Friday, April 25, 2008

The right biofuel

This op-ed article on yesterday's NY Times is so thoroughly good that I couldn't bring myself to copy-paste quotes of it - all passages are excellent. A must-read.

"Bring On The Right Biofuels" by Roger Cohen

Also excellent, and somewhat related, is this slideshow from the Financial Times on Amazon deforestation.

Saturday, April 19, 2008

What I'm listening to



Fantástica gravação ao vivo de 1965 - Nara Leão, Edu Lobo e Tamba Trio.

Pontos altos, pra mim, são o sambinha "O trem atrasou", os clássicos de João do Vale "Carcará" e "Minha História" e versões as instrumentais altamente jazzísticas (oito minutos cada) para "Consolação" e "O Morro não tem vez" de Tom e Vinícius.


Ou seja, Sambas, Baiões e Bossa Nova com arranjos caprichados de Jazz. Não dá pra ser melhor, sério.

Monday, April 14, 2008

Food? What food?

Another rich, fact-based discussion from the Guardian. This one has really kept me thinking.

Credit crunch? The real crisis is global hunger. And if you care, eat less meat
A food recession is under way. Biofuels are a crime against humanity, but - take it from a flesh eater - flesh eating is worse


First two comments from readers are great, too. One links to this appaling video about pig-farming. I could not watch until the end (might have puked) and am seriously considering bypassing bacon from now on.

Oh. me, vegan? No way.

Thursday, April 03, 2008

What I'm listening to

Excellent compilation from the always excellent compiler Gilles Peterson. I can buy his stuff without even having heard of it before, because it's certain to be great and picked up carefully.






Disc 1 is a compilation of modern soul-jazz that winds up into house music and back. A bit too much dancefloor-oriented for me, although tracks 1-5 and the last one (the most jazzy parts of the disc) are velvet-smooth. The sticky but groovy chorus of Track 1 ("Don't Take it Personal" by Wahoo) stands out, as does track 5 ("Wishing You Were Here" by Blaze with Joey Negro remix).

Disc 2 is the highlight for me - 70's funk and soul that does not sound like whisky-soaked late stages of a wedding party. Many, many highlights here -
- "Could Heaven Ever Be Like This" by Idris Muhhamad (starts corny but ends up in an uplifting metals solo)
- "Let Your Feelings Show" by Earth Wind and Fire (a familiar voice, a familiar beat, but with a novelty feeling)
- "Circles" by Rufus and Chaka Khan (powerful vocals invite with a more serious tone than the rest of the tracks)
though my favorite song is probably "Boogie Oogie Oogie" by A Taste of Honey, which just makes me feel like getting on up on the floor and boogie-oogie-oogieing till-I-just-can't-boogie-no-more.

Disc 3 is a raw drum-and-bass compilation which is not the reason why I purchased this album. My verdict is, even if only for Disc 2 and half of Disc 1, listening to this is a trip into dancehalls and jazzbars that is well worth.