Topic: Culture & Society

With the world's eyes turned towards China for the start of this week's Olympic Games, ears turn towards two albums from today's Chinese punk-rock scene. This is underground China.

When Chicago-based musician, producer and label owner Martin Atkins visited Beijing in the fall of 2006, he had no idea what to expect. What he found was a thriving underground culture of rock bands that reminded him of his time in London in the late '70s, and of the downtown scene in early '80s NYC. He signed several bands while he was there, shot 80 hours of video footage, and rented out High End Sound Studios, where he recorded tracks from well over a dozen bands. He recorded live shows at the D-22 club - a venue that embodies the spirit that CBGBs had when Martin arrived in NYC over 25 years ago - just as news of the final show at the legendary NY nightclub was breaking on CNN.

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An environmental web site has added a graphic presentation that should demonstrate to every American that using plastic bags is just an insane idea that has to stop immediately.

The environmental web site GoingGreenResources.com has added a graphic presentation that should demonstrate to every American that using plastic bags is just an insane idea that has to stop immediately.

Meier foretold water discovery on Mars in 1976; Larry King show deluged with requests to cover the Billy Meier UFO case.

The subject of UFOs is no longer just fodder for the tabloids, as several recent Larry King TV shows indicate. Though primarily dominated by discussions about sightings of lights in the sky, and perennial dead-end conjecture about Roswell, the recent shows have engaged viewers everywhere.

The Wrecking views their music as a means to end child sex trafficking and other crimes against children. Their CD, "A New Abolition," releases August 19.

Gearing up for their national debut CD in late August, The Wrecking is releasing the music video, "In Your Eyes," a remake of the Peter Gabriel hit. The video was produced in conjunction with Love 146, a non-profit organization dedicated to the abolition of child sex trafficking and exploitation.

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The Wrecking.

With an African-American expected to accept the Democratic nomination for president Aug. 28, many voters are examining their attitudes toward one of the nation’s most perplexing and pervasive issues – race. At the University of Mississippi, the examination has been going on since 1962.

With an African-American expected to accept the Democratic nomination for president Aug. 28, many voters are examining their attitudes toward one of the nation’s most perplexing and pervasive issues – race. At the University of Mississippi, the examination has been going on since 1962.

It's summertime and self-help obsessed celebs are looking for good beach reads. Stars like Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Oprah, Nicole Kidman, Fergie, and Meg Ryan have all been spotted reading the self-help tome by Denise Coates to attract their desires. The only question is: What more could these stars want?

Maybe stars are more like us than we realize. When we're feeling stuck in some area of our lives, many of us look for answers by perusing the self-help section of our local Barnes and Nobles. With the latest trend of celebrities buying and even endorsing self-improvement literature, regular folks who read about how to spice up their love lives or manifest more money may just spot a famous face pouring through the same self improvement books as them.

Film offers scorching look at the way our government contributes to and profits from disasters both here and abroad

Academy Award Winner Richard Dreyfuss is set to narrate the heavily anticipated documentary America Betrayed, from Eclipse Entertainment and filmmaker Leslie Cardé. The film, slated for release in late summer of 2008, places the spotlight front and center on the specific ways our government contributes to and profits from disasters both here and abroad…from the way it shields itself from blame when all roads point to their culpability, to the friends in high places in corporate America who continue to benefit from the very disasters that leave the rest of us reeling.

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Richard Dreyfuss

Unfortunately, a numerology chart for the date 8-8-08, the day of the opening ceremony for the Beijing Olympic Games, reveals that it's an unfavorable date. The astrology chart of the opening ceremony for the Beijing Olympic Games also suggests an abundance of ill-fated energy.

The Chinese place a lot of importance on the number eight, as they associate it with prosperity. The Beijing Olympic Games are scheduled to start on 8-8-2008, at 08:08:08 PM China Standard Time in Beijing. Although all those eights might appear to be a good sign, beneath the surface lurks a darker reality, according to Scott Petullo and Stephen Petullo of MysticTwins.com.

Salaam Press publishes "Illegal Citizens: Queer Lives in the Muslim World" by Afdhere Jama. The book follows 33 people in 22 countries.

Following thirty-three people in twenty-two countries, Afdhere Jama paints a complicated picture in Illegal Citizens; Queer Lives in the Muslim World. "I set out to tell the stories of people suffering everywhere," says Jama, who is the editor of Huriyah, a queer Muslim magazine. "Instead, I was confronted with diverse lives including happy ones - sometimes in places I never imagined."

Many of us have long realized that the cartoon series "The Simpsons" is, ironically, the most true-to-life show on television. After nearly two decades, the academics are finally getting wise.

The cartoon depictions of educators in The Simpsons could serve as professional development tools for real teachers.