Since I live in the United States it is natural that I blog about what is happening in this country, but it does not make me oblivious to the major world events which affect us since now we live in a small world and anything that affects one part of the world can have repercussion all over the world. Although the impact may be felt in slightly different degrees but it does have an impact. Right now the European crisis is engulfing not only the European Union but its affect are being felt worldwide because it is the single richest consumer market and its problem have impact on Asia, Africa, America, South America and Australia. Similarly any blow up in the tensions in the Persian Gulf between Iran and the United States can have the potential of disrupting the lives of major nations since one fifth or one sixth (depending upon which statistics you believe) passes through that region.
Another area of concern is the Afghanistan-Pakistan region where the Taliban insurgents are battling the NATO and U.S. forces and also the Civilian government is clashing with the Powerful military to gain control over the fate of that country. North Korea is another unpredictable area where we have to keep an eye on since it is also the most destabilizing nation which keeps on edge South Korea, Japan and somewhat China. So despite the U.S. being far away from these hot spots anything that happens there can have an economic as well as a security impact on us.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
The Recycling Industry of Hollywood
Really here I am talking about the why we keep on seeing sequels, prequels, threequels and more and remakes and updates on technology on old and not so old movies. Just when I thought I have seen a movie and am done with, there comes a sequel or a prequel or a remake and then by nature of my habit have to watch it and generally it is either a rehash of the old movie or they make it in 3D or just give it a bigger budget to make people come to the theater. But really is Hollywood running out of ideas that they have to do this. Another scary trend is of breaking up the movies into two to make twice the money with the same concept.
Although I can understand that maybe the book on which the movie is based on is too long for a single movie but you can do that with any script and expand it to make it into two parts. For example in a horror movie, even if the evil is dead it just keeps on resurrecting in sequel after sequel and when you think that it is the last one, yet another pops up after a couple of years. It is a lucrative business that people want to be scared but come on you can scare them with different plots and stories instead of the same old story changed with minor details and updated technology. I wish there are new writers or at least new risk takers and the Hollywood people go outside their usual sources and tried formula movies to explore something different and new.
Although I can understand that maybe the book on which the movie is based on is too long for a single movie but you can do that with any script and expand it to make it into two parts. For example in a horror movie, even if the evil is dead it just keeps on resurrecting in sequel after sequel and when you think that it is the last one, yet another pops up after a couple of years. It is a lucrative business that people want to be scared but come on you can scare them with different plots and stories instead of the same old story changed with minor details and updated technology. I wish there are new writers or at least new risk takers and the Hollywood people go outside their usual sources and tried formula movies to explore something different and new.
Happy and Prosperous New Year
All New Years starts with congratulatory good wishes for the New Year and wishing that the coming year will bring them more joy than they had in the last year but since nobody knows about the future, it all ends with wishes like good riddance or it was a tough year. But we as a human being have the tendency to keep our hopes alive and see things in the future as better than what we went through. Since the future is unknown it is kind of a nice feeling to think that we will have a jolly good time. But as the years progressive we come to realize that our past is/was much better than the present and maybe sometimes future too.
What I am blabbering about here is the fact that we should enjoy the New Year with good wishes and try to strive to make our lives much than what we had last year due to whatever reason. And for that we should all have a Happy and Prosperous (hopefully) New Year with plenty of jobs, no new wars, may the best person win the election and continued tax cuts and extension.
What I am blabbering about here is the fact that we should enjoy the New Year with good wishes and try to strive to make our lives much than what we had last year due to whatever reason. And for that we should all have a Happy and Prosperous (hopefully) New Year with plenty of jobs, no new wars, may the best person win the election and continued tax cuts and extension.
Happy and Prosperous New Year
All New Years starts with congratulatory good wishes for the New Year and wishing that the coming year will bring them more joy than they had in the last year but since nobody knows about the future, it all ends with wishes like good riddance or it was a tough year. But we as a human being have the tendency to keep our hopes alive and see things in the future as better than what we went through. Since the future is unknown it is kind of a nice feeling to think that we will have a jolly good time. But as the years progressive we come to realize that our past is/was much better than the present and maybe sometimes future too.
What I am blabbering about here is the fact that we should enjoy the New Year with good wishes and try to strive to make our lives much than what we had last year due to whatever reason. And for that we should all have a Happy and Prosperous (hopefully) New Year with plenty of jobs, no new wars, may the best person win the election and continued tax cuts and extension.
What I am blabbering about here is the fact that we should enjoy the New Year with good wishes and try to strive to make our lives much than what we had last year due to whatever reason. And for that we should all have a Happy and Prosperous (hopefully) New Year with plenty of jobs, no new wars, may the best person win the election and continued tax cuts and extension.
Monday, January 23, 2012
The Year 2011 in review-2
And there was the Iranian nuclear crisis, which keeps on lingering and swinging back and forth. The Iraq war finally ended and U.S. troops left that country on its own mercy and struggle. Afghanistan war is seeing no end in sight, although the troops are suppose to start coming back by Year 2014 (we do hope so). Economy got a little better but still far from the pre-recession levels. Then there was the famous Occupy Wall Street Protests, which started as a form of protest against Wall Street greed and quickly spread to different cities of the United States and the world (and still going on somewhere).
Other news maybe of minor consequences but they still impacted our lives one way or the other. We sincerely hope that the New Year brings much needed jobs and other joys to people's lives and fewer wars. But now this is election year and by the looks of the candidates (I will put another post for that), it is going to be another four years for the Democrats in the white house (unless the economy goes south or even in that case, we don’t have credible alternative).
Other news maybe of minor consequences but they still impacted our lives one way or the other. We sincerely hope that the New Year brings much needed jobs and other joys to people's lives and fewer wars. But now this is election year and by the looks of the candidates (I will put another post for that), it is going to be another four years for the Democrats in the white house (unless the economy goes south or even in that case, we don’t have credible alternative).
The Year 2011 in review
The biggest news of the last year was the Killing of Osama Bin Laden, although people were happy generally on over the world, especially in the U.S., Pakistan was furious that the U.S. infiltrated their country and killed him without any knowledge in advance to that country's armed forces. Although the details are still emerging, but I still can't believe that the Pakis did not know that OBL is living only a mile or so from their premier military academy and in a town which is swarming with soldiers. Anyway another story which continues to linger is the European Debt crisis which has no sight to get resolved as the Europeans refuse to act like Europeans and more like individual states.
The other thing is that European are still trying to live in the past where they were the only player in town, now we have fast growing China, India, Brazil, Turkey, Indonesia and other developing countries fast approaching the living standards of the Europeans without the additional burden of low birth rate and welfare payments. And then it was the U.S. where the unemployment rate keeps on plummeting as the election approaches this year. The U.S. is also grappling with the debt situation but at least we have our currency to manipulate if we can unlike the Euro. Then the biggest news to impact the world was the Arab Spring where long ruling rulers of the Arab nations fell down and Libyan war ended in the killing of that country's ruler.
The other thing is that European are still trying to live in the past where they were the only player in town, now we have fast growing China, India, Brazil, Turkey, Indonesia and other developing countries fast approaching the living standards of the Europeans without the additional burden of low birth rate and welfare payments. And then it was the U.S. where the unemployment rate keeps on plummeting as the election approaches this year. The U.S. is also grappling with the debt situation but at least we have our currency to manipulate if we can unlike the Euro. Then the biggest news to impact the world was the Arab Spring where long ruling rulers of the Arab nations fell down and Libyan war ended in the killing of that country's ruler.
The unexciting lineup of presidential candidates
Election season has started and the usual suspects of the Republican candidates are trying to outdo each other with threats, promises and going overboard in their extremist’s ideology just so that they can get nominated. It is just plain disgusting to know that they want to send back troops to Iraq (like it is a U.S. states) threaten war with Iran (like it is a small U.S. town), exclude or label some minority group as not being American enough and going all the way to reverse many policies of the current President. Are the Republican Candidates sleeps walking through this situation where the country is literary out of money and heavily in debt and they still want to keep the defense budget sky high but slash every other social welfare program in sight?
To be fair, I am not a Republican or a Democrat or an independent but promising things when you don’t know what is going on in the world is the worst thing to do to your candidacy. And it is not only the candidates but the people who are desperately trying to believe that everything will be fine and we will be utopia land one of these candidates gets elected. There is Congress to be contend with and frankly speaking the world has changed since dramatically with the last two decades and it won't be the same flush welfare checks and programs and huge defense budgets that we have become accustomed too. The lineup right now of the Republican candidates is just that a line and even if I was Republican, I would be very unexcited about it and sit out this election as none aspires me or excites me about their same old programs and policies.
To be fair, I am not a Republican or a Democrat or an independent but promising things when you don’t know what is going on in the world is the worst thing to do to your candidacy. And it is not only the candidates but the people who are desperately trying to believe that everything will be fine and we will be utopia land one of these candidates gets elected. There is Congress to be contend with and frankly speaking the world has changed since dramatically with the last two decades and it won't be the same flush welfare checks and programs and huge defense budgets that we have become accustomed too. The lineup right now of the Republican candidates is just that a line and even if I was Republican, I would be very unexcited about it and sit out this election as none aspires me or excites me about their same old programs and policies.
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