a To-Watch List

I have such a lot of To-Do Lists....lists of things I'd like to do...and 'hope' to do ;)
Most of em are about the many dates that I tirelessly strive to make it to, but cant...the many dinners I am invited to, but dont have the time...aaah, I wish that were so :D

haaa...for a change, I thought I'd put up a To-Watch list....a list of movies I am looking forward to watching....tis a lil decent list...and I guess it should help someone wondering what to watch....
Well, I was under the impression I'd watched most of the stuff there is to watch....and was waiting for directors n producers to come up with some real good stuff :D...till I hit upon a series of 'Rotten Tomatoes' pages...

So, here's the list...

1. 1208 East of Bucharest
2. A Mighty Heart
3. Alone With Her
4. An Officer and a Gentleman
5. An Unreasonable Man
6. Breach
7. Deliver Us From Evil
8. Grbavica The Land of My Dreams
9. Lady Chatterley
10. Little Children
11. Rear Window
12. Scarface
13. Sicko
14. The Departed
15. The Pianist
16. The Trials of Darryl Hunt

Well, if there are any 'not worth watching at all' movies on this list, pls. comment and help me save time....so I can attend those dates I am struggling to attend :D

Sip Sip Sip ;)

Its such a nice feeling...to have a nice lunch and be drinking a lil hot cuppa...

I used to think I was more of a coffee person (reminds me I am starting to describe people in terms of 'coffee person', 'cricket person', 'early-up person'...and so on!)...until quite recently...


I like coffee...maybe lil like I do alcohol, though quite opposite...

Alcohol makes me less thoughtful, more calm, more nice n humane ;)...lets me write drunken blogs ;)
Coffee makes me more active, less sleepy...gets me bloggin more ;)
Ya, I guess I resort to coffee the way a lot of office workers do, esp. those typing away all day at their computers and check mail frantically for 'signs of life'...i like that phrase :D
I like espresso shots...they are a bit like tequila shots...except the reverse effect...;)

That was all till we bought some masala for cooking...and got a coupla of Tazo tea bags freeee...calming tea, black tea, some other tea ;)....and those lil fundoo looking packs just hung around in my cupboard waiting for a chance to strike ;)

Finally, its cleaning time...and we wonder if we should use em tea bags or just throw em out....settle for Option 1 and I am sipping away Tazo tea....
Those marketing guys are real good with all the fundoo lines on the pack...about monks sipping away this tea after meditation and all that...hahaaa....wait till the monks hear about all this branding ;)
But yes...i must admit...the tea IS good....nice to sip away....whether its the healthy n invigorating feel of green tea with herbs....or the black tea (so reminescent of India...).
Am sipping away some nice black tea as I blog away....aaah ;)

I think I am gonna buy more packs of these exotic teas sometime soon....maybe gift em...for all I know, I think I am beginning to enjoy tea...getting to be a 'tea person' :D

Here's what one reviewer for Tazo tea had to say:
"Warning: HIGHLY ADDICTIVE TEAS. Once you taste these teas, you will want to try them all and forever be on a search for new Tazo teas. Fortunately they have enough tea blends to entertain you for years."

ps. Black tea is great to sip on...but am beginning to think its got some laxative 'features' as well ;)....actually there are more people who think so....check google...

The Magic Of Light and Glasses

Glasses and light have always been fascinating...the way different glasses bend light, change it, color it....is always so interesting...so magical...

Here are some products of a lazy...'what to do' Sunday ;) ...remnants of a boozing nite...and flower vases ;)

Before you conclude that I've been drinking too many bottles...lemme add that 'Objects in the mirror add up to more than they really are!'...yup, some of 'em are reflections in the mirror!

The first one brings to mind 'dark corridors of power'...hmmm, the second one...reminds me of nothing in particular...except my fingers that you probably see wrapped around the delicate vase ;)

More at Reflections

Gloomy Sunday

Sunday is gloomy, my hours are slumberless
Dearest the shadows I live with are numberless
Little white flowers will never awaken you
Not where the black coach of sorrow has taken you
Angels have no thought of ever returning you
Would they be angry if I thought of joining you?
Full Lyrics

Hmmm....this song would probably be one of the most intriguing songs that I've listened to..

The song dates back to 1933...with origins in Hungary....written by a Hungarian self-taught pianist and composer Rezső Seress. What is most enchanting about this song is the slow melancholy feel to it....and the sad knowledge that it inspired many suicides (apparently), especially during the Nazi period. Frankly, its a very beautiful but sad song -- you could really get depressed listening to it ;)....but ya, you could listen it on and on, without getting bored....I could, atleast.

I never knew this song existed...for a really long time...till I saw the movie 'Gloomy Sunday' which is based on this song. The central characters are Ilona (Erika Marozsan) a gorgeous waitress at a nice lil restuarant, the owner of the restuarant (who's Ilona's lover as well), a young wonderful pianist and a German.

Ilona is a woman of such beauty as to make any man lose himself. Every man who walks into the restaurant is captivated by her beauty and depressed by the thought that they cannot have her. It is not difficult to see why this is so....as you see this movie ;)
The pianist composes this song 'Gloomy Sunday' as a birthday gift to Ilona.
But he is soon saddened when he realizes that his song inspires many to suicide.

The story, set in Hungary...slowly drifts into the Holocaust times...with Jews being arrested, their properties confiscated....and you literally feel so angry....so cheated...
Its a great movie, for those who love drama and are not scared to get depressed or angry....Every movie doesnt have to be a 'And they lived happily ever after' story ;)
Atleast for beautiful Ilona, its a must watch ;)
Thankfully, someone's got a clip of this on youtube...with the song.

To speak of this song, lots of artists have recorded this song. Diamanda Galas, Billie Holiday, Sarah Bergman...the list goes on...the best ones are by these three though. Here's a youtube video based on the Billie Holiday version.

And, yes...the composer of this beautiful song...Rezső...did commit suicide by jumping off a Budapest Building in 1968 ;)
...and....this song features as No:2 in 'The 25 Most Exquisitely Sad Songs in the Whole World'
must say that....much as I love this song, I take care not to listen to it too much....;)

I am mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!

Finally, a movie worth blogging about...after a loong time ;)

I watched 'Network'...a lil old movie...1976 as per IMDB.

A movie about television networks, probably about Ted Turner's time....the wild n mindless competition, the total loss of morality or ethics even in business decisions...and how human life itself was so skewed, contorted, dehumanized so to say...

I hate to spoil anyone's pleasure of seeing the movie...so I guess I'll skip any detail....

Well, the story begins with a TV newsreader/anchor getting fired because his ratings weren't good enough (think appraisals! ;)...He goes on air telling his audience he would blow his brains out....Much as he is expected to be fired for this, the television agency sees opportunity in this 'mishap'. They seek to keep him on the air with all his deranged talk and mad prophet talk....and on the story goes...

The key and interesting characters:

- Howard Beale, the mad tv anchor with his mad rants...
- Max Schumacher, Howard's friend and aging boss...the only sane guy for miles ;)
- Diana Christensen, a career driven lady wanting to drastically improve the channel's ratings...

The main dialogue of this movie is a Howard Beale line "I am as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!"...about people depressed with the state of things in the world...
However, the line I liked the most, on first hearing...was a Max Schumacher(nah, not Michael Schumacher ;)) line...

"You are television incarnate, Diana, indifferent to suffering, insensitive to joy. All of life is reduced to the common rubble of banality. War, murder, death are all the same to you as bottles of beer. The daily business of life is a corrupt comedy. You even shatter the sensations of time and space into split-seconds and instant replays. You are madness, Diana, virulent madness, and everything you touch dies with you. Well, not me. Not while I can still feel pleasure and pain and love."

This is the basic theme of the movie...this line says its all...

Diana Christensen, played by Faye Dunaway is a character that interests me a lot too...I fail to understand how people can lose so much humanity n feeling in the 'race to be successful'...

Wikiquote rocks...just as much as wikipedia does! For more interesting lines/quotes from this movie check Nework WikiQuote.

Beeeeeeer

Finally I went to a brewery/winery...Anheuser-Busch Breweries out here in STL.
Must say it was a pretty long walk to the brewery and back (close to 7 miles in total!)...but thanks to free beer, I am a happier man now ;)

Here's another 'happy man' asking for a second freee beeer:D

Well, I had been keeping off from beer drinking for a while. Beer is one of my favourites...for its taste and 'sippability' ;)....but thanks to 'the beer belly scare', I have been trying to stay off....

The thought of beer conjures up an image of big bellied huge fellas gulping down mugs n bottles n pitchers....aaah, not too good for those yearning for their 6 packs;)

Just on impulse, I did some googling to research on 'why beer makes you fat'. Surprise, surpise! Beer isnt really fattening as we think it to be...

Here's some quick info flicked off a BBC article...for those wanting to quickly get their facts staight before they reach for another pitcher ;)

"There's no such thing as the beer belly," says George Philliskirk, of the Beer Academy. "But it is an appetite stimulant and it's the fish and chips or curry that round off a night with a few pints that puts the weight on."

Some statistics:
CALORIES PER 100ml
Beer (4.6% alc): 41 calories
Wine (12% alc): 77 calories
Spirits: 250 calories
Milk: 64 calories
Orange juice: 42 calories
Apple juice: 47 calories

Should I change to beer instead of apple/orange juice? ;)

And, here's good news for all alcoholics...:D

"In fact, concerns about alcohol being fattening could be completely off-target anyway. Martin Bobak says there isn't even concrete evidence that the human body can turn alcohol into fat."
Martin Bobak surely sounds very intelligent, he must be right :D

Post Processing...

I used to think that post processing was a bad thing to do....Post Processing, for the uninitiated, is just processing pictures/film after actually taking the pic....everything from blurring, grayscale-ing, sharpening, color tint-ing....much much more, depending on what tool or utility you have....and for people who do that stuff in darkrooms.....thats a totally different story....

I used to have a chat friend....who used to be crazy about doing touch ups and all crazy stuff in darkrooms.....I never got down to doing anything on those lines, though....

Ok, so....I used to think that one 'should' take a picture as one wants it....and get no points for anything done after the 'click'....;)

Basically, one should visualize what one is shooting at the moment its shot, rather than crop it, edit it, think over it....and create something else...but I guess I was wrong ;)

Lately I've been taking almost all everything I shoot, and work on editing em....its interesting to see the 'hidden' picture ;)....

The following are some pictures shot at Busch Breweries, STL...

Here's a shot of a mom and her child...the mom looking so happy....the child looking left....to see its twin bro (or sis, I wouldnt know ;)....who happened to be in its dad's arms...





I kind of like this one....gets me thinking about the happiness n concern in every parent's life....nice to be married ;)....worrisome tooo ;)












Here's another pic.....the other end of the emotional spectrum....sadness...despair....

This one really makes me a lil sad ;)

More at http://picasaweb.google.com/arun.george.john/ArtOrSomethingLikeIt

Doing nothing n watching others work....

I guess most people are probably guilty of one pastime....to do nothing....laze around....and watch other people do stuff...;)

I would say TV is a manifestation of this.....sitting idly on cosy couches.....watching adventurers struggle away through difficult n interesting paths...another is hanging around in balconies looking out...watching people making their way to places they've got to go to....watching em do work that they need to....

Sunday morning....misty n sleepy eyed....coffee cup in hand, I indulge in this lil pastime....of observing people working away...

Thanks to staying in a 'lil' tall building in the heart of downtown.....I get to see a lot of contruction going on...and cranes veering around drunkely....workers with hard hats walking around...going someplace....


























I am not sure if you can 'feel the view'...but this is a really nice sight...
Since the windows are all big and encompass the whole wall, you could literally lean on em, look out...and forget than you are actually in another building.....you know...a bit like like being in mid-air between all those buildings ;)

Well, meet Mr. Crane....he keeps working away day and nite...lifting stuff and putting em back ;)...

I do wonder how it must be for the guy who 'runs' this crane (the guy in the centre cabin, if you can see)....office with the best view in the world....fresh air and space....no colleagues/boesses around for pretty too far ;)
But ya, it looks quite scary....atleast to me....

I like these shadows....looks like 2 workers in hard hats....n two spooky stalkers....If you can imagine em workers slowly stepping forward...one foot at a time...and the shadows following stealthily...pin drop silence...you kinda get what I am thinking ;)


Too much lazing around for a day....aaah, am tired :D

To Blog or Not to Blog....

aaah....here's one post thats goin to be more 'thoughts' than anythin else...a genre of posts that I wasnt sure of doin....

well, to speak of blogging per se...I must say that I have always been lazy...unsure... unconvinced....about whether to blog...or not...

I have also wondered about the differences between what people talk, what they chat, what they put down in their diaries....and what they blog...

Honestly, bleak as it may sound, blogs are not supposed to reflect people's thoughts in their entirety...blogs were supposed to be more of an in-between of diaries and magazine columns....and thats what they do.....its a bit like an artist's self portrait ;)...if you know what I mean...

Well, if I were gonna be ENTIRELY true to a blog, I would probably be ranting n shouting at every twist n turn of my mood...;) ....not a nice thing to do on a blog...
Blogging also is another manifestation of the human tendency to 'be accepted', which I am still confused about....I think everyone who'd put a lil bit of thought would agree....

my apologies if I just disturbed anyone from their blissful peace...of feeling that all is well ;)
my complements n aarghhs to the few people who got me thinking on this pt of view ;)

Bacardi 151

Liquor is one of the few things that keeps being interesting...am yet to get bored of it ;)

Partly thanks to the many breweries n wineries n what not.....people coming out with their new variants....new stuff...interesting stuff....

I guess most of the fun of liquor is just about downing it....feeling high n mighty n good....and smiling away happily ;) The other part of the fun is about finding new forms of liquor and trying em out....this lil blog is dedicated to one such variant....the Bacardi 151°!!!

Well, the first time I saw this fella sitting lonely on some shelf, I thought 151 was just a fancy number....Bacardi 151...pure puerto rican rum...

More research n I realize that 151 is the proof. Essentially, liquor is rated in "Alcohol content per volume" or proof, which is twice the % By Volume....

What this means is that.......the 151-proof liquor is approximately 75.5% alcohol by volume....oh myy god(read in Janice tone ;)....this is really hardcore....I am used to seeing 40-50% types....75% sounds like a killer....;)

Finally, curiosity gets the better of me....and I am happily carrying home a lil bottle of this rum, grinning excitedly all over. Thanks to a recent tendency to be so tied to google n forums n types, I decide to read reviews before I actually try this....not a nice tendency maybe....coz its spoils the 'adventure' ;)

Here's what I saw:

"As with all beverages of this proof, consuming the rum by itself ("straight") is not recommended"

"Bacardi 151 is a purely ruthless liquor"

"Very Flammable...dont pour near flame"

I give up reading....and take up drinking....;)
Open up the bottle and breath in the smell....boy, this is so stinging....pungent smell that irritates your nose...
I think I am gonna try a small shot...on the rocks so to say.....just to feel how it tastes....
Pour it in....1...2....3...down!
owww.....this thing burns reeaal hard.....you can feel it really travel all the way down....and you feel lil strange / dizzy or something....I guess its just the stomach getting its shocks....had to grab some lil snack n stuff it down to feel ok....

I then settle for a lil 151+Fruit Juice cocktail....which in itself feels lil strong.....zzzz......n goood....zzzz ;)

disclaimer: I do not represent the Bacardi company nor endorse its products...least of all, the 151°. Try anything at your own risk...not mine :D

The Tree of Half Life

Well, I just posted a pic for my profile pic...something I flicked from a Pink Floyd cover....
Just read up about it, and I think its interesting....apparently, there IS such a tree...

‘The Tree of Half Life’, though originally intended for a band called Catherine Wheel always seemed very Pink Floyd. It was submitted as an image for a Floyd 30th anniversary campaign that never got fully realized. It was so liked by the band, and by Storm Thorgerson that it appeared as a Tshirt and as the frontispiece of the ‘Mind Over Matter’ book of Floyd imagery.

The official story is that this tree profile head was achieved by helicopter topiary – a man hung from a ‘copter and cut the shape much as he might a hedge.

Photographed on Hasselblad 500C with daylight transparency in a London Park in February with available light.

How can I tell you....

How can I tell you that I love you, I love you
But I can't think of right words to say
I long to tell you that I'm always thinking of you
I'm always thinking of you, but my words
just blow away, just blow away....

A fascinating n captivating love song by Cat Stevens....
I dont really like the crooner version by Cat Stevens, which sounds ok...but not too great...

Have been watching a 'A Diamond is Forever' commercial ...which features this song...
Did some lil googling....found that Cat Powers (an assumed name) sang this version...though she aint got a commercial release version....
I also realised that there were many others captivated by the song and maybe Cat Powers' smooth voice...who have to be content with the short 2 min version in the commercial...
Cat Powers, pls. do a full version of the song....;)

It is interesting to see these days....that there are so many artists u never heard of...but are truly touching or fascinating....
Thanks to youtube for all this opportunity...
Paolo Nutini is yet another artist with a fascinatingly smooth voice...women just die for him....fab voice, great boyish looks....(nah, i aint gay ;)

Life in a Blurrr......

am still so thrilled...scared...shaken-up n amazed...with the Six Flag adventure....i really must blog ;)

Just been out to a local Six Flags last weekend...my very first roller coaster n thrill ride experience....

Roller coasters always looked fun on television...people sitting comfortably in comfy seats n rocking around a park screaming wildly...it definitely looked fun...wow wow....
Did some lil research to see what exciting rides were there....nice photos...looked interesting...

So finally I am out there with my friend nanju, excited n raring to go ride em rides...wohooo....
We look around and find a helluva ride....they call it Mr Freeze

....superfast roller coaster
screaming its way through space....dint really think about whether it was scary or anything....
After a pretty long wait in the queue....we get to the 'loading chamber'....when people are loaded in....and just fly out of the tunnel....and almost as fast...back in....looks like less than a minute...
Finally we are seated and all set to go....no fear...no real anticipation...just sitting back relaxed...
booom....the carriage flies out with a speed thats really unknown to me....going around in twists n turns with kinda supersonic speeds....and then baam.....90 degrees up a path...
And we hang there a coupla seconds....looking up into the blu blu sky...afraid to look down...;)
And then....bang....all the way back at the very same speed....I remem thinking that I'd probably go dizzy since I cant stand sitting forward and being driven in the opposite direction....
But before that thought settles in....the train/carriage is rocketing back....and you are safe n stable once again....in the tunnel where u started off....

As per the 6Flags site, this is "zero to 70 mph in about four seconds"....wow...I dint know...but man, was I scared.....I guess I was too stunned, scared n thrilled...to even screaam...

In our efforts to get back to 'normalcy', we decide to settle for something less 'Thrill"-ing....Thunder River....a fun ride on a big round boat bouncing around the waters

....and the spray of water....and a waterfall....it was fun with a interesting and big family....a cute lil gal who used to scream every now n then....just for the heck of it....a nice mom who got most of the dousing since she always ended up where all the water was spraying...;) I managed to get out 'too dry' ;)

Speaking of being dry....we were running around all clothed in jeans n stuff...with all the crowd doing shorts n lil shorts n stuff....we were so 'overdressed' ;)....so we decided to get a lil 'undressed' ;).....bermudas.....the weather was pretty n warm...

Time for the next thrill ride....Superman, Tower of Power....

more looong queues and waits n finally we hop on.....well, this is some 230 feet or so high tower...u sit down...get slowly pulled up to the top....its a helluva view up there...u can see all around so well...I take care not to look down for fear of getting scared ;)

And then, a few seconds of anticipation....damn, so scared n thinking 'I wanna get off'....another coupla seconds and you are hurtling down all the way super faast...u can feel all that adrenalin flow in....but before the fear really gets to you hard, you're landed...thank god for all that speed...I'd have died if the fall took longer ;)

I still wonder....too scary? Must say its once-in-a-lifetime experience...I can still mildly feel all the excitement and fear....and would probably do it again once a while...but man, i was so scared thrilled scared-out-of-wits....Six Flags rocks nyways!!!

aah...finally

Finally my lazy hands decide to wake up a lil bit n blog...;)

Well, this blog's been online for quite some time...and...true to its name....twas still 'Big n Blank' ;)

Blogging is really something that I feel unsure of doing, the different person that I am...but I guess I might keep writing...let see....

whatever...its a start...woooohooooooo ;)