Yesterday was the funeral of one of Burma’s most famous poets, U Tin Moe. Yet the Burmese government refused to allow the media in the country to report on his death. And though he was living in Los Angeles, the U.S. mainstream media did not cover the event because the poet was virtually unknown here.
U Tin Moe had been living in exile since 1999 because of his support for the Burmese democracy movement, the National League for Democracy, and its leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
Before the Burmese junta blacklisted U Tin Moe, who died at age 74, his poems were read in public schools. He was also well known for his kind, honest nature. About 200 people from the Burmese community in the United States attended his funeral at Rose Hills Memorial Park.
As the casket was taken away, a friend of U Tin Moe’s wailed: “You are still alive. You are still with us. We’ll continue to fight for Burma.”
Smokin’ Aces is a most rare thing: a good movie released in January. Crazy! A Universal Pictures-Working Title Films product written and directed by Joe Carnahan, who brought audiences Narc (2002), this movie kills, it’s a “gotta see, no doubt” with enough action, suspense and violence to satisfy the entertainment masochist in all of us.