Peddling Crack for the Ears: Selection of Bond Songs

These songs just have a wonderful classical instrumental fused with techno thing going on. Bond is always great about those. And of course, Bond ladies are pretty easy on the eyes, too. Since some of these songs couldn't be consolidated into one playlist (due to stupid moderator settings) I will list them individually. Enjoy!

Ride - Bond

Space - Bond

Duel - Bond

Winter Sun(AKA Winter) - Bond

Speed - Bond

Bond's take on Adagio for Strings

Adagio for Strings - Bond

This inevitably had to happen. Bond's take on the Bond (007) Theme song.

Bond on Bond - Bond

Gypsy Rhapsody - Bond

And last but not least, something with a hint of Indian to it:

Shine(Dubashakra Mix) - Bond

Bush to Obama

I came across this today and aside from its humorous, yet disturbingly eerie transition, it was downright nifty.

It's going to be interesting to see how things are going to fare from here on out now that Obama's finally in office. I caught the last part of his inauguration speech last week which was fantastically delivered and well worded, though I wonder if the religious highlights were really all that necessary to include. What really struck me was the magnitude of the inauguration's global broadcast. It's quite something to see one man retain his composure so well with so many expecting eyes upon him watching how he proceeds to undertake such an enormously daunting myriad of tasks that lie ahead, namely leading the United States into a better, safer, more secure future after its undoing from the past several years.

I also happened to run across an article the following day of the inauguration which mentioned how a 27 year old Starbucks Employee, Jon Favreau, co-wrote the inauguration speech with Obama. Here is the link to the article, and it is also posted below:

---- BEGIN ARTICLE----
Obama inauguration: Words of history ... crafted by 27-year-old in Starbucks

When Barack Obama steps up to the podium to deliver his inaugural address, one man standing anonymously in the crowd will be paying especially close attention. With his cropped hair, five o'clock shadow and boyish face, he might look out of place among the dignitaries, though as co-author of the speech this man has more claim than most to be a witness to this moment of history.

Jon Favreau, 27, is, as Obama himself puts it, the president's mind reader. He is one of the youngest chief speechwriters on record in the White House, and, despite such youth, was at the centre of discussions of the content of today's speech, one which has so much riding on it.

For a politician whose rise to prominence was largely built upon his powers as an orator, Obama is well versed in the arts of speech-making. But today's effort will tower over all previous ones.

It is not just that Obama has set an extremely high bar by invoking the inaugural speeches of Abraham Lincoln as his inspiration - admitting to feeling "intimidated" when he read them. It is also that, as he begins his term with the US in an economic crisis and two wars, he knows he needs to kick start his presidency with a soaring rhetoric that both moves and motivates the American people.

The tone of the speech could be decisive in determining how the public responds to his first 100 days, as Franklin Roosevelt's famous line "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself" helped to determine his.

Obama aides have let it be known that a key theme will be restoring responsibility - both in terms of accountability in Washington and the responsibility of ordinary people to get involved. Rahm Emanuel, Obama's chief of staff, talks of a "culture of responsibility" that would "not just be asked of the American people; its leaders must also lead by example."

In composing the high notes of the speech, Obama has leant on Favreau, whom he discovered almost by chance four years ago when the younger man was working on John Kerry's failed presidential bid. "Favs" has since studied Obama's speech patterns and cadences with the intensity of a stalker. He memorised the 2004 speech to the Democratic national convention which first brought Obama into the limelight. He is said to carry Obama's autobiography, Dreams From My Father, wherever he goes. As a result, last November when Favreau sat down to write the first draft of the inaugural address, he could conjure up his master's voice as if an accomplished impersonator.

That skill had been put to almost daily use in the 18 months of brutal campaigning on the presidential trail. Favreau would be up most nights until 3am, honing the next day's stump speeches in a caffeine haze of espressos and Red Bull energy drinks, taking breaks to play the video game Rock Band. He coined a phrase for this late-night deadline surfing: "crashing".

He crashed his way through all Obama's most memorable speeches. He wrote the draft of one that helped to turn Iowa for Obama while closeted in a coffee shop in Des Moines. For the presidential election, he wrote two speeches: one for a victory, one for defeat. When the result came through, he emailed his best friend: "Dude, we won. Oh my God."

The tension between such youthful outbursts and his onerous role has sometimes cost the 27-year-old. In December, pictures of him and a friend mocking a cardboard cut-out of Hillary Clinton at a party, Favreau's hand on her breast, were posted on Facebook to his huge embarrassment.

Obama is an accomplished writer in his own right, and the process of drafting with his mind reader is collaborative. The inaugural speech has shuttled between them four or five times, following an initial hour-long meeting in which the president-elect spoke about his vision for the address, and Favreau took notes on his computer.

Favreau then went away and spent weeks on research. His team interviewed historians and speech writers, studied periods of crisis, and listened to past inaugural orations. When ready, he took up residence in Starbucks in Washington and wrote the first draft. The end result will be uttered on the steps of the Capitol.

Obama's mind reader has crashed his way through yet another deadline.

• This article was amended on Friday 23 January 2009. Jon Favreau, age 27, is not the youngest chief speechwriter in the White House. He shares that honour with James Fallows, who served as Jimmy Carter's speechwriter at the same age. This has been corrected.

---- END ARTICLE----


For those who missed the Inaugration, here are the parts on youtube.

Obama's Swear In Ceremony



Part 1 of President Obama's Inauguration Speech



Part 2 of President Obama's Inauguration Speech



Part 3 of President Obama's Inauguration Speech



Part 4 of President Obama's Inauguration Speech



Part 5 of President Obama's Inauguration Speech

Glorify the Slums, God Dammit! (edited)

EDIT 1/16/09
So I stand corrected! I had been unaware of this along with the fact that Amitabh actually keeps a public blog, but apparently BBC derived the comments from Amitabh Bachan's blog itself (click here for Amitabh's Blog) where he had actually posted the opinions of others regarding SM to "invite a debate", but were instead taken out of context and misconstrued as his own. BBC also published an article to 'clarify' on its former (Click here for BBC article). Way to go with accuracy, media!

However, just to make it official, I'll copy and paste the text taken directly from Amitabh's most recent blogpost regarding his comments/criticisms for Slumdog Millionaire along with the Media without taking it out of context or any further alterations. On a sidenote, it is especially on occasions like these where the impact of the unique qualities the digital era can be realized - like for instance when high profile celebrities' thoughts and opinions may reach a large number of people without being tainted with just a little effort on their part. Just wow. Anyway, continuing with the blogpost...

---- BEGIN AMITABH'S BLOGPOST REGARDING SlumDog Millionaire----
Amitabh Bachan's Blog: Day 267

What a colossal joke this is all turning out to be !! Without reading the text of my blog or the purpose behind mention of ‘SlumDog’ an entire machinery of abuse has been directed towards me.

Fact is. Some one mentioned the film on my blog. Some expressed opinion for it, some against. And yes they contained some strong assumptions. I merely put both of them up and invited debate. I have done this many times on several issues and there has been great involvement. Media, in India has taken the pros and cons of OTHERS, as MINE, built their headlines and put it safely out, thereby, causing the consternation. All the expressions that have been attributed to me are in fact the expressions of others. Or perceived impressions of others. Where is the indication that this impression is concretely mine ? There is none !! And now after having castigated me for something not attributable to me, it has made my real opinion on the film after seeing it, impossible. If I do not like it there will be greater abuse. If I like it, there will be abuse.

My apologies therefore, on this unfortunate and completely misguided occurrence. May peace prevail and prosperity follow.

It is the most convenient and easiest practice to twist and distort words, especially if they come from celebrities. The copy makes good reading. Media did just that and made a screaming headline - ‘AB slams Slum’. Note the use of word ’slam’. It is nowhere in my blog, but has been deliberately put because it rhymes and reads well with the word ’slum’. Headline structured, editorial happy and to hell with its truth and authenticity.

---- END BLOGPOST----


My Original Blogpost (based on BBC's original article):

I normally don't care much for Bollywood or its actors/actresses because quite frankly, many of the movies produced either

a) Are too predictable
b) Like a, not only lack originality, but are ripped from other pre-existing movies
c) Lack a decent, semi-intriguing plot
d) Are excessively dramatized for my taste

Yet, this one BBC article pasted below (click here for BBC article) caught my attention. It spoke about how the staggering success of Danny Boyle's recent movie, Slumdog Millionaire, on an international scale has upset quite a few desis including Amitabh Bachan, one of India's most well recognized veteran actors who went to go ahead and criticize SM for projecting India as a "third world dirty underbelly."




---- BEGIN ARTICLE ----
Bollywood Star Criticism Slumdog Millionaire

Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan has criticised award-winning film Slumdog Millionaire for projecting India as the "third world dirty underbelly".

The film, made by British director Danny Boyle, has swept the Golden Globe and Critics' Choice awards.

A rags-to-riches tale of an improbable winner of game show Who Wants to be a Millionaire, the film is based on Indian diplomat Vikas Swarup's book.

Slumdog Millionaire is also a favourite to win at the Oscars.

The film has been nominated in 11 categories for next month's British Academy Film Awards, including best film, best British film and best director.

Best-known actor

Mr Bachchan had played the very popular host of Kaun Banega Crorepati - Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?

"If SM (Slumdog Millionaire) projects India as [a] Third World dirty underbelly developing nation and causes pain and disgust among nationalists and patriots, let it be known that a murky underbelly exists and thrives even in the most developed nations," Mr Bachchan wrote in his blog.

"It's just that the SM idea authored by an Indian and conceived and cinematically put together by a Westerner, gets creative [Golden] Globe recognition. The other would perhaps not."

Slumdog Millionaire opens in India next week.

Mr Bachchan is India's best-known actor and has a massive fan following at home and among the diaspora the world over.

The actor's career spans almost 40 years. He has acted in more than 140 movies.

He starred in the legendary Hindi movie Sholay and hosted the first three seasons of Kaun Banega Crorepati.

His show enjoyed tremendous popularity with viewers and, according to reports, at the time of the telecast, the streets were deserted and fewer people went out to cinemas.

Bachchan topped a 1999 BBC News website poll to find the greatest star of the millennium, beating the likes of Marlon Brando and Charlie Chaplin.

---- END ARTICLE ----


Honestly, my problem here is not the fact that someone criticized the movie...as I do not expect everyone to like it, either. But more about the root of these 'criticisms'..how they are disappointing because they seem to lack legitimate justification despite coming from a well known veteran Bollywood star who of all people ought to have more respect for the arts especially when representing the more controversial issues. Especially someone who has lived abroad and has surely experienced a versatile set of movies from around the world ought to recognize the fact that not all movies related to India have to be the byproduct of narrow superficial equations that produce some glorified escapism, like the ones often found in most Bollywood movies.

It's too bad that as an actor, he failed to acknowledge the movie for what it is, a success, complete with with an original engaging, and thought-provoking story of life lessons that the international audience could appreciate and probably even relate to in some ways. Like how about that scene when the Child Jamal chose to drop himself into a pool of shit to not miss out on his opportunity to meet his idolized Actor (none other than the same Amitabh Bachan who now criticized SM) and how that coating of stinky shit allowed Child Jamal to easily bypass the huge crowd of people surrounding his idol and attain an autograph!

But Amitabh is not the only one who I know to have criticized SM. I personally know a few other Indians who had a problem with SM because of the issues it depicted (ie: slums, riots, misusing children, selling young adults for sex, exploiting tourists, etc) and that too on such an international scale. Maybe age has something to do with it, as many of these seemed to belong to an older age group.

As far as I'm concerned, SM specifically states that it is set in the slums and it is about a character from the slums who does miraculously well on a gameshow. It shows just that and quite well in my opinion. Yet there is this unrealistic expectation of the movie to embellish the slum life simply to make India look better in the eyes of others... maybe because many of us are too insecure to accept issues are in fact still rampant, and cope with them accordingly. Why is it so upsetting and terrible that this movie, which is deliberately set in the slums, chose to portray the not-so-prettier scenes of India?

And this nationalist/patriotism argument?

"If SM (Slumdog Millionaire) projects India as [a] Third World dirty underbelly developing nation and causes pain and disgust among nationalists and patriots, let it be known that a murky underbelly exists and thrives even in the most developed nations."

That disappoints even more. How does it make anyone less of a patriot if they are realistically grounded enough to acknowledge and admit that while there are the wonderful qualities, there are the flaws as well which have yet to be resolved. Why does it quickly then turn into a comparative competition of "Well, it's not like WE'RE the only ones with problems, look at blah blah blah" Afterall, isn't acknowledgment the first step before we get around to figuring out how to solve it?

I cannot even begin to count all the times I've had heated debates with other fellow Indians who were quick to judge and claim that I lacked patriotism simply due to the fact that there were issues mentioned during the discussion which they chose not to acknowledge because somehow it made one less patriotic. What a load of BS.

And oh, before anyone flips to the "Oh, you're an NRI (Non-Resident Indian), what would you know"....well, sure, I am an NRI, and while I do not claim to be an expert of Indian government, history, issues, or events...I am not stupid. I know about that which I personally have come across during my time spent there. Admitting that does NOT make me any less of an Indian. I am not aiming to insult a country that I respect, but I refuse to be biased and turn a blind eye to issues. In fact, there are definitely intentions of returning later in my life to do my part when I will have the resources to perform it more effectively.

It is just really sad to see the same people who will argue with me until they're blue in the face yelling "INDIA'S THE BEST" then turn around and care little for their fellow Indians or their struggles or even for that tiny piece of trash they chose to dispose of in the middle of the road. How can one claim the greatness of India, but then do nothing to resolve it but go ahead to treat any part of it as a landfill. How can you then laugh at anyone else who tries to hold onto their trash and save it for when they see an appropriate place to dispose of it? Hypocrisy much?

As for Amitabh, as someone had pointed out earlier I can't help but wonder if his criticism is rooted more out of bitterness that he missed out on the spotlight since everything else doesn't seem to make much sense and he was, infact, a host for that gameshow in real life at one point. I doubt he would have been so critical of it had he had a bigger part in the movie like Anil Kapoor (the actor who plays the host on the gameshow in SM) did.

Peddling Crack for the Ears: Halou's 'I'll Carry You'

An old fave with a haunting ambience.

I'll Carry You - Halou

LYRICS
How does it feel
To know that you are loved so much
How does it feel to be accepted
So completely
How does it feel to know that you
Mean everything to someone
How does it feel to know that
You're exactly what i wanted

How does it feel
To know that you are loved

I love you more than you can see