Mika: The Boy Who Knew Too Much

Mika is, apparently, a singer. His second album is now entitled: "The Boy Who Knew Too Much." Personally, I find this irksome, for reasons which should be obvious.

I shall explain.

Someone arrived on my blog, today, searching for "Mika The Boy Who Knew Too Much"...so, naturally, I did a search, myself, on Google, to find out just who this Mika was - since I had never heard of him, before. It turned out that Mika who was born Michael Holbrook Penniman, is a 26 year old singer in the early stages of his career (he didn't come to notice until 2007). It also turns out that his second album is called: "The Boy Who Knew Too Much".

Now, I find this galling for two reasons. Firstly, it is not the original name for the album. The album was meant to be called: "We are golden", after the first track on the album. Something prompted him to change the name, recently - something which may, very well, be my blog. Secondly, I was irritated to find much praise, on his fan site, for the "originality" of his title...some of the commenters were going overboard on how "original" this Mika fellow is. Well, I don't see originality, in this particular instance...I see that my blog started before Mika's entire career.

I have never heard a Mika song. I don't know if he is much good. I know this, however: this boy, Mika, only knows enough to take his titles from elsewhere. Imitating a blog title does not constitute an act of originality, despite what his fans think.

On another note, however, it is interesting to see how the phrase: "The Boy Who Knew Too Much" is becoming much more frequently used since I started this blog. The phrase was used, after Michael Jackson's death, in an article by Ann Powers of the Los Angeles Times. The same phrase was actually the title of the reprint of that article in The Age, Australia. Independent origination of the phrase is possible, but I think it is more likely that it was the influence of my blog that prompted the use in this article for one good reason: I actually wrote a couple of posts about Michael Jackson, subsequent to his death - and any journalist doing research into MJ is likely to have found them, since my blog is highly ranked and appears high on listings in most Google searches.

Anyway, Mika is based in London. It is of note that the Daily Telegraph, in the UK, wrote of my blog and mentioned it specifically, by name: "The Boy Who Knew Too Much", in a large article, this year. So, it is very likely that Mika was personally aware of my blog and its title. So, to those fans who think he is being "original" in his use of this title...err not so. I have been using it for years. It seems to me, that he is just trading on the familiarity of the name I have created over the past few years, to increase his album sales.

By the way, I can't help but notice that he uses the word "boy" an awful lot, for a male singer. Track titles on the album, "The Boy Who Knew Too Much", include "Toy Boy" and "One Foot Boy". You can draw your own conclusions.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to:http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.

IMDB is the Internet Movie Database for film and tv professionals.If you would like to look at my IMDb listing for which another fifteen credits are to be uploaded, (which will probably take several months before they are accepted) please go to: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3438598/ As I write, the listing is new and brief - however, by the time you read this it might have a dozen or a score of credits...so please do take a look. My son, Ainan Celeste Cawley, also has an IMDb listing. His is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3305973/ My wife, Syahidah Osman Cawley, has a listing as well. Hers is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)

Mixed genres.

Yesterday, I saw Tiarnan, three, playing with a toy Knight on its horse. He was parading the horse up and down, back and forth and, clearly, imagining some tale in his mind, concerning the noble warrior and his steed.

Now, it is quite often that I see Tiarnan at play, in an imaginative world - so this was not, in particular, what drew my attention. However, it was what he said, to himself, as he played with the Knight on horseback that appealed to me.

"I have a nice horse," he announced, to himself, "It is called Ferrari!"

It was a wonderful moment. Tiarnan had a horse called Ferrari: splendid.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to:http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.

IMDB is the Internet Movie Database for film and tv professionals.If you would like to look at my IMDb listing for which another fifteen credits are to be uploaded, (which will probably take several months before they are accepted) please go to: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3438598/ As I write, the listing is new and brief - however, by the time you read this it might have a dozen or a score of credits...so please do take a look. My son, Ainan Celeste Cawley, also has an IMDb listing. His is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3305973/ My wife, Syahidah Osman Cawley, has a listing as well. Hers is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)

On picking a fight.

As anyone will tell you, who has ever had young kids, their world is filled with little battles and rough and tumble of all kinds. They are like puppies at play. It is all, however, quite harmless, since, at least with my kids, they never seek to actually harm each other. It is just play.

Last week, Tiarnan, three, slammed the door in our house with an almighty thud. Naturally, his mother, Syahidah, asked him what he was doing:

"It is the door, versus me!", he explained.

Ah. She saw: it was, in his mind, a little battle - a quarrel between the door and Tiarnan. Clearly, Tiarnan had won.

Even inanimate objects are not spared Tiarnan's rough and tumble: how funny. I suppose he is asserting his dominance over the world, by showing the door just who is the real boss around here: sweet.

The door was unavailable for comment...or at least refused to discuss the matter, at the time of going to press.

(Note: this is the first and only time that Tiarnan has taken on a door: slamming them is not his habit.)

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to:http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.

IMDB is the Internet Movie Database for film and tv professionals.If you would like to look at my IMDb listing for which another fifteen credits are to be uploaded, (which will probably take several months before they are accepted) please go to: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3438598/ As I write, the listing is new and brief - however, by the time you read this it might have a dozen or a score of credits...so please do take a look. My son, Ainan Celeste Cawley, also has an IMDb listing. His is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3305973/ My wife, Syahidah Osman Cawley, has a listing as well. Hers is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)

Usain Bolt's world record 100 m sprint.

Usain Bolt has done it again and set a world record in the 100 m sprint: 9.58s. This occurred yesterday at the World Athletics Championships in Berlin. Well done, Usain!

It seems to me that Usain Bolt is so far ahead of his rivals, in terms of sheer speed and potential for greater performance, that the 100 m event could be entering an era in which Usain Bolt's records will prove unbeatable for generations to come. Indeed, if he only trims a little more off his most recent record, it may be that the times he sets will never be beaten (by an unenhanced human).

I have long noted how ever smaller advances are made in most timed sports; how records become ever more incremental, in the achievement: mere hundredths of a second separate the best from the rest. Yet, I have also noted that the possibility exists for someone, ideally suited to a sport, to be so ahead of the others, that his (or her) records prove unattainable by others, for many decades to come. I think Usain Bolt is one such athlete.

In a way, Usain Bolt could be destroying his sport. By this I mean that the performances he sets up will stand for so long, that the possibility of an Usain Bolt record being broken, by anyone else, will dwindle in people's minds, until it is no longer a possibility. Runners will still run, sprinters will still sprint - but Usain Bolt's records will remain out of reach. They will be running not to break records - which will be unachievable - but simply to rank each other, against one another.

Usain Bolt has just shaved 0.11 seconds off the world record over 100 m...in sprinting terms, that is an enormous step forward. Should he trim some more off this already incredible time, before his career is over, people not yet born may grow up knowing that Usain Bolt holds the 100 m sprint record.

It may be that Usain Bolt will turn out to be the greatest NATURAL sprinter, of all time. It may be that only enhanced humans will ever surpass the records he is now setting.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to:http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.

IMDB is the Internet Movie Database for film and tv professionals.If you would like to look at my IMDb listing for which another fifteen credits are to be uploaded, (which will probably take several months before they are accepted) please go to: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3438598/ As I write, the listing is new and brief - however, by the time you read this it might have a dozen or a score of credits...so please do take a look. My son, Ainan Celeste Cawley, also has an IMDb listing. His is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3305973/ My wife, Syahidah Osman Cawley, has a listing as well. Hers is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)