All this wine, no opener......................................
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
"ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife..."
All this wine, no opener......................................
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Aaarrrr!!
"Isn't the ultimate treasure a child's smile? Isn't a drop of rain on the wing of a butterfly worth a million doubloons?
Yours, Calico Jack."
- A brief note found in Calico Jack's Treasure Chest, which he buried for safekeeping on an island just off the Florida keys. [ The Pirates! In an Adventure with Ahab]
Today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Here's splicing the mainbrace to Ol' Chum Bucket and Cap'n Slappy!
More Pirate Lingo
Sunday, September 17, 2006
desperately seeking absurdity
An hour-long lunch spent at the bbc.co.uk yielded this - The World Next Week. Reporting on news that has yet to happen. (Of course some of you may wonder why an hour to find what was on the first page, but my ritual generally goes sport-cricket-tennis-news-entertainment-[sometimes]science/nature-technology before I hit the news...that way if I run out of the hour, I don't miss the important happenings). ...as the wise have said before me, that's so sex!
Saturday, September 16, 2006
Have you apologized to Geraldo yet?!
They exist in a small little place where they account for nothing..." Geraldo had said about Stewart and Colbert on the O'Reilly factor. Stewart's response? "... Aaah, where's the flying aluminium debris when you need it!". [ video 01 ]
Never make fun of people who run a "Comedy" show. Geraldo Rivera learnt that the hard way. Here's how Colbert makes Stewart apologize to Geraldo in 4 parts. Hilarious!
Never make fun of people who run a "Comedy" show. Geraldo Rivera learnt that the hard way. Here's how Colbert makes Stewart apologize to Geraldo in 4 parts. Hilarious!
 Colbert to Jon Stewart, "You sir, are on notice!" [ video 02 ] |  Daily Show "Stooge" Colbert! [ video 03 ] |
 "Jon, why are you closing yourself off from Geraldo?" asks Colbert. |  Jon walks a mile in Geraldo's moustache. [ video 04 ] |
Monday, September 11, 2006
Centennial Celebrations!!!
naked chicks with guns Well done girls! Didn't think you would last a 100 posts!
The Precious will be ours...once the hobbitses are dead!!
Returnings
...amidst the rubble of Gollum's distress at the possible demolition of the Buckingham Mall, the incessant bombardment on TV of certain other buildings that were demolished, um, a bit differently and Api's observations of the blog's "interludes in the political" - an article by Slavoj Zizek.
On 9/11, New Yorkers faced the fire in the minds of men
Slavoj Zizek
Monday September 11, 2006 The Guardian
Two Hollywood films mark 9/11's fifth anniversary: Paul Greengrass's United 93 and Oliver Stone's World Trade Center. Both adopt a terse, realistic depiction of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. There is undoubtedly a touch of authenticity to them and most critics have praised their sober styles and avoidance of sensationalism. But it is the touch of authenticity that raises some disturbing questions.
The realism means that both films are restrained from taking a political stance and depicting the wider context of the events. Neither the passengers on United 93 nor the policemen in WTC grasp the full picture. All of a sudden they find themselves in a terrifying situation and have to make the best out of it.
This lack of "cognitive mapping" is crucial. All we see are the disastrous effects, with their cause so abstract that, in the case of WTC, one can easily imagine exactly the same film in which the twin towers would have collapsed as the result of an earthquake. What if the same film took place in a bombed high-rise building in Beirut? That's the point: it cannot take place there. Such a film would have been dismissed as "subtle pro-Hizbullah terrorist propaganda". The result is that the political message of the two films resides in their abstention from delivering a direct political message. It is the message of an implicit trust in one's government: when under attack, one just has to do one's duty.
This is where the problem begins. The omnipresent invisible threat of terror legitimises the all-too-visible protective measures of defence. The difference of the war on terror from previous 20th-century struggles, such as the cold war, is that while the enemy was once clearly identified as the actually existing communist system, the terrorist threat is spectral. It is like the characterisation of Linda Fiorentino in The Last Seduction: most people have a dark side, she had nothing else. Most regimes have a dark oppressive spectral side, the terrorist threat has nothing else.
The power that presents itself as being constantly under threat and thus merely defending itself against an invisible enemy is in danger of becoming a manipulative one. Can we really trust those in power, or are they evoking the threat to discipline and control us? Thus, the lesson is that, in combating terror, it is more crucial than ever for state politics to be democratically transparent. Unfortunately, we are now paying the price for the cobweb of lies and manipulations by the US and UK governments in the past decade that reached a climax in the tragicomedy of the Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.
Recall August's alert and the thwarted attempt to blow up a dozen planes on their way from London to the US. No doubt the alert was not a fake; to claim otherwise would be paranoiac. But a suspicion remains that it was a self-serving spectacle to accustom us to a permanent state of emergency. What space for manipulation do such events - where all that is publicly visible are the anti-terrorist measures themselves - open up? Is it not that they simply demand too much from us, the ordinary citizen: a degree of trust that those in power lost long ago? This is the sin for which Bush and Blair should never be forgiven.
What, then, is the historical meaning of 9/11? Twelve years earlier, on November 9, 1989, the Berlin wall fell. The collapse of communism was perceived as the collapse of political utopias. Today, we live in a post-utopian period of pragmatic administration, since we have learned the hard lesson of how noble political utopias can end in totalitarian terror. But this collapse of utopias was followed by 10 years of the big utopia of global capitalist liberal democracy. November 9 thus announced the "happy 90s", the Francis Fukuyama dream of the "end of history", the belief that liberal democracy had, in principle, won, that the search was over, that the advent of a global, liberal community was around the corner, that the obstacles to this Hollywood happy ending are merely local pockets of resistance where the leaders have not yet grasped that their time is over.
September 11 is the symbol of the end of this utopia, a return to real history. A new era is here with new walls everywhere, between Israel and Palestine, around the EU, on the US-Mexico and Spain-Morocco borders. It is an era with new forms of apartheid and legalised torture. As President Bush said after September 11, America is in a state of war. But the problem is that the US is not in a state of war. For the large majority, daily life goes on and war remains the business of state agencies. The distinction between the state of war and peace is blurred. We are entering a time in which a state of peace itself can be at the same time a state of emergency.
When Bush celebrated the thirst for freedom in post-communist countries as a "fire in the minds of men", the unintended irony was that he used a phrase from Dostoevsky's The Possessed, where it designates the ruthless activity of radical anarchists who burned a village: "The fire is in the minds of men, not on the roofs of houses." What Bush didn't grasp is that on September 11, five years ago, New Yorkers saw and smelled the smoke from this fire.
On 9/11, New Yorkers faced the fire in the minds of men
Slavoj Zizek
Monday September 11, 2006 The Guardian
Two Hollywood films mark 9/11's fifth anniversary: Paul Greengrass's United 93 and Oliver Stone's World Trade Center. Both adopt a terse, realistic depiction of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. There is undoubtedly a touch of authenticity to them and most critics have praised their sober styles and avoidance of sensationalism. But it is the touch of authenticity that raises some disturbing questions.
The realism means that both films are restrained from taking a political stance and depicting the wider context of the events. Neither the passengers on United 93 nor the policemen in WTC grasp the full picture. All of a sudden they find themselves in a terrifying situation and have to make the best out of it.
This lack of "cognitive mapping" is crucial. All we see are the disastrous effects, with their cause so abstract that, in the case of WTC, one can easily imagine exactly the same film in which the twin towers would have collapsed as the result of an earthquake. What if the same film took place in a bombed high-rise building in Beirut? That's the point: it cannot take place there. Such a film would have been dismissed as "subtle pro-Hizbullah terrorist propaganda". The result is that the political message of the two films resides in their abstention from delivering a direct political message. It is the message of an implicit trust in one's government: when under attack, one just has to do one's duty.
This is where the problem begins. The omnipresent invisible threat of terror legitimises the all-too-visible protective measures of defence. The difference of the war on terror from previous 20th-century struggles, such as the cold war, is that while the enemy was once clearly identified as the actually existing communist system, the terrorist threat is spectral. It is like the characterisation of Linda Fiorentino in The Last Seduction: most people have a dark side, she had nothing else. Most regimes have a dark oppressive spectral side, the terrorist threat has nothing else.
The power that presents itself as being constantly under threat and thus merely defending itself against an invisible enemy is in danger of becoming a manipulative one. Can we really trust those in power, or are they evoking the threat to discipline and control us? Thus, the lesson is that, in combating terror, it is more crucial than ever for state politics to be democratically transparent. Unfortunately, we are now paying the price for the cobweb of lies and manipulations by the US and UK governments in the past decade that reached a climax in the tragicomedy of the Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.
Recall August's alert and the thwarted attempt to blow up a dozen planes on their way from London to the US. No doubt the alert was not a fake; to claim otherwise would be paranoiac. But a suspicion remains that it was a self-serving spectacle to accustom us to a permanent state of emergency. What space for manipulation do such events - where all that is publicly visible are the anti-terrorist measures themselves - open up? Is it not that they simply demand too much from us, the ordinary citizen: a degree of trust that those in power lost long ago? This is the sin for which Bush and Blair should never be forgiven.
What, then, is the historical meaning of 9/11? Twelve years earlier, on November 9, 1989, the Berlin wall fell. The collapse of communism was perceived as the collapse of political utopias. Today, we live in a post-utopian period of pragmatic administration, since we have learned the hard lesson of how noble political utopias can end in totalitarian terror. But this collapse of utopias was followed by 10 years of the big utopia of global capitalist liberal democracy. November 9 thus announced the "happy 90s", the Francis Fukuyama dream of the "end of history", the belief that liberal democracy had, in principle, won, that the search was over, that the advent of a global, liberal community was around the corner, that the obstacles to this Hollywood happy ending are merely local pockets of resistance where the leaders have not yet grasped that their time is over.
September 11 is the symbol of the end of this utopia, a return to real history. A new era is here with new walls everywhere, between Israel and Palestine, around the EU, on the US-Mexico and Spain-Morocco borders. It is an era with new forms of apartheid and legalised torture. As President Bush said after September 11, America is in a state of war. But the problem is that the US is not in a state of war. For the large majority, daily life goes on and war remains the business of state agencies. The distinction between the state of war and peace is blurred. We are entering a time in which a state of peace itself can be at the same time a state of emergency.
When Bush celebrated the thirst for freedom in post-communist countries as a "fire in the minds of men", the unintended irony was that he used a phrase from Dostoevsky's The Possessed, where it designates the ruthless activity of radical anarchists who burned a village: "The fire is in the minds of men, not on the roofs of houses." What Bush didn't grasp is that on September 11, five years ago, New Yorkers saw and smelled the smoke from this fire.
sunday forum - ask gollum
Gollum, the grapevine reports the Buckingham Mall in Denver is going to be taken down to build new apartment housing and shops. Is this the end for KJ movies in Denver? What will happen to us, KJ fans? Please help! Gollum: Now we can eat fish in peace. No, not in peace, Precious. For Precious is lost; yes, lost. Curse them! We hates them! It's ours, it is. And we wants it! We will protest, my love. We will internalizes the "think globally, act locally" mantra—something often repeated but rarely acted on.
September 15 will be a day of action, Precious... focusing on social and economic issues domestically, teamed up with the Hip Hop Summit Network to organize the "March on Denver: Buckingham Mall, Still We Rise." The rest of the week will be rounded out by a series of marches, rallies, counter-conventions and concerts, including repeated showing of new KJ movie "Kabhie Alvida na Kehna"... We will get SRK for our publicity campaign. "Take down the fence, and flip over the barricades"... Sméagol did it once; he can do it again. We must get the Precious! We must get It back! ...
Gollum, what do you think about the movie "Munnabhai MBBS II " that the desis are going crazy over?
Gollum: They are horrid fat hobbitses who hates Sméagol and makes up fat lies! Dip them in cold water... Dip them all, yes, if we gets chances... !
Gollum, looks like you had a nasty fight with the contributors of this blogsite. Good to see its all a thing of the past, and you are back to work.
Gollum: We'll be nice to them, if they'll be nice to us. They agreed to give Sméagol a raise! Now we swears to do what you wants. We ssswears!!!
Friday, September 08, 2006
experimental historians?
The cover story in this week's TIME magazine seems to have raised a bit of a stir in my head. There seems to be indignation, mostly at the debasement of the authority of the historian or the profession of [writing?] history. There maybe a logic to the indignation though. Speculative future-historiography is a bit too fantastic (and trendy?).
But even given that, I suppose my uneasiness is with a historian (Niall Ferguson, in this case) experimenting with history. Is it even possible for a historian to seek to cleave open a space within official accounts of the relationship between the past and the present within which the possibilities of the past (and the future) can be re-imagined and re-explored? On the other hand, if the subversion of the authority of the historian is indeed the beginning of experimental histories, then what is Mr. Ferguson experimenting with? Outcomes?
Finally, is there any difference between imagining and experimenting?
But even given that, I suppose my uneasiness is with a historian (Niall Ferguson, in this case) experimenting with history. Is it even possible for a historian to seek to cleave open a space within official accounts of the relationship between the past and the present within which the possibilities of the past (and the future) can be re-imagined and re-explored? On the other hand, if the subversion of the authority of the historian is indeed the beginning of experimental histories, then what is Mr. Ferguson experimenting with? Outcomes?
Finally, is there any difference between imagining and experimenting?
Thursday, September 07, 2006
freedom [of sorts], the double-edged sword
Let the games begin: "Have you no sense of decency, sir?"
keywords to play with:
freedom of speech, freedom of press, patriotism, terrorists, fear, manipulation, evil, un-american, nazi [latest addition]
Cards to draw to start a new round:
"My enemy's enemy is my best friend"
Countdown with Keith Olbermann
Return Flight
Another vacation over. Hard to say goodbyes so I suppose it is best that I had an early morning flight. One is invariably late getting to it and is sufficiently distracted from the task of saying goodbyes..."call me when you get home", "I'll call you when I get home"...seem to be the logical things to say. Direct flights help get away from the vacation and back to daily routines faster - I don't have one. Not much else remains to be done at airports these day - the business belongs to the TSA entirely. My transit is a dreary pause. It seems hot and parched, especially with all the golf courses.
I hope to have preempted the inevitable pretzel with a biscotti today. I am chuffed, and cannot get the grin off my face - never mind that I had to throw away a half-full cup of coffee (the viscosity, obviously, didn't pass the benchmark). But as someone has wisely said, in the war on beverages the best one can do is to keep one's head above water. Finished Alec Guinness's second autobiography - a two year paper blog / journal of daily records - prematurely. I was hoping it would last me through the two flights. I am amzed that he didn't have one arguement or fight or serious disagreement for the twenty-four months! Life holds a peaceful promise at 80, it seems. I am waiting for the beverage cart eagerly; then I can bring out the biscotti with a flourish!
[15 or 20 min. later]...Couldn't wait...ate the biscotti (yum), and am empty handed. Big disappointment.
I hope to have preempted the inevitable pretzel with a biscotti today. I am chuffed, and cannot get the grin off my face - never mind that I had to throw away a half-full cup of coffee (the viscosity, obviously, didn't pass the benchmark). But as someone has wisely said, in the war on beverages the best one can do is to keep one's head above water. Finished Alec Guinness's second autobiography - a two year paper blog / journal of daily records - prematurely. I was hoping it would last me through the two flights. I am amzed that he didn't have one arguement or fight or serious disagreement for the twenty-four months! Life holds a peaceful promise at 80, it seems. I am waiting for the beverage cart eagerly; then I can bring out the biscotti with a flourish!
[15 or 20 min. later]...Couldn't wait...ate the biscotti (yum), and am empty handed. Big disappointment.
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Better late than never
Finally saw it. The interview that brought the show down.Did Jon Stewart actually call Tucker Carlson (that bow-tied guy from MSNBC) a d**k on National Television?? LOL!
TC reminds me of one of those puberty-angst-ridden, arrogant bullies trying hard to act like an adult, or sound intelligent. And you either try to yawn him away, or wish some other kid would come and beat the daylights out of him... right in front of you. Job well done, Jon!!!
[Jon Stewart "Crossfire" Transcript ]
So, Crossfire gets canned. CNN cut ties with TC. [No, not Tom Cruise, that's Paramount ].
And here is Jon's own spin on the show, "[Crossfire is] named after the stray bullets that kill innocent bystanders in a gangfight"... ending with a "... but tomorrow I will go back to being funny. And your show will still blow".
<- TC and his bowtie
k&-'mit-m&nt
Main Entry: com·mit·ment Pronunciation: k&-'mit-m&nt
Function: noun
1 a : an act of committing to a charge or trust: as (1) : a consignment to a penal or mental institution (2) : an act of referring a matter to a legislative committee b : MITTIMUS
2 a : an agreement or pledge to do something in the future; especially : an engagement to assume a financial obligation at a future date b : something pledged c : the state or an instance of being obligated or emotionally impelled ...
"He has that commitment when he throws [the racket]," Ivanisevic said, self-nominating Safin as his heir in the racket throwing sub-genre within tennis. "When he throws, it will break. No halfhearted throw. He has perfect follow-through."
aarggh!!
Gollum, this is the second time you have not shown up for our weekly reviews. You forgot to publish the Sunday Column on time. We received a bill of $6.50 which both you and Mr. Egg incurred at some dinner. We go off to some distant land to recuperate during our labor day weekend, and you cannot cover our rear end for us. You said you lost the chart, the one that was handed over to you before leaving for my annual trip to Mauii. Well, that is one sorry excuse, and I refuse to believe you. And a simple apology won't do. Cough up that dough before this week is over, or you will lose your administrative rights to this blog. You can also forget about your privileges over our refrigerators. Cable is off-limits too. You are all Phissh and no substance. And no, seriously, not falling for your Smeagol schtick anymore.
Sunday, September 03, 2006
"How was your flight?"
In anticipation of being asked the inevitable question, that is so often thought to be mandatory to anyone who has recently journeyed via airplane, I thought it worthwhile preparing a record for how indeed my journey by fligh was. Here then is that account:
0:00 min: In the cabin. Bored passengers filing down the aisle looking for their seat, and the next best opportunity in the overhead baggage storage. The best, of course is always taken. The same can also be said of the seat next to one's own. All these happenings happening to Indian tabla music, piped to an apologetic volume; and to Africa women, with breasts hanging like ripe fruit off of a tree,with heavy baskets on their heads walking in slow deliberation towrds some documentary filmmaker's camera, trying to overcome the static onthe overhead TV screens. Could a moment be any more random?
0:07 min: Moving on...From Africa to the banks of the Yamuna and the Taj appearing dramatically...um, small on the TV screen. In the background, the shrill, nasal voice of the stewardess warning about safety and security procedures of the flight. Does anyone realise the morbidity of a mausoleum appearing alongside "...in case of an emergency..."?
0:09 min: This is out of control! The TV has now moved on to a pair of feet walking through a wheat field - gliding, almost " [Russell Crowe's]Gladiator-style". What are they trying to do here? Mr. Crowe can wish for that blissful afterlife, but I would prefer if such dreamings were differed until after I reach ___.
0:11 min: I realise that all the crew seem to love to speak into the microphone. We just heard went through the same [damn] announcements for the thrid time! How many more instructions can there possibly be for a single flight?
0:15 min: We still haven't moved. And the ___ sun, piercing through my window [yes, I have a window seat!] is hot. 110F, I believe. Like I said, announced three times already.
0:16 min: Hooray! We are moving!
0:18 min: After an on and off and on and off of the TV, merry crewmembers appear on the screen to give a pretelevised safety instructions (that makes it four times). They seem cheery, and helpful. Quite a contrast from the ones standing outside the screens.
0:22 min: Waiting for take off. Engines revving up. Fingers tighten around the armrests - well, only momentarily.
0:24 min: Waiting...
0:25 min: We're off!
0:30 min: My seat is inconvenient for a bird's eye view.All I can see is a shiny airplane wing. I put on my shades.
0:...losing the sense of time here: There is a single little puff of a cloud floating around in the sky. Cute. Wonder where it floated from?
Much to the dismay of my embedded reporter avataar, I either doze off for an indefinite period, or get bored. Either way, that was my flight as far as it was recorded.
0:00 min: In the cabin. Bored passengers filing down the aisle looking for their seat, and the next best opportunity in the overhead baggage storage. The best, of course is always taken. The same can also be said of the seat next to one's own. All these happenings happening to Indian tabla music, piped to an apologetic volume; and to Africa women, with breasts hanging like ripe fruit off of a tree,with heavy baskets on their heads walking in slow deliberation towrds some documentary filmmaker's camera, trying to overcome the static onthe overhead TV screens. Could a moment be any more random?
0:07 min: Moving on...From Africa to the banks of the Yamuna and the Taj appearing dramatically...um, small on the TV screen. In the background, the shrill, nasal voice of the stewardess warning about safety and security procedures of the flight. Does anyone realise the morbidity of a mausoleum appearing alongside "...in case of an emergency..."?
0:09 min: This is out of control! The TV has now moved on to a pair of feet walking through a wheat field - gliding, almost " [Russell Crowe's]Gladiator-style". What are they trying to do here? Mr. Crowe can wish for that blissful afterlife, but I would prefer if such dreamings were differed until after I reach ___.
0:11 min: I realise that all the crew seem to love to speak into the microphone. We just heard went through the same [damn] announcements for the thrid time! How many more instructions can there possibly be for a single flight?
0:15 min: We still haven't moved. And the ___ sun, piercing through my window [yes, I have a window seat!] is hot. 110F, I believe. Like I said, announced three times already.
0:16 min: Hooray! We are moving!
0:18 min: After an on and off and on and off of the TV, merry crewmembers appear on the screen to give a pretelevised safety instructions (that makes it four times). They seem cheery, and helpful. Quite a contrast from the ones standing outside the screens.
0:22 min: Waiting for take off. Engines revving up. Fingers tighten around the armrests - well, only momentarily.
0:24 min: Waiting...
0:25 min: We're off!
0:30 min: My seat is inconvenient for a bird's eye view.All I can see is a shiny airplane wing. I put on my shades.
0:...losing the sense of time here: There is a single little puff of a cloud floating around in the sky. Cute. Wonder where it floated from?
Much to the dismay of my embedded reporter avataar, I either doze off for an indefinite period, or get bored. Either way, that was my flight as far as it was recorded.
Saturday, September 02, 2006
my weekend indulgences
began with Slavin making sense in her TV interview on C-Span [sept 01, 2006], PBS Washington Week, and at some other places: view from Tehran , pink revolution, internet boom.and Colbert playing "the Fool" [Bravo Colbert! Bravo!] in Roasting President Bush - 2006 White House Correspondents Dinner or presenting at the Emmys with Jon Stewart
Barbara Slavin and Stephen Colbert
Friday, September 01, 2006
ouch! you hit the wrong nerve!
Salman Rushdie threw a fit when New York Times scribe Guy Trebay insulted his wife, Padma Lakshmi. The "The Satanic Verses" author told Trebay: "If you ever write mean things about my wife again, I'll come after you with a baseball bat!" [ Page Six ]. Blog correspondent and author Gollum could not be reached for his thoughtful response to this article as of presstime. My guess is as good as yours.
footnote: Gollum is the co-author of Rushdie's forthcoming book "The First Amendment: Modifications since 1988", due Feb 2007 . Whether this particular incident will create a rift between the two and jeopardize the book's future is yet to be seen.
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
"if you do not milk the cow fully, it falls sick"
so says Laloo Prasad Yadav, India's Minister for Railways. His credentials are:
1. Installed and run a kitchen cabinet in his home state of Bihar for a rather long time. His wife cooks for him, and runs the state government for him while Laloo relaxes on a swing.
2. A seeming lover of home cooked food, his wife and children are more often than not named after yummy Indian sweets: Rabdi, Jalebi, Ladoo, Firni etc etc. I also think he does things by the dozen. Interestingly, they are all milk based sweets.
3. Inexplicably makes the forever loss making Indian Railways a cash cow.
4. Will begin to deliver bull-ish lectures at eager and trend-conscious management schools - you know IIM-A, Harvard and their like....
5. Butters no one, creams them instead. However, never one to pay heed to expiration dates, ultimately leaves a sour taste in the mouth.
Monday, August 28, 2006
good job, fellas!
Awestruck and Besotted! This is my homage.As if our obsession with the pair wasn't evident enough...
Kneel Before Your God, Babylon!
now that he's an emmy winner, for the umpteenth time...
..."He's genial, good-looking and, most importantly, has a palpable, well-tuned moral compass, despite his protestations to the contrary." Kenneth Nguyen, reviewer, smh.com.au
???umm...wow!
???umm...wow!
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Aim high, and you will get high....
A tribute to Api's industriousness on the blog...Forthcoming attraction: "Don" (Drama / Action / Crime / Thriller / Musical) is rated PG
(as in please go. as in, please go to watch the movie even though Amitabh maynot be in it)
word of the day: mess
mess [mes] –noun1. a dirty, untidy, or disordered condition: World in big ecological mess.
2. an unpleasant or difficult situation: The world is a mess.
3. A clumsy person who has no control over his body (with the help of alchohol or drugs): Did you trip up your heels AGAIN? You're such a mess!!
4. a dish of soft or liquid food: The Iraq mess is no surprise.
5. a state of embarrassing confusion: Urban life: No mess, no fuss... no cigarettes.
6. a dirty or untidy mass, litter, or jumble: SUDDENLY Afghanistan is a mess.
7. a group regularly taking their meals together, military personnel: Mess dress.
8. A word that is used in the place of s**t. I just took a mess. G8 summit: ... stop doing this 'mess' and its over!
9. To define having a large quantity off: Man, that guy has a mess load of stuff.
10. a sloppy or unappetizing preparation of food: George Dubya, the Eton mess.
–verb (used with object)
11. to make dirty or untidy (often fol. by up): If you mess up my hair again, I'm going to kill you.
12. to make a mess or muddle of (affairs, responsibilities, etc.): Don't mess with my flight plans.
13. to fool around with, make out: Did you and Joe mess last night?
14. to treat roughly; beat up (usually followed by up): The gang messed him up.
15. to engage in an act of self pleasure: Look at that dirty man messing with himself.
16. obscure abbreviation of MSN Messenger: Chap A: "I'll speak to you about it on mess"; Chap B: "On what?"; Chap A: "MSN Messenger, idiot".
17. gorgeous: das isch eeländ mess.
—Verb phrases
18. mess around or about, mess in or with: Messing around in Middle-East - Don't mess with me, girl.
19. mess up, to make dirty, untidy, or disordered; to make muddled, confused, etc.; make a mess of; spoil; botch; to perform poorly; bungle: Messed up Middle-East - Summary of the I/P conflict in normal language.
—Synonyms muddle, farrago, hodgepodge, predicament, plight, pickle, confuse, mix up.
—Antonyms tidiness, order, arrange.
[references: dictionary.com; urbandictionary.com]
Thursday, August 24, 2006
I am Karan's hero, says SRK
"Some other clime... some fairer land...where love shall bloom immortal!
Open, then, the golden gate! And let the god of Love come in; And the old story
shall become the new song..."
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
The sky is still blue
Shahrukh Khan at Buckingham Mall, Denver. Pictures taken by our blog correspondent Gollum. Mr. Egg was nowhere in sight.
Monday, August 21, 2006
sunday forum - ask gollum
Gollum, wasn't that you standing in the line for KJ's new movie 'Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna' at the Buckingham Mall theatre? Gollum: Ticket prices was 10 bucks my Preciousss... Thieves. Filttthy little thieves! We hates them. And the line was loooong... And when we go in, there's no coming out. The movie Sméagol hates, nasty hobbitses! Sméagol wants to see them... dead!
Gollum, looks like you have met Mr. Egg at the theatre?
Gollum: He was an egg-case, Preciousss. A complete goose egg! Selling tickets! But, he swears to serve the Master of the Precious. He ssswears!
Saturday, August 19, 2006
pointlessly poignant
"Ever seen a man lurching down your street babbling away to himself
While those little brats swoon down on him, pelting stones
Jeering
Like each one of us he too is in search of a red
Sky or perhaps a yellow one
And each time he looks up with that sad spastic smile
He finds the sky to be still blue... ... "
Lost Horizon
Thursday, August 17, 2006
I am a lonely man, says KJ
top pics: Karan Johar (left) pensive at work with star of his movie 'kabhi alvida na kehna'
"We began by asking Karan to relax his muscles, close his eyes and concentrate on his toes. Karan began his soul-searching by moving his life force from the tip of his toes, past his knees, waist, and heart. And then rested his inner vision in the centre of his brows... in deep, pensive thought. Moments from Karan’s meditation."
- NANDINI RAGHAVENDRA, TIMES NEWS NETWORK [ SUNDAY, AUGUST 13, 2006 12:00:01 AM]
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
DIVA, New Face in Fashion
It’s really big, glitzy, and glamorous and its editor-in-chief is none other than Rhea Saran.Under her expert guidance, DIVA has grown into America's No.2 fashion magazine, outselling such national titles as Vogue, Vanity Fair, Harper’s Bazaar, Elle and GQ on local news stands.
Savvy and articulate, Rhea, with
When she's not hard at work or dodging advances from her only male co-worker, Rhea enjoys her outdoor lifestyle, including jogging, dancing at parties, and playing mom with her only son. She has perfected the 'balancing act' between career and family by ignoring her bitter, insecure husband's nagging presence, and feels dance-clubs can be therapeutic.
left to right:
1. dancing
2. only male co-worker
3. female subordinates
kabhi alvida na kehna
Sunday, August 13, 2006
its KJ time!
Reacting to the reports that The Film is a departure from typical Karan Johar movies, Karan protested,
"Hey hold it! Enough of this departure theory. ['cuz we believe in never-saying-goodbye]
Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna will be a typical KJ film. [more star power than a moonless sky. and more tears than...umm... the previous KJ film. by the way, notice the use of the third person - very suave]
It will be large in canvas and scope and hopefully in emotions. [with the intention to try and please everyone, as usual.]
It will be the Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (K3G) located in the heart and other intangible regions of the human being. [h-uh? lol!!!]
Yes, it's different from my other films. [never mind the previous claim to the contrary.]
But was K3G anything like Kuch Kuch Hota Hai? [yesss. can't believe he missed that!]
And did Kaal resemble Kal Ho Na Ho in any detail? [no, but that was only because tigers are endangered, and also petulant actors. it would take a superhuman to work with them twice. wait - even that is impossible, because the superhuman powers are only applicable to wind, eagles and lions]
Have I made my point? Then let's move on." [sigh...yes, please let's. goodbye.]
"Hey hold it! Enough of this departure theory. ['cuz we believe in never-saying-goodbye]
Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna will be a typical KJ film. [more star power than a moonless sky. and more tears than...umm... the previous KJ film. by the way, notice the use of the third person - very suave]
It will be large in canvas and scope and hopefully in emotions. [with the intention to try and please everyone, as usual.]
It will be the Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (K3G) located in the heart and other intangible regions of the human being. [h-uh? lol!!!]
Yes, it's different from my other films. [never mind the previous claim to the contrary.]
But was K3G anything like Kuch Kuch Hota Hai? [yesss. can't believe he missed that!]
And did Kaal resemble Kal Ho Na Ho in any detail? [no, but that was only because tigers are endangered, and also petulant actors. it would take a superhuman to work with them twice. wait - even that is impossible, because the superhuman powers are only applicable to wind, eagles and lions]
Have I made my point? Then let's move on." [sigh...yes, please let's. goodbye.]
Saturday, August 12, 2006
more chu-ha stories
Be warned!! Be very very warned!!!
The chu-has are are human-proofing themselves!
Be warned!! Be very very warned!!!
The chu-has are are human-proofing themselves!
Meet prickly pooch Spikedawg, urff Bastardino...
oh those firemen...
Saturday, 6:30 am. It's the second time that the fire alarm goes off. Groggy and disoriented, I run downstairs to discover someone pulled a nasty prank on us residents. The icing of the cake? I have locked myself out of my apartment. A happy start of a weekend.And then come those firemen... aaah, thank life for those wonderful creations of nature. And thank me for goofing up. Packaged just as ordered. Yes, a happy start of a weekend indeed.
Friday, August 11, 2006
nostalgic about nostalgia
It seems a weird timing thing to be writing posting a blog on the WTC movie (or rather a review of it) on a day when airplanes, explosives and that terror-thing are bobbing up again. But the day will be over soon.
So here is an excerpt from the NYT:
In the Sept. 11 of “World Trade Center,” feeling transcends politics, and the film’s astonishingly faithful re-creation of the emotional reality of the day produces a curious kind of nostalgia. It’s not that anyone would wish to live through such agony again, but rather that the extraordinary upsurge of fellow feeling that the attacks produced seems precious. And also very distant from the present. Mr. Stone has taken a public tragedy and turned it into something at once genuinely stirring and terribly sad. His film offers both a harrowing return to a singular, disastrous episode in the recent past and a refuge from the ugly, depressing realities of its aftermath.
And elsewhere in the same review, the reviewer, A. O. Scott says:
There are many words a critic might use to describe Mr. Stone’s films — maddening, brilliant, irresponsible, provocative, long — but subtle is unlikely to be on the list. Which makes him the right man for the job, since there was nothing subtle about the emotions of 9/11. Later there would be complications, nuances, gray areas, as the event and its aftermath were inevitably pulled into the murky, angry swirl of American politics. But that is territory Mr. Stone, somewhat uncharacteristically, avoids.
In the presence of this overwhelming emotional battering ram, I cannot help, in that nostalgic way, recall my sister's account of her encounter with an elderly lady on the day of the London bombings. Disturbingly, for me, she had been on a train from London to Coventry and justifiably so her compartment, like all others I would suspect, was filled with exhaustion, maybe confusion, panic, fear even. I don't know, since I wasn't there. However, as she got up to get off at her stop, the lady smiled at her, and simply said, "It has been a rough day for all of us, hasn't it, love?". Each n0dded at the other, and I believe that was it. Nothing but subtle...eh, Mr. Scott?
So here is an excerpt from the NYT:
In the Sept. 11 of “World Trade Center,” feeling transcends politics, and the film’s astonishingly faithful re-creation of the emotional reality of the day produces a curious kind of nostalgia. It’s not that anyone would wish to live through such agony again, but rather that the extraordinary upsurge of fellow feeling that the attacks produced seems precious. And also very distant from the present. Mr. Stone has taken a public tragedy and turned it into something at once genuinely stirring and terribly sad. His film offers both a harrowing return to a singular, disastrous episode in the recent past and a refuge from the ugly, depressing realities of its aftermath.
And elsewhere in the same review, the reviewer, A. O. Scott says:
There are many words a critic might use to describe Mr. Stone’s films — maddening, brilliant, irresponsible, provocative, long — but subtle is unlikely to be on the list. Which makes him the right man for the job, since there was nothing subtle about the emotions of 9/11. Later there would be complications, nuances, gray areas, as the event and its aftermath were inevitably pulled into the murky, angry swirl of American politics. But that is territory Mr. Stone, somewhat uncharacteristically, avoids.
In the presence of this overwhelming emotional battering ram, I cannot help, in that nostalgic way, recall my sister's account of her encounter with an elderly lady on the day of the London bombings. Disturbingly, for me, she had been on a train from London to Coventry and justifiably so her compartment, like all others I would suspect, was filled with exhaustion, maybe confusion, panic, fear even. I don't know, since I wasn't there. However, as she got up to get off at her stop, the lady smiled at her, and simply said, "It has been a rough day for all of us, hasn't it, love?". Each n0dded at the other, and I believe that was it. Nothing but subtle...eh, Mr. Scott?
...who would've thought?
seriously, who would've thought the 80's did anything that would make it into a best-ever? But once again, NY Times shows us that if nothing else, it is trendy.
The top thousand films ever made, according to NYT:
1920s: 0.2%
1930s: 8.6%
1940s: 12.5%
1950s: 14.1%
1960s: 15%
1970s: 16%
1980s: 18%
1990s: 12%
2000s: 3.6% (significantly, none since 2002)
Disclaimer: These calculations were painstakingly made aound midnight, scrolling down the list, one movie at a time. The author could be wrong, expecially since she was distracted by thoughts on the length of the list, "what? Dumbo is a best-ever?", "yay! another one for Kubrick" etc.
The top thousand films ever made, according to NYT:
1920s: 0.2%
1930s: 8.6%
1940s: 12.5%
1950s: 14.1%
1960s: 15%
1970s: 16%
1980s: 18%
1990s: 12%
2000s: 3.6% (significantly, none since 2002)
Disclaimer: These calculations were painstakingly made aound midnight, scrolling down the list, one movie at a time. The author could be wrong, expecially since she was distracted by thoughts on the length of the list, "what? Dumbo is a best-ever?", "yay! another one for Kubrick" etc.
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
one of those days... no point to make
4 penguins perish in freak Texas truck accident: Octopus unhurt, exotic fish not as lucky en route to temporary home Yepp! They are LIVE allright... cute and cuddly too.
“The rest of the penguins kind of stayed together in the ditch... We’ve worked several wrecks involving cows, horses, pigs, even fish, but this is the first where the live animals were penguins.”
The accident could've been worse, says Texas Dept of Public Safety Trooper Richard Buchanan.
“There was another truck full of snakes and alligators that was an hour ahead of them, so luckily we didn’t have to deal with the alligators.”
In case anyone's interested, the Octopus was bound for Moody Gardens, a tourist destination in Galveston... ... nothing. Just thought it was one of those days.
“The rest of the penguins kind of stayed together in the ditch... We’ve worked several wrecks involving cows, horses, pigs, even fish, but this is the first where the live animals were penguins.”The accident could've been worse, says Texas Dept of Public Safety Trooper Richard Buchanan.
“There was another truck full of snakes and alligators that was an hour ahead of them, so luckily we didn’t have to deal with the alligators.”
In case anyone's interested, the Octopus was bound for Moody Gardens, a tourist destination in Galveston... ... nothing. Just thought it was one of those days.
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
still a slow news day...
How to be an anonymous author and stay that way:
Trust no one.
Don't meet people. I conduct 99% of Belle-business through an anonymous, encrypted email account. No one meets me who doesn't have to.
Seek advice from the people who know. The aforementioned email account? Recommended by Jet Set Lara. The agent? Recommended by Mil Millington.
Guard your private details. Protect your name like you would an asset. Even now, most people associated with the book have never known my real name, and none knows my address.
Don't be afraid to cut people off. If someone smells like a rat, they are.
Keep good records. My call girl name, my writing name and the pseudonyms the people who've met me use - all unique, all unrelated.
...But don't write too much down. There really are people whose job it is to go through someone's rubbish. Consider investing in a crosscut shredder.
Ignore the hype. Parties and expensive lunches and book signings are probably great, but I'll never know. Similarly, meet people in unexpected places. Belle de Jour does not, alas, take lunch with her editor at the Ivy.
Trust no one. Worth repeating that one. Think you can keep a secret? You're going to have to keep it from everyone you know and everyone you meet, possibly forever.
Get lost. Take a holiday after your book comes out. Turn off your phone. Stop reading email.
Do interviews by email. No photos, no meetings, no voice recordings. There is no contract in the world that will convince someone to keep your secret if they really want to shop you out.
Be patient. The media lose interest eventually. Until then it's a long (and nerve-wracking) road.
Anonymity costs money. I never begrudge the fees that go to my accountant and the byzantine arrangements that mean I can be paid without the publishers knowing my name; it's just what the privilege of anonymity costs.
Build good will. If you're a writer, be an on-time and on-spec writer who says yes to everything, and delivers. I've only had one bad run-in with features for print media, and I reused the material elsewhere, so it wasn't so bad.
No, really, trust no one.
Luck is the end result of a good plan. I got lucky, because I worked with the best in the business. Someone is only as good as his word if he has as much to lose (or gain) as you do.
http://belledejour-uk.blogspot.com/
Trust no one.
Don't meet people. I conduct 99% of Belle-business through an anonymous, encrypted email account. No one meets me who doesn't have to.
Seek advice from the people who know. The aforementioned email account? Recommended by Jet Set Lara. The agent? Recommended by Mil Millington.
Guard your private details. Protect your name like you would an asset. Even now, most people associated with the book have never known my real name, and none knows my address.
Don't be afraid to cut people off. If someone smells like a rat, they are.
Keep good records. My call girl name, my writing name and the pseudonyms the people who've met me use - all unique, all unrelated.
...But don't write too much down. There really are people whose job it is to go through someone's rubbish. Consider investing in a crosscut shredder.
Ignore the hype. Parties and expensive lunches and book signings are probably great, but I'll never know. Similarly, meet people in unexpected places. Belle de Jour does not, alas, take lunch with her editor at the Ivy.
Trust no one. Worth repeating that one. Think you can keep a secret? You're going to have to keep it from everyone you know and everyone you meet, possibly forever.
Get lost. Take a holiday after your book comes out. Turn off your phone. Stop reading email.
Do interviews by email. No photos, no meetings, no voice recordings. There is no contract in the world that will convince someone to keep your secret if they really want to shop you out.
Be patient. The media lose interest eventually. Until then it's a long (and nerve-wracking) road.
Anonymity costs money. I never begrudge the fees that go to my accountant and the byzantine arrangements that mean I can be paid without the publishers knowing my name; it's just what the privilege of anonymity costs.
Build good will. If you're a writer, be an on-time and on-spec writer who says yes to everything, and delivers. I've only had one bad run-in with features for print media, and I reused the material elsewhere, so it wasn't so bad.
No, really, trust no one.
Luck is the end result of a good plan. I got lucky, because I worked with the best in the business. Someone is only as good as his word if he has as much to lose (or gain) as you do.
http://belledejour-uk.blogspot.com/
by the way...
...yup, slow news day. somebody needs to invent the transporter, pronto. Partly so that I can be where I want to when I want to, but mostly to avoid watching Ice Age 2: The Meltdown, Firewall, Eight Below, that Amanda Bynes As You Like It "inspired" chick-flick, Failure to Launch, Iqbal, some Pacific-Island indie, Jodie Foster at the Actor's Studio...TWICE! On the inbound and outbound flights. The total journey was 1275.4km [792.4968mi...but you knew that] greater than the earth's equator. Talk about getting jipped.
Sunday, August 06, 2006
sunday forum - ask gollum
Gollum, how does Karan make his koffee? Gollum: Nice Karrran. Nice Karrraaan... He swears to do what you wants... Precioussss. He ssswears!!!
He makes Amitabh talk and Abhishek listen... brings Shahrukh and Kajol together again... makes Kareena deny... and Rani defy... makes Preity spill the beans... and Saif the coffee!
He hungers for sweeter meats... ... And when he throws away the bones and empty clothes, then we will find It! [Sméagol:] And take It for meeeee!!! [Gollum:] For ussss. [Sméagol:] Yes, we meant, we meant for us.
Gollum, what is section 31? Is it Heidegger's VERSTEHEN of Dasein? (see post 07/28/06)
Gollum: While the ancients were careful observers of nature, their knowledge of human anatomy was deeply flawed, and their scientific treatises survive only as text - no figures. Shown here is a print from Heidegger's Section 31. With this "precisely shaded" and "carefully labeled" drawings, he revolutionized both the study of humans and the art of scientific illustration.
Flay them, preciousss. Flay them all, yes, if we gets chances...
Me-times and Me-spaces
My 'chu-ha' has asked me to give her some space. She needs her privacy she said. She said she wishes she could choose her own goddamn owner. That were her exact words... "goddamn owner"!! What the f**k is that all about??
Chu-ha! I can squish you like a bug! Do you know that?! Silly dog! Yes, I said it! Silly DOG!
Friday, August 04, 2006
So, do you want some coffee?
Recently Overheard at a Yale Architecture Student Design Jury: Kenneth Frampton: ...I could tell you to cut six more slots into this thing, and it wouldn't make a difference. It's a negative critique of the project, but it's also a critique of the whole god damn situation. You have to have a principle, otherwise you can not communicate anything to anybody. Why should I invest my money in this, as opposed to some other project? You have to have a reason; otherwise the architects don't even talk to the society. Don't you see that predicament? These computer renderings produce aesthetic effects very well, seamless, very seductive, but they are not about anything. They are delusions! They are mirages! I'm sorry, it's very aggressive to say this, but aren't we going to start talking? It's just ridiculous to say, "Ok -- individual interpretations," "So on and so forth." One has to talk about something fundamental, otherwise we're never going to talk about anything anymore.
Demitri Porphyrios: I'm not sure what you're talking about.
Frampton: I'm talking about the fact that there is a total degeneration...
Porphyrios: Do you want some coffee?
Frampton: No, I don't. Sorry, I don't...
Porphyrios: Look, look, look. This is a disgusting situation. It's not right to get upset...
Frampton: It's something to get upset about. We always have polite discussions; we have to sometimes get upset, because otherwise we just don't talk about the things that matter.
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