She's a 13 year old from Olathe, Kansas. Kept spelling out every word on her palm. Amazing kid - really, all these kids just blew me away. ABC did a phenomenal job of presenting these kids as interesting, regular personalities. So far removed from just a few years ago, when the Spelling Bee was synonymous with useless regurgitation or a sport for the socially inept.
My only quibble was the requisite zoom in on the kids who'd just spelled a word wrong and were burying their faces in their hands. Give them their dignity, ABC.
President Abdul Kalam received the Hoover Medal today at Columbia University. It is America's most prestigious engineering prize for service
to humanity. Former winners of the Hoover Medal have included
presidents Carter and Hoover.
Below you will find my liveblog and background information on the award and event.
It was an inspiring, even fun event - thanks to his sense of humor and grasp of issues that affect us all.
The most memorable moment came when, in answering a question about
how the world can be improved, he asked everyone in the audience to
repeat after him his mantra that righteousness in the heart in the basis of peace in the world.
Asked to provide a message for students from India in US, he said he had two messages - one for those staying in the U.S. and for those returning to India. For those returning to India, his message: be an entrepreneur - don't go seeking a job. That's the spirit of America. For those staying on in America, he said you should serve the country you are living in.
LIVEBLOGGING on Tuesday, April 28.
10:40: The hall in the Rotunda at Low Library at Columbia is full. Ambassadors, Nobel Laureates (including John Nash of "A Beautiful Mind" fame), famed classical singer Pandit Jasraj and students in the audience.
Welcome by Dr. Thomas Abraham, chairperson of GOPIO - Global Organization of People of Indian Origin.
10:44 Introduction of Prof. P. Somasundaram, Columbia University and Vice Chair, Hoover Medal Board...
The India Abroad Person of the Year Awards 2008 ceremony was held in downtown Manhattan this past weekend.
The Person of the Year award went to Fareed Zakaria, the first Indian American (Post-Indian-American?) to host his own show on a major network--CNN’s GPS Sunday. Zakaria joked about how he looked more pleasing on his TV show, thanks to the make-up and lights, and that the audience had to see him with neither on the occasion. (photo by Paresh Gandhi)
Other honors that night: Conductor Zubin Mehtareceived the India Abroad Lifetime Achievement Award. Mehta reminded the crowd of Sachin Tendulkar’sscore against New Zealand. Switching to Hindi, he said, “New Zealand ko dho dalenge,” loosely translated as, “We'll beat the pants off them New Zealanders.” Wife Nancy Mehta and brother Zarin Mehta were nearby.
Conversation and food merged as a stellar guest list comprising, to name just a few in no particular order, Infosys CEO Nandan Nilekani; author Saman Rushdie; actress-author Madhur Jaffrey; economists extraordinaire Professor Jagdish Bhagwati and Professor Padma Desai; envoys past and present including T P Sreenivasan and India's Consul General in New York Prabhu Dayal; Mayor of Edison, New Jersey, Jun Choi; celebrity chef Floyd Cardoz; darling of the emerging indie movement in Bollywood actor Abhay Deol.
The Publisher's Special Award for Excellence was received by Indian American author Jhumpa Lahiri. (photo of author w/adoring husband by Jay Mandal)
Spotting some South Asian writers, including SAJA board member (and former VP) V.V. Ganeshananthan, in the Orange Prize of Fiction's 2009 longlist. First, an explanation of the award:
The Orange Prize for Fiction, the UK’s only annual book award for
fiction written by a woman, today announces the 2009 longlist. Now in
its fourteenth year, the Prize celebrates excellence, originality and
accessibility in women’s writing from throughout the world.
V.V. Ganeshananthan
Love Marriage
Weidenfeld & Nicolson
American
1st Novel
Michelle de Kretser
The Lost Dog
Chatto & Windus
Australian
3rd Novel
Preeta Samarasan
Evening is the Whole Day
Fourth Estate
Malaysian
1st Novel
Kamila Shamsie
Burnt Shadows
Bloomsbury
Pakistani/British
5th Novel
They are in some pretty fine company, including Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison. Here's the formal press release:
Here are two of the papers that Americans woke up to the day after the Oscars - many, many more below.
To round out its coverage of "Slumdog Millionaire," SAJAforum is collecting digital images of front-pages from around the world. Here's a start - we have more than 30 below.
Please send us high-resolution versions at saja[at]columbia.edu or post links in the comments section. Meanwhile, your comments and analysis welcome. What's your favorite headline?
We begin with LA, NY, DC and then go, basically, alphabetically by state. Followed by Canada, Australia, India. Send us more! Click on the images to magnify....
IN ADDITION TO THE LIVE BLOG BELOW, we will also be on Twitter - http://twitter.com/sajahq. Another place to watch and comment live: Saavn/Facebook commenting at Saavn.com (similar to the CNN/Facebook commenting during the presidential inauguration).
Everyone,
it seems, has an opinion about "Slumdog Millionaire." And with the
Oscars being announced Sunday night, those opinions are being spouted
all over the place - in Los Angeles, in Mumbai and everywhere in
between. So here is the START of a roundup of the opinion pieces
surrounding Slumdog (it's too much work to keep typing out the full
title or to worry about quote marks). In order to make it more exhaustive
(and exhausting to read!) please post essays, blog posts, links, etc, in the comments section below.
~~~
Before
I get to the roundup, however, I wanted to get a little personal and
recount some of what happened this week across three generations of
Sreenivasans, tell you of a childhood incident and share how I made
peace with Oscar.
As we were planning this weekend's Academy
Award-viewing plans, I mentioned them to my 5-year-old twins, Durga and
Krishna. "Oscar Award?" asked Krishna, "is that when they give awards
for garbage?" - referring, of course, to the green,
garbage-can-inhabiting Muppet on Sesame Street, Oscar the Grouch.
As I tried to correct him, I realized his description of the Oscars would please his grandfather, my dad, T.P. Sreenivasan.
If he'd heard Krishna, he might have said, "Yes, that's about right."
After all, that's basically what my father thinks of the worthiness of
Slumdog. He captured his feelings about the movie in a piece in India's
Rediff.com entitled "Exploiting India." Among the, er, highlights:
* Having read the novel
and seen the film, I cannot say that it has done more good than harm to
India. This is not a matter of my wanting to shove the reality under
the carpet.
On Sunday, Feb. 22, as soon as the Best Picture Oscar is announced, join SAJA (South Asian Journalists Association) and SAMMA (South Asians in Media and Marketing Association)
on BlogTalkRadio for a live two-hour webcast and call-in show about "Slumdog Millionaire."
Film
experts, journalists and others will discuss the phenomenon that the
movie has become and why - no matter how it does at the Oscars - it
will be talked about for years to come.
We will look at every aspect of the film - its origin as Vikas Swarup's novel; how it almost never made it to the screen; the reviews around the world; its Golden Globe and BAFTA success; how it was marketed and promoted in ways never seen before; the controversies surrounding it and much, much more.
We will also have live reports from the post-Oscar parties in various cities, including the official Fox Searchlight party for "Slumdog" cast and crew in Hollywood as well as live reaction from Mumbai.
Confirmed speakers so far include: Cyndi Stivers, managing editor, EW.com, the website of Entertainment Weekly (see EW's coverage) Rita Drucker, senior VP of feature film promotions for 20th Century Fox Maria Giovanna, blogger, Filmiholic.com, a blog about all things Bollywood Anna John, blogger, SepiaMutiny.com Minal Hajratwala, author of the forthcoming "Leaving India: My Family's Journey From Five Villages to Five Continents" and a critic of the film (see her critiques here and here) - and read her blog post that tells you how you can help specific organizations deal with specific problems/issues shown in the slums of Mumbai Aseem Chhabra, SAJA board member and arts writer who has been
commenting on the film for everyone from Good Morning America to NPR to
India Abroad (see AseemChhabra.com) Raakhee Mirchandani, fashion reporter, New York Post
Contemporary World Music Album: "Global Drum Project," Mickey Hart, Zakir Hussain, Sikiru Adepoju and Giovanni Hidalgo (Shout! Factory)
More on Zakir Hussain, one of India's best-known musicians lives in California here.
Zakir participates in the Global Drum Project with percussionists from around the world. The GLOBAL DRUM PROJECT Tour brought Mickey Hart, Zakir Hussain, Sikiru Adepoju, and Giovanni Hidalgo together again in a reunion sparked by the 15th anniversary of the ground-breaking album Planet Drum. The album Global Drum Project has won the Grammy Award for the Best Contemporary World Music Album at the 51st Grammy Awards Ceremony held on 8 February 2009. Their first album Planet Drum, released in 1991 on the Rykodisc label went on to earn the first-ever Grammy Award in the World Music category. The Global Drum Project Tour is the group's first in almost a decade. It also marks the resumption of an artistic relationship between Mickey Hart and Zakir Hussain that goes back to the late 1960s.
UPDATED: Monday, Feb. 9, 2009: M.I.A. didn't win the Grammy (though tabla maestro Zakir Hussain did), but she did get to perform at the Grammys, fully nine-months-pregnant. A review of her work from Mike Bruno in Entertainment Weekly, "Give that Girl a Solo!":
Like many M.I.A. fans, I couldn't have been happier last summer when her absolutely sublime single "Paper Planes" finally caught the public's attention, more than six months after its release, largely thanks to its use in promos for Pineapple Express. Also, like many M.I.A. fans, I was less impressed with the subsequent string of hip-hop mixtapes that included a quick sample of the song as M.I.A. became the genre's it girl for a minute. I'm sure she's thrilled to be included in hop-hop's cool kids club, and I'm not surprised she was elated to share the stage at the Grammys alongside royalty like Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, T.I., and Kanye West -- and being nine-months pregnant, she probably appreciated the help. But personally, I'm disappointed that M.I.A. isn't getting the spotlight to herself, and I was let down 30 seconds into last night's performance (which, like most of those big-stage, all-star hip-hop performances, resulted in a whole less than the sum of its parts) when it turned out to be the Jay-Z-T.I. song "Swagga Like Us" and not the M.I.A. song used as the hook.
Here's the video of the all-star hip-hop performance, with M.I.A. leading them off (it did air in black & white):
- - - -
ORIGINAL POST, SUNDAY, FEB. 8, 2009: In an hour from now the Grammys get underway, and it will be a landmark day for Sri Lankan-British singer M.I.A. (whose real name is Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam). Not only is her 2008 song, "Paper Planes" nominated for Record of the Year, but it's also her baby's due date. From Ben Sisario's NYT piece:
LAST year the big question at the Grammy Awards was whether Amy Winehouse would perform as advertised. This year it might be whether the golf cart gets M.I.A. to the delivery room on time.
M.I.A.,
the Sri Lankan-British rapper, is up for a Grammy and is scheduled to
perform at the ceremony, which CBS will broadcast live from Los Angeles
on Sunday at 8 p.m. She’s also nine months pregnant. Exactly nine
months: her baby is due on Sunday. (“Either way,” she wrote on MySpace after being nominated, “I figured I’ll win.”)
In
case she goes into labor, a golf cart will be in position to get her
out of the enormous Staples Center complex, where the ceremony is held.
“The
overriding principle of a show like this is unpredictability,” said Ken
Ehrlich, the Grammys’ producer. “We don’t look for births onstage, but
we do look for spontaneity.”
A remix of "Paper Planes," along with the original appears on the "Slumdog Millionaire" soundtrack.
You can watch the Grammys on CBS from 8 pm ET tonight, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2009.
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