Happy Independence Day!

Take that, England!

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Okay, prisoners are a protected group, but THIS IS SO AWESOME

One of the things we’ve discussed in my Fieldwork class is the clinical basis of a lot of the human subjects testing regulations used even in the humanities. Thus, while children are rightfully considered a protected group requiring special handling, other groups you might not think about, such as pregnant women and prisoners, are as well. So when I saw a video of a huge room full of Filipino prisoners dancing, those issues were the first thing I thought about. But honestly, this is better than that, and ultimately, it looks like these guys are having a lot of fun. Without further ado, Soulja Boy’s “Crank Dat” (segues into MC Hammer):

And “Hare Hare Yukai,” the ending theme from the Haruhi anime:

Tired, and tired of post-colonial nonsense

Wow. So this morning, I managed to sleep through two alarms and a call from my girlfriend, missing my morning class in the process and waking up at 11:30am. I guess it was going to catch up to me eventually, what with me sleeping 3-4 hours every night and spending all day reading ethnomusicology journals. On the plus side, I’m hoping the extra rest this afforded me will allow me to push forward and get a little bit ahead in my classes so that it won’t have to happen again. I’d been doing so well too, but everybody has an off day, right?

But the real point of this entry is to rant about something I read on the BBC News about the political activity and clout of Buddhist monks in Burma. 90% of the Burmese population is Buddhist, so the monks and monasteries command a lot of power. While generally peaceful, they do occasionally rise to political action when they feel the cause necessitates their making a move, and this tends to rally the people together. That’s all well-established in the article. But here comes the silly part. In reviewing the history of Burmese monks’ political activity, BBC News had this to say (underlined text by me):

Their political role stems from the days of the Burmese monarchy, which operated until the late 19th century, under which monks worked as intermediaries between the monarch and the public, and lobbied the king over unpopular moves such as heavy taxation, said Mr Aung Kin.

They became more confrontational during colonial times, in protest at the failure of foreigners to remove their shoes in pagodas, he said.

There’s no way white men wearing shoes could be the main reason the Burmese monasteries decided to rise up against British colonial power. No monk was saying, “these white men keep dirtying Buddha’s holy rug with their big nasty boots, we better go send the peasantry to kick their asses.” Now granted, it probably annoyed them, and may have even been the straw to break the camel’s back, but you can’t tell me that their political work in this case was because of some nasty cracka’s shoes.

When will people start realizing that people in 3rd world countries might just have mental acuity comparable to their own? “Oh look at the cute little Asians that get mad when you don’t take off your shoes.” Rawrgh.

Photo from this BBC article

Go Fly a Kite!

This past Saturday, my dad, grandpa, and I took a short trip up to Salem, Virginia, about 20 minutes or so from Blacksburg/Virginia Tech, to check out their 9th Annual Blue Ridge Kite Festival. Many V. Tech students and families were there as well, no doubt to get a few brief moments in the sun and forget the dark tragedy of this past week.

The place was bustling with energy and youth, and although the wind was neither strong nor consistent, a few good breezes lifted the dozens of kites up into the air in a gorgeous spectacle that made the two and a half hour drive completely worth it.

My dad’s reason for going was to take pictures, and I don’t really think that anything I could say we will quite as well as seeing the pictures themselves, so take a look see!

(Click the images for larger versions)

Toygers and Klingons, oh my!

Hey folks,

Sorry I haven’t been around much. Working through some web-dev contracts and my music schedule has been a time-killer. Oh, and Monday was my birthday, which I spent teaching the MCAT. For now, as I get my life together, you can enjoy this:

They’re “toygers,” housecats bred to look as much like a tiger as possible, and I need one. Right now. I don’t really care that I’m allergic to cats, because those things are adorable. (The ABC News article)

On another note, there’s a Finnish politician who has translated his entire website into…Klingon. Yes. Those Klingons. From Star Trek. Worf the guy with the mutant turtle attached to his forehead. Check it out here.

The only explanation: dumb white men

Beyonce got the coveted cover spot in the new Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition, and men are apparently up-in-arms over it. They’re cancelling subscriptions, sending nasty letters to the editor, and doing various other shenanigans to show their disaproval at Sports Illustrated’s choice of a covergirl.

Huh? See, when I first heard about the enormous press over this, I ignored it all, assuming that it was about how great it was that a beautiful, full-bodied, black woman was on the cover of a magazine typically dedicated to translucent waifs and the occasional slightly brownish one, who would of course be dubbed “exotic.” Sure, she has more cellulite on her thighs than most of the bikini models in the magazine…but she’s real. I don’t care that she can’t lay off the donuts, she’s hot. On the time-honored man-scale-of-hotness, “I’d hit it.”

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Hip hop dead? Yeah right…

My boy Nas recently released his album in which he declares that “hip hop is dead.” Now I think we can all appreciate his sentiment here, but he’s certainly going overboard. Both he and Jay-Z have recently released albums that are doing well, and a host of other rappers are cleaning up at the bank as well. Now, knowing Nas, he’s not talking about the money, because he’s always into some deep ish that nobody can decipher. But even assuming that, we have no shortage of interesting talent, both old and new, with deep philosophical outlooks on finance, life, and love. Consider:

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The things that matter

No, I’m not getting ready for Halloween a few months too early, nor am I being spiteful about the commercial morass that is the Valentine’s Day “holiday.” Instead, what you see to your right (in a Reuter’s photo) is a picture of a most extraordinary valentine, the oldest documented human embrace. You see, archaeologists dug up this loving pair near Mantua, Italy, and the Neolithic pair are purportedly 5000-6000 years old. I mean, if you thought your grandparents were lovey-dovey on their 50th anniversary, try a 5000th anniversary (I don’t suppose a diamond ring suffices…). That’s real love, folks. You can imagine them looking into one another’s eyes in their final moments, holding each other tight waiting for whatever horror it was that befell them.

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The news, my way.

Every day, I peruse the news for all the most important current events of the day, or at least I try to. Today, for example, none of the important stuff caught my eye whatsoever. Instead, I was reeled in by all the smutty stuff on CNN.com, the kind of stuff that can’t possibly hold any bearing on the world stage but we sick humans can’t get enough of. I think everybody needs an example to really comprehend what I’m saying:

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