Khumi is the smallest of the indigenous groups in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of southeastern Bangladesh. In today’s age of globalization, changes are occurring in the animist Khumi peoples’ religion, culture, lifestyle and language, raising concern over the gradual disappearance of their unique beliefs and customs. In this documentary, filmmakers spend a year in the lives of the Khumi as they explore the present situation of these people within the context of a rapidly evolving world.

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If you look at the reviews in iTunes, the application has received about 3 1/2 stars out of five. I read a lot of the reviews before I downloaded it, and was thinking that there would be all kinds of things I would not like, and that there would be problems with setting it up.

Well, the experience was painless, and reading on the iPod Touch (I don’t have the iPhone) has been fantastic! The setup took me about two minutes, and then another 10 because my credit card had expired that was linked to my one-click account. I got all that set up correctly, but failed to notice that there is a SPECIAL setup area for one-click purchases for the Kindle, so had to go back in and put that information there as well. That seemed like a waste of time, since my regular purchases were already set up correctly, but oh well.

Once it was set up correctly via my Amazon.com account, and then on my Touch device, I decided to try one of the ‘free’ book samples that were listed. Now, if you are on the iPod Touch device, you have to have a wireless connection set up for all this to happen. With the iPhone, not so. The download was painless and quick, and I was ready to read (sorry Eric – I didn’t buy a copy of the eBook, but I have so many of the hardcover’s around me!).

I will have to admit, the reading experience on the iPod Touch was fantastic! The text was clear, it was easy to start and stop, easy to ‘flick’ one page at a time, etc.  I loved it!  After a long period of time, your hand gets kind of tired, so you switch the device over to the other hand. I have glasses (progressives) and never had a problem with the angle, neck pain, or anything that normally happens when reading off small text. I really got into the book and was very saddened when the end of the sample came up. However, not to fear! The rest of it was free, and they had very conveniently put a ‘buy the book’ link right at the end of the sample. Of course, at that point, I was hooked and ready to spend the $9.99 to get the rest of it!

The most fantastic part of the application, is that it syncs perfectly with your Kindle (if you have one). Another words – start reading on the Kindle, get 110 pages into, and then pick up reading exactly where you left off on your iPod Touch or iPhone when you get a break at work. Then, when you get home, pick up the Kindle again and it knows what you had read while you were at work!  Fantastic! Another great thing, is that you do NOT have to own a Kindle (at $359 each) if you don’t want to.

Another great aspect? When you log into Amazon.com, and go to any of the eBooks, you can sample or download it to your iPod Touch or iPhone via an easy one-click purchase that shows up on the right side of your screen.  You can also get a sample, or the entire book! 

Let’s face it, Bezos is on a quest to get as many books out there as possible, and this is one heck of a way to make it easy!  And, if you want to read more, author Stephen Windwalker has created a $.99 eBook to tell you all about it.

The downside? Well, there were several compliants listed in the customer comments. A lot of the problems I saw, sounded like ‘user error’. Others, were for features that I thought weren’t necessary – text search? We’ve never had it on regular books, so why do we need it? I can see for technical journals, etc., but then, they can buy a Kindle for that!

The greatest weakness I saw, was the inability to get your periodicals on the iPhone or iPod Touch device. They don’t (with the current version) allow you to get your newspaper, etc., which you may have already subscribed to on the Kindle, on the iPod Touch or iPhone. Seems like a real limitation to me, but it may be a licensing issue they have with their clients. 

All-in-all, get this application for your device, and then download and read Nine Lords of the Night! At this point, there is no excuse not to…

From now until the end of January 2009, we invite you to review the book. We’ll send a PDF version to you FREE, if you promise to write a review on Amazon.com when you are finished by clicking here or visiting the book’s page on Amazon.com.  That’s all there is to it!

If you are interested, please email support[at]embella[dot]com.

If you can’t purchase the book, you can still help out!  I’ll send a PDF version to you FREE, if you promise to write a review on Amazon.com about the book when you are finished with it.  That’s all there is to it! 

If you are interested in the free offer, just email support@embella.com and we’ll send you the PDF version, plus a link to the review area for the book.

You can still buy the book on Amazon.com if you like, and they now have the Kindle version (ebook format) available for $7.99!

*reduced price and free shipping offer expires at midnight on 12/31/2008.

Here is a partial list of my all time favorite movies:

Legends of the Fall (1994)

Glory (1999)

The Last Samurai (2003)

Blood Diamond (2006)

All of these movies were directed by Edward Zwick, who also produced Shakespeare in Love (1998), which is in my top 5 favorite films of all time. Oddly enough he and I were born on the same day. I find this to be an interesting granfalloon, and I am so glad he is still hard at his craft. Thank you Edward Zwick for making these movies!

Kiave is not a native plant on Maui, it had been brought to Hawaii by a Texan. In Texas, kiave is known as mesquite. I found out that it is amazing what a tropical climate and fertile volcanic soils can do to mesquite trees.

Authors note: Please bear with me on this story, as I am having a hard time writing it. The reasons are many. But the main challenge is I want to get this story right, and tell the cold hard truth. There was a lot going on that day, a lot that needs to be described first, as it makes the story even more remarkable. Also, something close to miraculous or supernatural occurred late in the afternoon. I want to describe the truth of that event, but it is difficult to reach back across 31 years and capture it accurately.

Still, I will tell this story somehow.