"You know nothing John Snow." JRR Martin, Game of Thrones. But do I regret it--no I don't. This is not a Superman movie with Christopher Reeves who revolves the earth backwards. Kyi May Kaung 12-31-2024 New Year's Eve.
Tuesday, December 31, 2024
Bonnie Tyler--Total Eclipse of the Heart--Plus--excerpt from Coming to America.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcOxhH8N3Bo
When I first arrived in the USA--I was very homesick and found it hard to adapt to high street crime West Philadelphia + 4 graduate courses per semester.
The Hoagie truck smelled of raw onions.
None of the white American students paid any attention to colored folks like me--International students were forced to befriend each other, but we were all from different countries.
JC was one of 3 sisters, all single at the time, who were Sino-Burmese and from Campbell Park in Rangoon.
They were all JC.
The eldest worked at HUP--Hospital of the Univ of PA-- as a nurse.
Friday evenings after work, she'd pick me up at the Grad. dorm--
Then I'd spend the weekend with them. Their father was aphasic and had had a stroke, could not speak.
Once I took some sweet-smelling shampoo that my friend's daughter had given me, and gave it to the old man--he smiled impishly at me.
Eldest JC often played hip songs like this in the car.
Monday mornings she'd drop me off on campus again, and I'd start all over.
Even the water tasted different and needed getting used to.
A policeman came and briefed us on date rape--
"Comply. Don't fight back. Run yr hands along the man's body--don't look at his face. Don't put yr life at risk."
In the univ bathrooms there were rape wires to pull to sound alarms.
Ref muggings on the street: "If you see a gang, cross the street ASAP. Put traffic between you. Wear clothes and shoes you can run in. Walk confidently, your hands in your pockets, as if you have a gun--Don't look at their faces either.
"Arrive and leave events with the crowd"
It's amazing how I survived.
You who think life is easy in America don't know a thing.
Monday, December 30, 2024
Wow--Mingrui--he was extremely good-looking--committed suicide near Maymyo--now renamed Pyinoolwin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mingrui
There should be a novel or movie about this.
Video mini-history lessons--Sino-Burmese War--1767 etc--
this time though, as one of my friends says, "Myanmar will lose without a shot fired."
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=Chineseinvasions+fo+Burma#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:69f34463,vid:JzWPAs0KG3M,st:0
Amy Sherald--who painted Michelle Obama's official portrait--
Amy Sherald is one of our greatest living portraitists. What’s her secret?
www.washingtonpost.com /entertainment/art/2024/12/23/amy-sherald-american-sublime-retrospective/
Himal 2024 book list is out--incld 3 reviews on Myanmar
https://www.himalmag.com/reviews/what-southasia-read-in-2024
I am so very pleased and thankful to Himal for including my 3 selections together with so many other contributors' choices, most of which I hadn't heard of before.
I'm going to try to read as many of these books as possible.
Thank you,
Kyi May
Irrawaddy book review of Sean Turnell's Best Laid Plans--
https://www.irrawaddy.com/culture/books/an-inside-look-at-the-nld-governments-economic-reform-efforts.html
Dr. Turnell was responsible for "The whole Burmese economy" (Lowy Inst. interview) during this so-called Transition period which ended with M A H's coup, and he said in this book--"China lent the most support" to the reforms.
My view is like Furnivall and Walinsky (advisors to U Nu) did before him, he did a good job--but the end of the Korean War and the crashing of rice export prices derailed Burma's Five Year (Pyidawrtha Plan)
and the Ne Win and subsequent coups and especially the latest sabotaged all liberal reforms.
Enough said for now.
My taxi driver from Syria told me c. 2015--
"It's all rubble now,"
and I used to ask him about his parents still in Damascus
but I stopped. Last I saw him was in 2019.
I lost touch during Covid crisis when his phone was disconnected.
In the 1990s I interviewed a taxi driver from Rwanda while going to a demonstration organized at the traffic circle where Pinochet had a car bomb detonated, asking him to drive once more around the Circle--
but shit hole jerk Burmese boss, didn't allow me to air my piece.
One Kidney later was fired for asking his "key question"
"If we ask you to speak ill of Daw ASSK, will you do so?"
I saw the USD 300,000 Radio Free Asia fine amount on DC Superior Court website--I don't know if it was actually paid to the complainant who said he was not hired (as a temp worker) and instead a woman was hired "due to her female voice."
You might have heard rumors of it, but it is all true.
An RFA employee in 2007 during the Saffron Revolution also told me how U Gambira was trapped--junta used his cell phone # when RFA called him to get his co-ordinates.
I tell you those "Air S H"s need to be thoroughly checked.
k
12-23-2024
Sunday, December 29, 2024
Former President Jimmy Carter will have a State Funeral--he was the most ethical of
American Presidents, way up there with Abraham Lincoln, and he stayed active to the end.
REST IN PEACE truly applies to him.
I am lookin forward to joining the mourners via TV on Jan 9.
What a contrast to the soon to come criminal pudding face.
kmk
12-29-2024
Hope for the New Year--Hockey player Matthew Gaudreau's widow gives birth to child, 4 months after
her husband and his brother were hit by drunk driver and killed.
https://pagesix.com/2024/12/29/parents/matthew-gaudreaus-widow-madeline-gives-birth-to-baby-boy-4-months-after-hockey-players-death/
Romeo and Juliet--Julian Fellowes version--2013--on Amazon Prime
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romeo_%26_Juliet_(2013_film)
I like this better than the Olivia Hussey version which I saw in Burma--maybe in 1960s.
At last, a good movie, after all the duds--not worth my time, gory, odd, slow--etc,
Roxanne--with Steve Martin and Daryl Hannah.
Saturday, December 28, 2024
Rather silly--from May, 2024--Met Gala--based on JG Ballard's story--The Garden of Time
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=MetGala+#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:56eecbd7,vid:JGVq7J5_sTk,st:0
I think the nude thing is getting to be too much.
I only watched about 1/10th
AFPFL split--wiki
Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Anti-Fascist_People's_...
AFPFL split Burma from en.wikipedia.org
The AFPFL determined Burma's post-independence politics and policies ... split into two factions, the Clean AFPFL and the Stable AFPFL. Contents. 1 ...
What is a corvette--not good news.
AI Overview
Learn more
Corvettecan refer to a type of warship or a Chevrolet sports car: Warship A corvette is a small warship that's typically smaller than a frigate but larger than a sloop. In the 18th and 19th centuries, corvettes were three-masted ships with square rigging that carried about 20 guns on the top deck. They were often used to escort merchant ships, show a nation's flag, and dispatch messages between ships in a battle fleet. Corvettes were largely phased out after the mid-19th century when steam power became more common. However, the Royal Navy used the term again during World War II to describe small antisubmarine vessels that escorted convoys. Modern corvettes are armed with missiles, torpedoes, and machine guns, and are used for antisubmarine, antiaircraft, and coastal-patrol duties. Chevrolet sports car The Chevrolet Corvette is a sports car that's the entry-level model in Chevrolet's sports car lineup. The 2025 Corvette Stingray has a 6.2-liter V-8 engine that produces 490 horsepower and can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in 2.8 seconds. The Corvette has a mid-engine design and a futuristic interior that can be customized with materials like leather, metal trim, and imitation suede. The word "corvette" comes from Old French, and may have originated from the Middle Dutch word korf, which means "basket" or "small ship". Corvette - Wikipedia A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or "rated") warship. Th... Wikipedia
Friday, December 27, 2024
Thursday, December 26, 2024
Myanmar Christians slam Cardinal Bo for his ties to the junta--
https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/christians-slam-cardinal-bos-ties-to-myanmar-junta-boss.html
I took him off my email list when his village was bombed, for his own safety.
Wednesday, December 25, 2024
Christmas in the Trenches--for Myanmar--
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=Christmas+in+the+Trenches--youtube#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:8baa4138,vid:5JwXfdz2C7Q,st:0
Christmas in the Trenches--by JohnMcCutcheon.
I bid you Peace, this X'mas
For Burmese, life is grim.
Today's Irrawaddy posts include--
Cholera outbreak, Thailand sends 3000 vaccine doses--for a country of millions--guess who will get first dibs
Coup leader urges unity--all the new DSA grads wearing white tuxes, the Mrs in another shade of olive green--
Garment industry hit by exodus of workers due to conscript law--and electricity cuts.
For me personally, 2024 not so bad.
I am still alive and my brain in still ticking
Missed one writing contest deadline, working on others incld a painting contest deadline.
Hope for better news out of Burma in 2025.
Celtic Cross in Powys, Wales--the front and the back carved centuries apart. Kaung 12-25-2024
Tuesday, December 24, 2024
Monday, December 23, 2024
Special post--A Eulogy for Dr. Myo Nyunt, Agricultural Economist, by Daw Khin Pwint Oo--
By Khin Pwint Oo
Edited by Kyi May Kaung.
Eulogy for
Dr. Myo Nyunt
(1937 – 2024)
I would never be able to excuse myself if I failed to share my memories about a man whose country of birth was forever embedded in his heart until his last breath.
He is none other than Dr. Myo Nyunt, former Senior Lecturer of the Economics Department, the Institute of Economics, Rangoon, Burma (now Yangon, Myanmar), a Government State Scholar who was awarded a Rangoon-Chicago Fellowship in 1960 to continue post-graduate studies in Economics in the US. He completed successfully his Ph.D. dissertation: “Farm size, farm land transfers and ownership changes in Six Wisconsin Dairy counties, 1950-1965” and gained his Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from the University of Wisconsin, in Madison, USA in 1966.
https://www.wisc.edu/
This university is noted for its liberal ideas.
We his students remember him fondly as Bo Myo or Saya Myo. Saya means Teacher for a man, and Sayama is the term for a woman.
We add gyi or “Great” for an older, more respected person, as in “Sayagyi U Aye Hlaing.”
I so remember the day I ran into him on the first steps of the stairway leading up to our Economics Department on the 3rd floor.
He was holding a wet folded umbrella in his hand, his longyi (sarong) quite wet.
He smiled at me and did not seem uncomfortable or embarrassed at all.
At that time, I had no idea who he was. Certainly, I did not know he was an economist and a senior lecturer because I was only a fresher at that time in the academic year 1969-70.
Days passed.
I ran into him often in the corridors, in the library, always holding a large stack of books in his arms, always with a cheerful smile on his face.
When I reached my third year at the university we were required to choose an elective major.
I chose Agricultural Economics.
U Myo Nyunt was always close to his students, treating them as family members, sometimes allowing those from far flung places to stay at his home.
He also helped many people.
He was the primary supervisor for my Master’s Thesis, but the time to part with my mentor eventually came when he emigrated in December 1979.
I and my completed thesis were handed over to Daw Kyi May Kaung (then a Senior Lecturer, who later went to the United States on a Fulbright scholarship and received a Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning and Political Science from the Ivy League, University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
https://www.upenn.edu/
Saya knowingly entrusted me to her, because he knew her to be impartial, and he had also been Sayama’s Economics Tutor when she was also in the 3rd year of college.
*
Even in my days as a student majoring in Agricultural Economics I am glad I was able to participate in Saya’s research activities visiting many rural communities with him and our teams in all kinds of weather and all over the country, but mostly in the Dry Zone of Central Burma.
Saya urged me to do research on a village study for my Master’s Thesis.
I went to the 2 villages that Manning Nash, the anthropologist, author of The Golden Road to Modernity, went to. The Golden Road was published in 1965, and you can buy it online.
http://www.amazon.com
My thesis, like Nash’s book was much more descriptive than the modelling approach fashionable at the time--but Sayama Kyi May also liked my finished thesis and stoutly helped me defend it in the first of 2 oral exams.
For the 2nd defence, she advised me to take Nash’s book as my companion, saying she did not need to accompany me, I must learn to defend my own ideas by myself.
Hindsight has shown that these 2 villages, living symbiotically side by side, economically linked with each other, is the best way to be. She says this shows that Burma was meant to be a plural economy, such as that described by J.S.Furnivall.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Sydenham_Furnivall
Also, she says, “Villages, as you (KPO) and Saya Myo Nyunt thought of it, indeed idealized it, are the building blocks of the socio-economic system and the traditional and time-tested way to go.”
She says, “One of my family friends, Burma’s first Western-trained journalist, who later worked at the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank, said he cried when he saw Singapore the first time.”
Sayama says she cried when she saw the product differentiation and abundance of food and other items in a super mart even in the poorest of neighborhoods around the University of Pennsylvania in West Philadelphia, where street crime is prevalent, and people still get shot with AK 47s on the street.
She says, “In America, I now live in a village—an urban village--on the East Coast in a county with the highest percentage of people with higher education in the USA.”
*
Saya Myo used to push me to undergo further study abroad and not to be satisfied with my Master’s degree here in Yangon.
Later, he sent me a brochure on a master’s program in Australia.
At first, I hesitated as my father had just passed away and I did not want to leave my mother alone as my siblings were with their own families.
Saya then urged me to think of distance learning.
Finally, I made up my mind to fulfil my indebtedness to him, receiving a Master’s degree in Development Studies from Edith Cowan University, West Australia.
I was proud when told I was the first Burmese scholar pursuing a Master’s degree at ECU and Saya also told me he was the first Burmese scholar, to receive a Ph.D. from University of Wisconsin-Madison.
My mother gave me her consent to go to ECU for my graduation ceremony.
As she could not accompany me there, Saya and Daw Khin Myo Myint and my ECU mentor Dr. Nancy Hudson-Rodd attended my graduation.
I was invited to stay at Saya’s house, but I stayed for a month only, even though I was granted a visa to stay 3 months in Australia.
*
On receiving the sad news of Saya’s death, I shared that news with my close friends, including one Economics student of the younger generation.
He sent back an email saying this was truly a great loss for Myanmar’s economics community.
He also wrote that he met Dr Myo Nyunt in the Economics library in Yangon, when he was there for a short visit in 2017.
* I am very fortunate to have met Saya, a person with great heart and someone who never dwelt on the difficulties of life, never complained. Daw Khin Myo Myint and their sons tell me his ashes will be scattered in the Rangoon River, from Botahtaung Jetty, in accordance with his last wish. His last Will and Testament stated that his remains be taken back to his country of birth - Burma, which indeed was also his parents’ homeland. Bo Myo will be missed fondly by all of us, his former students. As a Buddhist, I do not doubt that he is gone to A Place of Peace and Tranquillity. In his life he valued Peace the most.
Rest in Peace dear Saya Myo. Khin Pwint Oo. Date: 7th December, 2024. Biography: Khin Pwint Oo She received Bachelor Degree in Economics, majoring in Agricultural Economics, from the Institute of Economics, Rangoon in 1973 and Masters in Economics, from the same Institute in 1982; and M. Social Science in Development Studies, from Edith Cowan University, W. Australia, in 2004. She worked in different capacities as a field researcher, working in collaboration with the Institute - where she learned and earned as an academic; as a field project staff, as the United Nation’s National UNV Volunteer in different UN Field Projects and Missions, and on short assignments abroad. Her experience in the field has led her to Community Development Programs in her home country. She also undertakes project assignments as a freelance consultant. *
I don't think my hero has a religion--I don't think he's a Christian--he's certainly non-conformist and his family
made their fortune in South Asia-- a very famous family with a castle --some relationship to Clive of India, but he changed his surname--
he was ashamed of the East India Co. connection--
he's spent time in Hindu ashrams, and Buddhist monasteries in Tibet.
Since I created him out of my left foot, if not my rib, he is more like me than I am myself.
Like all the "people" I create in words or images (paintings mostly) he will reveal himself to me bit by bit.
I've painted him as a wood sprite looking at her while she dreams her book.
Kyi May Kaung
12-23-2024
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_in_Wales
The Welsh hero of this novel is arranging a few days alone with his former student in Ngapali
In reality Ngapali was launched much later by Ne Win, but this is fiction.
His friend, her brother "M of the Mississipi"is arranging a fake marriage certificate for them, from the local magistrate in Sandoway and the American Ambassador--he's a dual UK/USA citizen.
Now I have to find out the days of the week of Thingyan in 1962.
I've already been there during Thingyan and I know how it was celebrated.
Ngapali was a small village then.
For my novel in progress (DBH)--I cannot tell you the title--
AI Overview
Learn more
The Burmese New Year, or Thingyan, in 1962 was celebrated from April 13–16.
Here are some things to know about Burmese New Year:
Celebrations
The Burmese New Year is celebrated with water-based ceremonies, such as people splashing water on each other, except for the elderly and monks. Other activities include ceremonial hair washing, merit-making, almsgiving, and donating food.
Calendar
The Burmese calendar is based on the lunar cycle and is closely tied to Buddhist tradition. The calendar has 12 months, each named after a zodiac sign or constellation.
Lunisolar calendar
Burma, a Theravada Buddhist country, uses a lunisolar calendar, which means that months are based on the lunar calendar and years are based on the solar calendar. This is why the Burmese New Year is celebrated in mid-April.
Thingyan - Wikipedia
Box office stats--for movie It Ends with Us--
AI Overview
Learn more
"It Ends With Us" has been a significant box office success, grossing over $350 million worldwide against a production budget of $25 million, making it one of the top-grossing romantic dramas in recent years despite receiving mixed reviews from critics; the film's strong performance is largely attributed to its dedicated fan base from the bestselling novel it's based on by Colleen Hoover.
Key points about "It Ends With Us" box office performance:
High grossing:
The movie has earned over $350 million globally.
Positive audience reception:
Despite mixed critical reviews, audiences have responded very well to the film.
Based on a popular book:
The film's success is largely due to the huge fanbase of Colleen Hoover's novel "It Ends With Us".
Star power:
Blake Lively's presence in the leading role also contributed to the box office success.
My secondhand book -- It Ends with Us, has already arrived--but I have a writing deadline--so not reading it yet.
Not planning on watching the movie--
Boldoni is a good-looking guy but he should not have harassed Blake Lively--
I hope he goes to prison like Weinstein--another woman has also alleged worksite abuse.
Copied and pasted from Justice for Myanmar Newsletter--Junta buys new planes from Airbus
Myanmar junta receives new planes from Airbus’ close partner AVIC, aiding indiscriminate airstrikes
Justice For Myanmar
Myanmar junta receives new planes from Airbus’ close partner AVIC, aiding indiscriminate airstrikes
Justice For Myanmar · December 23, 2024
JUSTICE FOR MYANMAR
Myanmar junta receives new planes from Airbus’ close partner AVIC, aiding indiscriminate airstrikes
Read the press release in Burmese and French here
The Myanmar military junta has commissioned into service as many as 8 new aircraft supplied by the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), a close partner and investee of the European aerospace giant Airbus.
An examination of junta-controlled media from the anniversary of the Myanmar Air Force, held on 15 December 2024, shows one Hongdu K-8 light attack aircraft (tail number MAF/3941), up to six FTC-2000G light combat aircraft (which include tail numbers MAF/1407, MAF/1411, MAF/1412 and MAF/1413) and one Shaanxi Y-8 military transport plane (tail number MAF/5922).
These types of aircraft are regularly used by the military junta in its indiscriminate airstrikes on the civilian population. Between February 2021 and August 2024, the junta has killed at least 1749 civilians in thousands of airstrikes with total impunity.
The latest transfer of new AVIC aircraft shows that the company is continuing to aid and abet the junta’s ongoing war crimes.
Despite growing public scrutiny and evidence of the serious human rights implications of its investment in AVIC, Airbus has publicly denied any wrongdoing.
An investigation by Justice For Myanmar and Info Birmanie has linked Airbus to AVIC, while it has delivered multiple aircraft to the Myanmar military, including since its 2021 coup attempt and despite European Council Regulation (EU) No 401/2013 concerning restrictive measures on Myanmar.
This has led to protests that demand Airbus use its leverage over AVIC to stop its continued supplies of military aircraft, arms and maintenance, repair and overhaul of aircraft to the Myanmar junta.
In a recent public statement, Airbus defended its relationship with AVIC, which it describes as “a Chinese state-owned group of civil aviation, aerospace and defence companies” and confirmed that it holds a 5% stake in AviChina Industry & Technology Company Limited (AviChina). This makes Airbus the biggest international shareholder of this key subsidiary of AVIC.
While Airbus insists its financial stake and ongoing business dealings with AVIC “are exclusively focused on civil aviation and services”, AVIC’s business activities are inseparable from its military applications, particularly given China’s policy of military-civil fusion which integrates civilian research and military industries.
In this context, we fail to see how Airbus can guarantee its business with AVIC is limited to civil aviation. We note that Airbus has failed to take this situation into account in its duty of vigilance plan.
As a shareholder in AviChina, Airbus is accountable to international standards on business and human rights, including the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, which require companies to conduct thorough human rights due diligence on their business relationships.
Airbus’ stance contrasts sharply with the actions of other institutional investors, including the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund and prominent Dutch investors and pension funds that have all divested from AviChina over ethical concerns and the human rights risks posed by AVIC’s transfer of military goods to Myanmar.
Airbus’ defense of its partnership with AVIC raises serious questions about its commitment to mitigate the risk that its investments contribute to human rights harms.
Airbus’ public denial of any ethical responsibility has only escalated calls for accountability, including protests in Myanmar and London, and an open letter to the CEO of Airbus, Guillaume Faury, from over 300 international and local civil society organisations including Justice For Myanmar and Info Birmanie, to end all investments in companies that enable the war crimes committed by the criminal Myanmar military junta.
The letter calls on Mr. Faury to take “responsibility to ensure that you do not enable atrocity crimes through financial and strategic links to AVIC and directly associated companies such as AviChina.”
If Airbus were to comply with international standards of human rights, it must use its leverage over AVIC to stop the continued flow of arms, military aircraft and maintenance supplied to the Myanmar military by AVIC and AVIC subsidiaries.
More information
Read the #Airbusted report in English and French here
Justice For Myanmar is a covert group of activists using research, data visualisation and reporting to expose the companies and criminals profiting from brutality, war crimes and mass-scale suffering.
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Sunday, December 22, 2024
Act of Valor--based on real experiences--suicide vests, jihadis--movie on Amazon Prime
made with real life Navy Seals on leave--not revealing real names
List at end of Fallen--since 9/11 and the time movie was made.
Violence,bombs, hand grenades, death.
Blake Lively breakthrough movie + South By Southwest Music, Movie Fest, Austin, TX.
South by Southwest Music, Movie Fest--Austin, TX.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_by_Southwest
What is Interactive Media--
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interactive_media
Elvis and Annabelle, written and directed by Will Geiger, was Blake Lively's break through movie in 2007 --and premiered at South by Southwest Music Fest in Austin, TX. which is worth looking into. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_and_Anabelle Really good movie--Elvis and Annabelle--Blake Lively and Max Minghella-- On Amazon Prime-- It reminds me of a short story by John Steinbeck, who grew chrysanthemums, but the story I am thinking of has sweet peas. Can't say more as it might spoil your movie experience. kmk 12-21-2024
Powerful entertainment agency WME (William Morris Endeavor) drops Justin Baldoni as Blake Lively sues for sexual harrassment on set of It Ends with Us. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/justin-baldoni-dropped-wme-blake-lively-files-sues-sexual-harassment-1236092355/ end
Saturday, December 21, 2024
Elvis and Annabelle, written and directed by Will Geiger, was Blake Lively's break through movie in 2007
--and premiered at South by Southwest Music Fest in Austin, TX.
which is worth looking into.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_and_Anabelle
Really good movie--Elvis and Annabelle--Blake Lively and Max Minghella--
On Amazon Prime--
It reminds me of a short story by John Steinbeck, who grew chrysanthemums, but the story I am thinking of has sweet peas.
Can't say more as it might spoil your movie experience.
kmk
12-21-2024
Blake Lively sues co-star Baldoni with sexual harrassmen on set of It Ends with US.
I still have not read the book--waiting for price to fall.
https://www.aol.com/lifestyle/blake-lively-sues-ends-us-134710634.html
Upgraded is a good movie on Amazon Prime with high end art, art auctions in NY and London
and characters who are colored.
Very nice.
Of course you have to buy Prime membership and again
I have no business connection whatsoever with Amazon.
This movie is at least one I can remember.
Kyi May Kaung
12-21-2024
Books about the Battle of Kohima
AI Overview
Learn more
If you're looking for novels or memoirs based on the Battle of Kohima, one notable option is "The Trees Are All Young On Garrison Hill" by Gordon Graham which is a memoir detailing his personal experience fighting in the battle as a soldier in the Cameron Highlanders, offering a unique perspective on the harsh realities of jungle warfare in the region;.
Other relevant titles to consider:
"His Majesty's Headhunters: The Siege of Kohima That Shaped World History" by Mmhonlumo Kikon:
This book focuses on the Naga perspective of the battle, highlighting the role of local fighters against the Japanese.
"Road of Bones: The Siege of Kohima 1944" by Fergal Keane:
A title that likely explores the harsh conditions and heavy casualties experienced during the battle.
Key points about the Battle of Kohima:
Considered a pivotal moment in World War II, where British and Indian forces successfully defended against a Japanese offensive in the Kohima region of India. The battle was characterized by intense fighting in mountainous terrain with high casualties on both sides. The Naga people of the region played a significant role in supporting the Allied forces.
You see, in latest fiction I invented a Welsh man--and so I need a few phrases.
Stay tuned.
I can't say more except his grandfather died at Battle of Kohima.
Tongue twisting language--
AI Overview
Here are some Welsh terms of endearment:
Cariad: A popular term of endearment that means "love" or "darling". It can be used in many contexts, including romantic and familial.
Fy nghariad: Translates to "my love".
Anwyl: Means "dear". For example, "Helô, fy annwyl" means "Hello, my dear".
Fy nghalon: Means "my heart". For example, "Fy nghalon, dw i'n dy garu di" means "My heart, I love you".
Buwch goch gota: A term of endearment for children that literally translates to "a little red cow" but is more commonly used to mean "ladybird".
Another Welsh word that has multiple meanings is "cwtch", which can mean "cuddle" or "embrace", but can also mean "love", "warmth", or "affection". It can also refer to a safe place to store th
Royal Welsh (Welch) Fusiliers in Burma WWII
AI Overview
The Royal Welch Fusiliers were a British Army regiment that fought in Burma during World War II as part of the 36th Infantry Division's 29th Infantry Brigade:
1939
The 1st Battalion disembarked in Cherbourg, France and fought in France and Belgium before being evacuated from Dunkirk.
1944
The Royal Welch Fusiliers defended Kohima and were involved in the capture of Pintha. They used paddy fields for cover as they approached Japanese positions around Pinbaw.
1945
Fusilier Evans of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers used his No. 18 wireless set on the Shwebo Plain.
The Royal Welch Fusiliers were founded in 1689 and were part of the Prince of Wales's Division. The regiment's history includes:
1702: Designated a fusilier regiment and became the Welch Regiment of Fusiliers.
1713: The prefix "Royal" was added.
1714: George I named it the Prince of Wales's Own Royal Regiment of Welsh Fusiliers.
1751: Became the 23rd Regiment of Foot (Royal Welsh Fusiliers).
THE BRITISH ARMY IN BURMA 1944 | Imperial War Museums
Imperial War Museums
In World War Two - Royal Welch Fusiliers Museum
The War saw 1st Battalion, Royal Welch Fusiliers, disembarking at Cherbourg, France on 24th September 1939, then fighting in short...
Royal Welch Fusiliers Museum
Royal Welch Fusiliers - Wikipedia
The Royal Welch Fusiliers (Welsh: Ffiwsilwyr Brenhinol Cymreig) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, and part of the ...
Wikipedia
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Generative AI is experimental.
Friday, December 20, 2024
Nicholas Spark's Dear John--A Special Forces soldier, a girl from down South--
on Amazon Prime, but a real tear jerker.
VOA--Myanmar may be holding Thai fishermen as leverage--
https://www.voanews.com/a/myanmar-military-appears-to-be-using-thai-fisherman-as-leverage-experts-say-/7908345.html
Zachary Abuza: Myanmar junta with its Neanderthalish ways--
Thursday, December 19, 2024
Horses--snow white mare drops jet black colt--
https://www.aol.com/lifestyle/gorgeous-snow-white-mare-gives-203300688.htmlMaybe the father was Black.
Wednesday, December 18, 2024
From New Yorker--Erasure of Islam from Rumi's Poetry--
https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-erasure-of-islam-from-the-poetry-of-rumi#:~:text=He%20is%20typically%20referred%20to%20as%20a,is%20less%20frequently%20described%20as%20a%20Muslim.
This seems to blame the translater, Coleman Barks.
But I don't read Farsi so how would I know Rumi/ except in Engish
Barks' translations are beautiful
Nor does WS Merwin read Eskimo
Nor Sanskrit
But he's translated both
ko ko thett would call it myanmar hmuu pyu
Burmanized
like changing one's clothes? Hair? Hygeine
practices?
People place too much weight on religion
Before religion and
nineteenth century
nations
we were homo sapiens and
had a shared ancestor, apes and mice
I'm getting tired.
There was this model couple I thought
Of very upper middle class birth
who would be my model Muslim-Buddhist couple/in a new novel
he was Buddhist though Indo-Burman
she said she was Sufi
Ko Chit Suu (changed name) said
You know Sufi and Rumi--don't you Aunty?
I said Yes, I do
I always thought
Sufi is very close to Buddhism.
She said stiffly
Since I've never been a Buddhist
I don't know
Fast forward 2 years.
They broke apart--after all that
She was locked in her room, by her father and her uncle
They called The Taliban--for ten years, and more to come--
But it doesn't fit here so--next post.
Kyi May Kaung
12-18-2024
Tuesday, December 17, 2024
Reuters--junta intimidates food scarcity researchers and blocks aid--this too it has done since 1960s and 70s--when Ni Ni Myint, 3rd and 5th wife of NW--took US Cyclone supplies
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/famine-data-myanmar/
Poppy Macpherson et al--incld Wa Lone in Toronto--
Glad to know Wa Lone managed to make it out of Myanmar, where he was imprisoned in so-called "transition period."
The prize winning Reuters photographer of Rohingya (not Burmese) died during US--Afghanistan withdrawal--
So many stories waiting to be told, or too briefly told.
km
In such a situation, Myanmar thugs would probably go to Moscow, Dubai and Shanghai, China.
anyway,enough about dicatators for today.
Image--Roman crazy-Caligula.
Read I Claudius--by Robert Graves--also excellent TV series.
Monday, December 16, 2024
Looks like the end--junta abducting/conscripting young men--30,000 so far
We don't know number of casualities or deaths or defections--it's a tragedy of humongous proportions and the West does nothing.
China plays both sides and has been eyeing Burma for decades.
https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/yangon-mandalay-deserted-after-dark-as-myanmar-junta-hunts-for-conscripts.html
It's really sad.
More holiday movies
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&sca_esv=431bf9fa61e459f9&sxsrf=ADLYWIIzkuhJjQd5DMCQiKIv4lxl-3d3oQ:1734328856810&q=Free+Hallmark+Romantic+Comedy+Movies+on+youtube&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjUgby7zquKAxVnFFkFHQO1KxQQ1QJ6BAhSEAE&biw=799&bih=391&dpr=2.4#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:822c69a1,vid:y0iQ4Bwn7q4,st:0
Sunday, December 15, 2024
Excerpt from Harvard Divinity School Paper--Death of the Buddha's Mother, Maya--
We will never know if Maya bled during or after her delivery. But what we can suspect is that Maya, like Tendzin, was partly blamed for her own death. The local midwives and doctors in Ladakh blamed Tendzin for refusing to stay at the clinic, even as they failed to admit their mistaken diagnosis. The silence around maternal deaths and their accompanying errors has ramifications in the United States as well as in India, something I became acutely aware of after my experience of a nearly missed diagnosis of leaking amniotic fluid. The United States currently has one of the highest maternal mortality ratios in the industrialized world and more than half of all maternal deaths are preventable errors, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Yet we do not have complete review of every maternal death,as occurs in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, for instance. --
https://bulletin.hds.harvard.edu/the-death-of-the-buddhas-mother/comment-page-1/?unapproved=1218&moderation-hash=98af9775776b8818b2af1b7c0547f43f#comment-1218
Karen/Kayin people's names--
AI Overview
Learn more
The Karen people do not have surnames, and instead use honorifics and kinship terms to address each other:
Honorifics
For example, "Saw" is placed before the names of Skaw Karen men, and "Naw" is placed before the names of Skaw Karen women.
Kinship terms
For example, "Poo" is for grandfather, "Pee" is for grandmother, "Tee" is for uncle, "Moogar" is for aunt, "Par" is for father, "Mo" is for mother, "Jaw" is for older brother, "Noh" is for sister, "Day Kwar" is for younger brother, "Day" is for younger sister, "Po doh Kwar" is for nephew, "Po doh Moo" is for niece, "Po Kwar" is for son, "Po Moo" is for daughter, "Le Kwar" is for grandson, and "Le Moo" is for granddaughter.
The Karen naming system can be confusing for people in the United States, where people are identified by last names. When Karen refugees arrive in the United States, their names are sometimes broken up by syllable, with the final part serving as the last name.
Language & Customs - Karen Organization of Minnesota
Traditionally, Karen people do not have surnames, which may cause confusion. Instead, terms of kinship are generally used to addre...
Karen Organization of Minnesota
Karen Culture Presentation •Introduction - Ramsey County
Name. • Karen people traditionally have only one name; they do not. have last names. Women do not change their name when they marr...
Ramsey County
Karen - EthnoMed
The Karen are addressed by given names. Traditionally, they do not have family names. This causes confusion with the system in the...
EthnoMed
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The Razor's Edge--1946 version--much much better--more true to the book.
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=The+Razor%27s+Edge+mivie#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:4ca89aa8,vid:60cBH5O_AjE,st:0
Good dialog, good conflict.
Larry younger, played by very good looking Tyrone Power.
Bill Murray was too old and too cynical and a bit thuggish.
I much prefer this one.
The fashions and the manner of the times makes Larry especially look older and more polished
whereas he never really fit into society.
Yes, a remake with Larry always looking a little disheveled and non-comformist--for e.g. his clothes were worn and he lived very simply--he needed a shave and a haircut and needed a cleanup before he was presentable--and he was always a bit uncomfortable-- and liked to leave and arrive abruptly, always canny about his address and phone number.
He was a loner.
Saturday, December 14, 2024
Version 2--The Razor's Edge--1984, based on the novel by Somerset Maugham--
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Clfnw8cfYbQ
Larry in this version played by Bill Murray, who also co-wrote the screenplay, does not fit the image of a saintly man from the novel; also many elements changed, including the elimination of the writer character, Somerset Maungham himself, who was the outsider narrator in the novel.
Plus Larry was a pilot in WW I, not a foot soldier in trench warfare, and the Tibetan element is completely new.
I watched this immediately after I read the novel, and even I found it hard to follow--BIll Murray in truncating it (the farm episodes and the trek through Germany completely cut out) made it extremely choppy and hard to follow. Sophie not given enough space
Larry at 30 was not a virgin as Isabel insisted. Larry had had what could only be called casual sex or convenient sex on his spiritual search.
A 3rd version should be made --as a long TV series--That would give space for each important character's stories--someone with money should work on it--like Julian Fellowes--(Downtown Abbey).
blockquote>I read The Razor's Edge when I was a pre-teen of 11 or 12.-- I did get Larry's Search --and I remember the alchohol scene--but I missed many details
such as the Radziwells in Warsaw, where I went in 1968, 69.
My sister and I were walking on a cold, snowy and icy street when the Polish tutor pointed out the Radziwell house to my sister, who at the time was still unmarried--I was and already had 2 children.
Jackie Kennedy's sister Lee married Count Radziwell and so was known as Lee Radziwell.
I was very young at 11 and 12, and lots of stuff I read passed over my head, like War abd Peace and The Brothers Karamazov, but I did get some things.
kmk
12-14-2024
In America it's the fashion to take writing courses such as the ones at Iowa Writers' Center, where I have
never been, I took courses closer to home and even those I have stopped for years now--due to the expense and I didn't want to go out at night on the subway and deserted streets anymore.
The 3-4 writing groups I helped to form fell apart when we could not keep up the "submit one chapter every week" rule we set ourselves, I because I traveled to SE Asia with work every 2 months between 2002 and 2010--
It's rude to say it, but you learn to write by reading.
My American classmates did not get it and few wrote well.
But I have been reading and writing since the time I was 10 to 12, though at that time I had little to write about, I hadn't lived enough, and then it got too traumatic.
Anyway, you will find some of it in my fiction and/or poetry--but you will always need to guess what really happened and which one of my characters is me--
Also, I like to write as a man, and the female characters are not all me--but who cares.
<They are just who they say they are.
DH Lawrence-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._H._Lawrence
When you read Sons and Lovers today, it does not seem so wild.
I bought a collection of Lawrence's stories in a bookstore on Pirates' Alley in New Orleans.
Women do not fare well in his stories, and seem to go wild overseas--
In The Woman who Rode Away, a restless and sex-starved woman rides away to a remote Mexican village and gets gang raped.
Sons and Lovers is sad--his father a coal miner--one brother brought to bankruptcy by a flirtatious girl who wanted the latest fashions and squandered his money.
Very sad scene of his father washing the coal dust from his body in the evening after he came up from the mine.
Special post--Tennessee William's The Roman Spring of Mrs Stone--sordid--
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fShaskBS_yA
It seems different from what I read--
But Tennessee Williams had several stories, not very kind to his female characters.
The Night of the Iguana-
Suddenly last Summer-with Liz Taylor.
The Glass Menagerie.
I'll get back to you with a Tennessee Williams wiki.
Friday, December 13, 2024
Buddhism--what are the 5 aggregates--
AI Overview
Learn more
In Buddhism, the five aggregates, also known as khandha, are the five elements that make up a person's physical and mental existence:
Form (rūpa): The body and the material objects that surround us, including the earth, air, fire, and water
Feeling (vedanā): Sensations or feelings
Perception (saññā): The perception of sensory objects
Mental formations (saṅkhārā): Mental formations
Consciousness (viññāṇa): The consciousness of the other three mental accumulations
Buddhism and the Five Aggregates - New Acropolis Ireland
Buddhism teaches that all people are in constant states of change throughout their lives, and that each of the five aggregates is fluid and ever-changing. The five aggregates are the basis for the concept of "self-grasping," which is the ego or true knowledge of the self.
From Tathagata wiki--
In the Aggi-Vacchagotta Sutta, an ascetic named Vaccha questions the Buddha on a variety of metaphysical issues. When Vaccha asks about the status of a tathagata after death, the Buddha asks him in which direction a fire goes when it has gone out. Vaccha replies that the question "does not fit the case ... For the fire that depended on fuel ... when that fuel has all gone, and it can get no other, being thus without nutriment, it is said to be extinct." The Buddha then explains: "In exactly the same way ..., all form by which one could predicate the existence of the saint, all that form has been abandoned, uprooted, pulled out of the ground like a palmyra-tree, and become non-existent and not liable to spring up again in the future. The saint ... who has been released from what is styled form is deep, immeasurable, unfathomable, like the mighty ocean."[9]: 225 The same is then said of the other aggregates. A variety of similar passages make it clear that the metaphor "gone out, he cannot be defined" (atthangato so na pamanam eti) refers equally to liberation in life.[10]: 91, 95 In the Aggi-Vacchagotta Sutta itself, it is clear that the Buddha is the subject of the metaphor, and the Buddha has already "uprooted" or "annihilated" the five aggregates.[10]: 95
Buddha Vajrapani (Heracles/Hercules) Greek influence.
AI overview--how to find a literary agent--
AI Overview
Learn more
Here are some literary agents who may accept Asian writers:
Marly Rusoff: An agent for new and debut authors at Marly Rusoff & Associates
Jenny Bent: An agent at The Bent Agency
Susan Golomb: An agent at Writers House
Dorian Karchmar: An agent at William Morris Endeavor
Daniel Lazar: An agent at Writers House
Bill Clegg: An agent at The Clegg Agency
Kim Lionetti: An agent at Bookends with over 20 years of experience in the publishing industry
You can also try these resources to find a literary agent:
Writers Market: A hardcopy book or online resource at www.writersmarket.com
Jeff Herman's Guide to Book Publishers, Editors, & Literary Agents: A helpful resource
AgentQuery: An online source to cross-check information
Query Tracker: An online source to cross-check information Here are some tips for finding a literary agent: The chance of getting an agent is roughly 1 in 1,000, but you can apply to more than one agent.
Youcan query agents in another country if the market there is better for your book. Literary agents typically take a 15% commission on published work, but this percentage can be higher for translations and foreign rights sales. Best Literary Agents 2024-2025 | All Genres Top Book Agents Best Literary Agents for New Writers | 25 Top Book Agents for First-Time Authors and Debut Authors * Marly Rusoff (Marly Rusoff & literaryagencies.com
Excerpts fr Belt and Road wiki--
The initial focus has been infrastructure investment, education, construction materials, railway and highway, automobile, real estate, power grid, and iron and steel.[22] Already, some estimates list the Belt and Road Initiative as one of the largest infrastructure and investment projects in history, covering more than 68 countries, including 65% of the world's population and 40% of the global gross domestic product as of 2017.[23][24] The project builds on the old trade routes that once connected China to the west, Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta's routes in the north and the maritime expedition routes of Ming dynasty admiral Zheng He in the south. The Belt and Road Initiative now refers to the entire geographical area of the historic "Silk Road" trade route, which has been continuously used in antiquity.[25]
Military implications
The BRI has been viewed as part of a strategy to lessen the effect of choke points such as the Strait of Malacca in the event of a military conflict and to blunt the U.S. island chain strategy.[50][51][52][53] A 2023 study by AidData of the College of William & Mary determined that overseas port locations subject to significant BRI investment raise questions of dual military and civilian use and may be favorable for future naval bases.[54][55]
Writing in 2023, David H. Shinn and academic Joshua Eisenman state that through the BRI, China seeks to strengthen its position and diminish American military influence, but that China's BRI activity is likely not a prelude to American-style military bases or American-style global military presence.
. . .
AI generated--how to test accuracy of Metene blood glucose monitor--
To test a Metene blood glucose meter with a control solution, insert a new test strip into the meter, shake the control solution bottle well, discard the first drop, then apply a fresh drop of control solution to the test strip tip and let the meter read the result; compare the reading to the expected range printed on the control solution bottle - if it falls outside the range, consult your healthcare provider.
Thursday, December 12, 2024
Gives you goose bumps--NBC's Richard Engel inside Assad's abandoned Damascus Palace--
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdNNT8Rb_hE
I wonder how my one time taxi driver, very reliable, originally from Syria is doing.
I lost touch with him in about 2019 at the start of the Covid crisis.
Towards the end I avoided asking him about his parents still in Damascus.
He said"It's all rubble."
He was interested in the Rohingya, so I gave him an explainer book I put together.
kmk
12-12-2024
Strongly--recommended--Shwetha Srikanthan expertly interviews Tariq Ali--about his 2nd memoir--You Can't Please Everyone.
Southasia Review of Books, Himal Southasia.
Tariq Ali reflects on global trends, genocide, Capitalism and Socialism, his family, the Isreal-Hamas war, the split of Pakistan and Bangladesh, friends and politics, poetry--and cricket.
Very informative and interesting.
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DxAjFyMVhLGw#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:8cf57e72,vid:xAjFyMVhLGw,st:0
Wednesday, December 11, 2024
The Kangxi Emperor takes the state exams in secret. He learns that his tutor was placed as a spy by Oboi.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fILzxW58C8s
FYI, in my Matriculation Exam I placed 5th in the whole of Burma.
My contemporary Frankie Ohn (Tin Hla) son of U Tin Ohn, brother of Tin Wa, Tin Bo, Tin Nyo--placed 1st.
He was a science student from Saint Paul's.
I was the only female and the only Arts student in the top 5.
In 1982, NW opened the Fulbright Scholarships to the W again, when his daughter failed her medical school entrance exams in London.
7 of us won awards, of which one geographer, one historian and I (economist) actually won our Ph.D degrees.
I was the only woman who did so among 3 women in total.
You can buy my dissertation on Proquest.
You can read a summary in Asian Survey.
Kyi May Kaung
12-11-2024
AI generated--causes of fall of Ming Dynasty--
AI Overview
Learn more
The Ming dynasty (1368–1644) in China fell due to a combination of factors, including natural disasters, economic problems, and political turmoil:
Natural disasters
The Little Ice Age caused a period of prolonged cooling that disrupted seasonal temperatures, leading to agricultural disasters, famine, and poverty. The dynasty also experienced flooding, locusts, and disease.
Economic problems
The dynasty faced a severe financial downturn due to the costs of military campaigns, paying the Imperial clan, and defending against insurgents.
Political turmoil
The dynasty was marked by internal rebellions, external wars, and inter-ethnic conflicts. The government was unable to manage irrigation and flood-control projects, and the relief system declined.
The Manchu conquest
The Manchus marched outside the Great Wall and conquered China, with the help of a defecting Ming general. The last Ming emperor hanged himself from a tree outside the Forbidden City.
The dynasty collapsed in 1644 when Li Zicheng's rebel forces entered Beijing. The Shun dynasty was established by Li Zicheng, but was later defeated by the Qing dynasty.
Ming Dynasty ‑ Period, Achievements & Emperors | HISTORY
Jan 10, 2018 — Fall of the Ming Dynasty. Ming rule was partly undone by enormous fiscal problems that resulted in a calamitous collap...
History.com
Ming dynasty - Wikipedia
Combined with crop failure, floods, and an epidemic, the dynasty collapsed in 1644 as Li Zicheng's rebel forces entered Beijing. L...
Wikipedia
Climate | Free Full-Text | The Little Ice Age and the Fall of the Ming Dynasty: A Review
Mar 17, 2023
MDPI
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Note: If you know nothing about economics, pl do not depend on hearsay. Pl take ecos. 101 or read or educate yourself. There are lots of ... -
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