There are a few things in life that can offer undiluted freedom. That can free you from your mental shackles...from what the earth binds you to.
And for me...its a late night spin (just a small short one is enough) on the monster 650XT Suzuki VStorm. The best happiness money could have ever bought.
Every time I ride around, un-ensconced - my mind plays the track "Free You Mind" and "the Rest will follow".....By EnVogue...(Yes I am old...and I grew up in the 90s).
Now here is a trivia I learnt today that I don't have much use of, given my vegetarian leanings....but supposedly eating upwards of 16 oysters can make you um.....how do I put it delicately.....blow the horn :-).....not the ego trip kind....but the corny kind :-).......whorny :-) got the drift.
Every time I listen to Amy Winehouse (and I am in love with her), a part of me gets transported to Connecticut/New York. There is no clear reason for that to happen, just once while I was at CT I listened to Amy on repeat while I finished some monstrous document.
A strange connect happened yesterday, I was watching the Egyptian Series "The Disappearance" and in S1:E1, while the lead lady (Farida) is at the cafe meeting Amr, the cafe is loudly and clearly discernibly playing Winehouse.
I have been listening to Queen for over 20 years and I have never quite managed to isolate what is it about this music, that just gets me going.
Like listening to "Somebody to Love" - as I write this, I cannot help be swayed by the moody blues and the lovely riffs, and of course the crazy vocals - and yet the lyrics are plebian, the voice a typical British gruffness, the chorous so 1950s, the orchestration so garage band ish and yet.....when they all come together, the result is pure addiction.
I fell for Queen the first time about 20 years ago, on a road trip, when I heard them on repeat....and that love affair never ended.
If I live for another 20, I can bet to myself that I will still continue to love Queen, Freddie Mercury and of course Farrokh Bulsara.
"I am falling in love, falling in love for the first time, and this time I know its for real." ".......but life still goes on....."
Image from 3 quarks daily
Saw the series Alcasser Girls recently. Its a strange tale. One of depressed decriptude, that even now (and still continues) we commit immense crimes against women and children. On the other hand, it also demonstrates, how a tragedy (in addition) to bringing out the best in us, also invariably brings out the worst in us.
These are similar to the other output from the producers "Terribly Tiny Tales". Though not as succinct. The tales when read on paper, just throw off the cliff, just like a Zen Koan would.
This one does not do that - not to me at least - but its a taut way to tell a story.
And a relevant point. This film explores "Boundaries and Spaces"....and I have always been intrigued by them.
I have never ever found the right balance as a dad, as a friend, as a husband, as a brother, as a son....I have always immensely struggled. And this film just reminded me of my failings.
Go watch it, hopefully it will make you think too. It made me introspect on something - that I have introspected already for years upon - and yet - the more I know - the less I am.
Being an atheist, is quite a left wing stand in itself. In the sense, being an atheist is quite dogmatic - and I being "one" realised it quite late. Coming from a Tam Bram (conversative Brahman household from south India) - I shocked and caused enough grief to my lovely mom. Till today she can never understand why I turned atheist early, why I refuse to pray, and why I believe in almost nothing.
If there was ever an apostasy committed to hurt, I realise now, this one was it.
So I don't pray....BUT....
The closest I have come to prayer is listening to Tai (Kishori Amonkar) singing on the album "Prabhat" a collection of morning ragas - essentiality Todi and Lalit (Pancham).
I have heard this album (about 1 hr 10 minutes) more than 50 times in this year itself. Its my favourite album to come back to the "steady", to remind myself that what matters in this world is the minutiae, and there is only one person who controls the minutiae and that's you.
Its a meditative exploration of the sounds of the morning. Contains one my favourite renditions of Todi - now so close to me - that I more and more believe, that if I had the choice and luxury to listen to something during the process of dying - I would rather listen to this album than the Tibetan Book Of the Dying.
The album is haunting (and trust me on this), even for someone who does not understand or like Indian classical music. Listen to it about 10 times (put in that effort) and I promise you, you will find your brain playing it back in your head - at the most unexpected of places and times. And not in the least, as if it were an ear worm, but rather, more so, as if it were something you were trying to comprehend - something you were trying to decipher - something that you know is much "larger" than you, but you can't seem to figure out why.
Give it a shot one day. If you are, like me, the eternal atheist, be prepared to be just cleanly stumped, and to realise - that the "divine" definitely does exist.
Dagon by Fred Chappell is supposed to be one the more scary books to come out in the recent 50 years, but honestly I found it dystopian (more) than finding it scary.
Overall 6 by 10 on my rating scheme.
Definitely worth a read. Not sure I am going to read it again.
Read this strange book Samanta Schweblin...called Fever Dream...which was nominated for Man Book International in 2017.
It’s one of the strangest books I have read. And yet, it haunts you. It reminded me of another book I read long time ago Arthur Schnitzler’s Dream Story (on which Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut was based). Both these books are strange to read, but graphic - and will leave you with images for the rest of the life.
Milan Kundera will continue to remain one of my all time favourite authors. He is an idol.
My second read of a fascinating book. Identity focuses on the existential crises of a modern suburban journey (and ironically written in 1996....an era and time when life was much simpler than today....was so much real).
A 10 on 10 or even more. Go for it.
At 176 pages brings my 2019 reading total to 3273 pages.
Read this small tiny book and just loved it. Not for its anti-establishment stance (which I am partly inclined towards), but just the language - and the ambition. It contains conversations with Snowden and Assange.
These books are very anti establishment, but they make you see the world in a different way. I would definitely recommend a read.
On a scale of 10, rate it 10. At 106 pages - gets my total to 2841.
In the movie, Mard ko Dard nahin hota....just posted about it.....The villain Gulshan Deviah has some fab dialougues.....
one of the most classy ones.....is him mouthing something to this effect in hindi
"When you fart, the whole world conspires against you and becomes silent....so no matter how hard you try, others know you have farted....." and then he philosophically adds "don't know how it works this way, but it does...."
I watched the Spanish film Smoke and Mirrors...and was mighty impressed.
I really liked the taut plot, the actual sense of a smoke and mirrors games at play.
On a scale of 10, more like a 8. But definite watch.
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