ARTICLE: “India draws up blueprint for full conversion of the rupee,” by Jo Johnson, Financial Times, 20 March 2006, p. 1.

ARTICLE: “A Study in Diplomacy: Chinese, Japanese Friendship Offers Glimpse Into Difficulty Nations Face Getting Along,” by Sebastian Moffett and James T. Areddy, Wall Street Journal, 21 March 2006, p. B1.

ARTICLE: “Chinese Regulators Caution TV Talent Shows,” by David Barboza, New York Times, 21 March 2006, p. C6.

One of the hardest things I wrote in Blueprint for Action was my description of what the journey is like from Gap to Core. I had collected all these snippet stories, and I needed an ordering principle for grouping them. So I developed triplets, as in, “if the Gap = X, then the New Core = Y and Old Core = Z.” So, for example, going from the Gap to Core is like going from the youth bulges of the Gap to the rapid middle aging of the New Core to the aging demographics of the Old Core.

Putting that list of triplets together was fun. The trick was figuring out a logical order of presentation and then deciding when to cut it off, as in, “Enough already.” But in the end, I didn’t worry about that, figuring Mark Warren would take care of it for me, which he did, lopping off a couple thousand words from the section when it seemed like I was tossing in the kitchen sink. Eventually, when I get done doing my director’s commentary on the entire book (I’m only, sad to say, through chapter 2), I’ll have to dig out the cuts and post them as “deleted scenes.” Then I’ll post the “storyboard” version that Bradd Hayes generated for me, post-writing, or my current brief.

But I digress...

Point of telling you that was just to remind myself that I love collecting these sorts of stories still, like the one about India making it’s currency, the rupee, more convertible, reflecting its growing confidence that its market it maturing.

Up to now, India has allowed such conversion really only for trade purposes, as in, if you convert, you’re buying or selling abroad (goods and services). Now, authorities are basically moving in the direction of making the rupee fully convertible, as in, you can speculate in both directions or invest in either direction. Just as important as making foreign direct investment easier into India, this will make it that much easier for Indian money to go abroad for investment opportunities, further linking India to the global economy.

Will this development push China a bit on this subject? Sure. And every little competitive nudge helps.

That’s the good. The “bad” is a nifty article in the NYT about two young women who’ve maintained a friendship despite their sometimes marked dislike of the other’s culture (Japan v. China). A small story, but a microcosm of the rising nationalism among the young on both sides as the two countries become more intertwined with economic connectivity. Old wounds, yes, but new government programs that fund high schoolers spending time in each other’s cultures.

And yes, every little bit helps get both sides to grow up a bit about the other.

The unseemly is the Chinese authorities warning TV talent shows like the super-popular (as in 400 million viewers last season), American Idol-like “Mongolian Cow Sour Yogurt Supergirl Contest” (plus all the copycat shows it has spawned) to tone down the fist-pumping, “overly” emotional delivery that too many of the contestants seem to be favoring. You know, that old chestnut of “vulgar” clothes and the promotion of “philistinism” (ah yes, the ancient threat of the Philistines rears its ugly head yet again!).

The Chinese Communist Party is just beginning to realize how powerful commercial popular culture is becoming in China--a force unto itself. But this, as I argued in BFA, is just a natural cultural milestone of a New Core state’s emergence: your stars become powerful at home and abroad, big global brand acts tour your market more and more (the Rolling Stones just made it finally, but being elderly, they have to watch the flu season more than most), and it starts to become a very big thing to be famous in your market (a process which creates social power not easily controlled by the Party--look out for the Chinese George Clooney!).

All this makes sense to me: I look at my 14-year-old Emily, and her favorite musical acts right now are Shakira (Brazil--strike that, Colombian), a Chinese (strike that, too, I find out she's originally Korean) female singer named Boa, and the kinky Russian duo Tatu. When Em finally falls for some Indian singer, we’ll have a complete BRIC musical set.

Me? I just watch Shakira’s toppling of Britney Spears with the usual detachment of a middle-aged father, as in, just one fantastic bellybutton replacing another.