In this day and age of high oil prices, and environmental concerns, one person is not afraid to speak the truth. Matthew DeBord argues that the GM behemoth Hummer - often mistaken as a male attempt to cover other…um….shortcomings - needs to be saved; as a symbol of American male virility, or something:

GM desperately needs an obnoxious, attention-grabbing brand to keep from turning into a dreary shadow of its former self. And America needs the Hummer to remind us of what has always made our automobiles stand out, from the tailfin 1950s to the muscle car 1960s and ’70s: swagger. Americans don’t just drive their cars — they proclaim something about themselves by driving them.

It takes a certain kind of man — it’s almost always the owner of a Y chromosome — to take a gander at the Hummer, in all its broad, burly, paramilitary gas-guzzling glory, and see himself behind the wheel, striking fear and loathing in the hearts of ecologically sensitive motorists. Oprah does not drive a Hummer. But Arnold Schwarzenegger has been a proud owner. As has Sylvester Stallone. The Hummer appeals to large men of even larger ego, men who aren’t worried about their carbon footprint and believe that obstacles in life are meant not just to be surmounted but squashed flat. They like owning the beast because, when it bears down on lesser rides on the freeway, those lesser rides — even the Teutonic triple threat of Porsche/BMW/Mercedes — get out of the way. Every once in while, you see a little guy clambering out of a Hummer, painfully in need of a ladder, and you realize that it can also be viewed as a $57,000 ticket to enlarged self-esteem.(link)

One assumes, or hopes - for the sake of sanity - that this Washington Post op-ed was written tongue firmly in cheek.

Anyway, provides an opportunity to post this photo, taken early on during a memorable trip to the Smokies, on a North Carolina freeway (note the personalized license plate).

In more ways than one. These aren’t scenes from some pop-concert, as might be expected, but the most misleadingly named World Youth Day being held at Sydney.

(source)

Update: To elaborate briefly, what dispppoints me is that young people are embracing a religous hogwash with fervor one expects them to associate with a say, Christina Aguilera (or whoever the latest fad is), concert. One worries about the future if people are falling prey to piety so early.

The musical is fluffy, predictable and borderline chick-flick. The cynical view would be to dismiss it a silly exercise in stringing  together hits of ABBA around the barest of plots.

However, once you get past the initial 20-30 minutes dominated by cheesy teeny-bopper exuberance and  awkward chemistry among the three leading men, the movie lifts itself and there is much fun to be had. Especially with the appearance of Meryl Streep and her two friends, it is tough not to catch the infectious energy of foot-tapping, shoulder swinging numbers like Mamma Mia, Dancing Queen, Voulez-Vous etc.

A word about Meryl Streep: whether dancing around in tight-fitting spandex or  soulfully crooning ‘The winner takes it all….‘ on the backdrop of the Aegean, her performance alone (not surprisingly) is worth the price of admission. Julie Walters and Christine Baranski as her friends are delightfully funny.  P ierce Brosnan can’t sing to save his life, but made it up by a put-on goofiness that indicated he was aware of the lack of singing talent. The most irritating bits were the parts played by the teenagers, but that could just be ageism catching up with me.

So overall, in spite of the occasional tackiness, watching Mamma Mia is not an altogether unpleasant way to spend a Friday evening; especially if you are a  bit liquored up and ready for a relaxing time (and if you happen to be a closet ABBA fan).

However, the best movie to be strung around ABBA songs still remains Muriel’s Wedding.

Well, apparently you should.

Matt Harding is a big ’star’ on Youtube, thanks to the spread of his viral videos, which shows him doing a short, weird, jiggly dance routine in various places around the globe - from Mumbai to Timbuktu. He has three of them so far with the latest being released just last month (you can find  links at his website).

Anyhow, I did not know about this 15-minuter either till a few days ago when I read this New York Times article. I still wasn’t about to bother youtubing this, but what really caught my attention was this bit:

The music (by Gary Schyman, a friend of Mr. Harding’s, and set to a poem by Rabindranath Tagore, sung in Bengali by Palbasha Siddique, a 17-year-old native of Bangladesh now living in Minneapolis) is both catchy and haunting.

So of course I had to watch the video:

(You can also watch it in high quality here.)

The song is indeed catchy and haunting. However, the words a bit unclear and I couldn’t really place my fingers on the Tagore poem: help is appreciated from anyone with encyclopaedic knowledge of Tagore (I know someone who has this, but he is probably roaming around somewhere in the state of Indiana and I seriously doubt if he even knows how to open a Youtube video).

Apart from the song and dance routine, some people will really appreciate how this guy gave up a job to travel around the world. The list of places he has been is incredible to say the least.

(There is a bit more about this video at Sepia Mutiny, including the English translation of the poem, and a bit more about the singer)

One of my recurrent peeves with bars down under is how so many of them misuse their ‘top-shelf’.

And it is not just restricted to local pubs, but many of the classier, up-market establishments are guilty as well.

The ‘top-shelf’ is supposed to be reserved for the superior quality (and thereby more expensive) spirits and liqueurs; your single barrel Bourbons, single malt Scotch, XO and above Cognacs, premium vodkas and such. Hence the term ‘top-shelf drink’, as opposed to ‘well-drinks’ (cheaper liquors that lie in the well of the bar and is easier for the barmen to get to).

A simple storage space for Smirnoff Vodkas is not what the top-shelves are for. Yes, I have seen that for real.

Worse still, as I spotted last night at a trendy local bar, a top-shelf should  not be used to display beer-bottles - unless it is a beer-bar; at least not Matilda Bay brews (which mind you are quite decent brews); but especially not…….. Corona Extra Light !!!!

I have vented before about the puzzling fascination Aussies seem to have for this watery ghastliness, especially with the insufferable lime wedges. At least there is no accounting for bad tastes.

But to place the stuff on a top-shelf is pure sacrilege.

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1: note that at a newsagent, the word has different connotations.

Even giving consideration to the fact that these are Delhi-ites, this has to be one of the weirdest protests I have seen (via a proud Delhi-ite):

Activists of the Shaktipunj Foundation, an NGO, break computers, printers and other electronic items during the protest on the occasion of Radiation Safety Day at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on Saturday. They demand that the government should issue guidelines for safety from erection of mobile towers and use of mobile phones similar to those approved by the WHO and which have been adopted in most of the developed countries, including the USA, the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Sweden and Australia.(link - have to scroll a bit)

Leaving aside the considerations that (a) mobile phones themselves or wireless towers are yet to be linked to any negative health effects (by WHO or any other health authorities, which have mostly recommended only precautinary principles); or (b) that the same mobile phone models are sold pretty much around the world and Indians don’t get exta-emitting phones, why in the living hell are they breaking computers and printers ?!!

(and what about all the electronic waste created by breaking these computers ?)

eer cocktails: well yes, apparently the twain does meet occasionally to create a satisfying drink.

However, do not confuse this lot with the sugary, fizzy abominations generically known as alcopops that seem to be the rage among the kids these days. While no self-respecting drinker should be seen in public with a bottle of alcopop, a beer-cocktail may be drunk in the name of experimenting with the tastes.

And it was such a spirit of scientific curiosity that led me to try a beer-spirit combo on a  lazy  weeknight when I found my fridge stocked with a German lager (of not very good quality) and that ultimate of beers, Guinness [1]. So a Black and Tan/Half-and-Half was definitely in order. However, that would be just a beer mixture. So I decided to spiff up the drink with some (blended) scotch  thrown in (this would also go well with the Scottish idea of a ‘half and a half’ - dram and half a pint), as well as a dash of lime juice to add a bit of zing.

The results were………not too shabby: You get the mix of smooth Guinness with some burning whiskey initially. After a while, the drink mellows down and settles in between the lagery and bittery taste. Definitely recommended for the evening dinner meat and for those who find the English stout too much to handle.

Considering the origin of the alcohols added, I decided to name it The Yodeling Celtic. Two glasses of this, and you’ll be on the balcony clearing out the throat to your heart’s content.

The Yodeling Celtic

• half pint of German lager Lowenbrau
• half pint of Guinness
• a shot of Scotch (any cheap blended stuff)
• a dash of lime juice.

First pour the lager, and then very carefully pour the Guinness so as not to create a top layer.

The best way to achieve this is to pour slowly over an inverted spoon (you could get yourself a fancy spoon from Guinness or just use one in your kitchen that is roughly circular); you will obtain a nice bit of head this way as well. Then gradually pour the shot of whiskey on top and squeeze a bit of lime.

Drink at leisure.

Don’t ask me which way the bubble were flowing, I was too busy drinking the actual beer.

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[1]:  Also, irrespective of the claims from certain sections of this blog’s readership (possibly the only section), I do certainly enjoy a good beer (the operative word being ‘good’) when in the right mood. I have even written a post on the brews available down under.

Occasional re-readings of good old Plum’s extensive output can work wonders in perking up the depressed soul (second only to the restorative effects of a w. and soda brought to your favorite armchair by a trusted, brainy butler) .

Should be a mandatory prescription, or something.

No matter how many times you have read it, lines such as this never fail to shovel out a loud chuckle:

He had the look of an ostrich that had swallowed a door knob.

(All’s Well with Bingo)

The idea of a women-only IIT sounds absurd and retrograde.

The suggestion to start India’s first all-women IIT at Amravati near Nagpur in Vidarbha had in fact been mooted by Saint Gadgebaba University vice-chancellor Kamal Singh. Patil followed it up when she became the country’s first woman president last July.

‘A recommendatory note from the president’s office was attached to the reminder of the suggestion sent to the HRD (ministry) but we don’t know what happened after that,’ Devi Singh Shekhawat, Pratibha Patil’s husband who heads an education society in Amravati, told IANS.

‘To my knowledge, the president’s office doesn’t keep prodding government departments about individual files but if this (women IIT) is happening without that, it is certainly gratifying’, Shekhawat said.

Not surprising that it has the backing of the current President of India, who seemed to have ascended her post despite questionable ethics partly on the basis of her gender.

The reasoning behind the step: The President’s concern “about fewer girl students making it to the IITs” !

Fair enough, but is it that fewer girls go into IIT due to inherent hostility of the existent IITs towards women or a lower number of women going into engineering in general ?

As usual, a solution is being sought that is less practical and more political (note where the proposed IIT is to be situated). The tax-payer’s money could be much better spent actually encouraging more women to go into science/engineering  at  the secondary education level.

Btw, in the same article:

A global research institute on traditional Indian wisdom in science, technology and community management was among several other innovative proposals sent by the vice-chancellor to the HRD ministry and the University Grants Commission, she said.

Why not attend to the regular science and technology research first, where we seem to be falling back rapidly (via)?

Offered in response to this story, which seemed to have caught the fancy of several on the desi blogosphere and specifically for those more familiar with the US lingo: in the land down-under, thongs does not refer to the undergarment but to a pair of flip-flops/chappals/sandals.

So if you ever hear an Australian girl say she is planning to wear her thongs - don’t get any ideas.

Similarly, if a guy happens to mention it, don’t judge too quickly.

(as aside, for the few regular visitors (?), I am alive and well: shifted my base - in fact, from one coast to another - so settling in etc. Regular rantingprogramming to resume shortly).

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