“I guess to understand this John, we have to understand the thought processes of the looters as they were looting. And I guess what they were thinking was, ‘Oh look at all that looting, I wonder if I should join in. There are a number of factors urging me to do so. I feel a sense of social alienation as if people like me have been abandoned by mainstream society as the unwanted dregs of a skewed and unfair system. I feel a lack of hope – there are few jobs even fewer good jobs. I just can’t seem to find the opportunity to escape from a cycle of poverty, broken homes and broken communities around me. From generations of decline and neglect, let down by the state, let down by my family, let down by a pitiless capitalist system which has scant regard for the unfortunate. I feel disenfranchised by political system and class that fails to engage or represent me and when I see the excesses and unbridled inquisitiveness of the economic food-chain, the corrupt and self-interest in my nation’s media and politics I feel even more abandoned not of my making.

Adding all that up and seeing the opportunity for some seriously cut-price bargains – well, no price bargains – well I still don’t really feel like looting.

Oh hang on, I just remembered. I’m a c*nt. Count me in!’”

— Andy Zaltzman (The Bugle, Episode 164)

You’d think a comedy about five Muslims bent on attaining martyrdom during a London marathon would be a an exercise in bad taste but Chris Morris’s Four Lions is one of the funniest films I’ve seen all year. The only other film I can compare to this sometimes uncomfortable but mostly hilarious farce is last year’s brilliant (and profane) comedy of errors, In the Loop. Both have somewhat unintelligent protagonists with vague notions of right and wrong.

Four Lions is centered on five squabbling young Muslims, their idiosyncrasies and their complete lack of self awareness. Throughout the film, they contradict themselves and cherry pick the Koran for what they think is the ‘will of god’. Surprisingly, the film is nowhere near as offensive as you’d expect, probably because the story is told from an outsider’s perspective. You feel as sorry for the bombers as you do for their intended victims. Also, did you know that the Jews invented spark plugs to control global traffic?

Highly recommended.

I spend over an hour on the tram every day and when not dozing off, I’m listening to one of the many podcasts I can never find time for otherwise. I’ve put up a list of the ones I listen to religiously because, well, we all know there hasn’t been much writing going on around here.

The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe: If you’re looking for a weekly debunking of irrationality, go no further. I’ve admired Dr Steven Novella ever since I came across his brilliant blog, NeuroLogica. You have to hand it to the man for making it his life’s work promoting critical thinking and skepticism while actually making a fun podcast with plenty of  gastrointestinal humour. Also, Rebecca Watson is awesome.

Nerdist: Chris Hardwick is not that funny but I love how he tries. And if you need just one reason to tune into this podcast, it’ll have to be because they had The Muppets on. Yes, Kermit and Gonzo and everyone.

This American Life: I’ve been told that TAL is one of the best podcasts out there and I cannot disagree. The show consists of several acts with interesting essays, field reports and short fiction.

Reasonable Doubts: I’m a little tired of all the atheist blogs and podcasts out there but Reasonable Doubts manages to offer interesting analyses of religions and religion related news without being overly condescending. They also won a People’s Choice Podcast Award and the people are seldom wrong.

The Ricky Gervais Show: Ricky Gervais is genius. Fact. But what makes this podcast really stand out is the amazing Karl Pilkington. I’m still uncertain as to whether he’s pulling off an elaborate prank or if he really is as daft as he comes across. But face it, to pull of that kind of stream of consciousness stupidity, you’ll have to be a prodigy. Doesn’t make sense otherwise.

The Bugle: I’ve invited a million stares in public because of The Bugle. I dare you to not snicker if not laugh out loud. John Oliver and Andy Zaltsman have created a satirical news show that puts The Onion to shame. Oh and they ‘re responsible for my extremely unhealthy Florence Nightingale fixation.

Yeah, that’s about it.

Like most people, I thoroughly enjoyed Jon Stewart‘s drawing and quartering of Jim Cramer on The Daily Show last week. It tells you something about the cultural zeitgeist when a television comedian is the one who ends up taking the mantle of journalism.

The episode, despite being immensely uncomfortable to watch, was catharsis in many ways. It was also refreshing to see Stewart finally come down on Cramer (unfortunately, a scapegoat for the real problem – financial news networks) in an expletive laden interview/skewering.

But isn’t that part of the problem? Selling this idea that you don’t have to do anything. Anytime you sell people the idea that sit back and you’ll get 10 to 20 percent on your money, don’t you always know that that’s going to be a lie? When are we going to realize in this country that our wealth is work? That we’re workers and by selling this idea that of “Hey man, I’ll teach you how to be rich”…how is that any different than an infomercial?

…

I gotta tell you. I understand that you want to make finance entertaining, but it’s not a fucking game. When I watch that, I get, I can’t tell you how angry it makes me because it says to me, “You all know.” You all know what’s going on. You can draw a straight line from those shenanigans to the stuff that was being pulled at Bear and at AIG and all this derivative market stuff that is this weird Wall Street side bet.

How come journalists back in India never hold our politicians’ feet to the fire like Stewart did?

(PS: I did feel sorry for Cramer.)

Once in a while, you read a book that is an entirely intimate and personal experience. It’s extremely gratifying but unnerving to read about a protagonist who shares your traits, quirks and personal philosophy. This was one such book for me.

This Book Will Save Your Life is a satire of affluence and it’s pitfalls. Richard Novak is a self made man who is obsessed with health food, art, culture and pretty much nothing else. A fit of unexplained chest pain forces him to reevaluate his life, loves and family. This is a story about a man who attempts opening up to a world and is surprised in the strangest of ways.

Richard reconnects with his brother and son and opens himself to the idea of intimacy. In the meantime he makes friends with a movie star, a reclusive screenwriter and all the while, his house is slowly being devoured by a sinkhole. This is more of a dark comedy where you inadvertently laugh at a person’s misfortunes than at his sense of humor. What’s amazing is that A M Homes is a woman; and for a woman she shows an in depth knowledge about the inner workings of men.

On the surface, this seems like light reading but at the end of it you will be left with a surge of hope and maybe, just maybe, it’ll save your life.

An exhaustive review here.

http://www.amhomesbooks.com/

Radio Host: What’s your latest obsession?

Hank: Just the fact that people seem to be getting dumber and dumber. You know, I mean we have all this amazing technology and yet computers have turned into basically four figure wank machines. The internet was supposed to set us free, democratize us, but all it’s really given us is Howard Dean’s aborted candidacy and 24 hour a day access to kiddie porn. People…they don’t write anymore – they blog. Instead of talking, they text, no punctuation, no grammar: LOL this and LMFAO that. You know, it just seems to me it’s just a bunch of stupid people pseudo-communicating with a bunch of other stupid people in a proto-language that resembles more what cavemen used to speak than the King’s English.

Radio Host: Yet you’re part of the problem, I mean you’re out there blogging with the best of them.

Hank: Hence my self-loathing.

-Californication (Episode 5)

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/07/11/1183833599460.html

Sith Lord, Emperor Palpatine…er…Pope Benedict XVI has ‘corrected‘ erroneous interpretations of the 1960s reforming Vatican Council. As of now Protestant churches are not really churches and the Orthodox churches are ‘wounded churches’. But he does admit there are elements of truth in the aforementioned churches. The humility!

The new document, issued by the Doctrine of the Faith, which the Pope used to head, reaffirms traditional teaching that the Roman Catholic Church is the only true church…

What puzzles me is the temerity with religious leaders voice opinions these days. As if the two tablets from the mountain weren’t restrictive enough, the man went on to bring forth The Ten Commandments for Driving.

To think…people like these get taken seriously!

PS: The resemblance is uncanny though. Also, for those who didn’t quite catch the reference, the title is a quote by Palpatine from the film. (Click here for audio)

This piece of news is perhaps the best I’ve heard in a while; mostly because it’s just plain hilarious.

http://www.ibnlive.com/news/india/06_2007/cia-helped-in-toppling-communist-govt-in-kerala-43293.html

Ellsworth Bunker, an American diplomat has revealed that the CIA financed Congress led agitations against the Communist government when EMS came into power back in 1957 in Kerala. That’s right. The CIA actually thought the Kerala Government would pose a threat to it’s national interests. They actually thought Kerala would turn India into a threat like China or the Soviet Union. Instead of doling out so much cash on trying to silence the government, all they had to do was come down and talk to the average Malayalee! We’re not that threatening, are we?

If you sense a condescending and cynical tone to the above post, that’s because I’m a true Malayalee.

Ranga Shankara (JP Nagar, Bangalore) was host to the play, Butter and Mashed Banana. Directed by Ajay Krishnan, this was an amazingly humorous yet profound look at our system of censorship.

It’s a three act play wherein the first act details the illegitimate birth of the protagonist (conceived on a night of ill advised but passionate love) to a Shiv Sena/Right Wing father and a CPI(M)/Left Wing mother. The conflict of ideas begin long before the child is born but the effects are life long.

In the second act we see that the protagonist is now a famous writer who has become a celebrity but his own countrymen know little of him as his book, “Bahabah” is banned by the Censor Board which deems it too offensive.

Freedom of Speech is your fundamental right, but you can’t say whatever you want, you know.

In the third act, the protagonist decides to change things by entering politics where he finds the system to be far too corrupt to change. The ruling and opposition parties fight over him to yield disastrous yet comical results. There is this one line by the opposition where the leader quotes the Blabbermouth Law of 1952 (Sayterius Minimus) which states, “Thou canst sayest what thy wants.” Call me lame, but I thought it was hilarious.

I thought the play was very well written and in spite of being slightly over the top still managed to tackle issues like freedom, morality, religious fanaticism and sexual awakening (or the lack of it).

And yes, there is music as well with some great lyrics and guitar strumming (by Ajay Krishnan himself). The three actors are excellent and the script is laced with dry wit and irony. It does manage to get the point across, albeit in a very humorous way.

If this play comes your way, I suggest you NOT miss it. At 100 Rs a ticket, it’s a great way to spend a Sunday evening!

Drop the cause and join the line.

Something made you cry, it’s the dirt in your eye.

PS: Butter and Mashed Banana is apparently used on a hangman’s noose to tighten the knot (Thank you Google!).

What exactly are these so called ‘Moral Values’ that so many self righteous pretentious hypocrites of our country keep touting? Really?

This is a long due post. It will not  arrive at any conclusions and it will not do anything about the ‘situation at hand’. Like most passive youngsters (!), I cannot do anything about it and if given the opportunity, I would prefer apathy over any sort of activism. But sometimes, the things you see around simply get far too depressing and not to mention plain annoying!

Do I like the media? No. Do their justifications on sensationalizing news make sense? Yes, to an extent. Are right wing protests (read Shiv Sena and the likes) against the media justified? Are you bloody kidding me?

1. Shilpa Shetty/Richard Gere: An over enthusiastic ‘peck’ suddenly becomes prime time news material and in no time the ”moral brigade” of our country go on a rampage. The absurdity of the situation lies not only in the fact that the media hyped a somewhat not so innocent kiss, but that the protesters actually thought it was ‘offensive’! Now, haven’t they really noticed the sleaze (thinly disguised as entertainment) invading Cinema halls and homes?

2. Banning Sex Education in Maharashtra:  Now, forgive me when I say this…but sex really isn’t that much of a secret as we think. I mean…we have over a billion people in the country, it’s not like NOBODY’S thinking about it! And if you manage to peek it to our rich culture, you’ll agree that sex was very much a part of it. I will not elaborate but it baffles my mind that some of these idiots think that sex shouldn’t be discussed in schools. Won’t kids go looking for other sources? Isn’t that bad? Why is it that this bothers so many people, educated teachers and parents even?

3.  Star News Office Damaged: A Muslim boy(22) elopes with a Hindu girl(16) and become ‘news’ on Star News. Hours later, the Hindu Rashtra Sena ransack the office, smash furniture and vehicles. Where does this end?

Sometimes, I think the root cause for all this is religion itself. Man has fought ever since the concept of God was discussed and debated. Maybe what we really need is a Brave New World kind of scenario where religion is banned, children are created not born and the bounds of ethics and morals are clearly defined.

This is but a tip of the iceberg. Our country is in more of a mess that you and I think and unfortunately, most people are slight variants of myself; commentators.