Motivation

Well, it's been ... awhile. A long while, to be sure. I left my job, had lovely gifts and a send-off from my colleagues, and have been bumming ever since and it got a little dark ... too dark for me to handle.

But I think the dark clouds have passed — at least for now. I've been riding this wave of can-do spirit this week and I hope it doesn't peter out too soon.

The last time I'd been despondent (though maybe not as desperately as the past few weeks) was when my thyroid condition left me incapable of doing the activities I love and I just gave up.

Then, one night, I happened to catch just this bit of Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted on telly/cable:

Katy Perry's empowering lyrics, the visuals — but especially Alex and Gia, and Marty and Stefano, flying through hoops, etc. — suddenly motivated me to stop moping, get off my ass, and start working to get back to where I was. (It was a long process: I started aerial yoga without even being able to do the easiest things; it was just really horrible. I'm stronger now, controlling the thyroid condition with meds, training under a great aerial yoga instructor, and thinking of getting back into aerial arts, starting with the hammock and/or lyra.)

The other things in my life ... well, I hope what I've been doing this week is the first step to getting back on track. I just need to find more aural and/or video motivation.

Addendum: I can't believe I forgot to add that meeting with Ola on Sunday, soaking up her optimism and listening to her fresh (and positive) perspectives, was prolly the gust that blew the dark clouds away.

Day 2 of 2

What I watched today:

• Listen Amaya
  Watched this because Auntie Al's client/friend recommended it and because I saw a trailer of it and thought it could be interesting, but mostly because DEEPTI NAVAL.
  So ... it was a decent show. Made me cry a couple of times and Amaya really pissed me off. Don't talk about giving her a slap for her insolence and selfishness, fucking smack her already.
  Also, few times everybody burst into song and dance (especially right at the start of the film) were jarring and — I thought — completely unnecessary.
  This is gonna be a show I'd recommend but would personally never watch again. Because fucking Alzheimer. =...(
• Badlapur
  It took me over an hour after Listen Amaya ended to decide on Badlapur. I'd actually started on Raqeeb but the non-chemistry between Sharman Joshi and Rahul Khanna was too awkward for me. Anyway, Badlapur (does it mean "Change-ville"?).
  I'd been looking forward to watching this but having watched it, I'm a little pissed off by it. Nawaz was great as usual — I think he does the slightly sociopathic pothead well — but he didn't make the movie any less bitter.
  I did not understand Dhawan's character. Raghu should've been a more sympathetic character — he never was (this is not to say Dhawan didn't do a good job in this role; he definitely did ... and without dancing until the end titles were rolling!). I hated that he targeted and used women — raped Jhilmil; murdered Kanchan; humiliated nearly every female character who didn't have the decency to die within the first 15 minutes of the film.
  Not. Okay.
  Can't recommend this to anybody without prefacing it with TRIGGER WARNING: SEXUAL AND VIOLENT ASSAULT ON WOMEN.
• Billu
  It was either this or Ankur Arora Murder Case; since I'd just seen Kay Kay Menon in a non-villainous role, I thought I'd leave off a movie in which he, again, played a horrible person. Therefore: Billu.
  I think it could've been a much better film had they used someone else other than the King Khan. That said, I do get that SRK was a great fit. I just hate it when he does maudlinness (see: tearful speech at the school function). GAAAH.
  Irrfan Khan was utterly, utterly heartrending as the simple, decent Billu. When he doesn't play a villain, he always make me laugh and/or feel so, so, so sorry for him.
  Lara Dutta is the most glam woman in the whole village despite being perhaps the poorest. That woman isn't made for the village girl roles, I think. I mean, she did a better job than I'd expected in Billu; she maybe should stick more urbane roles.

And back to work tomorrow ... =( On the plus side, I'll prolly spend my day in the office feeling a little high from my cough and flu meds.

Day 1 Of 2

Managed three movies today:

• Zodiac
  This one is good. I found it a little too long but totally worth it. I would've rewatched it if not for its runtime of over two and a half hours.
  I get the obsession and it's such a horrible compulsion, but — boy oh boy — the thrill of the (paper/info) chase. YES.
• Holiday: A Soldier Is Never Off Duty
  After a great film such as Zodiac, I found myself in the mood for other similar movies but less ... heavy. So I decided on Holiday.
  I actually found this one enjoyable (despite the lousy role they gave Sonakshi, not to mention her pairing with another dude old enough to be her father) and I think it has a high rewatch value. In fact, I may even like this more than Baby.
  I like to think of Holiday as the desi Taken because there was a scene in which Akshay and the other pretty face actually had a telephone conversation along the line of "I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you". Off the top of my head, there are only two Hindi film actors I can think of who should play Liam Neeson's role in the inevitable Hindi "remake" of the Taken series: Sunny Deol and hamara ek number Khiladi.
  While I found the song-and-dance sequences a pain in the ass and totally disruptive of the flow and tension of the movie, I do appreciate the brief romantic interludes (even if they featured Chi Chi — cheeeee) because they helped cut some of the tension, but what in the fucking hell were Sonakshi's screen parents thinking, matchmaking their college-aged daughter with such old men?!
  Sonakshi's role seemed to have been shoehorned in just for comic relief. Couldn't the scriptwriter just find a non-romantic comic element (which I thought the Mukund character was meant to be)?
• Rahasya
  Continuing my unusual streak of decent movies was Rahasya. GREAT WHODUNIT!!! I'm not sure I have seen a (more or less) taut murder mystery in recent years. I wonder if the Hindi film industry has produced more such movies in recent years?
  This is also the first (I think) movie I've seen in which Kay Kay Menon didn't play a villainous role. His CBI Officer Paraskar is right up there with Nawaz's Khan (Kahaani) and Ronit Roy's Bose (Ugly). If Sushant Singh Rajput's Detective Byomkesh Bakshy is in the same vein, I'm pretty sure I will like the movie as much as I've been looking forward to watching it.
  God, I hope there's a list of great detective roles in contemporary Hindi cinema that I can use to guide my movie selection. The best detectives are usually eccentric, intense, and offbeat (yes, apparently my preference is heavily colored by RDJ's and Cumberbatch's takes on Sherlock Holmes).

More on day two? We'll see.

Only Three

Two Saturdays in a row now that I've gone out to dinner and some socialization with the group post discussion, which means fewer movies watched. Not that I rue the time spent not watching movies.

I borrowed four DVDs on Thursdays but only managed to watch two, and watched a Hindi film today. So the three:

• Collateral
  Uh ... watchable, I guess. A bit of the letdown in the denouement. I don't understand Tom Cruise's character at all. I prolly would watch it again if it were playing on FX or some other cable channel, but not otherwise.
• The Hundred-Foot Journey
  Was hoping for a sweet and gentle film in the vein of Salmon Fishing in the Yemen and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, but nope. It's watchable enough. Inexplicably, I found Manish Dayal to be Julian Cheung's Indian doppelgänger — no idea why. It's food porn plus the delectable Helen Mirren and yet ... I found the movie insipid.
  I thought the bit after Hassan left for Paris was too rushed and not well fleshed out. Actually, maybe the movie should just focus on Le Saule Pleureur's and Maison Mumbai's rivalry, the xenophobia and racism (which resolves in two interracial relationships, yay), and the harmonization of cultures and cuisines.
  Also: Why did Om Puri play Juhi Chawla's husband?! He's too fucking old. Holy shit, I'd thought she was playing his daughter and that Hassan and his siblings were "Papa's" grandkids. Another also: I thought Juhi Chawla looked terrible and totally blame the lighting and cameramen and whatnot. How could they conspire to make her less than her radiant self?!
  And, goodness, the entire family must've been so traumatized to suffer through two major attacks by fire. Like, holy shit, that's horrible but they all seemed so very well-adjusted? I don't know ...
• Baby
  I didn't like this as much as I thought I would — and, in fact, found much of the tension in the film really contrived.
  If Special 26 was Neeraj Pandey's take on an Ocean's Eleven-esque heist, then Baby was his take on the political-ish thriller, Argo. That's just my uneducated opinion though. Baby apparently had great reviews ...
  Okay, but I must say there were plus points. One, Priya (Taapsee Pannu) could kick ass and take down Wasim Khan without resorting to below-the-belt hits (which I was screaming for her to do during that fight scene). I actually screeched, "Kick him in the balls! I don't know whether Neeraj Pandey is feminist enough to not kill you off as collateral damage!!!"
  So Priya is actually one level up from Constable Shanti (Divya Dutta) in 26 since Priya had something to do other than mouth throwaway lines. (Sadly, apparently the women who play Akshay Kumar's significant other in Baby and 26 are more or less as insignificant in one movie as in the other.)
  Second plus: Akshay Kumar shirtless! Can Kumar and Ronit Roy both be shirtless in the same scene in the next movie, pretty please? Needless to say, their inks should be allowed to show!

Okay, must hunker down to finish my reading AND finish watching the other two DvDs I borrowed by the end of this week.

Good Friday

Three and a half movies on Good Friday:

• The Italian Job
  Pretty decent, I thought, and great that the romance didn't come in until after the heist at the end and therefore didn't interfere with the narrative. It was a little clichéd but overall an okay movie during which your brain can switch off — and it has decent rewatch value as well.
• Prisoners
  Wow. This one ... I have no words for. I read its Wiki page and knew the whole story before borrowing and watching the show, but lord was it still so unrelenting. I felt so tired and drained watching it — besides Grace Dover's pills-induced uneasy rest, did no character ever sleep in the movie? Also, I must say Gyllenhaal was really great in this — he seemed like a completely different person with his facial tics and mannerisms. I felt really sorry for Alex Jones though and would've liked for his story to be shown to end a little happier.
  I'm sure there's a philosophical term for how the Nancy Birch rationalized her and her husband's not stopping Dover's torture of Alex Jones. Like, we're not the ones inflicting the torture; we're just not stopping Dover from doing what he wishes to do. Maybe it's like the Trolley Problem?
• The Prestige
  I just gotta put it out there: I think this is quite a pointless movie. Just two magicians one-upping each other at deadlier and deadlier costs. As Roxanne Ritchi puts it so very perfectly:
  
  Also, I watched the "Coffee and Cream" episode in Franklin and Bash (which is based on this movie, I guess?) before I ever saw Prestige so I wasn't impressed by any intended twist in the film.

I also started watching Shirin Farhad Ki Toh Nikal Padi but, however much I like Boman Irani, he couldn't make up for Farah Khan. So ... no. I don't think I'll finish watching this.

And I think Farah Khan should stick to choreography. Like her brother, the infamous Sajid Khan, she should stop directing (and script-writing also in her case) movies that aren't positive additions to the Hindi film industry.

Unplanned Day Off

I applied for urgent leave for today because my dad was unwell and I wanted to accompany him to the doctor's. (On a side note: GPs would've been useless if not for the fact that they dispense the necessary medical certificates required for medical leave.)

Well, the doctor's only took a few hours in the morning so I had the rest of the day sorta free. Spent most of it working on gamifying my online workshop, which was tough because I lacked the coding know-how and am using an idiot-proof web-hhosting service (i.e. just a lot of moving widgets around and WYSIWYG).

In the background though, as I was creating my workshop, I played two of the three DVDs I borrowed from work — Transcendence and Gravity.

Okay, I'll cop to not paying too much attention to Transcendence but, fuck, if my work was more interesting than your movie, you have a problem.

Transcendence was ... dumb. Sorry. Even Johnny Depp couldn't save this movie's sorry ass. It serves me right for not reading the 'Critical reception' on the movie's Wikipedia page before borrowing the DVD.

Gravity was, of course, waaaaayyy better. It was so good that it made me feel uneasily claustrophobic while simultaneously agoraphobic. Drifting in space into certain death is actually on my list of ways in which I hope not to die.

Having not read the synopsis before borrowing the DVD, I was disappointed that it wasn't as science fiction-y as I thought it would be. I found it a straight-up drama of one woman's journey into hope and a second go at living.

Followed the two English movies with Hindi ones — Hasee Toh Phasee and Krazzy 4.

Oh wow was I ever conflicted by Hasee's opening titles. The opening hums of 'Kuch Kuch Hota Hai' made me assume it was gonna be a shit film (because KJo and Dharma Productions), but then it was followed by ... Phantom Films which, in my books, produces great films.

What was I supposed to think?!

I actually have watched part of Hasee before but not its beginning. As it turned out, I did like the movie. Siddharth Malhotra was better in this than he was in SOTY and Ek Villain. Also, he played his character in such a way that really complemented Pari's character. Great chemistry, these two!

Krazzy, I'd thought, would be on par with Sunday — if not worse.

But NO. (Thank you Goddess!) Krazzy was so much better than I'd expected! Irrfan in a comic role — this fact alone would've made the movie FUCKING AWESOME.

Arshad Warsi also seems to share good chemistry with Irrfan so fingers crossed they collaborate in more projects.

Closing titles hinted at a sequel which I can't wait to watch if that project is a-go. What would it be called though — Krazzy 4x2?? LOL.

Weekend Roundup

Watched Ugly today after aerial yoga. Holy god, that movie is DARK (and human beings are just all sorts of fucked up). I kept stopping the movie and switching over to more lighthearted video clips, just because I felt a little suffocated.

I'm now reconsidering my to-watch list of past and future Kashyap-written and directed movies, which includes That Girl In Yellow Boots, the Wasseypur epic, and Bombay Velvet. Will I be able to handle them, or am I just a big wuss?

Like, literally almost nobody gave a fuck about Kali in Ugly. Bose's the closest to someone who gave a fuck, but his pathological need for control might be the driver of his perseverance in searching for Kali. Everybody looks out only for themselves — fuck everybody else.

I mean, I think it's a great film ... But I think there's a part of me that wished I didn't watch it. So much ugliness. Ugly is truly ugly, a horrible horror-house mirror for humankind.

I prolly need a brain cleanse.

And, hot damn is Ronit Roy's police uniform ever tight. Just like the one he wore in Boss. Just ... an observation.

Other stuff I watched between last Monday and today:

• The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions
• Ever After
  Finally! Hey, I actually like this more than I thought I would, and this is after factoring my adoration of Drew Barrymore. And I actually couldn't recognize Riff Raff!
  The 90s seem like a life ago — it was a very different life for me back then — so I'm quite impressed by how feminist I found it in my first ever viewing of this movie.
  What was a very pleasant wake-up call for me was when Danielle was sold to Riff Raff (I forgot what he's called in this movie) and I was like, oh NO, I hope the prince saves her in time! ... only to find that Danielle had the situation perfectly under control, fuck you very much, and didn't need saving. Seeing that, I was like, d'oh, WHY THE FUCK did I ever think she needed saving when she was the one who saved his sorry privileged ass??, and was totally surprised then mad at myself.
  And I think this movie passes the Bechdel Test too — even though it's really short, I really liked the scene in which Jacqueline tended to Danielle and expressed her sympathy and empathy to Danielle.
• Amit Sahni Ki List
  Thank goodness for my finding this movie as a cleanser for having watched Ugly. It's been on my to-watch list and I found it kinda sweet even though, with nearly all rom-coms, certain tropes tend to be rehashed to death.
  So in this we have the Indian Dharma and Greg because every dull investment banker needs an MPDG to show him how awesome life can be if only he starts living. (To be fair to the movie, Mala is totally my dream girl and I'm not even an investment banker.)
  And, HELLO, there are helluva stunning girls in this movie — Amit Sahni is one lucky bitch.
  I wish the best friend — sadly not employed under the gay best friend trope — had more scenes though.

Five movies again and I again managed to finish my reading for this week's QUILTBAG discussion. Lord, I need to spend less time watching movies. I certainly do not need to push myself to break this little 'record'.

The Tofu of Metaphors and Analogies

Finally finished The Matrix trilogy this week. Prior to borrowing the second and third installments, I was discussing my viewing of The Matrix with Debby and she told me I should just stop watching right here — the other two in the trilogy aren't quite worth watching.

As I was watching The Matrix Reloaded, I realized I prolly should've listened to Debby. I found Reloaded too bloated with needless scenes. Like the needlessly extended fight scenes (although it finally occurred to me who the style of fighting reminded me of — Jet Li in the Once Upon A Time In China series), or the expositions which were needlessly verbose (without telling me shit).

And the Architect. Holy shit, dude, I need to transcribe and parse what you're saying. With a dictionary. I found a transcription of the scene and reading it is actually easier than listening to it.

Is it weird that I actually prefer The Matrix Revolutions? If Reloaded is a whole load of bean-plating and exposition (and, imo, pseudo-intellectual and pseudo-philosophical wankery), then Revolutions is almost its opposite, to the extent that Revolutions appears to be a straightforward action flick.

Also, I found myself thinking about horcruxes and Harry's relationship with Voldemort in relation to Agent Smith, his clones, and his relationship with Neo. If the relationship is simplified to good versus evil, then both must live, no? You can't have one without the other, but is it not impossible to have neither?

Since Neo destroyed Agent Smith (and clones) by allowing himself to be destroyed, there must be, for at least a short moment, in the rebooted Matrix, in which there exists neither 'good' (personified by the One) nor 'evil' (personified by AI programs, i.e. the Agents) in the perspective of the people of Zion?

Anyway. In Debby's and my chat, we both agreed that we would prolly want to be back in the Matrix for the lovely taste of a steak. For me, Reloaded and Revolutions recall The Four Quartets. 'East Coker' begins with: "In my beginning is my end", and ends with: "In my end is my beginning" — which is pretty much repeated incessantly in Reloaded. The Matrix itself more or less boils down to: "human kind / Cannot bear very much reality" (imo).

I'mma take a moment here to mention Persephone (i.e. Monica Belluci). I feel like she seems to serve no real purpose other than to provide eye-candy by way of a beautiful face, an awesomely proportioned female form, and glorious, glorious breasts and cleavage.

Random thoughts while watching the trilogy:

• I don't like Morpheus: I think he's two white rabbits away from becoming the deranged and delirious street-corner preacher.
• Ignore the sartorial/costume choices. Ignore the sartorial/costume choices. Ignore the sartorial/costume choices ...
• Man, did the creepy crawly sentinels provide "inspiration" for the mimics and alphas of Edge of Tomorrow?
• The Matrix trilogy is totally the tofu of metaphors and analogies. Really, you can flavor it (with any context) any way you desire but not everybody is gonna like it. Because tofu. (And texture and consistency.)
• The Nebuchadnezzar reminds me of Serenity and every appearance of Gina Torres makes me scream (internally), "ZOEEEEEEE ZOEEEEE ZOEEEE ZOEEEEE ZOEEEEEEEEEEE ...!!!"
• I miss Firefly. =( The Nebuchadnezzar needs someone who will happily exclaim, "Shiny!"

FIVE

Quite a productive week, movie-wise, and having done this while having read everything I needed to read for the QUILTBAG discussion session yesterday — hell yeah, productive.

What I watched this week:

• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
  
• Les Aventures extraordinaires d'Adèle Blanc-Sec
  Wow, this is actually really lovely! Also, Mme Blanc-Sec is not just smart and witty and brave, she's really gorgeous! <3 I hope there will be sequels to this, like maybe how Adèle manages to save herself from the Titanic before embarking on further adventures in South America or elsewhere in Europe.
  
  Failing live action sequels, I'm down with animations, or even just English translations of the comic series.

• Ne Le Dis À Personne
  I wish more thrillers were like this — taut and tense right until the denouement. My only grouse is that Cluzet looks too much older than Croze for them to have been childhood friends.
  
  Okay, also the Bruno character is very conveniently helpful. Maybe a little too convenient and helpful. The woman assassin perpetually in a crop top/sports bra is super creep. I actually breathed a little easier after Bruno shot her dead (although for a long moment I thought she was never going to die — even her expressionless walking away from being shot twice in the back was creepy).
  
  Kristin Scott Thomas as one half of a gorgeous lesbian couple — WIN. The same-sex couple thing is very matter-of-fact and not made into a big deal (in 2006!). This is also one way I wish more movies would be like Ne Le Dis À Personne too.

• The Matrix
  So I finally watched this (I've been putting it off for way too long) and I find it interesting though nowhere as thought-provoking as Waking Life. I guess I waited too long because the movie seems to be showing its age too. Also, there seems to be ... I dunno, not loop-holes in the plot, just ... things I didn't get. Like, why did it take so long for everybody to find Neo? Is the Matrix not all-knowing?
  
  Also, if you're aware that 'life' in the Matrix isn't 'reality', why would you not want to learn to bend and break physical laws above everything else? I mean, "there is no spoon" should've been the rebels' motto from the start and rebel leaders should be drumming that into all rebels' heads. Mind over matter, as it were.
  
  I'm ignoring the quibbles in my head (that nagged away as I was watching the movie) because HELLO CARRIE ANNE MOSS IN LATEX. Lord, Trinity is awesome (less awesome when she falls in love with Neo — COME ON. Girl, Switch is much hotter than Neo is!!). I'm dying to finish the Matrix trilogy now and I hope Trinity develops even more awesome control and mind-power. (Not reading Wiki for spoilers!)
  
  There is one thing that Agent Smith said that I agree with though: that we are Earth's cancer.
  
  Talking about Agent Smith — it's prolly just me, but the first time I see an actor in a movie, I tend to fixed the character they play on all the future characters they essay. In Hugo Weaving's case, the first time I saw him was in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (the second movie I saw him in was Bedrooms and Hallways).
  
  So.
  
  Yes, I think of and see Mitzi (and Jeremy) every time he comes on screen. Wouldn't it be fabulous if Agent Smith were a less dour?

• Shor in the City
  I only watched this because of how much I like Go Goa Gone and it's not too bad, just a little uneven. True, I'd like to think karma is a bitch — and it's Ms Bitch to you — but not every character got bitch slapped by karma.
  
  Also, towards the end, I thought I finally saw Tusshar Kapoor play a character with whom I sympathize (when Tilak appeared to have died), but no ... Tilak lived. And for the better.
  
  I think the soundtrack for Shor in the City is pretty good too.

The soundtrack for Detective Byomkesh Bakshy was released sometime last week (I think?) and IT. IS. FUCKING. AWESOME. I liked 'Calcutta Kiss' when it first released on YouTube but OMG 'Chase in Chinatown' blew my socks off.

I'm so looking forward to that movie. The trailers released so far made me think of Guy Ritchie's Sherlock but I hope I'm wrong. SO EXCITE.

Listen to Detective-Byomkesh-Bakshy-2015 on Saavn

The World Forgetting, By The World Forgot

I finally watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind earlier on Tuesday and it was, to my surprise, very much less confusing than I thought it would be.

I had only seen two other Kaufman-written films before (Being John Malkovich and Adaptation) but I somehow got the idea that his stories are mind-fuckingly confusing, like Lynch's but without the darkness and nightmarish atmosphere.

Eternal Sunshine I therefore found to be very lovely and sweet even as I thought it a little depressing — like the fact that even having memories wiped from their minds, people still do the very things they want to forget.

I mean, on the one hand, I guess the story shows how history is doomed to repeat itself if it isn't kept in mind or memory (which also means if one doesn't learn from it). On the other hand, what I got from the film is that life is pre-determined, predestined — you make the same decisions even when given another chance to start over ... because you're meant to.

My personal belief is that life unfolds along a path that is created from the choices you make — a choose-your-own-adventure, as it were. I'd be happy to be caught in a time loop if only to be able to learn about the myriad of ways my life could've/might've turned out, based on every single decision I make on any given day.

Also: ah, Pope. He seems to have the best lines about being forgotten by the world:

How happy is the blameless vestal's lot!
The world forgetting, by the world forgot.
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!
Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd ...

'Eloisa to Abelard'

Versus:

Thus let me live, unseen, unknown;
Thus unlamented let me die;
Steal from the world, and not a stone
          Tell where I lie.

'Ode on Solitude'

(Talking about poetry, hipsters with their rolled cuff pants and jeans never fail to recall poor ol' Prufrock: "I grow old … I grow old …/I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.")

Oh. My. Lord.

The only reason I'm rewatching Edge of Tomorrow just a few hours after my first viewing is Emily Blunt.

Because I can't forget Emily Blunt doing the chaturanga pose in the movie.

Because I can watch her chaturanga on loop.

And ... WISH GRANTED. (Hell yeah. Thank you so much, Internet!)

And wide-screen available here!

Actually Emily Blunt doing what she's doing has her own auto-complete and various similar suggestions in Google; I guess there must've been many a gay girl busy searching for the same thing when the movie first came out. We sure love them sexy toned/muscular arms.

I can't believe she was pregnant when she was shooting this movie. On the Graham Norton show interview, I remember her (and Cruise) saying how heavy and warm the suits were, so, kudos.

Also:

Swooning ... swooning ... swooned.

Weekend

I watched:

• The Lego Movie
  For some reason I'd thought this would be like Team America: World Police; it's not. I guess it's a cute flick for kids but it's just okay for me. My god, the message they just hit you over the head with. No subtly with this one ...
• The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)
  I only watched this because Auntie Al's friend/client said I should — the movie will push me to get off my ass and travel, said he. The thing is, I never had daydreams like those of the titular character. If I were as bored as him at my job, my daydreams tend to run a little more morbid, like the double-decker bus in which I traveled skidding and toppling over because it cornered too quickly and too sharply, or the overhead extension on which I walked collapsing from structural faults.
  Still, I thought the scenes in Greenland, Iceland, and the Himalayas looked gorgeous. For some reason — perhaps having seen it in a book previously — the Iceland shore bit looked very familiar, exactly as I'd pictured it reading the sagas and about the geography of Iceland prior to 1400 CE.
  I don't think the movie has made me desperate to travel — in fact, as I was watching the movie, I'd thought how well seeing things at a distance (on screen, for instance) suited me. I still want to see Pangong Tso first hand and hopefully visit the medieval sites around the UK and Scandinavia while I can still walk, but it's not because of this particular movie.
• Edge of Tomorrow
  Okay, I like this more than Walter Mitty, that's for sure. One, I like stuff that fucks with time; two, I like explosive stuff. And, of course, Emily Blunt.
  EMILY BLUNT. <3
  THOSE ARMS. <3 <3
  OMG HELLO THERE. <3 <3 <3
  Also, the movie is fun and funny. The mimics were super creepy though. Ugh, so gross.
• Bhool Bhulaiya
  Bought this yesterday after the QUILTBAG discussion session (together with a replacement copy of Khosla Ka Ghosla). It's pretty decent given that it's a Priyadarshan movie and I don't have high expectations when it comes to Priyadarshan, Rohit Shetty, David Dhawan (etc.) works. I thought it was a good sign it opened with Paresh Rawal; on the other hand, the musical interludes all seemed very forced. It would've been better to just confine the music to the closing titles — I don't really mind watching Mr Khiladi lip-sync once the movie has ended.

Anyway, I need to read more. I've been reading chapters from Chris Hudson's Beyond the Singapore Girl for the discussion session and it makes me so angry that such a man exists, that such men exist. Racist, sexist, misogynist eugenicists — these people just win the genetic toilet, I guess.

I'mma borrow this book from work tomorrow.

Read(s) & Flicks of the Month: February

Read(s):

• The Brothers Cabal

Flicks:

• Dil Kabaddi
• Special 26
• Daawat-e-Ishq
• Happy Endings
• I Saw the Devil
• Shaadi Ke Side Effects
• Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster
• Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster Returns
• I Am
• Boss
• Barah Aana
• Sadda Adda
• Raajneeti
• hootha Hi Sahi
• Mithya
• Yeh Jaawani Hai Deewani
• Love Aaj Kal
• The Film Emotional Atyachar
• Om Shanti Om
• Fido
• Zombieland
• Dasvidnya

I have to start reading more (and the reading group articles don't count) — maybe I'll start by finishing the Cabal series. LOL, werebadgers, indeed!

Zombie Monday

Day off! (This was planning ahead — I gave myself a slightly extended weekend because I knew my weekend engagements/human interactions would drain me.)

So I decided the theme for today's flicks: zombies. Or, more specifically: ZOM COM!

I've never liked zombie flicks; movies like 28 Days Later and Dawn of the Dead give me the willies. I'm a coward and can't stand to watch horror movies. But zom com? That's a whole 'nother thing!

First movie this morning was rewatching Zombieland. Can't remember why I bought this in the first place but it took a couple of years from my purchase of the DVD to my watching it. The first time I watched it was last Thursday — and I like it very much! Lord, I would love to see Bill FUCKING Murray play a real zombie.

Second movie was Go Goa Gone (GGG) (which I'd bought on Saturday, together with Taxi and Fido). I was a little trepidatious about buying "India's first zom com" (the trailer I saw of SAK's terrible Russian accent didn't help either) but since I read that people who like Delhi Belly will like GGG, I picked it up.

MAN was I glad I did! What I wouldn't give to have Hardik meet Nitin — I'm pretty sure these two slackers will get on awesomely and they'll make a fine ass movie I'd watch the hell out of. (Also, Luv is basically Arup, but less mousy and with more hair.)

Imagine: two dudes with shaggy but beautiful curls (hairband optional) spending time on the couch, drinking, belching, farting, smoking (I can see Nitin as a Dude-ish pothead), eating, slacking, arguing about movies, and who should get up to get the door, fetch the remote control, etc. Yeah, I'd watch that.

I didn't really like the bit of moralizing at the end of GGG but it wasn't too terrible. Sure, don't do hard drugs but surely a bit of weed now and then isn't going to be the end of the world, right? Also, wasn't coke used to stop the zombies? Mixed messages, people ...

Anyway, the soundtrack's good too. 'Khoon Choosle Monday' is now my theme song for every Monday I have to be at work.

Rewatching Shaun of the Dead now, trying to figure out whether or not GGG borrowed anything else from Shaun, apart from the let's-pretend-we're-zombies-to-blend-in thing. (To be fair to GGG though, the character who suggested that also did say he got that from a movie.)

After Shaun, I think I'll rewatch either Fido or GGG.

Ah yes. Watching movies in my underwear and drinking cold coffee. This is my kinda Monday.

GIRLY MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!

(That GGG opened with this old favorite already makes it winner!)

Weekend

In addition to watching Om Shanti Om on Saturday, I watched Phas Gaye Re Obama on Sunday. Actually, I started on Sona Spa on Saturday and tried to continue watching it on Sunday but, after the synapse-connection scene (OMG SO FUCKING DUMB), just couldn't sit through the rest of it.

Phas Gaye was smart and funny! I might've watched bits of it before as I got a sense of déjà vu during certain scenes.

My senior librarian also lent me Fido which I watched on Saturday. It's the sweetest and most non-scary movie with zombies. And Billy Connolly as the titular Fido, a zombie! NICE!

Read (& Flicks) of the Month: December

With all that DVD-watching, it's a wonder at all I can finish reading one book. And that, of course, is even Bollywood-related.

Reads of the month:

• Bollywood: A Guidebook to Popular Hindi Cinema by Tejaswini Ganti. I've also started on 100 Bollywood Films by Rachel Dwyer, and I plan to read it quite thoroughly. (On a side note: OMG I WANT TO BE RACHEL DWYER. I WANT TO WATCH HINDI FILMS AND RESEARCH AND WRITE ABOUT THEM FOR MY JOB!!!) I also started on The Brothers Cabal which I like and must try to finish somehow. In between all those DVDs and streaming flicks.
• Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea by Guy Delisle
• Shenzhen: A Travelogue from China by Guy Delisle

Flicks of the month:

• The Ghost Writer — I swear I didn't know it was a Polanski flick; wouldn't have even touched it otherwise.
• Maleficent — couldn't finish watching ... -_-
• (500) Days of Summer
• My Name is Khan
• Taare Zameen Par
• Vicky Donor (a rewatch)
• and the DVDs I'd bought ...