Web Worth Watching: War with Iran

Extending our poly-sci coverage from last week, I've found a couple of interesting pieces about Iran. Our foreign policy approach to that country is an issue that will almost certainly need to be addressed by whoever wins the election on November 4, and I've selected these pieces to try and give a little context. These pieces offer very different perspectives on the country. The first is a citizen journalist piece that briefly looks at life inside Iran and the fear that the US may launch a war against the county.

A View from Iran


The second piece is more formal telejournalism and investigates whether or not the US has already started a proxy war with Iran through resistance groups on the Iraq-Iran border.


America's Secret War

New on KNME.org (October 27): Artisode 1.4: A Walk Down Canyon Road (Part 1)

New this week on KNME.org, KNME filmmaker Kelly Kowalski's newest installment in our Artisodes series. This week she takes a walk down Canyon Road in Santa Fe with art critic John O'Hern.


Artisode 1.4: A Walk Down Canyon Road (Part 1)



Part 2 of their walk debuts next week here on KNME.org.

Web Worth Watching: A Couple of Looks at 'Fortress America'

With the American elections just days away I went out looking for some different points of view on Election 2008, and I ran across this surprisingly good piece of citizen journalism from Current.com that explored attitudes toward Americans by citizens of other countries. Check it out...

The View from Over There



Of course, most of the folks featured in those videos can't vote in American elections so for a slightly more domestic point-of-view check out this videographic presentation from The Economist magazine on Anglo-Saxon attitudes to many common issues. It's an interesting comparison of American and British cultures.


Divided We Stand

New on KNME.org (October 20): America Dreaming (Episode 1)

New this week on KNME.org is KNME filmmaker Kelly Kowalski's pilot of a potential new online series, America Dreaming. America Dreaming profiles todayʼs American dreams -- a mosaic that has become perhaps more fluid, more virtual, more idiosyncratic, more hopeful, more disenchanted, more global, more simple or more complex in perspective.

In this episodes, elementary students in the United States perform below average on international math scores, and high school students are failing. Our math textbooks typically deal with 35 topics, whereas math books of our successful competitors, like Germany and Japan, have a mere five or six. Experts believe we are forcing our kids to be shallow -- cramming in too much, and teaching students to do math but not insightfully use math? This America Dreaming webisode features a math teacher trying to teach differently, and possibly dream America differently.


America Dreaming (Episode 1)

Web Worth Watching: Some Like It Hot...

Figured I'd stick with the arts for another week, but this week the artistic motif is fire. Check out these films from a couple different years of the Burning Man festival (remember how it was before the money flowed in). There's not much to add about these, they sort of speak for themselves. Oh, I will add the first one has a little pixelated nudity...but should be SFW.

The Shiva Vista Project


Flaming Lotus Girls: Mutopia



Then, to cool things down a bit, check out this performance from Pilobolus. (If you're body conscious, don't watch this one after eating.)

Pilobolus: A Performance Merging Dance and Biology


-C-

New on KNME.org (October 13): Should Uranium Mining Return to Grants (Part 2)

New this week on KNME.org, part two of Lillian Kelly's exploration into the issues surrounding the potential return of uranium mining to Grants, NM. Part 1 premiered last week and can be seen below Part 2.


Should Uranium Mining Return to Grants (Part 2)



Should Uranium Mining Return to Grants (Part 1) - debuted last week

**WATCH NOW** KNME TOWN HALL MEETING with Ray Suarez - Oct. 12 at 3:00-4:00 pm

UPDATE: Click on the three sections below to watch all three parts of Sunday's Town Hall Meeting hosted by Ray Suarez.

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3



Join KNME for a **live** Town Hall Meeting with Ray Suarez, Senior Correspondent of The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer

DATE/TIME: Sunday, October 12th
3:00 pm – 4:00 pm --Doors open at 2:30 pm

LOCATION: UNM Continuing Education Auditorium

TOPIC: “What Role Will New Mexico And The Media Play In The Upcoming Presidential Election?"

ADMISSION: FREE – Open to The Public

QUESTIONS ASKED: KUNM will be running spots asking for listeners to send in their questions, in advance. KNME will give these questions to Ray Suarez to begin the discussion. There will also be microphones in the audience, for audience members to ask questions of the panelists.

BROADCAST: LIVE simulcast on KUNM 89.9 FM

STREAMING: LIVE on KNME’s website at www.newmexicoinfocus.org

***Call (505) 277-2121 for more information***

Moderator:
Ray Suarez, Senior Correspondent of The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer

Panelists:
- Lonna Atkeson - Political Science Professor, UNM
- Delbert E. Carrillo - Teacher, Valley High School
- Gene Grant - Co-Host of KNME’s NEW MEXICO IN FOCUS & Albuquerque Journal columnist
- Jeff Jones - Albuquerque Journal Political Reporter
- Joe Monahan – Blogger, joemonahansnewmexico.blogspot.com
- Gabriel Sanchez - UNM Political Science Professor, Racial & Ethnic Politics
- Steve Seth - Teacher, Highland High School

The NewsHour with JimLehrer puts the national spotlight on Albuquerque and New Mexico, Monday - Friday, October 13-17 at 5:30 p.m. Albuquerque is only the second “Spotlight City” The NewsHour has chosen to highlight.

Senior Correspondents Ray Suarez and Judy Woodruff will bring the program to the studios of KNME, to examine the crucial role the city of Albuquerque and the state of New Mexico will play in the upcoming presidential election. The NewsHour will also profile the unique contributions Albuquerque is making in business, science healthcare, and the arts. Additional stories will include: economic disparity, voting machines, getting out the Native American vote, NM Politics, the economy, etc.

Evy Todd
New Media

Web Worth Watching: Minds Wide Open

Ever since I read Steven Johnson's Mind Wide Open I've been fascinated with the human brain...how little we understand about it, but how much it governs (whether we like it or not) every...single...thing we do. So I present to you this week, a pair of videos on our brains. It's a topic I'm sure we'll come back to in the future, so if you have any you'd like to see featured here send me a link.

For today, the first is a captivating lecture from Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, a neuro-anatomist who recognized she was having a stroke and what she learned from that experience.

Jill Bolte Taylor - My Stroke of Insight



The second is lecture by Jeff Hawkins, most famous for inventing the Palm Pilot, but also very passionate about brains and artificial intelligence. I'm embedding a 5-part playlist from YouTube of a lecture he gave at the 2008 RSA conference.

Jeff Hawkins: On Artificial Intelligence

New on KNME.org (October 6): Should Uranium Mining Return to Grants (Part 1)

New this week on KNME.org, in the first of a two part series, indie filmmaker Lillian Kelly explores the issues surrounding the potential return of uranium mining to Grants, NM.

Part 2 will debut right here next Monday (10/13).

Should Uranium Mining Return to Grants? (Part 1)

Web Worth Watching: Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog

I've been looking for an embeddable version of this for a while, and I found it so I thought I'd post a little something fun this week (it's a musical!). This was project that developed during the writer's strike last spring. This was done relatively cheap (by Hollywood standards) and while Hollywood fare wouldn't usually qualify for WWW inclusion, this film is A) from the mind of Joss Whedon, and B) it exists solely as a web exclusive video. Shows you how far the web has come in just the last two years. Anyway, enjoy! I'll embed the whole thing first and also include the chaptered version below that.

Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog (full version)






Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog (Chapter 1)



Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog (Chapter 2)



Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog (Chapter 3)