AAMP!itude

seen: 4th remake - Emil and the Detectives

Last weekend I saw the the 4th remake of the classic children’s tale, Emil and the Detectives (by Erich Kaestner, 1929). I was expecting to see the original movie (1931), but was delighted to see the most recent version (2000). It had been modified and updated to reflect contemporary society (e.g., single parents, minorities, hip hop soundtrack, skateboarding, cell phones, and parental strife).

It was in German with English subtitles. I saw it at the Goethe Institute in DC. (The quasi-governmental German cultural organization has offices in Chinatown.)

I was drawn to the film because I have a mild interest in Kaestner. I saw an exhibit on him in Berlin about 5 years ago. He was a pacifist, who remained in Germany during WWII, despite the fact that he’d seen his own books burned by the Nazis.

I’d first read (or tried to read) one of his novellas (Conference of the Animals / Die Konferenz der Tiere) many years ago for my high school German class. The story (published in 1949) is illustrated in the most charming manner by Walter Trier, as you can see below (Click on picture to magnify it.):

in search of books (found Braille Playboy)

This past weekend I went to the Daedalus book outlet store in Columbia and bought some books to take advantage of their sale. One of them was a book titled Dvorak in America. I wanted it because this year is the centennial anniversary of his death and I'm thinking about visiting the Czech Republic sometime within a year's time.

At my local library, I borrowed some CD's of Dvorak and other Czech composers.

Also borrowed some books about music careers, so that I can better understand the business of music and the kind of music-related jobs. I don't, necessarily, want to work in the business or become a working musician, but I need to better understand this kind of stuff to improve the content and coverage of my primitive music website.

At the end of Sunday, I caught the end of the Baltimore Book Festival at Mt. Vernon. I haven't been to it in a couple years, but things hadn't changed that much. A difference I noticed, this time, was a number of authors selling self-published books (fiction & poetry). Actually, some of the books were probably published by small presses (but they looked as if they were self-published.) And it seemed that some of the authors were from out-of-state (e.g., Delaware and New York).

I didn't buy any books, there. But I did accept something handed to me that looked like a large manuscript. It turned out to be a copy of Playboy -- for the blind! It was part I of a three-part Braille "translation" of an issue of Playboy. I guess that blind readers are the only ones who can truly say that they read it just for the articles. Blind editions of magazines are published by the Library of Congress.

(Are our tax dollars being used to pander to blind lust?! For shame! Here's yet another example of a government program gone awry. I wonder if Michelle Malkin, or like-minded others, have exposed this perversion of our tax money by those liberal, pc subversives squirreled away in our government.) :-)

fizzled fireworks - Michelle Malkin at JHU

I saw Michelle Malkin speak the other night at Hopkins. I’d seen and heard her on CSPAN a couple times, and wasn’t captivated. But I was primed by the prospect of “blood”, so to speak. I wanted to see if raucous demonstration might ensue against her, as was the case at UC Berkeley, about a week or two ago. Moreover, her talk at AU (American University in DC), 2 nights earlier, had been cancelled due to pressure from the Bush campaign and possibly the university’s administration and the Bush administration as well.

Malkin is a conservative columnist who’s been publicizing her book, In Defense of Internment: the case for ‘racial profiling’ in World War II and the War on Terror.

Her talk, which was mostly devoted to making the case for Japanese American internment, seemed like one big WWII history lesson. It was also peppered with remarks about the current need for profiling.

Coincidentally, today I received an email job announcement for director of a program that gives grants for JA-experience-in-WWII projects. Would Malkin oppose this program? I’m not sure. In her speech, she did acknowledge the suffering of JA’s during the war, but said it was unavoidable.

Her talk tried to overturn 2 alleged myths – 1) that there was no security threat posed by Japan and 2) no disloyalty and subversion by people of Japanese descent.

When I review my notes and try to reconstruct her arguments, I sense that she didn’t seem to sufficiently differentiate between Japanese nationals and Japanese Americans, between those who acted subversively and those who did not.

Even if she did make a distinction in her book, the Japanese American Citizens League notes that a federally-mandated commission found that “not a single documented act of espionage, sabotage or fifth column activity on the mainland was committed by an American citizen of Japanese ancestry or by a resident Japanese alien on the West Coast” (Personal Justice Denied, 1982). The JACL adds that his view has been “consistently substantiated by independent scholars and researchers for almost half a century since World War II.” (Tateishi, August 24, 2004)

In the current situation, Malkin said she is not “advocating rounding up people and tossing them into camps.” I suppose that shows that she is able to scale her sense of security to fit the scope of the threat. She added, “In times of war, unfortunately, racial profiling is justified.”

Is it really?... Perhaps… I would venture to say that it depends on how it is done.

Meanwhile, the casual observer would probably find it odd for someone like her to be arguing this, given the fact that she’s a visible minority (to borrow a Canadian term). She’s of Filipino descent.

Indeed, during the Q&A period, immediately after her address, one questioner suggested that people might pay less attention to her if she were a white, wealthy man. To which she replied that “she didn’t know if her ethnicity helped. If so, so what!?”

This disingenuousness about her racial visibility is typical of minority conservatives. This is something that they tend to downplay, despite the fact that we all know that their appearance attracts attention to their commentary, especially in matters of race.

(Now, I wouldn’t want to deny leftists their due. I find the way they deal with war, other than to oppose it, is short-sighted.)

Well, enough about politics.

What are my impressions of the evening?
Well, not many fireworks ensued, though there were some students standing outside, at the entrance to the auditorium, handing out small anti-Malkin leaflets.
The campus Republican club hosted the event, which was attended by about 60 or less folks (mostly students).

And how does she look? Her appearance can be a bit stunning if caught from the best angle. She’s about 5’2” or 5’3”in her 2” heels. Slim physique. Long, slightly wavy hair. Very full lips.

She doesn’t come off as combative or shrill. Rather, quite the opposite. Almost subdued. Quite a contrast to her sometimes inflammatory rhetoric.

Most of those challenging her during the Q&A, didn’t know enough about WWII, Japanese intelligence in the U.S., and the domestic situation in 1941 to seriously puncture her main points.

The most serious challenge came from a JA woman (nonstudent, Sansei (3rd generation)) who invoked the experiences of her parents’ internment, and the service of her uncle in military intelligence in the Pacific campaign.. She also brought up an interesting fact about orphans of Japanese descent being placed in the internment camps.

near misses

Sunday was my day to almost meet some Maryland politicians.

Around noon, I went to this rather empty event at Pimlico Middle School in Baltimore called the "International/Diversity Celebration Music Festival". I got there early to check out the first band and left as the 2nd was playing. (Can't have been more than 50 attendees when I left. Only about 10 when I got there.)

The list of co-sponsors was as long as your arm, and included the Mayor's office. O'Malley was supposed to show up sometime after leaving the Ravens football game. Don't know if he did.

I decided that I wouldn't hang around to find out and headed downtown to my next event. It was a talk and service at Old St. Paul's Church (SE corner of Charles St. and Saratoga). The event was to commemorate the 190th anniversary of the Star Spangled Banner. Baltimore, as most of you know, has special dibs on the Nat'l. Anthem. And OSP church had some connections to the writer, Francis Scott Key. (Or "Frank" as he was known to family, said one of the researchers who spoke about him.)

Before we got to hear about Frank, his life, the anthem, and his involvement with churches, a representative from the governor walked up to front and told the congregation that Ehrlich would've been there, but his schedule wouldn't allow it. I thought to myself, that's the second time today that I might've had a chance to see a political leader in person. (I must confess I wasn't very disappointed to have missed seeing either fellow.)

The last part of the event was the singing of the anthem. I think I sang smoothly and with sonority, until I reached the highest note ("...land of the FRE~E..."). Then I think my voice quavered or cracked. Couldn't tell too well, because it was masked by the others singing and the organ playing in that echo-y church.

Perhaps, one could say that Governor Ehrlich made a wise decision in avoiding the event. But I must confess, it was fun to sing the anthem, especially since we sang an additional stanza.

long time, no post

Since last I posted, I've visited Los Angeles and Boulder, Colorado.
In LA I bought a bunch of knick-knacks at a Japanese 98cents store (Marukai).
In Colorado I visited the Rocky Mountain Nat'l. Park.

(I also got my fender replaced... the one that got bashed in by a baby deer.)

Lots more to report on about my trips...