Saturday, February 14, 2015

The Book of Life

An animated story telling of the Mexican festival of the day of the dead. Brilliant colors, clever story. Entertaining for all ages. Watched this right after watching photos of my parents recent trip to Mexico and the animated coloring was not exaggerated at all.
4 stars (out of 5)

Sunday, February 8, 2015

Living on One Dollar

Two econ grad students are studying global wage distribution and decide they need to experience global wage inequity first hand. They travel to rural Guatemala, move into a small village, and plan to live for 8 weeks on 1 dollar per day. They actually do it pretty well to mimic real world scenarios, with a variable daily income that will average $1. They set about renting a house, and getting a bit of instruction on how to plant radishes as a cash crop. All told, this isn't a perfect portrayal (they get to opt out of the system when one of them gets sick and pull out the "emergency drugs"), but it really does reflect what life is like in rural Guatemala. Well worth seeing, and only one hour long.
4 stars (out of 5)