How Technology can Breed Complacency
March 31, 2009 at 9:20 pm | In Media, New Media, journalism | 1 CommentPosted for the TNTJ March Debate on what traditional skills are we losing?
For some time now, new media has been heralded as the second coming of journalism worldwide. Everybody marvels at RSS news feeds and tweets and blogs, and celebrates the slow death of the newspaper. While this immense explosion of web journalism is something that is phenomenal for many reasons, it has its pitfalls.
One of the primary issues with new media journalism is credibility. Even as more and more people are turning to the web for independent news and commentary, the question of credibility does give them pause. Who is this random blogger who reports from his or her community and why should I take his/her word?
It’s a shortcoming that web journalists have been trying hard to overcome, and have succeeded partially. Perhaps the fact that bloggers are getting more recognition as good journalists will help the case.
In a way it’s related to the loss of a few traditional news gathering skills. The technology available to journalists have led them to circumvent any real field work, or face to face interaction. While this is completely justified given the short deadlines they work under, its given rise to a lot of surface scratching and incomplete research, where we’re only as knowledgeable on a subject as Google allows us to be.
The visible amount of carelessness that creeps into a lot of writing on the web in terms of typos, incorrect or lack of attribution, grammar and rudimentary editing is another reason why web journalism lacks the kind of credibility that print or television enjoy. Good and accurate writing is not as dismissible as many think just because it’s on the web. It’s a serious issue which bloggers should ideally take note of and pay attention to.
The Lands of Perpetual Recession
March 29, 2009 at 1:19 pm | In Development, Issues, Society, journalism | 1 CommentTags: India, poverty, recesiion, capitalism, Medak, Andhra Pradesh, SKS, Micro credit, Finance, globalization, rural, ultra poor, asset transfer
A Sangham Meeting in which the weekly finances get discussed
But what if your entire life was to be spent in recession. Waiting it out and waiting to die are one and the same thing and deprivation takes on a whole new level. That’s unfathomable really. It’ll blow over right. Those large financial corporations and banks will get things up and running in no time. They’ve screwed up before, they’ll fix it as well. It’s why we give them our money, our future hopes and dreams, that house we want to buy and the car that comes with it.
In the arid lands of Medak in India, rural uneducated women are doing the same thing. Every week they turn over their hard earned and microscopic savings to people who they believe will take care of it for them. Who will open savings accounts for them in the nearby post offices and give them the financial skills to operate it. For these women, these savings are not about a swanking new SUV. It’s about escaping generations of debt that has pushed them into years of wage labour without a better future in sight. It’s about being able to free their tiny areas of mortgaged land so that they have something to leave for their children.
Rural poverty is something we can all pretend to understand. It’s all about using the right words, the sympathetic gestures and the apt amount of righteous indignation. But it really startles you when you confront it face to face and you find yourself not sympathising so much as grappling with the sheer deprivation that exists in the heartlands of every country. These are the people that globalization and the bandwagon that goes with it missed out on. Yet they bear the costs without a tangible benefit in sight. Their village water resources are bled dry to fuel cola company plants for urban consumers. They’re the ones left hanging dry when IMF reforms force states to rollback on their aid, so that capital can flow into the cities and give them the much desired structures of glass and steel.
Travelling across the Medak region of Andhra Pradesh in India about 170 km from the capital and IT hub of Hyderabad, I met many women who come under what is understood as the ultra-poor category which as defined by the World Bank includes people who earn less than 1 US $ a day. These women are part of the pilot ultra-poor programme started by the SKS foundation, the NGO wing of SKS one of the largest micro finance institutions in the country.
Operating from Narayankhed in Andhra Pradesh, it covers four hundred odd families across a hundred villages in the region. Under this program, single women who are the only earning members of their family without any financial assets such as property or live stock are given grants to acquire an asset like a buffalo or a goat to supplement their income from farm labour which gets them around Rs. 40 a day ($0.791) for 15 days in a month.
Using the livestock for milk or labour assures them a secondary source of income and a minimal saving that ranges from Rs.10 ( $ 0.198) to Rs 50 ( $ 0.988) a week. They deposit these savings with a field assistant from SKS who records their weekly income and expenditure and advises them on health and financial decision making. It’s a two year intervention which is due to end in a few months following which the women would ideally have two sources of income and saving capacity that could improve their standard of living.
A house visit in progress
Talking to these women is an enriching experience. They open up easily, ready to pour their troubles to anyone who’ll listen. They’re not necessarily looking for any help, only someone who’ll patiently listen. It’s a common lament across thee three villages I travel to. Summer is a particularly tough time, as the cattle don’t yield a lot of milk and there is a dearth of employment in the farms. At these times, they get by on reserve stock of food grains from last year and manage to make ends meet by selling stone from residual quarrying, gathering and selling firewood or collecting leftover harvest from threshing.
Meeting these women leads me to believe, how wrong our approach can sometimes be. To understand them as hapless and oppressed in our romantic imagination of third world poverty, without any agency of their own is a great disservice to them even if our hearts should be in the right place. They’re strong and resilient people who try and make better existences for themselves and their families even when the odds are heavily against them. Even in the face of the heart wrenching poverty that they face, I find it difficult to pity them or feel sorry for them because they’re so full of grit and determination to change their lives for the better.
It also leads me to think why financial capitalism has no place for people like these. If it did, we probably wouldn’t be facing this colossal economic bust. A lot of micro-credit and finance studies have shown that while the largest of corporations default on millions of dollars of debt that get written off year after year by banks and firms, the poor are often much more dependable and low risk clients who pay up their loans with efficiency. Why then can’t they be offered financial services suited to their needs that can make all the difference to their basic existence? They may not understand or care about mutual funds or stock markets, but it’s a pretty safe bet that they understand the value of money more than anybody else.
Intelligible Television: More New Shows and not all impress
March 19, 2009 at 11:39 pm | In Entertainment, Intelligible Television, Media, Shows, Television, Uncategorized | 1 CommentTags: ABC, BBC, better off ted, Castle, doll house, dollhouse, Eliza Dushku, fringe, HBO, Jill castle, Joss Whedon, Nathan Fillion, No.1 ladies detctive agecy, Portia de Rossi, Television, the listener
Reserving judgement on Castle paid off. The second episode was impressive and more than compensated for the average pilot. In ‘Nanny McDead’, Castle and Beckett investigate the death of a nanny whose body is found tumbling in the basement dryer of an apartment building. What ensues is your regular crime drama route with cheating spouses and obsessed lovers before our duo nail the guilty. It’s entertaining because of Nathna Fillion ’s apt comic timing that cracks you up at the most serious moments in the episode. If he keeps it up and which am hoping it does, Rick Castle may just join the elite and yet endless number of wise cracking and devilishly charming crime solvers that we disapprove of but can’t help liking. Side note on nannies on crime shows? First Psych, now these guys.
- Things get more interesting on Dollhouse.
- Castle is promising with dead pan humour and one liners
Dollhouse continues to simmer with untold mystery as Echo (Eliza Dushku) becomes a blind woman to infiltrate a religious cult, suspected of being a cover for trafficking activities in last week’s episode. Laurence’s ( Reed Diamond) dislike of Echo and his fears that she is following the same path as the elusive Alpha become more evident in this episode, as he attempts to trap her in a fire by knocking her unconscious.
Another interesting development is the budding relationship between Victor (Enver Gjokaj ) and Sierra (Dichen Lachman) who are drawn to each other despite having no idea of what attraction is. The show has managed to maintain a steady momentum and according to show creator Joss Whedon, it’s about to get so much better. This week’s coming episode brings our star even if slightly malfunctioning active face to face with Paul ( Tahmoh Penikett) in what should be an interesting setting. Check out more juicy spoilers and news on what’s next on Dollhouse on E Online!
On the subject of new shows, I caught a slew of them over the last few days and some of them I am definitely putting on my RSS feed while others, not so much. The Canadian show, The Listener about a telepathic paramedic played by Craig Olejnik, who uses his gift to solve crimes is strictly okay and doesn’t really do much for me. The pace of the episodes is a little too sluggish and it doesn’t have a very definitive hook that could set it apart from the any number of crime series on television. The same can be said about The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, a BBC and HBO joint production which has premiered in the UK and is dues to be broadcast in the US. Based on a series of novels that go by the same name by Alexander McCall Smith, the show is about Botswana’s only female detective, Mma Ramotswe played by Jill Castle. The plot is a tad simplistic and reminiscent of crime fiction for children ala Enid Blyton. But some might enjoy it precisely for it’s simplicity, because its a throw back to a ‘follow the suspect’ sort of investigation instead of the complex procedurals that we get to see most of the time. In the first episode which is 55 minutes long, Mma Ramotswe solves three parallel cases and jumpstarts her near to bankruptcy agency.
If you though Fringe was ridiculous you’ll simply love Better off Ted where they freeze employees alive, a new sitcom on ABC about an unscrupulous mega think tank and it’s ethically plagued R & D Chief. Jay Harrington plays Ted, a single father and corporate hot shot who along with a healthy mix of managerial and lab staff makes everything and anything from uncomfortable office chairs to pumpkin bio weapons. It’s funny and brilliant and absurd and I love it. Portia de Rossi, Malcolm Barrett, Jonathan Slavin, Andrea Anders and Isabella Acres co star.
Talking Movies: The Dark Knight- To Understand the Reason of Unreason
March 14, 2009 at 3:50 pm | In Talking Movies | Leave a CommentTags: Aaron Eckhart, Batman, Christian Bale, Dark Kinght, Film noir, Heath Ledger, IMAX, The Dark Knight, The Joker
Heath Ledger as The Joker in The Dark Knight
So, I finally caught ’The Dark Knight’ after letting it sit on my PC forever, and boy was I glad I did. The sheer brilliance of the movie blew me apart and then reassembled me. Talk about justice, righteousness and dubious morality of the so called ‘civilized’. Poignant questions that a mad man poses to the outlaw vigilante.
I know you’re supposed to watch such movies for the cool effects and the IMAX camera work and of course Batman. But enough had been said on those things already and I am not really into the whole superhero mania. Batman’s dark aura and visible moral ambiguity make for the perfect Film noir and it shows in the grey and black tones and the gravelly voice. Literally and figuratively speaking, The Joker makes a splash of colour with only his bizarreness and turns Bruce Wayne’s monochromatic world upside down and inside out.
‘The Dark Knight’ raises a lot of questions on issues of control and rules. The Joker mocks the convenience of people’s goodness and their will to be upright citizens as and when the occasion is conducive to such behaviour. When the rules are off, he demonstrates how easily they can shed the trappings of morality and altruistic humanity to look out for themselves.
Heath Ledger has really given the world his best work as the Joker, who hides behind the mask of dark humour and unleashes anarchy, refusing to abide by the dictates of logic or plan. His argument about how the worst forms of cruelty go unquestioned simply because they can be justified on grounds of public interest makes us pause and think.
Aaron Eckhart also impresses. Both as Harvey Dent, the righteous DA of the mythical Gotham City and as Two-Face, the reckless, revenge driven villain who seeks his vengeance on those who’ve wronged him using flipism i.e. (an ostensible normative practise of making decision by flipping a coin). He exhibits the futility of trying to be good in a flawed system. A philosophy which is similar to that of Batman himself who works outside of law, to help uphold it. Christian Bale does an admirable job of portryaing the flawed but larger than life Batman, who struggles with the collateral damages his actions cause.
To watch this film simply as a superhero cult movie would be a great injustice to it. Even if it does have predictable resolution, it speaks of larger ideas- of the rationality that lies underneath madness, and the fragility of human morality.
Intelligible Television: Bones that become soggy….
March 13, 2009 at 12:20 am | In Entertainment, Intelligible Television, Shows, Television | 1 CommentTags: Bones, Crime, Davd Boreanaz, Drama, Emily Deschanel, Fox, Televison
A still from The Bones That Foam: Brennan and Booth at the jungle themed dealership!
Bones is back after a staggered and ruptured hiatus with last night’s episode ‘The Bones That Foam’. If you haven’t inferred anything from the obvious title, the bones of a car salesman are foaming and disintegrating at an alarming double digit percentage per hour and the quirky team at the Mythical Jeffersonian only have a few hours before their evidence dissolves into green slime.
It’s the turn of fact-obsessed Vincent Nigel Murray played by Ryan Cartwright to be Dr.Brennan’s intern from the bag of rotating, quirky grad students. His fascination with out- of -context trivia and Cam’s exasperation with the same are amusing as ever as he attempts to regain focus at his task by recalling how many pair of chopsticks the Chinese dispose annually (900 million!) The punch line really is when Cam asks him if those are individual or pairs! Brennan’s attempts at learning how to manipulate while interrogation from Suites are hilarious as is her debut in the holding cell, where she pulls off the worst bad cop act in history, much to the amusement of Booth. Lead actor, David Boreanaz’s direction is adequate.
The sub-plot of the episode is average at best, and the storyline feels a little thin. Also, the sparse use of Angela and Hodgins is not very satisfying. The lack of their comic and bitter sweet exchanges is something, I hope the writers work on rectifying ASAP. On the whole, no complaints but it could have been better.
Intelligible Television:Winter Line-up, Dollhouse and why I am liking it..
March 11, 2009 at 11:43 pm | In Entertainment, Intelligible Television, Media, Shows, Television, Uncategorized | 1 CommentTags: ABC, Castle, Crime, CW, doll house, dollhouse, Drama, Eliza Dushku, Fox, Nathan Filllion, Privileged, Psych, Show, Shows, Television, The Mentalist
It’s been a bad year for television and not just in a budget cuts, recession way. Many of the new shows which premiered this fall expected to be runaway hits, fell flatter than their non-existent storylines, with a few not even making it past their third episode. The only visible smash hit off the year, The Mentalist is nothing more than a grim, sophisticated knock off of the quirkier and definitely better Psych while Privileged, yet another tapered down and PG-13 take on rich and famous and completely fabulous teenagers who can’t seem to get through high school without everybody sleeping with everybody else has been left hanging in the air with no green light for a second season yet.
Shows that premiere in winter are seldom given the kind of hype that Fall line-ups receive. You’re already thinking, they’re on now because they weren’t good enough to be on in September along with the other new shiny on TV. But Dollhouse has been the entire buzz for quite some time before it went on in February. Yes, it is one more high budget, sci-fi show based on an utterly ridiculous premise that the people at Fox seem so adept at coming up with. But just like the other super absurd show on Fox, a little marvel of directionless yet interesting writing I like to call Fringe, it has me hooked.
People who can be made and unmade for specific tasks and engagements through a process of imprinting and then wiped clean when the job gets done: That’s what Dollhouse is all about. Eliza Dushku plays Echo, one of the ‘actives’ of the dubious company with a sketchy past that has driven her to having her memories erased and becoming a blank slate or the Tabula Rasa. She floats around in her spa like residence, swimming and doing yoga and gliding clueless by her other inmates when she’s not being transformed into a K & R negotiator or a safe cracker by a narcissistic genius scientist, Topher (Franz Kranz). Throw in a Fed obsessed with finding the Dollhouse, a mysterious, Frankenstein ‘active’ gone wrong whose out for Echo, and a former cop with ethical dilemmas turned bodyguard to empty headed Echo who can’t help being a trouble magnet even if the poor thing can’t remember it and you have quite a show on your hands. Oh also, the thing about our doll- her slate is not quite so blank. She’s assimilating bits and pieces from each of her assignments and no one has realized it yet.
- Eliza Dushku in Dollhouse- She can be anyone you want!
Castle, which premiered on ABC this Monday starring Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic is a crime show about a bad boy author and a prudishly cold homicide detective who partner up to solve a copycat case based on his book. Think Brennan and Booth, but not really and you’ll get a sense of what Castle is about. Rick Castle is our rakishly, irresponsible (he hands a glass of champagne to his under age daughter, convincing her to generate wild stories about teenage years to tell her offspring someday) uber-successful author who doesn’t care for the rules, having just killed off the lead character of his books, much to the chagrin of his ex-wife/publisher and is going through the convenient writer’s block that has his upcoming book nine weeks over-due. Enter Kate Beckett, homicide detective, who has read every book he’s every written but is not a fan of him or his ways. Pit the stiff- upper lip crime fighter with the ‘ I only speak in sexual innuendos’ crime author and you have a partnership that simmers and bubbles over with sexual chemistry unlike the carefully restrained and amusing even if , antagonistic bickering of our Bones duo.
The crime plotline is secondary at least in the first episode. Given that Castle has found his muse and next lead character in Beckett whom he intends to stick with for the purposes of ’research’ , it is likely to stay that way. The show is promising because of it’s ‘ I love to hate’ lead character even if it may not have the most engaging sub-plot. Hoping that it finds the right angle of humour if not substance, I think I’ll reserve my verdict until the next instalment.
Reaper comes back for a devilish second season
In other news, Reaper is back with a much awaited second season, taking the place of afore mentioned Privileged on CW. So, Sam is the son of the Devil. It’s official! A fact that doesn’t seem to bother him nearly as much as it should. He’s found a possibility of getting out of his deal as bounty hunter after meeting a soul whose managed to get out of hell for good. Soc has an Asian step-sister, he has a completely inappropriate crush on and Ben is finding romance with a renegade demon who’s after Sam. Yup, seems just about right. The episodes so far have the same mix of quirky humour and action that made me a fan last season. Satan is temptation himself, playing his part to perfection as he goes about spreading evil because it’s fun and the trio manage to lead their directionless lives and sending souls back to hell, when they’re not goofing off work.
All in all, the winter line-up seems a little more interesting than Fall and hopefully with the reduced clutter of reality junk and other shows, some might actually get the chance to develop into wholesome entertainment.
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