribal man has freely extended the form of his body
to include the universe.

*Literacy, in translating man out of the closed world of tribal depth
and resonance, gave man an eye and ear, and ushered him to a visual
open world of specialized and divided conscious.

*Speech structures the abyss of mental and acoustic space, shrouding
the race; it is a cosmic invisible architecture of the human dark.

*Today man has no physical body. He is translated into information, or an image.

*The more you make people alike, the more competition you have.
Competition is based on the principle of absolute conformity.

*Q: Why is America the land of the overrated child and the underrated adult?

*Q: How can children grow up in a world in which adults idolize youthfulness?

*School is the advertising agency which makes you believe you need
society as it is.

*Electric technology is directly related to our central nervous
system, so it is ridiculous to talk of what the public wants played
over its own nerves.

*Language does for intelligence what the wheel does for the feet and
body; it enables them to move from thing to thing with greater ease
and less involvement.

*All media exist to invest our lives with artificial perception and
arbitrary values.

*The bias of each medium of communication is far more distorting than
the deliberate lie.

*The discarnate TV user lives in a world between fantasy and dream and
is in a typically hypnotic state, which is the ultimate form and level
of participation.

*The stock market was created by the telegraph and the telephone, and
its panics are engineered by carefully orchestrated stories in the
press.

*Only puny secrets need protection. Big secrets are protected by
public incredulity. You can actually dissipate a situation by giving
it maximal coverage. As to alarming people, that's done by rumors, not
by coverage.

Canada's Election. Thus Spake Gaga.

Canada just went through a federal election (Jan 23) where the
Progressive Conservative Party replaced the Liberal Party as minority
government.

If there can be one good thing said about Canadian voters, it is that
they are willing to test drive the Conservatives before endorsing
their mandate completely. That is, without a clear majority, Canadians
will get to see what changes this government will attempt to bring in,
and if they don't like it, a new election can be held immediately to
chuck 'em out.

Some of the issues on the Conservative platform that are somewhat
controversial are their stance towards same-sex marriage, the issue of
abortion, and election reform. They also want to create private health
care clinics that will be under the supervision of national health
care, dismantling of a federal daycare system for children in exchange
for a cash-back scheme to families. They also want to get tough on
crime by increasing the police force and tougher legislation on
criminals (including more prisons).

Conservatives have traditionally been aligned with the big business
sector, and if you look at the demographic breakdown of the way
Canadians voted, this is borne out: run-down urban centers of the
major cities voted either leftist NDP or Liberal, while the more
affluent suburbs voted right-wing Conservative. Blue collar areas,
where dependency is on fish, forests, and car manufacturing, voted NDP
or Liberal, while those sitting on oil reserves or high tech
industries voted Conservative.

The divide between East and West in Canada has its boundary at the
Western side of Ontario. The West is almost completely Conservative,
the East Liberal, and the rural and eastern parts of Quebec being
separatist in electing Bloc Quebecois members (eastern and northern
areas of Quebec or for separation, the urban centres are more
federalist, the majority being Liberal).

So, to sum up: if you live in the centre core of a large city outside
of Alberta, your outlook is more left-center and you voted Liberal,
NDP, Green, or other.

If you are from affluence, white collar or high-tech suburbs, you are
conservative.

If you are dependent on fishing, the northern forests, or automobile
manufacturing, you are left-centre: Liberal, NPD, Green or other.

If your income is dependent upon trade with the US or other foreign
countries, southern forests, or high tech, you are right-centre:
conservative.

If you are rural folk, you are more Conservative. If you are from the
North, you are more Liberal.

Not much new here at all. Those who have money are for laissez-faire
economic policies and lower taxes. Those without money want social
systems to protect them and are willing to have taxes. Then there are
the fringe folks who are concerned with pollution and other quality of
life issues. Farmers? Hmm, not too sure about them.

The only different factor that has entered Canadian politics is a
morality that comes from fundamentalist values based on evangelical
Christianity.

But let's not get carried away with this: Canada is over 80%
Christian, the majority being Roman Catholic. There has never been a
siege mentality that Christianity is under attack or under threat of
erosion. Much of that is hyped-up and a carry-over from media,
US-based or otherwise. Most Canadians (and I'm sure most Americans) do
not feel a threat on their religion or values in the least. There are
those folks that find it hard to acknowledge or accept the changing
values of society as time goes on, but generally, those moral issues
are window dressing.

The heart of change is in the commodification of society in
late-capitalism; the role of big business in the global economy and
its own interests it wishes to preserve and protect. These concerns
are amoral, i.e, not concerned with a morality. The regular citizen's
role is not nearly as important as the corporate multinational
business interests. If you find that hard to believe, drive down to
your local Walmart, McDonald's, Denny's, what have you, and there you
see the true values we cherish--the bottom line price of things we
purchase. Nothing else matters more than that.

I, Radical

In a recent article in the LA times, the UCLA alumni are paying $100 to students who report on professors who teach "abusive, one-sided or off-topic" political ideologies.


Hmm. So I guess that means we will never be able to hear about Marxism ever again in our schools. I suppose too we will never be able to hear about Greek democracy either, for it was a rather extreme form of the erzatz type of democracy that has become the norm today. As the autocrat Huey Long decribed it: "We will have fascism in America, but we'll call it democracy"

This issue brings up a very grievous situation, quite frankly. I wrote recently my concern over the types of games and media my nephew is exposed to. My appeal was simply to be aware of the pressures that are working on us to make us conform to the current flavor of power, and to be intelligent, discerning and aware of how these pressures are exerted. In short, is conformity to such bullying the only option?

A great deal of pressure is exerted economically. As the "Dirty 30" professors who have been blacklisted by the UCLA alumi will find out, they might be out of a job. So much for academic freedom. Senator McCarthy, you are alive and well! Let fear, not freedom, ring.

There is another facet of this economic bullying (read bigotry). The rationale for kowtowing to the party line is expressed through the "since I write the check, you will do what I want you to do" mentality. While it is true that more can be accomplished when we work towards common goals (in the flavor of Plato, Rousseau, Locke, Mill), more often than not the common goal is just pure avarice (in the flavor of Hobbes, Marx/Engels, Adorno, Marcuse). And who really profits from pure avarice? Those who have a capital investment in the enterprise. Those that own the company. For those that don't, they are at the mercy of the ebb and flow of the marketplace, the whim of the employer, and the fickleness of the human condition under the thumb of economic disparity.

I cannot really give an adequate synopsis of the Marxist view on this stuff in an email. If you dare look (I imagine there are those of you that might feel a cringe of fear) , here is the entire text of Marx's "Das Kapital" for your edification and perusal:


Read it now before those who might have their way ban and censor it from existence.

There. Report me to the authorities. Lock me away and throw away the key.

I abhor more and more the very society and culture from whence I came for the current endorsement of mass ignorance, fear, greed and hatred, promulgated under the guise of national unity, religious zeal, moral superiority, and bigotry.

Onward Christian...English Teachers?

I'm in a real quandary over this Christian thing that is now so
pervasive in N. America. Here's the latest instance which gave me
pause. It's for an ESL teaching job in Taiwan, but Canadians run it:

Christian teachers wanted for Taichung, Taiwan

Posted By: JacksonFive Christian English School
Date: Wednesday, 11 January 2006.
** JacksonFive Christian English School **
** English Immersion School with an Unique Mandate **

Teacher Candidate Qualifications:
1. English is your first language.
2. You have a genuine passion for teaching and molding young minds.
3. Self motivated, positive attitude, very organized, and responsible
4. University graduate with a degree in education or equivalent experience
5. Qualified to teach and experience in a kindergarten, elementary
school, or summer camp is also valued.
6. Extra-curricular skills are also valued (computer,
drawing/painting, music, sports, etc).
7. Christian Preferred.
*8. Need to be able to arrive in Taiwan at the end of January

** Sorry, although we appreciate every application, we will only reply
to those that match our candidate profile.

OK. Fair enough. They list the qualifications. But what possible
difference can it have if you are a Christian or not to teach ESL?


I'm a little skeptical over just what it means to be a Christian. I
know the religious tenets, the Jesus story, the historical accounts,
but I am at a loss to know why it is so strongly advocated these days?
Who stands to gain to belong to such a group?

Try googling what is a Christian? and you will be met with tons of
websites with their own interpretation... some even having images of
Jesus as some guy that looks like Barry Gibb



It seems like every Christian interest group can lay claim to the
verity that they know Jesus. Yet, wading through the stuff I've
seen on the web, there is such a range of interpretation it really
doesn't make it any clearer.

I won't go on about it here because I'm sure you don't want to read it.

But I do side with Henry Miller's observation that for all their talk
of peace and love, they sure like going to war!

For those that have the capacity to pay attention, read
Bertrand Russell's observations entitled Why I am not a Christian

Of all interpretations, his is the most satisfactory.

If you care to write back to me with your view, hey, I'm all...eyes.

Lee Stringer on Street Addiction

I recently read an interview with Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. and Lee Stringer ("Shaking hands with God") and since I didn't know anything at all about Lee Stringer, I read his book "Grand Central Winter."

I'd recommend it if you ever wanted to know what life is like living on the street as a crack addict. Stringer spent ten years living on the streets and was a crack-addict. The thing about Stringer that sets him apart is his ability to write about it.

Below is an excerpt from the book I chose to share with you because of its remarkable insights into what is going on in the nether regions of the human condition.
...

The image of street people has always been associated with an unnatural devotion to some substance. In the old, skid-row-bum, rail-riding-hobo incarnation, the liquor bottle was an emblem as indispensable as Mulligan stew. But booze-ravaged as these souls were,they made handy naysayers against a complacent, material world. So we tended to afford them a measure of folk-icon deference and allow them a wee bit of turf.

But when the street people's substance of choice changed, so did their once-benign image. It's hard to say to what extent the Reagan era and subsequent policies would have altered the homeless picture had there not been a concurrent explosion of crack-cocaine use--though there's little doubt that one had an impact on the other. And there is no denying that, this time around, crack had been a major factor in the cascade of people landing penniless on the street.

In the mid eighties, when homelessness first emerged as an urgent national crisis, we were prepared to address it in the traditional way, with compassion and human interest, what I call the "sandwiches and sympathy" approach. However, once the crack connection became common knowledge--implying that homeless people might be complicit in their own destitution--a lot of people began to feel they had squandered their compassion on less-than-worthy subjects, and public sentiment soon began to turn.

Today you hear people branded "homeless huggers" with the same contempt once reserved for "nigger lovers." While "legitimate" homeless people might yet be considered "unfortunates" by a lingering few, druggies, particularly those hoveling on city streets, are deemed morally bankrupt "lowlifes' beneath human consideration.

In the ten years I spent on the street, also abusing drugs, I've met just about every type of junkie out there. And I'll tell you this:
Though some of them, myself included, might be perfectly capable of immoral acts while using--as would nearly everyone-- I cannot say of any of them that they were immoral people.

Sure, a druggie may mug you for a fix. A boozer might even kill you in a drunken rage. But this has little to do with their morality. It's a clinically proven fact that psychoactive chemicals, such as alcohol and drugs, actually shut down the brain's moral center. Be it a priest or a child molester, the effect is always the same, to put you beyond the rule of conscience, and it gets progressively worse over time.

Of course no one puts a gun to anyone's head and forces him to indulge in the stuff. And a common assumption is that drinking and drugging are activities moral people eschew by nature and immoral people readily take to. Boozers and druggies routinely concur on this point.

But it is simply not so. The truth of the matter is that so long as an addict believes this is the case, there is little hope for turnaround. Addicts-- and I include alcoholics in this term--are absolutists. It's all-or-nothing within them. Indeed, their principle flaw is an inability to cope with a world that refuses to comply with the picture of order or perfection towards which we basically all aspire. For an addict, it's Eden or nothing.

The pathology of an addict is that once he has had a taste of "heaven"-- chemically induced or otherwise--he relentlessly mines the source of it for more, determined to maintain the sensation all the time. It is the thing that hooks him because it is a metaphysical impossibility, so that each diminishing return only inspires him to try again all the harder.

Nonaddictive personalities contain the requisite pragmatism to negotiate the inconsistencies of an imperfect world. They possess a capacity for middling convictions, to put it another way, even in matters of morality. When a nonaddictive personality is harmed--whether physically, psychically, materially, or morally--he seeks closure by settling the matter one way or another. The addictive personality will demand nothing less than absolute moral justice as he understands it. Since absolutes are ever elusive in this world, these demands pile up unsatisfied.

You may see bag ladies or winos walking down the street roaring drunk, screaming at buildings, accusing everyone in sight of all manner of evil and intrigue. These modern-day Don Quixotes represent one striking example of people who may have endured, as have we all, some injustice, real or imagined, but who, unlike most of us, find that injustice unconscionable to accept. Alcohol may have come into play as the salve for their anguish, but since alcohol doesn't do anything to help them deal with the matter, when its effects wear off, the anguish looms even larger, driving them back to drink. from there on, the cycle progresses beyond the bounds of their control.

This is the pattern for addictive personalities whether they are using or not. When they do use-- and there are any number of things besides drugs and alcohol that addicts use--the deficit they incur is not moral in nature but spiritual. ...

To one degree or another we all want essentially the same things out of life: love, respect, happiness, a sense of fairness and justice, a sense of well-being, a sense of purpose and value, and the feeling of being connected to something substantial, lasting, and secure. And as certain as it is that none of us will get what we perceive to be our rightful share of these things all the time, it is just as certain that we all balk at accepting this fact.

It's called the human condition.

The characteristic of absolute, unwavering devotion to something--common in those whom we might in error consider "lowlifes"--may well be, when directed toward spiritual growth, the essential element we readily assume drunks and druggies are by nature missing.

No, booze and drugs are not the route to paradise. But man's natural inclination toward the spiritual has been taken over by the ubiquitous belief that it is more important to concern himself with material and physical things. And in the increasing busyness and clutter of modern life, it often takes an extreme blow--not unlike the ravages brought on by active addiction--to snap us out of it.

I do not know anyone who considers himself a hardworking, moral, churchgoing, non addicted American who would go to the lengths to which recovering addicts and alcoholics go for the sake of spiritual growth.

The urgency is just not there.

So, frightful and miserable as active addiction may be, presuming to scorn the prospects of those caught in its grip is our folly. For the addict is being propelled toward a point of decision that the rest of us find time and reason to avoid indefinitely.

As they say in the rooms of AA, religion is for people who are afraid of going to hell, spirituality is for those who have already been there.

History of Violence

The recently released David Cronenberg film goes by so quickly you hardly realize you've sat for two hours. The film could go on and on and still be engaging, but it ends at just the right moment, the "after the conflict--now how do we live with each other" moment. It echoes films such as The Killers (1946) and Shane (1953) in the idea of a violent past that creeps up on the protagonist.

Cronenberg's greatest talent is creating a psychological drama with very little action. Lots of long take, tracking and crane shots, and interesting camera angles. This is a film you can watch and notice how it is put together to create an impression, unlike films that use CGI effects where you marvel at "how did they do that?" Sound in this film helps a lot to create the mood.

The cast is superb. There is not one element of fluff in the film; everyone does their part to push the story forward. Every scene is used to piece together the jigsaw.

Sure there is graphic violence, but nothing of the garish, over the top sort. That killings occur and the characters tend to be emotionally detached from them is the acceptance in society that this stuff happens--there is no morality on this level of the plot. People get murdered. It's a fact. Life goes on.

The film explores identity and relationships when what we think is true is just one slice of the whole shebang.

Worth a look.

John Brademas on Foreign Culture and US Education

John Brademas was in Ottawa recently, celebrating 15 years of the Canada-US Fulbright Program. He talked about ignorance in US education.

Here are a few quotes from his talk:

"I think it not too much to say that among the reasons the United States has encountered so much trouble with so much loss of life and treasure in Vietnam and now in Iraq, is ignorance--ignorance of the cultures, histories, and languages of those societies."

"I have been struck by the apparent explosion of interest in recent months on the subject of international and cultural exchanges. But the atmosphere in Washington has become so partisan that even the study of foreign languages is sometimes cast in a political light."

"It became something of a joke, but also had something of a political impact when Karl Rove and company would say of [presidential candidate John] Kerry, 'he speaks French! Can you imagine that!' As is that somehow cast a cloud over his loyalty to country."
~~~~~~~~~~~

The incident at Webster University in Thailand this past spring, where students were banned from using foreign languages on the school's BB, is yet more example of how ignorance (or power!) works.

Sure you want to know about the world's culture... but only if there is a Holiday Inn nearby and nice, clean, good-looking people who speak English there for your comfort.

A Bigger Bang

Sometimes I forget what the purpose of things are.

But not last night.



My sister and I went to see the Rolling Stones.

It was a perfect summer evening. Clear skies, calm, 28c. Forty-five thousand people in the Ottawa's Landsdowne Park stadium, about 20,000 out on the streets. Not a single agro incident.

There is so much written about the Stones more words I can throw at it won't possibly do it justice.

To see the joy and energy they put into what they do. It isn't nostalgic. It isn't a throwback. These guys are totally present, totally in the moment, and that sort of energy is why people still flock to see them.

They didn't go through the motions. Seeing them live is really what it's about with rock and roll. Watching the interactions on stage. In a way they are caricatures of themselves, but then again, they are not. It is the way they are. Bigger than life, but simply being who they are.

I really appreciated Keith Richards guitar work. This band is unusual in that it's Keith's guitar which sets up Charlie Watts' drumming. It is Keith who dictates the tempo, beat and rhythm. So when he's not kneeling down at the edge of the stage grinding out riffs, he goes to the back of the stage and stands in front of Charlie, leading the rhythm. Fantastic.

The new songs are gritty southern Delta style blues. Mick played bottleneck guitar and Keith sang. If anything, both these guys sing better now than they ever have.

It wasn't a step back in time...it was transcendent of time.

And that's why they remain the greatest rock and roll band ever.

If they had played Midnight Rambler, I could die and be totally satisfied.

Black Gold, (Crawford) Texas Tea

The great masses of the people will more easily fall victims to a big lie than to a small one.

-Adolf Hitler


So,

What's up with gas prices?

If you were to believe what "they" tell you, here are the reasons:

1) China and other foreign nationals are buying it up like crazy because of their spurting economic growth (Purport: China is BAD!... those goddamned foreigners are taking it away from "us", the good ol'- fashioned white folk who truly deserve it).

2) They can't refine it fast enough (Purport: we need to pour more money into building the oil industry, which sits well with George W and the rest of his Saudi homeboys).

3) We're running out of oil (Purport: mass hysteria).

I don't think the editors of the National Enquirer (or Fox news) could think up such nonsense without consulting the powers that be for such disinformation.

I have a fundamental question about the issue that has been glossed over as we accept the fact gas has now soared to over $3.75 a gallon in Canada and $2.52 in the USA (http://www.gaspricewatch.com/new/): whose interests are being served by this disinformation?

The oil industry, and who has interests in the oil industry?

The President of the United States and his family, and their close buddies, the Saudis.

After all, who is really going to pay for the debacle in Iraq except YOU, no matter what country you are from and whether or not you are for the debacle, or whether you like it or not.

I find it hard to understand why government is not doing something about gas pricing. Gas stations change their prices several times a day; it's like watching the stock market. Do you know of any other retailer that has the ability to change their prices by the HOUR and get away with it?

No, you don't.

Imagine going into your beloved Wal-Mart (for everyone loves Wal-Mart, no?) to find the happy-face prices on your items change every few hours. Those beige slacks fluctuate by a buck every few minutes. Would you trust the shop? Would you stand for it?

After all, cotton, plastic, metal, grains, livestock-- ALL are market based, yet there is stability and regulations on how the prices are set. They simply are not allowed to change their prices ever few hours like the stock market, and now as the gas industry is allowed to do.

What is the function of government? Isn't part of its function to look after its people from such radicalism? Isn't government there to protect people from such pure greed?

Where are the protests? Why do we take it on the chin and just cough up without even questioning the motives of gas price flucuations?

Does anyone really believe the stories of shortage and mass consumption? Do you really like the way things have developed--or shouldn't the oil industry fall in line like every other retail sales item and be regulated by government in a way that has its citizens best interest in mind?

Where are our government leaders on this issue? Why don't they protect us from this debacle?

Jerry Garcia ... August 9, 1995

Dear Mr. Fantasy

Gee,

I was expecting some trumped-up conspiracy theory and horrible deaths from the recent Toronto airplane crash.

Interestingly, I found myself becoming impatient with the fact there was nothing "terrible" -- other than a messy wrecked airplane on the runway. No deaths, no jihad, no dark-eyed, semitic people with homemade bombs. C'mon Mr. Media, gimme some reason to hate those "sub-human terrorists"... please!

What a disappointment :-(

Well, here are some quotable quotes in lieu.

Der Gaga Meister




The victor will never be asked if he told the truth.

-Adolf Hitler

The great strength of the totalitarian state is that it forces those who fear it to imitate it.

-Adolf Hitler

Success is the sole earthly judge of right and wrong.

-Adolf Hitler

The broad masses of a population are more amenable to the appeal of rhetoric than to any other force.

-Adolf Hitler

The great masses of the people will more easily fall victims to a big lie than to a small one.

-Adolf Hitler

Faith: Not wanting to know what is true.

-Friedrich Nietzsche

There are no facts, only interpretations.

-Friedrich Nietzsche

Insanity in individuals is something rare- but in groups, parties, nations and epochs it is the rule.

-Friedrich Nietzsche

Two great European narcotics, alcohol and Christianity.

-Friedrich Nietzsche

The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher regard those who think alike than those who think differently.

-Friedrich Nietzsche

Onthe whole human beings want to be good, but not too good, and not quite all the time.

-George Orwell

If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.

-George Orwell

He who knows that enough is enough will always have enough.

-Lao Tzu

Patriot: The person who can holler the loudest without knowing what he is hollering about.

-Mark Twain

If we choose, we can live in a world of comforting illusion.

-Noam Chomsky

Any dictator would admire the uniformity and obedience of the U.S. media .

-Noam Chomsky

If we do not believe in freedom of speech for those we despise we do not believe in it at all

-Noam Chomsky

America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between.

-Oscar Wilde

A true friend stabs you in the front.

-Oscar Wilde

The penalty good people pay for not being interested in politics is to be governed by people worse than themselves.

-Plato

The use of solar energy has not been opened up because the oil industry does not own the sun.

-Ralph Nader

It is lamentable, that to be a good patriot one must become the enemy of the rest of mankind.

-Voltaire

Cambodia Redux

1
It's yet another New Year's celebration here as it is in the thick heat of summer. Phnom Penh is an interesting place to be. The people are emerging from under the rock they've been oppressed with economically and politically, but lest we forget: those that were senior warriors in Pol Pot's (Khmer Rouge) reign of terror now constitute the current government, so not much development can happen through the government. Sam Rainsy has been muscled out as the third party in the democratic system. Like the United States, there are only two de facto political parties that vie for power since he's been forced to flee. But life goes on, and it's a lot less dangerous than when I was here in 1999. It's ok to walk around at night. People are accumulating some wealth through enterprise. The problem as it is in every country is corruption in government; to support or expect government to help out in any reform is simply a waste of time and money.

I had tea with a Harvard educated Cambodian man who turned down employment with the CIA, Intel, and the Cambodian government to focus efforts on establishing education for children. He's got quite a lot of influence and power and can get things going outside of government control. It will be interesting to see what he can develop, and certainly there are opportunities to help him out in a mutually profitable way. More as that unfolds.

2
As part of my Apsara research, I've been interviewing people at random to find out what they know about Apsaras: what are they, what do they signify, how they fit into Khmer cosmology. I can tell you this: everyone knows them to be young beautiful girls who are revered (even worshipped) even today. Things get sketchy when I ask them why. This is not any different to the Western knowledge and belief in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny--we all recognize these symbols and the feeling they create, but are hard-pressed to come up with an answer about their origins. In a similar analogy, in the United States everyone knows something about Abe Lincoln-- collocations are "Honest Abe" or "The Great Emancipator", but when pressed about what the details of his political platform, what party he belonged to, and so on and so forth, most Americans wouldn't be able to answer. So my line of questioning is useful to tap into the mythology as it exists today.

Of course the roots of Apsaras is from India, but if we look at the psychology/mythology of young woman worship across all cultures and all time, there is a repeating motif of purity (virginal) that emerges. This is another direction my research is headed: accounting for the virgin/purity myth. I need to take into account the changing values of these notions simply because in today's world we have no real sense of value of these features. We are post-modern, but we cling to the modern.

My work is heading in a post-modern orientation to understanding Apsaras. We can trace the roots of culture (high, middle, low) in the formation of the Apsara myth, how modernism downgraded myths to masscult and midcult (Dwight Macdonald's notion and the fact there is no high culture in the modern) and now there is absolutely no culture because everything is commodified. It's been a journey to formulate this reading of Apsaras, but it should shed some light on the issue.

3
Finally, I sat down at this machine here at the Internet cafe and found the following story, which is a Khmer plea to incorporate remembrance of the Khmer Rouge reign of terror which began April 17, coinciding with the New Year's day.

Enjoy?

4

CANNOT FORGET; BUT FAILS TO PRESERVE

April 17, 1985, is the day that the Khmer Rouge liberated the whole country. As the result of its victory nearly 2 million of Cambodian people had been died during its role from 1975-1979.

It is now 30 years passed away; but the memory of the Cambodian people regarding the Khmer Rouge is still very much alive—especially the old generation. And moreover, the people who experienced directly from that regime keep talking and sharing everyday about their own story to their children.

This is very good approach to preserve the Khmer Rouge history by keep sharing from mouth to mouth.

Surprisingly, most of their children do not believe what they have been explaining about the Khmer Rouge, instead they laugh with that. They simply do not believe that the Khmer Rouge existed in Cambodia—especially the Khmer Rouge killed their own people.

Another example shows that, today if we ask the Cambodian young generation about the April 17, they would likely reply that it is just a public holiday; and they do not know the meaning of it.

The above evidences are showing that they are poor to learn about their own history—mainly their own holocaust.

Nowadays, all those children still have a chance to hear the word “Khmer Rouge or Pol Pot” from their parent. However, for the next 10 years, mostly of the old generation will pass away, thus the Khmer Rouge memory simply gradually erase from the soul of Cambodian people, if we fail to preserve this historical record and put it in the social study textbook.

We are saying “we are trying to prevent such of Khmer Rouge regime to be repeated again in Cambodia,” and “we are trying to develop country to be prosperity.” But we–mainly the government, fail to present and educate its own people about the Khmer Rouge—how can they avoid it?

Cambodia cannot move forward unless our people do not know clearly about ourselves.

30 years passed, but the Cambodian young generation still not knows about their holocaust because the government had removed it from the history textbook for long time.

I am lucky than others young people because I know have been learning a lot about the Khmer Rouge either from my family and working place.

Therefore, by taking chance this April 17, I may strongly insist to the Cambodian government to include the unforgettable Khmer Rouge history into the history text books; so that they Cambodian young generation would understand clearly about the Khmer Rouge regime, and the meaning of April 17 as well.

[End]

Cambodia

So far the fact finding mission to Cambodia has been fruitful. Right now in Kampot, a more of less abandoned French colonial enclave with wide boulevards and beautiful French architecture. A very laid back atmosphere, one that would suit future relocation considerations.

Sihanoukville was an odd place--sort of an array of accomodations, restaurants and bars that don't quite fit the surrounding area. A pleasant surprise is the Pyongyang Friendship restaurant that featured North Korean gals that served up the food and then provided a dinner show of song and dance. Very cute. The thing about socialist countries is the aesthetic tends to be pure and sweet (sappy for us cynical western folk). I recall in the mid-70s looking at art from the People's Republic of China and noticed the themes were quaint and somewhat wholesome--village scenes of guys and gals marching around waving banners. These real-life Apsaras from North Korea were real gems. It must be quite the thing to get the opportunity to work in Cambodia from North Korea, although the gals intimated they found Sihanoukville boring. The gals spoke broken English but it was passable. They were very charming indeed. Apsaras in the real sense-- objects of an idealized beauty. Divine!

We went up to Bokor for a nice view from the top of the mountain and the ruins of a French ballroom and casino. It must have been quite the place in its prime (probably from the 1930s to 1950s).

Tomorrow is onto Kep, which is a beach town like Vung Tau in Vietnam--a place where the well-heeled French colonialists kicked-back and relaxed in the heyday of French rule in Southeast Asia. This is another spot we want to investigate for relocation.

Dead winter..death on the installment plan

... It had begun to snow again. He watched sleepily the flakes, silver and dark, falling obliquely against the lamplight. The time had come for him to set out on his journey westward. Yes, the newspapers were right: snow was general all over. It was falling on every part of the dark central plain, on the treeless hills, falling softly and farther westward, softly falling into the dark mutinous waves. It was falling, too, upon every part of the lonely churchyard on the hill where he lay buried. It lay thickly drifted on the crooked crosses and headstones, on the spears of the little gate, on the barren thorns. His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead.

--adaptation of James Joyce's The Dead (1914)

1
What many people don't realize when I say I am happy to have spent another winter out of the Canadian climate is just how crippling winter is in Canada. Whatever else I have done while here is secondary to my main objective: find refuge from the dead cold.

Life forms die or hibernate. They retreat from the matrix to reappear, like magic, when the wobble of the earth moves into just the right position to let this magic happen.

For a Canadian, winter life is a test of endurance. Certainly we go outside and engage in winter divertissements and sport, but we cannot endure for very long without shelter and heat. Only our Inuit brothers and sisters have adapted to a lifestyle with the barest minimum of heat. We are a nation of survivors, as Margaret Atwood asserts; this is our true national identity. It is so hard to describe what happens to the psyche when winter falls. We in Canada prepare to hibernate...we insulate our houses, batten down windows with extra layers, pull out heavy clothing from our cedar chests, winterize our cars, and brace ourselves for the first snow. We make a complete transition from outdoors to indoors. Entire cities have elaborate underground routes and shops to avoid the external world. We endure; we survive, but we never conquer. We don't have the energy or gall to go forth. We wait out the winter, watching hockey and American television, huddled together, imagining what it would be like to score with a wrist shot to the top left-hand corner (like the Rocket, or Bobby, or Mario, or the Great one ); we wonder what it must be like to drive in a hot car down Rodeo drive in Beverly Hills or or Collins Avenue in Miami, and we feel a mixture of embarrassment and awe at the bravado of talk show hosts and their celebrity guests. We don't see them as ourselves--they are not us. They are strangely proud and arrogant. We don't have that luxury. We are frozen in our homes, awaiting the Spring thaw so that we can once again get the blood flowing and go outdoors and embrace the first signs of life.

So every day, in this lush climate, I am grateful. A day does not pass when I don't look about me and my spirit is uplifted with the sound of leaves gently rubbing other leaves-- a sort of communication plants offer each other (under the soil, their roots are entwined in a love embrace). I breathe in deeply and taste the scent of the Frangipani and every other assortment of flower; I admire the colors of the foilage, all shades and tints of green, and the resplendent flowers, blossoms and fruit these plants bear. Life is wonderful! It is this affirmation that keeps me happy. Everything else is simply... gravy.

2
The King of Thailand is heading up a program to seed clouds to make it rain. Thailand is currently in a drought--one of the worst in a while--so bad that reservoir walls are collapsing because there is not enough water left to support the structure.

But the cloud seeding is a problem: they use urea and ammonium nitrate to coax water from the mist, and when it falls, it is a form of acid rain. Unless you live northeast of the Ohio River, you wouldn't know the effects of acid rain on the deciduous forests and wetlands. It is destructive. The soil Ph has changed and is having considerable affects on the ecosystem. From micro-organisms in the wetlands to the birds and animals that are dependent on them, life is changing because of us.

What lessons can we teach the Thais? Is short-term production more important than the long-term destruction? It is easy to become numbed by the industrialized life we lead--one of comfort, one of greed, but the price we pay is dear. It is at the expense of our planet.

How do we teach emerging countries our lessons? Or do we forget the teachings and give them the instruments to destroy like we do?

...
Shall I say, I have gone at dusk through narrow streets
And watched the smoke that rises from the pipes
Of lonely men in shirt-sleeves, leaning out of windows??

...Oh, do not ask, ?What is it??
Let us go and make our visit.

3
It's been ten years since the Tokyo Subway gassing. I was there then. I was about five trains away from actually being a victim. Ten years... seems so short.

I am surprised Yoichi hasn't recirculated his work on what really happened on the Tokyo subway . What he doesn't say in print is it wasn't sarin gas but mustard gas and Aum Shinrikyu was a more complex organization than some wacko cult. There were political ties involving Japan, North Korea, Russia, and the United States in the affair.

4
On a lighter note, awaiting friends in front of the Tokyu store at Mah Boon Krong last night, I was people watching and noticed (of course!) all the wonderfully beautiful women in Bangkok. Earlier in the week I attended a class where Gary showed Japanese TV dramas, and I got a bit nostalgic about living in Tokyo in the early 90s. I got to thinking while waiting and girl watching, how in the early 90s in Tokyo you could easily meet some random beauty and get a date with them just by hanging around public spaces. The technique is called nampa in Japan , but it's simply not possible to pick up girls off the street in Bangkok at all. Yo reminded me of what the deal is here: there are two sorts of girls in Bangkok-- the ones you pay for...and the ones you pay for. The only difference is the former is short-time and the latter the long haul.

5
Given what's involved with the long haul approach, I'll borrow from Celine and rename it Death on the Installment Plan.

From Wine to War

1
Sideways.

Paul Giamatti, who for some reason was overlooked by the Oscar folks (even for a nomination!) plays the frumpy, paunchy, balding, whiney, embittered unhappily divorced man to a tee.  The perception of this guy is that he isn't really acting but just playing himself. After all, his first screen role was "Pig Vomit"-- the insufferable, New York radio middle manager in Howard Stern's autobio "Private Parts". He does best when playing the little, ugly miserable guy.

The film is quirky, yet probably has done more for Napa Valley wine tourism than anything else in recent years. Ahhh! Santa Rosa (my high school sweetheart was packed off by her parents to Santa Rosa to get away...from me!) never looked so vintage. I am sure there is now a trend for fancy wine tasting around the country after the misadventures of Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church on the boys-week-out before Church's character gets married road trip. It's a tight, bittersweet film.

2
What about Iran's nuclear stuff?

Here's the movie: secretly, the Iranians have been developing nuclear reactors to create---cheap energy! The US inspectors raid the joint and take the plans to find out that the real plan is not to produce weapons of mass destruction, but to get off of fossil fuels altogether. They also find the prototypes to automobiles and heavy equipment that have been modified to use hydrogen as fuel. The real plan of the Iranian government is to get off of oil in the next five years, shut down their oil reserves and create a new economic world order through their superior energy resources. This has the CIA and the US government going apeshit because they are dependent on oil reserves. Bush orders the war on Iran in the guise of terrorism, but a junior White House employee gets wind of the true situation and is about to blab to the media. He even goes to the media but they squash the leak, knowing that the ramifications fo the sudden shift in energy resources would put the US out of business.

The ending? A few possibilities:

1) the employee is mysteriously found dead and the invasion of Iran in the guise of war on terror takes place.
2) the story gets out, but the country still backs Bush's war.
3) the story is leaked to the world and all fingers point at Bush as being the villian and is soundly rejected by the American population, ending his reign of terror.

Thoughts?