Waxing Poetically: Addressing Culture with a Twist of Poetry

Photo by Mary Ellen Matthews

When Comic/Actor Will Ferrell had an idea for a political comedy filled with ridiculous banter and kitschy, snarky one-liners. He thought of many things, Ferrell tells playbill.com, “I was listening to politic rhetoric on both sides and I got this idea of doing a one-man show about a fictional political candidate who basically never said anything one way or the other.” But Ferrell’s film schedule wouldn’t allow much time to ticker with a whole new project. Then when Ferrell’s manager suggested he revive his George W. Bush character/impersonation, it all came together.

The resulting live show is one of one part foibles, one part comic sentimentality with both parts adding up to possibly the most soothing and easily achieved 75 minutes of laughter you might see this year, Broadway’s You’re Welcome America: A Final Night with George W. Bush. The premise: “Dubbya” arrives via Secret Service helicopter at Broadway’s Cort Theatre (running through March 15) with the aim being to address his adoring fans for one final farewell filled with anecdotal insights and the occasional phonetic flub including fictional revelations about just how mysteriously powerful VP Dick Cheney really is, Bush’s real relationship with former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, his infamous AWOL years spent with “totally non-sexual” buddy David Rothchild and a plan to train 2000 Moroccan monkie to fight in Iraq and simultaneously entertain children. However, in true Ferrellian manner and form, the show opens with well wishes for the newly elected president (who is mentioned only a handful of times as “the Tiger Woods guy”) and a prayer to a “blonde, lightly bearded,… almost Swiss-looking Jesus” a la his Talladega Nights alter ego Ricky Bobby. The rest of the time is riddled with quizzical expressions, flightsuit-wearing, banner-waving, Katrina-reconciliations and Iraqi war regrets each with bits of real life taken from reality into Ferrell’s world of random, dirty humor that even allows for several occasions of audience participation.

Yet for all the sophomoric, silly and satirical moments in You’re Welcome America, Ferrell seems to sympathize at times with a George W. Bush portrayed as a common man thrust into uncommon territory and even more so as the play suddenly breaks from the laughs at one point to ask for a moment of silence for those who have died in the wars oversees. It is at times lambasting of Bush, while in other moments hilariously self- deprecating in a way Bush might actually approve of himself. Still other times, the viewer is reminded that the jokes found here may not be suitable for all ages. But in the end, it may be said that You’re Welcome America is worth its full price.

Wax Ferrellian!

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Archived from Art from the Outskirts August 27, 2008

Citadel of Progress (2008)

At a height of 1.3 kilometers, this building is taller than any existing today. It is my largest and most ambitious creation to date, and it could probably house an entire city’s residential and commercial operations if it were built. Each level has a hexagonal cross-section, and the structure consists of increasingly thinner hexagonal layers. On each level, I emphasize different geometric shapes, designs, and colors. In this building, I try to embody the upward aspiration in humans – the urge to progress, to improve, to build more, better, and higher things. This building conveys all the color and vibrancy of the most noble drive in man – the desire for the continual amelioration of life.

Discourses of the functions of art have been long-held tradition in innumerable cultures throughout time. The discussion becomes even more culturally constrained when discussing the role of architecture in a given society .Many cultures seek a unique,
visceral or spiritual experience. This is evident in the wondrous cave paintings of pre-historic man the grandiose pyramids and temples of the ancient Egyptians and Maya, the elegant Zen gardens of Japan and the majestic cathedrals of modern. Conversely art may function as mechanism for daily living in the logistics of a factory, the tidiness of an office or the confinement of a jail cell. Yet very often such stringent boundaries do not appear so readily defined. Though many times form may meet mechanism and logistical purpose or a stucture may be built solely to evoke spiritual awareness, there are occasions in which the logical and the visceral must meet at a common point. Gennady Stolyarov II’s City of Antideath is just such a place.

Created with Google imagining software, Antideath is an experiment in digital architecture and is a tribute to liberty, creativity and the hope for a deathless world. As Stolyarov is a professed Atheist, he prefers to think that paradise is plausible on Earth rather than only in the hereafter as he ponders the possibility of a cure for death ala Cory Doctorow’s novella Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom. Each model in the set is named for a person or historical movement exemplary of Stolyarov’s vision of perpetual life, liberty and happiness for all people.

It is to be noted Stolyarov is not a professional architect or artist but an intellectual and regular contributor to the Today.com blogosphere In this sense, his art is indeed from the Outskirts.

From the Artist:

Why is this city called Antideath?

To view all pieces, comment or to add to this project visit Stolyarov’ blog here. This is an open-ended community-inclusive project.

…Stay tuned for more from the Outskirts!

Well, Folks…. I’m speechless (more or less). Waxing Poetically’s unique visits have nearly reached a 70% increase from several weeks ago. Thanks for all the great support a few of you have shown in particular… you know who you are . I’ll be sure to return as many comments and links as I can. If you are new to the page please give feedback and if you like what you read, pass it on however you see fit, i.e., StumbleUpon, Digg, Facebook, MySpace etc. Please feel free to give constructive negative criticism as well. Also please visit the archives as some posts are without comments. I’m a full-time freelance writer right now and I put my all into everything I write so every little hit and comment means the world to me, really. Thanks again so, so much!

In addition my arts blog Art from the Outskirts has done phenomenally well for the fact that it’s only been up for a few weeks. Thank you for that as well!

Gladwell’s The Tipping Point

Here is a short but loaded list of great books to read!

As a Man Thinketh (1902) and The Heavenly Life (Year N/A) both books by James Allen

James Allen presents both works a as testament to both wonders and horrors of human thought. In As a Man Thinketh he talks of how or every thought shapes our every action and that a person is the sum of what and how he thinks. In the Heavenly Life he makes goodness a reality to be found through everyday things and helps the reader to see the divinity of each moment as it comes.

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell (2000)

This New York Times best seller explores how ideas spread. Everything from Hush Puppies to Sesame Street and major crime is broken down into smallest terms. Gladwell examines why certain people can spread ideas better than others and which ideas work and why. It’s a great read for anyone in Business and marketing and anyone who looking to better understand the motives of people.

1984 by George Orwell (1949)

In today’s age of unpopular wars, wiretapping and political fervor, 1984 (also written as Nineteen Eighty-Four) tells the story of Winston Smith a historical fabricator for a the totalitarian government of Oceania who sets out to find the truth and finds only manipulation in the process. It’s a classic sci-fi horror story of thought control and what can result from it.

Jesus and Buddha: The Parallel Sayings by Edited by Marcus Borg (1997)

This book is A awe-inspiring look at how Jesus Christ and the Buddha while separated by 500 years and huge geographical barriers were nearly identical in their life stories and views on humanity. Jesus and Buddha is a great starting point for anyone interested in comparative religion.

The Age of Reason by Thomas Paine (1794, 1795, 1807)

In this Age of Enlightenment piece, Paine takes sharp, decisive aim at the notion of Biblical Infallibility citing lapses in mathamatics, logic, proofreading and overall continuity. Even religious folks can digest some of Paine’s views with a proverbial grain of salt. Paine claims that nature is the truest Word of God.

A Clockwork Orange (with the 21st chapter) by Anthony Burgess (1962)

Young Alex is a teen with a taste for Beethoven, rape an murder who is placed in a Government reform treatment program at the price of his free will. The story examines the importance of free will in becoming a “good” person.

Read waxfully!

This past May, I reviewed a daring 1958 novel aptly titled The Ugly American. It tells the fictional tale of U.S. foreign policy officials restrained by their own narrow world views. While reading, I noted some very eerie parallels between the blunders in the book and those of a select group of politicians. Similar to last night’s Republican National Convention, questions of experience, credibility and judgment permeate every page when those with the most executive experience scoff at the prospect of a young idealist usurping the powers of the status quo. Leave some comments and tell me if you see as much of George W. Bush and Barack Obama in this book as I do.

Originally published May 12, 2008

Exactly one week ago I finished reading The Ugly American, a now classic novel first published in 1958 at the crest the Cold War in America. I first came across the book at a community book sale at my college library. The title immediately drew me as worthy of at least a glance and the reviews stamped on the front, back and first few pages made me wonder if this book was as illicit as the atomic secret itself.

But at its heart, The Ugly American is not simply a scandal ridden, salacious rag of fantastic fiction but the brilliant fact-based creation of writers’ Eugene Burdick and William J. Lederer written to shed much needed light on what they see as America’s domineering, arrogant and ethnocentric approach to international diplomacy. Set in the fictional Southeast Asian nation of Sarkhan, the book depicts a plight similar to that of Cold War Vietnam, Burma (Myanmar), Laos and Thailand. Sarkhan is at brink of disaster as the Soviets, and Chinese aim to exploit its poverty for political gain.

Each chapter is a brief but very crisp snapshot of the seemingly blind diplomats of the time stumbling and bumbling though language gaps, cultural gaffs and an astonishing desire to isolate themselves by throwing lavish cocktail parties and hiring the locals as servants to provide all the comforts of home. None of the diplomats dare to venture out of their luxury suites and meet locals. Many of the American foreign ambassadors do not speak any foreign language and are thus deceived when gathering information. When Ambassador Lou Sears finds he has been defamed in a Sarkhanese political cartoon, he is unable to read it and is therefore able to be easily duped into thinking it’s not so bad by his Sarkhanese counterpart. And while hijacking a U.S. shipment of rice, the Soviets are able to stencil “Gift from Russia” in Sarkhanese because, after all… Americans don’t speak Sarkhanese.

In the Chapter entitled “Lessons of War” two proud soldiers one American named , the other a French Major named Monet find that when confronted by newly promoted successor to Ambassador Sears, Gilbert MacWhite, they had ever read the writings of Mao and were fighting the wrong way the whole time.

MacWhite then becomes the voice of reason in Washington who relies on the native people and insiders to tell and show there way of life. These heroes come in the form of a milkman, who is able to infiltrate the Communists, a priest, who promotes democracy through simply learning the native tongue, a chicken farmer who knows how to help breed bigger, better chickens for food and lastly, the “Ugly American” of the book’s title, Homer Atkins a dirty-fingernailed engineer who invents a simple bicycle powered pump to pump water to the people in a local Sarkhanese village. All the while MacWhite’s listening to the common man gets him into boiling hot water throughout the entire novel with the overall premise being that common sense isn’t so common. Each story is based on a real life encounter had by foreign officer or an amalgam of several stories in one.

In short, this book reminded me of Iraq is so many ways. The news often talks about insurgencies infiltrating U.S. forces after we thought we could just show up and save the day. My friends tell me of a shortage of Arabic speakers and often soldiers describe themselves as fighting ghosts whom they never see, similar to the Chinese Communist fight of 50 years ago. As well, I still run into cocky, domineering Americans now and again who think they live on an island. Have we learned anything? Scary. Very Scary. Regardless, this book is well worth a read.

Note: There is a 1963 film adaptation of the same name starring Marlon Brando.

Wax well, My Friends. Wax well!

Well, just when I thought I might have run out of topics to blog about, along comes Vh1’s special on hot teen stars to cover all my socioanalytical needs. Over the weekend while eating lunch, I had the TV on and I happened upon a retrospective on teen stars which included C. Thomas Howell who you might remember as Ponyboy from The Outsiders. Anyhow, the sociologists at I Love the Past 30 Seconds (or fill in your favorite nostalgic title here) Pointed out one the all-time most intriguingly horrid films to be heralded with the likes of Howard the Duck, Dude Where’s My Car and Of course I’d be failing you as an analyst if I didn’t include Showgirls in that bunch. Even beyond such colorful gems is an ever rarer diamond named Soul Man. I watched it. It’s corny. But, unlike its associates, 1986’s Soul Man stands as one of the more meaningful bad movies ever made.

Clearly, for me to make such a commanding statement I must provide ample evidence — I’ve got it! The plot begins when Harvard Law Freshman Mark Watson (Howell) is suddenly cut off from his father’s millions and left to pay for school on his own. Mark, knowing he cannot do this looks for a scholarship and find that the one which suit him the best is only for black students. Mark then uses experimental tanning lotion in a high dose to make himself look black. Mark gets in to Harvard Law thinking that he’ll be welcomed with open arms in “The Cosby Decade.” He soon finds out otherwise in a string of unabashedly racist jokes, including when the student assume he’s am excellent basketball player, when two snobby white guys just happen to be telling black jokes when Mark is around, (this occurs in a least five scenes and gets tiresome after three) and in an attempt at a serious tone, Make is thrown in jail after a white police officer tails him causing to be pulled over for reckless driving after which Mark is beaten in his cell by who he describes as “drunken bigots.”

Meanwhile as cliche’ movie writing dictates, Mark has a love interest, a single mom, Sarah who somehow becomes the love of his life while the two study in the library –cue the worst Lionel Ritchie song you’ve ever heard and multiply it by seven– Mark then discovers after a night of warm conversation, that he took the scholarship Sarah would have gotten had he not darkened himself. Mark feels terrible about the whole mess and decides to make amends by paying Sarah her full scholarship plus interest and telling his Professor and superior (conspicuously played by James Earl Jones) that he wants to do charity work and put a portion of his future lawyerly earnings toward a scholarship in Sarah’s name. Sarah forgives Mark and the the happy couple walks hand-in hand as the credits roll.

However, there are some good points to this fiasco of color lines. First is the utter implausibility of the premise. I no of no tanning formula that will turn anyone black. So in that way, there is an element of fantasy which can make the viewer lose sight of the fact that the lead character is in blackface. Next, is the very noticeable fact that though Mark is pretending to be black, he makes no attempt to change his personality, voice or mannerisms in general. The obvious exception is when he has to hind his voice from people who know him as white (including his own parents). lastly, it become clear thoughout the film, that how mark is treated has little to with making any kind of overt joke. Rather, Mark just learn how it feels to be black and becomes a better person for having lived that “reality.”

Overall, while I expected to be offended greatly at some point, I actually enjoyed the unbelievability of the plot of Soul Man. The scenario made me wonder if it would ever be done in our current age of affirmative action. I do think someone might try to do something similar, thought possible to discredit the affirmative action movement as a whole. There are those who may say basing Harvard Law eligibility on race allows such a stupid premise to be considered. But then, to live in a world where racism must be counteracted by law is quite preposterous itself.

Wax, rinse, repeat.

A few days ago, one of my most loyal fellow today.com-ers, violetteb and her multi-topical blog for women BigShoes, gave my blog special praise in her roll off of her favorites. So in good will, I thought I’d return the gesture in some form.

Writely Applied - Another one of Violette’s gems, it explores how we can be better writers in our workplace, schools and homes among others. It has all the basics broken down into easily understandable terms.

The Progress of Liberty - This blog is for all of us who think outside the constraints of party, culture, religion and race… because we are all in this world together.

Get to Know Her - This blog was one of last month’s runners-up in the best blog category and rightly so! This is a hip hop blog for true hip hop heads! From the disco era, Run-DMC and Rakim to West Coast Crumpin,’ old school graffiti and international emcee and b-boy battles. It’s the most thorough expression of the culture I’ve seen in a long while!

Asian America - This cultural adventure lays out multiple Asian cultural topics on everything: dating, stereotypes, fashion and art among others. Check it out!

This was just a quick rundown, but there are others in all topics. Please explore. Note that I did not mention names because of a few names I didn’t know. I will correct this in the future ! Keep waxin’!

In 1976, as it is today, the idea of making a biographical film about the prophet of Islam Mohammad was a tricky proposition. That’s mainly because the film’s protagonist is not to be shown by Islamic law as a matter of respect. Yet, somehow, The Message, (originally titled Mohammad, Messenger of God, and later retitled for its U.S. release in 1977) completes its mission brilliantly as it elaborates the story of early Islamic history in the ancient cities of Medina and Mecca through the remarkable direction of Moustapha Akkad.

The Message takes the viewer from the first of several solitary moments between God and the Prophet in the sacred cave where it is believed Mohammad received the final word of God via the angel Gabriel in 600 A.D. (B.C.E.) at the age of 40 and whose final teaching was on his death bed 23 years later. The film follows the persecution of the new Muslim followers by the leaders of the day through the deserts during the religion’s the early years. Mohammad is represented by first-person camera point of view and his words are repeated or acquiesced to rather than heard. The film’s star, so to speak is Anthony Quinn who plays Mohammad’s uncle Hamza. He is the film’s main on-screen personality preaching God’s word on his nephew’s behalf and fighting (defensively) for believers’ right to practice the faith in what is a pagan society.

Throughout the film, the followers proclaim the greatness of God, equality of all people, (the Koran states a woman to be different but equal to a man and a slave equal to his master) and to be accepting of “the People of the Book” (Jews and Christians) because theirs too is the word of God and that non-believers must not be coerced into belief but rather brought to that belief by their own search. These themes are anything if not common among most every religion: charity, kindness, forgiveness, humility, education, respect and brotherhood and love of one’s neighbor for a true believer indeed “loves for his brother what he loves for himself.”

In closing I’d like to point out the themes in The Message are nothing if not the very antithesis of terrorism! Islamic holy war means fighting for the common good, not bombing or crashing planes into buildings! Furthermore, Muslims believe in many of the same concepts as Christians, i.e. the virgin birth of Jesus, all the miracles of Jesus, the teachings of Jesus and all the prophets of the Bible. Where they differ is in the concept of Jesus as a divine being and a human at the same time (which many of us might understand because it is a bit hard to grasp even for Christians) and their observance of a total prohibition of alcohol and pork for reasons having mainly to do with cleanliness and sobriety… which are not bad reasons if you ask me. So, you see, Islam is a peaceful, loving, religion, Folks. If you know any haters, please educate them…. This film is a great place to start! I highly recommend it!

Until we meet again…. Keep it waxin’!