Gedanken

"Fish, I’ll stay with you until I’m dead."

Sun, 19 May 2013 13:10:00 -0400

“Fish, I’ll stay with you until I’m dead.”

- Said by the old man, the fisherman, trying to catch the biggest fish of his life, in Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea.

It’s a mystery as to why the predator should say such a thing to his prey.

A carrot cake: “Possibly gives the greatest and most...

Sun, 19 May 2013 11:14:16 -0400

A carrot cake: “Possibly gives the greatest and most counterintuitive pleasure on earth.”

A line from Fiona Maazel’s new novel, Waking Up Lonely.

Just had a piece myself this morning, with coffee.

A new novel by Jeanne Thompson, The Humanity Project, explores...

Sun, 19 May 2013 11:02:00 -0400

A new novel by Jeanne Thompson, The Humanity Project, explores the ills of modern American society, namely an absence of humanity.

The ills, when listed categorically, are:

1. Bullying

2. School shootings

3. The dangers of cyber-hookups

4. Homelessness

5. The housing crises

6. Income disparity

7. Crazy-rich-person philanthropy

"I don’t like overrefinement, or to dwell in the heads of vaporous ladies with fine sensibilities."

Sun, 19 May 2013 10:13:45 -0400

“I don’t like overrefinement, or to dwell in the heads of vaporous ladies with fine sensibilities.”

- Two-time Booker Prize-winning novelist, Hilary Mantel.

"We must learn to view the past in three dimensions before we can move into the fourth dimension of..."

Sun, 19 May 2013 09:28:08 -0400

“We must learn to view the past in three dimensions before we can move into the fourth dimension of the future.”

- Historian Stephanie Coontz on the pitfalls of social nostalgia (NYT).

…and this is how Sheldon Cooper expresses his gratitude...

Sat, 18 May 2013 17:03:03 -0400

…and this is how Sheldon Cooper expresses his gratitude upon learning that he, Leonard and Raj Koothrapalli have been shortlisted as the finalists for the tenure track position in physics at CalTech.

The things one has to do to get a tenure-track position in...

Sat, 18 May 2013 16:52:53 -0400

The things one has to do to get a tenure-track position in academia these days.

From episode 20, “The Tenure Turbulence,” of Season 6 of The Big Bang Theory.

tart-pastry: A Japanese funeral home wanted to change the...

Fri, 17 May 2013 18:21:07 -0400

tart-pastry:

A Japanese funeral home wanted to change the strict dress code observed in funeral services, where wearing colors other than black and white is regarded inappropriate.

It partnered with an ad agency to create an ad that may do that convention.

The agency, responded with this: a figure of a skeleton, made with pressed flowers that overtly celebrates the cycle of life by introducing color.

Wonderful idea! High time, we had an alternative perspective on death—as a colorful gliding into another, better, world.

A blueberry sandwich: blueberries galore, peanut butter, white...

Fri, 17 May 2013 15:28:17 -0400

A blueberry sandwich: blueberries galore, peanut butter, white bread. I think the white layer is cream cheese.

Two of the most ugliest faces of corporate greed and ethical...

Fri, 17 May 2013 13:20:20 -0400

Two of the most ugliest faces of corporate greed and ethical violation: Raj Rajaratnam, head of the now defunct, Galleon Group, and Rajat Gupta, a disgraced ex-director of Goldman Sachs.

Both are of South Asian origin.

There is a stereotype that the desire to get rich quickly through unethical means is ingrained in the South Asian business blood.

It’s ingrained in almost all business cultures, but especially so in South Asia’s. Read Mohsin Hamid’s How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia, to get more insights into this.

"I’m concerned about electronic approaches to grading writing, […] I think they are..."

Thu, 16 May 2013 13:05:39 -0400

“I’m concerned about electronic approaches to grading writing, […] I think they are ill-equipped to consider irony, elegance, and … I don’t know how you get a computer to decide if there’s something there it hasn’t been programmed to see.”

- Drew Gilpin Faust, the president of Harvard University and a former history professor, on software tools to computer-grade essays.

"For decades, élite educators were preoccupied with “faculty-to-student ratio”: the best classroom..."

Thu, 16 May 2013 13:01:38 -0400

“For decades, élite educators were preoccupied with “faculty-to-student ratio”: the best classroom was the one where everybody knew your name. Now top schools are broadcast networks.”

- Nathan Heller, reflecting on the rising popularity of MOOCS (Massive Open Online Course) in higher Education in the United States. What caught my attention was the likening of Colleges and Universities to “broadcast networks.”

A painting, Antigone in front of the Dead Polynieces (1865), by...

Wed, 15 May 2013 14:58:48 -0400

A painting, Antigone in front of the Dead Polynieces (1865), by Nikiforos Lytras.

In ancient Greek playwright Sophocles’ play, Antigone, the heroine Antigone defies the law of the land in order to grant Polyneices a proper burial. Polyneices was a terrorist (by our modern definition) who wanted to blow up the city of Thebes and died in the process.

Daniel Mendelsohn, literature Professor at Bard College, brings up the ethics and politics of the burial of the dead in ancient Greek society and literature, while discussing the recent controversy surrounding the burial of the dead Boston bomber, Tamerlan Tsarnaev.

The old man and the big fish (Hemingway’s Old Man and the...

Wed, 15 May 2013 14:49:09 -0400

The old man and the big fish (Hemingway’s Old Man and the Sea), a just-orphaned boy and a tiger (Yan Martel’s Life of Pi), and the precocious boy and the stuffed tiger (Calvin and Hobbes): There have been so many legendary man/animal pairings in literature and films.

Now Nickelodeon brings Sanjay and Craig, where Sanjay an American-Indian kid pairs up with a snake that he finds inside a trash can.

I sniff something orientalist in the choice of the snake.

And, as has become customary with television serials these days, wherever there is a semi-Indian character, there is Kunal Nayyar. Nayyar plays the voice of a “Vijay” in Sanjay and Craig.

The new face of arch-criminal Meyer Wolfsheim in Baz...

Wed, 15 May 2013 09:08:20 -0400

The new face of arch-criminal Meyer Wolfsheim in Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby: Indian movie icon, Amitabh Bacchan.

"I hope she’ll be a fool—that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool."

Wed, 15 May 2013 08:44:57 -0400

“I hope she’ll be a fool—that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.”

- Daisy says this of her daughter, in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby (I’m guessing it’s a “fool” capable of falling head over heels in love “foolishly”)

Bruce Lee wisdom, reminds me of the perennial favorite, Enter...

Tue, 14 May 2013 22:58:57 -0400

Bruce Lee wisdom, reminds me of the perennial favorite, Enter the Dragon.

"One thing more abominable than the soul-killing poverty in India, is the obsession with unfettered..."

Tue, 14 May 2013 15:45:28 -0400

“One thing more abominable than the soul-killing poverty in India, is the obsession with unfettered growth.”

- A reader Sriram from Bangalore responds to a discussion on the Indian middle class in NYT’s India Ink segment.

The cutest kitchen broom ever.

Mon, 13 May 2013 13:47:54 -0400

The cutest kitchen broom ever.

Hasbro studios, who converted transformers and GI Joes into...

Mon, 13 May 2013 12:55:47 -0400

Hasbro studios, who converted transformers and GI Joes into popular movie franchises, has converted yet another popular toy brand, “my little pony,” into a movie, about to be released as a summer blockbuster soon.

The movie is called “My Little Pony: Equestria Girls,” and has as its central characters a bunch of high school teenagers (who ride ponies?) and make friends as they go.

Hasbro has said that it made the film because fans want to “experience” the “brand” in multiple ways.