Random Things are Random

Pop

Portland-based singer Laura Veirs played a beautiful Tiny Desk Concert for NPR Music. She also has a regularly updated blog on her website.

The A.V. Club (we talked about this, remember) interviewed Lili Taylor about some of her roles. Sadly they didn't get around to ask about Abel Ferrara's "Addiction", which is among the more disturbing films I've ever seen more than once, but they do talk about Lisa in "Six Feet Under". Her new film, Antoine Fuqua's "Brooklyn's Finest", is scheduled to come out tomorrow. 

James Marsters, who will start his stint as a monotheistic religious leader and terrorist in tomorrow's episode of "Caprica", talks about the show and says its about "the collapse of the American Empire". I'm still trying to catch up with the reviews for the show, the last two episodes really made me curious about where "Caprica" is going.. There are also rumours that SyFy might renew the show, despite not very high ratings.

Politics

Foreign Policy lists 32 current conflicts in the world - it's important to remember what doesn't make it to the front page of the newspapers.

Something to keep in mind whenever the US or the European Union debates Iran and the potential nuclear threat: China's dependency on Iran's oil. 

"China has vested interests in a good relationship with Iran. Iran is China’s third largest source of imported crude oil and possesses the abundant energy reserves that the rising power needs to sustain its rapid economic growth. China’s thirst for energy and its vast foreign reserves are an ideal complement to Iran, which has the world’s second-largest crude oil reserves but desperately needs investment to develop them. But China’s priorities in Iran go beyond economic interests. Strong bilateral relations help to counter U.S. dominance in the Middle East and increase Beijing’s strategic leverage. China sees Iran’s influence in the Middle East and Central Asia as useful to advancing its political, economic and strategic agenda in that region."

International Crisis Group: The Iran Nuclear Issue: The View from Beijing, January 2010

 Slate maps out Obama's end game for Health Care Reform. The new deadline is Easter.