Movies: The Dark Knight, Wall-E, No Country For Old Men, Juno, Rock On!
Books: Norwegian Wood, The Yiddish Policemen's Union, No Country For Old Men, In Spite of the Gods, The Road
Music: Khwaje Mere Khwaja, Kabhi Kabhi Aditi, Viva La Vida, Millionaire, Pappu Can't Dance
Happy New Year!
Showing posts with label new year. Show all posts
Showing posts with label new year. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
2008 & 2009
It's been a mixed year, like most others. Ups and downs, professional and personal. A year of very little interaction on LJ, though. I didn't post much, you guys didn't either. Blame it on Twitter, Facebook, Orkut and what have you. Blame it on laziness. Old age. Ennui.
Or perhaps blame it on the fact that society itself is moving towards instant gratification, capsule reviews, micro updates. No one wants to spend more than five minutes on anything anymore. And even if you do, why do you watch a movie? Because everyone's talking about it, because you won't be cool if you don't talk about it too. Why read a book? Because it's won the Booker and everyone's talking about it. Because the movie had millions of teenage girls queuing up, shrieking. Why have an opinion? You don't need to. Not when you can copy paste others viewpoints to your twitter.
I am getting old. 37 in a few months, for crying out loud! I never believed I would be this old, to be honest. Nor did I think I would lose this much hair.
And you guys have aged too. and , did you ever think you'd be a dad one day? , did you know you'd write for Rolling Stone magazine? , did you see yourself being rated India's #1 Twitter user?
What I'd like for 2009 though is to write more and read more. Read what you guys really think about these days. Put aside that damn Twitter or Facebook status update for a few minutes. Write about language,! About Delhi, about Mumbai, . About comics, about music, . About technology, about the sheer magic of being a geek, . About life itself, all of you. Don't be comfortably numb. Please.
Happy New Year, everyone.
Or perhaps blame it on the fact that society itself is moving towards instant gratification, capsule reviews, micro updates. No one wants to spend more than five minutes on anything anymore. And even if you do, why do you watch a movie? Because everyone's talking about it, because you won't be cool if you don't talk about it too. Why read a book? Because it's won the Booker and everyone's talking about it. Because the movie had millions of teenage girls queuing up, shrieking. Why have an opinion? You don't need to. Not when you can copy paste others viewpoints to your twitter.
I am getting old. 37 in a few months, for crying out loud! I never believed I would be this old, to be honest. Nor did I think I would lose this much hair.
And you guys have aged too.
What I'd like for 2009 though is to write more and read more. Read what you guys really think about these days. Put aside that damn Twitter or Facebook status update for a few minutes. Write about language,
Happy New Year, everyone.
Saturday, January 1, 2005
Friday, January 2, 2004
New Year's Eve and Day
Spent the Eve shopping for a dvd player and a microwave. Finally wound up buying both from Vivek's, at what I believed was a good price. We picked up a base model Kenstar microwave and a Philips 625K dvd player. Tried out the latter successfully, but haven't yet experimented on the former.
The rest of the evening was uneventful. Stayed at home, watched tv and made several unsuccessful attempts to sms folks at midnight.
Rachu had a bad hangover on New Year's Day. Well, she was puking like crazy till late afternoon anyway. We have not yet found out the cause of the problem, but think its either the mushrooms that Sindha ate the previous day or the egg that we fed her in the morning. It was quite sad to see the poor thing collapse in my arms, dehydrated and exhausted. She is much better today, though not completely cured.
Saw my first ever DVD - Gangs of New York. The video store guy had a copy of Kill Bill too, but I didn't want to take it as I was pretty sure it was a pirated version. Might check it out later. Ebert's review of Gangs is good, the last paragraph pretty much sums up what I thought of the movie
[snip]...I do not think this film is in the first rank of his masterpieces. It is very good but not great. I wrote recently of "GoodFellas" that "the film has the headlong momentum of a storyteller who knows he has a good one to share." I didn't feel that here. Scorsese's films usually leap joyfully onto the screen, the work of a master in command of his craft. Here there seems more struggle, more weight to overcome, more darkness. It is a story that Scorsese has filmed without entirely internalizing. The gangsters in his earlier films are motivated by greed, ego and power; they like nice cars, shoes, suits, dinners, women. They murder as a cost of doing business. The characters in "Gangs of New York" kill because they like to and want to. They are bloodthirsty, and motivated by hate. I think Scorsese liked the heroes of "GoodFellas," "Casino" and "Mean Streets," but I'm not sure he likes this crowd.
Watching a movie on DVD is definitely a whole new experience ! I'm now looking forward to's return. Heh, heh.
The rest of the evening was uneventful. Stayed at home, watched tv and made several unsuccessful attempts to sms folks at midnight.
Rachu had a bad hangover on New Year's Day. Well, she was puking like crazy till late afternoon anyway. We have not yet found out the cause of the problem, but think its either the mushrooms that Sindha ate the previous day or the egg that we fed her in the morning. It was quite sad to see the poor thing collapse in my arms, dehydrated and exhausted. She is much better today, though not completely cured.
Saw my first ever DVD - Gangs of New York. The video store guy had a copy of Kill Bill too, but I didn't want to take it as I was pretty sure it was a pirated version. Might check it out later. Ebert's review of Gangs is good, the last paragraph pretty much sums up what I thought of the movie
[snip]...I do not think this film is in the first rank of his masterpieces. It is very good but not great. I wrote recently of "GoodFellas" that "the film has the headlong momentum of a storyteller who knows he has a good one to share." I didn't feel that here. Scorsese's films usually leap joyfully onto the screen, the work of a master in command of his craft. Here there seems more struggle, more weight to overcome, more darkness. It is a story that Scorsese has filmed without entirely internalizing. The gangsters in his earlier films are motivated by greed, ego and power; they like nice cars, shoes, suits, dinners, women. They murder as a cost of doing business. The characters in "Gangs of New York" kill because they like to and want to. They are bloodthirsty, and motivated by hate. I think Scorsese liked the heroes of "GoodFellas," "Casino" and "Mean Streets," but I'm not sure he likes this crowd.
Watching a movie on DVD is definitely a whole new experience ! I'm now looking forward to
Thursday, January 1, 2004
You hear a lot of sounds out here in my current h...
You hear a lot of sounds out here in my current home. Buses that ply on the road outside, workmen building a house next door, vendors peddling their wares, etc.
There are sounds from within the house too - Rachana crying, sounds from the kitchen and sounds from the washing area outside. The maid loves washing, if you hear loud thumping sounds thats likely to be jeans; on the other hand if its a much softer sound, then its likely to be...
Sorry, just couldnt resist that!
There are sounds from within the house too - Rachana crying, sounds from the kitchen and sounds from the washing area outside. The maid loves washing, if you hear loud thumping sounds thats likely to be jeans; on the other hand if its a much softer sound, then its likely to be...
A NAPPY YOU HEAR !!
Sorry, just couldnt resist that!
Monday, January 6, 2003
Thursday, January 2, 2003
Wednesday, January 2, 2002
A New Year !
Probably doesn't mean anything, since time is a human invention. Anyway, hope it will be a happy one for you and me and everyone.
Friday, December 28, 2001
A Magical World
Leaving for Manipal tonight, back on Jan 2, 2002.
Maybe I'm off my rocker, but somehow I'm full of hope for the New Year. Perhaps its due to 2001 being so bad, things could only get better. A war looms ahead, but I feel the world will pull through. Good things are due in 2002, I feel it in my bones.
Like the lastCalvin & Hobbes strip, a magical world beckons...
Happy New Year, everyone !
Maybe I'm off my rocker, but somehow I'm full of hope for the New Year. Perhaps its due to 2001 being so bad, things could only get better. A war looms ahead, but I feel the world will pull through. Good things are due in 2002, I feel it in my bones.
Like the lastCalvin & Hobbes strip, a magical world beckons...
Happy New Year, everyone !
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