A skyscraper, of which each floor will rotate on a whim, will apparently be built in Dubai by 2010. If you are cringing based on what I thought at first blush, then breathe easy - the movement will supposedly be powered entirely naturally and the building’s carbon footprint should consequently be in check. Check out a video of how the twirling tower is slated to look here. Crazy!

In an unmissable TED talk lasting just 4 minutes, Alisa Miller, head of Public Radio International, tells us how the US media tells the news. Her message - no matter how amusingly delivered - is disturbing, especially considering how journalism is one of THE most influential and important ways in which world-views are shaped. Yet another question that springs to mind: is it time the world reevaluated its misguided enchantment with American capitalism or not?

Just watched Walk The Line (2005), a sort of biopic on Johnny Cash and June Carter. It’s a riveting film that recreates the 50s in which the two musicians met, performed, and eventually married. The music scene at the time had Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Dylan, and Waylon Jennings amongst others, and it’s so great to see them appear on and off through the film. Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon are brilliant and the story of how their love returns him to his former glory, after a pill-popping roller-coaster ride, is touching. Music, history, a Hollywood film made with a measure of sensitivity; what more could you ask for on a lazy last day of the weekend. Here’s an original video of the title song.

I’ve always felt you can take the pulse of a city by its cab drivers - kinda like you can tell how good the sushi will be based on the miso soup. Or something like that! Anyway, in Bombay, meaningful conversation in a taxi is easy to come by - with someone from a much different world than yours. But for that inching hour, the traffic is an odd equalizer. You might talk about the state of the city, the politicians who run it, the people who breathe its polluted yet addictive air. It makes for a happy tipper. In Dubai, on the other hand, it’s once in a blue moon that you get a semi-sane driver. Leave conversation alone, you spend most of the time cringing or clinging. Yanne, you tip solely if you are in one piece - both mentally and physically - as the taxi screeches to a halt, khalaas!

“What good fortune for those in power that people do not think.”

Interesting thought, especially when you consider the role of the music or movie industries or even advertising in popular culture. I often find people in the biz that consider others - especially consumers - as fools. Then they deliver mediocrity of a kind that is really unacceptable, but it is often lapped up!

Unfortunate that those words are Hitler’s and we still see his vision play out day after day around us. Isn’t it time that people became less naive to the phenomenon? It might be wise to heighten awareness and learn how to see through sugar-coated manipulations. But more than anything else, I wish we would all pay just a little heed to to our intuition.

Apparently, there’s some sort of “pixie dust” created by Dr. Stephen Badylak (University of Pittsburgh) that can help regenerate tissue. An Ohio man accidentally lost a sizeable bit of a finger, then brushed the “extracellular matrix” (the scientific name) on, and it grew back in 4 months.

The regrown finger tip (nail and all) is not just cosmetic but entirely functional. The substance seemingly prevents scar tissue from forming and is processed from the lining of a pig’s bladder in a lab. If you are thinking how naive or nuts I am, then read (and watch) it on today’s BBC news. I’m in utter disbelief myself!

I’ve been missing Austin, Texas very much. And when you think of that city, gosh, how you crave it’s awesome local music scene. Here for one is the brilliant Guy Forsyth Band performing Taxi live. So good! Enjoy.

“Writing is a form of personal freedom. It frees us from the mass identity we see in the making all around us. In the end, writers will write not to be outlaw heroes of some underculture but mainly to … survive as individuals.”

This is a quote from Don Delillio, a writer born in 1926 in NYC. It brings to mind how important the sense of individuality that develops when you write is. And I think it explains why I deeply feel that everyone should regularly write (albeit merely the perspective of the social psychologist in me). See it’s tough to make make too many assumptions when you write, which in turn sparks freedom of thought.

But there’s one more thing I realize as I blog about this: while writing may be highly individualistic, the act of publishing, no matter how small the scale, is distinctly collectivistic. It is an effort for your thoughts to be known - and this involves not just yourself but virtual strangers. Writing for others sparks freedom of speech. (Call this bit the social activist in me if you will.)

Okay, so I’m not sure what my point exactly is, but I needed to put this down, if only for starters. A somewhat-related article I read in the New York Times today deals with the fascinating interaction between our language and our thoughts. Here it is. (If you don’t already have an account, you may have to sign up for NY Times, but it’s simple, free, and very worth it.)

Hillary Clinton said a couple of days ago: I want the Iranians to know that if I’m the president, we will attack Iran. In the next 10 years, during which they might foolishly consider launching an attack on Israel, we would be able to totally OBLITERATE them. This DEMOCRATIC candidate’s willingness to be perceived as the next war-president of the US is both sickening and scary. What exactly is going on?!?!

Free some underwear from those irksome dangling tags to get a pretty good product: Hanes Tagless Underwear. Then come up with some well-conceived copy to sell it: Because the world gives you enough tags. Add a tri-series of neat artwork. So far, so good, right? Now, add a dash of sensationalism, let a mindless handful of viewers get a peek, and there it suddenly is: the perfect recipe for a disaster. McCann India is the ad agency in question and their campaign - now withdrawn - had 3 print ads. The first showed a man bearing the burden of a vivid bunch of “gay” things, the second had a guy pulling at a similar collage of stereotypically “black” things, and the third depicted an assortment of “Pakistani” stuff - each with the same words at the bottom. Hanes Tagless Underwear. Because the world gives you enough tags.

People have been calling the campaign “anti-gay” and “racist”. How is it either of those things? The fact that it was seen as biased is odd; it’s anything but! (The only thing that does bother me about the campaign is that people who aren’t really aware of the stereotypes in question will indeed become so after seeing it.) Yes, the executions are hard-hitting for the times, but I also think that the basic brand idea borders on brilliant! And that is what McCann’s defense should have been - instead of the spineless apology they actually mustered up.