SYRIA: Abed Azrie, Mohamad Bash, Sabah Fakhri, Yahya Hawwa, Rouwaida Attieh, George Wassouf, Bachar Zarkan

WRAPUP 5-Syrian tanks attack in Homs, world outrage grows.
Rebel bastion in Homs bombarded for 20th day.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/23/syria-idUSL5E8DN0CL20120223

VALENCIAN TEENAGE STUDENTS STAND UP FOR THEIR RIGHTS

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/21/valencia-police-students-standoff-spain-protests?newsfeed=true

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2012/feb/21/valencia-anti-austerity-protesters-arrested-video?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487

http://www.nation.co.ke/News/world/Fresh+student+protest+in+Spanish+city+after+police+beatings/-/1068/1332180/-/n8ujn3z/-/

http://en.contrainfo.espiv.net/2012/02/21/spain-urgent-call-for-action-in-solidarity-with-protesters-in-valencia/

THE DESCENDANTS

Should The Descendants win the best picture Oscar?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/video/2012/feb/16/the-descendants-best-picture-oscar?INTCMP=SRCH

http://www.latimes.com/news/la-et-golden-globes-news,0,4389923.story

“We have attempted to convey our own feelings about the film — that it is a deeply layered look at universal themes of complicated love, forgiveness and the importance of family, and that it is a beautifully crafted and acted film that will stand the test of time,” Nancy Utley, a president of Searchlight, said in an e-mail.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/10/movies/awardsseason/for-the-descendants-a-new-angle-in-the-oscar-race.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=the%20descendants&st=cse 

ScHoolboy Q

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/jan/25/new-band-schoolboy-q
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schoolboy_Q

He's probably not going to be a break-out star, but it's hard to imagine that there will be many more original or satisfying rap long-players this year.
http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/16216-schoolboy-q-habits-contradictions/

TOWNS, GABRIEL AND THE HOUNDS, HYPERPOTAMUS

TOWNS.  They are where Baggy meets Shoegaze: shaggy, perhaps. There is drive and energy here, for sure, but it is of the louche, listless kind. They combine the "sun-shines-out-of-our-behinds"/"wanna-be-adored" Manc Narcissus persona with the floppy-fringed, feedback frenzies of their southern-softie counterparts.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/feb/07/new-band-towns

GABRIEL AND THE HOUNDS. On "The World Unfolds" Gabriel and the Hounds sounds buoyant and brash. The band shakes off rusting shackles - drums and voice rushing forward, chasing each other away from the past, not looking back.
http://www.riotactmedia.com/artists/gath.php
To listen, click on the following link: http://snd.sc/x4Zoln

HYPERPOTAMUS is a London-based vocal one man band from Madrid, Spain. He makes music with nothing but a few microphones and a loop pedal.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/artist/242f665f-0335-4e68-ac97-67fc4f6b2fe2
To listen, click on the following link: http://snd.sc/xBSBRw

Celebrating the 200th birthday of CHARLES DICKENS

Vices are sometimes only virtues carried to excess!                                Dombey and Son (1848)

In the nineteenth century everyone, from Queen Victoria to the street sweepers, either read Dickens or had Dickens read to them. Reading Dickens today is more of a challenge as many of the words he used, and the things those words described, have fallen out of common use. Having a good reference handy while you're reading will ensure that reading Dickens today will be just as entertaining as it was 150 years ago. After all, they're not classics because they're old...but because they're great!
http://www.dickens2012.org/world-celebrates-dickens%E2%80%99s-200th-birthday-7-february
http://charlesdickenspage.com/

The History of Human Thinking

WOWWWW, WOWWWW, WOWWWW!

Ian Cheney - 'The City Dark'

http://iancheney.com/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ian-cheney

http://www.forbes.com/sites/poptech/2011/04/08/ian-cheney-and-light-pollution/
http://www.elpais.com/articulo/portada/Vigilantes/nocturnos/elpepuculbab/20120128elpbabpor_8/Tes