The Last Movie You Saw On DVD or VHS or TV.

I saw it and saw some of the parts I remember but the slum area I never ventured to.

I saw Michael Palin's 'Sahara' dvd and it was eye-opening. Nearly half of the people in the Sahara speak French. The funny part of he went to his 'Crucifixion' in Tunisia. He was 'crucified' in 'The Life Of Brian'. He is hilarious. All the tribesmen kinda took to him and laughed. Then I saw 'La Haine' with Vincent Cassels by Mathieu Kassovitz and could understand the Paris riots. I also saw the 1973 Louis Malle documentary about France showing the Tour de France race, an automobile factory and a working class neighbourhood street scene in Paris. There was a lot of unemployment then.

Michael Palin also did the Himalayas. He makes a perfect travel guide as everone knows him and is very personable.

I bought the Slumdog Millionaire DVD today at Fry's Electronics, and will watch it before New Year's day. My wife has no interest in it.

If one can overlook the slums in India, it has a lot to offer their visitors. They have some interesting history, not only from the Brits, but from China, Portugal, France, and neighboring countries. Some of their temples and palaces are first rate, and even some private homes of wealthy families that have been opened to tourists are quite the contrast to the poverty seen all over India.

I believe I've seen all I wish to see of India from the Taj Mahal, to several game parks, to the palaces, temples, and other interesting sites that still have their influences from outside India.

Many of the bazaars and markets are similar to other poor, developing countries, and the similarities are obvious, although some of the food stuffs can vary.

Visit my travelogues on travelpod.com. Look for me as c.i.222.
I just completed my travelogue on South India.

I lived in India but I was prejudiced at the time as I was brought up with British education so I looked at the Indian religion in a negative light. I lived mostly in the cities and got some dvds about India I was not aware of. 'The Story of India' by Michael Wood is very good. I even saw the dvd by Louis Malle on Calcutta and India in the late 60's. There was a heart-wrenching documentary "Born into Brothels" which won the Academy Awards. When you live there you get used to the beggars. In Calcutta I didn't know where they came from but with the dvds I realized most came from neighboring Bihar state. There aren't that many beggars in Bombay but people sleeping in the streets is common as India is warm but hot in summer.

Saw quite a few squatters in India including temporary camps of migrants. Saw many sleeping on the sidewalks - as you say is blessed with warm weather - and that makes it tolerable. Saw many young women with babies begging, and some even followed me while tapping my arms quite a ways before giving up. With many living on less than $2 a day, it's a struggle for most to have food to eat, and they end up buying small portions that cost more in the long run.

With education costs being out of the reach of most children, their poverty will be a fixture in India for many generations to come.

They might follow the example of China as they are going to hae economic zones so it could bring employment to many. The problems are huge.

Economic zones sounds fine on paper, but the implementation of it within a population without the proper education will not succeed.

Some of the women's coop we visited try to make money by making dried bananas and other hand-made crafts. They will struggle with the same problems into the future.

The communist sytem has an advantage as primary education is free. In India the poor do not have free education. The British taught in English so Indians have that advantage being English speaking. There is no pure Hindi as English words pepper the language especially with modern things such as hospital, dodtor, nurse, telephone, emergency, train station, etc.

I also saw "The Future of Food" with people from Monsanto working for government.

Donald Rumsfeld (George Bush Administration) was a drector at J.D. Serle, a division of Monsanto.
Michael Cantor (Clinton Administration) a lawyer for Monsanto.
Clarence Thomas, Supreme Court Justice worked as a lawyer for Monsanto.
William Ruckelhaus (Nixon Administration) director of Monsanto

http://www.purefood.org/Monsanto/revolvedoor.cfm

http://thescreamblog.wordpress.com/2007/11/01/monsanto-and-the-us-government/

Monsanto has its tentacles everyhere in the govrnment regardless of party.

That's the primary problem with India's cost of education. That will stifle their economy for many generations. A communist system of free education is no better than capitalistic free education. In a capitalistic educational system, there are no restrictions such as imposed by communism.

When I first visited China in the early 90's, only 10 percent of high school students continued on with college. During my last visit several years ago, that has increased to over 50%. China's economy will benefit from the educated class while India will stagnate.

Things are too complex to predict but India is climbing up. Indians are very good in mathematics and philosophy and theoretical things. Chinese are more practical. But there is a movement where both countries are trying to better their bilateral reations. China and India are really joined in the navel as some of the ancestors of Aryans who conquered India are of Chinese descent. Also Buddhism came from India via the Tocharians into China. India and Chinawere trade partners in ancient times.

http://www.funonthenet.in/content/view/103/31/



The dance troup members are deaf.

India's "climbing up" will be limited by the constraints imposed by the cost of education in India. The middle class Indians will continue to do well, because they have access to education, and there are many good colleges and universities in India. The majority in poverty will not be able to access education, because they concentrate in getting the minimal of food and shelter, and that's not about to change any time soon.

Watched Cyrus last night with Marisa Tomei and the curly-haired guy who was in Step Brothers with Will Ferrel, I forgot his name.

It was ok. Six out of ten. Not as funny as I wanted it to be. I really like the curly- haired actor though. He's got charisma.

John C Reilly

He's good in "Cirque Du Freak, The Vampires Assistant".

Yeah that's the guy! Thanks.

Not seen Cirque Du Freak. Is it a horror?

Comedy Horror.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJL2wP1GagI

Ha ha! That looks pretty good. I like all things vampire-related.

You can't seem to get away from vampires these days.
The world has gone vampire crazy.
It's wall to wall bloodsucking.

Well I would like to point out that I was into Vampire films 'n' stuff before they got all trendy recently. he he he

Hmmph, Well, I live 10 minutes from where a certain
Bram Stoker who wrote Dracula was born. So There.

Where that ? Whitby?

Clontarf