Posted for a contest. I need the money; read it there. (I'd rather not be accused of plagiarizing my own work.)
Media Blog
4.30.2007
4.18.2007
LOL 101: Comedy as Commentary
वह! क्या बात है! अब मे भार्तिभाषा मे टैप कर सकती हू! यह इन्टरनेट क्या चीज है!
Anyway...
Firstly, the title of this blog refers to a panel held at the University of Chicago featuring Mike Reiss (Simpsons--also the creator of Apu; and I actually found out why one of his kids was named प्रिया), Lizz Winstead (The Daily Show), Jordan Carlos (The Colbert Report), and Andy Borowitz (BorowitzReport.com). It being UC, the panel had a serious purpose to explore the purposes of political comedy in relation to the work these people do (they do a lot more--look it up if you're interested). A lot of the questions were fairly serious--not even these guys could work in a single AIDS joke until a full halfway through the presentation.
Besides the joy of seeing people with actual senses of humor (my own, sadly enough, is limited to context and at least 20 minutes of buildup--I have discovered this more frequently lately) and hearing some interesting and "inside" things (yeah, normally you'd have to pay money for this :P), I also discovered that expectations very, very strongly color people's anticipations of people. I mean, Carlos said 'Yes' and people--more than a hundred of them--were laughing. WTF? So much goes into anticipation that I'm not sure people see the real thing when they meet someone with a reasonable amount of fame
Interesting....
Yeah, I've definitely given up on satire. Borowitz made a good point (most of the good points, in fact, along with most of the comments) about how nowadays there's snarkiness--not satire--everywhere. And that's the problem with blogs: you get so harshly critical of something just because you can be that expectations reach impossible levels and, like Aesop's man with his ass and son, public figures--politicians--end up totally failing to please anyone. So stop being unreasonable, or just do it where no one's actually going to bother looking at you.
Wait, this is one of those places....
Ever since I found out people have ever actually read this, I've been considering regular updates, so stop telling me. मेरे को ये चीजे मत बोलो, in case you didn't get that!
Anyway...
Firstly, the title of this blog refers to a panel held at the University of Chicago featuring Mike Reiss (Simpsons--also the creator of Apu; and I actually found out why one of his kids was named प्रिया), Lizz Winstead (The Daily Show), Jordan Carlos (The Colbert Report), and Andy Borowitz (BorowitzReport.com). It being UC, the panel had a serious purpose to explore the purposes of political comedy in relation to the work these people do (they do a lot more--look it up if you're interested). A lot of the questions were fairly serious--not even these guys could work in a single AIDS joke until a full halfway through the presentation.
Besides the joy of seeing people with actual senses of humor (my own, sadly enough, is limited to context and at least 20 minutes of buildup--I have discovered this more frequently lately) and hearing some interesting and "inside" things (yeah, normally you'd have to pay money for this :P), I also discovered that expectations very, very strongly color people's anticipations of people. I mean, Carlos said 'Yes' and people--more than a hundred of them--were laughing. WTF? So much goes into anticipation that I'm not sure people see the real thing when they meet someone with a reasonable amount of fame
Interesting....
Yeah, I've definitely given up on satire. Borowitz made a good point (most of the good points, in fact, along with most of the comments) about how nowadays there's snarkiness--not satire--everywhere. And that's the problem with blogs: you get so harshly critical of something just because you can be that expectations reach impossible levels and, like Aesop's man with his ass and son, public figures--politicians--end up totally failing to please anyone. So stop being unreasonable, or just do it where no one's actually going to bother looking at you.
Wait, this is one of those places....
Ever since I found out people have ever actually read this, I've been considering regular updates, so stop telling me. मेरे को ये चीजे मत बोलो, in case you didn't get that!
4.11.2007
Birthday Blog
Finally...a birthday with some actual meaning. I do so hate the way countries limit privileges by age, but I suppose there's no less arbitrary way of doing it.
Of course, most of the meaning is still symbolic...but hey....
I think the real reason people care so much about birthdays is because of the temporary hope it instills. You wake up thinking that, because it's your birthday, everything will go well--and it does. Think about what would happen if people applied this philosophy to every day!
Something interesting: I have trouble writing the date as 4/10/07 and not as 4/10/--year I was born--. What with all the forms we have to fill out nowadays, I'm sure everyone experiences this.
P.S. Technically, my birthday is the morning of April 11th on Central time, so this isn't late. (The date is actually adjusted to exactness.)
Of course, most of the meaning is still symbolic...but hey....
I think the real reason people care so much about birthdays is because of the temporary hope it instills. You wake up thinking that, because it's your birthday, everything will go well--and it does. Think about what would happen if people applied this philosophy to every day!
Something interesting: I have trouble writing the date as 4/10/07 and not as 4/10/--year I was born--. What with all the forms we have to fill out nowadays, I'm sure everyone experiences this.
P.S. Technically, my birthday is the morning of April 11th on Central time, so this isn't late. (The date is actually adjusted to exactness.)
4.09.2007
300: A Brief
Ok, this isn't really short. However, it is a brief because I left out all of the reasons I initially refused to watch this movie.
Well, most of it has already been said....
I'll avoid mentioning the gross historical inaccuracies because those of you who know me have already heard my tirade, and those of you who don't wouldn't enjoy it nearly as much without all the sarcastic little inflections of my voice. The one thing I do wish they had done, though, was entered in the original prophecy from Herotodus (one of the kings of Sparta had to die to ensure a Greek victory), because the entire movie is fatalistic and everyone knows that all of the good guys (well, the only guys--seriously, if you watched this movie to learn about Persia, you'd think they were all mutants, freaks, or she-males) are going to die.
Anyway, the graphics and violence were very, very sexy, especially scenes like the bit where all these dudes get pushed off a cliff. (I did see this in the IMAX, though.) To go with the pretty visuals are lots of good quotes and many, many abs and pecs.
It was quite surreal, but funny. I swear I got a testosterone rush from watching it--and I'm not even male, all slanderous libel to the contrary. :P
List of good quotes (seriously, all of these need context, otherwise they're not half as entertaining):
THIS...IS...SPARTA! (No, I really can't get enough of that. Hahaha. How much more testosterone-driven can you get?)
Tonight, we dine in Hell.
It is not the lash they fear; it is my divine power.
Then we will fight in the shade. (This is actually from Herodotus. Yay!)
...Damn, there aren't as many good quotes as there are good scenes (and by good, I mean funny). Of course, mentioning the good scenes ruins it for the people who haven't seen the movie, so DON'T READ THIS if you are planning to see the movie and haven't already:
Boy stroking the suspiciously phallic lambda on a shield
People getting pushed off a cliff ("They look thirsty!")
Elephants getting pushed off a cliff
Xerxes getting lashed--ok, basically every scene with Xerxes in it. The guy was such a fruit--which he definitely was not in reality, and I'm getting dangerously close to a tirade at this point. Evidently college boys are supposed to feel uncomfortable at the prospect of being anally penetrated by his godly penis.
Theron getting owned by Leonidas' wife (did she have a name at all??)
Shower of arrows
Dude getting limb hacked off
Wall of bodies falling on the "Immortals" (why the fuck were they samuraininjafreaks?)
THIS...IS...SPARTA!
Well, most of it has already been said....
I'll avoid mentioning the gross historical inaccuracies because those of you who know me have already heard my tirade, and those of you who don't wouldn't enjoy it nearly as much without all the sarcastic little inflections of my voice. The one thing I do wish they had done, though, was entered in the original prophecy from Herotodus (one of the kings of Sparta had to die to ensure a Greek victory), because the entire movie is fatalistic and everyone knows that all of the good guys (well, the only guys--seriously, if you watched this movie to learn about Persia, you'd think they were all mutants, freaks, or she-males) are going to die.
Anyway, the graphics and violence were very, very sexy, especially scenes like the bit where all these dudes get pushed off a cliff. (I did see this in the IMAX, though.) To go with the pretty visuals are lots of good quotes and many, many abs and pecs.
It was quite surreal, but funny. I swear I got a testosterone rush from watching it--and I'm not even male, all slanderous libel to the contrary. :P
List of good quotes (seriously, all of these need context, otherwise they're not half as entertaining):
THIS...IS...SPARTA! (No, I really can't get enough of that. Hahaha. How much more testosterone-driven can you get?)
Tonight, we dine in Hell.
It is not the lash they fear; it is my divine power.
Then we will fight in the shade. (This is actually from Herodotus. Yay!)
...Damn, there aren't as many good quotes as there are good scenes (and by good, I mean funny). Of course, mentioning the good scenes ruins it for the people who haven't seen the movie, so DON'T READ THIS if you are planning to see the movie and haven't already:
Boy stroking the suspiciously phallic lambda on a shield
People getting pushed off a cliff ("They look thirsty!")
Elephants getting pushed off a cliff
Xerxes getting lashed--ok, basically every scene with Xerxes in it. The guy was such a fruit--which he definitely was not in reality, and I'm getting dangerously close to a tirade at this point. Evidently college boys are supposed to feel uncomfortable at the prospect of being anally penetrated by his godly penis.
Theron getting owned by Leonidas' wife (did she have a name at all??)
Shower of arrows
Dude getting limb hacked off
Wall of bodies falling on the "Immortals" (why the fuck were they samuraininjafreaks?)
THIS...IS...SPARTA!
4.06.2007
Dissection
Yesterday, for the first time ever, I saw a human brain close-up (and poked a spinal cord). It was fun, though I'm still wondering what the yellow deposits on bits of the spinal cord were...does anyone know? (The TA said it wasn't fat. Fat has a characteristic appearance.)
Anyway, I'm completely sure that the humans who once had these brains inside their skulls volunteered to donate their organs for the purposes of science.
What about the animals? I'm sure thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, of frogs, cats, pigs, etc. are sacrificed each year to aid biology students.
I, for one, don't think it's a problem. The entire body of the animal is being looked at. All of its organs are actually serving a purpose, and just because that purpose is mental fodder rather than meat doesn't mean it's any less worthy. Compare this to cows and other food animals, who are slaughtered for a few choice cuts--that's why I approve of gelatin: what other use will be found for an animal's hooves and horns, anyway?
As for research-based killing, if it's going to save lives and lead to a complete understanding of biology that wouldn't be gained otherwise, why are you complaining? I've never seen anyone rational say that treatment for diseases is bad. In fact, millions of dollars go into funding research for things like cancer and diabetes--how do you expect results to be obtained if you want to protect every cute, fuzzy, and massively inbred animal that ever existed?
I do not, however, approve of the right to copyright naturally occurring genomes (a precedent established with the Harvard mouse in 1994 [??]). It's just...creepy. DNA isn't something that can be synthesized. Yes, it can be put together in different ways--but since when did completing a puzzle make one the owner of the image? Since when was a collage automatically defined as original work?
Anyway, I'm completely sure that the humans who once had these brains inside their skulls volunteered to donate their organs for the purposes of science.
What about the animals? I'm sure thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, of frogs, cats, pigs, etc. are sacrificed each year to aid biology students.
I, for one, don't think it's a problem. The entire body of the animal is being looked at. All of its organs are actually serving a purpose, and just because that purpose is mental fodder rather than meat doesn't mean it's any less worthy. Compare this to cows and other food animals, who are slaughtered for a few choice cuts--that's why I approve of gelatin: what other use will be found for an animal's hooves and horns, anyway?
As for research-based killing, if it's going to save lives and lead to a complete understanding of biology that wouldn't be gained otherwise, why are you complaining? I've never seen anyone rational say that treatment for diseases is bad. In fact, millions of dollars go into funding research for things like cancer and diabetes--how do you expect results to be obtained if you want to protect every cute, fuzzy, and massively inbred animal that ever existed?
I do not, however, approve of the right to copyright naturally occurring genomes (a precedent established with the Harvard mouse in 1994 [??]). It's just...creepy. DNA isn't something that can be synthesized. Yes, it can be put together in different ways--but since when did completing a puzzle make one the owner of the image? Since when was a collage automatically defined as original work?
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