"The Internet can do everything"

This is a very good story about friendship.  A dying man's wishes are fullfilled by his friend.  Read their story!  It is always nice seeing an author or any type of artist open up to their fans and be receptive to a conversation with them about how they feel about their piece of work(s).

My top 5 favorite movies (which ended up being all 90's movies for some reason)

Y'all are going to hate me for this list, but its in no particular order and one is a bit girly.

1. Independence Day

This movie has a lot of action and a lot of good actors.  I especially love Will Smith, Bill Pullman and Jeff Goldblum.

2. Twister

Another good action movie.  I fear tornadoes, and thats what makes this movie amazing.  It scares me, but keeps me interested. Good actors: Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton.

3. Schindler's List

This one is just sad, but the story telling and choreography is amazing.  Good on Steven Spielberg.  Good actors: Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes (aka Voldemort), and Ben Kingsley.

4. When Harry Meet Sally

Just a good romantic comedy.  This was Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan in the height of their careers.  Amazing!

5. Princess Bride

Rob Reiner has made the list twice as a director, but this movie is also very very good.  It might even be my number one movie.  I am really not sure.  Cary Elwes is amazing as always (come to think of it he also made the list twice because he is in Twister too).  This movie also has the awesome Andre the Giant.

Other movies I love: Jurrasic Park (the first one), Monty Python and the Holly Grail, History of the World Part 1, Mogambo, To Catch a Thief, Charades, Arsenic and Old Lace, Spaceballs, Star Wars IV, Star Wars V, Star Wars VI, Star Trek (2009), Notorious (1946), Tora Tora Tora, Hunt for Red October, Sean Connery James Bond movies, Daniel Craig James Bond movies, His Girl Friday, Pillow Talk, Calamity Jane, Meet Me in St. Louis, Shop Around the Corner, Guys and Dolls, Summer Stock, Singin' in the Rain, Dial M for Murder, other Hitchcock golds, Pulp Fiction, The Dark Knight, Lord of the Rings Triology, Fight Club, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Usual Suspects (this should be on the list of top five), Leon: the Professional, Alien Triology, Spirited Away, Amelie, Wall-E, Back to the Future Triology, Inglourious Basterds, anything by Disney and Pixar, Die Hard, The Great Escape, Dirty Harry, Cool Hand Luke, The Sixth Sense, Kill Bill v. 1 and V. 2, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Ben-Hur, Ten Commandments, Gandhi, Harry Potter movies, and probably more that I have seen that I can't remember or haven't seen and is still on my list of movies to see.

Plans for the future: to make a top 100 list.  Dan Spencer are you in?

Shankar Tucker

I love talent and this kid is very talented.  Shankar Tucker is an American who was named Shankar because of a hindu guru that his parents follow.  He was tricked into playing the clarinet by his grandfather and soon came to love it.  He went to India and adopted his clarinet to Hindustani music under a flute master named Hariprasad Chaurasia in Mumbai.  Now he is slowly gaining fame with his youtube channel The Shrutibox.  The music here is amazing and when I first came across it I listened to "O re Piya" and couldn't figure out who Shankar Tucker was, but when i saw the subsequent videos I figured out it was the clarinetist and I had to look him up.  He plays with such feeling.  I love it!  You can tell he loves it and I end up loving it because of all the passion that was put into each adaptation or original songs.

I will definitely be paying attention to him from now on.

Pakistan's Military apparently hates civilians

After her first term as Prime Minister Benazir wrote a book about her time as Prime Minister.  She went on to serve another term and came back to Pakistan from exile to run a third when she was assassinated.

This is an interesting article especially knowing the history of Pakistan.  If you have netflix there is an interesting documentary following the Bhutto family who are very important to Pakistan's history.  If you watch it you will get a sense of some of Pakistan's history.  Its only been around for over half a century (65 years according to the article).  But its seen a lot of violence and turbulence.  It is very politically unstable and this makes it hard for the United States to work with them.  Pakistan is a very important strategic alliance for the United States to help achieve peace in the Middle East.  Pakistan itself could use the support of the United States to increase foreign investment if the country settles down.

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Indra Gandhi, Benazir Bhutto at a peace talks meeting .  Zulfikar was the first of the Bhuttos to run for Prime Minister of Pakistan.  Benazir Bhutto pictured here getting involved in politics at a very early age as Zulfikar's hostess during the peace talks with India.

Growing up I listened to a song that made it seem hopeful that Pakistan will become peaceful eventually, but with recent history and the instability that the military is creating there it doesn't seem like peace is feasible in the near future.  The song is about hope that Benazir Bhutto (first and youngest female prime minister in Pakistan) bringing prosperity to Pakistan and that her reign lasts for a long time.  Alas, she was assassinated for standing up to the military as a leader in the Pakistan People's Party.

Benazir Bhutto in Lahore Airport thanking God for allowing her to return to Pakistan from her exile in Dubai.  She returned to run as Prime Minister for the third time under the Pakistan People's Party (a party started by Zulfikar).

Here is an idea...cut funding to the military.  Their head is too big and needs to be deflated.  They need to realize that they are working for the people not ruling them.

Face the Wall!

Here is a really cool wall I found.  I don't know if it is made to look retro or it is just a very old ad for Coca-Cola?

Sai Baba

I have been watching the Story of India (on Netflix).  If you haven't seen it its really a wonderful show that talks about India's history starting from the early migration of man from Africa.  I am on episode 3 and am fascinated and captivated by the stories told.  I want to know more.  In that quest to seek more information about India I am going to try to track down books about Indian History after I graduate.  Another part of Indian religious history I want to know more about is Sai Baba.  He is an elusive and enigmatic figure in Indian religion.  I say Indian religion mainly because he wasn't really a leader for any particular religion.  He, as many leaders in India, encouraged religious equality and reverence for ideas and morals displayed by all religions.

You will be hearing more about Indian history and Sai Baba as I learn more about both.

BBC's efforts to restore lost Doctor who episodes

If you know me I am a big fan of Doctor Who at least the new series.  I really really want to watch all of the old episodes, but most of them are lost because they reused film strips because it was expensive at the time.  Which is why I am excited about two things:

1. They are trying to track down old recordings of the doctor who episodes and in a CNN article it mentions that they have found two recently.
2. Old tv signals are being bounced back from deep space with TV signals from half a century ago.  These include some doctor who episodes.  Radio astronomer Dr. Venn and BBC are working to recover these signals. 

This is very exciting.  Hopefully by my lifetime we will recover all the episodes and we will be able to watch them all.  In honor of Doctor Who here are all the doctors: