Brown Suga' Syrup

Tom's QotD:
Name three words or phrases you wish you'd coined.

Glibido

[glĭ-bē'dō]

noun. All talk, no action. "My glibido is at an all-time high."

adjective, glibidinous.

Origin: Found it on Reader's Digest (it was a prize winner at one of those competitions organised by newspapers/ publishing houses where you add, take away, or change a letter to make a new word with a new meaning. I think this particular one was organised by the Washington Post.)

Ass o'clock

[as-o-klŏk]

noun. That deepest, darkest time of the night when your cat awakes you from the dead for a feeding.

Origin: Found this on Cute Overload, not sure who coined it. Maybe Teho would know.

Cubic Assload

[kyōō'bĭk as-lōd]

noun. Bobavey-speak for overwhelmingly huge, usually in reference to being overloaded with work. "I've got a cubic assload of documents to file, so you can take your 10$ raise and shove it."

 Show us something you love about Mexico.

Of course. ;)

Gael García Bernal

And his real-life best friend isn't bad either. ;)

Diego Luna

Bernal and Luna appeared together in Y Tu Mama Tambien. Luna played the lead role of the Cuban street dancer in Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights. (He's a marvellous dancer, by the way.)

Finally got my spankin' new iBall 8x6 pen tablet so I can work at home too. It's just as good as the Wacom but less than half the price. Sweet.

Also bought a whirly, girly, blue wraparound skirt with folksy motifs. It doesn't seem to go with any colour other than white or the colours that it already has, but it's still so pretty.

Meanwhile, Nine Inch Nails are having a late-summer whirlwind tour in the US and Canada. Will anyone be attending their concerts? Those who are going - PLEASE take plenty of pictures and videos!

2008 Summer Tour

NOTE: all times are local venue time zone

7/25/08 Pemberton, BC [Pemberton Festival]
On sale: NOW

7/26/08 Seattle, WA [Key Arena]
Pre Sale: 5/7 (5:00PM)
On Sale: 5/10 (10:00AM)

7/28/08 Edmonton, AB [Rexall Place]
Pre Sale: 5/6 (5:00PM)
On Sale: 5/9 (10:00AM)

7/29/08 Calgary, AB [Pengrowth Saddledome]
Pre Sale: 5/6 (5:00PM)
On Sale: 5/9 (10:00AM)

7/31/08 Winnipeg, MB [MTS Centre]
Pre Sale: 5/6 (5:00PM)
On Sale: 5/9 (10:00AM)

8/2/08 Minneapolis, MN [Target Center]
Pre Sale: 5/7 (5:00PM)
On Sale: 5/10 (10AM)

8/3/08 Chicago, IL [Grant Park - Lollapalooza Festival]
On Sale: NOW

8/5/08 Toronto, ON [Air Canada Centre]
Pre Sale: 5/6 (5:00PM)
On Sale: 5/9 (5:00PM)

8/7/08 Uncasville, CT [Mohegan Sun Arena]
Pre Sale: 5/21 (5PM)
On Sale: 5/24 (10AM)

8/8/08 Worcester, MA [DCU Center]
Pre Sale: 5/14 (5PM)
On Sale: 5/17 (12NOON)

8/10/08 Baltimore, MD [Pimlico Race Course - V Festival]
On Sale: 5/3

8/12/08 Knoxville, TN [Knoxville Civic Coliseum]
Pre Sale: 5/7 (5PM)
On Sale: 5/10 (9AM)

8/13/08 Duluth, GA [Gwinnett Arena]
Pre Sale: 5/6 (5PM)
On Sale: 5/9 (5PM)

8/15/08 Oklahoma City, OK [Ford Center]
Pre Sale: 5/6 (5PM)
On Sale: 5/10 (10AM)

8/16/08 Houston, TX [Toyota Center]
Pre Sale: 5/6 (5PM)
On Sale: 5/9 (5PM)

8/18/08 Dallas, TX [American Airlines Center]
Pre Sale: 5/6 (5PM)
On Sale: 5/9 (5PM)

8/20/08 St. Louis, MO [Scottrade Center]
Pre Sale: 5/28 (5PM)
On Sale: 5/31 (10AM)

8/22/08 Cleveland, OH [Quicken Loans Arena]
Pre Sale: 5/7 (5PM)
On Sale: 5/10 (10AM)

8/23/08 Auburn Hills, MI [The Palace of Auburn Hills]
Pre Sale: 5/7 (5PM)
On Sale: 5/10 (10AM)

8/27/08 East Rutherford, NJ [Izod Center]
Pre Sale: 5/7 (5PM)
On Sale: 5/10 (12NOON)

8/29/08 Philadelphia, PA [Wachovia Center]
Pre Sale: 5/7 (5PM)
On Sale: 5/10 (10AM)

8/31/08 Lexington, KY [Rupp Arena]
Pre Sale: 4/30 (5PM)
On Sale: 5/3 (10AM)

9/2/08 Morrison, CO [Red Rocks Amphitheater]
Pre Sale: 5/7 (5PM)
On Sale: 5/10 (10AM)

9/3/08 Salt Lake City [E Center]
Pre Sale: 5/7 (5PM)
On sale: 5/10 (11AM)

9/5/08 Oakland, CA [Oracle Arena]
Pre Sale: 6/12 (5:00PM)
On Sale: 6/15 (10AM)

9/6/08 Los Angeles, CA [The Forum]
Pre Sale: TBA
On Sale: TBA

The Number 23 is a typical Joel Schumacher film - slickly edited whodunit, special effects, wizardly credits et al. But I quite enjoyed this film - it's visually good, especially in the flashback parts (which are high-contrast with undertones of green) and the story is plausible enough. Nice to watch with a bowl of popcorn on a weekend.

One scene in particular stood out - Jim Carrey and Virginia Madsen meet at the scene of an arson/killing. The song for this scene, as I found out later, is  called "Tear You Apart", by a band called She Wants Revenge, whom I'd never heard of until I saw the film. As the video below shows, both the song and the scene go together perfectly. It might not be as effective unless you see the whole film, but you might still want to turn up the AC. ;)

(warning: lyrics and video Not Safe For Kids.)

High contrast, undertones of green, both Carrey and Madsen clad in black, Carrey looking uncharacteristically hot (and that badass tattoo, oh my) ... it's sex, death, bondage and Goth all rolled into one. Hot damn.

Tear You Apart

She Wants Revenge

Another song by them that I liked was this one called "Killing Time". After the first one minute of (rather repetitive) piano, it starts to develop influences of the tango - one of my favourite kinds of dance and music. I could actually visualise doing a typical tango sequence to this song, and the context is very appropriate for the dance as well.

(Can you tell I'm a sucker for Latin ballroom dances?)

Killing Time

She Wants Revenge

Except for having a penchant for repeating certain lyrics or parts, which can get tiresome and stretch the song unnecessarily, She Wants Revenge seems to be pretty good. I'd like to hear more of their stuff.

This is what David was doing during his 2-year American sabbatical.

David can haz cheezburger

1 comment

EDIT: Neurotic as I am, I realised I could do better...

om nom nom nom

Show us your favorite pair of shoes.

Nothing great about these, but they're high heels and they're black. 'Nuff sed.

I'm bringing sexy back

Purplesque reminded me about Ratatouille yesterday, and I also remembered some other films that I'd meant to review but forgotten.

Ratatouille was nicely done - a little unbelievable of course (a Cordon Bleu who's a rodent?!) but who says fairy tales should only happen in the "days of yore"? The story premise was familiar and a little jaded, as is with most commercial animated films, but it was unusual in the fact that instead of the beaten-to-death man vs. nature battle, man and nature join hands to come up trumps. That's what I liked about Bee Movie as well.

Story-wise, Brad Bird's two earlier films - The Iron Giant and The Incredibles - were better. But Ratatouille was nevertheless nicely animated, with excellent lighting and texture. Also it was obvious that a lot of effort had gone into the research of Paris's famous gastronomic culture, especially with the addition of the death-like food critic Anton (aptly named the "Grim Eater"!) However, I wish they had animated more scenes of the food, since that was so central to the plot.

Realm of the Senses. This Japanese film, made in 1976, is inspired by a real incident in the 1930s, when China was sending its troops into Japan. It's about a married landlord who has a torrid affair with a former protitute-turned-brothel-maid. It's a very explicit film - two hours of almost non-stop full frontal male erect nudity, penetration, the works - sometimes in close-up. Some scenes are borderline repulsive. This threatens threatens to overwhelm the story in parts, but it makes sense when you find out that the film was made specifically to rebel against Japanese censors, who had no problems with depiction of violence and rape, but were prudish about sex. (Damn movie censors - they're the same everywhere.) That explains why the cast and crew is Japanese but the producers are French.

I found the movie extremely boring beyond a point, and even the unusual ending didn't surprise me because I sort of expected it. It was only later when I was mulling over it that I realised how the female protagonist's character undergoes a sea change from the beginning to the end, but I had not noticed. That was interesting, if a bit too long.

If you can see beyond the pornography (I don't even know whether to call it pornography, because it was a fictionalised narrative in spite of the unsimulated sex) there are very interesting displays of Japanese cultural motifs - specifically blood and death. Both are so deeply ingrained with Japanese culture that it is present in virtually every aspect of Japanese art, and especially so in this film, where the colour red stands out in particular. Those familiar with Miyazaki's work will know that these are present in his films too, which can be enjoyed by children as well.

There is Japanese traditional vocal and instrumental music throughout the movie (the lead actor sings really well, by the way) and there is even an unusual Kabuki-inspired dance accompanying a post-wedding orgy. Those familiar with Indian classical music will find an unmistakeable similarity in their music and ours, whether it is the ragas, notes and style of singing. Very interesting.

Overall, not really a must-watch movie, but it does have some historic and cultural value.

Woman of The Dunes. This film, also Japanese, is one of the most intriguing I've ever seen. An entomologist is looking for insect specimens near a beach, when he learns he has missed the last bus home. So the local villagers lead him to a house inside a sand dune occupied by a lone woman, and he accepts her hospitality. The woman and her home are very strange - every night, they have to shovel the falling sand so the house does not get buried. Soon the man realises he is trapped, as he cannot climb out. The woman asks him to stay with her and help look after the house. He goes mad, and is extremely angry with his hostess because she is content to just live inside the dune forever and has no desire to explore the world outside. After various attempts to escape are thwarted, he hits upon a plan. Whether it works or not I won't tell because this is a must-see film, and a taut psychological thriller as well. The feeling of endlessness and claustrophobia are beautifully captured.

Billy Elliot. I saw this movie last night. I had last seen it several years ago on cable, so some scenes and dialogue were censored, so this time I had the pleasure of seeing it raw. A heartwarming film set in County Durham, North England, it tells the story of a boy who dared to learn ballet instead of boxing while his miner father and brother are on strike. It is set in 1984 but still very reminiscent of the 60s British New Wave - films like Tony Richardson's Saturday Night and Sunday Morning - which portrayed the life of the working class.

Jamie Bell does an excellent job as Billy Elliott, and so does Julie Walters as the local ballet teacher, Mrs. Wilkinson. There's also an unapologetic exploration of sexuality - Billy's attraction to his teacher's daughter Debbie and his coming to terms with his friend Michael's homosexuality. This is a distinction in British cinema, which does not hesitate to have its child actors use swear words and enact scenes of sexual tension if the story demands it (also see December Boys, Daniel Radcliffe's first non-Harry Potter role.) Billy even dares to ask his ballet teacher if she fancies him! The scenes when Billy is saying his goodbyes before leaving for a career at the Royal Ballet school are especially wrenching.

The accents will take a little time to get used to, but they are authentic and do not distract from the film. Fun fact: Apparently, the Durham slang for gay is "poof"!

I'd rank this movie as a must-see, especially for Jamie Bell. That boy can swear, cry, tap-dance and pirouette like a pro. Too bad we aren't getting to see more of him on a regular basis.

This weekend was full of surprises.

While I was expecting Michael Clayton to be a thriller, it turned out to be a depiction of conscience battles. Nice. It wasn't really a new one in terms of storyline, but I was blown away by the performances. For the first time in ages I have seen a film where nearly all the leading performers did a great job.

Tm Wilkinson's monologue, the first lines in the film, were possibly the best movie lines I've heard in a while. His performance and dialogue delivery was excellent too - in fact, better than Tilda Swinton and George Clooney. He totally deserved the Best Supporting Actor Oscar.

Swinton was good, but that wasn't really a surprise since I've heard her reputation as a great actress. I don't know if she deserved the Oscar, as I haven't seen the performances by the other nominees.

What did surprise me was Clooney's performance. I feel that his looks often get in the way of his acting, so I enjoyed his performance in Syriana as the overweight, bearded spy. But he was surprisingly good in Michael Clayton and brought some uncharacteristic sensitivity and intensity to his role. Good stuff.

The other surprise was Bee Movie. I was not really keen on watching yet another Hollywood 3D animated film, but I decided to watch this one because I knew it would be light-hearted and I needed to unwind. Turns out, it wasn't so bad - it was written by Jerry Seinfeld, among others - though the animation was comparatively sloppy. The story looked like a spoof on the RIAA/MPAA and all those copyright infringement battles going on. It even had neat guest appearances by Larry King, Ray Liotta and Sting.

Best line from the movie, is when a mosquito (voiced by Chris Rock) is newly appointed as a lawyer:

"I was already a bloodsucking parasite - all I needed was a briefcase!"

MAJOR GOOFS: Only FEMALE bees make honey, and only FEMALE mosquitoes suck blood, yet both the lead bee and mosquito in the movie are males. After doing all that painstaking research on bee communication patterns, they completely sidestepped this fact!

This is why anthropomorphism sucks.

Other movies that I've seen this month but forgot to review:

Annie Hall. A one-time watch and reasonably good film. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Diane Keaton's clothes - feminine, smart, classy and sexy all the same time. Especially the black-waistcoat-and-tie combo with white full-sleeves formal shirt, khaki pants and black fedora. That was genius.

No Country for Old Men. Not that great a movie, and I couldn't understand some of the dialogues because of the heavy Southern accents, but it was beautifully shot. However, the highlight of the movie was obviously Javier Bardem.Not because he was hot - though he definitely is, come to think of it - but because his performance was INSANE. Brilliant. Frightening. After a point, I kept putting the speakers on mute whenever he entered the screen because I had actually come to be terrified of him. The relaxed way he spoke, the glazed look in his eyes, the uncertainity of whether he was going to blow off someone's head... it was too much to handle. It's not that hard to make viewers cry and laugh along with the character you're portraying, but it takes genius to be able to scare the hell out of them. He totally deserved his Oscar.

Juno. BAD: Cleary the most overrated movie of the year. Shockingly cavalier about something as life-altering as pregnancy - even the parents are so calm! Sure, people having been having babies for aeons, but many poor folks die at childbirth due to lack of medical care, and here we've got an irresponsible, loud-mouthed 16-year-old casually going ahead with a pregnancy since papa and mama dearest are there for her, after all. It wasn't even that she was pretending to be cool when in reality she was scared to death (That, or Ellen Page is a lousy actress.)

I'd bring the roof down if MY 16-year-old got pregnant, especially if she's been making a show of oh-look-at-me-i'm-so-cool-with-my-condescending-slang-and-slasher-movies bullshit. I'd either get her an abortion, or let her have the baby and give it up for adoption, depending on how far along she is - but not without giving her a good ass-whooping first.

(Oh, and if my 16-year-old son got someone pregnant, I'd whoop his ass too.)

Sure, it's not that big a deal if you're prepared for it, but pardon my conservative thinking, I think 16-year-olds have way better things to do than getting pregnant. Babies are fragile, helpless, and a lot hard work - and baby stuff is expensive. Jeez, when you're an adult, ALL you'd be doing is getting knocked up, whether its your boyfriend, boss or your goddamned tax inspector.

One one hand, the respectful attitude towards babies in general and the pro-adoption message is good; nevertheless, it is also an anti-abortion movie, but cleverly done. Anyone else notice that the character Su Chin, who protests alone outside the abortion clinic, is Chinese? To me that seemed a little forced and unusual. Maybe they couldn't have Americans protesting because that would put off the pro-choice folks. So they got in a Chinese girl, which would make sense since abortion in China (and India) is usually an excuse to get rid of baby girls. Atleast that's what I think.

GOOD: The only character in the film who was worth watching was Michael Cera. His character too was to blame for the pregnancy, but he didn't pretend like he was so cool and awesome while being scared inside. He continued to be as nerdy and clueless as ever, with an air of resigned innocence and naiveté rather than indifference.

The music was pretty nice too - I like the folksy bluegrass feel. Some of the quotes were funny too.

So anyway, sweet on one level but really stupid on another. Okay if you have nothing else to watch.

Gotta get back to work now. I've been working with the Wacom, and while it isn't as good as the old pencil-on-paper, it's way better than the mouse. Atleast my hand moves in circles instead of jerking in all directions. :P

Definitely one of the first things I need to buy in the near future - though I'd happily settle for the less expensive (1/3rd the price) but just-as-good iBall.

warning: could possibly trigger.

I receive a daily newsletter from a child sex abuse support group containing links to various stories related to the offence. This was one of them.

Convicted child molestor Leroy Schad, 72, has been ordered to put up huge signs on his house and car proclaiming that he is a registered child sex offender.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/04/14/sunny.scarlet/index.html

Child abusers are the hardest to rehabilitate, so much so they are hated by even other criminals and are often kept separately while in prison so they wouldn't be beaten, raped or killed. I know this because I have spoken to psychiatrists as part of my reasearch for my child sex abuse-related film. They all said the same thing; in fact, some of them opined that it is hard to rehabilitate even some victims if they have already been damaged.

However, I took an intense dislike to this article for the author's "lynch mob" approach, and instead find myself agreeing with her lawyer friend (who has been quoted in the article) that Schad should just go back to prison. This is because it is often futile to try and reintegrate them, because it is possible they will be around children most the time. This isn't like substance abuse; a recovering alcoholic or drug addict - actually, anyone who's not a substance addict - can function without having alcohol or legal/ illegal drugs in the house.

But the average community will have children, and one can't keep them from going out for fear of an abuser in the neighbourhood. Socialization and exploring are essential to their growth and development. So to avoid any risk to children, the only solution is to put the offenders in jail for the rest of their lives - or, if they're showing signs of improvement and are less likely to cause harm again, to have them relocated to a place where there are no children and place a restraining order on them.

Were I to take a quicker, cheaper but more militant approach, I'd call for the death penalty since it would not be worth spending your taxes on keeping them alive. But that's a lot easier to say when I am not the one throwing the switch.

My opinion is that Schad shouldn't have been released out in the first place. Child molesters are not like serial rapists and murderers - they cannot be found by psychological profiling. They are master manipulators with the ability to be authoritative and threatening while sweet-talking a child. They do not openly exhibit bizarre behaviour because their victims are children, often prepubescent ones. They will be perfectly normal and friendly around adults but different with children, especially when alone with them. It's hard enough to spot serial killers of adults - how do you spot a child molester if he's normal with you but not with your child, that too in your absence?

There was a special episode about child safety on Oprah, where she interviewed a convicted child molester who had recently been released back into society. Other guests included a woman whose teenage daughter had befriended a boy on the internet, and had gone to meet him, only to find herself being sexually assaulted by a much older man. I do not remember either their names.

Anyway, the child sex offender had done something unusual - he had truthfully told one of his neighbours about his crime, and had asked her to keep her children safe. The word had spread around, and if my memory serves me right, he told Oprah that he was getting by all right despite the hostility he encountered from time to time.

However, as the show progressed, the man wavered. First he said he was fully "cured" and would never harm children again; later he said it was possible that he would relapse. The mother of the teenager praised him for his honesty to the neighbours, but also said she would be terribly worried about having that man living in her neighbourhood. I don't think I watched the show completely, so I do not know what was the outcome.

Anyway, here's my take on it...

1. If he's a violent, unrepentant criminal, death penalty is the best option. He can't be kept in jail, he's too dangerous for society, he's basically of no use to anyone. For those who are for amnesty and against death penalty, here's my argument: the person is the worst kind of criminal, one hurts children (who are less capable of making judgements and defending themselves) and therefore also hurts those who care for them. It is emotionally draining to try and rehabilitate a young child who has been sexually abused since their concept of "sex" is fuzzy at best, and their need for affection is stronger. Prevention is better than cure, I say. If freedom means having the right to bear arms for personal safety, then freedom should also mean being able to use already given rights, like a public voice and a judicial system, to demand death for someone who is an irreversible threat.

2. If you're going to have the offender put up big signs everywhere proclaiming he's a molester, then that will defeat the purpose of trying to reintegrate him with society because nobody will go near him. Also, the sad truth is the signs will provide people with a tangible right to wreak vigilante justice upon the molester. It's human nature and has happened everywhere; when a crowd feels justice has not been done, all individual thinking will drown in collective bloodlust and they will take the law into their own hands. What's the point of having a judicial system if everyone goes about practising their personal idea of justice? But you can't blame them completely either. When people wait years for justice and they don't get it, they will get pissed off.

Perhaps a better idea would be good old word-of-mouth. Tell all the kids that the guy down the street is a creep and that they should avoid him at all costs. Might work, but again, no use if he's trying to rejoin society. The point is, a sexual assault on a child, committed clearly out of malice and a desire to assert [already existing] authority, effectively make the offender a social outcast right from the beginning, with no hope of rehabiliation.

3. Move the offender to a location where there are no children and have a restraining order on him. This might work if it is proved that the offender is genuinely remorseful.

4. The last option is let them remain in jail. However, taxpayers' money will go into keeping him alive till his last breath. Maybe he can be given work while in prison but given the hostility of other inmates for child sex offenders, it will be hard to make him socialise with even his fellow prisoners.

Obviously, the best option is sex education. Children as young as four can understand safe and unsafe touches. A child who has been equipped to face this will be able to better recognize a potential abuser, and take the steps necessary to prevent it. Therefore, the concept of child sexual abuse will, hopefully,  eventually vanish.

However, in countries where sex is still a hush-hush topic, that will take a while to come about. Until then, rigourous punishment is the best option.

I believe that in the US and elswhere, the sex offender registry of a town gets updated when a convicted offender is released and moves into that place, and the residents are all informed. In India, offences are registered, but I doubt if they're as vigourously updated since we have very few arrests in the first place, and whether the residents (in addition to the local police) are informed.

So I'm posing this question to Voxers, especially parents - what would YOU do if you found out that there's a registered child sex offender in your neighbourhood?

The internet is MORBIDLY ABYSMAL, and therefore this is just a quick post to say hi and my apologies that I can't read/comment on all your posts or see your pics.

Hope everyone's well.