முதலாளித்துவம்

அடுத்து அவன் நூறு டியூப்பற்பசைகளோடு மட்டும் நின்று விட முடியாது. ஏனெனில் சோப் தயாரிக்கும் மற்றுமொரு பெரிய முதலாளி தனது சாம்ராஜ்ஜியத்தை விரிப்பதற்கு பற்பசை தயாரிப்புக்குள் வரலாம். எனவே பற்பசையில் வெற்றி நாட்டிய முதலாளி இப்போது சோப் தயாரிக்கும் போட்டியிலும் இறங்க வேண்டும். இப்படித்தான் முதலாளிகள் சக முதலாளிகளை அழித்து ஏகபோக முதலாளிகளாக மாறி ஒரு நாட்டையே கைப்பற்றி பின்பு பல நாடுகளை வெல்லும் ஏகாதிபத்தியமாக மாறி இன்று மேல்நிலை வல்லராசாகவும் தலையெடுத்து நிற்பதற்கு அடிப்படையாக இருக்கிறார்கள். எனவே மோசடியும், ஊழலும், திருட்டுத்தனமும், முதலாளித்துவத்தை நீடித்திருக்கச் செய்யும் அடிப்படை விதிகள். இப்படித்தான் முதலாளித்துவம் இயங்க முடியும். முதலாளிகள் எல்லாரும் உழைத்து கஷ்டப்பட்டு முன்னேறியதாக கிழக்கு பதிப்பகத்தின் அசடுகள் வேண்டுமானால் கழுதை விட்டைகளாக புத்தகங்களை வெளியிடலாம்.

Source

Australian Open 2009

Federer hit a winner at the end of a very interesting rally against Korolev. Before Federer could serve again, the chair umpire interrupted and said, "[w]ait please, we are still amazed."

Zoned Out: Authenticity

Gautam, there's been a lot of buzz about your trip to Hollywood. Please tell us about your experience there.

I went there to promote Varanam Aayiram for the Oscars. I think we have a good chance in at least five categories, including The Best Director. That's where I met with Mel Gibson and as usual, we sat down for a drink. You know, we share the same pro-American, pro-capitalist, pro-nationalist, pro-police, pro-military, pro-war, pro-elite, anti-feminist, anti-Islamic, ant...

Yes, yes, and?

What I mean is, we both go a long way. He said, "hey kiddo! (that's how he calls me) I've been asking you for years now, when are you going to make a film for me?" I narrated a story I had prepared for Warner Bros. He liked my story a lot but he wanted some changes in the script. He sent a few DVDs of his films so that I can incorporate some elements from it. I said it's impossible to add two more rape-murder scenes and walked away. The story is now a part of the movie I'm working on.

There are many who criticize that your characters speak too much Tamil and that it's a tactic to force sophistication in your movies, what's your opinion on that?

I never understood where this is coming from. I try to set my characters in real life scenarios in their absolute, raw authenticity. I cannot force my characters to not to be what they are. For example, in my next movie Vilikalil Amilam (விழிகளில் அமிலம்), the hero blurts, "ni periya mayirandiya?" whenever his authority is questioned. Now, please tell me if English could have done justice for this emotion?

I suppose not. The title sounds very interesting, what is the movie about?

The title has a profound meaning. You'll understand if you watch the movie. The movie is about this auto driver whose only ambition in life is to make love. He had sex, he got laid, he fucked, he humped, he fornicated, he: fed the kitty, varnished the cane, peeled the banana, shanked the shaft, pushed the button, creamed the kaboose, drove the stick, jumped the gun, climbed the mountain, washed the fruit, watered the plant, boinked the bandy, dipped the chip, glazed the donut, drilled the desert, boned the cone, stormed the trenches...

Ok! I think we get the point.

Yeah, so he does everything but make love. The story tries to paint a realistic picture of the protagonist's struggles in finding that decent, good girl who says, "I want to make love to you!" and makes his life worthwhile.

I'm sure the audience cannot wait to watch the movie. Thanks for a candid interview.

Anytime, mah nigga! I's jus keepin it real, fo' shizzle my nizzle.

(Did you just say that?) Never mind.

Also read: Gautam Menon's other "candid" interview

White men

Calling for groups to be treated as separate entities with differing motivations, he wrote that it was not a "simple binary struggle between moderates and extremists, or good and evil" and treating them as such was a mistake.

This is why the British are way better than Americans.

Zoned Out (new series): Blue eyes

"Is that your mother in the photo?" said C2
-"yeah, she is."
C2 walked closer to photo hanging in the wall. "Oh my God, she looks so beautiful!"
"Thanks," said Mundi. C2's observation seemed to gratify him.
C2 called me and pointed to the photo.
I said, "Is that Mundi's mom? Cool"
-"isn't she pretty? I mean, look at those beautiful blue eyes!"
"meh…" and rolled my eyes as if to say "whatever!"
C2 was somewhat upset over my reaction, but she didn't say anything. I don't know if Mundi noticed either of us.
C2 and I are good friends and roommates. Mundi drove us to our building. C2 remained quite as we took the elevator and walked to our apartment; something's coming up for discussion.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” asked C2.
"What happened?"
-"didn't you think your reaction was completely uncalled for? Why did you have to be such an asshole to Mundi?"
"What the fuck are you talking about? It was your comment that was completely uncalled for!"
-"what was so wrong about saying Mundi's mother was beautiful?"
"Ok, let me break it down for you. You made a completely gratuitous aesthetic judgment and you expressed it out in the open too. She is Mundi's dead mother, how the hell does it matter to anyone that she was supposedly beautiful?"
-"not even to Mundi?" interrupted C2 quite angrily
"No wait, please let me finish. This is what you seem to assume: it's perfectly alright to say that someone is beautiful, especially if it's a dead person. You assume that those who are related to the said person will be pleased"
-"oh, you're such a genius for figuring that out. So much for 'deconstruction'"
"Wait, wait, I'm not done yet. While you may be right in your assumption, what you said is still problematic. First, let me get the cliché out of the way. She looked beautiful to you, why should others or I agree? Second: you are talking about Mundi's mother. Why should he be pleased that his mother was beautiful? Is he going to get any more closer to his dead mother because a member of his society thinks she is beautiful? I mean, if you really wanted to make him happy, you should have said his d…"
-"that is so sexist!"
"Well, you are his girl friend. He wouldn't mind that kind of appreciation. Being a 'manly man' as he is, he would have loved it for you to go public about his penis. If you think that ..."
-"will you cut down on the rambling and make your point?"
"What do you mean? I think I've made my point abundantly clear. You just lapped up the bullshit practice of saying that people are beautiful when it doesn't and shouldn't matter the least bit and I refused to participate in that charade. And what's with these ‘blue eyes’, long hair crap? Anyone can get a pair of cheap contacts and make their eyes look blue, purple or whatever"
-"but they are not natural!"
"Yeah, racially natural and naturally racist! When did we start caring about 'natural' shit anyway? Give me a minute...you see this cow? That's what natural means in 2009. Which era's 'natural' are you talking about?"

Disclaimer: All conversations and characters (including mine) in the Zoned Out series are and probably will be fictional. Characters may appear too self-righteous, intelligent, vevaram, one-dimensional etc., and their conversations exaggerated.

Montage: Dasvidaniya

This video is a montage to one of the best movies I saw in the year 2008, Dasvidaniya.

It was pretty hard to find a song that would present a complementing mood to a montage for this movie. Finding a song for such projects is the toughest, most time consuming part. But I'm more than happy with what I ended up with. It could not have been better, I think. People who have seen the movie may understand why.

Editing the video took over 6 hours for me. Others could have done it faster perhaps. Structuring a narrative within a montage is a tricky thing. You have to decide whether you want to go fully linear or fully random or quasi-linear? This video is quasi-linear. So all the time I spent thinking what a clip would mean at a certain point might not make any sense to others. What I have tried to make sure, though, is to go with the mood of the song as much as possible. After all, it is a montage.

I'm glad that I finished this project unlike my four or five others that are half or less done and kept in limbo for over a year. There are some minor editing errors that I have left out simply because I was tired of rendering 20 versions of the same song just to make little changes.