MAORI ON GOOGLE BOOKS! – ALREADY I HAVE ISSUES WITH GOOGLE LABS – BOOKS NGRAM VIEWER
[AI suggestion - perhaps NGRAM needs to go back to the chalk board phase]
If I was naive enough to believe Google’s “Books Ngram Viewer” that claims to count words based on 5 million published books and track their trends in terms of amount of times words appear in books (quantitative research), the Maori people of New Zealand would not fare well. The results would have me rehashing that archaic dead-end term, “racism” asap. Maori don’t like doing that in this enlightened age. It does not get people very far, because it immediately casts Maori in the light of having to drive a car fueled by ‘white man’s guilt.’ When you drive on whenua (land) that has tar seal put on it and called a “road,” that would be too much “irony” for a Maori to handle in any given day. Besides, why should we? That’s something that would appeal as a college student. The past is healing.
The tracking tool claims (my search conducted between years 1920 and 2008) that the word “Maori” peaked as a topic of interest in books in the year of 1978 (aprox). Since then it’s plummeted and currently, the usage of the word Maori is as low as its status listed in 1950 findings that’s given in the little graph that pops up. Already, this NGRAM Viewing tool of Google is capable of starting civil wars. I don’t like it much at all so far.
Being scientific, with heart and soul – this means: a) Maori are extinct again – a typical ‘pseudo-scientific’ finding (yawn!) Maori have learned to ignore since being able to read maps – but this time in a literary sense.
Already this supposedly revolutionary tool of technology is spitting out results generating ‘information’ that is rather boring quite frankly in my humble opinion. I say this because such ‘information’ has been so done TO DEATH already! (more…)
THE HORIWOOD TOP TEN – THU 12.16.10
We live in an age where power people are obsessed with owning, quantifying/ qualifying WORDS, their USAGE, their CONTEXT, their HISTORY, their ORIGIN, their FREQUENCY and most of all THEIR MEANING. Why do words scare/ fascinate obsessive people so much?–Horiwood 2010′s.
Have you ever heard of the term culturomics? It posits that technology (a tracking tool developed by Google) can track words of scanned books and work out totals and frequencies of the words used and in what context. That’s amazing – because we have to believe the findings are true. I mean–it’s not like we’re going to manually go through 17,000 books for examples and check are we.
This either makes us extremely ‘trusting in Google’s brand integrity’ or extremely vulnerable and naive to being manipulated by Google as a ‘cultural engineer’ shaping our perceptions of culture past, in books.
Wikileaks taught us perhaps, that we can’t really trust people who manipulate data or information. We just can’t any longer–with no offense to the good people at Google, of course. In general we just live in an age–where data is being manipulated for other means than what we initially think. The global economic crises also taught us this outside of words, regarding numbers, as well.
So which one are we? Gullible or trusting in whatever Google’s new tool claims are ‘definitive’ findings? As always –perhaps ride the middle line, and believe half of what ‘culturomics’ findings tell us. Otherwise it’s a new invented ‘literary religion based on key findings’ with no checks and balances, that cannot be debated either, because it has the appearance of being ‘scientific.’ Culturomics is either going to be really good or really darn scary–there’s no middle ground to it, as it’s completely unaccountable to other technology counter-scanning and collating its findings at this point. Or in other words, it’s not scientific, yet its outcomes posited are claiming to be pure quantitative science. A full press release by Google follows below our top ten results today about it–positioned as a news story.
Hollywood entertainment and celebritiy news posts voted hot today worldwide. Here’s our top ten. Thanks beautiful people. Enjoy!
1. Angelina Jolie humor via E-Bay limited edition is cute
2. Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie lead Golden Globe nominations
3. A Kardashian family Christmas card 2010
4. 270 Films of 2010 montaged into one concise trailer–that saved time!
5. 50 Top Voted Stars of 2010… a labor of love in progress
6. Scarlett Johansson‘s strawberry breakup with beauty
7. Taylor Lautner - Men’s Fitness
8. Bollywood‘s top ten stars of 2009
9. Christmas Cheer via New Zealand is funny
10. Natalie Portman dreams of taking time off from work
Bonus Post: Jamiroquai for Nobel Peace Prize Concert 2010
Bonus Post: US Media ask naively about ‘lost trust’ over Wikileaks
Bonus Post: Flash Mob Opera at Reading Terminal
Bonus Post: 10 Things on Mark Zuckerberg being named Time‘s no.1 -2010
Bonus Post: Trends on Bing.Com 2010
Bonus Post: Blue Gangsta – New Michael Jackson Music
Bonus Post: Poetry: Republic of Fiji by David Eggleton
Bonus Post: Alexander Rybak for Barack Obama - 1 year ago
Gosh doing the bonus posts is far more rewarding than putting one’s hopes in the Lotto power ball. Lol!
Jane Seo on Culturomics for The Harvard Crimson writes this Press Release:
“A team of Harvard researchers has created a new tool that analyzes language patterns in published books to quantify cultural and historical trends from 1800 to 2000.
The innovative research tool made its debut yesterday in an article titled “Quantitative Analysis of Culture Using Millions of Digitized Books,” which was published online in the journal Science and launched as a feature on Google.
[The Guardian UK posits Google's word-counting tool fancies Sigmund Freud of many other fine philosophers]
Dubbed “culturomics,” the tool enables the public to use the Google Books database as a “genome of culture,” according to Adrian Veres ’12, one of the article’s authors.
[Movie still image via Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince courtesy of This Website]
FAVORITE KEY WORDS OF SOLANGE KNOWLES
One of America’s most famous members of The Twitter community, lists her moniker key words as being:
“water, melanin, bones, blood.”
Deep.
Solange recently tweeted that she went to the movies to see Love and Other Drugs starring Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal. Her next tweet was hysterical. It was the word:
“Nauseus”
To follow Ms. Knowles on Twitter, go here. I always enjoy her culturally versant world view and opinions within America. She so black, even tweetin most messages in the American literary art form of ebonics. Love that! Because she does have the confidence to express herself her way- referencing American history by her verbage in a modern form, to me Solange Knowles is always an authentic American artist. Naturally.
~Posted by Horiwood.Com, Hollywood California USA. 11.28.10~
HOT PIC – BROWN AND RED BRICKS BUILDING AHEAD WITH INDIA
How do they do that? This is freakin amazin!
Image via Reddit. Janet Frame‘s An Angel At My Table Image courtesy of Little Brown.
~Posted by Horiwood.Com, Hollywood California USA.
BATMAN IS A BIG RENA OWEN FAN AND MAORI CINEMA IN 3D – HOLLYWOOD – 10.31.10
I got totally owned by Batman this year, for Halloween, who wanted to say “Hola to the Maori people of New Zealand.”
Adds “The Batman Named Jose” playing an American super hero: “I’m a big fan of Rena Owen in the film Once Were Warriors. Awesome film. Made us all cry. You guys are the hot sh*t.”
Alrighty then, go Rena!!! Inspiring Hispanic-Americans like few Kiwi’s can. Demonstrating staying power, that in Maori films with Maori actors a market still exists and is strong, years after good ‘Maori’ Kiwi films have been made. That’s the power of one Maori woman actor giving an outstanding performance.
Like Niki Caro proves when speaking Maori, working with iwi (Maori tribes) and adapting and directing a filmic story by a great storyteller, Ta Witi Ihimaera you don’t have to be Maori to serve Maori stories with a stellar Oscar-nominated Maori cast to an audience the world loves.
Likewise, Ainsley Gardiner, Taika Cohen and Cliff Curtis also demonstrate these traits as producers/ directors of the Berlin Silver Bear award winning film, Boy. Following in their footsteps is The Auckland University schooled and Scorsese and Spike Lee (at Tisch NYC) trained Reina Webster currently working on her first feature film I hear.
I don’t know why, but when I hear about Reina’s news in Hollywood and listen to Jose talk with enthusiasm about Maori film, I know that we have a Hobbit industry, a 3D Hollywood ancillary sister-city industry for Hollywood’s biggest earning films of all time and a Maori film industry beating like a strong pulse for the world. It’s humbling and yet invigorating to feel at the same time, while I stand on Hollywood concrete–in The City of Angels (The city of messengers with a message) that is known far and wide as being The Entertainment Capitol of The World. Go Maori and Polynesian filmmakers, I reckon!
Batman agrees.
In celebration of Neil Hamilton‘s legacy in Hollywood (the dude who played Commisioner Gordon in the Batman TV series of the 1960′s), this one’s also going out to H-Town - Hamilton, New Zealand with H-Town brothers Katchafire‘s new reggae song, showcasing the wonders of animated hori pop culture moments.
Wherever these lads play around the world, clouds of Marijuana rise above their audiences. Why is that? They have the Bob Marley star factor as reggae rocks stars down pat. I imagine that Katchafire will be mega busy in California this year. Shikes if Proposition 19 goes through at the ballot, they could live in California for half of every year, and just play major Hollywood events. Now how can we get a Katcahfire song onto a movie soundtrack. I can’t believe no one in New Zealand or Hollywood has done that yet, with Prop 19 having had millions thrown in to campaign for it. Heck, the Facebook movie guys (funding Prop 19′s campaign largely) would have had Katchafire in their film’s soundtrack lineup, had they heard of these lads.
Like, they’d be perfect for something like The Hangover 2 for example, if you watch one’s American politics on the Bill Maher Show.
Enjoy our reggae brothas Maori music featured here.
If you don’t like reggae, all good, here’s my choice of cinema today too of a piece of entertainment worth watching, depicting the beauty of Maori-Kiwi humor, with the Oscar-nominated short film, Two Cars, One Night–a Kiwi classic short. Beneath the skin color, it’s actually a small town, Country Music values story, really.
It’s very clear, Maori have gifts as filmmakers that heal human rights rifts in the world. That’s what our presence in the film making world is capable of. It’s what we do with Spirit. Every Maori knows we do. No point pretending anymore we don’t have the gifts our ancestors gave us, to get this job done in the world, to make it a more fair place. Hopefully in 3D too soon. We (and our New Zealand and Hollywood film texts) are box office stars too. Are you ready for US? Hope so.
[Thanks Jose & to a star that burns bright in the minds of Hispanic-America and Mexico (people living in two nations who share a gulf containing oil) --for a legacy that's still memorable on celluloid for everyone. Thanks Rena for giving a performance that lingers in hearts and minds and burns so bright, like a star does, still today in our consciousness.]
[This post for Aunty Robin Cheung of Kawerau country, Bay of Plenty --now of West Auckland, who says she prays for me every day. Thanks Aunty Robin for your love and thoughtfulness. "You fly!" May I do your prayers justice in this Maori-Kiwi life I was given to serve others, for our lives to be good and "to matter" to "people that matter who need us to matter." Thank you].
~Posted by Horiwood.Com, Hollywood California USA. 10.31.10~
PERUVIAN-BORN MARIO VARGAS LLOSA WINS THE 2010 NOBEL PRIZE FOR LITERATURE
Peruvian-born Mario Vargas Llosa wins the 2010 Nobel Prize for literature, making him the first Latin American to do so since 1990.
He chronicled ‘power struggles’ of oppressed peoples. Says John Freeman editor of Granta to the Los Angeles Times, ‘”He had a very vigorous public life, which often obscures the fact that he is first and foremost a restless stylist. He’s worked as a satirist; he’s written parodies, political thrillers; he’s moved from a fairly earnest modern style to a very lucid, clear style. … I think it’s the hallmark of a writer who is endlessly searching for new ways to depict the refraction of history in life.”‘ A fascinating writer and man.
This post going up for Q’orianka Kilcher and peoples of Peru. Q’ori is Hollywood’s preiminent Young Hollywood actress and advocate for Peru and Hollywood’s voice of the Indigenous People of the Amazons.
Congrats Mr Llosa. Video footage, of the Nobel Peace Prize boards selection can be viewed at The Washington Post’s website. And Llosa’s back story, of personal romantic life, reads like a novel all on its own. Go here to read that too.
In The Storyteller: “This book takes us into the Peruvian jungles, where the Machiguengas tribe battles to retain its peaceful heritage against ruthless rubber barons. His books often employ stories within the story, and here this is beautifully achieved by telling the story of the tribe’s fight for survival interspersed with the tribes’ myths told by the Hablador — or storyteller. It celebrates the act of telling stories and is an ecological call to arms.”
[Image of Mario, courtesy of Susana Vera of Reuters. Q'orianka Kilcher's image, her own. To see what Q'ori's up to, go here to Q on Q-Initiative. Always interesting. A fine human rights advocate, just like Mario of Peru.]
~Posted by Horiwood.Com, Hollywood California USA. 10.7.10~
BOX OFFICE NOVELIST: JAMES CAMERON, FROM HOLLYWOOD’S #1 BOX OFFICE FILM WRITER TO AVATAR NOVELIST
James Cameron loves his life as a novelist these days. Developing his Avatar film into novels has been easier than he’d imagined. With the #1 film in box office history, Cameron let’s his audience in on his progress as an author-auteur and his transition to writing novels.
This from the L.A Times: “It goes unsaid by Cameron, “Avatar” producer Jon Landau and their team, but there’s a sense that they will be watching the rerelease as a bellwether of the sort of connection that exists between their Pandora mythology and fans. Be it with toy-shelf ventures, video game releases or the wildly ambitious online tie-ins, Cameron and company have approached “Avatar” as a candidate to join “Star Wars” and “Star Trek” as omni-media franchises that inspire pop-cultural tribal followings across decades.
At this point, though, “Avatar” might just as easily go in a different direction (more…)
STEPHANIE SALDANA’S THE BREAD OF ANGELS WRITES OF SPIRIT AND LOVE IN WAR TODAY
Stephanie Saldana‘s The Bread of Angels speaks of where the world is at today, when discussing cross-cultural and different faiths of the world at this time in our history. Dialogue has always been about having the humility to learn from others.
“Above all, a love story . . . a page-turner that keeps you up nights.”–Geraldine Brooks said of Saldanas book.
The inside cover notes say: “In 2004, twenty-seven-year-old Stephanie Saldana arrives in Damascus with a broken heart and a haunted family history that she has crossed the world to escape. She has come on a fellowship to study the role of Jesus in Islam, but speaks very little Arabic, has no friends in the city, and has no place to live. Nor is it an ideal time to be in their region–the united States has recently invaded neighboring Iraq, and refugees are flooding into the streets of Damascus. Still, Stephanie does the only thing she can think of: she begins knocking on doors in the Christian Quarter, asking strangers if they have a room to rent. So begins The Bread of Angels, the unforgettable memoir of one woman’s search for faith, love, and the meaning of her life in the place she leasts expects to find it.
Before long, Stephanie is offered an airy room in a glorious, dilapitated house. She begins to stumble through Arabic and to make the Old City her home. But after a series of disheartening developments, she leaves to spend a month in an ancient Christian monastery carved into the Syrian desert cliffs. (more…)
POETRY: KEORUAC TO GINSBERG 8.20.10
Two of the best intellectual poets of their generation wrote spontaneous poetry to each other. The energy of change condensed in their words as they captured a nation in a cultural and societal revolution. Here’s Jack Kerouac‘s poetic words for Allen Ginsberg written on his typewriter in a poem titled: Daydreams for Ginsberg.
I lie on my back at midnight
hearing the marvelous strange chime
of the clocks, and know it’s mid-
night and in that instant the whole
world swims into sight for me
in the form of beautiful swarm-
ing m u t t a worlds-
everything is happening, shining
Buhudda-lands,
bhuti
(more…)
TOSCA LABOY, TIME MAGAZINE, RICK STENGEL AND COURAGE TO LOVE THE GREAT AMERICAN NOVELIST AGAIN
True Hollywood fact: Your phone goes off this morning in California. You awake from your Hollywood dream, that two homeless people are floating with you in Noah’s ark to hear the conscientious, soothing tone of Time Magazine‘s Tosca Laboy purring down the phone line.
It’s a weird reoccurring surreal dream you’ve been having lately. Quite humanitarian really. But Tosca is a new starring character of the reoccurring dream. She’s new information.
Tosca is the E.A of New York’s Rick Stengel. She tells me that Rick would like a copy of tennis playing author, Robert Ellis (88) new book, Courage to Love sent immediately to Andrea Fachs at 1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020-1393.
“Have a beautiful afternoon and evening” I say in a half smile, half asleep mumble, as I reach for my wallet and step outside the door over Hollywood miraged human shadows, for my morning ritual of getting fresh coffee. This day is already off to a stellar start.
Thanks Rick Stengel. And thanks Tosca Laboy. You’re the coolest E.A in NYC ever. :)
To find out more about the book Rick Stengel and Time Magazine wants, go here.
[Top Image: First in a Decade - Novelist On Time Cover: " The issue of Time magazine on sale Friday will feature Jonathan Franzen on the cover, below, the first time that a living American novelist has garnered that honor since Stephen King, in 2000. The accompanying article, by Lev Grossman, is a profile of Mr. Franzen on the occasion of his fourth novel, “Freedom,” the story of an American family that is due to be published this month. In the past Time has featured Tom Wolfe, Toni Morrison, George Orwell,John Updike, John Le Carré, Norman Mailer and other writers.To read this story, go here.
~Posted by Horiwood.Com, Hollywood California USA. 8.12.10~
HOLLYWOOD ACTOR CLIFF CURTIS HAS COURAGE TO LOVE, A NOVEL BY ROBERT ELLIS
Hollywood Actor Cliff Curtis has Courage To Love the Middle East
Hollywood actor and film producer, Cliff Curtis holds his early edition copy of Courage To Love, the new Romeo & Juliet novel by author Robert Ellis. The modern story of forbidden love that is set in Israel and the Gaza strip, is getting good early buzz in Hollywood. Curtis describes the book as being “beautiful.”
Of this pivotal novel, Curtis features here in his hand, filmmaker Bill Birrell says: “I have been looking for a human scale story about the Middle East: but one that will both entertain and provoke. In short I believe Courage to Love is it. Not since Elie Wiesel, the Nobel prize-winning writer, has an author distilled these conflicts into such human terms. Put another way, while the story touches on significant issues, it is really a tale of two young people and their struggle to be allowed to love each other.”
Cliff, a newly wed himself, is all about love these days and furthering love’s potential in a world wind epic romance he finds himself caught up in, in his real life. His Hollywood career also has elevation. Curtis currently stars as Firelord Orzai in M. Night Shyamalan‘s 3D film franchise, The Last Airbender and has just signed on to two films starring opposite, Zoe Saldana (of Star Trek and Avatar film franchises fame) where he’s cast as Zoe’s closest family member. Coming up, Curtis will also star with Sigourney Weaver and Bruce Willis.
TEDDY of GO.DADDY CALLS ABOUT AUNT ELVIRA’S POEM’S DOMAIN NAME PLANS
While watching Uncle Emile reading his play he’d written as actor Danny J. Evans works at his Hollywood tan, baking in the sun; Teddy of Go.Daddy.Com calls. In this household of blokes, it’s nice to hear a woman’s melodic voice, for a change.
Her phone call is about Aunt Elvira‘s Funeral Poem and its website domain name, we gave the poem when we posted the poem yesterday to celebrate her “2nd graduation day” and share the meaning of her life of love, for others.
Teddy asks me our plans for the domain name as its very interesting to her. (Plans? What plans? I think silently to myself). She suggests that the website, should become a blog where others can share their funeral poems too, or, the domain name should host a collection of freshly written poems each day, about celebrating life in death–for others to benefit from–when grief and loss, has their souls gripped and sore. Funeral poems on Elvira’s poem’s website could comfort them, says Teddy.
As I’ve never had a phone call like this before, from any website hosting service, the calmness that is Teddy’s voice intrigues. She should be a Hollywood producer. Needless to say, anything to do with Aunt Elvis, is always going to fascinate people, across the U.S. Elvira had that kind of allure, sweetness and charm–as Teddy’s phone call showed me today. I shouldn’t be pleasantly surprised by Teddy’s phone call, really–but I still am.
Thanks Teddy. Teddy @ GoDaddy should be a Hollywood TV producer, commissioning new ideas for TV. She’s good. Teddy only watches pre-recorded TV programs, doesn’t Twitter, Facebook or MySpace, never goes to see a movie, and loves reading books instead for her recreation and downtime. Teddy also doesn’t have a blog, which is why I’m cutting her into my blog today. That and the fact, that Teddy tells me she loves the Kiwi New Zealand accent in America. Thanks Teddy. If ever you buy a domain name, call (USA) 1.480.505.8859, press option 1, and ask for Teddy. She’s okay. :)
What follows are two Emily Dickinson‘s funeral poems, that Teddy loves the most for her friends and family members at funerals. Hearing Teddy’s voice come down Aunt Elvira’s phone line, is a surreal trip today. National interest. I like Teddy’s love of poetry and her inquisitive questions, a lot.
[Images of Teddy Kennedy with John and Bobby courtesy of this blog. Image of racing car driver, Danica Patrick as a stand pic for Teddy of GoD]. (more…)
ARIEL VIEW, TWILIGHT SAGA ECLIPSE PREMIERE VENUE, DOWNTOWN L.A
For Twilight Eclipse fans worldwide. Where are Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner, Nikki Reed, Stephenie Meyer, Alex Mraz, Dakota Fanning, Peter Facinelli, Ashley Greene, Kiowa Gordon, Julia Jones, Solomon Trimble, Chaske Spencer, Bronson Pelletier and Kellan Lutz and friends congregating today? Right here in Los Angeles.
Here’s a shot of where the World Premiere of Twilight Eclipse is taking place in Downtown L.A, Entertainment Capitol of The World.
So much fun!
The use of a tilt-shift lens gives a different perspective on Staples Center, L.A. Live and the Ritz-Carlton Hotel.
[Image courtesy of the L.A.Times] This post brought to Twilight Saga fans, especially from the romance novel, Courage To Love by Californian author Robert Ellis. Image of Kristen Stewart of Twilight Eclipse, a fan made poster courtesy of Farm Static & Team Paella. Today we are turning on a literary show at the movies, near The Staples Center. Let’s go L.A! Up!]
~Posted by Horiwood.Com, Hollywood California USA. 6.24.2010~
. . .
. . . Ellipses Theater:
Says one particular blogger about the ellipses (this symbol of three dots, that define all of text messages, pauses in between email sentences, as well as blogs: “The ellipsis gives expression to a habit of ironic detachment and preemptive indifference. And here is where I found the point of contact with larger cultural trends. The mood of ironic detachment that has settled over so many of us was manifesting itself in three simple dots. With those dots we were evading conviction, giving off an apathetic vibe, and guarding ourselves from seeming unfashionably earnest.
Thinking about the ellipsis brought to mind a performance by Taylor Mali, “Speak With Conviction.” It’s meant to be heard so watch the video below, but here is the part that comes to mind:
In writing the ellipsis captures nicely the tone that Mali identifies and lampoons in his performance. These three dots are the punctuation mark of an indeterminate age. We are becoming Eliot’s hollow men and this is the way each thought ends,
I think . . .
~Posted by Horiwood.Com, Hollywood California USA. 8.11.10~
August 12, 2010 | Categories: Literary, Theater | Tags: Literary, Literary Trend, Literary Trends, Pop Culture Commentary, Taylor Mali, Theater | Leave A Comment »