gre SHAMBOLLIC: March 2007 gk

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Kele Okereke

Pretty upset he read englishlit at kings, but if i can keep that aside i can go right ahead and say Kele Okereke is pretty exciting. His band Bloc are Mercury Prize nominees and I've never heard or read about them before this little happenby today. Kele has gone and said, that rock group Oasis have "made stupidity hip", also calling them "repetitive Luddites", the last an accusation most bands cant duck. Btw - i also liek Kele's arms (see how it reflects moonshine) cant help falling for these things. In other news, yesterday caught that Amrita Shergill thingi at MM. Something of a laugh if you ask me. Called India's 'Kahlo', AmSh was just that - in her convenient hybridity and the suspect merit and originality of work. To make things worse, this little docu was made by her neice who also ensured we never forgot that, by referring to AS as 'aunty' too often. In the post-screening freeforall she played the disarm card by letting on one of her challeneges in doing the docu was avoiding the inevitability of putting it like the subject was her aunty. You know, even in real life - I'm seeing this confession tactic is becoming really common: you confess to exactly what youre guilty of, so the critics are psychologically disarmed of a valid concern because you were so gracious to admit your failings even though ...Never intended posting anything at all on Amrita Shergil, but I had asked ckm before the screening if AS could have been aware of Kahlo; their lifetimes did overlap, ive just found.

posted by Finny Forever at 8:50 PM

Sunday, March 25, 2007

One of Susan Sontag's last essays (unpublished), beautifully titled Pay attention to the world, makes a case for the primacy of the novel in a puddle of distracting visual and other mediating gimmicks. I enjoyed it though I saw parts that were specious. And here's a fine one by Guy Dammann on the importance of literary feuds, To my mind, pens unsheathed in enmity write with more wit and interest than do the nibs of praise ... and I'd prefer any literary feud to the soppy, self-serving associations that most great writers have in place of friendship.
***
And then the event of the weekend had to be the talk by S V Srinivas, Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Culture and Society, Bangalore. His subject: Moments of Irrationality and the Willing Spectator:
An argument about Popular Cinema as a Political Form. It's always such a pleasure to listent to slick, informed, cogent, rational speakers. In total awe of the erudition, composure, gravitas and absolute flair.
posted by Finny Forever at 1:26 PM

Friday, March 23, 2007

Walk alone

Its only too easy to take out marches in multiples. A single person making an issue on their own tends to look really stupid. and very Sad. But from a lot of things I've seen around, it's the people who move alone, who make this world a more considered place.
While others sold out, this Chinese woman has kept her house defying repeated calls from authorities to concede. well.
posted by Finny Forever at 8:05 PM

Monday, March 19, 2007

Bob Woolmer dies

What must he have gone through?
posted by Finny Forever at 9:23 PM

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Justice AR Lakshmanan restores faith

Some judges were trying to get him to compose himself. Others said he shouldn't have got emotional at all. I'm saying: here is a man. So what were the fellow judges trying to say? It's all part of the business of being a judge, to get threats? No. Never cease to be outraged and utterly emotional at violation of sensitivities. Then there's another thing, an immune and mature judge would have gone ahead with the case and also been silent over the threat. But then you see, we would never know what he was being influneced by. How many hardened judges have we got - too many. And to be as fair as possible - we all have an impression of SP particularly and their culture. Justice Lakshmanan restored faith in the judiciary. I'm sorry he's resigning in a few days.
posted by Finny Forever at 9:58 AM

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Nothing I've read of Meena Kandasamy has sounded off-key. She's struck it just right again and again. Even her index finger is shaped perfect; all her fingers are. I think uber mentioned her some time back; someone to look out for. Didn't Arko read from her book that day? So i distrust her PhD, age deficiency, certain social definition, her skin and her limbs. How about some hairy sad sunburnt unbelonger who wears makeup that cracks and grips a wisdom that thrills without the imprmtur of an academy. Pedigree, even hybrid, honorary pedigree is mity tiring. I still think i might browse her book somewhere. And just forget what I just said, this lady poets beautifully - try her here.
posted by Finny Forever at 7:26 PM

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

I need to take a minor diversion here and report 2 immediate things:
  • Passing away of Baudrillard of hyperrealism
  • The Bugatti Veyron 16.4 - sorry but considering i'm an open-minded slut for product design, it's not surprising my socialist spirit appreciates even unfortunate captalistic trophies. It's not really the idealblowing W16 engine (which is 2 V8s sharing the same crankshaft). Just the contours; it's handcrafted, and only 300 produced that were handed out selectively. It spun out a bit on its debut run and some talk of uncool bay overheating. But that's about all dressed up and nowhere to go - what to do with the ambition? How babies want to put things in their mouth most of their waking time is how i felt when i saw this thing. O and the BV came to my attention with this news of a crash that thankfully injured noone.
posted by Finny Forever at 8:49 AM

Sunday, March 04, 2007

Niven Govinden and how the Cauvery tribunal got me peace

Euuum - who is this reviewer, Sheba Thayil? I've noticed her before on the hindu's lit rev. it's entirely to my own failings for sweep gens of mostly substandard egoprints, that i've never really stopped by much of her stuff before. There's pradeep sebastien and an anand and some interviews and thats about as far i usually go into the rev. And then I read her 'Impossibly good' review of Niven Govinden's 'Graffiti My Soul'. She starts with - 'Who is this author?' and that's what made me stop mid-fart at brekfast today. With believed blessings from Clive James for the essential arrogance of genius, I'd say the best writers in any form in (from) India today are simply original, earthy and casual in a forward-backward flip. Forward-backward because anyone can put on a kind of casualiness, but with the good ones, its on-demand and deliberate as well, to look like something less troubled. Ok forget all that - i'm just saying south indians are unfailingly better at it. So no surprises both Sheba Thayil and Niven Govinden have it. It: the arty genius that makes beautiful things.
I was just wondering if Sheba's in some way related to Jeet?
***

In other news, here's a story on: How the Cauvery tribunal ruling saved me money. It saved me money and even got me peace of mind. I live in an enriching neighbourhood peopled largely by racuous families on-the-make. The Cauvery tribunal ruling worked to silence them all. It's not the knowledge of the ruling itself, but how the area's cable-operator chose to retaliate. Most of the city's cable-operators have pushed a couple of buttons or dragged down some sliders, effectively blacking out all tamil channels or at least the noisiest and most-watched. And then I was witness to an unbidden but welcome live case-study on how the noise-making capacities of the folkes of my neighbourhood was really driven by the media. Not only were their space-age tv's subwoofers silenced (because they believe in theirthing or nothing), but they were even speaking more kindly, with a retiring humanness they were never known to have. All the peace meant, I could get a lot of work done in my own gaza strip room. That's money saved. and peace everywhere for some time. Now ... how to silence a mucky bollywooded neighborhood?

posted by Finny Forever at 11:46 AM

Thursday, March 01, 2007

aaaaaaaAaaaaaaaa

Ok. A lot of things happened and before I bark i better put them down.
1.Considering I consider few things sacred, I never really know how I'm going to react when the one thing (for the time atleast) is pilloried and wanked around even in writing. And that's what Clive James did with the memory of Bruce Lee, something of a guru to me. But I really enjoyed his mischeivous class rant and really did. Sometimes you know when someone has had damn good fun writing something. And I say, you either write with a chronic erection or a lethal depression, or you know, just spare ppl your writing. It shows; that's what happenend. Boisteriously biased, judgemental, rude and packed with indisputable axioms - i loved it and laughed before I could even think. Then later in the day, another one of his pieces, on Brazil, the useful satire witnessed in the background of an orgy months back. His bio quite a thing too. nice boy. tear me up anyday.
2.guess what i did?


3.I'm reading excited reviews of the latest production of schaeffer's equus, radcliffe's rite of passage stage deb. the hype's got me for many reasons. because some hype gets me, one. then, the steel wire horse mask used by the actor Will Kemp who carries around radcliffe for a long while. then the plot, not just for the circuit but really the theme. a stable boy gets horsey with his horses and gouges their eyes in a euphoric dance. Then the inevitable psychiatric treatment. I'm excited that radcliffe really looks like he's climaxing in many scenes, but what fixes me is why every review's panning the relevance and worth of schaeffer's proposed premises. o well - the establishment knows best. and in one case we have intellectually propriety defended by an eddmirrably pedigreed charles spencer of the daily mail.I also wonder how radcliffe's going to sustain his show till June, 8 times a week!Also, entirely coincidentally, slogan goes and put up this pic of a down-at-heel local horse. although i cannot entirely appreciate slogan for not respecting her privacy, at least he let the hidden face be. I'm only thinking this horse is still overcome with the shame of knowing what the sight of his reduced state will mean to her parents. rubbish at her feet. succour is the wall.


4.I'm in talks with some ppl on viewer/reader expectations in film/writing. just local crowd local film even ok. we decided even in accessible and less stultified supplemet writing, everyone's playing it safe. like they never want to spoil their prospects of bedding even the stray someone. The promiscuity has made the intellectual city the cave it has become. You see a bad job, call it a bad job, rallying all the facts and summoning no fallacious arguments. So, we've banded to form the razor tongue brigade. almost nothing is sacred. more disrespect please.

posted by Finny Forever at 4:03 PM