RZA on the Boards

From the New York Times:

Martial Art of Chess, Promoted by a Rapper

By DYLAN LOEB McCLAIN

Published: June 7, 2008

The rapper RZA, a founder of the Wu-Tang Clan and holder of the Hip-Hop Chess Federation belt, is turning his interest into a business.

Full article and video here

The Life of Birds - The LYREBIRD

Jess and I have been watching David Attenborough's The Life of Birds, a mini-series about birds made for the BBC, and it is very exciting. The last episode we watched ended with a spotlight on a supremely postmodern specimen - the Lyrebird. Enjoy.

"...so...try it slow and see what happens."

Paul Gilbert schools a wannabe. Poor slob.

DVD Review: Omkara

Directed by Vishal Bharadwaj
Starring Ajay Devgam, Kareena Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan, Vivek Oberoi
2006

Film adaptations of Shakepeare's plays are frequently unsatisfying. Film grammar necessitates a delicate compromise with the source material and typically adaptations end up as either faithful, yet stilted and anachronistic presentations or radical re-imaginings that too often miss the thematic mark of the Bard's original work. There is a fine line between modernization and abandonment and although Omkara, Vishal Bharadwaj's Bollywood interpretation of Othello, foregos using the actual text of the play, it more ably captures the mood of the play than many of its more faithful predecessors have managed to do.

Othello the Moor has become the half-caste Omkara, a "general" in a gang of enforcers for a local politician. After years of working his way up through the ranks of the gang, Omkara seems to lead a charmed life; loved by all his men, he is being groomed to replace his boss in the local government and has just eloped with his secret lover, the rich and beautiful Dolly. Unfortunately for Omkara, the tactical promotion of his young lieutenant Kesu infuriates his more experienced friend Langda, and sets off a chain of tragic events that will prove to be Omkara's undoing.

Bharadwaj remains faithful to the key plot elements of Othello and the only deviations are made in the interest of narrative flow and cultural consistency. Although Omkara's crude and violent world has more in common with a Peckinpah Western than a Venetian court, he is shrewd and thoughtful; despite his violent proclivities, it is easy to see how Dolly could have fallen in love with him. Shakespeare's Othello can be too easily read as naive and easily manipulated but Ajay Devgam imbues Omkara with a fierce intelligence that makes his fall all the more poignant. Kareena Kapoor likewise provides a welcome modern take on Desdemona; still heartbreakingly innocent and faithful, Dolly is less blindly virtuous than Shakespeare's original and her private scenes with Omkara provide some of the film's richest moments.

Never having seen a full Bollywood film, I had been led to believe that the inevitable song and dance numbers would be an unwelcome distraction but although certain numbers seemed somewhat forced and prolonged, most of the musical passages fit into the flow of the story and at times even increased the dramatic tension of certain scenes. While some featured elaborate choreography involving multiple cast members, most of the songs were pertinent to the story and were presented in a format reminiscent of a traditional music video as the characters continued acting out the story while the music played behind them. My only complaint is that it seems that many of the songs were incompletely translated in the subtitles and, unless you speak Hindi, you're left guessing as to some of the lyrical content.

Below is the video for "Naina," an excellent example of one of Omkara's songs. I couldn't find a clip with subtitles, but the action is fairly self explanatory: Dolly's father is convinced that she was kidnapped by Omkara on her wedding day but Dolly explains how she fell in love with Omi and willingly eloped with him.



Properly presented, Othello can be one of Shakespeare's most devastating productions and Omkara ably captures the tragedy of O's descent into madness and murder. While it may not be for everyone, anyone with an interest in Othello will find this to be a surprisingly faithful and powerful interpretation and if you've never seen a Bollywood film, the familiar plot makes Omkara an accessible starting point.

...Yer Ribs Are Showing!

Bananas on the Brink

Dan Koeppel, author of Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World, reports that the banana as we know it may soon become a thing of the past.

Lack of genetic variation makes bananas especially susceptible to infection and Panama disease, the fungus that wiped out the Gros Michel banana of our grandparents generation, is now threatening the modern Cavendish banana. Read Koeppel's article Banana R.I.P for an excellent overview of the impending crisis.

For those interested in learning more about the fate of America's most popular fruit, Koeppel's website, bananabook.org, is a comprehensive resource for all banana related news and events.

Ashes, Ashes

Oh, my. Apparently someone has stolen Kurt Cobain's ashes from the home of his widow, Courtney Love.

full story here

Bye Bye, Bo Diddley

When I was in middle school I walked into a used music shop intending to buy a Rolling Stones CD, picked up all three CDs in the Stones' sections and sat down at the listening booth to test them out. I've since forgotten the names of the first two CDs but the third was Stone Rock Blues, a compilation of the original versions of songs the Stones covered by Chuck Berry, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Arthur Alexander, and, of course, Bo Diddley.


I didn't think of it as a revelatory experience at the time but in retrospect leaving those two rock records on the table in favor of Stone Rock Blues proved to be the most fortuitous and formative moment in my personal music listening history.

Bo Diddley died Monday at age 79 and while the whole world of popular music owes him a tremendous debt (listen here for his explanation of the "Bo Diddley Beat", seriously, LISTEN, he's a fun guy), I feel personally obliged to him for opening my ears up to a whole world of music that a decade later still has new thrills and surprises to discover.

Bo Diddley gets it RIGHT

PBR & Pringles

After reading the lovely piece about the man who plans to be buried in a PBR-can coffin, I thought I'd share another strange news article about brand name burials.

The inventor of the Pringles can was buried in a Pringles can.

Product Review: Lucid™ Absinthe Superieure

Prohibition is finally over!™

Jess and I have grown very fond of wine; well, anyway, we're drinking more.

During a recent routine wine-fetch at the local liquor store, I found something that took me completely by surprise. As I was checking out, I glanced at the bottles on the counter and one looked back. I picked it up and read the label: Lucid, Absinthe Superieure. Having no idea that absinthe was sold legally in the states, I got slightly giddy, given to the drink's quasi-mythological reputation. As I laughingly showed the bottle to Jess, who merely said "neat," the Russian man behind the counter said, "That is absinthe." I looked at him and he was grinning with a glint in his eye that could sell a dead mule. Caught so off-guard as I was by the discovery, I worldlessly fumbled out the door with my jug of bargain-priced California dry red wine, absinthe-less.

Intrigued by my surprise, I conducted some research that evening on Wikipedia. Apparently absinthe is still officially illegal to import. However, several brands, due to their low level of the chemical thujone, have been approved for sale. At less than 10 mg/kg of thujone and 62% alcohol per volume, Lucid™ is one of those brands.

The next day I went back to the liquor store and began browsing for absinthe. The proprietor was nowhere to be seen, however his wife was at the register, watching a local Russian station. I picked up a box with Van Gogh's famous self-portrait on the side and began faux-reading. I looked up and the proprietor had appeared in front of me, grinning as before. I told him I had no idea that absinthe was available state-side; he went blank for a second, shook his head, and regained his charm. He then told me that the stuff I was holding was no good (of course, to tell me this he merely made a grimace and curtly shook his head while pointing at the box I held) and that "this" was the real deal. "This" was Lucid. At 56 dollars per bottle, I hoped my thirst for its novelty would not prove completely impractical. I moved to check out and his wife yelled, "Only a little bit!" and held her pointer and thumb apart, in front of her face, about a half-inch. As I paid for my purchase, the entrepreneurial couple explained to me as best they could in english how to properly enjoy absinthe. All I gathered at the time was that I needed sugar cubes in the worst way, and that after I drank this liquid, everything would become..."lucid."

I breezed out the door and met up with Jess at C-Town. I told her we needed sugar cubes. "I'll explain later," I said. We escaped C-Town and made our way home.

One ounce of absinthe, a sugar cube on a slotted spoon, and five ounces of water dripped over the cube to dissolve the sugar and mix with the absinthe: this is how Lucid ought to be prepared. We followed these directions perfectly and a pleasant evening followed.

Positives (+)

- Its undiluted color is an alluring translucent green. When you add the water and sugar, it "looshes" and becomes a cloudy white. Very nice.

- I love the taste. The primary taste is that of anise, which is the taste that most people equate with black licorice. I'm a very big fan of black licorice, so this is probably the most positive positive.

- The inebriation is novel, though if it is unique to absinthe or merely related to the alcohol content I cannot say. I would say that it calms your perception and relaxes you without impairing your motor skills.

- One bottle goes a long way.

Negatives (-)

- One bottle is over 50 dollars.

- It's not available everywhere.

Jess and I were visited this weekend by Tyler and Liz, two dear friends, with whom we shared a second absinthe experience. All involved seemed to enjoy.

Verdict: If you strip the drink of its precocious non-conformist symbolism and its mythological reputation as a hallucinogen, it is a great alcoholic drink. It's fun to prepare, look at, sip, and slowly slip under its gentle (if measured) influence.

In this fallen world, rest assured that though you can't buy happiness, you can buy lucidity.