Jackson, Mississippi.
After more than two years of traveling the world and reacquainting myself with its people, its beauty and madness, I am making a trip into the heartland to discover firsthand what is happening in our own country, to our own people, in these strange and turbulent times.
There are songs we take for pure pleasure. Music that accompanies the 4 am rendezvous in strange, slightly dangerous cities where seductive alien-looking people speak in tongues and neon lights bleed like rivers on rain-soaked cobble-stone streets.
Read MoreWith Artificial Intelligence rapidly permeating all aspects of modern life, whether it be robots as hiring managers, driverless cars, Google searches, Alexa or Siri, an important question arises…
Read MoreWhile the patriarchy systematically subjugates American women with the help our President, there is at least one good news from elsewhere in the world where sexual assault survivors, and those helping them, are being honored not punished.
Read MoreEarly efforts at AI generated sci-fi screenplays may be laughable, as evident from the unintelligible dialog, lack of a discernible plot and vague attempts at humor in “Sunspring” a short film written by an AI bot. But the future of collaborative storytelling with machines is rich with possibilities if creators and engineers find innovative ways to work together.
Read MoreWhere: The Whitney Museum of Modern Art, New York City through Sept 30, 2018. What’s cool about this? Reminds of you of the art and mad artists who that were the reason you wanted to move to New York city in the first place. Reminds us that we shouldn’t let history repeat itself.
Read MoreIndian men by default have a special, elevated status, simply by being born male. We could be lazy good-for-nothings, ignorant fools, crooks, wife-beaters, or worse…
Read MoreI am a big fan of Cary Fukunaga. I think the guy has everything going for him. He’s a great director, writer, producer, with an edgy sensibility and stylistic approach I really dig.
Read MoreTrippy, eccentric, disobedient music delivered by an elusive, sexually ambiguous black artist whose mad aesthetic is like Prince on acid or Grace Jones in a David Lynch sci-fi short.
Read MoreManohar Lal Prasanna plays a hypnotic flute, and comes from a long line of classical musicians of the Banarasi Gharana, which also also includes the master of shehnai, Bismillah Khan.
Read MoreMy mother wouldn’t let go of my hand. Six years ago, at Delhi airport, I put her on a flight to Heathrow, to my sister, a doctor, who would get her properly diagnosed.
Read MoreThis man, Munna Lal, in my hometown of Lucknow, is at the very bottom of the food chain in a country whose corrupt politicians manipulate and exploit the poor to make themselves and the rich even richer.
Read MoreImagine bringing outrageously talented young people from around the world to a futuristic haven in the South of France under the tutelage of visionaries in transmedia, gaming, AI and design to collaborate on the world’s biggest problems and opportunities.
Read MoreSometimes I disappear into the wilderness of Namibia, the sanctuary of solitude or the shapeless innocence of music because the realities of our pitiless world are too heavy, too hard to handle.
Read MoreIt’s with exhilaration but also sobriety I return from Africa. It’s a continent of limitless potential and beauty but also riddled with cruel injustices.
Read MoreIn my wanderings in Africa I've discovered the continent itself is an electric, ever-morphing, seething, burning, cooling, evolving work of art.
Read MoreIt’s a joy for me to see black people en masse. But also White Africans, Indian Africans, Afrikaner, coloreds, Cape Malays, Chinese, Muslims, Arabs- the entire spectrum of humanity rubbing against each other.
Read MoreMy first visit to the Mother City is colored with deep sadness at the passing of Anthony Bourdain, one of the few truly inspiring personalities in media.
Read MoreI remember a childhood story in which zebras roamed the streets of cities that were paved with gold, along with flamingoes and tortoises and penguins and tigers and sheep and peacocks.
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