To cap the evening with Devdas was a downer, overall.
While on the subject of Bhoot, it's interesting how this Rediff interview with Subhash K Jha is a poorly disguised version of an interview with Subhash K Jha in the TOI that I had posted about previously.
And on the subject of Ram Gopal Varma, this is a good place to join e-forces with JR and applaud the interesting promos for his RGV's next venture, Darna Mana Hai, a collection of 6 vignettes of horror (including one about a lady scared of apples! -- I thought 'pomophobia' would have been a good name for this, but surprisingly it seems to refer to the 'fear of post-modernism'. Gah!).
The subject of this post is an apparently innocuous movie called Shiva ka Insaaf (yes, see, the title of the post is actually significant).
And just in case you're wondering what the subtitle for this post meant: think B-movies, think bees ... get it? (I hear groans!)
Asha Bhosle:
Sister of the most influential voice of India, Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle was born September 8, 1933. In April 1942 her father Dinath Mangeshkar died, causing upheaval in the family which moved from Pune to Kolhapur and in turn to Bombay. Around the age of ten she apparently sang her first film song in the Marathi film Majha Bal.
Asha Bhosle has since sung in virtually every Indian language, in Russian and Malay, has sung Rabindra Sangeet (the songs of Bengali poet Tagore), has sung with the bhangra group Alaap, the Indian rap act Baba Sehgal and Boy George, the former lead vocalist of the British pop group Culture Club. Cassette compilations and recyclings of her work are numerous.
To commemorate her 60th birthday in 1993, for example, EMI India released three cassette sets of her work -- the set of devotional material Bala Main Bairagan Hoongi (STHVS 65107), a set of non-film ghazals by composers such as Ghulam Ali, R.D. Burman and Nazar Hussain called The Golden Collection Memorable Ghazals (STHV 63173/4), and The Golden Collection: The Ever Versatile Asha Bhosle (STHV 62197/62200), a 44-song anthology of popular film hits.
To no small degree, her success can be attributed to her versatility. She has successfully sung in many different voices and in many different styles.
- Ken Hunt; Allmusic Guide
Now, 12 years later, Hollywood decides to make a similar contribution to national grief with Bruce Almighty. The Jim Carrey vehicle which topped to box office in its opening over Memorial Day weekend has God (played by Morgan Freeman) trying to reach Bruce Nolan (Carrey) by repeatedly leaving a phone number on his pager. For years, books, movies and TV shows have been using 555-(directory assistance) prefixed fake numbers, because the use of an actual number would cause problems. Apparently, Universal Studios ran a case of amnesia on this account and God's number turns out to be Dawn Jenkins' cell phone number. If that wasn't enough, Nolan's pager number matches the one to a South Carolina woman. Fee Fi Fo Fum, I smell some lawsuit-based income.
Related: Movie execs made sure that the number didn't work in Buffalo, NY. But they never checked out other locations ... [courtesy: lockergnome]
(After the laughter dies down) I took a look at their "Important Facts" and found the official (defensive) explanation of the "Revival" Series, and also a justification for the poor quality of vintage music that HMV releases (The argument for the latter is similar to that profferred by the DVD mastering division of YashRaj Films). I thought I'd add my own emphasis, but every word reeks, so I've dumped everything for your reading pleasure:
For some of the most popular songs of yesteryears, we have Original as well as the Revival version of the song. Please note that in Revival songs the music is carefully re-recorded, in a modern studio, using the original instruments to give a better sound effect and then overlaid with the original voice track. So, these are not modern remixes or imitative recorded versions. Everything is original, as good as new.
The question is: Who are these dumb customers who feel that (to quote) the song and its sentiments have been tampered with?? Most people I see buying and selling hindi film music CDs know as much about them as I do about the Polish language (which is 'nothing', in case you didn't already figure that out).
Indian LP quality tips This is straight off the Bombay Beats grading page. Quite useful:
NOTE: Indian pressings of filmmusic can be quite bad, especially before 1977 or so. This has two reasons: first of all the music was compressed to match the limited freqeuncy range of the celluloid. This was done while recording the master tape and therefore the LP's have the same dull sound. Secondly the pressing quality was often quite bad. Most lp's have noise or even distortion in certain passages. Sometimes a record looks mint but sounds VG+. This is an unavoidable experience in collecting hindi film music. If the pressing is worse than average, I consider this in my grading.
Non-film Lp's sound in general better because the mastertapes were not compressed. Also the side distortions seem less. Foreign releases can even sound good.
After 1976 or so pressing quality becomes better. After 1977 the recording equipment improves and rigid compression is absent. Nevertheless: you can come across a C-grade 1983 Bappi soundtrack that sounds like a 1972 score because it was recorded in a louzy studio. With R.D. Burman it is the same: Caravan sounds quite fine, Heera Panna from the same period sounds terrible!
NOTE ABOUT THE SLEEVES: Maybe 50% of Indian records have seamsplits. Not at the sleeve opening, but mostly at the back spine or at the left side of the lower & upper spine. This is because of the plastic innersleeves: they were pressed into the sleeve, and caused seamsplits. Often you don't really notice these seam splits.
.Tips chahiye to Taurani ke paas jaao. Ken Ghosh's directorial début Ishq Vishk (targetting, as did inane hits like Style, the "Generation Next" young age group) is a Tips Films release. Hence, the in-joke (head honcho Ramesh Taurani is co-producer). That's about the only bearable aspect of this film that follows Style in most respects. The three leads have more spunk though, but barely. The dialogue writer seems to be recovering from a martian lobotomy, and Anu Malik's jaded music suffers from gutterswipe superficial lyrics and hangovers from Khushi. With all those familar innuendo-laden jokes, I wonder how this film squeaked by with a 'U' certificate. Having caught the end of the film (no big mystery here) and the opening, I must conclude that this member of the Kuch Kuch Hota Hai family does not deserve more of my time. Don't think it will miss me though: something tells me this film's going to do really well at the turnstiles.
Also visited Bollyvision {note: see note above}. Despite a lot of advertising and offers, the place has no variety to offer: a hotch-potch of DVDs (Hindi, Tamil, Telugu) -- fresh and viewed, CDs (the minimal mix of a few new movies, some classics, karaoke, ghazals -- what is a Shaan album doing there???, et al), and some tapes (see previous bracket for categories). But one (namely, me, the R D fan) lives on chance: found another of those dreaded combo CDs released by HMV (right down to the little semicircle at the bottom right corner of the inlay cover which says "now on CD"): Bullet/Phandebaaz/Mr. Romeo/Dhongee. Bullet is missing the Asha song piine ke baad, a wonderfully psychedelic number that benefits from the warped picturisation treatment that most of the songs in this film received. Ba.De ba.De log from Phande Baaz has some strange cross-speaker sound journeys... irritating. The only complete soundtrack on this crowded compilation is Phande Baaz, and the omissions on the other movies will be sorely missed. Haa_e re haa_e teraa ghu.NgaTaa and the other songs from Dhongee are marred by bad source material: I can almost smell the fungus and see through the cracks in the LP carefully preserved by HMV. Calcutta has been touted as the intellectual hub in India (or at least a font of "intellectuals"). Guess a lot of these dimaagiis are running HMV: no business acumen, no sense of integrity. Wonder what happened to the chulluu of water they should have committed themselves to...
For those not in the know, here is a little refresher on how Mithun came to become the King of the Bollywood Bs. And another look at the interesting career of this talented actor, who defies explanation. This guy has won four national awards: best actor for Mrigaya (his début), Tahader Katha; best supporting actor for Agneepath and Swami Vivekananda (he played Ramakrishna Parmahans).
Back to the movie. The plot, being a melange of the motivations of movies like Sholay and Karma, is simple: four goons on the run from the cops become saviours for a complacent group of villagers oppressed by an evil unpatriotic Thakur. Here's a brief character sketch of each of the KKK, aka the Gang of Four
Chhailaa Bihaarii (Mithun): Speaks like a Bihari (well, at least, the filmi version of a Bihari). Although the group puts everything to vote, he is clearly the leader. A confirmed Brahmachaari (aka Hanumanji kaa bhakt), he is inevitably drawn to love Phulwa, a travelling bride-in-waiting, who lets her bull guide her to her mate-to-be (and it turns out to be Chhailaa Babu himself)
Raanjhaa Hi.ndustaanii (Puru Raj Kumar): The only member of the gang who talks straight Hindi, but is given to delivering couplets of variable levels of bland innovation (Perhaps in homage to his late father Jaani Raaj Kumar, who literally wrote the encyclopaedia of one-liners in Hindi cinema)
Bombaas (Ronit Roy): The clichéd Hyderabadi (for a more intense portrayal see Shakti Kapoor). He's the demolitions expert (and ironically enough, his death at the end is an explosive one!)
Baazigar (Sudesh Berry): Talks like a Parsi and is adept at exploiting every opportunity for a quick bet, offering high odds with the confidence of victory.
Me-tune Chakraborty: Subhash K Jha reviews the soundtrack for Khatron Ke Khiladi.
The only other act of significance seems to have been a short trip to Taj prior to the actual session to rent some VHS tapes. Turned out my account with the store had remained unused for so long it had been re-assigned, so I signed up for a new one, inaugurating it with three tapes: Haveli (The Ramsay flick starring Rakesh Roshan), Khatron Ke Khiladi (with Mithun and Puru Raj Kumar not the Madhuri-Sanjay Dutt starrer) and Shiva ka Insaaf (not to be confused with the Jackie Shroff starrer made in 3D in the wake of the success of Chota Chetan/My Dear Kuttichatan). I also grabbed a copy of the soundtrack for Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar! on tape. For 50 cents, this is a steal and also the first time I've got some desi merchandise at a price lower than its price in India (which means, this is really a discount).
And then there was more on Armaan, which as Deepa Gumaste rightly pointed out, is a movie that can be summarised well by just watching the preview (despite the casting coup of the Big B, Anil and Randhir). A retake on Dil Apana Aur Preet Parayee (which gave us the evergreen antakshari/party song ajiib daastaa.n hai ye), with some dhaa.Nsu (mildly translated as 'marvellous' --- there's no word in English to adequately capture the sarcasm and praise loaded in the word) dialogue upgrades and NRI-esque elements. Visually, the film promises some nice colour blends, but Gracy Singh looks weak (as an actress), the dialogue is weak (and this is from an established script/dialogue writer making her directorial début), and the songs didn't really gell with moi. Jaane do. Next!
And then there was another remix video (replete with semi-clad desi ba.ndiyaa.N and innuendo ideal for the whole family to watch[sic]). This time it was a song from the canon dedicated to the Southie-producer-backed image of good ol' anti-Labour-Day white-shoed Jeetendra: ek aa.Nkh maaruu.N to (with a refrain going bhankas), a Kishore-Asha duet from the Bappi-scored Tohfa (which also contains some of the most outrageously written-composed-picturised songs ever!). HISTORICAL NOTE: The film was a big hit, thus accounting for the lack of taste in the 80s.
Nothing much to report landscape-wise. The irony of having taken Home From Nowhere as trip-reading material was evident: chain store logos and signs popping up from the clusters of industrial/residential progress, homogeneous highway borders (If I took a series of photographs of the way we drove, without any signs and landmarks, you would have absolutely no idea where we were!), ... the works. The drive took about 2 and a half hours (any reduction in speed was initially a result of the rain and later the very stringent speed limits enforced in AL [people say it gets worse in VA]).
The lingering memory I'll have of the whole trip would be the visit to the army canteen. Just as is the case back home, army canteen prices are lower (and in the US, more reasonable). The food was simple, and I had a pair of chicken sandwiches to start with. These were made from triangle cuts of white bread, and reminded me of the green chutney sandwiches abundant back home: Simple, tasty, filling, and cheap. The only aberration (if I may use such a strong word) was the overabundance of mandatory content information {the high level of detail didn't turn me off in this case, since my hunger conquered all other emotions]. The accompanying drink was some chocolate Yoo-Hoo, which is commercially packaged chocolate milk (to be precise, dairy whey and non-fat milk!), but still quite tasty. The funny part of the can was the little line in red that said "99% caffeine free" (In case you are wondering -- like I was -- about the source of the caffeine, it's the cocoa). A pair of "combination" sandwiches (a combo of corn and pieces of ham) sans the information about constituents (that's more like it!) tail-ended the lunch break.
This was the first time I was on an army installation in the US, and the closest parallel I had to the architecture was the AFMC in Pune. Uniform corridors as a source of confusion. Signs and more signs. Flags. Bulletin boards. Uniformity. Perfect for Stanley Kubrick movies (like Full Metal Jacket, needless to say).
I should take this opportunity, to complete that post about Full Metal Jacket. The film had interesting vignettes that were clever and served well as commentary about the war in Vietnam. My bias against Kubrick didn't help much, though. For the most part, the film just seemed very distant, and I remained unaffected (except for the first episode in the film and the Mickey Mouse moment at the end). Kubrick seems to leave the burden of interpretation of meaning to the audience, but doesn't provide any hooks at all. Most directors, through their technique, aid your understanding of the film, with cues scattered throughout the film. In Kubrick's case, and especially this movie, I wasn't sure what to make of the film: documentary detachment? OR multi-layered commentary?
} ...
The film has several appealing aspects (B-genre, plot points, compositions) to it:
* Bharat Bhushan plays a taa.Ngevaalaa called Robert, with two kids, Georgie and Rosie. To reiterate, he dies in the movie (again): thanks to some hawk serum injected into him by Dr Vishal (Shivpuri), his eyesight hits a sharp improvement, and then his eyes cannot stand the light. His iridic infrastructure shortly collapses under the strain, and so does he.
* Brother Keshu Ramsay (who went on to direct Dak Bungla for the family canon, produce Khiladi 420, and the forthcoming Khakee [post mentioning the film] and produce and direct the interesting Khoj) lends his services for a cameo as a bystander spouting some prolix at the cemetery (see note about the cemetery below) and credited as a "Brotherly Appearance". That must the first time such a credit has appeared (in addition to the regular "Special Appearance" by Sudhir and Gajanan Jagirdar)
* Based on the name and profession of Bharat Bhushan's character, one must assume that the population of the bastii is Christian, and is in danger of extinction. The Hindus (represented by the Mahipat Rai family) seem to be safe, even by the end of the movie. Would this be the first example of subtle religion-conscious horror flicks?
* The CBI office where junior artistes dressed up in police uniform are operating typewriters
* The use (unauthorized, of course) of Pink Floyd's Time as Dr Vishal enters the club/hotel that Jayshree T is supposed to perform her dance number (which is also the second of two songs featured in the film: merii jaa.N, a thar-tharaataa duet complete with English grunts and words ("don't touch me") with Asha). More song information can be found in the credits section below.
* A rock-solid performance by Om Shivpuri (as the bat serum infected world-famous Dr Vishal -- CRIB: If he's world-renowned, how come no one mentions his last name???)
Observations: The film is set in an (imaginary) bastii in the district of Chandan Nagar, which based on events transpiring in the film, seems to be located somewhere between Poona and Bombay. A key piece of evidence is milestone 73 (chosen for its prime properties?) on the highway where Vishal wishes a rendezvous with Sameer.
Synopsis and Review
another dahshat, also scored by Bappi.
Credits
starring Navin Nischol (Dr Sameer), Sarika (Kiran), Om Shivpuri (Dr Vishal), Nadira (Kamini)
with Narendranath (Dr Bakshi), Pinchoo Kapoor (the CBI lead), Dev Kumar, Ramesh Dev (playing a muslim police inspector called Dr Mullah!), Gopi Krishna, Jayshree T, Bharat Bhushan (Robert), Madan Puri (Mr Mahipat Rai, Sameer's dad), Agha (Kiran's dad), Chand Usmani
Special Appearance Sudhir Gajanan Jagirdar
Brotherly Appearance Keshu Ramsay
Records on HMV (aka lost forever)
Music Assistants Anil and Aroon
Playback Asha Bhosle Kishore Kumar Sulakshana Pandit Bhappi Lahiri
Lyrics Amit Khanna
Music Bhappi Lahiri (I don't think he sang for anyone else but himself!)
Co-Editor Shyam Ramsay
Sound Engineer Kiran Ramsay
Associate Director Arjun Ramsay
Cinematography Gangu Ramsay
Story, Screenplay, and Produced by Kumar Ramsay
Directed by Tulsi Ramsay & Shyam Ramay
Songs
mere pyaar kaa miiTar (Kishore): Yes, you read right. Ultra-pedestrian lyrics composed in the O P Nayyar vein (a really cool experiment) and picturised on Navin Nischol and Sarika (accompanied by Narendranath and Dev Kumar) on a taangaa, high on bhaa.Ng.
merii jaa.N (Bappi, Asha): a vigorously danced out club number with Jayshree T and dude_with_skin_coated_with_shoe_polish? (Who is this guy?). Lotsa cool riffs from Bappi-vaaDii.
Open Question: Was there another song with Sulakshana Pandit (since she's credited)?
Another Open Question: Who's the voice intoning "Dahshat" over the opening credits?
extended rant about YashRaj films
I must first say that I am glad someone (in this case YashRaj Films) has decided to convert to DVD a lot of the old Bollywood films (so what if they weren't "classics", they're still historically important). Now, since it's YashRaj Films, we need a business angle. Which would be fine, all things considered, if they had invested at least a fraction of the effort involved in transferring a film to DVD. Reviews on Zulm.net should be a fair indication of how much the Indian sector needs to come up to speed on good DVD conversions. Back to YRF. Their DVD catalogue is impressive. Being an RD Burman fan, I was especially pleased to see Jagir (which has an awesome electronica-laden soundtrack, and is probably a passable film). However, there are two things that mar the joy at this bit of news (and this brings me to the rant):
* The DVDs are either UK or USA/Canada. A paltry subset is available via Ultra Distributors for VCD and VHS distribution in India only. So, of course, prices are obscene: USD 17.99 plus shipping.
* Let us now examine the "Features" section of our sample DVD. I draw your attention to the last item: "Reproduced from vintage source for the sake of nostalgic appeal, hence possibly compromising on quality". This means, I am getting some sub-rate product and paying through my ... ahem ... for it.
Hence the rant. And if you thought I am getting more than it's worth, considering that this is such an obscure film, check out the page for an unchallengeable classic in Hindi (and even Indian) cinema, Pyaasa. Same deal.
On a related note, Raj Kapoor's Shree 420 (redone for the 90s as Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman) made it to DVD in two avatars: one from YRF (they decided to do away with the nostalgia bit on this one, methinks ... no "nostalgic appeal" nonsense on this page) and the other from Shemaroo Video. Michel Hafner reviews both and provides a comparison: the conclusions are not cut-and-dry, both versions have pluses and minuses. Pity.
And there's always the question what if you built a blog and no one came?
And just in case you were really wondering why NYTimes articles don't show up in Google searches (CS junta and Internet App Developers may skip the click)
Dave Winer just cooked up Weblog Search, which integrates blogs and Google.
Yet another recommendation for boning up to answer the question What do I do with an RSS feed? (achaar daaluu.N kyaa?). And while you're here, try where next for RSS.
The moves (thanks to an old friend) were two-fold, and the whole process could succinctly be described as car loaded, The Matrix: Reloaded, car reloaded. Somewhere between the first load and the mindblowing ultimately entertaining (how long ago was it that I was willing to go back into the theatre and watch the same movie again?) there was also a food stop at Chat Pati, for some kachori-dahi chaat and dhoklas. Very very filling, although I still balk as I compared these prices with the prices in India (yes, I know I'm not supposed to be doing that anymore, but this is desi food --- HOW expensive must it get?).
The loading and moving process was an empirical illustration of a solution to the question "Just how much stuff can you stuff into a given car while staying within legal and safe limits?". But there are better things to discuss.
The Matrix: Reloaded After a 4-year wait, the sequel to The Matrix has been worth all the patience and speculation (for me). Opinions have been divided, but I was relieved to see the film grow to be more than a simple melange of fabulous action set pieces. It has its share of them though: all the moves from the old movie, an almost never-ending nail-biting car chase on the freeway (all that wreckage put paid to any glimmer of hope on the car-buying front!), explosions galore. Couple of notes: Was Mifune a nod to Kurosawa's favourite actor Toshiro Mifune? One of the songs on the soundtrack was "Mona Lisa Overdrive" -- a reference to William Gibson's book, perhaps (quite apt too). While the first movie was a reference-laden, highly-influenced comic book on speed, this one extends the impression into video game world, right down to the music and the action sequences. While the Wachowskis must be commended for attempting to insert some relief in the proceedings with a gathering at Zion, and Neo meeting the architect of the Matrix some of the soft aspects of the movie seem woefully abrasive: Counterpointing the Zion gathering is an overlong intimate sequence between Neo and Trinity, which could have played well if the leads had played out as travel-weary hungry people in love. Larry Fishburne wins himself a scene where he towers over the congregation of Zion and delivers lines of motivation, but comes across bordering on a convincing performance as a ham roast. Neo repays Trinity's life-giving kiss from the first movie, in a moment that is too incredulous to forgive. But I'm still keen on the final edition in the trilogy. The ideas in the series aren't new, and the presentation is simple enough, in keeping with mainstream demands. But the Wachowski brothers love movies, and it seems to show. And it's a fun ride from start to end. So why complain? Want a more complex involving exploration of alternative universes and realities, go read some Philip K. Dick. [SFX info]
GEEK Update: Took some time to dig this up and verify it, but here's a dose of reality to fellow system administrators: Thanks to the Wachowskis, Trinity (Moss) actually hacks authentically in the movie. Although the screen is visible only for a split second, other people caught it too, and there are pictures on Fyodor/nmap's home page. Whipping up Nmap (v2.54beta2), Trinity manages to find a vulnerable SSH server and then proceeds to employ a 2001 exploit (SSH1 CRC32) to get in. more pictures are up for relish. I've used nmap in the past (a long while ago, actually), and it's a tool I'd recommend to sysadmins and people keen on protocol stack intricacies. This also brings up issues of time (how far ahead/current in time are the events of the movie set?). Rock on!
Addendum: Before I lose my train of thought, another note: this movie (and the series, as a whole) works as a wonderful information visualization experiment for the console-based tasks and activities of hackers. Neo's struggle against the many Agents Smith, the Matrix, the Matrix-within-the-Matrix (or was it?), the Oracle as an 'intuitive programmer' (aka an "intelligent" program -- AI's resurgence). This would add an extra dimension to the moment when we see Trinity hacking into the server (see above): the actual act of hacking depicted within a visualization of myriad hacking activities.
The evening was peppered with scattered fragments from Pran Jaaye Par Shaan Na Jaaye, an expressionist, Brechtian, Firodiya-esque, serio-comic spoof/satire on Mumbai chawl life and conflicts (with the unavoidable mean builder) that also derives a lot from the traditions of street plays. Debutante Sanjay Jha takes a Mahesh Manjrekar's script and sets it loose. Veteran Marathi TV actors, film stars, character actors and new faces take turns switching between easy performances and hilt-top hamming to embelish this movie quoting rib-tickler all the way. It's not perfect, but it's a great way to spend the evening (CAUTIONARY ADVISORY: Foul language never came in so thick, so little ones may stay away). GROUSE: What moron decided to bleep out some of the cusses? Haven't they realised that every time you bleep out something, you draw more attention to it, making it more deleterious than simply leaving it in there? NOTE: There's an extremely bold scene, where a troubled caring housewife (Divya Dutta) who runs three daytime house-cleaning jobs gets only one chance to express her grievances: when her drunk husband is making love to her -- and he snores off after having his way with her, while she continues to voice her issues. One among several serious drops in this chawlorama, which makes a strong claim as a successor to the greatest (IMHO) black comedy in Hindi (dare I say 'Indian'?) cinema, Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro.
But, you say, I have the release number for the reference guide. That should make my search easier. Think again. Often the old documents are found only on old mirrors or on sites maintained by kind souls for previous versions. Otherwise, you're out of luck.
Case in point: Working with JDeveloper's wizard-based CMR/CMP based on tables with composite primary keys and referential integrity, I was rewarded with the 'self-explanatory' NullPointerException followed by a 'helpful' exception stack trace when I attempted to test the application that JDeveloper put together for me. This 'by my own betrayed' self-destructive software quirk is something I have seen before in Microsoft products. In its hot competition with Microsoft, Oracle probably decided to match the software behavioural aspects as well. Back to my problem though. My searches for useful tips and suggestions came to naught. A colleague finally unearthed a HOWTO addressing this exact issue -- under the pages devoted to a technology preview of a newer version of the J2EE container. Makes sense right? And the tips are germane even to this current version that we're using. And as we test the recommendations made in the HOWTO to rectify the problem, my eyes scan the page that lists all the new HOWTOS and stop at the following sentence, which is in full keeping with the documentation staleness/version chaos problem (my colouring emphasis added):
For example Oracle9iAS Containers for J2EE (9.0.2) does not support some aspects of the EJB 2.0 specification, so the Local Interfaces How-To will not work on version 9.0.3.
"There was flick a few years back called 'Love Jones'", he says. This film had the same idea too (A love jones is that burning desire to be with someone, to have something, to need someone ... it's that one thing or person that makes you complete, and puts a smile on your face).
you can also use it as a verb; i'm jonesin' for a new _____. , he continues.
"i'd say it's not in widespread use, but i like it.", he concludes. William Safire explored the origins of the phrase. My colleagues knew what I was talking about. Clearly, not as rare as made out to be. Cool. We learn something everyday.
Related: The Online [American] Slang Dictionary, a work in progress | Slang in the UK | Australian slang | SlangSite
Homonyms:The Spoken LANGuage recognition system | The SPADE LANGuage, based on a timed high level Petri net formalism (I don't understand everything that I typed just now!) used for process-modeling.
Blogdex has been plagued with link spam and the results haven't been as great as they used to be (besides, politics and political humour aren't really something that clicks for me). Today's visit at long last got me some interesting results:
The first release of the Technorati API {Personal note: Bone up on the Technorati weblog index and search engine} {According to its Link Cosmos, my blog has 13 inbound links. The Horror! The Horror!}
The Happy Fun Pundits have put together a top 10 list of the things he hates most about Star Trek (and gets loads of interesting feedback too) {author corrigendum: Chris}
An ad for a Klingon language interpreter is the stuff of urban legend.
Google is going to create a search tool specifically for blogs. Will this move blogs off the main search path into their own private space? If so, there are implications good (the Google Bombs will subside) and bad (the average user doesn't see blogs in the search results unless he/she specifically indicates -- by clicking a hyperlink, perhaps -- his/her desire to see them)
The History of the Internet according to the Lemon
50 Reasons to reject The Matrix: Reloaded (warning: potential spoilers!!!)
Jayson Blair's elaborate trail of deception (NOTE: free registration required) at the NYT raises unpleasant issues of diversity and multi-culturalism. William Safire op-eds with more thoughts from within (NOTE: free registration required).
(Another link seen yesterday, posted today)An former Oregon spammer talks about the trade
If you're going to read this, don't bother
Define irony. Irony is a bunch of idiots singing a song on a plane made famous by a band that died in a plane crash
Why am I soft in the middle
The rest of my life is so hard
I like to remember things my own way ... How I remembered them. Not necessarily the way they happened.
Be warned in time, James, and remain, as I do, incomprehensible: to be great is to be misunderstood
