GoldSafe and similar fraud shows

As usual, the idiot box is on while I am surfing the internet and watching the inane stuff that shows up on late night. In addition to the usual teleshopping ads, there is a new kind of unbelievable con that is legally allowed on Indian television. There is a program called GoldSafe on NDTV Imagine (and there are similar shows on other channels as well). The con goes like this - you identify the face of a celebrity which is partially hidden and win money for the guessing the right answer. The face is generally easily recognizable and the presenter - an ever chattering nincompoop that incessantly keeps asking people to call and win the moolah. You will have loads of clowns calling up and dreaming up names that do not even remotely resemble the celebrity in question. I am pretty sure that they are people hired by the show to change accents and names call up with all kinds of funny wrong answers.

The charges are freaking exorbitant (Rs12 a minute) and the time keeps piling up without any discernible end in sight. Right now, it's almost an hour and no one has guessed the obvious face. How do they manage to get people to hold? They keep having these 1-2 minute timers which keep popping up interlaced with the constant chatter of the unbelievably stupid low-life drones asking people to pick up the phone and call. Then they have the 4-6 minute speed round where there is no wait and all are let in. Finally, when the con takes too long (which is usually the case), they have a final 5 where the last 5 callers are chosen.

This must be incredibly lucrative for the channel and the producers but can't help but wonder how many viewers are left holding the bag. I don't know how this can be legally allowed. Makes the junk sold on the teleshopping network look benign in comparison.

Goes on to prove the proverb - A fool and his money are soon parted. And there is no end to the number of fools or the number of people helping them part with their money.

I believe that viewers should vote with their remotes and avoid channels like unscrupulous channels like NDTV Imagine that help perpetrate these kinds of fraud

India TV sucks!

Can you believe this crap? This piece of news is about a love triangle between a tiger and a tigress (who is 3 years older)... India TV is the pits... This same junka*s television news channel played what seems like a "hoax" call with a terrorist during the 26/11 terrorist attack in Mumbai. Barkha Dutt should join this news channel... It would be a match made in heaven!

Presenting the world's most pathetic dance video

Lo and behold! A funny video clip for your viewing pleasure



The origins of this comedy masterpiece are unknown but I presume that this belongs to some B-grade movie. The dance sequence is ably assisted with some moves that seem vaguely similar to physical training exercises in primary school. The lipsync and sublime expressions are unbelievable... Must be an ultimate frustroo movie (note the gratuitous groping of the actress)

I want to learn this new dance form from the choreographer... Please let me know if any of you find out anything about this movie, actor or choreographer...

Asinine, puerile vomit of an excuse for an ad

You have to check out the new Emami "Fair and Handsome" ad that's on the telly these days. A young man scampers around surreptiously in a ladies hostel. Is he a cross dresser looking for women's clothes? Is he a pervert looking for lingerie? Is he a peeping Tom looking for a steamy scene? Nope, he is a dark man looking for good old Fair and Lovely fairness cream. What drives this man to go through all this trouble rather than checking his friendly neighborhood medical store? Beats me. Is Emami trying to pass a subliminal message that ''Dark is dumb'' along with the ''Dark is ugly'' message? Maybe, they have a ''Fair and Handsome and Intelligent'' product coming up.

Anyways, the women get to know, scream and chase him. A passing male jogger and our dark desperado hide behind the flower pots to avoid the bashing to follow. Our innocent jogging partner is not mad about getting needlessly stuck in this jamboree but pissed at the fact that our dark desperado is a man and is still using women's fairness cream. Miffed and without his fix (of Fair and Lovely fairness cream), our dark desperado gets the Aakashvaani (divine voice from Emami) informing him of the Fair and Handsome product. Daily application of the same for 6-8 weeks and, voila, our dark desperado is transformed from his hideous decrepit dark self into a fair and handsome young man. He metamorphoses into a veritable chick magnet with cries of ''Hi Handsome'' from women rending the air.

Can anything be more dumb than this? A reality check is in order. If a man would enter a ladies hostel, he would be looking for fair and lovely and not ''Fair and Lovely''. Emami has made a whole business out of the Indian dark skin inferiority complex. The product is a stupid concept since it cures the wrong problem - the problem is in the mind not the complexion.

But this asinine, puerile vomit of an excuse for an ad makes me want to administer a can of whupass on the admen responsible for it.