Well, it is what it is. Stephen Rodger Waugh and Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, move over. The final frontier has been conquered. With one small step for himself, the Gawker has finally gone where no man has ever gone before. And in doing so, he has taken a great leap for all us men-folk.
Wait a minute, he did not actually *GO* in there. You see, we men seem to have our own, non-special place to *GO* that's devoid on any mystery (thanks to the historically accurate descriptions/representations in every form of media). But in the truest fashion of a born explorer, he did go there to find answers to a question which must be on the minds of every man since long long ago (nobody knows how long ago) - What exactly is behind that door?. And from his description, it seems to be a well equipped joint.
So when the history of the human race is written eons from now, will this event shall be given equal footage with Marco Polo's voyage to the Far East, Mahatma Gandhi's walk to Dandi, Livingstone's first sight of the mighty Victoria falls or would it be just a footnote like Saurav Ganguly's childish tantrums in Zimbabwe, Bennifer, Ron Jeremy's hirsute torso and Angelina Jolie's "alleged" bisexuality? Time only shall tell.
But one thing is certain. I should update my blog-roll and find a place in history myself by acknowledging the tenacity of the individual who dared to question what everybody else accepted without reason and enlightened us all with a description that will not be out of place in a wiki. Oh Gawker, I bow to thee....
(brought to you via Saket's edition of the BBM)
(P.S: It dawns on me that I know one other person who is rumored to have been on one such expedition. But sadly he is not a blogger and so the world will probably never know what his eyes saw.)
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Thalaivar, the Boss...
Ore oru chandiran dhaan, iravukku ellam..
Ek hi suraj hai, din ke liye...
Ore oru kadhiravan dhaan, pagalukku ellam..
Ek hi thalaivar hai, is jugh ke liye...
Ore oru thalaivar dhaan.... oorukku ellam....
Ore oru thalaivar dhaan.... oorukku ellam....
Monday, December 12, 2005
Update to five and six too!
In response to a threatening email (lol...) from a fellow quizzer, the Three Hi-Fives to IMDb.com quiz that I posted on October 18, has been updated with answers. I have no excuse for being late.
Oh well, that takes care of the "update to five" part in the title. Now for the six.
In Thamizh, Aaru refers to the number 6. Saw it last night and found several interesting references in the movie. For one, I found that whenever the camera panned over sections of the slum with the rail tracks in the background of the frame, a train seemed to be going past the slum. This seemed to be in every single scene. I don't know if that was intentional, but if it was, I can give them a 9/10 for effort. Before you ask me, how did I notice such details and whether I do this for all movies, I have to add that, overall Aaru = Bore-u!
Which means that about 15 to 20 minutes into the movie, I was watching for such things such as the badges on the Ford SUVs used in the movie. And for trains in the frame.
But I noticed one reference, which deserves a post by itself, however unintentional it might have been. Probably tonight.
Oh well, that takes care of the "update to five" part in the title. Now for the six.
In Thamizh, Aaru refers to the number 6. Saw it last night and found several interesting references in the movie. For one, I found that whenever the camera panned over sections of the slum with the rail tracks in the background of the frame, a train seemed to be going past the slum. This seemed to be in every single scene. I don't know if that was intentional, but if it was, I can give them a 9/10 for effort. Before you ask me, how did I notice such details and whether I do this for all movies, I have to add that, overall Aaru = Bore-u!
Which means that about 15 to 20 minutes into the movie, I was watching for such things such as the badges on the Ford SUVs used in the movie. And for trains in the frame.
But I noticed one reference, which deserves a post by itself, however unintentional it might have been. Probably tonight.
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Blurred boundaries
When does a blog become a part of MSM? Or how do you differentiate between a blog and news portal? My definition of a blog is this - A blog is a webpage maintained by a individual or a group solely to disperse information related to the interests of the blogger(s) without any supervision of any sort. The blogger is both the financier, contributor and the editor of the information propagated through the blog.
But today, I read of a "blog portal that will be funded by investor's money"(via Kaps), my thoughts raced to this same definition from above. The entrepreneur has been throwing around terms like "revenue model" and sources close to the venture say that companies like Pepsi and Motorola are going to be sponsors. So what makes this "blog portal" different from, say, a portal like the online edition of TOI? TOI has a revenue model as well and a number of different companies advertise on there as well. If charging anywhere between 50 paise and a rupee for every click on their ads would make this new venture a "blog portal", then what is the USP over any other blog that subscribes to Google's Adsense?
But what is even more glaring is the byline for the blog: .... is the foremost blog representing the thoughts, aspirations, feeling and experiences of Indian youth. Most of the content is written by those in the 16-25 age group, with professional editors mentoring them to ensure professional quality material.
While the emphasis in the above text is mine, I am starting to wonder where the concept of blogs ends and MSM begins? When a similar case (i.e., blurring of boundaries) happens with any other subject, that would be taken as a positive, i.e. an attempt to bridge a gap, but when blogs seem to be the perfect antithesis to MSM, this seems to be a "I too" (grammatical error totally intentional) attempt by whoever is behind this attempt. And this thought comes to mind solely because of the presence of "professional editors" in this exercise. If the focus is to mentor future journos, then a un-monitored blog would be a perfect way to set them on that path! But this attempt seems to be something else. Is this the attempt of a tech-illiterate businessman to earn some money without ever knowing what he is dealing with?
But today, I read of a "blog portal that will be funded by investor's money"(via Kaps), my thoughts raced to this same definition from above. The entrepreneur has been throwing around terms like "revenue model" and sources close to the venture say that companies like Pepsi and Motorola are going to be sponsors. So what makes this "blog portal" different from, say, a portal like the online edition of TOI? TOI has a revenue model as well and a number of different companies advertise on there as well. If charging anywhere between 50 paise and a rupee for every click on their ads would make this new venture a "blog portal", then what is the USP over any other blog that subscribes to Google's Adsense?
But what is even more glaring is the byline for the blog: .... is the foremost blog representing the thoughts, aspirations, feeling and experiences of Indian youth. Most of the content is written by those in the 16-25 age group, with professional editors mentoring them to ensure professional quality material.
While the emphasis in the above text is mine, I am starting to wonder where the concept of blogs ends and MSM begins? When a similar case (i.e., blurring of boundaries) happens with any other subject, that would be taken as a positive, i.e. an attempt to bridge a gap, but when blogs seem to be the perfect antithesis to MSM, this seems to be a "I too" (grammatical error totally intentional) attempt by whoever is behind this attempt. And this thought comes to mind solely because of the presence of "professional editors" in this exercise. If the focus is to mentor future journos, then a un-monitored blog would be a perfect way to set them on that path! But this attempt seems to be something else. Is this the attempt of a tech-illiterate businessman to earn some money without ever knowing what he is dealing with?
Friday, December 02, 2005
All-rounder – adept cricketer or anachronism?
Time and again, history shows that man has embarked on futile searches for elusive mythical riches. The search for an Indian all-rounder seems have fared no better. And I don’t think that this search is ever going to end, well, not until certain issues are resolved. But far easier would be a simple scope change.
If you ask me, the definition of an all-rounder is all skewed. Ask one the selectors who were in the panel last year to name his favorite all-rounder and I bet I can guess what his answer would be. Oh wait, I was not supposed to write that. But to my defense, I think this mindset is typical of any average Indian, who would define an all-rounder as a batsman who can bowl at least 5 overs a day and keep the batsmen quiet and take wickets from time to time. So, the focus in the sub-continent seems on finding players who would contribute both with the ball and the bat. And there lies the flaw.
Read more here...
This was originally cross posted on the Cricinfo Blog - Different Strokes. I took the original post off here to drive traffic to the Cricinfo Blog which is not majorly promoted at the moment. There are more posters there who are coming out with awesome posts and who deserve your comments much more than just me. So go there and read all of our posts...
If you ask me, the definition of an all-rounder is all skewed. Ask one the selectors who were in the panel last year to name his favorite all-rounder and I bet I can guess what his answer would be. Oh wait, I was not supposed to write that. But to my defense, I think this mindset is typical of any average Indian, who would define an all-rounder as a batsman who can bowl at least 5 overs a day and keep the batsmen quiet and take wickets from time to time. So, the focus in the sub-continent seems on finding players who would contribute both with the ball and the bat. And there lies the flaw.
Read more here...
This was originally cross posted on the Cricinfo Blog - Different Strokes. I took the original post off here to drive traffic to the Cricinfo Blog which is not majorly promoted at the moment. There are more posters there who are coming out with awesome posts and who deserve your comments much more than just me. So go there and read all of our posts...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)