Mahna Mahna

Facelift

Hi Kids and other lurkers,

I am changing the look of my blog a little bit and updating some links and stuff like that. Let me know if you really don't like anything and I may do something about it.

How I Feel

Pious Me

My Watch List

Here's a list of people I wish I had the time to read and sometimes do. The list is cribbed from foreignpolicy.com's Top 100 Public Intellectuals list:

Mahmood Mamdani, Uganda
Cultural anthropologist

Mamdani is the Herbert Lehman professor of government in the anthropology, political science, and international affairs departments at Columbia University and was director of the Institute of African Studies there until 2004. He is the author most recently of Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: America, the Cold War and the Roots of Terror.

Olivier Roy, France
Political scientist

One of the world’s top scholars of political Islam and terrorist movements, Roy is research director at the French National Center for Scientific Research. His 1992 book The Failure of Political Islam remains essential reading for anyone who wishes to understand contemporary Islamism.


Fareed Zakaria, United States
Journalist, author

Zakaria is the editor of Newsweek International, overseeing all Newsweek's editions abroad. Zakaria has written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, The New Republic, and the webzine Slate.

Ramachandra Guha, India
Historian

An Indian historian, columnist and MacArthur fellow, Guha has taught in the United States, Norway, and now in Bangalore. He is author of India After Gandhi.


Alex de Waal, Britain
Writer, Africa activist

A program director at the Social Science Research Council, de Waal is a frequently cited expert on the Darfur crisis and on African health issues.

Currently Reading...

Jack McDevitt's, Cauldron. "One of Library Journal's Five Best Science Fiction/Fantasy novels of 2007." This is my third book by this writer of hard science fiction.

The Reign of Thuggery on the New York Review of Books' website. The article is an account of Mugabe's extraordinary reign in Zimbabwe and the short sighted response of African leaders to the despot.

Zap Was There

I had the good fortune to see and hear Salman Rushdie speak in the flesh last night. No, he wasn't naked! He was pushing his new book, The Enchantress of Florence. Here's a negative review of the book.


In answer to the question, 'What are your favourite novels?' Rushdie told the story of how on being asked the same question, V.S. Naipaul said while looking up at the sky, "I am not a reader. I am a writer." Which only goes to solidify my views on Naipaul.

It was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see the droppy-eyed wordsmith and I'm glad I took it. For my efforts, I have a signed copy of this latest book and I'm thinking it's time I began to read his works in chronological order again.

Seth Paryani - Self Portrait

Coldplay - Yellow

Look at the stars,
Look how they shine for you,
And everything you do,
Yeah they were all yellow,

I came along
I wrote a song for you
And all the things you do
And it was called yellow

So then I took my turn
Oh all the things I've done
And it was all yellow

Your skin
Oh yeah your skin and bones
Turn into something beautiful
D'you know you know I love you so
You know I love you so

I swam across
I jumped across for you
Oh all the things you do
Cause you were all yellow

I drew a line
I drew a line for you
Oh what a thing to do
And it was all yellow

Your skin
Oh yeah your skin and bones
Turn into something beautiful
D'you know for you i bleed myself dry
For you i bleed myself dry

Its true look how they shine for you
look how they shine for you
look how they shine for you
look how they shine for you
look how they shine for you
look how they shine
look at the stars look how they shine for you

Quit Smoking Again

As a matter of record: Had my last smoke (again) on June 4, 2008.

Happy Birthday, Marsh!

Short Man Syndrome

"As tall as he is...I will kick him out of the country."



May 25, 2008
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe renewed his election campaign with a fresh round of attacks at his perceived enemies in the West, as he accused the United States of political interference and threatened to expel its ambassador.

Build-a-Bench

The "simple" bench as it was to be made. Found the plans on the inter-web.


In our backyard with all the raw materials and a milk carton doubling as a saw horse.


Trial run after I put the seat box together.


So close...the plans called for the longest pieces to be an inch shorter than the actual width of planks available in the real world. Had to make some compromises. Seat should have had spaces between each plank like a real bench.

Tarah was instrumental in putting the screws in after I had drilled holes into the seat planks. This meant that tired old dad didn't have to look for screws. Way to go Tarah!!

Seth was a great help, he used a manual screw driver to screw the seat planks into place after my battery operated drill died. Thanks, Sethy!

Trial run of the bench over our backyard window well. The bench serves a dual purpose: It is a place to sit and it covers up the window well so no little kiddies will fall in. Looked everywhere for plastic or wrought iron covers but could not find one that fit our larger than normal well.

Naipaul Redux

My view on V. S. Naipaul continues to solidify. The man is petty, arrogant, and as I wrote previously, "self-centred, masochistic, vile, womanizing, racist, and I suspect, a self hating man."

Now I realize that Naipaul may not be rocked back on his heels by my opinion, but geez, what can there possibly be to like about this guy. His latest book, A Writer's People: Ways of Looking and Feeling, has been reviewed at Powell's Books. The reviewer, a former editor and correspondent of The New York Times, writes,

His fellow Caribbean Nobelist Derek Walcott is portrayed as a writer who "exhausted the first flush of his talent" without ever really finding a consistent voice...In another instance, brutal honesty comes across as disdain or, it almost seems, payback for some unstated ancient slight.

This sounds very familiar. Again, read my previous post on Naipaul's vindictive swipes at Salman Rushdie.

Good Bye

Good bye Robert Trewin. I am saddened to hear that your grumpy-old-man-routine will no longer be mine to see. I am saddened for the people who you have left behind...your loyal wife, your loving daughter and son.

I will miss your colourful suspenders and your day old beard. Your blue jeans at even the most serious occassions. Your quirky sense of humour and your no nonsense, tell-it-like-it-is ways.

I will see you on the other side. In the meantime, put in a good word for me, won't you?