Couch potato for a week

This past week has been hectic in terms of watching and finishing series. Catching up with wonderful and mind-blowing series is pretty much called hard work.

Sepinwall always sang praises about this but I was too wrapped up in Mad Men to care. But when it started to make it to lists on top of the decade, I knew I couldn’t ignore it.

I covered the series in about 4 days. It’s something that first takes you in easily – you want to know what is going to happen to this man who has knowingly involved himself in danger. But then you go from care to apathy to excitement. The acting is top-notch and so is the plot.
Top marks all around.


I also covered one season of Twin Peaks. I would call this show an existential dilemma made easy (oxymoronic, I guess).  The show is like a small-town meets Luis Bunuel. David Lynch’s Blue Velvet is like this too – It looks like a mystery, but it’s a surreal look at the seedy mechanics going underneath. The music is haunting and so are the town folk. Kyle MacLanchlan is a treat to watch.


I’ve finished most of Cougar Town (atleast as much as was made). It’s fun to watch cause it’s witty, crisp and refreshing. Although 24-hour wine drinking bums me out. But it’s still nice to watch if you want a break from all the heavy drama.


This is what I’m currently watching – Korean drama Full House is a long journey ‘cause even though there are 16 episodes, each one is almost more than an hour. Plus, it is a pain to find them! It’s a bit of melodrama and romance but not bad to watch. Definitely recommended.

Best books of 2010

This year, for me, has been a really slow year in terms of books. I’m glad I’m back on the wagon, even though it’s by the help of the Sookie Stackhouse series. I finished the last 4 books in a month and they were entertaining. Currently I am reading From Dead To Worse, the eighth book in the series.

Anyway,
Here’s a compiled list of the best books for 2010.
- A comprehensive list by Amazon HERE. It includes best customer favourites, Editor’s picks, and it’s also divided up by genre.
- NYT also has a list. You can also hear a podcast on the link. In the site’s book section, there are also links to notable children’s books and crime thrillers of the year. 
- Salon also has a list of this year’s best books, which is divided into fiction, non-fiction and author’s picks.
- Boston Globe’s top 10 children’s books here.
- Slate’s list of year’s top books.
- At NPR, you have book critic Maureen Corrigan’s favourite books of 2010. You can also have a listen too.
At largehearted boy, you can get a complete list of the online best books of 2010.

Popculture Linkage

Includes the greatest minfuc* moment, controversy that won’t die and what list would be complete without a nod to the infamous Lady Gaga. I do have some serious concerns regarding their choice of the biggest douchebag, but then that’s getting political.
available Here

For all your daily news needs, there’s the front page. You can always log onto Newseum, which is great for not just the front page view, but also gives an insight into journalism. What I like the most is their best of the week pages though.
You can also see the pages here: http://frontpages.tumblr.com/

Flip fast is like my go-to guide for news analysis. It has almost all major news sites linked to it and they’re all divided into sections.

 

Pirates of Caribbean: On stranger tides

Via

Johnny Depp always looks good and nails it as Captain Jack Sparrow.
ps – This series always reminds me of One Piece. Luffy is as eccentric as Sparrow. 

Glory of Gantz

What can you say about a series that has a horny and sarcastic hero, a storyline that tumbles death and existentialism, and as a cherry on the cake - guns, boobs and aliens?

Written by Hiroya Oku, Gantz is a full-blown affair. It wastes no time in lulling you in. It violates and breaks in your mind and by the time you can process what is going on, it has already left you with tons of questions buzzing around in that baffled head of yours.

However, the manga and anime is not for the squeamish – There’s oodles of blood and liquids oozing out. I would suggest anyone to begin with the manga, which is much better than the two anime series. There is also the live-action movie that is being released soon – but I have an inkling that it’s going to hurry through and leave the juice out.

Can you say the most difficult game ever?

http://foddy.net/Athletics.html

This one has me tripping real bad!

Thought for the day

via

Recently watched

 

Because Deathly Hallows was almost the death of me.

Skeleton decor

via
That’s definitely going in the dining area.

Leakmaster

I’m totally waiting for Julian Assange to release the X-Files.

Pirate, Barber, Factory owner, Tourist

Sue me, I’m superficial!

Go to via for a visual timeline.

Wow

Too much awesomeness in one frame ~~

Recently acquired obsession

Via

For the lonely nights

In trials and tribulations…

via

That’s what I do!

Demented Dursley nomore

Dursley is demented no more. VIA

Type stop

“Sex And The City was not a documentary, and it was a whole recession ago, and really a whole generation of online dating ago. So do us all a favor: Stop with Carrie and Miranda and especially Samantha, and while you’re at it? You could give the Bridget Jones thing a rest, too.

We’ve all moved on. Please move on with us.”

VIA

NPR response to an NYT article on being an independent working woman without a suitable love life.

 

Just coz I’m free

Via

Splosh, it fell

You know what being in love feels like?

It’s called daily dose of Crap.

For anyone who says different, take a knife, insert it in your chest and twist it gently. (Yes, it’s killing you softly).

On a happier note, here’s a link for all the One Piece in the world.
http://one-piece-anime-megaupload.blogspot.com/

Links barrage

Listening to: Zombie-Cranberries/Strange Fruit-Billie Holliday/Georgia-Ray Charles/

After a long time

- Beginning with self pleasure and masturbation, I have accounts on MAL and icheckmovies. Still have a long way to go in both – although re-watching Se7en on an off day does nothing to increase the list.

- For all your One Piece needs, this is probably the best place to go.

- I often go trailer watching because I skip the new movies. Some trailers look saucy (like Scream 4) and some look immensely thrilling (like All good things). And then there are some, like Biutiful, which are stories in themselves.

- I’m not sure if it’s a good thing but the Indian section of Wiki’s list of greatest films has Sholay (1975) as the last entry. There’s also some obvious choices like Satyajit Ray films (not in my top shelf), Gandhi (a bit of over-reaching there) and Junoon (which I have never cared for). I know that most films made in India are sort of, often marketing shenanigans and mostly crap wrapped up in decoration. But I would have put something like Pushpak in that list. (and a secret favourite called Teesri Manzil).

- Thought of the day:
When your hands reek tobacco,
and your mouth smells like sushi,
there’s a night you can always remember.

Just about to fall?

Life never gives us straight up choices.

It’s never as easy as in anime, which also tries to show the grey areas. It’s not like fighting good and evil, it’s never as easy to pick a boy/girl. It’s not like Naruto just decided he’s going to get Sasuke back..Oh! wait he did!…

Life doesn’t give a choice at all. What it does it presents you with two options; both that you want to reject. It gives lessons and the funny thing is that you never learn from them. Once bitten, twice shy only applies when you’re watching some one else’s life and shouting at the screen. Even though I always feel I’m watching me watching me (sort of like a meta reality, or twice removed), I make the same mistakes over and over again – always knowing full well what I’m doing, with a tinge of regret but never a full rollback.

I think anime makes those choices very clear. (I am totally excluding Indian films/TV serials and such from this category for it pains me to say but it is mostly useless). I believe (if i can do that) that people can’t change or probably won’t change.

It’s a learning curve of stupidity with bits of experience meshed in. I’m on the edge.

Observer comment: My tone has drastically been damaged. Improve!

Lovers for Rent

Under the sunshine they met as strangers
Words were hurled and hearts were broken.

Under the twilight, observed from afar
They held their hands and sighs closer

He took her by the mouth and gazed in her dreams
She grabbed his shoulder and held his desires

Each touch was calculated
Each stroke was measured
Every kiss drew blood
Every tear drew love

They gazed in the sky till azure was upon them
A final kiss was exchanged and they left each other

Under the sunshine they met as strangers
Words were hurled and hearts were kindled.

Countless sighs - a recap of last few months

The torrents are doing their job and so is radio.
Friends are trying hard but this indecision isn’t going away.
Have caught up on films though.
Checking movies has spurred me on more than anything. Noir is exhilarating and Billy Wilder, wonderful.
I’ll be glad when I overcome this pensive mood of mine.
Have probably written more in the last few days than the last year.
There’s something rotten in my state. Going bipolar, perhaps?
Was this even a post?
PS
In the last icons post, forgot to put the Magnificent Ambersons. Damn!

Tell me what happened

                                            

Are longer conversations overrated?
How many have I had this month already?
There’s no end, no topic, no consensus.
There are pauses, laughs and awkward questions,
declarations and avowals.

Makes you think a bit, though
about the rotten state you’re in.
How you’re tied despite being free and
hating what you’ve become.

Nothing soothing emerges
and all’s in tumult.
The evening fades and roads are shortened.
Clouds dry up and time runs away.

Talks, companions and lovers
are tied up in the circle of fate
watching from close  
Soft eyes, rising passion, melting heart
and nothing to say…

Icons

For some of the films I saw recently.

 

 

Revisiting friends, loves - Life

I will probably turn older soon, if I survive to see that day. In the last few days, however hard I have tried to rethink my last few years, I’ve encountered either shameful memories or delightful moments that have shaped me up.

If I am to continue like this, the end result would probably be another year as a confused person with issues of self-doubt plaguing every action I take or every potential friendship I forge.

Talking to a friend a few hours back, we travelled through the last seven years – the education, the disappointments, the possibilities and the links. I am still the same in many ways but somehow more real – I love the way the language felt, but along the way either I failed it or it left me. I never had strong emotions within me and they have been loaded with the drug of laziness, which has made me more of a drifter and probably, an unemotional person.

But being what I am, I am looking forward to this. Being myself – even though I dislike it. I think people cannot change and I hope that to some extent it is true for me. I am still that person who loves to read books and watch films, still the same person who loves the physical over the emotional, and the same person who is amoral than immoral.

So is there a way for me to still be the same but change without my knowing? Is there a way for me to like it and dislike it?

If I could only be a distant observer who could feel what I feel while I write this, perhaps.

On a related note:

Rebels, or are we?

What a talk!

Speaking as someone without an opinion, boy, have I got an opinion. And what’s more it’s directed towards everyone.

And what’s more I even hate writing about it ‘cause I know others won’t have the same as mine.

But, for once and for many, I wish my opinion was a maxim. Or probably, the final stopping point… Something like..

BTW: Shinichi Kudo is never wrong. Why is that?

It’s changing. Probably. Someday

I miss writing.

Somehow, going through the wires each day and seeing political policies, crime and violence and just plain ol’ news, has made me jaded. It has also pushed me away from writing, something that I enjoyed occasionally.

So, now I’ve decided to do something about it. I will probably start writing reviews of things I see daily but am too lazy to post about. And these will be, of course, anime.

Watching these shows everyday, I have somehow managed to form an opinion about them (something I usually avoid). So, even though these reviews won’t be lengthy, they will have more screenshots and comments and less analysis (Which I was trying to do in my other blog…)

So, even though I can’t put a date on it, I’ll start soon. Probably. Someday. Soon.

In any case, I don’t feel too bad cause…

 

Thoughts on the Oscars

As I couldn’t do a tweet session like the Emmys, these are just some thoughts on the 82nd Oscars – the presentations, the winners and the performances.

TOPS

- The opening number by Neil Patrick Harris – was AWESOME.. like said by Barney!

- The hosts, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin, were great, except in the opening. (see below) Especially loved their adaptation of Paranormal activity.

- The amazing interpretative dance routine for the nominations of the background music were superlative – it made me want to watch movies I hadn’t planned to.

- The horror montage spanning ages, years, colours and fears.

- Really dug the Hurt Locker wins.

- Also liked the way the nominations of the best actor were declared  - with other actor sharing some anecdotes, etc. although everyone used the same phrases such as ‘generosity of spirit’, ‘kindness’, etc a lot.

REJECTS

- The first ten minutes that followed the NPH performance. It was Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin picking on each and every one in the audience. Kinda tanked and Kinda long.

- Have the actors gone dyslexic or was the tele-prompter on the blinker? There were so many near-miss goof-ups I thought it was amateur hour.

- Even though Monique won (which was cool) her speech seemed so rehearsed and shallow...

- Was stunned by the lack of Non-American stuff (usual and expected, though)

BTW: Star Movies went berserk when the best director was announced. Will catch that at night.

 

 

Here you go, Bleach

Just made some icons from Bleach, which is such an amazing joyride !

Borrowed the lovely manga bases from Sakuramaboroshi.