Sorry, Matt Bacack, call me a cynic, do

Matt's a respected entity on the Internet and I'm really putting my neck on the line here but the latest email I got from him leaves me... um... bewildered.

From his latest email:
"If you purchase a copy of The AdSense Code for just $15.72 using the link below, you will receive OVER $6972 in exclusive money-making bonuses! This is a NO BRAINER if ever there was one!"

Yeh, that's right. If I believe one person will give me $6972 to induce me to spend $15.72 I have NO BRAIN.

Deepak

Amateur Dramatics

This post is in response to a play I attended this evening.

Fine, so one makes allowances for amateur dramatics in terms of the amount of money that can be spent, or the talent that's available, but I'm sorry to say Jitendra Pawar's effort to start a "Theatre Movement" (his words) fell far short of any serious essay into drama.

I have nothing against comedies. Almost all of my plays are comedies and those that aren't have a heavy dose of comedy. However, Jitendra's attempt at comedy fell even further below Bharat Dabholkar's sexual innuendos, and that's saying a lot.

People have long stopped laughing at the mention of tennis balls. If physical comedy is going to be attempted, please train the actors so that a sock on the jaw LOOKS like a sock on the jaw and not a first standard (I believe the current phraseology is "first grade") student's attempt to portray a sock on the jaw.

Repeating a line does not constitute a script. It takes considerable talent to write a play that has mainly "Oh Shit" as dialogue. Merely repeating "Oh Shit" does not necessarily mean the script is Avant Garde.

And finally, calling attention to me at the start of the play and getting me to stand up and smile at the gathered public does not guarantee that I shall wait till the interval to get the hell out of the auditorium.

Deepak

Banning Da Vinci Code

There's a movement on in India to ban the screening of the film version of the Da Vinci Code. Pious priests are exhorting good Catholics to add their names and signatures outside each church so that the pernickity movie don't get shown.

I've never encountered such tosh before, although persons older than I am assure me that the good ole Catholic church has indulged in such nonsense all the way down the ages.

For one thing, I'm opposed to censorship of any kind, period.

For another, how can a work of fiction pose a threat to a belief?

For a third, can't the good Catholics of India see that opposing the silly movie only gives it more publicity?

If a book and movie can turn people away from the faith, it's a rather weak faith, I'd think.

The argument being put forth is that the book and movie are deliberate efforts to hurt the sentiments of the faithful.

I say, so what?

Why should a little bit of hurt - or even a lot of hurt - justify censorship?

Is faith so fragile?

Deepak

I'm a Highway Star!

Ain't nobody gonna... okay, okay, I'll stop singing! It dates me, anyway, if I belt out that song.

Yeah, yeah, I'm comin' to the point...

Newplays.org, a UK based site, has selected my website as Star Site of the month. And no, Keefie, I didn't have to send them any Tandoori Chicken - or Samosas, for that matter. Well, maybe grandpappy on me dear old Mum's side had some siblings in old Blighty that had grandprogeny (is there such a word?) who tracked me down and "did the needful", as we say out here... Naw, that's too unkind to dear Newplays.org, which is doing some pretty hard work in promoting plays and more importantly, playwrights.

Back to the shameless self-promotion, they call me prolific playwright, which is pretty goldarn cool.

Write a play, be a star... I'm a Highway Star! Information Super-highway Star!

Deepak