Taking a break

Newsmericks has decided to take
A couple of weeks off as a break
So there'll be no post
(for 4weeks at the most)
Then I'll be back, make no mistake!

Regular posts will continue after I return from my break, end Feb. Till then, au revoir!

Newsworthy

There was a time in the past
When the morning newspaper amassed
News of import
Be it business or sport
Well my dear, those days have passed!

Now in the morn when you waken
You'll find that the headlines are taken
By celebrity tales
(It hikes up the sales)
Enough to leave you stirred and/or shaken

Has B junior already wed Ash?
Will Shilpa really get all that cash?
Will SRK be
Lucky for KBC?
These are stuff making a splash!

Water, water everywhere

Hellish, the lives that they led
Women whose husbands were dead
Draped all in white
With no hope in sight
Their's was a tale left unsaid.

Then one day a lady did choose
To put on film these widows' blues
Work she began
On 'Water' per plan
The news spread and all hell broke loose

How dare she expose our muck?
Said the moral police - soon they struck
They disrupted shoot
Gave Deepa the boot
But they underestimated her pluck.

For she simply refused to derail
And went on to complete her tale
An Oscar nomination
Has earned her ovation
And the moral police? They've turned tail!


'Water' to make a splash in theatres across India

Uttara Choudhury

Saturday, January 27, 2007
Link

Tagged: 5 things meme

Rezwan has got me tagged, so,
Must tell you 5 things you didn't know
about humble me
Well what could they be?
Feel curious? Well dear, here you go!

1.
Not heavy trucks but the light
Bicycle gives me great fright
When I hear its bell
I just cannot tell
If the damn thing will swerve left or right!

2.
As child I was naughty, I swear,
That I was a mother's nightmare
A fracture here and there
Or a ligament tear
Was a common, almost daily, affair!

3.
Ever since the time I got bitten
By the travel bug, (through travelogues written)
A wanderlust arose
And each day it grows
Now I can't help but travel - am smitten!

4.
I like watching films, yes I do
Reading books? Enjoy that too
Much more than that
Though, I love to chat
A chatterbox am I, that is true!

5.
I honestly think it's a sin
To expect that people be thin
With goodies galore
Staying slim is a chore
So let's junk those diets in the bin!

:D :D

Big Brother in big trouble?

Should a show, under Channel 4's banner,
Allow people to be handled in such manner?
As our Shipa incurs
Some cheap 'racist slurs'
'Big Brother', is now under scanner.

BBC News 16/01/07: Broadcasting regulator Ofcom has received more than 3,500 complaints of alleged racism in Celebrity Big Brother against Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty. Read the rest here

Death and the new Iraq policy

These Iraqis, just can't be trusted.
Said George Bush, (looking disgusted)
Their hanging affairs,
Are giving me nightmares,
Let's send in more troops, have them busted!


NYT 16/01/07: Second Hanging Also Went Awry, Iraq Tape Shows. Read about it here

Bhagam Bhag - motivation to run (away)

I sincerely feel that hereafter
Priyadarshan shouldn't attempt laughter
For his recent flick
A supposed slapstick
Was obnoxious - it couldn't get dafter!

I had a good mind to ask for a refund of my ticket money after sitting through Bhagam Bhag. I mean, why is the director Priyadarshan trying so hard to recreate the Hera Pheri kind of comedy, going more and more over the top each time?

And what is this thing about copying scenes, themes from old (read '60s) Hollywood films? I thought that was passé! First came his Garam Masala/Boeing Boeing and now in Bhagam Bhag he goes and lifts an entire scene from "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" and makes it his own. I mean come on, we have evolved from the '60s, or haven't we?

This is what Rediff has to say about the film. Eminently missable.

Does the Inca trail lead to Nepal? Not really!

As far as what I can recall,
We had boarded a flight to Nepal.
But out of the blue,
We landed in Peru,
Misguided by a poster on the wall!

Yahoo News 10/01/07: Royal Nepal Airlines has apologized to Peru after mistakenly using a photo of the Inca ruins of Machu Picchu to promote tourism in Nepal. Read about it here


I just realized that my friend Limerick Savant had already posted a lovely limerick on the same piece of news. Go, read

Bangladesh

Two women fighting for power
Have made an election go sour
Watch them embroil
Bangladesh in turmoil
As their battle gets hotter by the hour!

NYT 12/01/07:In Bangladesh, State of Emergency and Election Delay. Read about it here

When in Japan, know your chopsticks!

In Japan, that far Eastern land,
Was a girl, who as I understand,
Grew up to be a fool
As she couldn't go to school -
Her poor chopstick skills got her banned!

CNN.com 10/01/07: Math whizzes and other prodigies need not apply unless they can demonstrate dexterity with a pair of chopsticks under new entrance requirements announced by a Japanese girls' school on Wednesday. Read about it here

In the pursuit of terror

Wherever in the world there is terror
We, the US, shall be vengeance bearer
But if bodies mount
Please don't keep count
For we sometimes act by trial and error!

Reuters 09/01/2007: A U.S. attack plane killed many people with barrages of gunfire in a remote Somali village occupied by Islamists thought to be hiding at least one al Qaeda suspect, a Somali government source said on Tuesday. Read about it here

Could this act backfire? What do you feel?

A country for sale!

Looking for a new destination
To live in peace and to vacation?
Then here is a sale
That you should avail
Go buy yourself an entire nation!

Yahoo News 08/01/2007: For sale: the world's smallest country with its own flag, stamps, currency and passports. Read about it here

Wanted - A virgin

A man told his girlfriend with pride,
That he'd marry a virgin bona fide.
The lass, with elation,
Went for revirgination
And walked down the aisle as his bride!


Is virginity still a virtue?
Sidhi Chadha, 03/01/07
HTTabloid.com
Link

Skin-sin on New Year's Eve

'This will lead men into sin.'
Thought an activist, feeling chagrin,
Seeing Mallika preen,
On his television screen,
Where she lustily displayed her skin!

IBN Live: 05/01/07: Mallika's skin-suit has activist fuming. Read about it here.

The complainant says that he has filed similar complaints against some Hindi films in the past.

Amidst catcalls

Said Tom to his missus, "Oh honey,
Just listen to this, ain't it funny?
Our dear Aussie cousin,
Bought fish by the dozen
It seems, with his own plastic money!

Yahoo News 03/01/07: An Australian bank has apologized for issuing a credit card to a cat after its owner decided to test the bank's identity security system. Read about it here

Newsmericks 2007 is here!

It is true, I have been slack
Fun times had thrown me off-track
Food, wine and cheer
Ushered in New Year
But friends, now Newsmericks is back!

Here's wishing everyone a Happy 2007. Hope your year has started with great fun and joy.