Slumdog Millionaire

Slumdog Millionaire, one of this years biggest movies portrays the slums in Mumbai in an interesting way.  It showed as though the people in the area are poor and that it is difficult to survive.  There were references to Muslims attacking the Hindus, children living on the street and people doing anything just to be able to live.  Later in the movie it shows that India is a place that is developing and growing into something more, you see images from the company that has been out sourced and the Indian people trying to act like Britons on the phone.  Through out the entire movie you see this continuing struggle between the rich and the poor and the poor trying to reach the level of the rich.  People are going against human morals to do what they can to make money.

In relation to geography this movie makes me think of how vastly different our two cultures are.  In America, we don't have giant portions of cities living without running water and people living in their own filth.  Even after learning about the country for a few weeks last year and then looking at it again this semester, it is amazing to look at this place.  India is said to be a place that when you visit, you either hate, or you love.  I have been told that when you visit that the smell overwhelms you along with the sights of the buildings, the people and the life style.  This movie opens you up to culture shock and into the lives of people form around the world, Slumdog Millionaire picks you up and drops you into the life of other people and surrounds you with their culture.

Blog Post #9...

Spring Break!

Not much really happened over my spring break, I drove down to Dallas and spent time with my family.  I spent some of my time driving around the Dallas Metroplex with my brother-in-law and my sister.  We watched a few movies over at their place and went out to eat a few times.  The only exciting thing that I did over break was buy a Bass Guitar to try and learn on.  I did spend a little bit of time at the Lewisville City Library to try and find information on the city for another project, but some of was a dead end.  The city did not have much information on the history of the town.

Blog Post #8...

Should we provide aid, or focus on developing?

I believe that it should be a balance of both.  The countries should be developed in order to help them to be able to prosper.  If we keep pouring money into a failing system, it will continue to fail.  Money cannot fix everything, contrary to popular belief.  If NGOs continue to provide the aid that they do, and foreign investors step in, maybe then we could see some of these countries rise off of the bottom of the list.  If the money that the people are relying on is pull out and just put into investing, I'm sure that the system will fully crumble.  These people are still depending on this money.  If there were to be a full transition, it would need to be a slow process, but I still believe that there should be a balance of both.

Blog Post #7...

HDI for 1200 Alex...

What variables are used to calculate HDI?

- HDI stands for the human development index, it is a summary composite index that measures a country's average achievements in three basic aspects of human development: health, knowledge and a decent standard of living.  

What is the geographic pattern of HDI in the world?

- MDCs are higher on the list with LDCs towards the bottom.  Countries with a higher HDI are wealthier and more powerful countries in the World.  

Why do you think Sub-Saharan Africa is ranked so low in HDI?

- ...This would be because of lower life expectancy, lower standard of living and because of lack of education.

Blog Post #6...

This picture is taken in Kingswindford, England in 1931.  The title is "Crooked Inn."  I am a fan of photography, especially black and white.  I love the contrast between the man's black suit and the white light pouring in through the open door.  Also the way that the door frames are shifted to the left side and line up, it causes your eye to go directly to the man in the doorway.  When working with photography, it is a rule that your subject should not be directly centered in the middle of the photograph, but in this case it works wonders.  If this photo was off-centered you would not have the full effect of the tilt of the building.  In short, amazing photograph, and amazing quality from film back in 1931!

Blog Post #5...

Cuba...

I personally believe that we should go ahead and lift the travel ban and the trade embargo with Cuba.  We already allow travel and trade with China who is a communist country, so why not with Cuba?  If we are going to allow trade and travel with one, we should also allow it with the other.  Or, have both cut off.  There should not be an exception with the system.  I personally want the ban to be lifted because it has always been a country that I would like to travel to, plus; I would love to try a Cuban cigar someday.  With the War on Terror I believe that we have a bigger problem currently than communism.  Radical Islam is to Communism is to Fascism, times change and so do our enemies, we have lifted a ban on Germany, then on Mother Russia, so we should also take it off of Cuba.

Blog Post #4...

For Blog topic #4 I have found this article, (http://xrl.us/benkkw).  It is about the arrest of 32 year old Carrillo Leyva who was the next in line of power for one of Mexico's largest Drug Cartels.  He was caught while on his morning jog Wednesday in Mexico City.  He is known as one of the biggest drug traffickers to the United States.  Mexico's government had posted a reward of $2.1 million for his capture.