I'd been looking forward to this for a while(like, a month). The Philadelphia Beadfest at the Valley Forge convention center. And with great enthusiasm (abettede by my mother 6000 miles away), I took off into the bright and sunny morning, to spend my limited fortune there.
Like a kid in a candy store, my eyes darted here and there, strings of pearls, in white, and pink, and gold, and green and blue and black. Stones the size of and egg and beads no bigger that a dust mote, sparkling crystals, delicately shaped glass flowers, finely carved wood, painted shells, beads made of flowers, felt, butterfly wings; long loops of yarn and thread and wire in every colour of the rainbow. Stones like quartz and amethyst, garnet, aquamarine, coral, lapis, tiger's eye. Lampworked glass in a dizzying array of shapes and colors.
And of course I went completely crazy. In the tw hours that I was there I wandered through a million stalls, each more exciting than the last, my fingers flwed through strands of multicolored beads, my imagination took flight, and a million designs leapt into life in my mind's eye. But though the mind was willing, alas, the body was not, hunger eventually took over, and besides, my credit card was almost in its death throes.
So reluctantly I left the treasures behind me. Farewell, till next year.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Thursday, July 31, 2008
How to keep busy on a loooooong flight OR more movie reviews than you could possibly read
The India trip was great... it goes without saying I think. Family,food,fun... heh I'm a poet now.
But the flight... ah, there's the rub; about a day in cramped seats, alone, yet surrounded by people, NO INTERNET! What's a girl to do? Salman Rushdie proved disappointing. 'THe Enchantress of Florence" was utterly disillusioning. All that lyrical, delicate wordplay that I loved in "Midnight's Children" or even in "The Moor's Last Sigh" (was never a big fan of "The Satanic Verses" personally), gone, gone, replaced by strict prose and a plot that made no sense whatsoever!
So it was to the idiot box for me. I love Lufthansa for having seatback monitors. No better timepass. I started with "Charlie Wilson's War" figuring that if I was going to watch anything halfway serious, it had better be at the beginning, when I still had the patience for it. I needn't have worried. It was absolutely gripping! Julia Roberts was brilliant- isn't she always?(though I wasn't too into her blonde hairstyle). And Tom Hanks was excellent. Bravo, bravo!
Then I watched "The Golden Compass". I loved the books (by Phillip Pullman), and I thought the 'controversy' about the Church etc. was way overblown. And the thing was, the movie was actually good! They stuck to the plot, the actors were decent... the special effects were not bad... why is it that when something like Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings ot Narnia is made into a move, the plot is turned inside out and everybody rushes to see it, but when they actually stick to the plot, its a great big flop. Anyway, I don't expect to see the next two in the series being made into movies.
Then it was the Spiderwick chronicles... not bad... waay too many plot holes... basic kid's stuff though.
And voila, three movies and a book to get me from Phildelphia to Chennai through Frankfurt.
I watched 'Indiana Jones' in Chennai, at Sathyam (which seems to be the only theatre that anyone goes to anymore... Oh wait, there's the new one at City Center... Movie wasn't bad... loved the food though. I really miss the interval when I'm watching movies in the US. There's nothing like taking a break in the middle, grabbing a puff and a coke or iced cofee and popcorn, there's the sheer variety of things to eat! Americans are so business like even about watching a movie... one shot and its all done.
Then there was the flight back. The advantage of flying in the middle of the night is that you're really, really sleepy and even wailing infants can't put you off sleeping. I did manage "The Other Boelyn Girl" though. I'm just glad I never bothered with the book.
The last movie I say- "Definitely, Maybe"... you know what... I'd have actually liked to watch that one in the theatre! It actually had plot! And an ending that wasn't completly saccharine, some halfway decent acting.... not bad at all.
Finally, watched "The Dark Knight" last Saturday. That movie is intense! I loved the way it explores the darkness in people, pushes them beyond civilization, makes heroes of villains and villains of heroes. Heath Ledger was brilliant... but so was Aaron Ekhart and Christian Bale and Morgan Feeman and Micheal Caine... and I liked Maggie Gyllenhall too(better than Katie Holmes actually).
Last of all.. "Kismat Konnection". Shocker! The movie has a plot (sort of). Two and a half hours? Waaay too much. Should have been an hour shorter- at least. Loved- Vidya Balan's clothes.
But the flight... ah, there's the rub; about a day in cramped seats, alone, yet surrounded by people, NO INTERNET! What's a girl to do? Salman Rushdie proved disappointing. 'THe Enchantress of Florence" was utterly disillusioning. All that lyrical, delicate wordplay that I loved in "Midnight's Children" or even in "The Moor's Last Sigh" (was never a big fan of "The Satanic Verses" personally), gone, gone, replaced by strict prose and a plot that made no sense whatsoever!
So it was to the idiot box for me. I love Lufthansa for having seatback monitors. No better timepass. I started with "Charlie Wilson's War" figuring that if I was going to watch anything halfway serious, it had better be at the beginning, when I still had the patience for it. I needn't have worried. It was absolutely gripping! Julia Roberts was brilliant- isn't she always?(though I wasn't too into her blonde hairstyle). And Tom Hanks was excellent. Bravo, bravo!
Then I watched "The Golden Compass". I loved the books (by Phillip Pullman), and I thought the 'controversy' about the Church etc. was way overblown. And the thing was, the movie was actually good! They stuck to the plot, the actors were decent... the special effects were not bad... why is it that when something like Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings ot Narnia is made into a move, the plot is turned inside out and everybody rushes to see it, but when they actually stick to the plot, its a great big flop. Anyway, I don't expect to see the next two in the series being made into movies.
Then it was the Spiderwick chronicles... not bad... waay too many plot holes... basic kid's stuff though.
And voila, three movies and a book to get me from Phildelphia to Chennai through Frankfurt.
I watched 'Indiana Jones' in Chennai, at Sathyam (which seems to be the only theatre that anyone goes to anymore... Oh wait, there's the new one at City Center... Movie wasn't bad... loved the food though. I really miss the interval when I'm watching movies in the US. There's nothing like taking a break in the middle, grabbing a puff and a coke or iced cofee and popcorn, there's the sheer variety of things to eat! Americans are so business like even about watching a movie... one shot and its all done.
Then there was the flight back. The advantage of flying in the middle of the night is that you're really, really sleepy and even wailing infants can't put you off sleeping. I did manage "The Other Boelyn Girl" though. I'm just glad I never bothered with the book.
The last movie I say- "Definitely, Maybe"... you know what... I'd have actually liked to watch that one in the theatre! It actually had plot! And an ending that wasn't completly saccharine, some halfway decent acting.... not bad at all.
Finally, watched "The Dark Knight" last Saturday. That movie is intense! I loved the way it explores the darkness in people, pushes them beyond civilization, makes heroes of villains and villains of heroes. Heath Ledger was brilliant... but so was Aaron Ekhart and Christian Bale and Morgan Feeman and Micheal Caine... and I liked Maggie Gyllenhall too(better than Katie Holmes actually).
Last of all.. "Kismat Konnection". Shocker! The movie has a plot (sort of). Two and a half hours? Waaay too much. Should have been an hour shorter- at least. Loved- Vidya Balan's clothes.
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
The great pre-India pilgrimage
This time next week, I will be in India, likely enjoying thai chaadam with (dare I hoe) paruppu thogayal and veggies on the side. And I expect to be doing a circuit of temples while I’m there. The small middle-of-the-road Vinayakar kovil in Gandhinagar; the Padmanabha Swami temple almost next door to it ;and others that my mother will no doubt take me to.
But it looks like my pilgrimage has started off early. In the last couple of weeks I have been to two temples and one kutcheri, practically filling my cultural quota for several months. The Delaware Mahalakshmi temple and the Pittsburgh Sri Venkateswara temple. And the concert was by TM Krishna, in nearby Blue Bell, and I must say, it was brilliant. He has an amazing voice, and the range of notes that he hits, apparently effortlessly, is stunning. It was a long concert – 3 and a half hours, but I (shocking myself) managed to sit through the whole thing (more credit to the singer, I think, than any musical inclination on my part).
Of course, during the long journeys to these temples(5 hours to Pittbutgh!) I occupied myself with some of the second hand books I had acquired at various garage and library sales. I got done with the mysterious and slightly supernatural ‘Mistress of Spices’ by Chitra Divakaruni, and the very suspenseful and extremely supernatural (not to mention ghoulish- a good buildup to the X-Files movie coming out next month) ‘This Historian’ by Elisabeth Kostova.
‘The Mistress of Spices’ was a little sad, and little sweet, a little Rushdie-esque I thought, maybe a lighter version of Rushdie.
‘The Historian’ on the other hand was a decidedly heavier version of Dracula, with much of the myth of Dracula mixed with a lot of historical references. The settings in Eastern Europe come alive in each word, the spooky beauty, the sense of being a step behind (or is it in front of?) the monster through a beautiful maze builds in a crescendo.
Some time ago, I also found myself in unhappy circumstances (into the details of which I will not go), sitting and drowning my sorrows in Barnes and Noble, over Diana Wynn Jones’s ‘Howl’s Moving Castle’. The book (not about a dog, as I had for some reason expected), a lightly written fantasy, with a toehold (but an important one, to the plot) in the real world, successfully lifted my out of the doldrums, so that I was later able to appreciate Ann Taylor Loft’s collection that had just come out.
Anyway, I now have to pick a book to carry on the plane. I wish now, that I had saved ‘The Historian’ for that. At 650 pages it would have lasted me the whole way layovers and all. Now I have to depend on the In-flight entertainment, of which I have no expectation (what are the chances they’ll be playing ‘Sex and the City’?)
But it looks like my pilgrimage has started off early. In the last couple of weeks I have been to two temples and one kutcheri, practically filling my cultural quota for several months. The Delaware Mahalakshmi temple and the Pittsburgh Sri Venkateswara temple. And the concert was by TM Krishna, in nearby Blue Bell, and I must say, it was brilliant. He has an amazing voice, and the range of notes that he hits, apparently effortlessly, is stunning. It was a long concert – 3 and a half hours, but I (shocking myself) managed to sit through the whole thing (more credit to the singer, I think, than any musical inclination on my part).
Of course, during the long journeys to these temples(5 hours to Pittbutgh!) I occupied myself with some of the second hand books I had acquired at various garage and library sales. I got done with the mysterious and slightly supernatural ‘Mistress of Spices’ by Chitra Divakaruni, and the very suspenseful and extremely supernatural (not to mention ghoulish- a good buildup to the X-Files movie coming out next month) ‘This Historian’ by Elisabeth Kostova.
‘The Mistress of Spices’ was a little sad, and little sweet, a little Rushdie-esque I thought, maybe a lighter version of Rushdie.
‘The Historian’ on the other hand was a decidedly heavier version of Dracula, with much of the myth of Dracula mixed with a lot of historical references. The settings in Eastern Europe come alive in each word, the spooky beauty, the sense of being a step behind (or is it in front of?) the monster through a beautiful maze builds in a crescendo.
Some time ago, I also found myself in unhappy circumstances (into the details of which I will not go), sitting and drowning my sorrows in Barnes and Noble, over Diana Wynn Jones’s ‘Howl’s Moving Castle’. The book (not about a dog, as I had for some reason expected), a lightly written fantasy, with a toehold (but an important one, to the plot) in the real world, successfully lifted my out of the doldrums, so that I was later able to appreciate Ann Taylor Loft’s collection that had just come out.
Anyway, I now have to pick a book to carry on the plane. I wish now, that I had saved ‘The Historian’ for that. At 650 pages it would have lasted me the whole way layovers and all. Now I have to depend on the In-flight entertainment, of which I have no expectation (what are the chances they’ll be playing ‘Sex and the City’?)
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Springtime and Cherry blossoms
The flowers I was growing - Hyacynths, daffodils and mums...
A weeping cherry blossom tree at the height of bloom in New Hope
Stark white firestar flowers (is that what they're called? I forget)
- in (of all places) my office parking lot.
- in (of all places) my office parking lot.
Magnolias -a brilliant flash of pink - a dash of summer fun against the busy working street
Weeping cherry's in Philadelphia's Horticultural Park
Pansies merry and bright
And row upon row upon row of cherry trees pale pink and white -
a last sigh before they fade for another year.
Sunday, April 06, 2008
The Romance novel and me
Admittedly I'm no conoisseur of the romance novel, in fact it is a genre I usually desperately avoid. But simply by virtue of being female, and the target audience for these books, I think I'm perfectly qualified to comment on them.
I'm not referring here, to classics like Jane Austen and Gone With the Wind, or even fairly middle-brow chick-lit like Georgette Heyer. I'm talking about Mills and Boon (that staple distraction of college classes) and Silhouette and Barbara Cartland and Danieele Steel(though these may actually have plot) and so on.
There's a fairly typical progression of so called storyline on these novels, most of which can be deduced from the first chapter or so. Woman( beautiful, virtuous, lonely) meets man (tall handsome, rich). They're thrown together, fall in love, have a couple of misunderstandings, make up, live happily ever after. End of story.
That's every love story really, and the utter obviousness aside, it doesn't really bother me. Its always good for a bedtime read when you just want to empty your head.
What does bother me is this : See, I've read the Mills and Boons of my mother's time, I 'rescued' them when they were gathering dust in the store room, and read them secretly when I was supposed to be doing more productive things.
And I've read the romance novels of today. Nothing has changed. In twenty years, nothing has changed (except for the somewhat more explicit scenes- but we'll come to that in a bit).
I mean, it really bothers me that twenty years on, and inspite of women's lib, feminism etc. these books still feature the knight in armour on a white horse racing to rescue the damsel in distress. It maybe a snowstorm, a runaway horse, an unwanted admirer, a cruel family... it never seems to happen the other way round. Oh wait... she rescues him from his loneliness, from himself, from the job that's taken too much out of him... sigh, how romantic.
So much for our much vanted independence. Apparently the vast majority of women only want a man to fulfill the fairytale we have imagined our lives to be (with ourselves as Cinderella as likely as not).
Its really odd, when you compare it with Young Adult fantasy novels, stuff which is supposed to be real escapist literature. Somehow in books actually based on fairytales, Shannon Hales' 'The Goose Girl'and 'The Princess Academy', Robin McKinley's ' Spindle's End' are all based off fairy tales, and they have a good component of romance(though admittedly its not all of it, and they have more plot to work with), but their women have character and they manage to rescue themselves usually. And its not like you need a major in English Literature to read these books either; they're also written for the casual reader. I don't understand why, when providing teens with good role models, it's alright to tell adult women that they can remain perfectly helpless, because there's a handsome prince for every beautiful woman (if she's got model looks and he's a millionaire- don't poor men and fat women have a right to romance?)
Its not that all romance novels are particularly bad. I'm decidedly partial to humour and think that it excuses a great many flaws, for example Sophie Kisella's 'Shopaholic' series. (Also Goergette Heyer- although her heroes tend not be be handsome and brooding- and her heroines not always beautifu, which are always pluses in my book- speaking of which, what've people got against happy men?).
The other thing that bother's me a lot is -ah, how do I put this delicately- umm, the bodice ripper part of it I guess... the fact that this woman has been saying "no, no, no" and he goes on ,(At that's ok? Excuse me?), and then its all ok because she's actually in love woth him, blah,blah, blah( hallo? some respect for the woman's opinions here?) what sort of an example is being set over here, anyway?
And lets not even get into the ummm... blush-inducing R-rated scenes ok? I mean, I infinitely prefer Barbara Cartalnd (though they may all be Princesses and Earls and Dukes and Knights ) but to (sort of) quote the Lady herself "The ladies are Ladies and the men are gentlemen"
I'm not referring here, to classics like Jane Austen and Gone With the Wind, or even fairly middle-brow chick-lit like Georgette Heyer. I'm talking about Mills and Boon (that staple distraction of college classes) and Silhouette and Barbara Cartland and Danieele Steel(though these may actually have plot) and so on.
There's a fairly typical progression of so called storyline on these novels, most of which can be deduced from the first chapter or so. Woman( beautiful, virtuous, lonely) meets man (tall handsome, rich). They're thrown together, fall in love, have a couple of misunderstandings, make up, live happily ever after. End of story.
That's every love story really, and the utter obviousness aside, it doesn't really bother me. Its always good for a bedtime read when you just want to empty your head.
What does bother me is this : See, I've read the Mills and Boons of my mother's time, I 'rescued' them when they were gathering dust in the store room, and read them secretly when I was supposed to be doing more productive things.
And I've read the romance novels of today. Nothing has changed. In twenty years, nothing has changed (except for the somewhat more explicit scenes- but we'll come to that in a bit).
I mean, it really bothers me that twenty years on, and inspite of women's lib, feminism etc. these books still feature the knight in armour on a white horse racing to rescue the damsel in distress. It maybe a snowstorm, a runaway horse, an unwanted admirer, a cruel family... it never seems to happen the other way round. Oh wait... she rescues him from his loneliness, from himself, from the job that's taken too much out of him... sigh, how romantic.
So much for our much vanted independence. Apparently the vast majority of women only want a man to fulfill the fairytale we have imagined our lives to be (with ourselves as Cinderella as likely as not).
Its really odd, when you compare it with Young Adult fantasy novels, stuff which is supposed to be real escapist literature. Somehow in books actually based on fairytales, Shannon Hales' 'The Goose Girl'and 'The Princess Academy', Robin McKinley's ' Spindle's End' are all based off fairy tales, and they have a good component of romance(though admittedly its not all of it, and they have more plot to work with), but their women have character and they manage to rescue themselves usually. And its not like you need a major in English Literature to read these books either; they're also written for the casual reader. I don't understand why, when providing teens with good role models, it's alright to tell adult women that they can remain perfectly helpless, because there's a handsome prince for every beautiful woman (if she's got model looks and he's a millionaire- don't poor men and fat women have a right to romance?)
Its not that all romance novels are particularly bad. I'm decidedly partial to humour and think that it excuses a great many flaws, for example Sophie Kisella's 'Shopaholic' series. (Also Goergette Heyer- although her heroes tend not be be handsome and brooding- and her heroines not always beautifu, which are always pluses in my book- speaking of which, what've people got against happy men?).
The other thing that bother's me a lot is -ah, how do I put this delicately- umm, the bodice ripper part of it I guess... the fact that this woman has been saying "no, no, no" and he goes on ,(At that's ok? Excuse me?), and then its all ok because she's actually in love woth him, blah,blah, blah( hallo? some respect for the woman's opinions here?) what sort of an example is being set over here, anyway?
And lets not even get into the ummm... blush-inducing R-rated scenes ok? I mean, I infinitely prefer Barbara Cartalnd (though they may all be Princesses and Earls and Dukes and Knights ) but to (sort of) quote the Lady herself "The ladies are Ladies and the men are gentlemen"
Saturday, March 29, 2008
pics from New York and Washington
Views from a vacation (so long agao... oh so long ago!) Pictures posted in no particular order... from the top left...Capitol Hill Inside and Out.... In the Botanical Gardens at Washington... miniature Smithsonian and Christmas Tree... Winged creatures from ancient times, mythological, real and manmade (angels,pterodactyls and spacecraft) ... monuments to mankind and all that we are (the Washington Monument and the Jekyll and Hyde club) and of course a tribute to what kept us going
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Lunar Eclipse
Last week’s little excitement was the Lunar Eclipse on the 21st. It was raining all day, and the rain stopped, though the clouds still hung heavy, and I doubted that anything would be visible. Happily, the clouds cleared before 10 PM and when I stepped out at 10:15 the sky was perfectly clear. The moon was about halfway into shadow when I saw it, its innocent white giving way to an ominous orange-red shade. It was the sort of moon, I thought, with a shiver, that brings out werewolves. My imagination overworking, I gave a quick nod to Saturn, hanging below the moon and slipped back inside, and into my cozy bed, where I slept untroubled by loony monsters.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Jodhaa-Akbar
I was pleasantly surprised my the movie JodhaaAkbar last night, as I had gone without high expectations. Though its quality no where near the inspirational Lagaan and Swades that director Ashuthosh Gowarikar has made before, but it is a fantastic spectacle. The sets are opulent eye-candy (so are the two leads), the costumes are gorgeous (did I mention the leads?).
The story itself is more historical fiction than history (as virtually admitted in the narration), but as it is admitted, the protests about its accuracy are quite unnecessary. It never claims to be historically accurate. (So there!).
I was highly impressed by Hrithik Roshan's Akbar. He seems to be channeling the character, not simply acting him out. I cannot imagine anyone else in that role now(love the little mushtache). When he speaks, he sounds aunthentic- not simply reading a dialogue (unlike almost everyone else). Aishwarya (thinkfully) has little to do but look lovely (which he does) and occasionally show eyes brimming over with tears (which she does very well, indeed).
The movie is far from flawless. Its far too long, for one. The voice over naration by Amitabh could have been cut(or replaced with scenes with proper dialogue), along with several other scenes in the couple of hours. The movie as a whole could have used a whole lot of editing to make it at least an hour shorter. I'm afraid, that the length alone may keep it from being a hit.
Rehman's music is disappointing, the songs and the background music alike. Most of the actors are wooden and have obviously just memorised their dialogues and are reciting it off like bad poetry. The initial battle sequence was squirm-worthy. I did like the other fight scenes though, especially the last one.
So, worth a watch for sure(an in the theatre- DVD wouldn't do the sets justice), but I wouldn't do it more than once.
Saturday, February 02, 2008
A picture is worth a thousand words that I could do without!
For the last several weeks, my weekend trips to my aunt's house have included one important function- taking pictures. By that I don't mean the making memories kind, or landscape or portrait photography, amateur or professional. This is a category all of its own- its Marriage Market photography. It started with a Maami who was dismayed by the meagre number of pictures my Mom offered her of me. "Other girls send portfolios" , she protested. "Other girls must be models, not geeky software engineers", I snorted. I was overruled by my alarmed mother though, and so every weekend I come bearing a couple of my Salwar Kameezes and pose around the solarium, while my aunt directs me and takes the snaps, and my cousin critiques. Sometimes, if its not enough, I try out their dresses and do my hair several different ways: pull it back, leave it loose, a little in front. And once its all done I send them on their way to my Mom in India.
She promptly and diligently goes through them and comes back with several more suggestions for the next week. "Try a different duppatta... comb your hair after every shot, don't leave it loose... don't tie it too tight.... wear heel... don't wear heels...no shoes...no bare feet, wear sandals with open toes... not that dress, its too tight... not that one either, its too floppy.... stand up straight... don't stand too straight, be natural... sit... no sitting shots... wear powder... no make up... jewellery... close ups of you face, full length shots...
Ok... who cares precisely to look at so many pictures?!! Unfortunately, alas, there are enough people who do. And even worse(for me) there are girls who happily (it seems- my smiles are simply fake, and not all the cajoling in the world can help with that) sit through an entire photoshoot, for all the world like they were at America's Top Model or something. Today it is to be garden shots(never mind that it s perfectly dreary winter's day), in carefully arranged 'natural' poses.
So if you ever come across pictures of me with a forced smile, strangely stiff, and teetering on high heels, smelling the non-existent roses, all in different clothes, for all the world like a heroine from a Tamil movie, changing costumes through a song sequence, you know that story behind it.
She promptly and diligently goes through them and comes back with several more suggestions for the next week. "Try a different duppatta... comb your hair after every shot, don't leave it loose... don't tie it too tight.... wear heel... don't wear heels...no shoes...no bare feet, wear sandals with open toes... not that dress, its too tight... not that one either, its too floppy.... stand up straight... don't stand too straight, be natural... sit... no sitting shots... wear powder... no make up... jewellery... close ups of you face, full length shots...
Ok... who cares precisely to look at so many pictures?!! Unfortunately, alas, there are enough people who do. And even worse(for me) there are girls who happily (it seems- my smiles are simply fake, and not all the cajoling in the world can help with that) sit through an entire photoshoot, for all the world like they were at America's Top Model or something. Today it is to be garden shots(never mind that it s perfectly dreary winter's day), in carefully arranged 'natural' poses.
So if you ever come across pictures of me with a forced smile, strangely stiff, and teetering on high heels, smelling the non-existent roses, all in different clothes, for all the world like a heroine from a Tamil movie, changing costumes through a song sequence, you know that story behind it.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
There was something in the air...
Over the weekend before New Years, along with Ash and... Ash (heh, bad joke I know) I went to see Mamma Mia. Caought a train from the Princeton Junction first thing Saturday morning to New York where the streets were shockingly empty (at 9:30 on a Saturday... but New York ok!- less than bumper to bumper traffic, and half a dozen people squeezing into the same square foot of pavement is unbelievable), and we raced to the Ticketmaster booth (by the Bank of America on Times Square - don't ask which one- like our tour guide told us, the previous day, you can't use banks or Starbucks or pharmacies as landmarks- there's one round every corner- but remember the BOA)
There was already a queue there, snaking around, but thank god it was moving fast, also that god there was a starbucks near by to eat while we waited.
Got pretty good seats by the way, Balcony first row thank you very much.
As for the show itself .... there are no words! It was absolutely incredible! The music! The dances! The comedy!
I was amazed at how much they accomplished with what seemed to me to be minimal props(compared to the Lion King at least... which is the only other Broadway show I've seen- also gorgeous by the way... I mean Disney, Elton John, Alan Menken... I mean- The Lion King! enough said)
I loved the way they wove the plot around the music, and what music! If I hadn't been on Broadway(and hence on my best behaviour), I'd probably have been jumping and dancing around like I was back in college!
I loved every character, each so masterfully detailed with just a few lines of dialogue. I'm not going to give away plot details here, because YOU SHOULD GO AND SEE IT FOR YOURSELF!, but, just to let you know, Judy McLane and Gina Ferrall are incredibly funny. Carolee Carmello has an amazing voice, just made for some of those dramatic songs.
A month later, I'm still on a high everytime I think of the show, and I'm already up for my next one- Anyone game for Phatom of the Opera?
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
On Atonement
I really, really liked the book. And now I'm going to tell you why. In detail. So if you don't want to be spoilt, don't read any further.
First of all, I don't think this book is really about plot. Oh, the plot's there, but it's almost incidental, a cloud swirling around that one pivotal moment. And I don't think that the pivotal moment was the moment of Briony's lie, it was before that- the scene with Cecilia and Robbie at the fountain, Briony watching from above. There's this meta moment in the book, where Briony describes what the book itself is doing- taking a moment in three different points of view, each person's (mis) interpretation and the consequences that follow.
I love that fact that she cannot atone, not really, not completely. That even legally, her hands are tied. And there is no forgiveness from Cecilia or Robbie. Why should they forgive after all. Who would, who could? Will her apologies bring back the years that they lost? People assume that an apology given is an apology accepted. Those who throw the aplogy back in the face are bitter, ungracious. But what use is an apology? What difference does it make to the person who has been wronged? Whether by malice or ignorance, does it change anything?
There is Robbie desperately seeking a reason why, rationalizing it with an incident Briony neither remembers nor cares about anymore. And there is Briony. However reprehensible her actions, you cannot hate her. She was thirteen (though thirteen year old these days would probably not make the mistake- makes you almost thankful for the knowledge available), she had a vivid imagination, she so desperately wanted to be right . To do her justice though, when she did come to realize the truth, she faced up to the fact that she was wrong. What ever she was, she was not lacking in courage.
And there's Lola. She is hate-able, but God, I feel desperately sorry for her. She knew, she knew all along, and yet she went along with it. Did she already have plans for the future, blackmail maybe? Did she feel vindicated in the end, at her marrage, relieved at being made an honest woman of? Did she suffer from some version of the Stockholm syndrome, the only way her mind could cope with the tragedy? She was certainly self-centered enough that after the wedding, she cared little about the man who had shouldered the blame, but that no shadow fell on her own name, even if the criminal got away with it(or maybe I mean especially). One thing the book, the wedding scene in particular, does do, is strike a blow at all those caveman style romance novels. I do think you know the ones I mean.
It wasn't the subject matter, though that was sometimes harsh to read, but one particular word that made me think that the book deserved the R rating (well, the movie actually- I don't thin the book is rated). It was just a little jarring, to see that word in such a book. Possibly, it ws necessary, it gave that push to both Briony and Cecilia. Sometimes I am a little old fashioned.
I did love Briony's growth as an author, from fairy tales, to the recognition that no action can be judged independent of its consequences, as she becomes a more honest writer.
First of all, I don't think this book is really about plot. Oh, the plot's there, but it's almost incidental, a cloud swirling around that one pivotal moment. And I don't think that the pivotal moment was the moment of Briony's lie, it was before that- the scene with Cecilia and Robbie at the fountain, Briony watching from above. There's this meta moment in the book, where Briony describes what the book itself is doing- taking a moment in three different points of view, each person's (mis) interpretation and the consequences that follow.
I love that fact that she cannot atone, not really, not completely. That even legally, her hands are tied. And there is no forgiveness from Cecilia or Robbie. Why should they forgive after all. Who would, who could? Will her apologies bring back the years that they lost? People assume that an apology given is an apology accepted. Those who throw the aplogy back in the face are bitter, ungracious. But what use is an apology? What difference does it make to the person who has been wronged? Whether by malice or ignorance, does it change anything?
There is Robbie desperately seeking a reason why, rationalizing it with an incident Briony neither remembers nor cares about anymore. And there is Briony. However reprehensible her actions, you cannot hate her. She was thirteen (though thirteen year old these days would probably not make the mistake- makes you almost thankful for the knowledge available), she had a vivid imagination, she so desperately wanted to be right . To do her justice though, when she did come to realize the truth, she faced up to the fact that she was wrong. What ever she was, she was not lacking in courage.
And there's Lola. She is hate-able, but God, I feel desperately sorry for her. She knew, she knew all along, and yet she went along with it. Did she already have plans for the future, blackmail maybe? Did she feel vindicated in the end, at her marrage, relieved at being made an honest woman of? Did she suffer from some version of the Stockholm syndrome, the only way her mind could cope with the tragedy? She was certainly self-centered enough that after the wedding, she cared little about the man who had shouldered the blame, but that no shadow fell on her own name, even if the criminal got away with it(or maybe I mean especially). One thing the book, the wedding scene in particular, does do, is strike a blow at all those caveman style romance novels. I do think you know the ones I mean.
It wasn't the subject matter, though that was sometimes harsh to read, but one particular word that made me think that the book deserved the R rating (well, the movie actually- I don't thin the book is rated). It was just a little jarring, to see that word in such a book. Possibly, it ws necessary, it gave that push to both Briony and Cecilia. Sometimes I am a little old fashioned.
I did love Briony's growth as an author, from fairy tales, to the recognition that no action can be judged independent of its consequences, as she becomes a more honest writer.
Thursday, January 03, 2008
What I did when I was travelling
It has been a long time since I last wrote, and many exciting things have happened since then. I’ve been to Disney World and Cape Canaveral, and New York and Washington, and will shortly post pictures of my trips.
Right now, I going into the books I’ve been reading lately. Schindler’s List first, which I read on the flight to Florida. Brilliant and intense, the story it told was just unbelievable. Both that people could sink to such depravity, in the name of doing good, and that people should have such courage to fight such a thing. Then there has been a series of lighter reads; two of Phillip Pullman’s Sally Lockhart series: ‘The Ruby in The Smoke’ and ‘The Shadow in the North’. Not fantasies as I had initially expected. More like Wilkie Collins’ ‘Moonstone’ or even a Sherlock Holmes. Both were very twisty and I love Lockhart being an independent-minded female financial consultant (talk about a boring job- just the sort that needs to be livened up by pirates and smugglers) in Victorian England. There’s so much more I liked about those books, but I can’t say more without giving the plot away. Only, I laughed at the person who actually solves the mystery in the first book. And I love Sally and Fred’s relationship in the second.
Then there are the rest of Baroness Emmuska Orczy’s Scarlet Pimpernel series, all available online at http://www.blakeneymanor.com/ . After a point they do get repetitive, you’d think Chauvelin would stop being so easily tricked. It starts feeling like those roadrunner cartoons. Still, good for timepass.
Also online, at http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page is ‘The Prisoner of Zenda’ and its sequel ‘Rupert of Hentzau’ both by Anthony Hope. The first is a fun adventure story, the second is substantially darker.
I’ve also been reading several of the Newberry award winning books, courtesy of my cousin. I’m a little surprised that some of these books are recommended to children, they’re all pretty deep and dark. I’ve read ‘The House of the Scorpions’ by Nancy farmer, and ‘The Goose Girl’ by Shannon Hale (she didn’t win the medal- in was a Newberry Honor for Princess Academy - not for this one). ‘The House of the Scorpions’ was excellent, if somewhat creepy.
‘The Goose Girl’ was good, but the there were several plothole, and the tone of the book went just a little preachy in the end. Much better was Louis Sachar’s ‘Holes’ which was also made into a very good movie. It’s a short book, and the plot flies by, and everything ties up neatly in the end. Then there’s Lois Lowry’s ‘The Giver’ which I may have mentioned before- one of the dystopias. She’s also written sequels that I want to read (The Messenger’ and something else). I’m halfway though another book my cousin recommended- ‘The Book Thief’ by Marcus Zuzack’ and after that I think its going to be ‘Atonement’, before I go to see the movie.
Right now, I going into the books I’ve been reading lately. Schindler’s List first, which I read on the flight to Florida. Brilliant and intense, the story it told was just unbelievable. Both that people could sink to such depravity, in the name of doing good, and that people should have such courage to fight such a thing. Then there has been a series of lighter reads; two of Phillip Pullman’s Sally Lockhart series: ‘The Ruby in The Smoke’ and ‘The Shadow in the North’. Not fantasies as I had initially expected. More like Wilkie Collins’ ‘Moonstone’ or even a Sherlock Holmes. Both were very twisty and I love Lockhart being an independent-minded female financial consultant (talk about a boring job- just the sort that needs to be livened up by pirates and smugglers) in Victorian England. There’s so much more I liked about those books, but I can’t say more without giving the plot away. Only, I laughed at the person who actually solves the mystery in the first book. And I love Sally and Fred’s relationship in the second.
Then there are the rest of Baroness Emmuska Orczy’s Scarlet Pimpernel series, all available online at http://www.blakeneymanor.com/ . After a point they do get repetitive, you’d think Chauvelin would stop being so easily tricked. It starts feeling like those roadrunner cartoons. Still, good for timepass.
Also online, at http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page is ‘The Prisoner of Zenda’ and its sequel ‘Rupert of Hentzau’ both by Anthony Hope. The first is a fun adventure story, the second is substantially darker.
I’ve also been reading several of the Newberry award winning books, courtesy of my cousin. I’m a little surprised that some of these books are recommended to children, they’re all pretty deep and dark. I’ve read ‘The House of the Scorpions’ by Nancy farmer, and ‘The Goose Girl’ by Shannon Hale (she didn’t win the medal- in was a Newberry Honor for Princess Academy - not for this one). ‘The House of the Scorpions’ was excellent, if somewhat creepy.
‘The Goose Girl’ was good, but the there were several plothole, and the tone of the book went just a little preachy in the end. Much better was Louis Sachar’s ‘Holes’ which was also made into a very good movie. It’s a short book, and the plot flies by, and everything ties up neatly in the end. Then there’s Lois Lowry’s ‘The Giver’ which I may have mentioned before- one of the dystopias. She’s also written sequels that I want to read (The Messenger’ and something else). I’m halfway though another book my cousin recommended- ‘The Book Thief’ by Marcus Zuzack’ and after that I think its going to be ‘Atonement’, before I go to see the movie.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Yay for the used book store!!!
I’m about half way through the books I had said I would read previously. It was really thanks to this amazing little used book store in Kutztown that I was able to buy many of these- I doubt if I would have bought them all a Barnes and noble- there are limits to my profligacy!
I started off with the Dark is rising Sequence by Susan Cooper. I actually read “The Dark is Rising” on Friday night (the 5th) at B&N. Then on Saturday morning I set off to Kutztown, down 222N. On the way I was distracted my an Amish shop selling pecan pies- it has been over 9 years since I had one, but still I remember the rich nutty taste. I had looked for it at Redner’s and at Tanner’s; for all that it was one of America’s Favourite Pies though, it was strangely elusive. But in the end, unexpectedly there it was, on the way to Kutztown.
Then there was a Flea Market. I don’t believe I’ve mentioned before my thrilling experiences a garage sales and Flea Markets. There was a garage sale that I went to many weeks ago when my mother was here. We got three comfortable solid wooden chars from there. The only problem was getting a pair of cushions for the large one which was an armchair, because we didn’t wasn’t to use someone else’s used cushions (for reasons I don’t want to go into detail here). Anyway, in the end the cushions were more expensive than all three chars put together. Still, I think of it as “A Good Deal”.
The first Flea Market I went to is about 2 hours from Reading, opposite an ashram. We’d gone to the Ashram actually, but ended up spending more time at the Flea Market, buying the most fascinating things. Cheap jewellery, old books, boxes a jewellery box like a small chest of drawers… The one on Kutztown road was much smaller though. And I got a rocking chair there – for $15!
Anyway –on to the bookstore – it’s this tiny cramped store, in the best tradition of second hand book stores. And I ended up buying about 10 books just because I could. You have to hunt though, among dusty shelves and in boxes and bins and squeeze through narrow spaces, and I felt like I never wanted to leave!
But I did in the end, loaded with last three from the Dark is Rising Sequence, “The Golden Compass” and “The Amber Spyglass” by Phillip Pullman, and sundry other novels.
The Dark is Rising can be read as just a kid’s story- the old-fashioned good vs. evil thing, except better written than most. I hadn’t realized that Over Sea, Under Stone was part of the series, now it’s the only one I haven’t read. You could be bothered by the almost inevitable feeling of the victory of the Light, like a Deux ex Machina, and the string of strange co-incidences that pave the path to victory, but the ending was just a little sad and very satisfactory. I do like the books though, the plot many not be great, but the characters are wonderfully fleshed out, and the whole story feels a little misty- blurred at the edges, softened, like you’re viewing it through not entirely transparent glass. It doesn’t moralize though, and doesn’t pretend to be anything but a story, doesn’t strive to be an epic (and isn’t one by any means). It’s short, even with all the books taken together, and rather sweet.
Phillip Pullman though- I had read only “The Amber Spyglass” before. It’s the last one in the trilogy, and I read the first two only now. I liked the Amber Spyglass for its story, but taken out of context, saw it only as a somewhat over complicated idea- too many characters, too many ideas, all coming together in one book.
Taken as a whole though, you really get the sense of beginning and end, of a coming together of many great purposes, small and large acts to the grand denouement.
I do hope they don’t make a mess of this series like they did with Susan Cooper’s when they make them into movies.
I started off with the Dark is rising Sequence by Susan Cooper. I actually read “The Dark is Rising” on Friday night (the 5th) at B&N. Then on Saturday morning I set off to Kutztown, down 222N. On the way I was distracted my an Amish shop selling pecan pies- it has been over 9 years since I had one, but still I remember the rich nutty taste. I had looked for it at Redner’s and at Tanner’s; for all that it was one of America’s Favourite Pies though, it was strangely elusive. But in the end, unexpectedly there it was, on the way to Kutztown.
Then there was a Flea Market. I don’t believe I’ve mentioned before my thrilling experiences a garage sales and Flea Markets. There was a garage sale that I went to many weeks ago when my mother was here. We got three comfortable solid wooden chars from there. The only problem was getting a pair of cushions for the large one which was an armchair, because we didn’t wasn’t to use someone else’s used cushions (for reasons I don’t want to go into detail here). Anyway, in the end the cushions were more expensive than all three chars put together. Still, I think of it as “A Good Deal”.
The first Flea Market I went to is about 2 hours from Reading, opposite an ashram. We’d gone to the Ashram actually, but ended up spending more time at the Flea Market, buying the most fascinating things. Cheap jewellery, old books, boxes a jewellery box like a small chest of drawers… The one on Kutztown road was much smaller though. And I got a rocking chair there – for $15!
Anyway –on to the bookstore – it’s this tiny cramped store, in the best tradition of second hand book stores. And I ended up buying about 10 books just because I could. You have to hunt though, among dusty shelves and in boxes and bins and squeeze through narrow spaces, and I felt like I never wanted to leave!
But I did in the end, loaded with last three from the Dark is Rising Sequence, “The Golden Compass” and “The Amber Spyglass” by Phillip Pullman, and sundry other novels.
The Dark is Rising can be read as just a kid’s story- the old-fashioned good vs. evil thing, except better written than most. I hadn’t realized that Over Sea, Under Stone was part of the series, now it’s the only one I haven’t read. You could be bothered by the almost inevitable feeling of the victory of the Light, like a Deux ex Machina, and the string of strange co-incidences that pave the path to victory, but the ending was just a little sad and very satisfactory. I do like the books though, the plot many not be great, but the characters are wonderfully fleshed out, and the whole story feels a little misty- blurred at the edges, softened, like you’re viewing it through not entirely transparent glass. It doesn’t moralize though, and doesn’t pretend to be anything but a story, doesn’t strive to be an epic (and isn’t one by any means). It’s short, even with all the books taken together, and rather sweet.
Phillip Pullman though- I had read only “The Amber Spyglass” before. It’s the last one in the trilogy, and I read the first two only now. I liked the Amber Spyglass for its story, but taken out of context, saw it only as a somewhat over complicated idea- too many characters, too many ideas, all coming together in one book.
Taken as a whole though, you really get the sense of beginning and end, of a coming together of many great purposes, small and large acts to the grand denouement.
I do hope they don’t make a mess of this series like they did with Susan Cooper’s when they make them into movies.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Two Lives- All Done!
I’m finally DONE with Vikram Seth’s ‘Two Lives’. I think it’ll be a while before I can bring myself to pick up a biography again. The story was a bit slow, detailing the author’s Aunt and Uncle’s lives before, during, and after World War II, she a German Jew during the Holocaust, he a dentist working for the British Army. The parts pertaining to the war, and the recovery period after it was very compelling, but the long list of friends and relatives, the hot and cold of relationships was a bit wearying to go through.
Another book I recently read concerning the Holocaust was ‘Briar Rose’ by Jane Yolen. It was my cousin who gave me the book, and it was from her school library. I was rather surprised to hear that it had been in the children’s section. Though it was based on the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale, I thought it dealt with some ideas that are far too disturbing for a child to read. But then again ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’ is considered children’s literature by many, I read it when I was about eleven myself, and I don’t think this one is that much harder to read.
One point that made an impression on me in both Briar Rose and in ‘Two Lives’ , was that they both dealt with the fact that the trials and tribulations of the victims did not end with the war. Even afterwards they had to cope with massive bureaucracies, and just the unwillingness of people to admit that they had been wronged – because to admit that would mean admitting that they had to make reparation, perhaps giving up some of what they had gained, even if not directly, then indirectly through the oppression of others.
Now, the next book on my agenda is Schindler’s List. It’s another of those books I have always been meaning to read, but never got to reading.
One more book I quickly got through, over the weekend, was ‘The Prisoner of Zenda’. It was as good as I remembered, but compared to some of the other books I was reading, felt a bit soap-opera-esque or fairytale-ish, though its not really a happy ending…
That brings me to other books I want to re-read. The Hunchback of Notre-Dame for one, then Wuthering Heights. I only remember the vaguest details of the plots of these books. I read them when I was in sixth standard, in my room, with the door locked so that no one could see what I was actually doing when I was supposed to be studying.
Another book I recently read concerning the Holocaust was ‘Briar Rose’ by Jane Yolen. It was my cousin who gave me the book, and it was from her school library. I was rather surprised to hear that it had been in the children’s section. Though it was based on the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale, I thought it dealt with some ideas that are far too disturbing for a child to read. But then again ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’ is considered children’s literature by many, I read it when I was about eleven myself, and I don’t think this one is that much harder to read.
One point that made an impression on me in both Briar Rose and in ‘Two Lives’ , was that they both dealt with the fact that the trials and tribulations of the victims did not end with the war. Even afterwards they had to cope with massive bureaucracies, and just the unwillingness of people to admit that they had been wronged – because to admit that would mean admitting that they had to make reparation, perhaps giving up some of what they had gained, even if not directly, then indirectly through the oppression of others.
Now, the next book on my agenda is Schindler’s List. It’s another of those books I have always been meaning to read, but never got to reading.
One more book I quickly got through, over the weekend, was ‘The Prisoner of Zenda’. It was as good as I remembered, but compared to some of the other books I was reading, felt a bit soap-opera-esque or fairytale-ish, though its not really a happy ending…
That brings me to other books I want to re-read. The Hunchback of Notre-Dame for one, then Wuthering Heights. I only remember the vaguest details of the plots of these books. I read them when I was in sixth standard, in my room, with the door locked so that no one could see what I was actually doing when I was supposed to be studying.
Friday, September 14, 2007
Homesick for LA
It was when I was walking across the overbridge that connects the parking lot to my office building that I felt my breath catch as I was transported 3000 miles to the west. Though, it may sound strange that it was the cool breeze that brought it on, not the blazing summer sun that we have had for the past two months. But I have never been in LA through summer – last year I went back to India in June, and this year of course, I had left by February.
But yesterday the sky was blue, the sun was high, there was a nip in the air, and I could almost believe that the red brick of my office front was actually Powell library.
And then reality brought me crashing down, back to 9 hours of work ahead.
But yesterday the sky was blue, the sun was high, there was a nip in the air, and I could almost believe that the red brick of my office front was actually Powell library.
And then reality brought me crashing down, back to 9 hours of work ahead.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
In my crystal Ball
From the books that I have finished, coming to those I want to read (or re-read) over the next few months- the first would be ‘Siddhartha’. I already have it, its been sitting on my bookshelf for a while now, just waiting to be picked up.
Then, I want to read all those books that are shortly going to become movies, starting with Phillippa Gregory’s ‘The Other Boelyn Girl’ and the others in her series about King Henry VIII wives etc. I’ve seen those books in Barnes and Noble many, many times, but been too lethargic to pick them up. Now, however, there is some urgency in me to read the book before seeing the movie.
So many books are being made into movies this fall- I’ll have to read Beowulf (though that was one that I have long wanted to), and re-read The Golden Compass (by Phillip Pullman) and The Dark is Rising (Susan Cooper).
I’m actually amazed that the Golden Compass is being made at all – with all its negative references to an evil church (in a parallel universe to be fair) – though apparently it did run into some controversy over that here http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/his_dark_materials_the_golden_compass/news/1664784/
But given the popularity of turning books into movies, I’m surprised that one author who hasn’t been made it on the silver screen is Georgette Heyer (except for a version of Arabella and a spoof of The Reluctant Widow)- ‘The Masqueraders’ would be perfect on screen, so would ‘These Old Shades’ (they could even do a trilogy with ‘The Devil’s Cub’ and ‘The Infamous Army’– that seems like the norm these days) , or ‘Friday’s Child’ or ‘The Grand Sophy or…. And I could keep going. Just a matter of time I guess!
Then, I want to read all those books that are shortly going to become movies, starting with Phillippa Gregory’s ‘The Other Boelyn Girl’ and the others in her series about King Henry VIII wives etc. I’ve seen those books in Barnes and Noble many, many times, but been too lethargic to pick them up. Now, however, there is some urgency in me to read the book before seeing the movie.
So many books are being made into movies this fall- I’ll have to read Beowulf (though that was one that I have long wanted to), and re-read The Golden Compass (by Phillip Pullman) and The Dark is Rising (Susan Cooper).
I’m actually amazed that the Golden Compass is being made at all – with all its negative references to an evil church (in a parallel universe to be fair) – though apparently it did run into some controversy over that here http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/his_dark_materials_the_golden_compass/news/1664784/
But given the popularity of turning books into movies, I’m surprised that one author who hasn’t been made it on the silver screen is Georgette Heyer (except for a version of Arabella and a spoof of The Reluctant Widow)- ‘The Masqueraders’ would be perfect on screen, so would ‘These Old Shades’ (they could even do a trilogy with ‘The Devil’s Cub’ and ‘The Infamous Army’– that seems like the norm these days) , or ‘Friday’s Child’ or ‘The Grand Sophy or…. And I could keep going. Just a matter of time I guess!
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Fiascos in Flying
I commented just yesterday on Ash’s blog that I sympathized with her troubles while flying- and was reminded of the entire hullaboo that I have come to associate with flying over the last couple of years.
I remember my first flight quite well actually. I was eight and we were flying from Madras to Singapore on Singapore Airlines. Here, I should make the point that Singapore Airlines was and continues to be the airlines with the best service. The flight was, the food was good(I didn’t understand until years later why airline food was so reviled), they gave us goody bags for kids(to keep them occupied) with this plastic toy with holes into which you could loop colorful thread (I still have it!). I think that early experience is why, though I know that optimism is the certain path to disappointment, I still look forward to a flight.
There were other memorable flights – there was the flight on a tiny plane with about a dozen passengers, which had engine trouble(and excellent sandwiches) and landed in Chandigarh when in was to go to Shimla (or something like that). I think I should have been more concerned than I was, sitting on that flight, but there were magnificent views as we flew along the foothills of the Himalayas, and that distracted me somewhat (what a good thing I was not in the cockpit!).
Its not just the security procedures that are a pain these days – I can live with that- I understand its necessary, maybe its paranoid, maybe long lines are a pain, whatever- that’s Ok. I can live with the ‘only 23 kg’s’ thing that airlines have – I don’t really want to carry heavy suitcases myself.No, what really, really annoys me is the actual flight itself. Long gone are the days when a 7:30 flight actually meant a 7:30 flight. These days you’re lucky if you leave before. No more food on flights – peanuts if you’re lucky. Either pack food from home – or pay a small ransom and buy something to eat at the airport. It's most annoying with drinks. You can’t bring liquids through security and what costs $1.25 one side of the X-ray machine, costs $2.50 on the nother! And its not like the Air Hostesses ( Oh ok – Stewardesses or Stewards) actually answer when you when you press the little light, and bring you the drink you want when you’re thirsty… )
There was the flight from Bombay to New York through London- that was about 9 years ago. I still remember being awed by the number of shops at Heathrow. I watched Jerry Maguire three times over that trip- and never tired of it. Is it just me or is the quality of movies they show on board also deteriorating? (or is it that the movies themselves are deteriorating?) It used to be prospective Oscar winners, fresh as they were running in theatres- no more – now we get six month old flops that you couldn’t pay me to see… maybe they’re encouraging people to sleep on flights? That was also one of the first flights of the Boeing 767 (I think that’s the right number anyway). Huge plane – much more legroom that you get these days (no I haven’t grown any taller – trust me on that!).
Its not just the security procedures that are a pain these days – I can live with that- I understand its necessary, maybe its paranoid, maybe long lines are a pain, whatever- that’s Ok. I can live with the ‘only 23 kg’s’ thing that airlines have – I don’t really want to carry heavy suitcases myself.
No, what really, really annoys me is the actual flight itself. Long gone are the days when a 7:30 flight actually meant a 7:30 flight. These days you’re lucky if you leave before 12. No more food on flights – peanuts if you’re lucky. Either pack food from home – or pay a small ransom and buy something to eat at the airport. Its most annoying with drinks. You can’t bring liquids through security and what costs $1.25 one side of the X-ray machine, costs $2.50 on the other! And its not like the Air Hostesses ( Oh ok – Stewardesses or Stewards) actually answer when you when you press the little light, and bring you the drink you want when you’re thirsty…
And connecting flights – I hope whoever invented that nightmare is burning away in some inner circle of Hell, because Hell is what I feel I go through rushing from one flight to catch another! Imagine that you have 45 minutes between the landing of one flight and the take – off of the next. And of course the first flight is half an hour late. And then the connecting flight is at the nest terminal and you have to catch the Skytrain/ Shuttle/ Just run as fast as you can and hope your luggage also makes it.
I was on supposed to go on this flight from LA to Philly on Continental a couple of months ago. That flight was cancelled(after we got to the airport) and we were re-booked on American Airlines. Of course our luggage got lost. We talked to customer representatives for a week, getting conflicting answers from “Oh, we have it right here – we’ll send it right away!” to “We have no idea. We have no record of such a piece” and I was about ready to give up- or go mad – when an amazingly kind and responsible representative actually tracked the piece down and had it sent to us, finally ending the nightmare.
And connecting flights – I hope whoever invented that nightmare is burning away in some inner circle of Hell, because Hell is what I feel I go through rushing from one flight to catch another! Imagine that you have 45 minutes between the landing of one flight and the take – off of the next. And of course the first flight is half an hour late. And then the connecting flight is at the nest terminal and you have to catch the Skytrain/ Shuttle/Just run as fast as you can and hope your luggage also makes it.
I was on supposed to go on this flight from LA to Philly on Continental a couple of months ago. That flight was cancelled(after we got to the airport) and we were re-booked on American Airlines. Of course our luggage got lost. We talked to customer representatives for a week, getting conflicting answers from “Oh, we have it right here – we’ll send it right away!” to “We have no idea. We have no record of such a piece” and I was about ready to give up- or go mad – when an amazingly kind and responsible representative actually tracked the piece down and had it sent to us, finally ending the nightmare.
I remember my first flight quite well actually. I was eight and we were flying from Madras to Singapore on Singapore Airlines. Here, I should make the point that Singapore Airlines was and continues to be the airlines with the best service. The flight was, the food was good(I didn’t understand until years later why airline food was so reviled), they gave us goody bags for kids(to keep them occupied) with this plastic toy with holes into which you could loop colorful thread (I still have it!). I think that early experience is why, though I know that optimism is the certain path to disappointment, I still look forward to a flight.
There were other memorable flights – there was the flight on a tiny plane with about a dozen passengers, which had engine trouble(and excellent sandwiches) and landed in Chandigarh when in was to go to Shimla (or something like that). I think I should have been more concerned than I was, sitting on that flight, but there were magnificent views as we flew along the foothills of the Himalayas, and that distracted me somewhat (what a good thing I was not in the cockpit!).
Its not just the security procedures that are a pain these days – I can live with that- I understand its necessary, maybe its paranoid, maybe long lines are a pain, whatever- that’s Ok. I can live with the ‘only 23 kg’s’ thing that airlines have – I don’t really want to carry heavy suitcases myself.No, what really, really annoys me is the actual flight itself. Long gone are the days when a 7:30 flight actually meant a 7:30 flight. These days you’re lucky if you leave before. No more food on flights – peanuts if you’re lucky. Either pack food from home – or pay a small ransom and buy something to eat at the airport. It's most annoying with drinks. You can’t bring liquids through security and what costs $1.25 one side of the X-ray machine, costs $2.50 on the nother! And its not like the Air Hostesses ( Oh ok – Stewardesses or Stewards) actually answer when you when you press the little light, and bring you the drink you want when you’re thirsty… )
There was the flight from Bombay to New York through London- that was about 9 years ago. I still remember being awed by the number of shops at Heathrow. I watched Jerry Maguire three times over that trip- and never tired of it. Is it just me or is the quality of movies they show on board also deteriorating? (or is it that the movies themselves are deteriorating?) It used to be prospective Oscar winners, fresh as they were running in theatres- no more – now we get six month old flops that you couldn’t pay me to see… maybe they’re encouraging people to sleep on flights? That was also one of the first flights of the Boeing 767 (I think that’s the right number anyway). Huge plane – much more legroom that you get these days (no I haven’t grown any taller – trust me on that!).
Its not just the security procedures that are a pain these days – I can live with that- I understand its necessary, maybe its paranoid, maybe long lines are a pain, whatever- that’s Ok. I can live with the ‘only 23 kg’s’ thing that airlines have – I don’t really want to carry heavy suitcases myself.
No, what really, really annoys me is the actual flight itself. Long gone are the days when a 7:30 flight actually meant a 7:30 flight. These days you’re lucky if you leave before 12. No more food on flights – peanuts if you’re lucky. Either pack food from home – or pay a small ransom and buy something to eat at the airport. Its most annoying with drinks. You can’t bring liquids through security and what costs $1.25 one side of the X-ray machine, costs $2.50 on the other! And its not like the Air Hostesses ( Oh ok – Stewardesses or Stewards) actually answer when you when you press the little light, and bring you the drink you want when you’re thirsty…
And connecting flights – I hope whoever invented that nightmare is burning away in some inner circle of Hell, because Hell is what I feel I go through rushing from one flight to catch another! Imagine that you have 45 minutes between the landing of one flight and the take – off of the next. And of course the first flight is half an hour late. And then the connecting flight is at the nest terminal and you have to catch the Skytrain/ Shuttle/ Just run as fast as you can and hope your luggage also makes it.
I was on supposed to go on this flight from LA to Philly on Continental a couple of months ago. That flight was cancelled(after we got to the airport) and we were re-booked on American Airlines. Of course our luggage got lost. We talked to customer representatives for a week, getting conflicting answers from “Oh, we have it right here – we’ll send it right away!” to “We have no idea. We have no record of such a piece” and I was about ready to give up- or go mad – when an amazingly kind and responsible representative actually tracked the piece down and had it sent to us, finally ending the nightmare.
And connecting flights – I hope whoever invented that nightmare is burning away in some inner circle of Hell, because Hell is what I feel I go through rushing from one flight to catch another! Imagine that you have 45 minutes between the landing of one flight and the take – off of the next. And of course the first flight is half an hour late. And then the connecting flight is at the nest terminal and you have to catch the Skytrain/ Shuttle/Just run as fast as you can and hope your luggage also makes it.
I was on supposed to go on this flight from LA to Philly on Continental a couple of months ago. That flight was cancelled(after we got to the airport) and we were re-booked on American Airlines. Of course our luggage got lost. We talked to customer representatives for a week, getting conflicting answers from “Oh, we have it right here – we’ll send it right away!” to “We have no idea. We have no record of such a piece” and I was about ready to give up- or go mad – when an amazingly kind and responsible representative actually tracked the piece down and had it sent to us, finally ending the nightmare.
Monday, September 10, 2007
Maybe I’m just uninterested in the real lives of real people, but I’m just finding ‘Two Lives’ by Vikram Seth really hard to finish- 200 pages down (over the last month) and 250 (or more) to go. It’s a really good book though, a little slow, but nicely written (dub – like I said real people – not heroes endowed with magical or supernatural powers), but parts of it are very nicely written. His fondness for his subjects clearly comes through, and his unwillingness of pry too far into their lives (this far and no further) which leaves you with something to ponder when all is done. (I like that in a book – if it ends all roundly and satisfactorily, with no spaces in between, how boring! The best stories are the ones that have you day-dreaming, about all those unmentioned thoughts, those unspoken words, that make you author, a co-creator of the universe.)
But in the middle of reading the above book, I got swept away by a real page turner. It was my sister who sent me ‘The Kite Runner’ by Khalid Hosseini, and since then, it has been passed around the family. That was an absolutely heart-wrenching book. The characters are painfully real- their flaws so believable, as is their need to rise above them. It was so hard to read, and so hard to put away. Then of course I had to go on and read the next book by the author – ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns’. Not as good as the first, (you’d think I’d like it better, being about the plight of women and all), still is was an excellent book. Bittersweet satisfying ending and all.
I had read Stardust last Winter actually, during a sort of read many, many Neil Gaiman’s and Terry Pratchett’s as possible thing I was going through. It started with Good Omens. Have I told you what an incredibly funny book that is? Well, it is an incredibly funny book. Nice (and accurate? (you’ll have to read it to get that inside joke)), light, without being stupid, happy ending (or is it?). Talks on a sequel, talks of a movie… nothing seems to be happening…
Still back to Stardust- it was a very good book, which was why I was so surprised that it became such a good movie (so young and yet so cynical !) Of course they messed with the story a bit, as I complained through those scenes to my long-suffering cousin, still even that didn’t make a hash of it. I’d like to see ‘Neverwhere’ come out as a movie too. I never really got ‘American Gods’ though , or ‘Anansi Boys’.
And I must make a mention here of Enchantment(seems like an appropriate place to mention this book), not quite sure when I read it, though definitely in the past one year, it’s a modern Sleeping Beauty by Orson Scott Card ( ‘Ender’s Game’) . Was V.V. Good! Remember being surprised, didn’t expect to like it (my mistake, all his stuff is generally at least readable), but I did anyway.
Now on to Stephanie Mayer’s New Moon , Twilight , Eclipse trilogy about Vampires, Werewolves and the humans in between. Actually just one human, who (wouldn’t you know it)has one of each in love with her... aaah what angst. Its actually kind of addictive – like Ice cream, that you know isn’t going to do anything for you, but you can’t resist anyway. Lots of general teen angst, sappiness, tall dark (and blonde – whatever you taste, it will be catered to) handsome, brooding heroes.
And… that’s all folks! ( Looney Tunes song plays)
But in the middle of reading the above book, I got swept away by a real page turner. It was my sister who sent me ‘The Kite Runner’ by Khalid Hosseini, and since then, it has been passed around the family. That was an absolutely heart-wrenching book. The characters are painfully real- their flaws so believable, as is their need to rise above them. It was so hard to read, and so hard to put away. Then of course I had to go on and read the next book by the author – ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns’. Not as good as the first, (you’d think I’d like it better, being about the plight of women and all), still is was an excellent book. Bittersweet satisfying ending and all.
I had read Stardust last Winter actually, during a sort of read many, many Neil Gaiman’s and Terry Pratchett’s as possible thing I was going through. It started with Good Omens. Have I told you what an incredibly funny book that is? Well, it is an incredibly funny book. Nice (and accurate? (you’ll have to read it to get that inside joke)), light, without being stupid, happy ending (or is it?). Talks on a sequel, talks of a movie… nothing seems to be happening…
Still back to Stardust- it was a very good book, which was why I was so surprised that it became such a good movie (so young and yet so cynical !) Of course they messed with the story a bit, as I complained through those scenes to my long-suffering cousin, still even that didn’t make a hash of it. I’d like to see ‘Neverwhere’ come out as a movie too. I never really got ‘American Gods’ though , or ‘Anansi Boys’.
And I must make a mention here of Enchantment(seems like an appropriate place to mention this book), not quite sure when I read it, though definitely in the past one year, it’s a modern Sleeping Beauty by Orson Scott Card ( ‘Ender’s Game’) . Was V.V. Good! Remember being surprised, didn’t expect to like it (my mistake, all his stuff is generally at least readable), but I did anyway.
Now on to Stephanie Mayer’s New Moon , Twilight , Eclipse trilogy about Vampires, Werewolves and the humans in between. Actually just one human, who (wouldn’t you know it)has one of each in love with her... aaah what angst. Its actually kind of addictive – like Ice cream, that you know isn’t going to do anything for you, but you can’t resist anyway. Lots of general teen angst, sappiness, tall dark (and blonde – whatever you taste, it will be catered to) handsome, brooding heroes.
And… that’s all folks! ( Looney Tunes song plays)
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
On the Deathly Hallows
Let me start by giving a brief (maybe 100 words, maybe 200)... critique of HP & Deathly Hallows. Long gone are the days when people had to beg me to write about anything but HP... this commentry is quite reluctantly written. Certainly I am guilty of waiting breathlessly, for the last book to arrive at my doorstep, delivered frm Amazon.com by USPS - I didn't lose my head enough to think it was worth losing a night's sleep over, to go and pick it up at midnight from the nearest Barnes and Noble. I have my priorities straight. Nothing gets between me and my beauty rest!
I had however, avidly trolled the web for spoilers in the days that preceded the release, and while I didn't read any complete versions, I did read one epilogue that I scornfully dismissed as deliriously hopeful fan fiction.
And then came the book and alas, the revelation that the epilogue that I had read was in fact, the 'Real Thing'.
The shock! The disillusionment!All the other shortcomings of the book could have been forgiven, if not for that cavity-inducing, saccharine epilogue(it was supposed to be 'poetic'!?).
I could have overlooked the fact that the arch-villain had been turned from a tiger into a pussy-cat with his teeth pulled and claws clipped. The hero equipped with some sort of deux-ex-machina-esque power that ensured that he never could fail.
The book was far longer than it sould have been; there as so much that could have been trimmed and prunes, and one gets the feeling that there sould have been so much there, that wasn't- like whole explanations had been chopped off, and unnecessary bits of chatter added.
Some parts of the book read like copies of books we have already read before - the Sword in the pool - King Arthur anyone? And Harry going to his death accompanied by the spirits of those who loved him- Narnia, 'Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe' - though there is another myth on which both are based.
Those were two best scenes in the book though. I loved the scene where Ron came back(being a Ron fan)- though I was really annoyed with the way he left, and the one in which Harry gives himself up was amazingly moving.
Oddly enough I am satisfied with the explanation for Snape's defection. Not so much that I believe in the power of his love for Lily, but the way Dumbledore manipulated him to make him protect Harry.
And I love the way Dumbledore has been humanized, less Godlike, although I don't think it means Harry is a better wizard really.Not just the weight of age, or lack thereof, but somehow you don't see that strength in Harry, of being tempered by overcoming his greatest weaknesses and fears.Harry never really seems to have doubted himself or the ultimate success of his cause. He has never known the depth of betrayal, guilt, maybe hopelessness that Dumbledore did, I think, and still risen above all that. It reminded me of what Dumbledore said in book 1 about Neville, and how it took a greater courage to stand up to ones friends that to ones enemies.
So much for my 200 words, this has taken longer than I expected, and if I don't stop know, I probably won't until every bit of the book has been dissected.
PS. While I pity the poor child saddled with the name, I thought Albus Severus was actually quite sweet. It seems that Harry had in the end become the bigger man and forgiven Snape for his attitude, and recognized his contributions, and the fact that a man may e mean without being evil incarnate.
I had however, avidly trolled the web for spoilers in the days that preceded the release, and while I didn't read any complete versions, I did read one epilogue that I scornfully dismissed as deliriously hopeful fan fiction.
And then came the book and alas, the revelation that the epilogue that I had read was in fact, the 'Real Thing'.
The shock! The disillusionment!All the other shortcomings of the book could have been forgiven, if not for that cavity-inducing, saccharine epilogue(it was supposed to be 'poetic'!?).
I could have overlooked the fact that the arch-villain had been turned from a tiger into a pussy-cat with his teeth pulled and claws clipped. The hero equipped with some sort of deux-ex-machina-esque power that ensured that he never could fail.
The book was far longer than it sould have been; there as so much that could have been trimmed and prunes, and one gets the feeling that there sould have been so much there, that wasn't- like whole explanations had been chopped off, and unnecessary bits of chatter added.
Some parts of the book read like copies of books we have already read before - the Sword in the pool - King Arthur anyone? And Harry going to his death accompanied by the spirits of those who loved him- Narnia, 'Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe' - though there is another myth on which both are based.
Those were two best scenes in the book though. I loved the scene where Ron came back(being a Ron fan)- though I was really annoyed with the way he left, and the one in which Harry gives himself up was amazingly moving.
Oddly enough I am satisfied with the explanation for Snape's defection. Not so much that I believe in the power of his love for Lily, but the way Dumbledore manipulated him to make him protect Harry.
And I love the way Dumbledore has been humanized, less Godlike, although I don't think it means Harry is a better wizard really.Not just the weight of age, or lack thereof, but somehow you don't see that strength in Harry, of being tempered by overcoming his greatest weaknesses and fears.Harry never really seems to have doubted himself or the ultimate success of his cause. He has never known the depth of betrayal, guilt, maybe hopelessness that Dumbledore did, I think, and still risen above all that. It reminded me of what Dumbledore said in book 1 about Neville, and how it took a greater courage to stand up to ones friends that to ones enemies.
So much for my 200 words, this has taken longer than I expected, and if I don't stop know, I probably won't until every bit of the book has been dissected.
PS. While I pity the poor child saddled with the name, I thought Albus Severus was actually quite sweet. It seems that Harry had in the end become the bigger man and forgiven Snape for his attitude, and recognized his contributions, and the fact that a man may e mean without being evil incarnate.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Harry Potter movie 5 Order of the Phoenix
Harry Potter month at last! It seems like I'm googling for nothing but Harry Potter speculations these days. Thankfully, the movie came by and took the edge off my anticipation. Considering that it was my least favorite of the books, I'm stunned to find myself saying that its probably my favorite movie. Umbridge and Luna were amazing, the trio, not half bad, Bellatrix and Lucius were madly and suavely respectively, evil. And Sirius' deat was very well done.
A little disappointed with all the stuf that seems to have been just glossed over. Not just Quidditch - after all we're going into a war here - children's games can well be sacrificed - but the prophecy! After all, at least as far as I am concerned, there was no point to the 5th book, but to provied a sort of cushioning for the grand deneoument which was Hary finding out about the prophecy - here it was all cushion and a half a minute -and that's a generous estimate - where we find out why exactly Voldemort went after Harry in the first place - and not very clearly either. I mean, if anyone watches the movie without reading the book, they'll probably go "Huh, where did he jump to that conclusion from?" Anyway, if you have read the book, it brings out all the important parts to life very nicely.
Now, though I have to go and tensely crawl the Net for scraps on the final book.
A little disappointed with all the stuf that seems to have been just glossed over. Not just Quidditch - after all we're going into a war here - children's games can well be sacrificed - but the prophecy! After all, at least as far as I am concerned, there was no point to the 5th book, but to provied a sort of cushioning for the grand deneoument which was Hary finding out about the prophecy - here it was all cushion and a half a minute -and that's a generous estimate - where we find out why exactly Voldemort went after Harry in the first place - and not very clearly either. I mean, if anyone watches the movie without reading the book, they'll probably go "Huh, where did he jump to that conclusion from?" Anyway, if you have read the book, it brings out all the important parts to life very nicely.
Now, though I have to go and tensely crawl the Net for scraps on the final book.
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