In War and Peace, Patwardhan attempts to understand the socio-cultural milieu of the tense relations between India and Pakistan resulting from the weapons testing of May of 1998.
More movies like these, please, rather than the "I want to do this" and "This has never been done before" trash that Bollywood keeps spitting at us.
Saturday, April 26, 2003
Dumping astrologers, Indian couples rush to match genes
Fear of genetic disease is forcing traditional south Indian couples to abandon astrologers and knock at doctors' doors to sift through family history and match their genes.
Old news, I know, but still interesting. What is more interesting is this...Jews!
Friday, April 25, 2003
Yeah, screw you, mr. Gupta and your "I want to bring sex out of the closet". My arse.
How many of you people thought that sexuality in Kaante was required, even appropriate? I mean, how was it different from the rest of the crap that Bollywood churns out with alarming alacrity? For God's sake, even the token skimpily clad firang blonde dancers were there, along with exotic dancer Malaika Arora...yea, exotic dancer indeed, she couldn't even do the pole routine half as well as the sidey firangs did. Maybe the firangs worked there as exotic dancers, maybe they didn't.
Why do Indian portals give these people a megaphone? I mean, we like you guys, we trust your judgement, just give us the reviews, just give us the glamour dolls and the hunks [not for me] and we'll be more than happy. I mean, I guess I speak for everyone when I say that most producers and directors don't deserve any footage, especially so in Bollywood where these folks don't have the professionalism of their western counterparts. I mean, at least we have some actors and actresses who are worth their salt. But for all this talk of I wanna do this and I wanna do that, come on, how hackneyed is this line, "I wanna bring sex out of the closet"?
It's the last thing I needed at 0657. Maybe I should go to bed. Maybe I should watch another episode of CSI. Just keep Jorja Fox smiling, and you've got me as a fan...*grin*
Thursday, April 24, 2003
Who are you? I really wanna know...
ps: This is not about the SGT fiasco. It's the title song of CSI
Here are my debian installation notes:
knoppix xserver=XFree86 xmodule=fbdev
[had to do this because my GeForce wouldn't get detected]
sudo /usr/local/bin/knx-install
[thanks to Klaus Knopper for this...even though it ended up in me having a German KDE distro]
adding the following to apt-conf
Acquire::http::Proxy "http://proxy.ntu.edu.sg:8080";
apt-get update
apt-get dist-upgrade -u
[this is currently in progress...gotta love apt-get. there is this new prog called aptitude, it's like a nextgen apt, going to give it a spin, ashwin, i know you have a deb install]
apt-get install fam msttcorefonts
apt-get -t experimental install gnome2
[4:59 am]
i have given up trying to install gnome. i have the applications, but it seems that instead of getting gnome 2.2, i am getting ximian-gnome from apt-get...which i don't really want..
ps: This is not about the SGT fiasco. It's the title song of CSI
Here are my debian installation notes:
knoppix xserver=XFree86 xmodule=fbdev
[had to do this because my GeForce wouldn't get detected]
sudo /usr/local/bin/knx-install
[thanks to Klaus Knopper for this...even though it ended up in me having a German KDE distro]
adding the following to apt-conf
Acquire::http::Proxy "http://proxy.ntu.edu.sg:8080";
apt-get update
apt-get dist-upgrade -u
[this is currently in progress...gotta love apt-get. there is this new prog called aptitude, it's like a nextgen apt, going to give it a spin, ashwin, i know you have a deb install]
apt-get install fam msttcorefonts
apt-get -t experimental install gnome2
[4:59 am]
i have given up trying to install gnome. i have the applications, but it seems that instead of getting gnome 2.2, i am getting ximian-gnome from apt-get...which i don't really want..
Wednesday, April 23, 2003
Thanks to Suku, for sending me this article:
Shun non-Marät'hi vendors, urges Raj Thackeray
You see, Mr. T'häkre, I, as a Marät'hi, don't know where Marät'hi vendors are. I mean, vendors are vendors. Most people don't bother to know their sub-nationality; that is, Vad'äpäv in Hindi, Marät'hi, English, Gujrathi is called Vad'äpäv, so I don't know if those guys are Marät'hi or not.
As a Marät'hi nationalist, though, I think you have a good idea there. And every good idea warrants action. so this is what you do.
Break the city of Mumbai into Kshetras, Päd'äs, and Väd'äs.
Now, each Väd'ä has to have atleast one Marät'hi hotel, one Marät'hi hairdresser, one Marät'hi milkman, one Marät'hi greengrocer, so on and so forth, basically ensure that every Marät'hi man in every Väd'ä does not have to travel a lot to get his Marät'hi stuff.
Every Päd'ä has to have Marät'hi Saunskar Kendras [Masanke], Marät'hi Rangäyatans and Marät'hi Bhäshägun'avardhan Kendras [Mabhäke]. Purchases from Marät'hi vendors will get people coupons to get discounts on tickets to the Rangäyatans. There would be special rickshaws driven by Marät'hi drivers that would give a discount to Marät'hi travellers when they wanted to go to the Rangäyatans. While they are at it, could they move one air conditioning unit from Gad'kari to Kälidäs? Agreed that the former is in T'hän'e, but it is too cold, while the latter is too hot.
Every Kshetra has to have a Marät'hi smarak to some Maratha hero, other than the Chhatrapati, I mean, the Chhatrapati is eating footage like Amitabh Bachchan. There were other heroes in Maratha history, let them be glorified as well. Well, then there should be inter-kshetra spardhas, to make sure Marät'hi people keep fit, healthy, and smart. Also, there should be marriage bureaus in each kshetra to ensure that Marät'hi people get married to Marät'hi people only, thereby furthering the Mahäräsht'ra Dharma. Since there are around 3 million Marät'hi people in Mumbai, lets not worry about depleting the genepool just as yet.
All this can be financed by Mrs T'häkre's Hindi movies, Michael Jackson shows and other such gala events that have nothing to do with Marät'hi culture, but are essential since they bring in a lot of dough. Hypocrisy is best served naked.
I am mailing this to shivsena@shivsena.org as well, anonymously, of course. I have relatives who are active members of the Sthäniya Lokädhikär Samiti, don't want my father to be unduly embarrassed in front of people whom he doesn't think much of.
Shun non-Marät'hi vendors, urges Raj Thackeray
You see, Mr. T'häkre, I, as a Marät'hi, don't know where Marät'hi vendors are. I mean, vendors are vendors. Most people don't bother to know their sub-nationality; that is, Vad'äpäv in Hindi, Marät'hi, English, Gujrathi is called Vad'äpäv, so I don't know if those guys are Marät'hi or not.
As a Marät'hi nationalist, though, I think you have a good idea there. And every good idea warrants action. so this is what you do.
Break the city of Mumbai into Kshetras, Päd'äs, and Väd'äs.
Now, each Väd'ä has to have atleast one Marät'hi hotel, one Marät'hi hairdresser, one Marät'hi milkman, one Marät'hi greengrocer, so on and so forth, basically ensure that every Marät'hi man in every Väd'ä does not have to travel a lot to get his Marät'hi stuff.
Every Päd'ä has to have Marät'hi Saunskar Kendras [Masanke], Marät'hi Rangäyatans and Marät'hi Bhäshägun'avardhan Kendras [Mabhäke]. Purchases from Marät'hi vendors will get people coupons to get discounts on tickets to the Rangäyatans. There would be special rickshaws driven by Marät'hi drivers that would give a discount to Marät'hi travellers when they wanted to go to the Rangäyatans. While they are at it, could they move one air conditioning unit from Gad'kari to Kälidäs? Agreed that the former is in T'hän'e, but it is too cold, while the latter is too hot.
Every Kshetra has to have a Marät'hi smarak to some Maratha hero, other than the Chhatrapati, I mean, the Chhatrapati is eating footage like Amitabh Bachchan. There were other heroes in Maratha history, let them be glorified as well. Well, then there should be inter-kshetra spardhas, to make sure Marät'hi people keep fit, healthy, and smart. Also, there should be marriage bureaus in each kshetra to ensure that Marät'hi people get married to Marät'hi people only, thereby furthering the Mahäräsht'ra Dharma. Since there are around 3 million Marät'hi people in Mumbai, lets not worry about depleting the genepool just as yet.
All this can be financed by Mrs T'häkre's Hindi movies, Michael Jackson shows and other such gala events that have nothing to do with Marät'hi culture, but are essential since they bring in a lot of dough. Hypocrisy is best served naked.
I am mailing this to shivsena@shivsena.org as well, anonymously, of course. I have relatives who are active members of the Sthäniya Lokädhikär Samiti, don't want my father to be unduly embarrassed in front of people whom he doesn't think much of.
Rajasthan government moves to stop RSS.
The RSS is a non-profit organisation for social development. The Rajasthan government; will they do next? Disallow laughter clubs to be held in gardens?
Though I am displeased with the RSS too. How are trishuls better as a defence weapon as compared to swords? No, wait a minute. How is distributing trishuls facilitating social development? I mean, look how Americans are armed to the teeth, and their kids go around killing one another. We don't want that in our country, now, do we?
The RSS is a non-profit organisation for social development. The Rajasthan government; will they do next? Disallow laughter clubs to be held in gardens?
Though I am displeased with the RSS too. How are trishuls better as a defence weapon as compared to swords? No, wait a minute. How is distributing trishuls facilitating social development? I mean, look how Americans are armed to the teeth, and their kids go around killing one another. We don't want that in our country, now, do we?
Tuesday, April 22, 2003
Say US decision-makers, "The Indian military is feeling its weakness especially after witnessing the US capabilities in Afghanistan. Indian air power and C2 (Command and Control) are so limited that the Indian Air Force was surprised by capabilities that the US military takes for granted, such as airlift capacity."
There is more to the American argument, "The Indians are unhappy with the quality of the Russian equipment and have experienced problems in their deal with Israel and France. The United States is the preferred alternative."
Bottomline: No bases.
Solution: We develop our own technology. We have waited so far, we shall wait longer.
There is more to the American argument, "The Indians are unhappy with the quality of the Russian equipment and have experienced problems in their deal with Israel and France. The United States is the preferred alternative."
Yesterday: Target next: Indian military bases
Today: What does the Indian military want?
Tomorrow: 'Indians cannot think strategically'
Today: What does the Indian military want?
Tomorrow: 'Indians cannot think strategically'
No foreign forces in my land. No American tells me where I can and can not go in my country.
Bottomline: No bases.
Solution: We develop our own technology. We have waited so far, we shall wait longer.
You shall see, just you wait.
Monday, April 21, 2003
I saw The Cell yesterday. I DID NOT see it for Jennifer Lopez. I saw it because I heard it was about psychology. *evil grin*
Anyway, though there are others who were hugely dissatisfied with the movie, I beg to differ. The movie had a powerful story, O.K. performance, amazing imagery and best of all, a robust two-way client server demonstration. [non-techies, /ignore]
Jenny was cute in the movie, I liked her eyes; I had never noticed her eyes in all the music videos of her that I had seen before for two obvious reasons, these videos keep zooming and moving about crazily, for starts, and secondly, well...it's kinda obvious.
So she plays this shrink who is working with a little catatonic boy and the method she is using has to show some sign of success in 6 months or lose funds, kinda like Contact..... [why, oh, why, are all radical procedures so cash-strapped?]
....and Bingo! A psycho who likes to drown his female victims and then turn them into dolls is captured, but his brain has shut down because of some viral infection that had caused him to be this monster. But wait a minute, he still has a victim and unless Jenny can extract the info from his mind, she is going to die by an intricate automated system that turns the cage that she is captured like a rat in into a watery grave.
The film unfolds as Jenny and the cool dude from FBI get into the psycho's mind and retrieve the location of the girl. But Jenny sees the child in the psycho, who is terrorised by the demon that drove him to kill all these women, and throwing all caution to the winds, saves the child in an emotionally charged and dramatic climax. [Women do have a weak spot for kids, don't they? Even if they aren't real!]
All in all, I liked the movie. Incidentally, some of the people who condemned the movie comdemn The Matrix as well. Draw your own conclusions.
Ok, ok, I did see it for Jennifer Lopez...but now I see her in a different light. I'll end it here, going any further may result in me getting the FIMS. [Foot In Mouth Syndrome]
Anyway, though there are others who were hugely dissatisfied with the movie, I beg to differ. The movie had a powerful story, O.K. performance, amazing imagery and best of all, a robust two-way client server demonstration. [non-techies, /ignore]
Jenny was cute in the movie, I liked her eyes; I had never noticed her eyes in all the music videos of her that I had seen before for two obvious reasons, these videos keep zooming and moving about crazily, for starts, and secondly, well...it's kinda obvious.
So she plays this shrink who is working with a little catatonic boy and the method she is using has to show some sign of success in 6 months or lose funds, kinda like Contact..... [why, oh, why, are all radical procedures so cash-strapped?]
....and Bingo! A psycho who likes to drown his female victims and then turn them into dolls is captured, but his brain has shut down because of some viral infection that had caused him to be this monster. But wait a minute, he still has a victim and unless Jenny can extract the info from his mind, she is going to die by an intricate automated system that turns the cage that she is captured like a rat in into a watery grave.
The film unfolds as Jenny and the cool dude from FBI get into the psycho's mind and retrieve the location of the girl. But Jenny sees the child in the psycho, who is terrorised by the demon that drove him to kill all these women, and throwing all caution to the winds, saves the child in an emotionally charged and dramatic climax. [Women do have a weak spot for kids, don't they? Even if they aren't real!]
All in all, I liked the movie. Incidentally, some of the people who condemned the movie comdemn The Matrix as well. Draw your own conclusions.
Ok, ok, I did see it for Jennifer Lopez...but now I see her in a different light. I'll end it here, going any further may result in me getting the FIMS. [Foot In Mouth Syndrome]
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