change that we need?

let me outrightly say that i was moved by the "Obama story," well as of today at least. I've watched a number of videos, speeches; read a few articles and interviews, etc; and well, i waited for his Inauguration speech and got a headache the following morning. In short, I love the President's Persona and the ideals he stand for (at least the soundbytes that I have got).

I was moved by his speech reading it again this morning when I took a few minutes break from working. I would say that I am one of those rooting for him, for his O' Administration and for the renewed America that he proposes. Hopefully with his team of astute technocrats and the support of America's bureaucrats, he'd be able to turn around the America that we admire and prove once again the values it stand for works, in Obama's words -- honesty and hard work, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty.

And these same values are held true by many peoples and nations around the world, that is why perhaps, at least half of the world's population is watching the other day...



Obama's Inauguration Speech
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/1/20/1261/02980/1004/686506


Obama's inauguration poem by Elizabeth Alexander
http://poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20545?gclid=CPGV2sPro5gCFc8vpAodAnGmnA

"all art has been contemporary" perhaps one of the most memorable lines from my habibi off Isla del Sol...

and he is right. many artists when they start to express themselves automatically becomes contemporary artists and it's not easy to go through the process.

i am among those who never quite understand sometimes contemporary arts. offhand, the impression is that it's quite chaotic and you get the feeling that you are lost trying to understand what it means...

however, after having been exposed to some colleagues in the art and culture sector and exchanging opinions and asking quite stupid questions... i am now convinced that the overall relevance of an artistic product of a specific period (contemporary) is how it reflects the realities of that specific time or era... it serves as a mirror from which you can see what is happening around - whether fancy, depressing, colossal, etc. and i should say that most of these are raw channels...

i guess this is the context from which we can view contemporary arts... perhaps the key is to try to have a dialogue and a disposition of openness and somehow, maybe contextualise...

henna...

Little more things you need to know about India

Know that there is Little India in the little red dot!

You can take the Buffalo (road) to get trimmed hair and henna.

A walk past a tiny little corner (where is the temple) shall provide you dark yellow sweets (c/o God Perumal)

Cross the street and you shall be at your Villas (Komala) - feast there! :-)

Remember to grab coconut (hair) nourishment from Mustafa!

... multiculturalism overlooks the fact that people can never quite embody their own culture so what people find in common is the fact that they never live up to what their culture tells them to be.

Zizek (paraphrased by J. L. Owen)