A Bit of This and That

Now that I'm finally recovering from the pain of Schumi's retirement (about which I will blog later, when I'm little less sentimental) I thought I'd get back to normal life:

So when I was trawling through the internet looking for Schumi tributes, I found this:

MICHAEL SCHUMACHER was the most lustful, the most ravenous, the most metaphysically ambitious sportsman of his generation. He made millions, but did not drive for money. He won thousands of admirers, but cared nothing for adulation.

As anyone who endured his hawkish glance and witnessed his visceral competitiveness will testify, Schumacher was driven by a passion for Formula One that bordered on obsession.

And a jolly good thing, too. Where would sport be without vehemence? Where would be the grandeur and the heroism, the joy and the heartbreak? Give me a warrior who craves victory for its own sake any day rather than the tepid careerism exemplified by so many British sportsmen, whose puny ambition is slaked by a few measly drops from the National Lottery Sports Fund.

This is what journalism is coming to? About the only adjective the author missed is supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. Rule number one: A tribute should not look like a thesaurus. (I must add, however, that I do agree with the sentiment).

I also had a bit of a shock when I read this:

Raul wanted to quit Madrid, president says

Not too long ago I had blogged about how much I appreciated Raul's loyalty to Real Madrid. To read this headline was a real slap in the face... until you actually read the story, and realise that Raul was willing to stop rather than drag his team down. This warms me all the way down to my toes, the idea that in modern football team loyalty is still paramount for atleast some people.

It also seems that Martin Scorcese will, yet again, lose out to Clint Eastwood. Reviews of both The Departed and Flags of our Fathers are largely positive, but Flags is being hailed by all critics as a masterpiece in film, while praise for The Departed is more along the lines of good genre entertainment. I haven't seen either film, ofcourse, but here's hoping they both find their way to the cinemas before the Oscars, so I wont have to resort to Bittorrent.

Veronica Mars holds its own in the ratings (infact, they went up last week). CW, please, please, please let me hear about that full-season order. Heroes has got a full-season order, and it is becoming more and more interesting. Hiro remains the best character on the show, and even though the series as such is definitely not even the best of the new shows, there's something about it that has hooked me. I must also say a word about Friday Night Lights, which, as someone who does not give a flying f*ck about american football, I find engrossing. The art direction is beautiful. Studio 60 is still good, but Sorkin really needs to let someone else write the fictional sketches on the show; they get less funny every week.

The other two new shows I'm watching are The Nine and Ugly Betty. I'm really enjoying both. The Nine has too much fancy camera-work and atleast one character I really don't like (Egan), but the cast is top-notch and there are moments that it has that just suck me back in every episode. Ugly Betty is wonderful. Its warm, and amusing, and campy. It doesn't take itself too seriously, and it has Vanessa Williams as the big bitch.

Crying A River

The Brazilian GP was heart-breaking. It was also an exceptional demonstration of Schumacher's talent, determination and grit. He showed why he holds practically every F1 record in existence.

I can't say anymore about him than to say Thank you, and all the best.

I literally cannot imagine F1 without him.

Planet of the Apes

Apparently monkeys also exhibit religious behaviour:

'Hindu' Monkey Bites Muslim Kid

Some extracts from this priceless report:

"This is a story of a simian who has been caged in Orissa for the last five years for, believe it or not, disturbing communal harmony.

The seven year-old monkey called Ramu is serving life imprisonment at Remuna police station in Balasore district.

Raised by a Hindu family, he bit some Muslim children five years ago, sparking communal tension in the area. When police intervened, they put him in this cage."

Whaaaa? is my first reaction. My second reaction is to go watch Charlton Heston and hope that that is the future of the world. Because, clearly, we don't deserve to make any more of a mess than we already have. Maybe Darwin, were he alive, would now like to argue for a process of devolution, where Simians were the pinnacle of biological development. He would have had a point: monkeys don't create technologies that can kill themselves, and anybody else that follows. Monkeys also don't create specific social orders and rules and then spend the rest of their existence squabbling endlessly over them.

TGIF? Nah, not so much

Working on Saturday has made most weekends not just short but incredibly busy. For a compulsive shopper like me it means that I have to spend my Sundays trawling the markets. Last Sunday was spent buying sneakers. And because I insist on only wearing Puma, it took a goodly while to find shoes that were both comfortable, good looking, and cost under four grand. Of course, I still spent a disproportionate amount of my salary buying the shoes.

The weekend just gone was all about Diwali melas and trudging around the Swiss embassy and the Blind school looking at jewellery, clothes, crockery, clothes, jewellery. There was also yummy food, which I partook of quite gratefully.

My Sister had a baby!!!!! Hello, baby! Welcome to the world! He's the cutest little thing...

Also, met with friends after a long while, and its always good to do that. What I haven't done in sometime is watch a film. That has to change very very soon...

Also cooked after a long while. Don't have any sense of proportion now, my pasta always ends up a little bit low on basil and then I have to douse it with non-fresh basil which never seems to make enough of a difference. Gah.

And can I just add, while on the subject of food, what a genius whoever came up with Pop Tarts is? Mmmmmm.

TidBits

Random bits of news:

Goro Miyazaki, son of Hayao Miyazaki, has made an animated film version of Ursula LeGuin's classic Tales from Earthsea. He has also caused my head to explode from the sheer awesomeness of it all. Now I really really want to see this film.

Apple, Bono and Oprah have teamed up to release a red iPod nano. This is as a result of Apple joining in the RED initiative, where $10 from the sale of each red iPod will go toward fighting AIDS in Africa. The nano is pretty. And even though I did not plan to buy one, now I think I must. (Yes, advertising works on me.)

Terry Gilliam's latest film, Tideland, is apparently awful. So he is capable of making a totally crappy film... thought I'm sure the so-called badness of this film will merely highlight the genius that is Brazil.

If You Forget Me

If You Forget Me

I want you to know
one thing.

You know how this is:
if I look
at the crystal moon, at the red branch
of the slow autumn at my window,
if I touch
near the fire
the impalpable ash
or the wrinkled body of the log,
everything carries me to you,
as if everything that exists,
aromas, light, metals,
were little boats
that sail
toward those isles of yours that wait for me.

Well, now,
if little by little you stop loving me
I shall stop loving you little by little.

If suddenly
you forget me
do not look for me,
for I shall already have forgotten you.

If you think it long and mad,
the wind of banners
that passes through my life,
and you decide
to leave me at the shore
of the heart where I have roots,
remember
that on that day,
at that hour,
I shall lift my arms
and my roots will set off
to seek another land.

But
if each day,
each hour,
you feel that you are destined for me
with implacable sweetness,
if each day a flower
climbs up to your lips to seek me,
ah my love, ah my own,
in me all that fire is repeated,
in me nothing is extinguished or forgotten,
my love feeds on your love, beloved,
and as long as you live it will be in your arms
without leaving mine.

Pablo Neruda

*sigh...*

There's this song, by Sandi Thom called I Wish I was a Punk Rocker (With Flowers in my Hair). She's singing about how she wishes she could've been born in '77 or '69, and expereinced the revolutionary spirit among that generation's youth. I wish I'd been alive in the late 50s or early 60s (as a twenty-year old) and been able to (maybe) hear or meet people like Neruda and Guevara and Marquez. I suppose I could still accomplish one of those, even now... but how incredible would it have been to actually breathe the same air as someone like Neruda.

Ten Things I Hate About...

... well, nothing in particular. But just 'Ten Things I Hate' doesn't quite have the same ring to it. So in a completely random arrangement:

1. "Brangelina" and the tabloid (and mainstream!) fascination with such.

2. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.

3. The law that makes you get into an auto-rickshaw just as soon as the completely empty bus you were waiting half an hour for shows up.

4. How torrents go bad in the last 2-3% of download. (Or are discovered to be so)

5. Feeling Old. 22 seems to be the new 30 these days.

6. Opening a newspaper and seeing a full page ad on the seond page.

7. Remembering to watch that really exciting program thirty minutes after it ends.

8. The lack of chocolate necessary to keep one's jeans fitting

9. Realising that that really sexy top from 4 months ago now outlines your tummy very lovingly.

10. Being stuck doing things that require you to use .0005% of your brain.

Google Tube?

From Salon:

YouTube gets Googled

Dot-com boom days are here again. YouTube launched 19 months ago. Today, Google bought the company for $1.65 billion in stock. What does it mean? If we needed any more proof that Google intends to be one of the masters of the media universe for the foreseeable future, well, here you go. YouTube, it hardly needs belaboring, is the kind of global phenomenon that delivers an irreversible shift in how media is produced and consumed, à la Napster. But unlike Napster, YouTube has at least partially succeeded in convincing established media companies that it can be a partner, and not a mortal enemy that must be destroyed. Along with the deal came a flurry of licensing announcements with the likes of CBS, Universal and Sony BMG. That doesn't mean the GoogTube Goliath will be completely immune from a swarm of copyright lawyers descending upon it like a horde of locusts. But it suggests that this new beast will survive their onslaught.

Which, from a global point of view, is probably a good thing. YouTube isn't just the easiest, most popular way for people to share and view video on the Internet. It is the necessary next step in the democratization and enrichment of global cultural intercourse.

A quick example: For nearly a month, I've been checking in regularly to several India-related blogs that comment on Indian music and movies. Embedded YouTube links to short clips ripped from Bollywood films are routine. These clips are undoubtedly copyright violations. But they've also been a tasty introduction to an (increasingly less) alien popular culture that has enriched my appreciation of what the world has to offer, culturally speaking, and increased my appetite for the full, unexpurgated product. Seeing and hearing is believing. I feel as if a firehose of Indian culture has suddenly been blasted at me. We've long known that the Internet collapses time and distance. The seamless sharing of video and music means that cultural barriers are also prone to crumbling.

The global conversation will be GoogTubed. Tanks rolling in a Thailand coup? Find it on YouTube. It's one thing to read reports posted by bloggers moment by moment from Bangkok. It's another thing entirely to see Thai generals with their hands clasped in Buddhist prayer, against a backdrop of portraits of the king and queen, announce their takeover on live TV (with a surreal slinky jazz introduction to boot).

A self-made spoof of outsourcing at a Burger King drive-through window? The glory of Al Yankovic's "White and Nerdy"? David Ortiz winning Game 5 against the Yankees, as seen from a fan's digital camera?

From the silly to the severe, the world seems a richer, closer, more interconnected place now that user-generated video and mash-ups and cut-and-pasted clips are illustrating, commenting upon, mocking and recording the world second by second. Naturally, people were sharing video on the Net before YouTube, just as there were search engines before Google. But the two platforms dominate, and help immensely to facilitate, their chosen domains. Their marriage is potent. Not long from now, I'm going to hear a rumor of a riot in Shanghai or a rave in Bangalore. I will Google it, and I will see it. Maybe I will be enlightened or amused or rocked. Maybe I'll be depressed or disgusted or immediately distracted by something else. Whatever -- the opportunities for connection and conversation just continue to grow.

-- Andrew Leonard

I don't really have anything much more to say, except that I wait with baited breath to see what Google do with their latest acquistion. And also to see what Apple come up with, when they release iTV. If there was speculation of content sharing with Google before, surely that's going to triple now?

Gutted...

...would be a fair way to describe how I felt after watching Michael Schumacher's championship hopes explode with his engine. After 6 years without an engine failure, what a time for it to let go! I was in tears, and had to pray for Alonso to have a retirement as well for whatever reason. It didn't happen ofcourse, and then I spent the next hour sobbing over the phone my sister... who understands my love for F1 and Schumi. Watching the smug arse after the race dancing around on his car was... well, unpalatable really. But now, I really just want to quote Leyser from the Atlas F1 bulletin board, who put it so beautifully:

I was very upset when I saw what happened to MS's Ferrari and was sat there in a state of semi-shock and disbelief, until I saw him in the garage, smiling and shaking the hands of every single mechanic. If Monaco was the lowest point for my support for Michael, then that moment may have been the highest - certainly as far as off-track behavior is concerned. Maybe it stands out more prominently in light of the recent headlines, but that was really special and in a way 2006 now has something from every period of Michael's career in Ferrari, and this very public display of what helped him make Ferrari what it has become is the next best thing to what should have been.

Alonso showed today that regardless to how much he runs his mouth off the track, he is still superb on it. I don't think either of them can be called lucky or unlucky - both would be deserving champions as they have proved time and again this season that they are the class of the field and trying to nitpick for faults is pathetic: you don't win 7 races in a season and be undeserving of a WDC, you simply don't.

I'll be hoping for - what would for me be - a miracle in the last race, but if in the first few seconds I didn't know how to digest the likely end result of the season, MS made it much easier for me and I thank him for that.

In the end, I have to agree with this and hope for a miracle in Brazil. But even if that doesn't happen, I have to believe that Michael will win the race, because that would be the only fitting end to such a brilliant career. He's given us so much as fans, including the knowledge that he will give his best in Brazil no matter what. Thank you Michael, for being so incredible. You will be missed.

Howl's Moving Castle

So, I was rewatching Howl's Moving Castle today with my brother. I've fallen in love with it all over again...

Howl's Moving Castle is Hayao Miyazaki's latest film. It was released last year and was nominated for a Best Animated Feature Oscar (with the excellent Corpse Bride and winner Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-rabbit being the others). Those who take an interest in animation and Japanese films will recognize Miyazaki as the creator of such glorious masterpieces as Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away. And while those two films are technically (in terms of screenplay) much better than this one, Howl's is closest to my heart.

Based on a book by Welsh author Dianna Wynne Jones, Howl's is about a young girl, Sophie, it turned into a 90 year old woman. The film immediately enchants, and you know this is much much better than the stock animation pervading the genre these days - witness the profusion of animal-zoo type animated cinema: from Open Season to Ant Bully. When Sophie is turned into an old woman, she tell herself "There now, that's not so bad. You're in good shape and you clothes finally suit you". This is the brand of humour and whimsy Miyazaki brings to cinema.

The film is set in a staple Miyazaki vaguely-19th century Europe (Sophie's hometown looks like Bavaria). Sophie is rescued from the attentions of some soldiers by the young, enigmatic wizard Howl, who is himself being chased by low-grade monsters from the Wicked Witch of Waste. Needless to say, she immediately falls in love with him, and being seen with him enrages the Witch to turn her into an old woman. In a way, this is Miyazaki's masterstroke. Sophie is different in that being old gives her the freedom to be whoever she wants to be. Throughout the film, Sophie's physical appearance changes with her emotional state. She embraces the change as a release from fear and self-consciousness, and in a way it inspires her to adventure.

After being turned into a woman of pensionable age, Sophie leaves home, and recues an enchanted scarecrow (Turnip Head) who leads her to the movie's titular castle. The castle is a wonderful thing - you have never seen anything quite like this before. It is awesome, not in the way that a royal palace is awesome, but in the literal sense of the word. Clearly hand drawn, the castle is a series of tacked on towers and turrets, as mysterious as its owner, moving around on giant chicken legs. On first viewing, one can't help but share Sophie's wonder.

Sophie proceeds to move into the castle as a cleaning lady, along with Howl and his aide Markl. The Castle is powered by a fire-sprite named Calcifer, who is witty and charming and totally vain, just like Howl. Indeed, Howl is a beautiful and talented wizard - and arrogant and immature with it. (He's laso animated, but I'm choosing to ignore that - I'm as much in love with him as Sophie. I know I need help.) There is a deep bond, stretching to childhood, between Howl and Calcifer. Their magic is inextricably linked.

Omnipresent through the film is war. Miyazaki leaves the details obscure - we're never quite certain who is at war with whom, or indeed why. It is treated as inconsequential, and is representative of Miyazaki's disgust at human barbarity. There is a scene where Sophie and Howl are enjoying a quiet moment in a beautiful meadow-like space, when there serenity is interrupted by zeppelins. Sophie asks Howl if they're enemy ships, and Howl responds: "It doesn't matter. They're both going to kill people".

A lot more happens, of course, before we get our happy ending. But its such a joyful ride to get there, that even the increasing incomprehensibility of the plot doesn't detract from the almost adolescent enjoyment that an adult can come away with - all you need is a open heart. At its whimsical best, Howl's is a romance, in the traditional, epic sense. The author of the book of which the film is based, Dianna Wynne Jones, said after watching the film "I had grown used to young ladies regularly writing to me to say that they wanted to marry Howl. Now, Howl in the film is so plain stunning and sexy that I think I have joined them."

So have I, Dianna, so have I.

Anticipation

Argh! Can't Hardly Wait for Sunday to come so I can watch the Grand Prix. Its so close, anyone could win... this race has the potential of being a real cracker, with everything that's riding on it and with all that has been said over the last week.

Having said that I'm suffering from withdrawal from shopping. Working regularly leaves very little time to go buy windows, but this Sunday will be exception. I want new Pumas.

P.S. Am changing my blog layout post-migration to Blogger Beta! Wheeee! Its fun!
Also, taking an oath to only have catchy/witty post titles now.

Lage Raho, Munnabhai

On the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, we managed to go and watch Lage Raho Munnabhai (finally). [As an aside, let me note that the movie, tax free, and in the middling seat range cost us some 135 rupees. Go figure.] First impressions of the movie were generally favourable, and as such I quite enjoyed the warm, sort of gentle humour.

A result of watching a film after so much has already been written about it is that the stuff you've read obviously influences the movie you're watching, leading you to motice things that you might not have, and to think in directions you might not have. In a way this was true for me, because I may have spent less time thinking about the Gandhian principles that the movie supposedly advocates. In any case, a lot has been written about the degree to which the film is faithful to Gandhism. Some have argued that the film is guilty of over-simplification and others have cast doubts over the relevance of Gandhi in the 21st century. While I do want to add my .02 to the whole debate, I'll stick with reviewing the film first.

Plot-wise, the film is simple. Munna is in love with an RJ, Janavi (played by the lovely Vidya Balan). He poses as a Gandhian professor to meet and impress her. Janavi lives with her Grandfather in a sort of old-age home, which unbeknownst to Munna is the house he is meant to get vacated for Lucky Singh. No major twists other than ones the viewer knows will be coming. There are no major artifical conflict-situation creations, which is gratifying. Director Hirani obviously has the confidence in his cast and screenplay to keep the viewer entertained, without needing to resort to cheap melodrama, thank goodness.

In terms of the humour itself (which is important, considering the film has been marketed as a comedy) it was...well, gentle is the word that comes to mind. Hirani doesn't rely on slapstick but instead draws on the audience recall from the first Munnabhai to really create the humour. I have to say, though, while I was amused, there were not that many laugh out loud moments. There were definitely a few, but not enough to really truly entertain just as a comedy.

I also have to say here that I am not a big Sanjay Dutt fan. I think he is a mediocre actor at best, and seeing him look so bloated - and patenly older - doesn't inspire me to suspend my belief. However, the supporting cast around him more than makes up for any performance deficit. Arshad Warsi has been praised, and rightly so, for his portrayal of Circuit. I must say, I love Circuit. He's a very funny sidekick and a loyal friend. Warsi's comic timing is impeccable (One of the longer gags in the film is the Gandhi Jayanti as Dry day - and its absolutely hilarious). Vidya Balan, as I have already noted, is quite beautiful, and I may have a bit of a girl-crush on her. For me, though, the standout performance is Boman Irani's. He is such a verstaile actor, and so unbelievably funny as Lucky Singh, that he steals the show. The scene where a paranoid and frustrated Lucky reacts angrily to a woman he perceives is mocking him with her gajra is pure cinematic gold.

And might I mention here that it seems like Abhishek Bachchan is fast turning into India's Jude Law? It may sound like I have an axe to grind against him (I really don't) but is there anything I've seen in the last few months that Abhishek Bachchan has not been in? I suppose it'll be too much to ask at the next Filmfare Awards to have the MC make a joke at Abhishek's expense, and then have say, Ajay Devgan, come and defend him like the stick-in-the-mud he probably is. I'm just saying.

Now for the Gandhigiri. As I have already noted, the range of opinions on this differ. Mine, like any good liberal's, is probably somewhere in the middle ;) While I can understand some of frustration about the so-called oversimplified form of Gandhian principles being advocated in the movie, lets not forget that this is a movie. And its purpose is to entertain etc. etc. Personally I think that Hirani has done a fairly admirable job in picking up parts of Gandhi's philosophy and adapting them into a cinematic frame. Yes, its superficial, but so what? Even if it convinces some 1 in 20 viewers to have a closer look at Gandhi's ideology, its done more than it set out to do. As for the other view, that Gandhism in itself is unsuited to the practicalities of 21st century India, well, all I can say is that said people have very narrow views. (And I mean this in the nicest possible way). The great thing about ideas is that you don't have to accept them in whole - you can take the parts you like and build something completely new from it. And I seriously doubt that Gandhi would object to that.

The movie, though, does get a little preachy sometimes. However, it also avoids some easy-to-fall-into temptations, in that it is still pragmatic enough to not provide easy solutions. Infact, this is all about taking the harder way - all of the pop-Gandhism advice that Munna dispenses is about playing the long game. There are no easy answers, no get-rich-quick miracles proposed, as evidenced by the work hard advice given to Victor (Jimmy Shergill, in a nice piece of stunt-casting. Also Jimmy Shergill was hot in this film. What's up with that?). Sometimes, especially in the climax, the overt sentimentality does get a tad nauseating (Janavi to Munna: Tumne mujhse jhoot kyon bola? Ki tum professor nahi ho? Gag). Overall though, the film is light, amusing, but with an unexpected depth.

Bascially, it was fun. And I'd recommend it.

My 2-year old theme song

I Miss You by Blink 182

"The unsuspecting victim Of darkness in the valley We can live like Jack and Sally if we want Where you can always find me" You grew up a lot in 2004. And it was mostly a very good thing.

What 2004 Hit Song Are You?

That is true. Did grow up and it was a good thing. And I don't even mind Blink 182 per se.

C'est La Vie.

Weekends and National Holidays

Its been a bit of a break from what was by my standards days of frantic blogging. And I have many many things to say, starting with the Chinese Grand Prix.

I have never been so happy! I was yelling, 'Yes, yes, Yes!!!' (not like that, Mitasho) when Schumi crossed the line, having won one of his best races (and with 91 wins, that is something), completely against the odds. One journo put it like this:

Michael Schumacher has long made a habit of taking victories that defied all plausibility and left his rivals slack-jawed as they tried to understand how they lost the race despite all the odds apparently being in their favour.

This race reminded me, again, how much I love F1, why I love it, and why Schumacher is an absolute genius. Some of the newer fans have forgotten how often Schumacher would win races against superior machinery, win things he had no business winning. Alonso drove a good race as well, as much as it pains me to say it. Fisichella was good, but really, this race was all about highlighting the difference between the good (Fisichella, Button et al) and the great (MS, Alonso, Raikonnen). I'm also very impressed with Kubica, he's done a spectacular job for BMW, and he's learning all the time. Webbo finally got a point, and no one deserved it more.

Alonso needs to be slapped across the face, though, IMO. First he goen on about how F1 is no longer a sport. Well, if you really think it isn't, Fernando, go do something else. Then he takes his level of paranoia to another dimension altogether and accuses his team of sabotaging him! According to him, because he'll be leaving for McLaren next year, the team don't want him to take the #1 there, and so they are doing enough to keep him from winning. And its not the first time he has said something like that. Petulant idiot- next year, with a grenade masquerading as an engine, I hope he understands what it really means to have your team let you down.

I am completely sick of all the whingeing Renault do about how poor, and deprived they are and how they're fighting against the odds (and the FIA) to win the title(s).

In football news, Christiano is playing unbelievably well. I mean, best-player-in-the-Premiership-right-now well. Man U were a joy to watch against Newcastle, and to put icing on the cake Chelsea drew their game, so United lead the table by dint of better GD. Yeah, baby! Eslewhere, AC Milan only drew their game, which leaves them near the bottom of the Serie A and Real didn't do much better, while Valencia won. Barca are also playing so well right now, its fabulous watching them.

I have become strangely apathetic to cricket. Just can't get myself excited enough about it. Hopefully it'll come back to me, coz right now I don't know half the names of the players of any squad other than India's. For a South Asian sport fan, that's... well, embarrasing.

I watched Lage Raho Munnabhai over the weekend. It was really really good, and I enjoyed it a lot. A more detailed review will be coming right up, but in some Very Good News, PVR has now starting selling popcorn tubs! Say hello to the real movie experience!!

Reading - A How To Guide?

Read an excellent piece by Nick Hornby titled 'How to Read'. I'm a huge fan of Hornby's writing, and I love his combination of dark humour and excellent characterization (IMO, anyway). His books are funny without being superficial, and I love that. So much, in fact, I'm ready to forgive him his Arsenal fan status. And this article only reinforces my belief that Hornby knows his readers.

He starts of discussing our (almost) pathological need to slag certain books and authors off. For me, V.S Naipul is one of those authors as is Kazuo Ishiguro, and for the life of me I cannot see why anyone would enjoy the God of Small Things. That apart, this is what really stood out for me:

We often read books that we think we ought to read, or that we think we ought to have read, or that other people think we should read (I'm always coming across people who have a mental, sometimes even an actual, list of the books they think they should have read by the time they turn 40, 50, or die); I'm sure I'm not the only one who harrumphs his way through a highly praised novel, astonished but actually rather pleased that so many people have got it so wrong.

I love his honesty, by the way. I definitely feel very smug when I've read something the whole world and its uncle has recommended, and I come out feeling distinctly underwhelmed. The Line of Beauty is an example.

More important though is the 'ought to read'. I do this all the time - I look at the Booker shortlist and Pulitzer nominees, not to mention the Orange Prize, and I make a conscious effort to read those so-called 'good books', even if I knew that I would not like them. I read them because they are 'worthy' and as a bibliophile I am expected to read them. A while back I became totally overwhelmed with the sheer volume of what I could read, and as a result, the first thing I cut out was pulp, stuff like Robin Cook and Ken Follett. (I have to say I don't miss those).

Again, Hornby puts it incredibly well:

I am not particularly interested in language. Or rather, I am interested in what language can do for me, and I spend many hours each day trying to ensure that my prose is as simple as it can possibly be.

But I do not wish to produce prose that draws attention to itself, rather than the world it describes, and I certainly don't have the patience to read it. (I suspect that I'm not alone here. That kind of writing tends to be admired more by critics than by book-buyers, if the best-seller lists can be admitted as evidence: the literary novels that have reached a mass audience over the past decade or so usually ask readers to look through a relatively clear pane of glass at their characters.)

I am not attempting to argue that the books I like are 'better' than more opaquely written novels; I am simply pointing out my own tastes and limitations as a reader.

To put it crudely, I get bored, and when I get bored I tend to get tetchy. It has proved surprisingly easy to eliminate boredom from my reading life.

And boredom, let's face it, is a problem that many of us have come to associate with books. It's one of the reasons why we choose to do almost anything else rather than read; very few of us pick up a book after the children are in bed and the dinner has been made and the dirty dishes cleared away.

We'd rather turn on the television. Some evenings we'd rather go to all the trouble of getting into a car and driving to a cinema, or waiting for a bus that might take us somewhere near one.

This is partly because reading appears to be more effortful than watching television, and usually it is; although if you choose to watch one of the American HBO series, such as The Sopranos or The Wire, then it's a close-run thing, because the plotting in these programmes, the speed and complexity of the dialogue, are as demanding as a lot of the very best fiction.

One of the problems, it seems to me, is that we have got it into our heads that books should be hard work, and that unless they're hard work, they're not doing us any good.

I find, taking my steps in the adult world of actually having to work for a living, that I have less and less time to read. This is in part due to the fact that I am attempting to read books that are hard work. So even though I begin reading it, its extremely slow going, because after getting home from work, what I want to do is watch TV (especially since there is such a plethora of good programming on), or in my case, download episodes of my favourite shows and watch them on Scheherazade (my laptop, for the two people who read this blog).

Of course, this is an incredibly personal choice to make - which book to read. One person's opaque may be another's accessible. Like Hornby says:

I am not trying to say that the book itself was the cause of this anguish. I can imagine other people racing through it, and I can certainly imagine these two people racing through books that others might find equally daunting.

It seems clear to me, though, that the combination of that book with these readers at this stage in their lives is not a happy one.

If reading books is to survive as a leisure activity - and there are statistics that show that this is by no means assured - then we have to promote the joys of reading, rather than the (dubious) benefits.

I would never attempt to dissuade anyone from reading a book. But please, if you're reading a book that's killing you, put it down and read something else, just as you would reach for the remote if you weren't enjoying a television programme.

Your failure to enjoy a highly rated novel doesn't mean you're dim - you may find that Graham Greene is more to your taste, or Stephen Hawking, or Iris Murdoch, or Ian Rankin. Dickens, Stephen King, whoever.

It doesn't matter. All I know is that you can get very little from a book that is making you weep with the effort of reading it. You won't remember it, and you'll learn nothing from it, and you'll be less likely to choose a book over Big Brother next time you have a choice.

And then he rakes the media over for their part in fostering the need to feel intellectual by reading 'good' books:

'Indeed, the carriages are full of people exercising their intellects the full length of their journeys. Yet somehow, the fact that millions daily devour thousands of words from Hello!, The Sun, The Da Vinci Code, Nuts and so on does not inspire the hope that the average cerebrum is in excellent health. It's not just that you read, it's what you read that counts.'

This sort of thing - and it's a regrettably common sneer in our broadsheet newspapers - must drive school librarians, publishers and literacy campaigners nuts.

In Britain, more than 12 million adults have a reading age of 13 or less, and yet some clever-dick journalist still insists on telling us that unless we're reading something proper, we might as well not bother at all.

But what's proper? Whose books will make us more intelligent? Not mine, that's for sure. But has Ian McEwan got the right stuff? Julian Barnes? Jane Austen, Zadie Smith, E.M. Forster? Hardy or Dickens?

Those Dickens-readers who famously waited on the dockside in New York for news of Little Nell - were they hoping to be educated? Dickens is literary now, of course, because the books are old.

But his work has survived not because he makes you think, but because he makes you feel, and he makes you laugh, and you need to know what is going to happen to his characters.

And that, gentle readers, is why we should read: not because it makes us feel like we're intelligent, but because it gives us pleasure. Don't be apologetic if you loved the DaVinci Code, or if you couldn't care less about The Brothers Karamazov. If its hard work, it may be worth it, but if its hard work and you hate it, well, this isn't your job. You really can just choose to not read it.

And on that note - comment, and then go read.

"Champions" League

A lot has been written about the alleged "championship" or not of the UEFA Champions League. When Liverpool won the year before last there was some debate about whether a team that is not doing well in its domestic league should be competing in a tournament desgined for Champions. It was a similar story with Arsenal last year. There have been several years where a team has not won a domestic trphoy for years but has managed, by finishing 3rd, to compete in what is meant to be the most prestigious football tourney outside of the World Cup. (Yes, Real Madrid, I mean you.)

While the debate has merit, and by all means should continue, I say stuff the politics and lets talk about what really matter: the football. Last night was awesome - great games, great goals and a welcome return to form for some of my favourite players.

Take the Real Madrid v. Dynamo Kiev game (Ok, so I have a soft spot for Real. Doesn't mean they didn't deserve to come out of their funk). There were two old-timers (it feels ridiculous to call thirty year old guys that, but that's how cruel the game is) who were both under-pressure, so to speak, to perform, and who scored two goals each. I'm just over the moon about Raul, because,well, he's pweety.

Take a look at His Gorgeousness:


(Though there are other things: such as how loyal he has been to Real, regardless of how he's been treated by the fans at times, and how much of a downturn he's been having of late)

And, my team won. ManU beat Benefica 1-0, to a Saha wondergoal really. And how good was Cwisitiano? Take that, you Portugal-hating fiends.

I must say I'm worried about Sheva though. He's been upstaged bigtime by Drogba, and it was supposed to be the other way around. I thought Chelsea's having two massive stars would be bad for the team, (which thought made me extremely happy), but while they haven't set the world alight they haven't been bad either. Its just been bad for poor Andrei, who it seems is missing Milan. Milan are certainly missing him, if last night was anything to go by. Even Kaka couldn't do anything about it: chance after chance after chance and they wasted it ALL.

On the flip side Arsenal had that man Henry to thank for their 2-0 win over Porto. Guh. Guh. Guh. Also, I don't want to like Messi. But I have to, he's too exuberant and unbelievably talented. Damn you, talented Argentine! Damn You!

Yes!!!!!!

I want to Squeeeeeeeee like an overexcited fangirl, because my favourite show, Veronica Mars, is back! And I've seen the first episode of season 3!

I literally had to pinch myself a few times to believe that yes, the show was back and yes, I was watching it. Amidst all the excitement about LoVe (for people who have yet to acquaint themselves with the genius that is this show, its the central romantic relationship, Logan and Veronica) being An Actual Couple, and Veronica in college, I had almost forgotten in how much danger this show is of being cancelled, though the season premiere should really get all those Gilmore Girls viewers hooked. And y'all reading this? Go, watch. Beg, borrow steal or whatever, but go watch this coz it is, 100%, one of the BEST shows on TV, ever.

I love the new credits, its so noir and much more in keeping with the tone of the show rather than the One Tree Hill type thing we had going before. And Jason gets second billing! He totally deserves it.

I also really liked the episode which had enough of a balance to keep new viewers from turning off out of confusion and keep old faithfuls interested. I didn't expect too like Piz, but I do, though he's a little blah. Hopefully they'll develop the character, coz right now he's just a lightweight.

Loved, loved, the "Nice Shirt" line from Logan. He was much calmer and more introspective this episode and I like that, though I miss his snark. I want more of his snark. The MOTW was light, but interesting, and I really enjoyed that the guy who played Lucky also played the TA. Tina rocked as well, and its so great that she's a regular now. I loved the interaction with her and Veronica. (Veronica: "Women. Bitch, Bitch, Bitch". Hee) Also the last bits, with Veronica a little tipsy - its good to see her with a female friend and her and Mac play really well off each other.

But the best thing about the episode, by far, was the Dick and Logan scene. Awww, that Logan. He really knows how to be a friend. See Duncan? This is what you were supposed to do last summer. Kudos to Ryan and Jason for pulling that off so well.

Hysterical Laughter...

...At:

1. They're making a film version of Atlas Shrugged.

2. Anjelina Jolie is cast as Dagny Taggart.

3. Russia 3-2 United States, Davis Cup; Europe beats USA to win Ryder Cup; And this is on the heels of loss in the World Basketball Championship. Team USA? Not so much.

4. Jason Bateman and Zach Braff. Give them a show together, people! HBO, are you listening?

On Another Note, I am indescribably happy and excited about the impending release date of The Prestige. I loved, loved the book, and while I know that the film is an adaptation and not a faithful copy, I have every confidence that Chris Nolan will do his namesake justice. His fabulous cast (Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale and David Bowie as Tesla!!!) and his track record with Memento, Batman Begins and even Insomnia (which was so much better than the reviews suggested) have raised my expectations sky-high. I also want to watch the Illusionist which starrs Edward Norton and is based on a similar premise. Need to watch Half Nelson and Little Miss Sunshine.

Other things I am excited about include: Wentworth Miller and Prison Break (whose pilot I watched last night), the Season 3 premiere of Veronica Mars, and finally getting my hands on Black Swan Green.




ETA: This is why Wentworth Miller is my new imaginary boyfriend (Sorry, Gale.)

Superman Returns, but with a Whimper

I finally watched the long-awaited (and long-released) new installment of Superman yesterday. Let me begin with a few general observations: Superman, as a very non-angsty superhero with only one real weakness has always been my least favorite. He doesn't have the darkness of Batman, or the everyman quality of Spiderman. Also, we're supposed to believe that glasses can make someone look so different that you wouldn't recognise them without it. That said, I was looking forward to this film for two very good reasons, one being that Bryan Singer (who did such an excellent job with the hugely enjoyable X-Men films and more importantly made The Usual Suspects) was directing; and the other was that Kevin Spacey was playing Lex Luthor.

IMHO, Lex Luthor has been one of the worst essayed villains in mainstream media. He is after all a very interesting villain, a real match for Superman, perhaps the only source of angst that the 'Man of Steel' really has. While in the initial films Gene Hackman played the art, he did so tongue in cheek and refused to be bald for the role. See this post for more whingeing about that. Anyway, the very thought of Kevin Spacey being this obviously evil gave me goosebumps and I just could not wait to watch the film. But then lukewarm reviews and financial crises came along and my priorities quickly re-arranged themselves.

Casting a relative unknown was probably a good idea, but Brandon Routh looks so much like Christopher Reeve that its somewhat discomforting. But that isn't the biggest casting mistake: Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane? Really? What was Singer thinking? Especially considering the absolute lack of chemistry she has with Brandon Routh, and how much of the film hinges on them looking like star-crossed lovers. ("Destined to be together" as Lois says to Clark at one point).

Very early on Lex tells Kitty (Parker Posey!!!! Yes!!!!!!!!!) that technology is the cornerstone of civilization and that whoever controls technology controls the world. This thesis is a little too simplistic IMO for an evil genius such as Lex Luthor; however, since the scene doesn't, thankfully, get buried in armfuls of exposition, I'm willing to forgive it.

The tone of the film is very serious from the beginning, one gets the feeling that Singer is aware of all the expectation from the film and is very consciously trying not to offend any fanboys. As a result, the movie gets bogged down by its own sense of history and in attempting to rescue the franchise from the mess it was left in after the disaster that was Superman IV, 19 years ago, in 1987.

The movie begins with Marlon Brando reprising his role as Kal-El's aka Superman's father from well beyond the grave. In a nice but obviously crowd-pleasing touch, Eva Marie Saint has been cast as Superman's earth mother (5 minutes into the film and I wanted to go and watch On the Waterfront instead). So Superman has been away for five years, and in the meantime Lois has a son and won a Pulitzer for an article called Why the World Doesn't Need Superman. Obviously Superman is hurt by this 'betrayal'. Cue FlightofAngst, and don't worry if you miss it, it happens a lot during the film. (Of the 2 1/2 hours of running time this movie has, perhaps forty minutes is just Superman flying about to overwrought violins, keeping mankind safe. In these sequences the camera lingers over Routh lovingly, inviting us to admire his square-jawed prettiness. For some reason he also spends a lot of time flying about as if he were on an imaginary cross, and I'm sure I'm not dreaming the Christ allusions).

The central plot is amazingly disappointing for someone with Singer's vision. Its the garden-variety try-to-enrich-myself-and-I-don't-care-if-millions(oops, billions)-die thing. Spacey is never given a chance to have fun with the Luthor character, and as a result he is never bone-chillingly scary either. There is one scene, though marred by, you got it, exposition, where Luthor is telling Lois about his plans for world domination, which is truly fantastic (atleast, Spacey is fantastic) and that's because he lets Luthor go. (This reminds me, however - the kid playing Lois' child does nothing but stare creepily at everyone around).

Nothing much happens, except the world gets used to Superman's being back and being saved ona daily basis by him again. In a particularly cheesy sequence, The Daily Planet's central masthead (a globe) is about to smash a few hundred people into dust, but Superman saves them by giving Jimmy the most perfect photo-op: Superman, with, literally, the weight of the world on his back.

The movie is dull, portentuous and over-inflated with its own sense of reverence. Perhaps before the Spiderman and Batman films, this would've passed for a decent superhero flick, but now the standards are so high that anything less feels like an immense letdown. It ends set up perfectly for a sequel: the problem is, after sitting through what feels like hours on violins and FlightsofAngst, one will have no patience to see it.

Apocalypse, Now

There have been several signs today (already, at 11.00 AM) to indicate that the Day of Reckoning may be around the corner. To begin with, I out-woke my alarm and woke up a full 15 minutes before it went off. And I did not suffer the temptation to go back to sleep. That is itself was not worthy of doomsday thoughts, but then, I sat down to read the paper and in today's Hindustan Times was an editorial by Barkha Dutt I actually liked. And agreed with.

Further adding to my prophecies of impending catastrophe was the fact that I did not ancounter one idiot with no road sense on my way to work, and for a change, driving was fun instead of You, you absolute, b***ard, and OMIGOD, who the hell gave him a license.

Then, the freakiest thing of all: I open my mailbox and I have no spam. No penis enlargement offers, no viagra at unbeatable prices. So, truly scared, I am left to ask:

WTF is up with the Universe??? I don't want to die today!!!!!!

Little Annoyances

Is it just me, or is anyone else completely over the whole "I love my Dad" thing Abhishek Bachan has going? In the beginning it was sweet, and now it seems like I can't turn around without some protestation of admiration from son to father. Yes, we know you looooove him and that you think he's the best and all that, but I DON'T NEED TO HEAR ABOUT IT EVERY-FRAKKIN-DAY! Talk about something else already!!! Not only am I, in general, sick of Abhishek Bachan's face EVERYWHERE, he has to go and be this way.

And why oh why do the Indian newspapers and television channels persist in referring to the July 11 blasts in Mumbai as 7/11? Are we American? Do we, as a general rule, write the month before the day? Have we adopted a whole new standard for writing dates and I am only just finding out? Or is it just a part of the me-too syndrome that seems to be overriding our newspapers and channels that, God Forbid, will soon look more like Fox News than anything else.

I'm Apoplectic

From Wired News:

Don't Get Too Far Out on Google iTV Rumors
Topic: Software

There has to be a rumor contradiction to Occam's Razor -- The more wacky a supposed leak is, the more likely that every blog in the galaxy will confirm it as fact.

Such is the case with the story emerging today that Apple might give Google Video a way to stream to iTV. (The article through the link consists of a lot of What If? scenarios. Interesting, but fact.)

Now, it's not that this is an implausible rumor -- far from it -- but it's too focused on Google itself. I wouldn't doubt that Apple will make the iTV able to stream video from YouTube and many other streaming video sites, too. That's the piece of the equation that would make the Apple juggernaut able to compete with cable -- the ability to change the channel.

But this is not the solution to the age-old mystery of Google + Apple = ZOMG! For that, I think you need to the much, much less sexy rumor that Apple will be using Google AdWords at the iTunes Music Store. Which is a no-brainer and hugely beneficial to both players. Exclusivity for streaming on the iTV makes no sense for Apple.

Eeeee!

I'm so excited by the very thought that these two companies could end up collaborating on something! Even something as mundane as AdWords. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Though how it slipped under my radar that Eric Schmidt was appointed to the board fo Apple is beyond me. I'm slipping. This is not good, its a sign of the impending apocalypse.

Yes, I'm a Geek

So this is how geeky I am? Fairly well balanced, if I do say so myself.

Your Geek Profile:

Academic Geekiness: Highest Movie Geekiness: Highest Music Geekiness: High Geekiness in Love: Moderate Internet Geekiness: Moderate SciFi Geekiness: Moderate Fashion Geekiness: Low Gamer Geekiness: Low General Geekiness: Low

How Geeky Are You?

This was the third of the posts. There are not going to be any more tests unless I get very very lazy. Which, of course, will never ever happen. What? Me, lazy??? Denial is a river in Egypt.

Blogthings - How Geeky Are You?

Blogthings - How Sarcastic Are You?

My Validation: I'm A Snark Master!

I'm trying to make up for all the times I have NOT blogged. This month. Oh, alright, this week. And I'm totally not taking the easy way out by posting three tests in one day.

Nah, not me.

You're Totally Sarcastic

You sarcastic? Never! You're as sweet as a baby bunny. Seriously, though, you have a sharp tongue - and you aren't afraid to use it. And if people are too wimpy to deal with your attitutde, then too bad. So sad.

How Sarcastic Are You?

Warning: Fangirl-ism Ahead

So, inspired by S ka blog (its just too awkward to say, S's, no?) I am paying homage to the hottest gay man in Pittsburgh, Brian Kinney. (What? You say he's fictional? Lalalalalala, I can't hear you, lalalalalalala). Gah, Brian. How hot are you?

Anyway, while drooling over gay men may not be the best way to actually go and find a straight one, I can excuse myself on the grounds that I. Totally. Get. It. I understand now why men are all, ooooh, two women making out... ooooh, that's so hot. I love QAF for making sure I know that. And I love Ang Lee for making it mainstream-ingly cool (whatever the hell that means) to want to watch 2 men making out. Make that 2 hot men. (Though I totally do NOT get the whole Jake Gyllenhall thing. He's creepy. Has anybody seen The Good Girl?)

So, Brian. I like to think that if you had met me, you'd become straight just so you could be with me. I mean, you have to be atleast a little bit bisexual - and I know I'm not the only one who thought so, if all the Brian-Lindsey or Brian-Melanie fanfiction is anything to go by. Not that I've read any of those, or anything.

No Sirree.

ETA: This is what the fuss is all about...

*Melts in a puddle of drool*

 

World City Reviews

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Your personality type is RCOEI

You are reserved, calm, moderately organized, egocentric, and intellectual, and may prefer a city which matches those traits.

The largest representation of your personality type can be found in the these U.S. cities: Salt Lake City, Washington DC, Austin, Denver, Portland/Salem, Reno, Greensboro, Tucson, Minneapolis, Indianapolis, Raleigh/Durham, Greenville/Spartanburg and these international countries/regions Czech Republic, Croatia, Russia, China, Romania, Brazil, Germany, Slovenia, Switzerland, Israel, Poland, Taiwan, France, Caribbean, Guam, Mexico

What Places In The World Match Your Personality?
City Reviews at CityCulture.org

Washington, here I come. Or not So much.

I really wish NYC was in that list, coz then I really would read this as a sign of God. Talk to me, Please. Tell me what to do.

Swansong

Fittingly, Michael Schumacher won his last Grand Prix in Italy, at Monza, hallowed Ferrari ground. When one looked at Jean Todt's face when he crossed the line in first place, almost in tears, I knew that Michael was retiring.

Formula 1 will lose its spark without him. I wish him all the best in whatever he decided to do (LDM says he has a role with Ferrari that will be announced at the end of the year).

I wish I'd had a chance to see him race from the pits, but thank God I went to Monaco.

I'm going to go cry now.

Counting Down...

... to Sunday after the Italian GP. It is widely speculated in the Formula One paddock that Michael Schumacher is to announce his retirement. The more I read the more conviced I become that he is, indeed, going to hang up his helmet. The thought makes me nervous and teary - I know he has to retire some day, and its been a hard decision. Its also his right, and his decision. But as a fan, I want a chance to say goodbye, I want to go to a race next year and know that this is my last chance at watching him race.

It can't boil down to three races at the end of a 15 year career. Please Michael. Stay for another year.

Also, coupled with the fact that McLaren has yet to announce their line-up, and with Ron Dennis' uncharacteristic praise of Michael over the last week or so, I have hope (albiet very little) that Ronzo has a rabbit in his hat. Michael and Alonso in the same team! Nah, that is truly in the realms of fiction. But I can't help hoping.

Goodbye, Andre

So Andre Agassi's farewell at the US Open came to end today against a Benjamin Becker (no relation). He's certainly not been my favourite player over the years (though I confess to starting to root for him after his association with Steffi Graf), but I found myself wishing (hoping, praying) that somehow this would be a fairytale and he'd go out having won this thing. It would have been a fitting goodbye to a 20 year career.

Ofcourse, things are never that wonderful. Its sad to see someone who has given as much to tennis as Agassi go out lumbering, in pain, in the 3rd round of the US Open, if front of thousands of adoring fans. But it also highlights his impact, and his greatness. That he peservered, despite his age, his physical condition and his obvious pain is a testament to what separates the good players from the greats. He tried, and did his best, and it was apparent to anyone who bothered to watch. And then, when it was all over, he bid the world of tennis adieu. There was nary a dry eye in the Arthur Ashe stadium. Including mine. (Though I wasn't lucky enough to be at the Stadium)

So Goodbye, Andre. Wish you all the best in the future. And Thank You very much.
Like someone's banner said,

Legends Never Die

P.S. If, in a week, the other retirement is announced, I cannot imagine what I will feel. If this has moved me to this degree... what will it be like when he calls it a day?

The Emmy puzzle

So this article is sort of how I feel about the emmies this year - or indeed, every year.

But this is the part, right at the end, that kills me:

"(ABC apparently wasn't happy its two big hits weren't nominated. It scheduled "Pirates of the Caribbean" to air opposite the Emmy ceremony.)"

Hee.

The Emmy puzzle

Adrfit on Sundays

Yet another Sunday without any F1 action means I was completely and totally bored. I even gave MotoGP a go, in order to get my motorsport fix. The 250cc race was boring in the extreme, but the 500cc race was passably interesting. For all the screaming from the rooftops MotoGP fans do about how exciting their races are, with an abundance of overtaking, this race very much failed to live up the hoopla. No battles for the lead, though there was an intriguing dice for second place. It is, however, quite fantastic to watch onboard views, because the bikes seem to wriggle around on the edge, and i kept thinking someone would crash.

I may yet become a MotoGP fan. However, its difficult (to say the least) to express how excited I am by the fact that the summer break is almost over. Turkey, here we come!

Another attempt to fill up F1-sans weekends resulted in watching two mildly annoying and extremely frivolous European films starring Penelope Cruz in her pre- Almodovar avatar. Thank the Lord he found her.

Family Time

Yesterday, Mum, Yashu and me had some us time. We went out for lunch, and it was great fun. Reminded me of how we should take time out and do that sort of thing more often. The good food didn't hurt, of course. :)

Had a less than stellar interview for the CT diploma at LSR though. Will be surprised if I make it through. Maybe I should look into getting advice on how to present myself at interviews, because I seem to have more of a 50-50 record than anything else. And that's really not good enough.

The Good and the Bad

I had a very good and very bad day all in one memorable evening. Met up with friends at Dilli Haat, which was nice, and fun. First met Y, who is a more thorough shopper than even me, and then met D, Sh, Su and suprisingly, A. Who I thought was living it up in Germany.

Anyway, it was comfortable, and fun and I had a great time. Dropped D at the bus stop around 20.00 and was happily trundling along Ring Road when the car in front of me braked suddenly. I did the same, and lo and behold, there was my very own pile-up. Even while my head was banging against the steering wheel, all I could think was, 'Darn, my parents are never going to let me drive after this'.

When I called Papa, he was mad. But after he got there and saw for himself that it wasn't my fault, he was... well, less mad. We had to stand around there and give statements to the Police and such. It was very surreal in a way, and if the car hadn't been boxed in from both ends and I didn't ache all over I'd dismiss it as a paranoid dream.

It was Janmashtmi that day though. Was this God's way of telling me something? I didn't see any white lights or tunnels, but then again, I didn't think I was going to die.

Reducing Words to Nothing

The recently foiled plot by the British to blow up planes going out of Heathrow, has, invariably made life very difficult for the people unfortunate enough to have to fly at this time. More, it has brought about a discourse of insecurity - created suspicion of all Muslims and brown-skinned people.

But I've been wondering about the word itself, 'Terror'. Its bandied about as a one-word answer for all the ills in the world. As the justification for any and all measures that curb privacy, democracy. The term has been overused to the extent where I think its meaningless. It was never a comfortable word to begin with, as evidenced by all the statements about one man's freedom fighter being another's terrorist. And now, with screaming newspaper headlines and television news channels fighting to get the best ratings, the word's reduced, for me anyway, to absolutely nothing but sensationalism of the worst kind.

Of Missed Birthdays and Rakhee

Well, the missed birthday wasn't exactly missed, coz I did call and wish, however, forgot to acknowledge it right here.... So belated Happy Birthday R!!! I love you.... and I thank whatever happy coincidence made sure our parents would know each other.

I'm soooooo lucky to have you in my life, to know that somewhere there is you. Our relationship hasn't been without problems, and we've had that temperamental pre-teen/teen phase where we fought like, well, only teenage girls can. But I literally don't remember a time when I didn't know you, and that you weren't my bestest friend. So, here's to our friendship, and may it last for the rest of our lives, like it has so far.

On a lighter note, took my brothers out to see Cars on Rakhee. I loved the movie, especially when I remembered that MS had a done a small VO for, what else, but a Ferrari. It was a surprisingly cynical film though, and it just reminded me of how much I love Pixar. Plus, I baked. I made muffins! Harry Potter ones! Needless to say, it could have tasted like sawdust and the kids would've loved it.

Went shopping with A and M day before yesterday, which was nice. Had a good dinner at Diva where I haven't been in years. Found an amazing amount of traffic on the way, which raised Mum's temperature through the roof.

Also met up with S. It was good, again after so long. Its amazing how comfortable you can be with people you haven't met for an age and may not have much in common with anymore. There wasn't any awkwardness, it was just like slipping into an old T-shirt.

And congrats to S (a different one) on Nia. May you have many good years ahead with her.

Fanfic Musings

This is likely to be the first of many musings of fandom.

I was just thinking about how invested I can become in a certain fandom. And I go overboard, reading fanfic after fanfic until I forget what canon was all about. I start looking at my favourite character (who is inariably a little grey) through the lenses of some other fan's immensely talented words. Take Draco Malfoy for example. He's very very very far from redeemed (or even redeemable) in JKR's actual stories. But in so many fan written stories, he's the tortured, multi-layered hero every woman wants to save. Having more or less ODed on such fics, I'm now while re-reading the Potter verse, attributing (and looking for) all sorts of motives and subtexts that I doubt JKR ever intended to lend Draco's character.

While this isn't a bad thing, it just means that I'll be invariably disappointed when the final book comes out and Draco remains consistent with JKRs version of the character. Not mine, and not like in Cassandra Claire's brilliant Draco trilogy for instance. And this is just one fandom, other fandoms = even more disappointment.

Dammit, Dammit, Dammit!!!

Dammit all! The race was great - chaotic etc etc but why oh why could Schumi have scored any points? I mean, I know a little part of me wants him to not win the title this year coz I think he'll retire if he does, but if it means that smug a**hole Alonso doesn't win the title.... and who's to say Schumi wont retire anyway? So please please please......... *praying hard*

What have Bridgestone been doing to their wets?!

And Button drove a good race, he really did. He deserved th win, though the British media is going to get all OMG, that was the bestest drive ever! on this. Which well, it wasn't. But he must be on the top of the world now. And so must Alonso, who is 100% going to send Nick Heidfeld a Christmas card. Idiot.

I hate

The darn font in my last post.

And this one!

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

No Words

The Tyger
by William Blake
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright In the forests of the night, What immortal hand or eye Could frame thy fearful symmetry? In what distant deeps or skies Burnt the fire of thine eyes? On what wings dare he aspire? What the hand, dare sieze the fire? And what shoulder, & what art, Could twist the sinews of thy heart? And when thy heart began to beat, What dread hand? & what dread feet? What the hammer? what the chain? In what furnace was thy brain? What the anvil? what dread grasp Dare its deadly terrors clasp? When the stars threw down their spears, And water'd heaven with their tears, Did he smile his work to see? Did he who made the Lamb make thee? Tyger! Tyger! burning bright In the forests of the night, What immortal hand or eye Dare frame thy fearful symmetry? -------------- I have no words to describe what this poem means to me, or how much I absolutely love William Blake. His words are so wonderful, and to me his poetry does represent the outer realms of spirituality, and the human soul. I don't know if he had visions, but his words just seem to suggest that anything is possible.

I'm Falling in Love

With this guy, Tony Dodgins. Yet another column that nails it, absolutely. I couldn't have said it better.


autosport.com - the Weekly Journal - Dodgy Business

My Random Thought...

... for the day.

When one is awake (for whatever reason) at 3 am, how do you refer to it? Is it, why are you up so late? Or how come you're up so early? Thinking about this (yes, I really am that jobless) I came to the conclusion that if you have been to bed before then (and slept, fow however few hours) we go with the waking up early. If you haven't slept at all, then its staying awake late.

And here endeth the rambling thoughts of someone going insane.

Another One...

Of the crazy Blogthing test thingys. Atleast they're fun.

Your Stripper Song Is

Like a Virgin by Madonna "Like a virgin, ooh, ooh Like a virgin Feels so good inside When you hold me, and your heart beats, and you love me" No virgin-ness implied. Not at all.

What Song Should You Strip To?

I remember having had this discussion several times with many girlfriends. Its always difficult to make up my mind - Billie Holiday comes to mind, but then some of those songs are super-angsty. Then I think it'd be best to leave words out of it. Think Puccini, all crashing violins. But that's more elemental and for something else entirely. So.... maybe Madonna isn't so bad a choice after all. Actually, going back to it, smokey jazz does seem to be perfect.

So I have the song, I can think of the outfit. What about the person?

Stephania Lopes

That's apparently my sexy brazilian name. Good to know, just in case I decide to become a super-spy while also trying to finsih graduate school, only to find that my Dad is also a double agent... Oh wait. That's Alias.

Ah well, then if I need a fake passport to runaway after conning a zillion people....

Though it is a bit counter -productive to advertise my getaway plan so publicly..

But that's just me kidding myself that someone actually reads this stuff. Oh well.

Under- achiever

Reading a sad story
while
Listening to a tragic song
Crying

How much have I still got to LIVE?

The Nature of Love

Love Sonnet XI

I crave your mouth, your voice, your hair.
Silent and starving, I prowl through the streets.
Bread does not nourish me, dawn disrupts me, all day
I hunt for the liquid measure of your steps.

I hunger for your sleek laugh,
your hands the color of a savage harvest,
hunger for the pale stones of your fingernails,
I want to eat your skin like a whole almond.

I want to eat the sunbeam flaring in your lovely body,
the sovereign nose of your arrogant face,
I want to eat the fleeting shade of your lashes,

and I pace around hungry, sniffing the twilight,
hunting for you, for your hot heart,
like a puma in the barrens of Quitratue."


I was watching The English Patient for the hundreth thousandth time. Passion and love like that.... I want it. But are those ever real? Do we just delude ourselves? Is it fleeting? But then I think... it has to be real, for poetry like this to exist. People must have felt this way. But will I be one of the lucky ones? Or will I die in mediocrity? How many of us are 'epic' after all? God, I want to crave like that. I want to experience feeling like your whole life depends on that one person. It terrifies me. But it also exhilarates me. Neruda is a genius. I get melancholy every time I read that poem. It makes me hurt.

Movie Musings

So trying to be somewhat angst-free (Coz everyone else does it so well) I thought I'd recap Pirates of the Carribean - Dead Man's Chest. Which I really really enjoyed. It was super duper fun, and even though Johnny Depp was no longer a surprise, he was still brilliant. But Elizabeth getting the hots for Jack? Please... I really really wish they hadn't been down that road. Though I agree with whichever critic it was that said Orlie spent the whole film getting out-acted by a plank of wood. Really, he should've retired after being the golden elf. Everything else just highlights his impossible blandness, even if he is pretty. Very, very pretty.

How good is Bill Nighy??? Even under a zillion tentacles and weird make up he manages to be uber- villainous. In a cuddly way, if that's possible. Oooh, and I love that Geoffrey Rush is back! And I loved the undead monkey! And... ah well, I really enjoyed the film, OK? Let's just leave it at that.

Media Woes, Censorship Woes, More Woes

So... Tiger Woods won the British Open, oh, sorry, the Open Championship after a very difficult summer. And he broke down just as soon as he sunk the final hole, and sobbed first o his caddie's and then on his wife's shoulder. The camera remained on his face during that very private exorcism. I felt uncomfortable and changed the channel. I wish the channel had chosen an interesting piece of grass to focus on during those moments. It would've been a zillion times more decent.

A kid got stuck in a tiny hole in a small village in UP yesterday. That was all the news channels could focus on the whole day, and while that is understandable, the fear and dazedness on the boy's face made me wish for a less intrusive presence.

Not my first rant against the increasingly voyeurisitic tendencies of the media.

Doubt it'll be my last.

So the blogs got censored. Like, the whole blogging sites. Like, all the pages. And I read about how the CBFC is considering banning A films from being on TV at all. WTF???????

Democracy. Free Media. Yeah, right.

Other Woes.... Lets say its not enough to keep commending the spirit of Mumbai. Just because people move on with things, doesn't mean we stop taking steps to prevent this stuff from happeneing at all. Raise a glass to the people and forget it ever happened. No. Not Anymore.

Hoax callers... need to have to spend a few months in jail. With the meanest of prisoners. Like the overly burly 7 foot giant named Tiny.

Israel. Hizbollah. Again I say, WTF????? What on earth is any of this going to accomplish? Except killing loads of people. The Accidental war, says the Economist. They might be right. But its still very real. And then there's CNN, with the families of the 2 abducted Israeli soldiers. Ever heard of PoWs? Not that their pain isn't real. But atleast they were soldiers... what about all of those in King David hotel? What about the poor Lebanese civilians who have no idea what storm they've got caught in? And they wonder why Islamic Militantism is on the rise.

Blogthings - What European City Do You Belong In?

You Belong in Amsterdam

A little old fashioned, a little modern - you're the best of both worlds. And so is Amsterdam. Whether you want to be a squatter graffiti artist or a great novelist, Amsterdam has all that you want in Europe (in one small city).

What European City Do You Belong In?

Not sure that I'm that happy... but yeah, its cool!


Blogthings - What European City Do You Belong In?

Christen me....

Waremeth of the Drughu from now on.

Its not as bad as it could have been, really - atleast it pronouncable. Now I'm going to get back to contemplating a shirtless Jason Dohring.

Hee.


Hobbit Name Generator - Lord of the Rings Jewelry :: Much Cheaper Prices Here!

Dodgy (Brilliant) Business

This is one hell of an article! It encapsulates so much of what I feel about F1, and its so well written...


autosport.com - the Weekly Journal - Dodgy Business