Monday, October 28, 2024

Russian billionaires sanctioned by Biden--this article is 2 years old

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/04/meet-the-oligarchs-sanctions-russian-billionaires

Russian Revolution--1917

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Revolution

Kronstadt--amateur video--

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=Kronstadt+in+the+winter+youtube#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:dbd2297f,vid:nnld3_5pnpw,st:0

Krondstadt in the summer--don't go--this is just research for a novel.

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=Kronstadt+naval+base#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:0326c9bb,vid:BXa0mhtAeGk,st:0

Krondstadt Rebellion 1921 and aftermath--from wiki

None of the Kronstadt rebellion's demands were met.[208] The Bolsheviks did not restore freedom of speech and assembly. They did not release socialist and anarchist political prisoners. Rival left-wing groups were suppressed rather than brought into coalition governance. The Bolsheviks did not adopt worker council autonomy ("free soviets") and did not entertain direct, democratic soldier election of military officials. Old directors and specialists continued to run the factories instead of the workers. State farms remained in place. Wage labor remained unchanged.[209] Avrich described the aftermath as such: "As in all failed revolts in authoritarian regimes, the rebels realized the opposite of their aims: harsher dictatorship, less popular self-government."[210]
Lenin announced two conclusions from Kronstadt: political rank closure within the party, and economic ingratiation for the peasantry.[209] Lenin used Kronstadt to consolidate the Bolsheviks' power and dictatorial rule.[211] Dissidents were expelled from the party.[212] Oppositional leftist parties, once harassed but tolerated, were repressed—jailed or exiled—by the end of the year in the name of single party unity.[210] The Bolsheviks tightened soldier discipline and scuttled plans for a peasant and worker army. Lenin wanted to scrap the Baltic Fleet as having an unreliable crew but, per Trotsky, they were instead reorganized and populated with loyal leadership.[208]
During the 10th Party Congress, concurrent with the rebellion, Kronstadt symbolized the swelling peasant unrest towards the party's unpopular War Communism policy and the need for reform, but Kronstadt had no influence on Lenin's plans to replace War Communism with the New Economic Policy (NEP), which was drafted for the Congress's agenda in advance of even the rebel's demands. Rather the rebellion accelerated its adoption.[213] Prior to the rebellion, Lenin recognized a trend of peasant dissatisfaction and feared general revolt during the country's transition, and so conceded that a conciliatory, peasant-focused domestic economic program was more immediately urgent than his ambitions for Western proletariat revolution.[214] The New Economic Policy replaced forced food requisition with a tax in kind, letting peasants spend their surplus as they pleased. This defused peasant discontent with War Communism

Sunday, October 27, 2024

Gordeeva and Grinkov--

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ekaterina_Gordeeva

So very sad--young men who commit suicide--be aware of victims--call Suicide Hotlines.

https://www.aol.com/lifestyle/wwe-legend-ric-flair-stepson-212238236.html

I would read this RK Narayan--who was President of India--his wife from Mandalay

https://www.amazon.com/Mahabharata-Shortened-Modern-Version-Indian/dp/022605165X/ref=asc_df_022605165X/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=693596794770&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=10662156190880080802&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9007768&hvtargid=pla-500826538981&psc=1&mcid=89a652abc93c3d26abfbe94e6b033034
There is also The Illustrated Mahabharata--but it's expensive--though beautiful and easy to understand.

Already been written--

There are multiple books and movies about Draupadi, including a novel and a graphic novel:
The Palace of Illusions
A 2008 novel by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni that retells the Hindu epic Mahabharata from the perspective of Draupadi, a woman in a patriarchal world. The book is about Draupadi's life, from her birth from fire to her marriage to the Pandava brothers, her exile in the wilderness, and the war she starts. Some say the book is a lyrical tale that is both ancient and modern, and that it incorporates many elements of the Mahabharata. A film adaptation of the novel is in the works.
Draupadi: Fire-Born Princess A graphic novel that tells the story of a princess, a cheating lord, a lying king, and a period of exile. Some say the graphic novel format is a great way to tell the story and that it will inspire readers.
Draupadi
A feminist adaptation of the Mahabharata based on Pratibha Ray's 1984 novel Yajnaseni: The Story of Draupadi. Rukmini Maitra is leading the project.
R
ukmini Maitra To Lead 'Mahabharata' Feminist Adaptation 'Draupadi'
Jul 27, 2023 — An adaptation of ancient Indian epic “Mahabharata” from its strongest woman character Draupadi's point of view, “Draup...
Variety
The Palace of Illusions - Wikipedia
Th
e Palace of Illusions: A Novel is a 2008 novel by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, published by Doubleday. ... The novel is a renditi...
W
ikipedia
Film adaptation of Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s novel on Drapaudi ...
Sep 26, 2018 — What Draupadi saw: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's 'The Palace of Illusions' to be adapted into a film. Scroll.in

Draupadi who had 5 husbands--see also Arjuna

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draupadi

completely AI generated--I have mixed feelings about this--Mahabharata

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYaCE94OAFI

video-miserable place clled myanmar--

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fV-KIOuOY8w

Saturday, October 26, 2024

Just beautiful--The Mahabharata

a>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-vGUXPzQPI
AI Overview Learn more… Several novels have been inspired by The Magic Flute, including: Night's Daughter By Marion Zimmer Bradley, this 1985 novel is set in an Atlantis-like world with human-animal hybrids.
The Magic Flute
By P. Craig Russell, this 1990 graphic novel is part of the author's Library of Operatic Adaptation.
Temples of Delight
By Barbara Trapido, this 1990 novel is set in contemporary England, but loosely follows the structure of The Magic Flute.
Sunlight and Shadow
By Cameron Dokey, this 2004 novel is a retelling of The Magic Flute for young adults.
Mateki: The Magic Flute
B
y Yoshitaka Amano, this 2008 adaptation of the opera is illustrated by Amano and uses classic Japanese elements.
Summersong
By Luisa Perkins, this 2021 contemporary fantasy novel is a retelling of The Magic Flute set in modern-day New York.

Act 1, scene 1, Macbeth--copied and pasted from Gutenberg Project--something like opening of Mozart's The Magic Flute

ACT I SCENE I. An open Place. Thunder and Lightning. Enter three Witches. FIRST WITCH. When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning, or in rain? SECOND WITCH. When the hurlyburly’s done, When the battle’s lost and won. THIRD WITCH. That will be ere the set of sun. FIRST WITCH. Where the place? SECOND WITCH. Upon the heath.
THIRD WITCH.
There to meet with Macbeth.
FIRST WITCH.
I come, Graymalkin!
SECOND WITCH.
Paddock calls.
THIRD WITCH.
Anon.
ALL.
Fair is foul, and foul is fair:
Hover through the fog and filthy air.

Macbeth--full text--

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1533/1533-h/1533-h.htm

Shakespeare--A Midsummer's Night's Dream--full text.

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1514/1514-h/1514-h.htm
You will find where the screenwriter of that movie (just posted)
picked or shortened from Shakespeare's original.

Shakespeare--Henry V

https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/2253/pg2253-images.html

Francis Bacon--Of Death

https://www.bartleby.com/lit-hub/reference/of-death/

William Shakespeare--

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare

A Midsummer's Night's Dream--by Shakespeare--in modern dress.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=511150jPrPo&list=PLoRABtYY-maK6GZytfhYy7ZAjMiMbk_tq&index=2
He wrote this in the 16th century--the words, the poetry, still pack a punch.
I saw one modern dress production online--King Lear--which was also very good.

Balinese naming system--

https://www.ultimatebali.com/inspiration/balinese-names-explained/

Marjane Satrapi--Persepolis--a graphic novel--(comic book)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persepolis_(comics)

Graphic--mass shooting of 5 family members by another family member--graphic, disturbing--

https://www.aol.com/news/11-old-girl-played-dead-205944173.html
Too many guns--do activism for gun control.

Roland Petit--Bolero--

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=Roland+Petit--Bolero#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:3cf9337e,vid:sQ2chcGOJgY,st:0

Roland Petit--Carmen--

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=Roland+Petit+youtube+bolero#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:c0f5f325,vid:yveE5eydw1E,st:0

Friday, October 25, 2024

Try to remember

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nMVT2t1zSs

82 American Nobel Laureates endorse Harris--

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/24/science/kamala-harris-nobel-winners.html

Relative of ex-dictator Than Shwe arrested over social media posts.

https://www.rfa.org/english/myanmar/2024/10/25/than-shwe-relative-arrested/

LA Times editor's resignation letter--owner refused to endorse Harris--

https://www.cjr.org/business_of_news/los-angeles-times-editorials-editor-resigns-after-owner-blocks-presidential-endorsement.php

Pretty sweet movies--but hard to remember anything--

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=full+movie+romance#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:cf7391bd,vid:PMeHdc25BGE,st:0

Here we go--Friday night movie marathon--Epheseus,Turkey.

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=full+movie+romance#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:cf7391bd,vid:PMeHdc25BGE,st:0

No need to buy the books--lots of light movies free--too. When Burmese politics gets to be too much.

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=full+movie+romance

Nice gentle movie--like a Hallmark Hall of Fame (romance)--

https://www.google.com/search?q=surgeon+meets+writer+rom+com&client=firefox-b-1-d&sca_esv=5c16ef11a607cffa&sxsrf=ADLYWIL2j7PHotYqBDf1zZAAZvhs672TrA%3A1729893784877&ei=mBUcZ82VNfae5NoPr4qQ6AI&ved=0ahUKEwjNwa_ExKqJAxV2D1kFHS8FBC0Q4dUDCA8&oq=surgeon+meets+writer+rom+com&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiHHN1cmdlb24gbWVldHMgd3JpdGVyIHJvbSBjb20yBxAjGLACGCcyCBAAGIAEGKIEMggQABiABBiiBDIIEAAYogQYiQUyCBAAGIAEGKIEMggQABiABBiiBEjYHFCDBliDBnABeAGQAQCYAXigAXiqAQMwLjG4AQzIAQD4AQGYAgKgAp8BwgIKEAAYsAMY1gQYR5gDAIgGAZAGCJIHAzEuMaAHpQU&sclient=gws-wiz-serp#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:748c01ca,vid:72gTHNo9b5E,st:0

When Agatha Christie disappeared--

https://www.amazon.com/Christie-Affair-Novel-Nina-Gramont/dp/1250792630/ref=pd_sbs_d_sccl_3_4/146-3329107-2616667?pd_rd_w=H1phA&content-id=amzn1.sym.f7f035a5-ff07-4412-8a3c-9301028ec36b&pf_rd_p=f7f035a5-ff07-4412-8a3c-9301028ec36b&pf_rd_r=BPHQ7MMD27Z907SV2S2N&pd_rd_wg=6xb6Q&pd_rd_r=9872286b-1daf-4b21-9f9d-5b8ec110d0db&pd_rd_i=1250792630&psc=1

Specialized--General Surgical Oncology Fellowship

https://www.foxchase.org/research-training/education/clinical/surgical-oncology-fellowship

Thursday, October 24, 2024

New Video out of Burma--

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RVbscY3O9g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lapfDI-kHRs

OMG--Gold Medal Sprinter who took up running at age 100--

https://www.aol.com/news/gold-medal-winning-sprinter-took-164500940.html
Red Spider Textile design--copyright Kyi May Kaung.
Available on Spoonflower site.

Special--Aung San Suu Kyi photo gallery --CNN

https://www.cnn.com/2012/09/19/asia/gallery/suu-kyi/index.html

More Daw Aung San Suu Kyi

My Archives in Amsterdam--

https://researchworks.oclc.org/archivegrid/collection/data/1004228429

Philosopher--Thomas Hobbes--

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hobbes

Metropolitan Museum of Art--essay and artwork--Life of the Buddha.

https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/buda/hd_buda.htm

A man said to George Bush, "If my son dies, I will not forgive you."

Quotes from my Burman, Chin and Karen friends--

UZB washed dishes as a graduate student.
Finally, he saved enough money to go home to visit.
Unfortunately, it was in 1988.
Clampdown on mass pro-democracy demonstrations, 18th Sept 1988.
UZB had to come back--after ? # of days.
My friend's son SD went to meet him at Newark International Airport.
SD told me as he met me at Princeton Junction.
He said "UZB came fuming off the plane--
He said, "It's worth it being NW.
"He only has to die once."
You wonder why
1.people get onto leaky boats and go out into the high seas
2. why they walk through the jungles to other countries
3. why they take up homemade muskets and fight back.
Here is your answer.
Take it or leave it.
It's not nuclear physics.
The most despicable are those who deny deny deny
While the foot soldiers and the conscripts and the refugees and the bombed out die
die die die.
By the thousands.
My friend Taw Myo Myint, dressed in royal mourning white
she was a descendant of Thibaw, the last king of Burma's elder sister --Pakhangyi Supaya.
"I will work for Aung San Suu Kyi as long as I live."
She said this 3 times.
She died a few days later.
Rest in Protest.
It is now 20 years since she passed away.
kmk
10-24-2024
Image from wiki--Buddha's First Sermon in the Deer Park, Sarnath. Sculpture in Tibet.

She's a woman, she's a Living National Treasure--if she dies in prison--m a h and all will be complicit--incld western nations, everyone else. Take note.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her son Kim.

With Aunty Dora, the late Dr Michael Aris--Tibetan Buddhism expert--

In Bhutan--

Sean Turnell with Aung San Suu Kyi

What the heck--I am going to spend the rest of today--posting photos of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi--I invite you to do the same on your social media.

LET HER GO!
LET HER GO. Collage by Zwe Yan Naing

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's son, Kim Aris, speaks out--

https://www.irrawaddy.com/in-person/interview/aung-san-suu-kyis-son-worried-she-could-die-in-prison.html

Tutorial--how to colorize an old photo--

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdkCngG-ld0

How to add color on an old photo--

AI Overview Learn more… To add color to an old photo using Procreate, import the image into the app, then use the "Eyedropper" tool to sample colors from different areas of the photo, creating new layers to paint in the appropriate colors based on what you know about the subject matter, adjusting saturation and hue as needed to achieve a realistic colorization effect; you can also utilize Procreate's color adjustment features to fine-tune the overall color balance of the
image.
Key steps:
Import your photo:
Open Procreate and import your black and white photo into a new canvas.
Create separate layers: For each element you want to colorize (like skin, clothing, background), create a new layer on top of your original photo. Use the Eyedropper tool: Select the Eyedropper tool and sample colors from similar areas in other colored photos or reference images to determine what the original colors might have been. Paint with sampled colors: On the appropriate layer, use a brush to paint in the colors you sampled, carefully matching the tones and sh

Procreate smudge tool--

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=wikihhow--can+i+make+photos+into+paintings+Procreate#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:fdb24a8b,vid:V0DjKAaCe3c,st:0

Youtube tutorial--first landscape painting in Procreate (app)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rcWqTjsDcQ

Painting apps--

https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/23/24277533/adobe-fresco-painting-app-free-availablility-procreate

Jennifer Lawrence --2nd pregnancy--husband--they look well-matched and happy--

https://www.aol.com/pregnant-jennifer-lawrence-makes-her-112843439.html

Highly disturbing--don't take it "lying down." French mass rape case--quotes--

Two-thirds of rapes take place at private homes, and in a vast majority of cases, victims know their rapists, Lafourcade said.
It can be difficult at times to reconcile the facts with the personalities of the accused — described by loved ones as loving, generous and considerate companions, brothers and fathers.
Cyril B.’s tearful older sister told the court: “It’s my brother, I love him. He’s not a mean person.” His partner insisted that he isn’t “macho” and that he had never forced her to do anything sexually that she wasn’t comfortable with.
Lafourcade said that unlike the #MeToo accusations that have ensnared French celebrities, the Pelicot case “makes us understand that in fact rapists could be everyone.”
https://www.npr.org/2024/10/23/nx-s1-5162340/rape-france-wife-pelicot

LA times editor resigns--

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/23/business/media/la-times-editor-quits-patrick-soon-shiong-endorsement.html

Sinha Bahu--Sri Lankan movie

https://events.ticketbooth.com.au/event/sinha-bahu-sri-lankan-film-rockhampton

Dian Fossey--

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dian_Fossey

50 reported cases of children raised by wolves in India.

https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/living/story/19781015-during-the-last-century-nearly-50-cases-of-wolf-children-reported-in-india-823091-2014-03-12

Wow--full text--Tarzan of the Apes--by Edgar Rice Burroughs--

Ron Ely was not the only movie Tarzan--

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Iy9rF4b4Mw

Remembering Ron Ely--Tarzan--

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4UXEHU7bQk

Ron Ely--Tarzan dies at 86

https://www.aol.com/ron-ely-tvs-tarzan-1960s-220110327.html

Wednesday, October 23, 2024

Indian textiles--Textile Museum, D.C.

https://museum.gwu.edu/indian-textiles-1000-years-art-and-design

Queen Maya's Dream--from Metropolitan Museum of Art--in public domain

2nd century Queen Maya scupture--from Gandhara--Metropolitan Museum of Art--New York.

The Dream of Queen Maya (the Buddha's Conception)
Pakistan (ancient region of Gandhara) ca. 2nd century
Not on view
Female attendants and guards, one of whom holds a sword, surround Maya, who is sleeping on a bed that has turned legs and is covered with an elegant floral textile. Maya dreams of a six-tusked elephant that descends from heaven to enter her womb through her right side; originally a small elephant would have been depicted in the broken central disk. This miraculous conception marks the Buddha Shakyamuni's final rebirth and physical entrance into this world.

Original Mrs Aye Hlaing obituary got 105 blog hits so far--all time record #.

It shows how much we need Heroes, in our lives--when all we see is cruelty, selfishness and ego.
Kyi May Kaung
10-23-2024
White hydrangeas--photo--Kaung

Yasodara--

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ya%C5%9Bodhar%C4%81

How limited, how small are some minds--one woman says she only reads the Bible--another only does Vipassana meditation

yet another was all, Meditation, Meditation, till he got cancer--then he told everyone of his cancer.
This guy, aged about 80++ now, tried to tell me I was abad wife and mother--
WTF--and that's a good Buddhist. 10-23-2024
Pete Seegar's song--art work Kaung.

Persian Epic Poem--Shanama--on display--

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2024/10/23/great-mongol-shahnama-nmaa/

23 Economics Nobel Laureates call Harris' plan vastly superior to trump's.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/23/politics/nobel-prize-economists-harris-economic-plan/index.html

Flags of Our Fathers--excellent movie--

I bought the book, then read only a few pages and packed it in a box, as I thought I was moving,but that did not happen.
I always drive past the Iwo Jima Memorial by the Tidal Basin on my way to and from the airport. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flags_of_Our_Fathers_(film)
The WWII train stations, clothes etc are very well done--beautiful photography.
Muted color palette. Kyi May Kaung 10-23-2024

Article on Daw Than E Fend

https://scroll.in/magazine/914678/the-all-india-radio-broadcaster-from-burma-who-watched-history-unfold-in-front-of-her

Tuesday, October 22, 2024

Special post--writing a novel in war-torn Ukraine--

I remember the 74 year old dancer, who complained about the floor surface in my literary salon,
another friend, gay, who went to Afghanistan to make monoprints on the scene--writing the captions in mirror script--
why had he not just taken photos? Monoprints take a long time--
I'll never complain again.
Anyone can write anywhere--in prison, in your head, in bed, sitting on the toilet.
Kyi May Kaung
10-22-2024
A Beekeeper and His Bees Go on a Road Trip Across War-Torn Eastern Ukraine - Electric Literature
https://electricliterature.com/grey-bees-by-andrey-kurkov-novel-ukraine/

Long preview--Jeff VanderMeer--The Strange Bird

https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Strange_Bird/prorDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1

new Nat Geo museum

https://www.axios.com/local/washington-dc/2024/10/21/national-geographic-museum-of-exploration-dc

Hollywood real life dramas--

https://www.aol.com/lifestyle/ben-affleck-jennifer-garner-jlo-120300476.html
Well--who really cares? It's a small dating pool among multi-m $$ millionaires.

How Jeff Vandermeer wrote his latest book--

https://www.polygon.com/books/467953/jeff-vandermeer-author-interview-absolution-southern-reach-prequel-sequel

Mrs. Aye Hlaing--obit now at all time max of 85 blog hits--

Russian billionaires sanctioned by Biden--this article is 2 years old

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/04/meet-the-oligarchs-sanctions-russian-billionaires