Barack Obama's Inauguration 2009

This is my first post that I am writing from Asia on this trip. Last night Tamar and I stayed up late, fully absorbed by the TV coverage of the inauguration of the first African-American president of the USA. These two firsts coincided to remind us of another, that of the very first time we traveled to Asia in September 2001. Continue Reading »

The latest film directed by Clint Eastwood stars Eastwood himself as a disgruntled Korean War veteran, Walt Kowalski, whose next door neighbors are a family of Hmong immigrants. I haven’t seen the film yet but after reading the NY Times movie review of Gran Torino and seeing the initial 8.3 rating on IMDB I’m really looking forward to seeing what looks to be another great and interesting film by Clint Eastwood!

When one thinks of V-Day we think of the good old days when the US was the undisputed victor of major wars, fought relatively quickly, and in multiple theaters around the world. For the Americans, The Vietnam War was the exact opposite.

At the same time that Tamar was on a business call with her client in Ho Chi Minh City, I was watching a documentary on National Geographic about the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington DC. The memorial was designed by Maya Lin and I saw another documentary about the preparation and construction of the monument several years ago. This documentary, however, was equally fascinating and in some ways even more touching to watch.
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Man and his boat on the Mekong

The first episode of a new 4-part series entitled, Mekong: Soul of a River, will premier tonight on Discovery HD Theater.

The four parts of Mekong: Soul of a River will be:

Part 1: Enter the Nine Dragons/Vietnam (Feb 10)
Part 2: The Great Water/Cambodia (Feb 17)
Part 3: Mothers of Waters/Laos & Thailand (Feb 24)
Part 4: Source of Life/Burma & China (Mar 2)

Each part will be premiered on the dates listed above at 8pm and at 11pm and will also be replayed throughout each week.View schedule information here.