November 2014 Traveler’s Guide to Sex, Politics, Celebrity, Business, Panache, Style, Culture, Individuality, Leadership, Relationships and Personal Chic on A Lonely Planet – by Gary S. Smolker

Challenge

The challenge presented to you in this post is to answer the following questions.

1. Are we witnessing a feminization of some men in the West?
2. What importance should be attached to the public spending their time paying attention to what Kim Kardashian is doing, as exemplified by the fact that a photo of Kim Kardashian balancing a champagne glass on her naked butt is the most talked about topic on the Internet?
3. Are we in the midst of a sexual revolution?
4. What is the strongest human drive?
5. What “Age” will the 21st Century be known as?
6. Will the “thought police” win?
7. Are there links between knowledge (eating the metaphorical “apple” in the Garden of Eden) and power?
8. Was the “Garden of Eden” a desirable place?
9. Would a better title for this post be, “The World in 2014: A traveler’s Guide to “Kinky Boots,” Vladimir Putin, Chelsea Handler, the Kardashians, Celebrity, the Promotion of Humanitarian Rights and Equality for Women, and the Promotion and Portrayal of Sex in Mainstream Movies”?

Please provide the world with your comments, thoughts, ideas about the questions listed above and/or your answers to those questions by typing a post at the end of this post, or by directly emailing what you wish to tell me to me at GSmolker@aol.com or call me to discuss what is on your mind with respect to the issues rasied in this post and or the topics discussed in this post.  My office phone number in the USA is 818-788-7290.

What Should I Wear Is A Never Ending Challenge

I have heard time after time, and I am informed and believe, the eternal feminine panic is: “I have nothing to wear.”

“Kinky Boots”

I saw “Kinky Boots” (with music and lyrics by Cyndi Lauper) at the Pantages Theater in Los Angeles, California on Wednesday night November 12, 2014.

It was great.

The messages of the play (a musical) are:

1. Be who your want to be.
2. Accept other people for who they are.

The two main characters in the play/musical are a young man (Charlie Price, played by Steven Booth) who inherits a shoe factory that is about to go out of business and a transvestite (Lola, played by Kyle Taylor Parker) whose ideas and work save Charlie’s business.

Charlie meets Lola as Lola is being attacked by a group of men.

Charlie rushes to “save” Lola (who Charlie mistakenly believes is a woman) from the attackers as Lola is swinging one of her “kinky boots” at her attackers.

Her boot accidentally hits Charlie in the jaw.  Charlie is knocked out.

Lola’s attackers run away.

Lola takes the unconscious knocked out Charlie to Lola’s place.

When Charlie comes through (becomes conscious), Lola complains that she has broken the heel to the boot that hit Charlie.

From the exchange which follows Charlie learns that Lola is a transvestite and that there is an untapped unserved shoe market for “sturdy” kinky boots.

Charlie realizes that the only way to “save” the shoe factory is to manufacture shoes/boots for the niche unserved “kinky boots” (for trasvestites) market.

One thing after another follows in this musical, including a dialog between a “he-man factory worker in Charlie’s factory” (Don, played by Joe Coots) and Lola about what women really want.

This dialog takes place before the women who work in Charlie’s factory.

During this conversation — which is actually an interrogation of Don by Lola — Lola asks Don, “Who do you think the women look at when they come to work in the morning, you or me?  

Lola answers her own question: They look at me to see what I am wearing.  They don’t look at you.  All the women in the factory raise their hands in agreement.

I recommend that all men who want to know what women really want see this musical.

This musical is a clever portrait of society, the nature of power in society, contemporary thought, the capitalistic system and a clever persuasive portrait of a broad social vision.

The show won six Tony’s last year, including awards for musical, choreography and score.

It is currently playing at the Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles, California at 6233 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood.  Tickets: $25 and up.  Info: (800) 982-2787 and http://www.hollywoodpantages.com.  Running time 2 hours 30 minutes.

Vladimir Putin, Chelsea Handler and the Kardashians

Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Putin is the President of Russia.

If there was a “masculinity contest” in Russia he would win.

Mr. Putin’s “masculinity” recently caused a stir in China when he put a jacket over the shoulders of Peng Liyuan, the wife of Chinese President Xi Jingping in front of the leaders of 21 Asia-Pacific nations during the APEC summit on November 10, 2014 in Beijing.

The APEC Summit hosted 1500 economic leaders in Beijing to deliberate key issues facing the Asia-Pacific economy.

Putin’s gesture happened only days after Putin had told Russian state media that “the meaning of life is love.”

This act was seen by many as Putin (“newly single and ready to mingle”) “hitting” on China’s first lady.

The Chinese public took to Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter, and other social media where they collectively vented their rage.

Russian television station RT described Putin’s “innocuous” gesture as “shawl chivalry” that comes from habits learned living in a cold-weather country, albeit a photograph of Putin riding bare-chested on a horse is well-known in the West.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is well-known as a supporter of “family values.”

In 2013 President Putin signed a federal law that bans “the propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations to minors.”

Relatedly, under the authority of that “family values federal law” a Russian monument dedicated to Apple co-founder Steve Jobs located in the courtyard of the St. Petersburg National Research University of Information Technologies Mechanics and Optics was recently taken down after Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed in Bloomberg Businessweek on Thursday, October 30, 2104, that he (Tim Cook) is gay.

The monument, which is in the shape of an oversize iPhone, was located on the university campus in St. Petersburg.

The reason cited for removing the statute: Russian legislation prohibits propaganda of homosexuality and other sexual perversions among minors.  After Apple CEO Tim Cook publicly called for sodomy, the monument was dismantled pursuant to Russian federal law on the protection of children from information that promotes the denial of traditional family values.

Other complaints about the monument:

• The monument looked too phalic.
• The structure inappropriately symbolizes the superiority of the American way of life.

 Chelsea Handler

Apparently, President Putin is not the only leader protecting “family values.”

It appears that Instagram has also taken it upon itself to protect “family values” by blocking that part of a photograph that depicts Comedian Chelsea Handler bare breasts/bare chest.

In this photograph, Ms. Handler had a photograph taken of herself on a horse – with her bare chest exposed Vladimir Putin style.

When a view of part of her bare chest was blocked, Ms. Chelsea Handler complained when Instagram blocked the full picture of her bare chest that Instagram was discriminating against women, not affording women equal dignity — the right to expose their breasts – to men.

Ms. Handler claims it was an act of  male chauvinistic sexist censorship to block part of the photograph exposing her full breasts in full in a photograph she had posted on Instagram.

It is reported that she cancelled her Instragram account when Instagram refused her request to show her entire breasts instead of blocking part of her breast in the photograph she had posted on Instagram.

After being told of the above action on the part of Instagram, in the interest of promoting humanitarian treatment and equal rights for women, I began a campaign to promote the enlightened treatment of women.  Contact me for details.

The “Anything Goes” Bravura of American Style

In response to reports that a photograph of fashionista Kim Kardashian balancing a glass of champagne on her naked butt in the Winter 2014 issue of “Paper Magazine” was/is the most talked about topic on the Internet, I asked the following questions.

1. Is Kim Kardashian a girl “working the system” or is she a “girl” who is the system?
2. Is one of the reasons Kim Kardashian is a cultural icon the fact that she has cultivated a personal chic that is exuberantly unconventional and idiosyncratic?
3. What does Kim Kardashian’s celebrity tell you about the state of “our” society, about the state of “America”, about Americana collectibles?
4. Is the Winter 2014 issue of “Paper Magazine” now a collectible due to the photograph of Kim Kardashian therein showcasing her highly original strategy of dressing?
5. Is Kim Kardashian being criticized for launching a personal crusade, as a revolutioary in her field working on behalf of working class women, against the inherently self-obolescent cycle of Western fashion and couture?

Except for women in their 20s, most of the people I spoke to about Kim Kardashian had a very low (often contempuous) opinion of her.

Below are examples of the variety of responses I received.

Opinion A

She is working the system and is being kept afloat by people of low IQ whose only interest is celebrity no matter how boring.

It is a laugh to call her an icon.  Her celebrity reminds me of “Water’s World” on the O’Reilly show.

He interviewed students on the Texas Tech campus, none of whom knew anything at all about the Civil War but every one of them knew who Brad Pitt married and who he left for Jole.

I have a hard time using the words investment and Kardashian in the same thought string. 

Opinion B

Kim is a very savvy business woman and knows exactly what she is doing with her body.  She has not so good choice in men except for Mr. West good promo.  Yes.  Buy the magazine and sit on it so to speak.

Opinion C

I certainly don’t keep up with the Kardashians.  However, the line is drawn in the sand.  Meaning, once an iconic celebrity like Kim poses in the nude for publicity she’s no longer marketable as a spoke person, sponsorship, endorsement and especially for major TV networks.

Remember, years ago, actress Meryln Chambers.  Miss Chambers was the spokesperson and model for Proctor & Gamble Ivory Soap.  Miss Chambers was an iconic celebrity, until she decided to become a porn star.  She was dropped in a New York second from all sponsorships and national TV commercials.

Opinion D

It is very fashionable to be contemptuous of the Kardashians.  Oh yes, one more set of fame-hungry bimbos wagging their tits and asses for the salacious delight of middle ages men and nothing more.

I, for one, am not dismissive of the value of appealing to middle-aged lasciviousness.

But, perhaps even more important than that — let us consider the remarkable social contributions the Kardashians make.

1. They are a family.  In an era where families are fractured, splintered, feuding, hateful and hurtful – the Kardashian girls are mutually supportive, go into business together, go out together, and appear to genuinely enjoy each other’s company.  And they all love and have fun with their Mom.   And they all seem to love and care for their brother who, by all measures, is a dumb fat lug.  They even genuinely care for their Mom’s long time beau, Bruce Jenner — who is apparently competing in the Decathlon of the Weird (and it looks like he’s going for the Gold).  All in all, very admirable.
2. The Kardashian Girls are entrepreneurial.  They have made an intelligent calculation of their assets and have capitalize on them.  They market themselves, their name and their products on a par with the best of Madison Avenue.
3. The Kardashians reflect a measure of beauty that is not typical for American culture which seems to exist to exalt in tall, leggy, thin, fair, blonde-haired blue eyed ice goddesses.  The Kardashians are anything but.  Kim is dark, short, and verging on Rubinesque.  Khloe is huge — tall and not verging on but definitely plus-sized.  The other one Kourtney, is even darker than Kim and much shorter.  NONE fits the typical standards of model beauty — yet have each been accepted as such and worthy of emulation.

So Kim’s willingness to put her expansive hips and double plus curvaceous behind out there can be seen as an admirable step in accepting the wonderful diversity of beauty — really, she is a revolutionary in her field, a true leader rising up against the impossible to attain Wonderbread image that Playboy and the media have long foisted on the public.

 Opinion E

Kim Kardashian is being worshipped for being beautiful and rich.

She has the life I wish I had and could have had growing up.

She is upwardly mobile.

Paris Hilton is the same type.

Her perfume sales are at 2 billion.

People bought into the fantasy. 

My Opinion

I agree with Harold Koda, Curator of the Costume Institute, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: “It has been observed that, like democracy itself, American style is a celebration of the individual, the independent, and even, on occasion, the eccentrically idiosyncratic.  There is in the freewheeling American psyche an element of the adventurous that manifests itself in disregard of conventional pieties, an impulse toward rule-breaking.”

I remember, in 1968, my reaction when my wife and I saw a live performance of the musical “Hair.”

My wife and I were shocked when we saw performers on stage completely in the nude.

“Hair” was a theatrical break-though combing contentious opinions, colorful language and nudity.

Original songs – with great original lyrics and scores – (written for the musical) were performed, including “Aquarius”, “Donna”, “Colored Spade”, “Manchester England”, “I Believe In Love”, “Hair”, “Hare Krishna”, “White Boys”, “Black Boys”, “Good Morning Sunshine”, and “Let the Sun Shine In.”

If you think Kim Kardashian’s conduct reflects deep cultural and social forces which are shocking or outrageous and anti-social and in poor taste, and reflect “bad” values, go see Paolo Sorrentino’s 2013 Italian film “The Great Beauty” (La Grande Bellezza), in Italian with English subtitles, starring Toni Servillo.

La Grande Bellezza is an indictment of compulsive partying, shallow conversations, casual sex and those portions of society that have lost their way.

It is a critique of the hollow excesses of hedonism, decadence and spiritual emptiness, echoing Fellini’s indictment of bourgeois decadence in La Dolce Vita.

La Grande Bellezza won Best Film, Best Actor, Best Director, at the European Film Awards in 2013.

Also see David Cronenberg’s 2014 film “Maps to the Stars” (staring Julianne Moore, Mia Wasikowska, Olivia Williams, Sarah Gadon, John Cusak and Robert Pattison), a movie about all the wrong values about social success, business success, gender roles, social status, and the expression of sexuality in the movie business.

I believe Julianne Moore won the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival this year for her acting in “Maps to the Stars.”

Keep in mind the way people really are.

Below is personal description, of her personal early experience as an interior decorator (by Ira Apfel), shortly after World War II ended.

Mrs. Apfel worked as an interior designer on a one-bedroom, budget apartment in Brooklyn for a female client (Mrs. D) and her husband.

“The day soon came when Mrs. D and her husband decided to join the exodus out of Brooklyn and follow the pack to the Promised Land, Long Island.  I was summoned to behold a really lovely, sprawling, three-bedroom ranch house in a very upscale gated community.  ‘Do you like it?’ she said.  ‘I love it,” said I.  “Then it’s yours to do and I’ll give you carte blanche … well, almost.”

“When I’d finished the job, I spent the day icing champagne and setting out Hors d’oeuvres, arranging flowers and lighting candles.  When I saw the limo pull up, I stepped out the back door.  An hour later I arrived home, happy but wiped out.  The phone was ringing off the proverbial hook.  ‘I love it, I love it!’ Madame shrieked.  ‘It’s perfection.  All is wonderful … but,’ she wailed, ‘you made one mistake.’  Oh my God, what could I have possibly overlooked? ‘Well,’ she said, ‘You know those gorgeous bookshelves in my gorgeous green library ? You didn’t even buy me one book.  What will I put on the shelves?  Fill ’em up.  I want ’em full.’  How stupid of me not to realize she didn’t own a single book.  I composed myself.  ‘I didn’t know what kind of books you might want.’ ‘Green ones, of course,’ she said.  ‘All green.’  I was humbled.  ‘Well how many do you want?’  ‘Just a minute, I’ll measure.’  She came back, counting.  ‘At least 90 running feet of them.’  For the next two weeks I camped out at Barnes & Noble.”

Different people have different mindsets, different attitudes and different philosophies.

But, if you have style you have something much more important than beauty.

Imaginative, one of a kind, style differs from individual to individual.

It’s an offshoot of personality.

Like charisma, you know style when you see it.

Not too many possess it: unlike fashion, it cannot be bought.

It is real.

It has such incredible pizzazz it causes a physical reaction.

If you want to have style, think of yourself as a canvas for creativity.

Think of style as your identity, who you are, who you think you are, as how you communicate messages about your identity.

Style plays a complex and important role in our lives.

“Interstellar”

“Interstella” is a movie about concern for man and his fate.

I saw “Interstellar”, staring Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway and Michael Caine Saturday night November 15, 2014 and loved it.

At the beginning of the story, Michael McConaughey says: “My mother once told me, ‘once a child is born the parents’ job is to become a good memory’, I now know what that means.”

The movie, in part, is about McConaughey’s love for his children and relationship with his children.

In “Interstellar”, Matthew McConaughey is a loving father who stays in touch with his children.  He is in tune with his children continuously as they are growing up.

However, at the time the story takes place the future existence of the planet earth is in question, the human species might soon become extinct and all living human beings my die from starvation are because a blight is killing all crops.  Further more, children are no-longer being taught scientific, engineering or technology skills and technolgical related development has stopped, no new gadgets are being invented.  Technologically speaking everything is at a stanstil; humanistically speaking  it looks like the human species is on the path to extinction.

McConaughey is tasked (by Michael Caine, the leader of a secret governmentally sponsored research group) to pilot a ship into outer-space to discover a new planet that will support human life.  The hope is that if such a planet is discovered the people still alive on earth will be evacuated to it.

Dramatic tension builds as actors and actresses (the characters in this story), through their actions, reveal their personal answer to the question – What is the chief interest, the most important drive of an individual?

• [A] Survival of the human species?
• [B] Survival of the individual?
• [C] Protecting loved ones?

ASIDE:  One of the planets in this story has 67 hour days.  Imagine what you could do if you had 67 hour days.  Of course, what you can accomplish in any day depends on how you manage your time.

Getting back to this movie.  The take away from this movie is:

1. Figure out what makes people tick and you can better motivate them.
2. Don’t blindly trust people in charge by virtue of their power or knowledge or highest level of authority.
3. Concern for man himself and his fate does not always form the chief interest of most of the people in charge.

“Interstellar” “teaches” how “drivers” (in this case Michael Caine) motivate “strivers” (in this case Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway).

 The Garden of Eden

When someone says they would like to live in “The Garden of Eden” are they really saying they don’t want to think and/or they don’t want to work?

The “Garden of Eden” was a mindless place, a place where no one had to work.  Is that a place where you would like to live?

The purpose of this post is to give you things to think about.

See the words, phrases and ideas in the sections after the end of this post.

They are put there (a) to think about, (b) to help you get in touch with yourself, your conscious and your subconscious, (d) to help you think, and (d) to help you while you are traveling on your mental journeys.

I would be happy to learn what you think about all of the above.

Sincerely,

Gary S. Smolker, Publisher

“Gary S. Smolker Idea Exchange Blog”

http://www.garysmolker.wordpress.com

Copyright © 2014 by Gary S. Smolker

Movies, Pop Culture, the News Media, Oil Prices and the World Economy Are Weapons in the Islam vs. Western Civilization Culture War – by Gary S. Smolker

Updated December 6, 2014

Originally posted November 7, 2014

Challenge

The challenge presented to you in this post is to answer the following questions.

1. How do you measure a civilization?  Do you consider how women are looked at in a civilization?  Do you consider the “idea of freedom” in a civilization?  What do you consider, what counts?
2. Do you believe there is such a thing as “cultural evolution?”  If so: (a) What are the metrics of cultural evolution?  (b) How do propose we should measure cultural evolution?
3. Is the world experiencing an evolution of “culture” reflected in how people live their lives and/or in what we value as a group and/or as a society?
4. What is the strongest human drive?  What is your strongest drive?
5. What is your definition of style?
6. • What determines the overall basis of the culture, civilization, and human values in a community/a country/ in the world?
   • Is the world in the midst of a social, cultural and political revolution?
   • What role does the media play in the ongoing social, cultural and political revolutions going on in the world?
   • Do you believe life is all about learning, learning about reality?

“Rockin the Wall”

Last night (November 6, 2014) I went to a program at which a movie called “Rockin the Wall” was shown followed by a panel discussion.

The argument made by the sponsors at the program – before and after the movie was shown – was that western music (pop culture) is a powerful force that was/is responsible for the Berlin Wall being torn down.

[Aside: At 1 a.m.. on August 13, 1961, East Germany sealed off the border between the Soviet-controlled eastern sector of Berlin and the western sectors controlled by the Allies.  Communist leader Walter Ulbricht called it an “anti-fascist protective wall,” though its real purpose was to stop the flood of people leaving East Berlin for the West.  Thousands of people tried to escape by tunneling under, swimming past, climbing or flying over the wall.  During its 28-year existence the Wall served as a symbol for communist oppression.]

The point made by the speakers during a panel discussion after the movie was shown was that pop-culture (music and movies) is/are a powerful force in forming ideas which prompt action.

After the movie was shown, the panel members stated:

1. Rock-N-Roll is the music of freedom and individuality (the keystone of democracy).
2. Rock-N-Roll is a uniquely American product.
3. Rock-N-Roll is the most appealing/popular music in the world; it is the world’s music.
4. Rock-N-Roll music caused so much unrest in East Germany that the Soviets and the East German government had no choice but to tear down the Berlin Wall.
5. The Berlin Wall was the first wall built to keep people “in” instead of to keep people (invaders) out.

The movie “Rockin The Wall” contains a large number of interviews in which various people talk about what it was like for them to live in East Berlin and/or in other places under Soviet domination and how highly valued American music (Rock-N-Roll) and Beatles’ music was to them and to other people in their country.

North Korea

In the panel discussion that followed the showing of this film, one panelist told the story of a girl in North Korea who was forced to watch her mother being executed for the crime of possessing an “American movie.”

He explained that in North Korea it is against the law to possess or own foreign-made movies and that the penalty for owning/possessing a foreign-made movie depends upon the country of origin.  The highest penalty (death) is for owning or possessing an American made movie.

According to this panelist, the most highly prized American films in North Korea are love stories such as “Titanic” and “Pretty Woman” because they teach [have as their message] that it is okay to “love” a person other than the regime and/or the supreme leader of North Korea.

This is considered such a dangerous idea by North Korean leaders that the penalty for possessing or watching such a movie is death.

From that point forward the panel discussion focused on the impact of American culture on people in repressive countries.

Is Rock-n-Roll Subversive?

According to the panelists.

1. Rock-n-Roll is considered to be too subversive by tyrants.
2. The lyrics in Rock-n-Roll inspire people to do something to improve society.
3. The high energy and call to action of Rock-n-Roll resonates with the angst and rebelliousness of young people and motivates them to take to the streets to protest against repression and to protest against denial of freedoms in their authoritarian countries.
4. Music represents freedom.
5. Singers/songwriters express what they are feeling.
6. Music is “rebellion” from “A” to “Z”.  This makes music meaningful and “subversive.”
7. American movies and music being “forbidden” in authoritarian countries makes watching American movies and listening to American music an act of rebellion against authoritarian regimes, which manifests a person’s individuality.
8. You can’t stop people from enjoying music.
9. As a result of American/Western music and movies, everyone in the world knows that anything that is “fun” comes from the West.
10. As a result of watching movies, everyone can compare their (impoverished) life with life in the “West.”
11. Pop culture (music and movies) is a medium of transmission of information to less free societies from the West.
12. Movies provide “brain-washed” people a window from which they are able to see the world.
13. Movies show people living under repressive regimes the impoverishment of their own country/culture.
14. Movies send messages out into the world.

The Worldwide Culture War

After passionate panelists finished “arguing” that there is an all-encompassing universal yearning for freedom, I asked the panelist to answer the following questions:

• Who is winning the worldwide culture war: Islam or Democracy?
• Why is ISIS’s power growing?
• Why are Islamic enclaves becoming larger and larger, more and more powerful in European countries such as Sweden, Norway, France and Turkey?
• Having witnessed a remarkable shift from poverty to growing prosperity and power, are most people in China more concerned with their wellbeing than with their freedom or lack of freedom?  Isn’t the most powerful drive of a starving man to get something to eat for himself and/or for his family?

In a private discussion with one of the panelists, I brought up the facts and discussed with him that China has expanded its share of the global gross domestic product from 2 percent in 1995 to 12 percent in 2012.  China’s economic model – communist control of thought and politics but welcoming to most enterprise – has vastly outperformed that of the strongest democracies including the economies of the United States, the European Union, and Japan.

That panelist told me he wished he knew how to speak Chinese.  He told me he would like to work in China.

He also told me the Arab world is spending billions of dollars to become the center of world cinema.

Investments Being Made by Middle Eastern Arab/Muslim Countries and by Mainland Chinese in the Entertainment Industry

We then discussed the investments being made by Middle Eastern Arab/Muslim countries and China in the entertainment industry.

Keep in mind that Chinese billionaire Wang Jianlin, who owns China’s biggest cinema chain (Dalian Wanda Group which has more than 1,247 screens in 149 Chinese theater) is reportedly (in a front page article in the Tuesday, December 2, 2014 issue of the Los Angeles Times) looking to buy the parent of Lionsgate, the independent studio behind the lucrative “Hunger Games” and “Twilight” franchises.  He also wants to invest in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which produces the James Bond movies.  His cinema chain (Dalian Wanda Group) owns AMC theatres, the No. 2 chain in the U.S.

Wang Jianlin first made a splash in the U.S. news two years ago when his company Dalian Wanda Group acquired AMC Entertainment for $2.6 billion, creating the world’s largest theater chain

China is the world’s second largest film market.  According to that article, China’s box office is expected to reach about $5 billion this year and surpass the U.S. by 2019.  China is currently adding about 10 theaters a day.

Also keep in mind that according to the International Monetary Fund in 2014 China’s economic output ($17.6 trillion) will exceed that of the United States ($17.4 trillion); China now accounts for 16.5% of the world’s economy, the U.S. accounts for 16.3% of the world’s economy.

By the way, also according to that article, Lionsgate has already branched out to the Chinese market.  In July, Lionsgate teamed up with Chinese e-Commerce giant Alibaba to launch a subscription streaming service for mainland China.  The service called Lionsgate Entertainment World, allows users of the platform to watch box-office and television favorites such as “Divergent” and AMC’s “Mad Men” on set-top boxes.

Real Estate Prices and the Price of Oil

The headline to a different article on the front page of the Wednesday, December 3, 2014 issue of the  LOS ANGELES TIMES is ” A REMADE ARCADIA – An influx of money from mainland China is transforming the once sleepy suburb by Pasadena into a ‘Chinese Beverly Hills.'”

In that article it is reported that in the last year, more than 90 houses sold for more than $2.5 million in Arcadia, a city of 56,000 that sits just east of Pasadena at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains.  Prices are up more than 39% from their peak i 2007 before the housing downturn.  The city, now 60% Asian, has become more expensive than Calabasas, the suburban enclave of the Kardashians  It’s become known as the “Chinese Beverly Hills.”

According to that article: For wealthy mainland Chinese, Aracadia remains a bargain.  Prices in Shanghai or Beigjing can approach $2,000 per square foot, still far above the $650 per square foot in southern Arcadia.

Also keep in mind that the price of oil changes.

In 2013, U.S. crude futures averaged $97.28 per barrel.

Oil prices have plunged about 40% since June.  U.S. futures dropped to $66.81 a barrel on December 4, 2014 and Brent futures fell to $69.64.

Saudi officials have said they see oil prices settling at $60 per barrel.

The percipitious fall of the price of crude oil price drop has wrecked havoc on the Russian ruble and may put a lot of more expensive U.S. oil shale plays off and causing a fall of weaker players – the players more highly leveraged.  New oil well permits plunged nearly 40% in the U.S. last month according to data Reuters received from Drilling Info Inc.

U.S. firms and Russia aren’t the only ones feeling the pain.  A survey of Norweigen oil companies found they expect to invest 14% less on oil and gas exploration next year.

Price Matters

By the way, price does matter.

U.S. crude oil reserves recently hit the highest level in nearly 40 years but will probably (?)/might (?) fall back down again as Saudi Arabia continues to lower prices, putting more pressure on U.S. producers.

Here is a quote from an article on the front page of the Monday, December 8, 2014 issue of INVESTORS BUSINESS DAILY:

“More than $150 billion in oil and gas projects worldwide are expected to be cancelled next year as oil prices continue to fall.

“Norwegian consulting firm Rystad Energy expects companies to make final investment decisions on a total of 800 projects valued at $500 billion and totaling nearly 60 billion barrels of oil equivalent, according to Reuters.  But a third of the spending likely won’t get approved.

“Rystad estimates that half of overall volumes are at risk of being shut down if oil futures are at $70 per barrel.

“With prices plunging, more expensive fields could go offline as production becomes unprofitable.”

Additional Culture War Questions:

When the U.S. movie industry (“Hollywood”) looks at worldwide sales and sees the possibility of the worldwide “Muslim market” will this affect their scripts?

When “Hollywood” looks at worldwide sales and sees the reality of film sales in Mainland China today and future film sales in China will this affect the U.S. movie industry’s scripts?

What is the 21st Century going to be called?

Is the 21st century going to be “the Century of the State?”, “the Century of Authoritarian Regimes?”, “the Century of the Individual?” and/or “the Century of Self-Identity?” or by some other name.

Some people claim that the recession of the last decade marked the end of the era of liberal democracies.  Does that claim make sense?

Are the “Culture Wars” or “Culture War” of today just an updated version of the “Cold War”?

My Philosophical Observations

For a world power to succeed it needs to generate respect for its own culture.

The Two Most Important Question to Ask Yourself Are:

1. Do people in the West have the will to fight for the ideals of Western Civilization?
2. Do they have the will to die for the ideals of Western Civilization?

Technology makes it possible to make the insignificant significant, i.e. the popularity of reality shows, such as the reality show about the Kardashians and the fact that a nude picture of Kim Kardashian balancing a champagne glass on her rear end was the most talked about topic on the Internet.

Technology also makes it possible for everyone one in the world to see “riots” in Ferguson, Illinois, the use of military vehicles to quell those riots, and mass demonstrations in major cities in the U.S. in protest of the grand jury decision not to indict the policeman who killed Michael Brown, an unarmed teenager.

Information technology, smart phones, the Internet, CNN, the media, etc. have shrunk the world.

Figuratively speaking: everyone can see what is going on everywhere all the time.

The Taboo Topic of Mass Rapes by Militiamen and Soldiers in the On-going Civil War in Syria

Consider the taboo topic of mass rapes by militiamen and soldiers in Syria recently reported in the (Tuesday) November 18, 2014 issue of the Los Angeles Times.

According to the Times’ article females in Syria who are victims of sexual crime live in silence too terrified and ashamed to talk about their ordeal.

Their husbands divorce them.

Syrian cultural norms regard rape as a source of shame and dishonor.

Terrified women and unwilling families are more concerned about not tarnishing family honor than in seeking legal justice.

“Instead, the victims have fled to neighboring nations, divorced or been forced to marry older men, ending up as second or third wives.  In the worse cases, they have been killed by their own relatives, in what the families see as a way of restoring honor.

CONTRAST the taboo story of Syrian cultural norms regarding rape as a source of shame and dishonor with stories recently published in the United States and what is openly currently going on in the United States.

Compare the story of Syrian values and cultural norms with the following stories of life, “culture”, civilization, human values and cultural values in the U.S.

1. Twenty or so women have come forth and publically stated their claims that celebrity movie star/comic Bill Crosby drugged and raped them.
2. A picture of Kim Kardashian posing nude has recently appeared on the cover of a magazine.

Take Away:

• Reporting on cultural customs and practices [human rights violations] is a battleground in the ongoing war over “culture values” in Islamic societies vs. Western societies.
• Shinning a light on Syrian sexual crime is one action now being taken as a matter of increasing importance in the ongoing culture war.
• “Rape is the most importation violation to document because its effects last forever.  Torture scars can heal.”
• Shinning a light on the current state of Freedom of Speech and Assembly in the United States via reporting on how women do not feel ashamed to come forth and accuse a celebrity of raped them after drugging them and reporting social unrest/protest marches, etc. is dealt with in the United States is of great importance.
• The fact that the President of the United States (Barrack Obama) and the Attorney General of the United States (Eric Holder) are taking immediate personal action to improve the relationships between local community police forces and local communities says a lot about the United States, western values and how democracy works.
• The fact that TV news shoes and talk shoes and the media are incessently reporting on the accusation that Bill Cosby raped various young women says alot about freedom of the press and women’s self-confidence in the United States.
• Astute women in the world will are comparing what Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdgon recently said (putting women and men on equal footing is against nature) and Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc, a fellow conservative Islamist said (he criticized Turkish women for departing from the religion’s ideal of feminine modesty by smiling in public) fostering an increasingly conservative and authoritarian political culture with what social media and other sources are reporting on what is happening in the United States.

 

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To be continued.

This post will be expanded by being updated in future updates by me.

Feel free to comment on this version and on future updated versions of this post.

For immediate further food for thought on the issues discussed above, read my post entitled “An Artistic, Political and Social Manifesto Regarding Sexually Explicit Movies and Modern Medicine” which was originally posted on October 26, 2014 at http://www.garysmolker.wordpress.com. and my post entitled “November 2014 Traveler’s Guide to Sex, Politics, Celebrity, Business, Panach, Style, Culture, Individuality, Leadership, Relationships and Personal Chic on A Lonely Planet” first posted on November 17, 2014 on my blog “The Gary S. Smolker Idea Exchange Blog” at http://www.garysmolker.wordpress.com

Copyright © 2014 Gary S. Smolker