rantlust

Posted by anupcs on June 30th 2006 in History, Life, Thoughts
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A curious look at important events that happened on this day in history doesn’t reveal much of earth shattering significance. After some research on the big bad Internet, I came up with the following shortlist:

• In 1520, the Spanish retreat from the Aztec capital city of Tenochtitlan suffering huge losses
• In 1859, Emile Blondin, a French daredevil, crosses the Niagara Falls on a tightrope
• In 1936, Margaret Mitchell’s epic “Gone with the Wind” is published
• In 1950, the US enters the Korean War officially
• In 1953, the first Chevy Corvette, a white car with a red interior, is produced
• In 1971, the crew of the Soviet spacecraft Soyuz 11 perishes on re-entry
• In 2002, Brazil beats Germany 2-0 in Japan to win their fifth World Cup title in Football

And oh, I was born on this day, one and a half scores and then some, years ago. Even as a child my mother made sure this day was special for me. She used to make me invite my friends and cook for them. I don’t celebrate XMAS, thanksgiving, or any other holiday with much enthusiasm. But birthdays are important to me; whether they are mine or those of close friends and family.

I more or less continued this tradition of big parties until about a few years ago when most of my friends decided to have progeny and settle down. Bummer. For I have had quite a few memorable birthday parties. The best of the crop was in my former apartment when about thirty people showed up and dunked me in the swimming pool. I was drunk and fully clothed. It was after midnight. I had only moved in a week before that day and the managers of the complex weren’t pleased. I was promptly served with an eviction notice the next day.

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Posted by papi on June 30th 2006 in Religion, Society
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Old Mother Hubbard
Went to the cupboard
To get her poor doggie a bone,
When she got there
The cupboard was bare
So the poor little doggie had none.
— old English rhyme

I was taking my customary evening walk around the neighborhood yesterday, and saw all these tightly rolled wads of newsprint scattered in front of all the houses. Usually there are brightly printed coupons from the local pizzeria or laundry offering a free deal or some such nonsense, but these were different. They looked like tiny pamphlets, and they were everywhere. Overcome by curiosity, and against my better judgment, I picked one up. In cold, sober tones of blue and grey, the following headline jumped out at me:

Clear Body, Clear Mind – A Publication on the World’s Most Effective Purification Program.

You guessed it… Scientology had found its way to my doorstep.
(Read more…)

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Posted by renéejo on June 29th 2006 in Politics, Women
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Kuwait is trying to catch up to the 21st century by allowing women to vote for the first time. 28 candidates out of the 253 standing for parliamentary election are female. By all standards the Middle Eastern countries are among the worst in their treatment of women. This is a step in the right direction. Though chances are low for the women to actually win a lot of seats.

They are trying. And some very hard — by giving designer handbags filled with cash to would-be voters. Now only if all democracies did this. Give me money and I’ll vote for you. People respond to incentives very well.

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Posted by anupcs on June 27th 2006 in Internet, web2.0
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Evite has dominated the Party/Event planning domain for a long time now. It’s time for some competition. Two new players are trying hard to bring a Web 2.0 feel to this space. Recently I signed up for renkoo and skobee both of which are trying to get going. Both have snazzy interfaces but so far a limited feature set compared to evite. But they hold promise especially if your event is a small gathering of friends or something. The evite interface was getting cumbersome. I am not sure how long the new players can stay clutter-free and make money. Come to think of it, I am not even sure what their business model is.

And what’s up with these names? Most of the new Web 2.0 startups have names that sound so strange to a native English speaker. Is it because we are running out of domains in the English language? This is a good trend though. I hated names like iVillage and eVite that came about during the heady days of the dotcom era. I can think of many cool Malayalam names for web startups. Hmm…

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Posted by tafkap on June 26th 2006 in Rants, Sports
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FIFA, sit up and listen to this rant. It is going to save football for posterity.

Yesterday, I had the misfortune of watching one of the most pathetic displays of football. The match between the Netherlands and Portugal in the round of 16 (which Portugal won 1-0) saw the referee issuing 4 red cards and how many yellow cards, I lost count. In my opinion, both the Dutch and Portuguese football teams are good to watch, but on this occassion, both played to a very low standard (the Dutch were worse). The egregious refereeing did not make things any better.
(Read more…)

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Posted by renéejo on June 22nd 2006 in Books, Rants, Sex, Women
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I admit it. I am one. Why should men get to have all the fun? I watch porn. I go to raunchy clubs. I used to be an exhibitionist in beaches in the south of France. I have done my fair share of naughty behavior in nightclubs. And though I haven’t gone to the extremes of the characters described by Ariel Levy in her wonderful book ‘Female Chauvinist Pigs‘, I surely would love to.

This is a book for the post-feminists. We, who like to think we are finally coming to terms with why our men like porn or strippers. If you can’t beat them, join them, as the cliche goes. Levy is an American living in New York and the book is about how being raunchy and sexy (think Paris Hilton) is the in-thing for the American women. She talks about the wild women of Girls Gone Wild and Playboy. Funnily enough, both of these are run for the most part, by women. The book is well-written but is sure to offend many. This was a present from a friend and I devoured it in a couple of hours non-stop. Even the male dominated rantlust crowd should check it out, if only for sheer voyeurism. I now understand why fleshbot, Jenna Jameson and Jordan are so mainstream these days. Poor old Traci Lords was way ahead of her time.

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Posted by anupcs on June 21st 2006 in Sports
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With the World Cup in full swing, most people are glued to TV sets (though not me) watching the Owens fall and the Kloses soar. The Economist has a well-written editorial on why the World Cup is better than the Olympics. The article argues that unlike the Olympics, where the dominating teams are also leading global political powers, football has a whole different hierarchy with only one true superstar team (Brazil). Quote:

…a winning football team needs not just athleticism but also a spark of creativity and style that cannot be manufactured by sport’s central planners. Even taking drugs does not appear to be much help for footballers.

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Posted by anupcs on June 20th 2006 in Crime, History, USA
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Conspiracy theories abound. Click here for an alternate version (flash plugin needed) of what hit the Pentagon on Sep 11, 2001.

[Thanks to harpoonflyby for the link]

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