http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7354547.stm
I agree with most of the comments, this is just a sad reflection of the society we live in, where folks want all the fun and none of the responsibilities, they want it and can pay for it, and they don't think about the consequences. Consumerism gone mad. Jigna
Tuesday, 22 April 2008
Wednesday, 16 April 2008
More SATC news and girl power despite the Spice Girls
The good news is:
"you can be a feminist and like Sex and the City. Not least because if you're about to start letting political doctrine arbitrarily dictate which bits of the culture you respond to you may as well give up now and submit to the patriarchy. But mainly because the programme is funny and clever and it thinks women are important"
Article in the Guardian:
http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/women/story/0,,2273785,00.html
Book group was interesting last night we discussed Edith Wharton's, The House of Mirth, it was interesting to discuss with the Well Read Women of Dallas how generations later many women still let their roles and society define them. It was also interesting to discuss how women treat other women, that's the other reason I love SATC the great female friendships. I so miss my female friends at home and I do think that female friendships are so underrated in today's society but they really are so very important in so many ways for all women everywhere, the compassion, empathy, support etc you get from female friends is the BEST and irreplaceable.
Jigna
"you can be a feminist and like Sex and the City. Not least because if you're about to start letting political doctrine arbitrarily dictate which bits of the culture you respond to you may as well give up now and submit to the patriarchy. But mainly because the programme is funny and clever and it thinks women are important"
Article in the Guardian:
http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/women/story/0,,2273785,00.html
Book group was interesting last night we discussed Edith Wharton's, The House of Mirth, it was interesting to discuss with the Well Read Women of Dallas how generations later many women still let their roles and society define them. It was also interesting to discuss how women treat other women, that's the other reason I love SATC the great female friendships. I so miss my female friends at home and I do think that female friendships are so underrated in today's society but they really are so very important in so many ways for all women everywhere, the compassion, empathy, support etc you get from female friends is the BEST and irreplaceable.
Jigna
Monday, 7 April 2008
Immigration story in the Guardian
Really interesting article/interviews in the Guardian about immigration in the UK throughout the decades since the 1940's, overall positive and really interesting comments. The Australian woman comments: "Having lived in Britain for half her life, she finds herself defending it to her friends. "Australians are really nice when you first meet them, all 'Hi, how are you?' but it can stay on that level for ever. Whereas English people, when they do let you in, and my theory is it takes three years, are really lovely. Friendship is more deep and genuine here because it's harder to have relationships - you can't just go and sit out in the sunshine and watch the harbour and have a few beers." Really does about sum up my view so far regarding the difference in friendships here in the USA and home. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/apr/07/britishidentity.immigration
Jigna
Jigna
Friday, 4 April 2008
Dharas visit and AFI Dallas
Sorry Dhara I have been so busy have not even had time to blog! I will just repeat and add a little from Dhara's blog. So Dhara visited us in Dallas in March and we had a great time, although it was over so quickly. We checked out SXSW, we stayed over with Wooleys friend's fiance in Pflugerville, Austin (great name!) they were fantastic, another friend of Wooleys came down with us and we all had a great time, great food, great drinks and great company! The rest of the visit was fab and I was also very glad that Dhara was able to come along to the book group meeting, I am hoping it may motivate her to start her own maybe with Roopa when she gets home? Dhara gave you further details about her visit, so I wont bother with any more except to say, it was great hanging out with her and I was very sad when she left :(
Moving on though, we have been very stimulated entertainment wise in the last few weeks since Dhara left, a friend and I went to see a play, THE BLONDE, THE BRUNETTE AND THE VENGEFUL REDHEAD , a very interesting play at the Dallas Theatre Center. A story told over a few years by the different characters involved, all played by just the one actor, she was amazing and it was a very powerful play concerning the roles people play in our lives and how one event/action can impact those around us, sometimes in ways unknown, the whole "butterfly affect" theory.
The AFI Dallas, film festival started on March 27. Last year a few weeks after Wooley and I arrived in Dallas, the first ever AFI Dallas film festival started and it was brilliant! We had a great time and thought Dallas was so cool, it ended and we were introduced to the "real" Dallas! The second year of the festival so far has been great, we have seen a few films and we have become involved in the whole thing by volunteering, a truly great aspect of American culture is the way many people volunteer for various causes and events, its amazing! It's great for the community and great for the individual. The only scary thing is that relying upon volunteers cannot be the only answer when providing services, running events etc and I fear that in America so many services etc rely so heavily upon volunteers that in times of recession (which may be around the corner or now?) people have to re-arrange their priorities so such services suffer a huge loss. So at a time when the need is at it's greatest is exactly when the services are limited due to their reliance upon volunteers. Where I currently work is all about the volunteers providing a service to low income families, everyone and especially the volunteers are amazing and its a fantastic service. But you just cannot compare it to state funded services. However, as we have heard more than once in the recent weeks, we are Europeans and we are all socialist in Europe!
So the films we have seen so far are:
1. Fields of Fuel - a documentary about bio-fuels, very interesting and made us want to buy a car with a diesel engine! The reasonable thing about the film was that it did not pretend that bio-fuels would be the magic answer but that several answers were needed to end the US and the Western world's reliance upon oil, including building better public transport systems which is something Dallas desperately needs!
2. Shorts Programs - Documentaries: which included
a. The Frozen Capital - hilarious short documentary about Winnipeg Canada, being the winner of the "Slushee cup", the city where the most slushees are sold in the world, for the last 7 years!
b. Movement - a touching documentary by and about young man confronting a condition
c. Farewell Packets of Ten - a hilarious short film with two old Irish women talking about smoking
3. Split: A Divided America - an interesting documentary about how America is so divided politically along party lines, why this is so and are there any answers. Whilst the film was depressingly short of answers it was an interesting snapshot of the way in which Americans talk about, or rather don't talk about politics, the medias role etc. It confirmed many of the suspicions Wooley and I have developed about this issue over the last year and as we left Wooley felt that he would have been better prepared for the whole Texan adventure if he had watched this film before we arrived! It was particularly interesting in the way it discussed faith/morality and politics which possibly is one of the single most scariest thing to me about American politics. It also discussed how many people in America are of the opinion that you may as well not talk about politics if you disagree, thereby shutting down any hope of negotiation and compromise something that is lacking in many aspects of American political life. It also touched upon the lack of social interaction in the American lifestyle, someone in the film said, "everyone goes home and watches "Friends" and have no friends", and how many people develop friendships with only like minded people and they only watch and read stuff that will reinforce their views, so their views are never challenged.
4. Iron Ladies of Liberia - an interesting documentary following the first freely elected female leader of an African nation in her first year of power
5. The Guitar - a surprisingly positive story about dreams and the power of self, directed by Amy Redford
6. At the Death House Door - about a Reverend in Texas, who ministered to 95 inmates committed to death, he spent the last 12 hours with them, an interesting look at the death penalty and how it affects society.
We also went to the House of Blues Gospel brunch last weekend, which was fun, the buffet brunch included cheese grits and a bloody mary bar! We ate and drank to a live gospel music which was certainly a BIG sound! Jigna
PS: I forgot to metnion that I also had a very SATC night the other night, when I and friend went to fashion show at the posh mall, Dhara refers to, Custo Barcelona show, I felt very Dallas and very bling AND champagne!
Moving on though, we have been very stimulated entertainment wise in the last few weeks since Dhara left, a friend and I went to see a play, THE BLONDE, THE BRUNETTE AND THE VENGEFUL REDHEAD , a very interesting play at the Dallas Theatre Center. A story told over a few years by the different characters involved, all played by just the one actor, she was amazing and it was a very powerful play concerning the roles people play in our lives and how one event/action can impact those around us, sometimes in ways unknown, the whole "butterfly affect" theory.
The AFI Dallas, film festival started on March 27. Last year a few weeks after Wooley and I arrived in Dallas, the first ever AFI Dallas film festival started and it was brilliant! We had a great time and thought Dallas was so cool, it ended and we were introduced to the "real" Dallas! The second year of the festival so far has been great, we have seen a few films and we have become involved in the whole thing by volunteering, a truly great aspect of American culture is the way many people volunteer for various causes and events, its amazing! It's great for the community and great for the individual. The only scary thing is that relying upon volunteers cannot be the only answer when providing services, running events etc and I fear that in America so many services etc rely so heavily upon volunteers that in times of recession (which may be around the corner or now?) people have to re-arrange their priorities so such services suffer a huge loss. So at a time when the need is at it's greatest is exactly when the services are limited due to their reliance upon volunteers. Where I currently work is all about the volunteers providing a service to low income families, everyone and especially the volunteers are amazing and its a fantastic service. But you just cannot compare it to state funded services. However, as we have heard more than once in the recent weeks, we are Europeans and we are all socialist in Europe!
So the films we have seen so far are:
1. Fields of Fuel - a documentary about bio-fuels, very interesting and made us want to buy a car with a diesel engine! The reasonable thing about the film was that it did not pretend that bio-fuels would be the magic answer but that several answers were needed to end the US and the Western world's reliance upon oil, including building better public transport systems which is something Dallas desperately needs!
2. Shorts Programs - Documentaries: which included
a. The Frozen Capital - hilarious short documentary about Winnipeg Canada, being the winner of the "Slushee cup", the city where the most slushees are sold in the world, for the last 7 years!
b. Movement - a touching documentary by and about young man confronting a condition
c. Farewell Packets of Ten - a hilarious short film with two old Irish women talking about smoking
3. Split: A Divided America - an interesting documentary about how America is so divided politically along party lines, why this is so and are there any answers. Whilst the film was depressingly short of answers it was an interesting snapshot of the way in which Americans talk about, or rather don't talk about politics, the medias role etc. It confirmed many of the suspicions Wooley and I have developed about this issue over the last year and as we left Wooley felt that he would have been better prepared for the whole Texan adventure if he had watched this film before we arrived! It was particularly interesting in the way it discussed faith/morality and politics which possibly is one of the single most scariest thing to me about American politics. It also discussed how many people in America are of the opinion that you may as well not talk about politics if you disagree, thereby shutting down any hope of negotiation and compromise something that is lacking in many aspects of American political life. It also touched upon the lack of social interaction in the American lifestyle, someone in the film said, "everyone goes home and watches "Friends" and have no friends", and how many people develop friendships with only like minded people and they only watch and read stuff that will reinforce their views, so their views are never challenged.
4. Iron Ladies of Liberia - an interesting documentary following the first freely elected female leader of an African nation in her first year of power
5. The Guitar - a surprisingly positive story about dreams and the power of self, directed by Amy Redford
6. At the Death House Door - about a Reverend in Texas, who ministered to 95 inmates committed to death, he spent the last 12 hours with them, an interesting look at the death penalty and how it affects society.
We also went to the House of Blues Gospel brunch last weekend, which was fun, the buffet brunch included cheese grits and a bloody mary bar! We ate and drank to a live gospel music which was certainly a BIG sound! Jigna
PS: I forgot to metnion that I also had a very SATC night the other night, when I and friend went to fashion show at the posh mall, Dhara refers to, Custo Barcelona show, I felt very Dallas and very bling AND champagne!
Friday, 28 March 2008
California (mo hill)
why am i the only one blogging these last few weeks?!!
just about to leave Mo Hill tomorrow.......got here, mama and devon picked me up, and then we went and got stef then went for Thai food. the next morning we went to Reno....went to the casino and learnt to play blackjack - fortunately i'd forgotten my wallet so stef and mama had to sub me......!
first day of snowboarding in mount rose and i wasn't not as bad as I thought i'd be! had a small group lesson, then was off (yes lots of time falling but thats the nature of the game) the next day i went sledding and chilled with mami and devon then the day after boarding again - at homewood - was fun fun fun - amazing views over lake tahoe.
came back to mo hill on monday night, and the next day we went wine tasting......lots of luuurvly vino....(will edit this post and add in a few wineries we went to) ...on weds we went to Monterey bay aquarium yesterday, and today we went to San Fran.....phew, all in all been a very active week in cali. just hung out with dada, he drank Guinness with a widget we drinking a cali vino....
must eat some fresh home made browneies now before i get yelled at again....off to Costa Rica tomorrow..........
Dhara
Wednesday, 19 March 2008
nearly a week in the lone star state...
so my week in Texas is nearly over.......i have had a lot of fun here, and we have done so much!! - not least of all eat and drink!
we went to South By South West (SXSW) on the weekend - it was really really good fun, very very hot and sunny! me jgs and das spent most of the afternoon and early evening at one of the outdoor stages - we saw a fantastic jazz musician that das likes, called Christian Scott and he had a really fab band, then a load more people including Jean Grae - who was suprsingly excellent, and Talib Kweli, who was very good but perhaps not quite as good as I had thought he would be...then we saw loads and loads of unsigned bands - one of my faves were some texas rockers who used lots of instruments including brass (and a guy on strings who looked like jerry springer) we saw them in a bar called darwins - they were very good, no idea what they were called, which is a shame cos I cant look them up or link to them! as festivals go it was very chilled and relaxed - lots of people but space for them all, drinks were not as strong as you would like (are they ever!??) but there is something about drinking frozen margaritas in the Texas sun that you just dont get at British festivals!!! we stayed with some friends of jigs and das's and they were really lovely - it was good to be with Austin people who could suggest stuff and knew the place and the fetsival really well. also - i cannot tell you how amazing the portaloo's were serisouly - toilet paper, cleaner then any i have ever been in and santizing spray everywhere. shocking and amazing.
Austin is the state capital of Texas, and seems to be a very chilled smallish city - very liberal compared to the rest of the state. Before we left we went to the LBJ presidential library - it was really really interesting and I am so pleased we went: i thought I knew a lot about LBJs politics, but turns out I knew more about his foreign policy then anything else. I hadnt realised the full extent of his amazing doemstic policy, the great society, civil rights....its interesting that we are still fighting those evils of povery, lack of eductaion and segregation today, but we use different language - are the issues of today different or do we cloak them and make them seem more complicated so we dont have to admit that to some extent we have failed? being in a presidential library really makes you realise the weight of history. I wonder if any former UK PMs have considered establishing one? I wish Jed Barletts was real.....
on monday jigs and I went to a posh mall and I spent waaaaaaay too much! got lots of lovely things and it was fun cruising the mall with jigs!
lots of other good things that I wont bore the world with, including having eaten some amazing food (super duper tex mex galore here - the really good kind!, great Texas BBQ, amazing eggplant pizza and fab mac and cheese!) some veeeerry nice drinks (margaritas, naturally - including mexican/texas margaritas, they are fab and lethal, appletini's {sour apple martini's}, mojito's served with a stcik of suger cane and beer called shiner which is goooooood)
jigs is a really good driver [yes, its official, I alone am waving the non driving flag in this family!]. Its been soooo good to see my sister and das and spend time with them. their apartment is just what you would expect - a real home, lovely and welcoming,with tasetful decor and furnishing and - its very jgs and woolly, at times I feel like i could be in Maddox street! (after it was done up of course!)
I better go get ready cos Das is gonna take me out for lunch, then i'll use their membership and go check out the Dallas Museum of Art this afternoon - I fly to San Francisco tomorrow, and then snowboarding for 3 days, so thats all till i next have time to post!
Dhara
we went to South By South West (SXSW) on the weekend - it was really really good fun, very very hot and sunny! me jgs and das spent most of the afternoon and early evening at one of the outdoor stages - we saw a fantastic jazz musician that das likes, called Christian Scott and he had a really fab band, then a load more people including Jean Grae - who was suprsingly excellent, and Talib Kweli, who was very good but perhaps not quite as good as I had thought he would be...then we saw loads and loads of unsigned bands - one of my faves were some texas rockers who used lots of instruments including brass (and a guy on strings who looked like jerry springer) we saw them in a bar called darwins - they were very good, no idea what they were called, which is a shame cos I cant look them up or link to them! as festivals go it was very chilled and relaxed - lots of people but space for them all, drinks were not as strong as you would like (are they ever!??) but there is something about drinking frozen margaritas in the Texas sun that you just dont get at British festivals!!! we stayed with some friends of jigs and das's and they were really lovely - it was good to be with Austin people who could suggest stuff and knew the place and the fetsival really well. also - i cannot tell you how amazing the portaloo's were serisouly - toilet paper, cleaner then any i have ever been in and santizing spray everywhere. shocking and amazing.
Austin is the state capital of Texas, and seems to be a very chilled smallish city - very liberal compared to the rest of the state. Before we left we went to the LBJ presidential library - it was really really interesting and I am so pleased we went: i thought I knew a lot about LBJs politics, but turns out I knew more about his foreign policy then anything else. I hadnt realised the full extent of his amazing doemstic policy, the great society, civil rights....its interesting that we are still fighting those evils of povery, lack of eductaion and segregation today, but we use different language - are the issues of today different or do we cloak them and make them seem more complicated so we dont have to admit that to some extent we have failed? being in a presidential library really makes you realise the weight of history. I wonder if any former UK PMs have considered establishing one? I wish Jed Barletts was real.....
on monday jigs and I went to a posh mall and I spent waaaaaaay too much! got lots of lovely things and it was fun cruising the mall with jigs!
lots of other good things that I wont bore the world with, including having eaten some amazing food (super duper tex mex galore here - the really good kind!, great Texas BBQ, amazing eggplant pizza and fab mac and cheese!) some veeeerry nice drinks (margaritas, naturally - including mexican/texas margaritas, they are fab and lethal, appletini's {sour apple martini's}, mojito's served with a stcik of suger cane and beer called shiner which is goooooood)
jigs is a really good driver [yes, its official, I alone am waving the non driving flag in this family!]. Its been soooo good to see my sister and das and spend time with them. their apartment is just what you would expect - a real home, lovely and welcoming,with tasetful decor and furnishing and - its very jgs and woolly, at times I feel like i could be in Maddox street! (after it was done up of course!)
I better go get ready cos Das is gonna take me out for lunch, then i'll use their membership and go check out the Dallas Museum of Art this afternoon - I fly to San Francisco tomorrow, and then snowboarding for 3 days, so thats all till i next have time to post!
Dhara
Thursday, 6 March 2008
Opera and organized fun
Last weekend Wooley and I went to the Opera, I made him, after struggling to find the Dallas Music Hall, which is in Fair Park, a hilarious place in Dallas, simply because its a huge, old and a random place with museum's and a Music Hall, they hold the State Fair, there every year, ask Deepa about that one! Also somewhat randomly they were holding the Northern Texas Irish festival on the same night, I think Wooley may have actually have preferred the Whiskey to the Opera but anyway it wasn't all bad in the end it was an entertaining but very sad Opera and we had great seats, Porgy and Bess.
But as you know we are an eclectic pair and not all about the highbrow and so we have just got back from, America's got Talent, they taped in Dallas tonight and so we went along as audience members, it was free and we went with friends. It was a lot more fun then what I thought it would be, we were way in the back so I doubt if they got us in any audience shots. But what I can't believe is that they let Piers Morgan be a judge on that show. For "Apprentice" fans you will be shocked to hear he is a judge on celebrity Apprentice in the US also, its funny how a lot of the UK "talent" gets shipped to the US?!
We went to an Obama fund raiser last weekend which was an interesting night, and it got me to thinking that due to the very busy lifestyle in the USA, even social activities are organized and have to be useful in some way. There is very little just chilling, I think they think of that as a waste of time or something, it's all about spending "quality time" and making the most of the time you have. So even a walk becomes a "fitness event." I am not the only one who thinks this: on NPR (National Public Radio, one of the best things I have discovered in the USA is NPR) the other day they had a lady talking about how Americans in general socialise less than in the 1950's. Another day I heard a radio story about how kids nowadays have so many activities planned for them that they don't know how to just play by themselves, use their imagination and their own resources and that has led to children being less able to exercise self control, use their own initiative and this may have led partially to the rise of the diagnosis of ADHD. Jigna
But as you know we are an eclectic pair and not all about the highbrow and so we have just got back from, America's got Talent, they taped in Dallas tonight and so we went along as audience members, it was free and we went with friends. It was a lot more fun then what I thought it would be, we were way in the back so I doubt if they got us in any audience shots. But what I can't believe is that they let Piers Morgan be a judge on that show. For "Apprentice" fans you will be shocked to hear he is a judge on celebrity Apprentice in the US also, its funny how a lot of the UK "talent" gets shipped to the US?!
We went to an Obama fund raiser last weekend which was an interesting night, and it got me to thinking that due to the very busy lifestyle in the USA, even social activities are organized and have to be useful in some way. There is very little just chilling, I think they think of that as a waste of time or something, it's all about spending "quality time" and making the most of the time you have. So even a walk becomes a "fitness event." I am not the only one who thinks this: on NPR (National Public Radio, one of the best things I have discovered in the USA is NPR) the other day they had a lady talking about how Americans in general socialise less than in the 1950's. Another day I heard a radio story about how kids nowadays have so many activities planned for them that they don't know how to just play by themselves, use their imagination and their own resources and that has led to children being less able to exercise self control, use their own initiative and this may have led partially to the rise of the diagnosis of ADHD. Jigna
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
