Archive for the ‘TV’ Category
We can’t handle the truth
From the moment I first saw it, I always wished that the ‘Moment of Truth’ was brought to India. And my wish came true a few weeks ago. The Indian version called ‘Sach ka saamna’ that airs on Star Plus has caused quite a furore in the general public and even some wise MP’s have asked for bans. But some of my favourite quotes in the whole episode comes from the High Court Bench:
1. Switch off your TV, Mister, if you don’t like it, or change the channel. Moral policing is not our job.
2. We don’t think our social values are so fragile that one TV programme will
damage them.
Seriously, these culturally erect guys took the hard way out by pursuing legal action rather than pressing a button on their remotes. What do they want anyway? An apology? “Sir, I am so sorry that I stole money from my job or slept with some random person. I will never do it again, and even if I do, I won’t tell because as you pointed out, telling the truth ‘offends your culture and ethos‘.” WTF?
The contestants come of their own volition, have a choice to discontinue at any point, and if they lose their jobs or their wives so be it. They are mature adults and cannot be told how to act by other, more mature adults.
I have a feeling that the actual reason for demanding a ban on the serial is that we are unable to accept a different opinion or behaviour and we want to believe life is dandy and perfect. Ain’t that the truth?
You Got It Going On
Hilarious video that poses an intriguing moral question – if you put a wig in a dude and pretend that he’s a woman, are you really gay? Never heard of Flight of the Conchords before, but think I’ll follow it from now. 
Link courtesy: Giribala
Day 29 – IPL 2
What a day – The Hand that rocked the Lotus, rules the country again. Of course, the Left didn’t do well, because you know that in our culture a ‘Left Hand’ means shit.
All the news channels are thrilled to bits that their exit polls were correct and this is a common headline across the board, ‘UPA Win – Just as we had predicted.’ CNN IBN is even showing that their new website has had 7.5 million hits so far. What joy for me.
I just hope that a united government is able to work towards the progress we desperately need now – no more communal tension, effective anti-terrorism measures, economic and infrastructural reforms. We’ve had enough of these problems – time to move on.
Moving to the IPL, one spot was booked in the semis. Mumbai effectively walked out of the semi-finals of IPL 2 when Sachin walked off the field having scored only 11 from 15 balls. Despite reaching a reasonable total, it was Sachin’s reliable captaincy that ensured they would never make it past Dhoni and Hayden. If anyone should have the nickname ‘The Wall’, it really should be Hayden. Not only does he play with consistency and is difficult to get out, but he also looks massive – a veritable Great Wall of Chennai. And it is on this wall with an orange cap that Chennai have jumped to the other side of the tournament.
The only interest in the DC vs KKR match was to see if DC would continue to be in the hunt for the semis. KKR has become like the Third Front of this IPL now; they can only screw up the other teams’ chances (as BJP claimed the Third Front did in these elections) to be in the top four, and that’s exactly what one though when Andrew Symonds was run out.
KKR managed a very good total of 160 that was primarily a result of a 17-ball 43 by David Hussey. A solid start by Gilly didn’t seem like it would be enough – at the end of the 19th over they still needed 21 to win. But a sensational final over, which Rohit Sharma faced most of, yielded 26 runs, and ensured that KKR continued its losing habit.
It wasn’t without controversy though as Mortaza was no-balled in the early part of the over as one of the fielders wasn’t within the circle. McCullum fought tooth and nail, but didn’t manage to win the argument with the umpire. Poor McCullum I feel so bad for him, he showed so much determination today – being captain of KKR is very much like being CEO of Citi. Chief of a shiny, sinking ship.
Onto some blooperdom and today we feature a Ramiz Raja classic: “It’s touch and go, and it’s more go than touch.” He really knows how to turn a phrase, with more phrase than turn. Also, check out a nice collection of these commentary classics from Cricinfo.
And is it just me or are the Zoozoos getting irritating? They were fine when they first appeared, but it’s all too predictable now.
Get ready for more Charu!
 As a consequence of moving the series abroad (or so they say), the kind folks at IPL have decided to have a five-minute break at the end of every ten overs. You know what that means – more ‘brilliant’, ‘shining’ and ‘luminous’ commentary from a man who was fired from a vague position of a team that did poorly at last year’s IPL.
Ironically, I’m hoping that they really stuff those five minutes with ads, else we could see more jam sessions with this dude and that Arun Lal fellow, whose ramblings make even the ongoing India-NZ test series seem like ‘The hottie and the nottie’. |
How to earn a ‘Bournville’
That’s one chocolate bar that went to straight to the butt!
Ad-parodying notwithstanding, the anchor and his constant repetition of the brand name are extremely irritating. Obviously the idea here is to try to enhance brand recall for a new launch, but there are better ways to do that than chant ‘Bournville’ incessantly. The visual effects of the giant bird are smooth, but fail to make up for the ad’s inconsistent sense of humor (see-sawing between bizarre and simple) and complete lack of depth. On every level, one is left feeling like there’s something incomplete about it.
What is really disappointing is the fact that Cadbury has a legacy of great commercials. Bournville is a premium brand and we should have seen something that was a notch above their best, not some clueless moron hogging screen space.
Snooping on someone – the DishTV way
A simple list of tasks to get someone’s complete postal address:
1. Wish they have DishTV.
2. Use your OWN login to get into the DishTV portal. You can also create one from here: http://www.dishtv.in/subaccess/default.aspx
3. Enter victim’s cell phone number / VC number.
4. Ta-da! The next page displays their complete postal address!
Easy, no? How’s THAT for privacy?
Homer classics
I’ve always been a HUGE fan of the Simpsons from the time they debuted on the erstwhile STAR Plus. Given that, it makes reading this article a fascinating trip down memory lane. Interesting factoid:
In 1992, Elizabeth Taylor voiced the first (and almost only) word ever spoken by baby Maggie. Aptly enough, it was ‘Daddy!’
Some Homer classics below:
Picture courtesy: The Daily Mail
Yo momma!
As an Indian, it particularly struck me how other nations permit art forms to grow organically without censorship or protest. We are still in the stage where our artists have to apologize for being culture-sensitive. Is that why most developed nations tend to move away from organized religion?
One would think those countries need CRAP man.
IPL website!
Well, if performances in the IPL are anything like the performance of the IPL website, we’re in for one rain-hit series! Check out Amit Varma’s post on the same. When I last visited it, this was what was shown.
So much for a well-marketed series! Rah, rah Lalit Modi, indeed! I seriously hope I won’t be watching paanchvi paas on the night of 25th April!
Prakash Amritraj’s gateway to nowhere
At first sight, it seemed that the short films that were bad. It was only after watching the fourth incomprehensible film that I realised the films got chopped to one and a half minutes in the show! How can the most important part be chopped to cater to Mr Boring Amritraj repeating his question, “So is this your first film?”? Wonder who’s directing this series; he surely needs to be the first one to be eliminated!
Amritraj also keeps extolling the chance that he’s giving these budding film directors in glowing words. Self-promotion is ok, but he has penetrated and radiated “Gateway” so badly that it seems like we’re watching, “I’m Amritraj, the champion producer” rather than a reality series about film makers.
Anurag Basu and Rajat Kapoor did nothing spectacular to add to the series, leaving this show with the status it started – that of a great idea. Two thumbs down, Mr Amritraj.
More here.
