Narmada Dam Project

I just watched this video (http://www.globalonenessproject.org/video/Medha-Patkar/1) on the Narmada River Dam.

For those of you who don't know, dam projects have been viewed with much pride in India beginning with Jawaharlal Nehru in the 50s. It was believed these dams could be used to power the newly born India into a super power status.

In the past 20 years India has become the largest recepient of funds from the World Bank, much of it for these dam projects.

Specifically Gujarat has a serious water shortage problem. However this dam will not be a solution. A simple wikipedia search will yield the impact of hydroelectricity, so I will not go into that. The impact on people will be huge: farmers who depend on the water and the nutrients in the water, those who live downstream, people who live along the canal system. Up to 200000 will be displaced, this number does not include the number of people whos livelyhood will be affected (http://www.irn.org/wcd/narmada.shtml).

Cui bono? World Bank, international contractors (who are all out of their dam building jobs in their own country so they go to the developing world), Indian contractors, and Indian politicians.

The solution will not be simple, however this does not seem like the right way to go. Personally, in my humble opinion, if there is a place in the world where sustainable energy can be used effectively, it is India.

See:
http://www.narmada.org/
http://www.irn.org/programs/india/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narmada_Bachao_Andolan

Video:
http://www.globalonenessproject.org/video/Medha-Patkar/1



PEACE

I'm listening to...

Sun Ra - "Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy"

Miles Davis - "Birth of the Cool"

just a jazzy mood I guess

PEACE

Top 5 Favourite HipHop Albums

As most people know, I'm a huge HipHop fan. HipHop is music, an art, and is subject to much interpretation. HipHop is expansive as any other genre of music, and shouldn't be treated any different. If you judge it by what's played on the radio, gold and diamond chains, and guns and sex, you're obviously not looking hard enough to what HipHop really is.

HipHop is poetry, storytelling, sampling, mixing, scratching, two turntables and a mic, just a mic, or just two turntables. HipHop is political, apathetic, deep, and ugly. HipHop has its own lingo; if you recognize the real, you'll understand.

I am in no way a music elitist. I like what I like, I don't judge things by their skill level or lyrics. Anyways here are just a few amazing HipHop albums.

5. Quasimoto - "The Unseen"

It's understandable that most people wouldn't take helium - induced rapping seriously, but I think we can all make an exception for this album. Dropped in 2000, this album was the child of Madlib and psilocybin mushrooms. This album goes from jazz to funk to old school HipHop samples. Madlib is a good rapper, but the verses from the ever present Astro Black (his helium induced alter ego) are simple, clever and funny. An awesome album for anyone.

Listen to "Astro Black", "Return of the Loop Digga", "Low Class Conspiracy"

Quasimoto got the ill arsenal

4. Souls of Mischief - " '93 Til Infinity"

Released in a time when mainstream gangsta rap dominated music, this small, obscure HipHop group, provided not nessecarily an alternative to gangsta rap, but a much more progressive style of storytelling, with heavy emphasis on beats and sampling.

Just listen to "93 Til Infinity". It's probably one of the most classic HipHop songs of all time, I've even heard it on Power 99 and 100.3 Da Beat Philly (huge rap stations in Philadelphia. The beat is classic, the rapping dominates.

'nuff said.

3. Bahamadia - "Kollage"

Cool, monotone, afrocentric, and jazzy. That's what I would use to describe this album. It's gotta be something to have GURU introduce it. Did I mention she's from Philly? Probably one of the most chill albums out there.

2. Nas - "Illmatic"

"Got any Nas?" - me

Most people will rate this album as the best HipHop album of all time, and for good reason. Nas rips apart the mic and resassembles it with his raps. It has production from the best of in the business (Pete Rock, DJ Premier, Q tip). This album is known for Nas's storytelling ("One Love"), battle raps ("Halftime"), and simple telling of the reality of ghetto life ("Memory Lane"). Easily one of the best albums in general.

1. A Tribe Called Quest - "Midnight Marauders"

If I've ever spoken to you, I have probably talked to you about this album. If you've ever sat in my car, you've probably heard it playing. If you even know me, you'll know that this is seriously one album I probably listen to every single day.

This album got me into HipHop. I don't even want to explain the greatness of this album to anyone, because honestly if you haven't gotten it, you probably won't get it soon. A Tribe Called Quest was socially conscious, fun, and some of the greatest lyricists of all time. They are cools inspiration.

I had something else to say, but I have become quite frustrated with John Madden's commentary.

PEACE

American Gangster

"See, ya are what ya are in this world. That's either one of two things: Either you're somebody, or you ain't nobody."

First thing, Denzel washinton is badass.

The acting in this movie was amazing, as was the directing given that I do not like Ridley Scott. I really don't like Ridley Scotts other works, with the exception of Gladiator and Hannibal (produced Black Hawk Down, that show Numbers). The cinenomatography was amazing as was the scene locations. I was only dissappointed in the storyline. The movie basically follows a very linear, two characters-trying-to-find each other plot. The Russel Crowe scenes were pretty boring for the most part(except the gun battles).

However this does not change anything about Denzel Washington. My favorite part of the movie is when he walks up to some guy who owns him money, demands his money, then shoots the guy in the head in the middle of a busy street.

I can't honestly say that I don't have respect for a person like Frank Lucas(in real life and in the movie). He found a way to take advantage of the market, and did so the way any business man would. He made a way for himself and did what he had to to establish himself and his family (in real life his heroin dealing organization). that's just me though.

PEACE