Global warming has apparently started claiming its first victims. Poison frogs in S America and plankton are bearing the brunt of our follies. The real threat comes from the reduction in plankton quantities, as it can seriously disturb the food chain in the oceans.
If one can learn a lesson from these two incidents, it is this. Global warming would not only threaten our food security, it would also lead to widespread epidemics. Disease spreading organisms can travel far more when the temperatures are conducive (that is, warmer). This is what is killing those beautiful poison frogs (described by one researcher as tropical easter eggs). I suggest people read "Guns, Germs and Steel" to fully understand the repercussions of seemingly innocuous environmental changes.
Friday, December 15, 2006
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Don - something's missing in the movie
There is something missing in this new Don movie. I can't pinpoint it, but that void exists nonetheless.
Let me mention what I missed:
1) Firstly, SRK does not have the cold-bloodedness that Amitabh so brilliantly portrayed. SRK as Don is too excited, too flamboyant to be treated with respect. Amitabh on the other hand, was more businesslike, a la Michael Corleone of Godfather II. I would have appreciated if SRK would have exercised restraint, instead of behaving like a wayward James Bond.
2) The "khaike paan Banaras wala" song is a disaster. I felt I was watching "Nach baliye" rather than the clumsy yet adorable dance of a UP wala bhaiya. The 4-5 people behind SRK in jeans, possibly from Farah Khan's troupe, were perhaps too stylish. SRK, too, nowhere looked like a "Chhora Ganga kinare wala". UP people would have been thoroughly disappointed. I was.
3) I missed Pran. Nothing against Arjun Rampal, but Pran was the quintessential Bollywoodian character of the 70s. The kind of characters that people imitated in streets - their quirky style of dialog delivery, their outrageous outfits...Like Gabbar in an army uniform. Pran in Zanzeer as a fancy dress pathan. Asrani with the Hitler like moustache and a jailor uniform which belonged to the 1910s. Watch Pran say "Main tumse utni nafrat nahin karta jitna apne bacchon se pyar karta hun" and compare. Even Iftikhar had his absence felt. The police chief who looked more like a professor.
4) The mafia members in Farhan Akhtar's Don were like company vice presidents. I missed MacMohan, with his zebra like beard and Narang, with his piercing light grey eyes. Villains in 1970s looked like villains. I would have been happier if Farhan had opted for Sushant Singh or Mukesh Tiwari.
If I had my way, I would have made Don like Ram Gopal Verma. If I had to remake it at all. Don here would have been a semi-psychopath underworld leader, like Bhikhu Mahatre or Nana Patekar in Bluffmaster. He would have been replaced on his death by a "seedha sadha" clerk. But when this clerk gets the power & authority of Don in a very different environment from which he originally comes from, his dark side starts to take over. As he can do things which he could never have done as a less powerful clerk, the temptation becomes too difficult to resist. Roma realises that he is Vijay, and falls in love with him. But eventually, when she realises that Vijay is developing the same traits that she had hated so much, she kills him. Or maybe the character of Roma could have done away with entirely. The film would have most probably flopped, but I guess some critics awards could have been won. Comments invited.
Let me mention what I missed:
1) Firstly, SRK does not have the cold-bloodedness that Amitabh so brilliantly portrayed. SRK as Don is too excited, too flamboyant to be treated with respect. Amitabh on the other hand, was more businesslike, a la Michael Corleone of Godfather II. I would have appreciated if SRK would have exercised restraint, instead of behaving like a wayward James Bond.
2) The "khaike paan Banaras wala" song is a disaster. I felt I was watching "Nach baliye" rather than the clumsy yet adorable dance of a UP wala bhaiya. The 4-5 people behind SRK in jeans, possibly from Farah Khan's troupe, were perhaps too stylish. SRK, too, nowhere looked like a "Chhora Ganga kinare wala". UP people would have been thoroughly disappointed. I was.
3) I missed Pran. Nothing against Arjun Rampal, but Pran was the quintessential Bollywoodian character of the 70s. The kind of characters that people imitated in streets - their quirky style of dialog delivery, their outrageous outfits...Like Gabbar in an army uniform. Pran in Zanzeer as a fancy dress pathan. Asrani with the Hitler like moustache and a jailor uniform which belonged to the 1910s. Watch Pran say "Main tumse utni nafrat nahin karta jitna apne bacchon se pyar karta hun" and compare. Even Iftikhar had his absence felt. The police chief who looked more like a professor.
4) The mafia members in Farhan Akhtar's Don were like company vice presidents. I missed MacMohan, with his zebra like beard and Narang, with his piercing light grey eyes. Villains in 1970s looked like villains. I would have been happier if Farhan had opted for Sushant Singh or Mukesh Tiwari.
If I had my way, I would have made Don like Ram Gopal Verma. If I had to remake it at all. Don here would have been a semi-psychopath underworld leader, like Bhikhu Mahatre or Nana Patekar in Bluffmaster. He would have been replaced on his death by a "seedha sadha" clerk. But when this clerk gets the power & authority of Don in a very different environment from which he originally comes from, his dark side starts to take over. As he can do things which he could never have done as a less powerful clerk, the temptation becomes too difficult to resist. Roma realises that he is Vijay, and falls in love with him. But eventually, when she realises that Vijay is developing the same traits that she had hated so much, she kills him. Or maybe the character of Roma could have done away with entirely. The film would have most probably flopped, but I guess some critics awards could have been won. Comments invited.
Friday, September 22, 2006
Fashion doesnt get better than this
I thought girls hate cockroaches. They generally emit funny noises when they see one. So, would I have believed that few girls are willing to pay $80 to allow a cockroach crawl up their shoulders and circumambulate their necks? And no ordinary cockroach, mind you, but a Madagascar hissing cockroach. If the name alone does not disgust you, then please note that it is one of the largest cockroaches in the world, and grows upto 3 inches.
But there's a catch here. This particular bug is studded with jewelry. It comes with a pin attached and can be worn as a necklace or a bracelet. As you move along the hoi polloi, the poor creature would just roam around your body, twitching its antennae. You can be sure that everybody in the party notices what you are wearing.
Remember, its not that girls hate bugs less, but they love diamonds more. So, the next time your wife tells you she can do anything for a diamond ring, you better believe her.
But there's a catch here. This particular bug is studded with jewelry. It comes with a pin attached and can be worn as a necklace or a bracelet. As you move along the hoi polloi, the poor creature would just roam around your body, twitching its antennae. You can be sure that everybody in the party notices what you are wearing.
Remember, its not that girls hate bugs less, but they love diamonds more. So, the next time your wife tells you she can do anything for a diamond ring, you better believe her.
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Global warming Part I
Nobody seems to be concerned about global warming. Nobody influential that is.
The data on global warming is extremely alarming. "Doomsday" could be just around the corner. Of course, human beings would continue to survive, even if there is another ice age resulting from the sudden alteration of ocean currents or a prolonged heat wave. In the initial stages, it is the impact on the global economic scenario which would be most devastating. Apart from that, a significant number of world's population would perish because of food shortage.
The most alarming fact is that the effect of global warming is like a snowball rolling down a slope. As time passes, it starts getting bigger and bigger. This leads to increased velocity and a vicious cycle steps in.
Consider the latest shock called methane trapped in permafrost. The amount trapped in permafrost is estimated to be around 100 times the annual emission caused by burning of fossil fuels. As these gases are released into the atmosphere, it would cause further rise in temperatures, leading to a vicious cycle where the permafrost would eventually melt completely. The horror is that according to some scientists, we have already crossed the tipping point. If that is true, maybe we shall meet the fate of Venus - which probably experienced rapid global warming. Consider this:
Venus is a near twin of Earth in size and mass but is completely enveloped by thick clouds of concentrated sulfuric acid droplets. Its surface gravity is about 90% that of Earth. Its atmosphere is over 96% carbon dioxide, with a pressure about 95 times Earth's. The dense atmosphere and thick cloud layers trap incoming solar energy so efficiently that Venus has the highest surface temperature of any of the Sun's planets, more than 860 °F (460 °C). Radar imaging indicates that the surface is dry and rocky, consisting mostly of gently rolling plains, broad depressions, and two large elevated regions analogous to continents on Earth; The interior is thought to be similar to that of Earth.
It is not an impossibility that the atmosphere of Venus was similar to Earth millions of years ago. Now it is just a huge oven.
I feel that there is still hope - and the onus on saving the earth lies with the US. But that shall be known only after the next Presidential elections. In the time being, we can just wait and hope.
The data on global warming is extremely alarming. "Doomsday" could be just around the corner. Of course, human beings would continue to survive, even if there is another ice age resulting from the sudden alteration of ocean currents or a prolonged heat wave. In the initial stages, it is the impact on the global economic scenario which would be most devastating. Apart from that, a significant number of world's population would perish because of food shortage.
The most alarming fact is that the effect of global warming is like a snowball rolling down a slope. As time passes, it starts getting bigger and bigger. This leads to increased velocity and a vicious cycle steps in.
Consider the latest shock called methane trapped in permafrost. The amount trapped in permafrost is estimated to be around 100 times the annual emission caused by burning of fossil fuels. As these gases are released into the atmosphere, it would cause further rise in temperatures, leading to a vicious cycle where the permafrost would eventually melt completely. The horror is that according to some scientists, we have already crossed the tipping point. If that is true, maybe we shall meet the fate of Venus - which probably experienced rapid global warming. Consider this:
Venus is a near twin of Earth in size and mass but is completely enveloped by thick clouds of concentrated sulfuric acid droplets. Its surface gravity is about 90% that of Earth. Its atmosphere is over 96% carbon dioxide, with a pressure about 95 times Earth's. The dense atmosphere and thick cloud layers trap incoming solar energy so efficiently that Venus has the highest surface temperature of any of the Sun's planets, more than 860 °F (460 °C). Radar imaging indicates that the surface is dry and rocky, consisting mostly of gently rolling plains, broad depressions, and two large elevated regions analogous to continents on Earth; The interior is thought to be similar to that of Earth.
It is not an impossibility that the atmosphere of Venus was similar to Earth millions of years ago. Now it is just a huge oven.
I feel that there is still hope - and the onus on saving the earth lies with the US. But that shall be known only after the next Presidential elections. In the time being, we can just wait and hope.
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