You know that you have to update your blog and you are suddenly itching with ideas. But… darned, you are a work and can’t (ethically) quite put the ideas down. And when you get out of your office, ideas come rushing through and you can’t quite start blogging right away. Instead, you jot down on a list of things to blog about on your PDA and rush back home and start blogging.
Well, that’s exactly what happened to me today. I cleared a backlog of two weeks of blogging!
This is one of those movies which don’t scare you at all. It keeps on amusing you with twists and turns, with blood and gore, with stereotypes and old characters in slightly twisted roles. Plus, if you are a fan of the Scary Movie franchise, this is a must-watch. The end is refreshing with a big twist in the plot. I would give this 3 stars because when you were thinking that they can’t come up with another sequel to Scream 3, they came up with one and it’s not that bad.
I thought this might a bit like Inception. At least the previews seemed to suggest some sort of a sci-fi drama kinda feel to the movie. Well, it stayed good until the ending which got to be a little too much of mush. A good concept executed adequately but ending in a bit of a drab. I’ll give it 2.5 stars.
Once I start watching movies, there is nothing stopping me. So expect a lot of movie reviews from me. Next one up is Scre4m.
After a long, long time, I decided to watch a movie. I had planned to watch this movie in the theater when it was showing a month or so back. But, as usual, I chickened out. I’m glad that I did.
The movie is more action than conceptual sci-fi. The only refreshing thing about the movie is that it doesn’t have a cheesy ending and that it introduces a concept of aliens invading our planet for its liquid water content.
All in all, I’ll give it a 1.5 star.
I was at the venue of the gig yesterday. The band was having dinner. After I finished mine, I opened my backpack and took out of pills (for depression and chronic urticaria) and laid them on the table so that I can take them.
My good friend and band mate who was watching me do it asks me: “Are you still on those pills? Why are you still depressed?” I tried to tell him the facts – that I’m suffering fro depression and am under therapy for it. He still didn’t get it.
This is the state with most people who don’t understand mental illnesses. They think that such illnesses come and go as and when you want them to, and that when situations change, the illnesses disappear by themselves.
All I want to say is this. Clinical depression doesn’t go away when situation becomes better. It needs continuous therapy from which people benefit. If you were not aware of this, now that you have read this, please don’t ask such questions to your friend/family when they bring such topics up.
Today, April 21st 2011, is the latest date in the series of postponed dates for the Judgement Day from the Terminator franchise. Judgment day is the day when Skynet, the supercomputer system comes to realize about its own existence and launches a nuclear attack on humanity, ending up controlling them with robots.
Nothing has happened yet. I think Sarah Connor and Arnold Schwarzenegger have managed to avert/postpone this eventuality. But honestly, till when?
Another band of mine always seem to go through the problem of striking the balance between performing songs (covers) for the crowd and having fun by playing songs that the band mates enjoy playing. Most of the time, the band tends to choose the set to please the crowd, thereby boring the musicians themselves.
There has to be a solution to this. Otherwise, the frustration will grow to such a level that we don’t enjoy playing with each other anymore.
Communication is the most important skill of all. Unfortunately, some of my band mates seem to not have the necessary skill. When an opportunity comes knocking your doors, you need to grab it with all your limbs. In this case, it was a break that the band would have benefited from immensely. Of course, only if the offer makers stick to their word. But that’s the same for most of our lives, is it not.
In this case, one of the band mates suddenly decides to throw in the towel saying that he has had enough of rehearsing tirelessly without any gigs. Another doesn’t even bother to reply to an e-mail about whether to meet up with this new person who has come up with the offer. The rest of the members of the band (including me) are left in the dark. And of course, we can’t proceed further.
Talk about bad luck!
Am I in a relationship? I would like to consider so. He is far far away and has a busy life. The maximum I can hope is to meet him twice a year when he visits India. But the crux of the matter is this – the kind of feelings that I have for him have not been reciprocated. Neither do I know if they ever will be.
These are the facts. I know for a fact that he’s not into me as I’m into him. I, actually, am almost in love with him, but I’m trying to keep my feelings in check. From what I can make out, I don’t think he has the skills/desire to keep the fire of a long-distance relationship raging on.
We talk to each other regularly – almost on all days. This is by phone – yes, long-distance calls on international calling cards. Our conversations are usually brief and we never get to a point where it gets nice and cozy. I hardly see him on Skype or Yahoo, and when I do, he is usually busy doing some chore or the other. It almost seems as if he doesn’t have time for me.
What do I feel? I feel a tad disappointed. Yet, I realize that I cannot force him to change – to propel his feelings to another level. At the same time, I feel extremely attracted to him and I think that he’s worth the bill. I would like to try to take this as far as I can and put in as much effort as possible. And I hope that we will reach a place where we can both feel happy about each other.
Of course, he will read this post some day or the other. When he does, I want to make it clear to him that this is not emotional blackmail. It’s just an honest assessment of the state of affairs.
I have a new friend from New York. (What’s with me and the Big Apple?) Anyway, he’s a cultured, interesting, funny, intelligent ex-Texan with whom I vastly enjoy interacting with. Here’s an example of the interesting things he comes up with. The other day, he came across the etymology of the word pariah.
pariah: 1610s, from Port. paria or directly from Tamil paraiyar, pl. of paraiyan “drummer” (at festivals, the hereditary duty of members of the largest of the lower castes of southern India), from parai “large festival drum.” Especially numerous at Madras, where its members supplied most of the domestics in European service. Applied by Hindus and Europeans to members of any low Hindu caste and even to outcastes. Extended meaning “social outcast” is first attested 1819.
Why are drums associated with lowliness or disgrace? Is it because they are so basic, perhaps the first instrument ever made? Not only is the drummer himself an outcast, drums (not bugles) are used to heighten a soldier’s humiliation in a drumming out ceremony. The OED dates the first usage of “drumming out of the corps” to 1766 in Thomas Amory’s “The Life of John Buncle,” 150 years after the first recorded use of pariah.
To explain why drummers were members of the lowest caste — drumming was an occupation performed by the Dalit or untouchable caste because drums were made from the tanned hides of animals and thus once associated with death. Therefore, the task of beating on them fell to the Dalit caste, who also performed other “unclean” occupations having to do with death and human waste.
To round this post of:
Q: What is the definition of a band?
A: Three musicians and a drummer. (ba-da-boom!)
(Courtesy largely to Robert Geoffrey McMillin)
Engayging Life 