Hot Afternoons Have Been in Montana

Siegel's place

Photo credit

Here is the beautiful dirge-like poem by Eli Siegel, long, repetitive, colloquial and universal.

It is best contemplated while read aloud, preferably by Eli Siegel himself.

Here is a DVD of the film "Hot afternoons have been in Montana" with Siegel reading the poem.

Hot Afternoons Have Been in Montana
By Eli Siegel

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The Steadiness of a Place

Charles Ryder revisits Brideshead


Many modern novels leave one with a sense of desolation, as though the end of times has really arrived, and there is nowhere left to go.

But, Waugh's ending with Brideshead, despite the complete change of circumstances: there was a war on, Charles is separated from Julia, Brideshead is swarmed by cocky soldiers who never would have gone near such a place hadn't it been for the war, allows for a sliver of hope.

Ryder describes his final encounter with Brideshead, linking the country's history of wars and soldiers, joining them with the flicker of a lamp, in the chapel of this house of generations.

The chapel showed no ill effects of its long neglect. The art-nouveau paint was as fresh and bright as ever. And the art-nouveau lamp burned once more before the altar. I said a prayer, an ancient, newly-learned form of words, and left, turning towards the camp…

The builders did not know the uses to which their work would descend; they made a new house with the stones of the old castle; year by year, generation after generation, they enriched and extended it; year by year, the harvest of timber in the park grew to ripeness; until, in sudden frost, came the age of Hooper; the place was desolate and the work all brought to nothing. Quomodo sedet sola civitas—vanity of vanities, all is vanity.

‘And yet,’ I thought… ‘that is not the last word; it is not even an apt word; it is a dead word from ten years back.’

‘Something quite remote from anything the builders intended had come out of their work and out of the fierce little human tragedy in which I played; something none of us thought about at the time; a small red flame - a beaten-copper lamp of deplorable design re-lit before the beaten copper doors of a tabernacle; the flame, which the old knights saw from their tombs, which they saw put out; that flame burns again for other soldiers far from home, farther, in heart, than Acre or Jerusalem. It could not have been lit but for the builders and the tragedians, and there I found it that morning, burning anew among the old stones.

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Homelands of the Highly Educated

Where does their loyalty lie?



Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies, and who has a new book out, discusses immigration issues with Shikha Dalmia of the Reason Foundation a "nonprofit think tank."

What is new and unusual about this discussion is that Krikorian says that highly skilled, highly educated immigrants have a bigger sense of their "nationality", meaning their birthplace, and are as likely, or even more likely, to avoid assimilation into the larger society than their lower-educated counterparts.

You can listen to the full debate (about one hour) here.

This is exactly the conclusion I reached, over several blogs and articles about Indian immigrants in Canada. An abridged version of my findings can be read here, including some relevant links.

I started this investigation by critiquing a book by an American writer of Indian origin, whose two books so far focused entirely on Indian issues, whether on Indian immigrants in the US, or on the sub-continent itself.

My finding was that writers, actors, designers, and other professional Indians are obsessed with India, and much of their life is focused on how to bring that Indianness into Canada. These are often children of immigrants, who at this stage wouldn't, or shouldn't, be called immigrants.

Krikorian is too generous in saying that it is probably the current American policies which makes this possible. But, I say it is the nature of the immigrants themselves.

How is an Indian, with the saris and tandooris (and all their wonderful culture in between) going to assimilate without consternation into a country which has zero resemblance or connection to his ancestral land (other than the much touted colonization?)

Even Easter European immigrants have some connection - at least in some of their arts and traditions. But then look at the Olympics. The Serbian swimmer (who lost a gold medal by the length of a finger tip) grew up in California.

At the highest moment of his life, he decided to compete for his "country" than for America.

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Sarah's Shoes

Just a click of the heels for the homeland?



Would Hillary wear these red shoes? Sarah Palin does, although appropriately and discreetly beneath a smart navy blue skirt-and-jacket suit (no, no pantsuit here.)

A remote-state politician, unknown and undisturbed by Washington, manages to make inroads into Republican politics with tough judgments and decisive rulings. No hedging around for this lady.

Yes, McCain made a calculated move. But since when is calculation a bad thing in politics? And all those commentators who keep going on about his age, and how he might die before his term is up leaving the country with an "inexperienced" candidate who can't sit across Putin? Well, how cynical. What a way to plan once's future, based on one's death? A five year-old, God forbid, can just as likely die tomorrow from a car accident!

And, standing up to Putin could just be what Sarah Palin might do. If her interest is the best for her homeland, as she's said in her speeches, and done in her actions, then she will be a fighter. Isn't that what Putin is unashamedly doing?

After all, Dorothy's ruby slippers were her assurance to go back to her beloved home. And like her loyalty to her home state, which she never left, unlike other politicians, Palin surely knows what the bigger picture of a "homeland" means.

But in her perennial confusion, Hillary sneakily endorses Sarah in complete turnabout to her DNC speech of Democratic unity. She shouldn't be so gleeful, because her next opponent four years from now could well be Sarah. What will she do then? Wear red?

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Orange is for Hillary

Not quite red, and trying for yellow



I wonder if Hillary's costume crew checked out the meaning of colors before they assigned the orange to her pantsuit for last night's speech at the DNC. Here is what a google for "meaning of color orange" produced:

Orange is vibrant. It's a combination of red and yellow so it shares some common attributes with those colors. It denotes energy, warmth, and the sun. But orange has a bit less intensity or aggression than red, calmed by the cheerfulness of yellow.

Is that was how Hillary Clinton wanted to appear at her much-anticipated speech at the Democratic National Convention? Yes she was less intense, but she didn't appear very calm, nor particularly cheerful. As usual with Hillary, she will try to use props to plod her way through her projects - Bill, the right-wing conspiracy, mysogyny, Chelsea, tears, and now an orange pantsuit.

I was actually surprised at how much time she spent on herself, including that really badly planned and edited video of her presented by Chelsea. At some point, I though she was just going to go for it and announce that her party had chosen the wrong candidate, and it should just be her. Of course, she never did this, given that her whole life has been one bet-hedging after another.

Roll back some 30 years to the Republical National Convention in 1976. Ronald Reagan, went all the way to the RNC in 1976, with Ford having a slight lead (much like what Clinton and Obama have faced), and lost by a very small margin at the ballots. He did not waver between primaries, no "party unity" reconciliation, no discouragement from bullying party members. Reagan decided he wasn't going to quit. In fact, Reagan's strength was such that Ford changed some of his slogans to resemble Reagan's positions.

But the final clinch occurred when the marginally winning Ford made an impromptu request that Reagan come to the podium at the convention night. Reagan reluctantly obliged, but spoke from his heart - meaning he said what he meant.

Many political analysts say that Reagan's convention speech lost Ford the presidency. After four years of Carter, Reagan was able to return in full force, and stay through some of the most historical moments of American history.

Is this what Hillary is trying to do? Her whole presidential run, especially after the loss at Iowa, was an attempt for her to gauge the "mood" of the nation, play it politically correctly, and antagonize the party through her "it was misogyny" rhetoric. Her DNC speech was more of the same. She appears to be planning for 2012.

If Hillary is fashioning her Machiavellian political moves after Reagan's (which were not Machiavellian, but emanating from true leadership) well, she has a surprise coming. Just like her Iowa Shocker, she will be dealt with other blows that will jolt her rigid maneuvers. Politics may start out as a game, but at the end of the day, it really is sincerity that wins.

Her ambiguous orange pantsuit was definitely the right color for this candidate. I will predict again: Hillary Clinton lost her bid to the President's office when she declined to take-on full Obama's atrocities: the Rev. Wright association, the Trinity United Church membership, and as is now coming out, the Bill Ayers colleagueship.

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Earl's Blues

Another talented Albertan


"The Joker" by Earl Stevenson (starts around the 20 second point)

The intelligent and poetic Earl Stevenson does a better rendition of The Steve Miller Band's "The Joker" than Steve Miller himself.

Earl could be part of the 60s folk/pop phenomenon. He reminds me of Bob Dylan. I think he should now start writing - lyrics and songs.

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Ocean's of Technicolor

The opening credits are just as important as the film


Opening credits of "Ocean's Eleven" (1960). An artistry of graphics, lines, dots and typography.

The original Ocean's Eleven, with a house full of the best of the crop, was more fun than the latest George Clooney-Brad Pitt ramble (this is our modern version of the best of the crop!). Although the second version did capture some of the light hearted banters of the first, the actors in our newer, modern version simply lacked style, and a ubiquitous talent. Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. go into impromptu song and dance, men and women meet and separate in realistic dialogues, but best of all are the opening credits.

It is rare these days that opening credits are designed with a unique artistry. Most are just simply the introduction to the film, without much thought to the design. In Ocean's Eleven (v.1) we get the impression that a specific designer was hired to make these credits, which stand out on their own as a short film to be viewed with or without the film.

Bonus: Dean Martin in Ocean's Eleven with his Kick in the Head.

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China Red

Ancient cultural symbols don't change


The Beijing Olympics were an eye-opener. It showed me two things:

1. Chinese people are content, happy and eager promoters of the status quo in China
2. China is determined to lead the world

Here is an interview on Bill Moyers' show of a (Chinese?) American. The whole interview is well-worth watching (there is also a transcript) since Philip Pan makes intelligent, honest, analysis of China's current status.

Of course, one thing that showed me that he is still a Chinese at heart was this interaction:

Bill Moyers: Here's something we didn't hear about during the Olympics, Philip. A report by the Economic Policy Institute in Washington that the growing U.S. trade deficit with China cost our economy 2.3 million jobs over the last seven years. Are these lost American jobs subsidizing a communist regime?

Philip Pan: Well, these lost American jobs are being replaced by jobs in China. And these jobs are taken by people who are even worse off than American workers, and who are, you know, this is a tremendous opportunity for many of these Chinese workers. Their lives are improving.

Yes, and the lives of American workers, who are literally sacrificing their livelihood to improve the lives of these foreign, continents-away Chinese, are getting worse.

I wonder if American companies see their greedy maneuvers in this light?

Some salient points from the interview:

- Although the wages in China's factories are really low, they are high enough that its employees can feel satisfied that they are some making progress from their previous lives - usually the harsh fields of the Chinese country-side. This candy-coated slave labor system will not incite discontent (and labor unions).

- China has opened up its markets, but still runs along the same authoritarian system that kept its communist regime alive through several decades. This blatant authoritarian/market system is eagerly accepted by many Chinese, including successful business people

- The government is playing the "patriotism" card when it convinced people to continue accepting is neo-Communist system.

Which goes along my long-held view that the Chinese are content to maintain the authoritarian, collective culture that has been part of their tradition for eons.

Which doesn't make China a viable world leader.

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Losers and Winners

Medal surges and no more tens

I can see how the new system I'm trying out, posting several small entries at once, will result with follow-ups. Especially if we have the kind of weeks we've had with the Olympics, invasions, and a quirky Canadian Idol.

But, I'm posting mid-week because...Mookie has been eliminated! This isn't front page news really, except for the fact that ordinary Canadians saw through his mediocrity, while the prestigious judges (singers and producers all) were calling him a Superstar since day one.

Here are my updated thoughts on Mookie, Canadian Olympic medals and how the American women's gymnastics team lost out or two, or even three, medals. And little note on those uncivilized Russians.

Mookie's weird mediocrity is out

I think what is happening in pop culture is a compass showing the general direction of our society. That is why I am fascinated by shows like Canadian Idol, So you think you can dance, and the ever-popular Dancing with the Stars.

These shows really do bring out talented people: dancers, singers, and choreographers. But, sadly, what I keep seeing is that the skills these artists have is mediocre or untapped. How skillful do you really need to be to dance a hip hop number compared to say a ballet sequence? Or sing a Diana Ross song compared to an aria from a Mozart opera? People may have wonderful voices, but if it is not challenged enough, their art becomes compromised.

I felt that Amberly of Canadian Idol fame had the voice, as does Theo. I keep wanting to tell them to go to the Royal Conservatory to learn breathing techniques, and how to reach for the high notes without sounding like a strangled cat, or even how to reach a note from above, to ensure its correct pitch, rather than from below making it a guaranteed flat note.

Or just listen to some really good folk songs.

Talent is innate, skill is learned. Both need each other. Contemporary artists think they can just glide along with their talent.

Still, I have some faith in ordinary people to figure out what is good or not. Mookie was voted out! To the surprise of the eulogizing four judges, whose strange blindness to Mookie's mediocrity I think I figured out here when I wrote:

It is the Canadian niceness to strangers (and exotica). Although I think that was a learned behavior, and one that occurred much later than we think. And Mookie Morris (yes, Mookie) does look exotic. And that often puts a blind spot, and a deaf ear, on modern, hip Canadians.

Is the Canadian Karma broken?

Ian Millar winning a silver for the show jumping team

Commentators were ecstatic over the surge of medals won between Saturday and today - a climb from seven to thirteen.

Well, look at it this way, Britain now has 36, Australia 35, France 29, Japan 23, and even Germany, from whom we expect so much more, has 28.

I think this little story sums up the whole problem.

Ian Millar makes it to the Olympics equestrian team a few months after his wife's (of 39 years) passing. He won his first and only Olympic medal, after several decades of entering Olympics games. In an interview, there was a quiet passion behind his quest for the medal, and he did say he was doing it in honor of his wife.

That is the passion that is lacking in Canadian athletes. I don't doubt their sincerity in trying for gold, but something is holding them back. An unabashed Canadianness is missing.

Many will say that is the Canadian way, but it is incorrect. "Proud to be Canadian" is aggressively declared at many instances, but usually as a self-conscious defense mechanism in retaliation to the Americans.

It is necessary to make that an offensive, and like I said, unabashed, declaration. As in the case of Millar, I can say that it was his love for his wife that transcended his losing streak - in nine Olympics! - that gave him his medal. Canadian athletes need to find that love of country in its purest form.

In these Chinese Olympics, there are no 10s, and a tie is not a tie


I suggested that Alicia was on to something when I wrote about the "invisible Chinese intimidation." From day one, she looked extremely uncomfortable being in the stadium. I attributed it to her super-sensitive nature picking up on invisible vibes. The silently aggressive Chinese, the under-age Chinese gymnasts, the possible antagonism (worse than aggression) that she felt towards Americans (this is an unexplored idea of mine that Chinese desire for world power will makes them anti-American more than anti-European, anti-French or even anti-Canadian.)

And here are three instances where this negativity played itself out:

- In the team competitions, as I pointed out, the American team coach did talk of a psychological warfare going on by the Chinese. Demonstrated, according to her, when Alicia was kept for an unusually long time from performing after her name was called out for an event. This made her nervous, lose her balance and lose the team's gold medal.

- Once again, although she performed reasonably well on the vaults, Alicia lost another medal to her Chinese adversary, who had many more deductible points including landing on her knees. Alicia lost the bronze medal to her.

- Finally, gold medal winner Nastia Liukin had tied with Chinese gymnast He on the uneven bars, but she received more "deductible points" and was given the silver instead of a tie gold.

I think the Chinese were banking on winning big in gymnastics, as they were in diving. But, they were confronted with a strong and high-ranking American gymnastics team. These little episodes in the National Stadium with the women's gymnastics team, although difficult to pin down, I think give us an idea of some of the lengths Chinese will go to ensure their hegemony.

I don't think they will be fair players at all.

Those uncivilized Russians

The last Tsar and Tsarina of Russia

I've written previously of the 19th century French influence on the Russian aristocrats, but neglected to write about some of the most famous marriages between European and Russian monarchs: Queen Victoria's son Prince Alfred, who was at one time second-in-line to the British throne, married Russia's Princess Maria Alexandrovna. And Victoria's granddaughter, born from the marriage of her daughter Princess Alice and and the Grand Duke of Hesse, Louis IV, married Tsar Nicholas II. Their son Alexis would have become Tsar, had not been for the Russian revolution.

Russia was very much part of the European monarchies' wielding of power through marriage between national princes and princesses.

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The New Vitruvian Man

And vying for supremacy


The Perfect New Man

I superimposed a photo of Michael Phelps over Leonardo's Vitruvian Man. Phelps's left arm, and the left side of his body, is facing slightly backwards in the photo, making the superimposition imperfect. I'm certain if we could get a full frontal pose, it would be close-to-perfect.

[Update: I will try to do the calculations to see if the Vitruvian Man and Phelps do indeed match. We have the numbers for Phelps's proportions, I'll look for Leonardo's].

But, it is still alarming how well Michael Phelps's body superimposes over the Vitruvian Man. His last competition, where he won the 100-meter butterfly by 1/100 of a second, is being replayed over and over. Some are calling it luck. I think there is a mental activity going on during the race. Phelps himself said he had to make a micro-second decision whether to coast to the finish, or to add an extra stroke to pull himself to the wall. This is all taking place in micro-seconds! He chose the latter, and the rest is history.

This very interesting discussion came up at the View from the Right just after I composed this post on Phelps.

The Karma of Canada's Olympic Costumes


I wrote a long article (which I sent to 37 Ontario papers and three national ones, and only got a first response from two) on the dismal choices the Canadian Olympics uniform design team made. Besides a really unsightly pattern, which makes some of the clothing look like pajamas, I was distressed at how the designers used mostly Chinese symbols and lucky charms on the clothing that Canadian athletes would wear to compete against those very same Chinese. I ominously wrote:

Our Canadian athletes have now the added burden of warding-off the mixed signals their clothing gives them. If there ever was an unlucky charm, it would have to be their costume, which drains the Canadianness out of the athletes and infuses them with their competitor’s spells.

Well, this is already day eight, and only three medals from the Canadian team. Smaller countries such as Great Britain and France are already amassing medals in the high teens and twenties. Symbols mean something, and if sport's competitors are so willing to accept those from alien nations (their rivals!), then their whole attitudes towards sports, winning, and bringing back glory to their nation is in question.

Something is seriously wrong here.

Chinese invisible intimidation?

Alicia being comforted by the more immune Shawn for her misses

Once again, images speak more than words. Alicia Sacramone, the older team leader of the American women's gymnastics team, has been in a bad humor throughout this competition. She's a more emotional gymnast, unlike the rigidly self-controlling Nastia Liukin, and the easy-going, but focussed Shawn Johnson. Her photo and video shots constantly show her with bewildered eyes, and nervous glances. What could have set her off?

Well for starters, there is the the possibility (probability?) of under-age Chinese competitors. There is also the aggressive declaration of the Chinese that they are out to get gold for "the glory of the motherland."

This, added with the strange, combative, even hostile, faces of the Chinese athletes I blogged about earlier, must have had its toll.

I think Sacramone is reacting to a general malaise, which she couldn't pin-down. She even blamed herself for her misses which cost her team their gold. Her team's coach, though, has said that Alicia was made to wait an inordinately long time before her performance as a "psychological warfare" by the Chinese to disarm her.

So, is this what we are to expect from the Chinese? Ambiguously aggressive faces, "we'll get yous" behind smiling faces, outright deception and lies? I think we should paying attention to the Alicias of the world, who for some reason seem to have a high detection - or at least, reaction - level for those apparently invisible signs of hostility.

The subjective rankings of Canadian Idol - sounds like the Olympics gymnastics

Amberly is heading home. I think she would have sung some lovely Beatles' songs booked for next week's show. But, it is a tight race, and her last performance was flat and strained. She had been practicing with her guitar, and I think she missed it during the performance.

But, the big news is still Mookie. And he's as unconvincing as ever. I think he's trying for a Billy Idol-Iggy Pop and, as his last song choice showed, the bad boys of the sixties all meshed in one. Billy Idol and Iggy Pop actually have very good voices, and with quite a wide range, unlike Mookie. They were able to sing great ballads, as well as their more "wilder" songs.

Mookie's strange rhythmic exercise (2min17 point) on "close your eyes girl" were distracting (here is the original from Steppenwolf), making me doubt those abilities too; he's done this in another song.

But the worst is bringing in the DJ with the turntable, as in rock-turns-house. I expect Mookie will start milking all these multi-culti, fusion variations to make up for his lack of vocal talent. And yes, he's already a Superstar, according to Sass Jordan, who had nothing to qualify that statement with.

So, what's my point? I still think that Canadians are being taken for a ride by the "experts." Like the Olympics costume debacle, they are taken in by a flashy exterior and ignore more subtle and enduring skills. There is a general laziness and willingness to go for quick gratifications that is in the process of ruining the arts, whether they be in music, architecture, design, and television shows.


How does one conquer the brute force of Russia?

The State Hermitage Museum, in St. Petersburg, Russia

Almost everyone is talking and writing about Russia's craze for power, her return to the Cold War mentality, how the West should handle this brute force that is Russia, a brute force much like what she had been throughout her history - Soviet era, 19th century expansion, the time of the Tsars, you name it. Russia becomes synonymous with civilization destroyer.

So, how about the centuries old Hermitage Museum? The original building was designed following the Versailles Palace of France, under the direction of Peter the Great, who built his whole city - St. Petersburg - using European models and architects. Later on, Catherine the Great started her great collection of European art there, which continues to this day.

Catherine the Great also corresponded for years with French philosopher Voltaire, although his Enlightenment ideas don't necessarily show themselves in her reign. French, rather than Russian, was the language of the Russian aristocrats throughout the nineteenth century, and many Russians looked to Western Europe and France for culture and the arts.

Brute force and civilization destroyer, indeed.

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Politics, China and Canadian Bloggers

The silence continues, part 31

[Normal posting has resumed below under Babylon in Berlin]

As I posted in these blog entries, I found it puzzling and disconcerting that none of the top Canadian conservative bloggers (did I promote these seven, [1, 2 -, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7], unduly?) have once mentioned Vince Li's escapade in the Greyhound bus in any coherent way and correlated it with some of the top national concerns: immigration, Islam, gun laws, death penalty, insanity as plea for reducing punishment. Enough evidence suggests that at least two - immigration and Islam - can be important players.

Yet another story ties up this incident neatly.

A Chinese welding a knife in the Olympic city of Beijing managed to kill one American and wound another during what the Chinese are calling a "random attack." Yes, waiting around a tourist area with a knife, where Americans are 100% likely to roam around, and then attacking not fellow Chinese but Americans (I think it is significant that he attacked Americans and not other white Europeans) is "random."

Just like the Li incident here in Canada, this was sugar-coated as a chance occurrence, the doings of an insane person, a one-off, etc... Everyone is determined to not let it mar the Olympics. But, like Li's murder, this event is a small, powerful and symbolic indication of what looms underneath this iceberg. Chinese-American relations, the pride of ordinary Chinese inflated by world events - Olympics, world trade, etc., West vs. East, I think they're all in there.

I was going to leave this story alone, realizing the real ineptitude of our bloggers who prefer to continue with their slightly incomprehensible post headings and tired stories rather than pick up on this Story of the Summer, when I realized this morning that Kathy Shaidle is getting quite a lucrative career at Frontpagemag.com, talking about...Jihad in China! With a wonderful image posted at her website with Chinese Jihad supporters in...England! And of course the tired, repetitive news of the "Beijing: Berlin or Munich" sort. Just a small story on Chinese knife-wielding killers murdering white people (certainly not their own Chinese) would have made for a timely and important headline. It is almost as if these bloggers have a knee-jerk reaction not to report on this Canadian news!

I realized a long time ago that there was a lack of discernment within Canadian writers, the only alert one being The Ambler ( who appears to have packed it in.) Still if they don't get it now, no-one will hold it against them. These things are subtle and complicated. At least the most they can do is humbly recognize that they missed it, and lament this time on their own insufficiencies.

But wait for their shock and awe at a future "Muslims taking them out to the Human Rights Commissions" type story. If they had been prepared, over the many years, the Human Rights Commission event would have been a non-story. It's too late to react once the knife has been inserted.

Update:
Damian J. Penny does talk about Tim McLean's funeral, where a group from the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church was threatening to rally in front of the Winnipeg church. Their reason being that Tim McLean's gruesome death was a punishment from God for Canada's lax liberal laws and policies.

Yes, this group may be wacky, but surely one can discuss their concerns without throwing the baby out as well? How did Li get in Canada in the first place, and reach so far in his mental deterioration that he had to kill a young, innocent man?

It is interesting to read that Damian will only write about the wacky Christians of this story, but ignore the wacky Muslim angle.

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Babylon in Berlin

And elsewhere too

Detail from Albrecht Dürer's The Whore of Babylon,
from The Apocalypse, 1498

Babylon, the domain that embodies evil on earth, burns with huge explosions of flame and smoke in the distance, and from the upper left come the armies of heaven, led by the knight Faithful-and-True.

“Babylon: Myth and Truth” - in Berlin: Maybe it is the sign of the times that the once most decadent city of Europe is now exhibiting a show called " Babylon: Myth and Truth." 1920s Berlin, which gave us the German cabaret and the self-absorbed German Expressionists, was a conundrum of creativity and debauchery. As close to Babylon as we can get, or so we thought. Can the modern soothsayers predict for us where Berlin is headed now? Perhaps it is not so difficult, what with the omnipotent EU, encroaching Islam, and school playgrounds where German is edging its way out in place of, say, Turkish. No debauchery here, in the carefree 1920s way, but in its archaic definition, debauchery means a seduction from duty, allegiance, or virtue. And there is plenty of that going on.

The exhibition will travel to yet another exemplary locale, the British Museum.

The New Face of China:


While watching the women's synchronized diving, I was struck by this face. I call it "The New Face of China." She is China's star diver, having won two gold medals in Athens. Her stars have certainly aligned themselves for her in Beijing. A moment when China is imperiously proclaiming world ascendancy, where even George Bush dare not be too reprimanding.

Her's is no longer the face of the docile Chinese maiden, which I always found to be deceptive anyway. Instead, that docility has replaced (or revealed) an androgynous insolence. A face put on not for her countrymen, but for those foreigners who deign to counter her country's prowess. But, winning gold medals, and taking the stage as a world leader, are two very different things.

The problem with freedom of expression: It is well and good to declare that in the West, we are free to write, say, do, behave however we wish. In a literal sense, yes that is true. In a practical, and realistic world, that just doesn't happen.

It is a shame that in order to get at Mohammed, we are allowing ourselves to defend this. Now, I don't care one iota what Mohammed's followers think about it, but I do care what our literary ancestor's would have said. If we debase our standards to the lowest (or yet even lower) possible denominator, in an attempt to fight our enemies, when will we have the energy, inspiration and discipline to write in the manner of Dickens, Austen or Hemingway? One false word (or a few), and Hemingway's freedom of expression wouldn't be sitting on our shelves today.

Shery Jones' novel was scrapped not because it offended literary standards, but that Muslims would have none of it. If only non-Muslims could make their stance as clearly and decisively.

Canadian Idol, without Simon, is rolling on but with a few glitches:



The lovely Amberly Thiessen made it to the next round, but so did he (forward to the 45s spot.) Now, they're touting him as the next big rock star to hit the Canadian plains (the Canadian Shield?), so I started to wonder why all the judges are backing a singer who only sings in an embellished monotone - albeit well.

It is the Canadian niceness to strangers (and exotica). Although I think that was a learned behavior, and one that occurred much later than we think. And Mookie Morris (yes, Mookie) does look exotic. And that often puts a blind spot, and a deaf ear, on modern, hip Canadians. Every single standing contestant, including the departed Mark Day, can sing an arpeggio of a full octave or more. Except Mookie. That alone is grounds for disqualification from a singing contest.

Brideshead, the book:

Julia as a Quattrocento painting

Evelyn Waugh was sombre in this book. Although there are moments of hilarity, usually when it concerns Sebastian, or Julia's husband-to-be the "colonial" Canadian Rex, the mood was serious through much of the book. I suspect it is because of Waugh's own Catholicism, which he converted to as an adult, and whose difficult position in English society he must have studied closely.

The film did good service to the book, except for a few odd moments:

- Rex was an American in the film, not the slightly ridiculed "colonial" Canadian that entered the Flyte family via Julia.

- Charles Ryder never says he's an atheist in the book, but rather an agnostic. In the film, he makes a point of correcting an agnostic label to that of an atheist.

- When Charles goes with Sebastian into the Brideshead chapel, he mimics Sebastian's kneeling. When Sebastian asks why he did it, in the film he says "to fit in." In the book his reason is for good manners.

I think there is more significance to these changes than their smallness suggests. Why "fit in", why an all out atheist, why lose out on the colonial references by having an American? I think it is the modern, 21st century mentality of the filmmaker - but that will be for another blog.

One other important thing we never really got from the film is that in the book, Charles manages to see (or articulate) Julia's beauty only when she was humiliated and had suffered. He never once used "beautiful" to describe her until their final meeting. Then, he no longer used artistic references to describe her looks as he did in the beginning, but the actual word "beautiful" instead.

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Li's Legacy

And the silence continues

Nothing from the seven afore-mentioned big-name bloggers: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7].

But I found many lively and honest discussions in forums and comments sections by ordinary Canadians who are asking the questions I raised in the previous post.

This is THE story of the summer, if not the year, since it encompasses so many things.

- Is immigration getting out of hand? Should we focus on the Chinese and recent immigration status of the murderer?

- Is Islam "creeping in"? Are the methods of Islam getting into the mainstream? Will we be seeing more beheadings by what appear to be non-Muslims? Look at this recent story, from this Sunday, of a Greek man who beheaded both his girlfriend and her dog. Was the Greek man influenced by Li's murder?

- Are there Muslims from non-Middle Eastern or non-South Asian origins - i.e. Chinese, Indonesian, Malaysian - whom we don't suspect to be Muslim, but who will invariably show signs of their background?

- Should Canada re-instate the death penalty?

- What is the cost of traveling around the country without the means for self-defense? Or anywhere, for that matter? If someone had been carrying a gun, would the murder have reached the horrible level that it did?

- Can Islamic-style killers - suicide bombers, beheaders, etc. - be deemed mentally unfit to stand trial?

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The Week in Review Part II

And the silence of the political blogs

This is not a political nor a current affairs blog. I will post on politics usually when it pertains in some manner to the visual (and sometimes the other) arts, and I usually post to analyze rather than to report. Hence my weekly posts.

An example is my long discussion on how, through the politics of multiculturalism, Canadian Olympians were robbed of a truly relevant uniform, and instead we got a mish-mash of Chinese cultural and superstitious symbols. I even dared to connect this with the fact that two of the designers were of Chinese origin, with a natural desire to bring their background into their designs.

Here is yet another Chinese connection, much more macabre, and strangely in line with the most dangerous foe we have yet in the Western World. A young man on a Greyhound bus in Manitoba was stabbed and beheaded by a fellow traveler. Initial pictures of the murderer, and his name, showed him to be of Chinese origin.

My take on this initially was that people are influenced by their environments - by television, film, internet, their cities and their buildings, the languages they hear around them.

I wasn't sure how to go to the Muslim part, except that I was willing to say this: a new immigrant, alienated that he is from his culture, and difficult as it is to "assimilate" in his new one, could very easily be influenced by evil forces such as those internet videos of beheadings by Muslims of their non-Muslim hostages. The Virgina Tech. killer, for example, despite mentioning Jesus as his inspiration to kill himself and others, sent his manifesto package to NBC with the return address name of "A. Ismael." His very martyr-like position (suicide-bomber style) also suggests more a Muslim influence rather than a Christian one. So there is no reason why this Chinese man was not influenced by Islam to do his evil deed. After all, it is all around him at the moment. So either way, whether he is Muslim or not, his influence could be directed to Islam.

None of the big-name bloggers, from Kathy Shaidle, to Ezra Levant, to Steve Janke, to Damian J. Penny, to the Shotgun blog, to the whole MacLean's blogging group, and on and on, posted on this story. And Small Dead Animals simply just posted a video which she called "Brutality". A few others commented on the news, some to decry the lack of gun-touting fellow-passengers, and another angry at the "blame the victim" mentality of the news.

And beyond that, I found only one blogger who was willing to use the word Muslim in his post at all. But his blog was really a parody at what he thinks conservative bloggers would be saying, which they weren't saying at all!

The only Canadian site I could find which discusses the Islamic nature of this crime is at Free Dominion. But that is a forum of ordinary Canadians. And I've consistently found that ordinary people seem far more perceptive than news journalists, and now big name bloggers too.

All in all, from a survey of 30-35 bloggers, mostly right-wing but some left-wing, only ten mentioned the story at all, and only one left-wing blogger mentioned Islam as a satire on how right-wing bloggers would write about the crime.

I'm posting this "current affairs" post now because I have analyzed the influence and penetration of Islamic imageries and signs through many posts, where I have even set aside a side column for posts on our changing landscape brought on by Islam. Slowly, and most dangerously, Islam is changing our environment. See, for example, my post on the "Muslim Girl Magazine" where the constant presence of hijabs and scarves in our streets, as well as in magazines and films, could be influencing young non-Muslim girls into accepting Muslim attire and even behavior. Perhaps this is how the Chinese immigrant in Manitoba, and the Korean student at Virgina Tech. were also influenced.

The Greyhound bus beheading should have brought up to these bloggers images of those awful internet videos of Islamic groups murdering their kidnapped victims, as Geert Wilders' film Fitna graphically documented for us . And if that was too much of a stretch, the fact that a Chinese man was involved in this brutal killing of what appeared to be a white man, should have alerted these bloggers to the importance of the story - maybe something to do with immigration and unassimilated or alienated immigrants?

These conservative bloggers after all ask for donations from their thousands of readers (tip jars are prominent, especially now since several are facing lawsuits), and yet consistently neglect to write about the most important transformation in Canadian history, which I've repeatedly written about, besides my routinely updated "Our changing landscape" side column, and for which I have to scour the internet to find reliable sources to support my posts. Here are a sample of such posts:

- Islamic references cropping up everywhere
- Hindu temples all over suburbia
- A side culture of Indians in Canada, living their Indian lives through movies, songs, festivals and websites
- Cell-phone conversations in incomprehensible languages
- Downtown Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver changing into condo-havens (yes, it is all those immigrants which are spiking up the housing boom)
- How architecturally sound and attractive buildings are being demolished for condos and high rises
- Alien symbols by alien peoples (no-one, as far as I know, has written about the strange Coat of Arms of the Governor General, or even questioned the Chinese theme of our Olympians' uniforms, which they just dismiss as "unattractive.")
- Multiculturalism ruining our designs (and in effect our arts.)
- And how Geert Wilders' Fitna provides important imagery for understanding Islam, including the awful beheading scene, images which he thankfully omits but provides the chilling sounds (screams) instead.

So, when a beheading occurs, our bloggers dare not touch it since they don't know how to respond! They haven't made the effort to understand these changes, and just continuously rant about the Liberal government (Dion is a big favorite) or how Harper is reneging on his promises.

First class journalistic investigation, also revealing the large non-white population of Edmonton where Vince Li lived, including 11,000 Arabs and 18,000 Muslims as well as Li's possible Chinese Muslim background, is found here. I think it is the only place on the internet with such a comprehensive discussion of the topic.

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The Week in Review

Sometimes I think I should post more often

Once a week (or thereabouts) is a little long for so many things that caught my attention this week. So here is a compilation of short posts .

Left: Castle Howard and Estate
Right: JMW Turner's
Phryne Going to the Public Baths as Venus: Demosthenes Taunted by Aeschines, 1838

[Click pictures to view larger versions]

Removals from the Blog list : I'm removing a couple of Canadian blogs from my list since neither has contributed for more than two months, and they are always sporadic anyway.

I emailed The Ambler, who stopped about four months ago, about this hoping that he is well (he mentioned that he had been sick about a year ago), and asking him to continue his duty - yes it is a strong word, but I hate it when really good bloggers decide to close shop - to provide us with non MSM news and views on Canada. The Ambler got my respect at his incisive and clear-headed commentary on the Conrad Black case.

Dispatches from the Hogtown Front is an immigration blog by a Torontonian. The blogger did a great job of providing information from regular media - usually the infamously liberal Toronto Star - on incriminating facts on the immigration debacle here in Canada.

Fortunately, Hogtown now has his own community blog, and another blogger has started an immigration watch blog which he calls Canadian Immigration Reform Blog, and which I've added to my blog list.

Long discussion on "what can we do?" about Islam over at Gates of Vienna: But it unfortunately got hijacked by a few posters who were intent on being the loudest; to defame others and to present ill-though out, childish proposals. And Baron Bodissey simply posts another thread, equally childish and unproductive: "You are a bunch of complete cranks." As one commentator puts it: "Don't they know there's a war on?"

Vision TV hosts Islamic program on Sundays: I was shocked to find that Vision TV, "Canada's Multi-faith and Multicultural broadcaster", hosts Sunday Islamic programs. Given its description of its services, this should come as no surprise. But, it is still a shock to hear Koranic verses read and discussed on the holy day of the week.

The Louvre's new Islamic section is funded by the Saudis: and one of the architects, Rudy Ricciotti, made an ambiguous statement that "here we're in a much more intimate approach, less symbolic, less monumental." Ricciotti goes on to describe the roof of the new addition by saying: "The veil-like structure, which plays with the metaphor of the Islamic veil, even if it is rather a 'liberated' veil, blown and lulled by the wind, or rather a cloud, or a flying carpet, is light, modern, transparent..."So much for lack of symbols.

How British producers are ruining American culture: and the main culprit is Simon Cowell, judge of "American Idol." I am convinced that Cowell knows nothing about music, and pressures the singers to sing in his favorite sound - blasting and bombastic black style. So all the singers sound the same. "Canadian Idol" on the other hand is much more varied, with great individual interpretations, based on the vocal strengths of the singers rather than a formula they all have to follow. I've always said that these aggressive British reality TV promoters are actually helping in the decline of American culture.

Here's a short and sweet song by a talented young Albertan contestant. Just forward to about the 40 second spot for the song.

The Big Country vs. No Country for Old Men: are both about the coming of age of younger men, when older men no longer can, or want to, set the standards. What a difference a mere half a century makes (in the long course of art history). No Country for Old Men gives us a bizarre character, touting an even more bizarre weapon on a nihilistic killing spree - a fine example for the younger generation of the 21st century. In The Big Country, Gregory Peck actually does make the world a better place.

Brideshead Revisited, the movie version: I haven't read the book (which I will start today), but I have watched the mini-series. Watching the beautiful country estate, and all those gorgeous period costumes on the big screen in full color is really a pleasure.

But, only in our multi-culti brave new world do we see an actor who looks Indian (I think Ben Whishaw is mixed white and Indian) take on the role of a British aristocrat. The homosexual Catholic character in the Brideshead Revisited TV series - who ends up in a monastery in Morocco - is sharp, sardonic, yes hopelessly romantic, but never self-pitying.The movie's Ben Whishaw plays Sebastian Flyte like a victim. He absolutely misunderstands the pride (snobbery?) and staunch individuality of the British aristocrats, and acts like the perennial supplicant for sympathy with his pathetic eyes and flimsy acting. Can an Indian really channel the soul of an English aristocrat? I think it is actually possible, although by a long stretch. But, he has to overcome his insecurities - yes, he has to deal with that giant of the British Empire, and he has to surmount whatever second-classness he might feel. If he cannot, he has no business acting that role.

I think, though, that Matthew Goode's distant and slightly undecipherable film version of Charles Ryder is much more credible than Jeremy Irons' in the TV series. Jeremy Irons was the Ben Whishaw of the TV series. They even look alike. The TV Julia Flyte was too beautiful, considering Julia says that she was "the family shadow," but the movie version found the perfect actress in Hayley Atwell. Surprise! Atwell is actually part Native American (Indian), although she grew up with her mother in England. So channeling is what actors are supposed to do!

I've already written too much on this. I will explore one theme further later - why couldn't a semi-English looking Indian actor channel the spirit of an English aristocrat?

Here is The Ambler's article on Evelyn Waugh.

Turner's Estates: Brideshead was filmed on one of the many English country estates. The actual estate in the film and TV series was Castle Howard. Along with spectacular buildings, these estates also designed elaborate landscapes of gardens, lakes, hills (yes, artificial ones) forests and dotted them with statues, mausoleums and other architecture and sculptures. Turner painted many country estates and used some of them to paint his mythological and antiquity masterpieces. In fact, the many mythological and classical themes of these estates would certainly have been a creative force in his works.

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