Tom Cruise is a moron

Yes, this is a post about how retarded Tom Cruise has been acting as of late.

I just saw a small bit on CNN about his new movie, War of the Worlds. I have absolutly no plans to see it. It looks like the typical crap Hollywood has been putting out as of late, designed to dumb down everyone in the audience and make all the teenage boys there yell out "yeeeeaahhhh" every once in a while. Ugh. It looks like it's not even worth the rent.

What irritated me is when Tom Cruise went on Matt Lauer's show and slammed the host, saying things like he doesn't believe in Psychiatry, and that Lauer doesn't know the history of psychiatry, and he (Cruise) does. But what tops it off is that a German newspaper asked Cruise if he belives in aliens. Cruise responded that he did, and said something along the lines of "are you so arrogant that you beleive we're not alone in this universe?"

Arrogance? He arrogantly displays his contempt for the science examining mental health, but denounces arrogance in disbelieving in aliens? What the hell? Psychiatry is far from a perfect science, well beyond the physical sciences. But there is merit to it. Chemical imbalances, physical conditions leading to mental defects, etc. Despite the subjectivity of the science, to write it off is just plain stupid.

In short, I'm one of those people who staunchly believes Cruise is going through an attempted career stunt by bringing in Katie Holmes and acting like an idiot. He's soooo in love... who cares? Plenty of people love their girlfriends/ wives / possessions... whatever. Nobody jumps up and down on couches every time they think about the ones they love. He's embarrassing... the sad thing is that once upon a time, he used to be respectable.

He acted very well in Kubrick's final film, "Eyes Wide Shut." He plays Dr. Bill Harford, a Manhattanite doctor and member of high society who tries to cheat on his wife for retaliatory reasons. But he somehow fails. Analyzing his role in the film, Harford is a loser. Despite his success as a doctor, having a beautiful wife and daughter, a lovely apartment, he's a total loser. His wife openly admits that although she never cheated, there was an occurrence where she was willing to do so. He sneaks into a secret society "meeting," (meeting in quotes, those of you who say the movie know why), and is immediately spotted as an outsider and faker despite his being in complete disguise. In scenes involving him making love to his wife, he's very into her, but she's obviously not into him. He's a loser.

Leave it to Stanley Kubrick to perfectly cast his movies. He's always had a knack for perfect casting. Jack Nicholson in "The Shining," Malcolm McDowell in "A Clockwork Orange," Slim Pickens and Peter Sellers in "Dr. Strangelove," Ryan O'Neal in "Barry Lyndon," the list goes on. Kubrick spotted Cruise as a declining star well before most other people did. That's why Cruise acted so well in Kubrick's movie... he didn't have to search too hard to get into character.

Whatever happened to the days of "Top Gun"? He joins the Church of Scientology, a brilliant religion founded by a hallowed Science fiction writer. Maybe Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Muhammed, and all of the other prophets were SciFi writers on the side? Ugh. The level of stupidity readily displayed in American society today is absolutly sickening.

What Century are we Living in?

This has been a particularly light week in the office. My boss is on vacation, and I'm doing some independent projects. But with the lack of company here, I'm taking frequent breaks. Lucky for me, I have this internet connection. And nobody looking over your shoulder is a news junkie's best environment. I recently came across this article, Indian Girl, 14, wins a divorce, on the BBC. Now, my rant.

Why? Why is it that India, a nation that is now trying to project itself as an emerging super power, have to continue to do things like this? To a certain extent, I can understand why so called 'child marriage' was an accepted practice in the past centuries. Think about it, in that nation, in the past, life expectantcy was much shorter than it is today. So naturally, you get married and start having a family at a younger age. But today, why does such a barbaric practice have to persist?

India is so rapidly changing today that it's mindboggling. But what's happening is that the newly emerging middle class is the one leading the change towards a more modern lifestyle. Just because it's modern it does not mean it has to be western. India is just as Indian as it's ever been. But now, the middle classes are taking India, together with its culture, into the next century. The core stays the same, involving family values, hard work, etc., but practices like this should be eliminated. To analogize, in the US, we still retain our civil liberties from the past centuries, but we no longer culturally accept institutions such as slavery or the like.

The problem is that the upper and lower classes are clinging to their old ways like there's no tomorrow. The article is a perfect example of the tension created. I tip my hat to this girl for taking the stand that she did. I tip my hat not for her just divorcing her husband, but for the reasons behind it - she wanted to continue her education. Now she is someone who is worthy of carrying the mantle of Indian culture into the next century.

Unfortunatley, she's the rare exception to the rule. I recently had two cousins married in India (recently meaning within the past few years). One is my age, and his wife is now only about 21. They were arranged to be married when she was 19. He's your typical old world Indian guy, who you could obviously tell pays no attention to his wife or cares for her at any deep level. She's an accessory in their house to cook and clean and rear children. His sister recently got married earlier this year to a guy in Dubai. I'm convinced that the dynamic won't be any different. Although they're from a very well off family, none of them are well educated or have any particular drive to intellectually succeed. The decision of who should carry the mantle of India into the future, if you had to decide between the likes of my cousins and the likes of the girl in the article above, the choice is obvious.

What's worse is that in Pakistan, the issue of backwardness being raised in light of the rape of Mukhtar Bibi. I you havn't heard about what's going on there, visit the New York Times Op-Ed pages and read Nicholas Kristof's recent columns. To give a summary, Mukhtar Bibi is a rural village woman from Northwest Pakistan who was sentenced to be gang raped by a village council for allegedly inappropriate actions committed by her younger brother (the allegations against the brother proved to be entirely false to begin with). After the gang rape, she was paraded around the village virtually naked, with the expectation that she would go home and kill herself. Instead, she sought that her attackers be prosecuted, and won. But that's when the problems began. The government, trying to prevent her from giving a 'bad image' to Pakistan,
kidnapped her and is preventing her from leaving the country. Read more about it from Kristof.

In this world of supposed women's empowerment, why is it that people are entirely blinded to reason? Women are about half the world's populace, half the world's brain power. Why shut that down? Ironically, the worst oppression is in Muslim countries. Frankly, to repress women is unIslamic. During Muhammed's time, lower class women were considered property and had virtually no rights. Muhammed changed all that. Women were guaranteed rights and their lives drastically improved. Some of the earliest converts were women, attracted by the freedom of choice and conscience allowed by Islam. Some of Muhammed's colleagues were shocked by the frankness with which his later wives were allowed to speak to him. He was known to have sought the counsel and opinoins of women in his decisions. Yet today, we've somehow moved backwards to the mentality that reigned well before Muhammed's arrival. And people say there's no such thing as progress.

The fact of the matter is that extremism is uncalled for from any direction. Women and men are different. They have different strengths and weaknesses that somehow balance eachother out. A big yin-yang. Overempowerment of either sex, be it women or men, is a bad thing.

TV Reunion

Over the course of this past year, I pretty much stopped watching TV. I pretty much didn't have the time to bother with tv shows because of the insane workload associated with the first year of law school. So gradually, I stopped watching. I came to the realization that most TV was utter crap anyway, and half the time I was watching, I was watching not because I was interested in what was playing, but rather just as a time waster device.

Since the summer started, I've been in a routine of working and wasting time at home. I usually enjoy reading, but right now, I have no good fiction books on my hands. And since the condo association provides free basic cable, I've been getting back into the horrible habit of watching tv again. But luckily, I've managed to minimize the 'crap' factor by limiting my tv watching to only a few key shows. Mainly "Law & Order," "Law & Order SVU," and "The Daily Show." And once in a while, I catch reruns of "Three's Company." I can't beleive Three's Company. Back 20 years ago while I was growing up in the 80's, I used to love this show. We used to watch it as a family and I remember finding it hilarious. But nowadays when I watch it, I realize that back in the 80's, I missed a good 80% of the jokes. I never realized how unbelieveably raunchy the show really was. But it's clever comedy, high quality programming. Compared to the crap that's spurned out today, Three's Company was gold.

Today, whenever a show tries to be rauncy, it depends entirely on the risque factor to attract attention and an audience. That's why reality tv has become so popular. Pushing the envelope for the sake of pushing the envelope. It's pathetic. There's no content, just extremity. Three's Company had great substantive comedy, it just so happened that it was 'adult' humor. It's unfortunate the extent to which American society has been dumbed down. That degradation is reflected in our popular culture.

It's no wonder that Hollywood today is trying to look to classic tv for its inspiration. There's no originality left in movies today. Most action movies are utter crap that are designed to please 14 year old boys. One of the few movies I saw this past year was "Elektra." Now that was utter utter crap. No plot, worse acting, and nothing more than Jennifer Garner walking around in a skimpy outfit. But to get the PG-13 rating, of course they don't make it too raunchy. Ugh... why does hollywood cater to the stupid 14 year old high school student? No wonder our society is going down the toilet.

Queen on the Green

So after work tonight, I was planning on going to play poker with some guys. Then I got an additional assignment at work, which requires several hours of homework. On my way home, I got another call from a friend going to Piedmont Park for the Screen on the Green series, played every Thursday at sundown in June. So instead of coming home and working, I went to Piedmont park to see Alfred Hichcock's The Birds.

For those of you not familiar with Atlanta, it's a pretty quirky city. There's a lot of stuff going on here. New York is quirky, but Atlanta has its quirks in a different way. This city, in the heart of the Bible Belt, deep in Republican country, is quite literally "an island of blue in a sea of red." The great state of Georgia, with all it's conservative measures, is also home to the largest gay population in the Southern United States. Midtown is the hub of Atlanta's gay culture. It's not quite the West Village in New York, but it's still pretty noticeable. So not surprisingly, there was a pretty large contingent of flamboyant personalities in the park tonight for the screening.

Quite honestly, the off color comments and jokes made by the crowd were far more entertaining than the movie itself. A large group of them had these stuffed birds that they brought with them, and at key moments would toss them into the air. Unfortunatly, I had to miss the end of the movie as I had to leave just as the climax was approaching. But it's pretty predictable what happened.

It's strange. Sometimes, I think about a random movie, and when I flip on the tv, it'll be on. A few days ago, I woke up, and for some oddball reason, I was thinking of a scene from the movie "Oscar." It's a pretty funny movie about a 1920's gangster, played by Sylvester Stallone, and his spoiled and rebellious daughter, played by Marissa Tomei. I really like this movie, it's clever, funny, and pretty innocent. Low and behold, I turn the tv on, and it's playing. Similarly, when I got home today, I was thinking about lousy chick flicks that I've been forced to suffer through. I mean some chick flicks aren't bad... they're girly, but they're not bad movies. "When Harry Met Sally" is the prime example... it has very clever dialogue and great acting. But by far, the absolute most painful, horrible, irritating movie I've ever had to sit through is "Dirty Dancing." Ugh... it was horible. I was thinking about that movie earlier when I got home, and low and behold, when I flipped to USA to catch what would most likely be an episode of Law and Order, only to catch, you guessed it, Dirty Dancing. Ugh. TV sucks.

It's 1 am and I have to start working on this brief. Fun fun.

Back to the routine

My apartment finally feels like an apartment. This morning, the furniture that I ordered last week was finally delivered. My place isn't all that big, but the furniture I bought was a set of three. To split it up and just buy the couch would have been a waste, so I bought the entire set of the couch, love seat, and single chair. Now my living room is perfect for having guests over.

I just got back from the Toronto deedar on Thursday night. (for Non-Ismailis, Deedar is a visit and public audience given by the Aga Khan, the spiritual leader of the Ismaili Muslim community). It was a wonderful experience on many levels. For one thing, deedar for me is more or less the equivalent of the Mecca pilgrimage to other Muslims. Most people may wonder why such a comparison is warranted, but that's how I feel. There is a huge difference between a Pilgrimage to Mecca and merely a Muslim trip to Mecca. A pilgrimage is supposed to be an emotionally charged and highly personal journey. The mental and emotional substance is the important part, not the actual trip. That's how I feel about going to an event such as a Deedar. Luckily, this is the second time I've been able to go to one of these in my adult life. (the other times I was too young to appreciate it). Last time I went was in Dubai, back in December 2003. This one felt very different. It was much bigger, but nonetheless, still magnificent.

When growing up, I had the opportunity to go to a few deedars. I was too young to remember the one in 82, but I do have vague memories of the one in 86. I remember some of the aesthetics... especially the rose water (they have a tradition of having some people walk around before the event and spraying spritzes of the fragrance as a pleasant accessory). When I was in Dubai in 03, I smelled the rose water, and it really brought back some memories from 86 of being a 5 year old, but still enjoying the event. As a 5 year old, you don't realize what's going on or what is the significance, but you're still attuned to the fact that it's a pretty rare event and you're a part of it. This time the rose water was missing. But the event still felt just as wonderful.

The other wonderful aspect is that I got to spend time with my family. I got to Toronto fairly late at night. My parents and sister arrived a few hours later, in the early hours of the morning (of course waking me up). They only got about 2 hours of sleep that night before the morning event. That day, I also ran into two of my cousins, who are now 15 and 17, who I hadn't seen in many many years. I didn't recognize them at first, then it hit me. Same thing with my sister... at first glance, she just assumed they were some family friend's kids, then she did the double take and gave them the "Oh my God, you're grown up!" greeting and hugs. Luckily, I got to spend another day with them.


Tomorrow, Justin is having a get together at his place with Bagels and lox. He found some place here in Atl that has Bagels pretty close to NYC quality. So he's inviting his New Yorker and/or Jewish friends over to enjoy. Can't wait for that tomorrow. The only bagels I've had here at Einstein Bros. bagels, and quite honestly, they suck. The only worse bagels I've had are Bruggers bagels up in Boston.

I miss home.

A Year

When you're little, a year seems like a really long time. I remember how slow the time seemed to pass from year to year. Each day passed in a somewhat routine manner. Not much happened year to year. Each year you had another term of school, usually in the same place and building. Taking the same subjects over and over. Then college comes along, and time speeds up. Those four years of undergrad at NYU seemed to have gone by in such a hurry. Then came law school, and it's hard to believe that my first year is finished. It went by in a huge hurry. But the thing is, more happened in this past year than I can ever remembering happening in any other year of my life.

It hit me yesterday morning when I was dropping Adil off at the airport. Adil and I were roomates at Al Ummah last year. Yesterday morning, he left for Al Ummah again. I was so insanely jealous of him, and all the other folks who have the opportunity to be counselors again. That was quite honesetly one of the best experiences of my life. And he gets to relive it. So hopefully I can live vicariously through him and the others who are there again. I'm gonna send them care packages, with red bull, starbucks expresso shots, and some candy. If I can't be there, the least I can do is spoil the counselors a little.

On top of my dresser, I have two picture frames. Both hold pictures from AU last year. One is just the guy counselors, the other is both and guy and girl counselors. Hopefully I'll see a bunch of them in Toronto next week. I see myself in those pictures and think that it was an entire year ago. It's strange to see how much has happened since then, yet the memories are almost as fresh as if I returned from there yesterday.

So this weekend has been fairly lazy. Yesterday, Justin came over and we watched a bunch of episodes of Chappelle's Show season 2. I think that was the best season as of yet, with such memorable sketches as the "Rick James" sketch, Prince playing basketball, and a ton of others. Last night, I went to the highlands and had gelatto. There's this excellent place called Paolo's, with homemade gelato. Great stuff, but Paolo himself seemed a little quirky. He was featured on the food network. I hope season 3 isn't a disappointment. Tonight I'm probably hanging around with Colleen. Should be fun...