Inglorious

Tarantino… World War Two, Brad Pitt, Hitler Assassination Plot…. The Whole Fuckin A Attitude… Loads of anticipation… Inglorious Basterds… its destined to be a great movie… and if its not even then it would be a stylishly made … gut wrenching…. saga of violence…

Not….

A bit of a damp squib is an understatement… in fact the more you think about it … the worst it looks…

For one, the story sucks …. Just way of the freaking mark, way of any freaking mark… way from the whole barn door… a little bit of poetic license is there… but it cannot descend into ridiculousness…. Der Fuhrer survived more attempts on his life than any modern leader… but in the movie his security would have made Olof Palme feel insecure… To kill him, the British choose Lt. Archie Hitcox (oh holy hell… who chose his name?)… who can’t speak German except in an accent which raises half the Gestapo’s hackles… and makes them come running. …

There are a bunch of “Apaches” running around behind German lines… and the highly disciplined German army and the chillingly efficient SS cannot do anything to touch them… Where do they stay? What do they eat? How do they get arms? When Czech patriots waylaid and killed Reinhard Heidrich, the butcher of Prague… the Nazis condemned to death not simply the patriots responsible but their families and all who might shelter them, might harbour knowledge of their whereabouts or hold any clue to their identity or existence… t and exterminated an entire village as a reprisal measure… but here the Basterds run around without too much hindrance.. and even recruit German dissident soldiers…

Then there are plot developments and sequences which don’t quite go anywhere… and end up contrived and purposeless… Landa is a Jew Hunter… but you only know that because he says so… There is a “Bear Claw Jew” … of whom every German (including Hitler) is scared (and which turns out to be Ellie Roth looking like a acid fuelled Joe Dimiaggio… )… there is a German father who just had a baby… a Jew whose family is killed but who ends up owning a cinema hall… blaaah….

Other than Christoph Waltz… the acting is rubbish… Brad Pitt is terrible… he is supposed to be some modern day Crazy Horse… but he ends up looking like a half wit moron… and a sadistic one to boot… Diane Kruger over acts… Daniel Bruhl just looks and acts like an idiot…

There is gore a plenty… mutilation… scalping… beating to death… sticking fingers up bullet wound… strangulation… and like some distorted version of the Phantom… the Basterds leave their calling card sculpted on the heads of captured Germans…

The great spaghetti western WWII movie turned out to be exactly that… convoluted…. tomato sauce covered…. and sloppy….

Cricket Snippets

There should be a lot more hungama about Rahul Dravid’s return to the Indian squad than there is…. Specially since Sachin Tendulkar and Asish Nehra was already in the squad. Looks like Dhoni’s dreams of a “youth” squad is not quite working out (and the Selectors have not overlooked the mediocre performances in England and the West Indies…. Class is permanent… et al…

On other fronts, is anyone keeping track of how many players are suffering because of IPL injuries? The injury to Peitersen may well cost England the Ashes (in what must be one of the most inept Ashes series of all time...)… and Sehwag is out with injuries as well…

WADA is the latest bugbear… do not see the problem… if everyone can do it… so can cricketers…. No one is fighting the cause of other Indian sportsmen… not that they are good enough anyway….

Home Needed

The puppy in the pictures is a 5 month old. She had been locked up in a cage, which was 2 ' by 2', and did not have the place to even turn. She has now been rescued and desperately needs a home. If anyone is looking for a pet/ or know someone who is, please email me or call me at 9819600716.

Take-off

"Jet Airways mein ap ka swagat hain... yeh veeman dilli jayegi..."

Every time I hear this rather unnecessary announcement, I expectantly look around, hoping someone would jump up in the middle of the plane...

"Oh fuck, I thought this was the 7:15 to Calicut.."

Every time...

Its not happened yet... but I know it will...

Just hope that unfortunate passenger is'nt me ...

Procol Harum

This is one of those strange coincidences that keep happening to all of us. I was reading Douglas Adams and his admiration for the rock band Procol Harum, and was thinking of buying their music; and today I opened my laptop and found that I had copied Procol Harum from an unknown CD which had been lying around at home. I don't keep too much music in my laptop and its one of half a dozen folders that is there. It was like thinking about an old friend and then that old friend calling you almost immediately, or thinking about a song and hearing the radio play it- just a lot more wierder. Anyway and unfortunately, the folder I have does not have "Grand Hotel" which was the inspiration for Adam's "Restaurant at the end of the Universe" so I will have to download that.

Mint Article on NUJS

Just tagging the Mint article on NUJS. No observations on this one :).

Jack out of the Box

The blog world is in uproar over the decision of the England and Wales High Court to not prevent the Times from revealing the identity of the anonymous blogger Night Jack , which led to the revealation that Night Jack was Detective Inspector Richard Horton and issuance of a written warning to him by the Lancashire constabulary. Mr. Horton has since deleted the blog, which was the winner of the prestigious Orwell award.

There is a lot of commentary on this issue already see here
; here; and here; including a Labour MP who came out in support of the “right to remain anonymous” which in the opinion of Justice Eady, who delivered the judgement in The Author of a Blog v Times News Paper Limited [2009] EWHC 1358 (QB) does not exist.

The facts are now well known. The Times, through "investigative journalism" had identified the blogger named as Night Jack. Night Jack sought an interim injunction to prevent the Times from revealing his identity. His lawyers based their case on their client's rights under Article 8 (right to privacy) and Article 10 (right to freedom of expression) of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, 1950.

However, Justice Eady states that in order to attract the application of the above provisions the Claimant would have to establish that he had a reasonable expectation to privacy in relation to the particular information in question. It is only if (i) is achieved would it be necessary to inquire whether there is some countervailing public interest such as to justify overriding the prima facie right.

In the judge's opinion, the Claimant failed to establish a pre-existing relationship of confidence which prevented Times from revealing the information since there is no "public interest in preserving the anonymity of bloggers”. Simplistically, the judge concluded that: “blogging is essentially a public rather than private activity”.

Once the Claimant’s case failed with respect to (i), i.e. the blogger never had a right to privacy, which the Times was required to respect, it was not necessary to go into whether (ii) is satisfied, although the judge did go into the question of whether by blogging, Night Jack had violated his duties under the Police (Conduct) Regulations, 2008.

The key conclusion following from the judgement is that bloggers have no right to privacy or right to anonymity. If their identity is discovered through “detective work” (and therefore not in a manner which amounts to breach of confidence or law, although how this distinction will be made remains uncertain) then the discoverer has the right to reveal the same. The only exception is where the blogger is able to establish that there is an overwhelming public interest in the revelation not being made (for e.g., if it compromises a policeman blogger who works undercover).

The judgement is, as the Claimant’s lawyers put it, “chilling”. Private bloggers, even if they are not civil servants, police officers or other government employees whose terms of employment do not prevent them from expressing opinions, are still not protected by the right to privacy. The assumption that the moment a blogger makes a public post, he loses the right to privacy, since it becomes a public activity, is, to my mind simplistic, and certainly does not examine all nuances of such a situation, It also does not change the fundamental principle of privacy law, that it is for the individual to judge how much information about himself he wants to be made public. In this case, whatever the Court's reasoning, there is no doubt that this rights has been denied.

The notion that the public had the right to know the identity of the blogger, so that they could assess the quality and reliability of his commentary is also presumptuous. It is for the public to decide what they want to rely on. If they choose to rely on commentary by someone who does not want to be named, it is entirely their prerogative, if they want inside information from FakeIPLPlayer, that again is entirely their prerogative.

An anonymous blogger is analogous to a journalist's source, for the blogger he is his own source. Just like the journalist has the right to protect his sources (including within the police force), the blogger should have a right to protect his identity. Unfortunately, this was not something that the Court considered.

Finally, if it is true that the blogger is violating the rules of his service, then it is for the employers to track him down and take action, not for newspapers to go on a witch hunt.

Reverse Swing

"It's interesting to see each other's balls. Mine's, one side is a little bit rougher than Ben Hilfenhaus."

Mitchell Johnson, Jun 15, 2009

Whoa!!!!

20-20 Vision

Jay Mehta, co-owner of the franchise, said.

"I would like to state that John is a great coach. He had a vision for Knight Riders and did not waver from this vision. Unfortunately, it has not brought the results that are so necessary to this franchise."

Batsman 1: "So how was batting?"
Batsman 2 (recently dismissed): "Fantastic... the first one I drove firmly, the second one I pulled, glance, square-cut, cover drive... everything clicked..."
Batsman 1: "So how much did you score?"
Batsman 2: (sheepish): "Two"
Batsman 1: "Whoa.... so many shots... and only two?
Batsman 2 (more sheepish): "What to do, the Fielders held on to everything..."

[Link Here]

Where have all the intellectuals gone?

Where have you gone, o Bengali intellectuals.... o defenders of the poor and downtrodden... o champions of Nandigram.... protectors of human rights...

Where are you when the body of 65 year old Shaflu Soren lies for 6 days, where his brothers are terrified to approach it? [http://www.indianexpress.com/news/in-maoist-violence-against-cpm-tmc-cong-give-outside-support/477698/]

Whither Joy Goswami? Whither Mahashweta Devi? Is this not terror? Is this not tyranny? Where is human dignity today?

Where are all my friends in orkut who painted their profiles black for Nandigram? why are your faces beaming back at me today?

Whither Star Ananda? Is this not news?

Is this the Bengal you want to inherit? You are welcome to it...