Random Thoughts

As the name says, these are random thoughts that could go through any human beings mind

Monday, November 02, 2009

What is Honorary citizenship of the U...

What is Honorary citizenship of the United states? My guru Wikipedia states that it has only ever been conferred to 6 people. What does this mean? They can do what any citizen could do in the US? As in really, did/can Winston Churchill vote in US general elections?

The biggest question for me is what is the Honorary Citizenship that was given by the states? Does that mean one can stay in the city on their own merit? Ms. Mallika Sherawat (wikipedia says her age is 28, now guys I got eyes and I can see ....) was awarded honorary citizenship for LA. I remember many people like Dr. Sivaji Ganesan given citizenship for Ohio. 

Is there some clarity on what does this honorary citizenship awards given by states mean? Is it just a medal and a shield?

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Shakespeare and racism

Shakespeare and racism

It is not an unsurprising fact for most language experts but I could not comprehend this accusation. Not that my knowledge of Shakespeare was extensive by any means. I wanted to read his works "verbatim" and find out if this was true. On a largely uneventful Sunday with nothing to do, I tried to search for his books in my library. It is a blessing if your library is within 100 feet from your house because your only excuse i.e, laziness to go to a library is no longer valid. I searched the whole catalogue and got books which were dissertations, summaries but I wanted a verbatim copy. Finally I laid my hand on one "The Merchant of Venice" and lo ! I could not understand one bit of it. How else could you comprehend the following iambic pentameter,

You know me well, and herein spend but time

To wind about my love with circumstance,
And out of doubt you do me now more wrong
In making question of my uttermost
Than if you had made waste of all I have

This is nothing but Antonio's plea to Bessanio to not waste time and tell him what he wanted right away. The verbatim dissertation is "... Doubting I would back you unreservedly hurts more than squandering my fortune!...." Ah even this dissertation needs another dissertation to be understood. 

Portia the beautiful maid is proposed by the Prince of Morocco (of dark colour of course). There are three cases of Gold, Silver and Lead of which one contains the portrait of Portia. Portia already tells her maid that she hates him because of the colour. Fortunately for her the prince chooses the gold case and it has a manuscript that reads "All that glitters is not gold.." and he loses her, whereupon Portia utters the words,

A gentle riddance. Draw the curtains, go. Let all of his complexion choose me so.

Which literally means "May all of his dark colours choose the same" [and never marry a woman like me]. Portia also ridicules a German for his manners, a Scottish for his accent, a French for his manhood?

I won't even go near Shylock because he is a Jew villain. He is just one among the many villains in Shakespeare who are non-Christians. It is also known that Antonio has spit on his Jewish beard, kicked him before asking him for money. 

You call me misbeliever, cut-throat dog, 
And spit upon my Jewish gaberdine,

Shylock's origins are constantly the matter of contention and even Shylock rebukes Antonio with anti-christ taunts. And now last but not the least the mother of all instances. When Shylock is defeated in court he is subjected to several punishments for treachery, intention to kill etc. His punishments include "conversion to christianity"??

Two things provided more, that, for this favour,

He presently become a Christian;
The other, that he do record a gift, 

And this punishment is of course accepted.....

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Non profitable website ??

Non profitable website ??

Charu Niveditha is a popular writer in tamil. He has written english novels as well and commands respect for his writings. This is his website. Can you spot what I think?

It has Nalli silks ad in the left, Eagle T-shirts ad below the ad, a link to buy his books from his publication in the center frame, an ad for SKP Engineering college, and an ad for travel website "nearmyairport". It also has images of his spiritual GURUs and then there is something staring at you...

".. is a non profitable website. You can contribute for developing this website. ...."

I do not have a problem with the second statement "you can contribute...". Of course contributions are a major mode of sustenance for these websites which cannot be monitored on the basis of revenue or pay-per-click ads. But to call this a "non profitable website" ? That is wrong. Simply wrong..

Even if he did not take money for these ads it is still not a non-profitable website because it clearly advertises a whole bunch of things that is commercial. Will people close to him point this out?

Monday, October 19, 2009

பொதுவாகவே இந்த விமரிசகர்கள், விமரிசனம...

Written by Sujatha in 1972 ..... (took about an hour to type)

நவம்பர் 1972 - சுஜாதா "கணையாழி" பத்திரிக்கைக்கு எழுதியது. மிகுந்த சிரமப் பட்டு நானே டைப் செய்தது

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பொதுவாகவே இந்த விமரிசகர்கள், விமரிசனம் செய்யப்படும் புத்தகத்தையோ அல்லது திரைப்படத்தையோ பற்றிக் கவலைப்படுவதில்லை. அவர்களுக்கெல்லாம் முக்கியம் தத்தம் சொந்த அறிவுகளின் விஸ்தாரத்தைக் காண்பிப்பதே. விமரிசனம் எதற்கு தேவைப்படுகிறது? பார்ப்பவர்களின் அல்லது படிப்பவர்களின் ரசனையை உயர்த்துவதற்காக என்று கொள்ளலாமா ?

பார்ப்பவர்கள் அல்லது படிப்பவர்கள் யார்? இந்த விமரிசகர்களின் இருபது முப்பது நண்பர்களைத் தவிர மற்றவர்கள் "ராணி" அல்லது "ஆனந்த விகடன்" தொடர் கதை வாரந் தவறாமல் படித்து விட்டு "விமலாவின் தியாகம் என் கண்களில் நீர் வரவழைத்து விட்டது" என்று ஆசிரியருக்கு கடிதம் எழுதும் ஜாதி. அல்லது கே. பாலசந்தர் உலகிலேயே தலை சிறந்த டைரக்டர், சிவாஜி உலகப் பெரும் நடிகர் என்று "தலை சிறந்தவர்களை" சேவிக்கும் ஜாதி. சங்கராச்சாரியார் அல்லது சோவின் நாடகம் அல்லது ராசியின் புதிய சில்க் புட்டா, டிசம்பர் மாதத்து சீசன் கச்சேரி, அச்சாணி போன்ற நாடகங்கள்.. இப்படி எத்தனை பெண்கள், பாட்டிகள் , ஆபீஸ் அவசரக்காரர்கள், அல்லது "நான் தமிழ் படிப்பதில்லை" என்று பெருமைப்படும் தலை கலைந்த பம்பாய் பக்கம் மூக்கை நீட்டிக் கொன்டிருக்கும் மாணவர்கள் மாணவிகள். இவர்கள் தான் மிகப் பெரும்பாலானவர்கள். இவர்களை இந்த விமர்சகர்கள் எப்படி அடையப் போகிறார்கள்?

எல்லா விமர்சனங்களும் கால விரயம், பேப்பர் விரயம் என்று படித்தது ஞாபகம் வருகிறது. சாதாரணமாக ஜனங்கள் விமர்சனத்தால் பாதிக்க பட்டு, ஒரு புத்தகத்தையோ அல்லது சினிமாவையோ தவிர்ப்பது தவிர்க்காமல் இருப்பது இல்லை என்று நினைக்கிறேன். அவர்கள் முன்னால் தீர்மானித்து விடுகிறார்கள். அவர்கள் சினிமா பார்ப்பதும் படிப்பதும் ஏதோ கலை உணர்ச்சியைப் பொருத்து நிகழ்வதில்லை என்று நினைக்கிறார்கள். அவர்கள் கையில் இருக்கும் பணம், கடன் வாங்கும் திறமை, அவர்கள் நேர நிலைமை இவைகளைப் பொருத்தது தான். சினிமா கதைகள் எல்லாம் பொழுது போக்கு மட்டும் அல்ல, ஒரு கலை வடிவம் என்று அவர்களுக்குக் காட்டுவதற்கு நம்மிடம் உதாரணங்களும் இல்லை. இது தான் இதில் சோகம்.

எனவே இவர்களின் பழக்கத்தை விமர்சனங்களால் மாற்ற முடியாது. அதுவும் இந்த விமர்சகர்களால் நிச்சயம் முடியாது. இவர்கள் தெரியப்படுத்துவதெல்லாம் தத்தம் மேதவித்தனங்களையே. படிக்காமல் கேட்காமல் பார்க்காமல் எழுதுவது இவர்களுக்கு கைவந்த கலை. ஸ்டீபன் பாட்டரின் "review manship" வழிகளை இயல்பாகக் கடைப்பிடிப்பவர்கள். இவர்களை ஒதுக்கி விடுவது நல்லது. மற்றொரு வகை ஹிந்துவின் ஞாயிற்றுக்கிழமை வகை "This book is vellum bound in calf leather, contain 384pp" 

இந்த இரண்டு வகை விமரிசகர்களுக்கு நடுவே சில விமரிசகர்கள் நமக்கு இன்னும் தேவை.





Friday, October 02, 2009

E Book Reader suggestions?

E Book Reader suggestions? Please help me out ! I want to buy an e-book reader. The internet is bombarded with features of the ebook reader that I hardly ever care. All I want is a reader with about 1GB memory or to be more precise the ability to store say 10 pdf books at the max. 







I hate these talks of "Oh you could buy books at amazon store for $10 a book". I agree that book writers are to be paid the money they are due. But what if I already paid for an e-book and downloaded it as a pdf? Do they want me to pay a license once for e-book and again for the kindle-book?






Righto, back to the point. I need an ebook reader and all I care about is whether it can store/read about 10 pdf books.

Any suggestions, please?

Sunday, September 20, 2009

I never read movie reviews. And will ...

I never read movie reviews. And will most probably never write one. Infact I think if "IT Manager"  comes across as the most hated profession, a "Movie Reviewer" comes as a close second. When I am about to watch an English movie I do read about the technicians involved and their related movies so I get an idea what to expect. This is because there are some genres which are not at the top of my priority list. Like chessy romance (Marley and Me), people with unrealistic powers fighting against each other like X-Men 1,2...100. I don't understand how different it is going to be from playing say, a first person shooting video game to watching X-Men or Punisher. 

A few people are always exempt from this. Steven Spielberg, Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Al Pacino, Rajini, Kamal and AR Rahman. I don't care what the reviewers tell me. I am an avid watcher of cinema and even if 11 out of 10 reviewers tell me not to go for a movie I would still watch it if the movie involves some of the afore-mentioned people!!!

Don't read any reviews for Unnai Pol Oruvan. If you did not watch "A Wednesday" (I did about a year ago), then even better !! Just go and watch this Kamal Hassan movie. You wouldn't repent it. I have never seen anyone in any language saying a remake was better than the original. The best comment could be "honest remake" but never better than the original. So because I can't define what "better" means I am not going to attempt contrasting these.

I always look out for hidden sarcasm in Kamal's movies. My highlights for the movie....

  • No more "Ulaganayagan" (Universal Hero) title. It is just Kamal. Nice !
  • He (Unlike say Aamir Khan) has always been accused of not giving his co-stars enough space to perform. But if you go by the screen footage in Unnai Pol Oruvan, Mr. Lal has more and he actually dominates !
  • The dialogues have some interesting "Kamal" bits. Watch out for the bit where he talks about "A common man walks into the election booth and finds his name missing. On further questioning, he is being told that he does not exist". This actually happened with Kamal in the last election. The big celebrity that he is, he was told that he did not exist in the voter list !!!

Overall this not a review and I don't even understand how people assign N stars out of M. But just go and watch it !!! We need more movies of this kind :)



Thursday, September 17, 2009

Who else thinks that iphone - G2Andro...

Who else thinks that iphone - G2Android comparison is very similar to the IDEA - Eclipse comparison ? If the question was "Which was the better phone/IDE?", the answer would be a straight forward - IDEA / iphone.

But when most people ask "Which is a better phone/IDE" they are actually asking "Which is a better phone/IDE considering all factors mainly COST/addon licenses". Most people know that IntelliJ is the best IDE for Java/J2EE (or whatever names you call it) for the features but at $500 per license it makes us think if the delta is worth the cost.

I was planning to buy the iphone but I am ditching it to buy a Tmobile Android. I have lived in denial about the need for phones being the computer in 2010 for a long time now and I think I should join the "smart phone" bandwagon now !

So of I go ....