Hi everyone!
Before I begin today, I just wanted to alert all of you to a special promotion I'm currently running on Amazon.com. Starting today and lasting through February 12th, you can download the Kindle version of my novel "Birds of Dreams" for free. Yes, that's right. For free. The same promotion is running concurrently on Amazon.co.uk for those of you living in the UK. After February 12th, the price will go up...so take advantage of this offer now. "Birds of Dreams" is a satirical look at contemporary reality TV-obsessed society and portrays the lengths people will go to for a shot at their own Kardashian dreams. It's funny, it's irreverent, it's a novel for our times.
Changing focus...I was particularly gratified to read an Op-Ed piece in today's New York Times by Efraim Halevy, the former Israeli national security adviser, ambassador, and Mossad director from 1998 to 2002. In his column, entitled "Iran's Achilles Heel," Mr. Halevy argues that the best (and most overlooked) way for the West to defeat Iran's spreading influence in the Middle East is to support regime change in Syria. Never mind, he writes, a military strike on Iran's nuclear processing facilities that would prove extremely costly and would run the risk of furthering antagonizing Iran into its own strikes against Israel and other Western interests in the Middle East.
A far better approach--and one that no one in the U.S. seems to be considering as all focus is on weighing the pros and cons of a U.S. or Israeli missile strike---is to undermine Iran's influence by tightening the noose around Bashar al-Assad's neck. If the West works to build unity among and influence upon the various rival factions within the Syrian opposition, it can effectively cut off Iran's conduit to its allies in Hamas and Hezbollah, get rid of Iran's Republican Guard training camps throughout the country, and thereby limit the scope of Iran's influence in the country upon which it most relies as a proxy for regional dominance.
Of course a major stumbling block in this scenario is continued Russian intransigence. But, Mr. Halevy writes, this is not necessarily insurmountable. If the West and the post-Assad government is able to assure Russia that it can maintain naval access to its Mediterranean ports at Tartus and Latakia and continue to serve as an arms supplier to Syria, Russia might be feel that its interests are not being overlooked. Russia needs to feel that it is not being sidelined in any negotiations involving the future of Syria, its main ally in the region. Russia will not allow another repeat of Libya, hence its unconscionable veto of the U.N. Security Council/Arab League-backed resolution.
Russia is trying its own diplomatic approach and claims it is committed to peace in Syria. Despite the Russian flag-waving and pro-Kremlin rallies that greeted the Russian delegation in Damascus yesterday, it seems very little was actually accomplished. Bashar is stubbornly holding fast.
Mr. Halevy, you've got it right. Your strategy is exactly the one I've been suggesting here for days. A missile strike or any overt military action against Iran's nuclear sites, regardless of their possible justification, is only going to make matters worse. By focusing on Syria, we'd be killing two birds with one stone--assuring regime change in Syria which--if managed correctly--will put a stranglehold on Iran's influence not only in Syria, but around the world.
Ciao.
Showing posts with label Amazon Kindle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Amazon Kindle. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Confessions of a Reality TV junkie
Hi everyone!
There's a lot I could write about today: how I've become (albeit reluctantly) intrigued by Denver Broncos' Bible-quoting quarterback Tim Tebow, the fact that yesterday's protests in Russia took place without any discernible conflict, or more on what's going on in the Middle East. Instead, I'm going to write a little bit about my novel "Birds of Dreams," what it's about, and how I believe it captures the state of popular culture/society today.
I will be the first to admit that I am a reality television junkie. Yes, I am huge fan of Bravo's Real Housewives franchise (particularly Beverly Hills) as well as A-List: New York and A-List: Dallas. I think it would be fun to know Andy Cohen and appear as a guest on his show Watch What Happens...Live. I haven't missed an episode of The X Factor and believe it consistently outshines American Idol in terms of talent, production values, and conflict (real or staged) between the judges. While I have never watched an episode of anything to do with the Kardashians, I did root for Rob on the recently concluded season of Dancing with the Stars and found myself surfing the Internet for the latest on the fallout from Kim's wedding. I have watched several seasons of Top Chef and never miss The Amazing Race when it isn't being pre-empted by Sunday afternoon football. Like many of my fellow world citizens, I have often envisioned myself starring in my own reality television show and was at one time depressed by the fact that I am officially too old to appear on The Real World.
I have embraced this about myself and decided to do something constructive about it. I wrote a novel. "Birds of Dreams" tells the story of what happens when Reality collides with Reality-As-Seen-On-TV. It follows the lives of several reality TV aspirants and the rather ruthless and embarrassing things they do to get famous on the small screen. I have fused their story with another of my favorite guilty pleasures: Hindi cinema, otherwise known as Bollywood. And to further ground the story in contemporary society, I have also included a healthy dose of global terrorism. Readers will be introduced to Jordan, the twentysomething wannabe socialite with a mother whose life's obsession is to be featured if only as a walk-on in an episode of The Real Housewives; Yasmin, the Bollywood beauty and celebrity chef who stops at nothing--including staging the assassination of one of her rivals at her restaurant opening--to get her own reality show; and Tristan, the thirtysomething trust fund kid who finds himself--not entirely reluctantly--in the midst of reality show madness. There is also Matt, the entrepreneur who uses his family inheritance to start up an international drug trafficking operation, and his mother, Candace, the North Shore socialite and philanthropist who contracts a South African mercenary to end the rather unwholesome intentions of an unwanted future daughter-in-law.
If this sounds like farce, it is. The novel is meant as a social satire, an expose if you will on today's pop culture. Only a couple of these characters get what they want and when they get it, perhaps they realize that life in front of the cameras isn't what they had hoped it to be. The price they pay is enormous. "Birds of Dreams" is funny, irreverent, gossipy and vulgar. The reader may be repulsed by these characters while secretly admiring their tenacity. The novel isn't high art. It isn't going to change or inspire the reader to do great deeds. It's sole intent is entertainment. We may laugh at them, we may hate them, we may even finds ourselves egging them on. In short, the reader does exactly what we do when we watch any number of the reality shows that take up increasing space on our DVRs. The novel appeals to our worst fascinations and our compulsive need to "watch what happens...live."
Ciao.
QUESTION OF THE DAY: "What is your favorite reality TV show...and why?"
There's a lot I could write about today: how I've become (albeit reluctantly) intrigued by Denver Broncos' Bible-quoting quarterback Tim Tebow, the fact that yesterday's protests in Russia took place without any discernible conflict, or more on what's going on in the Middle East. Instead, I'm going to write a little bit about my novel "Birds of Dreams," what it's about, and how I believe it captures the state of popular culture/society today.
I will be the first to admit that I am a reality television junkie. Yes, I am huge fan of Bravo's Real Housewives franchise (particularly Beverly Hills) as well as A-List: New York and A-List: Dallas. I think it would be fun to know Andy Cohen and appear as a guest on his show Watch What Happens...Live. I haven't missed an episode of The X Factor and believe it consistently outshines American Idol in terms of talent, production values, and conflict (real or staged) between the judges. While I have never watched an episode of anything to do with the Kardashians, I did root for Rob on the recently concluded season of Dancing with the Stars and found myself surfing the Internet for the latest on the fallout from Kim's wedding. I have watched several seasons of Top Chef and never miss The Amazing Race when it isn't being pre-empted by Sunday afternoon football. Like many of my fellow world citizens, I have often envisioned myself starring in my own reality television show and was at one time depressed by the fact that I am officially too old to appear on The Real World.
I have embraced this about myself and decided to do something constructive about it. I wrote a novel. "Birds of Dreams" tells the story of what happens when Reality collides with Reality-As-Seen-On-TV. It follows the lives of several reality TV aspirants and the rather ruthless and embarrassing things they do to get famous on the small screen. I have fused their story with another of my favorite guilty pleasures: Hindi cinema, otherwise known as Bollywood. And to further ground the story in contemporary society, I have also included a healthy dose of global terrorism. Readers will be introduced to Jordan, the twentysomething wannabe socialite with a mother whose life's obsession is to be featured if only as a walk-on in an episode of The Real Housewives; Yasmin, the Bollywood beauty and celebrity chef who stops at nothing--including staging the assassination of one of her rivals at her restaurant opening--to get her own reality show; and Tristan, the thirtysomething trust fund kid who finds himself--not entirely reluctantly--in the midst of reality show madness. There is also Matt, the entrepreneur who uses his family inheritance to start up an international drug trafficking operation, and his mother, Candace, the North Shore socialite and philanthropist who contracts a South African mercenary to end the rather unwholesome intentions of an unwanted future daughter-in-law.
If this sounds like farce, it is. The novel is meant as a social satire, an expose if you will on today's pop culture. Only a couple of these characters get what they want and when they get it, perhaps they realize that life in front of the cameras isn't what they had hoped it to be. The price they pay is enormous. "Birds of Dreams" is funny, irreverent, gossipy and vulgar. The reader may be repulsed by these characters while secretly admiring their tenacity. The novel isn't high art. It isn't going to change or inspire the reader to do great deeds. It's sole intent is entertainment. We may laugh at them, we may hate them, we may even finds ourselves egging them on. In short, the reader does exactly what we do when we watch any number of the reality shows that take up increasing space on our DVRs. The novel appeals to our worst fascinations and our compulsive need to "watch what happens...live."
Ciao.
QUESTION OF THE DAY: "What is your favorite reality TV show...and why?"
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