How many people can command respect like this?
PS:Thanks to Anurag for this pic!
Sunday, May 29, 2005
Comedy...
The caption for this pic reads "Looks like he is not going to make it"
Humour as dark as it can get!
Saturday, May 28, 2005
Fight Club...
I always wondered...Why am I so fascinated by this movie? What is so bloody inspiring about watching a bunch of people beat each other up? Its not the idea of the movie about how people have become slaves to todays materialistic world and how we must free ourselves that appeals to me (Remember Tyler's words: "Sometimes the things you own, end up owning you")
Apart from obvious "coolness" that Pitt and Norton exude, I think the reason lies in whats written in the pic. It couldn't have been put better. I seriously dont want to die without any scars now!
Friday, May 13, 2005
Racism...
...now what would I have to say about it? Well get there but check this out first. This is an ad that ran in our university's local newspaper about 3 weeks back. The ad was printed by a group called the American Renaissance and it showed a pciture of a white (caucasian) baby with the heading "Will she be a racial minority by the time she turns 40?"
The ad then goes on to say this:
"Third World Immigration- both legal and illegal - is now running so high that whites are expected to be a minority raceby mid-century. Will this be good for America? Everyone tells you to "celebrate diversity," but for whites to "celebrate diversity" is to celebrate their dwindling numbers and declining influence. Would Mexicans "celebrate diversity" if whites were pouring across the Rio Grande, threatening to reduce them to a minority in their own country?Diversity is a weakness, not a strength. Just take a look at your campus. Are different racial groups a source of joy or a cause of friction? Dont just swallow slogans. Think for yourself."
This got me thinking...not angry...just thinking and I put the paper aside. Of course it was the next day that I found out about the ruccus this ad had created and how there were many angry people and for the rest of the week the newspaper issued many apologies (including a personally written one from the editor who said that the ad had slipped thru them and if they had realized it they wud never have printed it). Many people wrote in articles that I followed with close interest. All that has helped me give shape to my thoughts. I came across so many opinions and here are mine:
1) There is nothing wrong in a community trying to preserve its culture (and jobs). In fact I wouldnt be very surprised if there is a serious backlash from the indigenous american community about how the profit looking companies give their jobs to cheaper labour pretty soon.
2) I would say that Mexicans (in fact any community) would definitely not celebrate if something as suggested in the ad would happen.
3) I still think diversity is a strength not a weakness at all. And different racial groups are a source of making life interesting.
4) These guys assume that all those who disagree with them are people who cant think for themselves and are just swallowing slogans. Thats plain bigotry.
5) I didnt think there was really any need for the newspaper to apologize so much and say that if given a second chance they wudnt run the ad...Do newspapers always have to agree with everything that is said in their ads. I am not familiar with the way things work but a strong letter frm the editor saying that "she (and if need be on behalf of everyone at her press) does not agree with the content of the ad" was all I would think is enuff! And that too only if she means it...I am not saying I have the balls to always stand up for my beliefs but obviously doing something like that makes more sense than resorting to mass appeasal.
6) I never really could figure out 'racism'. I do have a few prejudices but I try to supress them as much as possible. And these prejudices never affect me once I get to know a person and like him/her. But does having those prejudices still make me a racist? I find it hard to believe that people can like everyone equally without having any preference to people of their own kind. And I dont see anything wrong in it! So doesnt that make the whole world a racist place to begin with? Of course its wrong to harm (and stupid to hate) others because of your prejudices. So do we call only those people who resort to such wrongdoing (and stupidity) racists?
Ill have to see more of the world and meet more 'racists' to figure this out! ;)
And to conclude...the only reason why I feel they shudnt have run this ad is to avoid putting thoughts of murdering all international students into some random psychos head!
I cant help thinking of the line "Jeremy spoke in class today" and recalling the end of the video :)
The ad then goes on to say this:
"Third World Immigration- both legal and illegal - is now running so high that whites are expected to be a minority raceby mid-century. Will this be good for America? Everyone tells you to "celebrate diversity," but for whites to "celebrate diversity" is to celebrate their dwindling numbers and declining influence. Would Mexicans "celebrate diversity" if whites were pouring across the Rio Grande, threatening to reduce them to a minority in their own country?Diversity is a weakness, not a strength. Just take a look at your campus. Are different racial groups a source of joy or a cause of friction? Dont just swallow slogans. Think for yourself."
This got me thinking...not angry...just thinking and I put the paper aside. Of course it was the next day that I found out about the ruccus this ad had created and how there were many angry people and for the rest of the week the newspaper issued many apologies (including a personally written one from the editor who said that the ad had slipped thru them and if they had realized it they wud never have printed it). Many people wrote in articles that I followed with close interest. All that has helped me give shape to my thoughts. I came across so many opinions and here are mine:
1) There is nothing wrong in a community trying to preserve its culture (and jobs). In fact I wouldnt be very surprised if there is a serious backlash from the indigenous american community about how the profit looking companies give their jobs to cheaper labour pretty soon.
2) I would say that Mexicans (in fact any community) would definitely not celebrate if something as suggested in the ad would happen.
3) I still think diversity is a strength not a weakness at all. And different racial groups are a source of making life interesting.
4) These guys assume that all those who disagree with them are people who cant think for themselves and are just swallowing slogans. Thats plain bigotry.
5) I didnt think there was really any need for the newspaper to apologize so much and say that if given a second chance they wudnt run the ad...Do newspapers always have to agree with everything that is said in their ads. I am not familiar with the way things work but a strong letter frm the editor saying that "she (and if need be on behalf of everyone at her press) does not agree with the content of the ad" was all I would think is enuff! And that too only if she means it...I am not saying I have the balls to always stand up for my beliefs but obviously doing something like that makes more sense than resorting to mass appeasal.
6) I never really could figure out 'racism'. I do have a few prejudices but I try to supress them as much as possible. And these prejudices never affect me once I get to know a person and like him/her. But does having those prejudices still make me a racist? I find it hard to believe that people can like everyone equally without having any preference to people of their own kind. And I dont see anything wrong in it! So doesnt that make the whole world a racist place to begin with? Of course its wrong to harm (and stupid to hate) others because of your prejudices. So do we call only those people who resort to such wrongdoing (and stupidity) racists?
Ill have to see more of the world and meet more 'racists' to figure this out! ;)
And to conclude...the only reason why I feel they shudnt have run this ad is to avoid putting thoughts of murdering all international students into some random psychos head!
I cant help thinking of the line "Jeremy spoke in class today" and recalling the end of the video :)
Faux Pas...
...A social blunder. Thats how dictionary.com simply describes faux pas. I commit loads of them (which my good friend Dheeraj can readily assert ;) But I think I have found my worst. I seem to have an amazing knack for using the words "What are you doing here" in exactly the worst way possible. I meet a new person at the university, exchange hellos and nomenclature and then come to the logical inquiry about what the person is upto in life, so I simply say "What are you doing here?" and the person I am talking to interprets that as "State you business and it better be good cuz If I find that you dont have a reason good enuff for me for you being here I am going to fucking kill you"
I have had people look at me with a shocked, sometimes even offended look and giving out answers like 'I was just taking a walk...alright Ill see u then"!!!! This has happened so many times. I have even tried to change my tone and make it sound as polite as possible but doesnt seem to work! Neway here are my 2 favourite experiences regarding this.
1) I bumped into an American undergrad that I was acquainted with at a Diwali party (which was for desis) and due course of our conversation I realized I didnt know which year he was in...so I said "What are you doing here?". I would pay to see the look on his face again...he was shocked and embarrassed and quickly pointed to some desi at a distance and said "Uh...that guy invited me...Im sorry I didnt know this was only for Indians". I had a hard time convincing him that I didnt mean it that way :)
2) And just recently I got talking to some random person in the undergrad lab and since he was quizzing me a lot about my work I felt obliged to return the favour and ask him what he was doing there? The chap was taken aback but managed to blurt out..."Ohh I thought I would use these computers to do this course project we have to submit tomorrow"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WTF? :)
I think its the usage of the word 'here' that leads to the misunderstanding! But is it really too much to expect people to follow the train of thought and not assume I am suddenly extremely interested in their present activities. Dont know how many have I offeneded with this but for me it has now become good fun to see the looks on their faces when I blurt out my impoliteness :)
I have had people look at me with a shocked, sometimes even offended look and giving out answers like 'I was just taking a walk...alright Ill see u then"!!!! This has happened so many times. I have even tried to change my tone and make it sound as polite as possible but doesnt seem to work! Neway here are my 2 favourite experiences regarding this.
1) I bumped into an American undergrad that I was acquainted with at a Diwali party (which was for desis) and due course of our conversation I realized I didnt know which year he was in...so I said "What are you doing here?". I would pay to see the look on his face again...he was shocked and embarrassed and quickly pointed to some desi at a distance and said "Uh...that guy invited me...Im sorry I didnt know this was only for Indians". I had a hard time convincing him that I didnt mean it that way :)
2) And just recently I got talking to some random person in the undergrad lab and since he was quizzing me a lot about my work I felt obliged to return the favour and ask him what he was doing there? The chap was taken aback but managed to blurt out..."Ohh I thought I would use these computers to do this course project we have to submit tomorrow"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WTF? :)
I think its the usage of the word 'here' that leads to the misunderstanding! But is it really too much to expect people to follow the train of thought and not assume I am suddenly extremely interested in their present activities. Dont know how many have I offeneded with this but for me it has now become good fun to see the looks on their faces when I blurt out my impoliteness :)
Exams...
...are done. Although I still have a couple of projects to finish and research to keep doing it still fills me with a sense of accomplishment (until the grades come out :P). More importantly it gives me time to catch up on loads of things that I've not been keeping up with...sleeping and blogging being the ones I've yearned the most to get back to. I've taken good care of the former and am working on the latter presently.
Something occured to me as I was mindlessly going through some of my previous posts. I always write about music/movies/some crap like that. Never anything profound...yeah I have one or two vague posts in reference to events in my life but thats about it. Never anything about things like Communism, The Human Genome Project, Racism (no wait...I already covered that :) Corruption....well you get the idea. For a while I never really had an opinion about these things as I was too busy and happy-go-lucky in my own world. When I did try to form an opinion the biggest obstacle I faced was to find a good and an objective source of information. For now I still am opinionless but I have promised myself Ill do the necessary reading up pretty soon. So that brings me back to what I have to say for now and u guessed it right...its still about music and movies! :D
I happened to watch a couple of movies consequetively yesterday. The first one was "After the sunset"...had Salma Hayek (who is quite sad when it comes to acting and quite frankly is also overrated when it comes to 'hotness') and Brosnan. Nothing great about so nothing to say about it. Actually...dont watch it!
Then I happened to see this movie called "Before Sunset" (nice coincidence eh? ;)
It is an absolute masterpiece. Its supposed to be a sequel to another movie called "Before Sunrise" (havent seen that) but one could just watch this and appreciate it by itself. This 80min movie shows one day in the lives of an American author (Ethan Hawke) and a French girl (some really pretty girl who looks like Lisa Kudrow) who meet after hooking up 10 years ago. They spend the entire day walking on the streets of Paris just talking. All they do is talk but their conversation is very natural and beautifully convincing. The emotions shown by each of them are very subtle and the movie's ending is very interesting. Watch it! Ethan Hawke is a gawd actor and he reminded me about how amazingly inspired I was after I had seen 'Gattaca'!
Ok...now that we took care of the movies lets talk about music.
I happened to discover 2 bands in these past weeks. One is "Velvet Revolver"... this is a new band with really good rock music. Its made up of the debris from the wrecks of previous good bands. The line up looks like this...VR is made of GnR minus Axl Rose and their vocalist is Scott Weiler from STP. Scott is probably the only vocalist I know who can sing in 10 different ways without you realizing that its the same guy....I would say he is the most underrated vocalist out there. Their songs are essentially hard core rock and they sound good. Also I happened to notice that the drummer has improved a lot compared to his GnR days!
Band number 2 is "Hole". This is not a new band...in fact it doesnt exist anymore. It was an almost all-girl band with only their lead guitarist being a guy. It was headed by Kurt Cobain's ex-wife Courtney Love. I had heard about Hole before but had dismissed them without trying them out as I didnt expect music of my taste from a girl dominated band. I found out I couldnt be more wrong. Hole's music has a very appealing rock sound to it with quite good drumming. And btw...their bassist is such a hottie! :D
Alright...thats it for now...I have to get back to my reading about Communism in East Asia :)
Something occured to me as I was mindlessly going through some of my previous posts. I always write about music/movies/some crap like that. Never anything profound...yeah I have one or two vague posts in reference to events in my life but thats about it. Never anything about things like Communism, The Human Genome Project, Racism (no wait...I already covered that :) Corruption....well you get the idea. For a while I never really had an opinion about these things as I was too busy and happy-go-lucky in my own world. When I did try to form an opinion the biggest obstacle I faced was to find a good and an objective source of information. For now I still am opinionless but I have promised myself Ill do the necessary reading up pretty soon. So that brings me back to what I have to say for now and u guessed it right...its still about music and movies! :D
I happened to watch a couple of movies consequetively yesterday. The first one was "After the sunset"...had Salma Hayek (who is quite sad when it comes to acting and quite frankly is also overrated when it comes to 'hotness') and Brosnan. Nothing great about so nothing to say about it. Actually...dont watch it!
Then I happened to see this movie called "Before Sunset" (nice coincidence eh? ;)
It is an absolute masterpiece. Its supposed to be a sequel to another movie called "Before Sunrise" (havent seen that) but one could just watch this and appreciate it by itself. This 80min movie shows one day in the lives of an American author (Ethan Hawke) and a French girl (some really pretty girl who looks like Lisa Kudrow) who meet after hooking up 10 years ago. They spend the entire day walking on the streets of Paris just talking. All they do is talk but their conversation is very natural and beautifully convincing. The emotions shown by each of them are very subtle and the movie's ending is very interesting. Watch it! Ethan Hawke is a gawd actor and he reminded me about how amazingly inspired I was after I had seen 'Gattaca'!
Ok...now that we took care of the movies lets talk about music.
I happened to discover 2 bands in these past weeks. One is "Velvet Revolver"... this is a new band with really good rock music. Its made up of the debris from the wrecks of previous good bands. The line up looks like this...VR is made of GnR minus Axl Rose and their vocalist is Scott Weiler from STP. Scott is probably the only vocalist I know who can sing in 10 different ways without you realizing that its the same guy....I would say he is the most underrated vocalist out there. Their songs are essentially hard core rock and they sound good. Also I happened to notice that the drummer has improved a lot compared to his GnR days!
Band number 2 is "Hole". This is not a new band...in fact it doesnt exist anymore. It was an almost all-girl band with only their lead guitarist being a guy. It was headed by Kurt Cobain's ex-wife Courtney Love. I had heard about Hole before but had dismissed them without trying them out as I didnt expect music of my taste from a girl dominated band. I found out I couldnt be more wrong. Hole's music has a very appealing rock sound to it with quite good drumming. And btw...their bassist is such a hottie! :D
Alright...thats it for now...I have to get back to my reading about Communism in East Asia :)
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