We the Write stuff.

As you may know by now, the pigs have conquered Pune. That is where I live, and I am most annoyed, obviously because the possibility of it lurks at every turn, or else hidden inadequately behind a 20 rupee surgical mask. My friends have canceled their trip to Pune to visit me due to this reason and while the decision is the responsible one, it is still disappointing. The schools and colleges are closed as are their counterparts; malls and theatres, and people are either staying put at home, or working in their offices with a reasonably high degree of alarm.

Gilmore Girls effectively ended two years ago. However, thanks to the fact that it doesn’t seem to air in India (except for a while at an abysmal hour on Zee Café) and erratic Abu Dhabi visits (when a season would never be on air) I only got to catch up with the last two seasons now.

It was heartrending, all the memories that show brought up. Ive been watching Gilmore Girls since I was in High School, back in the good old days, when Wednesday nights were primetime viewing because Thursday/Friday still constituted a weekend. It was a mommy and me tradition and we never missed an episode.

I think you’ll be hard-pressed to find a mother-daughter (those that get along as well as those who don’t) who don’t fall hook, line and sinker for this show. Yes, the characters talk too fast, yes, Stars Hollow doesn’t even exist (and a town as awesome as that really should), but a show as warm and as intelligent as that deserved to run for years and years and years.

One of the main reasons I loved this show was an inherent theme that ran throughout the show from episode 1 to the Bon Voyage episode in Season 7 – Books. The writers of Gilmore Girls (the Palladino’s are GODS) made sure that every other sentence had a cultural/literary reference. They understood, how underrated books were in American teenage television. In the O.C, in 90210 – it’s all about sex, breaking up and hooking up. In the Gilmore Girls however, a book is a symbol of your identity, an understanding of whom you are as a person as well as whom you want to be. “ I live in a world of books. I’ve been a resident of Faulkner’s Yoknapatawpha County, hunted the white whale aboard the Pequod, fought alongside Napoleon, sailed a raft with Huck and Jim, committed absurdities with Ignatius J. Reilly, rode a sad train with Anna Karenina, and strolled down Swann’s Way” – Rory’s High School Graduation Speech. There have been at least a dozen books Rory Gilmore has introduced me to, that will remain favorites forever.

For the Gilmore Girls, unlike the characters of The O.C/90210 etc, high heels and handbags aren’t the ultimate accessory. Books are. In the first episode, Rory meets her first boyfriend, Dean (Jared Padalecki), when he spots her reading Madame Bovary and later Moby Dick under a tree: "I thought, 'I have never seen someone read so intensely before in my life. I have to meet that girl.' " In a later season, Jess (Milo Ventimiglia) borrows Rory's copy of Allen Ginsberg's* Howl and returns it with notes scribbled in the margins. The two soon embark on a typically angst-ridden romance, where the exchange of books plays a large role.

Season 7, the final season of Gilmore Girls plainly showed the absence of the Palladino’s. As soon as I watched the first episode of the season, I knew something was wrong. The dialogue was as wordy as ever, but no longer witty. Overall, it was a disappointing season – made up for by the last episode. I didn’t just cry, I blubbered. I wept and wept till I ran out of tissues. Once I got another box of tissues, I wept some more. It was beautiful, because the Gilmore Girls themselves, didn’t cry once, despite the fact that they would be separated for months, if not years. They ironed tshirts, they shopped, they didn’t talk, they talked, and the show ended the same way the show began 7 years ago – at Luke’s diner, in the early hours of the morning, just before Rory Gilmore takes off to be a political reporter on the trail of Obama’s presidential campaign.
Cliché, though it may seem, I always felt prettier, and wittier and wiser after watching Gilmore Girls. Not only do I talk (much) faster than normal, I’m chirpier and wiser. Ask Harry. He has spoken to me pre-Gilmore Girls viewing and post-Gilmore Girls viewing and can tell the difference by now. It wasn’t just about the books, or the addiction to coffee, or the compulsive eating, or even the witty dialogues. It was them. You fell in love with the Gilmore Girls, because they were awesome. End of story. They were funny, and smart and brave and had pretty much no-one else but each other. And I, for one, am a better person for knowing them intimately for seven years.

Ello all
Around the time IPL2 began (Respect: Deccan and all it’s fans, include the intoxicated ones on this blog…) Vodafone launched a brand new ad campaign. The ads all consisted of these incoherent sterilized-humpty-dumpty characters. They’re cute, weird, laugh maniacally and tend to hurt each other. They are Zoozoos. It’s interesting to know that while they seem animated they’re in fact humans in spongy suits.
All I have to say, is well done Vodafone. O&M were told to come up with a consistent brand story and the results they’ve produced are absolutely amazing. Every single ad is short and bizarre and manages to explain yet another feature of Vodafone. Airtel, Aircel, Idea, and LOOP might as well walk away now, because I honestly think this could be the campaign of the last few years. The campaign is spread across the usual radio, TV, print mediums but the handling of the online campaign is genius.
Instead of randomly sending trite messages to Facebook users, the Zoozoos have their own page and subsequently over 250,000 fans. That’s two and half lakhs! Beyond that, not only are bloggers everywhere writing about them (is this irony?) people are making fan sites for the funny looking characters.
Thousands upon thousands of people are trying to see ‘which Zoozoo they are’ and even more are posting comments on the characters’ wall. Not just that, people are tagging each other in Zoozoo photographs and the buzz is nothing short of immense. Sure, there’s plenty of Anti Zoozoo groups but the amazing thing is, within a few weeks, they’re small characters living in a Vodafone colored world telling you Vodafone colored things and lakhs of people dig it.
To me this is incredible, because in this country for some absurd reason, we do not understand the idea of a Mascot.
Take Choco’s. Every kid’s ideal chocolate breakfast. It has no competition and as a result, it has NO ambition. A few years ago they got rid of the big cuddly bear and replaced him with the Coco Pops monkey. FOR NO APPARENT REASON! It’s ridiculous, and even if they felt they needed a change in image, why do they care so little about the monkey? Next time you’re eating Choco’s, count how many fingers there are on the monkey’s hands. I’ll help you, he has seven. That’s right seven. Three on one hand and four on the other! FOR NO APPARENT REASON! And this isn’t a Hrithik type love your deformity ploy, oh no, they just don’t seem to give a fuck. That is NOT even handed treatment. (Sorry…had to).
For years now sports events have had mascots which you’d get with a happy meal at Mcdonald’s, yet who can honestly tell me they cared about or even FOR any of these mascots? The Olympics had those weird attempts at bears. And sure enough, this year we have Shera the ‘friendly tiger’! He’s a generic, probably ill fed tiger who deserves to be no more than a side character in Tinkle Digest. Yet another event will pass and nobody will give a shit about the tiger who’s only character claim is that he’s ‘friendly.’
Where’s our Tony the Tiger or our Marlboro Man? It’s depressing to see how little the organizers care about their mascot, but for now I’m glad we have the Zoozoos. All I can hope for now, is that other firms and companies will see the impact of their success, and hopefully, say to themselves ‘Let’s have a mascot who’s more than paint and plastic’.

Ello All
Here in India, if it isn't sports, LIVE generally denotes a waiting period of at least 24 hours. As such, I JUST got around to watching the season finale of American Idol and I have to write about it.
First of all I'd just like to say that while I've always enjoyed the show and appreciated it, I've never really been a fan. This season I almost came close to sort of feeling like I could be a fan. To translate, while I may watch a recommended performance once in a way, if given the opportunity, I would never vote.
Clearly over 100 million people disagree, as last night was some sort of a world record. Let me just clarify, that last night was such an utter explosion of money and half baked teeny boppy ideas, I felt dirty just watching it.
First of all they've decided they'd make these joke awards things and you know ha ha chuckle chuckle they didn't do it the way other awards are done but bloody hell they could've done so much better! And then of course, Kara Dioguardi in yet another 'Omigod look at me I'm like SO crazy' attempt decides to semi flash everyone for about 2 and half seconds. I swear the moment was even more ridiculous than the time she yelled, whatought to be the show's official tagline- "THAT. IS. ARTISTRY!"
But anyway, it's hard to complain when they actually got Rod Stewart, Kiss and Brian May to do some absolutely amazing performances. I swear to God I practically creamed myself during Detroit Rock City. What a performance and no one deserved to sing that more than Adam. While I'm at it, I might as well give props to Kris for his kick ass performance with Keith Urban. Anyway the point of this post, is that one of my major issues with the show is that it tends to breed this very candy cane teeny boppy brand of cool which I have major issues accepting. Bo Bice, Fantasia, even David Cook to a degree have been the only real exceptions to the rule for me.
And this season of course did breed so very much more of that and with the introduction of Kara and Paula's post menopausal libidos, god knows it's been even worse than usual. I swear one of these days Paula's just going to dry hump someone's leg on stage. Did anyone else notice the line of drool down the sides of her mouth whenever Adam performed?
But there was this amazing moment, when Kris Allen had finished his victory performance and his wife came and hugged him and he just seemed to melt, where it was sort of like he just gave up any attempts of trying to react right andhe just folded into her. I was suddenly overcome with an incredible appreciation for what he and Adam did to the show.
Naturally, in terms of arrangements and performances they did alot to break the status quo but more than anything else they brought such an awesome humility with them. I always maintained it'd be between them (Mind you I was stunned to hear Adam didn't win) and even with Tejas and Kyra when we watched the show, we always commented on the fact that while they were both exceptional performers, more than anything else they were humble about it. I'm sure the idiots who blew all those millions on fireworks and all had hoped for a slightly more emphatic celebration from Kris, but for me, his response of 'Adam Adam Adam' gave a whole new integrity to the show.
Kudos to him and I sincerely hope he does well for himself. Props of course to Adam too, who I hope will not fizzle out and fade away like Bice did. And for the love of God, let's all hope their potential and promise does not yeild another 'My life would suck without you' 4 years down the line.

PS. Talk about perspective, I spent most of the day listening to Eminem's new album. Hard. Core. A review should come along soon.