New Rapper: Lupe Fiasco

There's a new rapper out there who I would like to recommend to you: Lupe Fiasco. If you like the Roots, I think you'll like this guy too. Most well known for "Kick, Push" (a song about a skateboarding date), a lot of his songs are more socially conscious. Check "Hurt Me Soul" for instance. Apparently Jay-Z thought Lupe's skillz were equal to his five years ago. (Don't believe me? Read it on his web site.) You can also check him on Myspace.

Audio files of Bahai Talks

Cool site with audio files of Baha'i talks.

Don't see Babel

Don't see Babel the movie. It's horrible. In fact, don't even rent it. OK fine, go ahead rent it, now that I've piqued your curiosity.

I should explain - the director, Inarritu, is known for telling a story from three points of view. (21 Grams, Amores Perros) Usually the movie is shot from three different points of view and he chops up the progression of time in the movie as well to make things interesting (the beginning in the middle, the end at the beginning, etc). In Babel, the director tells three stories that feel almost completely separate, each treating a different social ill. So the movie felt disjointed to me and neither of the three separate stories felt resolved. Plus the soundtrack was horrible. It was so bad I felt ill actually. Well, I'm pretty sure it was the music, not what I had for dinner...

Food

If you are a food lover, check out Yahoo's new food web site.

Kite Runner

If you haven't read Kite Runner yet, I highly recommend reading it. It's a tragic story about the life of a man who leaves Aghanistan at a young age due to political turmoil. It's a moving story of betrayal and redemption and I'll wager that no one has read it without at least getting a little misty eyed. I thought of this quote from the Bahai Writings while reading it: "He should forgive the sinful, and never despise his low estate, for none knoweth what his own end shall be. How often hath a sinner, at the hour of death, attained to the essence of faith, and, quaffing the immortal draught, hath taken his flight unto the celestial Concourse. And how often hath a devout believer, at the hour of his soul's ascension, been so changed as to fall into the nethermost fire."

(Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 193)

It's Hammer Time

The Azads ran into MC Hammer. Check it out.