Market Economies and Market Democracies

Although the States has been ever the evangelist when it comes to peddling the wonder of market economics, the axiom of choice and the miracle of competition when it comes to advising/chastising developing/underdeveloped nations the world over, they've insulated their polity from being a market democracy by willing themselves to be ruled by a truly very inefficient duopoly - The Elephants and The Donkeys. There's competition in the industrial sector but not so much in the electoral sector with hardly much to choose from.

Contrast this with the fierce, cut-throat, ruthless, Darwinian competition that rules the Indian electoral sector - a true free market for representatives - with every hue, color, whim, creed, caste and class to choose from.

What quirk of fate decreed that the US champions one and not the other?

The Trench Warfare of Male Friendships

A fabulous essay at The Rumpus - dissecting male friendship and describing it for what it is.

Contrast this with the essay on female friendship - also on The Rumpus (which by the way, is a wonderful little treasure trove).

The Transmigration of Timothy Archer

The passage of time seemed to weigh heavily on The Boy who had never been accused of having a cheerful disposition anyway. With each passing month, he retreated further and further away into the recesses of his own imagination, staring at the repetitive wallpaper patterns that adorned his room's walls, blank noise slowly spreading like cancer and whitewashing all his senses and laying to sleep all centers of vitality and agency. Like clockwork, on the 29th of each successive month, his body became less corporeal, his constitution less sturdy, his eyes more hollowed out and his color more blanched till eventually, on the stroke of midnight in what would've been the 29th of February in a leap year, his ghostly white apparition spontaneously floated up to the ceiling and became one with the wallpaper, absorbed in that tiny twinkle of its cartoon eyes, visible only to those who care to look hard enough.

Cheers!

It's heartening to see Tigmanshu Dhulia finally get the recognition he deserves. Both Paan Singh Tomar and Shagird, which NF saw back to back are wonderful films. (In fact, NF totally hearted Sahib, Biwi aur Gangster as well.)

It is also heartening to see Anurag Kashyap act (spoiler: he acts rather well!). His part in Shagird as gangster/shooter Bunty Bhaiya is perfect. 

Here's to the new face of Hindi cinema and the brash, young, crop of new directors that is taking over (nay, has already taken over), telling us stories about India in Hindi's numerous local, multifarious dialects!

Cheers!

The Fanboy Awaketh

NF has had a long term fascination with almost any form of art/entertainment that features strong (read hot) women with katanas, or guns, or bare knuckles, or in the limiting case, just bad, fiery attitudes.¹ Your usual, run-of-the-mill postmodern theorist will ascribe it to being born and brought up in a Shakt, Devi-worshipping Brahmin household and pooh pooh his critical sensibilities when it comes to reviews of such artforms.

And so it should come as no surprise that he totally hearted the fabulous, blood soaked, fight intensive anime series Claymore. Of the many, many great anime series he's watched last year this was easily one of the best (though the crown for the best series undoubtedly goes to Denno Coil - the Miyazaki meets Ghost in the Shell anime series that's so brilliant and intelligent that perhaps NF should devote a separate post to it).

Claymore is about an elite group of claymore wielding (almost always hot) female warriors who battle and kill Yoma - a beastly species fond of eating human guts. The fights are exhilarating, the plot is tight and the drama is gripping. NF was captivated for the entire 26 episodes.

Teresa (of the faint smile) is a fanboy's dream, Clare - the protagonist - is a wonderful, intelligent, revenge-obsessed character. People die (mostly very violently) when they lose to enemies (take that most of you Shonen anime!) and almost always there is very little talk and much, much more satisfying no-holds-barred intense, gory, power-up laden fighting.

Very, very satisfying!

Fellow otakus - you know what to watch next.

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Which is perhaps why in his childhoood, he was so taken in by that classic revenge drama Khoon Bhari Maang (tr. Blood-filled Hair Parting (really?)) and perhaps that is why he worshipped Uma Thurman for the longest time ever.