Rhymes with Blog

Appears that we (that is, the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago) have pledged “an undisclosed amount of financial assistance” to the relief effort in southeast Asia. According to the Trinidad Express:

[Trinidad & Tobago Prime Minister Patrick Manning] said the Asian disaster will not force international attention to divert from Grenada which was ‘decimated’ by Hurricane Ivan last September.

Huh? Manning must be receiving some special Prime Ministerial television news feed offering updates on the Grenada situation.

Our neighbour Grenada, which, just like the nations so horribly affected by the Boxing Day tsunami, will take years to recover from the devastation wrought by Ivan, but let’s face it–Grenada is no longer international news. Let’s hope, however, that it continues to be Caribbean news for a long time to come–for reasons other than Prime Minister Keith Mitchell’s wranglings with Taiwan.

Reading, it turns out, isn’t something you have to do with your eyes. You can read with your ears, too. . . . But unabridged, if you don’t mind.

So writes author Lawrence Block in The Village Voice.

My housemate, who is a lot smarter than she looks (and also a writer), is a big fan of audiobooks (unabridged, of course), though some of her more high-minded friends think she’s copping out by having, say, V. S. Naipaul’s Magic Seeds read to her rather than reading it herself.

We, like Block, think there’s huge potential for audio, especially in education, and especially in countries like ours where actual literacy levels leave much to be desired and where undiagnosed learning disabilities probably cause many young people to be relegated to slow-learner streams because they have difficulty taking in written material.

We’re also certain that the act of pure, concentrated listening–something we rarely have the opportunity (or obligation) to do once we leave school–must be therapeutic in some way, if only in the sense that it takes those of us who were read to as children back to that (one hopes) blissful time when our parents read to us before bedtime.

Of course, the quality of an audiobook depends heavily on the skill of the reader. Some books we have enjoyed in audio form: the His Dark Materials series, read by its author Philip Pullman and others; Alexander McCall Smith’s No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, read by Lisette Lecat (complete with authentic southern African accents–masterful!); and Yann Martel’s The Life of Pi, read by Jeff Woodman. All are available from Audible.com.

Here’s Joshua Micah Marshall’s take on the Washington Post’s report on George W Bush’s reaction, or lack thereof to the Asian tragedy.

Meanwhile, back in Cuba. . .

We’re not uncritical of Fidel, but he does know how to act like a statesman when the occasion calls for such.

Which reminds us: farewell, Susan Sontag! May you rest in peace.

Unfortunately I’m clueless about the Wiki thing, and the housemate says she’s too busy this morning to help me out, but maybe you’re more savvy than I. Here’s how you can help.

“. . . Rin Tin Tin was the biggest star of the 1930s. He saved Warner Brothers.”

Gregory Lukow, head of the Library of Congress’ motion picture, broadcast and recorded sound department. Read all about it here.

Everybody who was anybody linked this morning to the article on blogging in Fortune magazine. And again, as in the case of the last US election, it seems that some of the most interesting reporting on the events in Southern Asia is coming in the form of first-hand accounts from bloggers. Salon.com lists a few of them, adding that BBC reporters are doing their part as well.

Joshua Micah Marshall put it best this morning. I’d like to say something about the tragedy currently unfolding in Asia–the NY Times is now reporting a death toll of more than 50,000, which is 3.8% of the population of Trinidad and Tobago, where I live. But what can I say? What do I know?

Fortunately, I’m “only” a dog, so it’s unlikely anybody is going to ask my opinion.

It is beyond gorgeous this Christmas day in Trinidad. For this I make no apologies to folks living in temperate countries: you rule the world; we get to wear shorts (or in my case, nobody tries to squeeze me into a silly doggy sweater) on Christmas day. Seems like a pretty fair trade-off to me.

This afternoon one of the housemates and I wet the plants before she headed out for dinner, hence the photo above. Flowers, to me, are usually only things that get in the way of my digging and that I get scolded for interfering with, but even I was taken with the beauty of this lily.

And a Merry Christmas to all.

A few of my more socially-aware canine buddies and I are getting together to protest this anti-dog diatribe masquerading as a doggy Christmas gift list. The piece makes several outrageous claims, including the following:

Dogs and cats may not be able to manipulate a pen, but they know how to get their wishes across – as any pet owner can appreciate! Of course, the foremost wish of dogs and cats is the gift of a good home and a loving family.

WTF? So maybe I’m not so great with writing instruments, but have they ever seen me on a keyboard? I’m a goddamn demon, a regular Mavis Beacon. That whitish blur you see above QWERTY is my own two paws, my friends, and my finicky housemates and I are engaged in a never-ending feud about their having to constantly clean fur from between the keys (between you and me, I find it dampens that annoying clacking sound keyboards make, but I guess one must bear in mind that the human ear is not exactly a state-of-the-art auditory device).

And that part about “the foremost wish of dogs and cats”–could they have been a bit more mawkish? I’d like to know how many cats and dogs were polled in order for them to come to that ridiculous conclusion. My foremost wish is for an unlimited supply of raw meat and the eradication of the dreaded Parvo virus.

To its credit, the article does suggest several tasty gift ideas, including a faux sheepskin pet bed that I’d give my canines for, and a toy called a Kong. But the only of my friends hoping to find “a sporty new leash” in his Christmas stocking this year is Stan, a Dalmatian submissive from down the street who’s planning on wearing said leash to his BDSM club’s annual Christmas retreat.

My housemate just took delivery of Afro-Sambas, another CD featuring Mônica Salmaso–but this time just Mônica’s stratospherically beautiful voice, accompanied on guitar by Paulo Bellinati.

The Afro-Sambas is an 11-song suite resulting from a remarkable partnership between two giants of Brazilian music, Baden Powell and Vinícius de Moraes. While music fans will recognise “Canto de Ossanha” and certainly the popular “Berimbau”, both of which have become Brazilian standards, the piece is rarely performed or recorded in its entirety. Here’s more about Afro-Sambas from Mônica’s web site:

The Afro-Sambas mixed the popular bossa nova style with African musical elements into an operatic story-line in which rituals of the Orixás (Gods) are told. Baden Powell and Vinícius de Moraes explored the Afro-Brazilian roots of Bahia, incorporating musical ideas drawn from the regional Capoeira (popular dance-like martial art form of Brazil) and the Candomblé (the main Afro-Brazilian religion).

Listening to #6, “Bocochê”. So far, so sublime.