Archive for February, 2008
Thursday, February 21st, 2008
I wasn’t quite sure what to think when I saw this story on the news last night. Yes the balisier is a flower – a pretty flower at that – and it makes up part of the flora of Trinidad and Tobago. However, the balisier is also the political symbol of the ruling PNM, which makes the situation a little dicey when someone decides to use the flower outside of the political arena. So when Caribbean Airlines, a national airline, employs the use of a balisier on some of the planes, I have to wonder who’s doing the thinking over there.
The plus (or minus, depending on how you look at it) is that both the balisier used by the PNM and the balisier used in this painting are true representations of what the flower looks like and not some over-the-top, Pablo Picassoesque artists’s interpretation of it. So you can say either that (1) the artist employed by Caribbean Airlines did not necessarily use the PNM’s symbol or (2) it’s the same balisier and that now that it’s widely accepted as a political symbol, it can’t be used anywhere else ESPECIALLY not on Government property.
If they had used the UNC’s rising sun symbol as opposed to a sunrise, now that would have been trouble. Clearly one is an artist’s interpretation of the other and it would be sheer madness to use the former instead of the latter.
Me? I’m wondering why the folks over at Caribbean Airlines would so willingly court the ire of a very divided society when it was oh so avoidable. They were bound to know that this was going to be a contentious issue. Why not use the Chaconia, our national flower, instead? The whole thing is neither here nor there with me, but I think that either someone wasn’t thinking at all or that they were thinking way too much. And the conspiracy theorist in this Manicou leans towards the latter. But say wha.
Poor flower. It never signed up for up for this bacchanal. It was happy just growing up in the forest being a flower. I guess that’s the price it pays for being pretty. No one’s clamouring to place a banana flower on plane or party – lucky it.
Posted in PNM, Politics | 20 Comments »
Monday, February 18th, 2008
There are some things that about Trinbago that disturb me a great deal. Yes crime is a big issue, so are food prices, homelessness etc, but what really worries me a lot is our rhetoric.
Last week while I was browsing Facebook profiles, I came across this group:
called F*** the PNM.
Just because a man is a member of a political party or votes a certain way that does not make him evil. Yes many people are misguided, many let race decide how they vote, but to call everyone who voted for the PNM racial and dotish is unproductive.
Man, is stick we stick in this rut? I could just be since I don’t talk like that and I try to be a little more diplomatic than that, that I was offended as I was. But upon reading this, I was dismayed. I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m about ready for people to start voting their consciences and stop voting party – in fact I’m in a hurry for that to happen. So when I read thing like that it feels as though we’re not really making any progress.
And if you see the people in this 356 member group – young smart-looking people. Some even university educated.
Sometimes I feel T&T will be a much better place if we could just tone down the political rhetoric a little. If we could just watch what we say and learn to express ourselves more constructively, we’d be in a much better place than we are now. Yes I understand that people are angry and that people need to vent some steam. But at some point they will have to realize that they are making things progressively worse.
At the end of it all what is the goal here? If the makers of the group are trying to propagate the same type of tribalism by setting people even firmer in their ways than they are now,then they are on the right track. But if they want to get people to think for themselves and change voting patterns, then an “F*** the PNM” group on Facebook couldn’t possible be the way to do it. You can’t woo people over to your side by insulting them – a point lost on some politicians.
It’s a sad thing when people use great vehicles such as social networking sites to spread this kind of rhetoric. And I have to wonder how much longer thing will carry on in this manner before we get the point, which is that you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. If we don’t get the point, pretty soon we will become a country of angry, belligerent people capable only of hurling the basest of insults towards each other and incapable of any kind of civility or fraternity.
In the end it boils down to what we as a people want and what we are going to do to get it. It’s entirely within the rights of the group’s founders to say what they want, but nasty rhetoric probably won’t get them (or us) anywhere. People who are genuinely interested in seeing Trinidad prosper, I feel, would choose their words more carefully than that.
Posted in Politics | 15 Comments »
Thursday, February 14th, 2008
Back by popular demand, it’s Tech Tuesday. Yes, I know this is Thursday, however, Tuesday wasn’t anywhere near long enough. And it’s not by “popular” demand. Only one person demanded it, but you never know, she could be popular, right? But anyway, think of these tech tips as the gifts that keep on giving.
I suggest that you download and install a extension for your Firefox browser called Greasemonkey. This extension on it’s own does nothing, but it allows you to add a number of beneficial user scripts to your web pages. All Greasemonkey does is open a portal where you can add tiny bits of script to your Firefox browser so that web pages behave as you want them to.
After you install Greasemonkey, you can find your scripts at Userscripts.org. To install, click on the gray box to the right that says “Install this script”. A window will pop up to confirm so all you have to do is click “Install”. Left-clicking enables or disables Greasemonkey and right-clicking allows you to enable or disable individual scripts (among other things). I’ll tell you about four of my favourite Greasemonkey scripts now.
The first is a script called Facebook Remove App Requests. Most of us are addicted to Facebook – admit it. Many of us have friends who like to install (and then invite you to install) every single Facebook application that comes their way. I can’t stand that. Sorry I don’t want to pirate, a werewolf or a vampire. I don’t want to know what kind of fruit I am or what my stripper name is. Geez. I don’t know about you, but everyday I get tonnes of these invites.
So I installed this application that simply creates a button to the left of the “Confirm Requests” page which allows me to decline/ignore all requests with one click. Clicking “Ignore all Apps” will open up a confirmation window. Click “OK” and watch them all die. Make sure you confirm or decline any friend requests first because it’s possible that this application could deny those as well.
Next is another script for Facebook users called No Facebook Applications. As mentioned before there are some who like to load up their Facebook profiles with every single application that comes their way. All you want to do is find their stupid wall yet you have to read about their “Friends” comparisons and search through a mile-long Fun Wall. Not fun. Think of this as a Facebook decluttifyer. During the load the script will hide all user-installed applications from their profile making everything simple and uncluttered.
This last one will help a lot of you, particularly you blog commenters. I’ve had the experience of filling in a text area on a web page only to have the page to crap out. The Textarea Backup keeps a record of the text that you entered on a particularly page (for example the comment box on a blog post) and will keep it there till you enter new text. So if the page craps out when you are trying to send the information, you can come back to find everything as you filled it in. This may create privacy issues on shared computers since the text stays there till it’s replaced. Keep that in mind when you use this.
Still don’t have Mozilla Firefox? Get it here:
Posted in Tech Tip | 4 Comments »
Wednesday, February 13th, 2008
Captain Gary Griffith’s boat has sprung a leak. Actually, his letter leaked. Captain Gary Griffith left me speechless a couple days ago. A lot of you might know that COP member Captain Gary Griffith’s name has been in the news a lot recently, but what happened two days ago may shock you.
Just to update you on the story so far. Gary Griffith, in a letter leaked to the press, criticized COP Political Leader Winston Dookeran for his leadership style. Then my boy Gary Griffith instead of choosing not to comment on the letter, takes a sledge hammer to the leak and decides, “Oh yeah, I’ll grant the Express an interview“. What a leak! Said Mr. Griffith:
Winston Dookeran has become a law unto himself.
“Our political leader was selected rather than elected and we need to have some electoral process to have the full support of the 148,000. I don’t think we can get an extra vote with Winston Dookeran as the political leader.”
Dookeran, while not responding specifically to Gary Griffith’s comments, said,
“…We are proceeding very well and there are lots of people who are working and working at all levels, from the bottom level to the top level of the COP all over the country.
“We are working to keep that alive and I am doing my part to ensure that happens,”
To which Gary Griffith graciously replied,
“For him to say that we are moving forward and everything is working well, that is a figment of his imagination.”
It’s quite a coincidence that the letter leaked just as Gary Griffith is about to team up with Jack Warner to create a anti-crime plan for Chaguanas West. Could this be the same Gary Griffith who not too long ago was touting the greatness of Winston Dookeran?
With that being as bad as it Captain Gary Griffith made it infinitely worse when he called Anil Chris and Sprang on the Powerdive as the topic was being discussed so as to to lambaste Anil Roberts for discussing the topic on air. The man was in full bacchanal mode:
“Yuh loudmouth, hypocrite. I like how yuh doing the same thing yuh criticize me for. You is the reason why we loss the election. Yuh want to hang up on me? Go ahead, yuh duck and run just like yuh leader!”
Gasp! First of all it wasn’t Anil Roberts who was parading before the media. It was Gary Griffith. Now that Gary Griffith’s letter, and Gary Griffith himself is in the public spotlight, the story is legitimate – something which Gary Griffith seems unable to understand.
Griffith’s accusations are even more interesting considering the report that before last Sunday (where he apologised for the leak and his subsequent comments), he hadn’t been to a COP executive meeting since November 5th or thereabouts. Yet even more interesting was what Gary Griffith said during his apology, “The growing pains which were presently being experienced by the party was a natural aspect in the life of a political party. The party would deal with these growing pains in a professional manner“. Interesting.
The COP issued a press release stating that Mr. Griffith does not speak on behalf of the Congress of the People and that all his appearances in the media haven’t been sanctioned by the party. It’s interesting therefore that this is the very same loose cannon who has accused Mr. Dookeran of becoming a party onto himself. Awkward.
I am sure the COP will weather this as well as the (perhaps) the imminent departure of Mr. Griffith.
Posted in COP, Politics | 20 Comments »
Friday, February 8th, 2008
Watching the Dimanche Gras calypso competition cemented something I realized last year: I still have no idea what judges are looking for. Every year I look at the competition and try to pick the winner and every year I’m left scratching my head at the results. I know it’s more than just lyrics. Melody and presentation are important, but the lyrics are the meat of the calypso. Let me give you my reaction to the performances beginning in last place.
15th Sekon Alves – When We Meet – Sekon’s song was about the way we as Trinbagonians speak about each other when we are among people of our own race.
I think this particularly resonated with me because it touched on a subject I had spoken on just after the November 5th elections, which was they way people in T&T act among people of their own race. I gave the example of what my aunt had said to me and how I had felt about it. Apparently many of you had similar experiences so maybe the song hit a chord with you too. Part of his lyrics went:
“Cuz the way you talk about me when I’m not around,
Could lift this country up or bring it right down.”
Honestly, at the beginning of the song I thought it was going to be yet another corny “Ganges meets the Nile” type song (particularly because he said “Ganges meets the Nile”), but it turned out to be much more than that and attacked the subject of race relations from a new angle. For a first appearance, I actually liked this song which is why I was incredibly disappointed with his last place finish. Obviously someone needs to come out last, but it shouldn’t have been Sekon.
14th Francine – The Irony -Goodness gracious, what a dull song and the thing just seemed to drag on forever. The premise is that she’s looking for a man to play iron for her band. So she puts an ad in the paper saying “Iron Wanted. She then uses the calypso to say what kind of iron she was looking for, nothing too long or too short. Said she: “Doh wah no dead iron in meh band”.
Obviously double entrende was at work (I know, like the word iron has never been used in that way before). What a yawnfest. She was accompanied on stage by a group of men playing their irons none of whom unfortunately hit her over the head with it…or me for that matter.
12th (tie) Crazy – A Positive Message – Let me start of by saying that 10 years from now nobody’s going to say, “Remember 10 years ago when Crazy sang ‘A Positive Message?’”. I’m pretty certain that this is going to be one of those songs that history forgets. Basically his calypso was a compilation of “positive messages” which turned out to be randomly spoken clichés – all lame, all hackneyed. Things like:
“Away with this negative way of life”
and
“The World can be a better place to live”
Believe it or not, I was bored out of my mind. The only time I started paying attention was when he said, ” It’s better to be courteous than outrageous”. I was like, “Crazy is that you?”. Besides the fact that the statement is completely out of character for Crazy, it doesn’t even make sense. “Courteous” and “outrageous” aren’t even opposites! I can’t believe Sekon Alves kept him out of last place.
12th (tie) Verstile – Shadow Reloaded – He dressed acted and sang like The Mighty Shadow. He was accompanied on stage by another man dressed as shadow who sat and wrote a song with a bassman (I assume) with a guitar standing over him. At some points Versatile seemed to sacrifice clarity for impersonation as I could barely make out what he was saying at times. Eventually Shadow himself joined him on stage and sang a little. The song was about….
11th Skatie – Reasons - Another forgettable calypso. At this point in the show I was glad that they were only doing one song this year. Because the crap I was listening to was the best they had. Skatie’s “reasons” were the reasons why T&T was in such a poor state which were, Ramesh was back, Gillian was on the “other side”, drugs coming into the country, Criminals with better guns than the police (wow, we’ve never heard that before). Goodness gracious, give us something new nah man, give us some insight. A bunch of warmed-over, exhausted statements isn’t artistic or entertaining. You’re the artist, for goodness’ sake. Yet another candidate for last place.
10th Singing Sandra – I Stand for Trinbago – In my eyes Sandra redeemed herself from last year’s offering “Sudan”. Actually she did more than redeem herself, I think she should have won. This was the song that I was looking forward to the most since first hearing it. In her song Sandra bemoans the state of calypso in T&T saying that it has been reduced to “picong on Panday’s and Oma’s bank account“. She said that the art was being prostituted and that calypsonians were rendering them blind and dumb despite the preponderance of ills overtaking the country like high food prices and crime. “There was a time when calypsonians were the true opposition,” adding, “T&T in crisis. Deal with the issues.” She also used a few props. There was a CSI crew walking about the stage picking up bodies and there were a group of people (calypsonians I assumed ) standing with their mouths covered with duct tape. At one point a barebacked youth walked out on stage with a young girl dressed in a red top. I couldn’t figure out what they were supposed to represent till she straddled him and they began dancing suggestively. Then it hit me! Danah and Akon. In my opinion, Sandra’s song was the best offering of the night because it was calling calypso back to what it used to and needs to be. It was fresh, meaningful and necessary. A lot of people have said calypso is losing its soul and it was good to see one of the big bards putting her neck out there to say what needed to be said. Tenth place was an insult.
8th (tie) Brian London – A Song for We – Brian’s song was basically a song about inclusion. The premise was that during a walk through Port of Spain he met people of various ethnic groups, who upon realizing that he was that calypsonian Brian London, poured out their frustration to him. An Indian man was frustrated at how he was treated in calypsoes every year. An African youth was frustrated at the label that places that Lavantille got from other Trinis. A Chinese man was mad that when the PNM was in power, Africans would say “We in power” and when the UNC was in Opposition, Indians would say “We in Opposition” leaving him feeling as though he didn’t belong. A Syrian man was frustrated that although he worked hard for what he had, Trinis always thought of him as a big time drug importer. You get the point… So each of these people asked Brian to “sing a song for we”. It was quite inspired in my opinion. One problem I had with him was that he didn’t really seem to sing all that much. His delivery was a little choppy. It was a good song, but not great so he placed just about where I expected him to….but not above Sandra.
8th (tie) Kurt Allen – Last Bad John of Kaiso – Perhaps Kurt Allen had the best presentation of anyone else that night. My boy was dressed to the T in (what I assume to be) his 1940’s getup. Kurt’s premise was than there were no Bad Johns again in Kaiso since they got caught up in political campaign, since they endure so much abuse and exploitation in the business – basically Allen is saying that calypsonians have grown soft. He said if there were true Bad John’s left there would be music pirates walking around with “legs made out of ply“. I liked his song. But like Brian London’s song, it was good, not great and he placed about where I expected him to….but not above Sandra.
7th Lesley Ann Ellis – Our Nation’s Heroes – A lot of fanfare went into this song about Trinbago’s heroes (Brian Lara, Dwight Yorke, A.N.R. Robinson etc.). Accompanying her on stage were a few of those heroes as well as a few subs with enlarged head shots for those who couldn’t be present. Her mother was also present – brought on by a car that drove on stage. It wasn’t a horrible song, but at the end I was wondering, “So what?” There wasn’t really much to it. I mean, it was a song about our nation’s heroes, so it wasn’t really groundbreaking. Aditionally, there wasn’t anything fresh about it. She didn’t really offer anything new. It bored me half to death.
6th Taylor – Sorry – Taylor’s song was in the form of a eulogy to his dead song. Part of the chorus went:
“Sorry I didn’t teach you the most precious gift is life,
I should have told you everything comes with a price,
He who lives by the gun, by the gun he will die,
How yuh make yuh bed yuh sure to lie.”
A good song, but I wasn’t very entertained. I was a little surprised to see him in 6th place though.
5th The Might Chalkdust – Joan of Arts – Although I heard every word of this calypso, I’m still a little confused by it. The Joan of Arts title was a play on the name and title of former Minsiter of Culture Joan Yuille-Williams. Evidently we weren’t supposed to draw any parallels between her and Joan of Ark since Joan of Arc’s “martyrdom” resembled nothing in Joan Yuille Williams deeds. Chalkie was sining about the “freeness” that went on during Williams’ reign saying “I know all the fun and lahooray woulda done someday“. Adding that many artists received a cacada from her whether they “wuk or eh wuk”. Either he was criticising her for the handouts, or the artists for relying on them. I’m not sure which was true. Accompanying him on stage were “representatives” from TUCO, Pastor Cuffie, Pan Trinbago and the NCBA among others. If I had to guess, I’d say he was taking aim at all of JYW’s pets…but I’m still not positive.
4th Stinger – Voices from the Van - Although I enjoyed this one, it placed a lot higher than I would have guessed. It was amusing and engrossing, but to me it lacked depth. Stinger sings about walking past a prison van one day hearing the imprisioned speaking to their mothers through the gratings. He heard them asking for boxer shorts, jockey shorts, Bibles, writing paper. Unfortunately that was the entire calypso. The 4th best song this year? I don’t think so.
3rd Karene Asche – The Recipe – Karene sings a song about how to make a politician. I admit that I tuned this one out after the first verse because I was unimpressed. These recipe things are so hackneyed I didn’t really feel like sitting through it. Add a pinch of dishonesty etc, wow, original. Maybe I should have listened to it in its entirety, but judging from what the judges seemed to like, I don’t know if that would have helped.
2nd Cro Cro – Respect the Fourth King King - Maybe I would have given him an award for sporting the first muffhawk in competition history, but I wouldn’t have awarded him second. The fact that I don’t care for him probably had some bearing, but the song was a little crappy if you ask me. Basically he was asking for respect since he was the fourth king king. It’s not so difficult to detect his double enrtrende if you say if fast enough. He also managed to take some shots at Sugar Aloes.
“Tell them doh worry with me,
I alone does go home and she my tears”
Yeah.
Ahead of Sandra? Seriously?
1st Sugar Aloes – Reflections – I don’t really care for Aloes either but this was a decent song. I figured the judges would have placed him first. His song punctuated with the refrain, “Here’s looking at you” was an attempt to highlight the hypocrisy in the sayings of notable people in society. After each chiding, one of Aloes’ helpers turned a mirror around each with a photo of the person attached to it. Five people were mentioned in all. Panday, Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, Mervyn Assam and Carlos John and Cro Cro. Cro Cro’s mirror however supported a picture of a fish with the words “Stewed Cro Cro” written above it. It was ok I guess. He returned fire back at Cro Cro. Pretty entertaining and what not.
Overall? Meh. A few bright spots, but very dim. For all the trouble we are going through, it’s amazing how absent criticism of the government was – save Sandra.
I think my problem is that I tend to look for songs that resonate with me or that have some deep meaning behind it. Whether the tone of the song is serious or jovial, I feel they that it should have a message behind it – something for the listeners to take away with them when the show is over. That idea probably isn’t popular among judges. Because how songs as flat as “Respect the Fourth King King” and “Voices from the Van could place so high, is a mystery to me.
Posted in Calypso, Carnival | 8 Comments »
Thursday, February 7th, 2008
Carnival was free of major acts of violence – Police Commissioner Trevor Paul.
Oh Trevor, Trevor, Trevor. What can I say for you man? Do your job, but don’t try to fool the people nah. It seems as if you are more concerned with shifting the goalposts and engaging in word games than with doing actual police work.
Mr. Paul would have us believe that the murder of Nicholas Sturge (brother of attorney Wayne Sturge) outside the Queens Park Oval following the Soca Monarch competition was either (a) not a major incident (b) not Carnival related (c) not violent or (d) all of the above.
So a murder and countless stabbings take place and and while Nicholas Sturge’s body is not yet cold, Commissioner Paul jumps up and proclaims, “See? I told you! What did I tell you?”
Granted it’s a tribute to the police that there weren’t more murders and stabbings, but the fact remains that there was at least one murder which the police seem intent on downplaying. I have to wonder then, who exactly are they trying to fool? Surely murder is a major violent act. Additionally how many stabbings does it take before the whole lot of them are considered major?
But the truth is that Way Sturge’s murder was all of the above. And if it weren’t enough that we have to bear with the violence, we are still made to listen to the utterances of a defeated Police Commissioner still going out of his way to convince us that he is relevant.
—————-
Now playing: America – Tin Man
via FoxyTunes
Posted in Carnival, Crime, The Police | 10 Comments »
