Obligatory Conspiracy Theory

Is this all just pure coincidence? http://www.patnadaily.com/news05/october/100605/bjp_leader_shot_at.html http://www.rediff.com/news/2006/apr/22shot.htm Twice in six months? Sure sounds fishy to me....is someone trying to assasinate him? Who could it be? And for what earthly reason? At around the time of the Reliance Petroleum (that word again!) IPO? Could his brother be some sort of scapegoat in some bizarre high powered game of oil, share dealings and power? Does the Shivani Bhatnagar episode imply a pattern, a modus operandi? Is the brother mentally ill or not?

V for Vendetta - Movie Review

It's nice to see so many movies with a political message come out in the same year. Starting with Good Night, and Good Luck and Syriana (I have newfound respect for George Clooney which will last I suppose until he too is co-opted by the liberal media) and now V for Vendetta - 1984 meets Batman. Of late I am turning into an anarchist. As the abuse of power grows around the world and the hard won freedoms of the last century are being eroded, I have less and less faith in political institutions like the State and the Military and pretty much all religious institutions. In the West, the future seems very uncertain. The US, especially, is in deep trouble. The President wants powers to arrest and detain without trial, to spy on the population and to wage war where he sees fit. It is a given that the State will try and assume such powers, that is the nature of power. What is worrying is the American people's acquiescence in these totalitarian plans. Reading rightwing blogs and watching the news and commentary, it is shocking (well, not really) how uniform the message is - give up your freedoms and we will protect you against those shadowy enemies of ours. Be patriotic. Honour the flag. Believe things that go against your own interests. Denounce your neighbours. No matter how much you believe in the goodness of your President, these are dangerous powers to return to the State. Without freedom, life really sucks. Rightwingers in the US as well as much of the UK media totally denounced the movie saying it is anti-American and glorifies terrorism. Both of these statements are true. Whether this makes the film reprehensible is another matter altogether. I would ask the patriotic Americans to remember all the things they said when the jackboots stop outside their door. So it was with a warm glow that I left V for Vendetta. It is a call to the people to stand up and protect their rights. Its message is one of cynicism - don't believe what you read in the papers. Don't believe the television news. Agreed, blowing things up isn't the right way to go about things either, but the basic message was fine. There is a lot of politics in this movie. I got the same feeling as I got while reading 1984. Orwell says in 1984 that 'perhaps the best books are those that tell you what you already know', and this movie definitely fell into that category. I have to admit that I am really impressed with the Wachowski Brothers. Their Matrix movie was an eye-opener for me, in the sense that I had never really spent much time thinking about the illusory nature of things. And V for Vendetta while it didn't inspire any new thoughts fell so neatly onto my current frame of mind that I was totally hooked. The film itself is flawed in many respects. The plot isn't really the best ever. There are too many diversions and subplots that end nowhere. However, I must say that the way the backstory is revealed is masterful. Hints and allusions give us some of the story at the start ('Her brother was at St Mary's', 'The former United States', etc) and the rest is revealed in a manner consistent with the fact that all the protagonists are intimately familiar with their recent history. Good science fiction is like that. V is complete fantasy of course. In the final analysis, this is a flawed but beautiful film. I put it right up there on my list. The final scene had me thinking about Gandhi and how he managed to mobilise the entire nation with the strength of his ideas. As V says - You cannot kill me for beneath this mask there is not flesh and blood but an idea and ideas are immortal. Having said that though, it's not like the film is going to change anything. The Wachowski's are the first to put out the thought in film that the US is headed for major trouble - civil unrest, civil war, civilisation crash - and the reaction is going to be 'Inpossible. The American economy is too strong. The country is too powerful.' (I'm quoting verbatim from one of my banker friends). In his book Collapse, Jared Diamond shows how most of the civilisations that ceased to exist did so soon after their peaks of population and power, and they collapsed hard due to having constructed such somplex societies that they could not adapt to changing circumstances. I believe that in the year 2000 and some double digit number, historians will look back and say 'But we knew this was going to happen....why did we let it go on?' C'est le human nature, mes amis. Anyways, when I got back I immediately checked the Tomatometer and I found one review which touches on nearly everything I thought about on the Tube back home including - wow, how did the studios agree to make this movie and what exactly did the Wachowskis have to do to get them to agree. It's the best review of the movie in my opinion. Read it here

Syriana - Movie Review

What a great film! Top writing, amazing production values and that certain je ne sais quois which imbues every frame with meaning far beyond it's 1/24th of a second would warrant. The film deals with the nasty politics and business of oil told from the viewpoints of pretty much everyone who's connected with it. From the oil men - both those in their suits and private jets to the contract worker on the rig - to the bankers to the politicians and the intelligence agencies to the Emirs who sit on the "world's greatest natural resource". The tagline "everything is connected" rings throughout the movie as we cut from scene to scene telling the stories of all these different people. The ruthless lawyers and oilmen, the Emirs with their hands tied by the awesome military and economic might of the United States, the conscienscious derivatives trader who befriends a progressive contender to the throne of some Middle Eastern emirate and Clooney, fat Clooney as the CIA man and the common-variety suicide bomber - they are all connected in this massive web of treachery and corruption ("Corruption charges. Corruption? Corruption ain't nothing more than government intrusion into market efficiencies in the form of regulation. That's Milton Friedman. He got a goddamn Nobel Prize. We have laws against it precisely so we can get away with it. Corruption is our protection. Corruption is what keeps us safe and warm. Corruption is why you and I are prancing around here instead of fighting each other for scraps of meat out in the streets. Corruption is why we win."). The politics of the movie are put across subtly with no pandering to audience ignorance. Director Stephen Gaghan makes his point quietly. The production values were superb. What beautiful cinematography, pacing like a Kenyan marathon runner's and music just subtle enough to nudge you into the right mood. If you live in the real world, you must watch this movie.

Mike Stern Live at the Jazz Cafe

I hadn't been this excited about going to a show for a long time. I've been a fan of Mike Stern ever since I heard his album Play. Play was particularly important for me because it pulled me out of a long funk wherein I had completely stopped listening to music. Mike's weird bendy notes and long eloquent lines reminded me again what a joy a great album can be. Thus it was that I was all agog with anticipation when I went down to the Jazz Cafe with my old concert buddy to watch the Mike Stern Band. And did they blow me away? Sadly, not. Don't get me wrong, the show was great! It's just that the sound sucked and the drummer totally ruined the evening for me. So Mike's got this hot female drummer who is absolutely horrible. Yes, her nipples show when she sweats and her beautifully toned arms and flat abs are a treat to look at but come on - does she really have to hit that drum so goddamn hard each and every goddamn time? And when one sees Mike cuddling her and blowing little kisses into her ear, it just makes one upset you know, like if she were good it would have been okay but she's just a rank amateur....ah well. Also they played all the songs too fast and too loud. Listening now to my autographed CD of These Times I can't help but notice how much better the songs sound when played a bit slower and without such a loud rhythm section. Damn you woman! Mike has this way of making everything he plays seem so effortless. You're watching him play and you think hey, I could do that! That is part of his genius. He did a couple of tracks from Play a few from These Times and many more that I hadn't heard before (including a few from his upcoming album Who Let The Cats Out (aw Mike...c'mon!!)) Bob Franseschini was on sax and Chris Minh Doky on bass. Chris is the most awesome upright bassplayer I have seen in my life. He'd take these long complex runs down the fretboard and I swear he nailed every note bang on every time, time after time. Incredible. I'd seen Bob Franseschini one time before with Dave Weckl at this show and I think he looked a lot happier there. Mike's a real sweet guy but the vibe from the band wasn't great. I mean I'd be pissed as well if I'd had to put up with that drummer Kim Thompson. Mike is a real sweet guy. During the break he sold and signed the CDs himself and he was in such a good mood and he thanked everyone profusely for coming out and buying the CD. Apart from all that though it was a great evening. It was a real treat and I consider myself priveleged to have seen Mike Stern play from five feet away.

Larry Carlton Live at the Blue Note

My attorney has never been able to agree with the concept, often espoused by former drug users, that you can get a lot higher without drugs than you can with them. And frankly neither have I. Or should I say, had. Ever since this trip started I've been eschewing my daily smoke just because a break is good every now and then and besides the Americans have a totally unsophisticated approach to the possession of the odd leaf of happyweed. So imagine my surprise when one evening (the 30th of March to be precise) I find myself enjoying a drugless high. Larry was on that night and yes, he was in the mood for jazz. The band started with a nice version of Freddie Freeloader and then settled into a set of Larry's tunes. Larry played about six different guitars that night, alternating between ripping electric solos and more laid back acoustic pieces. The band was tight as a drum. Larry's son played bass and held a nice groove all evening. The drumming was top class, as were all the musicians really. Pure smooth-as-silk jazz at the Blue Note in NY. Life couldn't get better. And this is why one should write the reviews immediately after the show and not wait a week.