Here is my take – Anything of any consequence already has a price attached leaving things that are either useless or infinitely available. Wasting such things actually defeats the very purpose of wastage – there is no sense of outrage! You could waste time since it is extremely valuable and you can certainly waste cell phone minutes since you paid for them!!

Unlike the ‘dirty assets’ (read mortgage backed securities) that sank the finance industry, the ‘dirty assets’ of the porn industry might just help it to stay afloat.

It remains to be seen if Larry Flynt and Joe Francis will be successful even if they carpool to Washington in a hybrid! My only advice to them is to take some of their ‘dirty assets’ along!!!

All the three are oxymorons!!

Refer to the glossary below for explanation about people, events, terms shown in the pictures.

Glossary

• Raj: Raj Thackeray is the founder and president of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (Maharashtra Renaissance Army), which is a regional party in the state of Maharashtra in India.
• Mr. Deshmukh: Vilasrao Deshmukh is, now former, chief minister of the state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the capital of Maharashtra. He was widely criticized for taking Ram Gopal Varma to the Taj Mahal Hotel in the aftermath of the terror acts.
• Achuthanandan: V.S. Achuthanandan, Kerala’s Chief Minister, who remarked that even a “dog” would not visit the house of NSG commando Sandeep Unnikrishnan after being denied entry into his home by the late commando’s father.
• Ram Gopal Varma: A famous Bollywood film maker fell from grace lately after his lame attempt of remaking one of India’s cult classics – “Sholay”. The remake is called “Ram Gopal Varma ki aag” and has been widely lampooned by media and the public at large.
• Sena:  A reference to “Shiv Sena” – a regional political party of India. Sena is the Hindi word for army.
• Deshmurkh: A purposeful misspelling of the former chief minister’s last name. The 2 parts – “Desh” is Hindi for country and “murkh” is Hindi for unwise , or dim-witted.

Foggy outside - Top

The bottom screen shot tells the tale!!

Foggy outside - Bottom

Nite Owl Cookies is co-owned by Gray Graziani, Neil Cohen and Henry Colton– friends since high school. Their website says,

We don’t use preservatives or additives because we aren’t sure how to do that. We just bake cookies that we love, and keep things simple and delicious.

That is what their patrons love too!!

Tree theme in gmail - top

This is the “Tree” theme of gmail in action. Recently, as many of you may have noticed, Google introduced “Themes” to gmail so users can personalize the look and feel of their email client. More out of curiosity than anything else, I started playing with the various themes. I chose “Tree”  and I was surprised when it asked for the city I was in. I typed San Francisco. The theme reflects the weather outside so you can get a refreshing waft of “outdoors” indoors.  

Tree theme in gmail - bottom

More power to google!

Also see my post on the look when it is foggy outside (or your reference city related to the theme).

Obama gave me change, Can you?

I was wondering why a person who is smart enough to use such a message to beg, needs to beg in the first place unless this is some crazy social experiment!

Dostana

Dostana is different! We all smile at this cliche and dismiss the bollywood personality who says it as unimaginative!! In this case, let alone any other Bollywood film, Dostana is even unlike Karan Johar’s other films:

1. The movie name doesn’t start with letter “K”!
2. The movie does not star Shah Rukh Khan!!
3. The movie does not involve a love triangle!!!

But it is just another Karan Johar film considering it is eye candy from start to finish! Right from the beginning when credits roll as “Shut up and Bounce”unfolds in the back ground (or maybe its the credits that roll in the background), it is evident just how sweet and mouth-watering the candy is! Tarun Mansukhani (the first time director) and Karan make it ample clear what they have in store for us as Shilpa Shetty flaunts her fabulous body and John Ibrahim flaunts his. I am sure John with his six-packs gets more cat-calls from both sexes (it is a gay movie after all!) as he emerges from the waters of South beach than does Shilpa Shetty!

The story is simple and a little predictable but it does have a couple of unexpected twists and turns. Thankfully the film keeps up a fast pace and leaves the audience no time to predict. There is a scene where John discovers Abhishek also loves Priyanka. This situation had the potential of taking time but its crisp handling is ample evidence to the fact that the director does not want to waste time at all.

I have to say that Dostana is an extremely humorous movie peppered with very witty, funny jokes (even the gay ones) that keeps the audience in splits throughout. Some of the real gay characters in the movie are cliched portrayals but it does not take away anything from the movie. Most of the jokes will not offend you irrespective of your sexual orientation. In fact, they are more likely to crack you up completely!

Priyanka is very competent although the role wasn’t all that demanding. John who is not a terribly accomplished actor does fine here – no faux pas by him. But the pick of the lot is Abhishek who does an outstanding job of a straight male-nurse pretending to be gay, a traditional punjabi mama’s boy, and a cool single Miami dude trying to woo a cool single Miami gal. He has the most difficult role of the movie with a relatively complex characterization but he pulls it off well and remains believable doing it. There are quite a few really gay scenes and thankfully both John and Abhishek look relaxed and at ease which is crucial to the success of the movie. 

If you are looking for some light-hearted GAYentertainment, Dostana is for you but if you are looking for some emotional, thought-provoking and closer-to-stark-reality (Brokeback mountain) then you will be disappointed. Although, there is a little cheeky reference to realism right at the end when Priyanka questions Abhishek and John if they developed any real gay-feelings for each other in the course of their masquerade as a gay-couple. Actually, we would like to know the answer to that one as well!

The one song that definitely stands out is Mastam Mastam. I believe it is the best song that the album has to offer because it is a beautiful confluence of the four essential elements that make up a great song – melody, instrumental rendering, vocal rendering, and last but definitely not the least – the lyrics. The song opens with a vocal chorus whose tune is ample evidence of the complex melody that is a hall mark of Rehman compositions. The first half of the song is mostly vocal rendition with a subdued instrumental rendition. This changes in the second half where the instrumentals get more focus and build up full blast to a crescendo in the end. The immensely talented Sonu Nigam and Alka Yagnik are the lead vocalists and do a fabulous job.

I strongly believe that the soul of any song is its lyrics and Gulzar once again displays his maverick streak as a poet in this song. Labelling the lyrics as unconventional would be an understatement. They are truly wacky and only Gulzar can come up with something like -

Mast Mast Dar Mastam, Dar Rind Vind Dar Mastam
Aast Hast Gar Mastam Dar Mastam

OR 

Aaye Ji Baanke Aaye, Hastam Mastam
O Danke Bajate Aaye, Rustam Shustam
Bheje Mein Bhauchal Hai, Pairon Mein Paatal Hai
Dil Ka Ahwal Leke Aaye, Billi Ki Khaal Hai
Chitey Ki Chaal Hai, Dham Dham Dhamaal Leke Aaye
O Rustam Aaya, O Chustam Aaya
Sou Surangon Se Mein, Chup Chup ke Yun Lene Aaya 

Listen to this song today, tomorrow, and a year later and you will enjoy it equally.