BALANCE of CULTURE

Imbecility Maintenance

If you enjoy laughing (or like being shocked by pure and simple stupidity), check out this quick clip on Iran from Fox News. The dialogue is beyond funny -- starts off with, "Aren't WE the only country allowed to make preemptive strikes? Who the hell does Iran think it is?"

Wow!!!...Excuse me while I wipe away my tears. Since I never watch Fox News, I honestly did not know that the station gets this bad! I mean, I understand they need to keep their viewers hysterical and uneducated for their own purposes, but still!

The Dictator on the Red Carpet

[Update: He's been banned!…or perhaps not!]

With all the dramatic developments of the Arab Spring that has occurred in over a year, it's not a surprise that Hollywood is coming out with a movie that uses some of the subject as inspiration. Whether categorized as insensitive material or mere entertainment, Paramount has big hopes for Sacha Baron Cohen's latest comedy titled The Dictator.

Cohen is already known for pushing the envelope with daring characters that border on the racially- and culturally-risqué, such as Borat. This time, the high profile actor-comedian is rumored to be planning on attending this year's Academy Awards red carpet dressed up as The Dictator's title character, to the dismay of the Oscars' organization.

A spokesperson for the Oscars even went so far as to say, "We would hope that every studio knows that this is a bad idea. The Red Carpet is not about stunting." I am not sure how this person can claim with a straight face that there is a lack of "stunting" on any red carpet, let alone the Academy Awards, but this is the stance that most "purists" are taking in their chagrin towards a costumed Cohen.

Seems to me they're being not only rather uptight about the industry they work in but also pretty hypocritical. If this costume offends people in any way, they should probably recall the concept of storytelling as well as reevaluate some Hollywood issues that actually deserve some ethical critique -- Woody Allen and Roman Polanski come to mind right away. If Hollywood can stomach looking the other way from the decisions of those two glorified filmmakers, who seriously cares about a silly costume on the red carpet? If anything it might keep things interesting!

The trailer is pretty awesome though, especially with the Panjabi MC tunes in the background:

Burning Korans in Afghanistan

[Update 2/22: The violence continues to escalate.]

As American celebrated a long three-day weekend for Presidents' Day, the US developed quite a messy PR problem in Afghanistan: 2,000 angry local Afghani demonstrators have gathered en masse at the American base, hurling stones and chanting anti-foreigner phrases. And this is all happening because of an extremely shortsighted and utterly stupid mistake made by some of our American troops.

Apparently some US soldiers improperly disposed copies of the Koran (or "Quran") by burning them and then tossing them in the trash. Why they did this is still vague. The local workers who regularly take care of the garbage discovered the remains and reported the findings to outside contacts.

Why would American soldiers screw themselves like this?!

Burning the Koran is an unmistakeable crime in not only Afghanistan but around the Muslim world. This concept isn't so hard to understand. What is difficult to grasp here is why these soldiers would even think this would be a safe thing to do regardless of the reasons behind doing so. Burning an American flag is not something these soldiers would probably like, so why would they choose to burn a holy book while stationed in a nation based upon that text? And how does this reflect upon the entire American presence in the Middle East? Not very positively, that is for sure.

Understandably, General John Allen, head of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) has quickly apologized: "When we learned of these actions, we immediately intervened and stopped them. The materials recovered will be properly handled by appropriate religious authorities. This was NOT intentional in any way."

Too bad the apology has done little to appease the local anger, which is shared among laborers to local Afghan Taliban to NATO's top general in Afghanistan. Surely our soldiers get some kind of cultural/educational training (advice at least?) before being stationed abroad, though whatever they do receive obviously isn't enough (and I've recently seen some footage of interactions between soldiers and local Afghans that would very clearly demonstrate this lacking). They can be against the Koran all they want, but burning a country's holy text within its borders is a weak and senseless act that only downgrades our already contentious and precarious occupation in the Middle East overall.

 

Photo: REUTERS/Mohammad Ismail

Philippine President's New Korean Love

Interracial dating is still kind of a big deal for most Asians, especially South Koreans, so the news of Philippine president Benigno Aquino III's latest girlfriend will surely put the South Korean media in a frenzy -- as well as instigate even more dialogue on the Philippine's growing cultural relations (and present cultural obsession) with Korea.

Girl With The Dragon Tattoo: Banned in India

So the past several weeks we've been watching so many screeners at home, typical for this time of year, catching up on all the films of 2011 before the Oscars. Finally got around to viewing The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, the movie based on the hit novel. My main qualm with the film was the length -- movies over 2.5 hours usually feel a little long for me, even when I have the luxury of spending that time on a big couch at home.

But the graphic violence in the rape and torture scenes is what has riled the feathers of India's Central Board of Film Certification, which was banned the film from opening in India's massive market after director David Fincher refused to edit portions of the final product.

The movie still has lots of openings scheduled throughout the rest of Asia, so the ban will be pretty much pointless once everyone starts sharing their copies online (probably happening already!).

Taliban Opponents Retaliate with Pashtun Poetry

 

I could not care less if it’s a mosque or a temple filled with idols
Where my beloved lives, that is my Ka’aba

You religious fundamentalists stop this bloodshed
Humanity is the best religion; love, the best worship

Because of this war I despise the “dear mullah”
Love is my religion; unity is my faith

—Zarin Pareshan (a Pashtun poet)

Not everyone around the Afghanistan-Pakistan border has been sucked in by the Taliban. After decades of enduring the Taliban's brutal campaign in the volatile border region (bombed schools, music shops, and targeted musicians, female dancers, and singers), a campaign which seeks to "deprive people of secular outlets in order to accelerate the spread of religious extremism," the Taliban's secular-nationalist opponents are actually using some of the very same vilified artistry to retaliate: modern Pashtun poetry. A pretty fascinating read.

 

Angry Birds to Angry Brides

This made me giggle…Angry Brides, a game with a name inspired by Angry Birds (you know, the game that's making all the kids wear those red bird costumes around town even though it's no longer Halloween!).

While in Angry Birds the player tries to destroy structures by aiming the grumpy birds through a slingshot, Angry Brides seeks to highlight the issue of illegal dowry demands for women in India: players attack three greedy prospective grooms -- an engineer, a doctor, and a pilot -- with a variety of weapons such as red stiletto shoes or a broom. Each time a groom is hit, the player wins money towards a virtual anit-dowry fund.

Dowries have been illegal in India since 1961 but this sexist tradition remains strong. Indians are quite creative in how they approach technology and I think this is the perfect way for the anti-dowry message to get out to the young people in Indian society.

The game was created by online matchmaker service shaadi.com and already has more than 270,000 fans on Facebook.

Download the game here.

 

China's TV Clampdown

Perhaps an attempt to address or redefine their cultural sensibility, the Chinese government has shut down the wildly popular TV reality dating show, "Take Me Out" in a nation-wide clampdown on what is categorized as "excessive entertainment." The state administration has cut out nearly 70% of entertainment TV shows from primetime so far.

Citizens aren't happy about this latest move. I think the government is conflating politics with entertainment here, since most people watching these shows are just looking to relax!

Live Music as a Melting Pot

Music acts are touring the world more than ever, so it's always intriguing to hear how different audiences around the world react while watching live music performances. Glam rock band Scissor Sisters recently shared their experiences with different audiences and cultures throughout Asia:

On Hong Kong: "...people were just on the verge of being polite and subdued but having a great time. There’s no mistake people react differently culturally, and it doesn’t mean they’re enjoying it any less or more."

On Bali: "In Bali, I have to say it was half of a tourist crowd, so you get the classic, really drunk Westerner who has no social decorum at all next to the people who are traveling from within Indonesia who are just so thrilled that we’re even in their part of the word."

On Singapore: "This continent has been a little bit surprising to all of us. It’s almost, if not more of a melting pot than New York. I don’t get the sense that it’s oppressive."

Now I'd like to hear what Swedish death metal band Opeth thinks of the different audiences in China, Taiwan, South Korea, and Maldives after their Asia tour concludes! Wouldn't that be pretty interesting?

Ms. Jackson this is nasty...

[Photo by Eastsider LA]

While driving by the future PETA headquarters in Echo Park yesterday, I remembered reading about singer Janet Jackson's upcoming fur line with Blackglama.

I can't be alone in thinking that this is absolutely the most awkwardly offensive time for anybody to start a fur line, even for somebody from music royalty…don't get me wrong, I love her music and I remember her as very friendly when I met her at an event a few years back. It's just confusing and disappointing because there is so much high-quality faux alternatives now!!

Update: Check out EchoParkPatch's piece on this post!