Of Soaps...

After coming to college, I believe that after sleeping, watching soaps has probably consumed the maximum amount of my time, given that I am not much into computer games.

Thanks to the 24 hrs net provided by the Indian government, we always have some soap or the other which remains to be seen, and here I'm not just talking about arbitrary soaps which just happen to be on the lan, but good, watchable soaps which are a source of addiction and endless discussions.

The strike by the Writers' Guild was thus a very inconvenient break...and we have spent long hours discussing the futility of their demands.

It would be hard, and moreover pointless to think about which my favourite soap is. Of late, I have become rather disillusioned with Friends...however I believe that is the fault of too much repetition on my part rather than some flaw inherent in the show itself. Still, I have found I cannot tolerate a single more episode of Friends.

This semester, I had this phase where I was watching all the sci-fi available, or rather which I could fit into my schedule without competely leaving college. During this period, I finished off Heroes, Kyle XY and 4400.

4400 and Kyle XY proved to be so revolting that I had to discard that entire genre altogether, without watching the highly recommended Lost.

Then there was the Avatar stint, which still continues. I don't believe Avatar belongs to the class of Animes, but I'm not an expert on the subject. I highly recommend Avatar.

If the reader is a soap enthsiast, I am reasonably certain they must be aware of the phenomenon called South Park. Now, though I am an ardent admirer of South Park, I do not like all its episodes...some are really meaningless...put together just for the sake of I dunno what. However, some of its episodes are products of pure genius. I especially recommend the ones on Paris Hilton and Chef Aid.

Chef Aid was the episode in which the writers coined the term "Chewbacca Defense", a reference to the famous bailout of football star O.J.Simpson in his indictment over his wife's murder. The term became popular enough to find its way into Wikipedia, and subsequently, into mass media, and is now used for any kind of a defensive statement where the speaker seeks to confuse his/her audience by talking nonsense (you can find a speech by George Bush on Iraq on youtube by the same name).

The last great discovery has been Seinfeld. Notwithstanding my earlier comments, while I was watching Friends, I had no doubts that it would remain my favourite soap of all time, especially after I had sampled a few other comedies. However Seinfeld has proved to be better- while Friends had just one witty character- Chandler, all of Seinfeld's characters are very urbane and subtle. Besides Chandler, Friends' humour was at best slapstick, and Seinfeld's standups are simply too good. I don't believe a parallel to it exists.

It is 2.00 a.m. and I seem to recall I have quiz in about 7 hours (man, that sounds like a lot of time!)...so I guess I should finish off here.

The good ol' end sems and other stories

Its time for the endsems again. As generally happens(in my case), this brings on a particularlt virulent attack of procastination. Over the last 2 days, I have seen 5 movies, none of them worth watching, and tht too by staying up all night. This would have been a cause for worry, but it seems I have reached an elevated consciousness where these mundane things cease to have relevance.
Of course, it is not as if I am completely jobless, or I might have posted once or twice over this rather extended blogging-free period. Right now, I am engaged in a debate with my parents over what should be my future course of action. They want me to do an MBA, which would be the sensible course of action, given that my academice are not particularly healthy.
However, I had earlier resolved to pursue an MS from the States, and then forgotten all about it. It doesn't seem to be a very bright prospect now....unless I start working towards a Masters in some other field altogether...and I mean a field other than engineering.....
So you see, given my delirious state of mind, I am pretty much certain about the outcome of these endsems.....
Having thus reflected extensively on myself, I come to more general issues.
If the reader is familiar with the trend of college placements currently, then they might be aware of a company called schlumberger, which gives fabulous salaries and equally gruesome postings.
One of my seniors was thus celebrating hiis 25 lakhs job, when we found out that he was being sent to Sudan.
For those unfamiliar with the country, Sudan is in Northern Africa. It is under military rule, and has witnessed 3 civil wars since 1989...the last is still on. It is also the site of one of the worst genocides in the 20th century, with nearly 400,000 people having been killed in the current civil war.
Given these statistics, such a job offer would not seem to be so attractive after all, at least for me. However, some people argue that it still offers possibilities of adventure and a very different lifestyle, as opposed to a job in a normal metropolitan city......
Now, such a prospect is definitely appealing, but maybe not the sensible thing to do....
Still, for those who lament the banality of normal jobs, this might be the thing.