Saturday, April 11, 2009

Music: A.R. Rahman & The Pussycat Dolls - "Jai Ho (You Are My Destiny)"

Criticism: Are American Pop music consumers unable to appreciate the original version of the song, "Jai Ho," which is in Hindi, with some Spanish? Are they incapable of Googling "jai ho english translation"?

Is this a reflection of American's intolerance for linguistic ambiguity?

Is this an example of cultural colonization, taking only that which is perceived as valuable to the colonizers, such as the catchy musical refrain of "Jai Ho," which is relegated to the status of a meaningless sound in the English version?

Or is it just a positive example of "the collaboration of sounds from the East and West"?

Documentary: "Manufactured Landscapes" (2006)

Criticism: Distopian future? No -- Distopian present. Hideous imagery.

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Documentary: "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room" (2005)

Criticism: If this film doesn't make your blood boil, watch it over and over again until it does.

Enron functioned as the equivalent of an enemy nation-state (in economic, not geo-political terms) at war against its "clients," specifically the state of California.

This is old news, you say, and in the past, you say? The same selfish greed that fueled Enron is (and has been) fueling our current economic 'crisis'. This is what happens when you turn over control of valuable resources to obsessive-compulsive individuals who should be kept away from the general public.

An excellent case for the necessity of good governmental efforts to oversee the madness and insanity of the so-called "free market".