Friday, February 03, 2006

The Reverse Sicilian

I have noticed that 99.999% of Bloggers are 'unentagled' i.e single. There is a very specific imagery I would like to associate with the word 'entagled', imagine yourself caught on a branch midway down a huge cliff (say in the Western Himalayas). You had jumped off with an intention to hit the floor, but things just didn't fall into place, and you had to get stuck. There you are dangling, at the mercy of the universe, till you get 'unentagled' again.
In this context, if you are 'unentagled', either you haven't fallen off the cliff yet, or you did take the plunge, you did smack across the valley floor, and your innards are currently finely distributed across it. The question that is begging itself to be asked - are you 'unentangled' because you blog so much?, or do you blog so much because you are unentagled? Now, I shall come to the point of my post. Random timepassing over the past year has made me very 'experienced', and has exposed me to infinite amount of blog related gyan. Thus, I feel obliged to pass all my gyan down to my dear readers. So, in 'Blog Gyan Ek Shunya Ek', I shall present my brilliant expose 'Gender based studies of personal web logs maintained on publicly accesible media'.
Male blogs have been observed to be of 3 types, primarily.
  • Impersonal topic i.e. 'gyan guru' - Movies, sports, technology, current affairs...
  • Witty i.e. 'PJ for AJ' - Inane jokes. Sarcastic or overly complicated humor is lost on most guys. What does it mean in the general scheme of the univerise if AJ only likes PJs. What it means is that however serious a guy looks, it is a matter of time before you discover his jackassy side.
*Digression* I am taking a physics course with a reasonably venerable looking professor with a German accent. For some reason, the discussion veers towards waves, and with childish glee, he starts discussing microwaving CDs and used computer chips. He just goes on and on, the look on his face was simply priceless. Like a child licking on his favorite lollypop.
Anyway, before anybody gets any bright, sparkling ideas, you should read the fine print, and maybe sign your will. Wait a sec, will? Dude, we are grad students! Who the hell would want to inhertit my text book - 'Data Mining - Principles and Practices'!
Anyway, microwaving CDs is reasonably 'safe' (as in you don't burn down the house), if you can take the smell. The Prof had the brilliant idea of putting in 2 CDs into the microwave, with them facing each other at an angle, so that they bounce radation of each other. It is quite similar to shooting yourself in the head with 2 guns.
However, its a insane idea to microwave computer chips, because they reflect microwave radiation instead of absorbing it, causing crazy sparking. If you are unlucky, you just might destroy the local fuse box. If you are very unlucky, maybe you might burn down the university. According, to our prof, it was worth trying, a microwave is just 20$ you see :D. It is rumored that there is a collection of blown microwaves somewhere in the Physics Department. *End Digression*
  • 'Light' Philosophy i.e. 'Grande Gyan Guru' - Random reflections on life and the behaviour of people. Quite rarely of a personal nature, and even if it is, almost never overly touchy feely.
Female blogs on the other hand, are almost always more personal. These can vary from angsty confessional type affairs (a.k.a. crybaby), to light hearted ramblings about life (a.k.a toothpaste smile a.k.a colgate pal podi). Even if any of them make an attempt to keep to a topic, the opinion still seems to kind of drive it (mad). It is quite rare to find a female blog that almost entirely stick to the facts ;).
If you want to gender test blogs, the safest failproof test is the 'What I want from man in future' (WIWFMIF) test. It can be easily found by browsing the archives for a couple of minutes. As is obvious from the acronym, it is an elaborate description of what is being looked for in a prospective member of the opposite sex. It is reasonable to assume that this impression has been steadily built up, defined and redefined an infinite number of times since conception. It also reasonable to assume that the term prospective has a surprising permanence. One hypothesizes, is there 'unentaglement' because of un-natural expectations, or do un-natural expectations lead to 'unentaglement'. Was it the chicken or the egg? Or maybe it was donuts. Who knows.
Now, 90% of the content in 100% of these 'What I want' posts can be summed up by the following short yet lucid description, 'tall, handsome with nice-smile, amiable, funny, caring, and (yes, how can I forget!) rich'. However, there is a small problem with this. Lets assume that you are 24 years old. Ok. You have come to know about 200 people in your life. Ok. About 2 will fit that Wal-Mart sized image that has been meticulously built up. Ok?
Firstly, you don't have a chance of hitting that one percent, unless you are around there yourself (see the guy is also equally likely to develop equally unrealistic expectations). Secondly, when demand far exceeds supply, it leaves a lot of room for market manipulation ;). He he. As for me...
All I want is a room somewhere, far away from the cold night air
With one enormous chair;
One flat screen tv;
One big coffee;
Loverly.
Simple demands. Easily met. As I am sure some famous person must have said, 'The key to happiness is not success, but lowered expectations'.
(Those who do know me will realize, there is no intention to offend or hurt anyone! I am not fishing for attention! These are just random statements, and I am as much making fun of myself as I am of others. I know so much about said blogs, because I read them, religiously, almost. )

25 comments:

mere said...

stumbled onto your blog. sharp girl. haven't done an "all i want" list yet, but it would go like this:

sleep
cedar allergies gone
laundry folded by itself
child to have natural ability/affinity for math
sleep

in agreement with you regarding Alexander. on the whole, i thought it was a disaster. colin farrel was awful. i can't find one good thing to say about it. except that i've never been happier for a 3 hour film to end.

your writing style is crisp and expressive; enjoyed your blog.

Anonymous said...

did the previous female just call Ramani a *sharp girl*???

Primalsoup said...

Now since you boys are feeling all left out, I am here to give you an opportunity to do some errrr, 'personal blogging'! So you have been tagged, do the needful now! Heh! :)

alraqs said...

I'm sure the chair had to have been of the leather kind ;)...

Rohini said...

Either mere didn't understand ur gender blogger differentiation gyan or the gyan totally backfired....

Artful Badger said...

What have I done?? Why is everyone taking my trip??
[mere] :)..
your list seems to be quite simple :D..
yes alexander was terrible...saw Syriana yesterday..found it difficult to understand but appreciated it..
btw..my name might sound female to you but I am a guy :D..
[anon] yes, such is the irony of life. I had this comment pop up within 10 minutes of completing my post :( :(
the gods out there want to take my trip it seems
[primalsoup] yes madam :)...the irony of is striking me very hard
[alraqs] yes, i did get your feelings about me and psychiatrists :D...don't you feel that enough people have taken my trip today?
[intern] Et tu Brutus?
[rohini] yes i realized that very ironic fact within 10 minutes of having put up the post
i think if you are not familiar with indian names my name could sound female to you..leia, keya..
[jay-san] actually i found her quite smart ;)

Anonymous said...

the gyan obviously didn't work.. btw, thats my way of saying whaddup dawg.

Artful Badger said...

[anon] whaddup ;)..

Artful Badger said...

I dont watch football. Actually, I don't even have a TV.
Is it this weekend?

Artful Badger said...

Thats what I was thinking. See it for the ads. The superbowl ads are very famous.

Artful Badger said...

heh..i have seen many of the ads..
the ads get more tv coverage than the event itself..
i am going to a friends place..lets see if i can see it there..

Prashanth said...

Sharp girl? Rotfl.... blunt guy is more like it!

Your next assignment is to classify your blogger pals into the above categories.

Artful Badger said...

[prashanth] i guess you didn't like the post :(
i had no intenion to offend anyone..
i am as much making fun of myself as i was of everyone else..
i would be a combination of guy type 1,2 and 3..
i am putting the WYWFWIF post next..so..
i think people hate me enough already!! :D...
i need to shift to less controversial topics!!

Prashanth said...

Thats right, was just pulling your nose. Chill :)

I saw the half-time show too, but I thought the rolling stones were a bit lacklustre from age and jagger was trying too hard to be a showman. Plus the acoustics were not great, being a live perf in an open area and all. Or maybe I have become cynical in my old age.

Prashanth said...

By the way, what kind of a gambit is Reverse Sicilian and how is it relevant to the post?

Artful Badger said...

Heh..I was wondering..
But, I am scared suddenly someone is going to get super offended by it..
Well the Reverse Sicilian, is when you plan the Sicilian Defense as White. It is not related to the post. Just seeing if someone could figure it out. There is another Reverse Grunfeld too :D..
Old age?..you are 22!!!

Anonymous said...

All superbowl adds are on a link on google homepage today.. just in case u missed it!!

More about the ads.. they are played ONLY during the SUPERBOWL..never before or after!

Ya I agree with SP.. think the rolling stones are rolling away! Lost their charm!
Aditya Rao

alraqs said...

no, please, stick to controversial topics...waiting for BG 102 :)...

Artful Badger said...

Aha..Blog Gyan Ek Shunya Do..
Aata hai :D..

Prashanth said...

Ah, I wish I'd taken more chess gyan from Ranga while he was still my room-neighbour. However, I get the gist of what you said and I think I follow your convoluted logic. But I don't feel any wiser :P

Anonymous said...

Oops... Thats what I heard from someone..and thats why i thought they were 'extra' special! Yeah economically it makes sense to play em over and over again...

Rolling Stones..they were good..but I went to their concert in bangalore... it was even better..as in they seemed a lot more lively! yep gr8 band.. one of the greates ever!can't deny that!

Aditya

Vc said...

Cool post dude and I prefer the Inverted Hungarian Opening :)

( Vc ROTFLMAO --> Sharp girl )

Artful Badger said...

[prashanth] Okay. Just meaning to say you were right :D.
[intern] refer my comment on your blog. Somehow, the ads were a let down. Didn't live up to the 2.5 million dollar hype.
[intern,aditya]..hmm..been listening to the new song that has been doing the rounds on the radio..quite like it..
[vc] thanks! heh :D..atleast i am sharp :D..
[all] no harm no foul. i was just a little scared that suddenly i will find a bunch of people screaming at me :D..

Kirthi said...

Muhuahua...Wohohahahah..heeeheeeheeehee..okie dokes. The first comment really blew the wind out of ur sails didn't it?
Just out of curiosity, do any of my previous posts contain the 'WIWFMIF' stuff? As far as my memory goes, I reckon not! So your theory of 'unentanglement' does not work in my case.
But I must laud you: you can take a joke on yourself. It takes a lot of courage and a good sense of humor to do that.

Artful Badger said...

[panchappan] thanks!....yes i had a look at them..quite funny..but the guy just seems to have been cartooning for not too long..
[kirthi] i am going to correct this errant situation....touche! you have been tagged!
oh well..i am not courageous..i am just too afraid to make fun of others (see, you cannot make out if i am serious or joking, what am i?)..:D..
[prashanth] the colors are reversed..means white plays black's moves and black plays white's moves..