Via Sree Sreenivasan

An interactive game on DVD, this action packed party game is targeted at South Asian movie buffs around the world. The complete game including the Filmigame DVD, buzzer, die and more will be available for $19.99 at www.filmigame.com.

The DVD based game features real movie clips, songs, dances and action packed scenes and over 1200 questions. All the movie clips appearing in the DVD have been hand picked from the best of Bollywood movies like KABHI KHUSHI KABHIE GHAM and KAL HO NAA HO to old time favorites like NAMAK HALAAL and SHARAABI.

Antakshri, RIP.

M. Mahendra Reddy committed suicide. It was one in a spate of suicides in Andhra Pradesh.

Surya Sen works at the Centre for Science and Environment, in Delhi. He's a photographer for Down to Earth, a science and environment fortnightly published by CSE. His striking, somewhat eerie images from Andhra Pradesh have won him well-deserved accolades recently.

“Apart from portraits, there are also images which depict the distribution and sale of seeds, which of course is the costliest input in agriculture and the primary reason forcing farmers to take on more debt.”

Unable to pay this mounting debt, farmers have taken their lives. What is shocking is how pervasive this practice is in one state of India.

Tiffinbox presents Surya's work here – one image per day, over the course of the next ten days. Please come back and visit. We'll be adding captions soon so that you better understand the situation.

Adithya Sambamurthy says:

I was a college senior when I first saw the book Divided Soul, by Magnum's David Alan Harvey, who gave a presentation on his work at thePoynter Institute in St. Petersburg. Back then the images were incredible, but I must confess I wasn't quite sure I understood it. I didn't know why the book was put together the way it was. The instant recognition of the theme was not there to me in the images. So it was a treat to have the opportunity to hear the author come and speak- and show some amazing images. Harvey considers himself a hybrid between the realms of photojournalism and fine art photography, and a number of his images have appeared on the pages of National Geographic as well as on the walls of Fine Art museums.

Harvey explained how he is able to ‘sell' his images to editors, by researching his subjects thoroughly and giving images, which on the surface seem very graphic, the context they need for the story through well written captions.

“Know more about the subject than everyone else in the room,” he said. In researching his book, Divided Soul, Harvey said he was as influenced as much by the fiction coming from Spain and the Americas as he was by newspaper articles. He attributes what he referred to as the lyrical quality of his images to this influence by fiction.

Kanak Mani Dixit, 49, a respected journalist and editor of the influential progressive newsmagazine in Nepal called Himal was arrested and then released. The arrest came soon after Mr. Dixit criticized King Gyanendra. The King recently dissolved the democratically elected government on February 1. Recent events have created an atmosphere of fear and intimidation towards anyone questioning his authority.

The Committee to Protect Journalists has published its condemnation of Mr. Dixit's unwarranted arrest.

What a pity that the Western press has turned a blind eye to what is happening in the only surviving Hindu kingdom on this planet. If anyone of you have read about what is going on there, please send me links to well written and thought out articles.

By the way, I tried linking to Himal magazine, but the link [http://www.himalmag.com/] appears to be dead. That's odd, but I am not surprised that it is off-line. When a repressive government chooses to curb the exchange of ideas, you can bet there is more trouble ahead. Let's hope that the Nepali people find some way to return to democracy once and for all.

Via Saheli

A blogger's ailment.

Full confession: I suffer from it too and there appears to be no relief.

Well, it's official. The 2005 SAJA PHOTOFORUM is on. They are looking for the very best in photojournalism from South Asia; from those who work in South Asia or who have focussed on the South Asian diaspora.

Only digital entries will be accepted and they will be due on April 18, 2005. For the entry form and how to submit yourr entry, please click the Adobe Acrobat icon you see here to the right. You will need Acrobat Reader to view the file.

They are doing things a bit differently this year. For the first time, they are combining entries for the SAJA Photo Awards and the SAJA PHOTOFORUM. So, your entries will be judged for the photo awards and may also be exhibited in front of 600 journalists at the SAJA annual convention, held at Columbia University.

Please let your friends and colleagues know about this opportunity. Forward the downloaded PDF or email them the following link.

The second editon of Dave LaBelle's seismic book, The Great Picture Hunt, is finally out. I am signing on to buy a copy, perhaps two. It's a great resource for photojournalists; especially those new to the business and struggling to find those enterprise images.

The first edition quickly sold out and went out of print. Get yours quick!

Via Melissa Lyttle

The photojournalists at VII, the photo agency, are taking to the highways to spread the gospel of photojournalism.

Having been to the last couple of Photo Plus Expos in NY, I have a feeling this two-day affair in Boston [April 16 & 17] is an expanded version of the panel discussion led by the legendary Peter Howe.

This gathering is sponsored in part by Canon and Exposure, “dedicated to the advancement of human rights through the instruction, promotion, and encouragement of photojournalism and documentary studies.”

Via Brian Utley

50 States, 50 Photogs. Sweet collection!

Ok, this is going to sound like a plug for Amazon. Trust me, it is not. I just think Amazon Prime, the new program Amazon launched, may actually save you some money over the long run. If you buy books, dvd's or anything else that Amazon is attempting to push, the $79 a year charge isn't all that bad. Again, you have to rationalize the upfront fee and calculate how many items shipped in two days will get you to break even. I say eight purchases (of whatever) will be my break-even point. Over the course of the last year, though, I think I bought only four books through Amazon. And given that they were all over $25, the shipping was free anyway. I hope Amazon isn't thinking of ending that option in favor of this new program.