WTF headline of the day:
I must now confess that I have never learned to whistle. As I do not have any dogs, and am too much of a gentleman to whistle at passing nymphets, it is not a great loss to me. However, it does mean that in future, there is one way in which I will not be able to make the headlines. My sorrow knows no bounds, and I will soon be moistening my fingers by blowing on them. Pah.
Google’s Zeitgeist for 2007 is quite fascinating. It reveals that “cricket world cup 2007” was the fourth-most popular search of the year in Google News, while “paris hilton” came eighth. Hooray for one-day cricket.
Having said that, if any of Hilton’s sex tapes had lasted a day…
(Link via Smoke Signals.)
Mohit points me to Reuters’ Pictures of the Year. Some of them are awesome. My favourites are below.
First, by Jim Young, the Clintons at a campaign fund-raiser:
This one by Claro Cortes Iv, the most beautiful of the lot in my opinion, shows a woman walking into a subway in Beijing:
Many years ago, when I was a child, I picked up a foreign film magazine my father had left lying around. It contained a review of my then-favourite film, Dead Poet’s Society. I began reading it, and discovered that the reviewer was clearly writing about a different Dead Poet’s Society than the one I’d seen. It took me a while to realise that the review was about the same film, which was, according to the reviewer, a film about repressed homosexuality, filled with charged homo-eroticism. That was my first introduction to a genre of movie reviewing that picks up a film and reads into it meanings and subtexts that would baffle even the director and the scriptwriter.
Nitin points me to Postmodernism Disrobed.
Update: Gaspode tells us:
The ontology of the dominant episteme encoding the patriarchal construct of “sex with love” and “sex without love” is emergent in the hermeneutics of the intertextuality of Christina Aguilera’s “Dirrty” and John Mayer’s “Your Body is a Wonderland”. Both songs, released in 2002 attempt to challenge and subvert each other.
It’s a parody, of course—though I only know it because Gaspode is a friend and I know his tendencies. Some people write stuff like this seriously.
I love the headline: A Tsar Is Born.
(Link via email from Gaurav.)
I’m delighted that the newspaper I write a weekly column for, Mint, has picked up yet another laurel. My congratulations to Priyanka Narain for being named the Young Journalist of the Year for 2007 by CNN. It’s quite an honour.
I’m obviously biased, but I think Mint has come on beautifully since it launched in February. The paper looks beautiful and is a delight to hold and browse through. Its language is crisp and clear, entirely free of the archaisms of the Hindu or the sloppiness of the Times of India. It’s a pity that it’s only available in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore.
It’s also a pity that Mint has such a shabby website. I keep cribbing to them about that, but I suspect that the people who make it such a lovely print publication have no say in that area. Such it goes…
This is for real. I am so happy today.
This is what it usually means to us journalists.
(Link via email from Jayakamal.)
The Times of India has a bizarre story on Pooja Bedi and George Clooney meeting up in Dubai recently:
The two hotties were introduced by Kabir Bedi who also attended the premiere with his girlfriend Parveen. “Clooney looked at me and said, ‘Wow, your gown looks beautiful. I think I can get into it, but I don’t think I will looks as pretty as you,” recalled an excited Pooja describing the Hollywood actor’s charm.
So all you boys out there, now you know how to charm the next lady you want to impress: offer to get into her clothes.
Also in the ToI: Everyone loves Koena’s puppy.
The Daily Mail embarks on some investigative journalism.
Many years ago, a friend and I were discussing what size of breasts we liked. “A breast should be big enough to fit snugly in the palm of my hand,” he told me, “and no more.” I haven’t chatted with him for years, though I meet him occasionally at Infinity mall, his hand twitching as he eyes passing women. I know: Ew!
Anyway, where did that come from? This is a family blog.
(Link via email from Gautam. Previous posts on breasts: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.)
WTF headline of the day:
Why was Rakhi sad on her b’day?
The answer, in her words:
I am not celebrating my birthday because I don’t want to. I was expecting some special treatment from Nach Baliye team but nothing happened, so I am very sad.
Well, since she was obviously expecting something special, maybe the Nach Baliye chaps thought they’ll surprise her.
(Link via email from Harish, who blogs on it here. More on Rakhi: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. And some posts on Bigg Boss: 1, 2, 3, 4.)