The Malagasy dwarf Hippo

4/28/06

This is just not right....

My previous post mentioned in a very casual manner the exticntanimal.com website. Today I am at it again but in no mood to joke around. I will try hard not to sound like a blowhard environmentalist because 1) I drive to work everyday when in theory, I could bike. ( not in -20C winter) 2) I do not do anything concrete about protecting the environment beside making sure the pets are happy.
Still, 2 environment-related events got me unnerved this week: 1) Bush's attempt to reduce gas price at the expense of the environmental recommendations. ( If you cannot afford gas price, I say "carpool" for a while, it can't hurt) 2) the death of 400 dolphins off the coast of Zanzibar (across from Madagascar). The cause of such massive death is obviously uncertain; yet it is highly suspected that sonar emission by a US submarine patrolling the region is implicated. I know that some people in the Bush administration could care less about the damage caused to the earth. However, there is surely a group of people with some leverage that can stop this wreckage from happening over and over again. I am really p...'ed now so I'd better stop here before I get banned for foul language.

4/26/06

Malagasy dwarf hippo and the "sportsguy"

This is cool: I once wrote an email to Bill "the sportsguy" Simmons on how he had to quit overtaking my life. ( and that because of him, my family back in Madagascar is asking who the heck the sportsguy is and if he had an actual job)
I thought he must have not even looked at the message but in his last article in ESPN magazine, he mentions out of a million extinct animals: the Malagasy dwarf hippopotamus. This is of historical proportion at many levels:
1st time for: -dwarf hippo to be mentioned in ESPN
- "Malagasy" to appear in a "sportsguy" column.
- exctinctanimals.com to be united with Mike Tyson.
-you to ever hear of Malagasy dwarf hippo.
You see ? You can witness history in the making reading this post. Jokes aside, I really believe he was throwing me a bone by picking the Malagasy dwarf hippo ( if you claim to know that such creatures existed, you either work for the commission looking for WMD in Iraq or you should participate in Jeopardy or "Question pour un champion" in French. And if you think I have too much time on my hand, you are probably right. My boss just gave an inquisitive look, Quick "CTRL + TAB" to switch to a bogus spreadsheet.

Clutch

Clutch:
1. a hand, a claw in the act of grasping
2. tense critical situation
3. tending to be successful in critical situations.

The modern times require us to perform at our best in a specific time period that will shape our future for a long while. We are reminded about the importance of performance at a given time everyday, everywhere: at work or even in our relaxed time. The saying: "timing is everything" has never been truer than now. Here are a few examples:
1) 1min30s /a week for aspiring American Idol to prove that they can sing.
2) 30 min of photo shoot and a 10 sec walk /week for "America's next top model" to nail the perfect pose ( I am watching this show to ensure harmony in the household: it's all about compromise. Nah, I actually enjoy watching it :) )
3) 0.9 s left for Anthony Johnson , perennial back-up point guard for Indiana Pacers ( NBA) to make free-throws to win the game for his team.
4) 1min left in the game for Jens Lehman, goalkeeper for Arsenal to stop a penalty shot that sends his team to its 1st Champion league's final ever.
5) 0s left: for every shot taken by Michael Jordan, Reggie Miller or Robert Horry ( or it seems so)
6) the 1st 2 min you share with someone having a heart attack.
7) 10 min per presentation to convince someone that you are the person for a job.
8) 2 min to get a phone number during speed dating.

Interestingly, one movie coming out soon will display evidence of both the best and worst timings I witnessed in a long while. The movie is United 93 which as you all know was the flight on 9-11 that was directed towards Washington DC and crashed in Pennsylvania because the passengers, aware of the attacks on WTC, fought back the terrorists.
Imagine a situation where your flight has been hijacked, you learn that other planes have been used as weapons and you are under the direct threat of armed fanatics at high altitude: coming up with the right course of action under such duress is the definition of clutch.
What is NOT clutch in my opinion is the decision to make a movie 5 years removed from such tragedy. I understand the producers asked and obtained the blessings from each families of the victims. However, it's been 5 years. I did not know anyone on the plane but I feel sad and bothered by an endeavor which ultimate goal is to make money out of such events and this early in time. It is just a gut feeling on my part and the family of the victims probably knew best. I will probably watch the movie to see for myself the information the producers have gotten to make the movie but I will always second guess myself for supporting such an early depiction of this event.

4/23/06

Why "Da Vinci Code" will top "Titanic"

Da Vinci Code is coming out May 19th. The 1st time I saw the trailer, it looked somehow familiar. How so ? Because it was depicted exactly as I imagined it as I was reading the book. (although I had Harrison Ford and Juliette Binoche in lieu of Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou (Amelie)... off-topic: Can Tom Hanks please cut his hair now, the whole thing looks ridiculous)
A few reasons make me believe that DVC will top the likes of E.T and Spiderman in the box-office and reach "Titanic" levels ( BTW I sill don't understand the appeal of that movie) 1) we are really starved from intriguing blockbuster movies lately. It was either interesting but too challenging :) (Syriana, Brokeback Mountain, Crash) or mildly entertaining ( too many to mention. When the best movie right now is "Silent Hill", it shows the lack of quality motion pictures out there. With Da Vinci Code, There is potential here for greatness ( great plot, great subjects, great actors, great producers...) so much possibilities that I might be disappointed in the end but I don't believe so. Here are other reasons why I cannot jinx it: The best-seller book stayed in the news because of the trial that Dan Brown went through for plagiarism (which he won, no surprise there). 2) The "Gospel of Judas" phenomenon: fascinating story that merits a blurb on its own ( Judas as Jesus closest confident makes sense at many levels if you ask me but it is too long too explain) 3) The outrage generated by the storyline ( Alleged Jesus and Mary Magdalene descendants covered by Church) will be renewed pushing Christians, atheists and feminists to the theaters. 4) Aspiring art historians everywhere will come for the exclusive perspective on le Louvre and Winchester Cathedral. 5) Audrey Tautou and Jean Reno. Nuff said 6) Did I mention the "secret de Polichinelle" of the book: "Jesus' descendants is the Holy Grail" ?
So if I were a gambling man, I would say 400 millions at the box-office when all is said and done. But I am not ( as far as you know )

Interesting factoids about Namibia

So "Brangelina: the(genetic) sequel" will be Namibian as the Pitt-Jolie baby kid will see the first daylight in a secluded Namibian resort. I am sure Namibian people are slightly annoyed at the sudden interest in their countries because of Hollywood drama. People outside barely knew or cared before and now everybody is suddenly an expert on Namibia ? ( I felt it a bit with the release of "Madagascar: the movie") My advice: embrace the attention and turn people to what the country has to offer.
So here is my own Namibia factoids:
1) Frankie Fredericks is the most underrated class athlete in the world. If it were not for the dope-suspicious performances of the likes of Christie and Michael Johnson Frankie could have had a few gold medals by now. Yet he always was very quiet and classy in victory and defeat. Oh and he ran the 100m dash in 9.86s and the 200m in 19.68s: Not Bad !
2) The country is one the youngest in the world: 17. Not old enough to drink or vote. Still, already home of most famous celebrities' offspring. Our most famous Malagasy offsrping would be... dang, little help here please ?
3)Oshiwambo, English, Afrikaans and German are spoken there.
4) Windhoek ( corner of wind) is famous for its hot springs
5)The busiest airport is Eros: of course, it is. Now we know why Brangelina picked Namibia. Madagascar should name our next airport Amore. Our chances to get the Ledger-Williams offsrping would increase 100%.
Good luck Namibia and Brangelina with each other.

4/20/06

Malagasy tennis club rivalries

Apparently my very light trash talk about the tennis club rivalry we had back in Tana was well received by some and not so well by others. I send a message video to my cousin Andry for his wedding where I was referencing to our childhood glory days of playing decent tennis. Specifically, I was pointing out how we got lucky one day and pulled an upset that still make me smile to this day. A little background to recap: our tennis club ( my cousins and I) is a small club (COT) on the outside of Tana (Ilafy) that he is known for the landscape more than their athletes. Everyone knows each other ( family atmosphere if you will). Other clubs such as ACSA ( downtown) and ASUT ( university) usually collect the best athletes and are the farm school for aspiring tennis pro ( Dally Randriatefy used to play for both clubs). Most tananarivian people who played tennis did so either in ACSA or ASUT ( Hence the hate mail I got lately :) ). So it was a big deal when an interclub match-up was organized between the youth of ASUT and COT. I was 12 at the time and we were all b/w 10 and 18. Everyone on our side played 3 singles and 2 doubles because we had 3 times less players. We were supposed to be wiped out by the big school who had 5 Malagasy top players (men and women) from each age categories. What do you know ? In our version of "Hoosiers", we won 21 games to ASUT 18 as all 10 of us played at least once the best game of their short career :). It prompted the opposite dejected coach to say: "we have quantity but you have quality". I kid you not; that day is still, until now, one of my favorite childhod memory :) Of course, we got trashed on the rematch a week later but no one can take a away the last 20 minutes of that day where all 10 of us cheered on at the courtside our 10 year -old cousin (Lalaina) clinching the victory for us. So when Andry gave the "thumbs up" as I mentioned that memorable day for us, it meant a little more than just a silly tennis game or making fun of ASUT fans. It was celebrating "growing up in Tana" with all the cousins and enjoying every bit of it ! So to all ASUT and ACSA loyalists ( one is family now ) out there, you guys are alright:) but once in a while "le petit poucet", the underdog, comes out on top and I am sure even you guys can appreciate that :)

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