Ackeelover Chronicles

... you say papaya ...

2012-01-23T20:05:00.000-08:00

... but hey, let's talk pawpaw for a minute ... call it papaya if ya wanna, but I'll go with how I was raised to sow it, grow it and know it ... pawpaw trees grow easily, given fertile conditions, and they can present a positive practicum, educating people on raising a fruit-bearing plant, a metaphor for life's cycle itself ...

... this one was grown by someone else and came to me ready for consumption ... a couple of judicious morning incisions and I had cut open the most promising pawpaw of the year so faw ...

... I mean, far ...

... the fragrance hit me in the nose, which doesn't always happen ... pawpaws vary from plant to plant ranging from watery and delicate to spicy and pungent, with a wide spread of sweet and delightful in-between ... hmm ...

... some of these succulent, fleshy, smooth-skinned delicacies come flush with seeds, which resemble tadpole-sized spermatozoa or uterine ovum depending on your ... ahh ... perspective ...

... jus' sayin' ...

... those womb-like visuals bring the words ovarian and fallopian to fore, making it fitting that the first wedge be cubed to nurture in a schooler's snackbox ... further parsing, to provide breakfast for three adult couples, is a figurative reflection of fecundity and an underappreciated manifestation of papaya aphrodisia ...

... remind me to canvas for feedback ...

... so, what's with the cruiseships? ...

2012-01-19T19:08:00.000-08:00

... following the tragic and titanic fail of the Costa Concordia on the rocky Italian coastline, we won't look at these behemoths quite the same way for a long time to come ... but at rivieras and coastal hotspots worldwide, they're still crucial to livelihoods as emblems of maritime leisure ... swag, high-seas accessories ...

... and, loathe as I am to flash yet another vista dominated by a shiny-floaty city, I could scarcely resist today when lookalike sistership, Costa Luminosa, took a reach-out-and-touch route, more hither than yon, gliding into and out of my view ...

... I'm fairly certain this skipper had both hands on the wheel, a "sonar-my" of computers, dolphin spotters for co-pilots and his most reassuring "this is your captain speaking" vocal delivery for all the porthole peepers with one eye on the Antiguan rocks ...

... ackeelover, going forward in the now ...

2012-01-11T12:37:00.000-08:00

... well, it's been a helluva year so far ... a couple weeks in and I've gone from snow and sub-freezing to sandcastles and sunshine ... from prolific blogging and twitter-tude to internet void (since rectified), and from Netflix-on-demand to no-TV-at-all ... but a couple of things have remained the same, the spinach-to-Popeye power in a meal of ackee and saltfish and the comfort of nature's beauty to the watchful eyes of this beholder ...

... the former is compromised by canned ingredients up north but redeemed by the fresh stuff down south ... and the latter? ... well, winter in Algonquin serves up its dashboard version of beauty (see Dec-16, 2011 post) and high-season in The Caribbean displays seaside charm through metal grillwork ... Ackeelover Chronicles continues to toggle between these two realities ...

... being back by the beach, observing neighbors and seafaring traffic through a long lens, reminds me of "Someone's Looking At You," by The Boomtown Rats and Rockwell's whiny smash hit, "Somebody's Watching Me," - both songs provoke less of a voyeuristic creepy-cringe than an acknowledgement of shrinking personal space on this crowded planet ... or an allusion to Big Brother (Orwell, not the reality show) ...

... but more than that, comes the peace-of-mind required for scatological thought to flourish in my head ... this is when I think, write, photograph ... and express the thoughtstream which comprises these Chronicles ...

... thus far in 2012 the tendency has been to look to the future - better, I suppose, than looking at the past, but still decidedly short of Buddhist-type meditative ideals which stress practicing observation of the present, this moment of "now" ... still, the past is a factor of "now," and "now" is a function of what the future will be, innit? ...

... exposing readers to my roving ramble is increasingly a compulsion, so this year you'll see more spontaneous "ting an' ting" on this site ... often with cool Canon pics from my "now" ...

... rest assured there'll always be music in these pages ... but with this being the Chinese Year of The Dragon, coupled with me being born in a Year of The Rooster (a.k.a. The Cock, where I come from), there's an impulsive temptation to get more "extra" - (delivered, of course, with Jamaican inflection to squeeze hyper-meaning out of the word) ...

... if all goes to plan, more "sexxyyy" too ... Happy New Year! ...

JAMAICAN GLOSSARY
"ting an' ting" - things, all kinds of everything

"extra" - over the top, "out there"

... not like the ones I used to know ...

2011-12-26T14:59:00.000-08:00

... if you've never heard the song White Christmas recorded in 1965 by The Wailers, with a fresh-out-of-his-teens Bob Marley wailing the lead vocal, I recommend you add it to your holiday programming the next time this season rolls around ... at the very least you'll get to hear the youthful legend adapt the lyrics to suit his tropical experience of the holiest Christian festival ...

... "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas,
not like the ones I used to know"...

... but my 2011 Xmas pictured Irving Berlin's original dream ...

... despite a paucity of real snow in my formative years, there was often plenty of the aerosol variety, and, even as the best-wishes remain the same, the parameters of enjoyment may shift ... to quote another modern Jamaican Christmas offering ...

"I wish for all mankind,

a Warm Jamaican Christmas time,

where there is no snow,

where the good sensimilla grow" ...

... celestial Christmas ...

2011-12-18T22:06:00.000-08:00

... wherever you look in the night sky, if the elements co-operate, you can see stars ... it's little wonder then, that humanity has embraced, as iconography, these mysterious distant twinkles ... the pentagram is a universally accepted symbol which achieves ubiquity at Christmas time, partly due to that biblical example of star-as-beacon and partly due to it's graphic design utility ...

... St Paul's Hospital on Burrard St. in Vancouver is festooned with stars for the season supporting the laudable theme of hope ...

... meanwhile, seasonal lighting choices in Toronto's Eaton Centre feature larger-than-life reindeer assemblies, looking for all they're worth like stylized constellations, against the backdrop of a bright-night skyroof, complete with astral streaks ...

... much of the incandescent radiance on St Paul's prominent wall, normally more modest outside the festive season, celebrates corporate donors ... and beneath the mod-vaulted ceiling of Mr. Eaton's grand mall sits some very seductive merchandising ...

... stars are married to Christmas mythology and stellar marketing is a lovechild of that union ... still, wonderment is our default setting when it comes to the heavens, and in light there is a sense of hope, so we should forgive ourselves if we are given to gape ...

... Happy Holidays from Ackeelover Chronicles! ...

... paradise by the dashboard light ...

2011-12-16T08:35:00.000-08:00

... cross country bladers, recreational boarders and avowed winter buffs will take issue with the cliche of paradise as a sunny hotspot, but this year, 2011, found Ontario's Muskoka region atop National Geographic's touted list of summer destinations ...

... even though "paradise" rhymes with "snow and ice," the comparisons end there if you are hot-blooded, thin-skinned or partial to polar fleece and fur ... left unheralded is the under-appreciated, out-of-season visceral beauty to be experienced when Arctic perimeter expands through the area ...

... allow yourself to picture that chilled winter wonderland, warmed by in-seat heating and auto climate-control, dusk and nightfall suggesting the urgent carnal condition Meat Loaf sings of on 1977's "Paradise By The Dashboard Light"... my best guess is - your imagination excludes freezing rain, sludge and road-salt ...

... that said, and in the interest of honoring the grandeur of the universe, I can still make a case for low-temp surrealism ... in this instance, tab snapshots taken in the same evening by you and I, lovers driving separately through unconnected weather systems, hint at a synchronous spark across time and space ...

... inside-out, eerie eye-views speak of the driving conditions ... please note telltale tachometers, indicating the foolish needn't also be foolhardy ...

... build a ladder to the stars ...

2011-12-06T21:00:00.000-08:00

... climb on every rung ...

"... may God bless and keep you always,

may your wishes all come true,

may you always do for others

and let others do for you ..."

"... may your hands always be busy,

may your feet always be swift,

may you have a strong foundation

when the winds of changes shift ..."

"... may you grow up to be righteous,

may you grow up to be true,

may you always know the truth

and see the lights surrounding you ..."

"... may your heart always be joyful,

may your song always be sung,

and may you stay forever young,

forever young, forever young,

may you stay forever young ..."

- Forever Young - Bob Dylan -

... summer street seen ...

2011-12-04T13:03:00.000-08:00

... in my world Jamaican Music is a twentyfourseven, threesixtyfive prerequisite, without which life just wouldn't feel right, but sometimes it is seen as mere summertime sound with diminishing relevance as the cooler months set in ... while I strongly reject that attitude in principle, I tend to shelve my objections in July and August when, everywhere I turn, there's a bumpin' bassline or bubblin' beat to keep the vibes level ...

... at the base of the world-famous CN Tower in downtown Toronto, while testing the touchscreen camera app on a new Android Tablet, my attention was drawn to a familiar image on a vending machine ... the resultant snapshot benefitted, quite unintentionally (pinky swear), from a pair of strolling sightseers in my pre-set frame, recalling an early 90's dancehall lick that rocked clubs and looped out of every audio-cassette deck ...

chorus:

" ... a jus' de Coca-Cola bottle shape a it a run di place,
bruck-out bruck-out gyal, a u have de shape,

a just de Coca-Cola bottle shape, a it a run di place,

skin-out skin-out gyal, a u have de shape ..."

and verse:

"... inna de place, uptown girl have de shape,

inna de place, downtown girl have de shape,

inna de place, a London girl have de shape,

inna de place, New York girl have de shape,

inna de place, Canadian girl have de shape,

a dem have di shape and a give man headache,

a dem have di shape mek man body shake ..."

... you get the idea ... within the genre there is always compulsion to big-up the female form, frequently in illustrative or graphic fashion ... this familiar theme, with attendant effect on the equilibrium of the enraptured beholder, is an eternal spring ...

... here on record (spot the misspellings inspired by yardspeak, a fun-for-all parlour game with reggae covers and labels), figure and bodyline are linked to curvy coke-bottle design and presented over a tuff Bogle riddim, with hooks from the quirky-smirky vocal of self-deprecatingly named DJ, Simpleton ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRUuGVu_JDM

... Christopher "Simpleton" Harrison (1971-2004), late of St. Andrew, Jamaica, shot to fame in '91/'92 with this hit ... he reportedly suffered from high blood pressure and died of a heart attack at just 33 years old after releasing three albums ...

... I remember him, and his catchy phrasing, whenever I spy Scarlett Johanssen ... or a retro pop-vending machine ...

... Chevron 7.7 ...

2011-11-12T18:57:00.000-08:00

... it's a truism to be sure, but one of the things you gotta do to maintain a career in the public eye is to, well, appear in the public's eye from time to time ... and I don't mean grocery shopping or a mid-day stroll down Main Street ...

... one could conspire to get nabbed running a traffic signal on Sunset Boulevard reeking of rum, or marry conspicuously with a seventy-two day divorce sequel to slam the dunk, but there are safer ways to rack up stage-time and tally a twitter following ... look no further than actors who've played science-fiction characters ... we, as a species, needn't delve into the charade chest of cheap trix - provided there's no objection to venturing into the lion's den to meet 'n' greet the fanbase ...

... the cool thing about this is that fandom is no respecter of borders or division, chapters of sycophantic adulators spring up everywhere on the globe, perhaps even beyond some say ... and for the most part, the rank-and-file fan is a big-hearted afficionado of the genre who has the chutzpah to bring the proverbial mountain to Mohammed ...

... and move mountains they do ... calling them Conventions, cash is pooled, hotels are inveigled, dealers enticed, punters wooed ... the carrots-on-the-stick are us, performers who've brought characters to life by lending ourselves to the cosmos, and the cause ... on this occasion Northampton, England plays host ...

... there's no call to wear costumes off set ... truth be known, actors don't own 'em anyway and the attendees don't need the competition for their own sartorial creativity ... the interest is in the encounter, the photo-op, the collectormania and camaraderie when common interest binds an admixture of personalities ...

... with judgementalism at minimum, everyone is free to express passions ... whether it's adolescent idolatry, gratuitous hugging, sharing a preferred song with anyone who'll listen, playing Pied Piper to a string of gents while coquettishly sporting sexy new knee-high boots, or paying tribute to fictitious aliens by dressing up and acting out until the bar closes, the field is wide open ...

... but, apart from the common colds which get communicated and the odd hangover proliferated for posterity by phone-cams, there is usually no safer arena for runaway individualism ...

... engaged celeb guests get the most out of such a milieu too ... ego value is inestimable but if you don't take yourself too seriously and can walk the fine line between madness and mission, you'll be able to pull off anything ... I found humility when faced down by a young woman with a soccer ball seemingly glued to her feet, and only regained my pride by rocking a party with judiciously selected oldies, remixes and reggae (from a hard drive that goes everywhere with me for just this purpose) ...

... satisfaction with my own DJ-ing would have been enough to provide a fitting punchline to this exercise in shameless self-promotion had I not been comprehensively upstaged that same afternoon by a macho, mind-reading monkey named Chico ...

... but that's another story for another day ...

... Gladwell and I ...

2011-10-24T17:12:00.000-07:00

... the story's been told so often I take it as truth, part of my personal mythology, repetetive support for one of my earliest memories ... indeed, I can see the scenario now without closing my eyes ... being led through the front entrance of the public library on Tom Redcam Drive in Kingston, Jamaica, not long after my fifth birthday, by a purposeful thirty-something mother, isn't the sort of life-experience you'd expect to be emblazoned on the brain, but that day caught us on a determined mission ...

... before I had a passport, or a driver's license to guarantee my adult freedoms, I first had to get a library card, a ticket to a world of possibility and gateway to an unending avenue of education and reading for pleasure ... for years all was so, until bookishness yielded sway to relatively sexy tele-news and glossy periodicals ...

... my book-reading love affair eventually took a hiatus but the die was cast, I was hooked on words ... the likes of War And Peace remain unfinished but National Geographic, The Economist and TIME subscriptions were faithfully renewed ... dailies were devoured, specialty-mags mined for target info, while Mad honed sarcasm and satire ... Shakespeare, Chaucer, Steinbeck and Miller, sounding like a law firm, were covered academically but my own reading stream was augmented by populist tributaries ...

... eventually the book bug bit back, coming full-circle, and again Mama featured in da mix ... on a recent visit she hit me with the question, "Have you read any of Malcolm Gladwell's books?"...

... this, it turned out, was less of a query than a recommendation, to which I wasn't unreceptive, having been exposed to the author via publishing blitzes illuminating his bestseller celebrity, and, I had previously taken note of his pre-eminent New Yorker byline ... plus, knowing what he looked like, I felt a quasi-cosmic kinship not entirely unrelated to politics of hair and heritage ...

... so, God bless 'er, Mom marches me to the nearest bookstore in a manner reminiscent of our library visit in an earlier age ... by the time we exit she has gifted me The Tipping Point, Blink and the fascinating Outliers, Gladwellian pop-philosophy tomes which become my proper introduction to this modern thinker who, like me, has a preternatural penchant for verbiage, and proto-filial connections to Jamaica, Britain and Canada ...

... at this point she sweetens the pot with archival information dating from beyond her own childhood into the days of her father, my grandfather, the late Rhamos Sutherland Taylor ...

... "Teacher Taylor," as he was respectfully known, was a formidable man by nature ... an educator, and one of a legion of unsung nation-builders who, by discipline, tenacity and sense of self, embodied the fortitude of Jamaican identity leading up to and beyond 1962's independence from British colonial rule ...

... a man of average height ... "Saddie"(derived from Sutherland) to his inner-circle, possessed a crisp countenance, garrulous laugh and a passion for tall glasses of ice-water and sweet mangoes ... because of him I learned to peel an orange the skillful way, in one unbroken, coiled peel ... he had quite the insatiable predilection for citrus and fetching fruit was deemed to be one of my primary duties as eldest grandchild ...

... but, more pertinent to this anecdote than his Ortanique habit, is the fact that one of his closest friends and associates was a man I know only by the surname Nation ... fast friends since their days as batchmates at Mico College, Taylor and Nation were cut from similar country-cloth ... Mico, today a University, is a respected teacher-training facility established in 1836, roughly coinciding with the official end of African enslavement in Jamaica ... it survives as the oldest institution of its type in the Western Hemisphere ... nuff tradition, in other words ...

... such tradition is layered with inter-generational markers ... Taylor's pride, my mother Ivy, is one of the first daughters of an Old Miconian to have actually taught there too, a significant gender breakthrough at the time ... one of Nation's twin daughters, Joyce, Malcolm Gladwell's mother, is herself an insightful author, a key strand of her famous son's poly-cultural chromosomal psychology, and his own understanding of it ...

... like their fathers before them, these "girls" are contemporaries from adjacent rural towns ...

... they continue to parlay paternal impetus into lifelong contributions to community and offspring, with strong faith being a common, sustaining thread ... in fact, the other Nation twin, actually named Faith, in her capacity as board member of the Bible Society of The West Indies, is at least partially responsible for a Jamaican patois, audio re-enactment of popular Bible stories falling into my hands ...

... appropriately titled "A Who Run Tings?" in the vernacular, complete with reggae instrumental background music, this work came to me via Miss Ivy's social network ... on listening, it's not difficult to imagine looks of satisfied ('Saddie-sfied?') mirth on the faces of Taylor and Nation, runnin' tings in repose from inside the Pearly Gates ...

... as they gaze upon the vibrant extensions of their bloodlines ...

... almost artificial android autumn ...

2011-10-17T19:12:00.000-07:00

... it sure is gettin' tres chilly 'round here ... watch the squirrels, bear and deer,

an' forget undressing bare as you dare ... dip in a lake now, privates disappear,

but, nature's concession thru powers that be ... is color-change on each deciduous tree,

a timely reminder to you 'n' me ... the best things in life are still wild and free ...

... leaves warm the cold,

... rich landscapes, behold,

... my android-tab snaps, to have and to hold ... flash-frozen, in vivid reds, greens and gold ...
magic Muskoka moments inspiring to share ... constant as time, year after year,
the cycle of life goes on ev'rywhere ... reassurance there's really nothing to fear ...

... fast track to London ...

2011-10-13T10:35:00.000-07:00

... the sun has long set over South Korea and the echoes of the starting pistol at the recently concluded Daegu World Track and Field Championships reverberates no more ... in replacement there is the slipstream of Caribbean athleticism and a drooling anticipation for the 2012 Olympiad, set to usher London into a bright new future ... maybe ...

... cynics will posit that Olympic gloss has dulled in modern times, given public distrust of relationships between high-performance humans, multi-syllabic pharmaceuticals, sponsorship-driven agendas and all-powerful quasi-governmental bodies along the lines of football's FIFA or the United Nations itself ... such organisations can be topheavy with empowered officials who carry weight when it comes to direction and decision-making ... career diplo-politicos sit at the UN, FIFA chiefs are ultimate footballing backroomers and International Olympic Committees are headed by the likes of the late Juan Antonio Samaranch and Jacques Rogge, names largely unknown outside of their specific circles ... the face of the 2012 London Olympic Organising Committee (LOCOG) however, is a premier athlete of modern Olympic lore ...

... legendary British middle-distance runner Sebastian Coe was transcendent on the track in his day, and true to form, has been doggedly aspirational since ... Coe is a household name in his homeland, having won gold medals, owned world records, entered politics and been granted peerage, titular membership in that most exclusive club of the realm, the preserve of Lords and Ladies ... his enduring and uncommonly close(ted?) link to former Conservative Party leader and "elder statesman" William Hague, Britain's current Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, has kept the newly-divorced Lord Coe in the UK public's voracious imagination ...

... an uncharacteristic false start and the subsequent automatic disqualification of Usain Bolt in Daegu's 100 metre sprint final sent shock waves through the sport ... that split-second, of a less-than-ten-second event, stunned observers and provoked comment from the terminally staid when Coe decreed there would be no rule change in London for Bolt, whose status as marquee king might otherwise have forced one ...

... in 1988, a similarly rejected call for exception meant 8oo metre world-record holder Coe missed the Olympics ... his ties to the not-so-distant corners of the British Empire might have seen him win glory for India, by virtue of his Punjabi maternal grandfather, since ill-health caused his failure to qualify at the British trials ... if that was a disappointment in Seoul it would undoubtably be topped in London where no-one but the competition (and the odd bookie) wants to see another major final with an empty block where Bolt should be ...

... so, the poignant drama of a sporting pinnacle is built into the fabric of Olympian battle - at every level, exposing cynicism as merely that ... every four years the universal spectacle of The Summer Games brings geo-politics into the cocktail-mix for the world to imbibe ... (even more than the Winter incarnation, which has a shallower history and intrinsic need for snow, ice, sang froid and thermal underwear) ...

... London, seat of a culture that once claimed proprietorship over so many world cultures, now becomes the focal showroom for retributive contest (dare I say reparation?), a forum for moral redress and assertive statement, in a conflict where the subordinated are wounded in pride only and human casualties are not counted by lives lost ...

... meanwhile, back in the boardroom, Lord Coe will be brushing up on his "jive" (referring to a comment he once made about Jamaican-born, British sprint star Linford Christie's speech patterns), betraying attitudinal distinctions implicit in the relationship between landed gentry and the hoi polloi ... Coe's recent genealogical quest for his aristocratic lineage led to roots in the sugar plantocracy of Jamaica, a revelation that exposed family ownership of hundreds of slaves and inter-mixture of bloodlines ...

... ground-zero in this particular plantation pot-pourri was Trelawny, the same north-western parish of Jamaica that Usain Bolt hails from ...

... period maps of the region, and others like it, survive to shine light on the ancestry of those who are descended from the principals of the lucrative industry-of-the-age, and most of the Caribbean cast of competitors will relish the opportunity to overtake Rule Britannia on the track and in the field ...

... certainly it's compelling to study the little ironies of intertwined legacies ... to wit, George Hyde Clarke, Coe's ancestor, shares a surname with the bloodline of Bustamante and Manley, scions of modern Jamaica, cousins, National Heroes and founders of both major political parties ... there's plenty reason to salivate at the thought of strands of history sharing a distilled moment of clarity in the still evolving post-colonial landscape ... it may even spawn a new dance ...

... currently, Jamaican athletes in particular are in a rich vein of dominance, just in time for 2012 - which is also the landmark 50th Anniversary of Independence from British rule ...

... celebrations will be in full swing by the opening ceremonies and contemporary demographic realities suggest there will be as much black, green and gold in evidence as red, white and blue ... think Princess Beatrice one-upping her wedding hat with a voluminous Rasta tam or Pippa skanking with Roots Manuva at a street-party ... just keep the dreadlocks wig away from Prince Harry ...

... if in doubt, execute ...

2011-09-22T12:45:00.000-07:00

... there's irony in a handshake and potential for lies,

but no mistaking truth revealed in pained eyes ...

... who ultimately believes a smile can really conceal

innermost knowledge of the conflicts we feel? ...

... and, until we know without a shadow of doubt,

what gives anyone the right to turn life-light out? ...

... judgement of man, fallible, inconclusive, unfair,
... tell me again, why we keep Manson in there?

... ohhh, for an "a" ...

2011-09-20T13:31:00.000-07:00

... rise and shine, onward and upward ...

2011-09-11T11:13:00.000-07:00

... a New York state-of-mind, ten years on ...

... steel concrete crumbles ... brittle from impact and fall,

that billowing knock-downtown ... a 911 call

punched a hole in the sky for prayer to slip through ...

where we were ain't where we goin' ... give us our due,

live up to build up, in triumph, over destruction and pall ...

... Attack The Block, aliens and allegory ...

2011-08-30T16:30:00.000-07:00

... ok fam, so it's jus' a movie right, 'cept it's more' than tha', innit ... it's bere laffs for one fing, and it chucks right off th' screen at u, an' pawns u by the bollocks ... not just y' biggie smalls bruv, but them bollocks in y' brain as well ... f'real gangsta! ... an' you done know seh it's not jus' di man dem pon the ends got bollocks, the girls dem too, yeh ... trus' me! ...

... Red, Gold and Grey, the colorz of a new Rainbow Country ... don't fear if you're allergic to spoilers, the call whether to continue reading is entirely up to you, but I'm more likely to be looking at a bigger picture than specific plot-points in this fun indie flick ... Attack The Block is set in the same Britain that recently ruptured close to social seams that have been straining for some time ... when they call it "Blighty" you can picture the traditional imagery, 'cept now a swathe of pop-youth-culture is inflected with reggae-isms and hip-hop ...

... aliens and allegory, right and wrong, cops and robbers, boys and girls, weed and wisdom, not to mention guns and guts ... this movie finds a balance between modest (in focus and means) and boasty (in characters and thematic riches) ...

... trash an' ready for the Leicester Square red carpet, the young cast of this entertaining little feature presents a reflection of an emerging generation of tenancy in UK inner-cities ... young, gifted and bored ... poly-racial little-big-men slinging yard slangs and attitudinal overtones of cockney-cool and bluster ...

... the allegorical story survives precocious characters, even daring to feature a leader named Moses, humanizing the very people historian David Starkey pointed to before invoking lurking memories of Enoch Powell's 1968 "rivers of blood" speech ... his statements read like cliche formula, race equals riots, but the big picture is more instructive, beginning with the historical veracity of expansion into lands considered claimable ... occupants therein deemed inferior and taught, indeed bred, behaviors of subservience, in deference to a lust for sweet lucre ...

... zzzzzp (the sound of scrolling through intervening years) ... to a world where Bolt and Becks are boss, Mavado matters more than Mountbatten and Yellowman is still known in some dances as King ... a one-time vortex of empire we know as Jamaica continues to resonate that very energy, only now it plays out in the wider world precisely because of the complicated psychologies associated with shedding shackles of any kind ... the pushback of life's pendulum is the riddim of Creation ...

... it doesn't escape my notice that Starkey and Bob Marley were born early in the same year ... I compare how relevant their respective legacies are to the youth on the block, who, like punks generations ago, get called-out publicly by people who just don't get it ... is like dey dealin' wit' aliens, blood ...

... and still, natural as change is, there's always friction at the intersection of past and present, with lessons to be learned and adjustments to be made by all concerned, assuring social advancement, even as variables continue to require adaptation ...

... writer/director Joe Cornish sends for extra-terrestrials in Attack The Block as foils for our heroes, effective dramatic counterweight, the blackest of avenging intruders ... ironically, their deep darkness actually illuminates common-ground above the socially stratified post-colonial Queendom ...

... British expediency, Tudor through Victorian, before and after, has woven itself into social DNA far beyond the ports of Bristol or Liverpool, and back ... that the hybrid language of the street should bristle is understandable, but the true "tell" is in the tone of the reaction it elicits ... Mr. Starkey's freestyle, on-air apoplexy over "Jamaican patois" was fed by troubling imagery of wanton looting, but the selective tack and torque of his commentary betrays fear and revulsion, two cornerstones of racist reaction, so often negative in intent and impact ...

... the economical, character-driven storytelling of Attack The Block ecourages viewers to calibrate private sensitivity to larger issues via developments that find truth in the personalities of the protagonists and their personal choices ... but, lest you get the impression it's a dry celluloid lecture, and use that as reason to delay, I assure you, this rollick's a real riot ...

... oops, I mean ... it's a lark innit, bashment yeh?! ... the movie's boom! ... believe! ...

... Tiger and Steve, Steve and Tiger ...

2011-08-18T08:16:00.000-07:00

... a winless "twennyleven" seems destined to go down as another annus horribilis for Tiger Woods ... one of high-profile Sports' poster-children for the cause of self-examination has public relationship issues, and I'm not solely referring to the specific skill-set one needs to juggle a dumper-truck-load-a-gyal ...

... long-time caddy Steve Williams (of the Kiwi Williamses) clearly thinks Tiger's the cad, and, following a recent triumph with his new employer, took a couple of psychological swings at his languishing, wounded, former number-one boss ...

... corporate relationships and "the kid thing" are probably more important to Mr. Woods at this juncture than trash-talk ... in fact, this Mr. Williams may not have even rated a mention, had he not also - by his actions, afforded me the opportunity to use the word schadenfreude, something I've wanted to do for years ...

... while Tiger experiments with facial-hair and tries to sync his knees to the sway of a new backlift, he might also wanna stabilize the rudder of the soul ... can't hurt to read Deepak or listen to some Bob during this off-season, it could re-align that zen ...

Addendum: - Dec/2011
- Once thought extinct, there has been a confirmed sighting of the legendary Links Tiger. The Tiger showed up to win the Chevron World Challenge in California ...

... this little light of mine ...

2011-08-08T16:56:00.000-07:00

... at core, simplicity ... basic cause and effect ...

... with humanity's earliest discovery as catalyst ...

... fire is an element with so much utility that its beauty can remain under-regarded ... send up a Chinese sky-lantern after-hours on a still night to marvel at glowing alchemy in action ...

... Kongming lanterns, also known as khoom fay in certain Sino-Asian cultures, harness power from a temporary (f)lick-o'- flame to create fire-flight, a silent light excursion into dark distance ...

... this one cost $1.99 in Chinatown ... I bought nine of them, one for each year of the birthday occasion, but only released one, cautiously tethered to avoid accidental ignition of nearby dry pines ... lessons in levitation needn't be dangerous or costly, and on this eve, ascention is assured by natural physics ...

... handle with care ...

... the aural, and the oral ...

2011-07-16T13:43:00.000-07:00

... seems I've been down this route before ... I'm talking about a mighty highway that may as well have been main-street, for it's utter familiarity ... Canada's roadways tend to be consistently maintained, at a high standard, even berms and sidewalks are usually groomed ... aesthetic homogeneity making for safer driving conditions is the governing wisdom, and while that may be so, monotony and sheer distances involved in traversing Canadian landscape can give an active mind too much room to venture-off into a world of contemplation, or distraction ...

... lately, I'm spending more time commuting in and around the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) ... yesterday, after tuning out several Mario Lanzas, one or two Sarah Harmers, Weezy, April Wine and Rush (not the band, but Limbaugh frothing from a Buffalo, NY station), I settled on eclectic CBC Radio2 for audio companionship, winning-out by virtue of a forward reggae groove designed to ensnare an ackeelover ...

... complacency with my listening choice was shattered by the unmistakable sound of Mick Jagger's voice in the mix, plenty Dave "Eurythmics" Stewart, Joss Stone and Ras Damian Marley's trademark Gong-flava adding to the surrealism ... wellwhaddyaknow, there's a new supergroup blowin' through the air and its first release is the groovy "Miracle Worker" exuding the sweet aroma of a phat Jamaican joint ... SuperHeavy ...

... alas, that was the only reggae I heard on this ride, still, it's good to know Robert Plant continues to make cool music, as suggested by "Angel Dance", his recent Los Lobos cover that rocked me for a mile or three ... any random graze over the music scene brings a freedom from delineation, non-binding as that may be ... and anyway, I find reggae in everything with a heartbeat ...

... between newsbreaks focusing on the Kandahar Karzai killing and traffic-updates regarding a fatal accident impeding flow in both directions, it was trippy to hear Andre 3000 being touted to play Jimi Hendrix in an upcoming biopic, followed by some Outkast to link vibes old and new, and leave tragedy behind ...

... just then, as if some perverse puppeteer conspired to remind me of the traffic, an abortive overtaker brakes sharply into my lane ... one rearward guilty glance in a wing-mirror betrayed contrition on an attractive face, when she regained her nerve she pulled out and was gone, leaving me only the memory of a provocative license plate, BJEY 247 ... barely had I begun that first flushed fantasy, when BLEW 905 zoomed by in the fast lane and I was left wondering if there was a theme convention somewhere downline...

... discretion on behalf of the presumably innocent means I must admit to slight alteration of the vehicle registration digits, but the experience is otherwise as told, complete with aural stimulation and oral innuendo ... then, they throw this out there, J.Lo is now single - stop!, too much! ... our highways and biways may be orderly and clean-as-a-whistle but with merest imagination there's sex and drugs and rock 'n' roll all over dem streets, and it could cause another ... mishap ...

... were succubi to overcome me on the road, necessitating any sort of legal plea, I imagine that basing my moving-violation case on solicitous license plates would backfire, so I'd be more likely to plead "not guilty yer 'onor!", citing public radio as my defense ...

... "blame it on the CBC!"...

... random riddim, Powa to the people ...

2011-06-29T23:00:00.000-07:00

... walked into a Big Smoke burger joint the other day, having seen their sign nestled along the King Street stroll ... there's just something about the association of grilling and smoke that sells a Wimpy ... while ordering my avocado-gorgonzola topped burger, a lunching cabbie asked me to suggest one track for a random playlist in his ride (I must have that kind of face) ... so, "that's a cool idea" said I, before proffering the hottest hoodoo on youtube these days ... "Nobody Canna Cross It" , via DJ Powa ...

... DJ Powa's resourceful use of free time, turning an earnest news-report on rural flooding into a hot-pop media-byte, promptly rewarded with its own dance, is some clever-ass trickery ... but beyond that, he's created a flashpoint piece of cultural art possibly inspired by a hip-hop model which, when Jamaicanized, becomes its own stylee, strong enough to bend two branches of digi-driven modern music into a fusion ... explaining this to a stranger might seem a little ( ... that word again) random, but sheer randomness is a big part of this cross-over ...

... a self-identified Christian, Powa slays all secular competition with a dexterity that is driven by the riddim-of-life rather than any particular agenda ... the inherent musicality of Jamaican voice and expression is finely nuanced, tonal interpretations are numerous and his Fruity Loops mix of atmospheric beats complement this perfectly, serving up a piece of audio-candy ...

... the other star in this scenario is Clifton Brown ... a Jamaican everyman in the Chauncey Gardner sense, who unknowingly adds philosophical high-ground to the actual high ground he touts in the video ... being interviewed on television is enough to trigger a default twang in his natural delivery, setting up the humorous inspiration for the video, while his overwrought sincerity (try to say that Cliff) attests to the reality of the circumstance ... the truth of the matter is, this community needs a municipal solution to the very real problem of being swept away into St. Thomas Pond ... in a fascinating turn of events "Cliff-Twong" Brown is now a televisual personality and an oft-quoted spokesperson ...

... you might even say Jamaicans have a new cause celebre ... a kind of patriotic filip for a national identity drawn by distractions yet still in touch with the common strands of human need and nature as they exist for everyone, even in this cyber-age ... some get embarassed by honesty of spirit when it is exposed unselfconsciously and giggle hyperactively in its presence, as evidenced by some subsequent mainstream media attention, but the rest of us giggle 'cos we get it ... and it continues to go viral ...

... this sort of phenomenon not only heralds a potential shift in the sound-of-the-day but also adds to the ultra-dynamic street lexicon ... woe betide he or she who "canna cross it" ... jackpot too for Powa on other levels, as he gets to cross it, be it with the Cross of Jesus or Bounty Killer's sampled trademark yelp, "Cross!" ... don't tell me it's just a video 'cos, all over the world we jus' a siddung 'pon di replay button ... smiling ...

... my new cabbie friend works the Metro Toronto area, he took to the idea immediately and is presumably crossin' it right now, spreading Yallahs river lore all over the 416 ... while I head for Lake Muskoka ("... we lock away in the wilderness!") to show the younger ones how a kayak can "monidge the waughter" ...

... Canucks go burnin' and lootin' ...

2011-06-18T16:41:00.000-07:00

... as the joke goes, there was this lighthearted chit-chat on the historic Arsenio Hall show some decades past ... the unforgettable Jamaican DJ Shabba Ranks responds to the host's hockey lead-in by stating, "in Jamaica we don't play hockey, we (h)eat hockey" ... pronunciation being everything, ackee becomes "hockey" and the punchline is complete ...

... well, there was a high-stakes hockey clash last Wednesday and although I was in downtown Toronto for this fateful final game of the NHL season, there were clear sightlines all the way across the prairies, over the snowy mountains and on to the sea ... the coveted Stanley Cup, Holy Grail of the sport, was to be awarded in Vancouver ... perhaps even to Vancouver ...

... having lived in B.C. for many years, the recently concluded playoffs and Stanley Cup run were too "close to home" for me to be unaffected by the hype, in spite of the fact that a hard, slippery puck (oh, for want of a single letter) is essentially foreign to my soul ... as a sporting spectacle, the contest between the American based team from Boston and the Vancouver Canucks was a gripping, bi-coastal, international affair warranting the spotlight it commanded ... both teams had more than the requisite need to triumph, having seen others win for forty years, but one franchise was always going to have to wait for another day ...

... gravitating instinctively to the roundness of a football (soccer) for my sporting kicks, the emotional stakes were less than if I had grown up on skates, but enough to get me to pause face-to-face with a sporty mannequin in the Eaton Centre shortly before the first-period face-off ... he told me all of Canada had co-opted Vancouver's team as flag bearers for this moment in time ... as I mused with the steely-faced "fannequin" in the rolled up sleeves behind the incognito eyewear, I felt myself willing Vancouver to win ... for the sake of a city which has been to this juncture before, with precedent setting consequences ...

... while I wasn't there, images I've seen of riotous fan behaviour, following the decisive Boston victory, can be considered anachronistic, despite the 1994 destruction following a similar last-hurdle disappointment ... this because Van-sterdam has too many positive aspects and accolades to be occluded by comparatively isolated mischief ... repeatedly hailed as one of the world's premier cities and flush with recent Olympic exposure, Van-city can lay claim to having transformed into metropolitan Van-opolis, if not quite the realm of any team-sport elite ...

... increasingly, it seems to be accepted that civic greatness is a function not only of glittering achievements, but also how a city transitions through adversity and challenge ... post-mortems will reveal more about the social complexities of contemporary Canada and value systems bred into future generations, than they will reveal about the contest itself ... my 100% Canuck bredrin-by-the-wall-in-da-mall looks serious, but the marauding feature-creatures on Georgia Street, laughing and dancing, petulantly taunting and camera whoring, were enacting modern rituals ... martyrdom for the uncaring cause of anarchy ...

... it's unclear how some of these guys 'n' gals benefit ... y'see, even if you can successfully jack some Louis Vuitton swag from a shattered storefront, move it all online at irresistable prices for beer-money or next-year season-tickets, who y'gonna tell it to? ... moreso, how y'gonna deny that's you on youtube and facebook with that souvenir tuxedo ecstatically embraced in your grasp? ...

... this Red Bull fed flare-up was no sneak-up ... on the bright side, the authorities gain the sort of experience that should make the next imbroglio less destructive, punishment awaits those who will be identified and those who have oafishly self-identified via digital media ... and then there is the redemptive outpouring of public consciousness regarding anti-social foolishness ...

... "the 'couve" now stands to gain, having added a blemish against which to measure its own greatness ... in big-city terms this is called maturity, which ironically could prove to be the missing intangible when the Canucks do win at a future destiny ...

... (my own) Private Canada ...

2011-06-14T18:49:00.000-07:00

... a funny thing happened to Canada during my time away, when I returned the whole place was blue ... which isn't unthinkable considering this is a land that can conjure up the ol' igloo imagery ... please don't tell me you haven't heard the urban-myth/joke-tenet which holds that Canadians are all bilingual ice-dwellers ... ice, like water, being blue ... kinda ... but I digress ...

... having "fast-forwarded" to a time when political conservatism doesn't necessarily mean hardening of the arteries and Liberalism laments it's loss of lustre, the blue I'm observing is a sang-froid PC blue ... worthy of comment, not only because 1993 was the last time Canada had a Conservative majority government, but because, in recent years, inexorable political blue-ing has been tempered by a liberal touch of rouge ...

... embedded in the official name of this regrouped party is the instinctively seductive oxymoron Progressive Conservative ... a term which reaches for a middling territory that if we're all honest we'd like to think we can inhabit ... the "progressive" prefix psychologically loosens the reins of conservatism and sets up a rocking abbreviation - catchy, multi-purpose initials ... PC! ...

... but just as easily, as seen south of the border, the script can flip ...

... allow me to represent for the word "liberal" - from the Latin root "liberalis"(another freedom) which somehow acquired a sheen of shame when right-wing pop culture set the context ...

... consider too the mixed (up) shadings within the term Politically Correct - to be correct is good, yeah? ... yet, the words flatter to deceive, proving far too subjective to deliver either correctness or even the promised connotation ...

... in Pan-Canadian terms, there is still per-capita nostalgia for Trudeau style liberalism despite the slipped Grit grip on parliamentary control ... but with tories twiddling the pitch-control knob in virtually every postal-code and owning up to their lack of a rockstar Prince Charming leader, there's probable cause to expect Canada to strut some staid stability for years ... until the pendulum corrects ... meantime, Brigette DePape has decided, braveheart pagegirl princesses can be rockstars too ...

... for more of my favorite things about Canada, see another urban-myth/joke-tenet which casts us as polite pedestrian crossing users, members of a Peace Corps who have Police Constables instead of Po-Po ... a place where the Pacific Coast (and everything east) is just that, Pa-cific, as in peaceful ... and "up there in the beaver-belt" your playboy clubs are littered with pussy-cats eh? ...

... the thing is, it's all true, Canadian flava is served on ice, pretty cool, but we do hold proficiency certificates in some regular "found-all-over-the-world" type stuff as well ...

... private citizens get prostate cancer "up here" too ... Lotto and Petro-Canada make a lotta money! ... pre-natal and palliative care is just about free, but, too many of those who can find jobs punch cards or sort paper-clips to eke-a-living (beware, oblique reggae reference) ...

... the previous century loomed Canada's proto-cultural cloth into is its own kind of blended fabric and we've become our very own parent company, a feat which happened on the Liberal watch, in the interest of keepin' it real ... Prince Charles gets to keep his Kingdom and Privy Counsellors who once lorded, get new peers ... a genteel momentum spins Canada away from empire, but with enough rotation to run a young realm and bring balance to old allegiances ...

... the trick now is to reconcile the concoction of red and blue essences that gives Canada soul, and to season the stew with some-o'-dat Latin liberalis, as provided by Canadians of exotic origin ("exotic" - used the literal way, not any PC one) ... the Maple Leaf flag may only have red on it, but the white spaces, if taken for snow and ice, make frigid blue inescapable and implicit...

... Canada can afford to allow itself to lead ... "Progressive" must preface PC regardless of what PC stands for ... ... except for the, um ... prostate cancer ...

... beneath "The Skin" ...

2011-06-06T11:17:00.000-07:00

... they have fangs, suck blood, creepy-crawl or fly by night,

dress in cloaks, sleep by day, shy from crucifixes on sight,

they fascinate us and seem to be everywhere of late,

books... TV... on Halloween they may even appear at your gate ...

... folkloric characters are found in all world cultures and there's a wide variety to choose from in Caribbean societies populated by slave descendants who have commingled African traditional beliefs with those of European origin, resulting in some pretty gruesome geo-specific ghouls ... known collectively in the region as jumbies or duppies ...

... with such a rich heritage of mythical demons it's somewhat surprising that there isn't more overt usage of demonology in modern Caribbean artforms ... such folklore is largely consigned to oral tradition of countryfolk, archives of heritage traditions, underfunded cultural festivals and nostalgic mention ...

... enter one intrepid husband and wife filmmaking team lending their initials to HAMA productions of Antigua ... HAMA developed a feature-film script centred around the drama that ensues when the dormant malevolence of a Soucouyant is aroused, terrorizing residents of the post-colonial tropical isle ... the small but growing local film industry benefits from those of us with experience in the filmworld at large, and on this fourth HAMA effort, it was a rewarding experience to have assisted in the preparation of the two leading players ...

... yours truly, as the sleazy Detective Morgan, along with Jamaica's eminent Carl Bradshaw (The Harder They Come, The Lunatic, Third World Cop) and Britain's Jeff Stewart (The Bill, Dr. Who) as an obeah man and opportunistic yachtie respectively, add weight to a cast of colorful local performers, many gracing the screen for the first time ...

... the result is an entertaining supernatural thriller-with-a-difference entitled The Skin, a reference to the specific habits of the (female evil-entity) Soucouyant, known by variable but similar pronunciations and other names throughout the diasporic carry-beyond (Caribbean) ...

... just as it takes a community to raise a child, so too the processs of making a film, particularly in places where the infrastructure is embryonic ... The Skin benefits from skills brought by Howard University's Professor S. Torriano Berry who held the camera and augmented the crew with his film students eager to combine an island getaway with an on-set practicum ...

... quid pro quo deals, deferred payments and "favoured nations" arrangements to use scenic locations, combine to lift this one off the page ... actual filming was intense but not without its lighter moments to mitigate early mornings and late nights ...

... well received at an incubatory screening for the Caribbean Tales film cognoscenti in Barbados this spring, The Skin was to premiere at last month's Reggae Film Festival in Jamaica but organizational cross-wiring, of the sort that too often undercuts effort in this region, meant that the grand unveiling took place last week in front of an appreciative home crowd in Antigua ...

... things have a way of working out as they properly should - part of the pervasive mysticism that governs life in the Caribbean ...

... heartbreak on di gully bank ...

2011-06-01T19:22:00.000-07:00

... if the rapturous triple-play I heard on the radio in Kingston last week is anything to go by, you are going to hear this choon all summer long, so ... nuh watch no face, yuzimi! ...

... riding high for a couple years, Mavado (a.k.a. the Gully God) from the quaintly named but periodically volatile community of Cassava Piece, has been pulling away at the top of the pack ... this is partly natural transition as leaders like Buju Banton deal with career complications and partly due to bizarre abdications like that of Vybz Kartel, whose penchant for skin-bleaching and aesthetic self-alteration alienates fans in droves and sets back his high-profile rivalry with Mavado ... at the same time Mavado, after a stream of hardcore hits, seems to be embracing a transformation from gangsta to golden-boy, a road travelled by several before him ... "Delilah" takes it to the nex' level with a melodic hook and lyrics on a universal theme ...

... there was a time not long ago when speaky-spokey announcers eschewed home-grown music in favour of foreign fare, but today, while you can still hear a wide variety of international sounds on Jamaican radio, there is little doubt that Patwa (the dominant lingua franca) with its attendant riddim, rules the airwaves ...

... Jamaican music, I suggest, is best appreciated as a mercurial continuum rather than a loose collection of (so called) "classic eras" ... some folk savor the Ska or rub-up to the Rock Steady, others revere one-drop Roots, Rock, Reggae and the yout' dem dig the Dancehall ... as such, there's a style for everyone in the musicality of this island, even if you don't regard anything beyond the Mento era or the one singer you know of is named Marley ...

JAMAICAN GLOSSARY

"choon" - tune, song

"nuh watch no face" - don't be misled by naysayers

"yuzimi" - you see me ... y'understand

"speaky-spokey" - describing attempts at proper pronunciation

Patwa" - Patois, Jamaican English

... riffin' on the RFF ...

2011-05-30T13:44:00.000-07:00

... before I saw even a single film, a lone documentary or attended any opening festivity for the fourth, almost-annual Reggae Film Festival I found myself reflecting on poignant personal ironies ...

... a virtual lifetime ago my parents bought their first home together, at the corner of Hamilton and Courtney Drives in Trafalgar Park, Kingston, then a prototype mid-town housing community for upwardly mobile professionals and their young families in post-independence Jamaica ... the street-plan of the enclave provided a convenient corridor between the bustle of New Kingston's Trafalgar Road and the upper-St. Andrew trunk of Hope Road, site of Jamaica House, the Prime Minister's residence and my Prep-School-of-record at Mona ... Hope Road later came to acquire widespread notoriety as the address of Bob Marley's above the line hang-out/residence/studio/museum ...

... twisting fates and tortuous routes can make a mockery of time elapsed, and, the destiny that led me to attend this year's Jamaica Reggae Film Festival served up a no-lose situation which I was not about to ignore, come whatever may ...

... originally advertised for urban Montego Bay in the rural parish of St. James, de riguer chops and changes saw the emergent event flexing a big-city move by taking over Studio 38 on Trafalgar Road ... so, for the second time in recent years I found myself in Kingston to celebrate cinema mere measurements from the stomping grounds of my happy early childhood ...

... festivals of film are artist showcases driven by sponsorships and creative juices, a mercurial admixture at the best of times, and despite the efforts of Barbara Blake-Hannah, the venerable figurehead pulling the strings, scheduling proved vulnerable to the gremlins who govern Murphy's law ... indeed, BBH and the RFF fell short of that magic formula necessary to create the sort of vibe such events rely on when inevitable glitches occur ... until the eleventh-hour(and for some tentative minutes beyond) this festival was set to premiere The Skin, a supernatural thriller set in Antigua, amid a selection of shorts and documentaries with Reggae/Caribbean sensibilities ... to the chagrin of many, this did not manifest ...

... fortunately, involvement in this little-film-that-could was only one of my motivations to grace the music-soaked, cosy-corner of Kingsley Cooper's fashionable venue ... Jamaican actor-icon Carl Bradshaw (also in The Skin) was in attendance of course, and a pleasant meeting with breakout actress Nicole Grey from Storm Saulter's buzzy Jamaican film "Betta Must Come" and Pulse model Jackie (Jaki?) made for keepsake photo-ops ...

... among other attendees I noted were Reggae-ologist Dr. Carolyn Cooper, "Native" Wayne Jobson keeping the pressure on the Peter Tosh pedal, singer/actress Cherine Anderson, the authoritative Mutabaruka, veteran musician Bongo Herman, stalwart JA skipper and Windies cricketer Maurice Foster, Emmy-winning director Mustapha Khan (in Jamaica screening "Rocksteady") and his lead actor Cedric Sanders ...

... the broad appeal of the subject matter (plus pervasive goodwill for this festival's mandate and its erstwhile organizers) means it would be a pity to allow avoidable happenstance to undermine its credibility in the face of a world with so many other attractions on offer and such stiff competition for funding pursestrings ...

... onward and upward ... Selah ...

... motherhood springs eternal ...

2011-05-08T07:33:00.000-07:00

... when it comes to mothers there's always room for a big-up, but umbilical instinct and nascent feelings spring forth more spontaneously at certain times ... Mother's Day is one of those times ... it's no coincidence that date falls in the Spring, when flowers bloom and nature's fecundity rules ...

... I smile at the synchronicity when I consider that both Miss Ivy's children were born one standard gestational period after springtime ... immodestly speaking, those must've been good astrological years, and, appreciation for firm grounding and what continues to be a blessing, is a true constant in my life ...

... gwaaan Mama! ... massive love ...

... buh-bye bin, bada bing ...

2011-05-05T16:29:00.000-07:00

... a tip o' the tam to Tim for reminding me of the a propos quote, "I've never wished a man dead but I've read some obituaries with great pleasure” ... whether or not those words are wholely attributable to Mark Twain, they inspired me to vent on a vanquished villain, that surly Saudi ingrate, phantom renegade and bad egg by any measure ...

... Osama bin Laden was a larger-than-life, xtreme hide and seek player ... after being emboldened by Western support against the Soviets in Afghanistan he came to embody such a perfect foil for American psychologies of propriety that it's difficult not to feel elements of good riddance ... and this is before we even mention his most nefarious misdeeds ...

... enter the frontier sheriff on his sturdy steed, twirling ivory-handled Colts at the hip, down mainstreet Abbottabad ... Barack Obama, faced with mid-term poll recalibrations, second-term boo-birds, and long-term legacy considerations, pulls a six foot-five inch rabbit from his hat and trumps (literally - hah!) the relatively prosaic Saddam-in-a-hole routine of his predecessor ...

... the daring in this act of leadership is magnified by the timing ... fresh from being carded (which is effectively what happened when this President was compelled into taking special initiative to produce an obsolete form of bureaucratic paperwork testifying to his very legitimacy as citizen-of-the-land), Obama stewards a checkmate for the ages ... going from (not-quite) zero to sixty, in the political equivalent of a nanosecond ...

... the only foreshadowing precedent I can recall is the classic 1974 Mel Brooks spoof film "Blazing Saddles", and, based on the way things developed for the new-man-in-charge in that blueprint, I predict more quasi-comic moments and coolly managed scenarios, with only the occasional glitch, before this dude proudly hangs up his badge after about eight years leading the posse ... and rides off into the (Hawaiian?) sunset ...

... taking the high road ...

2011-04-28T18:09:00.000-07:00

... going on tour can be a romantic ideal ... when I hear of a band going on a "road trip" f'rinstance, I visualize Greyhound busses, twanging gee-tars, and Allman Brothers look-alike roadies hauling drum kits from venue to venue ... variants on this theme display some consistencies whether the band is country-rock, roots-rock-reggae, Def Jam or post-Mickey Mouse Club ... today however, a "road trip" rarely resembles that cliche, and the term is just as likely to conjure an image of Thelma and Louise encountering Brad on a middle-of-nowhere stretch of interstate, or the "Hangover" cast setting out for hi-jinks in Las Vegas ...

... nor, in actuality, is this imagery confined to the music world or the silver screen ... "road trip" has come to signify a journey away from home-base for any length of time, be it hours, days, weeks or more, regardless of mode of transportion ... as recovering Arizona congresswoman Gabby Gifford's husband, Mark Kelly, prepares for his historic penultimate Space Shuttle mission I'm not certain if astronauts qualify as yet, but the term is inclusive of cross-country walkers, distance cyclists and frequent flyers ...

... sometimes a "road trip" can take you to the next town over but when planes are involved that could just as easily be the next country or hemisphere ...the latest Ackeelover Chronicles excursion spanned the longitude between antipodean Australia and the capital of Canada with touchdowns en-route, tailor made for eventual blog fodder if the internal clock ever readjusts ...

... exciting? ... yes, but air travel sure ain't what it used to be ... pat-downs, x-ray technologies, sniffer dogs, laptop swabs, fingerprints and infra-red "eye-D" retinal scans all contribute to travel safety but have the cumulative effect of dragging out a "road trip" ... promisingly, new TSA regulations propose reform for passengers, who, having paid to check-in a single suitcase, find no recompense even when that very valise vanishes after weather SNAFU's a connection at Chi-Town's mazy O'Hare ...

... during these travels I came upon a little bit o'trivia claiming that the average number of people airborne over the U.S. in any given hour numbers 61,000 ... same time I saw headlines regarding an air-traffic control gaffe causing the diversion of a plane carrying Michelle Obama and Jill Biden ... it seems the FLOTUS flight was too close for comfort to a military cargo plane approaching Andrews airforce base ... after a contemplative pause to take in the potential horror of that averted disaster I weighed it all against my own aborted landing experience ... juuust before the too-late point ... when the pilot saw another plane still occupying our San Juan runway ...

... on the return itinerary, the second pass by this almost-a-state (can you imagine if Barack Obama was born here?) was more direct ... flying over Puerto Rico (or in fairness, anywhere) is quicker, slicker and safer than stopping there ...

... not all road trips conclude safely at the original point of departure, ask Buddy Holly, Otis Redding, Lynyrd Skynrd or Aaliyah ... with nineteen take-offs and nineteen landings crammed into a five-week period, it's impossible not to feel sometimes like you're playing the odds when you take the "high road", but, make it back in one piece with experience enhanced and memories intact, you can feel like a sweepstake winner ...

... the King wears Bermuda shorts ...

2011-03-28T16:46:00.000-07:00

... a casual linear approach to directions can locate everywhere east of west, and north of what's to the south, on this spherical planet ... 'til you actually come full circle ... therefore, all points on the globe, save both absolute poles, are co-ordinates of those four cardinal points, North, South, East and West ...

... I've just returned from the only place I can think of right now which to tends to defy this imperative, as it has popularly come to be regarded in terms of only three ... sitting in mid-Atlantic isolation is the anomalous island of Bermuda, the apex of a fabled triangulation of marine mystery ... culturally, this land is a tryptych of sorts, drawing with almost equal weight from cultures to its east, west and south, a trident of British, American and Caribbean sensibilities blending into a unique identity ...

... like other island societies, survival in the swim of world dynamics hinges on external lifelines, and more than most, Bermudian experience reflects a binding assuredness instead of centrifugal fractiousness ... to my eye, the monarchic allegiances of Bermuda's colonial heritage and the New England habitude of North American privilege sits in relatively comfortable co-existence with the influence of Afro-indenture that gives these parts so much of its color ... the sum of such parts is invariably greater than the whole and modern Bermuda stands on this platform, a remnant outpost of empire owning its strands of history and despite size, unapologetically claiming nationhood ...

... every year for the past fourteen, Bermuda has hosted BIFF, an International Film Festival welcoming cinematic expression from every worldwide source, in programmes reflective of a diversity beyond the primary trifecta of their own cultural wellspring ...

... it doesn't feel as long, but it's been three years since the 11th annual BIFF when Frances-Anne Solomon screened her film A Winter Tale to a rapt full house at Speciality Cinema in Hamilton, and now I was invited to serve as a juror ... BIFF 2011's cadre of short films, numbering thirty-two in all, was the largest selected for competition at this small yet important contributing festival for the gran'daddy Academy Award in this eclectic category ...

... our panel of jurors represented various perspectives and areas of expertise ... working with them was a pleasure, effectively lowering my degrees of separation vis-a-vis prominent names like Scorsese and Tarantino and projects like "48 Hours", "The King's Speech" and "Inglourious Basterds"... we divided handily into groups focussed on documentaries, features and short films, the latter category becoming the purview of publicist, producer and performer, an eager troika charged with watching all competition shorts to choose one for the jury prize ...

... as to be expected, or hoped for, the creativity in competition was broad in scope, artistic in presentation, tantalising to the imagination and culturally inclusive, with a dizzying array of footage all seeking to be memorable in abbreviated time ... extensive deliberation and democratic decision-making awarded the prize to super-concise storytelling in the form of a clever four minute Spanish film by Albertto Dorado called "Lost" featuring a Somalian plotline, an eight year old boy and music-over-the-credits from hot Somali-Canadian rapper K'naan ...

... there could only be one winner but in a dream world I would be King and decree all who deserve a prize to receive one ... Carlos Castineira, also of Spain, should hold on to hope for his powerful film "Easy Money" in case I ascend to the throne, as should Italy's Massimo Cappelli for his classy "41" ... two efforts out of the U.K., Peter Cattaneo's charming "Capturing Santa" and a sexy fifteen minute romp entitled "An Act of Love" by Edward Dick, would be rewarded for levity amid the de rigeur darker themed offerings of necrophilia and pedophilia ... and, were it not for a brief moment of confusion near the end, which I'm willing to consider was my own dim-switch kicking in, I might have pushed harder for Pierre Ferriere's watchable leading actress in "The Story of My Life", a riveting six minute French film ...

... this jewel of a Film Festival keeps a down-to-earth profile, not to suggest a paucity of boozy parties and hors d'ouvres between programming ... you may assume that ... but I saw cool features and documentaries, met some fascinating folks-in-flicks and had a heartfelt reunion with an old high-school friend who will henceforth lead the campaign for my coronation and act as aide de camp cum Lionel Logue ... for return payment in kind ...

... along the way I learned that the critical measure regarding Bermuda shorts is that they fall two inches above the knee ... someone should make a film about that ... I'd vote for it ...

... meltdown mash-up ...

2011-03-14T21:36:00.000-07:00

... "Bless my eyes this morning, Jah sun is on the rise once again, the way earthly things are going, anything can happen" ...
- ("So Much Trouble In The World" - Marley)

... by now readers of this blog will be familiar with my conviction that there's never a bad time to reach for a Marley lyric to support a thought ... Bob Marley tailored his songs around specific concerns but also for universal applicability and while he never actually used the word "meltdown" in song or, to my knowledge, interview, recent events may very well have given him opportunity to do so ... for sure there's plenty occasion these days to employ the term ...

... the earthquake/tsunami double-whammy in Japan, as if it isn't catastrophic enough in terms of loss of life and damage, is precipitating crises at several nuclear facilities, feeding fears of Chernobyl-style reactor meltdowns of massive consequence ...

... "in this age of technological inhumanity, scientific atrocity, atomic mis-philosophy, nuclear mis-energy, it's a world that forces lifelong insecurity" - ("Survival" - Marley) ...

... the growing challenge to the autocratic status-quo in the Arab world is widely characterised in Western media as systemic meltdown but is probably more akin to a populist derma-peel than a grasp at Washington or Westminster-style democracy ...

... "every man got a right to decide his own destiny ... so arm in arm, with arms, we'll fight this little struggle ... soon we'll find out who is the real revolutionary" - ("Zimbabwe" - Marley) ...

... collective unrest or act of God doesn't hold a monopoly on the phenomenon of meltdown, in fact it is just as likely, perhaps moreso, for any given individual to manifest this state through uncontrolable anger, psycho-chemical breakdown or both, as in the case of one sick cyber-stalker who I've had to report to police ... then there's the force majeure called Teflon Charlie ...

... with Charlie Sheen's dramatic severance from the Two and a Half Men TV sit-com keeping news cycles distracted, all the apocalyptic internet chatter around the end of the Mayan calendar in 2012 and the looming fly-by of the asteroid Apophis, you'd think we have enough cataclysm to contemplate ... not so ...

... you may have heard of Betelgeuse, one of the brightest stars in the night sky, it's said to be close to burnout, soon to collapse on itself in a showy, stellar meltdown known as a supernova ... the dying star is considered old for its type and could stage this spectacular exit tomorrow, or in a gazillion tomorrows, but in the context of our universe, that means soon ...

... Marley, in the astral gleam of stage lights, represents a supernova in the musical firmament ... acceptance of the supreme authority of nature is central to Rasta spirituality and is perhaps the best prescription for dealing with meltdowns ...

... "have no fear for atomic energy, 'cause none a dem can stop the time" - ("Redemption Song" - Marley)

... interestingly enough, I journey to Australia in a matter of weeks at the kind invitation of the Supanova Pop Culture Expo ... I'll see Brisbane where cyclone Yasi wreaked havoc only a month ago ... a Jamaican Down Under, like Bob in '79 ...

... "Jah love, Jah love protect us" - ("Positive Vibration" - Marley)

... my kingdom for a newspaper ...

2011-02-21T16:13:00.000-08:00

... aah, the curse of the conflicted ... it's a strange feeling to be pining for Canada in February, and doubly incongruent to do it from sunny Caribbean shores, but it's been a long time since a full edition of the Globe And Mail broadsheet landed on my seaside lap ... so try to look past the gentle surf and beckoning turquoise with me, to see this single-day time capsule from my removed island vantage ...

... there I read, warm in my geographic region-of-origin, wistful over that frozen-but-thawing adopted homeland and generally rapt at current events through yankee-eye-view media out of the influential U.S. confederation 'twixt right-here and up-there ... synchronicity with Canada is elusive despite television, fibre-optic cables and wireless internet signals delivering the world to me, but it's pleasantly surprising to approach it via the tactile immediacy of a traditional print format ...

... yeah, I know it's just a newspaper but it's as if the Globe editors did my web-surfing for me ... page one News spoke to a stereotype, or reflected a truth, depending on your interpretation, by reporting on the concussive prerogative that is hockey at home ... inside, the Editorial opined on the persistent immigration discourse, unsurprisingly perhaps, since this is a nation where a full third of the population was born elsewhere ... Op-Ed gave equal ink to domestic and foreign, reflecting a Maple Leaf penchant for collective equanimity ...

... advertising provides a familiar constant, with full-margin plugs for Dodge Caravans or a new Toyota Corolla, and the "field tested" alternate Canadian national emblem, "Rootsy LaBeaver" (my coinage - bilingual pronunciations encouraged), anchors the full-color back page ...

... de rigeur anticipation of a newlywed Royal Couple offsets palpably mid-Atlantic coverage of Arab popular uprisings and gives way to Books, Berlin Filmfest and Bieber in the Arts section ... before the extra-crisp white stock of the Life pullout offers up opulence and a snowy snapshot that teases the winter polarity dormant in my sense memory ...

... from here, Canada sits like a reassuring beret on the head of a rakish sentry ... swag and intemperance can manifest above the US/Canada border too, but y'know 'ow it go, perception precedes truth in most cases ... just like the Caribbean is supposedly about sand, coconuts and snorkeling instructors who also DJ, so too is The Great White North pegged as a land of glaciers, polite mounties and the migratory Canada Goose ...

... this newspaper confirms some truth about Canada but other realities spilleth over ... continuing, Toronto sports reporters tell of mega-gates for Mixed Martial Arts events, a b-ball boo-bird return for ex-Raptor Chris Bosh and a detailed half-page report on Europe's Arsenal vs Barcelona soccer fixture to feed my footie fetish ... the closing of Spadina's Magder fur outlet, champion of Ontario Sunday shopping, was a local footnote signalling a passage of time rather than doomsday, if the tone of "structural realignment" in the Business section is anything to go by ...

... I'm going to presume there wasn't much news fit to print west of the Alberta oil sands and leave that void for another day, or whenever a Vancouver Sun falls on my head ... meanwhile, in this part of the world scarce newspapers serve on as incubatory wrapping for ripening mangoes and papayas ... the subtext is implicit, Canada can be cold and icy but also nurturing at heart ...

... the "A" in Antigua ...

2011-02-12T21:21:00.000-08:00

... fortunately for humans, our properly functioning brains being of infinite potential, tend to operate in a mode of information-acquisition from birth to death, created as we are with pristine and curious tabula rasa in our crania ... individual and collective intelligence over lifetimes and generations offset knowledge-deficit through accumulated experience ... the learning is perpetual, sometimes frustrating, testing of faith and concepts of infinity, and still the (human) race doesn't ever quite get to the place I'll just call "there" ... even with the drugs ...

... on the brighter, lighter side, the yet to be informed portion of the brain will consciously or subconsciously head for the higher state we've come to identify as "imagination" ...

... my imaginations were aroused last week with the juxtaposition of Russian oligarch Andrey Melnichenko's avant garde yacht, designed by Philippe Starck, with the scrubby hillside backdrop and colonial stone ruins of Rat Island in Antigua ...

... as I understand it, this is the site of one of Antigua's oldest colonial defenses in what became a strategic outpost for the proprietary British Royal Navy in service of the New World (order) colonial aspirations of the times ... the hillock in the inner harbor at capital town St. John's, which featured four cannon and barracks for a regiment in the early seventeenth century, isn't an island in the strictest sense, being connected to the main island by a narrow causeway resembling perhaps ... a rat tail ...

... Dr. Evil meets MI5 in appearance, this unique gigayacht might have changed the course of history had it stopped in for refueling three hundred and fifty years ago ... I suspect it would fare worse against cannonfire amidship, in multiples of four no less, than against a modern satellite grid guiding cruise-missiles ... any shout of "avast ye landlubbers" has no frequency-band or equivalent and may confound operators of the onboard navigational systems ... even the name of the interloper, the single letter "A" displayed only on the stern, would arouse sentries on the lookout for marauding fleur-de-lys ... (though personally Phil, I'd have gone sans-serif, but wha' do I know?) ...

... Antigua's geo-trigonometry, like that of Bermuda where "A" is registered, is currency on maritime maps and seafarers of all sorts pass though here ... Rat Island, which now hosts the commercial wharves where "A" tied up, must have seen 'em all come and go over the years ... I can't tell you the going exchange rate between rubles and doubloons but, if it costs a million and a half US dollars to fill the fuel tank (at pre crisis-in-Libya oil prices), that cargo-weight in gold bars, jewels and thick, heavy old-time coins would sink anything that floats, I imagine ...

... everliving Legend ...

2011-02-06T21:44:00.000-08:00

... this is the thirtieth year since the untimely passing of Bob Marley in May of 1981 ... had he lived to this February 6th he'd be marking a sixty-sixth birthday and the unanswerable questions, as to how his musical art shoulda-coulda-woulda evolved, presumably wouldn't have to be asked ...

... it could be argued that death hasn't slowed Marley down much, even though his dependable output of new music was no longer possible after the sessions that became the LPs "Uprising" and the posthumous "Confrontation" ... Bob, in his performing days, passionately making music, was every inch a live wire, his concerts always giving of his soul, making it less likely that mortality would be more than a minor limitation ...

... these thirty years, come to think of it, could be just the proof our world needs that there is indeed an afterlife ... Bob must be working hard in Zion because the fruits of his labour still manifest with metronomic consistency ... the proliferation of his image keeps his work top of the mind as everyone who ever took a photo of him or with him is proud to show it in public ...

... the family franchise could not want for a more solid cornerstone ... Bob Marley's image is globally prominent and versatile enough to be embraced by upscale urban couture and the T-shirt vendor at bend down plaza (a humorous Jamaican term for ... sidewalk merchandising) ... there is no built-in obsolescence because of the strong Rasta alliance to cultures of struggle as pioneered by the Soul Rebel on world stages ...

... Bob then, has become the pan-cultural face of a people straddling past, present and future ... if there's doubt, just reference the authority of his back catalogue, the ubiquity of his internet footprint, the emulation by his progeny and the testimony of his broad range of admirers (there are even Bluegrass and Bossa Nova tributes to his Reggae canon) ... the exploits of his several sons speak for themselves and his daughters hold it down too ... word that Cedella, the eldest, will be designing Puma athleticwear for Usain Bolt to wear in 2012 is yet another mouthwatering Marley prospect ...

... yours truly was blessed to attend two concerts by BMW, one of the 1977 London dates at the Rainbow Theatre, and a one-off at the acoustically unsuitable New Bingley Hall in Staffordshire, England the following year, which was more of a love-in-graced-by-the-guru than a music event ... for me these experiences, and a collection of Marley ephemera, buttress an undying regard for the lessons of his life and its ripple effects ... sufficient to underline Bob's honest capacity to enlighten and entertain at once ...

... the catch-all label "icon" can be over-used but in Bob Marley's case it can't convey every dimension ... I guess "Legend" comes closest ... it is, appropriately, one of Bob's nicknames and the title of the distilled greatest-hits collection found in every home ... this year's official release of the final concert of Bob Marley and The Wailers, a September 23rd 1980 Pittsburgh show, is titled "Live Forever" ... my sentiments exactly, Happy Birthday Bob ...

... Freedom for the reader ...

2011-01-30T08:48:00.000-08:00

... the reader made short work of last year's hot bestseller and suspects, in the imaginative way the mind operates when the clever-cortex is activated, that if Jonathan Franzen had been born say, a beaver, his talents would have led him to build a dam colossal enough to re-route the Potomac ...

... environmentalists would make pilgrimages for academic observation and satellites would transmit infra-red imagery for news-channel telestrators ... Jonny Beaver would trigger an eco-event and media sensation simultaneously, cause celebre for The Nature of Things ... instead, God gave Franzen a pen, and judging by the protracted detailing in this latest novel Freedom, more than one replacement ink cartridge was bestowed on him too ...

... of course, the reader concedes, in this iPad and keyboard era it's nigh unto impossible to find ink cartridges if you need to replace them, but he'll keep the pen and ink metaphor to sub for laptop and RAM ... suffice it to say, the result is a comprehensive work of modern fiction, prolific with vivid characters who are all fascinating in their ordinariness and riveting in their familiarity ... an exercise in guiltless literary voyeurism, difficult to put down or look away from ...

... it proves less difficult to remove the cottage-country slip cover to proclaim FREEDOM in bold silver letters from the book spine ... "when is Martin Luther King Day?", comes the overheard whisper from somewhere over there as the hefty, black hardcover holds steady at optimum distance from the reader's bespectacled face ... a slight torque on the little word "is" implying something more than the question ordinarily might convey ...

... in fact, there's no call to mention MLK ... the reader's expectation of a civil rights angle, given the connotative associations of the title with themes of struggle, proves way off the mark ... but, there is civic passion in the prose and redemptive realism to the relevant narrative, held aloft by contemporary dialogue, believable character development and honest airing-out of other peoples personal struggles ...

... Walter and Patty Berglund and Richard Katz are not perfect people, in the same way the reader is not, nor you, or you ... or Bono or Princess Di, or Jonathan Franzen ... but the yin and the yang of each fictional life is laid out here across the long chapters, illuminating individual and intertwined storylines to support the contemplative hypothesis that no-one is all good or all bad except Bernie Madoff (who, in fairness, isn't mentioned either) ...

... Franzen completes the pastiche by tracing both male and female psychologies across generational lines - what a concept! - to follow relationships between adults and their offspring, evolutions within friendships and marriages and to see how the dance of life can wheel and turn from waltz to rhumba to tap to freestyle and back, over time, without missing a beat ...

... in the 1972 Jamaican film The Harder They Come there's an aha moment for Jimmy Cliff's character Ivan wherein he casually coos "revolutionary to raass" when he recognizes the potency of his exploits ... and, while "revolutionary" is the kind of broad stroke Franzen eschews in his writing, and avoids in his self-promotion, this is exactly how I imagine he's feeling these days as a Katzian figure on the cover of Rolling Stone! ... well okay, it's a TIME magazine cover, but that gives him rockstar balls to dangle like Stephen King or Norman Mailer ... or Richard Katz ...

... "aw shit", the reader mumbles, noticing the reference to his own thoughts in a too-long sentence in the preceding paragraph, effectively outing himself as this writer ... then again, like some twists-of-fortune in the novel, this is forgivably predictable ... "so sue me", but don't judge me for bitin' the guy's style, it's intended to flatter, and I'll take the largesse just in case the Freedom Road to Oprah's attention is (no torque applied) paved with Middle American philosophy, soft sell and third-person syntax ...

... orchid obituary ...

2011-01-21T09:30:00.000-08:00

... when I wrote of her gerberas, no sign then to know

of approaching energy-shift, at the yard where they grow ...

but alas, one of those incontrovertible facts is,

sadly true what they say about death ... and taxes ...

... still, I know that blessed garden will continue to thrive,

the orchids alone will keep Joyce's spirit alive,

'cos that's another fact about this life that we're given,

it counts when you make beauty while your being is livin'.

... Barack dip dem in di healin' stream ...

2011-01-13T05:37:00.000-08:00

hear parable people ... mi tun on TV dis mornin',

hol' a coffee an' a food and go fi sweep out di house ...

when mi look fi di broom me si seh a two broom in deh,

one new-bran' stiff broom, an' a old mash-down soft one ...

I tek up the two a dem an instantly memba wha' granny seh,

how "new broom sweep clean" an', "old broom know corner"...

same time, man an' man come pon TV a big-up Obama,

an' a labba-labba how Uncle Sam a gwaan,

when BADAM! ... it lick me ... clear as day ...

certain sittn suppose' to brush wit' new broom,

the odda res' have to caress with the sof' one ... den,

mi mind jump to Joshua, wid di famous Rod-of-Correction ...

likkle mos' mi apoplexy to vision Prezi a brandish two broom,

mi seh! ... laugh an' kiki keep up inna livin' room a mornin' time!

"sweep dem Barack sweep dem, sweep dem in di healin' stream"

- JAMAICAN GLOSSARY -

"labba-labba"- chatter, "likkle most"- almost, nearly,

"kiki"- laughter, "lick"- hit,

"Dip Dem in di Healing Stream"- popular Jamaican Folk song

... flee from hate, mischief and jealousy...

2011-01-09T07:35:00.000-08:00

... I had no intention of starting the year on a heavy note because the outlook for me depends on positive vibrations, but news of the shooting and loss of life in Arizona this weekend touched a long-exposed nerve ... in the U.S.A., a country with so much to offer the world, there are some baffling smoke signals ...

... "life is one big road with lots of signs" ... this 1979 Bob Marley lyric from the strident anthem "Wake Up And Live" goes on to advise ... "flee from hate, mischief and jealousy" ... Bob's focus was on metaphorical signs and scriptural prophecy rather than literal letraset and amateur calligraphy ...

... it's either naive or deliberately negligent to overlook the connection between the election of the first African American to the highest office in the land and the overt vitriol that comes to the fore when progressive energies meet conservative resistance in the current political tug-o-war game ...

... inflamed passion can manifest as insanity in ways stranger than fiction and it gets even more distressing when people (who should know better as citizens of the self-proclaimed leader of the free world) resort to calling for (or alluding to) gruesome deaths for holders of opposition viewpoints ...

... democracy, as fair a blueprint for governance as humankind has yet devised, needs to see itself as just that, a man-made template that requires periodic updates in the manner of today's state-of-the-art electronics ... other countries have experimented, the time is past-due for U.S.A. Democracy 2.0 ...

... after centuries of not-entirely-proportionate division of assets, the U.S. is now left to deal with a quest for equilibrium ... while it's understood that there'll be disagreement along the way, surely there is nothing to be gained by obstinately defending a right to bear ever-more-destructive firearms instead of voting towards enlightened alternatives ... even compromise would be improvement, but no, we must adapt for hollow-points and Glock semis because founding fathers decreed it for a bygone age ... some floundering fathers continue to decree it, with defensive and offensive rationale, while the walking-dead in America and it's regional slipstream continue to live nine-millimeter lives ...

... in this part of the world we are able to lean on the democratic cornerstone of Freedom Of Speech but do we really require an M-16 to defend that right in a mall parking-lot or at a tea-party? ...

... it doesn't take deep contemplation to imagine what some people feel at the sight of a confident Michelle Obama, speaking freely as FLOTUS, when simian references recall another lingering archaic notion intended to injure ... elsewhere there's the oblique approach, but the words you twist to make your own today may return to haunt your tomorrow ...

... I saw a re-run of "Bowling For Columbine" last week ... the shock factor has diminished significantly since first release due to repeated cases of people "going postal" and the hawkish stances staked-out by the paradoxically called "right-wing"...

... Limbaugh disciples and ilk, with clear kneejerk reactions to a wave of first-time-evers in American politics, unquestionably kindle brush-fires that feed on the feeble minded and potentially trigger actions like the barbaric attack on congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and her constituents ... tell it like it is ...

... despite the proliferation of signage, or maybe because of it, the astounding reality of Palinite sophistry will not have the power to ultimately carry the day, I predict ... common sense tells me so (to reclaim a favoured phrase from the pipsqueek braintrust), but it is also possible that the sign-makers could worsen matters by learning to spell, correctly pronouncing "nuclear," "Iraq" and "Ahmadinejad," while re-loading a full ammo magazine into a semi-automatic weapon before getting shot or subdued ...

... an afterword-to-the-wise of A(mer)ri(ca)zona ... don't shoot that sheriff (Dupnik) ... check his post-event remarks, then resume the Bob lyric ... "riiise, from your sleepless slumber"...

... out with the old, in with the new ...

2010-12-29T18:19:00.000-08:00

... the limbo of this short week between the orgiastic peak of Chrishmash Day, when we ritualistically prepare to be drunk with occasion, and New Year, that digested evacuation of a calendar-year on its way out, must be what it feels like to be a perineum ... oh yes, I did say perineum, the DMZ between one's genitalia and anus (one and all have batty, so me naah tek back no chat!) ...

... obscure logic, but don't watch dat ... now that I have your attention, I can assure you I'm not at all concerned with where the sun don't shine, but instead, where it does ... it continues to shine on Jamaica and on Jamaicans trodding forward-ever, backward-never at home and abroad ... besides well-documented sporting prowess and musicianship, Jamaica produces and exports social dynamism to influence every realm and make for spellbinding discovery ...

... African America is listening-in now and flyin' down on-the-regular for the roots ... Toronto, Tokyo and Berlin are established outposts of the orbit and British youth have co-opted enough Yardie phraseology to spawn some of the world's hippest lingo ... examples abound but it's the weave of the binding fabric that interests me ... there's been enough time to work out a social blem (blend) which increasingly includes various non-Jamaican Caribbean energies and hybrids of every type, drawing impetus and swag from the Xaymaca wellspring ...

... enter the bloggers who, like me, seek to express thoughts in writing, within and without the selectively established peripheries of standard language and tradition ... Ackeelover Chronicles may have been better nominated in the "Personal" category than the "Overseas" one, but it doesn't really matter 'cos we can chat from whichever part we deh, and better yet, we can chat 'bout any-an'-ev'ryting under Jah sun ... these Jamaica Blog Awards recognize the scope of the field and honor all kinds of excellence but I imagine that's nothing compared to what might be inspired by this initiative ... bring on the New Year!

... have a tart this Christmas ...

2010-12-21T21:00:00.000-08:00

..."Christmas kinda creeps up on ya,"... next time I catch somebody (or myself) saying that, I goin' clap dem! ... in the Jamaican sense this indicates a sharp, non-injurious slap to the headback, others may interpret "clap" as sarcastic applause ... whichever, Christmas is never a secret, in fact, diplomatic cables from the North-Pole wikileak earlier every year ...

... there were already glittering clues at Montmartre intersections a couple of days before St. Nicholas snowed on Paris, making it really seem like Christmas, and chaos (travel) ... bedazzled sidewalks, lit tableaux and animated shop-window displays co-ordinated by teams of marketers or elves, combine in themes of wonder and sophistication ...

... there's a certain egalite in the very concept of public-space adornment, aimed as it is toward every eye, entirely consistent here with the lingering aura of revolution ... this year's effort outside the exclusive Ritz is a statement of elegant minimalism ...

... interestingly enough though, when Christmas approaches most people would rather be at home, even considering those who might have been tempted to stay in France eating Brie-de-Meaux and Raisins de Provence at whim ... and, lest you think a Caribbean Christmas is somehow anachronistic, think again ...

... to do Christmas right you must see it coming, it's extra stressful if it creeps up on ya, as it seems to every year despite all the wiki-warnings ... in the Caribbean, like in France, planned preparation of indulgent food is one way to enhance your own holiday experience, and home is still the best place to eat ...

... since I can only be with some of the people I love this year, these homemade guava tarts will be my offering of best wishes ... to one and all wherever you are ...

... Happy Holidays!

... le geek chic, freak clique ...

2010-12-18T23:06:00.000-08:00

... and then there's the France we all know is there ... that passionate place subsumed in a sediment of stereotypes simultaneously endured and embodied ... this is a recreationally varied culture, from eating to painting, ball sports to politics, making wine to making whoopee ... the inevitability that other cultures also claim these characteristics doesn't detract from France's reputation at the top of this scale ...

... not surprisingly, like most everywhere else, the republique is also experiencing a growing demographic phenomenon centered around the cult of technology and the virtual worship of toys and gadgetry ... swelling ranks of increasingly tech-savvy, matrix-minds is producing a movement of men and women who have come to be known, somewhat endearingly, as geeks ... whatever the language ... in France they even have their own TV show called, interestingly enough, "No Life"...

... destination Midi-Pyrennees, the Toulouse Game Show ... there I enter a world that adds overt, fun-loving dimensions to escapism and fantasy ... Sci-Fi meets Halloween at the intersection of Toulouse and Lautrec one might say ...

... among the de rigeur zombies and aliens, superheroes, Manga and Cosplay afficionados, were some straight-up Wii-the-people, channeling inner drummers while gettin' their Nintendo on ...

... others were there to connect with Kinect, the au courant offering from industry-giant Microsoft, featuring controller-free, sensory interaction with your best friends, via Xbox 360 ...

... on this November weekend, playful geeks of every description came in from the cold to welcome geeks-by-association Peter Williams from "Stargate SG-1", Richard Hatch from "Battlestar Galactica", Shinji Hashimoto, a pre-eminent Japanese game producer ... and the home-grown bad boys from "No Life" ...

... uber-geeks Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and more recently, Sean "Napster" Parker and Time Magazine's Person-of-the-Year Mark "Facebook" Zuckerberg, emerge from these ranks to suggest geek as the new cool, making it monumental folly to overlook this burgeoning bloc of binary brains ...

... more than just the Eiffel tower ...

2010-12-09T13:12:00.000-08:00

... for those times when impediments come between you and routine, and when those ducks-in-a row take a hit, effectively reigning-in productivity, it's cool when there follows an upside to the experience ... when that upside brings the eye of Ackeelover Chronicles to the heart of a storied old-time colonial power, it's a cure for the blues and a sure bet for a blog-post or several ...

... serendipity conspired to take me the route traveled by many a vat of rhum, the distillation of toil and capitalism that buttressed links between the West Indies and the Republic of France ... modern Guadeloupe is France down to the last Euro coin and the high-heels, yet the butterfly-shaped island remains characteristically Caribbean at the same time ... construction zones in centre-ville, Point-a-Pitre reflect both realities ...

... initially, when making the segue from an anglophone environment to a francophone one, it's not unusual to notice a different appreciation for style and fashion ... in addition to the aforementioned high-heels, allow me to recognize and pay homage to what I will only identify as "the flirty-factor" to avoid gratuitous overstatement or mis-representation with an unsatisfactory French translation ... ou la la! says it just fine ...

... tropical island colours contrast the shades of grey enveloping Europe at this time of year, and the holiday season adds it's own identifying markers ... when you tek a stock (Jamaican, translates as: - if you look closely) there's always an ATM nearby ...

... ipso facto - by that very fact, if I may be loose with the latin, there are bank head-offices on the other end of those ATMs, in the centres of world trade ... "mon dieu!, World Trade Centres!" ... I'm speaking of places with longstanding infrastructures which serve to exert directive control on economic tides, at the same time as maintaining images so charming we all want to visit ...

... the university town of Toulouse, primary destination of my journey, warrants a blog-post for itself, but also kindly functioned as a picturesque prelude to the main attraction of the realm ...

... Paris ...

... compendiums of the world's great cities, compiled from whatever source, generally feature Paris high on the list ... convergent strands of international culture and pivotal historical moments-in-time mix and melange at this nexus to create arbiters of style and radiate influence on global aesthetics ...

... as cliche has it, spring is peak-time to appreciate this city, what with romance, renewal and rapprochement ... the soul of any place is perhaps at its most unadulterated during the off-season when life generally tends to be more about other things than image maintenance ... still, the face of Paris gleams through the dreary winter-holiday weather, particularly near the famous monuments and magasins ... one of the most prominent stores, Printemps, defiantly or definitively, means spring in French ...

... here, in a premier fashion capital of the world, the setting of royal intrigues, wartime legacy, artistic pinnacles and intellectual dictum, people are still subjects to "the big picture" ... they are governed by the ebb and flow of planetary fortunes, like the people of Gwada, who now add elements of les Caraibes to the French fabric ... the parents of Thierry Henry and Gael Monfils, two of the most recognizable faces in France, hail from these Antilles and have families that are as representative of contemporary France as a bohemian bistrot or boulangerie ...

... while the European Union grapples with economic uncertainty and demographic change, the underground, as always, offers a view of a future unavoidably constructed on the events of the past ... well duh, but it does feel like the stakes are higher these days, if only for the reason that there are more of us now hustling over exponentially diminishing quantities of less ...

... "the king is dead, long live the king" (French saying, translates as: - "... and the band played on" or "life goes on") ...

... the sound within the Metro arteries mixes jaunty (gentile?) accordion classiques de la Seine with every other genre ... the fuzzy-warm scene resembles other distant super-cities but this Pigalle musician fills the tiled acoustics of the subterranean conduit with a reverential wail ... "no woman, no cry"...

... you dun know seh French Culture is reggae culcha too! ...

... the Apophis agenda ...

2010-11-18T23:10:00.000-08:00

... when you score a part on a television series you don't necessarily expect it to run for ten seasons, spawn spin-offs or become part of popular culture ... you can wish for it, yes, but it's advisable not to bet the farm on runaway success ... however, science-fiction serials often go viral and achieve immortality in unexpected ways, like Star Trek and the mega-movie franchise Star Wars ... so, my lengthy involvement as Apophis in the Stargate phenomenon had both precedent and portent ...

... being cast as the grand nemesis, successor to the flamboyant Ra character played by Jaye Davidson in Stargate-the-movie, promised a measure of singularity, not just owing to extravagant make-up, "Mickey Mouse" ears, killer bling and golden costumery, but also a virtual exemption from absolute vanquishment ...

... these days, well into episodic syndication (a fancy way of saying re-runs), it occurs to us we never actually saw him die but assumed his demise based on the predicament leading up to the fireball thought to have consumed him ... in the tradition of Elvis sightings, reports of the death of Apophis seem greatly exaggerated, and there has proven to be quite an afterlife for this pompous false God ... the identification in 2004 of an orbiting asteroid with a statistical potential to collide with planet Earth has raised the spectre of this resurgent villain once again ...

... the astronomers who named this threat after my character, David Tholen and Roy Tucker, are Stargate fans only too familiar with the predictably unpredictable re-appearances of Apophis ... a pattern mirrored by this inter-galactic rock that resembles a huge Irish potato or a flaming Idaho super-spud ...

... calculations have Apophis close enough to Earth in 2012 to make better observations, but not close enough to counteract any Tea Party tilt at the American Presidency ... some likely gravitational adjustment in 2029 makes 2036 the year to ditch those insurance policies and have your bucket lists completed ...

... even Dick Cheney's successors, Blackwater and the mighty U.S. military would have to bow to Apophis ... the Russians, not trusting NASA projections that put most of the former Soviet Union under the asteroid's trajectory, want to pre-emptively shoot it down or deflect it over Washington, Waco or Wasilla ... they may only succeed in making Apophis really mad ...

... knowing Apophis like I do (I remain one of this world's foremost experts on the mindset of this persistent antagonist), I can safely state; Apophis will not throw the babes out with the bathwater ... before unleashing Armageddon he'll most likely take a sampling of Tau'ri (read Earthling) womankind as tithe or entitlement, to play Caligula while amassing an army or two on some distant planet in preparation for a future assault ...

... meanwhile, ever since the great civilisations of ancient Egypt, his mythology builds to crescendo ... there's even contemporary reasoning that the coming of Apophis was predicted in The Bible, and all sorts of creative souls continue to pay homage via artwork like this ethereal representation from a fan named Renee ...

... if the unthinkable happens, and the force that is Lord Apophis returns, riding on a baked potato to wreak havoc on the world which repeatedly frustrated him on televisions across the known universe, we can't say we weren't amply warned ... a penultimate twist-in-the-tale perhaps, is seen in this impact-rendering by the coincidentally named NASA-affiliated artist Don E. Davis ...

... I suspect that, somewhere, the late actor Don S. Davis, who portrayed Stargate Command's General Hammond helping to repel the early attacks of Apophis, would chuckle at the irony ...

... Joyce's gerberas ...

2010-11-09T12:02:00.000-08:00

..."take time to smell the roses," ... this well known bit of advice is a Russian proverb, who knew? ... of course, in our Western interpretation it refers to more than roses ... the phrase nods to the fragrance of the flower while conveying a philosophy of deliberate appreciation toward beauty in general ... colourful plants, astral constellations, rainbows, autumn vistas, sea-breeze, natural phenomena great and small, in fact, any facet of Creation which stimulates pleasure sensors into a state of wonderment ...

... I arrive at these thoughts by reviewing photos of my most recent Jamaica jaunt which featured a trek to Black River, St. Elizabeth to hail Aunt Joyce, longtime earth-mother and horticulturist ... her yard's a port in a storm, featuring comforting constancy associated with boyhood happiness and adventure ...

... the open-faced blooms of her gerberas come in various colours but it is the overlapping radiance of their display that makes me take time to really look ... the gerbera flower is a member of the daisy family which originates in South Africa, and is valued worldwide in floral arrangements ... it has been hybridized to the point where it can be considered a cash-crop ...

... I suppose one could say it shows considerable temerity on my part to talk of smelling roses while visually featuring gerberas, but that's the sort of thing I'm getting a reputation for here at Ackeelover Chronicles ... literary license and extrapolation ... besides, I'm really only speaking in terms of the exquisite expressions of nature represented by these flowers ...

... having attended many a Black River Flower Show, I have a good understanding of the power of a flower ... so too the people who came up with the Persian proverb "the world is a rose; smell it and pass it to your friends," ... I'm due for another visit to this versatile garden, perhaps at that time my peculiar logic will lead me to smell the orchids and write about Joyce's roses ...

... tick tock, you rock ...

2010-11-03T07:38:00.000-07:00

... the ticking hands of time are a constant in our temporal existence ... days past are never regained, gloomy as that may sound ... but if we see growing up as the sort of blessing that gives us the opportunity to learn something new everyday, and every tomorrow, then the annual milestones we call birthdays become useful reference points, perfect for reflections on the past and to make resolutions for the future ...

... me 'n' my boy have been through a lot of stages and hairstyles together, but somehow fate likes to conspire for us to be apart on his birthday ... up until now I've dealt with this as a function of pre-destiny and have made various attempts to compensate some other way ... though it's not intended to be a case of emotional disregard on any level, I know that the love-you-from-a-distance scenario doesn't fully bridge the divide ... and it hurts ...

... Creed rides skateboards for fun, and he'll continue well after this day which sees him turn twenty-one ... what was once merely kid activity is now a bonafide sport with real superstars and sponsorships from street-level to pro ... ok, so he's more street than pro, but fo' sho I'm feelin' the vert and those grabs ...

... this age can be a cue for feelings of trepidation about the next step in life ... looking back on mine, I offer this ... twenty-one is the elementary stage of the metabolic plateau which succeeds the matrix of rapid development that is youth ... in effect, nature's call for deliberate progress ... not ponderous or boring, but measured and mindful to carry forward those things that will stimulate senses, release tensions and overcome inhibitions ... all the while continuing to accumulate skillz and experiences ...

... rockin' Mos Def and Q-Tip all day in his honor will have his full approval ... the kid's musicality comes via osmosis I suppose, such is the soundtrack to his life ... only he among his kin actually makes music, using voice and rhyme as instrument ... cool move too, linking with Pigeon Park homies to push seventies-style rock-pop, liberally fused with ragga-tinged hip-hop commentary ... part of the weed-wise Vancouver music scene bubbling out of Gastown bongs ...

... this particular show, photographed by Danya Robinson, was a tour send-off ... the band would make the trip East without Creed because the young M.C. (mic-chatter) has a day job from which he is not expendable, giving him a personal taste of that predictable, ambivalent conflict which haunts artists everywhere ...

... he made the right choice to honor the regular gig, the latest in a string of better choices after some astoundingly poor adolescent ones, but then ... which of us can say that wasn't our trajectory too ... there really is nowhere to go but up from a state of youth ...

... twenty-one is an arbitrary numerical threshold which allows us to accept a child proclaiming itself to be grown, but the truth is closer to "twenty-one" being a paradigm that sees as many people mature before reaching the number, as after it ... it's understandable that there's this over/under differential because nothing in life, except the inexorable passage of time, is immune to variation ...

... I'm proud of this young man, now formally turning adult ... saw it coming all the way (wink), even from here ... but once again I'm overseas for his birthday and conveying my love from afar ... this time however, there's a new recognition ...

... Happy Birthday to you my son, man-to-man ...

... Dennis, Lincoln, Gregory, troubador trinity ...

2010-10-26T19:19:00.000-07:00

... one of the sustaining joys in life is the sound of reggae music ... as a living entity it compares to those hardy species of tree that thrive in the tropics ... trees with anchoring roots that respond to adversity by sending out another shoot, or branch, often in a new direction ... strong like Lignum Vitae, expansive like Guango and ubiquitous like macka or cassie-bush ...

... the Jamaican musical continuum is as old as slavery, even older if you include earlier African and European influences ... for purposes at hand I focus on the last fifty years and the successive passage of definable eras ... one such era has been slipping away since the death of Dennis Brown more than a decade ago ... this year, with the loss of Sugar Minott and now Gregory Isaacs, that process is all but complete ...

... Gregory, a favourite son since the early-seventies, had the sort of talent that proved greater than the sum if its parts ... his appeal leans quirkily on a smooth-as-silk, post-nasal croon, sounding like no-one before or since ... with a keen awareness for a sentimental lover's lyric, a penchant for natty threads and the sort of laconic inner-city cool only Snoop can match nowadays, the Cool Ruler had the skill-set to remain popular down the years ... he drew excited audience responses simply by sauntering onstage moaning contentedly into his cordless microphone ...

... Gregory Isaacs and Dennis Brown, two of the most identifiable figures in reggae due to their unique voices and prodigious output, released steady streams of music over decades, the best of which can be found strewn throughout the prolific chaos of their extensive back-catalogues ...

... these beloved performers rode the riddim to stardom and international acclaim ... from the beginning, the Jamaican public-at-large identified with their brand of sufferer soul ... they started their own labels and were providers for extended families ... the fact that Brown and Isaacs had long-term cocaine habits which hastened their departures from this mortal coil is a sad footnote to the often collaborative legacies they left on record ...

... Gregory sings Dennis, Dennis sings Gregory ... the sheer amount of joint-releases and artistic overlap from them cements their legacies as twin-pillars of the reggae industry ...

... Lincoln "Sugar" Minott wasn't known for the type of drug struggles his two more celebrated compadres became associated with but his career followed a similar path of autonomy and mentorship, garnering the respect of peers and public, more than justifying his inclusion in this company ...

... the genius of entertainers like these is related to their abilities to carry cultural pride along with them as they journey out into wicked Babylon on their way to a better place ... if it is understood that Babylon will present obstacles as well as opportunity, then the way forward requires not just performing talent, but also, love in your heart, commitment to progress and versatility ...

... this trinity of troubadors sang in the voice of African identity, each living the music and honoring it as a driving force for positive energies ... despite occasional expediency-motivated, undercooked releases there was always good music being made, often stamped only on scarce vinyl to be collated latterly on collector compilations or torrent download ...

... Minott mastered Lovers Rock and Brown was born to sing songs of love, but it is Gregory who stirs it up with his ability to help us to ... how shall I put it? ... um ... move the action from the parlour to the boudoir, when it's time for business ...

... it has fast become cliche to big-up Gregory by singling out the iconic "Night Nurse", I was trying to avoid that trap but you just have to heart this tune and it's many remixes ... we've heard Dennis Brown's voice sampled to great effect ... look for same with Gregory Isaacs who's always killer when dropped in a dubmix ...

... in due course, life-lessons from the Original Dapper Don must be absorbed as we try not to repeat the mistakes of our forebears, but thankfully for Gregory and those who continue to enjoy him, it's the good you do that will live on after you ...

... a cutlass and a whippa-snippa ...

2010-10-19T05:35:00.000-07:00

... "we use machete to farm, but the worl' in general use machine ... so, when you check it out, can machete compete wid machine?"... when pronounced appropriately (machete sounds more like ma-she-ate) and uttered with knowing, tonal certainty, the humble man's wisdom resonates with truth and significance ... it captures an entire polemic as explored in Stephanie Black's insightful 2001 documentary Life and Debt ... a socio-fiscal, musical representation of Jamaica in the heady seventies and the Developing World's relationship with the IMF and U.S. regional interests of the time ...

... while I highly recommend the film as essential viewing if you're going to inhabit the pages of Ackeelover Chronicles with me, my thoughts, as I sweated through some yardwork with my trusty weed-whacker in the Caribbean heat, were of a more mundane and literal nature ... one of those while-you-work contemplations, yet still inspired by the veracity of the quote from the film ...

... I ain't sayin' the grass is any greener on the other side but I was picturing in my mind a previous time when I enjoyed clearing overgrowth at my former domicile on B.C.'s temperate Sunshine Coast, wielding instead the aforementioned machete or cutlass ... scything readily through clustered dandelions and cabbagy ground-cover causing neighbors to scratch their heads at the rudimentary approach, even as they kept one nervous eye on the flashing blade ...

... in the Caribbean the cutlass is a time-honored and honorable extension of a worker's arm, just as the weed-whacker has become in richer nations ... my own, a Brasilian twenty-six incher, is always close at hand for all sorts of everyday tasks ... (yeh-yeh, I know how that sounds) ... but the sheer irony of this mirror experience, being in the tropics, handily racing through the yard with a Stihl Pro-Series FS-85R machine, was not lost on me ...

... just as there was an audience for my cutlass capers in Canada, so too here ... Australian visitors got a kick out of the pervasive islandwide use of the "whipper-snipper", to use an evocative Down Under term for the gas-powered tool sometimes unassumingly referred to as a "line-trimmer" ...

... figurative analysis of the disparity between machete and machine can be macro or micro, adding textural insight to your perception of geo-political economics ... Life and Debt draws from thoughtful sources and a liberated Jamaican perspective ... it's not always possible to achieve clear-cut conclusions with a subject so broad, still, I'm now able to testify to one conviction ... the stone-cold truth is, weed-snippin'-whipper-whackin' will save on time and labor ...

... but "alas," said the cutlass ... "it can't chop a coconut" ...

... the power of one ... a Happy 1st Birthday ...

2010-10-13T13:58:00.000-07:00

... Minnie Mouse will give you one guess

who she baked this cake for,

that's right Little Miss Clever, it's for you,

one now, and to come many more ...

... this one's for your Birthday Kailani,

one soon becomes two and then three,

oh my, what a bright happy life

this one figures to be ...

... y'see, birthday-uno is more than a digit,
it's a one-time calendar date,
the year-one counting point,
a fresh start out of the gate ...

... you only turn one once, I'm certain,

and no-one grows up to be younger,

one year after the next

baby gets older, bigger, and stronger ...

... as you learn, take one step at a time,

one flip then flap and fly,

here's one endless opportunity

for you, to reach way up high ...

... put one seed in the ground

one plant it will grow,

one ray of sunshine

can light the whole show ...

... one hour of darkness is

one hour too many,

may you have lots of friends

and not even one enemy ...

... just one more thing to remember

though, you'll never be one again,

regardless what number the birthday,

to you, it's One Love always ... amen ...

... Pierre: une nouvelle famille Canadienne ...

2010-10-09T06:49:00.000-07:00

... "Trudeau was like havin' an extra uncle," ... comes the sound of social worker Gene's voice rising off-screen over grainy film images of metropolitan Toronto in the poignant Canadian feature-film A Winter Tale ... I play the character Gene in the scene which involves reminiscence of a time when Canada opened up to an immigration increase from hitherto non-traditional feeder regions, including the island nations of the West Indies ...

... these substantial waves of immigration are commonly attributed to the leadership and vision of the late Pierre Elliott Trudeau, who passed away a decade ago, leading many to pin the hot-button topic of Canadian multiculturalism squarely on his often rose-adorned lapel ...

... the movie scene unfolds and my voice-over segues seamlessly from Gene's wistful memoir into a rallying manifesto from the man himself ..."Canada must be one, Canada must be progressive and Canada must be a just society!" ... that particular speech being only one of the many memorable legacies of Canada's fifteenth Prime Minister ...

... Canada first came into my Jamaican consciousness in 1967 when my irrepressibly itinerant maternal grandmother felt the urge to get a window on the world by visiting the Montreal Expo ... from then on Canada was on my radar ... this timing coincided with the emergence of Trudeau in national politics and pre-figured that fascinating union with the junior Margaret who augmented his fame and bore him three sons ...

... throughout the seventies that same consciousness was fed by a relationship between Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley and Pierre Trudeau who had developed a mutual respect at the influential London School of Economics ... both charismatic leaders knew how to stake out a middle ground in the Cold War and were less confrontational with Cuban counterpart Fidel Castro than the regional giant U.S.A. tended to be ...

... Canada's sense of self as a nation has always been linked, like the tides are to the moon, to the prevailing winds in the U.S.A. ... there's an inevitability to that for multiple reasons but Trudeau always gave the impression he felt strongly that the differences between the two close friends should be as honored as the similarities ... many of us who became new Canadians during Trudeau's tenure understood and agreed, especially when at times, interests seemed to conflict ...

... one of the most enduring/endearing attributes Trudeau had was his moral certitude ... he could never be called directionless ... that carries a certain resonance in a politician ... when John Lennon (who would be seventy today) said, "if all politicians were like Pierre Trudeau there would be world peace," one could appreciate the somewhat utopian pronouncement from the peacenik crusader ...

... Lennon himself, famous Beatle that he was, had his moments of fun-loving frivolity while at the same time harboring a keen social conscience ... Pierre too could certainly play court jester, taking on a good-natured, human dimension and adding latitude to his presence in a serious world ... pirhouetting behind the Queen of England, sliding down bannisters, flashing middle-fingers or coining phrases like "fuddle duddle" are but a few examples ...

... to her credit, that same English monarch, not particularly known for shenanigans or levity, appeared not to take the pirhouette as any sort of slight when she inked what was Trudeau's piece de resistance, the hard-fought-for 1982 patriation of the Canadian Constitution ... from London to Ottawa, with love ...

... it must be noted in any retrospective on Trudeau that there are those who bristle at the very mention of his name ... as with any politico there's the factor of polarisation to consider ... throughout Western Canada for instance, where there is deep-seated resentment at the federal expenditure required to maintain official bilingualism, it's easy to spark a barroom brawl by defending Trudeau-era liberalism, and even the concept of multiculturalism ... additionally, in some quarters of Quebec there is lingering distrust of the half of his bloodline that is anglophone ... hmmm ... methinks there's a lesson or two in this for Barack Obama ...

... or perhaps the lesson is for eldest son Justin ... still in his thirties, just now carving his own path in the world of politics ... today's landscape is different from his father's so he'll do well to recognize that Pierre-style insouciance may read differently to the contemporary electorate ... but on the other hand, I suspect he'll also benefit from the residual effects of name-association among those who thought kindly of his father and the generations of Canadian-born voters who are descended from them ...

... after all ... if Pierre was like an extra uncle, then by extension, that makes this guy cousin Justin ...

... NBC UnderCovers Lady Gugu and Bo Ko ...

2010-10-03T05:17:00.000-07:00

... UC seeks to peddle no parable, nor posit the meaning of life,

it sells us Bo Ko, Adonis, and dynamite doe-eyed screen wife,

a bald-pate smooth dresser, super-spy-polyglot-guy,
no joke folks, check it, the dude sure is fly ...

... what if wifey did sex-up Leo, or do what when and with whom,

our Lady Gugu in-the-Raw, the luscious Samantha Bloom,

personifies fantasy partner whether all dressed or undressin',

in truth and in fact, shawty's a real eyeball blessin' ...

... NBC's new show has style, an' chat liberally littered with quips,

you can count on JJ to work in those expansive location trips,

stories are simple with action-packed script-writin',

lotsa steamy set-ups, bold stunts and faux-fightin' ...

... prime-time stakes are high, win-lose is the sexpionage game,

and I say this not just 'cos a producer and I share a last name,

but thirteen's a short season, may ratings beg for more,

because this one's not for shelf or cutting-room floor ...

... call it fun-on-the-run, a lil reggae spice on the soundtrack,

hard 'n' heavy isn't compulsory just 'cos the two leads are black,

some a dem critics tek tings too serious, man!,

smart casting's central to Jah master-plan ...

...there's the safe time-slot before the top network sitcom on air,

to help keep it locked 'til there's better cause to be elsewhere,

Modern Family on ABC has that distinction, if you'll allow,

so, my Wednesday night TV is all dialed in for now ...

*** November 3rd - POST MORTEM ***

... guess I was wrong, best wishes to TV's best looking pair,

cancellation's a bitch when the ratings ain't there,

one month later it's a Wednesday nite shake-up,

hope these guys had a pretty tight pre-nup.

... three little (jail)birds ...

2010-09-29T09:37:00.000-07:00

... Mark Myrie, David Smith and Christopher Coke are three Jamaicans who've achieved copious notoriety of late ... in recent months each has had high-profile legal attention to deal with ... Smith has been sentenced to a six-year jail term for financial fraud, Coke is incarcerated until such time as he can be put on trial for charges related to drug and weapons trafficking and, in his own drug conspiracy case, Myrie, better known as Buju Banton, waits in his Florida cell for a jury decision which will be known within hours of you reading this, if not before ...

... it bears mentioning that there is none among us who has never done a foolish thing they would not repeat ... it is also true that a hard lesson or two, learned and addressed, can lead anyone to an improved life, to become a humbler, wiser and better person ...

... as a Grammy-winning, veteran musician Banton is well known internationally, and with no apology to the sector of the Jamaican public who revere their talismanic "Dudus" as a leader-of-men, Coke doesn't have comparable star status ... there is a hint of phonetic comedy to his main alias, perhaps creating the need for the alternate option, Presi (President) ... nothing funny about social unrest and DEA extradition to face Uncle Sam's eager prosecution though ...

... there is a tradition of Jamaican entertainers adopting the name Banton ... in addition to Buju there's Burro, Pato, Mega, Starkey and others ... Bantons all ... it's a grandiloquent moniker signifying top-ranking status and super-boss magnitude, verging on the titular, as in Buju the Banton ... no such issue for the more prosaic name David Smith operated with (lest you thought there was a common thread there) ... white-collar crime doesn't usually grab as many "sexy" headlines, in fact Smith's sleight of hand probably wouldn't warrant mention in this company if it weren't for for the audacious scale of his (and his wife's) slippery Olint Investment Ponzi scheme ...

...what may well be a common thread though, laid bare for all to see, are clear indicators of pervasive malaise within Jamaican society specifically, and likely, wider society as a whole, given that Jamaica has no monopoly on scandalous behaviour ...

... it is not entirely surprising when a financier who amasses personal fortune by unscrupulous means gets found out, nor does anyone do a double-take when an inner-city don turns out to be involved in illegal activities, but when a prominently bellicose Rastafarian "herbalist" is implicated in cocaine consumption and dealing, the incongruity is startling ("Sensimilla Persecution" doesn't sound as sincere now, I wore out the acapella version on my 45) ... Buju Banton's music is prolific and varied enough to interest a variety of listeners ... even those who find his caustic, throaty delivery hard to take, can hear something melodious and redeemable in "Untold Stories", "Destiny" or "'til Shiloh" ...

... some of us who count ourselves among his fans have periodically been challenged by this complicated talent, particularly his inability to walk far from the controversies that followed him after the notorious monster hit "Boom,Bye,Bye" ... his aspiration to Marleyesque recognition is heavy-handed, despite his obvious reverence for Bob's essence and notwithstanding the close relationship to Stephen Marley ... maybe we should see this as merely another contradiction ... Buju "walk like a champion, talk like a champion" Banton is, after all, the same one who is also known as Gargamel ... a dread name when growled with the right inflection, but look it up ... it's a smurf cartoon character ...

... I am allowed to feel disappointed in some of the choices of my countrymen ... they will have to live with the consequences of their personal actions ... I use this moment to say my piece regarding Buju in part because the jury is well into their deliberations and are presumably sequestered, so adding my voice to all the noise at this time will have no bearing on the hype factor ... plus ... this is as good a time as any to comment because I suspect the stain on Buju's credibility will remain regardless of the verdict and many will be less forgiving than I ...

... my verdict? ... guilty of hypocritical mindlessness and incomprehensible lack of vision ... but not guilty enough to dash away such prodigious talent ... "it's not an easy road," he sang ... true dat, complete redemption will be hard to come by ...

*** Post Script ***

"said, I had a close one yesterday, Jah put an angel over me"-"Close One Yesterday"-Inna Heights-1997

... the jury came back hung, evenly split, retrial set for December will provide the next chapter in this story ...

... a guinep by any other name ...

2010-09-21T14:18:00.000-07:00

... mamoncillo ... limoncillo ... quenepa ... chenet ... kinnip ... genip ... somehow Barbados got it very wrong calling it ackee ... to further confuse matters it's called Spanish Lime in Florida and what's Surinam thinkin' when they call it sensiboom? ...

... menuhcarewha'yuwaacaallit, it'll always be guinep to me ... it's a seasonal fruit, enjoyed throughout Central America and The Caribbean, and, if you've been paying attention to Ackeelover Chronicles, you know I take fruit very seriously ...

... I have a child-like affection for this summer-bearing delight which I may have taken for granted until I came to live outside my native Jamaica ... in Canada and elsewhere I sometimes catch myself rhapsodising my way through conversations where the other party hasn't had the pleasure ... often eliciting bemused response as I romanticise this delectable drupe ...

... y'see ... botanically, guineps classify in the drupe group ...

... "what's it similar to?", comes the standard question, and even though I understand the lychee or longan comparison, it's a stretch ... when properly ripe they are a sweet, succulent, satisfying snack, inexpensively available at practically every four-way-stop intersection ... winter travellers miss the season and the opportunity to raid actual trees, which tend to grow randomly and can be fair-game if you beat local kids to the bounty ...

... the easily-cracked, removed and discarded green shell exposes a smooth flesh-covered seed, which, when sucked clean and commonly spat any-which-way, creates inoffensive, low-impact bio-litter ... tastes and textures will vary from tree to tree but you can't eat just one unless early picking leaves them too tart ...

... a quick web-search for other guinep anecdotes turns up several references to the coveted-for-its-size, twin-guinep ... a comparatively rare fruit with a double semi-ovoid seed ... but nowhere in my research did I see mention of an example with a triple seed! ... now, understand this, I've voraciously consumed these things since boyhood and never come across such a specimen ... nor has anyone I've asked ... I didn't know they even existed, yet my pickin' tree this year yielded three such examples! ... there must be profound meaning in this omen ...

... the male tree will not produce fruit ... giving rise to the term man guinep, a Jamaican jibe at men with no offspring ... and, if there is a more indelible stainer of clothing than guinep juice I'd like to be warned ... eating too many under-ripe guineps can interfere with intestinal regularity and the smooth gullet-sized seed has been known to cause accidental asphyxiation ... so ... mindfulness is required while ... um ... sucking the seed ...

... at time of writing, guinep season is winding down and I'm happy to report I feasted every chance I got, as if preparing for the inevitable day when I am back in Canada unable to procure the produce ... I even learned a thing or two which I hadn't known, despite a lifetime of experience with these things ... older folk tell me it's a great source of iron ... who knew? ...

... I'm advised now too that a certain care is required in cross-culturally referencing this fruit ... shortening mamoncillo can offend in some Latin contexts, as mamon translates to "arrogant asshole" or the more pointed "cocksucker" ... and to a Filipina, the Spanish-derived word mamon can also refer to pendulous breasts ... which, when I think about it, actually makes more sense considering the full Latin assignation ... melicoccus bijugatus ...

... I love me some bijug-at-us, but guineps will sate for now ...

... i-slam, you-slam, livin' on almshouse lane ...

2010-09-10T06:16:00.000-07:00

... there's nothing like the threat of a little koran or bible burning to prompt waves of indignation and reflexive repercussion ...

... the post 9/11 world is crying out for a new kind of detente ...

... growing up Jamaican you're not often exposed to that sort of secular vitriol nor are you given any divine answers to life's questions, but you are supposed to become familiar with supernatural mysticisms ... geographically blessed, the island was fashioned out of disparate strands by that very kind of energy ...

... looked at another way, I come from this vibrant land in a region which boasts country-comforts and urban challenges both plentiful and real ... they combine to make it a great place to practice faith ...with more churches per square mile than anywhere else in Christendom (Guinness Book of World Records), the people are into faith ... if the colonially-imported fundamentals of high and low Christianities don't entirely engage, then check the knowledge of faith-systems anchored in the enduring African nature of the popular zeitgeist ...

... this is an age of resurgent tribalism ... I choose my images thoughtfully for this post, knowing there are those who will constipate at the sight of a dreadlocked last supper or sigh at the repeated use of Bob Marley's image as a banner ... instead of a currently active representative ... or anything else for that matter ... ... well, while Marley is still the benchmark standard, there was a prior time when non-dreadlocked Prince Buster invoked Allah and became Jamaica's scandal ... and all the rage ...

... public focus on Prince Buster's Islamic involvement has faded in time and the currently-informed will now recognize Sheik Abdullah al-Faisal, deported recently to Jamaica from England via Africa, as the scandal du jour ... and the outrage ... once again giving Jamaica a home-grown link to the apparently insoluble impasse between Christians and Muslims ... both camps appear to insist on moral and territorial ascendancy ...

... inter-faith tension is nothing new ... what could be new is a neo-Rasta application to the friction based on the intrinsic one love/one heart tenet ... simplistic as it sounds ... for ultimately this must be the bottom line ... "a man is just a man" as Garnet Silk sang ... freedom of faith is an inalienable right but not if one belief occludes the liberty of another perspective ... then it becomes tyranny ... no faith has a veto on this ...

... most of us in the human family have been exposed by now to the top messengers and palliative philosophies of Rastafari, the pre-eminent Ethiocentric Jamaican belief-system ... and have had a taste of that rhythm ... or riddim ... in spite of the anomalous fact that the spearheading ambassadors of Roots Rock Reggae, Bob Marley and The Wailers, never actually got to Rock The Casbah like that timeless Clash refrain, in an Islamic country ...

... nonetheless, the vibe permeates ... in Canada I had the pleasure of reasoning with random Iranians across a language barrier during one of GB's memorable Bob Marley birthday bashes at Vancouver's Graceland niteclub back-in-the-day, grooving to half-Muslim, half-Christian Ivorian singer Alpha Blondy and some stunning Reggae-Rai fusion from North Africa ... 'mongst plenty Jamaican raggamuffin dancehall ...

... I understand ... or overstand, that arabs and muslims can identify with themes found in Rasta-inspired Jamaican music ... Algiers, Lagos, Paris, London, Chicago, Toronto, Montreal and New York are fertile ground for cultural interface when the theme is togetherness ... music as healer ...

... Jamaica's metaphysical dimension engenders psychological pride in the face of often jarring mismanagement and rampantly destructive social habits, but its dynamism is also its strength ... witness the creative outlook and humor of the people ... and the patwa (patois), that ever-more-phing language of choice ...

... any guy burn dis ya bible? ... brimstone an' more fyah!!

... one word that has taken on alternate meaning after treatment from Jamaica's relentless etymology machine is "almshouse" (i.e. poorhouse ... literally an address where alms are collected for the poor) ... in the Jamaican context its original meaning, though not lost, has given way to popular meanings ... foolishness, fuckery, combativeness, cussedness ... wickedness an' badmind ...

... though this might sound like hot air to those inclined to dismiss, it's meant as an elementary discourse on an entangled situation ... so just imagine, as Bob did ... if Imam and everyman, and woman ... and I man ... could be Irie man ...

... leave out the almshouse ... simple key open complex lock ...

... the route of Earl 2 ... no jestering ...

2010-09-01T08:07:00.000-07:00

... it's really a quesion of degrees, this hurricane lottery ... the fine calibrations of latitude and longitude that combine to determine which territory, is affected by which part, of which cyclonic effect of which hurricane ... this time I experienced a hurricane growing to Category Two status as Earl's eye shaved the north-eastern side of the twin-island state of Antigua & Barbuda ...

... at regular intervals, in anticipation of weather to come, there are periods of such intense calm you can talk yourself into a delusory resentment ..."it ain't comin', all that work for nuttn"...

... followed, hopefully, by ... "I'm glad I hooked that shit up yo!" ...

... barometric adjustment is responsible, altering normal air-pressure ... the most commonly used descriptor is "eerie quiet"... this is the sound of stealth, an experience in itself ... debris flew, trees bent and rain didn't so much fall as drive through ... hurricane Earl's core elements put on a lusty show, allowing me a taste of what it's like near the centre of one of these things ...

... something I learned is that it's easier to do "before" or "after" photography than it is to do the more daring "during" ... my best effort, taken from a nearby villa, was as thrilling and wet as it looked ... "my heartbeat needed that jolt" I noted, still feeling the inside of my ribcage as I dried off my spattered camera lens ...

... crop devastation, islandwide power outtages and predictable gas shortages are first on any checklist of post-hurricane issues ... as is clean-up ... Antigua cleans up fast if you're wondering ...

... memories of being the first one outside afterwards, when the sensation of awe at nature is still fresh in the mind, allow me to flirt with post-apocalyptic fantasies from the vantage of an essentially intact world ... and somewhere down the line in the path of Earl ... be it island, U.S. or Canadian mainland ... people will be humbled and reminded of our planet's capricious power ...

... then of course there are the beaches ... my seashell source ... the caressing sea turns aggressor, shuffling sands and casting up flotsam and jetsam (a term that, since childhood, has alternately made me cringe or chuckle due to its ... cuteness?) ... preliminary beachcombing yielded a perfect pole to support a clothesline and a usable, if slightly weathered, snorkel ... there's lots more at the high-water line but mostly not dead long enough for collection ...

... as a strengthened hurricane Earl moves onward to its destiny, we in his wake cast an eye forward to watch copycats Fiona and Gaston make their westward trek ... it'll likely be an island feeling the first lash of these seasonal visitors before North American media-hype swings into high gear ...

... wherever hurricanes make landfall there'll be a price to pay ... closures and cancellations inevitably cost money ...

... we all grumbled about the prolonged blackout while tossing out the contents of our warm refrigerators and mopping up puddles ... but these inconveniences are given perspective when you consider the fate of the lineman who was electrocuted yesterday while working on service restoration ...

... hurricane storm is no joke ...

... the route of Earl ... hurricane watch ...

2010-08-27T13:49:00.000-07:00

... the sound of the surf is louder than usual tonight ... it's been a calm-sea kind of year so far ... great for swimming ...

... when you live on an island you become attuned to the sea ... even if swimming is not actually your thing ... and the wind too, everyone develops a sixth-sense about the Atlantic storms and hurricanes that pick their way through here each year ... tracking one hundred and sixty years of storms on one map paints a wooly palimpsest over the whole region ... from Barbados to Biloxi and Panama to P.E.I. ... right now I'm located somewhere in the lower middle of that cartographic Don King do ...

... the 2010 hurricane season is upon us now, but my instinctive sense of caution and writer's objectivity are compromised by the fact that I have not ... ever ... yet ... experienced true hurricane conditions ... there've been a few near misses, even some threatening last-hurrahs that made it as far as Metro Toronto, but I still cannot check that box on a bucket list ... I'm a virgin! ... that wasn't easy to say but there, I said it ...

... I'm told of 1995 in Antigua and Barbuda ... a serious year for storms, including the week-apart, one-two punch of Louis and Marilyn ... this season is getting rolling slightly slower than '95 but I see similarities in the patterns and trajectories already ... tropical storm Earl is heading this way following behind hurricane Danielle, now eyeing-up my friends in Bermuda ... the severe weather experts think Earl needs close watching but I'm thinkin' ... "hey weatherdude, what's with the initials?" ...

... if Earl were to become my hurricane tale ... would I come to reference it in the future like ol' time people name-check hurricanes from their past? ... the long remembered Charlie from 1951 ... Hattie which sacked Belize(then British Honduras) in '61 ... Gilbert, 1988 - immortalized in Jamaican song like Hattie before it ... Ivan, 2004 - that mash up Jamaica and all but sank The Cayman Islands ... the answer to that is, yeah probably ...

... having spent most of the day putting up hurricane shutters I suspect that would be one of my primary reminiscenses ... it's not a small job I assure you and there's a quixotic element to the task ... humility in the presence of indomitable nature ... brings to mind the weighty quote "when you think it's peace and safety, it's a sudden destruction" (Marley-"Rat Race"/Thessalonians 5:3) ...

... collective wisdom cautions me against wishing on a storm ... violent weather can bring misery and inconvenience too, but until I've felt that barometric pressure yo-yo like a mo-fo, seen a coconut tree bend double and witnessed a few random objects or stray animals becoming projectiles, I may feel I haven't lived ...

... in these islands it can feel like dodging bullets on a frontline as cyclones sling off the broad Atlantic divide 'twixt old world and new ... those around me can rest easy though ... my other theory is that I repel these things with nascent serendipity ...

... watch, as Mr. T.S. Earl corrects course and veers away the second he sees me and those formidable shutters I put up ... hah!

... cornbread philosophy ...

2010-08-18T06:56:00.000-07:00

... "life is like a batch of muffins" ... so Reverend Gump said ...

... or do I hear a Martha Stewart periphrase? ...

... "when the going gets rough the tough bake bread" ...

... either way ...

... course grind balances fine blend ... a little salt to our sweet ...

... let's stir it up ... dry parts prime to come wet ...

... light-beaten egg ... finger-greased pan ... high oven heat ...

... and ...

... if you've ever seen sunshine emerge from a stove ...

... or smelled wafting readiness from a cook's kitchen ...

... you've "been to the mountaintop" ... gazed out and beheld ...

... my golden cornbread ...

... just add butter...

... mystic revelation ...

2010-08-12T20:22:00.000-07:00

... if you're a parent ... even if you're not ... it can be challenging to explain the concept of God to an eight year-old in a manner which will satisfy both the explainer and the explainee ...

... I find a good tool is an old-fashioned mother-nature watch ... the type science helps us to understand while often sidestepping the element of supernatural wonder that is empirically infinite and ultimately beyond the rational ken of a human brain ...

... sometimes ... like yesterday ... the heavens intervene with a practical lesson the like of which seems tailor-made for the purpose of amazing minds ... young and old ... the sort of thing for which the only answer is God ...

... the small storm cloud passed ... with its electricity and spilling greyness giving way to bleach-white puffiness and freshly showered clear blue sky ... the afternoon sun, low-set and partially obscured, provided the active ingredient for a prismatic display far more unusual than a comparatively mundane rainbow ... it looked like photoshop run amok in the sky ...

... I was transfixed ... bobbing in the same sea where it had just drizzled warm droplets ... muttering in dismay at not having my trusty Canon while at the same time trying to instill a sense of Creation in a young mind ...

... irony hit me square in the head after nearly ten minutes when the little voice ... God bless her soul ... announced excitedly that which had not occurred to me ... my mobile was ashore ... there was no time for sheepishness ... young ones do get some things quicker ... I swam back to the beach to capture what remained of the now fading phenomenon with my iPhone ...

... gingerly holding the iPhone with dripping wet hands I hurriedly snapped away as the multi-colored spectrum retreated from the spectacular to the merely beautiful ...
... when I look at the pictures I can see the whole scene as it was, in my mind's eye ... it includes the Rastaman bathing there too with his family of four ... when it came time to leave we did so all at once ... wide-eyed and chattering of the remarkable vision ...

... "we got a blessing today," said I ...

... "yeh man," came the reply with a knowing flash of dreadlocks ...

... "mystic!"

... "somebody pass me the bullbud!" ...

2010-08-04T16:20:00.000-07:00

... in 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue ... so goes the enduring children's ditty ... and the rest is history, as they say, when it comes to the expansionary re-population of western lands known as The Americas and the Caribbean ...

... centuries of European-driven enterprise, enslaved African labour, indentured Asians and the inevitably cross-fertilizing populations of their descendants with more recent arrivals have evolved into societies that reflect blended identities jubilantly ... perhaps moreso than many an older culture ...

... this is a particularly identifiable feature of societies with numerically strong African bloodlines ...

... intra-regional variations abound of course, usually boasting contagious music designed primarily for partying and collective street celebrations ... from Rio de Janeiro to Toronto via The Caribbean and New Orleans, adapted African rhythms and body movement characterise carnivals, Mardi Gras style ...

... I got a taste of the recent Antigua Carnival festivities which were dominated by The Burning Flames ... part of the musical nucleus that supported Montserrat calypsonian Arrow on his huge "Hot Hot Hot" hit from 1983 ... this year's boom tune is the catchy "Bullbud" ... a coinage for a stiff homemade whipping implement fashioned from a dried donkey dong (no photo) ...

... people form themselves into tribe-like troupes for the week of ca na val ... they function like mini-economies crossed with all-inclusive clubs ... for a set participation tithe you get to wave your flag in community for the week-long party ... all day and all night, without worrying where your next drink is coming from ... sleep is the only casualty ...

... jump-up provides an annual opportunity to shuffle-bounce down high street as bare as you dare ... a stage on which a bureaucracy-bound civil servant or a by-rote clerk can release her inner virago ... where a post-partum silhouette cramps no style and reminds you that real-life ratios do not favour the svelte ... as pleasing to observe as the latter may be ...

... women of every description plot all year to assemble elaborate ensembles ... men too seize the opportunity to experience the glam thrill of face paint, glitter, lipgloss and leopard prints ...

... comfortable footwear, that will last the week but you are prepared to ruin, and bloodshot eyes complete the uniform ...

... some seize on the parade for an entirely different type of opportunity ... gettin' on bad ... this paradox of public anonimity provides a controlled outlet for the full range of our human expression ... including the eroto-sexuality which exists in all of us but still can shock and acquire taboo through denial in purportedly polite societies ...

... it's a family show for the people ... bring da kids, they're people too ... and sure as the sun shines, one day when they grow up they'll wanna let off some similar steam themselves ...

... call it Afro-Caribbean vaudeville if you like, musical street theatre ... or you could just regard it as island flava ... the essense of which is a hereditary override of an overseer's set of rules and mores ... a mindset of liberation ... in this case commemorating the original August 1st 1834 Emancipation Day in Antigua ...

... wha' you lookin' at? ... you don't like the holes in my hosiery? ... kiss mi backside! ... den come dance nuh ...

... the first week in August also sees Jamaicans celebrate the 1962 Independence from Britain with official fanfare ... in fact, all over the post-colonial world freedom triggers conscious revelry and unconscious sense-memory ... this is impetus for nation-building and fortification of cultural identity ...

... last lap, the summary parade on the final day makes for myriad photo-ops and embroiders the social fabric too ...

... of course these ain't the old days and somebody's gotta pay for all this ... corporate sponsors, like telecom player Digicel, prominent local and regional businesses from haberdasheries to motor dealerships find, in participation, a way to light up brand recognition and par-tay at the same time ...

... I suspect those that prosper most are the ones that quench the thirst and fuel the fun with spirits (rum) and beverage (beer) ...

... it would make sense that there's a certain amount of costume material re-cycling from year to year ... and ... I would like to believe that no actual peacocks, birds of paradise, or endangered species were harmed in pursuit of plumage ...

... with there being next to no trouble to speak of, it's clear a good time was had by all ...

... note to self ... wherever I'm at in a year's time I'm gonna find me some j'ouvert action ... an' get on bad!

... ship sail, sail fast ...

2010-07-23T10:28:00.000-07:00

... a ship floated out of here last evening ... into the grey back wall of a modest storm ...
... all tin-pan and turquoise rail ... plexiglass accent out rigging sleep decks ...
... layered white circuitboard ... chevrons of lifeboat roe seed ...
... sit stolid on the water ...

... en route ...

... I love watching cruiseships ... slip off into night ... but this time I had cause to pause ...

... if this was coastal Louisiana ...

... adventure invaded by raw crude ... top-kill drop on a delta-wide dream scene ...
... tar-stained hull siding ... contaminated ... with grease ...

... streak and globule ...
... no more briny lung full ... whipped-up ocean seaspray ...
... instead ...

... devilist carbo-chemical pungency ...

... provoked by Big Petroleum turmoil ...

... what now? ... sail around? ...