Nine foreign films for 2013 Academy Awards: Who will win, who will lose?

Out of 71, nine films have made it to the best foreign language film category of the Academy Awards. Of them only five will be shortlisted for the prestigious honour. It is a difficult affair these Oscars; which film will win and which will miss the golden statute cannot be predicted by even the best of mathematicians

Here is a post containing the trailers of each of the nine films and a brief on why they may or may not win the Oscar.

http://www.newsyaps.com/nine-foreign-films-for-academy-award-who-will-win-who-will-lose/4683/


Watch them and pick your favourite.

‘The Man Who Loved Hate: My entry for the Get Published contest’

The Idea

‘The Man Who Loved Hate’ is not the typical boy-meets-girl love story. In fact the principal protagonist in this story, who is also the narrator, has no girl to love; he never had. The narrator is materialistic but is not a miser. He is generous to the poor and the needy, and he often indulges in philanthropic activities. He loves people and respects women. Despite that he is not interested in anything remotely connected to what is called romance. Although he is ready to appreciate ‘true love’, he is convinced that there is no such thing in the 21^st century. Whenever he had had the opportunity, the narrator proved that even if money may not be able to buy love, it is the decisive factor in one way or the other. His views have offended many including his friends, all of whom were either in love or wanted to experience it. As a result he is the man they all hate but he revels in their hatred. Hate is what he loves the most

The story is of that one day when this ‘lover of hate’ meets three strangers on a train journey from New Delhi to Kolkata. Situations force them to enter into a debate on love in which the man tries to plant his own views on them while they continue to oppose him. Who wins? Will the man be able to prove that love is conditional or will the strangers emerge victorious? Why does the man reject the very notion of love? Why is he a ‘lover of hate’? Above all, who are these strangers?

What Makes This Story ‘Real’

That it is my story.

This is my entry for the HarperCollins–IndiBlogger Get Published contest, which is run with inputs from Yashodhara Lal and HarperCollins India.

Google Zeitgeist 2012 indicates India is a sex starved nation

India is perhaps the world’s most sexually starved nation otherwise there is no reason why the Indo-Canadian adult film star Sunny Leone would be the third most Trending Search on Google in India. Sex has surely beaten the hell out of SRK as the superstar is nowhere on the list. Sunny Leone was also the top Trending People in India beating Rajesh Khanna to the spot.

In no other country has a porn star figured in the top ten trends or searches, not even in Japan which is widely believed to be the most perverted country. People in the United States, the land of the adult film business, seem to have better things to do than anyone in India. It is shameful to think that an adult film star is what Indians searched the most in 2012.

Click here to read more:

http://www.newsyaps.com/google-zeitgeist-2012-indicates-india-is-a-sex-starved-nation/4399/

img courtesy: firstpost.com

Lionel Messi’s 2012 record breaking journey

No one doubted the ability of this rather short-heighted footballer from Argentina when he took to the world stage. All of 25, the popularity of Lionel Messi surpasses oceans and boundaries. Already a three-time World Player of the Year (Ballon d’Or), he is all set to win it a fourth time when the honor is announced in January 2013. Messi has more records to his credit than anyone else in the history of football. Gerard Piqué may be right when he describes Cristiano Ronaldo as “the best of the humans” and Lionel Messi “an extraterrestrial”. Messi got 74 of his 86 goals from inside the box, most of which were through penalties. His left foot guided the ball into the goal net 75 times. Here is a picture gallery containing some spectacular exploits in 2012 of the man who cannot be described in mere words.

Click here to view gallery:

http://www.newsyaps.com/lionel-messis-2012-record-breaking-journey-in-20-pictures/4153/

After 28 years, revisiting Bhopal gas tragedy

In the history of modern India no tragedy was as gruesome as the Bhopal Gas disaster. Year after year the media of the country and the people revisit the intervening night of 2-3 December, 1984 when over 500,000 people were exposed to methyl isocyanate resulting in the deaths of 8,000 people immediately and 10-20 thousand more in total. The incident is also a glaring example of the pace at which the judicial system of India progresses with such cases; it took 26 years for the court to pronounce all eight accused guilty. This single tragedy is also enough to show the lack of political will in Indian leaders since the extradition of Warren Anderson, prime accused in the case, has yet not happened.

Here is a gallery:

http://www.newsyaps.com/after-28-years-revisiting-bhopal-gas-tragedy/3797/

img courtesy: firstpost.com

Tahrir of Egypt: From protests to the Constitution

The 2011 Egyptian Revolution was a landmark event in modern history. Never in the recent history did anyone ever witness such widespread protests, such unity and such a zeal as was seen during the 18 days from January 25 to February 11, 2011. On Friday, the Egyptian constituent assembly approved a final draft of the new constitution.

Here is a pictorial essay of Egypt from the very start of the famous revolution to the day the final draft was passed.

http://www.newsyaps.com/tahrir-of-egypt-from-protests-to-the-constitution/3673/