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Lynnisms
stray thoughts about stray subjects
The week that wasn't [ edit ]
December 12 2006 (09:21:00) ( 2 views )

It's the name of Cyrus Broacha's latest madcap offering. A Sunday morning show on CNN-IBN, loosely patterned on Jay Leno's stand-up politico-bashing comedy, without the band and the guest inteviews. I am told he is doing a 'Jon Stewart', who I ignorantly know nothing about.

I have seen the last two episodes and rolled on my sides with laughter. Cyrus is always funny. Cyrus buttoned up stiff in a pin striped suit, with bulging cheeks and chin struggling to stay contained above an impossibly tight tie, is beyond always funny. He is partnered by Kunal Vijaykar, who roams the streets dressed as a paan chewing politician mouthing profanities and other words of votebank wisdom, while a constipated looking Cyrus squats in the studio, and engages him in pantomimical dialogue.

Together they have spoofed Shibu Soren, Lalooji, and King Khan among others. The blogosphere is filling up with positive and negative feedback about the program, while the ratings have yet to rate it properly. So it's fully fitting that I must add in my two pice worth - watch it, reader, and do not be afraid. If this good Indian can get away without being sued silly, I'll say that we have truly come of age, at least in being able to laugh at ourselves fearlessly and unselfconsciously.
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Jim-Jam [ edit ]
December 06 2006 (06:22:00) ( 2 views )

Today has started earlier than usual, with most of the office getting in ahead of time to beat the traffic jams expected today. 1.5 million Dalits have descended onto our overcrowded city to pay homage to their departed leader and the author of the Indian Constitution, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, on the occasion of his 50th death anniversary.

The police and political parties have assured us all that there will be no security issues. But it is still wise to use a day like today to complete all our internal work, including spring cleaning, and...a bit of blogging on the side, while munching on my favourite canteen biscuits, Jim-jams.

We will release 'Engross', our detailed study on media engagement and ad avoidance, to the public this Friday at the ITC Grand Central. Some of the findings are fierce. I hope the media owners who attend the meet go away suitably chastened by the voice of the consumer. But more on that only next week after the launch.

The jury is still out on SRK as the new host (or 'dost' as he likes to call himself) of KBC. A generation of skeptics like myself will doubtless surrender itself to the gutsy gut feelings of Sameer Nair, who is uncannily good at stepping in where angels fear to tread. That fact that he has swung a Rs 280 crore fee to the Khan for a four season contract (what the mighty AB earned in 396 episodes!) speaks for itself.

My personal vote would still have gone to my childhood tennis friend, Aamir Khan, but then as Sameer puts it, Aamir might be a bit too perfectionist for the fast paced world of television. When four episodes per week need to be trotted out, it may not be worth the producer's while to argue over the number of questions per round with the quizmaster.

I wonder whether SRK likes Jim-jams too?
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Brand new month [ edit ]
December 01 2006 (07:55:00) ( 2 views )

And a brand new look.

But still a dolphin's space, I think.

Let me know whether you like this look, or prefer the previous one.

Comments

Nice...laidback....oriental....but not the firebrand u
Posted by svety on 12/01/2006 08:41:52 AM

It's hauntingly abstract. Not very befitting but then it need not be. Every once in awhile we need to free the oompa-loompas, those poor oompa-loompas. [:)]
Posted by rashmiblogger on 12/02/2006 08:08:13 AM

Why thank you kind madam! :) May the force be with you too young jedi.
Posted by rashmiblogger on 12/06/2006 04:23:41 AM
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just experimenting [ edit ]
November 30 2006 (00:03:00) ( 4 views )

my blog is situated at lynnisms.blogsource.com. it can be accessed by leying in lynnisms.in. just trying out this site which was recommened to me by coco. (0) Comments | Post Comment
Environmentalism - the real thing [ edit ]
November 27 2006 (07:28:00) ( 2 views )

The day after Steve Irwin died, Germaine Greer wrote a scathing account of his life and his work in the Guardian - and the Hindustan Times reproduced it here. Among other things, she called him a 'self-deluded Aussie larrikin'. Ms Greer is entitled to her opinions of course but there is a time and a place for everything. Several sections of the Australian press and the Australian government later demolished her piece soundly with counter articles and arguments in defense of the wildlife warrior.

Reading her article was like being told that Santa Claus isn't real. People need their dreams and their heroes. What good does it do to debunk them? We are inspired to do great things because we dream and because we have heroes. I daresay Steve Irwin has done more for the environment that Greer has done for feminism.

It was therefore a pleasure to read Kathy Buchanan's 2002 interview with him in the latest issue of the Reader's Digest (that oldfashioned antique magazine that one isn't supposed to admit to reading in public, where I often thankfully still find my soul).

Here, in his own words, is his take on conservation, "Historically speaking, conservation has always been like some weird religious sect: you watch the telly and it’s all shot on a really long lens and some guy is like the voice of God telling you about the cheetah making a kill on the wildebeest.

Now we’ve changed that: we’ve brought you with us. I’m talking to you when I’m on the telly and I want you with me. My job is to show you the beauty and the excitement of the wilderness. I’m not going to sit there and tell you that you can’t wear crocodile skin boots or eat [crocodile] at a restaurant. Instead, I’ll show you the beauty of crocs and you won’t want to do it."

This was the line I most empathised with, "Of all the wildlife out there, man’s the one I fear most: man is the most dangerous animal in the world."

If you want to read the whole interview here is the link

http://rd-india.com/newsite/other/facetoface.asp

And if you want to read Germaine Greer's tirade, here is the link to that one too, lest I seem intransparent.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/australia/story/0,,1865124,00.html
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Still racist [ edit ]
November 25 2006 (11:25:00) ( 2 views )

Perhaps Michael Richards shouldn't have said what he did.
Perhaps the world shouldn't react the way that it has.

Perhaps Angelina Jolie's bodyguard should be given the benefit of the doubt. (Brad Pitt sounded convincing enough. But then so did A N Roy.)
So perhaps he shouldn't.

What makes people look for racism even where there probably isn't any?
Small mindedness, that's what it is. That, and smaller heartedness.
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Thank you, DNA [ edit ]
November 09 2006 (09:24:00) ( 2 views )

Not for your newspaper, which I still find difficult to identify with or read myself, though I do appreciate that it would enjoy lakhs of readers among a different set of people. But for the DNA branded Vase USB speaker that you so kindly gifted me a few weeks ago, which Tarun Katial of Big FM inaugurated for me last week, by playing back the Aashirvad specials that they have created on his laptop.

I have since installed it on my own laptop, and am now better able to enjoy Songs from the Labyrinth while working on the latest MIS reports. The CD will not appeal to everyone, but I would still recommend my readers to invest in it. There is the bonus of a written introduction to the album by Sting himself, his verbal craft obviously as fine tuned as his music and always a great pleasure to read. Plus the knowledge that even a maestro like Sting never stops learning. If he can pick up a four hundred year old instrument (the lute and the archlute), take lessons on how to use it from an East European who once snubbed him forcefully, and then create an album with the same gentleman, surely we are in the presence of men who make history. And that's the feeling you get when you listen to this music, its lyrics, its vocals, and the spoken words - especially when the MIS reports I am working on may soon create a quiet history of their own, too!
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The lowest trees have tops [ edit ]
November 07 2006 (10:44:00) ( 2 views )

Here are the lyrics from one of the most magical songs on Sting's latest album - Songs from the Labyrinth - released last month, all featuring lyrics by John Dowland, a songwriter who lived 400 years ago.

The lowest trees have tops, the ant her gall,
The fly her spleen, the little spark his heat;
And slender hairs cast shadows though but small,
And bees have stings although they be not great;
Seas have their source, and so have shallow springs,
And love is love in beggars and in kings.
Where waters smoothest run deep are the fords;
The dial stirs, yet none perceives it move;
The firmest faith is in the fewest words;
The turtles cannot sing and yet they love,
True hearts have eyes and ears, no tongues to speak;
They hear and see and sigh, and then they break.

Sigh....wish that I could ever write so well.....
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In the balance.... [ edit ]
November 01 2006 (07:29:00) ( 2 views )

what's the use of being virtuous, if your mind and heart is vicious?

Give me vices over viciousness, any day.
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Happy Birthday, Lynn [ edit ]
October 26 2006 (09:33:00) ( 2 views )

I was scheduled to be born on November 15. However, on the night preceding my birth, our family garage was visited by a few snakes. The panic that ensued caused my mother to go into premature labour, and she gave birth to me at 7 am on the morning of my grandparents fortieth wedding anniversary, three weeks ahead of schedule.

Since then, snakes have been a regular part of my life, often showing up on important occasions. While my mother continues to be a fearful of them, my brother developed a healthy affection for them, my father respects them, and I have handled pythons in Kuala Lumpur and davors in Torda.

On one's birthday, I suppose it is fair to contemplate the day one is expected to die - thankfully a day we can never be sure of. If any snakes were killed in the hours preceding my birth, then it would only be fitting if I were to go by the bite of a snake. If on the other hand, none were killed but a few were rendered homeless, then I have been repaying this debt by trying in my own small way to befriend snakes through our tie up with Green Cross.

When I do go then, I would like it to be as a venerable old woman in her eighties, with a trim athletic body, razor sharp mind, as much at ease with farmers as with heads of state, and always always still kicking ass.

Comments

"Is rang mein jee le agar koi, marne ka use gam kya hoga...." Hope no translations are required!!! Happy Bday Lynn
Posted by svety on 10/26/2006 11:51:45 AM

Happy almost Birthday, Lynn! If I read correctly, the actual is Nov 13th? I have no issues with snakes, not a bad totem to have been born under. I don't like being startled by them by any means, but I've owned a few, and as long as I see it before it touches me, I'm completely ok with them.
Posted by sommersend on 10/26/2006 11:45:42 PM

reminds me of sridevi in nagina.. ever tried dancing to the 'been' .. meanwhile happy bithday in advance :)
Posted by manuscrypts on 10/31/2006 02:08:39 PM

Talking of snakes and your association with them all through life... I belong to Nag-pur ie the city of snakes :-)
Posted by medialogy on 11/10/2006 04:54:23 AM
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