U2 - Stand Up Comedy: Line By Line Walk-Through

'Stand Up Comedy' is the 7th track(listen) of U2's No Line On The Horizon. It wasn't a single, it isn't on anybody's favourites list nor is it a critically appreciated song. But it sort of summarizes a whole amalgam of ideas in one sweet place. I'll try to break it down.

Most Importantly-
1. I could be wrong. I might be seeing too much into it.
2. I don't care, because I'm having fun
3. I'll try not to look at the song from Bono's point of view, rather, try to adopt a more generalist view

So, lets begin...

Love love love love love

Love love love love love

[Bono being Bono]

I got to stand up and take a step

You and I have been asleep for hours

[The need to wake up and stop living life like a dream]

I got to stand up

The wire is stretched in between our two towers

[People are like towers with only a thin connection akin to a wire between them]

Stand up in this dizzy world

[Fast paced life, computers, smart phones and every other shenanigan you can think of]

Where a lovesick eye can steal the view

[A greedy person can get everyone's attention-by any means. Hence the use of negative words]

I'm gonna fall down if I can't stand up

For your love

[The idea that standing up for something or someone is what will get one through life]

Love love love love love

[Bono being Bono]

Stand up, this is comedy

The DNA lottery may have left you smart

[Humans have just got lucky to be blessed with a brain. There's a necessity to use it wisely]

But can you stand up to beauty, dictator of the heart

[Probably the best line by Bono-Ever. More on this in another post]

I can stand up for hope, faith, love

[Stuff worth standing up for]

But while I'm getting over certainty

Stop helping God across the road like a little old lady

[Again a brilliant line by Bono. Using the anti-metaphor of an Old Lady for organised religion. The line is a warning not to fall for false prophets and ideologies while on the path to excepting the impermanence of life i.e. dealing with changes or difficulties]

Out from under your beds

C'mon ye people

Stand up for your love

[Exhortation! Lol]

Love love love love love

[Bono being Bono]

I gotta stand up to ego but my ego's not really the enemy

It's like a small child crossing an eight lane highway

On a voyage of discovery

[The understanding that ego shouldn't take up as much 'space' as it always does. Also, the idea that the 'I' is more a changing, fluid entity which gets moulded along the journey. To have a strong ego and suffering as a cause being stuck ought not to bog one down]

Stand up to rock stars, Napolean is in high heels

Josephine, be careful of small men with big ideas

[rock stars = Bono. Napolean=Bono. Josephine=Groupies??? Or maybe you and me. Bono is probably trying to be self-deprecating here. The high heels refer to being taller than what one really is!]

Out from under your beds

C'mon ye people

Stand up for your love

[More Exhortations!]

Love love love love love

[Bono being Bono]

God is love

And love is evolution's very best day

[God is love. No comments because I don't understand it completely. The second line would probably derive from the above that God can be achieved a.k.a evolution in this case by following the path of 'Love' - probably universal Love, but hey it might just be a scam]

Soul rockin' people moving on

Soul rockin' people on and on

C'mon ye people

We're made of stars

[Literal or metaphorical? Your guess is as good as mine. Might also mean the permeation of pop culture into people's psyches where individuals lose their individuality replacing their originality with socially acceptable personalities and thought patterns]

C'mon ye people

Stand up then sit down for your love

[Odd line. Probably having to do with jumping about in a concert. Or, maybe the foresight to know when to 'stand up' for something and when to 'sit down'('let go')]

Love love love love love

Love love love love love

[Bono being Bono]

There, I'm a fanboy now :\

As an afterthought, this is a really interesting article about The Edge's guitar effect which a good friend passed along.

Peace _/\_

Which Means

.. which means X>Y

.. which means that the world will end according to you

.. which means Y>=X as the walls aren't crumbling nor is the earth cracking

.. which means you're wrong

.. which means I've solved the problem

My mind keeps chattering ".. which means..." a lot these days after House marathons

Prithviraj Chavan & I

Prithviraj Chavan is the new Chief Minister of the state of Maharashtra. So what you ask?

Well, he is an alumni of my college which is an odd thing because politicians don't usually come from an engineering (or even educated?) background, but thats not the point here, or should it be?

Not so strangely thats what most people's chatter/gossip/status messages seemed to be saying:

"Proud to be a BITSian!"

"Another alumni to be proud off!" etc etc

Mine simply said "boom boom" (Diwali hangover) because I fail to comprehend how stealing somebody else's success would make me magically better (yes, I get the part about human beings being social beings and all that but I haven't even met the guy, hell, I didn't even know who he was till the news came out!) or help me climb the social ladder. Or could it just be that all those other people had nothing more important going on in their lives making them to live somebody else's even though its a lie?

Maybe I'm egotistical or a tad bit insensitive but at least I don't have my head up in the clouds. Prithviraj Chavan sure must be a great man and there probably could be a thing or two I can learn from him. I'd even like to hear him speak sometime, but do I feel an iota for him? No.

P.S. Or maybe I am the biggest hypocrite of them all to make a blog post out of him?

Hate

I hate this blog.

Cure For The

do what you want to do NOW

The Girl Who Made Heads Turn

[Disclaimer: Morbid Shit]

She stood there by the side of the road, a lonely figure with a green top and a black jean. From the moment I turned the street I noticed her, unable to take my eyes of her. As I drew closer, she noticed me too and tossed her hair to one side and looked at me and for a moment there our eyes locked. It was just the two of us now alone in that moment full of possibility, like a time locked oasis where nothing there that could touch us or ever come between us. I was aware simply of her beauty, her grace and her poise and knew at once that she was the one I was to be with. It felt as if my heart was torn asunder and laid plainly at her feet. I only realised that something was terribly wrong only as her expression changed from one of surprise and then to that of shock as I hit the ground hard while riding at 70 kilometers per hour. My last thoughts that I can remember simply screamed out "Damn that bloody murderess..."

[On 2nd thoughts, maybe you've seen this in some damn movie but wthell]

Cigarettes VS Mint

This happens almost every time I'm with buddies

Friend 1: Macha, buy me 1 cig da.

Friend 2: Sure da. Which one? I think they have only Kings.

Friend 1: Ya, thats cool. And buy some mint also.

Me: Dai, buy me one mint also da. See if they have that 2 bucks polo

[I get stared at]

Friend 1: Dude, you know what happens if you have too much mint right?

Me (Feigning Ignorance): No da, what happens?

Friend 1: You'll become impotent. You're future wife will leave you for sure..

Friend 2: Or maybe you won't even have one! Hahaha

Ok, WTF? The 2 buggers are having CIGARETTES which will UNDOUBTEDLY KILL them. And they are worried about my future impotency just because I have the occasional mint? WTF!?

Fountainhead Characters on SCJP Exam

[I'm scared of The Fountainhead's fans. Everything anyone ever says about the book is WRONG, except their own interpretation of course. The more knuckleheaded they are, the more I fear them trying to ambush me in the nearby bakery with a club or something. Now this little thingy might be just the thing to give em that incentive. But so what?]

A friend and I were discussing the SCJP exam and apparently folks these days are mugging up previous questions to get 96-98%. One thing then lead to another and here's what we (sorta) agreed on (ok it was mostly me) what the characters from The Fountainhead might have to say about it

Roark: SCJP? Wazzat???

Wynand: SCJP? F** that. I'm starting my own exam.. And YOU (Who me?) are going to be the 1st one to pass it you hear me?

Keating (snicker snicker): I'm going to mug all the questions to get 98%. And THEN I'm going to understand EVERYTHING so that I can make the remaining 2% as well. Muhahaha! I'm awesome!!

Toohey(evil laugh): I'm gonna get 96% by mugging, then pretend I'm of a lower caste. I'll then stand for election claiming to be very intelligent and deserving and then become mayor of this city! MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

--X--X--X--

Another part of the convo actually had this bit of conversation in it:

You know what

I'm back in college

some c*** suckers are sucking up

to the incharge

and I'm trying to convince them

that he's a fake

and they suck up even harder

then I call them

and say look

and suddenly there's a computer screen

and I compile the incharge

and he has errors

now they're thinking,

maybe I'm right.

So yea,

Lord Vinayaka

My favourite God has to be Lord Vinayaka (Ganesha). The second child of Lord Shiva, he was originally created to guard his consort Parvati while she bathed but ended up almost defeating the Lord himself in battle before having his head severed. He was then revived with the head of an elephant and so began his story.

Lord Ganesha is one of the more smarter and playful ones among the Hindu Gods. A famous story about him is when his brother Muruga got fooled into traversing the whole universe at the behest of his parents but the cheeky Ganesha simply went around his parents stating that his parents were indeed the universe itself! Finally someone who doesn't spend all his time meditating, saving the universe or gets himself fooled into giving boons to ill meaning Rakshasas (Demons)

Now comes the most interesting part of Lord Vinayaka. He's fat. Yes, he's fat and I always wondered why. Almost every other Hindu god is portrayed as a warrior (I even saw an image of Lord Krishna on sale near the ISKON temple sporting a six pack!) with grand weapons and all the other paraphernalia but Lord Vinayaka is always shown with a bowl full of laddus! (Sure his stomach is supposed to 'symbolise' a vast hoard of knowledge and the laddus are supposed to be knowledge to be assimilated........ yea........ok..... ) .

He's also the God who doesn't demand too much from you. All he asks of his devotees is to tell him a friendly 'Hi' before starting something new and ask for his blessing and doesn't bother you thereafter. Oh and did you know that he also protects street corners from ghosts? Hence the little Ganesha idols at the end of every street end.

All in all, its Lord Ganesh FTW if there ever was a "Who's your favourite God?" poll.

Probability In Everyday Life

A few friends and I were discussing palmistry when the following bit of conversation happened

Friend 1: Macha, show me your hand again.. oh you have a simian crease!

Me: Hahaha, doesn't Simian mean monkey or something??

Friend 2: Best monkey man! But wtf? I can't believe we are discussing this stuff. How can you believe in this garbage?

Friend 3: But you know chicks like such stuff..

Friend 2 (with almost 0 reaction time): Does your Mom also like it?

(Silence)

Friend 1: Simian creases are damn rare da.

Friend 3: Balls. I know many people who have it. My dad and uncle have them. Its not rare at all...

I later found out that only about 3% of the population have them. What that lead me to understand is that Friend 3 might have a misconceived notion about something simply because he was exposed to outliers i.e. 2 people close to him having the simian crease without even knowing it.

I wonder how many wrong notions I have.. Hmmm...