Dance of Life

Full moon was waning up in the sky, but its silver light still graced me as I saw several items of Indian dances last night. In Bali, at the Bali Art Festival. Little Balinese girls danced Bharatanatyam with an Indian woman (she's the dancing teacher here), a Javanese woman danced Kathak, ... and ten Indian women and men were supposed to dance an Odissi-Kathak-Bharatanatyam-Balinese drama called 'Bali Yatra'. It was beautiful... but the beauty will have to come later as I tell you what happened as the Javanese woman danced the Kathak.

She was swirling around with her white dress, blossoming as a white lotus as suddenly... the lights went off! Off, darkness all around in the little theatre. A local transformer exploded (power overload), and hence shut down the electricity for the entire building. The beautiful Javanese woman stopped for a while... and then she retreated to the back stage. It seemed that the next dance would have to be cancelled.

People were going home, understandably. Half an hour passed, and I was about to go home when they announced that they moved the dance show to an open stage 5 minutes walk from there.

I went there out of curiosity; just to see if it's worth the wait. I waited for a few more minutes before they resumed the show, an hour after the power outage.

And by the Gods... it was worth the wait.

I've never seen an Odissi dance before. Have you? You should. Bharatanatyam is gorgeous, classical in many senses. Kathak is poetic. But Odissi mix elegance with sensuality of the dancers in their ways of swaying here and there, like Apsaras we see on the temple walls. Suddenly, I could see the ancient dancers performing their services outside the temple garden. What was it like back then, I knew not. All I know was that I was so damn lucky to be able to witness the show. I need not go to India... the show was brought to me here. The Shaktis were with me. Still with me.

It was a complicated drama dance, a mini opera with lots of scenes. The ten dancers had to change costumes more than five times each person, and God I would have fainted midway if I were them. They had to struggle to adapt to new stage, new lighting, new sound system, and oh what a crowded open stage it was, in a mere 20 minutes! The dancers and music had to compete with other performances in the vicinity, and it was hard for them. So hard. But they endured, and they showed the best of them.

I don't know them, but I'm proud of them. And I was happy that I stayed till late to see them. It was worth it.

[On a side note, and as a positive critique, I think they could leave out the part where the Odissi dancers performed Panyembrama, a classical Balinese dance to welcome guests. I think it was amazing that they tried to do that, and over a length of time the Odissi dancers might reach the Balinese pakem (dancing standards), but for this show, the Panyembrama item could be dropped. Or better, replace the gorgeous Odissi dancers with real Balinese dancers who master the Panyembrama dance the way the Indian dancers master their Odissi par excellence. And this realisation just dawned on me that moment: Odissi (and Bharatanatyam, to that extent) have different head movements to the Balinese one. Their eye expressions, though similar, are different too. The Balinese dance - as I observe so far - have more subtle yet still lively expression; there is a benchmark there that is too subtle for Odissi. By the same token, the dynamic movements of Odissi (and Bharatanatyam) would be too fast and forceful for Balinese dancers. And yet, when appropriately combined, a group of Odissi/Kathak/Bharatanatyam can perform well with a group of Balinese dancers. I've seen my old dancer team (Indian Cultural Center Bali & Indonesian Art Institute Bali, under the tutelage of Ms. Nandini Krishna) doing such a collaboration with Ravi Shankar's Manggalam. It was amazingly vibrant and invigorating. I guess in the end, every dancer has to determine her/his own style, unique way of dancing, and she/he should stick to it. But this critique by NO means lessen my respect to the dancers last night. They still did amazing job out there.]

You know, an aware dancer will always pray before dancing, either by touching the earth/ground, looking at the sky and moon, or others. He or she will seek permission first before the performance. It's something wonderful, something beyond words, when you dance and you know, you can do that only because the whole Existence permits you to do that. It's your gift to the Universe, and you are blessed with it.

I haven't resumed my Bharatanatyam dancing lessons for months, and I missed the dances. I guess, I shall be back dancing again.

And I guess... now and then, life presents you a power outage, and your dance has to stop for a while. But real dancers will try to find ways to resume their dance; in whatever situations, no matter how small their audience may be. It's the dharma, the way of life for a dancer... to dance, even with no witness. Even if the witness is just the waning moon above.

So I thank the Universe, and the dancers and their entourage tonight, for presenting me with the dance tonight. It was a Dance of Life, and I was blessed to see it.

And I know now what to answer if someone ask me why I – a Balinese girl – learn Bharatanatyam. Well, first, I also dance Balinese dance, but I won’t claim that I’m the expert. You can see hundreds of Balinese dancers far better than I am on the island. Second, dance is an art… and art goes beyond the boundaries of nations and ethnicity. Art is beauty, and beauty has no boundaries.

Pic 1. A Kathak dancer from Indtravel.com ( not the one I saw tonight)

Pic 2. Odissi dancers from flonnet.com ( not the one I saw tonight)

Pic 3. A Majapahit Apsara, from the Arts of Asia (November-December 2000) and Wikipedia (I want to invite one of those celestial nymphs to my house. Can I?)

My two favourite manga girls!

I just got warped back to my childhood when I loved watching certain series of manga. Not that I don’t love them now… just pretending not to have time anymore :-D

But this week’s ‘contemplation’ dragged me into Sailor Moon Universe again, and I remembered that I used to – and still – love Rei Hino, the Sailor Mars! (FYI, Sailor Pluto (Setsuna Meio) and Sailor Saturn (Hotaru Tomoe) are my other fave Senshi). But actually, the first manga girl I ever love is Oka Megumi of the Voltes V series. I first saw her when I was just a teenager, and I fell in love with her and her long green-blue hair (and her pink bow!). I think she’s amazing, pretty, and she’s great; having excelled in Japanese martial arts, including ninja stuffs. I have to ‘fess that I would love to buy an action figure of Megumi. Too bad that the Voltes V lines was drown over the Voltron merchandises, though Voltes was much well-packed and well-written than Voltron (I can’t even buy the English-subtitled DVD for Voltes!).

So I pondered why I love those girls. I know at least that Megumi inspired me to grow my hair long and Rei taught me to keep them long (though never as beautiful as those gorgeous manga girls). But why do I love them?

Perhaps… because they are a blend of uniqueness. Take the gorgeous Rei Hino, for example. Rei is a Shinto priestess (gotta love that red hakama!). Yet, her spiritual living does not reduce the excitement of a young girl with sharp snappy tongue who will often, and with most unlady-like fashion, bugs Usagi Tsukino (Sailor Moon) to no end. But take note: Rei is also a loyal friend and a warrior who would give her life to protect Usagi.

Hey, have I mentioned that Rei’s gold tiara with red gem resembles Wonder Woman’s tiara? And her red heels and red dress just echo Diana’s signature colour? Love it, love it, love it! I know what to wear for the next Halloween party. Sailor Mars.

And what about my first manga girl: Oka Megumi? This wonderful site mentions that: “Megumi is an energetic, lively, and lovely girl. She always wears red ribbon on her greenish blue hairs. Megumi is trained in the secret way of Ninjutsu and she becomes a Kunoichi (female ninja). She can fight using various kinds of weapons, like long sword (katana), chained sickle (kusarigama), but her favorite weapon is the throwing star (shuriken).” Plus that she’s also well-informed and well-practiced in traditional arts. Superb girl! Not to mention her lovely red boots and skirts.

Gosh, I love Rei and Megumi! They can kick ass, but they’re also very much into traditional knowledge and spirituality. Lovely. I guess, that’s why I love them so. They are the Japanese Wonder Girls.

Pic 1: Rei Hino Sailor Mars, from Wikipedia

Pic 2: Oka Megumi Voltes V, from Voltes V Shrine

Pic 3: Rei Hino Sailor Mars, from this site

Pic 4: Oka Megumi Voltes V, from Voltes V Shrine

It’s official: I’m in love with the Nemesis!

Well, okay. The pre-crisis, Brave and the Bold Nemesis, created by Cary Burkett and Dan Spiegle. NOT the current Wonderpig, resurrected by Alan Heinberg and made worse by Ms. Jodi Picoult (no offence, I think both Mr. Heinberg and Ms. Picoult are great writers in their own media, i.e. television and novel, respectively), the Special Agent Tom Tresser who roams the realms of Wonder Woman comics, tainting the wonders Ms. Gail Simone has brought us with her great story telling. Anyway, I’m not going to waste the introductory paragraph telling why I don’t like the modern incarnation of Nemesis a.k.a. Special Agent Tom Tresser. Instead, I’m going to tell why I love the pre-crisis, 80s Nemesis. Because of what Batman said in Brave and the Bold # 170: ‘In the short time we’ve worked together, I’ve seen a man who would risk his life to save another’s’. And Batman was right. This Nemesis was a hero in his own right.

Now I have to explain that, apart from the current WW runs, I’ve never read a single story with Nemesis in it. Burkett and Spiegle first launched Nemesis in the pages of Brave and the Bold 166 (September 1980), read this chronology for better understanding of Nemesis’ appearance in DC Universe. Most of his stories were in Brave and the Bold and Suicide Squad, hence you really have to hunt them on Ebay or other e-shops. Anyway, since I learned that Nemesis made an appearance in WW vol 3 #1, I decided to learn more about this hero. The fact that Alan Heinberg was ridiculously late in delivering his WW episodes gave me more than enough time to do research and, eventually, formed my own image of Nemesis in my head.

During my research, I’ve read many analysis of the pre-crisis Nemesis, which praised him as a cool hero, whose stories are worthy of being collected into a single TPB. One of them is this excellent post of the Comic Treadmill, read it and you will understand what I felt when I read BB 170; CT did a much better job than I could ever do. I also read here and there about Nemesis’ run in the Suicide Squad, his captivity in Russia, and even him threatening Amanda Waller (for Christ’s sake!) when he was about to walk out of the SS. So far I know, Nemesis was the only man who would threaten Waller like that. The other guy would be the Batman, of course. And I can imagine Wonder Woman one on one with Amanda Waller in a very interesting political/philosophical conversation (that’s never shown in the comics, I guess, but it’s not far fetched). Batman and Wonder Woman are my favourite DC characters (thus, my pairing them); hence levelling Nemesis on par with them speaks volume. And, as I read those reviews and summaries from the web, I began to imagine what kind of person the real Nemesis was, and I began to think ‘Hey, I might like this guy!’

It turned out that I was correct. As I finished reading BB 170 just now, I read of a Nemesis that was brave, rather sombre due to his past (his brother Craig Tresser died after being trapped into killing Ben Marshall, a father figure for both Craig and Tom), rather secretive in the beginning (understandably), but eventually trusted and teamed up with the Batman to defeat the Head (who was, really, only a head, figuratively speaking). This Nemesis was dark enough to be a Batman-lite, with mirroring background as what Bruce Wayne experienced (family member killed tragically, though in Tom’s case, it happened when he was already a grown up, hence his scar should heal faster than Bruce’s scar, whose parents were killed when he was only a boy), and he would walk the fine line between justice and vengeance during his missions.

This Nemesis (praise Jim Aparo for his stunning artworks in BB 170) had similar facial expression with the Batman; eyebrows knitted together while he was thinking. He had similar MO with the Batman, even darker, as he worked totally alone. He did not abhor the use of guns, though, and that’s where the Dark Knight had to warn him against using guns while they were on the same team. Anyway, as BB 170 was written by Cary Burkett, the man who created Nemesis for the first time anyway, I take that this Nemesis was THE Nemesis he should be. A brave hero that will try to uphold justice, or die trying. Heh, even Comic Treadmill said that Nemesis was the best partner for the Batman in Brave and the Bold, and I have to agree with that. With one side note: Diana Prince or Wonder Woman as the best female partner for the Batman in this series.

There is one more reason why I love the Burkett-Spiegle Tom Tresser: he was definitely not a piggish boy. The Burkett-Spiegle Nemesis was not the young blond boy who flirts with Black Canary and Wonder Woman in the current WW runs and at the same time being a male chauvinist pig to Special Agent Diana Prince (who is, of course, Wonder Woman in disguise). In fact, I cannot imagine the Burkett-Spiegle Tom Tresser as someone who will flirt with Diana of Themyscira (or Diana Prince, your pick). Even if he liked WW so much, this Nemesis would not say things that Special Agent Tom Tresser often say now to Wonder Woman. He would be discreet enough to admire her from a distance, ready to protect her, but not getting too close to her for whatever reason. He might team up again with the Batman and, after closing a hard murderer case, he would – very occasionally – say something about how amazing Wonder Woman was, but he would not pursue further. He and the Batman would sit silent with double espresso on their hands, looking at the bright moon, each pondering the possibility of getting closer to the Amazon Princess, but had no guts to do that. For both think of Diana as this amazing goddess they look up to, but dare not touch; for if they touch her, they might taint her light with their hands. That’s the Burkett-Spiegle Nemesis I imagine, romance-wise. Very much like the Batman, sans cowl and cape.

And the Burkett-Spiegle Nemesis in action? Well, I’ve just finished BB 170, and I am on the prowl for BB 193 where Nemesis died during his second team up with the Batman (don’t worry, he was actually saved, and then joined Suicide Squad afterwards). I don’t think I have budget and time to hunt down other Nemesis-related DC comics (Suicide Squad and other BB issues), but I am now 100% supporting the release of a Trade Paperback of Nemesis, from his Brave and the Bold era to the end of Suicide Squad. See this impressive list for a possible thick TPB. We can include the Catwoman and Superman issues, for I also want to read how other writers interpret the Burkett-Spiegle Nemesis in other storylines. From what I’ve heard, Nemesis’ appearance in the Catwoman was rather out of character (he asked her to teach him how to infiltrate an enemy’s HQ or something). Well, he might be OOC then… but I would still consider it FINE compared to the Wonder Pig Nemesis we currently read almost monthly in Wonder Woman.

Bottom line: Print the 80s and 90s stories of Nemesis into one TPB, and kick this current Nemesis out of Wonder Woman comics. Don’t kill him; just kick him out of the pages. The current Nemesis does not deserve the great name of Nemesis, for clearly he’s just a ridiculous young boy who does not know what prudence means, for he does not even have a modicum of decorum in his bones. A shame for the legacy of Burkett-Spiegle Nemesis.

Further reading:

http://www.comictreadmill.com/CTMBlogarchives/2007/2007_Individual/2007_06/001474.php

http://www.comictreadmill.com/CTMBlogarchives/2007/2007_Individual/2007_06/001474.php

http://the-isb.blogspot.com/2006/06/brief-history-of-nemesis-part-one.html

http://www.dcuguide.com/chronology.php?name=NEMESIS

Pic 1: Brave and the Bold 193

Pic 2: Nemesis threatens Amanda Waller, from Wikipedia

Pic 3: Brave and the Bold 170

Pic 4: Modern Tom Tresser and Diana Prince. Do I have to tell you how many fans got irked after the silly portrayal of Diana Prince here? Nope.

PS 24 April 2008:

My new theory about the association between the current Nemesis and the real Nemesis is posted in the Wonder Woman DC message board here.

Hallelujah... So much magnificence

The darkness of night
is coming along fast,
and the shadows of love
close in the body and the mind.
Open the window to the west,
and disappear into the air inside you.
Near your breastbone, there is an open flower.
Drink the honey that is all around that flower.


Waves are coming in:
There is so much magnificence near the ocean.
Listen: sound of immense seashells!
Sound of bells!
Kabir says: 'Friend, listen,
This is what I have to say:
The Guest I love is inside me!'

-Kabir-

from Miten with Deva Premal 'Songs for the Inner Lover'

Side note: Join Avaaz Petition to bring justice to Tibet, to restore the Tibetan culture and sovereignty to her own people!

Megan Gale as Wonder Woman!

Okay, my friends think that I'm a freak for freaking happy about the latest developments on Wonder Woman, but hey, that's what fandom is! First, Gail Simone is writing Wonder Woman, and it's been a great read! Okay, okay, I don't like the WW/Nemesis pairing, to me Diana is always with Bruce 'Batman' Wayne, but what the heck. Compared with WW's fate in 2006 and the first semester of 2007 (please, don't even mention Amazon Attack?), we have many things to celebrate now!

And comes Megan Gale as the new Wonder Woman for the upcoming Justice League movie by George Miller (the man behind Happy Feet). First, I was skeptical: I don't know her except that she's a very famous Oz supermodel. But then I saw interviews of hers, read comments made by her, and I'm convinced that Miller was right: Megan Gale is the 21st Century Wonder Woman. Heh... her pictures practically screams 'Diana of Themyscira'!

The Benefits and Blessings of Periods

Periods can be a pain, so why have them at all?

That’s the first line of an article I read today at lunch, titled ‘The Great Escape’, published in the NewScientist edition 29 September 2007, Issue 2623. And I did not need to read the entire article to know that I will be pissed off. Well, for the sake of science, I did read it all, and still pissed off. Hence, this post, for I need to blow the steam. So here, we go, and I hope I can be as systematic as possible.

I could not find the PDF or online version of the article, so I will just scan the four pages later at my more leisure time and post them here as well. The writer of this article is surprisingly a woman. Ms. Hannah Hoag, whom based on my internet searching, is a truly credible writer in her own right. This is her private blog, or at least I hope it is. This post is definitely not to attack Ms. Hoag’s position or article; but rather to criticize from a woman’s point of view how the misinterpretation and misunderstanding of a natural phenomenon as menstruation leads to the findings of any means to avoid or even eliminate menstrual cycle from women’s calendar, an action that may be based on sympathy, but definitely against the rhythm of the Nature herself.

Moko the dolphin rescued whales!

It seems that I am not mistaken to pick the taxa of my research. Cetaceans ARE amazing! Read this, from Stuff.co.nz, courtesy of Michelle (thanks a heap, M!).

-xxx-

Moko the Friendly Dolphin Saves Whales

'It was like she grabbed them by the flipper and led them to safety'



Wednesday, 12 March 2008

It could have been a scene from a movie when Mahia's Moko the dolphin came out of nowhere to save two pygmy sperm whales from what looked like certain death.

The playful dolphin, who has set up home around Mahia on the East Coast, was the perfect helper on Monday as Department of Conservation worker Malcolm Smith toiled to refloat the mother whale and her one-year-old male calf.

"It was amazing. It was like she grabbed them by the flipper and led them to safety," Mr Smith said.

Mr Smith received a call early Monday morning to say two whales had stranded on the south end of Mahia Beach.

"Generally speaking when pygmy sperm whales strand they end up dying, or they are refloated only to strand again later in the day and die.

"We worked for over an hour to try to get them back out to sea. . . but they kept getting disorientated and stranding again.

"There is a large sandbar just off the shore so that could have been very confusing for them - they obviously couldn't find their way back past it to the sea."

After about four unsuccessful refloating attempts it was becoming highly likely the pair would have to be euthanised.

"The whales were getting tired and I was getting cold when Moko turned up.

"She just came straight for us and escorted the two whales along the beach and out through the channel.

"The whales were sitting on the surface of the water quite distressed, they had arched their backs and were calling to one another, but as soon as the dolphin turned up they submerged into the water and followed her."

Moko led the whales about 200m along the beach towards the headland then led the pair all the way out to sea.

"The things that happen in nature never cease to amaze me.

"It was looking like it was going to be a bad outcome for the whales which was very disappointing and then Moko just came along and fixed it."

Mr Smith said it was quite possible Moko had heard the whales calling.

" She obviously gave them enough guidance to leave the area because we haven't seen them since."

Moko however was seen straight after – the playful dolphin swam straight back close to shore to play with local residents.

- NZPA

Pic: Stuff.co.nz

What kind of superhero(ine) am I?

I took this quiz to determine whether I'm more a Wonder Woman, Catwoman, Zatanna or Black Canary kind-of-girl, and it turn out that I should join the Green Lantern Corp!

Your results:
You are Green Lantern

Green Lantern 95% Wonder Woman 87% Superman 85% Spider-Man 80% Supergirl 72% Robin 67% The Flash 65% Hulk 50% Iron Man 50% Batman 35% Catwoman 25%

Hot-headed. You have strong will power and a good imagination.

In Pursuit of Truth: Insights beyond whales and dolphins

She had never high aspirations for herself as a scientist. Although she liked cetaceans and felt an affinity for them, she knew it was not just for the animals that she did what she did. As with many of her peers, she had been drawn to field biology as much for the life it offered as for its intellectual content – because it allowed her to be on her own, to have no fixed address, to be far from the familiar, while still being a part of a loyal but loose-knit community. This would not change any of that; for the most part it would be the usual grind of writing applications, trying to find funding and so on. Whatever came of it in the end, it was a certainty that it was not going to create an upheaval in science. But at the same time, who would have thought that it would be so intensely satisfying to have your future resolved, to know what you were going to be doing next year and the year after that and so on and son on, until who knew when? And yes, it was true that whatever came of it would not revolutionize the science, or even a minor branch of them, but it was also true that if she were able to go through with it – even a part of it – it would be as fine a piece of descriptive sciences as any. It would be enough; as an alibi for a life, it would do; she would not need to apologize for how she had spent her time on this earth.

The passage was taken from Amitav Gosh’ The Hungry Tide (2004), page 126-127, as Piya the heroine contemplated her way of life onboard a simple and rustic fishing boat. Piya was an Indian-descendant American, a cetologist, who did research on riverine dolphins in the Sundarban, the great mangrove forest regions in the Bay of Bengal, between India and Bangladesh.

Interestingly, the book is not only about the life of a cetologist who is out of place in her own ancestral country. In line with Gosh’ previous book (The Glass Palace), the book also talked about India’s socio-politics, notably during the problems of India and Bangladesh way back in the 70s. But Hungry Tide is not merely about social conflicts. It’s also about respect, showing how Hindus and Moslems of the Sundarban worships similar deities while retaining their traditional believes. It’s also about love that bloomed between Piya, a woman of science and Fokir, a man of the sea, an ordinary crab fisher, with the modern and dashing Kanai – typical smart Indian guy he was – in the middle. 

Save Planet Earth!

After traveling to ancient China, I'm returning back to the present time in my home island Bali, where the CoP (Conference of the Parties) 13 of the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) has been taking place since last December 3. Lots of news about it, I will not reiterate it now. I just want to post a link to a very amazing speech by Al Gore, my environmental guru, made in Nusa Dua Bali, last night.



Read also some news from Time.com and Canada.com (among many others), to have a complimentary idea of what Al Gore said, for the YouTube video lasts for only 4 minutes (sob-sob-sob!). I will try to get a longer recording later and post the transcribe of his Bali speech here. This is the excerpt of Time's report on what Al Gore said about US's unwise moves to block the climate change talk:

"My own country, the United States, is principally responsible for obstructing progress here," he told a packed audience at the U.N. climate change summit in Bali. "We all know that."

The Nobel laureate, in fact, urged delegates to push ahead despite U.S. opposition, even to the point of drafting a negotiating document with blank spaces where American participation should be. But while Gore's public criticism of his own country's delegation — and implicitly, of the President who controls it — electrified his audience, what he said next was even more important. "Over the next two years, the United States is going to be somewhere it is not right now," said Gore. "We are going to change in the U.S."

That the U.S. leadership is deeply divided on climate change has been patently obvious to even the most casual observer here. Washington's official delegation has emerged as the chief spoiler in moves to take meaningful action on climate change. But among the most vocal critics of the official delegation has been an array of American environmentalists, legislators and state and local government officials. Carl Pope, president of the Sierra Club, called the U.S. performance "the most explicitly irresponsible action that any American Administration has taken in any of our lifetimes."

But the purpose of the shadow U.S. delegation here — spiritually led by Gore and including the likes of Sen. John Kerry, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and dozens of officials from California (Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger had planned to attend, but budget negotiations kept him at home) — is to signal the world that the Bush Administration no longer represents the views of most Americans on climate change. They point to the fact that U.S. cities, states and, now, the Congress have taken steps to combat global warming, and that next year's election will likely accelerate that momentum. "The message here is that help is on the way," says Mike Chrisman, California's Secretary of Resources.

Amen for that. And I said that for Dear Mother Earth.

Before going to Bali, Al Gore was also interviewed by BBC Hardtalk, available at YouTube. And on 10 December 2007 in Oslo, just before going to Bali, he received a Nobel Prize for his works on climate change. The speech text is available at the Nobel Prize website, and the excerpt video is available at YouTube with part 1 :

and part 2:

And what can we, individuals, do to save Mother Earth? Simple life style. Cut short your electricity use, plant more trees, save the water... Many ways we can do to save the Planet. As my spiritual guru Mr. Anand Krishna said, ‘Check your needs, check your greed.’ Similar to what Venerable Mahatma Gandhi said half a century ago, ‘The Earth is enough for human’s need, but not for human’s greed’. We all can save Mother Earth, the only planet that supports us human species, if we have the will to do so.

And I believe, we do.