Baghdad Girl

Putu purrs for this blog, glad of its continued existence. Encourages exploration immediately.

Cat Haiku

The mighty hunter
Returns with gifts of plump birds --
your foot just squashed one.


More here.

Snakehead terror

from this fabulous blog, which really deserves more attention. oh well, blogger buzz has found it so it's probably getting many many hits. still we like to do our part.

Ha!

As a leading cat blogger, Putu is delighted to see this in the NYT

A few choice quotes:

On the Web you'll find the Infinite Cat Project but no Infinite Dog. My Cat Hates You is big on the Web, but there is no site named My Dog Hates You. (Dogs Hate Bush exists, but then so does Cats Hate Bush.) As any good Web hound can tell you, Rathergood.com is filled with crazy crooning cats. But where, oh where, are the singing dogs? (New Guinea singing dogs, a real breed, do not count.)

Cats are the Web's it-animals. They're everywhere. When you look up Devil Cats, you'll see comics about cat owners who love too much and the cats that cheat on them. Look up Devil Dogs, and you'll be offered apparel for the Marine Corps and information about Drake's cakes.

Why cats and not dogs?

Perhaps mycathatesyou.com will provide a clue. This site, founded in 2000, offers what it calls "the largest collection of sour-faced, indignant felines on the Internet." There you can see a squinty-eyed, snaggletoothed cat named Guapo, who appears ready to tear someone's head off. If you posted a picture of a dog as scary as that, no one would laugh. They would send for the dogcatcher.

Maybe the difference is that dogs are public, everyone's business. They go on subways and they go in parks. They are always caught in flagrante defecato. Cats stay home. They are private, nobody's business. To watch them in their homes is a privilege. They are perfect for the Web, the medium of voyeurs.

For example, go to the "Educational Videos" on zefrank.com, where you can catch the cat named Annie B., also called Mooshie, in 15 different scenarios, including one in which she re-enacts the shower scene in "Psycho." It's special. It's intimate. And another thing: she seems content with her small apartment. Cats are O.K. living in tight places and never going out. They don't mind if their owners spend every waking hour on the Internet.

Dogs would die if they had to wait for their owners to go off line. And who wants to post pictures of a dead animal? Serious bloggers, the kind who float to the top of Google regularly, just don't have time or space for dogs.

But can that be the whole story? There's a deeper answer to be had at infinitecat.com, where users post pictures of their cats gazing at pictures of other cats already posted on the Infinite Cat site. You see an infinite regress: pictures of cats looking at pictures of cats looking at pictures of cats.

Remind you of anything? Those cats are like so many bloggers sitting at home staring into their computer screens and watching other bloggers blog other bloggers. Cats, who live indoors and love to prowl, are the soul of the blogosphere. Dogs would never blog.

Man about dog

Putu saw and loved this little Irish film. Its like Snatch, except with more fun, more sex and gypsies whose accents can be understood. Yes, its about dogs, but then we all know Putu is the soul of generosity

On love triangles and technology

In the good old days, there were machines to help you signal your jealousy, especially when your man-of-steel made out with other women in front of you.

But then, sometimes you realised that your competition had far superior technology which she was using to cut you out of the game.

Undeterred, you could always turn to your trusty time-travel machine to set things the way they should be.

Ah, for the good old days.

Arsehole

The Times classifies all comic book readers as misogynistic, frustrated, perverted geeks with body odour.

Putu says "Up yours"

These gentlemen also point out why the Times has no clue what its saying.

Evergreen Pinewood?

Pinewood Studios of Britain approaches bankruptcy in spite of HHGG and Batman Begins. This puts many productions in jeopardy, including the Bond franchise, Tombraider 3 (Thank God!), and worst of all - Watchmen.

Putu hears that Paramount is moving Watchmen to an Austrian studio, following in the heels of Harry Potter. One hopes this is true.

Muhaha

The Guardian on The Perfect Villain.

Iron Council

Mieville's latest is pretty avoidable though. Very tough to get through. He's so unrelentingly dense and grim he makes Tolkien look like Wodehouse.

Scarred

Putu just finished reading The Scar, China Mieville's third novel, and the second one in the Bas-Lag sequence. Brilliant, complex book full of brilliant complex characters...Uther Doul and deadman Brucolac have to be two of the finest anti-heroes Putu has read in fantasy for a while. But the book was, typical of Mieville, TOO complex. Gave Putu a headache, and Putu likes twisted plots.
Prufrock Two has included a Putu parody in his post on Indian bloggers reporting the moon landing. Putu purrs thanks.

Mememeow

Putu has been booktagged by The Letterhead - thanks.

How many books does Putu own? Putu does not, in the human sense, own books. Cats have rights to all books and thus Putu owns millions of books, though Putu has refused to have anything to do with selfhelp books.

What is the last book Putu bought? Again, Putu does not 'buy' books in the human sense, though Putu often refers to the process of buying. By Putunomics, Putu has bought every book Putu has read - Putu has given time (a resource with immense value in Putu's case) in exchange for content. But

The last book Putu read was a Catwoman comic. And now the important part of this post,

Five Books that mean a lot to Putu
Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll: Cheshire, baby. Think Cheshire
Old Possum's book of Practical Cats by TS Eliot: Putu's superhero alterego is called the Hidden Paw
The Hobbes and Calvin books: The name sequence they are more commonly known by is just a result of human prejucide - and human marketing
The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss: A favourite from when Putu the Cat was Putu the Kitten
Sandman #18: A Dream of a Thousand Cats. Part of Dream Country, a work of great vision for a human. It speaks of the forgotten days when cats ruled the world, and humans were puny slaves. Which more than coincides with Putu's worldview, and is the future of this world if Putu has anything to do with it...

Putu is not tagging anyone, as the only thing it is possible for Putu to tag is Putu's tail.

House of Looking Daggers

Putu is spitting fire. And brimstone. Putu's new DVD, which includes, among other films, Mr. Yimou's House of Flying Daggers, has no subtitles. Yes, fights look equally wonderful without subtitles. but Putu wants to know what the story is about.
Another day, then.
At least Sin City is in English. Will watch that, then.

Daak (the Post) on Chalachitra (the Movie)

Putu was much amused by seeing what Jabberwock had to say about English transalations of Hindi movie titles.

This got Putu thinking about the recent trend of Hindi movie producers, of tacking on the English transalation of a Hindi title to the and of the title itself, like a reduntant subtitle. Some classic examples.

Ehsaas - the Feeling (2001)
Angaar - the Fire (2002)
Ghaav - the Wound (2002)
Shakti - the Power (2002)
Dhund - the Fog (2003)
Jaal - the Trap (2003)
Khanjar - the Knife (2003)
Mudda - the Issue (2003)
Sannata - the Silence (2003)
Hatya - the Murder (2004)
Insaaf - the Justice (2004)
Shart - the Challenge (2004)
Vajra - the Weapon (2004)

Then there were the slightly smarter ones who added a single adjective in the subtitle

Nayak - the Real Hero (2001)
Sur - the Melody of Life (2002)
Ansh - the Deadly Part (2002)
Talaash - the Hunt Begins (2003)
Dukaan - the Body Shop (2004)
Intequam - the Perfect Game (2004)
Garv - Pride and Honour (2004)
Wajahh - a Reason to Kill (2004)

...or a few more

Bazaar - Market of Love, Lust and Desire (2004)

In some cases, the explanatory word was in the same language

Encounter - the Killing (2002)
Bawaal - the Panga (2004)

And in some, the subtitle was completely at odds with the main title

Baaz - a Bird in Danger (2003) - (For the Hindi-challenged, a Baaz is a raptor and its prey is likelier to be in danger)
Tarzan - the Wonder Car (2004)

But the all time classic has to be

Daag - the Fire (1999)

And it doesn't end - wait for "Mazhab - the Religion" in the Nazdeeq Bhavishya - the Near Future.

More lists

Putu will also do a little write up on the 10 greatest comic book authors, one at a time. Here is Putu's list, in order.

10. Joss Whedon
9. Warren Ellis
8. Brian Bendis
7. Mark Millar
6. Grant Morrison
5. Bill Willigham
4. Frank Miller
3. Brian K. Vaughn
2. Neil Gaiman
1. Alan Moore

Awards

Its award time in comicdom, so Putu decides to institute a whole new set of them. So (drumroll), here are Putu's choices.

Enid Blyton award for best school comic - New X-Men: Academy X (De Filippis, Weir)

Louisa May Alcott award for best all-women comic - Birds of Prey (Simone)

P. G. Wodehouse award for best humourous comic - I can't believe its not the Justice League (De Matteis, Giffen)

Michael Moore award for best political comic - The Ultimates (Ellis)

Picasso award for best illlustrated comic - Phoenix:Endsong (Land)

Mani Ratnam award for most overhyped comic - Countdown to Infinite Crisis (Rucka, Johns)

On Bullshit

Go read.

Ramu G versus everyone else

Ramachandra Guha is in a particularly angry mood. First, he was irritated at JNU students and JNU professors for the hypocrisy of their politics. Recounting his experience at arguably India's premier post graduate institution he says:

"I then asked who the previous speaker was. They named a Marxist economist. And what did she speak on, I enquired. On how multinational outfits such as this one should not be allowed to contaminate the purity of the JNU campus.

I reeled back in shock. The surprise was occasioned in part by the triviality of the topic chosen by my predecessor. I was speaking on “The Contribution of the Congress Party to the Nurturing and Degrading of India’s Democracy”, and I had thought that those who had come before me had spoken on similarly grave — not to say boring — subjects. But the surprise was also caused by the topic being so much at odds with the speaker’s own biography. “Why does your professor oppose this Nescafé outlet?” I asked. “Because she feels we should encourage indigenous initiatives,” they answered. “Do you know where her own doctoral degree is from?” I asked. They didn’t know, so I supplied the answer — the University of Cambridge. “When you next meet your professor,” I said sarcastically, “ask her one question on my behalf — when she travels by plane to international meetings, does she carry a south Indian filter and Coorg coffee powder with her, or does she quietly drink the beverage offered her on the flight?”"

The JNU lot were quick to respond on their blog no less- " It is very clear from his article that his knowledge about the campaign is based solely on some conversation he had with his “wholly non-political” friends. Well, it is a shame that someone like Mr. Guha who claims to be a ‘historian’ depends solely on a conversation to write his thesis, especially in a public newspaper, thus misinforming the larger public. When an ‘academic’ like him writes for a public, it is not enough that he knows how to write good English but he also needs to convey reliable information. May be he should come back to the University and once again get familiar with his ‘academic’ skills.

And now Ramu G has hit out at the Great Man himself- Edward Said. In a recent editorial for the Calcutta Telegraph he writes that Said was a good scholar, not a great one. "It is always hard to anticipate the verdict of posterity. Still, it seems clear that Edward Said was fortunate in working where and when he did, in being a powerful professor in the American academy when that academy was becoming more multicultural and multinational than ever before. I think that time will show that his reputation at its peak was probably undeserved. Said was a very fine scholar, but not a great one. Orientalism was a useful polemic, not an enduring work of scholarship. And postcolonial theory is an intellectual dead-end. "

As evidence he suggests that Said's work in Orientalism could lead to a form of Occidentalism, a critique that he says is 'little-known'- rather surprising, given that this is the chief critique of his work. He also then argues that Said's work has been open to misinterpretation by those who followed him, and that he was lucky to have been part of academia. How either detracts from Said's work, or his main thesis, or in fact his excellent analyses of the Middle East, Guha does not elaborate.

Last time it was Willy D, then it was the JNU jholawallahs...but this time Ramu G may have bitten off just a bit more than he can chew.

Bengalis think Mao is a cat

Putu hasn't had much time to do the book round up thingie. But the spring thaw has arrived, it's time to emerge from under that blanket (thanks to You Know Who for sending it over) and tell you about what I've been reading through the winter. Well, when the cold really set in, I couldn't look any further than what you snobs call 'chick-lit' and what we, hoi-polloi that we are, prefer to call, 'candy fluff'. But the Guardian upbraids us all and suggests that in fact I may even have been engaged in serious literary pursuits under that blanket. Putu's also managed to find time to read Orhan Pamuk and Nick Hornby's latest offerings. Judgement shall be offered in a later post. Enough to say for the moment that Putu likie one, and not likie the other. In order for Putu to have an inspiring 2005, Putu read some of those 'pick me up' biographies. The one of Paul Farmer just left Putu feeling slightly desperate and not very cheered at all. But then Putu turned to some medical fiction and was appalled by the rubbish that is My Sister's Keeper. Really, what passes for best-selling fiction in Yankeeland is disturbing. No 13 year old ever talks like that....and the end is too contrived for Putu to purr. Putu is hoping to read The Time Traveller's Wife, Small Island and Cloud Atlas before the summer hits. All donations to the Putu Poyesha for Porashona will be most welcome...

And P.S. the title has nothing to do with the post. Bleaaaaggghhhh.