Dyslexia

I am a regular reader of the Scott Adams blog. Today's post was interesting - he is on the list of famous people who have dyslexia.

The first time I ever heard of dyslexia is 8 years back when I came to US. I did all my schooling in India. And in India (at least in the 1980s), if you had trouble reading or spelling, you are just someone who is not smart enough or you are too lazy to study!! You could never claim immunity behind an illness. No one that I grew up with was diagnosed with dyslexia. No one had ADD, ADHD or any of those fun illnesses. I never heard of anyone who was allergic to peanuts or is lactose intolerant. Coming to think of it, no one had restless leg syndrome either! I am not saying that none of these illnesses exist in India - these are unknown conditions and you just deal with it as part of day to day life!

I think this country is the most paranoid of the lot. Anything other than normal is scary. And normal itself is a very narrow category. The drug companies realized that they are sitting on a gold mine and started identifying all these illnesses. I don't mean to be insensitive to people who are afflicted with any of these illnesses. A headache might be a symptom of a lot of things. But it could also be just a headache!! You keep hearing these commercials of wonder drugs (which you have to ask your doctor about... apparently listening to the ad makes you a better diagnostician than someone who studied medicine for years!!). And you might have some of those symptoms. And so eventually you start thinking that you must be sick!

But then I digress... I was talking about dyslexia. Curiosity got the best of me and so I checked out the website to see who else is there in the list of famous people with dyslexia. And the first thing that caught my eye is this picture of Billy Banks - the Tae-Bo guy! Click on the image below for a larger view of the image.



Either whoever put this picture in this article has a good sense of humor or I have some illness that makes me spot such oddities.

Phantasmic!!

Long time back, I heard the songs of this Hindi movie named 'Hamesha'. It had this one song with an amazingly eerie tune. No surprise. It was a rip off... of the Phantom of the Opera. Obviously, the next step for me was to listen to the original. And that was when I fell in love with the Phantom of the Opera. Few years later, I got hold of the book. Loved it. And then few years hence, the movie came out. The soundtrack was spellbinding. The sets were amazing. The movie was so-so. And I decided that I wanted to see the musical.

Few months back, I heard that the Broadway tour of Phantom of the Opera is coming to Seattle. Did not waste much time in booking the tickets. And ever since, I've been counting days. And Friday was the day! I watched the Phantom of the Opera at the Paramount theater in Seattle. It was nothing short of spectacular. I am totally and completely in awe!!

For starters, Paramount theater is not much to look at from outside. This is the first time I ever went in. And oh my god! Appearances are surely deceptive. The chandeliers and the decorated ceilings transported me to another era!

And the Phantom!! I never thought you could do so much on stage realtime! The sound effects, the stage settings, the cast... I dont have words to describe it. The first scene where the chandelier is turned on... the scene where the Phantom takes Christine on a boat... the scene where the Phantom overhears Raoul and Christine sing of their love... all of it... it gave me goose bumps. Hats off the the crew that managed the stage and sound. It was impeccable. Its been a while since any performance moved me to tears.

This has been the best time I have had in a long long time!! Thank God for small blessings!

Do you get it?

I dont... wondering what? The Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates ad for Microsoft. The first one was about the two of them buying shoes! The second ad started airing recently - Seinfelt and Gates living with a family so that they can get in touch with real people... WTF?!

Why is Microsoft paying money and admitting on air that they are out of touch with the real world? I am assuming there is a bigger picture here that will get clearer with subsequent ads. But they better get to the point fast 'coz I dont see any story building up in the first two ads.

The whole getting-Seinfeld-to-do-Microsoft-ad was so hyped up. I should have known that this is just like the movies... The more publicity the trailer gets, the more the movie sucks!!

The Old and the Beautiful

I love gossip and drama as much as the next girl. And this year's election is starting to give soap operas a run for their money.

When I heard Palin's name as the running mate for McCain, it sounded like an awesome strategy. I am sure there were a good amount of women who would have voted for Hillary just because of her gender. When she got dropped off the race, there was a small trace of hope that Obama would choose Hillary as his running mate and by default, some of those votes would have gone to him. But then he didn't pick Hillary. So now some of the pro-Hillary voters would have decided not to vote at all and others would have been forced to evaluate whether they are actually democratic or republican.

And then comes the twist in the tale - Palin in the mix. I never thought McCain would choose a woman as a running mate. But it felt like a strategic move. She can pull some of the gender biased voters to her camp. But from the day the running mate was announced, it has been one drama unraveling after another.

Scene 1. Former beauty pagent runner-up announced as running mate
Scene 2. Rumors that Palin's youngest son born in April was actually the son of her daugher Bristol
Scene 3. Above rumor squashed by the announcement that 17 yr old Bristol is 5 months pregnant
Scene 4: 17 yr old Bristol will marry 18 yr old Levi (father of the child) and their failies claim it is NOT a shotgun wedding

Wow! Too much drama in too little time.

Now, lets step back and look at Palin's political views. She is a convervative Republican (is there any other kind??). She is pro-life and is opposed to abortion in all cases (including rape and incest) except when necessary to save the life of the mother. While running for governor in 2006, she supported abstinence-only sex education in Alaskan schools. She said "Explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support". And she favors capital punishment stating "We have a right to know that someone who rapes and murders a child or kills an innocent person in a drive by shooting will never be able to do that again".

After McCain announced his running mate, Palin addressed the crowds and said "It was rightly noted in Denver this week that Hillary left 18 million cracks in the highest, hardest glass ceiling in America. But it turns out the women of America aren't finished yet, and we can shatter that glass ceiling once and for all."

I am all in for shattering the glass ceiling. But equal opportunities to run the nation is not the only ceiling. Raising women to equal footing in the society starts with small steps. If a woman impregnated by rape cannot even choose whether she wants a constant reminder of the incident, what ceiling are we breaking? If abortion is killing, so is capital punishment. How can you be opposed to one and still support another? In both cases, we are taking a life that we cannot give back.

And looks like "abstinence only sex-ed" to horny teenagers doesn't work either! Love can be blind. And teenagers might want to get married before they get a chance to see the world or do something with their lives or get a job. And they might even want to raise children before they even figure out safe sex. But doesn't the pregnancy and the marriage plans sound very shotgun-ish? After all, the girl's mother is a vice presidential candidate and a lifelong member of the National Rifle Association!

I am not much into politics. But this race just got very interesting. We already know that the country prefers a black man over a woman president. Now lets see how the not-so-experienced black man and his "presidential candidate drop-out" running mate fares against the septuagenarian elitist and his "hockey mom" running mate.