Blogcritics Author: The Great Ganesha

Announcement: Short-content feeds

Phillip Winn — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT

Sunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding.

Movie Review: Goya's Ghosts (2006)

The Great Ganesha — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 20:31:34 EDT

Milos Forman's (One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Amadeus) latest movie can be divided into two halves: the first half being intellectual masturbation for the anti-war groups; and the second half, a historical melodrama. Putting the two together results in a political soap opera which is as intellectually compelling (and just as easy on the eye) as two attractive undergraduates in a fancy restaurant, discussing politics with a vaulted rally of typified liberal clichés.The movie is more about Brother Lorenzo (Javier Bardem) than it is about Goya (Stellan Skarsgård). The latter is relegated to the background, perhaps symbolic of his real-life role as passive chronicler of history. Goya survived several vacillations in Spain's political climate by agreeing to paint for anyone in power, including the church. At the same time though, he created etchings which were dark and satirical and show up frequently through the movie.So while Goya is painting portraits of Inés Bilbatúa (Natalie Portman) and Brother Lorenzo, the latter, armed only with his ambition and (for some reason) an overtly dulcet tone, leads a movement for increased action against heretics. This results in the official summoning of Inés who is under suspicion of following "ancient Judaistic rituals" since she was spotted refusing to eat pork at a tavern one night. And in a scene transition that New York Times critic Matt Zoller Seitz calls "an early candidate for transition of the year" she is "put to the Question" (a euphemism for torture), confesses to being a heretic, and is imprisoned. She is, in reality, a devout Christian but simply doesn't like pork. Inés’s father, Tomás ( a rich merchant), asks Goya for help, who arranges for Brother Lorenzo to dine at their residence one night. As we learn, Tomás has other intentions and though the evening starts with a civilized dinner argument about "the Question," it ends with Lorenzo hanging from the chandelier suspended by his wrists, and ultimately agreeing to sign a confession that he is the "bastard child of a chimpanzee." As far as entertainment value goes, this was the movie’s climax, with everything after this being soporific in comparison.Bardem acted well, despite a shallow characterization, but Skarsgård was miscast as a background character. Goya surfaces in the second half only insofar as the Portman characters of Inés and her daughter physically resemble characters from his etchings. If only her portrayals were as interesting.Forman survived Nazi and Czech communist rule and that probably played a part in the creation of the movie. He is most famous for his riveting and thought-provoking depictions of real-life geniuses and rebels - those who exist on society's fringes (McMurphy, Mozart, Flynt, Kauffman). Here, though the production is slick, he provides us with only a very brief glimpse of the inherent conflict and drama associated with such personalities. The script, co-written by Forman and Buñuel regular Jean-Claude Carrière, might work as a Dadaist feature, but fails as a historical drama, and is even more disappointing as a biopic.

The Great Ganesha is a doctorate in Quantitative Finance who loves to write. Originally from Bombay, he now lives in San Francisco. Read more about him, if you like.

Mikanic: Not-So-Routine Soul Maintenance

The Great Ganesha — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 20:20:09 EDT

Ever since I have known him, Shirzad has been involved in some kind of musical activity. From threatening blows to defend the Beatles' early years in the fifth or sixth grade, to singing Herman's Hermits' "Leaning on a Lamp Post" in the eighth-grade talent contest, to conducting his school-house choir singing Billy Joel's "For the Longest Time" soon after his twelfth grade. His love of music ranges from classical to pop, from jazz-rock fusion to Indo-jazz fusion. And I should also mention that he has an opinion on everything in between. If by chance, you tap your plate with your fork while eating dinner, there's a good chance that he'll tell you it was slightly off, and proceed to demonstrate the correct note. Almost a decade ago, he focused his musical energies and took up to playing the bass guitar seriously. Taking lessons from a professional musician, I saw him practice diligently for more than a few hours a day. This might not seem like a big deal, but Shirzad had a full time job as a consultant. Ultimately, his diligence paid off when he met Michael Rennie and Nick Turner, two South African musicians, and founders of Mikanic. They asked him to join as bassist for the band.Mike and Nick, respectively, a violinist and an acoustic guitarist (both are also vocalists), formed Mikanic in 2003, and were fairly well-known on the South African music circuit. In fact, "well-known" might be an under-statement, since they founded Sons of Trout and with that act, headlined every major music festival in the country as well as releasing four albums and opening for various international acts. They released their first album as Mikanic, Swimming with the Women, to critical acclaim and it served to help them hop over to this side of the Atlantic, to New York City.Mikanic's music is difficult to box using conventional labels, and is hard to describe with words. But I consider this to be a Good Thing. Their sound is without boundaries, and dances around from reggae to rock to African to bossa to jazz. In fact, probably the only word that gets close to describing their style is 'upbeat'. Their website says, their "universal appeal lies in the sincerity and positive energy of their music." You better believe it.The line-up is like their music - boundary-free - with Mike and Nick from South Africa, Shirzad Khusrokhan from India, Yasuhito Sasaki from Japan on lead guitar, and Alex Beckmann from the USA on drums. Certainly, the international flavor seeps right into their music and enhances the universality. Their cultural differences serve to enrich their music by giving it a wonderful sense of humor. One could say that the music almost has a twinkle in its metaphorical eye. Their tunes help you to relax and take it easy, but at the same time make you want to groove to the beat. If that doesn't make any sense, go ahead and take a listen. Or better yet, see them live.Watch a video of Mike and Nick talk about the band, along with some neat concert clips.Mikanic plays at the Leonard Minoy Thalia at Symphony Space (Broadway and 95th, in Manhattan) on August 9th at 8pm. Get more event info, or visit the Mikanic website.

The Great Ganesha is a doctorate in Quantitative Finance who loves to write. Originally from Bombay, he now lives in San Francisco. Read more about him, if you like.

Not So Kwik: The Apu Dilemma (Postscript)

The Great Ganesha — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 20:45:29 EDT

So Nikhil left a comment on my post about Apu and the 7-Eleven/Kwik-E-Mart promotion. He said:I see your point about the negative stereotypes, but that’s the whole point isn’t it? Aren’t all the characters stereotypes? Yes, the accent is inaccurate, and the character is two-dimensional, but... it’s a cartoon (one of the definitions of which - from Webster’s dictionary- is “a ludicrously simplistic, unrealistic, or one-dimensional portrayal”.Maybe I’m not analyzing this intellectually enough, but I just don’t understand why people are offended. I seriously doubt this is going to take us back to “Jim Crow’s America”, as Manish thinks it will. I'm really glad he left this comment. I mentioned briefly in the original post that the point of the cartoon (and satire, in general) is to exaggerate the ridiculous. When I began to elaborate, I found I was writing enough for another post. So here goes.It is not so much the cartoon itself that I am offended by. In fact, I used to watch The Simpsons back home in India and even in my early years here, and I never thought twice about Apu. It is only later on that he started to annoy and then offend me. And it is not so much the character itself that began to get my goat. It was more in the way that I saw Americans perceive him - as this funny-talking, dirty, dishonest "Hindi" (sic) who worships funny-looking, blue creatures with many arms. This perception of the cartoon character began to replace reality, and Americans who claimed to be my friends (and some who were my enemies) came up to me spouting "Thank you, come again!" in that bud bud ding ding accent. This is when it really began to tick me off. And, to clarify, it's not so much the phrase itself, but the manner in which it's been used that's my peeve.I think the point is best illustrated by something I read on Greatbong's post about this whole thing....a few weeks ago I was watching Transformers in a packed theater with the raucous crowd that was laughing and cheering at every point. Well nothing got them as going as the bit where one of the heroes saving the world from the Decepticon scorpion makes a call and gets stuck with an Indian call center worker who with his Apu-type accent and indecipherable mumblings keeps delaying the hero. The entire crowd exploded at presumably this “subtle bit of racial humor” and I would have also been laughing (being someone who understands “sarcasm”) when a voice rose above the din with a boisterous “Motherf**** dothead”.And then it happened.As the connection with the call center operator was terminated by the impatient hero, someone to my right laughed out:“Thank you, come again.”Now, I'm inclined to give Matt Groening the benefit of the doubt. Let's assume that he was unaware that this would be the reaction to his caricature. So let's overlook the Computer Science Ph.D. and assume that it's not deliberate stereotyping.Moving on to the 7-Eleven/Kwik-E-Mart promotion. Given that we know now that this phrase is used in everyday language to ridicule and deride desis, I cannot help but be absolutely repulsed by the fact that 7-Eleven is actually paying Indians to say, "Thank you, come again". The repercussions of this on how the desi community is perceived by American mainstream society will be extremely damaging. It's almost equivalent to paying a member of any minority - be it Black-American, Asian-American or whatever - to have themselves say to a customer "Sir, please call me [insert racial slur here]".I could just overlook the issue and say that it's just a cartoon, and a satire. And, to be perfectly honest, I wouldn't be wrong. But given that I know all this, and have borne the brunt of it, I feel compelled to write something about it and, if nothing else, at least raise some awareness about it.

The Great Ganesha is a doctorate in Quantitative Finance who loves to write. Originally from Bombay, he now lives in San Francisco. Read more about him, if you like.

Not So Kwik: The Apu Dilemma

The Great Ganesha — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 17:09:43 EDT

Seems like everywhere I look, people are talking about the 7-Elevens that are turning themselves into Kwik-E-Marts as a promotion for the upcoming Simpsons movie. Manish at Ultrabrown is far and above at the forefront of the opposition movement to this conversion. Kudos to him. I highly recommend you read what he's written, particularly his piece for The Guardian blog.Normally, I don't have too much to say about these kinds of things. This time though, it's got me thinking. Perhaps it's because throughout my college years I had irritating American kids come up to me and quote Apu expecting me to laugh at their brilliant wit. Perhaps also, it's because I saw some of my desi friends rationalize it, and others pretend they were being enlightened by laughing at it, but always a little extra loud. Or perhaps it's because I always felt something was amiss and never really did anything back then. It could be any, all, or none of the three - I'm not quite sure. I should also add I did regularly watch The Simpsons and other than those aspects of Apu that tick me off, I did enjoy it. Lately though, the show seems to have lost its edge and the humor has stopped outweighing the negative stereotyping.To begin with, there is little doubt in my mind that immigrants are being exploited for the promotion. This starts with the character of Apu itself, which was created to exploit and exaggerate desi immigrants' (sometimes nonexistent) characteristics to get a quick, easy, and insensitive laugh. The accent is inaccurate and Apu is two-dimensional, badly researched, and the worst of it is that he perpetuates negative and inaccurate stereotypes. Yes, Apu has a Ph.D. which is somewhat redeeming, but Groening gives him one in computer science because that's all desis can do - I.T. And run Kwik-E-Marts, of course.Now, one can argue that this is a cartoon and a satire, and that the whole point is to exaggerate the ridiculous to satirize society. But having wracked my brains, I can't see what is being lampooned by creating this character as such, other than the fact that immigrants "talk funny" which adds great value to the general culture, I'm sure. As an Indian in America, it's hard enough having to fight to be taken seriously in mainstream society. These irritating obstacles certainly don't make that task any easier.Even if we assume for one second that Apu is nothing more than a bad joke, should we really take this joke into the real world? I think not. That the 7-Eleven company has actually done it and further, paid desis to say "Thank you, come again" and other silly lines is downright repulsive. Manish compares it to Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben.Pancake mascot Aunt Jemima and rice maven Uncle Ben survived only after being softened and morphed into avuncular friends. Apu too has been grandfathered into America’s affections after 19 years on television. But as Slate magazine wrote, ‘It’s worth remembering what these spokescharacters truly are: a final, living vestige of Jim Crow America.’ I don't know if I would go that far, but I do shudder to think of the consequences. And while several desi store-owners are enjoying the increased profits of the promotions, not all have agreed to convert their stores to Kwik-E-Marts.Back home in India, you get quite used to hearing about these sorts of inequities and exploitations in society, but I was under the impression that we were in the "enlightened West". At times like these, I can only remember Mahatma Gandhi's response when he was asked what he thought of Western civilization. He said, "I think it would be a very good idea."

The Great Ganesha is a doctorate in Quantitative Finance who loves to write. Originally from Bombay, he now lives in San Francisco. Read more about him, if you like.

Concert Review: You Have the Right to Remain Silent - The Police at Oakland 6/13/07

The Great Ganesha — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 08:46:25 EDT

Sometime in 1980s (or thereabouts), I heard 'De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da' for the first time. It was on my father's Sony stereo system, which was covered with a custom-made plastic case and occupied an exalted position on his bedroom shelf. I had just been given "stereo privileges" which meant that my father considered me old enough to use it, and was confident I wouldn't set it on fire. No fires were caused in listening to the song, but the upbeat mood and catchy tune hooked me. From that point on I considered myself a Police (and Sting) fan.When I heard they were going to be touring again after a twenty-four year hiatus, it was a no-brainer. I had to go. So I awoke one morning in late February (when they went on sale), logged into Ticketmaster and bought tickets to their show at the McAfee Coliseum in Oakland on June 13th. The show sold out in a less than two hours.The Opening BandWe got to the venue naïvely at 6:30pm, like it said on the ticket. Now, we weren't aware of the existence of warm-up acts. After hanging around for about an hour, we were inundated for another hour with something that sounded like a dial-up modem logging on to a network, except a few thousand decibels louder. As it turned out, this was the opening band - Fiction Plane - led by Sting, Jr. a.k.a. Joe Sumner. Clearly, something went awry with the genetics there. When they stopped playing, one guy in the audience clapped. He narrowly escaped for his life as fellow concert-goers attacked him with their soft drinks and hot dogs. I exaggerate, of course, but it suffices to say that there were no long lines to buy their CD. Wrapped Around Your FingerAt around 9pm, the Police (finally!) got off to a rocking start with "Message in a Bottle". A good, strong opening which was jazzed up with a stronger beat from its album version. In fact, several of the songs were literally "jazzed up" from their original versions - probably an influence of Summers technical brilliance and Sting's foray into jazz since the split. For instance, "Wrapped Around Your Finger" had an extended percussion intro which really brought on the mood. I should mention that Copeland was making full use of his extended percussion kit throughout the show. In "Walking on the Moon" (a personal favorite), Sting did a pan-flute solo. It wasn't great, but it worked. "De Do Do Do..." was funky as always and hit the spot. On the other hand, "Every Breath You Take" - which had its last breath taken away from it several years ago, from being overplayed and over-covered by other musicians - fell flat.All songs were longer than the album versions from the eighties - and this was not necessarily bad. Also, while normally the three have a backing band which plays the horns and additional guitars, on this tour all backing parts were written out - it was only the three of them performing on stage. Invisible SunUltimately, the concert was too short. They left after less than an hour of playing, and had to be drawn out thrice. Call me cheap, but paying over a hundred dollars for the ticket should be enough to have the band play two sets lasting forty-five minutes each (at least) plus one encore, if things are going well. The total playing time for this concert was under an hour and fifteen minutes, and that included all the time spent clapping to get them back on stage.Also, from a practical perspective, the stadium was not well-equipped to handle a concert like this. First off, there were only three screens - two on each side of the stage, positioned for best viewing by only the audience facing the stage, and one behind the band. Since we were at an angle, we could see only one screen, and that too, barely. Secondly, the acoustics were suboptimal, with there being quite a bit of echo (and therefore, distortion) in the stadium seats. A better venue for this sort of thing is the Shoreline Amphitheatre.Overall, although it was great to see them perform live, the concert was a tad disappointing. There was a fair amount of experimentation and deviation from the original recordings. And like with all experimentation it was high-risk. Which means that when it worked, it really rocked. But when it didn't work, it really stank. The bad songs, the short performance and the issues with the venue definitely were a downer. That said though, it was the Police after all, and they did rock, even if it was only for some of the time. Picture sourceGood Night (no, really!)SetlistMessage in a Bottle*Synchronicity II*Don’t Stand So Close to Me*Voices in My Head / When the World Is Running DownSpirits in the Material World*Driven to TearsWalking on the Moon*Truth Hits EverybodyEvery Little Thing She Does Is Magic*Wrapped Around Your Finger*The Bed’s Too Big Without YouDe Do Do Do, De Da Da Da*Invisible Sun*Walking in Your FootstepsCan’t Stand Losing You*Encore 1Roxanne*King of Pain* Encore 2So LonelyEvery Breath You Take Encore 3Next to You*These songs really rocked. The rest ran the spectrum from Could you hurry this up, please? to Hm...it's ok.

The Great Ganesha is a doctorate in Quantitative Finance who loves to write. Originally from Bombay, he now lives in San Francisco. Read more about him, if you like.

Crime, Sociopaths, and Revenge: Asian Film At Its Finest at the Asian American Film Festival

The Great Ganesha — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 20:09:30 EDT

I just saw The Departed. A few months late and a few dollars short (thanks to Netflix) but it was on purpose, because I wanted to watch Infernal Affairs first. I'm glad I waited. It’s unfortunate that Martin Scorsese has resorted to making big budget blockbusters in the last few years, because it has diluted his body of work. This is not to say that there’s anything wrong with big budget blockbusters; it’s just that the ones that Scorsese has been making in the last few years are pretty flat compared with his earlier stuff. While it was tightly shot, with decent cinematography, The Departed seemed shallow and unreal overall. More importantly, it did not fare well against its elder twin, Infernal Affairs, for three main reasons. First of all, the plot for the latter was completely original – something that very few moviegoers had ever had the chance to see. Secondly, the actors brought out an incredible level of depth and complexity in their characters, which was not seen with The Departed. And third, and most importantly, the concept of loyalty – on which the entire plot hinges – seemed so much more culturally believable in Hong Kong, than it did in Boston. As a bonus, audiences for Infernal Affairs had no soft landing in the end - the finale was more powerful, more realistic, and consequently, more cynical than The Departed's. When comparing the two, Infernal Affairs comes out head and shoulders above The Departed, all of its Oscars notwithstanding.While Infernal Affairs has had the privilege of being remade by Martin Scorsese, not all films coming out of East and Southeast Asia share this honor. Over the last ten years or so, especially since the economies there have started to pick up, the film industries have been booming. As a result, there have been some real gems that have been created on that side of the Pacific. Too many other films deserve the exposure that Infernal Affairs received, and quite frankly, almost all of them are not going to get it. Most likely, several of you reading this will miss out on some examples of excellent cinema only because you never get the chance to hear of a particular film. Readers in the Bay Area however, need not despair. An excellent opportunity is only a few days away. I’m talking, of course, about the Asian American Film Festival that’s showing in San Francisco, Berkeley, and San Jose, California, from March 15 through March 25. Some of the finest films shot in the last decade are going to be previewed there, including some which have never received any prior western exposure, either in the form of widespread DVD availability or theatrical release.The Day A Pig Fell Into The WellOne of the striking features of the festival is a Hong Sang-soo retrospective. Sang-soo is a South Korean filmmaker who received critical recognition with his debut directorial feature The Day A Pig Fell Into The Well, released in 1996. His latest feature is Woman on the Beach, which was released last year. The Festival is featuring a complete screening of all his films. A recurrent theme in all of Sang-soo’s films is the alienation and stunted emotional growth experienced by his characters. They all relate to others in a unique way, which clearly shows how they can be members of society but yet remain completely detached from it. These people are sociopaths on some level, creating a world for themselves which is completely isolated from the real world. What is most interesting is to see how they react to each other, and to their own handicap, especially since they themselves are unaware of it. What is most disturbing is that if their detachment were not so extreme and their emotional void not quite so empty, they might just be people like you or me. If you believe in accidents, then it is a small twist of fate that has made these characters the way they are and it is just as likely they could have gone another way, and ended up quite normal. This fragility is what makes Hong’s movies so enticingly repulsive. If you are interested in the complexities of human nature, Hong’s films are for you.BlackoutBut we need not delve into the seamy underbelly of the human unconscious to enjoy a good movie. The festival is also showcasing some of the best action thrillers. Of note is the Filipino film Blackout, about an alcoholic, single father who wakes up to see his rear bumper bloodied after one of his blackouts. Directed by whiz kid Ato Bautista, the movie blurs the line between reality and unreality as we unravel the mystery. Also showing is Chris Chan Lee’s Undoing, a neo-noir film based in (where else?) L.A. about crooked cops, blackmail, and a fugitive who returns home for some revenge. It stars Sung Kang of The Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift fame, in a strikingly different role. And finally, the Canadian drama Dragon Boys tells the story of a Chinese Canadian cop who wants to take on the Vancouver triad. Directed by Jerry Ciccoritti, it showcases talent from the U.S., Canada and Hong Kong, and has been compared with The Sopranos and The Wire.The Year of the FishFor the more romantic types, we have David Kaplan’s The Year of the Fish, a rotoscoped fantasy film about a young Chinese immigrant, showcasing New York City like you’ve never seen it before. There’s also the racy and sexually charged Summer Palace which has director Lou Ye tell the story of two Beijing University students over the period of ten years. Noteworthy documentaries like Duc Nguyen’s Bolinao 52 showcase the story of a boat of ill-fated Vietnamese refugees who leave the country in the hopes of escaping persecution in 1980 Vietnam. There are even shorts from South Asia like the striking chapters from Sita Sings the Blues, which takes stories from the Indian epic, The Ramayana, and retells them in short animation form.It’s impossible to highlight every good movie showing at the festival. This is just a handful of noticeable films and for each one mentioned here, there are about three or four films which are just as good. My only advice is this: If you’re in the Bay Area, check it out. You won’t want to miss it.

The Great Ganesha is a doctorate in Quantitative Finance who loves to write. Originally from Bombay, he now lives in San Francisco. Read more about him, if you like.

These Boots Are Made For Walken

The Great Ganesha — Fri, 2 Mar 2007 17:11:15 EST

Everybody knows Christopher Walken, right? I mean, who. Doesn't. Remember. The stilted speech? The sporadic infle-e-ections. The somewhat vacant look, like his mind is always on vacation even though his body is here and of course - the piercing stare.There's no doubt that he's a strange character. This comes out in every one of his roles including; The Deer Hunter (for which he won an Oscar), Catch Me If You Can (for which he was Oscar nominated) and let us not forget Pulp Fiction. To be honest, I've always held a certain fascination for the guy. Did you know he was trained in classical dance? I first noticed him (and some of you young 'uns may not remember this) in one of Fatboy Slim's videos, called 'Weapon "of Choice'. This was back in the early-to-mid nineties, soon after MTV came to India. Check it out, when you get a chance. Then of course, were all his appearances on Saturday Night Live. Especially, the 'Cowbell' sketch, now of legendary status. There are literally tons of parodies paying homage to the original sketch (which, ironically, is itself a parody) on YouTube, even though the original was removed for copyright reasons. The sketch even has it's own Wikipedia page, for God's sake. Why it's become so famous is completely beyond me. Don't get me wrong, I think it's hilarious but ultimately, just another SNL sketch. If you live on Mars, here's your chance to see it now.Anyhow, I digress. Getting back to Christopher Walken, the whole reason for this post - I was listening to a newly discovered podcast (called NPR Pop Culture - which I highly recommend, by the way) and they started talking about a show in LA called All About Walken. It consists of is eight actors impersonating Walken in various roles, both real and fictitious. For instance, they have one actor singing 'These Boots Are Made For Walken', Walken-style,others re-enact a scene from Annie Hall as well as some of his other famous film roles.Right now, there are three women (Lily Holleman, Amy Kelly and Tara Price) and an Asian man (Kenzo Lee) along with a bunch of other people (Michael Bayouth, Patrick O'Sullivan, Brennan Vetter and Troy Vincent) who imitate Walken. From the NPR show, it seems at one time they even had a black guy and an Asian woman in the show. Each has their own interpretation of the Walken-style of speaking, and they each focus on different aspects of his speech. They played clips from the show on the podcast, and I have to say it was downright hilarious. The creator of the show - Patrick O'Sullivan - even gave a little tutorial on the three things you need to impersonate Walken's speech: (1) The stilted-ness; (2) the inflection and; (3) the rasp. The whole concept is so absurd that it's brilliant. It's almost a parody of the obsession that this country has for him. An obsession which has -rightly, I think- given him a secure seat in the court of pop culture royalty.The show is only performed on Mondays because Patrick O'Sullivan is also a waiter, and that's his only day off. Some reviews of the show can be found here, here and here. The NPR podcast (originally from the Day to Day show) is here.If you're in the LA area, you might want to check it out and leave a comment. I'd definitely like to hear your take on it.

The Great Ganesha is a doctorate in Quantitative Finance who loves to write. Originally from Bombay, he now lives in San Francisco. Read more about him, if you like.

The Art of Blogging

The Great Ganesha — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 19:14:29 EST

For the last half-decade or so, a slow but steady transition has been taking place as web pages on the Internet move from the confines of the static page to a dynamic, interactive medium. Blogging has been at the forefront of these changes. Bloggers catalogue the changes and blogs showcase them as they venture into a heretofore unknown medium. Blogging is in its embryonic stages and has not completely defined itself. It is also the case that it is several things all at once and so defies categorization. Its etymological roots are easy to explain -- it is short for weblog. Some early bloggers split the word ‘weblog’ unconventionally into ‘we blog’, and a new word entered into the English language lexicon -- a word, incidentally, that was Merriam-Webster’s word of the year for 2004. So by definition, a blog is an online log, a diary, a catalogue of one’s thoughts. Not unlike our thoughts, the types of blogs run the gamut from the political to the poetic; from the perverse to the picturesque.Andrew Sullivan – a now-famous political blogger and journalist for Time magazine – describes a blog as “somewhere between writing a column and talk radio.” A blog could be as base as daytime television or as stimulating as an in-depth PBS documentary. A blog is a journalistic report of an event, a well-thought-out opinion piece, the errant ramblings of an old man, or the dull journaling of a teenager’s daily activities. While it is easy to label blogs as extensions of newspaper or other journalistic media, this falls prey to shaping the unknown into what is familiar. Yes, there are several similarities, but there are more differences. This categorization also partly follows from the fact that it is mainly the political blogs which have ascended from the underground into the mainstream media. But it is the ones that go unnoticed by the mainstream that are the most intriguing. There are photo blogs, on which amateur photographers post some of the most beautiful images; there are audio blogs where people post audio (also known as podcasts); there are blogs in which people who can barely speak English write the most lyrical prose, in English no less; and there are blogs focused on particular topics, usually started by people who are experts (sometimes real, at other times, self-imagined) in the field. The only universal statement that one can make about blogs is about their format: dated entries which are reverse-chronologically ordered and have a space for readers to comment on them.At its best, blogging is an art. And just like any work of art, be it Nabokov’s Lolita or Cartier-Bresson’s The Decisive Moment, it can be subtle and expressive at once. A good blog post can stir up anger, elation, and grief. It appeals to everyone and can incite passionate discussion. Blogs can create trends or destroy them. Like art, a blog post has its roots in the banalities of everyday existence. A good blogger can elevate the mundane, or debase the divine. A good blogger creates his own personal villains, orchestrates conflict, thus creating drama. A good blog post can be fiction, non-fiction, or somewhere in between, like a well-written op-ed piece, but written in less time and with less thought. No, that’s not a typo - less thinking is one of the things that sets blogging apart from any of the traditional media. The technology-enabled facility of quick publishing gives blog posts (and their responses) what can be loosely described as a stream of consciousness style. The immediacy creates a sense of intimacy with the audience, and motivates them to interact with the blogger.This interactive aspect of a blog is what separates it from traditional writing. A blog post is incomplete without its comments - they are an integral part of it. Comments allow a blogger to clarify, argue, converse or just observe his audience. Unlike traditional works of art, comments enable a blogger to look inside his audience’s minds and digest and internalize what they are saying. This knowledge will, in turn, show up in the subsequent posts, where readers can comment again, and the cycle continues. This interaction makes blogging a largely synergistic activity and makes blogger and audience explicitly interdependent on one another. Of course, there is always interaction between artist and audience, but it is not nearly as intimate, and it is not incorporated into the artist’s work as quickly as with a blog.By giving people the freedom to write about what they want, when they want, along with a more-or-less automatic readership, countless souls (including myself) have found their ‘inner writer’. Blogging is allowing people to create a new style of writing, with its own set of rules. As more and more people join the blogging bandwagon, it is increasingly difficult to ignore. As it gains more exposure, it is also difficult to ignore the fact that blogging, at its best, is indeed a unique art form.

The Great Ganesha is a doctorate in Quantitative Finance who loves to write. Originally from Bombay, he now lives in San Francisco. Read more about him, if you like.

Movie Review: Man Push Cart - An Existential Bagel (and Coffee)

The Great Ganesha — Thu, 4 Jan 2007 21:07:01 EST

Ahmad is a sad young man. Once a budding rock star in Pakistan, with a hit album in 1995, he immigrated with his wife and son to the U.S. Somehow, he began selling bagels and coffee from a pushcart in midtown Manhattan. And then his wife died. Fast forward a year later: His mother-in-law blames Ahmad for his wife’s death and refuses to let him see her son. Thusly, Ahmad ends up losing his fame, his wife, and his son.This is the point at which we enter Iranian-American filmmaker Ramin Bahrani’s second feature (and his first in the U.S.), the bittersweet Man Push Cart. Shot in documentary style, inclusive of the harsh headlights and ubiquitous traffic sounds that are the streets of New York, we are spectators to the life of Ahmad (played by Ahmad Razvi). He commutes every day, well before sunrise, from his Brooklyn hovel to a pushcart storage facility in midtown Manhattan. He picks up his cart, and physically drags it to his spot, several blocks away. With an almost orchestral cadence, he fills the industrial-size coffee filter, prepares and piles paper cups with tea bags, and arranges bagels and doughnuts in the tiny display window of his cart. This rhythm of his daily grind punctuates the film periodically. In fact, it is the one thing that grounds the audience. No matter what happens in the film, we always know that Ahmad will return to his cart and the comforting beat of his diurnal pulse.Ahmad feeds the pigeons, he picks up stray kittens, he despairs the loss of his wife and his son, and he hopes to buy an apartment for him and his son to live in. He is human enough for us to identify with, but distant enough so that he exists in the nether regions of humanity. We see him persistently shrugging off any opportunity he might have to enter the mainstream. When recognized by a fellow Pakistani, Mohammad (Charles Arturo Sandoval), he barely acknowledges the praise (“He was the Bono of Lahore”) given to him for his former career as a musician. When Mohammad tries to help him out of his grueling life, by getting him a job in a nightclub, Ahmad tries it for a short period (what seems like an hour, or less) and quits. Mohammad gives him odd jobs around the house for extra cash, but they remain unfinished. Ahmad meets Noemi (the uplifting Leticia Dolera) at a nearby newsstand where he buys his cigarettes, and although she takes an interest in him giving him an opportunity to escape his loneliness, he pushes her away. And the stray kitten that he finds and adopts - a symbol of his lost son, perhaps - he inadvertently ends up feeding it milk instead of water and gets it sick. So what makes this man want to continue in his life of sheer hardship? Who is Ahmad?The movie reveals few details about Ahmad and even those are fleeting and gathered through indirect references. There is little or no dialogue and a bulk of the movie consists of shots of Ahmad dragging his cart down the Avenue of the Americas. We don’t know how Ahmad lost his wife, we don’t know what caused his mother-in-law to blame him and consequently take his son and we don’t know what made him (or forced him to) give up his career as a famous musician. But all that is irrelevant, Bahrani seems to say. The point of the movie is not the intricate details of Ahmad’s past. The point is what Ahmad is now. And, as Ahmad himself says, “I’m just a Pakistani guy. Selling coffee and doughnuts. That's it.” Indeed, that’s all Ahmad is. No more, no less.With clear allusions to Camus’ The Myth of Sisyphus, highlighting the absurdity of our everyday Sisyphean existence, Bahrani creates a bittersweet drama that tells the story of a man who wants to be anonymous. This is a man who has seen fame and has probably come close to fortune, but has abandoned it. It is a riches-to-rags story of someone who is content to exist on the fringes of society. The movie exposes us to what can arguably be the worst possible circumstances for a man to endure. But like De Sica’s The Bicycle Thief, it also shows us that life, when stripped of its superficial aspects, is not much at all, but is enough for us to be happy. This independent film comes highly recommended.

The Great Ganesha is a doctorate in Quantitative Finance who loves to write. Originally from Bombay, he now lives in San Francisco. Read more about him, if you like.

Movie Review: Omkara and Sholay at the 2006 South Asian Film Festival (San Francisco)

The Great Ganesha — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 21:42:24 EST

Two excellent films stood out among those screened at the recent 2006 South Asian Film Festival in San Francisco (organized by 3rd I Films).OmkaraWhat if Othello were to appear on Oprah? She would probably ask him about his childhood, growing up as a Moor in a predominantly Christian world. And Dr. Phil would chime in about how he was bullied as a child, always separate, always obsessed about becoming “like the others” but at the same time feeling somewhat “lesser” because he is in the minority. Iago, a man with his own complexes, would play on those feelings, enhance them, leading Othello to the tragic end we are all quite familiar with. As if Othello on Oprah wasn’t bizarre enough, now try and transplant Othello to India, to Bollywood. How does one do that without avoiding the obvious absurdities associated with this transition? Well, just ask Vishal Bhardwaj, the director of Omkara, who’s done just that. This is not the first time Bhardwaj has taken the Bard to his homeland. He did it first in Maqbool, an excellent adaptation of Macbeth and its overt themes of lust for power and betrayal adapted to Bombay’s complicated and glamorous underworld. With Omkara, he alters Othello and the inherent insecurity and paranoia of its leading characters to create a stylized Bollywood drama, songs and all.A few states in India’s north are dirt poor and completely lawless. Although on paper there is a government, it is almost a joke, since most of the villages are run by gangsters. The only time the government does indeed have any power is when it consists of the local hoodlums (which is quite often). Because of the poverty and illiteracy in those areas, the region is overrun by largely medieval beliefs and this is where India’s notorious caste system still holds some sway. It is in one of these states, Uttar Pradesh (also Bhardwaj’s hometown) that Omkara is set. The movie tells the story of a half-caste gangster (Omkara/Othello), played by Ajay Devgun, who makes it big to become leader of the gangs in his district, comprising of a number of villages. He ends up marrying a rich woman (Dolly/Desdemona), played by Kareena Kapoor, from a respectable high-caste family that opposes the match. Early on in the film, Dolly’s father warns Omkara or Omi, “Jo ladki apne baap ko thag sakti hai, wo kisi aur ki sagi kya hogi (She has deciev’d her father, and may thee)." This line reverberates in Omi’s head.The hierarchy of hoodlums has the local politico (Bhaisaab/Duke of Venice), played excellently by Naseeruddin Shah, on top. Right under him is Omi. When Bhaisaab (literally ‘elder brother’) wins the local elections and comes into power, Omi must choose a henchman. He chooses Keshu/Cassio (Vivek Oberoi), overlooking his longtime aide and brother-in-law, Langda Tyagi/Iago (Saif Ali Khan). Wracked with envy, Langda (literally ‘lame one’) plays on Omi’s insecurities to destroy Keshu’s reputation, Omi’s marriage and, of course, eventually, Omi himself. For his underhanded schemes, he enlists Raju/Rodrigo (Deepak Dobriyal), who was jilted at the altar by Dolly, as well as Omi’s sister Indu/Emilia (Konkona Sen Sharma), who helps him unknowingly. Watched alone, the movie makes for excellent viewing. However, just as it is impossible to prevent yourself from comparing siblings when you meet them, it is impossible to review Omkara without comparing it to Maqbool. And this is, unfortunately, where Omkara falls short. While Maqbool was phenomenal in direction and acting, it is sad to say that, Omkara, while, very well-directed, is comparatively much more insipid as far as the acting is concerned. The cast of leading characters in this movie is from the top tier of Bollywood stars and perhaps this is why the movie fails. They lack the requisite versatility and depth to make the Shakespearean drama enticing. The best acting comes from Shah and Dobriyal, who are in the smaller roles and while the former is a big name on the arthouse scene in India, the latter is lesser known. While trying to fuse arthouse with Bollywood, Bhardwaj ends up having the film become neither. To misquote another great writer, “Oh, Arthouse is Arthouse, and Bollywood is Bollywood, and never the twain shall meet.” Despite this, though, the soundtrack is fantastic since Bhardwaj was, before his movie debut, a highly competent music director. Although it comes highly recommended for watching, it is disappointing when compared with Maqbool.SholaySholay, on the other hand, is unabashedly Bollywood. The creators of this film had no grand ideas of fusing arthouse and Bollywood. They just wanted to make a lucrative and successful film. And boy, did they ever. Sholay is the highest grossing and most profitable Hindi movie ever made. It ran to packed houses continuously for five years at a cinema in Bombay and several others across India. If you ever wish to befriend an Indian, it is recommended you bring up this film, and they will be able to quote its dialogue verbatim, over thirty years after its original release. It changed the face of Bollywood and, arguably, was responsible for creating the phenomenon that was Bollywood through the late seventies up to the early- to mid-eighties.The movie is essentially a “curry Western” – a mixture of a spaghetti western along the lines of Sergio Leone and a regular western along the lines of Sam Peckinpah, made specifically to entertain Indian audiences. It’s somewhat of a remake of Sturges’ The Magnificent Seven (1960) for Indians, as much as that movie is a remake of Kurosawa’s The Seven Samurai (1954) for Americans. The difference is that it only has two protagonists. It has all of the requisite songs (five, to be precise) interspersed into the film, composed by Bollywood legend R.D. Burman. It was the breakthrough film for Bollywood superstar (and recent recipient of France’s highest civilian honor, Officier de la Legion d’Honneur) Amitabh Bachhan and launched his career. It also starred Amjad Khan as the indomitable Gabbar Singh, a villain that affected the Indian psyche to such an extent that even today, parents will grin with pride when their toddlers recite his lines verbatim. The movie also featured Bollywood stars Dharmendra as the romantic lead, Hema Malini as his love interest, Jaya Badhuri as the Thakur’s daughter-in-law, and the wonderful Sanjeev Kumar as the Thakur (literally 'landowner') and former police officer. It turned out that both Dharmendra and Amitabh married their leading ladies in real life.The plot is simple. Veeru (Dharmendra) and Jai (Bachhan) are two small-time, lovable cons. Their friendship is of Bollywood (read: mythical) proportions which makes them even more endearing. Meanwhile, Gabbar Singh (Khan) has kidnapped and killed most of Thakur Baldev Singh’s (Kumar) family, and scarred the Thakur, both physically and mentally, for life. Since Veeru and Jai are known to do anything for the right compensation, they are recruited by the Thakur to “take care” of Gabbar. Although landowners in Hindi movies are usually evil powermongers, in this case the Thakur is a good man, and just. As they proceed with their pursuit of Gabbar, they both meet their respective love interests and ultimately, of course, win them over.What is most interesting about this movie is the phenomenon that it became. The movie itself is not spectacular from the perspective of film as art. It is certainly entertaining with a great soundtrack (at least, from an Indian standpoint - the average Westerner may not see the appeal). The acting is good, but not great and the direction is stylized and over-dramatized at times – almost a parody of the spaghetti westerns themselves. In fact, when it was released on 15 August, 1975 (also India’s Independence Day) it received lackluster reviews and mediocre attendance. It was weeks after the bad reviews that the movie halls started filling up and shows started to get sold out. Scalpers started selling tickets at outrageously high prices, lines extended up to a mile outside the theatres, even in heavy monsoon rains. People went to see the movie again and again and they would quote the dialogue simultaneously with the movie, with some even mimicking the sound effects. Although it is no longer shown in cinemas, it was shown for the first time on public television in 1996. The streets of every city in India were virtually empty that day.So what makes this movie so great? To a non-Indian, it might be a complete mystery. In spite of growing up in Bombay, surrounded by people quoting the movie’s dialogues, and having seen it several times, I cannot purport to provide any insight to answer that question. However, if one movie could unite a country with as many opinions as there are people and around 21 official languages, there might just be something to it. Perhaps I need to watch it just one more time, just to make sure.

The Great Ganesha is a doctorate in Quantitative Finance who loves to write. Originally from Bombay, he now lives in San Francisco. Read more about him, if you like.