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I have very mixed feelings about this. On one hand, it's good that developing countries will have access to a cheaper car and more people will be able to afford the luxury of car-ownership that rich (relative) westerners have enjoyed for decades. On the other hand, automobiles are not SUSTAINABLE. It is simply impossible for everyone in India and China to own vehicles. The Earth cannot sustain that. It would immediately double the number of vehicles in the world. Oil would be gone virtually instantly. The pollution would send major cities into perpetual darkness. I mean, it's just not even an option. And it's almost irresponsible to unleash a million new gasoline powered cars on the earth. But again, it's not exactly fair for rich countries to tell developing countries that they can't have what we have...

I finally got around to seeing this. It is really, really cute!

Don't forget Europe, Eagle-Eye Cherry, and... Meja? As tigerboy said, there are some amazing indiepop artists out of Sweden these days. My favs are The Knife, The Sounds. I'm From Barcelona is among the oddest pop bands in the world :lol: What with IKEA and Volvo and H&M delivering Swedish fashion, style and innovation to the masses, I'd agree that it has a huge influence on pop culture relative to its small size.

Shame it won't be until the "final rounds" which will be May. I was hoping they would integrate her into some of the first few episodes to boost her debut. Unless maybe they aren't planning on releasing/promoting her until the spring...

I think the Indian call center thing is just an excuse half the time. I have two or three friends who have worked call centers here and in Canada. They get as much abuse as you can imagine, cursing and shrieking and nasty insults and such. ALL THE TIME. It's the nature of the job - as a representative of a huge, faceless corporation, you are held accountable for all the problems people have. And communications companies are usually the absolute worst in costumer service. Want to know the worst example of corporate penny-pinching though? Many fast food places now connect you to a call center when you announce your order into the speaker at the car drive-thru. It goes to a center 3000 miles away and the order is then fed back to the kitchen. I guess they can pay call center staff even less than McDonalds staff...

As a Democrat, I am delighted that Huckabee won in Iowa. He is a bigot and a moron. He divides the Republican party between the fiscal conservatives who despise him and the right-wing nutcases who worship him. If he is nominated for the Republicans, many of them will defect and vote third party. He is utterly unelectable. Obama was inspirational as usual. He is an absolute shoe-in for the nomination and for president. Mark my words.

Not to mention it was RELEVANT, TOPICAL. Coming in between a World War and a Cold War, the film was perhaps the seminal sci-fi film. It carried in important message and gave credibility to a genre characterized before by silly monster movies. And Keanu Reeves playing Klaatu?? Horrible! Plus I read that they've f***ed around with the characters and Helen Benson is not a single, working mother but some NASA scientist investigator now. It's going to be a plodding, pointless, CGI-laden piece of $h!t.

As of this week, you need to be top 20 Pop to get on the main chart, but the chart is kind of messed up because of all the Christmas songs. Bleeding Love was literally not played ONCE on radio last week. It hasn't been released and promotion hasn't begun. American Idol, by FAR the most popular TV program in America, is about to begin and I'm sure they'll promote her there. Don't worry, she will not only be huge, she will break records. Just have a bit of patience.

Truly a shame and deservedly so. But political scientists will tell you it was inevitable. Politics in America is about candidates or parties "taking" different population groups. Because Bush campaigned on fear, religion, values, he was able to snatch away certain populations that almost always vote democrat (laborers, Catholics, women, minorities, underprivileged, etc.). Had he campaigned on actual issues, results, etc. he would have lost. It was his advisor Karl Rove's plan for a "permanent republican majority" but aligning the republican party with the "moral majority" or religious right. But remember, 2 years later the democrats were voted majority in both houses of Congress, something even I would have doubted possible in 2004. That whole hijacking of the republican party (and American politics in general) by the religious right has turned out to be a blunder. I have faith that the democrats will prevail. But we shall see...

Yea but all the racists from the south will be voting GOP anyway, whether the democrat is black or white. Those kinds of people would never, ever vote for a democrat. The point is that they will be outnumbered... No one can predict the future but I really think the democrats will win the next presidency. You're right about Hillary but she's still better liked and many percentage points over the nearest republican.

Had to bump this. I am addicted to this song!!! Considering it is HUGE in France, I think it could cross over to the UK... here's a fixed link to the vid: rNdvAe78TFM

Ugh, that day cannot come soon enough. The man is simply an abomination and he is universally loathed. He has wrought more destruction on the US and on the world, he will go down in the history books as a shameful embarassment. I'm convinced he could be single-handedly responsible for the end of US global hegemony. And the Republican party is in shambles. It's Karl Rove's master plan blowing up in his face. They made themselves the party of the evangelicals, but Guiliani is a cheating, adulterous bast*rd and Romney is a mormon. So the evangelicals are all supporting this NUTCASE Baptist preacher named Mike Huckabee. This man is heading to win the Republican nomination because every evangelical is voting for him, while the rest of the party is split between the other two (and John McCain). And Huckabee doesn't have a chance in HELL of being elected. He's detested by moderates, fiscal republicans, and of course, liberals. He's scarier than Bush. A democrat WILL be elected in 2008 and it WILL be either a woman or a black man. Looking more and more like the latter...

It has been ten years since the founder of Penguin Cafe Orchestra, Simon Jeffes, died tragically and ended the run of this fantastic and ever-changing lineup of musicians. Most active during the 1980s, they are among the most difficult groups to characterize into a single genre. Some of their most innovative stuff used electronic sampling and put them on tour with Kraftwerk, meanwhile they have songs that could be qualified as new age, folk, symphonic and even country/western. What ties their music together is a sublime attention to detail and a refusal to follow established rules and conventions. Simon once said "the quality of randomness, spontaneity, surprise, unexpectedness and irrationality in our lives is a very precious thing" and it shows in their music. Enjoy these clips from a 1989 BBC special. My personal favorite, Perpetuum Mobile: FvbCV6E0Wro Their most famous song which has been covered by many Irish outfits, Music for a Found Harmonium: yJg1NNyke2E A lovely number, Air A Danser: eU8IziD08t4 A very spirited number, Salty Bean Fumble: yfYdWPTLX-0

Unfortunately not very well. When I get home from work I can post the Economist article about it. But if you break it down by state, Massachussetts ranks near the top, while Mississippi lags down in the lower range. Further proof that our president's ludicrous No Child Left Behind Act, which punishes underperforming schools by snatching away their funding, and his obsession with school vouchers -- so that kids can abandon the public schools and join pricey private schools or creepy religious schools -- have failed miserably. Education reform should be among the highest concerns today. But it's just so much easier to remind us that Islamic facists want to kill us and step away from the podium.

By the way, it would be worth it to read the history of the Little Rock 9. The US Supreme Court desegregated schools, but Little Rock refused with the support of the governor of Arkansas. He sent the National Guard to keep the black kids out of the school. Eventually President Eisenhower had to step in, nationalize the guard so they'd follow his order instead of the governors, and force the school to let the kids in. But it didn't stop there. As you can imagine, they were abused and beaten, spat on in the hallways. One was expelled for dropping her lunch tray as a direct result of being intimidated by a gang of white boys taunting her. Later on, the entire school district, refusing to integrate blacks, closed every school in Little Rock for a year. The crisis lasted YEARS. People in the south were unapologetically racist for DECADES, including politicians. When racism becomes so endemic and systematic, it has long-standing consequences. You think the poverty rates, the illiteracy rates, the crime rates, the HIV+ rates, the life expectancy rates, etc. among African Americans is because of the color of their skin? Absolutely not, it's because they have been abused, ignored, condemned, ghettoized for generations BY RACIST WHITE PEOPLE.

But Tyler, slavery isn't the half of it. Yes, slavery has been illegal for a century and a half, but desegregation of schools, the abolition of Jim Crow laws, comprehensive election standards to ensure blacks the opportunity to vote... all of this happened during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s-60s. And actually, systematic racism was rampant in many places until the 70s and 80s. It has only been since then that cultural institutions encouraging and celebrating African Americans have been instituted. They should absolutely be supported. Young black kids need role models in their communities and the celebration of black history is a perfect way to teach them. No, you may not be racist, but your parents generation and every generation back (especially in Georgia, no offense) likely was. Thus the predominantly-black schools were underfunded and ignored, black neighborhoods were denied police protection in rural and urban areas, blacks were denied decent jobs and a decent education for GENERATIONS. This has doomed many of their kids to lives of poverty and disillusionment today. I'm not saying it's your fault or mine. And I have no patience for radical blacks who have become overly entitled and demand "reparations" that they don't truly deserve. But let's face it, it wasn't the racist slave owner in 1845 who is to blame for many problems in the African American community today. It was the bus driver who kicked Rosa Parks out of her bus. It was the police who sprayed fire hydrants and unleashed dogs as peaceful Civil Rights protesters. It was the angry white kids held back by the National Guard so they wouldn't attack the innocent black girl just trying to enter a white school in Arkansas. Look at this picture: http://amcop.blogspot.com/little%20rock%20nine.JPG One of the Little Rock 9, an innocent black girl just trying to go to school. Look at the white kids jeering and threatening her. Look at the National Guardsmen behind her. It is one of the most horrific, heart-wrenching depictions I've ever seen. And it happened only 50 years ago. Those white kids in that picture are quite possibly still alive. They could be your grandparents. That is the history of African Americans in the US and we all need to confront it. Blacks and whites need to see that photograph and study it and understand what it means. That is why Black History month is essential.

The version getting airplay is actually a remix featuring rapper MIMS. I actually quite like the result. It is reminiscent of the 90s when rap and house were always together! Here's the remix: vKLV85PraFg

Look what's hiding down there! A bonafide club-credit dance song that isn't Cascada!

Wow, I almost completely forgot about this song! Anyone remember this? In the UK they were just called Peach I believe.

Also, I've never understood why the rule doesn't apply to naming PEOPLE. Isn't it a bit more offensive to name someone Muhammad, as if he represents the Prophet? But that isn't the case, of course.

This is true. The idea is that no picture or object could ever possibly represent that vast beauty and presence of Allah and Muhammad. The Qur'an doesn't forbid it but just sort of discourages it. Chapter 42, verse 11 of the Koran does say: "[Allah is] the originator of the heavens and the earth... [there is] nothing like a likeness of Him." (from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4674864.stm) Innocent enough... but after centuries it has turned into a strict prohibition and, well, mass protests setting fire to a Danish embassy... or imprisoning teachers with only the best intentions... ::sigh:: It's all so reminiscent of Christianity about 800 years ago...

I know it's hard to get excited over yet another Rihanna song but I'm happy to see this debut. The record company hadn't intended to release it in the US but it's starting to build significant airplay, especially in New York. It's already been top 5 in Canada and across Europe. UK release, anyone?

People's perception of Muslims is negative? I wonder why... Oh. Quick answer.

Well Natasha is in the top 20 airplay and rising close to the top 10 on iTunes so I think she can only go up. The Spice Girls, on the other hand, are thus far being completely dismissed by radio and they dropped quickly out of the iTunes chart. This really isn't a surprise to me because, well, the song is mediocre and straight outta 1998. And American radio does not generally reflect sentiment or novelty.

Listening to the latest Sugababes song and watching the video on YouTube, I noticed that the radio edit is about 30 seconds shorter, due to a sloppy cut of the first verse in the song. Okay, so they wanted the song to be around the 3 minute mark. But then why is Leona Lewis' new smash hit almost 4 minutes, even the radio version? What is the point of awkwardly halving the first verse of the Sugababes song to get the radio edit so short? This seems to happen with somewhat frequency, especially in the UK. The radio edit of DJ Sammy's Heaven around the world was nearly 4 minutes but the UK radio edit was sloppily and awkwardly cut up to manage under 3 minutes. Is there a reason??? It is reported that Jim Steinman sobbed when radio insisted that he edit his 12:00 minute Meat Loaf anthem I'd Do Anything for Love. I don't blame him - why must radio edits, especially in the UK, be so short??