RSMurthi's DigiDips & SoundToyz

From Book Forum: 'The wounded innocents who populate Ginsberg's poems seem out of place, even alien, today, but that is no reason to declare smugly that the Age of Ginsberg is a closed chapter. "Howl" blew through an entire culture with fury and exuberance and eloquence and charm, and it was the work not of the guru but of the young poet. During the last half century, no poem, not even Ashbery's "Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror," has been able to match the prominence and resonance achieved by "Howl." These days, few artists, let alone poets, are hailed as heroic prophets, and no amount of cheerleading during National Poetry Month will change that. Instead, it's the gurus — scrubbed, smiling, and outfitted with respectable titles like "motivational speaker," "life coach," and "personal trainer" — who continue to mesmerise.' More

Islamic revenge in Amsterdam

From BookForum: '"The murder of Theo van Gogh was committed by one Dutch convert to a revolutionary war," [Ian Buruma] concludes, in a passage that should recommend his book [Murder in Amsterdam: The Death of Theo van Gogh and the Limits of Tolerance] to anyone interested in European history as well as Europe's future. "Such revolutionaries in Europe are still few in number. But the murder, like the bomb attacks in Madrid and London, the fatwah against Salman Rushdie, and the worldwide Muslim protests against cartoons of the Prophet in a Danish newspaper, exposed dangerous fractures that run through all European nations. Islam may soon become the majority religion in countries whose churches have been turned more and more into tourist sites, apartment houses, theaters, and places of entertainment. . . . How Europeans, Muslims as well as non-Muslims, cope with this is the question that will decide our future. And what better place to watch the drama unfold than the Netherlands, where freedom came from a revolt against Catholic Spain, where ideals of tolerance and diversity became a badge of national honor, and where political Islam struck its first blow against a man whose deepest conviction was that freedom of speech included the freedom to insult."' More

Harsh light of reality heats up Seamus Heaney's new poems/

From The Boston Globe: 'In one of his essays, Seamus Heaney describes the power of poetry as "the imagination pressing back against the pressure of reality". Throughout the Nobel laureate's most recent collection of poems, District and Circle, the imagination seems not only to press against reality but to plunge it in a cleansing solution. The world shines up from these pages with refreshed particularity and tactile exactitude. Who else can so expertly conjure the precise physics of lifting a sledge hammer, the sagging heft of beef in butchers paper, the "cold smooth creeping steel and knicking scissors" of a childhood haircut? Everywhere in this collection, Heaney's speedy inventiveness pushes up against the real.' More

Why you should avoid processsed milk

From Weston. A Price Foundation: 'Once you understand how modern milk is produced and processed, it seems logical to just avoid it altogether. But real milk — full-fat, unprocessed milk from pasture-fed cows — contains vital nutrients like fat-soluble vitamins A and D, calcium, vitamin B6, B12, and CLA (conjugated linoleic acid, a fatty acid naturally occurring in grass-fed beef and milk that reduces body fat and protects against cancer). Real milk is a source of complete protein and is loaded with enzymes. Raw milk contains beneficial bacteria that protect against pathogens and contribute to a healthy flora in the intestines. Culturing milk greatly enhances its probiotic and enzyme content, making it a therapeutic food for our digestive system and overall health.' More