Political Comedy

So in November, 2010, the MPRP or Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MAXH in Mongolian), after lengthy discussions that involved the media, the party members and the general public, changed its name to MPP or Mongolian People's Party (or МАН in Mongolian), dropping the Revolutionary from its name. Their reasoning was that Mongolian People's Party was the original name for the party at its founding in 1921, with the Revolutionary added later in 1924.  There were a certain number of protesters against the name-change, with some threatening to leave the party and others, such as MPRP MP Shinebayar forming the MPRP temporary headquarters, somewhere.

Last week, ex-Prez N.Enkhbayar (whose team perhaps came up with the funniest campaign slogan in recent times: Number One Nambariin Enkhbayar for the 2009 presidential campaign) and his former MPRP colleagues held an MPRP meeting (which is not the MPP) i.e. MAXH, at Asa-circus, and decided to form a party under the old MPRP name, with N.Enkhbayar as the party chairman, and MP Ts.Shinebayar as the deputy chair. Confusion continues, as MP Shinebayar was elected from the MPP (formerly known as MPRP). With him having eloped to the neo-MPRP with N.Enkhbayar, the question remains as to whether the newly-formed MPRP can consider itself a party with a seat in the Parliament.

So as it stands: MPRP=new party with Enkhbayar at its head, MPP=former MPRP.

While Mr.Enkhbayar and co may use the MAXH acronym, it remains to be seen whether the new party will be called the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MAXH) or Mongolian Honorable Revolutionaries' Party (also MAXH in Mongolian).

No doubt it may prove beneficial to the ex-Prez to use the well-established MPRP name in the 2012 election, one that looks set to be a political comedy for the masses. With the newly-formed MPRP and the newly-renamed MPP sharing almost identical logos and similar ideologies represented by shared members in the past, N.Enkhbayar may, thanks to mirrors and red-rose smoke, be looking at another ride on the merry-go-round.

An identical situation was once depicted by the almighty Monty Python, whose wisdom I will worship to my end. Watch below for the Monty Python reenactment of what happened last week in Mongolian politics.

An Article on Mongolian Cinema

Good friend of mine Alicia Kish has recently written a pretty insightful article on Mongolian cinema for film.culture360.org. Read it here.

It is mainly about Byamba Sakhya, an inspirational contemporary cinematographer who's been successful at various film festivals, notably for State of Dog (which is embedded below in its entirety with English subtitles, from google videos). I remember it came out when I was just graduating from secondary school. It was waaaay ahead of its time. It instantly became a cult classic. It featured beat poet Galsansukh who's an another Mongolian I aspire to. The film's Belgian co-production definitely shows through with very avant-garde approach to its content.

A definite must-see.

/Heesco.

Snowy Tsagaan Sar

So I haven't gotten around to writing up a review of 2010 to finish off the year, mainly because I had little to say. There's the IPO for the coal miner Mongolian Mining Corporation, and a whole bunch of other seemingly significant things that took place while we were all busy battling the climate elements and worrying about the tugrik vs US dollar fluctuations.

We are, suddenly, one of the coolest nationalities in the world, according to CNN Go. We're at no.4, losing out to Jamaica at no.3 (I have no problems with this at all. I mean, they're Jamaicans!) and Singapore at no.2 (?!) . Here's the bit on Mongolia:

Along with a carefully crafted air of quiet mystery, these unflappable souls pretty much perfected the freewheeling, nomadic cowboy existence, throat singing and yurts. Fur-lined everything -- boots, coats, hats, undies -- adds hearty splendor to the historic mystique. And who else keeps eagles as pets?

Icons of cool: Actress Khulan Chuluun, who played Ghengis Khan's wife in the very cool film, “Mongol,” and matched the arch badass arrow for arrow, barb for barb.

Not so cool: Yak-based dairy products … at every meal. [Source]

So the bit about fur-lined undies and yak-based dairy makes the article sound like it was just made up by someone who's never been to Mongolia (and they probably haven't.)

I digress. This year's Tsagaan Sar is on the February 3rd, a Thursday (Bituun being the day before), finally giving us the long weekend the New Year cheated us out of. Braving the bitter cold and the UB smog that seems to get thicker every winter, we wait to usher in the Year of the white iron Rabbit also known as ... Donkey. I love these names. They seem more and more made up each year. The year of the Tiger, now passing, was also known as Traitor, which is less confusing than a Rabbit year also known as Donkey.

Mongolians say that Tsagaan Sar signals the coming of Spring. As we get nearer to Tsagaan Sar, it feels more and more like winter, with temperatures dropping down to -30 degrees, and snow that's been absent since the beginning of winter.

In a farewell bid to 2010, here's JibJab's Year in Review.

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!