Renewed interest in Ainan.

The past week has seen renewed interest in Ainan from several quarters. Unbidden, we have been contacted by various media, with interview requests. First off, was the commissioning, by the Star, of an article from me, on my personal experience of raising a child prodigy. That appeared in The Star on 25^th April 2012.

Next was a TV interview on the 12 pm and 8 pm news on NTV9 on Saturday, 28^th April 2012. This turned out to be a brief segment just after the major news of the day. They had about an hour of interview material, but they cut it down to a minute or two – so almost everything was left out, which is a pity. Nevertheless, it did manage to address a couple of interesting developments in Ainan’s life, over the past few years. Images were shown of Taylor’s University logos and their American Degree Program, which Ainan is now attending.

On Sunday, 29^th April, 2012 there was a small article in The New Paper, in Singapore about Ainan. This was a group article covering several gifted individuals. The headline title was “Meet the whiz kids”, with the individual title for Ainan’s story being: “Only 12 and he’s in Uni”. This article arose from an email interview, by the journalist Nur Asyiqin Mohamad Salleh, the week before. She asked many questions of both Ainan and myself, and received quite a few pages of answers in reply. In the end, though, the article was a brief one, at just over 140 words. It seems that the editor didn’t want to devote much space to it. However, the article mentioned that Ainan is now studying at Taylor’s University on the American Degree Program and pointed out that he is doing a balanced mixture of science, maths and humanities courses. So, though brief, it got the main message across.

It is interesting to compare the relative interest in Ainan between Malaysia and Singapore. In Malaysia, I was given 1800 words of space to write an article on raising Ainan, in the largest English daily newspaper with over a million readers. It took up three pages of the newspaper, including the front page of the Star 2 section, which consisted of a full page photo of myself and Ainan. We were also highlighted on the news, of the second most popular TV channel. In Singapore, however, we were given a 140 plus word mention, in a relatively small newspaper with a circulation of about a hundred thousand. This pattern of differential interest has held since we left Singapore for Malaysia. Our doing so, two years ago, was mentioned in almost every newspaper in Malaysia, with large articles, some of them front page articles. We were also mentioned on the news on several TV channels, as well as on the radio. It was almost blanket coverage. In Singapore, however, our move was mentioned in just ONE newspaper – a Chinese daily, in a small article. Interestingly, within a few days, the online version of that article was pulled down, as if someone wished to censor mention of it completely.

Ainan was born in Singapore, though his grandmother was born in Malaysia. One would expect, therefore, that Singapore would be very interested in discussing him in their media – however, it is Malaysia that is more interested in doing so. This could be because Ainan is half Malay and Singapore is a Chinese dominated country, that quite often plays quite obvious race politics, though they would deny it. Had Ainan been born half Chinese, I am sure the response to him in Singapore would be more enthusiastic. Anyway, it matters little. We are happy here in Malaysia. We are making progress in our life objectives – parents and children alike – and it is a comfortable country in which to live. So, we have no complaints.

I didn’t expect this recent media interest in Ainan. I cannot say whether there will be any more of it. My policy towards it, is to answer the questions of any inquiring journalist, if their newspaper or magazine seems to have honest intentions, towards the subject. Yet, we are circumspect, too. NTV9 wanted to follow Ainan around for a day, going into his every class and recording everything he did. We turned that down flat, because it would have been far too intrusive and would have made Ainan very uncomfortable – as it would make most people uncomfortable. Ainan is essentially shy. The last thing he needs is to be followed everywhere. So, we didn’t allow it. We gave them, instead, a sit down interview in a quiet lounge, since that is what Ainan was comfortable with. Thus, to those who are critical that we allow media access, I would say this: we are far more discerning about the type of access given and the way it is done, than you might think. At all times, we are careful to ensure that Ainan is comfortable with what is being asked for. We must also be comfortable with it.

The piece in the Star allowed me to put across some of the key issues relating to raising a prodigiously gifted child and I think that has an important public information role. It is my intention to raise public awareness of the particular problems gifted children face, in securing an appropriate education and upbringing. I am grateful, therefore, for any opportunity to do so.

On Saturday, 28^th April, I was one of the speakers at an NAGCM (National Association for Gifted Children Malaysia) forum on educational acceleration entitled: “Fast Track Kids: should acceleration be allowed, for whom and why?” It went very well and the discussion with the audience was very energetic and interesting – even inspiring. Many matters surrounding educational acceleration were discussed by myself, by Kylie Booker, a gifted education teacher and Head of the Middle School, at the Australian International School Malaysia and by Lucas Teh, who went to a local University aged 15.

There was a journalist in attendance, so I am hoping that there will be an article about the forum and the issues discussed. I will let you know if there is.

Posted by Valentine Cawley

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at:http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is athttp://www.genghiscan.com/This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.) 

Ainan Celeste Cawley, web star.

I have noticed something odd about the use of Ainan’s name on the Internet. Some websites use his name to generate traffic for their sites, even if their articles have nothing to do with Ainan Celeste Cawley. One such site is The Asian Parent, a Singaporean parenting magazine. Ainan Cawley’s name appears as the first terms on the Google summary of their web pages – yet their articles are not about Ainan at all. Ainan’s name is being used to lure people to the site. I find this a little unsettling. It is, at the very least dishonest – but more than that, it is using Ainan’s fame, such as it is, for their own benefit, without asking his permission, or giving him anything in return. It is also, incidentally, fooling the people who come to the site, by suggesting that the articles they are about to read, are about Ainan Cawley – when, in fact, they are not. This might damage Ainan by associating their disappointment and feeling of being cheated, with Ainan Cawley himself, rather than the website that is making use of his name in this way.

Other sites have also used his name, but The Asian Parent is the one I see most often, since it frequently comes up in searches related to Ainan. This use of Ainan’s name is very cynical in my view.

On the other hand, the fact that sites would stoop to using Ainan’s name as a lure on their sites, does indicate something: that Ainan Celeste Cawley attracts a lot of traffic. He is, if you like, a “web star” or “Internet star” of some kind. I noticed this on my blog, too. Many of the searches search for him by name – some just using “Ainan”...others using more of his name. But then again, my blog is about him, so it is fair that a large number of searches for him, should arrive on it. What is not fair, is these parasitic sites, using his name simply to capture traffic when they are not about him at all. That is unfair on the web searcher and unfair on Ainan Cawley, too.

There is something else damaging about this practice. It obscures the relevance of sites and pages which are really about Ainan. The distractor/parasitic sites, take traffic away from pages which would really answer their questions. So, this practice reduces the value of the Internet, especially if practiced too much.

If you have arrived on this page on a search for Ainan Celeste Cawley, be assured that this site has much to offer about him. It is the “real thing”...so happy browsing. If, in the past, you have happened upon a site claiming falsely to be about him, I am sorry – but I have no control over that. You will just have to learn which ones to ignore.

I suppose this misuse of his name is inevitable as he grows more well-known. People realize that his name is a draw – and they think they can use his name, for free, to bring visitors to their sites. This is a pity, since the practice has the potential to ruin the usefulness of the Internet. If you note another site doing this, please let me know. Perhaps I could start writing to them and asking them not to do so. You never know, they might actually listen.

Look around and enjoy my blog. Thank you.

Posted by Valentine Cawley

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at:http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is athttp://www.genghiscan.com/This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

Whitney Houston's death and a hollow life.

Whitney Houston is dead. Everyone knows this by now. To me, however, her death, from undeclared causes at just 48, is emblematic of a profound problem some people seem to have, even though they have “made it”. They live hollow lives. I shall explain.

Whitney Houston seemingly had everything. She had wealth, fame, success (at least formerly) and the respect that goes with it. She also had a daughter by Bobby Brown. Yet, for her all of this – which to most people would have been plenty – was not enough. She needed the exquisite pleasures of drugs too...and by all accounts lots of them. She became, for many years, consumed by them. This, to me, indicates that her life, for all its seeming fullness, was hollow. She must have felt there was something profound missing, for her to have to seek solace in chemical pleasures. Only a deep dissatisfaction with her life, its totality and meaning could lead someone down the path of a drugged self-destruction. Happy lives don’t end with drugs. They don’t even begin to take drugs. So, hers, in some way, was not a happy, fulfilled, pleasing life – she needed chemical support to feel what she felt she must feel.

Now, I am not going to single Whitney Houston out for this particular foolishness. Amy Winehouse is another recent example of the phenomenon. She too had a life that would seem to have been full and rich in many ways. She too, however, sought drugged oblivion, though her favourite was alcohol. Both died young, probably for much the same reasons...either the drugs themselves or the health consequences of having taken them, too long, too often.

The history of entertainment and culture in general is littered with examples of the same phenomenon – drug induced or associated deaths of famous, successful people. I should note that we do not know if Whitney Houston’s death was caused by drugs, but it does seem likely that they played a role, even if only as inducers of general ill health. Whatever the case, it doesn’t affect my argument. All of these people led what seem to the outside, to be full, interesting, rich, complete lives, filled with opportunities and experiences few have the chance to have. Yet all of these people were somehow hollow. Their lives were empty of real meaning, because they sought to fill them with the temporary pleasures of chemically enhanced delights. Had their lives been truly meaningful to them, they would not have needed such stimulation and would have avoided it, out of respect for the lives they had.

To me, it seems, that there is a profound failure here, a profound artistic and creative failure. If their artistic work had been pursued as intently as it could have been, then, it seems to me, it should have given their lives the meaning and the rewards they, in fact, sought elsewhere. Had they been absorbed enough in their creative work, then they would have had no need for drugs, because the work itself would have given them all the pleasure, meaning and reward they sought. Thus, their flight into drugs is a kind of artistic failure – a failure of absorption in work, a failure of personal intensity, a failure of drive, and a failure to respect their work and the ability to do it, itself.

So however many people come out to say how “great” Whitney Houston was – just as they said how “great” Amy Winehouse was, there is something which really should not be denied or ignored: they failed as artists and as human beings, because they neither respected and valued their work and themselves enough to avoid seeking self-destruction in drugs. Had they been more fully involved in their artistic work, they would not have craved such artificial pleasures. That they did, means that for all the “greatness” they achieved, that whatever they achieved was less than they could have achieved, had they been more fully focussed on their work.

So what we have with Whitney Houston and Amy Winehouse and the many others before them, are people who probably never reached their true potential as artists, because they were focussed more on passing pleasures than the more profound (one hopes) rewards of their creative work. They could have been so much more than they were, had they had that self-respect and fuller absorption in their work.

However “great” therefore it is decided Whitney Houston was, I cannot help but feel, that the work we saw from her, was not as great as she could have achieved, had she been undistracted by the need for chemical pleasure. It should also be remembered that almost all such drugs induce brain damage of various kinds. Whitney Houston (and Amy Winehouse etc), became much less than they could have. That is the greater pity here, than Whitney’s passing. She could have made an even greater mark on the world, than she did. How much greater, we will never know...for the version we have of her, is the drug damaged one. We don’t know what a dedicated, drug-free Whitney Houston might have achieved. I am sure of this though...it would have been a whole lot more.

Posted by Valentine Cawley

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at:http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is athttp://www.genghiscan.com/This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

The psychological effect of fame.

I noticed something very odd the other day. Ainan, 11, was going for an interview for something or other (no need to discuss it further, just yet). Standing to one side, holding a form that I had just filled in, was a young woman. A little shudder passed through her, as I gazed at her. How curious, I thought.

“What’s up?”, I asked, gently.

She clutched the form, concerning my son, more tightly, in her hand. “I am nervous.” She shuddered again, as she said this.

Now, I hadn’t expected that. I didn’t enquire about what, for I knew, at once, what must have been making her nervous. It was all rather strange. SHE was part of the team interviewing Ainan – yet it was not Ainan who was nervous, but HER. It was Ainan’s fame that was affecting her so, it seemed. To her, Ainan was a personage she had read about in newspapers – a somewhat legendary figure, therefore – and so, to meet him, in the flesh, was for her a matter of some challenge.

I led the conversation away from the thought that made her nervous and on to the task that Ainan had to complete, that day. As her thoughts turned to her work, she seemed to relax somewhat – for that domain was more in her control.

The moment was a startling one for me. It made me realize that, though Ainan is very young, he is, already, to many eyes a “famous person” – with all the psychological effects on people that come with that. I am led to wonder how much this effect on others will grow, over the years, as he continues to achieve unusual things and continues to become better known, thereby. To me, he will always just be my son – but to others, it is clear, he is already becoming something else – a figure of some weight, in the world, at least in terms of the effects he has on people’s minds. This little incident was just a hint of what fame can be. I learnt something from it: when a person becomes famous, it is not they who change, but the whole world in response to them. My son, Ainan, was still my son Ainan – he had not changed in any way since becoming well known – but, at times like this, it was clear that the world had changed in response to him. The world was no longer the same – it was gradually becoming something else, something new.

I hope that whatever the world becomes, in response to Ainan, that it continues to be welcoming and accepting, as it has been so far. I know this, however: that whatever happens, Ainan, being Ainan, will remain centred and calm, in the middle of it all. Ainan’s fame will change the world, as it appears to him – but Ainan will remain as he is: a quiet observer of it all.

I am left with one question, as I reflect on that twenty-something woman’s reaction to Ainan. How will girls behave towards him, when he becomes a teenager? If a twenty-something woman can be led to shudder at his presence, how on Earth will teenagers react when Ainan, himself, is one? Perhaps this particular young scientist will have something of the “pop star” about him. There are, after all, already signs of some perturbations in the social world. I wonder what Ainan will make of it all? We shall have to wait and see.

Posted by Valentine Cawley

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175

To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at:http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is athttp://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

My new Bacon Number.

Idle curiosity prompted me to go to the Oracle of Bacon – which is a Bacon Number calculator – and check my name in its database. I was rather surprised to see that my new Bacon Number is 2 (if documentaries and TV shows are allowed).

A Bacon Number is the distance between a person, and Kevin Bacon, the Hollywood actor. Conventionally, it is calculated using feature film appearances, but there is an extended version that takes into account TV documentaries and other TV shows. Under the extended version, my Bacon Number is just 2. The reason for this is because I appeared in a TV show with Mark Dolan, the British TV presenter called The World’s Cleverest Child and Me. He, in turn, appeared in a show in 2011 entitled X-Men First Class 35 mm Special, with Kevin Bacon, himself. (That would mean that Mark Dolan’s Bacon Number would be 1).

Of course, Ainan’s Bacon Number would also be 2 – so too would my wife’s and my other two sons Fintan and Tiarnan. We all have a Bacon Number of 2, if documentaries are considered.

This situation tells us more about Hollywood and the TV and film industry than it does about us, however. It is very clear from this, that the film world is very small indeed – and highly interconnected. Because we have appeared in a few shows, that is enough to put us very close to Kevin Bacon, in terms of professional separation (shared projects).

The only way for my Bacon Number to get lower, now, would be to work with Kevin Bacon himself. That, however, I cannot imagine being likely. After all, what project would bring us together? We shall see if such a thing ever happens.

Posted by Valentine Cawley

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175

To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at:http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is athttp://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

IMDB starmeter popularity changes.

IMDB Starmeter measures the degree of interest, in any person on its database, by the number of visitors each entry receives. By this measure, something strange has happened in the last week.

Today, my IMDB meter says it is "down 4%" on last week. Ainan's IMDB starmeter, is "up 7%" and my wife, Syahidah Osman Cawley's IMDB starmeter is "up 88%". Now, I must confess I don't understand how such a strange set of popularity changes could have occurred: what event, unknown to us, in the world, has caused Syahidah's popularity to rocket...but that of her husband and son to remain essentially unchanged? The thing is, I know of nothing, in which only Syahidah would have been mentioned, that has happened in the last week.

So, even though IMDB reveals changes in popularity, it doesn't, necessarily identify the reasons for those changes. In the last week, something has happened, to make large numbers of people - almost twice the previous week's tally - to check Syahidah's IMDB page. What could it be? What has focussed attention on her, but not on her son, or her husband?

I have no idea. If you do, please let me know in the comments below, what unknown event has caused this change. It must be something that acts differently on each of us.

I ask, for one reason: usually I can guess the causes of changes of IMDB starmeter rankings - for I am usually aware of some corresponding event, be it news article or tv show. This week, however, I have no idea: so do let me know, if you do.

Thanks.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 6 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to:
http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at: http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/
Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/
Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is at http://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

On the ordinary and the extraodinary.

He Pingping, the shortest man in the world (at 75.6 cm) has died. He was just 21. Now, he is the second person to die, within a year of shooting a series in which Ainan also appears. The other was Kim Peek. That is pretty uncanny in its own way. Yet, that is not what moves me to write, today. What does is more chilling, than uncanny.

I came across a site, today, reporting on the death of He Pingping. One comment leapt out at me. It went a bit like this: "It's awful that these "different and unusual" people get to be rich and famous, when us "normal" hardworking people find it almost impossible to become rich and famous". I could barely believe my eyes. The young man had just died, but some commenter was expressing jealousy at his fame and how it was acquired. What a callous world we now live in. Let us, however, look beyond the callousness, to the core of what the commenter is saying. He is saying that "different and unusual" people should not be famous, but that "normal" hardworking people should be. He is actually begrudging the fame that attends difference. That he does so, shows that he fails to understand what fame, traditionally, was a sign of. To be famous, was to be special, in the sense that one is famous because one is special, and not special because one is famous. There is a key distinction there that is usually overlooked in the modern world. It used to be that ONLY special people became famous - that is why they became noted, talked about, written of and ultimately famous. Now, however, there has been a subversion of that. The ordinary, undistinguished, uninteresting, even BORING person, can become famous through reality shows, and the like. Fame has lost its connection with distinction. Yet, the commenter goes beyond the modern fetish for the ordinary and the dull - he is saying that it is the ORDINARY person who should be famous and NOT the special person. This goes one step beyond the present state of affairs in which not only can the special person become famous, but the ordinary person, too. He would have it that only the "normal" person should be famed and that the "different" or "unusual" would not be given any regard at all. This, I think, is a kind of madness. It is the ultimate end of dumbing down the world in which standards become ever lower. His standard would not allow the special any regard, at all - and only those UNWORTHY of regard, would be regarded. It is, if you like, the ultimate revenge of the proletariat over the natural aristocrats. It is the elevation of the idiot, to the highest status in society: that the utterly ordinary should be held in the highest regard and the extraordinary ignored. It is, of course, bonkers - but it is the logical end of those who think jealous thoughts that would tear down anyone or anything greater than themselves.

Yet, I am led to a darker understanding. The world we now live in is not so far from the world which this envious commenter would wish upon us. Now, people of great quality do not necessarily receive the recognition that would once have been theirs. The heroes of our time are not geniuses, but footballers, pop stars and "glamour" models. Already the elevation of the ordinary has proceeded to overwhelm our society. If present trends continue, it may not be long, indeed, before we become a world incapable of appreciating the best among us and only able to praise the lowest common denominator, the basest among us all.

Were fame apportioned with justice, many of the "names" today, would not be known and many people of which we have never heard, would be household names. The scales have become inverted such that those of least merit, often gain most attention, perhaps because the masses are comforted by their closeness to themselves in talent and natural gifts - that is little or none. Yet, for some, at least, even this situation has not gone far enough. One man today, begrudged the fame of a man who had just died, because his fame had come from his difference. Think about that, for a moment. What a life He Pingping must have lived, in which he was set apart from all, because of his size, yet he may have encountered people who resented the little compensatory fame, it won him.
Given this, one cannot help but feel that not only is the culture of the world in decline (for making famous the worthless, and making unknown the worthy), but that the people themselves are in decline.

What did Patrick Swayze do for a living?

Bizarrely, someone arrived on my blog having asked that very question. Now, where do you think this person came from? Togo, perhaps? Outer Mongolia? Pitcairn Island? Have a good think. Please come up with your own idea of where someone who didn't know what Patrick Swayze did with his life, might have come from.

Well, the answer is the United States of America. That is right, the person who asked that question was surfing from Indiana, in particular the Indiana Department of Education.

Now, personally, I was surprised that a US citizen would not know what Patrick Swayze was known for. Yet, it made me think. I don't think that this is Patrick Swayze's particular problem. I think he exemplified a simple phenomena that we might wish to forget about: most people, no matter how prominent at one time, are going to be forgotten.

Patrick Swayze was most famous for "Ghost" in 1990 and "Dirty Dancing" in 1987. He was, at that time, a "big name"...everyone knew who he was. Now, of course, that is not so. Many people - perhaps the one who searched - have been born since his heyday. These young people may never have seen his work. They may have heard the name, but not known any work to which the name was attached. Then again, others who did see his work, may have since forgotten him, or have reached the state of "not being able to quite place him". In time, this will happen to almost all film stars and similar people. They are able to attain intense fame, over a period of years, or decades, but that fame simply may not endure. The people who know them, grow old, they forget, and the young never know. In time, all who knew that person's work, directly, pass on - and those that are left probably never encounter the work of an "antique" actor.

So, the most famous of the famous, now, are almost all destined to be forgotten, before even this century is out. Very few will be remembered in centuries to come. Perhaps, not even the greatest film stars, will be remembered. Their fame is bright, but brief. It is not the kind that endures. That latter type subsists on work that future generations have reason to revisit, again, and again across the centuries and millenia. Modern film is unlikely to "fit the bill". Few people trouble themselves to watch films even twenty or thirty years old - so how many would bother to watch work that was a hundred or five hundred years old? Only historians would do so. Thus, in a remarkably short time, the people we now see as most famous, will be forgotten, known only to experts in the field.

The people who are remembered longest are not, paradoxically, I think, the ones whose work is most intensely regarded, necessarily, in their lifetimes. It is the work that offers most complexity, most difficulty. Thus, the less popular contributors, may, in the end, be the most famous, to posterity.

To those who doubt this, I invite them to name one actor from the time of Aristotle. It is not possible for anyone who is not a specialist dramatic historian, to do so. Yet, the average man can name at least three philosophers of the time: Socrates and Plato being the other two. Anyone even slightly knowledgeable about the era, can name a dozen more. Yet, none of these people would be able to name an actor, or a singer, or any other of those kinds, most given to attracting attention DURING their lifetime.

Thus, it is, that those whose work is more complex, and deeper, proves more enduring. This is so, because later man has REASON to revisit the earlier work: it still has something to offer.

To understand this, is to realize that attention is given to the wrong people, in our time. The ones least likely to be of interest to future generations, receive most attention. The ones most likely to be researched by future generations, live relatively quiet lives, perhaps in academe, or on the shelves of bookshops. They are not, necessarily, the "stars" of our time. The stars, on the other hand, are convinced of their own immortality based on their fulgurant public presences. Yet, that dazzling brightness will fade remarkably fast and this is something of which they are delusively unaware.

Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are now, known to all - but once they pass on, their memories will fade catastrophically fast. A century from now, only film specialists will ever have heard of any of them. There may even come a time, when they are too obscure even for film specialists to have heard of. Their "fame" is, in some ways, an illusion of our own, foreshortened view of time. We live brief lives, so it is difficult for us to conceive of what happens beyond the scale of a lifetime. To understand this phenomenon, however, we can just look up some old films, online...something from the 1930s perhaps. Doing this is a sobering experience, since the "stars" of the day, largely consist of forgotten names. So many of them, who might, in their day, have been "names" are now nothing more than arbitrary collections of letters, alongside each other. They have already become lost to the awareness of the common man. So, too, will it be for modern "stars". They won't shine brightly, for long.

If you want to know who will be remembered, by future generations, you need to look to thinkers and creators, whose work does something new. These people have a habit of being discovered, considered and respected by times to come. I can't tell you who they are, however, because their work can take some while to come to be appreciated. Yet, they are out there, perhaps sitting in a cinema, watching the "stars" unaware that future generations might think of them, more highly, than the people they spend their money to watch.

Yet, Patrick Swayze is not without a kind of victory, despite the fact that it is possible for an American not to know he was an actor. At least, they still know his name. One day, of course, not too long in the future, they won't even know that. Yet, he shouldn't despair - because alongside him will be almost all the other "stars" too.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 6 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to:
http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at: http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/
Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/
Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is at http://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

The most famous man in the world.

Who is the most famous man in the world? Indeed, who is the most famous man in history? There are many, many candidates, but, at this time, one comes to mind who really, really, really should not be there.

Whom do you think is the most famous man in history? Most would say Jesus Christ. Others, more topically, might say Barack Obama. The founders of various religions, come to mind: Prophet Muhammad, Buddha and so on. However, there is one man whose fame outshines them all - and whose fame really should not, at all. I would like you to think about who that man might be.

To decide this question, we first need a measure of fame. There is one that researchers into fame have come to agree on: the number of hits, on a search of the person's name, on Google. So, we will use that.

How many hits does the name: "Jesus Christ" get from Google? Well, on the 3rd July 2009, at 10.50 pm my time, in Singapore, it received 48,800,000 hits. That is a very respectable number indeed and does show that Jesus Christ is still uppermost in many people's minds. By comparison, the film star Ewan McGregor received 3,170,000 at the same time. Ewan, while famous, is no Jesus Christ. Even Tom Cruise received only 28,400,000. So, quite happily Jesus Christ is more famous than Tom Cruise (though, perhaps, the great Scientologist would dispute that).

So, is Jesus Christ the most famous man in history? Let us look at Buddha. He receives 29,100,000 hits. That is somewhat more than Tom Cruise - but rather less than Jesus Christ. Then there is the Prophet Muhammad. Here, though, we have a problem in that many people might be speaking of him, in Arabic and that won't appear in my search results. Thus, the results for Muhammad will be an understatement since most of the activity will not be in English. This, perhaps, explains the relatively few 2,760,000 hits for "Prophet Muhammad" in Google.

Can we find anyone more famous than Jesus Christ? He has, in English, beaten the leaders of other religions...he has beaten one of the world's most famous film stars: who could be more famous than him?

Well, one name comes to mind: Barack Obama. A search on Google reveals an astonishing 102,000,000 hits for that name, meaning that Barack Obama is more than twice as famous as Jesus Christ, by this measure. Perhaps that is a reflection of the almost messianic quality he has and the fervour many people show for him. It is, also, because he is always in the news, as "leader of the free world".

So, is Barack Obama the most famous man in the world? Well, I thought so, except that a little suspicion came over me. There was one more name that I wanted to try.

This name had, at the same time as the other searches, 120,000,000 hits. So, there is one person more famous than Barack Obama, making this person, in fact, at this time in history, the most famous person on Earth and in history (though this fame may not endure). Can you guess who that person is?

Michael Jackson is now the most famous person on Earth, according to Google.

Now, that is really something unpalatable, in my eyes. You see, the question has to be asked: is a man who wrote songs and danced to them, really deserving of being almost three times more famous than Jesus Christ? Or over forty times as famous as the Prophet Muhammad in English? What, exactly, makes Michael Jackson more deserving of our attention than the founders of the world's great religions? It is absurd. Michael Jackson's fame is completely absurd.

Michael Jackson's significance, in real terms, is dwarved by Jesus Christ, Buddha or the Prophet Muhammad - yet he is, at this time, more famous than any of them. All he did was create rather simple songs and dance to them. That is all. His songs are not particularly complex, not particularly indicative of great musicality (to my ears) - as music, in fact, they are outclassed by the works of many dead European composers. Yet, Michael Jackson is feted, in death, as if he were God himself. Frankly, it is both silly and disturbing. Yes, it is sad that a man who had so many plans, should die before achieving them. However, it does not merit, in any way, the 24/7 attention by the news media, he has received since his unexpected death. The only kind of death that WOULD merit that kind of response is that of a great genius, the founder of a world religion, or a humanitarian who had improved the lot of millions of his/her fellow humans. A song and dance man does not merit this kind of response.

There are those who call Michael Jackson a "genius"...well, to do so, is to kind of forget the nature of the contributions of true geniuses in music and other areas, in the past. The work of true geniuses is, always, of greater richness, complexity, depth and value than the entire body of Michael Jackson's works.

However, nothing I say will make any difference to the avalanche of eulogies and praise that has followed his death. I have no doubt that the attention will roll on for many more years to come. The whole global population will be steadily brainwashed into believing that the death of Michael Jackson is one of the most significant events in the 21st Century - and that the world will never be the same without him. Yet, none of the media manipulation will alter the bare facts of the situation: a song and dance man, of some skill, but not one of the world's "great geniuses" has died, somewhat before his time. That is all.

Of course, Michael Jackson deserves a fair measure of fame, simply for being one of the world's best selling "artists"...but he does not deserve to be the most famous person in history. That is ridiculous and, in a way, reflects how shallow modern society has become, that it should elevate to the position of "most famous" a man of such relative insignificance, in the great scheme of things. Were we living in deeper times, with people who had higher standards for what they regard as important, Michael Jackson would have received, for one day only, a brief mention, in the middle of most newspapers - and then they would pass on, having said all that needed to be said. However, in these shallow times, the death of a creative minnow, has resulted in a whale of a response. Indeed, the response, in some ways, seems more of an entire ocean, than a single whale.

Watching the endless publicity attendant on Michael Jackson's death, I was left to wonder how did the world treat the death of someone who had truly made a significant contribution: Albert Einstein? If you, my reader, were alive at that time and have memories of Albert Einstein's death, could you comment below about what the posthumous publicity was like? Was it as great as now Michael Jackson is receiving? If not, something is wrong with the world...for if a person of truly significant achievement receives less attention than a song and dance man, it says, most clearly, that the modern world doesn't know what is truly important (or that they didn't know in the 1950s).

Memories of Einstein's passing, below, please...if you have them.

(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.

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

Jade Goody and modern fame.

Jade Goody is famous. She is the kind of famous person who couldn't possibly have been famous only a few years ago. She is famous for being a "reality" star. In other words, she is famous for being herself.

Jade Goody first came to public attention in the Big Brother series on Channel 4 in the UK. For those who don't know, this is a show in which a group of strangers get together in a house which is covered in surveillance cameras. Week by week, they are eliminated, until there is a winner. Now, Jade Goody didn't win the show, but she won in subsequent life. Although she only came fourth in the show, the exposure was enough to allow her to leverage her position in the most surreal way imaginable: she ended up having other TV shows, launching a perfume (Shh...), various diet and workout DVDs (she is large), appearing many times in gossip and celebrity magazines and amassing a fortune estimated at up to 8 million pounds. In all, she has done remarkably well, for a self-declared uneducated 27 year old from Essex.

Yet, there is a problem: Jade Goody is dying of cancer. Her remarkably unlikely life is also going to be remarkably short. Her cervical cancer has metastasized and doctors give her only weeks to live.

Jade Goody has made another unusual choice: her decline is public news. Photos of her bald head and failing health are to be seen in all the tabloids and her last minute wedding to Jack Tweed was featured in Hello magazine (for a reported 700,000 pounds). In England, much attention is given to her dying days.

Yet, think on this: since when, before the modern era, would the death of an ordinary woman capture the attention of a nation? Jade Goody has none of the conventional talents expected of a famous person. She is not one who could have become famous for her merits, skills or exceptional gifts in the time before reality shows. It is only the advent of the reality show and its appetite for the ordinary person, that she has been able to propel herself to fame, and considerable riches.

What we see with Jade Goody's hold on the British mind is that in the modern era, fame itself has merit. Once a person becomes famous that, in itself, is enough to justify attention directed towards them. Jade Goody is better known than many of much greater merit, but she receives the attention precisely and only because she has already received attention. That is it. There is nothing more to it. Jade Goody is worthy because she is known, but she is not known because she is worthy. She is known because of a modern invention called the reality show that projects ordinary people to the masses.

Having said that, reality shows do provide a new form of entertainment that entertains because its contestants are just like the viewers: ordinary. There is a new kind of bond between viewer and contestant: between the ordinary and the ordinary. Before now, the relationship had always been between the ordinary and the extraordinary - between the ordinary person at home and the remarkable person on the screen. That has changed - and so Jade Goody is now a famous person.

Were it not for Big Brother, Jade Goody would now be just another unknown young mother, dying of cancer. Now, however, she is a wealthy, famous reality star dying of cancer. Her life, though still short, has become much bigger. She will pass on, but she has left an imprint on the public consciousness of the UK. I feel that, somehow, this thought nourishes her.

Jade Goody is dying in full view of the public. She says she is doing this to ensure the financial future of her two sons - because media organizations have been paying for her story. That is fair enough.

Though ordinary in talent, Jade Goody has led a remarkable life. I wish her and her family well.

(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.

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