music
Full of music, laughs, and flow, and maybe just a little hustle.
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
Monday, August 24, 2009
My new love
Shayo, by Bigiano.
Shayo means booze.
The kid is so cute, and so positive. I so dig androgynous hotness.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
African Reader's Library
music
I met this writer, Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo yesterday.
Read more about her at 234next, and at sunnewsonline (so people really do it everyday)
I thought her elegant and...gracious? A new friend, looking to help me learn more about publishing options, brought me in to her office at the University of Lagos for a chat. Today I read her award-winning children's book "My Cousin Sammy." It made me sad at times, you know, the little daily cruelties in the family. The story is more interesting than some of the African literature we got in primary school.
For months I'd been trying to remember the title of a book that we read in Primary school. It had references to Bamenda, which we were told was in Cameroun. It wasn't an exciting read. I would maybe never have found it, was even considering posting a help request on the yahoogroup of my former classmates, when I got home found "The Village School" by Anezi Okoro. This wasn't the book but at the end was printed a list of other titles in the "African Readers Library," with short descriptions.
There was "An African Night's Entertainment" by Cyprian Ekwensi - I can still feel my heart race as I remember the sheer danger and excitement of following this story in reading class, was it primary 5 with Mrs. Emokpae? or Primary 4 with Mrs. Ogu? A similar story to The Passport of Mallam Ilia which we read in JS3 (Junior Secondary school) with Mrs. Bickersteth, the unforgettable, finishing schooled, then Head of English, now Principal of Queen's College Lagos. I just checked online...Ilia was of course written by Ekwensi.
On the list was also "Eze Goes to School" which is still very popular, but whose story I've forgotten, "My Father's Daughter" which I remember owning once, but it must have been unexciting, and on the third page of the list, at #16 was Promise, by Ashere, J. Promise was a book like "My Father's Daughter" - a girl's narration of some rustic living somewhere with not much action.
I would never have guessed that: "Promise is the story of a girl growing up in rural Cameroun..."
In those days, definitely Primary 6, 6A, with Miss * (three letters, two syllables, what was her name? jheri curls, dark and pretty and shapely and didn't let us play all the fun music at our class party at the end of primary school, so we trooped to 6C where the usually tough, cane-happy, short Ghanian Mr. Baa was letting the kids go crazy with disco etc. Was her name Miss Oji? She died soon after we left school.)
Where was I? In Primary 6 we had a book, not in the African Reader's Library, titled "Aduke Makes Her Choice." Aduke learrned typing and shorthand and things like that. I don't remember the "choice" she made, though. I remember the words stenography, and I think menstruation (which usually irked Aduke, or was it the Bamenda girl of Promise who noted this?) I remember Kenechi seemed to understand this part, mensuration or whatever, while I sure didn't. Kenechi is a nurse now. Thanks to facebook, I'm in touch with Primary school friends even.
Being on the campus of UNILAG...well, although it has that waterfront going for it,it's not a perfectly beautiful campus, but it is a campus, with all the youthful energy of late teens and tweens. I like campus energy, especially if it's all kinds of intelligent young people on campus, not only engineers.
I met this writer, Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo yesterday.
Read more about her at 234next, and at sunnewsonline (so people really do it everyday)
I thought her elegant and...gracious? A new friend, looking to help me learn more about publishing options, brought me in to her office at the University of Lagos for a chat. Today I read her award-winning children's book "My Cousin Sammy." It made me sad at times, you know, the little daily cruelties in the family. The story is more interesting than some of the African literature we got in primary school.
For months I'd been trying to remember the title of a book that we read in Primary school. It had references to Bamenda, which we were told was in Cameroun. It wasn't an exciting read. I would maybe never have found it, was even considering posting a help request on the yahoogroup of my former classmates, when I got home found "The Village School" by Anezi Okoro. This wasn't the book but at the end was printed a list of other titles in the "African Readers Library," with short descriptions.
There was "An African Night's Entertainment" by Cyprian Ekwensi - I can still feel my heart race as I remember the sheer danger and excitement of following this story in reading class, was it primary 5 with Mrs. Emokpae? or Primary 4 with Mrs. Ogu? A similar story to The Passport of Mallam Ilia which we read in JS3 (Junior Secondary school) with Mrs. Bickersteth, the unforgettable, finishing schooled, then Head of English, now Principal of Queen's College Lagos. I just checked online...Ilia was of course written by Ekwensi.
On the list was also "Eze Goes to School" which is still very popular, but whose story I've forgotten, "My Father's Daughter" which I remember owning once, but it must have been unexciting, and on the third page of the list, at #16 was Promise, by Ashere, J. Promise was a book like "My Father's Daughter" - a girl's narration of some rustic living somewhere with not much action.
I would never have guessed that: "Promise is the story of a girl growing up in rural Cameroun..."
In those days, definitely Primary 6, 6A, with Miss * (three letters, two syllables, what was her name? jheri curls, dark and pretty and shapely and didn't let us play all the fun music at our class party at the end of primary school, so we trooped to 6C where the usually tough, cane-happy, short Ghanian Mr. Baa was letting the kids go crazy with disco etc. Was her name Miss Oji? She died soon after we left school.)
Where was I? In Primary 6 we had a book, not in the African Reader's Library, titled "Aduke Makes Her Choice." Aduke learrned typing and shorthand and things like that. I don't remember the "choice" she made, though. I remember the words stenography, and I think menstruation (which usually irked Aduke, or was it the Bamenda girl of Promise who noted this?) I remember Kenechi seemed to understand this part, mensuration or whatever, while I sure didn't. Kenechi is a nurse now. Thanks to facebook, I'm in touch with Primary school friends even.
Being on the campus of UNILAG...well, although it has that waterfront going for it,it's not a perfectly beautiful campus, but it is a campus, with all the youthful energy of late teens and tweens. I like campus energy, especially if it's all kinds of intelligent young people on campus, not only engineers.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Instinct, Natasha
music
It's my instinct to make love, art, whatever; not war. Does everyone share this instinct? Not these city people. I guess chickens in a coop behave nothing like free-range chicken too. Crazy Lagos.
I have a short story from earlier this year: hope you like it. Wrote it in the middle of the night in Yola (after listening to Rufus' Natasha a lot I guess) Yowz, I miss Yola.
Natasha - A short play / picture book
January 24, 2009
By Tosin Otitoju
ootitoju@hotmail.com
Natasha is a friend of ours. She has lived in the United States of America for 15 years now, since she was 16 and starting her first week in the University of Indiana. She went from there, summa cum laude, to advanced engineering research in California, and now with her PhD, she is a professor living in Beverly Hills.
Natasha is not only very good in mathematics and engineering; she is also very beautiful with a good sense of fashion. She likes to spend money on clothes, which she collects like pieces of art. Do you think she has it all? Let’s ask her boyfriend.
Hans: Men, I love her. She doesn’t have “it all.” For example, she is so skinny because she hates to eat. I spend an hour everyday trying to make her eat.
But she looks lovely, we protest, so thin.
Hans: She is getting smaller and smaller. I worry for her. Nowadays – she doesn’t know that I know – she goes away after every meal. To the ladies room. To vomit everything.
Really? You should have her see a psychologist.
Hans: Tasha? You know she’s from a different culture. Psychologists are not in her culture. But yes, I agree, she has an eating disorder. I wish I could help her. Ah, there she is.
Natasha: Hey love. Sorry I’m late. (Smiling) I’m always late.
Hans: Darling! It’s OK. We were just about to order. What will you like?
Natasha: Er, not really hungry.
Hans: ‘Tasha?
Natasha: Maybe ice cream. Strawberry.
Hans: And a sandwich? Some rice? (After a minute of haggling, they decided Natasha would get a salad with her ice cream. Hans got a chicken and potato casserole, and we got our usual, fish and chips. )
Hans: Natasha has been unusually sad.
Natasha: I am always sad.
Hans: You are sadder now…
Natasha: The bombings. They are running my life. I wish I never came to this country.
We didn’t even know that was her country. She never struck us as Moslem – no veil, no Muslim name…
Natasha: You didn’t know? I’ve been watching the thing on TV. My own village, where I grew up – it has been leveled by the shelling. My life – I wish I was there.
Hans: But here you are safe.
Natasha: Safe for what? Alive for what? I am not alive, Hans.
Hans: (aside to us) My girlfriend can be overly dramatic sometimes. But Honey, next year you can go back home and help them rebuild.
Natasha: You don’t understand. For ten years, I’ve been plotting to go back (she slurps some of her ice cream) and still – what?
Hans: And she was supposed to finally go to her country this weekend. A one-year visiting professorship.
Natasha: And suddenly, poof. God, my life. If they would only open one airport. Let me go home and die. I can’t live like this anymore – worrying if my parents are alive.
Hans: She misses her home. The thing is very strange, since she’s very much an American girl now.
Natasha: But it’s very modern in the Capital. The difference is that people there – they know how to feel, feel life. I died already, living in America. Hans loves me: right, Honey? But nobody here can help me.
Hans: I know but I still try. I wish I could get her home. I go to my country every year, sometimes twice. My brother’s wife and kids join my parents and me for Christmas. Just like when we were kids; there’s a tree, plenty of soup and warm drinks, presents…So I can’t imagine, Natasha hasn’t been home in eight years.
Natasha: Was too busy. Grad school, then the Postdoc – ah, I wasted my life. A wasted life. There is nothing now to do but cry for a wasted life.
Hans: I love you. Your life is not a waste. Look, you are beautiful, accomplished, kind, rich, even. Only thirty-one.
Natasha: Excuse me. (She leaves for the ladies’ room)
Hans: I have never known a person so sad. You know, nobody in her family died, fortunately. Her grief is as if somebody died.
We agree that she is sad. We think she has a life here and that she should be patient until she can honour the visiting professorship back home. Of course not now, it’s too dangerous now, with hundreds dying every day in the bombings.
Two years later
Natasha! Look at her on the sidewalk in Beverly Hills, looking glamorous as ever. Granted, she’s a little too skinny. Let’s go over to say hi.
Natasha: I remember you. How have things been?
Alright. You know? And you? How is Hans?
Natasha: My ex? He never understood me. He’s very nice and he saved my life, but for me – I mean, these people don’t know how to feel their life. But he saved my life. I was really miserable those years.
And now?
Natasha: I can’t be miserable. I have a daughter.
Wow. That was – wow. Congrats.
Natasha: It’s not a big deal. Everybody has a child, a few children, at my age. Not around here, but –
I take it you went home then.
Natasha: Yes. The war ended at the end of August. One month later I was in the Capital. My mother kept crying because she said I looked so ill.
Did Hans visit you there?
Natasha: I got pregnant, so he couldn’t – it got awkward. I got very sick after I got to my parents’ home so I spent a lot of time in and out of hospitals. I couldn’t even teach for the first three months.
So you were pregnant?
Natasha: But not for Hans, obviously. I got pregnant after the illness. The father doesn’t know. It was someone I met in hospital. I can take care of the baby, and my mother is here to help me. She’s been here for a year.
That’s such an interesting life.
Natasha: Don’t use the word ‘interesting,’ like I’m an object. I wish I had Hans now. But he could never return to my life.
Have you talked to him?
Natasha: I had a baby. Can’t possibly ask him for anything now. Men have their pride.
I would call him. Just see what happens. He really cared about you.
Natasha: Yes. And I started going to see a shrink now. It’s a nice activity, outside work and home.
Glad you see it that way. You weren’t interested last time we met.
Natasha: But now I think it’s a good help. I mean, if we still had religions, or tight-knit families and elders, but in the modern world I say a shrink is a nice way to confess, clear your head.
How old is your girl?
Natasha: She’s one. Let’s go inside and see her.
Aw, you’re sure you’re not too busy?
Natasha: This is life, for living, I’m not too busy. (she leads us in through a small gate.)
Natasha’s mother: Ahlan bikum. Ahlan.
Natasha’s daughter: Eeek!
Natasha: There she is – Farah.
Notes:
Summa cum laude – graduating with highest honors.
Ahlan – greeting, welcome, in Arabic.
Farah – name, meaning happiness.
It's my instinct to make love, art, whatever; not war. Does everyone share this instinct? Not these city people. I guess chickens in a coop behave nothing like free-range chicken too. Crazy Lagos.
I have a short story from earlier this year: hope you like it. Wrote it in the middle of the night in Yola (after listening to Rufus' Natasha a lot I guess) Yowz, I miss Yola.
Natasha - A short play / picture book
January 24, 2009
By Tosin Otitoju
ootitoju@hotmail.com
Natasha is a friend of ours. She has lived in the United States of America for 15 years now, since she was 16 and starting her first week in the University of Indiana. She went from there, summa cum laude, to advanced engineering research in California, and now with her PhD, she is a professor living in Beverly Hills.
Natasha is not only very good in mathematics and engineering; she is also very beautiful with a good sense of fashion. She likes to spend money on clothes, which she collects like pieces of art. Do you think she has it all? Let’s ask her boyfriend.
Hans: Men, I love her. She doesn’t have “it all.” For example, she is so skinny because she hates to eat. I spend an hour everyday trying to make her eat.
But she looks lovely, we protest, so thin.
Hans: She is getting smaller and smaller. I worry for her. Nowadays – she doesn’t know that I know – she goes away after every meal. To the ladies room. To vomit everything.
Really? You should have her see a psychologist.
Hans: Tasha? You know she’s from a different culture. Psychologists are not in her culture. But yes, I agree, she has an eating disorder. I wish I could help her. Ah, there she is.
Natasha: Hey love. Sorry I’m late. (Smiling) I’m always late.
Hans: Darling! It’s OK. We were just about to order. What will you like?
Natasha: Er, not really hungry.
Hans: ‘Tasha?
Natasha: Maybe ice cream. Strawberry.
Hans: And a sandwich? Some rice? (After a minute of haggling, they decided Natasha would get a salad with her ice cream. Hans got a chicken and potato casserole, and we got our usual, fish and chips. )
Hans: Natasha has been unusually sad.
Natasha: I am always sad.
Hans: You are sadder now…
Natasha: The bombings. They are running my life. I wish I never came to this country.
We didn’t even know that was her country. She never struck us as Moslem – no veil, no Muslim name…
Natasha: You didn’t know? I’ve been watching the thing on TV. My own village, where I grew up – it has been leveled by the shelling. My life – I wish I was there.
Hans: But here you are safe.
Natasha: Safe for what? Alive for what? I am not alive, Hans.
Hans: (aside to us) My girlfriend can be overly dramatic sometimes. But Honey, next year you can go back home and help them rebuild.
Natasha: You don’t understand. For ten years, I’ve been plotting to go back (she slurps some of her ice cream) and still – what?
Hans: And she was supposed to finally go to her country this weekend. A one-year visiting professorship.
Natasha: And suddenly, poof. God, my life. If they would only open one airport. Let me go home and die. I can’t live like this anymore – worrying if my parents are alive.
Hans: She misses her home. The thing is very strange, since she’s very much an American girl now.
Natasha: But it’s very modern in the Capital. The difference is that people there – they know how to feel, feel life. I died already, living in America. Hans loves me: right, Honey? But nobody here can help me.
Hans: I know but I still try. I wish I could get her home. I go to my country every year, sometimes twice. My brother’s wife and kids join my parents and me for Christmas. Just like when we were kids; there’s a tree, plenty of soup and warm drinks, presents…So I can’t imagine, Natasha hasn’t been home in eight years.
Natasha: Was too busy. Grad school, then the Postdoc – ah, I wasted my life. A wasted life. There is nothing now to do but cry for a wasted life.
Hans: I love you. Your life is not a waste. Look, you are beautiful, accomplished, kind, rich, even. Only thirty-one.
Natasha: Excuse me. (She leaves for the ladies’ room)
Hans: I have never known a person so sad. You know, nobody in her family died, fortunately. Her grief is as if somebody died.
We agree that she is sad. We think she has a life here and that she should be patient until she can honour the visiting professorship back home. Of course not now, it’s too dangerous now, with hundreds dying every day in the bombings.
Two years later
Natasha! Look at her on the sidewalk in Beverly Hills, looking glamorous as ever. Granted, she’s a little too skinny. Let’s go over to say hi.
Natasha: I remember you. How have things been?
Alright. You know? And you? How is Hans?
Natasha: My ex? He never understood me. He’s very nice and he saved my life, but for me – I mean, these people don’t know how to feel their life. But he saved my life. I was really miserable those years.
And now?
Natasha: I can’t be miserable. I have a daughter.
Wow. That was – wow. Congrats.
Natasha: It’s not a big deal. Everybody has a child, a few children, at my age. Not around here, but –
I take it you went home then.
Natasha: Yes. The war ended at the end of August. One month later I was in the Capital. My mother kept crying because she said I looked so ill.
Did Hans visit you there?
Natasha: I got pregnant, so he couldn’t – it got awkward. I got very sick after I got to my parents’ home so I spent a lot of time in and out of hospitals. I couldn’t even teach for the first three months.
So you were pregnant?
Natasha: But not for Hans, obviously. I got pregnant after the illness. The father doesn’t know. It was someone I met in hospital. I can take care of the baby, and my mother is here to help me. She’s been here for a year.
That’s such an interesting life.
Natasha: Don’t use the word ‘interesting,’ like I’m an object. I wish I had Hans now. But he could never return to my life.
Have you talked to him?
Natasha: I had a baby. Can’t possibly ask him for anything now. Men have their pride.
I would call him. Just see what happens. He really cared about you.
Natasha: Yes. And I started going to see a shrink now. It’s a nice activity, outside work and home.
Glad you see it that way. You weren’t interested last time we met.
Natasha: But now I think it’s a good help. I mean, if we still had religions, or tight-knit families and elders, but in the modern world I say a shrink is a nice way to confess, clear your head.
How old is your girl?
Natasha: She’s one. Let’s go inside and see her.
Aw, you’re sure you’re not too busy?
Natasha: This is life, for living, I’m not too busy. (she leads us in through a small gate.)
Natasha’s mother: Ahlan bikum. Ahlan.
Natasha’s daughter: Eeek!
Natasha: There she is – Farah.
Notes:
Summa cum laude – graduating with highest honors.
Ahlan – greeting, welcome, in Arabic.
Farah – name, meaning happiness.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Thursday, May 14, 2009
O'Bama
music
I read The Audacity Of Hope last week. I read it very quickly. It's a good book featuring Obama's thoughts on US Government, Money, Race, God, Policy, Family, etc.
I'm reading Dreams From My Father this week. Now, that is an infinitely interesting book. I'm glad it's so long. I really like the end, which narrates, finally, his Kenyan family history. (I had to read the end before I properly got there; you feel his relief at finally KNOWING where he's from.)
I wish many "lost" Black people in America could come out here, even on short visits, 'cos it's rare to feel at home, in the regal sense of the word, in America when you're Black.
I wish I read more of the AfrAm works that we did in that blitz of a course with Charles Metze III in Freshman year at HU. Now I see what a diligent kid I was, how diligent many of us foreigners were, to have got As in these courses in spite of not having the background knowledge - slaves, OK I had seen "Roots", but we hadn't heard of Thurgood Marshall, Richard Wright, even Toni Morrison, and we had just one semester. The main text for the course was fantastic: From Slavery to Freedom, A History of African Americans by John Hope Franklin.
My sister Kehinde graduated last weekend with a degree from The Mecca. The real H.U. She studied Business: Hospitality Management. (Anybody hiring? Seriously. I would hire her in a heartbeat.)
Last week's news:
New Poet Laureate of England - Carol Ann Duffy
New on the Time 100 List - Rafael Nadal
Still the best in the world - Dinara Safina
I read The Audacity Of Hope last week. I read it very quickly. It's a good book featuring Obama's thoughts on US Government, Money, Race, God, Policy, Family, etc.
I'm reading Dreams From My Father this week. Now, that is an infinitely interesting book. I'm glad it's so long. I really like the end, which narrates, finally, his Kenyan family history. (I had to read the end before I properly got there; you feel his relief at finally KNOWING where he's from.)
I wish many "lost" Black people in America could come out here, even on short visits, 'cos it's rare to feel at home, in the regal sense of the word, in America when you're Black.
I wish I read more of the AfrAm works that we did in that blitz of a course with Charles Metze III in Freshman year at HU. Now I see what a diligent kid I was, how diligent many of us foreigners were, to have got As in these courses in spite of not having the background knowledge - slaves, OK I had seen "Roots", but we hadn't heard of Thurgood Marshall, Richard Wright, even Toni Morrison, and we had just one semester. The main text for the course was fantastic: From Slavery to Freedom, A History of African Americans by John Hope Franklin.
My sister Kehinde graduated last weekend with a degree from The Mecca. The real H.U. She studied Business: Hospitality Management. (Anybody hiring? Seriously. I would hire her in a heartbeat.)
Last week's news:
New Poet Laureate of England - Carol Ann Duffy
New on the Time 100 List - Rafael Nadal
Still the best in the world - Dinara Safina
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Birthday
music
Birthday is on May Day folks.
tonight: cartoons and pineapple.
tomorrow: whatever's fun.
Life is amazing, even without electricity in my house.
there's a lot of fun stuff I could tell you, but my Papa might think it immodest. You know I'll still tell.
Girls are weird. Boys make more sense. Someone I know (yours truly) decided to try polygamy. She tried it. Her boyfriend returned two days later from a trip. She told him (well, he knows her, so he knew from her poetry that she might do something like that someday.) He did the sensible thing: tried to "adapt," then eventually started being a bit too busy to hang out regularly.
Could you see a typical girl doing the same as boyfriend? She would get so pissed, then waste a lot of her time fretting over the situation, maybe even trying to change things. Girls are weird, dude.
There are downsides to polygamy, like "who's the daddy?" - I think that's why all the mores around marriage started in the first place. Then also the fact that it leaves less time for "somebody." I guess everybody knew that.
The poetry book is done. I'm so happy. It's so nice to FINISH something this big. You'll read the poems soon, over a hundred of them, everything from Haiku to "Saguaro" with some music and limerick in between. I got a chance to read some today, and my audience had a fine time laughing. Who could ask for anything more?
Birthday is on May Day folks.
tonight: cartoons and pineapple.
tomorrow: whatever's fun.
Life is amazing, even without electricity in my house.
there's a lot of fun stuff I could tell you, but my Papa might think it immodest. You know I'll still tell.
Girls are weird. Boys make more sense. Someone I know (yours truly) decided to try polygamy. She tried it. Her boyfriend returned two days later from a trip. She told him (well, he knows her, so he knew from her poetry that she might do something like that someday.) He did the sensible thing: tried to "adapt," then eventually started being a bit too busy to hang out regularly.
Could you see a typical girl doing the same as boyfriend? She would get so pissed, then waste a lot of her time fretting over the situation, maybe even trying to change things. Girls are weird, dude.
There are downsides to polygamy, like "who's the daddy?" - I think that's why all the mores around marriage started in the first place. Then also the fact that it leaves less time for "somebody." I guess everybody knew that.
The poetry book is done. I'm so happy. It's so nice to FINISH something this big. You'll read the poems soon, over a hundred of them, everything from Haiku to "Saguaro" with some music and limerick in between. I got a chance to read some today, and my audience had a fine time laughing. Who could ask for anything more?
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Aish baladee and Nutella
music
It's funny how well Nutella goes with aish baladee. One is an Italian chocolate-hazelnut spread, beloved of travelling students everywhere, baladee is the barely-there-light Egyptian local bread. Yum.
It's funny how lovely dark-haired white guys look in Adire/Batik, the locally-dyed cloth famous among Yorubas.
Yes, I know this post could use some visuals :-o
...so I just added the pics and links. do i have volunteers with cuter pictures of oyinbos in Naija clothes?
It's funny how well Nutella goes with aish baladee. One is an Italian chocolate-hazelnut spread, beloved of travelling students everywhere, baladee is the barely-there-light Egyptian local bread. Yum.
It's funny how lovely dark-haired white guys look in Adire/Batik, the locally-dyed cloth famous among Yorubas.
Yes, I know this post could use some visuals :-o
...so I just added the pics and links. do i have volunteers with cuter pictures of oyinbos in Naija clothes?
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Cool research, outside the academy
music
Last months in Adamawa
After the last post, electricity returned, and we've had so many hours per day now that I'm mildly sleep-deprived. Basically, whenever we have power, I'm up "using" it, to watch DVDs, read, etc. Watching Indian films now : finaly saw Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, a tearjerker love story with all the biggest names (except Aishwarya), Girlfriends is a surprising thriller - think Fatal Attraction but with girlfriends ;), there was a comedy called mujhse-shaadi karogi (Will You Marry Me?)that draws me to Goa , and I fell asleep watching more last night.
My answer, finally, to the first cry in this blog, dated July 2005, that I've discovered no new science...well, it is silly that I expected to be a researcher in 2004. (OK, 2005 less silly.) It takes time (for some people, for me) to have anything to say. I think the time will come, come soon even, but sad that I didn't know how to have more realistic expectations. Perhaps it's something that PhD programs can teach more to reduce the angst and pain. Ideally, though, it won't be in our trade papers that I do all or even most of my work, because I'm special and prefer higher impact even if it's unusual. That, does not come easily to many scientists. Although my gradschool advisor is way cooler than average, it's still a funny bunch that elects to live in Caltech. Ah yes, I'm planning to go back to grad school, in spite of being certain to be unhappy there, unhappy at least relative to eating cheaply and living simply in Adamawa State.
Compare Pasadena, the town in which I was somehow always a little sad. At least I learned a lot, including this work-life balance thing, how to be productive and relevant while selfishly keeping oodles of ME time. How to get knocked down and get up again. Not to mention practical things like driving and googling. Met some assholes and some lovely people, learned about white people and their civilization, enjoyed wealth for a bit (not that I was making a mega-salary but that the ambiance - the landscaping and the big-money equipment and everybody round having food and health, clothing and shelter, internet and extra, and the time and equipment to be scientists...it was quite a wealthy community.) The sad thing is that I wasn't even one of the sadder people around. What manner of progress ends up with sad people? At Howard, with black folk, there were sometimes delays, annoying people, but not the general sadness at 'Tech. Maybe things have changed since the President changed - he had a clue as to how to make a people sad: work long and hard on "interesting" problems without a clear view as to the real-world solutions and impact of the work. That's the winning formula for sadness.
Finally, the research
What could be more important than better understanding infant care? I watched this thing on Oprah years ago in which a chic analysed and classified baby cries so that you can see scientifically "why" the baby is crying. I wish more girls would do science and have fun with it. In
If you're into this astrology thing, The Pisces Effect is intriguing. Kenneth Mitchell scientifically relates Zodiac sun signs to specific Olympic sports, finding for instance that the percentage of medals in a sport such as swimming or archery, is not evenly distributed among the 12 signs, but actually skewed in favour of their corresponding signs: Pisces and Sagittarius.
Why would I want to be a synchronized swimmer of all things: some attractions - movement, rhythm, it's not goal-oriented in the narrow way that besting your fastest time in running or swimming is, it's more "aesthetic" and "cultural," it's low-impact (safe, no injuries), and it involves teammates so that the stress is lower. Basically you have fun trying it, happy if you win, whatevs if you don't. Makes sense that a Taurean would dig it. Taureans are the synchro queens, per The Pisces Effect. And I dreamt of doing synchro years before reading this, you know?
And great news
TWO cybercafes just opened in my area, feet from the university. 50% lower price even. And they may soon have a wireless subscription. My XO laptop aka One Laptop Per Child, would come in handy then, since electricity is not guaranteed. Can't wait to test the laptop out if/when it arrives.
Last months in Adamawa
After the last post, electricity returned, and we've had so many hours per day now that I'm mildly sleep-deprived. Basically, whenever we have power, I'm up "using" it, to watch DVDs, read, etc. Watching Indian films now : finaly saw Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, a tearjerker love story with all the biggest names (except Aishwarya), Girlfriends is a surprising thriller - think Fatal Attraction but with girlfriends ;), there was a comedy called mujhse-shaadi karogi (Will You Marry Me?)that draws me to Goa , and I fell asleep watching more last night.
My answer, finally, to the first cry in this blog, dated July 2005, that I've discovered no new science...well, it is silly that I expected to be a researcher in 2004. (OK, 2005 less silly.) It takes time (for some people, for me) to have anything to say. I think the time will come, come soon even, but sad that I didn't know how to have more realistic expectations. Perhaps it's something that PhD programs can teach more to reduce the angst and pain. Ideally, though, it won't be in our trade papers that I do all or even most of my work, because I'm special and prefer higher impact even if it's unusual. That, does not come easily to many scientists. Although my gradschool advisor is way cooler than average, it's still a funny bunch that elects to live in Caltech. Ah yes, I'm planning to go back to grad school, in spite of being certain to be unhappy there, unhappy at least relative to eating cheaply and living simply in Adamawa State.
Compare Pasadena, the town in which I was somehow always a little sad. At least I learned a lot, including this work-life balance thing, how to be productive and relevant while selfishly keeping oodles of ME time. How to get knocked down and get up again. Not to mention practical things like driving and googling. Met some assholes and some lovely people, learned about white people and their civilization, enjoyed wealth for a bit (not that I was making a mega-salary but that the ambiance - the landscaping and the big-money equipment and everybody round having food and health, clothing and shelter, internet and extra, and the time and equipment to be scientists...it was quite a wealthy community.) The sad thing is that I wasn't even one of the sadder people around. What manner of progress ends up with sad people? At Howard, with black folk, there were sometimes delays, annoying people, but not the general sadness at 'Tech. Maybe things have changed since the President changed - he had a clue as to how to make a people sad: work long and hard on "interesting" problems without a clear view as to the real-world solutions and impact of the work. That's the winning formula for sadness.
Finally, the research
What could be more important than better understanding infant care? I watched this thing on Oprah years ago in which a chic analysed and classified baby cries so that you can see scientifically "why" the baby is crying. I wish more girls would do science and have fun with it. In
The Secret Language of Babies: The Five Cries of Newborns
Priscilla Dunstan [claims] babies of different races and culture all have the same five cries ... and since we all have the same reflexes the sounds are the same. (Check the five sounds here, get the DVD)
If you're into this astrology thing, The Pisces Effect is intriguing. Kenneth Mitchell scientifically relates Zodiac sun signs to specific Olympic sports, finding for instance that the percentage of medals in a sport such as swimming or archery, is not evenly distributed among the 12 signs, but actually skewed in favour of their corresponding signs: Pisces and Sagittarius.
Why would I want to be a synchronized swimmer of all things: some attractions - movement, rhythm, it's not goal-oriented in the narrow way that besting your fastest time in running or swimming is, it's more "aesthetic" and "cultural," it's low-impact (safe, no injuries), and it involves teammates so that the stress is lower. Basically you have fun trying it, happy if you win, whatevs if you don't. Makes sense that a Taurean would dig it. Taureans are the synchro queens, per The Pisces Effect. And I dreamt of doing synchro years before reading this, you know?
And great news
TWO cybercafes just opened in my area, feet from the university. 50% lower price even. And they may soon have a wireless subscription. My XO laptop aka One Laptop Per Child, would come in handy then, since electricity is not guaranteed. Can't wait to test the laptop out if/when it arrives.
Monday, March 02, 2009
Monday, February 02, 2009
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Sana'a
music
Sana'a, Yemen
"Its value lies ... in the unforgettable impression made by the whole an entire city of splendid buildings combining to create an urban effect of extraordinary fascination and beauty."
Read all about the architecture of Sana'a
Cairo, Egypt
I recently found out what "art nouveau" is. Many of the faded Cairo buildings are art nouveau then. So Cairo's golden age must have been around the time these were built: between the World Wars. "No city on earth has as much architectural variety as Cairo..." While it's a jumble out there, the pictures on this Cairo architecture website remind one that taken individually there are fine buildings the whole city through. To love the look of Cairo, zoom in. Well, there's also the Nile. It's hard to screw that up.
Yola, Nigeria
In Yola, architecture is evolving. It's fun to watch. I'm in a "modern" part of Girei, outside Yola proper, in which the occasional storeyed house has been built. Most houses are either very much mud brick and thatch affairs, covered in earth, or made of mud but coated in cement. I live in something "in-between": it's built of cement, but so earthily, you imagine that it would soon return to join the rust-brown earth from which it came. I assume the walls are so soft because they use cheap cement mixtures, i.e. high ratio of sand to cement. I like it. The layout is simple: one long rectangle, one level only, divvied up with parallel walls into identical sections. Each section is a main door leading to a room, with an inner door and another room and a bathroom behind it. Join these side to side in a straight line.
Lagos, Nigeria
Lagos would be the Cairo analogue. Money is flowing in from "somewhere" and it's going into building at perhaps the most rapid pace in the world. To make any sense of this city's architecture, zoom in tightly. There is no method to the madness. My parents' home is actually very fine, and there's a neighbouring house that I find very unusual and inspired. It's solar-powered, very large and square, white, with huge open balconies on the top floor. The open plan suggests Hacienda? The white-block-ishness is Islamic? Balustrade would be some sort of traditional - what? Renaissance Italian? What is this place? Someday I'll find out. I can just ask the owner, a cool lady I haven't seen in years. In Lagos, the government is doing up the highways from horrific to nice, also very rapidly. Add electricity and water and we'll be on our way...
Got to run now.
Sana'a, Yemen
"Its value lies ... in the unforgettable impression made by the whole an entire city of splendid buildings combining to create an urban effect of extraordinary fascination and beauty."
Read all about the architecture of Sana'a
Cairo, Egypt
I recently found out what "art nouveau" is. Many of the faded Cairo buildings are art nouveau then. So Cairo's golden age must have been around the time these were built: between the World Wars. "No city on earth has as much architectural variety as Cairo..." While it's a jumble out there, the pictures on this Cairo architecture website remind one that taken individually there are fine buildings the whole city through. To love the look of Cairo, zoom in. Well, there's also the Nile. It's hard to screw that up.
Yola, Nigeria
In Yola, architecture is evolving. It's fun to watch. I'm in a "modern" part of Girei, outside Yola proper, in which the occasional storeyed house has been built. Most houses are either very much mud brick and thatch affairs, covered in earth, or made of mud but coated in cement. I live in something "in-between": it's built of cement, but so earthily, you imagine that it would soon return to join the rust-brown earth from which it came. I assume the walls are so soft because they use cheap cement mixtures, i.e. high ratio of sand to cement. I like it. The layout is simple: one long rectangle, one level only, divvied up with parallel walls into identical sections. Each section is a main door leading to a room, with an inner door and another room and a bathroom behind it. Join these side to side in a straight line.
Lagos, Nigeria
Lagos would be the Cairo analogue. Money is flowing in from "somewhere" and it's going into building at perhaps the most rapid pace in the world. To make any sense of this city's architecture, zoom in tightly. There is no method to the madness. My parents' home is actually very fine, and there's a neighbouring house that I find very unusual and inspired. It's solar-powered, very large and square, white, with huge open balconies on the top floor. The open plan suggests Hacienda? The white-block-ishness is Islamic? Balustrade would be some sort of traditional - what? Renaissance Italian? What is this place? Someday I'll find out. I can just ask the owner, a cool lady I haven't seen in years. In Lagos, the government is doing up the highways from horrific to nice, also very rapidly. Add electricity and water and we'll be on our way...
Got to run now.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Them Egyptians
music
You know, I owe you a lot of writing. In particular, those film festivals in San Francisco, I still need to tell you about the films. With the time it takes for them to become commercially successful, some of them may just be making it into the big theaters now.
For now, I'll introduce a film (and novel) that were very popular at the San Francisco International Film Festival of 2007. Not the best film in the world, but notorious, so it brought long long lines of actual Arabs (as opposed to curious non-Arabs.) The Yacoubian Building. The novel can be bought anywhere i.e. local bookstores. Watching the film is of course, quicker. The director was really young and cute. There's something very French about Cairo, or at least the way Cairo of the "good old days" is portrayed.
I'll tell you more about that Arab Film Festival of 2006. It was sooo full. One of the films people crowded to see was "Kiss Me, Not On the Eyes." Raj loved this film. I didn't understand it, but still liked the sensuousness - dance, colour, beautiful woman, colour, red dress against black hair, dance - in the market, I walked through a place like that in the market in my last week in Cairo, where they sell cheap bras and stuff, and a kid stands on a table advertising, (dancing?)
I just read the synopsis written in the AFF pamphlet for this film. Now I get it!
What else was I going to write? Ah, this chic, Nigerian, named Chimamanda is good. I'm excited for her 'cos she got a MacArthur fellowship, aka money to do whateva, suckas. I'm reading a fiction thingie of hers in The New Yorker and thinking "wow, sweet, I actually want to read more." Then it goes beyond two pages, and I'm starting to feel lazy...still going to read more. Still haven't read either of her novels but that never stopped me recommending her, right? A trusted friend swears "Half of A Yellow Sun" is amazing. Igbo nationalists, hehehe. I recommend and gift "Things Fall Apart" a lot. Read that one. It's by Chinua Achebe, whom Chimamanda obviously loves, understands, and emulates as a writer. You'll learn more in 100 easy pages about "Africa" and her "culture" than in months of seminars with big oyinbo grammatical talk.
I'll be back. Peace and love.
You know, I owe you a lot of writing. In particular, those film festivals in San Francisco, I still need to tell you about the films. With the time it takes for them to become commercially successful, some of them may just be making it into the big theaters now.
For now, I'll introduce a film (and novel) that were very popular at the San Francisco International Film Festival of 2007. Not the best film in the world, but notorious, so it brought long long lines of actual Arabs (as opposed to curious non-Arabs.) The Yacoubian Building. The novel can be bought anywhere i.e. local bookstores. Watching the film is of course, quicker. The director was really young and cute. There's something very French about Cairo, or at least the way Cairo of the "good old days" is portrayed.
I'll tell you more about that Arab Film Festival of 2006. It was sooo full. One of the films people crowded to see was "Kiss Me, Not On the Eyes." Raj loved this film. I didn't understand it, but still liked the sensuousness - dance, colour, beautiful woman, colour, red dress against black hair, dance - in the market, I walked through a place like that in the market in my last week in Cairo, where they sell cheap bras and stuff, and a kid stands on a table advertising, (dancing?)
I just read the synopsis written in the AFF pamphlet for this film. Now I get it!
"Tradition, culture, expression, and passion collide in this sensitive exploration of the changing nature of love and romance in modern Cairo. Young Dunia balances two lives: one as a promising graduate student in poetic arts, the second as the daughter of one of the greatest legends in belly dancing lore. Between intensive studies and even more extensive dance training, she manages to wrestle with intimacy issues regarding arduous suitor Mamdouh, forcing herself to make hard choices between what she wants and what she believes. When she secures the opportunity to work with an esteemed and outspoken literature professor many years her senior, she discovers a new kind of sensuality that challenges every assumption she has ever had about love. A well paced and often hypnotic feature that draws the viewer ever tighter into its inexorable conclusion."Maybe I'll understand this film better when I'm older. Like how dumb was "Love Story" when I was a kid? I couldn't wait for the chic to die, the film was so boring. Then I watched it again during the holidays in Sophomore year of college, and thought, huh, I guess it's this love story going on, they're not altogether stupid following each other around and then being miserable when one dies. Gosh, I used to hate those misery stories. Like Beth in Little Women...what was her story? She was sick, and then she died. Julianne Moore once said Beth was her favourite. I thought, eeew, what about Jo? She was alive, tough, and she like married the Professor ;)
What else was I going to write? Ah, this chic, Nigerian, named Chimamanda is good. I'm excited for her 'cos she got a MacArthur fellowship, aka money to do whateva, suckas. I'm reading a fiction thingie of hers in The New Yorker and thinking "wow, sweet, I actually want to read more." Then it goes beyond two pages, and I'm starting to feel lazy...still going to read more. Still haven't read either of her novels but that never stopped me recommending her, right? A trusted friend swears "Half of A Yellow Sun" is amazing. Igbo nationalists, hehehe. I recommend and gift "Things Fall Apart" a lot. Read that one. It's by Chinua Achebe, whom Chimamanda obviously loves, understands, and emulates as a writer. You'll learn more in 100 easy pages about "Africa" and her "culture" than in months of seminars with big oyinbo grammatical talk.
I'll be back. Peace and love.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Woooooooooo
music
It's cold here. Hehe.
No, seriously, Yola is probably a tough sell being so "isolated" and all, but I feel it's paradise. Nowadays the nights get "cold" - in the late teens. That's Centigrade, not Fahrenheit. It's about 70F at night. Ah, the joy. The days now reach about 30, as opposed to nearly 40 (I agree, 40 is hot.)
I still haven't found an inexpensive swimming place...though I bought one of those inflatable kiddy things to fill up with water for a soak one of these mid-days.
I just finished Meet the Robinsons. Nice film. 4 1/2 stars: 4 stars plus 1/2 for Rufus singing that "give me just one more chance...Another Believer" song. Love the film. Love Rufus. Kids would actually be tickled. And it's so intelligent, the type that gets better the more times you watch. KEEP MOVING FORWARD, indeed.
You know another very science-y cartoon worth watching? Osmosis Jones, from 2001. It was a pleasant pleasant surprise.
I FINALLY watched Ratatouille. RATATOUILLE gets FIVE STARS. Aw, what a sweet film. Basically, this rat is a chef. French. Silly accent. The part near the end when the critic tries the food? Divine in its silliness. I'll always watch cartoons. It actually won the Best Animated Feature Oscar in 2007. Maybe the best of the decade. I wonder if kids judge in this category? Or is that why there's always something for the grownups in these big-studio animateds?
Some kids were visiting during the holidays (little cousins, sleeping over) and I think one of them was IN HEAVEN just watching cartoons on a laptop late at night until he fell asleep. The twenty(?) films are all on a DVD I bought in December for =N=300. I promise never to buy pirated media while in a Western country. But out here, oh yeah...
It's cold here. Hehe.
No, seriously, Yola is probably a tough sell being so "isolated" and all, but I feel it's paradise. Nowadays the nights get "cold" - in the late teens. That's Centigrade, not Fahrenheit. It's about 70F at night. Ah, the joy. The days now reach about 30, as opposed to nearly 40 (I agree, 40 is hot.)
I still haven't found an inexpensive swimming place...though I bought one of those inflatable kiddy things to fill up with water for a soak one of these mid-days.
I just finished Meet the Robinsons. Nice film. 4 1/2 stars: 4 stars plus 1/2 for Rufus singing that "give me just one more chance...Another Believer" song. Love the film. Love Rufus. Kids would actually be tickled. And it's so intelligent, the type that gets better the more times you watch. KEEP MOVING FORWARD, indeed.
You know another very science-y cartoon worth watching? Osmosis Jones, from 2001. It was a pleasant pleasant surprise.
I FINALLY watched Ratatouille. RATATOUILLE gets FIVE STARS. Aw, what a sweet film. Basically, this rat is a chef. French. Silly accent. The part near the end when the critic tries the food? Divine in its silliness. I'll always watch cartoons. It actually won the Best Animated Feature Oscar in 2007. Maybe the best of the decade. I wonder if kids judge in this category? Or is that why there's always something for the grownups in these big-studio animateds?
Some kids were visiting during the holidays (little cousins, sleeping over) and I think one of them was IN HEAVEN just watching cartoons on a laptop late at night until he fell asleep. The twenty(?) films are all on a DVD I bought in December for =N=300. I promise never to buy pirated media while in a Western country. But out here, oh yeah...
Thursday, January 08, 2009
Aw, menn. It's fun being a fan.
music
I like all these people: Martina, Rafa, Jelena, Ana, ...
I like all these people: Martina, Rafa, Jelena, Ana, ...
Stories by Sarah Thurmond, on TENNIS.comWhen You’re Good to Martina…
You may have heard that Martina Navratilova came in second on the British reality show “I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!” but what you may not have heard is that she caught the acting bug. (Possibly through one of these critters?)In an interview with The Times of London, Navratilova talks about auditioning for the role of Mama Morton in the West End’s production of Chicago. I know what you’re thinking: Isn’t that the role that earned Queen Latifah an Oscar nomination in the movie version of the musical? Wait…can Martina sing? Here’s what she says: “I have no idea whether my vocal cords can handle it, or whether I'd be able to cope with the lifestyle. I'd do it if it was a two- to three-week run.” The latest word is that the role is hers if she wants it, but she's too busy to take it on.
...
Tennis Stars at Night…
Is space becoming tennis’ version of the Hollywood Walk of Fame? First, Rafael Nadal got an asteroid named in his honor after he beat Roger Federer in the final at Wimbledon last year. Now Jelena Jankovic has a star. According to her website, the star is named JJ and “shines in SC2 Hercules constellation of North polar region.” In other Jankovic news, she switched management agencies, from Octagon to IMG. She is also is joining IMG Models. All you models-of-the-moment better watch out!...
Think She Cares?
Thedailybeast.com (former Vanity Fair editrix Tina Brown’s current affairs site) released its “Top Ten Thinking Man’s Sex Symbols for 2008.” Who tops the list? Tina Fey? No. Sarah Silverman? Uh-uh. It’s ANA IVANOVIC! Yep, the defending French Open champion is No. 1. The writer of the piece, former TENNIS Magazine contributor Touré, says Ivanovic “is blowing men away with a butterscotch-colored face that’s all smooth slopes and haunting eyes. Ivanovic is the most beautiful female professional athlete of all time.” Sorry, Touré, but the only eyes she’s haunting are those of hunky Fernando Verdasco.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Metamorphosis
music
The one you hold most dear
is the same whose heart you spear.
The one you want so close
you frighten since, who knows? --
love may be the child of hate,
if you push I may compensate.
Lessons from the life you knew -
Do as has been done to you.
Fear. Be jealous. Sting and bite.
Secure someone to hold at night.
Love is a dreadful swirling thing.
London is the capital of Spain.
I left aloft Lufthansa and mercifully
find amongst better teachers better theory.
The one you hold most dear
is the same whose heart you spear.
The one you want so close
you frighten since, who knows? --
love may be the child of hate,
if you push I may compensate.
Lessons from the life you knew -
Do as has been done to you.
Fear. Be jealous. Sting and bite.
Secure someone to hold at night.
Love is a dreadful swirling thing.
London is the capital of Spain.
I left aloft Lufthansa and mercifully
find amongst better teachers better theory.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Rufus is a funny man
music
In RollingStone Magazine
Rufus Wainwright on Casting Lou Reed as the Grinch and Being Stalked By Amy Winehouse
If you dread spending Christmas with your family, consider kicking it with the McGarrigle Sisters this year. The folk duo’s not-quite-annual “McGarrigle Christmas Hour” variety show lands at New York’s Carnegie Hall on December 10th — along with Emmylou Harris, Jimmy Fallon, Laurie Anderson and that apotheosis of Yuletide cheer, Lou Reed. Joining them all, as usual, is singer-composer Rufus Wainwright, the son of McGarrigle Sister Kate. Rolling Stone spoke with Wainwright last week about the big holiday show, his forthcoming opera and, naturally, Amy Winehouse. Excerpts:
It’s that time of year again and you’ve got a Christmas show a comin’.
Well, it’s sort of a biannual Christmas show that we do. Um, mainly because if I had to do it every year, I would probably become a Hasidic Jew.
Why do you say that?
I can only take Christmas in small doses and it’s really only mostly for my mom ’cause she really loves getting the family together and forcing us to sing and be merry.
Well, there’s nothing small about the doses that you’re serving it up in though.
No, no it’s an O.D. event and my mother really is going whole-hog. She’s doing the Martha Stewart Show the day before the performance and she’s making cookies for everybody. And she wanted everybody to dress in sort of a Dickensian style — meaning just take your fashionable clothes and put holes in them. And then we’re doing a selection of French songs and famous English songs, or standards. Because we have people like Emmy Lou and Lou Reed, I’m sure we’ll do some country songs and stuff. And then, you know, a lot of comedy too just because we tend to under-rehearse and then make up for it onstage with banter.
Lou Reed doesn’t strike me as the most holiday-oriented chap.
He’s the Grinch, or the Scrooge character in our carol. He did the last show, which was a couple years ago and I worked with him at a couple other events. He’s a wonderful, wonderful guy.
So speaking of big shows and O.D.’ing, you did Judy Garland at Carnegie Hall in 2006. Now apparently Liza Minelli is poised for a comeback. Did you see that big profile in The New York Times?
Was I mentioned? Probably not. No, Liza and I are sort of in different camps — which is sort of a funny term to use. I mean, I think she’s an incredible talent. But I don’t know how much Liza digs my Judy work. I think anything concerning her mother is usually loaded. That’s another funny word to use.
Who in today’s culture would you sort of compare to Judy?
Oh God, one can’t help but think of Amy Winehouse of course. I mean, there’s so many correlations. They both have such an amazing voice and an amazing drug problem.
Have you ever met Amy Winehouse?
Yeah, I met her. She once sort of chased me at Coachella. She kept trying to break into my dressing room and, I don’t know, I think she saw some light in my eyes or something.
What did she want?
I don’t know. Maybe she was a fan, I can’t quite tell, but I think it was more about looking for some sort of safety. I don’t party anymore and there was a lot of partying going on. And I remember that when I did party, you could kind of see people who weren’t in that fast lane. And they either seemed extremely attractive or extremely repulsive. So I think I was pretty attractive to her at some point because it was pretty crazy around her.
Did you guys ever talk?
We talked a little bit and in all truth, I think she was probably, you know, raiding my beer fridge ’cause I wasn’t drinking it or something.
You’re totally dry? You don’t drink at all?
Well… whatever. You know, who knows? Never say never.
She is really tragic. She never had that sort of depth of career that Judy did before it went down sort of spiraling.
I think the problem is that in this day and age, there’s no safety net for anyone in show business. In fact it’s almost the reverse. They almost push you off the trapeze without a net, you know, for kicks. They feed off of your injuries.
Did you ever feel pushed?
When I started it was a little safer. It was right after Kurt Cobain and Jeff Buckley. I think people were a little sensitive to real dark chaos and they were kind of smarting from being extremely wounded by those two events. So people wanted to see me healthy. But that seems to have worn off at this point.
What about Britney?
Actually, I really love Britney and I love what she did on TV recently. I thought that was a great move on her part just being really honest and open and not exploitative either about her situation, but at the same time being realistic.
There’s hope.
Yeah! There’s always hope. But I’m always here writing my opera and working with Shakespeare so if they want to come over and see what it’s like — see how boring it can be — then that’s great.
Talk about your opera.
I’m writing this opera at this moment that is premiering in July in Manchester, England called Prima Donna.
What about any other pop recordings? You’ve been touring a lot.
I tour every once in a while just to make money to eat out. And then I have another fabulous project that will be premiering in Berlin in the spring, in April. It’s a musical play based on Shakespeare sonnets. I’ve written music to about eight or nine of the sonnets and it’s being directed by Robert Wilson. That’ll be sort of a Germanistic theatre extravaganza.
A Bertolt Brecht sort of thing?
Yeah it’ll be huge here of course. I’m totally going for the jugular in terms of the MTV generation here — Shakespeare and opera.
Right, great. All Rolling Stone fodder.
I know. I know. I have some Rolling Stone fodder, but it’ll come later. Don’t you worry.
****************************************
In Newsweek
You’ll Have A Gay Old Time
Rufus Wainwright is back at Carnegie Hall, only not with Judy Garland this time. His Christmas show includes his mother, his aunt and his sister. He spoke with Nicki Gostin:
Whose idea is the show?
Definitely my mom's idea, 100 percent. In fact, it's really the Kate McGarrigle Christmas Show.
Is it a way for the family to get extra money for presents?
Oh, no! It's a way to give a Christmas present without having to go shopping. One other thing about the show: there is a charity aspect, for cancer. My mom's been struggling with that for a couple of years, so we're raising money for all the great care she's got in Canada.
Don 't they have nationalized health care?
They do, but they still need money.
You ' ve lived in Canada and the U.S. Which has the better healthcare system?
At the end of the day, if it's free it's better. There are a lot of obstacles but eventually you get what you need if you fight really hard. That's better than being completely wiped out.
Is it weird working with Mom?
No, I've worked with my mom all my life. That being said, yes, it's completely weird.
Your sister, Martha, is also in the show. Does your mom favor her?
No, no. I think that she gets along with us both in completely different ways. Martha and her are bosom buddies, they'll cook and talk. Me and mom go to the opera together.
They do say there ' s nothing better than a gay son.
My mother has definitely profited from that legend.
Are you still with your German boyfriend, Jorn?
Yeah, we're happily together. After the show, when I'll be completely horrified and sickened by my family, I'm going to go to Germany for Christmas for the first time. We're going to go skiing in Austria, and on New Year's Eve on the stroke of midnight we'll dance to Strauss's "The Blue Danube" in the snow.
Do you have lots of famous friends?
I do. Elton, Jake Gyllenhaal, Reese Witherspoon.
Do you have fancy dinner parties?
I try to, but I don't like to clean up very much.
So hire some help.
I'm not quite that fancy.
Do you at least have a cleaning lady?
I'm just really lazy. Too lazy to phone the cleaning lady. But I do have a German boyfriend. He can't help cleaning. Recently he came back from a long trip and he kissed me and immediately went and cleaned the toilet.
****************************************************
In RollingStone Magazine
Rufus Wainwright on Casting Lou Reed as the Grinch and Being Stalked By Amy Winehouse
If you dread spending Christmas with your family, consider kicking it with the McGarrigle Sisters this year. The folk duo’s not-quite-annual “McGarrigle Christmas Hour” variety show lands at New York’s Carnegie Hall on December 10th — along with Emmylou Harris, Jimmy Fallon, Laurie Anderson and that apotheosis of Yuletide cheer, Lou Reed. Joining them all, as usual, is singer-composer Rufus Wainwright, the son of McGarrigle Sister Kate. Rolling Stone spoke with Wainwright last week about the big holiday show, his forthcoming opera and, naturally, Amy Winehouse. Excerpts:
It’s that time of year again and you’ve got a Christmas show a comin’.
Well, it’s sort of a biannual Christmas show that we do. Um, mainly because if I had to do it every year, I would probably become a Hasidic Jew.
Why do you say that?
I can only take Christmas in small doses and it’s really only mostly for my mom ’cause she really loves getting the family together and forcing us to sing and be merry.
Well, there’s nothing small about the doses that you’re serving it up in though.
No, no it’s an O.D. event and my mother really is going whole-hog. She’s doing the Martha Stewart Show the day before the performance and she’s making cookies for everybody. And she wanted everybody to dress in sort of a Dickensian style — meaning just take your fashionable clothes and put holes in them. And then we’re doing a selection of French songs and famous English songs, or standards. Because we have people like Emmy Lou and Lou Reed, I’m sure we’ll do some country songs and stuff. And then, you know, a lot of comedy too just because we tend to under-rehearse and then make up for it onstage with banter.
Lou Reed doesn’t strike me as the most holiday-oriented chap.
He’s the Grinch, or the Scrooge character in our carol. He did the last show, which was a couple years ago and I worked with him at a couple other events. He’s a wonderful, wonderful guy.
So speaking of big shows and O.D.’ing, you did Judy Garland at Carnegie Hall in 2006. Now apparently Liza Minelli is poised for a comeback. Did you see that big profile in The New York Times?
Was I mentioned? Probably not. No, Liza and I are sort of in different camps — which is sort of a funny term to use. I mean, I think she’s an incredible talent. But I don’t know how much Liza digs my Judy work. I think anything concerning her mother is usually loaded. That’s another funny word to use.
Who in today’s culture would you sort of compare to Judy?
Oh God, one can’t help but think of Amy Winehouse of course. I mean, there’s so many correlations. They both have such an amazing voice and an amazing drug problem.
Have you ever met Amy Winehouse?
Yeah, I met her. She once sort of chased me at Coachella. She kept trying to break into my dressing room and, I don’t know, I think she saw some light in my eyes or something.
What did she want?
I don’t know. Maybe she was a fan, I can’t quite tell, but I think it was more about looking for some sort of safety. I don’t party anymore and there was a lot of partying going on. And I remember that when I did party, you could kind of see people who weren’t in that fast lane. And they either seemed extremely attractive or extremely repulsive. So I think I was pretty attractive to her at some point because it was pretty crazy around her.
Did you guys ever talk?
We talked a little bit and in all truth, I think she was probably, you know, raiding my beer fridge ’cause I wasn’t drinking it or something.
You’re totally dry? You don’t drink at all?
Well… whatever. You know, who knows? Never say never.
She is really tragic. She never had that sort of depth of career that Judy did before it went down sort of spiraling.
I think the problem is that in this day and age, there’s no safety net for anyone in show business. In fact it’s almost the reverse. They almost push you off the trapeze without a net, you know, for kicks. They feed off of your injuries.
Did you ever feel pushed?
When I started it was a little safer. It was right after Kurt Cobain and Jeff Buckley. I think people were a little sensitive to real dark chaos and they were kind of smarting from being extremely wounded by those two events. So people wanted to see me healthy. But that seems to have worn off at this point.
What about Britney?
Actually, I really love Britney and I love what she did on TV recently. I thought that was a great move on her part just being really honest and open and not exploitative either about her situation, but at the same time being realistic.
There’s hope.
Yeah! There’s always hope. But I’m always here writing my opera and working with Shakespeare so if they want to come over and see what it’s like — see how boring it can be — then that’s great.
Talk about your opera.
I’m writing this opera at this moment that is premiering in July in Manchester, England called Prima Donna.
What about any other pop recordings? You’ve been touring a lot.
I tour every once in a while just to make money to eat out. And then I have another fabulous project that will be premiering in Berlin in the spring, in April. It’s a musical play based on Shakespeare sonnets. I’ve written music to about eight or nine of the sonnets and it’s being directed by Robert Wilson. That’ll be sort of a Germanistic theatre extravaganza.
A Bertolt Brecht sort of thing?
Yeah it’ll be huge here of course. I’m totally going for the jugular in terms of the MTV generation here — Shakespeare and opera.
Right, great. All Rolling Stone fodder.
I know. I know. I have some Rolling Stone fodder, but it’ll come later. Don’t you worry.
****************************************
In Newsweek
You’ll Have A Gay Old Time
Rufus Wainwright is back at Carnegie Hall, only not with Judy Garland this time. His Christmas show includes his mother, his aunt and his sister. He spoke with Nicki Gostin:
Whose idea is the show?
Definitely my mom's idea, 100 percent. In fact, it's really the Kate McGarrigle Christmas Show.
Is it a way for the family to get extra money for presents?
Oh, no! It's a way to give a Christmas present without having to go shopping. One other thing about the show: there is a charity aspect, for cancer. My mom's been struggling with that for a couple of years, so we're raising money for all the great care she's got in Canada.
Don 't they have nationalized health care?
They do, but they still need money.
You ' ve lived in Canada and the U.S. Which has the better healthcare system?
At the end of the day, if it's free it's better. There are a lot of obstacles but eventually you get what you need if you fight really hard. That's better than being completely wiped out.
Is it weird working with Mom?
No, I've worked with my mom all my life. That being said, yes, it's completely weird.
Your sister, Martha, is also in the show. Does your mom favor her?
No, no. I think that she gets along with us both in completely different ways. Martha and her are bosom buddies, they'll cook and talk. Me and mom go to the opera together.
They do say there ' s nothing better than a gay son.
My mother has definitely profited from that legend.
Are you still with your German boyfriend, Jorn?
Yeah, we're happily together. After the show, when I'll be completely horrified and sickened by my family, I'm going to go to Germany for Christmas for the first time. We're going to go skiing in Austria, and on New Year's Eve on the stroke of midnight we'll dance to Strauss's "The Blue Danube" in the snow.
Do you have lots of famous friends?
I do. Elton, Jake Gyllenhaal, Reese Witherspoon.
Do you have fancy dinner parties?
I try to, but I don't like to clean up very much.
So hire some help.
I'm not quite that fancy.
Do you at least have a cleaning lady?
I'm just really lazy. Too lazy to phone the cleaning lady. But I do have a German boyfriend. He can't help cleaning. Recently he came back from a long trip and he kissed me and immediately went and cleaned the toilet.
****************************************************
Friday, December 05, 2008
Poem
music
It's not usual that I apologize for my "art." I'll say before pasting this poem that Naija-bashing is not a sport I want to indulge in, I actually think it's a gorgeous bunch of land and people here.
Here goes Prophecy II: Blame Game
Prophecy II – Blame Game
Author: Tosin Otitoju
ootitoju@hotmail.com
How does it feel to be a problem?
Tell me, Nigeria. Let us talk.
What happened?
Is it…
me, us, the people,
who have slandered you
and named you scapegoat
to cover up our laziness?
Is it…
them, Britain, America,
who beat you as a child
then mock you as a large-limbed
but small-brained man?
Is it…
God
God
God
whom you call daily
who tells you to come back,
to wait, Oga no dey office –
Is it He that wastes your time?
Is it…
your wife, her name, Corruption?
Just marry another wife.
There are women out there
who make a man prosperous.
I don’t know why you have no money left
but I do know that when you stand up you will be praised
and the shame of the past will be quickly forgotten.
Let’s go Nigeria. Vamos.
The author is currently working on a collection of 100 poems, including the Prophecy series.
It's not usual that I apologize for my "art." I'll say before pasting this poem that Naija-bashing is not a sport I want to indulge in, I actually think it's a gorgeous bunch of land and people here.
Here goes Prophecy II: Blame Game
Prophecy II – Blame Game
Author: Tosin Otitoju
ootitoju@hotmail.com
How does it feel to be a problem?
Tell me, Nigeria. Let us talk.
What happened?
Is it…
me, us, the people,
who have slandered you
and named you scapegoat
to cover up our laziness?
Is it…
them, Britain, America,
who beat you as a child
then mock you as a large-limbed
but small-brained man?
Is it…
God
God
God
whom you call daily
who tells you to come back,
to wait, Oga no dey office –
Is it He that wastes your time?
Is it…
your wife, her name, Corruption?
Just marry another wife.
There are women out there
who make a man prosperous.
I don’t know why you have no money left
but I do know that when you stand up you will be praised
and the shame of the past will be quickly forgotten.
Let’s go Nigeria. Vamos.
The author is currently working on a collection of 100 poems, including the Prophecy series.
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