The Unforgettable Tour led to Mt. Shasta

I really love Bollywood. Although I don't know alot about it, every film I've seen I have liked for some reason. The actors are not only remembering lines, they are dancing really well. Consequently the Bollywood actors who performed in Oakland at the Coliseum (now called Oracle?) danced and lip synched. I really don't know which of them sang at all.

Meanwhile, we got there early. That was cool. Indian television was there with their camera. I was really happy when they called me over to talk in front of the camera. I gave my name from Amma (Charuta) and then Jennifer Glee etc. I was such a crazed fool. I couldn't say Aishwarya Rai's name, said my favorite Bollywood actor is Zayed Khan, my favorite actress of the night Preity Zinta. I forgot the name of the major star of the show, Mr. Bachchan. Oh, and, of course, said I always wanted to dance in one of the Bollywood films.

The actual night was quite long--no intermissions! The show was over four hours. We were all riveted to the stage or the huge monitor in the middle. I should mention that the attempt to abate global warming was a major theme of the show. Mr. Bachchan's wife (a former Bollywood actress) came out and addressed the issue.

I can't help but be disturbed by the effects of global warming. I went to Mt. Shasta this week. It was shrouded in smoke. The fires in this area have been going on for 6 weeks now. How many wildlife have been killed and homes lost?

My friends live there. They just moved from the city recently. Their macaw flew away from his cage to a nearby cedar tree. Then he flew out of site the next morning. My friends were crushed. The Humane Society came out and looked around. We spent the day putting up flyers around. I got to see the town of Shasta. Every northern town (Arcata, Mendocino, Eureka, Klamath) in California I've been to where there are a lot of people into alternative health issues has a great health food store. The main one of in Shasta is quite small. In fact, the town itself is quite small. I thought it would be larger.

Before I left yesterday we meditated on the bird's return. My friend said that the bird was "working." Today they heard the large, loud cries of the macaw a distance away. They somehow called the bird and he flew to a nearby tree and eventually flew into his cage. He seemed different, they said. He was tired!

IN BRUGES and The Unforgettable Tour

There is a baby moth flying around the room. I like that about summer: new things having arrived. I had adopted a kitten sometime around the 7th and returned her on the 12th. I felt so bad about that. But she was adopted practically be the time I was about to leave. She had arrived. Summer sometimes means seeing a film I wouldn't otherwise see or a show that is transformational...

The other night I watched IN BRUGES. A British film, it has alot of oddities about it. I was wondering if it were a crafty farce about "hitmen." Colin Farrell plays a "hitman" with the most depth we're allowed to plummet besides his buddy. Is there some thing I'm missing about Bosch and Bruges having something to do with these characters? The Farrell character is supposed to be offed by his buddy in Bruges. I even forget how this film ends. Too much unnecessary violence in the old town of Bruges.

Meanwhile, I 'm looking forward to seeing The Unforgettable Tour. Bollywood!! The colors, the songs, the dance! I forgot: I need a screen with English translations of the songs, like watching a video. Too bad Zayed Khan will not be there. So many Bollywood actors are so fine and comical at the same time.... and great dancers! It's so funny: the show is going to be as LONG as many Bollywood films are--3 plus hours!

Planet Glee for this Friday.

I noticed that accessf doesn't give any information about my show in advance. Some of other call-in shows get a paragraph about the show before it airs.

Anyway, I'm sitting here at the computer planning to how clear it so that I can do some artwork, i.e., Flash. If you want to see three of my four pieces, go to jenniferglee.com I miss painting.

So, I'm sitting here listening to New Order. i don't what's making me think about the notion of love they sing about. I really think they were/are ahead of their time. Maybe it's the disco aspect. Maybe it's because Joy Division had to happen first.

This week I have been cleaning. I found a photo from about 2000 when I had a friendship with a university student (graduating) who lived in a cooperative place. I met him at a music event. He played bansuri. I went to one of their (eventual) nudie parties. It was fun. To begin we all sat in groups that moved around and we were supposed to ask each other a prosribed personal question.

MC Rai and Rachid Taha rock!

Today I saw these two bands at Stern Grove. My friend and I have been so lucky to have found such great seats in the grove lately. I could dance. It was fun. A couple of ladies took pictures of me. Why, I don't know. I wish some men would have taken pictures of me, but many of the single guys there either didn't appeal to me or something. There was one guy there who looked like my now ex-love. I observed this guy at the end. I couldn't keep my eyes off the singer of MC Rai. I had seen him sing back in 2001 or so at the Bernal Heights Neighborhood Fair held in October. He was really impressive then, I thought. His voice sailed a little differently than now. Anyway, I ended up going out with the keyboard player back then. He's not in the band any more. I didn't see anyone from the original band in today's version. That's ok, they rocked.

When Rachid Taha was one, I couldn't see the stage as well at times. So I looked over to this guy who looked like... Anyway, he tried to pick up this one dark-haired woman in her early thirties with a very tight sweater and large breasts. I don't know why this matters. It doesn't, really. Maybe I'm just missing connection. It is so fun being on a cloud with a lover and gliding along together. I miss that.

But let's not forget Rachid. He was fabuleux!!! They rocked hard. I left there wishing I could dance professionally for one of these two bands on stage...with a tabourine, maybe. Easier to daydream about that than love right now.

Cognition vs. Perception, or why I like Bollywood.

Bro Jud had me watch a lecture on Cognition vs. Perception the other day. The lecture was by Mr. Robinson of the Psychology Department of Georgetown University. The argument meandered from Piaget and the measuring of the contents of one beeker of liquid after it is poured into another beeker. Are the contents the same? So, physics was also involved here. Cognition is propositional, he stated; perception is not. I suppose one could define one thing by saying it is not the other and leave it at that.

Bollywood does it all the time. The subject at hand is always love. What is love and what isn't, and what sounds like love and what doesn't. I wish I could remember the name of the Bollywood film I watched the other night. Sharukh Khan stars as a high-ranking member of the Indian army who is sent to rescue a girl whose father is in the army somehow. This girl is in college. Shahrukh's character (Ram) is supposed to find his long-lost brother at this college. So he goes to the college and poses as a student. I liked the songs the best. And Zayed Khan who plays the younger brother is funny.

MY BLUEBERRY NIGHTS, fireworks, and LE GAI SAVOIR

I've heard Norah Jones sing in concert. Who taught her how to sing that way? She does sing quite sublimely. Her singing can be heard in her first film, MY BLUEBERRY NIGHTS by Chinese director WAI. Visually it is quite interesting at times. The camera blurs that which is magical: love.

MY BLUEBERRY NIGHTS is a love story. It is, however, a film in which the actual characters and their names seem to be disjointed. The characters are somewhat cardboardish except for Jeremy, Jude Law's Englishman who runs a cafe which has blueberry pie for beautiful young women who want to lose the keys to their boyfriend's apartments. It is, after all, New York City.

Nonetheless what I liked about MY BLUEBERRY NIGHTS was the fact that a beautiful girl such as Elizabeth (Jones) could be dumped by someone her age for a another type of girl her age. This does seem vapid but every woman who has ever seen love flail when it seemed to solid will understand. A cute, mature English guy is the answer to most of the problems of women of English language-dominated cultures.

But, if you speak French, a French guy will do. While people were setting off fireworks around me, I was watching Godard's LE GAI SAVOIR. Another piece of never-ending genius is this film. Brechtolian and yet a collage of images and sound, LE GAI SAVOIR is a play without a play within the lives of two players and history.