Archive for the 'Culture' Category
Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008
return to normal.
Sunday, August 3rd, 2008
Depressed, repressed, objectified: are men the new women?
So – although women hold only 17 per cent of parliamentary positions across the globe, despite there being only 10 female CEOs of Fortune 500 companies and ignoring the fact that it is still illegal for a woman to drive a car in Saudi Arabia – it seems that, sometimes, it is harder to be a man.
Thursday, June 12th, 2008
This Modern Sport
Witness the end of cricket as we know it.
Wednesday, May 28th, 2008
incontrivertible proof of cultural decline
From the director of Match Point??? Seriously ???? People are stupid. Full Stop.
Monday, May 26th, 2008
The Gift.
As the day of my departure for a dreaded family reunion/wedding approaches, I’m at a loss concerning what to give the couple as a gift. The groom is a first cousin of mine, but I haven’t seen, or even spoken, to him for a few years. And I’ve never met the bride. So, I can’t really know what they’d like or want. Suggestions? Should I give them money? That’s the SOP in Pakistan, isn’t it? If so, how much?
Sunday, May 18th, 2008
Playing Classical Cricket?
This article on cricinfo actually does a good job of summarising my discussion with Atomsmasher on the decline of traditional disciplines in the arts. The following paragraph is particularly insightful in drawing out the similarities between classical training in music and cricket.
People frequently say of Indian playback singers that this singer or that was classically trained. It is generally meant as a compliment. Lata Mangeshkar’s virtuosity and longevity were attributed to her classical training. But over time it has become clear that classical training is an optional extra for the successful playback singer because there have been so many who never had any, starting with Kishore Kumar. In the same way, Twenty20 tournaments like the World Cup and the IPL have thrown up players like Yusuf Pathan who have achieved great success and recognition via this upstart form of the game without any sort of track record at the Test level.
What do you guys think about the qualities of say opera. Is a lot of it pretentious and elitist or should I not blind my classist sentiments from appreciating the beauty of the art? I’m inclined to think that its somewhere in between. That while a lot of people are part of the ’scene’ or are patrons of the arts in order to gain social status, i shouldn’t let that cloud my judgement in trying to appreciate art in all its forms.
Saturday, May 17th, 2008
From Literacy To Digiracy
What do you say? Are we on the road to dissertations written in txt msg speak?
Sunday, May 11th, 2008
al-nakba?
14 May 2008 is Israel’s 60th. It’s difficult to imagine an anniversary that’s as divisive. And where else do politics, religion, and ethnicity conflict so violently? Have you been to Israel or the West Bank/Gaza Strip? I’d like to go sometime.
The story of Israel and Palestine is one our generation has grown up with. This is from before Kosovo, before Rwanda, before war was declared on terror. Is it really that unimportant? If there is a god, we’ll all be damned for watching two peoples massacre themselves. I’ll say it again: humans are foolish beyond our own comprehension.
On a related note, what do you think of the use of the term in the title? Al-Nakba — The Catastrophe. I hear that’s how Palestinians, and their supporters, refer to the creation of Israel. Should its use be discouraged? Or is it useful?
Friday, May 9th, 2008
ScarJo’s special friend
Miss Johannson’s debut album is shaping up to be the most polarising album of the year. Mainly because its made up of a bunch of Tom Waits covers. I actually like the few songs I’ve heard. I say kudos for trying to interpret a critically acclaimed albeit not that popular artist rather than doing some terrible, self-indulgent trash. Anyways, 3 questions.
1) Can you guess who does the backing vocals
2) Who produced the album (difficult but Al might get it) and finally
3) Spot ScarJo’s special friend who fleetingly pops up in the video.
Sunday, May 4th, 2008
“Without science, religion turns to radicalism, and without religion, science is blind and brings the world to danger.”
