a frequent butt of jokes in the Anglo-Saxon world. Why did the blonde draw the curtains? Because she was afraid that the neighbours might see her change her mind.
Why pick on blondes? There is nothing to suggest that fair-haired women (male blonds are never the subject of jokes) are mentally deficient as compared with their brunette counterparts. So why this jokey creation of a popular myth about the blonde's brainlessness? The answer seems to lie in the perception that men find blondes more attractive than they do women of other hair-colouring. As the title of the Hollywood film has it, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
Whether or not this is true, there is another factor at work here. Quasi-scientific studies suggest that, in the next few decades, blondes may become an extinct species, thanks to the increasing incidence of inter-racial marriage or at least breeding which will gradually eliminate the pigmentationally weaker fair-haired gene in What do blondes, Jews, Sardars and Gujaratis have in common? The answer of course is that people make jokes about them. The supposedly 'dumb' blonde ipreference for the stronger dark-haired gene. This gives blondes a rarity value, and hence a real or imaginary advantage over other women in the mating game. This in turn leads to a subconscious envy of the blonde, who is made the subject of jokes so as to whittle her down to size: laughter is an antidote to anxiety and fear; we laugh at those who, rightly or wrongly, we perceive to be more powerful, more successful, or more desirable than us. Laughter is an antacid against corrosive envy, and a restorer of our self-esteem. Sure, blondes may be sexier (more successful in reproductive competition). But we darkies are smarter. So there.
Similarly, other groups of people who are, or traditionally have been, envied or feared find themselves an inspiration for barbed humour: the greater the envy they willy-nilly generate, the bigger the barb. Age-old moneylenders to the world, with the capacity to finance kings and king-makers, the Jews have in the Christian world always faced a deep current of anti-Semitism, the least objectionable of which are jokes at their expense (generally to do with their alleged meanness in money matters). In fact, Jew jokes cruel as they might sound against the murderous backdrop of the Holocaust could help to deflect more violent expressions of anti-Semitism. Better a 'kike' joke any day, than Auschwitz.
Immigrant communities people who have literally the get up and go to seek a livelihood in far-flung places are inevitably feared by the native populace who apprehend that the newcomers will take their jobs or businesses away from them through dint of greater energy, enterprise or acumen, or simply because they'll work for lower wages.
In India, arguably three of the most visibly enterprising communities, each in its own way, are the Sikhs, the Gujaratis and the Marwaris. The cartoon showing American astronauts landing on the Moon only to find a Sardarji who offers them an omelette from the tea shop he has already set up there, says it all. Wherever you are, wherever you go, the chances are a Sardarji has got there before you. If you can't beat 'em, you might as well join 'em. How? By telling a Surdie joke. What else?
Much the same goes for Gujaratis and Marwaris (respectively known in joke-lore as Gujjus and Marrus). The economic stature they have achieved, in India and abroad, is so great that the rest of us feel it necessary occasionally to lampoon them through the downsizing, distorting mirror of humour.
From blondes to Surdies, the subjects of jokes are invariably those whom people envy. So don't worry if the joke's on you. Treat it as a left-handed compliment. Indeed, it's only if you aren't being made fun of that you should worry. Are you really that unenviable?
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Kher test for De Niro
Cambridge University is willing to act as an honest broker to boost film collaboration between Hollywood and Bollywood. The undertaking was given at a seminar, “Globalisation of Indian Cinema: Opportunities for the West”, held at Judge Business School in Cambridge. Anupam Kher, who spoke about how much he had “loved” playing Freida Pinto’s father in a new Woody Allen film currently being shot in London, provided a bravura performance after a key note address by Jaideep Prabhu, director of the Centre for Indian & Global Business. The centre was set up 10 months ago at the Judge Business School. Kher, who has chalked up 400 Bollywood films, summed up why this was an ideal time to invest in Indian movies: “Indian cinema has really arrived globally because Cambridge is holding this seminar. If you have a script that has the ethnic and cultural heritage of India, put all your money into it at this time. This is the golden period of Indian cinema.” He also defended the Indian way of making films because cast and crew “laughed” on stage and enjoyed the process of making a movie: “It is very easy for a lot of people to criticise Indian cinema, to make fun of song and dance sequences but you need guts to do that because Indian films are made for Indian audiences and the Indian heart is larger than life.” To much applause he stressed: “A Shah Rukh Khan or an Aamir Khan can do what Al Pacino or Robert De Niro can do but a Robert De Niro or an Al Pacino may not be able to do what Shah Rukh Khan or Aamir Khan can do. You have to understand the Indian psyche.” The school, where Prabhu is the first academic to be appointed the Jawaharlal Nehru Professor of Indian business and enterprise, was established 20 years ago at the university, which is celebrating its 800th anniversary in 2009. “This has been a place of creativity and ideas for a long time,” said Prabhu, who posed a question which repeatedly came up during yesterday’s seminar, “How do we create more Slumdog Millionaires?” “In a more systematic approach to co-production, I would argue,” was his answer. He posed another fundamental question: “How do you balance improvised creativity, which a film depends on, with a more structured creativity, which is a business approach. We hope this event will start a dialogue between India and the west to identify more systematically the opportunities there are for collaboration.” He pledged: “The centre is well placed to broker this partnership.” Before delegates trooped off to the Picture House, a local cinema, to see a small budget Indo-French film, Hava Aney Dey (Let the Wind Blow), directed by the Brighton-based Partho Sen Gupta — it charts the progress of two young men in Mumbai who dream of building a new life in Dubai — another insightful address was given by Patrick von Sychowski, chief operating officer of Adlabs, a Reliance Big Entertainment company. There was no hidden agenda, he said, behind the $825 million deal that Hollywood, represented by Stephen Spielberg’s DreamWorks and studios run by big name actors such as Brad Pitt, Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts (who is currently shooting in India), Nicolas Cage, Jim Carrey and George Clooney, had signed with Anil Ambani. “It’s money — Hollywood is always desperate for money,” he maintained. The whole industry was seeking another Slumdog Millionaire but Sychowski reflected: “Do you think it is easy to come up with a film like Slumdog Millionaire? It’s not. It’s a very difficult formula. There’s a very good chance the breakthrough will come from the south — from the Tamil or Telegu film industries. The cinematic language they speak is closer to the western one.” Kher gave his views on the search for a second Slumdog Millionaire: “If you make a film like Slumdog Millionaire, the second film will never work. You have to come up with a fresh idea.” Kher got his part in the Woody Allen film after his agent in London asked him to submit an audition tape to the casting agent. The requirement was for “a very regal looking, very aristocratic father of this Indian girl. He is supposed to be an art critic, a book critic”. Kher found that although he knew almost everything there was to know about Woody Allen, the American knew almost nothing about the Indian. “When I had finished a shot, I naturally wanted an approval — and he looked pleased. For me that was worth quite a bit.” The film, provisionally entitled “WASP” (Woody Allen Summer Production), is likely to be released early next year. As for Freida Pinto, he agreed that after Slumdog Millionaire, her rise had been a phenomenon: “And why not? It’s fabulous. God is on her side. She has to work very hard to retain the position that has been given to her. I am sure she is in good hands, both off and on screen.” |
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PHOTOS: Stars Arrive At 61st Emmy Awards
Hollywood’s royalty is gathered together for the 61st Primetime Emmys Awards.Tonight, after weeks of preparations, Emmynominees get to show off on the red carpet and maybe take home a coveted award.
Click here to see all of the A-Listers arriving on the Red Carpet
There were few surprises in this years nominations with Mad Men and 30 Rockdominating the drama and comedy categories, and Grey Gardens leading the way for TV movies.The show’s host, Neil Patrick Harris looks set to win his own award tonight for How I Met Your Mother.The Comedy categories will be first during the show followed by Reality, TV Movie, Variety and Drama Emmys.
Official Emmy Cocktail: GuzzleResponsibly
To celebrate this years Emmy's, GREY GOOSE will serve "The Emmy," a specialty cocktail that will only be served at the sponsored events such as the ritzy Governor's Ball.
For those of us stuck at home, here's the secret recipe!
"The Emmy"
1 ½ parts GREY GOOSE® L'Orange flavored vodka ½ part Licor 43
1 ½ parts fresh with pulp
Splash of grenadine
Green grapes for garnish
Pour all ingredients into shaker. Shake vigorously and strain into a martini cocktail , garnish with three green grapes on a skewer
Cheers!
Kristin Chenoweth’s Emmy Speech: ‘I’m Unemployed Now So I’d Like To Be On ‘Mad Men’
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Kristin Chenoweth picked up the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series at the 61st AnnualPrimetime Emmys on Sunday night – and the “Pushing Daisies” star wasted no time taking advantage of her new resume booster.
“I’m unemployed now so I’d like to be on ‘Mad Men,’” she said while accepting the award. “I also like ‘The Office’ and ‘24.’”
ABC’s canceled “Pushing Daisies” wrapped up its second and final season earlier this year. Kristin was also nominated in 2008 for her work on the show.
“Thank you for recognizing a show that’s no longer on the air,” she told the crowd. Kristin is best known for her roles on “The West Wing” andBroadway’s “Wicked.”
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Ghost in the Hollywood machine: 'Paranormal Activity' beat the odds (and gave Spielberg the willies)
You may remember John Horn's name from our Comic-Con International coverage, he led our team of reporters in San Diego while I took a year off from the expo so I could sit on a beach in Hawaii with my wife and kids. Mahalo, John! Horn is one of the savviest journalists covering Hollywood, and today he's got a cover story in the Los Angeles Times Sunday Calendar on the against-all-odds path of "Paranormal Activity," an unsettling movie that even managed to spook the producer of "Poltergeist."
Steven Spielberg was certain his copy of "Paranormal Activity" was haunted.
It was early 2008, and the director's DreamWorksstudio was trying to decide whether it wanted to be a part of the micro-budgeted supernatural thriller. As the story goes, Spielberg had taken a "Paranormal Activity" DVD to his Pacific Palisades estate, and not long after he watched it, the door to his empty bedroom inexplicably locked from the inside, forcing him to summon a locksmith.
While Spielberg didn't want the "Paranormal Activity" disc anywhere near his home -- he brought the movie back to DreamWorks in a garbage bag, colleagues say -- he very much shared his studio's enthusiasm for director Oren Peli's haunting story about the demonic invasion of a couple's suburban tract house.
"Paranormal Activity" was hardly a typical studio production. Peli, an Israeli-born video game designer who had no formal film training, shot the $15,000 movie in a week in 2006 with a no-name cast, a crew of several San Diego friends and a hand-held video camera.
But as Spielberg and the DreamWorks team believed, the movie held a special appeal -- it was original and scary. The challenge was to fit this round peg into a DreamWorks square hole -- a process that would ultimately take more than a year and a half, the delay exacerbated by the slow collapse of Paramount's acquisition of DreamWorks. For a time, it looked as if Spielberg was right: "Paranormal Activity" appeared cursed -- to sit on a shelf.
But now, supported by one of the more unusual marketing and distribution strategies conjured up for a studio release, Paramount is finally opening the film in 13 college towns on Friday, with a wider national rollout planned for mid-October. Scary movies are a dime a dozen these days -- at least 75 horror movies have been released theatrically in the last three years -- and "Paranormal Activity" doesn't have the franchise awareness or recognizable actors that help separate a handful of genre films from the teeming herd.
Yet as preview and film festival audiences can attest, "Paranormal Activity" exhibits something many fright flicks don't -- goose-bump inducing, gore-free scares. Now it's up to the film (and Paramount) to translate Internet buzz into a "Blair Witch Project"-style phenomenon.
"The movie could be stratospheric, or it could just become a cult favorite," says Stuart Ford, the chief executive of international sales agent IM Global, which sold "Paranormal Activity" to more than 50 foreign distributors. "It just depends on whether the studio can catch a wave."
Indian Summer' production postponed over Nehru's portrayal
The shooting of Hollywood film 'Indian Summer' has reportedly been halted over the portrayal of Jawaharlal Nehru's friendship with Lady Edwina Mountbatten, wife of India's last viceroy, Lord Mountbatten.
The government officials are reportedly "assessing" the script to ensure that Nehru's "friendship" with Edwina in the movie is not shown wrongly.
"Filming of Indian Summer, starring Cate Blanchett and Hugh Grant, has been halted while Indian government officials assess the portrayal of Nehru's "friendship" with the last Vicereine. They are thought to have asked to see the script to ensure the plot is not too salacious," British newspaper The Telegraph reported quoting sources from movie production.
Directed by 'Atonement' filmmaker Joe Wright and produced by Universal Pictures, the film reportedly depicts Nehru and Edwina as secret and passionate lovers, which is likely to ruffle feathers in India, the newspap
The movie, which reportedly also stars British actor Hugh Grant and depict the last days of Empire in India as Lord Mountbatten hands over power during the summer of 1947 to Nehru, is slated to go on floors early next year. It is slated to release in 2011.
Mountbattens' daughter Pamela has also written about "special relationship" between her mother and Nehru in her memoir 'India Remembered: A Personal Account of the Mountbattens During the Transfer of Power' where she claimed the pair were deeply in love, but their relationship remained platonic.
... contd.
Camilli column for editions of Sept. 20
Los Angeles police have made an arrest in the break-ins at the homes of Lindsay Lohan and Audrina Patridge, reports People. Nicholas Prugo, 18, was nabbed by the coppers Friday morning and charged with felony burglary; he's currently being held on $20,000 US bail.
``Yes, we have found (him), God is good,'' Dina Lohan told People.
(Of course, since this is Hollywood, it's only a matter of time before a hip high-school teacher takes Prugo under his wing and shows him the value of a life off the streets.)
LiLo's home on the Hollywood Hills was broken into last month by a man and a woman, with the culprits stealing bags, shoes, jewelry and ripping a safe out of the wall. The couple reportedly also broke into Patridge's Los Angeles house in February, taking several of her possessions.
LAPD officers have yet to find the woman associated with the crimes, though they did confirm Prugo's arrest.
``As of now, we just have this one person in custody, and the investigation is ongoing,'' said LAPD spokeswoman Karen Rayner.
Although Prugo was only arrested in connection to those two burglaries, he's suspected of being one of the most prolific celebrity burglars in recent history. In addition to Lohan and Patridge, other celebs who have been targeted this year include Paris Hilton, Hayden Panettiere and Rachel Bilson.
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With advance ticket sales for New Moon already reporting sellouts, it looks as though you might stand a better chance of getting Robert Pattinson to "bite" you than scoring tickets to a midnight screening.
The anticipated Twilight sequel isn't due in theatres until Nov. 20, but, according to Reuters, advanced ticket sales being held through online ticket vendors Fandango and MovieTickets are already experiencing sellouts at several locations. MovieTickets tells Reuters that more than a dozen New Moon premiere screenings are completely sold out. As for Fandango, it tells the outlet that New Moon tickets are currently accounting for 57 per cent of its sales.
It's still nine weeks until the movie's premiere, so expect some very girly tent cities to begin springing up around North American cineplexes.
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Since Sunday night's MTV VMAs, Kanye West has apologized (at least) four times, had his comments turned into an ever-entertaining Internet meme (again) and made people who should know better watch the Jay Leno Show.
Presumably, five days should be enough time for this pop-cultural blip to pass. But Google Trends - and will.i.am - would suggest otherwise.
The Black Eyed Pea has posted his own take on West's VMA stage-crashing: a mashup of West's Heartless, President Obama's now-infamous off-the-cuff remarks calling West a "jackass," a whole lot of will.i.am's "heal the world" commentary about how this whole sitch is lame because it's distracting the world from "real" problems (but apparently not enough for him to not write a song about it). And oh yeah, a snippet of the Peas' current mega-hit, I Gotta Feeling (in case you forgot it dominated the Billboard chart for 12 straight weeks).
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E! Online reports that a paltry 1.5 million U.S. viewers tuned in to The Beautiful Life on Wednesday, making Melrose Place's mediocre premiere ratings of 2.6 million viewers look positively huge. Granted, the America's Got Talent finale siphoned off a lot of viewers from other shows, but The Beautiful Life didn't even score well among its target demo. According to the Nielsen ratings, young women didn't tune in, opting to watch Glee on Fox instead.
On the surface, The Beautiful Life seems like the perfect CW show: an angsty drama about young, beautiful models running rampant in the streets of New York City. But as the ratings for Wednesday night's premiere suggest, maybe viewers just weren't that interested in watching a show in which Mischa Barton sulks because she had a baby and her modelling career went to hell.
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