I did not like Slumdog Millionaire

I did not like Slumdog Millionaire.  I did not feel good watching this movie.  I did not feel good when, spoilers coming, the little boy was blinded, when children were prepared for prostitution, when the brother was shot.  I did not find it hard to resist because our hero got to dance after all this with lots of other people in some confetti.

I was reading an article last week that stated that if people share one thing that they like, it follows that they will share many other interests as well.  Which is the reasoning behind the marketing on shopping websites that suggest products to you based on what else was brought by customers who also brought your original purchase.

The logic follows that if you read and like my blog, then you may have already read this article as we would both share our choice of a Saturday newspaper.

But to illustrate, Noami Klein’s No Logo would naturally go with Noam Chomsky’s Media Control and what I rather like on Amazon, ‘What do Customers Ultimately buy After Viewing This item’ – Season One of The Wire – is the other four Seasons of The Wire.

Librarything.com does the opposite, it went on to suggest suggesting books that you would be least likely to read, based on what you have brought.  I’m a big believer in being open-minded and think it’s a great idea but I suspect it wouldn’t do any good for me.

I judge a book by its cover.  The font, colour and height of the book on the shelf all play a part in getting me to pick it up but what will almost certainly be the cause of a swift return is who reviews it.  If I see notable critics from the Sunday Times, Daily Mail, Heat, GQ or any other such have read this book and it even raised a smile, that would be enough for me to shove it right back on the shelf.

It’s the same impulse behind why I cannot watch programmes such as Boys and Girls Alone.  I see the liberal conservatism and already know that the nature vs nurture debate will be settled in the shows’ open, fair experiment.  The not at all edited findings will suggest that girls are naturally mean and sneaky and boys solve things by having a good fight before living happily ever after.  This may not be true but I couldn’t take the risk.

The worst thing of watching TV, reading newspaper, listening to the radio is having to hear other peoples opinions when they don’t agree with your own.

So we come to Boris Johnson in the London BJ daily paper slamming the BBC about reacting to Thatcher’s comments about the Black tennis player who is curiously never named.  Obviously it’s an overreaction.  A prank call to an national icon is one thing, but the blatantly racist remarks of Carol Thatcher let alone, Prince Harry, Prince Charles, well these are private conversations. 

I don’t need an article to tell me that anyone who voted for this guy, is unlikely to be someone who it will ever be suggested that I spend time with.