Usha Uthup: Skyfall in a sari

http://inktalks.com At INK2013, the legendary singer Usha Uthup gives a performance of a lifetime. For the first time ever, Uthup is joined on stage by her daughter and granddaughter for some foot-tapping, soulful music.

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ABOUT USHA UTHUP:
For over 44 years now, Usha Uthup has spread a message of love and unity, peace and harmony, tolerance and integrity, and happiness -- through music. From discotheques to concerts, across India and the World, she has addressed the youth about the values of music that makes us human. She lives as she believes, presenting even the most contemporary songs dressed in traditional attire projecting the fact that India is a true melting pot of cultures, with its own distinctive cultural identity.

Born in 1947, or Didi as she is fondly called, comes from a traditional middle class South Indian family and her career began in 1969 at a Chennai nightclub called Nine Gems and she has recorded more than a hundred albums in sixteen Indian languages, sung un several thousand concerts, performed in all major countries and has been on television since its inception in India. Usha has served as a role model for generations of young Indians and has been an unwavering ambassador for traditional Indian values.

Usha Uthup's music has charmed generations of Indians, young and old. People smile, tap their feet, clap their hands, and forget their worries when she performs. Usha's melody speaks a universal language and transcends religion, race, nationality and caste. She has given people in far-flung cultures an unexpected image of an Indian woman: strong, independent, humorous, intelligent and loaded with talent.

www.mohanvamsi.com

Here's How Much Breaking Bad's Walter White Caused His Neighbors' Home Values To Plummet

Here's How Much Breaking Bad's Walter White Caused His Neighbors' Home Values To Plummet


WARNING: MINOR SPOILER ALERT

In the latest episode of Breaking Bad, we learn that the family home of meth kingpin Walter White is being sold at police auction.

Carol, their neighbor, can't be happy. 

Thanks to a recent study, we can actually quantify her displeasure.

In his 2011 paper, "The Lasting Effects of Crime: The Relationship of Discovered Methamphetamine Laboratories and Home Values," Holy Cross econ professor Joshua Congdon-Hohman calculates how much damage meth labs cause to surrounding home values after they're discovered.

Although Walter White, aka Heisenberg, wasn't running a lab directly out of his home, it's safe to say its newfound association with his activities create similar conditions.

We can also expand the paper's findings to Jesse Pinkman's first home, where he and Heisenberg had set up a lab; as well as Gus Fring's massive operation beneath a laundry, which Heisenberg burnt down.

Using housing sales data from Akron, Ohio — home to that state's largest concentration of meth labs  — Congdon-Hohman finds the following:

• For homes sold within an eighth of a mile after a lab is discovered, there is a 10.5% decline in sales prices.
• Within the first year of the discovery the decline can be as much as 19%.
• For homes sold within a quarter of a mile after a lab is discovered, there is a 4.5% decline.
• The declines persist for at least two years.
• It didn't matter if an additional meth lab was discovered — just a single busted cook site can take down several blocks.

Here's the chart:

Joshua Congdon-Hohman

It turns out that home values within one-sixteenth of a mile of the lab don't show tremendous changes pre- and post-bust.

That is presumably because, at such a close distance, the presence of the lab may be better known, Congdon-Hohman says.  

Still, since meth labs are often better concealed than other types of illicit activity run out of homes, their presence may not be as obvious to someone living more than 600 feet away as they might be to someone living only 300 feet away, he says.

So since people's wealth is to a great degree tied to their home values, he writes, "From a policy perspective, this finding suggests that government initiatives that would reduce the number of methamphetamine labs should be well funded."

We can actually complete the thought experiment for the White residence by looking at how much homes cost in the real-life neighborhood where externals are shot.

That would be Albuquerque's Loma Del Rey neighborhood, where the median home price is currently $265,000.

So a 10.5% decline would kick prices down to $237,175 for homes up the block, and declines to $253,075 for all of Loma.

Thanks a lot, Mr. White.

www.mohanvamsi.com

Miley Cyrus Twerk & Robin Thicke - MTV VMA 2013 Performance 

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Our Next Batman: Ben Affleck

Only five men have ever played Batman in a motion picture — so far. But for the still-untitled Man of Steel sequel, Warner Brothers has now announced Dark Knight number 6: Ben Affleck.

You won't get to see him don the cape until summer 2015, and it's the first time Batman will have appeared in a movie without being the title character. (Henry Cavill returns as Superman.) But Affleck has a good shot at nailing one of the most iconic Batman appearances ever.

Why? Because of the quote director Zack Snyder had read out at Comic-Con this year, where the movie was first announced. It was a quote from one of the most widely praised graphic novels of all time, The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller, and references a titanic and terrifying battle in the book's climax between Batman and Superman.

"I want you to remember my hand at your throat," the quote, from a then-uncast Batman, went. "I want you to remember the one man who beat you." In other words, get ready for Cavill and Affleck to whack the superhero stuffing out of each other.

Affleck follows in the footsteps of Adam West, Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney and Christian Bale. Afficionados know Affleck has already played a superhero in the movies: the poorly received Daredevil. Let the Batman v. Daredevil memes begin!

www.mohanvamsi.com

 'That 70s Show' actress Lisa Robin Kelly dies

The actress, 43, died in a rehab facility of unknown causes.

That 70s Show actress Lisa Robin Kelly has died, according to reports.

The actress, 43, died in a rehab facility of unknown causes.

Kelly's agent, Craig Wyckoff released the followingstatement to People:

"Unfortunately Lisa Robin Kelly passed away last evening. Lisa had voluntarily checked herself into a treatment facility early this week where she was battling the addiction problems that have plagued her these past few years.

"I spoke to her on Monday and she was hopeful and confident, looking forward to putting this part of her life behind her. Last night she lost the battle. Cause of death has not been issued yet and no death certificate has been issued either."

Kelly played Laurie Forman, the older sister of the Topher Grace character, Eric Forman, on the hit Fox show, which aired from 1998-2006.

Kelly had a troubled past. She was arrested June 23 on suspicion of drunken driving. Kelly and her husband, Robert Joseph Gilliam, were arrested last November in connection with a disturbance at their home in Mooresville, N.C., a suburb of Charlotte.

www.mohanvamsi.com

PSY - GENTLEMAN M/V - YouTube