Friday, February 24, 2006
Ta boo or Not Ta Boo
All this violence over nothing but a bunch of caricatures. I cant believe we live in the 20th century.I am not a person who typically typecasts people. I understand the cartoon was trying to do so and hence my initial opinion on the cartoon was that it was not the right thing.
But then again which sensible man takes cartoons seriously...thats it the precise reason they are called cartoons Duh...
Then the violence in the Islamic regions began, and it was I kept thinking to myself I guess the artist who sketched those caricatures did have a point. These guys are violent. Their religious leaders are the ones who call for killings of human beings. There is nothing wrong with the artist or the paper that carried the caricatures, if there is anything wrong it is with the people who protested against the caricatures and in turn burned down embassies.
I beleive it is a known fact that arab newspapers carry articles ridiculing Israel and the Jewish religion. Well for Islamists thats OK cause the Jews arent terrorists what are they going to do.
But it was ridiculous how editors got fired immediately after the Islamists protested, I bet the first thing the owner of the paper thought was, I dont wanna be on the wrong side of these terrorists.
I understand that drawings of Mohammed are taboo, but they are taboo to people who beleive in Islam, why do I have to believe in what Islamists beleive. I believe Christianity forbids the worshipping of any other God, so if Islamists think the rest of the world should respect their Taboos I guess they should start by respecting other religious taboos as well. Also slaughtering of the cow is taboo in Hinduism, can the Mslims in India which is a primarily Hindu country abide by those rules. No they cant but they still expect others to abide by rules that their religion prescribes. Aint that ridiculous!
We live in the 20th century, where I believe we all have the freedom of speech, if some person chooses to abuse that right, well you can speak up against that person but killing him or violence is not the solution. I understand that freedom of speech and similar liberal thoughts are not what muftis teach in madrasas, but then you can take your teachings and live in your 16th century world, why meddle with rational human beings.
I respect all the newspapers that carried the carricature, if more editors had the balls they would have too. We need to stand up to these fundamentalist bullies and let them know that "We are not afraid".
But then again which sensible man takes cartoons seriously...thats it the precise reason they are called cartoons Duh...
Then the violence in the Islamic regions began, and it was I kept thinking to myself I guess the artist who sketched those caricatures did have a point. These guys are violent. Their religious leaders are the ones who call for killings of human beings. There is nothing wrong with the artist or the paper that carried the caricatures, if there is anything wrong it is with the people who protested against the caricatures and in turn burned down embassies.
I beleive it is a known fact that arab newspapers carry articles ridiculing Israel and the Jewish religion. Well for Islamists thats OK cause the Jews arent terrorists what are they going to do.
But it was ridiculous how editors got fired immediately after the Islamists protested, I bet the first thing the owner of the paper thought was, I dont wanna be on the wrong side of these terrorists.
I understand that drawings of Mohammed are taboo, but they are taboo to people who beleive in Islam, why do I have to believe in what Islamists beleive. I believe Christianity forbids the worshipping of any other God, so if Islamists think the rest of the world should respect their Taboos I guess they should start by respecting other religious taboos as well. Also slaughtering of the cow is taboo in Hinduism, can the Mslims in India which is a primarily Hindu country abide by those rules. No they cant but they still expect others to abide by rules that their religion prescribes. Aint that ridiculous!
We live in the 20th century, where I believe we all have the freedom of speech, if some person chooses to abuse that right, well you can speak up against that person but killing him or violence is not the solution. I understand that freedom of speech and similar liberal thoughts are not what muftis teach in madrasas, but then you can take your teachings and live in your 16th century world, why meddle with rational human beings.
I respect all the newspapers that carried the carricature, if more editors had the balls they would have too. We need to stand up to these fundamentalist bullies and let them know that "We are not afraid".
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
RDB n SB 40
What a weekend...I know most people write about their weekends on Monday...but I am perpetually late. Procrastination is in my blood, by that I dont mean my parents are procrastinators just that I am a procrastinator and I dont try to improve upon it.
Well back to the weekend., after promising myself for 3 weekends to drive up to NJ, I finally made it there. The first reason we came was to watch Rang de Basanti, I know most of my friends were WHAT! U going to watch a hindi movie in the theatre!, relax dudes they are not that bad, well they are, but numerous friends of mine suggested that I should watch the movie to erase the cynicism I posess against Bollywood. Well we planned to go for the 3:00 show but landed at the theatre at 5:00 and unfortunately the show at 6:00 was sold out. Darn. I kept thinking to myself, I thought sold out shows for movies happened only in India. Man it sucked standing in a queue to book tickets and not getting them. So we moved on to item number 2 on the list of things TO DO, but before that we actually hung around for about 1/2 hour in the hope that we may conjure up a few tickets...and then it hit us..so what if the movies a Bollywood one, do we really expect to get Black tickets.....
Item 2 was to go to MJs place for booze. Long drive to Morris, and AJ kept testing the speed limit his Mustang could touch...we made it there in good time and in one piece...We stopped on the way to get food also...cant come to NJ and leave without a trip to Oak tree road..well thats not my motto its AJ's...and if its not ure car then you gotta go everywhere the driver takes you.
Met Sri after a long time, I think it was the first time I'd seen the 2 of them together after their wedding last year. And tis a pleasure to watch MJ smoke...he literally pulls the life out of a Cigarette. Sat down chatted and caught up on old times, got half way drunk ate and then watched Red Eye the movie....so so movie, more bollywood like than the one I would eventually see. Most of us conked off at about 2:00 in the morning. I had a long chat with C in India. She was busy enjoying at a party along with my folks, eating good food and here I was walking about in 33 F in shorts and trying to explain to her how we managed not to get to the theatre on time.
Sunday was a nice day and surprisingly all of us were up by 9. Instant decision why not see the 11:00 show...so we left and made it there just on time as the movie started.
My review: good movie. the editing was fantastic. I liked the way they kept mixing up scenes from the past and the present. But for the unnecessary nonsense in the first half the movie would have been exceptional, but then I think that none of the other billion in India would have watched it. Well I must say that Rang de Basanti is a good watch.
Got back to Phili and parked myself in front of the TV for the Superbowl. Well now that the Eagles werent in it didnt seem all that interesting, but Matt Hasselbeck was impressive. I thought the Seahawks should have won it..but when the refs are against you there is very little a team can do.
All in all a great weekend, hope more of the weekends are like this.....
but als the superbowl comes once a year and so do movies like Rang de Basanti.
Well back to the weekend., after promising myself for 3 weekends to drive up to NJ, I finally made it there. The first reason we came was to watch Rang de Basanti, I know most of my friends were WHAT! U going to watch a hindi movie in the theatre!, relax dudes they are not that bad, well they are, but numerous friends of mine suggested that I should watch the movie to erase the cynicism I posess against Bollywood. Well we planned to go for the 3:00 show but landed at the theatre at 5:00 and unfortunately the show at 6:00 was sold out. Darn. I kept thinking to myself, I thought sold out shows for movies happened only in India. Man it sucked standing in a queue to book tickets and not getting them. So we moved on to item number 2 on the list of things TO DO, but before that we actually hung around for about 1/2 hour in the hope that we may conjure up a few tickets...and then it hit us..so what if the movies a Bollywood one, do we really expect to get Black tickets.....
Item 2 was to go to MJs place for booze. Long drive to Morris, and AJ kept testing the speed limit his Mustang could touch...we made it there in good time and in one piece...We stopped on the way to get food also...cant come to NJ and leave without a trip to Oak tree road..well thats not my motto its AJ's...and if its not ure car then you gotta go everywhere the driver takes you.
Met Sri after a long time, I think it was the first time I'd seen the 2 of them together after their wedding last year. And tis a pleasure to watch MJ smoke...he literally pulls the life out of a Cigarette. Sat down chatted and caught up on old times, got half way drunk ate and then watched Red Eye the movie....so so movie, more bollywood like than the one I would eventually see. Most of us conked off at about 2:00 in the morning. I had a long chat with C in India. She was busy enjoying at a party along with my folks, eating good food and here I was walking about in 33 F in shorts and trying to explain to her how we managed not to get to the theatre on time.
Sunday was a nice day and surprisingly all of us were up by 9. Instant decision why not see the 11:00 show...so we left and made it there just on time as the movie started.
My review: good movie. the editing was fantastic. I liked the way they kept mixing up scenes from the past and the present. But for the unnecessary nonsense in the first half the movie would have been exceptional, but then I think that none of the other billion in India would have watched it. Well I must say that Rang de Basanti is a good watch.
Got back to Phili and parked myself in front of the TV for the Superbowl. Well now that the Eagles werent in it didnt seem all that interesting, but Matt Hasselbeck was impressive. I thought the Seahawks should have won it..but when the refs are against you there is very little a team can do.
All in all a great weekend, hope more of the weekends are like this.....
but als the superbowl comes once a year and so do movies like Rang de Basanti.
Thursday, February 02, 2006
I'm a Chevrolet Corvette!
You're a classic - powerful, athletic, and competitive. You're all about winning the race and getting the job done. While you have a practical everyday side, you get wild when anyone pushes your pedal. You hate to lose, but you hardly ever do.
Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.
Video Killed the Radio star
No. I dont want to talk about how MTV destroyed radio music..rather I want to use the same analogy and describe how I feel about my Nitendo Game cube and how gaming has destroyed the serials and sitcoms I loved to watch. We got a game cube 2 weeks back and ever since I havent had time to live. I know guys out there are going what a freak, he gets a game cube, thats a dying technology what with the 360 out and PS 3 soon on its way..well I am a little slow and yeah a little miserly. So why not get best of both worlds, have a gaming experience and get it cheap....is hard to get games though...
Well life has almost come to a halt I believe, earlier on we would just talk about how we had fun playing the cube with other friends..but no we play against each other and its just awesome....Madden and NHL just get you sucked into the idiot box.
Earlier I used to spend time watchin sitcoms like Raymond, or Seinfeld, now I switch the TV on only to play..actually the TV is on pretty much all the time I am at home except for when Im sleeping...yeah I know what u guys think from one couch activity to another, does this guy have a life? well just a lil bit of social scenario was building up, but the cube has destroyed those chances too.
GOOD bye exercise...Farewell READING....and adieus to interesting conversations, say Hello to my little friend the Game cube.
Gotta go and play some more Bond 007.
Well life has almost come to a halt I believe, earlier on we would just talk about how we had fun playing the cube with other friends..but no we play against each other and its just awesome....Madden and NHL just get you sucked into the idiot box.
Earlier I used to spend time watchin sitcoms like Raymond, or Seinfeld, now I switch the TV on only to play..actually the TV is on pretty much all the time I am at home except for when Im sleeping...yeah I know what u guys think from one couch activity to another, does this guy have a life? well just a lil bit of social scenario was building up, but the cube has destroyed those chances too.
GOOD bye exercise...Farewell READING....and adieus to interesting conversations, say Hello to my little friend the Game cube.
Gotta go and play some more Bond 007.
