Politics, Social Movements – The Politics of Food

Introduction to Mary Summers, Senior Fellow, Political Science Department, University of Pennsylvania

Frost/Nixon Movie Review

My review of the critically acclaimed drama.

Horror in the East: Episode 1: Turning against the West :: [Part 1 of 5]

Horror in the East, by Laurence Rees (BBC)
Horror in the East: Japan and the Atrocities of World War II, is a BBC documentary film series that examines the atrocities of the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II.

4 Episodes – 21 Parts:

Episode 1: Turning against the West
Episode 2: Death before Surrender
Episode 3: Timewatch – The Forgotten Volunteers
Episode 4: Burma – The Forgotten War

While many histories of World War Two have recounted the grim atrocities performed by Japanese soldiers on civilians and POWs, few have attempted to explain how and why such barbarity could have occurred. What led to the assault on Nanking? How could one in four Allied POWs die in captivity? Meticulously researched, using Japanese and British consultants, Horror in the East examines the political and economic factors, as well as the mindset of those involved. Rarely seen archive footage and interviews with former Japanese soldiers, kamikazes, Allied POWs, and victims of the notorious cruelty reveal the complex truth behind the horror.

Our Wonderful Government

Capitol Hill.
A crumbling economy, more than 2 million constituents who have lost their jobs this year, and congressional demands of CEOs to work for free did not convince lawmakers to freeze their own pay.
Instead, they will get a $4,700 pay increase,
$2.5 million that taxpayers will spend on congressional salaries,
Currently the average lawmaker makes $169,300 a year, with leadership making slightly more. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi makes $217,400, while the minority and majority leaders in the House and Senate make $188,100

AC City Folk- Nooks Is Expanding

Nooks Cranny is expanding.
Message for Friend code.

From China with love 2

BAILOUT GM?

http://snushow.blogspot.com

Slum Dog Millionaire – 2008 Best Movies – Trailer in iHD™

The jumble and hustle of modern-day India provides the steamy, energetic backdrop to Danny Boyle’s electrifying new feature, Slumdog Millionaire. The film is an eloquent and moving account of a boy who attempts to become a millionaire on a television game show, rediscovering the love of his life in the process. Boyle uses this extraordinary premise to paint a kaleidoscopic portrait of a society built around survival of the fittest, where betrayal is commonplace and greed and corruption lie just around every corner.

In a picaresque tale worthy of a Henry Fielding novel, this Tom Jones is Jamal, a poor, bright-eyed youth mischievously getting in and out of scrapes with his even more rambunctious older brother, Salim. In a horrifying turn of events, the two youngsters’ lives change in front of their eyes when their mother is viciously killed during a riot. Alone, they turn to the streets, becoming slumdogs. A ray of sunshine comes into their lives when they befriend another orphan, the feisty young girl Latika, and soon the three are inseparable. Adventure follows as the trio learns to survive the cutthroat life of contemporary India but at least they have each other. Or do they?

Years later, Jamal appears on India’s version of the game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Amazingly, he finds himself in the position of winning more and more prize money as the answers to the questions keep tumbling his way. But how can a slumdog with no formal education know the answers to these questions? Suspicions are raised, and Jamal quickly learns that the game show will be his biggest life test.

Boyle’s film is a cinematic rollercoaster ride. Above all a romance, it is played out in a world where social, economic and political issues are never far away. The young cast is superb, but it is Boyle’s dramatic smarts and feel for the heat, sweat and street life of Mumbai that transforms Slumdog Millionaire into a compelling and gripping cinematic experience.

Piers Handling

Danny Boyle was born in Manchester and worked in theatre and television before he began to direct for the cinema. Shallow Grave (94), his first feature film, was highly acclaimed, but it was with his second feature, Trainspotting (96), that he achieved cult status. His feature filmography also includes A Life Less Ordinary (97), The Beach (00), Strumpet (01), Vacuuming Completely Nude in Paradise (01), 28 Days Later (03), Millions (04), Sunshine (07) and Slumdog Millionaire (08).