Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Class or Crass

The Miss Universe pageant has been under fire from critics for a good while now. At the Miss Universe 2007: "Pageant organizers say the contest carefully selects women who are intelligent, well-mannered and cultured."


Miss Serbia = Beer.


Miss Russia: Oh, she has got class! What poise! Look at that neck!


Miss India: I don't see any "culture" here. Do you?

Looks like some chick from Japan eventually clicked with the judges.

Mr. and Mrs. Iyer (a brief film review)



Mr. and Mrs. Iyer is the tale of a man, Raja Chowdhury (played by Rahul Bose) and a very orthodox Brahmin girl, Meenakshi (Konkona Sen Sharma). He is a wildlife photographer from the northern part of India currently in southern India for a shoot. She lives in Kolkota, aka Calcutta, with her husband's family but is currently visiting her parents in the southern state of Tamilnadu. Word arrives that Meenakshi's mama-in-law is sick. So, Meenakshi, decides to leave for Kolkota immediately. Now her parents, concerned about her making such a long journey alone with her newborn child, hook her up with Raja, who has completed his project and is returning to Kolkota.

I don't like writing long posts (unless its thrashing Britney Spears for not keeping her head shaved). Plus I am not a professional reviewer. So I might inadvertently give a spoiler or two away. All I can say is this: There is a segment in the middle of the movie where their travel is interrupted by communal riots between Muslims and Hindus. Yes, they are all Indians (click here for an example of a communal riot in India). This causes a big delay in their journey north and allows Raja and Meenakshi, with their starkly differing backgrounds, to bond. Meenakshi discovers certain truths (sometimes disturbing to her) about Raja which makes her pause and take stock of her own beliefs and dreams. Will they reach Kolkota in safety amidst the communal strife around them? Find out for yourself.

A very good road movie indeed!

Art or Rot

Last night I was over at David's place and he put on this documentary about a punk rock and roller by name GG Allin. GG died of a heroin overdose in 1993. Did you think he died fighting for his country in Operation Desert Storm?! I guess that last remark just about sets the tone for this post.

Now ole GG considered himself a hardcore rock and roller. He habitually performed naked and brawled with his "fans". The act would also involve GG defecating on stage and then rolling around in it. I suppose talking about his signature move might give a bit of an indication of bringing down the standards of my blog but I had to mention it (otherwise I am a traitor to my...blog writing escapades). Now as a character study (which I think was the point of that documentary), it was a fascinating look at a man who could make Lindsay Lohan look like my high school class valedictorian. To be fair, he had a couple of good points. For instance, he doesn't seem to have had a grudge on his brother (I can't remember the other good point). The saddest thing was that his brother, who was part of the band, seemed tame when compared to ole GG. And I couldn't quite shake off the feeling that the brother had no choice but to be in deep...well...sh*t because he a) was not an enterprising chap, b) was ugly and c) was unfortunate enough to be born to GG's pa and ma. In short, the brother seemed to be simply tagging along.

When they were finally ready to close the lid on GG, the funeral home chap was asked not to hose down GG (he was still "reeking" from the previous night's show). I rarely flinch at anything but that documentary was so far down queer street that I started making a list of people that I was going to consider normal going forward (starting with Paris Hilton). As usual, I am going to end this post suddenly.

Is it better to work out in the morning or the evening?

If you do a web search on this topic, you will get all kinds of studies pointing out why training at one time or another in the day is best ...