03.26.09
On Monty Python
Men who like to dress like women and appear on national television? Who talk in silly voices and walk with silly strides? Men who sing about rugged lumberjacks wearing women’s clothing? Who prance about slapping each other silly with fish? Men who can keep a straight face while mouthing the line “And now for something completely different – a man with three buttocks“? Monty Python!
To quote directly from the wiki page, Monty Python “is a group of six comedians who created Monty Python’s Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show … the phenomenon developed from the television series into something larger in scope and impact… The group’s influence on comedy has been compared to The Beatles’ influence on music.” Their impact has been so great that not just do they have a word in the dictionary – Pythonesque, but they are also the inspiration behind the use of spam for junk mail.
Monty Python’s brand of humour is essentially absurdist (which means a lot of bizarre situations, a lot of things which are funny because they are illogical) – the Parrot sketch is a perfect example of this – a man walks into a pet shop and tries to get a dead parrot exchanged. This does not mean they are stuffy/tedious English-gentleman-types who are masters of the understatement. Their sketches seem to have almost every dimension of humour covered – from slapstick (like the Fish slapping dance), to caustic humour (Guy de Lombaird’s castle) to innuendo (Dirty Hungarian Phrasebook or Nudge,Nudge) to parodies (Four Yorkshireman) to surreal comedy (The Dirty Fork).
Apart from those mentioned above, a list of some of their best sketches -
1. Argument Clinic – a man walks into an “argument clinic”, where he pays to argue with a trained professional.
2. Self Defense Against Fresh Fruit – This sketch involves a man dressed as a martial arts instructor telling his “students” how to defend themselves against a man armed with a banana (first you shoot him with a gun, and then EAT the banana thus disarming him).
3. The Spanish Inquisition – Three pseudo-incompetent clergy (cardinals) are unable to decide how best to make up a scary intro dialogue and are ill-equipped to torture those deemed guilty.
4. The Funniest Joke in the World – A man writes a joke so funny, it kills anyone who understands it. It is then weaponised and used in “joke warfare” in the World War.
5. The Lumberjack Song – A song about a lumberjack who isnt quite as manly as he looks.
They also wrote/acted in some films, two of which are very well known – Life of Brian and Monty Python and the Holy Grail. These two are frequently voted in the top 10 comedy films ever made, and would make my top 10 among all the films I have seen. The Holy Grail is also a good starting place for those who dont know anything about the Pythons. Be warned though – watch it for too long, and you might actually laugh your way to death.
-> Badrinath.S
P.S.: Damn the international break. Liverpool could have used the momentum. Is Alex Ferguson the only manager who time and time again doesnt talk to the official press after a loss?
P.P.S.: A pointless post, but I have spent far too much time watching/admiring the work these six men have done to not pay a tribute to it.
03.17.09
Gulaal
This post is a pseudo-review of the hindi film Gulaal.
I watch my fair share of films. But if I were to make a list of films, sort them by language and count how many of each I have seen, hindi films would be in joint fourth. English would lead the count, followed by Chinese (mostly from the erstwhile Hong Kong film industry – Jackie Chan, etc) and then Tamil. Admittedly, some of you may be tempted to compare me being asked my opinions on hindi films with asking a monkey its opinion on the Large Hadron Collider.
However, last I checked, I was no monkey and hindi films were usually dumb feel-good affairs – it was easier to “understand” a hindi film than it was to tie ones own shoelaces. Even a LOLcat would understand one – “BOY MEET GURL. PARENTS NOT LAIK. SHIT HAPPEN. HERO BE AWSUM. PARENTS AGREE. COUPLE CAN HAS MARRIAGE. HAPPY 4 EVER!!”
That appears to have changed over a fairly short period of time though. With serious cinema suddenly coming to the fore, I can finally watch hindi films without cringing. One such film is Gulaal, which I managed to catch on the big screen. With a quality backdrop, some stunning performances and hauntingly addictive music, it appears to have everything to be an outstanding film.
KayKay Menon (Dukey Bana) and Piyush Mishra (Prithvi Bana) are practically flawless in the portrayal of their respective characters. The incendiary speeches were especially well done. Abhimanyu Singh (as Rananjay) and Deepak Dobriyal (Bhati) are quite good as well. The whole film appears to have a bit too much red (obvious from the name/posters) but it just adds to the atmosphere. As mentioned before, the music score is addictive – after I got back, I simply HAD to listen to the music again.
The film does have its flaws though – mostly character development and a lack of a backstory for some of the main cast. Jesse Randhawa’s character seems particularly pointless. Additionally, the poster promises us a film on LUURVE, POWER and REVOLUSHUN. The power and revolution parts are particularly well executed but the LUURVE aspect is underwhelming. The second half of the film falls a bit flat on its face after the first half promised so much. Personally though, I felt the end was quite all right, but to each his own.
Imo, its a bloody good film which could have been better.
-> Badrinath.S
P.S.: Most images shamelessly lifted from the official website. Dont think they will mind.
P.P.S.: Two other movie reviews I have done – The Fall and Dhoom 2
P.P.P.S.: For those experiencing depression due to something they saw on TV, please call – 09 212121 141414. This is for fans of ManU only. Liverpool did the double over them this season. 
03.11.09
55 fiction – Part II
1. I heard an impatient honk outside. My ride to DRDO had arrived. Off to work.
I stepped out the door. Something hit my head. Crimson liquid streaming down my neck! My shirt was now stained blood red!
“Aaargh!! Sniper!” – I yelled, hitting the deck.
Laughter all around. I turned. “Happy holi!” – they screamed in unison.
—-
2. “War – what is it good for?” I thought, crouching low behind the bushes.
“There he is!” – someone yelled. I clutched my weapon tighter. I was spotted! I ran, felt something heavy explode on my back*, tripped and fell.
The hunt was over.
My pichkari slipped away as the other kids drenched me with coloured water.
—-
The running theme is “The reluctant Holi enthusiast”. The problem with themes is that everything after the first one is predictable. The ‘*’ where I refer to something exploding is about the now selectively-banned water balloons.
-> Badrinath.S
P.S. : People should be encouraged to write more 55-fiction. Its quick, dirty and fun. It takes at most 5 minutes to come up with an idea, and another 15 to heighten tension and correct the word limit. 20 minutes in all.
P.P.S. : Heppi holi etc.
P.P.P.S. : Shameless link to part I.
03.10.09
55 fiction : Part I
1. They cheered as he descended from the heavens. A grand entrance for their champion! “Owen! Owen!” they screamed.
He raised his hand to wave. He would finally come out of his brother’s shadow.
He heard something snap. It was his last conscious thought.
“Death by blunt chest trauma” – announced the medic. “Owen Hart is dead.”
2. The office party was in full swing. She sat in a morose silence, oblivious to her drunk coworkers and they squeals of joy.
“Ready?” he asked her. “Does it matter?” she replied, taking the mike in her hands. She looked down at the paper in her hands. It was a list of names titled “Redundancies”.
3. She smiled as the memory of her piano concert came flooding back into her head. “Once in a generation genius” – the press had tagged her. “Everything will be okay, we are here now,” she heard her father’s reassuring voice.
She slid into consciousness. She was struck speechless as her eyes fell on her amputated arms.
—–
Not particularly good, but not too shabby either for a first (few) attempt(s) at 55-fiction. I seem to be shockingly good at writing 56-fiction. Every attempt went to exactly 56 words when I finished, after which many words were cut and sentences were rewritten. I was thinking about titling this “55 fiction : When Bad Shit Happens to Good People“, but decided against it – I dont need to explicitly state it. Parts II and III and so forth will probably be on themes like “KLPD”, “The vagaries of fate”, “aliens”, “FML”, etc
-> Badrinath.S
P.S. : I decided to start writing depressing 55-fiction as it seemed so easy. Just so many possible endings – death, loss of limbs, loss of jobs, loss of mental faculties, loss of money, etc 
P.P.S. : Now for the credits section. Two blogs on blogroll – this one and that one.
P.P.P.S. : Dont bother counting the words. I made sure they came to 55
10.30.08
On the Maharashtra Situation – Part II
The second part of a three-part series on the Maharashtra situation. It contains more rhetoric, generally disagreeable formatting and a few rubbish images. Great Success!! (roll mouse over links) If you cant be arsed to read the whole of this post, just scroll to the bottom.
(i know this doesn’t look anything like Maharashtra or Bihar. But what the hell.)
Situation I – “Migration” of Goods
Assume – Maharashtra (Mah) employs tens of thousands of people in the pot-making-industry. These people and their families depend on this local pot-sale to earn their livelihood. (Clay pots obviously, not the one used for *cough* * cough* medicinal purposes) Mah needs lots of clay pots, which it buys from Maharashtrian pot-makers, made out of locally available clay.
Assume – Bihar needs very few clay pots. One day in Bihar, somebody discovers huge, cheap, easily-harvestable raw clay deposits. Labour is also cheap. Bihar suddenly starts mass-producing cheap pots. But Bihar doesnt need so many pots. They decide to sell pots off to Mah. Bihari pots, cheap ones, start flooding the market. Mah pot workers are unable to compete, because – firstly their clay simply costs more. Second, the cost of living in Mah is higher than in Bihar. Basically, if the pot-maker needs 3000 bucks a month (just an assumption for comparison) in Mah, he would be able to live the same life at 2000 bucks in Bihar (I exaggerate. based on per capita income, I guess 1000 bucks in Bihar should be more than enough).
Bihari pots are an absolute rage simply because they are cheaper. Local pot-makers are losing jobs. No alternate source of income. Bihar creates wealth, but at what cost? At the cost of Mah’s. To prevent a situation like this, the Mah government (just taking an educated guess) levies taxes to make both pot costs comparable and then let the people decide. Fair? As ardent a supporter of Laissez-Faire as I am, this is certainly fair. This “regulation” is what is done when “goods” move from state to state. What about workers then?
(Makes me a bit queasy; putting this pic up in this context is slightly unethical. Apologies. Couldn’t find a better image.)
Situation II – “Migration” of Workers
Similar to the previous case. Mumbai based railway employees, taxi drivers, truck drivers, factory workers (small scale too), office peons etc live locally with their families. They buy food and clothing, pay for their kids schooling, etc at Mumbai-prices, which is far higher than Bihar prices. They need some “minimum income” to survive, say 3000 bucks a month. The Bihari/UP-ite can do with 2000 bucks a month. He offers to do the same job the Maharashtrian does at 2/3 the cost! Obviously companies and factories will hire this cheap labour. His family is back in Bihar/UP anyway, and if he can save even 1000 bucks and send it back, that would be a huge step up for them.
As of right now, Bihari/UP labour is plentiful – thus the supply is immense (1.2 billion of us around and all that), and the demand is only finite. The market pays just 2000 bucks for the job. The Maharashtrian will have to make do with that paltry sum (which isnt enough for him/his family), or remain jobless (which leads nowhere really) or try for a better job (unlikely with his skills) or most likely – move out of Mumbai, to eke out a living elsewhere (not a solution).
In the recent Railway exams, some figures said some 12k Biharis turned up for 3k jobs. What people fail to realize is that for every one migrant who has done something noteworthy for the city, there dozens of other migrants, from the same place as this one person, rotting in the slums. While goods are easy to regulate, is it necessary and possible to regulate this movement of labour?
To Conclude
Most people who see this situation do not understand it – this fight isn’t about those of us stuck in plush offices and well-decorated homes (so please dont bring rubbish about “corporate” jobs into the argument). It isn’t even about average people with average means (most normal desk jobs and lower rung jobs). Its about the autodrivers, factory workers and unskilled labourers. That is the keyword – UNSKILLED. Migration of people is all well and good. Problems arise when the only jobs they are capable of doing is manual labour (and a bit of driving, etc which does require “skill”, but it can be trained fairly easily. 12+3/4 years of education however, cannot. )
Next Part – The third part will raise more points for and against stopping this “migration”. Also, a bit about the perpetrators of the violence. May also discuss possible solutions. Promises to be far less boring. Will contain very bad attempts at humour. Oh, and a truly terrible analogy too. Perhaps.
“Fun” Fact – 60% of people in Mumbai live in the slums, and about 20% of people (an estimate which I remember reading somewhere) are from UP and Bihar. Which is a hell of a lot.
Further Reading : An Interview on Devil’s Advocate about the issue.
10.28.08
On the Maharashtra Situation – Part I
Violence has died down in Mumbai and it seems to have shifted to Bihar now. In order for something to be burnt by the rioting mob, it must satisfy two conditions
(image copied shamelessly from the Hindu’s website. very shamelessly.)
- It must be big. The bigger it is, more is the impact, more the footage you get on the news. Hence buses, trains and everything burnable and big are being burnt.
- It must be government property and must disrupt life. If you walk around the streets burning garbage, nobody would care. People in fact would gladly donate more of their garbage to your cause. Burn a bus, and every news channel will stop talking about the recession and give you all the airtime you need.
With so many self-help books flooding the market, I am quite sure there must be something along the lines of “7 Habits of Highly Effective Rioters” or “Chicken Soup for the Rioters Soul“. Not that these people need any help, mind. They seem to be doing a bloody good job of disrupting public life so far.
Seeing as every media outlet is obsessed with the situation, I doubt if I need to harp on about what is happening. That however, will not stop me from harping on regardless. In a nutshell -
- Raj Thackeray claims the Marathi Manoos (loosely – Marathi Peoples) are not getting enough representation, jobs, etc.
- Raj Thackeray strongly advocates an anti-northie bias. (why dont some people like the term northie? hardly offensive, is it?)
- Raj Thackeray’s lackeys use strong arm tactics on a bunch of Biharis trying to write the Railway exams.
- Tactics turn out to be a bit too strong armed and some of said Biharis kick the bucket (which is an insensitive way of saying – they died).
- Cue the justified decry of violence-based politics.
- Raj Thackeray is arrested.
- His lackeys get another excuse to go on a violent spree.
- Maharashtra burns.
- Said lackeys get arrested.
- People in Bihar, incensed that people in Mumbai get to make big bonfires out of public property, decide to get in on some of the action. After all, who doesnt like a good riot? But what about the excuse… I mean the reason? Their kith and kin are getting thrashed around a thousand miles away! That will do.
- Gather those stones, get the petrol out. We have ourselves a riot!
- Bihar burns. Simple so far?
In the whirlwind of media reports about the situation and how common mumbaikars, the impoverished lot in general and those from the north in particular (among the impoverished lot), are living in fear, certain common stereotypes are built up. The leader of this movement (which would be Raj Thackeray) becomes a mindless monster who can do no right. Your average Bihari/UP-ite living in the Mumbai shanties is an innocent migrant cowering behind tin walls and plastic roofs. All he wanted was a fair shot at making himself a life. All he got was a stab in his back and a nice whack on his head. But is the situation really that simple?
Violence as a means to an end is rarely justified in a democracy, so there is no issue to be debated there. A solution to violence based politics is simple, if somewhat unlikely to happen – ban repeated offenders from contesting elections. However, behind all this violence, there actually is a valid cause. Their demands may be a but excessive and their means may be rotten, but there is a valid cause.
“What is wrong with folk from Bihar and UP migrating to Mumbai?“, people might wonder, “it was people from such diverse places who made Mumbai what it is.” They might muse, “Besides, we are one nation. What is wrong with a little inter-state migration?“
Quite a lot actually, more so in a over-populated country like this one. This situation is not about a bunch of Maharashtrians resorting to violence because they are xenophobic. Their reasons are far more complicated. Their means may be unnecessarily violent, but they do have their own valid grievances (imo, of course). There will hopefully be a next part, where I elucidate further. Seeing as none of my previous “Part I” posts have any “Part II” posts following them, the smart money would be on this being my last post for a while. But a few months back, the smart money was on the stock markets, right? Those of us who read the papers know what happened to that
08.29.08
On Groundbreaking Cinema – The Fall – I
This is the first of two (or maybe three) posts – all basically about the movie “The Fall” directed by Tarsem. It is only on rare occasions that I have liked a movie so much, I was prompted to write a review of it. The gist of this particular series of posts is – “The Fall is the awesome-est movie I have seen for quite a while, and is hands down the bext film I have seen this year. Its not just a visually brilliant film, but has a solid script and the acting is absolute quality. It pushes the envelope in so many ways, it is unlikely something like this will ever be done again.”
Everybody has an opinion, and nowhere are opinions more varied than when it comes to films. When you come across a review of a film and the guy writes “bloody brilliant! never done before, will never be done again”, you assume he falls in one of the two categories -
1. Rabid fan of a genre or actor
2. Some “critic”
Now for an example of the former.
Look at the number of people drooling over The Dark Knight. Quite a few of them are a fan of that particular super hero and associated acts, so their bias tends to gloss over the short-comings of the movie. The film is based on an existing format (awesome hero outwits and overpowers villainous villains with his awesomeness). True, the film was made well. Some breath-taking scenes, good sound effects, solid acting, a decent script (except for the end bit), etc. However, it still goes down in history as one of the many super-hero films there are. It was spectacular yet solid. It took an existing genre and did very well with it. It didnt push the envelope, though. It did not innovate in any great way. You see the movie, have a good time, and thats it – once out of the theatre, all thoughts about the movie are out of your system.
Similarly, fans of an actor tend to watch certain movies just for the performance that particular star puts in (or sometimes, just to wacth an actress look fabulous in the film). The reason they watch a movie isnt “story sounds interesting” or “from the trailer, it looked like the kind of movie I want to watch” or “good director, good actors” , oh no! Their reason is “that star acts in the movie! awesome! i have to see it and praise it.”
Inherent biases tend to distort the final review to such an extend that the cinematography, the backdrop, progress of events, and even the script and acting are secondary to that one thing such a viewer is looking for in a movie – the actor, the character, the theme, etc.
At the other end of the spectrum, you have the “critics” who usually criticize a normal box-office hit, because its “too commercial” and it “panders to the lowest common denominator” and has “sold its soul to get a thousand more people into theaters”. This is something I myself am guilty of on occasion – “Box office hit? How? It was rubbish! Hmmph! What type of people go watch that movie?” A rant about a particular hindi movie on the previous blog url is proof of this.
Some “critics” however, are more consistent in their criticisms of such box-office hits. They like to point out to the hoi-polloi that a “popular” film is bad and a particular film (which very few saw and nobody really understands) is actually awesome.
Rest assured, despite writing that this is a bloody brilliant film, the reviewer in question (that would be me) claims to belong to neither category here. This first post is just a “what” of the series of posts. The next post will be on “why” I am putting this little-known film by a little-known director and little-known actors on such a high pedestal.
The plot of said film (classed as adventure/drama/fantasy) -
In a hospital on the outskirts of 1920s Los Angeles, an injured stuntman (Pace) begins to tell a fellow patient, a little girl with a broken arm (Untaru), a fantastical story about 5 mythical heroes. Thanks to his fractured state of mind and her vivid imagination, the line between fiction and reality starts to blur as the tale advances
A gallery of all the images in this post (plus some frames of the movie – almost like each frame has been coloured one by one)
02.13.08
On String Quartets and Petty Posers – I
A Western Classical concert by the Galatea String Quartet was held at the Hyder Mahal, ITC Hotel – Kakatia. Yet another event arranged in association with Goethe-Zentrum, who were kind enough to hand out free passes to all interested. Some links -
Events like this one are actually meant for people who understand and appreciate classical music. Being an ardent fan of “weird” metal (read : power, symphonic, metal-core, industrial) I am not much for Classical music, western or otherwise. Even if you do not appreciate, or know anything about Classical music, events like this one have two major things going for them-
- There is free food served before the event. Which is usually quite nice.
- It happens to be one of the very, very few places in Hyderabad where good looking women can be seen
String Quartets are a music ensemble of four stringed instruments, as should be fairly obvious from the name. The last time we had gone for a concert by a string quartet it was, for lack of a more appropriate phrase, quite shit. That probably had something to do with the fact that we know next to nothing about the music, and that they seemed to play a lot of “modern” compositions, but thats beside the point. Everything they played seemed to have far too much “noise“.
One moment, you can hear the faint breathing of the guy 10 rows ahead of you. All is quiet. The next moment, the four people on stage start shaking like epilepsy patients having a seizure (as politically incorrect as it may sound). Your ears are assaulted by random strains of noise from not just one, but FOUR stringed instruments – squealing and squeaking in a fairly random manner. Quite frankly, it was audio terrorism. But not all Western Classical concerts by string quartets can be that bad…. or CAN they?
About 10 of us decided to attend this concert. I suppose, to some small extent, we all wanted to hear their music, just to make sure that not ALL string quartets played terrible music. But for the most part, it was the free food and a the chance to gawk at hot women.
The Galatea String Quartet
They all seemed hugely skilled despite being below 30 years of age. That was a given, I suppose. For one thing they had been asked to perform in an event like this one, and for another – they had won loads of awards. The first two pieces they performed were not very pleasant on the ears, imo. The third one on the other hand, was actually pretty good. Things got much, much better after the interval, when they played some of Beethoven’s compositions. They ended the performance with a piece by Tagore.
On the whole, the concert was quite all right, with the second half being much better that the first. The crowd at the event? That is something which requires another post.
-> Badrinath.S
P.S.: Next post will probably include a more detailed write up of the event. All posts from this point on will be somewhat hurried.
P.P.S.: Wanted to write a review on the India Ocean concert, which was quite good. But its already been done. Same irritating blogger who keeps pestering me to post. Indian Ocean live performances are far better than their studio albums. When listening to their studio albums, notice the difference in the way the words are sung. Very bland when compared to the live concert. Link of the review below -
P.P.P.S.: On a completely different note, its quite shocking how people react when their preconceived notions about something are put to test by a third, neutral party. Surprising what they do to prove to themselves that their previous, ill conceived view was correct. Human psychology is bloody interesting.
12.09.07
The Power of the Internet
Thinking up a good name for a blog is bloody difficult. My very first idea for a title for my very first blog was “The Apocalypse Diaries“. That was three-plus years back. Now, “The Apocalypse Diaries” sounds like something you would type when you are fifteen and have just woken up from a dream about the end of the world. To be more precise, a dream involving a post nuclear all-out war scenario with people breathing through cool-looking masks, eating radioactive rats and drinking their own piss to survive. But that is a story for another day.
“The Apocalypse Diaries“? Oh yes, indeed a lovely name. Was i talking about the end of the world? Not really. Something to do with the other meaning – a word from God? Well, no, I’ll be damned if I begin to preach religion, of all things. Well, what was it then? A blog, with loads of seemingly pointless rants. What did it have to do with the Apocalypse? To be honest… nothing quite. A silly name for a blog then? All right, fine.
I am now paying the price for that little act of stupidity. The URL I registered is such that it is not very conducive to a blog-name change. This and the fact that I no longer remember my password forced a URL change. A reasonably re-usable URL, I already had one registered. All I had left to do was search for a new name.
Many bloggers seem to prefer titles with the phrase “My Life” somewhere in it. That is quite ironic, because those who actually have “a life” rarely blog, and those who dont have nothing to blog about. Besides, I see SO many rant-friendly topics, i would not want to limit the scope of this blog to stuff which concerns just me. Isnt it fun to criticize things you dont understand? Spewing vitriol (metaphorically, of course) on something which doesnt concern you one bit is so satisfying, it should be the Eight Sin. The pleasure you get on looking down on people you dont know and probably dont like was just a bit too much for me to deny myself. The conclusion – the phrase “My Life” was definitely NOT going to be in the title of this blog.
My next idea was to look at literature. Maybe i could flick a name off a short story, or maybe a poem. “Neutral Tones” was the only promising one i got. The only reason i liked it was because nobody would really understand what it meant. “Cool name for a blog!” people would exclaim when they came to this page, mouths wide open, wondering at the creativity of the writer. On the flipside, i dont quite know what it means either. What if someone asked me to explain what my title meant? Tricky. Besides, the poem is probably a bit too popular for me to plagiarize without someone noticing.
Next, i looked to music. My current playlist is currently crammed with emo, metalcore and related genres of music. So, i had the following options -
- The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide Is Press Coverage
- A fever you cant sweat out
- The Second Stage Turbine Blade
- I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love
Honestly, would you use any of these literary gems to title you blog ? Well, thought not. Music – scratched off the list. Then, an idea struck me. An idea so good it should be typed down and framed. An idea so good, it should be a dialogue on Blackadder. An idea so bloody good, it should have an entire civilization dedicated to worshiping it. F-o-r-e-i-g-n-w-o-r-d-s. Foreign words? Indeed!!
You could name your blog anything from “Eat shit, blog-reader” to “I like children. I mean, I like LIKE children” to “Necrophiles of the world – UNITE“, or perhaps even “Hello. I have hemorrhoids, and this is my blog“. Do this in english, you would be considered a freak. An outcast, someone who doesnt conform to society’s standards of “normal”. But do the same thing in a reasonably obscure language, nobody would know! Pure genius!! My choice of language? Latin.
But I dont know Latin. So, I fired Firefox up, went to the Google toolbar, typed in “Totally awesome Latin phrases I can use without knowing Latin” and I waited. And I waited. I then coughed theatrically for a bit, which didnt seem to help pass the time, and I waited some more. A good hour later, i scored a huge victory over the IIIT-H internet connection. It finally yielded, my query was processed and i managed to open the pages which were spat out by the search.
I liked what I saw so much, (link 1) and (link 2) for example. I repeated the query for a dozen different languages. A long, satisfying surf later, it suddenly struck me that the reason I had started on this tangent was my search for a new blog name. Sadly, I didnt find anything good enough. I wanted to do something boring, mundane – browse a random bunch of phrases for a meaningful title. The internet gave me something else – a few hours of fun.
All hail – The Power of the Internet.
< Badrinath.S >
P.S.: Thanks to the internet, I now know almost everything I need to know if I ever go to Rome, Italy.
- You charge how much an hour? (Quantum in ura hora imputas?)
- I’d like to buy some condoms. (Volo comparare nonnulla tegumembra)
If only i knew how to say “Do you do it doggy?”…..
P.P.S.: How did I get the blog name, you ask? Having wasted so much time on something so trivial, I decided to go with the first thing which came to mind. There was an image titled “Rocks and the Sea” or somesuch on my desktop. A part of the image can be seen in the image header of this blog. I finally settled on “The Crashing Waves”. Now, let me think of some deep and meaningful interpretation of it, in case someone ever asks ….
11.20.05
Hello world!
A test post on a test blog. Just reserving the blog URL, you see. May need it some day.
