I realize today, that, as a "researcher", I've changed fundamentally in many ways. I also realize how much the faculty here has helped shape my thinking.

This is a good feeling.

And, I semi-demonstrated today that the results of a 20 year old seminal paper in econometrics do not hold up. Now, I cannot access the data that paper used - the Dept of Commerce changed the definition of the variable which is trying to be understood -

but one would imagine a change in definition should not affect the qualitative nature of an important macroeconomic indicator (implicit price deflators), right?

Wrong! It does, and it points to the fragility of at least one statistical result in the face of seemingly minor changes in the definition of a variable.

Although somewhat depressing, doing this sort of work makes you feel very intimately connected with economics.

It may not be sexy like Steven Levitt and Co's approach to "research" (take an interesting social phenomenon, subject it to a barrage of statistical tests, leaving aside issues of generalizability or usefulness) but it shows the very fragile nature of applied statistics when dealing with economic outcomes.

You'd imagine price deflators were among the more "solid" variables out there. Forget the sex, drugs and rock n roll economics, this is basic stuff one would take for granted.

The implications are troubling.

A Little Music Education

According to Pandora, Jethro Tull's Bouree

which is really Johann Sebastian Bach's composition

is described as having:

jazz influences
mild rhythmic syncopation
intricate melodic phrasing
extensive vamping
thru composed melodic style
mixed acoustic and electric instrumentation
minor key tonality
melodic songwriting
a prominent flute part
an instrumental arrangement

jazz influences!

Sunday Morning

So, do you like sundays? Personally, I think it's the most depressing day of the week.

Maybe it's school - we always had a test on Mondays - to blame for this. Saturdays are always full of hope, Friday's I feel like having a beer, the rest of the week sort of folds into itself, but Sunday, my lord, what's up with that? What do you do with a Sunday? Waste it, use it? Neither seems appropriate.

I made Spinach Saag and Chana Daal. The Dal was unbelievable; there weren't any onions so the spinach was not what it could have been. Good, never the less.

Velvet Underground summed up my feelings for sunday:

Sunday morning, praise the dawning
It's just a restless feeling by my side
Early dawning, sunday morning
It's just the wasted years so close behind

Watch out, the world's behind you
There's always someone around you who will call
It's nothing at all

Sunday morning and I'm falling
I've got a feeling I don't want to know
Early dawning, sunday morning
It's all the streets you crossed, not so long ago

music stuff

And the man in the back said "EVERYONE ATTACK!" and it turned into a ballroom blitz:



I want to taste you but your lips are venomous POISONNN...you're POISONN running through my VEINS!!!

Alice Cooper - Poison!

Not if you were the last Economist on earth

The following is an imagined conversation between William Buiter and Dan Ariely (look up Buiter's latest article on Financial Times for background)

To be sung to the tune of "Not if you were the last junkie on earth" by The Dandy Warhols

I never thought you’d be a traditionalist
Because rationality is so passe.
But today,
If you think that I don’t know
About loss aversion and
Reference dependence,
You’re insane, or your
A fool who hasn’t paid attention
To a word that I say.

In a way, I can’t
Help but feel responsible.
After all, this is what
My experiments say.

But I never thought you’d be a rationalist
Because preferences are so passe
Now a-day.
You never thought you’d randomize
Just be cooler in an obvious way.
I could say, shouldn’t you have run
A couple time-series and decided
That you would rather have it any day.

In a way
I can’t help but feel responsible,
I always knew that you were running around
With your Markov chain

But I never thought you’d be an economist
Because demand and supply is so passe hey.

It's funny how sometimes when you recall something from years ago, it's almost like that person was someone else, although it was you.

The first time I heard Nothing Else Matters, it was back in 11th standard. It's funny to think of the kind of life I had then, and what I have now; what had been gained and lost and all that.

Although, to be honest, life now is - almost - as perfect as it could be (not quite perfect but close) it's always easy to feel nostalgic about the past. Even if life's been strictly increasing in terms of "happiness" or whatever, since then.

Maybe we are all a collection of once dead people, and reading/writing/listening is a way of getting them back to life. It is at times like these I wish I was in Delhi, but that might make me sad, because the Delhi I recall is gone now. If only we could combine the best of everything in life in one great year, would you want that?

Look at what we've done to the innocent and young

Try this out:

(1) Wear a colourful shirt/top.

(2) Walk on a crowded street and look at the colours of the shirts/tops of other people.

(3) Tell a friend who is walking with you the colour of the shirt/top of the nearest person.

(4) Now, think of the colour of your shirt/top.

(5) Repeat step 3 immediately.

Let me know how it goes. If you're like me, you'll blurt out your shirts' colour.

There's a behavioural economics lesson in this.

morning song

Some songs are nice in the morning and some at night. This one is great at 7.19 am on a thursday morning.

काफ़ी कूल हैं!

मेक्स यू वांट तो गेट आउट ऑफ़ दा हाउस।

Asleep at the wheel (but who are you judging?)

I've mentioned Suicidal Tendencies before, and this particular song is maybe the best I've heard from the era that is unfortunately termed "Hair Metal".

Some people I've met say Suicidal is a "ska-punk" not a "metal" band. Well who cares? This sounds good to me! Frankly, I've not really heard any other band sound quite as...accomplished as this one. It's too bad they never hit the big time; with lyrics like this:

Confused understanding, with a slip for the hold
Squeeze past the pressure, you're asleep at the wheel

I mean, look at the structure of that! "With a slip for the hold" is the sort of turn of phrase that should be written down and set in stone. Instead it only sells 20,000 copies. Imperfect market, you bet!

Well, anyway, if I start going on about what's wrong with the business of music it'd never stop. And also, I'd like to talk about this band a bit.

It appears that Metallica's current bass player is from this band. Hmm. I wonder if that has anything to do with the better-than-poo songs off of Metallica's latest album. From where I'm coming from, that's a real compliment. I can't think of enough dirty words to heap on the nonsense that that band heaped on an unsuspecting public post the Black Album. And would you believe it, our state of rock music is such that this is the reason Metallica go on to win a grammy.

Woo hoo, off track again. Maybe my brain follows non-linearities. I read about this theory once about how human beings are unable to comprehend exponential distributions/series because our brains evolved in the plains of Africa, which calls - for some reason - for linear decision making. I'm not really sure how one defines a term like "linear decision making", but I'm going to assume it means that we can comprehend that 2+2 = 4 but e raised to the power of 2 draws the equivalent of "eh?".

In this respect, therefore, I am the next step of mankind. I am the missing link of the future!

You must really, really, listen to the chord sequence at 2:00 minutes into the song; which combines with about 3 vocal harmonies and a bass line that's so groovy it's out of sight. If an acid trip met up with Syd Barett era Pink Floyd, grew up a bit, quit moaning about how awful life is, and like that guy in The Fall (the book, not the movie) started to talk back to society instead of hiding behind a wall, this is what it would sound like.

Actually, this sounds better. That spoken word intro full of nonsense lays down the whole feel of the track which is equal parts trippy, bitter and sweet. Kind of like a tequila shot mixed with acid. I've never taken acid so I could be accused of not knowing what I'm talking about.

Well, that never stopped me before.

But, more seriously, criminally underrated band folks! Nirvana is the most important band of the 90s? Well this just proves that the generation I'm growing up with is fairly screwed up. After all, every generation deserves the art it gets. Or make that, every generation deserves the art it buys. What a bunch of people make of the art that is available is after all up to them. Judging by what has happened, I cannot help but conclude we're pretty much a wasteful generation (art-wise).

So, who are you judging? After all I thought you were different. A blank stare and a whisper, was it too much of a good thing? All you had was a slip for a hold.

Watermelon man!

cool song, cool video, cool fruit

"Watermelon Man"

and something called "Heavy Metal Dark Doom Jazz". Love the drums! This is kind of a strange hybrid but I like it.

Wasted Time

This is a great great song...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XddO6wr_FgU

Thank god for the fact that Chuck somethingortheother gave Skid Row the respect they deserve.

Please people, LISTEN and then make your judgments. Why doesn't ever anyone listen goddamnit?

The best test of a song is if it still moves you as much as it did when you first heard it. Well, it does and more than that. Because I got better headphones now, see.

If Mick Jagger had sang this with Keith Richards on guitar, well first of all, he wouldn't have done as good a job on the vocals. Second, Kieth Richards wouldn't have bothered with the rhythm pick up toward the end. Third, every rock critic would have gone overboard praising the song.

Sorry if I get down too hard on the Stones. I like some of their stuff, but man are they overrated.

I never thought that you'd let it get this far.

Indeed.

Fargo Rock City

I was at the corner of 31st street and 7th Avenue in New York City on the 1st of July. This particular corner is also known as the venue of Madison Square Garden. One of the appendages to Madison Square Garden is one of the million branches of Borders Bookstore. It is in this branch - which I entered on the intention of using the restrooms (American for bathroom) - that I bought a copy of Fargo Rock City written by Chuck somethingortheother.

The Good

I read this book within 4 hours. So clearly, this wasn't boring to read. He writes with clear passion and sincerity, as is evident from a full chapter devoted to an analysis of the Guns and Roses videos for Don't Cry, November Rain and Estranged. Apparently they were all supposed to tell a story. What that story is, it ends in Axl Rose trying his best Free Willy impersonation. So, I don't get it. Wait this isn't the point. I don't want to discuss Axl Rose.

Actually, maybe people should discuss Axl Rose. Now that Michael Jackson's popped it, I suppose it won't be too long before one more 80s icon decides he's had enough of living as a joke.

Okay, so back to the book. What else did I like about it? I love how he (the author) involves himself in all sorts of twists and turns trying to rationalize his liking of Motley Crue. I personally think this is a pretty pointless thing to do. There's no rationalizing anyone liking Motley Crue. They couldn't really play, their songs were fun but stupid and the members of the band are fairly unlikable. Kind of like ugly bullies who are actually good at heart. They aren't interesting at all.

The best thing about the book is his analysis of Ozzy. Really, this is about the best account of the man I have read. I always thought Ozzy was a goofball, though not stupid, just caught up in too many drugs.

But that's about it.

The Bad

There's a particularly pointless chapter about the author getting drunk. It should be deleted. Is he trying to pretend he's a rock star by getting wasted on some cheap alcohol? I just didn't get it.

The overall tone of the writing is sort of - what's the word - hectoring. He's not arguing at some points, he's telling you. At other points he's arguing like a lawyer. I felt uncomfortable at how convinced he is of what he's saying. Doubtless this is the result of many hours of reasoning to oneself alone, which is good because it means thought has gone into what's been written; however I am not sure of whether his stance is "This is what I feel. Here." or whether it is "This is what I feel. Let me explain why."

There's virtually no mention of Ritchie Blackmore. Or Megadeth. Beyond a few stray references here and there. But this is not the worst sin. That is...

The Ugly

NO MENTION OF DEEP PURPLE!!! This is absolutely astonishing. If David Byrne is going to tell me I should read this book, if the author has truly interviewed all the people he claims to have, how is Deep Purple never even mentioned? They form part of the holy trinity of the genesis of metal - Sabbath, Zeppelin and Purple - now how can you possibly leave out anything at all about Purple in a book that describes itself as a heavy metal odyssey through rural North Dakota.

Oh.

Well, okay, I can take this to mean that rural North Dakotans for whatever mysterious reason are not too keen on Deep Purple. But, beyond trite arguments, I found this incredible. Purple are easily one of the most influential bands out there. They rocked, they rolled, and they also wrote long pieces of seemingly intricate melodies. Plus, they may have been the only metal band that could choogle, as John Fogerty encouraged us all to do.

But in the end, most of the book is opinion, and the problem with opinion is that you cannot fault it for being right or wrong. It just is.

The problem is, if this is supposed to represent how I feel about heavy metal - or even 80s glam rock (which would seem equivalent if your only exposure to this genre is through this book) - well then no, it isn't. Which brings me to the basic problem I have with the book:

There's no discussion of the music. Sure you get enough psychoanalysis of lyrics, thematic content, costume, "importance" (what the hell makes Smells like Teen Spirit important whereas say, No Rain isn't?) and on and on. But where is the music talked about? This is what got me into all this nonsense in the first place. I would never ever have gotten so into this music if it wasn't for the rhythms and melodies that metal bands put out. It seems to be therefore that the author was attracted to the music for the wrong reasons. Which makes me say - Don't buy this book.

Metamorphosis, or, The Art of Communication

From this:

"This paper is poorly written and difficult to follow."

"In its present form, this paper does not provide a promising step towards publication."

to this:

"This is much improved. It addresses most of the problems I had with it earlier."

"This needs some work, but I like what you've done."

...man. I should have joined debating society when in school or college. Who knew one had to argue clearly for people to understand you?

Punchline

I don't know if you've seen the documentary The Story of India, it's on PBS, and excellently made.

Well, anyway, one of the things I learned from this was that all non-Africans owe their heritage to some Indians who walked out of Africa presumably. Whoever does these things, has traced a gene found amongst all inhabitants in a village in Tamil Nadu that apparently the rest of the world - apart from Africa - shares, though in diluted form.

So at lunch, talking to Geret (in my year and who's American though of Dutch descent - 4th generation) I told him about this particular fact. Then the thought struck:

"So, my friend, you see, you're Indian.

Who's your daddy now, huh?"

ha ha ha ha ha

postscript: in North Carolina, Indians are treated as Caucasians. Fact!

Sunday Morning

(Song: "Sunday Morning" by Velvet Underground)

After many months, a somewhat relaxed Sunday. Although in a strange twist of life/fate/whatever I hope to not have too many of these. This paradox apart, my thought for the day is:

Apparently you can get high on a good breakfast followed by one of my by-now signature excellent masala chai's. Who knew?

To make omelette that make you high:

Chop tomatoes, onions. Make about half a katori (or cup as white people call it) of chopped onion and tomato if making for one. Amount of tomato, onion monotonically increases with amount of people intended to eat at a ratio of 1-1. You will also need to enlarge the skillet/pan being used if no. of people>5 (say).

Take two eggs break em up. Take cheese (half katori again), and tomato (leave a bit of the tomato behind) and dhania/cilantro leaves and mix with the eggs. Add salt an pepper also. Mix well. Let stand now.

Move on to onions. Take pan, add butter and wait for it to foam all the while humming Velvet Underground. Once foam starts, add onions. Keep heat medium. Add the leftover tomato. (This will give the onions water + butter to cook in as the flesh of the tomato dissolves. Plus it makes a bit tastier. Don't ask me why). Wait until onions start to brown a bit. My theory is that the water of the tomato cooks the onion - as opposed to frying it straight - then when the water evaporates, the cooked onion gets fried, imparting flavour to the butter in which the egg will cook.

Now dump in egg mixture. The flavour of the dhania, cheese and tomato should have mixed with the egg. Cook this, and if you're an expert once the egg is done you may flip one side of the omelette over the other. Preferably at some point of time you have the presence of mind to toast bread.

Eat bread and omelette, reading newspapers and blogs. It will be 11am. And all you have done is make breakfast.

This is my Rifle, This is my Gun

Nearing the end of two years in the neighbourhood of the political powerhouse of the world, I feel still virtually the same way I did when I first came. Although I can probably handle myself a little better now. (Speaking of handling I made a superb aloo curry and dal today. My flatmates' are all out Saturday-nighting over DC, and I have the kitchen to myself. I went a little rich with the aloo curry and put some sour cream in the end which made it a 11 on a 10 scale.)

What better to state all of this than in the words of Dan Hamermesh, perhaps the coolest economist I've seen:

In his presentation - which incidentally is pretty interesting to most non-economists I would believe; it's about what drives reputation in the economics world - someone brought up the point that some economists may not necessarily publish a great deal but still could be working with government/multi-lateral organizations/etc which would contribute to their salaries but may not enhance reputation.

Hamermesh was using salary as one measure of reputation - just one, so don't get all hot and bothered about this - which prompted the question. The idea being, I suppose, that salary is a noisy proxy for reputation.

Hamermesh's response: "I suppose that is true. Probably departments closer to cities will have more of such people. But then you also have to consider the "pull" factor - people choose to work in departments where they can get access to such institutions. "

(Now remember this is the University of Maryland, which is right next door to DC. You could see where he was going with this, but his punchline was beyond anything I'd expect.)

"It's probably true for most of you guys, isn't it? (Smiles) Spending your career sucking at the trough, as it were."

(Room breaks into laughter and scattered applause. It's fun to see academics behave like little children, because that's really what they are. Most of them anyway.)

Well, that pretty much sums it up. No more accurate description of existence here is needed.

Post Script: some other person brought up the idea that just being very active - going to seminars, writing a bunch of papers - could make you look like a productive economist, but may not necessarily improve reputation. So, using paper count as an explanatory variable for reputation doesn't really work then. Hamermesh responded with this little beauty:

"I suppose you could say if you wiggle your butt hard enough, someone will pinch it. Yes that's true."

(Roaring laughter).

yeh dil maange more

Gulal is Anurag Kashyap's new film; like everything else its pretentious, engaging and interesting.

I've only heard the songs and seen some of the film, so i will leave off about the film.

But the songs!

I recommend them. Bollywood is finally waking up to Indian folk music and the results are there for you to judge (Oye Lucky, now Gulaal). And in what may be a first for Hindi cinema, there's a 7.48 long song called "Sheher" which is one of the most truly frightening songs I've heard. Listening to it, you can feel the terror of whichever poor fool happened to inspire the following lyrics:

" Sunsaan galli ke nukaad pe jo koi kutta,
Cheekh cheekh kar rota hai,
Jab lamp post ki gandli pilli, ghup roshni,
Mein kuch kuch sa hota hai,
Jab koi saaya khud ko thoda bacha bacha kar,
Gum saayo mein khota hai,
Jab pool ke khambho ko gaadi ka garm ujaala,
Dheeme dheeme dhota hai,
Tab sheher hamara sota hai.."

(Gujarat? What? No this isn't about Gujarat, not at all...)

Sunsaan galli ke nukaad pe jo koi kutta,
Cheekh cheekh kar rota hai

My god.

take deep breethe..

the hour of judgment is at hand, the clock strikes one, the mouse is on the run.

okay to save this from complete mind blowing arbitrariness:

there's a hilarious metal parody band called Dethlok, look them up, they have a song called "Murmaids" about murdering mermaids because "deep under water, there are no fingerprints"...better yet, in "Thunderhorse", the only lyrics are:

"Thunderhorse! Thunderhorse! Revenge! Revenge!"

Actually, not to be pedantic, but apparently ancient Iceland (I got this off a Journal of Economic History article) did not have a formal court system for 300 years (1100 to about 1400 BC). Instead they relied on a method of enforcement by which anyone who committed a wrongdoing was supposed to announce this at the house of the victim; if he/she failed to do so then the victim had every right to kill (yes, kill) the originator of the crime. This killing could be stopped if the criminal paid the victim's household compensation. However, if the compensation was thought not enough, someone from the victim's household (including the victim if no murder had taken place) could challenge the criminal to a duel...which the criminal could cancel by paying up more.

I swear I'm not making this up...one of the quotes I remember was the author saying "this was a system apparently designed by some mad economist completely devoted to the market"

Viewed in this way, "Thunderhorse" can be viewed as a brief summary of the case study cited.

Vikings I tell you...

reverse causality

Critics of glam rock:

For a genre derided in part for its largely misogynistic attitude toward women, glam rock also spawned the greatest number of female guitar players: Girlschool, Vixen. Note these are actual musicians, not some pretty face.

Probably this is true for other genres as well, I don't know. But good lord they can play, they look great too, an it's odd how guitar players evoke this feeling of slavish adoration: I want you to rock me oh yes!

and i want to paint it

Some are twiddling thumbs, some are asleep with the lights on, some are not what they were.

The world, he tells himself as he readies to get back home, is made of very different people. Stay long enough and you find enough to like and dislike in all of them.

Some though, it is hard to dislike.

Wearily as he makes his way out of the building to the bus stop, walking like a small child, he thinks about all the snakes and ladders which led him here. It must be all an amazing coincidence. How funny must it be, he thinks, if despite all the science and study about the human condition, everything comes down to coincidence.

Truth is pure coincidence, unintended, irrational and therefore obtuse.

I'm a philosopher now, is it? and he gets off the bus, into his flat, into the kitchen, into his bedroom and good night, good luck.

yeh kaisa jalwa

Saw Dev D yesterday.

It's impossible to recommend or not recommend this movie. It's easily one of the most bizarre movies I've ever seen; the only thing close to it is The Wall. Although a heck of a lot more colourful.

I know someone who walked out halfway through it, someone else who sat through it but was undecided about it. The fact that the theater I saw it at was empty except for the bunch of us who were there tells something.

I liked the movie, it's smart funny and has some serious insight at times. You don't feel anything for Abhay Deol's character which is probably as it should be. The guy is supposed to be an a**hole after all. Personally the prostitute to me was the best of the whole lot. Paro was sort of a nobody really.

The film as a whole is sort of like a bad dream in a good way told mostly through music and direction rather than acting or dialogue. That's what held my attention at any rate. The music is excellent - beyond the emotional atyachaar business, there's songs in here that should not be forgotten.

I don't really know what to say about this. Was it a good movie? Yes. Was it a bad movie? Yes.

To end, let me tell a little tale: in the middle of the film, the lights went on, and some of the non-Indians amongst us blinked and asked "Is the movie over?"

My reaction was - "Well this may be an interval (which it was), but well, I don't really know."

That pretty much sums it up.

It was like getting nicely drunk and then coming off the high. The same amount of drink with the same people in the same environment can either be enjoyable or boring or unpleasant.

Is rock and roll dead?

The age old question, isn't it?

It is pertinent however at this stage of the evolution of rock music to ask this, more than at any other, because while the whispers were faint earlier now they have gained in strength.

The logical way to proceed is to understand what characterizes rock music that has "life"; the following is an incomplete list of what I feel these characteristics are:

(1) Existence of musicians doing things with guitar/drum/bass that was not done before.

(2) Existence of multiple bands doing different but not too different, somewhat original, music together in a live environment.

(3) Existence of an adequate audience, to afford big concerts, because music is (traditionally anyway) to be enjoyed within a live community setting.

By all these counts, modern rock fails.

(1) There hasn't been a single new guitar/drum/bass player that has generated excitement in the last 15 years. Radiohead may be a decent band, but they certainly don't have great musicians.

Why is this important? After all, the Beatles weren't great musicians either. It is important in the sense that guitar/drum/bass heroes provide inspiration to young people to learn an instrument.

There's no incentive now to really learn the guitar for instance; you can learn 5 chords and strum them vaguely and you have Beck. Learning an instrument teaches you how to play those 5 chords. The issue is not the number of chords or the skill, but the emotion you get out of the instrument. Surely it is a silly argument to say you can get emotion without being skilled. So, the end result --> fewer people understanding their instruments.

If every band was like the Beatles, rock music would not have progressed beyond Chuck Berry (maybe it still hasn't). The Beatles were a great band, but while they wrote excellent songs together, as musicians I haven't come across a single person who claims to have been inspired by them.

(2) The incentive to perform live is slowly disappearing; with the record companies firing bands after 2 albums, the bands are not able to really learn how to play live together. And live music is really the test of a band. Studio production can cover up a lot, playing live exposes the band and all it's faults. IF they can still rock out, that's great!

However, if record companies lose out due to technology, we still have to worry about point number 3.

(3) Audiences are going to dwindle, and this is more related to technology, as we stream more music off the internet. The money now lies in spreading your song over the internet, not in producing albums. So big concept albums, or even albums that were bound together by a cohesive feeling are finished for good. The focus shifts toward individual songs, and this has never worked well for the success of any band.

A second fall-out of the internet, is that bands can increasingly produce their own music, with the studio going digital. This means they concentrate on being good in the studio, not playing live. Whatever this is, this isn't rock and roll.

The lack of an audience means bands cannot afford large tours on their own; they have to team up together to sell out concerts.

This is also a reason why old groups are getting younger audiences, there are simply no younger bands good enough to play live anymore! Any reading of interviews of older bands will show this trend coming out - from AC/DC to Iron Maiden to Motorhead to The Who - all claim their audiences are getting younger. This is a terrible thing, once these bands are gone - and there's not much left in most of them - what concerts will be there to go to?

SO, rock music is in a crisis, and if there are fewer bands playing live music together, rock (as we know it) is pretty much finished. Even if it adapts to the new way of doing things, it will have to give up the live aspect of playing, and that really isn't rock and roll. And this is sad, because the excitement of seeing a good band play live is irreplacable.

the hellacopters

The Hellacopters are from Finland, and they play rock and roll.

Look them up!

This is them, kicking out the jams live: *yes, jams. Very very cool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bN6oZRs9JA&playnext=10&playnext_from=QL

Bow down to the, bow down to the king

There is a certain inalienable truth - politicians will philander.

Most americans I have spoken to about Obama appear to believe that he and his administration will change everything. Primarily it seems they believe Bush and his cronies had the whole world hating America, and our dark knight (is this racist?) will save this troubled land.

Americans can be really self delusional; I cannot believe the extent to which so many have bought into the propoganda sprouted by the Democrat party. Forget Americans, the whole world appears to believe we have found a leader for our time.

Until some time from now, when some forgotten little news articles tucked away in a corner of Pg 8 will talk of the ongoing genocide in some West African country, and how the US government is turning a blind eye to it.

When the US will refuse to sign the Kyoto protocol, or reduce their consumption of cars, or refuse to put a proper public transport system in place. Why should they? They've spent billions on their roads and highways; its a complete loss to build a public transport system now. In the meantime we can all choke on their gases and complain about global warming.

When Israel will attack some other country next, and America "protecter of the weak and innocent" will mumble little nothings.

50 years of a police state, and the king will heal all bringing peace and justice across the land.

Well done world. Well thought strategy, that one.

Let there be rock!

In the beginning...
Back in nineteen fifty-five
Man didn't know about a rock 'n' roll show
And all that jive

The white man had the smoltz
The black man had the blues
No one knew what they was gonna do

But Tchaikovsky had the news
He said -
"Let there be sound", (there was sound)
"let there be light", (there was light)
"Let there be drums", (there was drums)
"Let there be guitar", (there was guitar)
"Let there be rock"

And it came to pass
That rock 'n' roll was born
All across the land every rockin' band
Was blowing up a storm

And the guitarman got famous
The businessman got rich
And in every bar there was a super star
With a seven year itch

There were fifteen million fingers
Learning how to play
And you could hear the fingers picking
And this is what they had to say
"Let there be light!"
"Sound!"
"Drums!"
"Guitar!"
"Let there be rock!!"

One night in a club called `The Shaking Hand'
There was a ninety-two decibel rocking band
And the music was good and the music was loud
And the singer turned and he said to the crowd -
"Let there be rock!"

Hilarious video here (it's a wonder angus young's head doesn't fall off)

So now you know which AC/DC song mentions Chai-ka-visky.

"But rock and roll is middle class. Haven't you noticed?"

lemme at it!

Motorhead's Lemmy being asked:

"What does heavy metal mean to you?"

"It means never being able to get a serious review of your music. You get reviews of your bullet belt, you get reviews of how loud it was, you get reviews of what the crowd looked like, you get reviews of how ugly you were, whether you had a shave or not...but you very rarely get reviews of anybody taking your music apart and looking at it, you know, ever.

Whereas they love to analyze stuff that I think is vastly inferior to the music, the way your hair is and all that...in the 60s and the 70s you would have just laughed at it, because it is so banal. Hopeless."

Interview here

Virtually every person I've met who claims to dislike heavy metal points to precisely these outward appearances for not liking it. Stuff like "all that big hair, double bass machismo stuff isn't up my alley". You know. No one wants to understand what the hell the guys are playing.

slumbering dogs

So slumdog millionaire wins AR Rahman his first Oscar. Matter of fact, slumdog has won pretty much everything it was nominated for.

This proves one thing - the Oscar committee does not really understand Bombay/Mumbai; most people who've stayed in Bombay would agree the film is extremely superficial in its treatment of fairly realistic issues. It just didn't feel right.

Is this a good film? Well, sort of. Is this anywhere close to Trainspotting? No. Has Rahman made better music? Yes.

But, the white boys and girls have decided this worthy of their prize, and as in Frost/Nixon "there is no success like success in America".

One positive offshoot of all of this is that maybe more people will start acknowledging Rahman as a music director. Not that he needs it, but the massive ignorance of anything east of Europe will (should?) decrease.

Economics is an exact science

Dan McFadden, on being asked how many economists were present at the 100th anniversary of the Nobel Prize:

"About 18. I can't give an exact number..."

view interviews here