A Wonderful Life

I need this right now.

Forgive me for being greedy.

Peace and Rice,

– Bobolee Chron

Here I go out to sea again
the sunshine fills my hair
and dreams hang in the air
Gulls in the sky and in my blue eye
you know it feels unfair
there’s magic everywhere

Look at me standing
here on my own again
up straight in the sunshine

No need to run and hide
it’s a wonderful, wonderful life
No need to laugh and cry
it’s a wonderful, wonderful life

Sun’s in your eyes
the heat is in your hair
they seem to hate you
because you’re there
and I need a friend
Oh, I need a friend
to make me happy
not stand here on my own

Look at me standing
here on my own again
up straight in the sunshine

No need to run and hide
it’s a wonderful, wonderful life
No need to laugh and cry
it’s a wonderful, wonderful life

I need a friend
oh, I need friend
to make me happy
not so alone…….
Look at me here
here on my own again
up straight in the sunshine

No need to run and hide
it’s a wonderful, wonderful life
No need to laugh and cry
it’s a wonderful, wonderful life

No need to run and hide
it’s a wonderful, wonderful life
No need to run and hide
it’s a wonderful, wonderful life
wonderful life, wonderful life

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When Words Fail…

…say it with music.

Rolling Stone

Rest In Peace, Michael Joseph Jackson.

Also, check out this Rolling Stone Pictorial “Michael Jackson at 50: Rare Early Photos”.

Peace and Rice,

jw

I Lost My Twitter Cherry Today

Blame it on @aplusk. Blame it on @Oprah.  Blame it on @CNN even, but yes, I’ve finally decided to join the Twitter brigade.

Twitter is a site where users post 140-character messages that are distributed to groups of people/users who follow their every post… they’re known as “followers”.  The service allows users to “tweet” (post) as well as “follow” other Twitterers.

http://twitter.com/boboleechron

http://twitter.com/boboleechron is where you’ll find me… and I’m just getting my “sea legs” around the service.

I first got introduced to Twitter during my daily tech readings a few years ago.  Then Keith, a friend and fellow blogger of mine, started using it.  I didn’t seem to think I had the time or the “content” to start a “microblog”.

The recent race to a million Twitter followers between CNN and Ashton Kutcher (aplusk) got my attention… as did the fact that Oprah Winfrey became the latest celebrity to join the service.   Kutcher said that:

“I found it astonishing that one person can actually have as big of a voice online as what an entire media company can on Twitter,” Kutcher says in a video, which was shot from inside a car and was posted on Qik.com.

“So I just thought that was just kind of an amazing comment on the state of our media, and I said that, if I beat CNN to 1 million viewers, then I would ding-dong ditch Ted Turner — because I don’t think it’s gonna happen.”

My first thought was that he was right… Twitter is a great equalizer for the masses.  The people now have the means to reach others and to spread their versions of the real story.

Then I started to think again… just who is Ashton Kutcher?   Besides the fact that he’s an actor and the husband of a famous actress, who is he?  Why would a million people choose to get their “news” from @aplusk as opposed to CNN?  In a sense, his winning the race to a million followers is symptomatic of the problem being faced by all media carriers, especially the traditional press: the masses are no longer interesting in reading yesterday’s news.  Advances in communications and internet technologies are blurring the dividing lines between us all.   The global village is now, and we’re all sitting in the same cafe with the same access to the same gossip about what “Mary” got herself into last night… as soon as she updates her online status.

I read online that some view this race to a million as further proof of the dumbing down of America, and by extension, the globe. I disagree.  A million people wanting to find out more about what Ashton and Demi wore to lunch as opposed to wanting to hear more about the economic plans of the Obama administration isn’t dumb…

No, I don’t think its dumb at all.  Its escapist. Life today is stressful.  People have lost their houses, their jobs, their live savings… its getting harder to afford the basics for most of us as our salaries stay the same or go kaput whilst prices skyrocket.  The comings and goings of celebrities help people tune out of the world for awhile… put a smile or a smirk on a few faces everyday… entertainment.  Besides which, why buy the newspaper cow when the information milk is free? 😆

I hope, if anything, that I get to interact with more of you folks… and even make a few more friends via Twitter.  I’m a later adopter by nature when it comes to technology… I know someone always comes along with something better, faster and stronger on short notice.  Feel free to follow my feed and to post your own in the comments, if you wish.  I promise not to be a spammer, and not to tweet (or retweet) crap!

Peace and Rice,

jw

Wrong Country? No Love…

You know something’s really wrong with the US economy when not even the “local” girls want to marry American men!

Ineligible Bachelors: Indian Men Living in U.S. Strike Out

The Wall Street Journal article points out that:

Vikas Marwaha would normally be considered a good catch by Indian parents seeking a husband for their daughter. The 27-year-old software engineer earns $80,000 to $100,000 a year and comes from a family “of doctors and engineers,” according to his profile on a matrimonial Web site.

But Mr. Marwaha works for a start-up Internet phone company in San Francisco. And because the U.S. economy is wobbly, that’s a problem. Many Indian parents now are balking at sending their daughters to the U.S. to marry.

Check out this interactive “Indian Singles” ad at the journal!

Until recently, overseas candidates would quickly elicit 10 to 15 responses from young women, says Smita Seth, 55, owner of Manpasand Marriage Bureau in Ahmedabad. But in the past few months, she has had to coax parents to even consider overseas grooms; they prefer men from their own towns instead.

In order to find a suitable bride, many Non-Resident Indian (N.R.I.) men leave their successful US jobs, try to find suitable jobs at home and begin the search for a bride, anew… where they’re being confronted with the fact that its pretty hard these days to find a “bride who is smart, fluent in English, and ‘simultaneously, docile in the house’.”

I wonder how other bachelors from other cultures worldwide are coping… the potential brides too!  Someone should do a study on this… it seems that the general trend is reversing.  People are leaving the US now, instead of flocking to it!

The reason? Pretty simple actually… as the Mighty Sparrow succinctly put it in one of his classic calypsoes:

[Afrobella]

“No Money, No Love”

Peace and Rice,

jw

PS:  Here’s one N.R.I. male who shouldn’t have any problem finding himself a bride… 🙂

[Chicago Sun Times]

I want to wish you all the best in your new job, man!  8)

Generation Lion Jouvay

After a five year leave of absence, I decided to play J’Ouvert (pronounced “joo vay”) again this year.

[Go Trinidad&Tobago]

Each year at 4 am on Carnival Monday, Carnival begins under a cloak of darkness. Fuelled by exhilaration and the energetic rhythms of soca music, revellers take to the streets for the predawn party of J’Ouvert.

J’Ouvert from the French ‘jour ouvert’ or ‘day open’ is almost ritualistic in its celebration of the darker elements of the island’s folklore and history. Bathed in chocolate, mud, oil and paint, bands of revellers depict devils, demons, monsters and imps. Choose your medium of expression; J’Ouvert is a time for loosening of inhibitions.

via TRINIDAD & TOBAGO – Carnival.

I chose to play with “Generation Lion”, a band fronted by an old schoolmate of mine, Rubadiri Victor.  “Generation Lion” is the title of a magazine he produces which highlights Trinidad and Tobago’s social, cultural and sporting groundbreakers.  Its the largest glossy magazine in the Caribbean (its usually over 300 pages long), and its in its 4th printing.

Here’s some of the action I encountered on the road…

I’m on my way to get some more Carnival pictures… see you soon!

Peace and Rice,

jw

Making Their Mark « Bobolee Pix

Making Their Mark I like graffiti. Always have. I guess it has a lot to do with the freeform expression… the ability to rush a beautiful piece of rebellion onto a surface without getting caught. At school, I used to express myself quite liberally in wood carvings on my desks.

I call this one "Whole"

Anyway, over the last few years, graffiti artists have been making Port of Spain their canvas of choice. I’ve chronicled some of their exploits in the public space before… <Continue Reading at my photoblog, Bobolee Pix…>

Dollars and Sense

Could this (below) be a reason why the World Economy is in the tank right now?  I certainly hope not!

Video from http://failblog.org/2009/02/04/verizon-math-fail/

[Pundit Kitchen]

Peace and Rice,

jw

Bits Of Brilliance

…to brighten up your day!  I borrowed the title of this post from the RS article below.  Enjoy!

~~~

Dear World,

The United States of America, your quality supplier of ideals of liberty and democracy, would like to apologize for its 2001-2008 service outage.

Bye Bye Bush!

[SFist]

The technical fault that led to this eight-year service interruption has been located. Replacement components were ordered Tuesday, November 4th, 2008, and have begun arriving. Early test of the new equipment indicate that it is functioning correctly and we expect it to be fully operational by mid-January.

We apologize for any inconvenience caused by the outage and we look forward to resuming full service and hopefully even improving it in years to come. Thank you for your patience and understanding,

The USA

[Rolling Stone]

[All of the pix above came from PunditKitchen.com]

Peace and Rice,

jw

Where’s the Change Button?

So Obama and his team are beginning to get settled into their offices… if they could find them, meeting staffers for the first time, looking for the bathroom and the powder room, signing forms and paperwork… kinda like the first day of school all over again.  While doing my daily news-scanning, I ran across a few interesting articles that had me scratching my head in various degrees.

Washington Post — Staff Finds White House in the Technological Dark Ages

From the Washington Post

This is one of the first challenges that they’ll have to face.

No Macs anywhere, just computers outfitted with six-year-old versions of Microsoft software. Laptops are scarce and assigned to only a select few.  No instant messaging, no cellphones for some, definitely no BlackBerrys… no Facebook, no Twitter, no Flickr, no… anything remotely modernised and Web 2.0 related?

The White House?

C’mon!!!  How’re they going to function?

The White House is a beuraucracy all within itself.  It practically runs itself, and is apparently very resistant to change.  According to the article, “The White House itself is an institution that transitions regardless of who the president is.  The White House is not starting from scratch. Processes are already in place.”  Sheesh!!!

In other words, as far as the Oval Office is concerned, all your base are belong to us, Mr. President.  😕

At least they still let you use a BlackBerry!

For a country that’s one of the more advanced on the planet, you know this is one of the things at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue that has to change!

“Change” leads me to the second thing that had me holding my head… with laughter, though!

From the Big Picture

Seriously though, they have a mountain of debt to climb.  With over 10 TRILLION dollars in debt, they’ll need all the help they can get!

Help… hmm… so who’s volunteering?

Well, DARPA is!  Don’t know who they are? Well,  if it weren’t for them, you and I wouldn’t be having this conversation now! 😆

They’re the ones responsible for designing and implementing what we’ve come to know as the Internet, waaaay back in the 1960’s.  Now they want to help stimulate the American economy… which I hope will eventually ‘trickle down’ to the rest of us!

A top DARPA official wrote an ‘open letter’ to Obama… here’s an article from The Register (one of my favourite tech sites) that talks about it:

DARPA Fix! - El Reg.

I say give them a go.  They’ve done great work thus far, and if anything, it’ll be a shot in the arm for the US scientific community.

I wonder though.  What will they conjure up?

Will it be anything like this?

"Samtron Imperius" - Sinfest Web Comic

For our sakes, I really do hope the new Sheriff in town finds that “Change” button, and pushes it quickly.

The whole world is waiting for it!

Peace and Rice,

jw

Closer

“Closer” by Goapele (pronouced Gwa-pa-Lay) is one of my favourite easy listening tracks.

Having a hard time at the office? This is the song I’d prescribe for you.

Enjoy…

See more Goapele here:

www.goapele.com
www.goapelepress.com