Whole Life Times: Reviews

March 2007 | Art & Soul

Reviews

BOOKS

A Field Guide to Buying Organic
By Luddene Perry, Dan Schultz
(Bantam)

Is organic food worth it? “It depends,” say the authors of A Field Guide to Buying Organic, re-released last month as a mass market paperback after the organic boom created a larger market for the former trade press volume originally published in 2005.

The book is a very good primer on what it means to buy organic — both for your health and for the environment. The book is divided into two parts. The first gives the history of organic farming as a response to industrialized farming and contains detailed explanations of the regulation and certification of organic foods.

The authors make the case that the residues of pesticides, fungicides and herbicides that remain on conventionally grown food, by the time we consume it, are relatively small. Also, they say, organic certification does not guarantee that there will be no residues. However, far less residues in general are found in organic products. The book also covers various facts about GEOs, antibiotics, hormones, irradiation, mycotoxins and pathogens in our food supply.

Buying organic to reduce chemical residues appears to be less compelling of an argument than that of buying organic for the environment. For example, besides the litany of harms done to our land by factory farming, chemical fertilizer run-off is a contributing factor to “dead zones” in the ocean.

In part two, the authors delve into the individual additives, chemicals and processing of organic versus conventional food products. For instance, “Made with organic ingredients” is not the same as “organic.” And certain fungicides, such as sulfur, are allowed in organic farming. And if your organic milk says “no antibiotics,” it means nothing, because conventional milk is not allowed to have any antibiotic residues in it, either. Even if you’ve been buying organic for years, you can learn something here. —Boni Uzilevsky

For more information, visit fieldguidetobuyingorganic.com

A Game As Old As Empire:
The Secret World of Economic Hit Men and the Web of Global Corruption
Compilation of essays edited by Steven Hiatt
(BK Currents)

In 2004, John Perkins’ Confessions of an Economic Hitman created waves, spoke the unspeakable and became a New York Times bestseller. In it Perkins came clean about how he’d helped US intelligence agencies and multinationals exploit the economies of Third World nations. A Game As Old As Empire — for which he wrote the introduction — is the follow-up, and this time a wide variety of in-the-know authors corroborate and expand upon Perkins’ story. And it’s frightening stuff.

In plain language — and providing sufficient historical background — we are shown how First World countries have used “economic hit men,” institutions like the World Bank and IMF, coercion and even outright strong-arm tactics to steal from developing countries — often in collusion with the elites of those countries who are happy to hide their ill-gotten gain in offshore accounts.

A Game As Old As Empire is well referenced, very readable and perversely entertaining. Hard data is combined with first-person narratives and the machinations of international economics are made accessible for the layperson. And the book goes one step further by offering hope and practical advice. The chapter “Global Uprising: The Web of Resistance” by policy-analyst Antonia Juhasz sheds light on how people can change the corruption and help create a better world. There is also an appendix: “Resources for Hope.”

With chapters such as “The Human Cost of Cheap Cell Phones” and “Hijacking Iraq’s Oil Reserves,” Game has a conscience-pricking currency.

This is an important book that should be read by anyone who wants to know how the world is run to the advantage of the wealthy few and the malicious disadvantage of the many poor. —Adrian Zupp

For more information, visit gameasoldasempire.com

MUSIC

Le Fil
Camille
(Narada)

Camille Dalmais is an uncommonly talented young French singer-songwriter. Camille’s debut, 2002’s Le Sac des Fille (“Purse”) was a remarkably assured mix of American soul and Parisian pop peppered with colorful dashes of world music.

With this more artistic follow-up, Camille takes a radically different approach. Le Fil translates as “the thread,” and a musical thread connects songs built up from a foundation of Camille’s looped vocals and multitracked hand claps and body slaps (she’s credited as a “human beatbox”).

The results are unique, exciting and at turns touching, lovely and flat-out goofy. It’s almost as if Sade, Kate Bush and Bugs Bunny were all fighting over the musical controls of this French beauty. Yet, even if Camille presents herself as spontaneous and free, she’s always in complete control. “Baby Carni Bird” is a lushly romantic French pop song with neo-soul wings and an African heart.

“Au Port” sounds like a cover of a timeless French/Spanish seaside folk song, even though it’s another sublimely crafted Dalmais original. In “Ta Douleur” (“Your Pain”), Camille’s body comically goes into revolt as she actually takes on her lover’s problems. On a more somber note, in “Pale Septembre” the wounded shock of 9-11 slowly simmers inside of Camille until the frazzled emotions suddenly well up and explode in song. A trained dancer and natural comedian, Camille’s uninhibited, amazing concert performances have helped her become a major star in France. The rest of the planet deserves a chance to discover her. —Nick Dedina

To hear sample tracks, visit www.camille-lefil.com

Women of The World: Acoustic
Compilation
(Putumayo)

The rule of compilations is pretty simple — usually, you’re lucky to enjoy one or two of the fifteen artists. With Putumayo compilations, that arithmetic has particularly held true, which is why Women of The World: Acoustic is such a surprise and delight.

Conceived as a way to pay tribute to International Women’s Day, it rises to and surpasses its task; crafting a jewel box of an album on which each song provides its own intimate introduction to a remarkable singer.

Consider the talent: French actress-turned-singer Sandrine Kiberlain, with her uncanny knack for keeping a smile in her voice. Or Marta Topferova, the Czech singer who fell in love with Latin America and filters its traditions through a Czech lens — often in fluent Spanish. Or Luca Mundaca, the Chilean-Brazilian chanteuse whose iridescent voice treads the line between contemporary jazz and bossa nova.

These women don’t just write gorgeous songs, they’re border-crossers, too: baby-voiced Emiliana Torrini hails from Italy, grew up in Iceland and records in England. But across those divisions, the singers share what matters: a smoky, intimate and melodically sophisticated approach.

As a result, the album hangs together well. Sometimes a little too well (someone needs to tell the folks over at Putumayo that “acoustic” and “languid” are not synonyms). But this is a quibble. For its torpid pace, Women is hardly aural wallpaper, nor is it coffeehouse folk. Rather, it captures an international group of musicians at the height of their powers: passionate, melancholy and playful. Putumayo has hit a homerun and reminded us of the potential of compilations as a medium. —Sarah Bardeen

To hear sample tracks, visit putumayo.com

FILM/DVD

La Sierra
Directed by Scott Dalton, Margarita Martinez

“La Sierra” sounds exotic at first — a new Latin American Club Med, perhaps. Yet it’s actually the name of an insidiously crime-ridden barrio within the Colombian city of Medellin, and the subject and title of Scott Dalton’s and Margarita Martinez’s award-winning documentary, now available on DVD.

La Sierra not only penetrates the somber realities of a community mired in brutal internal armed conflict, but also is a brave mouthpiece to combat the multi-faction political regimes responsible for making Colombia one of the largest populations of child soldiers in the world.

Both reputable journalists, the filmmakers’ courageous efforts have earned La Sierra the Sundance Film Festival’s Grand Jury Prize for best documentary and The Human Rights Watch, whose mission it is to shed light on worldwide human rights abuses, has selected this title to endorse.

La Sierra is a true-life condemnation of Colombia’s out-of-control warfare, told through three inhabitants. It’s a gripping, unpolished documentary uncovering Medellin’s decades-old infighting resulted from perpetual drug- and weapon-related violence among gangs: right-wing paramilitary, left-wing guerillas and government law enforcement. Drugs, guns and power seduce young men — boys, literally — to enlist in widespread warfare, with devastating results.

Tenacious and brave filmmaking captures the authentic and unapologetically forthright viewpoints that illustrate the deleterious effects of war: hopelessness, self-sacrifice, drug addiction, etc. Yet codes of honor — supporting families or rejecting prostitution — emerge to reveal the slightest beacon of hope that some day, given the chance, perseverance will lead some toward an expanding community of survivors. —Jim Norrena

To order a copy, visit firstrunfeatures.com

Thai Massage for Mat and Table: An Introduction
Produced by Chuck Duff, Thomas Buttaccio
(Thai Bodywork, Inc.)

This is an instructional video by Chuck Duff, certified Thai massage instructor and co-founder of Thai Bodywork in Evanston, Illinois.

A good introduction to the method, practice and purpose of Thai massage, the 100-minute video is broken up into: Duff’s intro; mat work using a basic pattern from Northern Thailand; flow technique (the fluid version of the pattern in which the therapist’s body is constantly moving); Thai massage for the Western-style massage table, which focuses on ways to continue using the core instead of muscle strength; hands-free Thai massage, also called “commoner style” since practitioners used hands-only technique when working on royals; an introduction to Duff’s style of integrating acupoint and trigger point systems as well as structural body analysis with traditional Thai yoga massage; and finally, a brief overview of using herbal compresses in massage.

Despite any instructional video’s potential for dry and dull, this one integrates quality footage of Thailand with that of Duff practicing in his Chicago-area school and mixes up the learning segments with multiple camera angles. And the instructional portions are shot in a real-time class, with Duff all in white in a well-lit room. True, Duff’s calm monotone can induce a bit of drowsiness, but there’s nothing annoying or grating about it. And though he isn’t the slender, pony-tailed hippie you might expect him to be, there’s something accessible about his geeky-science-teacher vibe.

The video is probably best used as a supplement to in-person training and workshops, rather than as a primary teaching tool. Its greatest service is to introduce Westerners to the practice and benefits of Thai massage. —Molly Freedenberg

To order a copy, visit thaibodywork.com

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