This video eventually is completed.
It costs us a lot of time to cut it!!!
I think recording the video isn't difficult, but cutting the video is the hardest work!!!
We are glad that we accomplished this arduous job!!!
Finally, we'd like to thank Greg for giving us this chance to make this video.
It's a whole new experience for us!!!
I think we have a lot to improve, but we really do our best!!!
Hope everyone could enjoy it!!!
Friday, May 23, 2008
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Dreadful disaster, great motherhood!
www.chinaview.cn  2008-05-19 09:59:22
Special report: Strong Earthquake Jolts SW China BEIJING, May 19 (Xinhuanet) -- The Sichuan earthquake of 8.0 magnitude has killed more than 32,000 people and rescue work in the quake-hit areas is going on for the eighth day Monday. Stories of great motherhood, the brightest spot in human nature, are carried throughout the nation. In the afternoon of May 12, shocked by the great trembling of the quake, Jiang Xiaojuan, a policewoman from Jiangyou county, said nothing. But she handed her 6-month-old baby to her parents with no hestation and directly hurried out to find the disaster victims and give them help.
As a mother, Xiaojuan knew best what to do. She went to the orphaned babies who were crying of hunger. She breastfed them and gave them her loving care. Xiaojuan realized at the moment that life must go on and she is the mother of them all. On May 13, the second day of the quake, rescuers in Wenchuan county found a mother -- dead from crush for over 20 hours -- still had her 3-month-old son under her. The little thing was, alas, sleeping peacefully! Evidently, the dead mother was protecting her baby by prostrating her own body. When rescuers unwrapped the blanket from around the baby, they read a text message on the phone screen: "My dear baby, if you live, you must remember that I love you." Song Xinyi, a three-year-old girl in Beichuan county, was saved after more than forty hours fighting for life. Now she is in a hospital recovering from her wounds.
Civil affairs officials in Sichuan Province estimate there will be a big number of kids who have lost their parents in the quake as rescue work goes on. However, they said they are considering registrations for people who are willing to adopt earthquake orphans and will start the adoption process after normality is resotred in the areas. from: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-05/19/content_8207031.htm Feeling: When I saw this news I feel that it's not easy to be a mother. I also think that all the mothers in the world is great! And when I look at this news, it is so moving that I was about to cry.After this earthquake has happened, all the news on TV is reporting it. However, I just don't want to see it anymore. The more video I watched, the sadder I felt. So I just don't want to see all these things. Being a mother is not easy, so we all should be thankful to our parents. And I think since the baby can't be raised by his/her mother. He/She definitely will understand the love that his/her mother gave him/her is unbreakable. |
Sunday, May 04, 2008
3 boys killed in Iraq airstrike, companion says
BAGHDAD (CNN) -- Three Iraq boys were killed in an airstrike in eastern Baghdad on Saturday as they were sifting through trash, looking for stuff to sell, said a 10-year-old boy wounded in the attack.
Ambulances sit damaged after a U.S. attack Saturday near Baghdad's Al-Sadr Hospital.
1 of 2
"I was hit by an American helicopter," Ahmed Yahya said. "I was with a group of about 10 children who were collecting empty soft drink cans in Jamila. We haven't done anything."
U.S. military officials confirmed firing two Hellfire missiles at a rooftop in the vicinity about the same time that the boy said the attack took place. However, they say the only damage U.S. forces saw was to the rooftop.
Another boy said his brother died in the attack.
Dr. Jawad al-Mousawi, chief doctor at Imam Ali hospital in Sadr City, said the hospital received the bodies of three boys and a wounded boy about 2 p.m. He said the hospital saw three other fatalities and treated 23 wounded people from airstrikes and fighting across the city.
An ambulance driver at the hospital said it took three hours to transport the boys because of fighting in the area.
Elsewhere in Baghdad, U.S. soldiers killed five suspected militants and detained 24 others in fighting Friday and Saturday in the city's southern Rashid district.
Earlier Saturday at least 28 people were wounded in a U.S. attack on a building near a hospital in Baghdad's sprawling Sadr City area, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official said.
Employees of al-Sadr Hospital were among the wounded, and the facility's property sustained damage, including to some ambulances, the official said.
In a statement, the U.S. military said the strike targeted "known criminal elements."
"We did hit the target, which was a criminal command and control center, which was near a hospital," the military said, adding that it was assessing damages.
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The Interior Ministry official called the attack an airstrike, but the U.S. military said it was a guided multiple-launch rocket system strike. These guided rockets are launched from armored vehicles.
Al-Sadr Hospital is one of the two main medical facilities in the district, where Iraqi and U.S. troops have been battling Shiite militias loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
The strike left a large hole in the ground near the hospital, video footage showed. Chunks of concrete and other rubble covered the ground, and car windows were shattered.
The southern portion of Sadr City has been walled off so that U.S. military and Iraqi security forces can control movements there.
Other developments
• Four U.S. Marines were killed Saturday when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb in Iraq's al Anbar Province, the military said. Their names were withheld pending notification of their families.
• Turkey's military said Saturday that it had killed more than 150 Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq in an operation that ended early Friday, according to a statement on the military's Web site. Turkey has been staging attacks against rebels with the PKK, or Kurdistan Workers' Party, in the Qandil Mountain region in northern Iraq. A PKK official said Friday there were no party casualties.
• A roadside bomb exploded Saturday at a traffic patrol in the western part of Baghdad, killing an Iraqi traffic police officer and wounding eight others, including six traffic police officers, a ministry official said.
• Overnight, six people were killed and 25 were wounded in Sadr City, the Interior Ministry said. The U.S. military said it killed six "criminals." On Friday, U.S. forces killed eight suspected militants during 10 hours of fighting in the Shiite neighborhood, a military statement said.
• A U.S. soldier on combat patrol in eastern Baghdad was killed Friday when a roadside bomb struck the soldier's vehicle, the military said. The number of U.S. military deaths in the Iraq war stands at 4,066, including eight Defense Department contractors.from:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/05/03/iraq.main/?iref=hpmostpop
Feeling:
Recently, I have seen a movie called "The Kite Runner." Therefore, after I saw this news and it really overlap with the movie. I feel grievous to the boys. And I also think about the scenery after wars. The people are innocent. How could they kill people that have no weapons on there hands?I really really hate about wars. Wars are subversive. The countries which involved in would be damaged. Many people will die in the war, and the places after wars would be dilapidated, and it will spend much time to return how it like before. There is an action in the movie that the boy who was grown went back to the places that he used to play. Everywhere has changed, and he wanted to find things that was left during his childhood. Finally, he found a trunk of tree which he carved on it haven't been destroyed.
Many bad things will happen during the war, and I detest them. I wish the world would in peace someday.....
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Pinay girl makes noise in UK
IN HER first appearance during the first season of Britain's Got Talent, many believed that Connie Talbot could create a name in the United Kingdom's (UK) singing industry.
With her lovely rendition of "Over the Rainbow", the seven-year-old pretty girl enchanted the viewers as she made it to the final of the famous reality talent show in the UK.
Arroyo Watch: Sun.Star blog on President Arroyo
Even Connie failed to bag the title, shortly after the talent search, she had signed with Rainbow Recording Company, as she had released her debut album, "Over the Rainbow" on November 26, 2007.
She will be releasing a new version of her previous album in June that will feature 12 all time favorite songs such as "Over The Rainbow," "I believe," "Smile," "Three Little Birds," "My Favourite Things," "What A Wonderful World," "Ben," "I Will Always Love You," and "You Raise Me Up".
On her most viewed video at YouTube, which reached 14,900,985 viewers, the little girl escalates the emotions of the audience as they listened to her sweet, pure voice.
Amanda Louise Holden (one of the judges of the show) can't keep tears falling, when the toddler sings.
"Connie you are absolutely brilliant. I thought you sang beautifully," Holden said during the first time she heard the voice of the girl.
"You've got the sweetest voice and I listen to every single word you said you're so mature I conquer over it you're super talented," she added.
In one of the videos of Connie, she even teased Holden that she will make her cry on her performance. The judge challenged the kid as she said she would not cry as she again sings "Over the Rainbow" which is her favorite song as her grandmother used to sing it for her.
However, Connie still touched the vulnerable side of the judge as she declared: "She said to me in the corner I'm gonna make you cry lady and then I said you're wrong I'm gonna be strong tonight. No I was wrong I was rubbish and I cried again."
Piers Morgan, when he saw Connie on stage, thought if the girl could sing in front of the Queen. The winner of the show will be performing at the Royal Variety Performance in front of Queen Elizabeth II of the UK and members of the Royal Family at the Empire Theatre in Liverpool.
Connie said: "I don't know," but the naïve eyes of the child likely to say that she only really wants to sing and she wants everybody to hear her voice.
But as the judges let her experience the limelight, no one in the arena got disappointed in her performance. All of the judges made a positive reaction giving her a chance to outshine and get into the finals.
Simon Cowell was also impressed with the performance of Connie as he stated that the voice of the kid was fantastic.
"You know Connie, the thing about you, people think that you are just a little six years old and you sings ok you don't sing ok you sing beautifully and everyone loves your voice," Cowell said during one of her performances last year. (JRDB/Sunnex)
from:http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3297136,00.html
Feeling:
The girl recently came to Taiwan, and leaved Taiwan yesterday. I have seen this video last year, but nowadays I was crazy about her. She is so cute that I keep seeing her video on youtube. She is such an angel that sings beautifully.
I also think that she is a poor girl, because she is famous in such young age. Maybe now she is too small to know . However, after she grow up, she may feel unfortunate about being famous.
I really like her!!! She is such a sweetheart, and I love her so much. I wish her future will be brighter and brighter.
Here are her Semi-final and final's video, hope you'll enjoy it.
Austria Shocked by Incest and Imprisonment Revelations
Crime | 28.04.2008
Austria Shocked by Incest and Imprisonment Revelations
Austrians were left shocked by news of a 42-year-old woman who was sexually abused and held prisoner by her father for more than 20 years. The father has since admitted to imprisoning and abusing his daughter.
A 73-year-old Austrian admitted on Monday to having fathered seven children with his daughter whom he kept imprisoned in a dungeon for 24 years, while officials rejected any responsibility for the tragedy.
Josef F., a retired electrical engineer from Amstetten in eastern Austria, confessed to having locked his daughter, Elisabeth, 42, in the basement in August 1984, and to having abused and raped her repeatedly, authorities said at a press conference.
"This crime is more or less solved," provincial police chief Franz Pruchner said. "This crime is unique in the criminal history of Austria. It is beyond all dimensions I know of."
Josef had confessed to the crimes after his initial refusal to cooperate with with the authorities, but tried to mitigate the details.
He showed next to no regrets, authorities said.
During her captivity, Elisabeth gave birth to seven children, results of continued sexual abuse by her father. One infant died shortly after his birth. The father disposed of the body by burning it in the house's central-heating boiler, he told police.
Children had never seen daylight
Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: The house in which Josef F. kept his daughter imprisoned
Police on Sunday evening opened the basement dungeon where she was kept, overcoming several electronic locks set up by Josef F. The rooms were very small and below 1.7 meters (5.5 feet) in height. The basement contained sleeping cots, washing facilities and a TV set, the Austrian press agency reported.
Three Elisabeth F.'s six surviving children were locked in the room with her, until her father let them out a few days ago and claimed the mother had returned home.
For two of her sons, Stefan, 18, and Felix, 5, it was the first time they had seen daylight, police said.
Nobody knew
Elisabeth claimed her mother had not known about her imprisonment. Food and clothing for her and her children had been provided only by Josef.
Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Austrian police say that Josef Fritzl refuses to cooperate
He had told local authorities that three children, named by police as Lisa, Monika and Alexander, had been left at his doorstep. They attended local schools.
Authorities began searching for Elisabeth when a girl, Kerstin, 19, believed to be her daughter, was hospitalized a week earlier in the town Amstetten.
Amstetten authorities had been originally told by the grandfather that Kerstin, was left with him in a very severe condition on April 19 by her mother. The girl, who is believed to suffer from a rare disease, had also been imprisoned for all her life.
Authorities were also shown a letter by the woman saying that nobody should look for her, as this would increase the suffering of her and her children.
Story of religious sect confuses case
According to state broadcaster ORF, authorities originally believed the woman had joined a religious sect, as the letter hinted at seclusion and refusal of education for the children.
The woman and the children were being looked after by therapists, police said.
Police are looking for the remains of the dead infant. According to Elisabeth's statement, her father burned the body.
The oldest girl remains in intensive care. Hospital officials in Amstetten declined to comment on the case and said no details about the girl's condition would be made pubic for the time being.
DNA samples of all involved had been taken to establish a fuller picture of the case, police officials were quoted as saying. Results were not expected before Monday, but preliminary indications seemed to confirm the suspected incest, authorities said.
Not the first case
Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Natascha Kampusch was held captive for over eight years
Locals and neighbors expressed shock over the events, reminiscent of the plight of 20-year-old Natascha Kampusch, an Austrian girl who escaped her kidnapper in 2006 after eight years in a basement dungeon.
Her captor, 44-year-old Wolfgang Priklopil, committed suicide after her escape.
"We are confronted with an unbelievable crime," Austrian Interior Minister Guenther Platter said in a statement on Sunday. "It goes above anything I can imagine. It is a dimension where one is almost speechless."
from:http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3297136,00.html
Feeling:
After I saw this news, I was astonished about it. I can't imagine that a person would do this to his own child. And more surprisingly is that her mother has been deceived for about 20 years. I discussed this news with my friends, and we both think this news is so unbelievable that happened right now.I also think that the father is sick very much. He let his daughter have seven children. That's too ridiculous! I think it is disgusted about incest. I think this thing can't happened in human. We are human, not animals!
Finally, I deeply feel that Austria government should be aware of this, because it happened similar three times in three years. I don't understand why a advanced country will let these kind of things happened and happened again. I always have a vision of great, beautiful country after seeing the movie "The sound of music" about Austria. However, after hearing this news, I have to rejudge my opinion about this country.
When I went to Canada's language school, I met some Austrians. I think they are nice people, but I just can't understand why this happened in Austria.
Monday, March 31, 2008
27 Dresses
Friday, February 29, 2008
By Carina Chocano, Los Angeles Times
HOLLYWOOD -- Katherine Heigl is always the bridesmaid and never the bride in this garden-variety wedding-themed rom-com -- except here never means later, as it should alarm nobody to learn. In this, and in every other way I can think of, "27 Dresses" adheres steadfastly to formula, setting up its complications like bowling pins and resolving them to the utmost satisfaction of everyone involved, no hard feelings, no regrets, absolutely no surprises.
This, presumably, is what we flock to romantic comedies for (if it can be called flocking) -- some kind of ritualistic reassurance that no matter how grim a person's romantic prospects, love eventually does come to those who wait. As long as they wait in spacious, professionally decorated New York apartments and are attractive enough that it takes the dazzling brunt of a knockout Swede in a microscopic dress to make them look like average Janes by comparison.
As coincidence would have it, Heigl's character happens to be named Jane, and she lives in a lovely one-bedroom with enough closet space to house a small museum collection of taffeta and tulle atrocities. (No wonder she's in love with her boss -- he must pay her a fortune for manning his schedule and picking up his dry cleaning.) Her boss, the droopy-eyed George (Edward Burns), has no idea how she feels, but before she can work up the nerve to tell him, he falls instantly in love with her younger sister Tess (Malin Akerman), who wouldn't you know it happens to be a knockout Swede in a microscopic dress.
Once the George and Tess romance is set in motion, the kind and dutiful Jane has no option but to take charge of their upcoming wedding and plan the whole thing herself, because she has been established as the kind of girl who takes care of everyone but herself and who double-books weddings and spends Saturday nights shuttling back and forth between them. The two dozen or so dear friends for whom she ostensibly has done the same are only ever seen in fleeting moments -- maybe this is why she hangs on to the dresses; it's all she has to remember them by. Jane's only real friend is Casey (Judy Greer), a morose churl whose active sex-and-drinking life apparently leave her unable to talk above an exhausted drawl or walk in a straight line.
It may be that paradoxes such as these are meant to prime us for the even greater contradictions to come, but it's more likely that they are by now so entrenched in the genre that they have become functionally invisible to the naked eye. With their strict adherence to a particular kind of formula, studio romantic comedies serve as reassurance delivery systems rather than actual stories, and criticizing them feels a little like taking a Big Mac to task for the quality of the meat. The meat isn't the point. The point is the familiarity and the homogeny and the taste-masking sauces and the sugar in the bun.
"27 Dresses," which was directed by Anne Fletcher and written by Aline Brosh McKenna, who also wrote "The Devil Wears Prada," falls somewhere in the middle of the dozens of hard-to-recall pictures it somehow nevertheless recalls. Its premise not only hinges on a pun, play on words or cliche, it clings to it for dear life. In this case, it's the bridesmaid adage, which though it remains tacit for most of the film, haunts it like a poltergeist. She reads bridal magazines to relax, she keeps a Filofax full of clippings and wedding contacts, her favorite writer is a newspaper journalist who writes wedding announcements. She is single-mindedly wedding-mad in that way that looks cute in romantic comedies but would not go un-medicated in real life.
The journalist is Kevin Doyle (James Marsden), whom she meets cute at (where else?) a wedding and who unbeknownst to Jane starts working on a story about her bridesmaid compulsion. No sooner has he pitched her to his editor than he starts to develop feelings. But Jane's gut tells her that they are a mismatch (she loves weddings, he hates them, let's call the whole thing off), and she remains unreceptive to his charms until they find themselves stranded in a bar upstate, having been caught in the rain, not quite drinking pina coladas but almost.
"27 Dresses" perks up when Jane and Kevin get to spend some time together; there's genuine annoyance between them so you can feel the spark. The rest of the relationships feel symbolic at best, with every character reduced to a defining trait and limited to his or her talking points. Heigl and Marsden are likable and it's not hard to root for them over a pairing with Burns, whose eco-adventurer-mogul character is as exciting as ski socks. Greer, however, is baffling as the village slut and Akerman gets put through the ringer as the ditzy, self-involved, selfish younger sister who we're supposed to like, then hate, then like again.
Of course, this is hard to do, considering that she exists solely as a foil for Jane, whose climactic decision turns out to be a stunningly hostile act of public humiliation that, were this any kind of real film, would have the effect of changing the way we feel about her as a character. Instead, "27 Dresses" dutifully privileges its formulaic plot over its stick-figure characters, slapping a happy ending on a setup that, say, "Happiness" director Todd Solondz could have gone to town on.
Still, there's something undeniably interesting about how formula has superseded logic, significance or character in so much studio product that certain types of genre stories have become closed circuits, infinite loops. Do we need to keep hearing the same comforting story over and over again like toddlers, or does somebody just think we do? It doesn't matter. A movie like "27 Dresses" has its pleasures, but to enjoy them it's best to approach it with the eyes -- and experience, emotional maturity level and love of repetition -- of a child.
"27 Dresses" perks up when Jane and Kevin get to spend some time together; there's genuine annoyance between them so you can feel the spark. The rest of the relationships feel symbolic at best, with every character reduced to a defining trait and limited to his or her talking points. Heigl and Marsden are likable and it's not hard to root for them over a pairing with Burns, whose eco-adventurer-mogul character is as exciting as ski socks. Greer, however, is baffling as the village slut and Akerman gets put through the ringer as the ditzy, self-involved, selfish younger sister who we're supposed to like, then hate, then like again.
Of course, this is hard to do, considering that she exists solely as a foil for Jane, whose climactic decision turns out to be a stunningly hostile act of public humiliation that, were this any kind of real film, would have the effect of changing the way we feel about her as a character. Instead, "27 Dresses" dutifully privileges its formulaic plot over its stick-figure characters, slapping a happy ending on a setup that, say, "Happiness" director Todd Solondz could have gone to town on.
Still, there's something undeniably interesting about how formula has superseded logic, significance or character in so much studio product that certain types of genre stories have become closed circuits, infinite loops. Do we need to keep hearing the same comforting story over and over again like toddlers, or does somebody just think we do? It doesn't matter. A movie like "27 Dresses" has its pleasures, but to enjoy them it's best to approach it with the eyes -- and experience, emotional maturity level and love of repetition -- of a child.
from: http://www.chinapost.com.tw/movie/comedy/2008/02/29/145074/27%2DDresses.htm
Feeling:
I have seen this movie last few week. I was looking forward to see it. The first reason is because the box office is really good in America. The second reason is that I love the main actress-Katherine Heigl. She is in a series called Grey's Anatomy. I love her in Grey's Anatomy. Therefore, I was expecting this movie very much. However, after I saw it, I feel a little disappointed. The story is not that interesting. By the way, the main actor is very handsome, he plays in the movie "Enchanted" as a price.The main actress in this movie is such a poor girl, but in the end she live happily after. I think she is so stupid in the beginning. She did everything for the man she love, but he didn't see what she has done and take it for granted. This prove a proverb "Love is blind."I wish I can be awake in love.
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Sunday, March 23, 2008
homework about election
Today, when I looked at the news about the president election, I found out that most of the news is talking about the outcome of the election. However, there are some commentaries are about how Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) would have been beaten. Due to the media, it is the President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) that has to be blame. Because of his bad governance, people were disappointed about DPP and that’s why DPP lose both the legislators and the president elections.
I personally feel positive about this outcome, because DPP made
If candidate Frank Hsieh(謝長廷) won this competition, I think it won’t be good for Taiwan. I feel he is controlled by President Chen Shui-bian, so he won’t change much when he holds the reins of government. I think the people realized that, and they want
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Anjuna: Hippie paradise lost
By Soutik Biswas
BBC News, Anjuna, Goa
BBC News, Anjuna, Goa
 |  Anjuna's beaches are most popular with foreigners  |
Enlarge ImageA sense of unease can be felt on India's most famous beach village after news washed up that a teenage British girl was raped and left to die in the sea last month.
Two local men have been arrested in connection with Scarlett Keeling's death in Anjuna in Goa.
Anjuna, famous for its grubby shacks, crescent-shaped beaches, crowded flea markets, drug-fuelled parties and ayurveda spas is in the news again - for all the wrong reasons.
Turnout at the once-a-week 3,000-shop, 38-year-old flea market selling anything from tribal jewellery to thongs has been thin. Shacks selling food and alcohol have fewer guests and revellers. Even the live bands with names like Kundalini Airport and Bindoo Babas have been turning down the volume when night falls.
'Mind altering qualities'
"Scarlett's killing has affected tourism here, for sure. Suddenly things are very quiet," says 61-year-old Manohar Singh, who was born in India, brought up in Zanzibar and holds a British passport.
Anjuna was discovered by hippie travellers in the 1960s, a time when there was "much interest in the mind-altering qualities of India," according to Arun Saldhana, who teaches geography at the University of Minnesota and has written a book on the place.
"It was defined by its psychedelic culture and family-run guest houses, a freak and backpackers hangout, rather than the [many] charter tourist hangouts [of Goa]," he says.
|   Suddenly things are very quiet in Anjuna  Manohar Singh |
The 13-sq km beach village hemmed in by lush hills is where, according to another old-timer, foreign tourists went to "escape India".
Resting in a village in Anjuna during a visit in the mid-1960s, Graham Greene "found it possible to forget the poverty of Bombay (now called Mumbai), 400 miles away, the mutilated beggars, the lepers... "
Anjuna's palm-lined beaches gave birth to a homegrown electronic dance music, called the Goa trance, before house and techno music grew roots in the early 1990's.
Distortions
The place was seen by many as a secluded, whites-only haven for hippies, who according to Arun Saldhana, could "freely indulge in drugs, nude sun bathing and all night full moon parties".
The early 1980s were possibly the high point in the beach's chequered history - hippies, punks, artists, Rastafarians, devotees of new-age gurus all hung out here, swapping drugs, music and sexual partners.
The Anjuna subculture saw tourists bending rules and bribing local officials.
Beach shack owner Francis Fernandes remembers the hippies taking over parts of the beaches and putting up 'Indians are not allowed' signs to keep away the locals.
 The beach was discovered by hippies in the sixties |
"Once some foreigners began a beach rave party on a Good Friday without any permission. We stormed the party and smashed it up," he says. A third of Goa's residents are Catholic Christians.
British novelist Deborah Moggach even spoke about what she called the "touristic caste system" in Anjuna, alluding to the Indian caste system.
"The Brahmins (uppermost in India's caste hierarchy) are the old hippies... They whizz around on old Enfields - how superior people look on motorbikes!" she wrote.
"They have long ropes of hair, washboard stomachs and low slung sarongs... At the lowest rank are package deal tourists".
Rising abuse
Four decades after the foreigners arrived, Anjuna's hippy reputation appears to be backfiring.
Its only hospital, a 20-bed private operation, treats an increasing number of drug overdose cases. Seventeen of the 74 foreigners who have died in Goa in the past two years were in Anjuna, and 11 of them are suspected to be have died of drug abuse.
 The crowds have thinned since the murder of UK teenager Scarlett Keeling |
"Drug abuse cases have risen here since I came here seven years ago," says Dr Pravin Tippat, who works at the hospital.
Anjuna even has a detox and rehab clinic, run by a NGO, which reports high drug and alcohol abuse in the area.
"We get foreigners every month coming to help for drug abuse. People are taking all kinds of drugs," says Pamela D' Costa, who works there.
Though the police talk about record drug seizures, successfully banning nude sun bathing and cleaning up the place, it has not really been successful.
It is still easy to get drugs.
At the almost completely foreigners-only beach where Scarlett was murdered, women sunbath topless on deckchairs with cows and stray dogs for company.
Victim of success
In the end, Anjuna appears to have become a victim of its own warped success - foreign tourists, scorned by many Goans as "white trash", have lifted living standards of the locals, but material progress has come at a high cost.
Leading Indian designer and Goa resident Wendell Rodricks describes Anjuna as a "dark spot".
 Grubby shacks dot the beach |
"I don't go there. It is a place that is hung over from the 1960's, but sadly with more potent drugs than hashish," he says.
"The government should restore the reputation of the village and the dignity of its residents."
Clearly, the more innocent days of hippie lifestyle - full-moon parties, psychedelic drugs, growing vegetables - which launched Anjuna as a favourite destination are over.
These days, as a British writer said recently, the "place gives me the creeps with its Western-driven drugs culture."
from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7300309.stm
Feeling:
I think the suspect is one of the tourists, because they took drugs. Therefore, their mind was out of control. They had more possibilities to do something wrong out of mind. Due to the article, even the local residents stay away from this area. The tourists themselves are more likely to commit this crime.
I also think that this incident will let the authorities to face up to the problems of drug abusing. The vision of this place comes into my head of the movie THE BEACH starring by Leonardo DiCaprio years ago. Their life is debauched:party everyday, getting drugs easily.....etc. I think the government has been aware of this problem for a long long time. However, they haven't done anything with great exertion. What they have done is nothing, connived, and indulged drug addict.
I hope this news will make them solve the existing problem in Anjuna. And I wish Anjuna will become a real paradise for the tourists.
I also think that this incident will let the authorities to face up to the problems of drug abusing. The vision of this place comes into my head of the movie THE BEACH starring by Leonardo DiCaprio years ago. Their life is debauched:party everyday, getting drugs easily.....etc. I think the government has been aware of this problem for a long long time. However, they haven't done anything with great exertion. What they have done is nothing, connived, and indulged drug addict.
I hope this news will make them solve the existing problem in Anjuna. And I wish Anjuna will become a real paradise for the tourists.
Friday, March 14, 2008
U.S. tells China to use restraint in Tibet protests
Fri Mar 14, 2008 11:37am EDT
(Adds White House, details, quotes)
By Sue Pleming and Paul Eckert
WASHINGTON, March 14 (Reuters) - The United States told China on Friday to act with restraint when dealing with protesters in Tibet and again asked Beijing to talk to Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.
U.S. ambassador to China, Clark Randt, used a meeting with senior Chinese officials in Beijing to formally voice U.S. concern over violence in Tibet's capital Lhasa, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.
"He took the opportunity, because of what was going on in Lhasa, to urge restraint on the part of the Chinese officials and Chinese security forces and not resort to use of force in dealing with the protesters," McCormack told reporters.
Peaceful street marches by Tibetan Buddhist monks in past days grew into the biggest demonstrations the remote Himalayan region has seen in nearly two decades, with anti-riot police patrolling the streets months before the Beijing Olympics.
U.S.-based broadcaster Radio Free Asia reported on Friday that at least two people were killed when Chinese police fired on rioting Tibetan protesters in Lhasa.
"We believe Beijing needs to respect Tibetan culture. They they need to respect multi-ethnicity in their society. We regret the tensions between ethnic groups and Beijing," White House spokesman Tony Fratto told reporters. "The president has said consistently that Beijing needs to have a dialogue with the Dalai Lama."
RELIGIOUS REPRESSION INCREASED
The U.S. embassy in Beijing issued a message urging Americans to postpone travel to Tibet and if they were already in Lhasa to seek safety in hotels and elsewhere.
"All care must be taken to avoid unnecessary movement within the city until the situation is under control," said McCormack, adding there were no reports of U.S. casualties.
Asked whether human rights issues changed Washington's view of China hosting the Olympic Games, McCormack said the United States saw the games as a sporting event.
"We believe, and have urged China both in public and in private to use the opportunity to put China's best face forward to the international community, not only during but in the run-up and after the Olympics," said McCormack.
Human rights groups have urged the United States to increase pressure on China over its human rights record in the run-up to the Olympic Games.
The State Department's annual report on human rights worldwide, which was released on Tuesday, called China's 2007 human rights record poor, but the host of this summer's Olympics escaped being listed among the world's worst offenders as it had been in previous years.
"The government's human rights record in Tibetan areas of China remained poor, and the level of repression of religious freedom increased," said the Tibet entry in the report.
"Authorities continued to commit serious human rights abuses, including torture, arbitrary arrest and detention, and house arrest and surveillance of dissidents," it said. (Editing by Alan Elsner)
from: http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN14398845
Feeling:
I think China should face to the human rights' problem now. Because they host the Olympics, they are a model of all over the world. They shouldn't repress the Tibetan with violence. They should talked to Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama to discuss how to solve this problem.
And I think the U.S. should force China to deal with the still-existing problem now. This not just a sport event anymore. Because people all over the world will pay more attention with the host of the Olympics. Therefore, China has to face the problem.
I think if China still ignore the problems inside their society, people all over the world would question China's ability to host the Olympics.
(Adds White House, details, quotes)
By Sue Pleming and Paul Eckert
WASHINGTON, March 14 (Reuters) - The United States told China on Friday to act with restraint when dealing with protesters in Tibet and again asked Beijing to talk to Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.
U.S. ambassador to China, Clark Randt, used a meeting with senior Chinese officials in Beijing to formally voice U.S. concern over violence in Tibet's capital Lhasa, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.
"He took the opportunity, because of what was going on in Lhasa, to urge restraint on the part of the Chinese officials and Chinese security forces and not resort to use of force in dealing with the protesters," McCormack told reporters.
Peaceful street marches by Tibetan Buddhist monks in past days grew into the biggest demonstrations the remote Himalayan region has seen in nearly two decades, with anti-riot police patrolling the streets months before the Beijing Olympics.
U.S.-based broadcaster Radio Free Asia reported on Friday that at least two people were killed when Chinese police fired on rioting Tibetan protesters in Lhasa.
"We believe Beijing needs to respect Tibetan culture. They they need to respect multi-ethnicity in their society. We regret the tensions between ethnic groups and Beijing," White House spokesman Tony Fratto told reporters. "The president has said consistently that Beijing needs to have a dialogue with the Dalai Lama."
RELIGIOUS REPRESSION INCREASED
The U.S. embassy in Beijing issued a message urging Americans to postpone travel to Tibet and if they were already in Lhasa to seek safety in hotels and elsewhere.
"All care must be taken to avoid unnecessary movement within the city until the situation is under control," said McCormack, adding there were no reports of U.S. casualties.
Asked whether human rights issues changed Washington's view of China hosting the Olympic Games, McCormack said the United States saw the games as a sporting event.
"We believe, and have urged China both in public and in private to use the opportunity to put China's best face forward to the international community, not only during but in the run-up and after the Olympics," said McCormack.
Human rights groups have urged the United States to increase pressure on China over its human rights record in the run-up to the Olympic Games.
The State Department's annual report on human rights worldwide, which was released on Tuesday, called China's 2007 human rights record poor, but the host of this summer's Olympics escaped being listed among the world's worst offenders as it had been in previous years.
"The government's human rights record in Tibetan areas of China remained poor, and the level of repression of religious freedom increased," said the Tibet entry in the report.
"Authorities continued to commit serious human rights abuses, including torture, arbitrary arrest and detention, and house arrest and surveillance of dissidents," it said. (Editing by Alan Elsner)
from: http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN14398845
Feeling:
I think China should face to the human rights' problem now. Because they host the Olympics, they are a model of all over the world. They shouldn't repress the Tibetan with violence. They should talked to Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama to discuss how to solve this problem.
And I think the U.S. should force China to deal with the still-existing problem now. This not just a sport event anymore. Because people all over the world will pay more attention with the host of the Olympics. Therefore, China has to face the problem.
I think if China still ignore the problems inside their society, people all over the world would question China's ability to host the Olympics.
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