I'd like to thank all the well-wishers who reached out to wish me a happy birthday. It is different from those days when they went by with impunity. But in any event it's nice to know you guys care. I've yet to figure out what beach to go to but we've found the Dragon Inn film I would like to see again. UCLA is going to screen it for me so watch my blog and I'll invite as many of you as I can to the screening. And last but not least, I've got a lead on the Continental Divide Trail ride I'd like to undertake thanks to all your help. Best wishes to Kim and Jameson in Playa. Your K.
(Michelle and Barack with daughters Malia and Sasha)
Barack Obama is my choice for president. I’ve already explained why in previous blogs. But if Obama isn’t elected, it would be hard to blame racism. Republicans aren’t going to vote for him, not because he’s black, but because, even worse, he’s a Democrat. And for the most part, Obama has garnered more popular support among white voters than any other candidate. If Obama is elected, I believe that through his leadership skills and intelligence he will usher in a dynamic new era of government by inclusion rather than secrecy. Like John F. Kennedy, Obama will inspire a younger generation and invigorate the older generation to take greater part in their government, society, and community.
But there are many obstacles this New Era will have to face. A sagging economy. War abroad. Faltering education.
And, worst of all, the movie Horton Hears a Who.
This isn’t a review of the movie, it’s a review of how Hollywood sometimes contributes to the divisiveness within the country. Ironically, Horton Hears a Who has done more damage to our society than the recent slate of politically motivated movies about the war in Iraq (Rendition, Stop-Loss, Lambs for Lions, Redacted, In the Valley of Elah, etc.) has done good. For one thing, more people saw Horton than saw all the other movies combined.
How can a beloved Dr. Seuss story do so much harm? Well, the original book by Dr. Seuss is just fine, a timeless tale that has been delighting children since it was first published in 1954. The story of the brave elephant that is willing to endure the harshest condemnation from his friends and community in order to protect those in need is a wonderful lesson for children.
But then along comes the movie. To make the story long enough for a full-length movie, a subplot was added about the mayor of Whoville who has 96 cheerful daughters and one brooding son. This is where things take a nasty turn. Basically, the mayor ignores his 96 daughters in order to groom his uninterested son to become mayor. Why doesn’t he groom one of his much more enthusiastic daughters? And, of course, it is the brooding son who, in the end, saves the entire world of Whoville. The daughters? They get to cheer from the sidelines. While it’s true that in the book a “very small shirker named Jo-Jo” does add his tiny voice to the din and thus saves Whoville, but that promotes the idea that we all have our part to play in our community, not that sons are smarter than daughters.
“Hey, it’s just a cartoon,” you might say. But this particular cartoon will be seen by millions of children around the world. And they will come away with a clear impression that a single son is worth more than 96 daughters. Those boys are inherently more valuable than girls, and more likely to be successful (in this case, in saving the world) than girls.
What’s especially insidious here isn’t just that the subplot was written and approved and filmed, but that since the movie has come out, there hasn’t been a popular outcry about it. That we don’t even ask why, in the years it took to make the movie, no one along the line said, “This isn’t a good message to send to our kids.” Is it because sexism is so ingrained in our society that we don’t even flinch at it when it’s shoved in our faces?
What’s all this have to do with racism?
Well, if our society is willing to tolerate any form of social injustice and discrimination toward any single group, then they have created a breeding ground for injustice throughout society. If we allow sexism, ageism, homophobia, religious intolerance, then racism can only flourish as well. We expose our impressionable children to funny cartoons about wacky animals voiced by famous actors and what do we think is going to happen. Will a little girl step out of Horton feeling empowered and motivated, or just slightly less capable than the little boy walking beside her?
I don’t think the filmmakers are evil or that they deliberately set out to send this awful message. Somehow it seems worse that they didn’t notice.
Maybe after eight years of Barak Obama’s presidency, our society will have evolved to a place where the filmmakers and the audiences won’t tolerate even the subtlest forms of discrimination. At least with Barak Obama, we have hope that such a world might be.
I've come to that time of the year again. Tomorrow, Wednesday the 16th, I turn 61. My manager Deborah Morales asked me to name three wishes for this year's event. I'm trying to keep it simple, so here it goes.
I would like a quiet tropical vacation. Beach access is a must.
I would like to see a favorite Martial Arts film, Dragon Inn, which has not been seen since the early '70s. (UCLA Films Archive.)
I'd like to do a trail ride on the Colorado Continental Divide trail for a few days. It's a beautiful trail that runs the length of the state of Colorado.
>> Please send a detailed note to Kareem's manager if you can help make his birthday wishes come true: click here.
I was treated to some fine singing while doing a skit for "The Colbert Report." None other than Carole King was the lady at the piano, and it was a treat to hear her perform some tunes from her venerable songbook. "Tapestry" was album of the year in 1971 and was awarded three other Grammys that same year. “You’ve Got a Friend” was song of the year.
I was immediately struck by the fact that the years have accumulated so quickly. It really did not seem like 37 years have passed by with such speed, but here we are. After the show I got a chance to talk to Carole for a few minutes and had a fun time strolling down memory lane; back when I got traded to the Lakers from Milwaukee, I had the pleasure of sharing dinner with Carole and some mutual friends.
Carole has moved from Southern California to Idaho but still has an intense passion for the issues that she supports. She was very pleased to see how Herbie Hancock’s disc "River" was album of the year this year at the Grammys. We both agreed that Herbie had escaped a “label dungeon” that sometime limits a recording's reach because of the way it is labeled and marketed. We both hope a day will come when no label can interfere with a recording's success.
I have been answering questions for a long time, and I think it is time to ask you one:
"Who would you vote for president? As you all know Obama is my choice for president for all the reasons mentioned in my past posts. Now, what is your choice? Who will have the privilege to receive your vote?"
I am in the center of a campaign for the iPhone. It’s at the end of an odyssey for me, since I have come into the digital age drip by drip. I was one of those parents who watched as my children became computer savvy and comfortable with a new technology that has changed the way people communicate. I will have to take some lessons for a while, but the potential of the computer is almost beyond description. I’ll be working with a tutor in order to catch up with the computer-savvy crowd.
My kids tell me there is nothing to be afraid of and that I’ll get it “in no time.” I truly hope so!
As a music and film fan I’m looking forward to downloading films and discs of interest and I’m already aware of the Internet as an awesome research device. Mainly I’m looking forward to exploring the Internet where there is so much to experience. All of my friends have mentioned the huge new world that one encounters when they have their first experience in the Internet landscape. I can’t wait!
Certain things are inevitable. Death and taxes, of course. A famous athlete will indignantly deny using steroids, then get caught. An A-list actor will go on all the talk shows and brag about how proud he is of his new movie—and it will suck. Reality shows will multiply like randy rabbits. A politician will be caught up in a sex scandal, and his wife will stand stoically beside him as he publicly confesses all. Nothing can stop these things from happening.
Same goes for weight gain after 40.
Studies show that after men turn 40, even if you are a devout athlete working out every day, your waistline is fighting to expand. After you turn 50, the fight turns into all-out war: muscles start to lose mass and the waistline starts demanding larger pants. This expansion is usually due to increased abdominal fat, which is linked to high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, and heart disease. For women, the waistline can predict cardiovascular disease and cancer. A medical study released this week (and reported in the April 8th Los Angeles Times) concluded that women with waists 35 inches or greater had a 79% higher chance of premature death than women whose waists were 28 inches or less—even if the women were within the “normal” weight range.
The problem with relying just on exercise to combat this gain is it doesn’t work. A study of nearly 5,000 runners between the ages of 18 and 50 showed that they gained weight at about the same rate no matter how many miles each person ran per week. While adding 20 minutes on your treadmill time or another set to your weight-lifting routine may keep the muscles trim, for most people, the invading army of fat will continue to gain ground.
However, when you combine a nutritionally balanced diet with exercise, you have a much greater chance of sending fat on a hasty retreat. That’s why I’m very serious about what I put into my body. Also, I know that because most people’s heads come up to my waist, they’re staring right at my gut, so every extra inch looks even bigger to them.
OK, so let’s get you eating healthier.
What to Eat Remember, your best chance of defeating fat is by combining nutrition with exercise, so the combination of foods I’m recommending is for someone who works out regularly. This will help fuel your workout and maintain weight control.
Carbohydrates. You’ll need them. Despite what trendy diets suggest, most athletes eat carbs. But the trick is in picking the right ones. Eat multi-grain breads, whole wheat pastas, basmati or brown rice, oatmeal, fruit (fresh, canned, or cooked), sweet potatoes, and new white potatoes.
Protein. This helps your muscles grow. Also, it fills you up so you’re less likely to overeat or hunt down a Twinkie soon after your meal. If you’re exercising regularly, you’ll need to eat 1 to 1.2 grams of protein per pound of body weight. For best results, you should have a protein-rich meal or snack within 90 minutes after your workout. When selecting your protein source, the key is the keep it as low in fat as possible. For meats, make sure it’s always a lean cut (and avoid gravies and sauces). Almonds, peanuts, and cashews are a great source of protein. So are yogurt, cottage cheese, salmon, chicken breasts, turkey, eggs, milk and tuna.
Healthy Fats. We’ve been programmed to flinch at the word “fats,” but some fats are necessary for a nutritional diet. The fats found in olive oil, avocado, salmon and nuts is good for you. However, even though it has the word “healthy” in front of it, you still need to use them moderately. They are high in calories, so you should limit your daily calorie intake from fats to 20%.
It’s Not Just About Weight Loss Don’t worry about losing weight right away. First, focus on improving your diet, which will make your body stronger and give you more energy. Then, if losing weight is part of your goal, shoot for a modest but doable one pound per week. To lose one pound, you’ll have to exert 3,500 more calories than you take in. This can be achieved by spending 500 more calories a day more than you consume. The best way to accomplish this is through a combination of diet and exercise: eat 250 calories less each day, and burn off 250 calories more.
Take It Easy Don’t make too many radical changes at once. That shock to your usual routine sets you up for failure. This is about slowly changing habits. Each week, replace something that you regularly eat that isn’t healthy with something that is. The apple instead of the potato chips; the almonds instead of the donut. The same advice holds for exercise. Each week add one more set to your weight routine, one more minute to jumping rope or aerobics.
Within a short time, you will be in control of your health. As we get older, our bodies may conspire against us, but we didn’t get to this age without learning a few tricks along the way. Your brain controls your body; don’t let it forget who’s boss.
I love mysteries. I’m a huge fan of the Sherlock Holmes stories, as well as hard-boiled writers like Chester Himes, Raymond Chandler, and Dashiell Hammett. Desperate criminals chased down mean streets by world-weary detectives, now that’s entertainment. That’s why I’m especially excited that Raymond Obstfeld, my friend and co-writer of "On the Shoulders of Giants," has just published a suspense thriller that’s set in Southern California. This book is the first in a series about Stevie Croft, an assistant district attorney with a remarkable ability: she possesses hyper-memory, the uncanny ability to remember everything she’s ever seen or heard or read. As she discovers, the ability is more of a burden than a blessing. She’s kept this ability a secret, until a clever and demented serial killer threatens to reveal it. Unless she uses her power to catch him. The problem is, Stevie’s hyper-memory is starting to fail, and in her pursuit of the killer, other dark family secrets are exposed. Great concept for a movie or television series!
Because Raymond and I are friends, I don’t think it’s appropriate that I review the book, but I will quote Shirley Johnson, the reviewer from MidWest Book Review:
"I have to tell you I absolutely loved this book. The characters were so well developed that I thought of them as people I had known all my life. The story took me down alleys, into close spaces, and had me racing for my life just like the characters in the book. Talk about drawing a person into the action, this book certainly does that. I was caught up in their traumas, their emotions, and every aspect of their lives. Good job! The kicker here, however, is the conclusion. I was shocked, beyond shock. I would have never guessed what was coming in a million years, and I'm pretty good at figuring mysteries out. What a twist!"
All I can say is hold onto your hat when you're reading this book. It's going to have you speeding down the road at a one fast clip. You will not be bored, that much I guarantee, as your mind is racing trying to figure out the next move of the killer, what is going on in Stevie's personal life, and how all the other characters are involved. I don't know when I have enjoyed reading a book as much as I have this one.
It’s easy to dislike Herbie Hancock. The man is 67 and looks 40! (Someone needs to check his attic for that hidden Dorian Gray portrait.) But then you listen to his music and you are immersed in a variety of emotions—love, melancholy, desire, thoughtful introspection—but none of them are alike. In fact, it’s just the opposite. You experience such a broad spectrum of emotion that you feel even more connected to other people, as if you can suddenly fully appreciate and empathize with everyone else’s feelings. If ever a musician was able to create a musical sense of community, Herbie has consistently done that in album after album.
Herbie’s latest album, "River: The Joni Letters," recently shocked the music world when it won the 2007 Grammy for best album of the year against more mainstream media darlings like Amy Winehouse, Vince Gill, the Foo Fighters, and Kanye West. Jazz has usually been the tolerated stepchild of the popular music world, neglected and ignored, left to play in its room with a few of its misfit friends. Despite that, Herbie’s jazz piano playing has garnered 10 Grammy awards, including two for other tribute albums to Miles Davis and George Gershwin.
It’s easy to see why Herbie was attracted to Joni Mitchell’s songs. Not only is she a dynamic performer herself, but her portfolio of songs is among the most influential in the last 30 years of popular music. You can hardly read an interview with the most famous and respected songwriters of the last few decades without having them mention their debt to Joni. In the movie "Love Actually," Emma Thompson tells her husband, played by Alan Rickman, that Joni Mitchell “is the woman who taught your cold English wife how to feel.” Using a variety of musical influences from folk to rock—and especially jazz—Joni taught a whole generation around the world how to feel. The genius of Herbie Hancock is he’s using those same songs to teach us all how to feel again—but even more deeply, more richly.
Although all the song titles will be familiar to avid Joni Mitchell fans, some of the songs are more obscure to the casual listener: “Edith and the Kingpin” (with vocals by Tina Turner) and “Tea Leaf Prophecy” (with vocals by Joni Mitchell) to name two. But some of her most familiar songs are also here, including “Court and Spark” (with vocals by Norah Jones), “River” (with vocals by Corrine Bailey Rae), and “Amelia” (with vocals by Luciana Souza).
Even when the song titles are familiar, the same can’t be said for Herbie’s interpretation. His unique gift is for taking what the listener thinks he knows, and presenting it in a way that forces us to re-imagine the song. Many musicians, even jazz performers, fall into the trap of producing an album in which the songs, when played all at once, start to sound disappointingly similar. Herbie deftly avoids that trap by taking risks that defy listener expectations. His interpretation of Joni’s “The Jungle Line,” with poet/novelist/musician Leonard Cohen reciting the lyrics, is one such example. Yet, there is a musical thread that weaves all the songs together as if they were all well-crafted chapters in an intimate novel: the feathery brushing of the drum, the unhurried insistency of the piano, the soulful voices of the singers. Joni says in “Both Sides Now”: “I really don’t know love at all.” But listening to this tender and thoughtful album, we might all feel a lot closer to knowing love.
(Photo credit: Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)
My eyes were seeing it, but I couldn’t believe what I saw. I had stumbled across my grade school graduation – autograph book and saw in the “favorite college slot” UCLA. This choice was made by me at a time that I couldn’t recall. A time before I was an accomplished basketball player with scholarships being offered at every turn.
My current memories of how I became a UCLA fan were connected to a time some three years later June 1961 -- when I graduated from grade school. It really made me stop and think about how I was to become a Bruin.
One evening stood out in my memory. I am thinking of watching the "Ed Sullivan Show" and Rafer Johnson was introduced on Ed’s show. Rafer had been a world renowned athlete at this time, but he was introduced to the audience as the student body president of UCLA. I was impressed by the fact that his athletic achievements were not given any emphasis.
At a time when violent demonstrations by racist white mobs were common on college campuses that were being integrated, UCLA was showing the world that a black man could be more than a “jock” at UCLA. This was an impressive statement that spoke of commitment to equal opportunity. Rafer was definitely not being exploited for his athletic talent. He was given the opportunity to achieve on the most meaningful levels at UCLA. I, for one, was very pleased to see this attitude by the university being shown on national TV. I’m sure this show aired before I even thought about attending UCLA as a student-athlete.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is considered by many fans and sportswriters to be the greatest basketball player of all time. The 7-foot-2 Hall of Fame center, famous for his undefensible skyhook, dominated the NBA for 20 years, first with the Milwaukee Bucks then with the Los Angeles Lakers. Before that he was the star of the UCLA Bruins teams that won three consecutive NCAA championships. Kareem was the NBA's MVP six times, a 19-time all-star and set the NBA all-time records in nine categories. He is the NBA's all-time leading scorer with 38,387 points, a record that may never be broken.
Since retiring as a player in 1989, Kareem has balanced his love of basketball with his love of
history. In 2002 he led a USBL team, the Oklahoma Storm, to a championship. Since 2005, he has
been the special assistant coach for the Lakers, working with Andrew Bynum.
Kareem also remains intellectually active, authoring six bestselling history books intended to popularize the contributions of African-Americans to American culture and history. His books include "Black Profiles in Courage: A Legacy of African-American Achievement"; "Brothers in Arms: The Epic Story of the 761st Tank Battalion, WWII's Forgotten Heroes"; "A Season on the Reservation," which chronicles his time teaching basketball and history on an Apache Indian reservation in White River, Ariz.; and the current New York Times and Los Angeles Times bestseller, "On the Shoulders of Giants: My Journey Through the Harlem Renaissance."
His audio adaptation, "On the Shoulders of Giants: My Audio & Musical Journey through the Harlem Renaissance," is a four-volume compilation read by Bob Costas, Avery Brooks, Jesse L. Martin, and Stanley Crouch, and features private and fascinating conversations with dozens of icons, including Coach John Wooden, Julius Erving, Charles Barkley, Samuel L. Jackson, Maya Angelou, Quincy Jones and Billy Crystal.
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Thanks, Kareem
Check the latest news about Kareem Abdul-Jabbar:
ESPN names Kareem The Greatest Player In College Basketball History
Go to www.kareemabduljabbar.com for more news.
I'd like to thank all the well-wishers who reached out to wish me a happy birthday. It is different from those days when they went by with impunity. But in any event it's nice to know you guys care. 
I love mysteries. I’m a huge fan of the Sherlock Holmes stories, as well as hard-boiled writers like Chester Himes, Raymond Chandler, and Dashiell Hammett. Desperate criminals chased down mean streets by world-weary detectives, now that’s entertainment. That’s why I’m especially excited that 
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