Here's a Time article aboutClint Eastwood's decision to simultaneously release two movies about the battle of Iwo Jima - one concerning the American side and one concerning the Japanese. I'm certainly very interested in seeing both of them (what would they be called...sidequels?) Now we just wait and see whether or not the dialogue is in Japanese.

Rosa Parks, probably the most well known name of the Civil Rights Movement right behind Martin Luther King Jr., died yesterday at the age of 92. The Civil Rights Movement made incredible strides in racial equality, but pretty much burnt out just as it started to tackle economic issues. Hopefully her legacy will still rekindle future progressivism.

I just added a new essay on racial profiling, which you can find on the right. You might notice I like to play devil's advocate when discussing these types of issues, but I find it makes it easier to organize my opinions. As always, send along any responses - I'd be happy to read them.

Angry Asian Man linked to this interview with The RZA yesterday in Asia Pacific Arts. In it the musician made one particular comment that struck a nerve: implying that melanin, or the pigment for dark skin, is connected to life, intelligence or spirituality, and that Caucasians weren't "in sync" with all that jazz until we read books left for us by blacks and Asians. Harmless spiritual rhetoric? I wouldn't say so, especially if the situation had been reversed. Such thinking places values on race and implies human beings as possessing some kind of inherent quality.

Besides that, the interview was pretty interesting, and his views on culture were encouraging. I can't hate on the RZA too much, considering we're both alumni of the same highschool.