Given the amazing power of ThatTwitter in terms of outing litigious cunts and routing hate-ridden Daily Mail columnists (Jan Moir was reasonably alright when she worked at the Observer. What happened? Oh yeah, she went to work for the Daily Mail), The VSSoAC is getting into some Meeja analysis and doing a round up of the pourings of outrage at the continuing injustice endured by the residents of the Bhopal area, after years of corporate and Government denials, cover ups, and brutality meted out to survivors by Bollywood celebs and other 'leading Indian opinon formers' via their Twitter feeds. Responses taken from logs of Twitter comments on 3rd December, or searches referring to Bhopal up to 6th December 4pm GMT:
Priyanka Chopra (http://twitter.com/priyankachopra): On my way to the gym.. Ugh!! Pls remind me why we need to suffer like this!!?? 2:38 AM Dec 4th from Twitterrific
Shashi Tharoor (http://twitter.com/ShashiTharoor): RT @sardesairajdeep: 25 years of bhopal gas tragedy today.still rembr pablo barthomelew's haunting picture of a child buried alive.(As do I) 8:06 PM Dec 2nd from UberTwitter
Shahid Kapoor (http://twitter.com/shahidkapoor): Thank u for all da luv n appreciation ... Really .... 4:18 PM Dec 3rd from UberTwitter Hey ... Mornin people ... Am off to another day of shootin .... 4:17 PM Dec 3rd from UberTwitter
Karan Johar (http://twitter.com/kjohar25): amitabh bachchan is just pure genius!!! paa ia all soul....all heart...way to go @juniorbachchan!!! superb!!!! 1:36 PM Dec 3rd from mobile web off to see PAA later tonight!! super excited and dying to see it!!! 4:28 AM Dec 3rd from mobile web Hey Guys Male version of Ektara for all who want to hear it!!! http://twaud.io/rx1 3:29 AM Dec 3rd from twaud.io
Abhishek 'Gavin' Bhachan (http://twitter.com/juniorbachchan): ...It means the world to me and the family. I hope we don't let you down. 3:03 PM Dec 3rd from UberTwitter Can't sleep! Don't know how to express or share what all I'm feeling. All I can say is THANK YOU! For all your wishes.... 3:02 PM Dec 3rd from UberTwitter Just got back home, forget tired, just too overwhelmed with the response! Can't say much now.... Good night! 12:55 PM Dec 3rd from UberTwitter Interval just got over. Great reactions so far. Let's hope they feel the same after the next half!!!! 10:26 AM Dec 3rd from UberTwitter Reached the venue. Wish me luck!!!! More from inside. 7:03 AM Dec 3rd from UberTwitter Argh!!!! What to wear? Indian or western???? Come on guys, HELP!!!! 4:43 AM Dec 3rd from UberTwitter Press done with.Its now home to a pooja which we do before our releases.You can't bribe the big guy, but its nice to say hi once in a while! 12:10 AM Dec 3rd from UberTwitter
God! just saw the news Sehwag scored 283* hope he smashes Brian Lara's 400*. missed this knock. wished i was at CCI cheering for him n INDIA 4:09 AM Dec 3rd from web
Lara Dutta (actress, model and 'human rights activist', pffffrrt) (http://twitter.com/DuttaLara): I missed being in bombay for the screening of PAA. Chose being with my own paa in bangalore. Am sure Mr. B rocked! Love him! 10:38 AM Dec 3rd from UberTwitter Spent a good 2hrs in conversation with my dad! Some good parental advice being passed down! :-) guess I'll always b a 'daddys girl' :-) 10:37 AM Dec 3rd from UberTwitter
Ram Gopal Verma (self styled auteur convinced he makes films of great social importance) (http://twitter.com/rgvzoomin): last entry on 20th Aug the point of life is tht thrs no point to it.so its btr to live it point by point nd point to point 10:25 PM Aug 20th from mobile web
Mallika Sherawat (self-styled Bollywood queen of Twitter, mistress of Ja***e C***) (http://twitter.com/MallikaLA): k... photo shoot in d morn, need my booty sleep;) 'nite tweeps! xoMS 11:22 PM Dec 3rd from web http://twitpic.com/s2lfk - With Young Victoria producers Graham King n Dennis O'Sullivan of Sarah the Duchess of York's film. She's d origin 11:18 PM Dec 3rd from TwitPic http://twitpic.com/s2l3e - Ssshe is a vibrant and very warm person! I loved her immediately:) 11:14 PM Dec 3rd from TwitPic http://twitpic.com/s2ktg - hangin with the Duchesss, it was her night! 11:10 PM Dec 3rd from TwitPic
Dino Morea (http://twitter.com/DinoMorea9): Dammm, got to work little late tnite. Will miss paaa. 5:03 AM Dec 3rd from UberTwitter @fayazshaikh hey my 1st crush was a cute girl who used to sit next to me when I was in school. Have vivid memoriew, very sweet and innocent 1:30 AM Dec 3rd from UberTwitter in reply to fayazshaikh Hello tweeps, what's going on everyone. Am buzzing with energy tday, feeling good. Dnt think I can make paaa premier, will b fun though. 1:29 AM Dec 3rd from UberTwitter RT @MitaliParekh: Your the Indian version of Brad Pitt! I say that everytimee you come on tv and now i can say that directly to you!(Thank u 1:22 AM Dec 3rd from UberTwitter
Barkha Dutt ('anchor-journalist' and starfucker, NDTV India) (http://twitter.com/BDUTT): folks- its nearly four am in singapore. I will sleep feeling blessed- by the wishes and genorisity of you all, and my super team at ndtv 11:40 AM Dec 3rd from web http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/yet_another_award_for_ndtvs_we_the_people.php WTP wins at asian tv awards in singapore 11:39 AM Dec 3rd from web
Pritish Nandy ('A chronicler of my times') (http://twitter.com/PritishNandy): @neeraj True. Its the disconnect between the governed and those who govern is so sharp that it is getting worrisome. 10:04 PM Dec 3rd from web in reply to neeraj @bharat_k You are dead right. I saw the caught and bowled by M. I was wrong. 10:02 PM Dec 3rd from web in reply to bharat_k @abhishekshete Thats right. Rajat is very good. 9:58 PM Dec 3rd from web in reply to abhishekshete @arkab Who is ever going to monitor these cuts? These are all symbolic igestures. 9:57 PM Dec 3rd from web in reply to arkab
Celina Jaitley ('Film Star and Human Rights and animal rights actvist') (http://twitter.com/CelinaJaitly): @meenukumarr in dubai meenu at the address 10:44 PM Dec 3rd from UberTwitter in reply to meenukumarr @sandy4ufolks :) 10:44 PM Dec 3rd from UberTwitter in reply to sandy4ufolks @linahraymond thanks x 10:43 PM Dec 3rd from UberTwitter in reply to linahraymond @Alexander__H hi alex 11:31 AM Dec 3rd from TweetDeck in reply to Alexander__H Going out with friends to a nice lounge .. on the 63rd floor .. will tweet later alligators .. xx 11:30 AM Dec 3rd from TweetDeck
Pranav Roy ('Educationalist, Managing Trustee- Lady K.C.Roy Memorial Trust of india,Social Activist & Blogger' )(http://twitter.com/pranavroy): @priyankachopra ur an angel mam. ur d most incredible looking women in the world. u luk awesum in the first look of pyaar impossible. 6:46 AM Dec 4th from web in reply to priyankachopra
Unequivocal proof there of the power of the internet and the ongoing social commitment of Bollywood's favourite stars. http://www.bhopal.org/.
Of course, if there were to be a fashion event where assorted BollywoodScum such as those mentioned above could attend and actually have the opportunity to have their photo taken, preferably with some photogenically wheezing toddlers, you'd probably get more of a response. Elle Magazine India hold a 'Carnival for a Cause', after parasitic Ladies Who Lunch realise that Breast Cancer is bad:
Bearing in mind the events unfolding in Afghanistan, and the growing opposition to continued presence of British (or any) troops in the country, I had some questions I wanted to ask. The TV News has its stable of experts that they bring on to discuss such complex and troubling matters. I thought I would ask the ladies at RAWA. They very kindly responded to my questions, reproduced here in full.
--- From RAWA (My questions in italics)
Sorry for the late reply. I hope your questions have been answered. Please feel more than free to write to us in case you have further inquiries.
Here are the questions with the answers:
# What would be the immediate consequence of a troop withdrawal in southern afghanistan? Kabul-based NGO worker Rory Stewart (interviewed on the BBC), for example, believes that the Taliban would pose no major threat to the people of Afghanistan, let alone the greater security of the world at large, and that any military effort should be expended on hunting Al-Quaeda as opposed to the Taliban. Is this really the case?
Ideologically, there is no difference between the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. Both are fundamentalists created and supported by foreigners so eliminating one and sparing the other doesn’t change much. Both of them are terrorists. If the troops immediately withdraw the Taliban will take power eventually as they are much stronger than the warlords in the government. Many say a civil war will start and things will get worse. A war is already going on and matters cannot be made worse.
We should not forget though that after the withdrawal of the troops there will be three forces left in Afghanistan, the Taliban, Northern Alliance and the democratic forces who are with the people. If the US and its allies stop supporting these fundamentalists the people will definitely be victorious in defeating these criminals and establishing real democracy, freedom and peace in the country. The US and its allies should also pressurize the neighboring countries o Afghanistan and other countries such as Saudi Arabia not to support these fundamentalist.
Plus it should uproot fundamentalists of every brand, may it be the Taliban, Al-Qaeda or the Northern Alliance criminals in the government as all of the fundamentalists are equally dangerous. We believe US and its allies are not serious in finishing terrorism because such an enormous superpower cannot possibly be incapable of defeating a small band of medieval-minded and illiterate men. And again if it is apparently fighting the Taliban, it is supporting the Northern Alliance with all its strength, who are the brethren-in-creed of the Taliban. So this shows the dishonesty of the US and its allies in this war.
#Is a conflict in Southern Afghanistan really felt to be unwinnable? Do the Taliban have overwhelming grass roots support of the People of southern Afghanistan? As a follow up to this, if the Taliban were permitted to re-gain prominece in Civil life in Southern Afghanistan, having effecively 'won' the conflict against the UK and by extension NATO, would it be posible that 'moderate elements' of the Taliban could be co-opted by NATO forces to perhaps bring stability to the region, allowing development to take place, and being generally a preferable option to the described carnage being visitd upon the region by the presence of foreign troops? This is the chief argument put forward for those opposed to a NATO presence in Afghanistan. In your opinion, would this outcome be possible?
Not at all. The conflict is definitely winnable especially by the superpower US and its other powerful allies including Britain. It is just that these countries are not serious in their pledge to fight terrorism. In fact they need a reason to stay in Afghanistan for their own interests and the Taliban provide the best excuse to deceive the world.
The Taliban don’t have support among the people. How is it possible that the criminals who took Afghanistan into the Stone Age, beheaded young Ajmal Naqshbandi (the Afghan journalist kidnapped along with the Italian journalist), turned stadiums into hanging places, cut hands and humiliated women on streets by beating, have immense support among the people? But it is also true that today our people are so fed up with the lawlessness of the Karzai government and by the killings of the innocent people by the foreign troops that they do prefer the Taliban because they provide security. People are protected from night raids by foreign troops and criminals get punished by the Taliban, something which the government fails to do. So in these terrible conditions the people prefer Taliban out of the three enemies.
The Taliban will not bring stability to the region. Even if they bring stability, as in peace and security, they will continue their dark laws the way they did from 1996-2001 which is also bad. Although it is preferable to have one enemy – the Taliban – instead of two (foreign troops and Taliban), the Taliban are not going to bring any positive changes in the lives of our people, especially women. There are no such things as “moderate Taliban” because all Taliban are misogynists and dark-minded. Not a single Talib has stepped forward and condemned what its government did against the Afghan people for almost four years. They just act slightly open-minded so they get some share of power in the present government but they are all ideologically similar. So even these “moderate” elements won’t make much difference.
Best wishes,
RAWA (sent late July 09, only uploaded now coz of, er, technical difficulties).
Belated birthday wishes to the UK National Health Service on its 60th Birthday.
I happened to chance upon the following article about the experience over in the US when browsing Wikipedia.
I've always been fond of Steven Wells' writing in the NME since the 1990's, in particular his relentless baiting of miserablist self pitying bigot Morrissey, his championing of Daphne & Celeste and Atari Teenage Riot and the casual way in which he'd bandy about such heartwarming notions as 'stringing Gary Bushell up by his tiny Cockerneeeee bollocks and battering him about the head with a breezeblock'.
He even printed my letter urging pre-emptive strikes and warning of the threat to international stability posed by Chris Moyles. Did they listen? No. And now look where we are.
Swells subsequently went to Americaland and recently had the misfortune to fall ill. The sum mentioned above seems to be his initial payment of a total of $180000 total medical debts.
Weeks later—weeks during which I nearly die, become hideously deformed and then spend entire days crying like a baby—the wife and I are in the elevator in our apartment building when she opens the bill from our bat-shit crazy American insurance company.
"How much?" I giggle.
"$51,000," she snorts.
It might as well be 51 gazillion billion bazillion trillion. We both start laughing like hyenas on helium.
The ghastliness of the US healthcare system is well known but it should also be noted that the Indian healthcare system is also -in effect - totally privatised. It is not uncommon for families to be bankrupted by medical expenses, and even if cash is readily available, the equipment and organisation is dire, causing people to die in hospital for want of adequate oxygen, pills, etc. If a prescription is made, it has to be purchased from the hospital pharmacy - if its open (what? You think the nurses will just GIVE it to you? Who do you think you are?). Another spectre looming over proceedings is that of bribery - often at least floated as a consideration by Doctors who really see no reason to bother treating you in far far too many cases. And they don't do call outs either.
Sadly Tony H Wilson didn't survive his cancer diagnosis, but he wrote a very sweet love letter to the medical team who looked after him.
I realise of course that this sort of inane shit is only going to add further publicity to some shitehawk writer eager to release another snoozesome collection of pisspoor cuurrrrrrrrrrazzzy reminiscences about comedy parents and sub-Carrie Bradshaw witterings (fucking A, Countdown AND My Family), but it can't be helped. Well done, I've bitten.
First, an anecdote from that bastion of insight into modern gender politics, Mid Week with Libby Purves. Interviewing guest Sofia Hayat about how she escaped the strictures of a corner-shop running Pakistani family who wanted her to become a Doctor to pursue her dream of being a minor-league titjiggler on Zee Tv, Purves remarks that "it's quite strange really, isn't it, as most western working class families it would be the other way round with you having to struggle to want to be allowed to study medicine and being expected to take higher-paying work". Hayat pauses. To date, la Hayats' achievements are listed as having been a written a song for Pakistani earthquake victims (see? she cares) and killing off her Bollywood film career after turning up to a film premiere with her arse hanging out of her dress (pointedly omitted from her website).
Is De$i bebes Sexy? Or Not Sexy? Forfuckzake, "sexy" has become the most overrused adjective in Bollywood. Everyone does a sexy now (gone is the Barbara Windsor sweet-natured strumpetry of old), the industry having recently re-located its' clitoris. Witness kiddy singing contest Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Lil' Champs where the contestants (genuinely gruesome) were singing the usual racy ditties about wanning yer baaaadddies and parrrrrtying being commended by various judges as "you are so SEXXXYYYY!!!!" UGH.
No, there is no shortage of generically fair skinned supamoddul body-fascist (privately educated, plastic surgeried, wheatish, upper caste, wealthy, tediously smug ) hunneyz to induce tumescence in the spunk-flecked chuddies of herds of unmarried men across the subcontinent. As a recent article on Indian Independence noted, films seem to have got more explicit (or bold as the Indian press put it) as women in the population seem to have declined.
Less an appreciation of wimmin being 'sexually visible', as CiF would have it, more a tantalasing glimpse of an increasingly rare commodity.
This desperate need for approval from FHM readers though, doesn't it smack of servility? "See??!!?! We asians babes can B sexy too! aren't we special!!!!!!! seeeeeee?"
And just look at the resounding response: "Personally I find Thai women some of the most beautiful in the world. " "So graceful, so dignified" (translation: "Uggghhh, Uggghh! Give me purity! GIVE IT TO ME!!! Not like those ugly gobby demanding dirty white women!!!")
"Ok, since I am a connoisseur of Asian women, here is the most objective report you will ever read on the planet.
1. Korean Women - when they are good looking, then they are stunning. Downside is that they can be very materialistic. 2. Burmese Women - this is one notch up from Thai. Hate to be judgemental, because I love all women, but Burmese have the edge. 3. Indian Women - for humour, the women from Mumbai are hard to beat. For looks Dehli has the edge. 4. Pakistani Women - Lahore is the great gene pool of the world, where Greek mixes with Indian, Saka Iranian and Chinese. Beautiful women with blue and green eyes. 5. Malay, Indonesia and Pinoy - more or less the same people. Warm, cuddly, great sense of humour. Downside ... sometimes magnificently crazy. Love the women of the Philippines, especially Cebu, but occasionally they verge towards soap opera psychotic. 6. Chinese - personally I love the Taiwanese and Hong Kong ladies - great characters. Singaporeans are great lookers, but again very materialistic. Also like the women from Beijing and Chengdu ... but Shanghai women .. they just scare me. Great lookers, but they devour men. 7. Japanese women - various layers waiting to be discovered. 8. And finally what about the Iranians ... if we are to include them as part of Asia. Such beautiful eyes ... "
Please note, the flipside to all this wanking over the alleged charms of females of South Asian is usually scorn - if not open contempt - for the percieved lack of hunnyness amongst females from europe/ america, in particular the barbed comments about british (white) women. Seems the commenters of CiF cannot quite bring themselves to jism over the merits of many African women either. I'm sure Rosa Parks would be disappointed if she was here.
Still, I'm sure that this could be a useful ploy to target the endemic infanticide in the sub-continent.
Hey, don't put that salt in your young daughters' mouth, just think, one day she could have some cunt in London making weak puns about her being really spicy and hotter than a vindaloo. Wouldn't you want that?
And then they wonder why more British Muslim women are choosing to wear the Hijab.
Isn't Dubai Brilliant? They've got, like loads of rich people and they all have really nice hotels and stuff and the people who are being employed as servants are really really nice to you and everything! BRILLIANT! And they've got, like a reallly reaaaaalllllyyyyy reeaallly big indoor ski slope, and like this Hotel, but - you'll never guess - right. IT LOOKS LIKE A SAIL BOAT AND IS SURROUNDED BY WATER! BRILLIANT! And then when I was over there they even had famous people like that tennis player - and she's western and a blonde and everything so its not just got Arabs in it and they didn't kill her or tell her to put some clothes on or anything at all! Brilliant!
Aren't paying people as servants Brilliant? Like there's loads of bad things like exploitation of workers and things like that, and someone said they have that in Dubai.
*pause*
But there's at least one other place I can think of that's worse so that's alright then.
BRILLIANT!
Wouldn't it be brilliant if everywhere in the Middle East was like Dubai? They could have Anna Kournikova and Bollywood film stars staying there for publicity and they could employ loads of asian workers and stuff and they could pay them fuck all money and house them in labour camps outside the main city so no one could see them but they'd be grateful for the work what with asians being good little workers. Aren't asians brilliant? They do loads of work everywhere and run shops and clean houses and stuff and that helps disaffected monied Middle Eastern dilletantes from wanting to join Al-Quaeda because it shows how nice people who aren't from the Middle East are! And they haven't got any of them Musliamist Fundalkoranic Literalists (Islamofascist is such a silly term, *lol*) because ... er..
everyone is just Really Really nice and everything.
At the moment, and for the past couple of years, virtually every asian tv channel has been running ads flogging property and buy-to-let opportunities in Dubai, on an almost back-to-back basis.
Its Seaview Dubai, and this is not to mention the myriad other property companies, flogging computer generated images of fantasy housing developments, or ones flogging plots of land in the UK as development opportunities such "panning permission not guaranteed, not regulated by fsa".
I'm sure, however, that the prices they quote for the plots in Dubai, have come down in recent years, compared to a short time ago.
They couldn't possibly have trouble selling. Could they?
Just how bad has the state of the Indian film industry got?
So bad that even the Maoists in Nepal are protesting about the quality of the film output.
Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag", Bollywood director Ram Gopal Varma's much-talked about remake of the blockbuster Hindi film "Sholay", has come under fire from Maoists in Nepal, who say the film has obscene scenes that would pollute society.
The controversial remake, which was released in four cinemas in Kathmandu Valley Friday, has been especially taken to task for a sizzling dance number featuring Bollywood star Urmila Matondkar.
The film - a jazzed up jump-cutting remake of the 70's 'masala' film(itself a version of the Magnificent Seven/ 7 Samurai)has bombed in cinemas across India and sucks cock on an epic scale by all accounts.
The dance scenes (Item numbers) themselves are as grisly as expected. Urmila Matondkar was something of a starlet in the late 90's, and like Shilpa Shetty before Big Brother was reduced to these - essentially titjiggling interludes to keep their name in the headlines with a flagging career. Both her and Shetty also have this antiseptic quality that also make the bump and grind feel extra wrong. They are all attractive women (in that Fair and Lovely generic way Bollywood produces starlets nowadays) but their appeal was in being slightly wholesome and girl-next-door rather than absolute maneaters. Its like watching Felicity Kendall give a lapdance.
Whilst there have always been these item numbers the marked difference now is that the dancing is notably raunchier, and it is often at odds with the rest of the film. Dance routines in serial killer films? Plus, with all this added rutting all the sheer demented joy has gone out of the filmi world, replaced by leaden 'making of' films where increasingly pretentious actors and actresses (nearly all now from the modelling world and therefore bland as fuck) gabble on endlessly about their groundbreaking work.
This is what they can't manage any more: sheer bonkers genius dance routines like from Helen in the 1969 film Talash:
Dedicated to the exhaustive, intensive review of modern cultural phenomena, and commentary upon recent events in the current metrosexual zeitgeist
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About Me
Name: Barbara
Born in a windowless room in a country that no longer exists.
Barbara Meinhoff has no friends. Barbara Meinhoff collects plastic bags and piles them up in her room to block out daylight.
