So I left on a jet plane on the 23rd and got in Christmas morning around midnight... In flight movies were a sorry lot- a truly terrible piece 'Cheri' whose only saving grace was the presence of Michelle Pfieffer. Then I watched HP6 twice - the first time because there was nothing else- the second time because I was looking for the Snape teaching Dark Arts scene... only to discover that they had indeed cut that from the movie... and that's another 5 hours of my life wasted. The thing is like an addiction.
I liked '500 days of Summer' a lot though. Zooey Daschanel usually annoys me... and she did annoy me a bit in this movie too... with her almost 1950's type feminity. It was primarily her dresses and hairstyle and whole aesthetic through the movie, I think... don't get me wrong- I loved the old-fashioned gingham and the pretty skirts and tops and what not... and frankly they were very 'me'... but hallo? Who dresses like that on a daily basis any more? What happened to jeans and a T anyway? And don't get me started on the annoyingly perfect hair- half the time she looked like a school girl.
Still, I totallysympathized with her character. And at the same time with the poor guy she dumped (eventually). It was a lovely telling of how a relationship grows, stagnates and breaks down. And sometimes there are no really good reasons why things work out with some people and not with others. So, yeah, for a change- not a love story.
Now in Madras is the music season. Attended an amazing concert of Ranjini-Gayathri today- sort of tottered there half asleep thanks to jet-lag, but was wide awake and spell bound through out. They had a lot of really good accompanists, I must say... will probably see a couple of other concerts before this thing is done...
Sigh... not getting through with Bill Bryson... I think, like my cousin says, the problem with this travel-book type of thing is the lack of plot- much as I enjoy his writing, its not really going anywhere... it just sort of meanders like the author's journey. Gone through Norway, Amsterdam and Germany (more or less). Was much amused by Bryson's comment on how the Danes once ruled all of Scandinavia and now have no monuments to show for it- only a little mermaid...
In other news... Schumi's back ! I have to go to Montreal this year at least...
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Saturday, December 05, 2009
IF... you need a little inspiration
Not the best time in my life, in all honesty... its something Murphy's laws would have come up with... but if there was a piece of advice I needed at this point... this would be the one:
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream–and not make dreams your master,
If you can think–and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings–nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And–which is more–you’ll be a Man, my son!
–Rudyard Kipling
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream–and not make dreams your master,
If you can think–and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings–nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And–which is more–you’ll be a Man, my son!
–Rudyard Kipling
Thursday, December 03, 2009
The Winter of my Discontent
Well... it started off with the car accident. There have been a couple of bright spots on the way, but I have to confess that the last couple of months have been almost unrelentingly depressing. I'm utterly looking forward to going to India and taking a looong holiday (and it looks like my car will certainly take that long to be fixed), and starting afresh after I get back.
Being without a car really reinforces how dependent I've become on that four wheeled mode of transport. Its not that I can't get around without it. Its just that I can't get around as well as I used to. And that still stinks. I take the bus to King od Prussia and back. And the bus to NYC on occasion. But I'm suddenly all the more aware of how isolated Reading is, if I want to go anywhere else. Aiport is a bus, a cab ride/train away- where before it used to be a simple one and a half smooth sailing (in a matter of speaking). And its supposed to snow this Saturday. Guess I better dress warmly.
Being without a car really reinforces how dependent I've become on that four wheeled mode of transport. Its not that I can't get around without it. Its just that I can't get around as well as I used to. And that still stinks. I take the bus to King od Prussia and back. And the bus to NYC on occasion. But I'm suddenly all the more aware of how isolated Reading is, if I want to go anywhere else. Aiport is a bus, a cab ride/train away- where before it used to be a simple one and a half smooth sailing (in a matter of speaking). And its supposed to snow this Saturday. Guess I better dress warmly.
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