Baghdad + Voxtrot

current affairs

1. In case you missed the front page of the New York Times, this picturesque picture was on it. It was a bit of a hassle tracking it down online. I finally found it at the AP.org site. The caption reads:

"Seeking Shelter Where He Can Find It
An Iraqi boy hid behind a US soldier yesterday amid gunfire after a car bomb in Central Baghdad killed 24 people."

Let us never forget to pay our respects to the foreign correspondents and photographers that put their lives on the line to capture stories and images to paint a portrait of the harsh realities (no pun intended) of war. For more see: Graham Greene's The Quiet American. Veteran journalists gave the book to virgin foreign correspondents as the neophytes arrived in Vietnam to cover the war.

music

2. On a much higher note I just got back from rocking out to Voxtrot at the El Rey. Today morning I woke up and did a search on Craigslist to find someone selling tickets to the show at $10 a piece. The tickets normally go for $15 + $5 ticketmaster charges. It was a steal for 1o bucks.
The venue is nice, and Voxtrot kicked ass live. I am always pleased when a band's live performance matches the recording I have been listening to. The band has an indie-pop, pseudo-Strokes, pseudo-Beatles feel to it. They recently released their first album, self titled.
Here are three from the band.

next: wine + humor?

Today's thoughts

sigh.

business

1. Coca-Cola paying almost 12x revenue for "Energy Brands." Energy Brands is the maker of Vitaminwater. KO payed $4.1 BN for the company, about $1 BN more than what most analysts expected KO to shell out. For the UCLA Advertising and Marketing Team (AdTeam) this year we worked on a campaign for Coke. Our primary research reflected the fact that the company continues to lose market share to noncarbonated beverages. Coke wanted us to come up with a comprehensive marketing and advertising campaign for their "Classic Coke" brand. The marketing report they attached to our campaign objectives basically spelled out their decline in popularity due to brands like Vitaminwater. Andrew Ross Sorkin of NYTimes' Deal Journal reports that Coke's current market share in noncarbonated drinks is 23% versus Pepsi-Co's 50%. This deal fills that void in Coke's product portfolio. Glaceu's founder+CEO claims "triple-digit" growth this year in volume. WSJ touches on the fact that Coke's growth in volume was 3.9% last year. As long as healthy stays sexy, Energy Brands should be a strong addition to Coke's portfolio.
   
   travel
   
2. Matt and I were chatting earlier today about heading to Utah for a couple days in January 2008 for the Sundance Film Festival. It's 700 miles each way. It could be fun if we get a couple people together for a mini-roadtrip to catch some indie and foreign flicks. The Festival goes from about January 18th to January 28th. Anyone interested?
   
   current affairs
   
3. BBC News reports that Bush is set to make a speech tomorrow morning in regards to toughening sanctions on Sudan. I hope the President carries through here. The US and its partner, Britain, want to take an attempt at "punishing Khartoum over the ongoing violence, singling out President Omar al-Bashir." The two nations want to do it through the UN SC. You can almost hear the veto of China ringing in, before the resolution is even brought forward to the council. China buys over half of Sudan's oil, and supplies Sudan with arms. To see what you can do --> www.savedarfur.org
   

ps. Vicky points out that the noteworthy word of the day is "bon vivant" - (noun) a person with refined and sociable tastes.

Introduction + Lupe Fiasco + Jill Scott

Hi. My name is Harsh Shah. I'm a junior at UCLA. I just built this blog for my random musings on film, music, current events, wine, business, technology, and travel.

I just got back from my first day at UCLA's jazz/reggae festival. The festival is split into two days. Today was "Jam Day" and tomorrow is "Reggae Day." Headliners for the day included Lupe Fiasco and Jill Scott. The festival started at 11AM and ended at 7PM. I volunteered and helped to set up the festival from 7AM to 12PM.

Reggae Day's headliner is Luciano.

Lupe Fiasco was phenomenal live. He's not exactly underground, but his rap nevertheless does have a degree of social consciousness to it. His debut album, "Food and Liquor," received some well-deserved praise last year. Fiasco's performance was filled with dynamic energy; the kind of energy that makes you feel alive. It was almost reminiscent of the free fall from my sky dive.

My favorite song from Fiasco's album, "Hurt me Soul" is below.



Jill Scott also gave a great performance. Liz and I both felt that Jill Scott has an amazing voice.