Thursday, July 29, 2010

Casting call -- looking for the girl with the dragon tattoo

http://movies.yahoo.com/photos/collections/gallery/2787/casting-news-the-search-for-lisbeth-salander#photo0

I loved the first book, "saving" the 2 other books to read later.

I think the "Yo Yo" rapper with the $$$ in her name best coincides with how I imagine Lisbeth Salander to be, but maybe Daniel Craig might feel she will upstage him.

In my opinion she's the only one who has enough character to fit the role, and provide a balance to Daniel Craig.

Craig is a bit rougher than the original Blomkvist, who is a bit of a nerd and not as brave, at least in book one, as Lisbeth, but no doubt the Hollywood version will have beefed up action scenes for the sedentary(mostly) journalist.

Oh well.

Hollywood is about money -- Sweden is about art, it seems. Let's just hope it is not dumbed down too much.

Part of the fascination of the book was the intellectual meat one could chew on.

Blog post copyright Kyi May Kaung

Burmese communist Kyaw Zaw, now living in Kunming, China -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyaw_Zaw

Former dictator Ne Win's 2002 BBC obit -

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/1581413.stm

Celeb book vs internet gossip --

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ie37CYAGT7vUrzgiHqVJjHbvJ0bgD9H8P7IG0

Amish baby boom produces out migration from Lancaster County, PA

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100728/ap_on_re_us/us_thriving_amish

Burmese monks in exile in USA

http://www.burmanet.org/news/2010/07/28/sampsonia-way-us-the-monks%E2%80%99-exodus-%E2%80%93-silvia-duarte/

Burmese writer Khet Mar and City of Asylum --

http://www.burmanet.org/news/2010/07/28/pittsburgh-examiner-burmese-writer-in-exile-speaks-in-pittsburgh-%E2%80%93-seth-rosenberg/

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

K. Subramaniam's Buddha Charithaya - Part II

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5038907099156753340#

Gorgeous Buddhist, some Burmese paintings --

http://www.dhammaweb.net/dhamma_art/az_list.php?alphabet=b

Burmese artist U Ba Kyi who illustrated the Buddha's life story

http://www.thisismyanmar.com/nibbana/ubakyi.htm

Manga (Japanese comic book) series on Life of Buddha --

http://www.amazon.com/Kapilavastu-Buddha-Vol-Osamu-Tezuka/dp/1932234438

Sarnath -- Migadayone Woods in Burmese -- where Buddha preached first sermon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarnath

Irrawaddy Magazine -- important issue on Burma and India in bed together -

http://www.irrawaddy.org/

Burma's 2010 "elections" -- fine way to campaign --

burn the ethnic villages -- to make a smokescreen --

http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/Burmese-Ethnic-Group-Says-Villages-Facing-Violence-Ahead-of-Elections-99312704.html

Report by Ron Corben, VOA.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Burmese exiles in India burn Gen. Than Shwe in effigy --

http://www.dvb.no/news/than-shwe-to-visit-the-sight-of-gandhis-cremation-as-protesters-take-to-the-streets/10903

Orchid aerides species from Burma

http://www.orchids-flowers.com/orchids/seidenfadenia-mitrata-rchb-f-garay-1972-aerides-mitrata/

My mother used to have many species of these in her garden.

In Burmese we call them kyaung mee pan or kyauk mee pan.

First means "cat's tail flower."

Second "stone fire flower" is probably a verbal corruption or mispronunciation.

Kyi May Kaung

Truman Capote - In Cold Blood - etc

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/truman-capote/introduction/58/


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truman_Capote

Capote on writing:

It needs to be perfect, like an orange. No one can make an orange better.

He certainly achieved that in In Cold Blood, which he took 6 years to research and write.

It says something for current writers who don't work to be perfect but just publish.

Kyi May Kaung

Burma Avenue going to be low speed route -- ha ha

http://www.gillettenewsrecord.com/articles/2010/07/26/news/today/news01.txt

Natural gas, China, India, Burma -

http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=19065

Friday, July 23, 2010

Mario Puzo -- father of The Godfather --

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Puzo

Saying goodbye to Mario Puzo, by Jules Seigal -

http://www.cafecancun.com/bookarts/mario.shtml

Comment on Ko Ko Thett's The Cost of Privatization and Crony Capitalism in Burma -

The Run Down System with totalitarianism and centralization that I described, theorized about so long ago in my doctoral dissertation 1994. See University of Pennsylvania dissertations on line at Penn Commons.

Now the -- has risen to the top due to natural gas and other export earnings.

This "privatization" is as much a sham as the "elections."

REAL political reform has to go in tandem with real economic reform, which has to be system wide, not just raising fuel prices as in 2007. We know what happened then.

A French style revolution? -- Here is quote from my political science professor at Penn who chaired my thesis committee.

"You think the masses will rise? People are so poor and malnourished they can't even stand, let alone march."

Many have walked out.

This said in 90s.

Ko Ko Thett has given us a sense of how it is in Burma/Rangoon.

Thank you.

Kyi May Kaung (Ph.D.)

Charles Jensen steps down as Bethesda Writers Center Director -

http://www.writer.org/Page.aspx?pid=618

http://www.postnoills.com/main/?p=91#more-91

This is an interview from 2 years ago.

http://convention.artsusa.org/presenters/profile/jensen

BWC owns and publishes Poet Lore, the oldest poetry journal in America.

http://www.drunkenboat.com/?p=214

Fomer UN Rapporteur Sergio Pinhiero on how to deal with Burmese junta --

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/22/AR2010072204866.html

Failure of Obama's Policy on Engagement in Burma.

Note: Pinhiero was UN Human Rights Rapporteur to Burma from 2001 to 2008.

His visit to Insein Prison where junta tried to hoodwink him is described in NLD U Win Tin recently published prison memoir. On one occasion he found a bug (listening device) under the table and left in protest.

Kyi May Kaung

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

More "I Write Like"

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2010/07/who-do-you-write-like.html

I am sure the site designer can fine tune the classifier further and add more sample famous authors.

This is not a scam.

This is how text is compared for instance in cases of plagiarism, some of which have been caught already. (lifting whole passages or whole book without proper acknowledgment or royalty payments).

The classifier as it is now is a "naive reader." But it will get more sophisticated as it is tweaked further.

Be fair to the brilliant geek who designed it.

Kyi May Kaung

Creater of I Write Like - site --

http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2010-07-17-i-write-like_N.htm?csp=obnetwork

Hurray for everyone on the Fringe.

I thoroughly enjoyed this site. It does show a lot of love for literature.

Kyi May Kaung

How "I Write Like" works -- Bayesian Classifiers -

http://blog.iwl.me/

Results from 3 separate tests I made with openings of 3 different book manuscripts,

I write like --
Stephen King
Mario Puzo and
James Joyce.

That makes me feel pretty good.

Actually the third was a book length poem.

I tested the same text twice for #1, and it gave me the same result.

Kyi May Kaung.

I Write Like site --

http://iwl.me/

I just tested with opening paragraph of novel I am currently querying and analysis is saying I write like Stephen King.

So there, agents who rejected me -- you know who you are!

I have only read one Stephen King novel -- but have read a lot of interviews of King or profiles.

Will test with other manuscripts and report.

Copyright Kyi May Kaung.

"I write like" site -- about tests -

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2010/jul/15/i-write-like-margaret-atwood

Sean Penn on Haiti, non-profit culture on Charlie Rose --

http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/11127

He said many insightful things which could also apply to Burma scene.

Notes: unofficial transcript.

There are organizations there with the attitude, if we can’t do it first, we don’t need to be there.
It’s a celebrity culture. They are in big mansions with a chef while the earthquake victims are in tents.
I didn’t go to New Orleans after Katrina for the first 4 days because I thought I would be in the way. When I went I saw that government was not there – 2 men in one boat, we saved 40 persons that day.
Non-profits, it’s a celebrity culture. When you go there, to a non-profit party and someone comes in, it’s always so and so etc.
It’s you pull back the curtain on government., and there’s nothing there.
There’s war in Afghanistan, there’s Surge, there’s this island (close to us).
It’s like making a movie – we’re not interpreting scripts but giving the appearance of doing so.
We’re building sets, but then there’s no infrastructure.
I consider myself a facilitator, a functionary.
Ironically, the non-profits are called “actors” those who are acting there.
What’s missing is the press, as they provide the oversight. (free press)
Rene Preval’s government believes in delegating, decentralizing.
Non-profit culture is self-perpetuating.
One of my friends says I am having a fringe experience.
CR: I don’t understand fringe experience.
SP: In the sense that it’s not the norm (most frequent occurrence, statistically)
But in fact (we in USA) are the fringe.
We are missing something, and there will be more drugs, more trips to the psychologist etc.
It's all one thing (the world).
All these organizations, when they have something (like morphine for instance) they just have it, they don’t go to the field to the field managers and say “we have this, do you need this?” All the organizations. They say, “Well it’s on our website.”
Well, someone running a help station/clinic etc. has no time to look on the web.
(NGO execs) just sitting in bar and drinking beer and having a cigarette.
Well, (get your butt off) and leave the bar and distribute the items.

Haiti, it's very resilient. A Haitian friend told me when the world ends, there will be cockroaches, and -- and Haitians. There's the warmth (of the children's smiles) and this is what we are missing in America.

 This was written from memory. Any one who wants exact words should check the url above and watch the actual interview.

Sean Penn’s organisation JP Human Rights Organization works with RSF, Save the Children etc. He said during the interview that they work under the auspices of IOM (International Organization for Migration) even though refugees technically are those who crossed borders, (whereas Haitians are in Haiti and earthquake just happened.)

Posted and transcribed by Kyi May Kaung.








Kyi May Kaung

Specialpost--Ellen Bernstein--expose of World Bank Rohingya project--

https://www.irrawaddy.com/culture/books/hellfire-and-damnation-in-myanmar-ex-world-bank-country-head-recounts-rohingya-catastrophe-response....