These are a few of my favourite blogs - II
The next series of blogs I am gonna talk about is the entertainment related blogs. My favourite and first blog that I started reading regularly in this category is Poonam Saxena’s Small Screen. It is a weekly roundup of what happening on TV. This blog conclusively proves that a woman’s worst enemy is another woman. While poonam has a razor sharp sarcasm and uses it to shred to pieces a lot of shows/channels, her worst is saved for Simi Garewal and Ekta Kapoor. She hates both their shows with a vengeance and is not afraid to show it. Her column is overall a delight to read simply because of her wit and the beauty with which she criticises the stuff she does not like. She has a chatty style of writing, the way a friend might talk to you.
Next are the movie review blogs. My favourite in this category is Ziya Us Salam’s blog on the Hindu on Sundays. Ziya is not a movie critic but rather a movie connoisseur. He very clearly loves movies and sees them not as entertainment for the masses but as an art form. He is fairly unbiased and likes all types of movies from racy action-special-effects-packed-thrillers to slow romantic love stories to children’s movies. His review is more on the honesty of the artist towards his art, and not on entertainment value of the movie alone. It was on his suggestion that I actually watched a movie like James and surprisingly found it to be a memorable movie. While he invariably finds something good in just about every movie, he does not shy away from telling the reader which movie should be avoided at all costs. The unique thing about his blog is that he does not follow the normal practise of giving a rating to the movie, but rather talks of what kind of person will like the movie reviewed.
The other two movie review blogs I read are Vinayak Chakravorty on HT and Nikhat Kazmi on TOI. Of the two, I generally tend to agree with Vinayak’s ratings more than Kazmi’s. Both however look at movies from the entertainment point of view, and not as an art form. Which I guess is what most of the masses look for while reading movie reviews. They want to know which movie will entertain them the most.
Besides this Abhilasha Ojha writes in Business Standard on Saturdays about the entertainment world. He does not write specifically about movies, but the whole gamut including TV, reality shows, music trends, Oscars etc. He picks up a topic related to the field and writes on it every week.
Business Standard on Saturdays is incidentally a veritable goldmine of good blogs. There is People Like Us by Kishore Singh who pokes fun at himself and his extended family with all their typical Indian mannerisms and Indian problems. Then there is People Like Them normally by Geetanjali Krishna on people living in Bharat – i.e. the rural agricultural/ labour class. This is a very interesting blog which reveals many facets of the lives of the rural poor which those of living an insulated city life don’t even realise.
Aditi Phadnis writes Plain Politics which as the name suggests is about political developments in the country. Her blog is by far the most insightful political commentary that I have read. I decided a long time ago that if I were ever to start a political outfit, she would be the first person I would try to recruit. She has an insight into politics which only an insider can have, and reading her blog is an educational experience. Lucy Kellaway writes for the financial Times in London and Business Standard syndicates her column and presents it in its Saturday edition. Kellaway writes a personal blog with her ruminations about life as a journalist, as a woman, general trends that she observes etc. Overall the focus is more on humour than any serious issue, and she has a way of being witty and still making a point.
A few other blogs on BS Saturdays - T N Ninan, who is probably an economist writes Weekend Ruminations, a blog on politico-economics issues. Somewhat similar to Swaminomics in scope, and he has written couple of brilliant pieces, but does not have that consistency which Iyer has. TCA Srinivasa Raghvan writes on political issues, both domestic and international. Again has written a few brilliant pieces, but lacks consistency. Devangshu Datta writes Smartshare, on stocks, derivatives and other financial instruments. A very good blog if you’re interested in that sort of thing. Then there The Wine Club by Alok Chandra on wine – both from a consumers perspective as well as the challenges facing producers and the country in general. Then there is a motoring page which is a team effort and is again very educating. This is not just for car freaks, but for anyone who drives a vehicle and is interested in knowing more about what the market holds in store for him. The best part is ‘Which Car’ in which they answer people’s queries on which car they should buy – good for daydreaming!
Besides this, HT Brunch has a couple of good blogs. There’s a small blog by Shikha Sharma who is dietician and writes about u guessed it – diets and lifestyle. Bhaichand Patel, who is an ex-diplomat and has travelled the world extensively writes about alcohol – yes, it is a wonderful blog and again ideal for day dreaming. He talks about different types of liquors, cocktails, types of beers, how to drink various liquors, the origin of different types of cocktails and liquors, and general trends in the drinking world. A most educating blog! Then there is Seema Goswami who writes Spectator. This blog could be called a late chick blog – basically the perspective of a single woman in her thirties. She raves and rants against just about everything from annoying children to over indulging parents to stay at home moms to fashion victims. Now normally for such a blog to be successful the criticism has to be very witty and clever for the reader to snicker along with the columnist at the object of her scorn. But unfortunately in this case Seema’s sarcasm rather comes along with a bit of moralistic superiority which takes the fun out of reading it.
So folks that brings me to the end of my favourite blogs. There might be one or two I’ve left out, but have covered most of them. Now if u read any of these blogs, then share your views about them with me.
Next are the movie review blogs. My favourite in this category is Ziya Us Salam’s blog on the Hindu on Sundays. Ziya is not a movie critic but rather a movie connoisseur. He very clearly loves movies and sees them not as entertainment for the masses but as an art form. He is fairly unbiased and likes all types of movies from racy action-special-effects-packed-thrillers to slow romantic love stories to children’s movies. His review is more on the honesty of the artist towards his art, and not on entertainment value of the movie alone. It was on his suggestion that I actually watched a movie like James and surprisingly found it to be a memorable movie. While he invariably finds something good in just about every movie, he does not shy away from telling the reader which movie should be avoided at all costs. The unique thing about his blog is that he does not follow the normal practise of giving a rating to the movie, but rather talks of what kind of person will like the movie reviewed.
The other two movie review blogs I read are Vinayak Chakravorty on HT and Nikhat Kazmi on TOI. Of the two, I generally tend to agree with Vinayak’s ratings more than Kazmi’s. Both however look at movies from the entertainment point of view, and not as an art form. Which I guess is what most of the masses look for while reading movie reviews. They want to know which movie will entertain them the most.
Besides this Abhilasha Ojha writes in Business Standard on Saturdays about the entertainment world. He does not write specifically about movies, but the whole gamut including TV, reality shows, music trends, Oscars etc. He picks up a topic related to the field and writes on it every week.
Business Standard on Saturdays is incidentally a veritable goldmine of good blogs. There is People Like Us by Kishore Singh who pokes fun at himself and his extended family with all their typical Indian mannerisms and Indian problems. Then there is People Like Them normally by Geetanjali Krishna on people living in Bharat – i.e. the rural agricultural/ labour class. This is a very interesting blog which reveals many facets of the lives of the rural poor which those of living an insulated city life don’t even realise.
Aditi Phadnis writes Plain Politics which as the name suggests is about political developments in the country. Her blog is by far the most insightful political commentary that I have read. I decided a long time ago that if I were ever to start a political outfit, she would be the first person I would try to recruit. She has an insight into politics which only an insider can have, and reading her blog is an educational experience. Lucy Kellaway writes for the financial Times in London and Business Standard syndicates her column and presents it in its Saturday edition. Kellaway writes a personal blog with her ruminations about life as a journalist, as a woman, general trends that she observes etc. Overall the focus is more on humour than any serious issue, and she has a way of being witty and still making a point.
A few other blogs on BS Saturdays - T N Ninan, who is probably an economist writes Weekend Ruminations, a blog on politico-economics issues. Somewhat similar to Swaminomics in scope, and he has written couple of brilliant pieces, but does not have that consistency which Iyer has. TCA Srinivasa Raghvan writes on political issues, both domestic and international. Again has written a few brilliant pieces, but lacks consistency. Devangshu Datta writes Smartshare, on stocks, derivatives and other financial instruments. A very good blog if you’re interested in that sort of thing. Then there The Wine Club by Alok Chandra on wine – both from a consumers perspective as well as the challenges facing producers and the country in general. Then there is a motoring page which is a team effort and is again very educating. This is not just for car freaks, but for anyone who drives a vehicle and is interested in knowing more about what the market holds in store for him. The best part is ‘Which Car’ in which they answer people’s queries on which car they should buy – good for daydreaming!
Besides this, HT Brunch has a couple of good blogs. There’s a small blog by Shikha Sharma who is dietician and writes about u guessed it – diets and lifestyle. Bhaichand Patel, who is an ex-diplomat and has travelled the world extensively writes about alcohol – yes, it is a wonderful blog and again ideal for day dreaming. He talks about different types of liquors, cocktails, types of beers, how to drink various liquors, the origin of different types of cocktails and liquors, and general trends in the drinking world. A most educating blog! Then there is Seema Goswami who writes Spectator. This blog could be called a late chick blog – basically the perspective of a single woman in her thirties. She raves and rants against just about everything from annoying children to over indulging parents to stay at home moms to fashion victims. Now normally for such a blog to be successful the criticism has to be very witty and clever for the reader to snicker along with the columnist at the object of her scorn. But unfortunately in this case Seema’s sarcasm rather comes along with a bit of moralistic superiority which takes the fun out of reading it.
So folks that brings me to the end of my favourite blogs. There might be one or two I’ve left out, but have covered most of them. Now if u read any of these blogs, then share your views about them with me.
posted by philosopher stoned | 11:33 AM
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