The Feminist State of Denial

May 16th, 2008 Roshan

I was just reading this BBC article about celebrities that we love to hate and I noticed that somebody tried putting a feminist spin on it, claiming that the reason we hate female celebrities is because they don’t conform to the rules of ‘femininity’.

Celebrities including Britney Spears, Amy Winehouse, Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, Rumer Willis, Mischa Barton and Kerry Katona are routinely condemned for their perceived excessive lifestyles in terms of their disregard for the apparent rules of femininity through extreme diets or weight gain, drug abuse, supposed lack of fashion sense/style, and an ‘unfeminine’ need for fame and attention

Now look at this, isn’t this ridiculous? The rules of femininity decide that extreme diets, drug abuse, lack of fashion sense, and a need for fame and attention are a bad thing? That is such a joke, Ms. Kirsty Fairclough. The things described are simply repugnant, and most sane people see them as just that. These people conform to the rules of ’stay away from’. Too quick to call misogyny, ma’am. Tell me, who thinks an attention-seeking flamboyantly-dressed anorexic male heroin addict is acceptable company? Not even other people that fit into that class would think these people aren’t the detritus of society.

Let’s have a look at the Top 3 on the list of loved celebrities: Paul McCartney, Lewis Hamilton, Gary Lineker. And the Top 3 on the list of hated celebrities? Heather Mills, Amy Winehouse, Victoria Beckham. This obviously describes a bias against woman, correct? Wrong. Let’s look at them closer:

The Beloved:

  1. McCartney: Famous for being a Beatle. Illustrious post-Beatles music career.
  2. Hamilton: Famous for being an F1 racer. Nearly won a title on debut. Few are that talented.
  3. Gary Lineker: Football player who played twice for England in the World Cup. Not once cautioned by the referee. Career in sports broadcasting. Obviously famous for sport.

The Despised:

  1. Mills: Famous for being McCartney’s wife. In divorce proceedings, she got 35,000 pounds a year not including the acceptable child support. Public image of being hysterical, throwing water on her ex-husband’s lawyer, stuff like that.
  2. Winehouse: Famous for being a singer. Recently in the news for swearing at her audiences at concerts and having overdosed on heroin, ecstasy, cocaine and ketamine.
  3. Beckham: This one beats me. On interviews she has this almost-dumb air about her, but she made her money being a big singer albeit one whose music I wouldn’t listen to.

Now, excepting Victoria Beckham, there’s a pretty good reason to dislike these people. If I had a kid, these aren’t the role models I would want them having. And yes, people make fun of Mick Jagger all the time, and we don’t think he’s a hero either though he’s a pretty damn hilarious dumb-ass. Compare that with the loved celebrities, they’re known for what they’ve done not for what temper tantrums they’ve been pulling. Also, while Simon Cowell is on the hated list, Anne Robinson is nowhere to be seen. Must I take this to mean that society hates men being caustic? Please.

But let’s look at those people who have broken free of the rules of femininity and fought society’s distaste for successful women according to Ms. Fairclough: Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton and Mischa Barton. I left out those who I had no clue about. These are your great warriors? Your fighters against organised male repression? The battle is already lost. Jesus. Drug addicts, anorexics, drink-drivers, man the cannons! It would be funny if it wasn’t so tragic.

Posted in People | 11 Comments »

One-track mind ruled by emotion

May 8th, 2008 Roshan

MRTS - Kasturbai NagarToday I travelled by both the suburban Beach-Tambaram line and the MRTS and it suddenly struck me how beautifully connected almost all of this city is. You can get public transport from almost any place to another with a maximum of one change by bus, and if you want to skip all the traffic to the most busy places you can take either the elevated rail or the suburban lines. Gentlemen, Madras has come together surprisingly well. Not as well as it could’ve been, but reasonably good.

A few months ago, I read an article in the EPW about bus rapid transit as an alternative to metro rail and the arguments were very convincing. But you’re all lucky that I’m not the guy running Chennai’s government because I’m a train fanboy. No matter how efficient you make your bus system I’m still going to bulldoze your buildings, canals and flyovers because I want freaking trains. You know why? Because they’re marvels of engineering, Heaven’s chariots, designed not simply to transport but to inspire awe in everyone fortunate enough to witness them. Only an automaton would not feel an immodest and irrational pride when watching the Southern Railway diesel trains thundering through the rail station, green flags waving them onward to do battle with the demons of tardiness.

That, naturally, doesn’t apply to the poor EMUs though, gimped cousins of those fearsome metal steeds, to compensate for whom we have the massive almost-terrifying concrete edifices that are the MRTS stations - Brobdingnagian pillars holding aloft colossal half built walkways, silent catacombs that pass for subways, pathways leading into blank walls. Arvind Sivaramakrishnan once wrote in The Hindu criticising this Brutalist style but the only thing I can agree with him on is that the tiny EMUs are no fair match for the huge stations that they stop at. The stations themselves are frankly awesome, no flimsy prettiness here. Efficiency be damned, the extra crores are well worth it.

My experience with both systems has been near perfect. I’ve travelled the suburban rail nearly every day of my college life the past three years and it has been a few minutes late very rarely. My only gripe with the Beach-Tambaram line is with those godforsaken Pallavaram-return trains that stop at Pallavaram and then come back after giving you some hope in reaching class on time. I’ve only travelled by the MRTS once, and that one time the train was right on time, arriving just as the time ticked to 9:51. As a bonus, the view along the Beach is superb.

Give me my buses for normal transport, sirs, but when I want to be inspired - show me my trains.

EDIT: On re-reading this a while later, it looks like I suffered from Attack of the Adjectives. Never mind :P

Posted in Madras | 16 Comments »

Din Din Wo

May 6th, 2008 Roshan

Posts like this are probably a reasonable indicator of how much productive activity I’m currently engaged in. I picked this game up from Chitra the Physicist, and it’s loads of fun, and considering my predilection for letting machines tell me The Truth, I couldn’t resist. The way it works is you put your playlist on shuffle and then hit next for each question, the song’s name being your answer. So here we go:

  • If someone says “is this okay?” You say? - Never Been (Joe Savini). Ha ha, that is such an apt answer I can’t even say anything.
  • What would best describe your personality? - Windy Town (Rod Stewart). Hey! That’s not funny.
  • What do you like in a guy/girl? - Drive (Incubus). Ah, that’s interesting.
  • How do you feel today? - For Yasgur’s Farm (Mountain). I’m sure there’s some really deep meaning to that but for the life of me, I can’t figure out just how I’d feel for Yasgur’s Farm..
  • What is your life’s purpose? - All I want to do is make love to you (Heart). Ouch, some things are better kept private. I knew I should have put off ripping that old Top Rock CD till after I was done.
  • What is your motto? - Paranoid eyes (Pink Floyd). It’s always a bad idea to ask The Final Cut a question, the answer is always freaking depressing.
  • What do your friends think of you? - Brain Damage (Pink Floyd). Shit, when this came up I laughed out so loud my brother came in with that contemptuous look of his and the very next thought that crossed my mind was, “No one’s going to believe you.” so I hit next and I got Come Together (Aerosmith). I think I’ll go with the first one.
  • What do you think of your parents? - Strip the Soul (Porcupine Tree). Ha ha ha, so unfair. Of all the people, my parents. Ha ha ha. Poor people, all that effort and they get this. Ha ha ha.
  • What do you think about very often? - Joan Crawford (Blue Öyster Cult). Okay, I would just like to go on record saying that this is definitely not true. I didn’t even know of her till I first heard this song. Makes me wonder at the accuracy of this whole thing. Quite simply, “I did not think of that woman.”
  • What is 2+2? - Can’t stop (Red Hot Chili Peppers). That doesn’t make any sense whatsoever, but By The Way was a reasonable album even if I liked only a few songs. If anyone wants to gift me something, Stadium Arcadium would be nice.
  • What do you think of your best friend? - Obscured by clouds (Pink Floyd). Ha ha ha, ha ha. You know what this means. My friends, always seeing castles in the purple (hazy) sky.
  • What do you think of the person you like? - Cheap Day Return (Jethro Tull). It’s not true! I swear! I’m sorry, it wasn’t me! And neither is that bit about Joan Crawford. Ha ha, cheap day return.
  • What is your life story? - Child in Time (Deep Purple). That’s touching. Really, you don’t know how much it means to me. “See the blind man, shooting at the world.”
  • What do you want to be when you grow up? - Mudmen (Pink Floyd). Okay, now this is getting embarrassing. I’ll leave that band out the next time this happens.
  • What do you think when you see the person you like? - Hymn 43 (Jethro Tull). WHAT?! NO! Interesting coincidence that both similar questions got answers from the same album.
  • What do your parents think of you? - Sound of pain (Vitor Cunha). That’s it, they deserve what they got for that previous question about them.
  • What will you dance to at your wedding? - Goodbye Cruel World (Pink Floyd). Ha ha, this is such a perfect bachelor joke. Ha ha, if someone does actually play this song at my wedding, I swear…
  • What will they play at your funeral? - Anytime (McAuley Schenker Group). Wow, thanks all of you. I’ll just have you know that I’ll be pissing on your bloody heads from Heaven.
  • What is your hobby/interest? - Come out and play (Offspring). Wow, not true. I’m so sedentary I’m sometimes marked on maps of Madras.
  • What is your biggest secret? - Round and Round (Beats working). That’s not a secret, everyone knows the time I did that.
  • What do you think of your friends? - The Fletcher Memorial Home (Pink Floyd). That’s for you, you overgrown infants, a place of your own.
  • What should you post this as? - Din Din Wo (Habib Koité). Cute, ‘Little Child’.

Not bad, not bad at all. Maybe there is something to this, it could be a worthwhile successor to the Calculator Of Truth, though I suspect that Windows Media Player isn’t too random with its shuffle.

Disclaimer:
I have a limited digital playlist, I bet it would’ve been totally weird if I could’ve included the cassette collection.

Posted in internet | 6 Comments »

Terrorists in our backyard

May 3rd, 2008 Roshan

Marc has previously posted on his blog in support of terrorists and delinquents like Anonymous. It’s only fair to point out how dangerous these people really are:

Posted in internet | 14 Comments »