New Favorite Website

Obamarama!
Disclaimer: If at work, open at your own risk. Loud chuckling from your desk may not sit well with your employers.

Day 23 — A YouTube video

Hello Williams. For a few months this gem was taken down by Youtube. But it's back!

Day 22 — A website

When I need some distraction (from watching Youtube videos all day), I head over to FAIL Blog.
Does it for me every single time.

My Random Act of Kindness

This is what I am going to do when I watch a movie. All of us have gone through the process of watching a movie and realizing mid-way that having a million needles thrown at you all day would be less painful than sitting through the said movie. When you pay homage to Einstein - understand his theory of relativity and figure that he would have come up with his eureka moment at precisely such a point in time.

We've also had the exact opposite sensation - let time stay still so that I can soak up more of this wonderfulness on screen.

What I will try to do is simply an act of paying it forward. When someone recommends a movie to me, I place in his or her hands in a way, my life. I let them guide me for 2 hours into their idea of fun. Sometimes I feel liberated, and I realize that I can connect to the recommender on a different level - like the two hours of movie dialogue is all that is unspoken between us. Then there are those other times, after a movie, I just want to bang my head against a wall so that I can have it in my heart to forgive and forget and move on without judgment. I am a very judgmental person. Opinions, whether my own or others, matter a lot to me. So I pray to god to let me forget about those 2 hours of my life I will never get back. Which seems hypocritical of me, when I waste the remaining 22 hours doing absolutely nothing. Buts that's me. Digressing - another flaw.

So my unselfish act of paying it forward is this - I will write about every movie I watch. And give you my recommendation. So that I in turn can be alternatively revered and cursed. I'm not selfish.

Here goes. Movies seen this past week.

• The Informant! - Watch it. Funny. Matt Damon looks like a bumbling idiot. It'll be a vanity project for your soul.
• Clash of the Titans - Never mind. At your own risk. Sam Worthington has 26 lines. Total. Seriously.
• Greenberg - Meh. I am too young to get it. Maybe in ten years.
• Chloe - Confusing. Interesting. Julianne Moore is gorgeous. Perfect. Maybe on DVD?
• The Invention of Lying - Watched the first 45 minutes. Do you even want to know why?
• Superbad - Ditto. Maybe if I were in highschool?
• The Painted Veil (repeat) - Edward Norton. Sepia. Mountains. In that order. Go for it. 
• Date Night - Does not live up to the comedic prowess of  the leads.

You ain't got nothing on me Mr. Ebert.

Day 21 — A recipe

My diet is in dire need of some color. The only condiment/ spice I put in everything is Cumin seeds. My recipe for any dish would read as - pour oil, add jeera, sautee whatever, add salt. And I like it that way.

Day 20 — A hobby of yours

Be the know-all go-to person for anything related to Roman, Greek, Gothic, and Romanesque architectural history. And also, tennis.

Day 19 — A talent of yours

Painful introspection.

Day 18 — Whatever tickles your fancy

This is getting annoying. I dislike abstractions and open-ended problems. Black and white. Right and wrong. No gray.

Day 17 — An art piece (painting, drawing, sculpture, etc.)

Charing Cross Bridge by Monet. Gorgeous. My Lucid Dream would consist of me being in this painting for eternity.

Day 16 — A song that makes you cry (or nearly)

Does not make me cry, but stirs up similar emotions.

Day 15 — A fanfic

Have not read/written any fan fiction. Mauls the original in my opinion.

Day 14 — A non-fictional book

(via)

No doubt about the impact this book had on me. A book can make you cry and empathize as strongly and provocatively as a movie. This book is hard-cover proof of that.

Day 13 — A fictional book

(via)

Again? Lets go with something I read recently. The Stranger by Albert Camus. Translated from french. Short. Extremely straight-forward, its refreshing. Or maybe it's because of the translation. Nevertheless, I saw myself in it. And that's not a good thing. Read it to know why.

Day 12 — Whatever tickles your fancy

Talking to myself. I just hope that some day I do not become so obsessed with carrying on a conversation with myself that I realize I do not need others around me. It's scary I tell ya. Upside is, no one interrupts you!

Day 11 — A photo of you taken recently

What? That's me. Fo Sho.

Day 10 — A photo of you taken over ten years ago

Not quite 10 years yet, because if I did put up those photos the universe would collapse and the world as we know it would cease to exist. 2nd from left.

Day 09 — A photo you took

Last few days of Tai Shan at the National Zoo, DC. Apologies for the iPhone quality.

You know what annoys me?

 Ironically/ Irony/ Ironic being used incorrectly. Irony is simple. The use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning. It's not sarcasm. It's not coincidence.

That's it. It's a Thursday. Needed to get this out.

Day 08 — A photo that makes you angry/sad

Click to enlarge. (via)

Day 07 — A photo that makes you happy

Click to enlarge. (via)

Day 06 — Whatever tickles your fancy

These days, I am all about sustainability. Seriously. I am still trying to figure out what I want to do, where I want to be and all such existential questions. What I do know is that I want to be involved in change.

I would like to thank the Academy..

Day 05 — Your favorite quote

"Things happen to you for a reason. A good reason."
I actually just made it up. It's how I live my life.

Day 04 — Your favorite book

I have a bad memory. Real bad. Right now, I can only remember the book I am reading and the one I finished. Which is a shame, because I have so many books that I have loved. The issue here is books can't be re-read as often as movies can be re-watched. Regardless, I am going to pick one that had an impact on me (and countless other readers too) - Portrait Of A Lady. Nah. Scrap that. I'll go with Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy.

Ha. And here you thought I was being all intellectual and fancy.

Day 03 — Your favorite television program

I wrote a whole other post for this with Gilmore Girls and Seinfeld as my favorite show. But who am I kidding? It has to be Friends. My repeat viewings prove it.

Day 02 — Your favorite movie

Whoa. This keeps getting tougher and tougher. To pick one favorite movie is almost impossible. How do you decide on a favorite movie? Is it something that you can watch over and over again or is it something that impacts you in a way that you had not thought possible. The latter kind are generally intense dramas or movies dealing with issues you might not necessarily want to watch multiple times.

I am going to go with the simpler definition and choose Andaz Apna Apna. Its beyond entertaining, its memorable, its sprinkled so many of my conversations with humor I have lost count. Its made me judgmental in a mean way. I CANNOT have someone who dislikes this movie as my friend. No way.

Day 01 — Your favorite song

This is difficult. I don't listen to much music - and I enjoy instrumental more. Does an instrumental piece qualify as a song?

Anyway, qualifying or not, I'll say right now my favorite tune is the soundtrack of 25th Hour by Terence Blanchard. Not heard a lot of jazz, but if this is what it is - damn!

Open Title - Terence Blanchard