halloween costumes.

in case you were wondering what my girlfriend + i were going as for Halloween, i'd like to be the first to reassure you this is NOT it:

but the real question: when Spider-(wo)man sashays away from Superman in the opening dance sequence (0:21), how does she fly. everybody knows Spider-(wo)man can't fly. geez! and why isn't she wearing a mask?

beyond this limited beef (pun!), i found this video quite entertaining. some notes:

• superman's dance moves (1:17) - classic. this is actually a move i'm known to do in dance clubs and grocery stores alike.
• the chorus (2:30) - actually considered by Bryan Singer for Superman Returns, but he later dismissed thinking it would do harm to the franchise.
• Luke Cage makes a guest appearance (4:21).

that's pretty much all i have to add for today. thanks to Will for sharing this gem. more mind-blowing posts to come.

the open road?

i don't think socialism is an entirely bad thing.

i know saying this probably hurts my ability to run for office (in the US) several years from now (whilst i have yet to see the new Michael Moore film, i AM a fan of free markets as well - "smashing, groovy, yay capitalism!").

but i digress. back to my premise.

(some) socialism is OK. libraries are socialist. and they're GREAT parts of the community. libraries are where i fostered my love of reading (and art). my mom would walk/drive me to the library on a Saturday, and i would end up taking home a large pile of books i could pour over during the week, without breaking the budget of a (relatively) new-to-America immigrant family. and over the years, Dr.Seuss and Shel Silverstein soon gave way to Bill Waterson, Jack Kirby, Chris Claremont, John Byrne, and Marvel's first family.

in college, the library was one of the few places i could get ANY work done. when i was in school, there was no such distracting things as "wi-fi" in the library (sigh, i'm dating myself), and they kept it far too cold to doze off.

and as a working adult, one of the first things i do after moving somewhere new, whether it be Cincinnati, Singapore, or New York, is find out how to join the local library (preferably walking/biking distance). sure, this is mostly so i can curb the affect my almost drug-like comic book habit has on my wallet (probably another thing that will come out in my opposition's smear campaign...Karl!!!), but that's neither here nor there.

so the recent slandering of President Barry as a socialist is somewhat disconcerting (and anti-library, almost Ray Bradbury-esque). while i won't attempt to make a counter-arguement here, i DO want to take the time to point out a little inconsistency i've noticed with the conservative beef on socialism.

i come from the south. where education sucks, and the roads are great. meaning, we prioritize our spending of tax dollars on long term bets like infrastructure (for industry!), at the indirect expense of things like education (the future!). i now live in NY, where the education is great, but the roads could use some work.

in Alabama, driving on 99.9% of our highways + by-ways is free (assuming you can pay for the car + gas), as tolls exist only in a handful of areas (like a shorter route from Montgomery to Wetumpka...what kind of name is Wetumpka?!?). though if you want your kid to get a good education, you'd better be willing to shell out the $ for a private school, or hope he's smart enough to get into a "magnet school" (an even more odd phenomanon is that in the southern states - AL, MS, GA, AK, LA - there is a LARGE series of state-grant funded "math & science" schools, which is otherwise a relatively unknown entity elsewhere in the US). it should be noted, that from 5th-10th grade, i attended magnet schools in the Montgomery Public School System, and for 11th-12th grades, i attended the Alabama School of Math & Science, which was effectively a boarding/geek school. bottom line, great roads = FREE. great education = GOOD LUCK (or good fortune).

in New York (and the broader New England corridor), if you find yourself driving on most of our major roads (crossing between towns), you're likely to pay a few tolls here and there. and it adds up. heading across the Hudson river to goto the mall costs $3-5. heading into Manhattan runs $5-7, depending on route or time of day. from what i understand though, our schools (in the county, at least) are pretty darned good.

which brings me to my broader point (paradox). in the south, people are overwhelmingly conservative (it's a red state), yet they're OK with having free roads (socialism). whereas in in the north, people are pretty liberal-minded (it's a blue state), yet they're OK with toll roads (which i find the epitome of "every man for himself"/"pay as you go"/"self determination free market principles).

i guess you COULD argue that quality, free roads are a liberty + a right to which everyone should be entitled (like education or healthcare?), and toll roads are a form of taxation, but are they really?

while (most) roads are not built by private corporations, but rather the government, driving on ALL existing roads is not NECESSARY for living your life (getting to your neighborhood school, grocery store, doctor, etc). so if you have some need that supercedes your living area (like say, a better job that might enable you to move up, socioeconomically), pay up. after all, that's what you have to do if you wanted to get there by air or rail. the road is simply a part of the infrastructure necessary to get there (like the cost of a plane or train/train tracks).

unless of course, you think simple things like that should also be free. but that smells awful red (which incidentally enough, is the color of the commies AND the american right).

so i'm not really sure what my point is (am i ever?). but all the people making the red states red (teabaggers and moderate republicans alike) who want the government out of their healthcare (and education) so they can pay for it themselves on the free market, might as well start lobbying for toll roads as well (stick to your principles!). otherwise, please shut up.

things like healthcare and education, while a BIT more intangible than the roads, are just as, if not a bit more, important in the long run.

so drive on. but if you're bringing your car up to see me in NY, i'd recommend you get an EZpass (or carry small bills + lots of change).

passively resistant.

why the Google is still pretty awesome, besides being a benevolent dictator of my information and all.

i'm definitely not a very nationalistic Indian (given the fact that i'm American, and barely understand my Indian heritage), but my parents DID make me dress up as Gandhi one year for a social studies fair in the performance competition (their way of ensuring i win out in an oft-ignored category and goto the national level...this is less braggery and more self confession of my cringing geek past). although, in hindsight, this is probably why in science fairs i was often in the "math" category ("which 3-dimensional geometric shape can support the most weight", after all, is a question that plagues most of us).

but this is about India, not me. i often find it funny that the one place in the world feel the most American is India. and this is also not a swelling of national pride, but rather yet another confession of my lack of Indian-ness. i stand out like a sore thumb there (i too, am force to pay the exorbant "tourist" rate at the Taj Mahal despite my garbled Hindi). though it should be noted that in SOUTH India, i can pass as a mentally challenged north Indian student (i'm of North Indian descent) - again this is no sleight to the mentally disabled, but rather an admission of my lack of Hindi language skills (when the ticket guy asks where you're from - to see if he can charge you the higher non-Indian rate - just say in mumbly Indian accent "Delhi" and you're good to go.

but again, this is about India, not me. i had a quick chat with an Indian-Indian (born in India, not the US, UK, Canada, etc) co-worker yesterday, about her fears for her 9 year old son in this country (she thinks he will likely become like me...not sure if that was a sleight or complement), and it brought to mind the many books that i have read on the Indian experience. starting from what i know, the easiest launch pad is the works of Jhumpa Lahiri. her short story compilation, Interpreter of Maladies won the Pulitzer years ago, to which she followed up with the Namesake, which is in my top10 novels of all time, as it tells the tale of an "Indian" (Bengali) American growing up in the US, from boy to manhood (though the soon-following film of the same name w/ Kal Penn as the title character did not do the book justice, though it did portray the story from the father's end, which made me feel extremely guilty for being a jerk to my parents growing up). Lahiri most recently followed up with Unaccustomed Earth, another compilation of short stories, this one a bit more dark and depressing. just my cup of chai.

other books that have shaped my view of the "indian experience" - ALL of Rohinton Mistry's novels, which are almost Dickensonian in their detail of India in the 60s/70s - almost an alternate reality for me, as i had no knowledge of the societal upheaval at play (after all, my dad had already left, and my mother grew up indian, but in Africa/England, so those stories never made their way to me). going even further back in time is Ashok Banker's Ramayan series, a contemporary prose novelization of the great Hindu epic (one of our "Bibles") - which really helped me piece together all the religious/cultural knowledge fragments i had of the religion i was raised with - only previously learned thru Diwali skits, Indian/British tela-novellas, and of course Amar Chitra Katha comics (which probably explains some of my doubtful views on religion in general; after all, i was reading about the exploits of Krishna, Arjun, alongside the adventures of Green Lantern & Spider-Man - an imaginary team-up was inevitable).

most recently, the novels i've read/am reading, are a bit more real to me.

the first was Rakesh Satyal's Blue Boy. Rakesh is the younger brother of some close friends of mine, and tells the semi-autobiographical story of a confused young boy growing up in southwest Ohio, who, assumes (naturally) he must be a reincarnation of the god Krishna, because he can't make sense of why he's different. he's not fitting in for a variety of reasons, which is not related to just being Indian, but also, more importantly not being able to "fit in" with either his peers that are Indian-American like him (but more "cool" - read "popular"), or the "regular" American's at school. this rang true to many of my own "being uncool" themes growing up (sure it's the trendy thing to say you were "uncool" growing up, but i was took the cake here). on top of all that, the title character is gay (probably the one thing i did not share with novel, but nevertheless a very compelling insight into what so many go through in our conservatively open-seeming society). a longer post/review here IS pending.

the final two are non-fiction. first was Fareed Zakaria's the Post-American world (i've already partially posted on this), which features a great chapter on what the rise of India can mean for the world (and subsequently, one on China's). the second, which i just started, is Imagining India by Nandan Nilekani, famed Indan entrepeneur (and now governmental game-changer
), who i had only heard about, but was soon compelled to read his thoughts after his Daily Show book-stop.

so as usual, there is hardly a point to this post (and it wound up being about me), but rather a gathering of reflections/datapoints on a particular theme: this one on (me) being "Indian" (sort of)

Happy birthday Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (known to his buds as "Mahatma").

now if only i could find all my old Amar Chitra Kathas...

on driving.

(hit play to listen to one of my favorite Breeders songs, set to some random video, while reading this post. don't worry, it's appropriate and charming)

i remember my first time driving.

i was 15 (9th grade?), and had just gotten my learners permit (in the US, all that is necessary for this is to pass a written exam).

after school/work, mom + i were talking in the kitchen. i was telling her about how nervous i was about getting behind the wheel (since watching my parents drive, it seemed so complicated a thing. in my family we only drove stick shifts, and i didn't think anything else existed). mom said there was nothing to worry about, and she'd take me out. when? right now.

we stopped making dinner, went outside, and got into our 1987 Mitsubishi Colt Vista, which mom pulled into the back yard (a large field of grass where kickball, frisbee, and or calvinball was usually played in). mom traded seats with me, and started to explain the finer working of the clutch, gas, and break. after several stalls (leaving some mysterious tire marks in the grass that later left my dad baffled), we gave up, re-parked the car in the driveway, and went back in before dad + my sister got home.

so i was no longer nervous but rather too scared (stupid) to drive again. this was way too complex of an undertaking. i'd just let my parents drive me around til i got to college.

some months later, i attended drivers' ed in high school (10th grade?). i sat behind the wheel with our teacher (my memory is fuzzy here, but i recall a picture of a Morgan Freeman-type character). the car was automatic, not a stick shift. remember, up until this point, i just assumed everyone drove a stick shift. i was soon surprised to find out how easy it was to learn to drive. instead of focusing on my feet on the clutch and hand on the gear shift, i could focus on adjusting the steering wheel and keeping an eye on traffic. i passed drivers ed with flying colors.

it wasn't until the following summer (between 10th + 11th grade?) that my dad took me out to my former elementary school, to officially teach me how to drive on a stick shift, in our 1987 1984 (typo!) white Toyota Celica (which my dad had proudly bought new + outright years earlier, and my sister had already taken off to college). we basically had a long, empty, circular stretch of road, full of straightaways, gentle turns, and the occasional stop sign. the perfect place to start, stall, and figure my way out around this very sophisticated manually-transmissioned automation. i was soon coordinating my feet, hands, and eyes in concert. this was far more complicated than most video games i had played before (most of which i sucked at), but i soon mastered it. hopefully i would not prove to be a danger to pedestrians, and society as a whole.

the next year (11th grade) i went off to a boarding school (for nerds...a "Math & Science" school), where i wouldn't need a car. it wasn't until my senior year (12th grade) that i would soon receive the "family heirloom" car (the afore-mentioned '87 '84 Celica) to take down to Mobile, AL. for the next 4 years, that car would follow me up, down, and across the entire state of Alabama (and across quite a bit of the Southeast) - in search of rock bands, football games, and girls.

by junior year of college, my old Celica had its tires, breaks, clutch, and even engine replaced at least once. between my dad, sister, and i, we had driven it more than 200,000 miles. it was soon given to Goodwill, and a used '96 Celica was purchased (a stick shift, naturally). it was also white, and dubbed by my dad "the white machine"...which my friends found hilarious, so the name stuck). that car stayed with me thru the rest of college and grad school, and soon followed me out of the south, and up to the midwest, where i began my professional life. it eventually brought me out to NY, where it's clearly on it's last leg (and i'm having trouble giving it away - emotionally and practically).

so while this post turned into quite a bit of reminiscing (for myself), i actually DID have a broader point to make, i promise. let's try to get back on track, shall we?

over the years, i've driven a # of other cars that were not my own (as a designated driver, splitting driving duty on road trips, car rentals). more often than not, they are NOT stick shifts, but automatics (not counting my recent adventures in a charming POS Volkswagon Chico in Capetown). at first, driving an automatic was an odd sensation, as i would instinctively tap the break looking for a clutch. but i soon got over it, and realized how easy driving an automatic was.

and this is my point (finally): most drivers are morons on the road, because driving an automatic is far too easy. it's quite stupid, really. so they feel the need to go head, eat a burger, send a text, adjust their makeup. driving a stick requires a bit more (unconscious) focus and concentration, so you're less likely to be distracted when driving in traffic. driving a manual transmission car forces you to have more respect for the car, the road, and the art of driving. and by no means am i saying i am a good driver, but definitely one that is more aware than the average bear (but i'll give $1, or a free car ride, the first person to get the photo reference...with the exception of RAJ).

driving SHOULD be a more complex exercise. a car is a complex piece of machinery (a plane is a bit more complicated, but there are far less accidents involving planes than cars). it would do us well to keep the bad drivers off the road (ie, those who can't figure out how to manage a manual) and make the rest of us well-coordinated experts.

it doesn't hurt that most manuals often give better gas mileage as well (though i think modern automotive technology has changed that).

so what's the point here? i forgot. but man that's a great Breeders song. and friends don't let friends let bears get behind the wheel.

happy driving, morons.

la biblioteca = the disco spider.

i swear i've got like 3 posts ready, i'm just feeling consternation as to when/how i post them. until then, i will continue to subject you to things like this:



...it's a shame Jason + i didn't think about this after our Hindi class @ the Communiversity. bc then we could quit our day jobs + be on TV.

something terrible is happening.

Protect Insurance Companies PSA from Will Ferrell

the light in my hand is flashing.

i won't be working monday, but rather wandering NY with a surprise guest. no reflections on what i've done with my life just yet (mostly just where i've been, what i've seen, and what i've heard). perhaps one day something more meaningful (or even pictures) will be posted. until then, happy new years from the team at ramancoke.

secret tip: writing greetings on my wall might just have you de-friended. beware.

the random picture monthly

as the day of my hand flashing with a red light approaches, i still have nothing of value to add, so i submit to you these random images.

tea leaf found in coffee swirls:

cute cartoony chick fight (between Jean & Emma):

cute cartoony Kid Flash:

the Fonz explains the phonetic alphabet:

(and jumps the shark)

why Batman is still the awesome:

suggesting violence, but not endorsing it:

i HATE it when this happens...

even moreso, i hate it when this happens:

and finally, we close with a bear and a coffin:

don't text and drive.

here's a Public Service Announcement (PSA) from the UK that was recently reviewed by AdAge, and starting to get quite a bit of buzz:



this sort of PSA is actually pretty common in the UK* (and at amazingly hi levels). beyond the immediate shock value, they tend to keep you in your seat to see all of the consequences. but given the recent study on how much more dangerous texting while driving is. naturally, this applies to doing pretty much anything on your fancy smartphone.

*sadly, i could not find the ONE best example, with a young couple relaxing on a fence, a car hits them both (the driver is not paying attention, is drunk, or something), kills the boyfriend, and leaves the girl pinned under her dead boyfriend, traumatized, and paralyzed from the waist down (if anyone can find it, please send)

sadly, in the US, we have a little too much sensitivity (guised as "sensibility") to put such messages on the small or big screen. i wish that would change.

the more you know.

please drive safely, from the entire team at ramancoke.com

superlative photos (+ S.Africa teaser)

since the random (geeky) pics on my desktop are piling up, i must post them:

most random quote:

most appropriate reaction to previous quote:

best spider-kick:

best re-use of a classic cover for crossover purposes:

prettiest team up picture:

most poignant question to be asking (only shared w/ Freddie Mercury):

and while i have not had the time to sort thru my 3000+ photos from S.Africa, here's a funny preview from the top of Table Mountain in Capetown (courtesy of an SLR-remote):

Google - too cool for skool.

so i opened up the Google to start doing some searching-of-the-interwebs, and what did i see?

comics themes are here, heck yea!

much respect for the Distinguished Competition in the actual G-logo. As for my new theme, i'm torn personally between Vertigo, Wildstorm, Hellboy, Fables, ABC, or even Batman/Superman/Green Lantern (but NO Scott Pilgrim was found in the Oni theme...and where-oh-where is Calvin & Hobbes?!?). though Renee French looks pretty neat!

too...many...choices!
...one things for certain, my "monster attack" theme, after almost 2 years, is going to have to be retired...

and YES, i know you're probably waiting for pictures of me being chased by a lion/elephant/rhino. be patient (unless you want to see all 3000 pictures). the whole team at ramancoke.com has been quite busy lately, as we're in the process of moving apartments, so it might be a while (though a few unrelated intermediary posts might show up between now and then).

stay tuned!

7/7 (made it by 30)

so assuming my plane does not mysteriously disappear somewhere over the Atlantic or the mother of all civilization*...this Saturday i shall finally meet (one of) my goal(s) to set foot on all 7 continents by the age of 30.

where am i going? [thru your keen sense of deduction and/or the process of elimination] i'll letyou figure that out. or you can just use your uncanny knowledge of world flags (derrick).

i'm pretty excited. more to come (assuming i do not get eaten by a lion or something).

*although in this case, i technically would have still achieved the afore-mentioned...gooooooooooaaaaaaallllllllllllllllll (that's another hint. OK i'm done)

omnimpotence, and a new man-crush.

so, it's been an...enlightening few days. in order of the most recent, i wanted to share 3 pretty interesting things i've been exposed to:

#1: Obama's very recent speech in Cairo (to the Middle East), entitled "A New Beginning." the video of the speech is below, but save yourself ~55 mins and just read the transcript (which is always faster/easier/better for me).

other than being a great, long-overdue (by America) speech on America's involvement with the Muslim world, i could not help but here some common themes (of President Barry's, as well as just the common-sense goodness i have come to expect by the POTUS).


#2: at the same time, i JUST finished reading Fareed Zakaria's book, the Post American World. in a second, i'll capture some of my favorite excerpts from the book. but before i do that i want to share something else i found as i was Googling for the book image to place here (seen right):

other than President Barry looking super-cool, what's that you see the POTUS reading? perhaps the Indian-American that needs to be brought into advise the current administration is NOT CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta (who recently turned down his nomination/appointment to Surgeon General), but rather Newsweek's (& now CNN's) Fareed Zakaria, who happens to also be one of my favorite Daily Show guests. speaking of, here's an interview with Zakaria from June 2007 (just after his book came out):

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Fareed Zakaria
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Economic Crisis

if it's not obvious enough from the above interview, here's what i like about the book. it's not a downer. if anything, the book has a very optimistic, energetic tone. it's basically a LOT of common-sense thinking (told thru an economic lens) on the role America needs to realize + play in the new emerging world. while only a few of my excerpts below deal with this, it's also a more interesting account for the "rise of the rest" - specifically China and India, including some deeper background on them which i think many are unaware. so for me, the book was a lot of common-sense (given my particular points of view), articulated in a very compelling way. sadly it is not one shared with Middle America. i hope some kids in 9th/12th grade "Current Events" classes are being asked to read this book. it's neither liberal nor conservative - but rather worldly and pragmatic.

so let me share some interesting excerpts from my now dog-earred pages:

==
Ch2: the Cup Runneth Over
The Rise of Nationalism (p.48)
"The irony is that the rise of the rest is a consequence of American ideas and actions. For sixty years, American politicians and diplomats have traveled around the world pushing countries to open their markets, free up their politics, and embrace trade and technology. We have urged peoples in distant lands to take up the challenge of competing in the global economy, freeing up their currencies, and developing new industries. We counseled them to be unafraid of change and learn the secrets of our success. And it worked: the natives have gotten good at capitalism. But now we are becoming suspicious of the very things we have long celebrated – free markets, trade, immigration, and technological change. And all this is happening when the tide is going our way. Just as the world is opening up, America is closing down.

Generations from now, when historians write about these times, they might note that, in the early decades of the twenty-first century, the United States succeeded in its great and historic mission – it globalized the world. But along the way, they might write, it forgot to globalize itself."


==
Ch3: A Non-Western World
The Death of the Old Order (p.78)
"What is vanishing in developing countries is an old high culture and traditional order. It is being eroded by the rise of a mass public, empowered by capitalism and democracy. This is often associated with Westernization because what replaces the old – the new dominant culture – looks Western, and specifically American. McDonald’s, blue jeans, and rock music have become universal, crowding out older, more distinctive forms of eating, dressing, and singing. But the story here is about catering to a much larger public than the small elite who used to definite a country’s mores. It all looks American, because American, the country that invented mass capitalism and consumerism, got there first. The impact of mass capitalism is now universal. The French have been decrying the loss of their culture for centuries, when, in fact, all that has happened is the decline of a certain old and hierarchical order. Did the majority of French people, most of whom were poor peasants, eat at authentic bistros – or anywhere outside their homes – in the nineteenth century? Chinese opera is said to be dying. But is that because of Westernization or because of the rise of China’s mass culture? How many Chinese peasants listened to opera in their villages decades ago? The new mass culture has become the most important culture because, in a democratic age, quantity trumps quality. How many listen matters more than who listens."


==
Ch4: the Challenger [China]
God and Foreign Policy (p.111)
"Early Enlightenment thinkers celebrated Confucianism for its reliance on reason rather than on divinity as a guide to human affairs. A thesis developed: while Europe might be far ahead in scientific and technological progress, China had ‘a more advanced ethics,’ a ‘superior civil organization’ (based on merit, not patronage), and a ‘practical philosophy,’ all of which ‘successfully produced a social peace and a well-organized social hierarchy. The ‘climax’ of Enlightenment sinophilia came with Voltaire’s 1759 Essai sur les moeurs, in which, according to the German scholar Thomas Fuchs, he ‘transformed China into a political utopia and the ideal state of an enlightened absolutism; he helped up the mirror of China to provoke self-critical reflection among European monarchs.’ In the following year, the most enlightened of monarchs, Frederick the Great, wrote his Report of Phihihu, a series of letters from a fictitious Chinese ambassador in Europe to the emperor of China. Frederick’s purpose was to contrast the bigotry of the Catholic Church with Chinese rationality."


==
Ch.5: the Ally [India]
A Geographic Expression (p.162)
"India is Thomas (Tip) O’Neill’s dreamland. ‘all politics is local,’ the former Speaker of the House of Representatives famously said. In India, that principle can be carved in stone. India’s elections are not really national elections at all. They are rather simultaneous regional and local elections that have no common theme.

India’s diversity is four thousand year old and deeply rooted in culture, language, and tradition. This is a country with seventeen languages and 22,000 dialects that was for entries a collection of hundreds of separate principalities, kingdoms and states. When the British were leaving Indian, in 1947, the new government had to negotiate individual ascension agreements with over five hundred rulers – bribing them, threatening them ,and, in some cases, militarily coercing them into joining the Indian union. Since the decline of the Indian National Congress in the 1970s, no party in India has had a national footprint. Every government formed for the last two decades has been a coalition, comprising an accumulation of regional parties with little in common. Ruchir Sharma, who runs Morgan Stanley’s $35 billion emerging-markets portfolio, points out that a majority of the country’s twenty-eight state have voted for a dominant regional party at the expense of a so-called national party.

…What work[s] in U.P. [Uttar Pradesh] might not work in the south, or even in Mumbai. The Hindu-Muslim divide might be crucially important in one set of states, but it is absent in others. Political leaders who are strong in Tamil Nadu have no flowing whatsoever in the north. Punjab has its own distinct political culture that relates to Sikh issues and the history of Hindu-Sikh relations. Politicians from Rajasthan have no appeal in Karnataka. They cannot speak each other’s language – literally. It would be like holding elections across Europe and trying to talk about the same issues with voters in Poland, Greece, France, and Ireland. Winston Churchill once said that India was ‘just a geographic term, with no more political personality than Europe.' Churchill was usually wrong about India, but on this issue, he had a point.

This diversity and division has many advantages. It adds to India’s variety and societal energy, and it prevents the country from succumbing to dictatorship. When Indira Gandhi tried to run the government in an authoritarian and centralized manner in the 1970s, it simply didn’t work, provoking violent revolts in six of its regions. Over the last two decades, Indian regionalism has flourished, and the country has found its natural order. Even hypernationalism becomes difficult in a diverse land. When the BJP tries to unleash Hindu chauvinism as a political weapon against India’s Muslim minority, it often finds that lower-caste Hindus, as well as south Indians, are alienated and rattled by the rhetoric, which sounds exclusionary and upper-caste to them."


==
Ch.7: American Purpose
Fear & Loathing (p.252)
"In his book Courage Matters, Senator John McCain took a far more sensible approach and wrote, ‘Get on the damn elevator! Calculate the odds of being harmed by a terrorist. It’s still about as likely as being swept out to sea by a tidal wave.’ Writing in late 2003, he added what seemed like a sound rule of thumb: ‘Watch the terrorist alert and when it falls below yellow, go outside again.’ Unfortunately, since 9/11 the alert has never dropped below yellow (which means an “elevated” level of risk from a terrorist attack). At airports it has been almost permanently at orange – “high risk,” the second highest level of alertness. Yet the Department of Homeland Security admits that “there continues to be no credible information at the time warning of an imminent thread to the homeland.’ Since 9/11, only two or three extremely minor terrorist plots have been uncovered in the entire country, and there is no example of an Al Qaeda sleeper cell having been found in America."

(p.259)
"For America to thrive in this new and challenging era, for it to succeed amid the rise of the rest, it need fulfill only one test. It should be a place that is as inviting and exciting to the young students who enter the country today as it was for this awkward eighteen-year-old a generation ago."
==

separately, it was also interesting to find + see Zakaria's first appearance on the Daily Show way back when (Oct 2001), just a month after the events of Sept.11, when he had just written a Newsweek cover article entitled "Why they Hate Us." NET - Fareed Zakaria is a smart guy, and i like what he has to say (mostly).



#3: AND FINALLY, just so you don't walk away with the impression that i'm actually a mature and knowledgeable adult (i'm not), let me share a funny commercial the CMO of Intel recently shared at a great conference i recently attended here in NY. you might have already seen it on television:

...i realize this is probably the life i avoided by choosing to not pursue the career of my Bachelor's Degree (Computer Engineering). though i would argue that i have a few friends who are indeed living this dream (Hamid, Damon, etc)

funnier to laugh WITH (versus AT)

did you know...
(1) the White House now has it's own Flickr [photo] stream?
(2) "...we also have to talk to our enemies"

the above pic (and quote) was taken for Obama's "remarks" at the White House Press Correspondent's dinner, which were quite amusing. i've saved you the trouble of finding it, as you can watch it below:

my favorite line?
"I do have to say, though, that this is a tough holiday [mother's day] for Rahm Emanuel because he's not used to saying the word 'day' after 'mother'."

bwa-hahahahaha!

and if you don't want to see something ridonkulously cute + progressive, don't go here (and definitely DON'T read the caption). you like how i just baited you? muchas thanks to my pal Kana for spotting (+ sharing) the Flickr stuff first.

and now for the [semi] serious point of this post:
as i mentioned in the subject line above, i'm quite enjoying being able to laugh WITH the current President/White House (VS much of the AT we sadly had to do before). lately though, much of the right-wing has been up in arms, claiming that *mainstream* comedians aren't making enough fun of the current administration, claiming a liberal bias there as well. frankly, i think there's something more inherent than a bias, but i've already once talked about that.

there is no comedic bias to the left (after all, they were ALL OVER the last democrat president for his shenanigans), but rather, there's just not as much to make fun of with Obama. he's really not that funny a guy (the above self-attempts at humor aside, which make him pretty frakkin cool). in fact, Barry's quite a boring guy. he's like your smart (bordering on nerdy), yet often boring, dad, who finds he is constantly trying to tell his kids (read: US as Americans) to wash their hands, check the air in their tires, and be more responsible. and he'll try to repair up our house while he's at it.

sad that we have to be told such things, and we have so much fixing to do. but i'm glad we've got someone (more) mature + responsible at the helm (a jab at the last TWO guys before Barry...but mostly at the last one). we're in quite a mess, on a few fronts. and to be clear, i don't put all the blame on past leadership. some (a LOT) of it is on us, for letting this shit get so bad. it was a vicious cycle. we have to change. and a lot has to be done.

the least we can do is laugh a little together along the way.

hardy har har.

week in review NY(C)

did i mention that Week in Review NY(C) is going strong?

[14.May.2009]

why the (C)? because we started out in the NY burbs (where i live)...and have since moved into the more urban environs of Manhattan proper another few meets and we'll beat out the now-defunct Singapore branch. we're coming for your next Cincinnati!

for those who have NOT yet read/heard my rambling/bitching (+ some random pics), the premise is a simple one...drinking and drawing. furthermore:
-friends get together at a different bar/restaurant weekly.
-the news from the previous 7 days are reviewed,
-a center story is chosen as "what happens",
-the rest of the week's major stories are also doodled
-much fun is had by all (really just an excuse for friends to meetup on a regular basis)
-this is a weekly happenstance from previous lives (cincinnati and singapore)
-official (never updated) site weekinreview.org, the original group in LA

anywho, here are some samples drawRings from WIR NY(C):

[22.Jan.2009]

[30.Jan.2009]

[6.Feb.2009]

[31.Mar.2009]

[14.April.2009]

[28.April.2009]

so what are you waiting for? go join the facebook group, and/or get your own chapter started (you know you want to...i'm talking to YOU...my loyal readers in AL/INDIA/SF/TN/MA).

and that's all she drew.