Pianist Kim Cheol-Weong said he decided to defect to South Korea after hearing decadent Western music in a coffee shop in Moscow.
What music could be so powerful as to make Kim escape "across the Tumen River to China", even as he endangered the lives of those he left behind? Sure, music hath the c to s the s b, but can it make a man say "Annyeonghi kyeseyo" to crazy King Kim Jong Il? And if there is such a music, why isn't it on my iPod?
So I started guessing. Was it the B-side of "Abbey Road"? It's decadent in that 9-part harmonies kind of way. Was it "Street Fighting Man"? "Like A Rolling Stone"? A Wagner opera? Beethoven's Ninth? Pathetique? "Anarchy In The UK"? Heh, "Ride Across The River"?
The answer will shock you. (Via Drudge)
If my coffee shop ever played that artist, I would defect into North Korea.
Friday, March 31, 2006
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Static And Hum On Mansoorpur 1
Remember Raghav Mahato and his "pirate" radio station, Mansoorpur 1? The bastards shut it down. (link to BBC.) Bhojpuria.com has more details on this story. (link via Bollyspace)
According to a senior official in Propag..I mean, Information Ministry, "there were 16 licensed community radio stations in the country and that only educational institutions were allowed to run such stations."
OK, so licenses are licenses. I do not wish to discuss their utter and obvious uselessness. What I do want to point out here is how the law works differently for the rich and the poor.
How is it that "computer-bloggers" based in India enjoy the privilege of blogging without fear of censorship or shutdown, but a radio-blogger, for that is what Raghav Mahato is, does not enjoy the same right or freedom?
Chinese blogger Hao Wu deserves the world's attention, and so does Raghav.
Finally, kudos to Reporters Without Borders for fighting the fight.
According to a senior official in Propag..I mean, Information Ministry, "there were 16 licensed community radio stations in the country and that only educational institutions were allowed to run such stations."
OK, so licenses are licenses. I do not wish to discuss their utter and obvious uselessness. What I do want to point out here is how the law works differently for the rich and the poor.
How is it that "computer-bloggers" based in India enjoy the privilege of blogging without fear of censorship or shutdown, but a radio-blogger, for that is what Raghav Mahato is, does not enjoy the same right or freedom?
Chinese blogger Hao Wu deserves the world's attention, and so does Raghav.
Finally, kudos to Reporters Without Borders for fighting the fight.
Full Mast
You know the captioning service on TV which clinically and prosaically describes ALL on-screen sounds like "audience applause" or "sound of a hyena grunting" in, well, in so many words? The service is mostly accurate with an occasional goof.
Like the other day when I saw the caption on a news show about Scarlett Johansson topping some "reader's pole". Whoever that lucky reader was, sir, we salute you.
A salute is also due to this punning captioner. No Spelling Nazi could have broken the news of Miss Johansson's achievement with such effectiveness.
Like the other day when I saw the caption on a news show about Scarlett Johansson topping some "reader's pole". Whoever that lucky reader was, sir, we salute you.
A salute is also due to this punning captioner. No Spelling Nazi could have broken the news of Miss Johansson's achievement with such effectiveness.
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
And In the Middle of Negotiations, You Break Down
The Beatles fight Apple Computers.
Nobody asked me for an opinion, but if I were the presiding judge, I'd make Steve Jobs wear a toilet-seat around his neck and perform Revolution 9 in Esperanto. Then I would make him replace the word "Apple" with a lesser-known fruit.
Chikoo Computers has a nice ring to it, don't you think?
A legal eagle looks at the case.
P.S.:
Anyone remember eating that life-altering chikoo ice cream in that little shop in Vile Parle?
Nobody asked me for an opinion, but if I were the presiding judge, I'd make Steve Jobs wear a toilet-seat around his neck and perform Revolution 9 in Esperanto. Then I would make him replace the word "Apple" with a lesser-known fruit.
Chikoo Computers has a nice ring to it, don't you think?
A legal eagle looks at the case.
P.S.:
Anyone remember eating that life-altering chikoo ice cream in that little shop in Vile Parle?
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Love Of Water
"Once there was a river, now there's a stone"
It's not just a lyric, you know. The rivers are running dry (some random examples) and stones in river-beds are bad for the backstroke.
How couldn't we have seen this coming? It takes twenty tons of water to make one pound of coffee. A thousand liters to grow a kilo of wheat. Chew on that chapati, Chandu.
Fred Pearce, author and environmental scientist, was on Fresh Air last night. He has a new book titled "Water: The Defining Crisis of the Twenty-First Century" about - you guessed it - the coming global water crisis. Another interview with the author here.
Read and shiver.
It's not just a lyric, you know. The rivers are running dry (some random examples) and stones in river-beds are bad for the backstroke.
How couldn't we have seen this coming? It takes twenty tons of water to make one pound of coffee. A thousand liters to grow a kilo of wheat. Chew on that chapati, Chandu.
Fred Pearce, author and environmental scientist, was on Fresh Air last night. He has a new book titled "Water: The Defining Crisis of the Twenty-First Century" about - you guessed it - the coming global water crisis. Another interview with the author here.
Read and shiver.
Monday, March 27, 2006
Don't Eat The Yellow Snow
YECCH Rating: High, post is decidedly NSBOAODM (Not safe BEFORE or AFTER or DURING meals)
Dreamed I was an Eskimo / Frozen wind began to blow /Under my boots and around my toes / The frost that bit the ground below/ It was a hundred degrees below zero...
While the Eskimo mama in Frank Zappa's song cautions young Nanook about the "yellow snow", I found no mention of the said phenomenon in Robert Flaherty's legendary documentary, "Nanook Of The North". Clearly the Zap was joking.
But it made me curious. Just how do eskimoes go about their "business" in that biting cold? Is it in the igloo? Or is it outside the igloo?
I could find only one response to this question (just search for the term "eskimo" on the page and you will find the post.) It's not a very detailed explanation, but it will do.
Suddenly, I am reminded of travelling by trains in India and the various sensory delights offered by the toilets. Please refrain from using the toilet when the train is in the station. Ah, good times.
Dreamed I was an Eskimo / Frozen wind began to blow /Under my boots and around my toes / The frost that bit the ground below/ It was a hundred degrees below zero...
While the Eskimo mama in Frank Zappa's song cautions young Nanook about the "yellow snow", I found no mention of the said phenomenon in Robert Flaherty's legendary documentary, "Nanook Of The North". Clearly the Zap was joking.
But it made me curious. Just how do eskimoes go about their "business" in that biting cold? Is it in the igloo? Or is it outside the igloo?
I could find only one response to this question (just search for the term "eskimo" on the page and you will find the post.) It's not a very detailed explanation, but it will do.
Suddenly, I am reminded of travelling by trains in India and the various sensory delights offered by the toilets. Please refrain from using the toilet when the train is in the station. Ah, good times.
Sunday, March 26, 2006
A "Real-Life" Screenwriter Next Time, Sir?
Nabh Kumar Raju, a first-time second-time director, deserves a "Director With Cojones" award.
When little-known Bollywood director Nabh Kumar Raju was looking for six actors to star in his movie on the underworld, he had one criterion: they should have committed or had a brush with crime at some point of their lives.
So he hires 6 ex-cons. Holy Mother of All Method, this man is a Verite-casting genius. Lars Von Trier would be proud of him.
But did casting 6 ex-criminals make his job any easier?
"During the first acting workshop, these guys had a big fight for about 15 minutes. Even today I am still really shocked about it."
But the fight sequences must have been a breeze? Not really, it turns out. The too-real violent takes left the the fight director feeling "very scared during the shoot".
"the actors would get so involved in the scene sometimes that during a fight sequence, they would actually beat each other up."
I know what you are thinking - how could the fight director be intimidated so easily? Well, if your cast starts using real chairs to hit one another on the head, you too would be caca-ing bricks.
Raju's Blues. (link to BBC.)
When little-known Bollywood director Nabh Kumar Raju was looking for six actors to star in his movie on the underworld, he had one criterion: they should have committed or had a brush with crime at some point of their lives.
So he hires 6 ex-cons. Holy Mother of All Method, this man is a Verite-casting genius. Lars Von Trier would be proud of him.
But did casting 6 ex-criminals make his job any easier?
"During the first acting workshop, these guys had a big fight for about 15 minutes. Even today I am still really shocked about it."
But the fight sequences must have been a breeze? Not really, it turns out. The too-real violent takes left the the fight director feeling "very scared during the shoot".
"the actors would get so involved in the scene sometimes that during a fight sequence, they would actually beat each other up."
I know what you are thinking - how could the fight director be intimidated so easily? Well, if your cast starts using real chairs to hit one another on the head, you too would be caca-ing bricks.
Raju's Blues. (link to BBC.)
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