Wednesday, February 28, 2007

PETA Dressed Down


ANOUSHKA SHANKAR (click to enlarge)
and her father
RAVI are just two of the many celebrities
who speak passionately on behalf
of PETA.
While PETA gives us funny, creative, sexy ads and videos
such as this one rated Over 18
, I discovered that they
possess less-than-upright
standing in other areas after reading:
"For an organization that supports throwing blood
on
women wearing fur and protesting KFC,
their sense of right
and wrong seems out of balance"
as reported by
The Citizen-Times of North Carolina

The non-profit watchdogs have a lot to say about the euthanasia,
ownership and disposal of animals as practised by PETA :

http://www.petakillsanimals.com/index.cfm

Now if you'll excuse me, I believe I'll do a Google Search for ah,
People Eating Tasty Animals (Results here)


Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Hannes Coetzee: Spoon Slider

pombanduwong wants to share a video with you



Pom Banduwong is an old friend from Thailand
whom I met i
n Poona, India back in the '70s while
he was a B. Com
student - and an avid music fan/musician
as I am.
He went on to become a manager at Bangkok Bank
but his love for all things musical continues. Some thirty years
later we still share our passion for music via the world wide web.

Slide Blues players like John Mayall, Duane Allman,
Johnny Winter, Taj Mahal
and others from the '50s on have
always fascinated me and
I let many years slide away (pun intended)
trying to master slide guitar technique, using old plumbing pipes
that had been steel-plated, and also tried using old bottle necks,
knives, forks, drumsticks - anything that would produce that
mesmerising glissando which is almost voice-like sometimes.

Pom remembered stuff like that when he dug up this
YouTube clip...."Karoo Kitaar Blues follows
South African songwriter
David Kramer and
slide guitarist Hannes Coetzee into remote regions of South Africa
on their quest to find
musicians who play an almost forgotten folk music."

Alternate WMV link


Saturday, February 24, 2007

FTV : Quote of the Day



In an attempt to stay globally competitive in India,
Fashion TV (FTV)
an International cable TV channel
constantly pushes the boundaries of what's acceptable
on TV in India by offering sexy music videos, advertisements
and catwalk images one would normally associate with high
fashion worldwide. This being India, the old school mentality
walks a fine line once again. FTV India now faces a major
hurdle in the form of complaints from schools and colleges
about the airing of raunchy broadcasts during children's
viewing hours. More responsible programming is all it will take
according to
Priyaranjan Dasmunsi, India's cabinet minister
for Parliamentary Affairs and Info, and he certainly has a nice
style in his remarks :

"I say show it, have your business, (but) make a restricted
hours
viewing. Let people see all this from 11 in the night
to 5
in the morning. Let them suffer insomnia and see the
doctors
(and have) work problems."

Here's a link to a related Reuters news article via Yahoo News



Forward : Laws of Success

Taken from the never-ending Fwd: Fwd: messages
in my Yahoo Inbox:

Do you want something ? Will you pay the price ?
The great sin -- Gossip.
The great crippler -- Fear.
The greatest mistake -- Giving up.
The most satisfying experience -- Doing your duty first.
The best actions -- Keeping the mind clear and making good judgments.
The greatest blessing -- Good health.
The biggest fool - The man who lies to himself.
The great gamble -- Substituting hope for facts.
The most certain thing in life -- Change.
The greatest joy -- Being needed.
The cleverest man -- The one who does what he thinks is right.
The most potent force -- Positive thinking.
The greatest opportunity -- The next one.
The greatest thought -- God.
The greatest victory -- Victory over self.
The best play -- Successful work.
The greatest handicap -- Egotism.
The most expensive indulgence -- Hate.
The most dangerous man -- The liar
The most ridiculous trait -- False pride.
The greatest loss -- Loss of self confidence.
The greatest need -- Common sense.

(Thanks to Manny for the Forward)

Friday, February 23, 2007

Blank Noise Blogathon in March



Jasmeen
of India's Blank Noise Project says :


Hello!


Last March 8 (Women's Day), we had a blog-a-thon that asked
you to blog
stories of street sexual harassment. It began with an
announcement on this
blog that was picked up by bloggers across
India, and soon in different
parts of the world. We shared stories we
had never shared before, sometimes
stories we thought we had long
forgotten, stories that we had often wanted
to bury. We read each other,
we linked to each other and we linked back to
the Blank Noise Project
blog. We were touched by each other's stories, moved
by them, and,
we like to imagine, drew strength and sustenance from the
long,
cross-cultural chain of shared experiences.
It's this strength that we're
asking you to share experiences of, on March
8th, 2007.
The baton is handed over right here, right now!

Announce this on
your blog and on the morning of March 8th, 2007,
share with us a story (or
two, or five or...) of fighting back?!
When did you flip a situation so you could resist, when did you give
back as
hard as you got? When and how did you choose to confront?
When did you
become an Action Hero? Action heroes have formed
the theme of the last few Blank Noise
interventions and it's this spirit
we ask you to share and celebrate on
March 8, 2007!

So announce the Blog-a-thon, and on March 8, share your action story!

If you are a male blogger and wondering how you fit in, tell us about an
Action Hero you know!

http://www.blanknoiseproject.blogspot.com/

Related :
http://virtualpoona.blogspot.com/2007/02/start-dreaming-ladies.html

Technorati tag

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Windows Vista : easy installation video

Save yourself a lot of time and aggravation.
This guy is on the money !

Link to YouTube video

Start Dreaming, Ladies !

My friends over at the Blank Noise Project
(part of Google Groups) are looking for a few good dreamers.
So go ahead and make a wish....
..


'I want to run wild on the streets at night'
That's my fantasy. The thing I most wish I could do in my city.

What's yours?
What are the top ten, twenty, one hundred things
that you wish your city just let you to do?

Email us your dreams for your city. Stay anonymous if you choose.
We will post it on the blog and may use it for an audio piece.


Please email us at :

blurtblanknoise@gmail.com. While we believe that there should no
deadline for dreaming and wishlists, we would appreciate it if you
start dreaming and mail us right away!
Last date- Feb 28, 2007

Thank you


Blank Noise!

BLANK NOISE PROJECT
Ph:+ 91 98734 85284 (In Delhi)
+ 91 98868 40612 (Bangalore)

www.blanknoiseproject.blogspot.com





Sunday, February 18, 2007

Pinky v6 from Heavy.com

I have always loved the Kung Fu genre of film
from the early Bruce Lee days and after coming
to America in 1976 I often watched 3 matinees in a
row in New York's Chinatown and Times Square.
I quickly realized that the only redeeming feature of
these films for me was their unintended B-movie quality
which were a source of great laughs for me, reminiscent of
the Bollywood movies back home in India. Then I sunk
even further as I deliberately sought out John Waters-type
unabashed humor. The website
named Heavy.com has a growing collection of
Kung Faux
films where they have dubbed old Martial Arts
movies with
dialogue and voices from the Black Gangsta
in the hood arena.

This one seems
to be the most successful one so far as
regards humor
and synchronization. I think it's hilarious and
you can judge for yourself but be warned, you have to
watch this with an open mind and with the kids
out of the room !

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Watch The Brazil Show Salgueiro




The Brazil Show Salgueiro
It's Fat Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday which marks
the start of the Lenten period for Christians. On Mardi Gras
Tuesday in various parts of the world the Carnivals are in full
swing even as I type this, especially in Brazil.
Now when I think of Brazil I think first of the music and rhythms
which are so pulsating and passionate that they
captivate people the world over. Stan Getz, James Taylor,
Sting, Michael Franks and countless other musicians all
owe a great debt to Brazilian music for the way it has
influenced their musical vision. If you've never heard of
The Girl From Ipanema then you're either too young or
too naive (not necessarily ignorant)

When it's Carnival that we talk about, then most people
think of the beautiful women, the beaches, and the
dancing and partying.

As Carnival time draws near in the days leading up
to Fat Tuesday (the day before Ash Wednesday)
the most famous of all dance traditions is on view
in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Preparations are intense and competition between the
various Samba dance troops and floats is something
worth a visit via the web if not in person.

Visit Salgueiro Samba School in Rio de Janeiro as they
prepare for Carnival :

http://tinyurl.com/2nflqh

Watch more great videos at Brightcove.com

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Madooo music sandwich

Virtual Poona Blog is pleased to announce that
Madooo got sandwiched between The Chieftains and
Loreena McKennitt, no less !



(click to enlarge)

Thought I'd share this with you.
Below is a note from the
Host/Producer of the radio station


Madhu
_______________________________________________________________

'Greetings Madoo,
I just thought I'd drop you a quick note
to let you know that I played
your cover of "Norwegian Wood,"
this evening, on the World Beat.
I
played it from the Global Rhythms Sampler. http://www.mnsu.edu/kmsufm/wbpl/playList/WB07-02-2nd.html

All the best to you and yours,
-
Mark
--'

Mark R. Thomas World Beat host/producer

KMSU/KMSK FM - The Maverick Radio Network

3010 Memorial Library, Mankato, MN 56001