01.03.2011

Finance & Economy

• The Budget
• ET’s budget edition has nothing else except the budget.  It is a futile effort trying to cover the budget.  It is better that we read the paper in entirety.
• The paper is full of critiques and platitudes about the budget.  But the one that really deserves a closer look is this well-written criticism of the budget by Yashwant Sinha, a former FM himself.
• Strongly recommend taking a look at the entire paper.  Though it may take a few days to cover the entire paper, it’s well worth the effort.
• Some meaningful suggestions on power sector reform
• Take a look at this ET editorial on the subject.  Worth a read.

International

• The Oscars...
• The King’s Speech, a period drama about King George VI who is unsure about making a speech a day before the second World War, won four awards — best film, best direction (a surprise), best actor and best original screenplay.
• Indians couldn’t make any mark this time — Tariq Anwar nominated for The King’s Speech (editing) or AR Rahman (two nominations for 127 Hours). But Rahman made up for the miss. In a ceremony that lasted only 3 hrs 12 min, he performed his Oscar-nominated song If I Rise with singer Florence Welch to a loud applause.
• Direction: Tom Hooper - The King’s Speech
• Actor: Colin Firth - The King’s Speech
• Actress: Natalie Portman - Black Swan
• Supporting Actor: Christian Bale - The Fighter
• Supporting Actress: Melissa Leo - The Fighter
• Lifetime Achievement Award: Ian Wallach, Francis Ford Copola, Jean-Luc Godard and Kevin Brownlow

Language Lessons

• apocryphal: Adjective
• Being of questionable authenticity
• eg: But perhaps people also need to be reminded that the term ‘goldbricking’ has its roots in an apocryphal tale of a con trick in which gilded metal bricks were passed off as solid gold.