I just could not resist. My right hand is paining after a long trivia battle, my eyes are puffy and sleep beckons, my stomach rumbles on and my mind is not working properly either. It is a quarter past two of the thirtieth day in the month named after the Roman god of the Gates, the year 2010.
I saw the movie 'Paris je t'aime', meaning 'Paris, I Love You'. I had heard about the movie somewhere along the long walks that I take through the corridors of wikipedia or it might have been during one of those channel surfing marathons as I sat alone at home with just the TV for company during my tryst with entrance exams(the movie was released in 2006 May).
I used one of the clips for the 'Travel & Tourism' Quiz for 'Waves Winter-09', my college's Cul-fest. I did not expect it to be answered, but it was worth asking. Interestingly, it was answered by 'the guy who sat in the audience and was shouting the answers' during his first quiz in BITS in 2008. Kudos Mr.LDC cordi, nice work. Needless to say, his team won the quiz.
Enough blabbering, on with it. Or perhaps, in keeping with the spirit of the movie which has 18 short stories, taking place in different parts of Paris, I was just sharing my own stories. Now, to the matter at hand- the movie is about love, how Paris is the city of love. A lonely person finds love, a blind man finds love, a vampire finds love. It is about rediscovering love and life in Paris. 18 beautiful stories, each one some of the most impressive stories I have ever seen.
Each of them with a twist, a heart-wrenching tale of loss, couples reigniting the spark in the marriage and the most beautiful one is directed by Alfonso Cuaron. Do watch it, for it will make you fall in love and believe in love and fall in with the 'City of Love'. I wish I could go to Arc de Triomphe, Champs Elysees, Eiffel Tower, the streets and the cafes and of-course the museums. It's a dream, a wish, a love that will never go away.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Obama - Hope, nothing else
If anyone said actions speak louder than words, I present before you Barack Obama, President of the United States! Nearly a year into his presidency, all he has got to show a is a disaster of a "note" in the Coppenhagen summit, a health care reform bill that still has a long way to go before becoming a law, a declaration that Gitmo will closed down and troops will withdraw gradually from Iraq and Afghanistan. All words and no action along with a Nobel Peace prize makes someone a Barack Obama.
Oh, wait- he did something, increased the number of troops in Afghanistan and then collected the Nobel Peace Prize and then made a ragtag note on how to "rescue" our planet, all in the span of 2 weeks. Bravo Mr.President, but I think you owe more to you predecessor than to anyone else (that includes his teleprompter). We have seen how low and how bad a US President can and the distant glimmer of HOPE mesmerised the US population, but I guess they had no choice (Joe Biden does not count as a choice).
But what went wrong the Nobel Committee? Did not know that Swedes were so stupid- they had forgot about Mahatma Gandhi half a dozen times. Maybe they wanted to make amends, give someone the prize even before he can really do something so that they wont make themselves look stupid as was the case with Gandhiji.
He spoke the truth in his Nobel acceptance speech as he said "Still, we are at war, and I am responsible for the deployment of thousands of young Americans to battle in a distant land". This was an excuse for escalating US troop presence in Afganistan and accepting the Nobel prize in the same week. Jonathan Freedland hit the nail on the head when he commented "Obama is not saviour of the world. He’s still a U.S. president. He must represent the contradictory interests of a country still way behind on climate change", in the context of a disastrous COP-15 summit.
His report card for the first year in office can be best described as 'empty promises, yet we HOPE'. He has been a complete failure in making the failed banks in the US, the ones responsible the worldwide economic downturn, accountable. The billions of dollars that the American taxpayers shelled out in rescuing these banks are used to provide bonuses to the same executives whose risk-taking policies put the entire world in this misery. The recent decision to charge a grand total of USD 117bn on banks worth more than USD 50bn that were rescued in the Troubled Assets Relief Programmes was accompanied by a stern statement 'My commitment is to recover every single dime the American people are owed.My determination to achieve this goal
is only heightened when I see reports of massive profits and obscene bonuses at the very firms who owe their continued existence to the American people'. The banks will go back to rewarding the same strategies that destroyed the entire world's financial structure and will pay a fine of 117bn spread over 10 years, shared by 50 or so banks. 250 million USD a year, petty cash for banks with assets of more than 50bn. But the way said made it seem like a whole lot more.
"every element of our national capacity, our diplomacy, and development assistance, the power of our military and most importantly, the compassion of our country". "To the people of Haiti, we say clearly and with conviction, you will not be forsaken, you will not be forgotten" - Classic textbook styl speech-making. I say, give me a break man. Say something earnestly, don't just sit down with your speech writer and the 'Handbook on Public Speaking' and make a speech!
I hope Mr.President gets down to business after a year in office- he better for the world is not yet out of economic gloom. There are tonnes of other problems, Carbon Dioxide being one of them, Iran and North Korean issue where he can probably get something done because it just is about talking to each other, Iraq and Afghan conflicts where a solid decision on troop reduction including a precise timetable must be drawn and the closing down of Guantanamo Bay. I hope you succeed Mr.President because you managed to convince those who did not think much of the Father of my Nation. I hope you can convince the US people about the perils of Climate change, but it is just a hope, something that made you President.
Oh, wait- he did something, increased the number of troops in Afghanistan and then collected the Nobel Peace Prize and then made a ragtag note on how to "rescue" our planet, all in the span of 2 weeks. Bravo Mr.President, but I think you owe more to you predecessor than to anyone else (that includes his teleprompter). We have seen how low and how bad a US President can and the distant glimmer of HOPE mesmerised the US population, but I guess they had no choice (Joe Biden does not count as a choice).
But what went wrong the Nobel Committee? Did not know that Swedes were so stupid- they had forgot about Mahatma Gandhi half a dozen times. Maybe they wanted to make amends, give someone the prize even before he can really do something so that they wont make themselves look stupid as was the case with Gandhiji.
He spoke the truth in his Nobel acceptance speech as he said "Still, we are at war, and I am responsible for the deployment of thousands of young Americans to battle in a distant land". This was an excuse for escalating US troop presence in Afganistan and accepting the Nobel prize in the same week. Jonathan Freedland hit the nail on the head when he commented "Obama is not saviour of the world. He’s still a U.S. president. He must represent the contradictory interests of a country still way behind on climate change", in the context of a disastrous COP-15 summit.
His report card for the first year in office can be best described as 'empty promises, yet we HOPE'. He has been a complete failure in making the failed banks in the US, the ones responsible the worldwide economic downturn, accountable. The billions of dollars that the American taxpayers shelled out in rescuing these banks are used to provide bonuses to the same executives whose risk-taking policies put the entire world in this misery. The recent decision to charge a grand total of USD 117bn on banks worth more than USD 50bn that were rescued in the Troubled Assets Relief Programmes was accompanied by a stern statement 'My commitment is to recover every single dime the American people are owed.My determination to achieve this goal
is only heightened when I see reports of massive profits and obscene bonuses at the very firms who owe their continued existence to the American people'. The banks will go back to rewarding the same strategies that destroyed the entire world's financial structure and will pay a fine of 117bn spread over 10 years, shared by 50 or so banks. 250 million USD a year, petty cash for banks with assets of more than 50bn. But the way said made it seem like a whole lot more.
"every element of our national capacity, our diplomacy, and development assistance, the power of our military and most importantly, the compassion of our country". "To the people of Haiti, we say clearly and with conviction, you will not be forsaken, you will not be forgotten" - Classic textbook styl speech-making. I say, give me a break man. Say something earnestly, don't just sit down with your speech writer and the 'Handbook on Public Speaking' and make a speech!
I hope Mr.President gets down to business after a year in office- he better for the world is not yet out of economic gloom. There are tonnes of other problems, Carbon Dioxide being one of them, Iran and North Korean issue where he can probably get something done because it just is about talking to each other, Iraq and Afghan conflicts where a solid decision on troop reduction including a precise timetable must be drawn and the closing down of Guantanamo Bay. I hope you succeed Mr.President because you managed to convince those who did not think much of the Father of my Nation. I hope you can convince the US people about the perils of Climate change, but it is just a hope, something that made you President.
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