Poll for the FREAKS

This is what the CNN announced to me in the morning "Few Muslims 'back suicide bombs'" and even better, it seems most of them don't even support the unquestioned leader of all Muslims (or terrorists - same thing, right?) across the world, Osama. SURPRISE! These freaks are slowly getting civilized. Must be something to do with our grand civilizing mission in Iraq, no?

The article goes on to inform us that while the support for bombs has gone down among one group of freaks, it has gone up among another - the Palestinians. But, wait there is still hope. Most poor people have told the PEWcenter (the ones who conducted this poll) that they think the next generation will be "happier" (Ain??). I wonder what made them say that? Maybe the answer is WAR again.

Or maybe it's the other civilizing mission going on simultaneously - the spread of "markets" to these poor countries. That could be making them happy. Most starving but noble freaks in Latin America told the poll that that despite the electoral success of a new generation of left-wing leaders, they are better off living in a market economy. I guess I should stop calling them freaks since they are no longer commie types.

And still people wonder why I am so high-strung in the morning even without coffee, well what do you expect if this is the quality of journalism i get to sample first thing in the morning? AARGHHH

PS: Dont miss out on the last gold nugget the poll result throws out at us: America is the most feared but the friendliest country in the world. All freaks agree.

And.. you defenders of everything I say is wrong, I know I know that you have to play to your audience. And maybe CNN's audience is dense and thinks that terrorists= Muslims and maybe poor journalists are just trying to break that myth. But gawd, there has to be a better way to spoon feed donkeys that such shoddy and stereotype re-affirming garbage journalism.

My Potter better than yours!

Well, I could start the post by saying (*SPOILER*???Not really!) DUDLEY IS A WIZARD but then some of you might come at me and sue me. Just that you can't. Hee Haw cos he may be one in my Book but he probably ain't one in yours! This is how it all began. A friend sneaked me a hush hush copy of what he thought was a Potter last week. It looked authentic enough with the right cover, characters, an impeccable plot and soem editorial notes to add some authenticity. I was super thrilled and smug.. wanting to announce to the world but fearing the internet police (or whatever they are). I have to confess I was a bit taken aback by all the excessive "snogging" and even hints at "shagging" going on in the first 300 pages. Al that Harry seemed to be doing was kissing Ginny's throat over and over again and getting all teary-eyed. And when Tonks started doing that to Lupin, I had to take a pause and think.. Am I really reading the right Harry Potter?

As it turns out, I was not. It was a very well-crafted fan fiction. I have some theories about the author though - she is definitely a woman (all that Mills and Boons passion, throbbing and heaving has to be a woman!) and my hunch is she is desi (Indian in America). I swear to you the love and friendship scenes are so Bollywood-sque that I almost expect Ron and Harry to get on a motor bike and break into the "Yeh Dosti" Sholay song. And when Tonk and Lupin die shielding Harry, and they are found dead holding hands.... I mean come on!


But, to give full credit to the totally crazy fan (she actually had time to write 700 pages for a fake HP that probably no one except fools like me and my friend end up reading), the plot is quite consistent. Snape, Weasely, Granger, Umbridge, Lupin, Malfoy... all seem to fit right in. There are bad parts, the search for the Horcrux is painfully slow, Malfoy and Pansy keep snogging, and so do everyone else. But rest is all pretty fun.

To join in fully with the Potter Mania, A and I went and watched Goblet of Fire at the Hatch Shell by the Charles. It was quite amazing to watch it under the stars with the occasional low flying air plane and sudden chilly gusts of winds (Harry in a broomstick wearing an invisbility cloak?!). Then we mingled with the mad stampeding crowd at Hogwart Square (Harvard square was raking in moolah by keeping all stores open till midnight). The line outside the Coop was a mile long (no exaggeration), other stores were doing mostly pre-orders at midnight so it wasn't as crazy. A & I felt a little (actually about 10 year) older than the average crowd so we decided to keep off the wizard caps and stick to the older watch-the- fun crowd. But we joined in with the wizard-capped women, the Malfoy look alikes, Tonks' pink haired girls, and deadly death eaters as they counted down to 12 am. We screamed with the crowd as the first Harry Potter book was released and bought.
Then I yelled out Harry is a Horcrux and Umbridge gets eaten by Greyback, And ran back home.

I think I am all set. My Harry is definitely better than yours.

Mummeeee

This post will make one of my readers very happy....

A friend and I were discussing over our (hopefully last) Mexican dinner yesterday how much more we've learnt to appreciate the food organizing skills of our moms since we started living and cooking by ourselves. When I was back home I never thought how monumental the task "what is going to be cooked today" can be. Between the two of us, A & I have managed to create a list of 10 things we know how to cook semi-decently (ranging from pasta to rajma) and this we proudly keep stuck to our refrigerator! How the hell did Ma have a different meal devised for our breakfast, lunch and dinner? And that too without announcing it proudly on a loud speaker everyday. I would if I were her.

Thankfully, I am not the only kitchen-retard around. I confess, there are a handful of genius friends I know who whip up a new kind of dish effortlessly everyday, but most others are as bad as we are. Some make cooking such a huge production that dinner usually gets cooked by 12 am. Others weep while making salads and very often end up with a cheap Burrito in hand.. or a Panera sandwich! What's the deal here? Ayonno!

JLT

Nothing original about this post. Just some pieces I found fascinating in the latest UTNE reader - a progressive "organic" type bi-monthly that Isuddenly encountered in a friend's bathroom collection! I was fascinated by Terese Agnew's - a fabric artist- work. This 46 year old artist has sewn together over 30,000 tiny deisgner labels that were gathered in a donation campaign to create the Portrait of a Textile Worker - an 8x9 foot quilt depicting a young Bangladeshi sweatshop employee. I am not a huge art fan or critic but this one just blew my minf... what do you think? Check out the detail of the hand...

To Bobby

It still seems unreal... This weekend we (three mad friends and I) managed to sneak into a Bob Dylan concert. I have been dreaming of going and listining to Bobby live for EVER but last time he was in MA I was just into the country and couldn't dream of spending $55 on a one- evening thing. This time the ticket price had gone up by another $30.. but we got in for free! heee hee
The advantages of a crazy place like Noho where the guards were these oldy Dylan lovers who were too busy dancing or drinking beer to keep a real look out. I have to confess we did not sneak in in any grand way.. but we did catch his two best songs. The guy is unbelievably short and to top that he was wearing this bizarre cow boy hat with his official looking suit. He croaked a lot, the songs sounded nothing like what I've heard on CDs but WHO CARES!! I got to hear him, jump and scream and giggle hysterically... Yaha, you are allowed to be jealous :P