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Latest addition to my wishlist. Live News in the Restroom! The rsstroom's got to be ranked as the next best thing to happen after RSS. Only problem is, it's rumored to be fake!

The Frugal Swede

And you thought Narayana Murthy was as far as you could go to cite a boss who sets an example for his employees on simple living. Try the 4th richest man on earth! Ingvar Kamprad, a.k.a the man who created IKEA.


The Car that Ingavar drives, when he isn't taking the bus to work. A quick glance through this page shows that most of the other billionaires aren't in a hurry for an Auto update.

The Scotsman:
Asked to confirm that he drove an old Volvo, he said: "She is nearly new, just 15 years old, or something like that." Asked jokingly if IKEA employees were told to write on both sides of the paper, he said: "Why not? If there is such a thing as good leadership, it is to give a good example. I have to do so for all the IKEA employees.

Free Flashcards from Shutterfly

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No More Tears Sister

A film about a Tamil Human Right's worker, who fought the LTTE, the IPKF and the Sri Lankan Government is making waves. The few lines on Rajani Thiranagama set me off Googling about the lady. When people assasinate Jaffna University's Head of the Anatomy Department, while she cycled her way back home, it fails to remain as a mere statistic. The more I read about her, the more humbled I am.

When doctors were too frightened to reveal an IPKF massacre at Jaffna Hospital in October 1987 which left 70 staff and patients dead, and were even afraid publicly to commemorate their dead colleagues, Rajani interviewed survivors…

With a handful of other women, Rajani cycled throughout the region, collecting information on the murders and tortures, and on the rapes that are a widespread but shamefully hidden consequence of the conflicts. She listed the experiences of the mothers and young girls, counseling them and giving them whatever they needed from whatever she had…

Critics rip LOTR Musical

Rahman with his Orchestrator, Christopher Nightingale.

Looks like A R Rahman's got another stinker on his hand. Sadly, the Lord of the Rings musical isn't really setting his stock on fire. Remember the kind of reviews Bombay Dreams received on its Broadway debut. With NY Times dismissing it right away, doubts about LOTR even making it to Broadway (based on reviews by the NYC-based media) have been raised.

NY Times Review:

You speak not the half of it, O cherub-cheeked lad of Middle Earth. The production in which you exist so perilously is indeed a murky, labyrinthine wood from which no one emerges with head unmuddled, eyes unblurred or eardrums unrattled. Everyone and everything winds up lost in this $25 million adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's cult-inspiring trilogy of fantasy novels. That includes plot, character and the patience of most ordinary theatergoers.

Boo Hoo Mr. Bo

Without citing India or the majority of Mumbai's population that lives in slums or the shanties ringing the conference venue, Bo referred to "some developing countries" that cram their poor into "clusterings of shantytowns" where life is too bleak for freedom to mean anything.

"Some people in those places cannot even have a shower for years on end. And these people - most of them have no access to education," he said. "So how can you imagine that these people are in a position to talk about democracy when they are simply illiterate?"

That was Chinese commerce minister, Bo Xilai responding to Manmohan Singh's swipe at China. I cannot agree more with Mr. Bo, but I would like to point out, what good does it do when you lock up your well-educated citizens in a 1x1 foot cell with no one to talk, for years together; forget means to a decent shower or a shot at Democracy!

Shymalan's AmEx 'pitch'

Got to give it to Shyamalan. His ad (also viewable here) for American Express is outright intriguing, honest and charming. Here's why Shyamalan says he made the ad. While you're at it, here's an interesting excerpt from that conversation:

I said to them before I signed on "you need to know right away there are certain levels of integrity that I have and that is going to make this difficult." The one thing I requested was they can't play this ad in movie theaters. Movie theaters are a sacred place. We don't go to the movies to be sold anything. I want the theater to be a pure experience. My diva thing was protecting cinema. But the point is American Express was very responsive to that.

If you're still reading, here's a view ("The problem with M. Night Shyamalan") from Kuro5hin, which thinks of Shymalan's movies as failed comedies.

Bush's N-Deal w/ India

A sample from Cagle's take on Bush's largess to India.

Textbook Wars

A Textbook trouble's been brewing in California's backyard. Source of the problem, is the potrayal of Hinduism in Californian School textbooks. Parents, Academicians, Scholars and Educationists are in the middle of a super debate to define what Hinduism is. The debate assumes even higher singnificance 'cause according to NPR, Schools across the United States adopt California's Textbooks!

Metro

One says that educational material may not contain "any matter reflecting adversely upon persons because of their race, color, creed, national origin, ancestry, sex, handicap, or occupation." Hindu parents, religious groups and educators have capitalized on this sentence to argue that current textbooks are unlawfully offensive and degrading to Hinduism and Indian culture.

The other provision says that the same materials may not contain "any sectarian or denominational doctrine or propaganda contrary to law." Scholars, activists and human-rights groups are touting this line to combat what they call fundamentalist Hindu efforts to sanitize Indian history and glorify Hinduism to the detriment of minority groups.

Searching for middle ground has been a bumpy ride.

The funny part is, apart from the groups that are slugging it out against each other in Sacremento (add a few more Metro readers), not many people here are even aware of what's going on around them.

Siliconeer magazine presents an illustration of how Hindu groups from India are supposedly waging a proxy war on US soil.

Anukokunda Oka Roju

AOR is a rare Telugu movie that'll make Hitchcock proud. Maybe am playing it up a bit, but Anukokunda's got class. Director Chandra Sekhar Yeleti's style reminds me of Ram Gopal Varma when he'd just made Shiva. Clearly, I missed the Aithe flares somewhere or else I would've found AOR much earlier.

Told with all modesty, coming from AP, AOR tells a story from a young woman's perspective. Sahasra (Charmy), a budding singer goes to a party with a friend and gets drugged. She wakes up two days later at her home; the next thing she knows is people in the streets are out baying for her blood. How she unravels the puzzle with the help of a suspended cop (Jagapathi Babu) and a Cabbie (Shashank) is told very grippingly.

Chandra Sekhar introduces half a dozen interesting characters, uses them very effectively in the story and rounds each one of them pretty well. What's more impressive is that the Director never loses his humour even in the middle of a tense moment.

A must watch. The DVD version has some decent subtitles.

King Kong

Peter Jackson weaves his magic with KK, but when it's all over there's only a handful scenes that make the movie memorable. Take away the scenes between King Kong and Naomi Watts; and the film doesn't step up much. Not disappointed, but not too thrilled about it either.

Smoking and MPAA

Anbu Mani, India's Minister for Health has a new report to back his law that'd ban smoking on Indian screens and it comes from University of California San Francisco.

A shocker from Rajasthan

Forget Madras' culture policing. Rajasthan's guidelines to tourist takes us back a few hundred centuries. Don't trust me? Take a peek:

• Men should never touch women in public, even to help a woman out of a car, unless the lady is very elderly or infirm
• In Indian culture... men socialise with men, and women with women
• Married couples in Asia do not hug, hold hands or kiss in public. Even embracing at airports and train stations is considered out of the question
• Generally it is improper for women to speak with strangers on the street and especially to strike up a casual conversation
• Drinking alcohol or smoking in public, no matter how innocent, are interpreted as a sign of moral laxity and are not acceptable.

Bose suspension

Thanks to Amar Bose, you'll have a smoother ride over potholes. His suspension design would be a dream come true for Indian drivers, but like his speakers, the suspension system's going to the high-end car buyers. The add-on cost of the extra smooth ride for your Car - $5000.

Indians and Fair skin

Time Magazine examines "How Indians came to view fair skin as an ideal--and a business opportunity"

Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World

Albert Brooks' Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World; India and Pakistan, to be more precise. Rediff has a great introduction to the film.

Melinda and Melinda

With Hollywood Ending, Woody Allen let us into a filmmaking style, even while satirizing it (what if a Director turns blind and doesn't wish to stop shooting!); In Melinda & Melinda he takes us a little closer to his thought process while narrating a story. Two people discuss how a single incident ("A bunch of friends are having a jolly Dinner and a woman walks into them..." scenario) can be narrated either as a Comedy or a Drama. Both have similar storylines, but how the characters respond and how they feel about it are presented in opposite moods.

Two set of Actors (except Melinda) for the two alternative lines lets you focus on how the storyline unfold. A truly Woody Allen (for once, you he doesn't feature in his film) classic made possible by Will Ferrell and Radha Mitchell.

Sikhs better stay in Canada and Britain

"Hmm..., you wear a Turban, you must be Terror". That's the theme in America, going by the number of situations, where Sikhs have been caught in the cross-fire. I for one think this incident has to do with the Sikh Cabbies harassing the Cops in Manhattan.

Musharaf's "No Al-Qaida Here: Movement 2" Symphony gets a few jarring notes. Just hold a moment! Human Rights "activists" speaking up from Pakistan! How long before the "No Human Right Activists here" begins!

Delta 6250 plastic containers, used world over to store Oorka (Pickle), Snacks and Bombs. So, the next time you're at the Indian grocery and you see someone buying those innocent looking "Pearl PET" jars, you know whom to call.

Answering TVR Shenoy's question, the precise diplomatic language would be, "Mr. Enoki, would you Please Shut Up. Please."

This is SPOOOKY!

Moved

Moved to MT (again). Pls be patient while you're being re-directed there...

Mathura Nagarpathi Kahe Tum...

The song that opens with the titles for Raincoat has me in a bind. Rarely has a song given me the bumps like this one ("Mathura Nagarpathi Kaahe Tum Gokulu ...") Set to Debojyoti Mishra's music, rendered by the ever-impressive Shubha Mudgal, the song has an innate quality to set the mood for the impending narration. So apt is Rituparno Ghosh’s lyric, every time you play the song, the whole movie plays out before you, no matter where you are. It was as if the Director put us next to Manoj (Ajay Devgan) as he begins his journey. The shots of the train accompanying the song remind me of Chinna Thai Aval… (Mani Ratnam’s Thalapathi), where an old steam engine makes its way through the bushes and tall bridges. This song hasn't left me or the CD player for four days now.

Piya Tora Kaisa Abhiman (solo renditions by Hariharan and Subha) and Raha Dekhe Saavan (Subha Mudgal) are lilting too. Never has a Hindi movie (in my limited exposure) exploited Music or placed the song so intelligently.

Raincoat must be what they call poetry in Cinema. Raincoat’s a subtly-done, well-timed and charmingly directed piece. Essentially a dialogue between to erstwhile lovers on a rainy day, Raincoat brings forward the art of Screenwriting (inspired by O Henry's 'The Gift of Magi'. Both of them indulge in lies and deceit about their dysfunctional lives, until they redeem themselves with a final act. There isn't a moment in this long dialogue, where you feel like getting you attention away from the screen. I just loved Ajay Devgan and Annu Kapoor's performance in the film.