Seriously there’s no news like bad news is there? These days the news is filled with a blast here, a kill there, a Mamta Banerjee here, and more detonations in London. It could be the handiwork of enraged Aussie fans, considering their dismal Day 1 performance at the London test, but I’m skeptical.
But instead of tripping over the pitfalls of tragedy, we should focus on the lighter-side of things…
Well it appears that like Ms. V, there are a lot of Harry Potter haters out there. One of the more hardcore ones is a German, Gabriele Kuby; who hates HP enough to actually write a book about it. Get a job lady. Wait sorry, I forgot Germany was in recession.
The Pope happens to be another aggrieved anti-HP activist. In fact he was quoted as saying that the HP books are “…subtle seductions of children which act unnoticed and by this, deeply distort Christianity in the soul, before it can grow properly.”[1]. Subtle seduction of children, eh? Who better to know about that than the clerics, right?
Apart from boring stuff like China re-evaluating its currency and Francis Fanthome being asked to “take a holiday” (never liked that guy, he really screwed my ICSE!), I picked up two rather interesting stories. Three, actually:
Bulletproofing the Ayodhya shrine? Come on mate, surely the good people at DRDO are not that vella.
“Dear terrorists, new firman issued. Kill 10, take a branded T-shirt and be the best terrorist in the group. Jihad begins from July 18-20. – Osama.”
ICICI Prudential actually used this to motivate their insurance salesmen. One wonders why they didn’t dress them up like black bucks, paint a large bulls-eye on them and send them to Pataudi’s home.
On a graver note, a girl was molested in Presidency College at 11:30 am on a staircase after a sociology class by some “outsiders”. What I don’t understand is how this girl was all alone after class on a staircase in the middle of the day in a college with five thousand students? Either Presidency has a serious attendance problem, or this girl lacks friends. But who cares really, it was after all a legitimate reason to call a student strike! Disappointing world we live in, isn't it?
[1] Courtesy "The Daily Show".
But instead of tripping over the pitfalls of tragedy, we should focus on the lighter-side of things…
Well it appears that like Ms. V, there are a lot of Harry Potter haters out there. One of the more hardcore ones is a German, Gabriele Kuby; who hates HP enough to actually write a book about it. Get a job lady. Wait sorry, I forgot Germany was in recession.
The Pope happens to be another aggrieved anti-HP activist. In fact he was quoted as saying that the HP books are “…subtle seductions of children which act unnoticed and by this, deeply distort Christianity in the soul, before it can grow properly.”[1]. Subtle seduction of children, eh? Who better to know about that than the clerics, right?
Apart from boring stuff like China re-evaluating its currency and Francis Fanthome being asked to “take a holiday” (never liked that guy, he really screwed my ICSE!), I picked up two rather interesting stories. Three, actually:
Bulletproofing the Ayodhya shrine? Come on mate, surely the good people at DRDO are not that vella.
“Dear terrorists, new firman issued. Kill 10, take a branded T-shirt and be the best terrorist in the group. Jihad begins from July 18-20. – Osama.”
ICICI Prudential actually used this to motivate their insurance salesmen. One wonders why they didn’t dress them up like black bucks, paint a large bulls-eye on them and send them to Pataudi’s home.
On a graver note, a girl was molested in Presidency College at 11:30 am on a staircase after a sociology class by some “outsiders”. What I don’t understand is how this girl was all alone after class on a staircase in the middle of the day in a college with five thousand students? Either Presidency has a serious attendance problem, or this girl lacks friends. But who cares really, it was after all a legitimate reason to call a student strike! Disappointing world we live in, isn't it?
[1] Courtesy "The Daily Show".
Whoa! Is it my birthday today??? Mentions all around!
ReplyDeleteAnd maybe she's a good writer, this Gabriele. :p A lot of people have cashed in on the Potter fame though, writing parodies and what not - the most controversial being "Tanya Grotter".
Incidentally, one of my favourite books is an "anti" book - "I moved your cheese"... an absofreakinlutely HILARIOUS book!!!
The "subtle seductions" comment has reminded me of something I've wanted to write about which should be up on my blog soon.
If your "subtle seductions" have anything to do with Tawaks, I don't wanna know!
ReplyDeleteSelf help books are the bottom of the gutter. I think I'll base my new post on that, provided nothing exciting comes up on the news.
I haven't had the pleasure of reading "I Moved Your Cheese" but I can make a decent guess what it will be like (read: Dilbert).
Hehehehe. Subtle and me? You've got to be kidding. The post I'm talking about has nothing to do with Vibes, so nothing to worry about.. yet!
ReplyDeleteI recommend you first read "Who moved my cheese?" and then "I moved your cheese". That's when it's all the more hilarious. The two books put together are not even as big as a Hardy boys book, so it won't take you any time at all. You've wasted time on 700 page .. uhm .. novels, haven't you?
Yeah George I did...and might I congratulate you on your first byline.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, MacGrath just tore through the top order, incredible... makes the English bowling look not so impressive now, doesn't it?
You're right about those Aussie hypocrites... remember what they did in Lanka?
George, as far as I understand the Chinese revalued the Yuan by .21, not devalued. Everyone's (read: US) has been pushing for strengthing the Yuan, so I guess if you were in touch with these things, it shouldn't have come as a shock. What was interesting though was that the Chinese opted for a basket of currencies rather than the single currency (USD) fixed rate that they were following. Which also should not be surprising considering the USD has been very shaky off late and their interest rates have been jumping around too.
Now you understand why I underplayed the Chinese revaluation... no one would want to read it, life changing though it may be! Although the US buys most of their stuff from the Chinese, I wonder how many Americans know which currency is used in China... most kids in my Econ class didn't know...go figure. Or as Ronald would say, "you do the math"
Ms. V, I've had the displeasure of reading "Who Moved By Cheese" by Dr. Whatzizname... Yeah, I actually paid money to read that I am insecure, compromising (read: pushover), lazy, unmotivated and all that crap...
ReplyDeleteI'll see if I can get hold of "I Moved Your Cheese". Who's the author?
I've read War and Peace. I rest my case.
It's by Darrel Bristow-Bovey, a hot South African dude. Though that has nothing to do with why I think the book's awesome.
ReplyDeleteYeah right!
ReplyDeleteHey, I only realised he was hot after I was done reading the book! :p
ReplyDelete