The past 2 days...

Stumbled from one revelry to another this weekend.
Thursday, came home from work and some theatre practice to get a call from Sabby taht his bachelor party was on at Enigma.
Entered to find a crowd of strangers. Four pitchers later, we were bosom buddies.
Went back to their place and had more booze. Enigma waiters had been pretty indifferent( which is a euphemestic way to say taht they were downright rude).Umesh avenged the umpteen putdowns handed to us by just walking out with the beer mug he was drinking in. I am sure his parents must be really proud of him today.

Nsingh and Vibhas dropped by yesterday to create a joint family scene.


Tammy also came back yesterday. Clicked some snaps of hers and Prachi trying to be the bad girls. Prachi was hilarious as you can judge for yourself.

Tammy has a very photogenic face. Very clear skin and if I increase the brightness, the effects can be very interesting.

Anyway, we went to Angeethi from there where Tammy had her first paan.



Today, I am meeting the old French gang - Firoza, Deepthi, Arvind, Vikram and (hopefully) Karthik for lunch. Have a small production at Hotel Ista after that.

thank gaye bhai...

Mindgame

It finally happened.
After a two-year hiatus, I went back to theater.

We had three shows spanning Friday and Saturday last week at Alliance Francaise which were sold out. I am a bit taken aback by the success . No doubt the performance and execution was good but I feel that the response has been more over-whelming than expected. I think part of the reason is also the pathetic theater scene at Bangalore. So much so that if a play can be performed with its actors taking the cues, remembering their lines and giving passable backtalk - it is a success.
But, of course, it was a great play and am happy to be finally a part of it.
The play was based on 12 Angry Men - a1950s play/movie about the conflict in each of us when we are made to sit to judge others. The conflict of our reason vs. our own beliefs, biases and prejudices.

Ranjon Da played the judge, debating whether a petty Muslim youth had murdered his father or not while we played the 12 jury members that debated the question in his mind.

But, no doubt, this play belongs to Riju (right).

Entirely his baby.

And getting 14 schedules, tempers and actors' egos in sync has defintely made him more patient.

After the production, we had a get-together at RanjonDa's place - Yellow Submarine.

It was really exhilerating to discuss the subtelities with 14-15 different personalities who understand theater and acting - some almost as good an actor as yourself. See the snap below of the discussion.


In all, a good experience.

Why do we say - Nevertheless and never Alwaysthemore ?

Article on time management

Ask yourself this question: "Would I have ever gotten started with this project, relationship, career, etc. if I had to do it all over again, knowing what I now know?" If your answer is no, then get out as soon as possible. This is called zero-based thinking. I know a lot of people that have a limiting belief that says, "Always finish what you start." They spend years climbing ladders only to realize when they reach the top that the ladder was leaning against the wrong building. Remember that failure is your friend. So if a certain decision you've made in the past is no longer producing results that serve you, then be ruthless and dump it, so you can move onto something better. There is no honor in dedicating your life to the pursuit of a goal which no longer inspires you. This is another situation where you must practice integrity in the moment of choice. You must constantly re-assess your present situation to accurately decide what to do next. Whatever you've decided in the past is largely irrelevant if you would not renew that decision today.

http://www.stevepavlina.com/articles/do-it-now.htm

Mysteries

Everytime an aeroplane flies over my colony, Dudu, the bldg. mutt, howls like a wolf.
Why?

Don't you hate those Reader'sDigestOprahClub book that would overanalyze the smallest of events.
Like the aeroplane was the lost opportunity flying past us for which the soul cries out.
or,
The aeroplane carries within it hundreds of possibilities in terms of the different people. The doul cries out to those who can touch us if we met them but unfortunately will never.... and so on...

But why does Dudu howl like that?

Of late

Perhaps the besting thing that has happened to me in the past couple of years is going back to reading. Got up at the unusal hour of 630 today for a play practice session at 7. As usual, the rest of the cast started trickling in after 730. But hell. What does it cost when I have the pathetic yet evoking Nabokov to give me company.

Today, once, while meditating, and the other, when conversing with Prachi, 3 epiphanies dawned.

1. The opposite of determinism is freedom and possibility.
2. Probability is the law, possibility - the transcedence.
3. Society will always show you the path of least resistance and even moralize it. The reason being that people are fearful of any change.

Oldboy

This, along with(The Bicycle Thief) is the most impactful movie that I have seen this year. Like"Requiem for a dream" and 'Matrix", the style redefines the movies of today. A lot of reviews have dismissed this movie as too much Tarentino ( http://marksteudel.wordpress.com/2006/09/05/oldboy-2003/) and KillBillish, relying on style over content and too much gore.
Firstly, I believe this is far superior to Kill Bill. Tarentino is good, but a bit overhyped. And I don't think his #1 forte is style but dialogues.
Second point - Bullshit. The movie made me think. Not many can claim to do that these days. A lot of us suffer from the misconception that if something is delivered in a cinematically cool package, it can't have any substance.
Third - I think the gore was necesary. Even the violent copulation scene between Oh-Dae-Su and Miko.

I don't like to dissect movies that have made an impact in me. The essence of the impact is in the whole and not parts. To understand the lack of impact, maybe, you need to dissect it.

But some scense that clearly I enjoyed the most stylistically ( and don't feel guilty about it)-

1.tha passage of time by world events unfolding on the TV.
2. Dae-Su coolly walknig to a gang, plucking the cigarette from one's lips and having his first puff after 15 years. And the small fight after that where he questions whether 15 years of self training can really prepare you for the real world and the two line answer - It can.
3. Of course, the fight scene in the passage which I feel has been inspired by video games layouts like Ninja.

I have watch the movie 5 times now and still watching...
Some more blogs on Oldboy http://unrealcity.spaces.live.com/Blog/cns!32C26870C88B5120!434.entry
http://zforce.blogspot.com/2006/09/movie-review-oldboy-2003.html

High Noon

Am watching one classic after another these days.

High Noon is amazing. Set against the background of McCarthy witch hunt, the allegory is a leap of genius. The shot of the rising tensions in all the lead actors and the rail road at the last minute countdown to the coming of Frank Miller is c.l.a.s.s.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Noon

Ever tried pinning all the literary bursts into a book?
it saps you dudes.
and when the end is in sight suddenly everything seems so wrong. the humor too obvious, the drama too melodramatic, the language too pedestrian. No wonder a lot of the authors ending up dedicating the final print to the person who gave the last push and just convinced the author to get the goddam script published.
In my case, after two years, I find what I have written too stale and obvious now. Even the genre and style seem too pretentious now. I am trying to bring out the mediocricy of growing up experiences in small-town India but I fail to identify the beast that I have created. It's not a story, it's not a commentary, so what the heck is it?

Why could I have not stuck my guns to a romance?