What a fairy tale trip it was to new York. From the day I have landed in US I have longed to visit NY. Somehow it never happened. The closest I came was when I was in JFK Airport for few hours on my transit from London to LA. But the wait was finally over last week. How it happened is an amazing story in itself. So last week I had an enormous Cummunication Breakdown. My Macbook Graphics card died(hence no monitor), within minutes my jailbroken iphone froze. And my Desktop PC has been a infested by Trojan Viruses for weeks now. We I went to Apple store to get it fixed. I took Sarah along as we wanted to watch A Serious Man after we were done at Apple. While I was at the Genius Bar, Sarah found 150$ return tickets on Orbitz. It was on dates that I could not go. But such a deal is hard to pass. So Sarah bought her tickets to NYC in the apple store. On my way home I kept changing my mind about going to NYC to be with her. We had always wanted to go to NY together & it was the closest we have come. I finally decided to not go. It was quite depressing. I went to work & she went to a Pumpkin carving party at her friends house. At the party she met Janie, who was move by our story. She immediately used her rapid rewards with Southwest to buy me a ticket to NY for the dates I could make it. In her kind words "You guys are yound & in love, He has never been to NY, Its a very romantic time of the year to be there" God bless her. If Los Angeles was really a city of angels, she definitely is one of them.
And I loved New York. I wish I had moved to NY instead of LA. I miss Subways. It was so good to not need a car. Loved East Village.
Finally I bought a car. The 1st car I paid for since I moved to USA. Its a 2001 Hyundai Accent. I bought it from a really nice gal ZOE. Its manual, so I won't be driving it too much because of my sprained Thumb.
This week I discovered a really good blog - Audio Drums for my kinda music. Since I discoevered them just 2 days back. My songs of this week will be from that blog.
2) Luv Deluxe - Cinnamon Chasers A great video hooked me to this solo project of Russ Davies, nephew and son of Ray Davies and Dave Davies respectively, two founding members of The Kinks. I love almost all their songs so far.
3) Hugh Masekela with Paul Simon Thanks to Jaideep my other big discovery of this week. The last 5 mins of this video gives me goosebumbs...
What a world we live-in when winning the Nobel Peace Prize will harm the recipient. When we are discussing if winning the biggest prize of the world is good or bad for the President.
I think the Nobel Peace Prize is undeserving for Obama. I wish he had refused to accept it. But I'm very happy they gave it to him. It will give him so much advantage in his fight against the establishment. Esp in his peace efforts in Middle East & his desire to get out of AfPak war without a disaster. For once I agree with Rush Limbaugh. He thinks that the Norwegians gave this to him to put pressure on him to work towards peace. Duh! I don't see anything wrong in that. But its interesting to watch 90% of the people bitching about it. Maureen Dowd wrote a really hilarious op-ed about it.
This week just flew by. I don't even know if I managed to do anything at all. Not a good thing to think of in the midst of a major depression. Anyways Music to our rescue. I could not find links to 2 of the songs this week.
1) My 1st Song - Jay-Z So far I think this is my favorite Jay-Z song. I finally checked out the Black Album last night & now i know why it is considered his masterpiece.
2) The Numbers Song - Acid Girls Fantastic Electro/Techno song with blazing hot chics walking around half-naked. Sounds like just another music video, but this one is unlike any of them. It fits the music perfectly & creeps the hell out of you by the time its over. Its also a song that will be not liked by everyone. Esp because its techno. And thats why thing is a good song that separates the loser snobs of music.
3) My 1st Big Break - Cut Chemist
Worlds 1st 360degree Panaromic video.
4) Sing Sang Sung - AIR They are back with a new album. From how this song sounds seems to me like its a return to Moon Safari.
I discovered some really cool tools last night at 4am trying to go to sleep. Thanks to Farhad Manjoo @ SLATE. I never miss his articles.
I discovered the Prototypes on Facebook. I liked the Desktop Notification add-on for Mac OS. Now I need to sync it with Safari instead of Firefox.
I also opened a much needed account on MINT. Its a really fantastic tool to keep track of all your finances. Now instead of going to 3 different bank websites, i can keep track of everything on Mint. It also helps you organize your finances better. They just got bought over by Intuit last week for $170 Million.
Then I browsed FireFox Add ons for a minute just to see whats going on there. I ended up installing Cooliris.
Oh I completely forgot. Check out TWONES. Its a software that integrates all your online music accounts like Hypem, youtube. Its exactly what i needed. Now all I need is a invite. I even joined their Facebook Group( something I never do).
After being a super satisfied customer in LA of T Mobile for 4 years, the have finally screwed me last month. One sunday night I was suddenly disconnected without any warning. When I called then I was informed that my bill had crossed the limit of 150$. Which surprised the hell out of me since my automatic payment to them had just gone through a week back. Apparently I exceeded my 1000 text messages and had touched 1500 texts last month. And the charge you 20 cents per text once you go over your limit. Pretty steep i would say. Now there are two problems with this scenario. I was never warned that I had crossed 1000 texts. When I complained about that the operator lamely told me that I can always access that online or on my phone. Agreed. But who checks that everyday. Even if I do the T-Mobile(or any other company) must warn me about it. What sucks is that I have been contemplating buying a i-Phone for past one year. I just never did because of the bad reputation of ATT. Everyone portrayed them as some kind of monster. And I was quite happy with T-Mobile. Maybe I would get a Google Phone once they stop being that ugly. They are half-way there. They just need hipper & younger people than Whoopi to be on their commercials. So maybe in next couple of month I will finally move to iPhone. So long T Mobile.
After 2 weeks of absence due to a dear friends wedding & doing sound on a short made by Sarah I will present 10 songs this week. Also I will end the list for next few weeks with Miles Davis songs.
It had 4 songs from AIR, 2 french songs from Iggy Pop's new album, 2 songs from the collaboration album of DangerMouse, SparkleHorse & David Lynch plus a few other songs. Everyone loved that CD so much. It played non stop for the whole time we were there. The 2nd evening when I tried to change the music by playing my songs from Hypem.com people immediately asked me to turn it off. So all my songs this week would be from that playlist.
It was the music for our Voyage in outer space. Every song seemed perfect as they kept playing one after another. I had to burn 5 CDs for everyone as a souvenir for the trip.
We reached Big Bear around 6. Cooked Pasta in 45minutes. Dropped A sid & ate our dinner. During the dinner it hit Kunal 1st. He could not stop laughing. Neither could he stand straight. After a while Pablo & Mauricio jumped in the Jacuzzi. It hit Mauricio there. He was uneasy & dizzy. He got out of the tub. Pablo was tripping hard & happy & giving the best vibes. I was peaking too & joined him in the tub. It was bliss for the next 2 hours. Me & Pablo had the best times. We discovered a Freeway for aeroplanes. Meanwhile We kept feedng Satish more & more & after a point we just gave up on him. Which sucked. Because no matter how high & happy we were, esp me & Kunal, the thought would always bother us that Satish is not feeling it & it was supposed to be all for him. He kept eating more shrooms & smoking more we ed. I went to sleep around 3.
I woke up at 9 & cleaned all the dishes & made coffee for everyone. We all sat down & talked about how silly we were the night before. Satish took some more shrooms. I send him out for a walk alone as i figured thats the only way he will get high when he is not around us & theres no pressure to feel high. And it finally worked. He came back in 30 minutes dehydrated & high. And paranoid about his mom calling him. He seemed to have fallen somewhere as his shirt had dirt on it. But he could not remember anything. He started worrying about calling his mom & talking to her. He finally called her & got it done with. We had our brunch & headed out to the lake. I wanted to drive around the lake once but the people in the back were not very receptive to this. Later on I realized why they were dying to get out of the car - 4 guys in the backseat. We reached the lake & spent the next 3 hours lying around in the grass & just staring at the sun & the trees & the fishes. We named that spot BIOSPHERE.
We bought some tequila & went back to our house. Mir was tired of his high & wanted it to end. I was tired of the same cd & changed the music. The 1st 2 songs were very heavy & Mir wanted me to change. Seeing him, Pablo started having a really bad trip. He thought he might need proffesional help. He thought he would never come out of the trip. Meanwhile Kunal make dinner & I cleaned the dishes. We had the best fruit salad & lots of delicious tequila drinks made by Mauricio. I passed out soon after.
This week I discovered this new band THE DEAD WEATHER. The vocalist is the super hot Alisson Mosshart of The Kills & Jack White is on the Drums. Its more like a side project for 4 talented & successful musicians. I doubt this will last.
4) Spanish Death Song - The Builders & The Butchers This Portland Band was my other discovery this week. So instead of a link to this song I have linked their myspace page where they have quite a few songs. all very good.
Last one week was hell. Almost 11 days back I woke up with lot of scratching my legs & arms. For few days I thought it was a allergic reaction. After Benedryl didn't cure it away I suddenly figured its some kind of bug infestation. Since it always happened when i was in bed I assumed it was bed bugs. And then the nightmare began. I spoke to people who have dealt with bed bugs & heard their horror stories. I called our Slumlord Rick Chua to get it fixed. The Asshole refused. I filed an online complaint with Health Dept. But i started thinking maybe its not bed bugs. It could be something else. Like Fleas. They are always fucking with Pizza. So I trapped one of the tiny motherfuckers in a box & showed it to Jenna who had just had her house cleared of fleas 2 weeks back. She confirmed that it really was fleas. What a relief. Got Flea Bombs from Home Depot & Bombed on Sunday. Then I mixed Baking Soda with Iodized salt & sprayed in all over my floor. Its Tuesday morning & I am still working on putting back the house in order. I have already washed the clothes 3 times in last one week. Last night was the 1st time I slept more than 4 hrs in 10 days.
Had a fantastic Week. Oregon is really beautiful. Spent the July 4 Weekend @ Black Butte Ranch. It has supposedly one of the best Golf Courses in the West Coast. I practiced in the driving Range on Saturday & finally played Golf for the first time in my life with my In-laws. I have to say Golf is exactly what i always thought it would be like- Boring. In a way I'm relieved. I was worried that I might just love Golf & what a waste of many long hours it would be. Also I played very well for a first timer. I was on a bicycle(Bike in US) after 15 years & absolutely loved it. Need to get one asap. Here are some pictures from the weekend
Its been 3 weeks since i last posted my weekly 5 songs. Its been quite an exciting 3 weeks. For 2 weeks I was glued to what was happening in Iran. There was hardly any time for music. Looks like Ahmedinejad will rule for another 4 years. But it will not be easy for him. The people of Iran have made a serious dent on the Islamic Republic Regime & the "Holiness" of their Supreme Leader. Iran had still not died and Michael Jackson died leaving his traumatic last 10 years on earth. So I would post 5 songs of MJ that moved me & blew my mind away.
The list is endless. So I'm gonna stop. Most of my fav songs are from his BAD album. Mainly because my friend had a copy of that album & I made a copy of it. I wasnt even aware of MJ's existence when Thriller came out.
RIP Michael. We will miss you. You will live forever.
The biggest Popstar, the King of Pop died at 50. I'm happy for him. His life had become a living hell. Most people felt sorry for him. I hope he finds peace in the next world. He gave us so much great music. His music is the most universal in its appeal. From Tokyo to Lagos to Bombay to London to Brazil to LA. There will never be a star more universally loved & admired than him. When I was growing in Amdavad in India, Indian economy had not opened yet. there was no Cable, no MTV yet. My friend Asheet's father was living in Zambia. So Asheet would go to Africa every summer & bring back lots of VHS tapes of music videos. There was one tape he made specifically of all MJ videos. We watched it over & over again. The video of Smooth Criminal is the one that blew us away. So thank you Michael for giving us so much joy & happines in our lives. And making people from every corner of this world dance to your tune. The magic of your music knew no boundaries.
I just found a paper while clearing out junk from my workspace. Its almost an year old. I had made a list of books to read while at work. Before I lose it again, I decided to put it online so that i can come to it anytime anywhere.
1) Richard Price - Freedomland, Clockers, Ladies Man 2) Reynolds Price - Kate Vaiden 3) Philip Roth - Portnoy's Comlaint, The Counterlife, Everyman 4) Elmore Leonard - Glitz, LaBrava, Hombre, Get Shorty 5) Hanif Kureishi - The Black Album, Love in a Blue Time, Intimacy 6) Erica Jong - Fear of Flying 7) John Irving - Water, Method Man 8) Harunki Murakami - A Wild Sheep's Chase 9) Umberto Eco - The Name of the Rose 10) David Grossman(Israel) - The Yelow Wind, The Book of Intimate Grammer 11) Guenter Grass(Germany) - Tin Drum, Cat & Mouse, Dog Years Naquib Mahfouz(Egypt) - Palace Walk
CONGRESS WINS. Jai Ho! Its time for BJP to leave Hindutva. I worry about West Bengal being in the hands of Mamata Didi. But it will be a good & much needed change from Communists for a while.
A really hectic weekend. Had to drive to San Jose on Thursday for the Funeral of my sister-in-law Pone's Grand Father. They are from Laos & I really dig their funeral style. Relatives fly from all over America to spend 4 days drinking & gambling while prayers & other stuff is going on. I made a note for myself about my own funeral. I want to make a playlist for that party. Maybe the songs from this blog:) Monday was our One Year Anniversay. Time Flies. Anyways I surprised Sarah by driving her for 2 hours at 3 in the morning to watch the sunrise from a Hot Air Balloon at California Dreaming. I have to admit Hot Air Ballon is not as cool as I imagined. Its a bit too slow. But we had a lot of fun. Then drove to Oceanside to have lunch with my friend Vikram. During all this was happening PFC Club was on fire. I was trying to form a Author Approval Committe for PassionforCinema. Meanwhile Dabba had a meltdown on Friday & left PFC all guns Blazing. It got so crazy that Oz had to shut down the club indefinitely. Will miss Dabba. He left in style. Dabba style.
I went to a audition this week. This time I was the one giving an audtition. Sarah was going for the Wendy's Commerical auditions this Tuesday & wanted me to come with her. Being the camera shy dog that i am, I didn't wanna go with her. We ended up at the building next to the Hollywood Library on Ivar. They were sending people in groups of 5. the side had 5 characters. 4 are customers asking questions, one bored worker. I told Sara I will be playing the worker- the 7-11 stereotype. And we joked about it. Once inside thats exactly what happened. The woman asked me to be the last one to say the line & tells me you will play the worker. Me & Sarah started cracking up. She got worried that we are offended & are laughing at her. Audition went fine. Very funny & interesting experience.
Week of IFFLA. This was the first IFFLA I skipped. Well almost. I went to see Indian Ocean documentary, mainly to support Jaideep. I used to really respect Indian Ocean for being who they are. I never thought their music was very mindblowing to me or very original. I felt the same thing after watching the film. But Indian Ocean Live is a different beast altogether. I love their song Bandeh. Also I saw Deepeche Mode live in the streets of Hollywood this friday. They launched their new album with a free concert in the streets. It was beautiful.
This week I played Stevie Wonder a a lot. And my Verve Remixed CDs are still playing on loop. But the song i really discovered is the Method Man Mary J Blige one.
2) Here Comes the Sun - The Beatles This song played a lot last week, mainly because I read Jaideep Verma's excellent book about Bombay - LOCAL. Read the book to find out. Its availabl on Amazon.
3) Something About Us - Daft Punk - I'm hooked to this track. Thanks to Michel Gondry. He was on kcrw promoting his new DVD & dedicated this song to some lady in his life.
4) La Ritournelle - Sebastien Tellier So Sebastian is not a one hit wonder. I'm enjoying discovering one song every week. Another French. This video seems like it was shot in my neighborhood.
5) Left Field Boogie - Free Disco. Could not find it online. Heard it on Jason Eldrege's 28th March show. The only link I found was this http://www.soundsoftheuniverse.com/releases/?id=15317 You can buy the single there. Its out on Rong Music label.
A classic case of Real Life following Reel life. Vice President Joe Biden's Daughter Ashley has been captured doing cocaine in a video tape. Apparently some asshole planned the whole operation to make a quick buck. He is even a friend of Ashley. Its a very interesting story to me. Joe Biden has been a very vocal crusader in the fight against drugs. Like Michal Douglas's character in the film TRAFFIC, his daughter has done drugs. Though Ashley seems to be a very unfortunate victim of some sick bastard. What is really sad is how will kids of famous people know whom to trust from now on?
How can someone hide a camera & tape his own friend doing cocaine & go about hiring DC lawyers to help him sell the tape. What he did was a crime to me. He should be the one going to jail.
This week I was literally haunted by Etta James's beautiful beautiful song - AT LAST. Everywhere I was if my mind stopped thinking, I would start hearing this song in my head. As if its being played at 2 houses down the street from mine. And I really enjoyed this feeling. It all is happening thanks to the President's Neighborhood Inaugural Ball where Beyonce sang At Last. It was a beautiful moment in History. One of the most beautiful moment of our lifetime.
I'm finding it hard to believe that we have to pay the guys who are responsible for this economic mess needs to be paid billions of dollars with our tax money to fix it. So they make twice the money. First they make all this money & tank the economy. Economy down. Govt comes running with its money bags to these white collar criminals to fix the very problem they created. REALLY? Are there no honest people who are smart also? Crooks are the only smart people left in Wall Street & Economics?
Now with GM's CEO Wagner being forced to resign, this week will have some interesting politics.
Jon Stewart's America is a really funny history lesson of America. I'm halfway into the other 2 books.
I was listening to some of my older cds i made last year. These 5 songs stand out from last week.
1) La Femme d'Argent - Air I just love to hear this song once every week. I feel like this song just creeps up on me & starts making love to me.
2) Streets - Nitin Sawhney My fav Nitin Sawhney song. Not very known even among his fans I think. I would love to use it one day in a film. Couldnt find a link on youtube. Its from the album Displacing The Priest
4) I Dream - Blindboy. I could not find any link anywhere for this song. Jason Eldridge opened his set on March 21 Sat Night with this song. It used a signature Pink Floyd tune very beautifully.
This week I discovered this really cool Mexican band Plastinina Mosh on NPR's Latino USA. The guys sounded smart & creative. And through them I discovered another Mexican Band MOLOTOV. My love for Latino music keeps growing.
1) Phoenix - Love Like a Sunset - Jason Eldridge opened his Saturday night set @ KCRW with this song. And I was immediately Hooked. The Album is "Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix". The song 1901 seems to be the one thats getting the most attention. But this song is my favorite.
I just finished listening to the Audio Book of The Black Hand: The Bloody Rise and Redemption of "Boxer" Enriquez, a Mexican Mob Killer this afternoon. After I finished listening to the last CD, I turned on the car radio & 5 minutes later Pat Morrison started talking about Mexican Mafia on NPR. I thought - "Ah, what a strange co-incidence it was." I realised within seconds that it was not just about the dreamed Mexican Mafia LeMe, It was actually a interview with the man himself - Rene Enriquez. I immidiately started calling NPR. I finally got through & give my questions to the screener. I was asked to be on hold. But my turn never came. There were so many questions I wanted to ask him. 1) How is your son Bobby doing? 2) Whats your opinion on the dramatic increase in violence in the drug cartels of Mexico. 3) Do you think Cocaine & Heroin should be legalized.
After reading the book, I'm not sure about my opposition to Death Sentence anymore. Maybe some people are just pure evil & do not deserve any space in our society.
I also wanted to congratulate Rene on his bold decision & wish him good luck to "live" every day with a good heart.
Here is the debrief he gave the prison officials after he defected from LeMe
In a time when Pakistan is becoming the heart of the problems of the world & not just India's, today was a good day for them in a long long time. Finally the Judiciary has emerged victorious. The reinstatement of deposed Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry comes as a light of hope in the midst of one bad news after another. I heard a brief story about Chaudhary on NPR today & it was inspiring. Hailing from a small village, he is the 1st Judge to stand up against the Pakistan Military. I'm reading the biography of a Mexican Mafia Hitman Rene 'Boxer' Enriquez right now. And one Aztec Mafia Member quotes an ancient Chinese proverb to Boxer in the jail - If you stand long enought by the river, you will see the bodies of your enemies float by. I think Chaudhary is experiencing just that. He is my new hero.
Last night was probably one of the best nights of American Television. Jon Stewart creamed Cramer of MAD MONEY like nothing ever seen on TV. Jon has been lashing out on CNBC for past one week & this interview was hyped as the ultimate fight. But what we saw was unprecedented. One almost felt sorry for Cramer. But my salute to Jon. Its a pity that a comedy show is the only TV program that is doing its job.
Before you start reading this post I must declare that this post is not a critique of DevD. Its my thoughts about its success.
I watched Dev D quite late compared to most people here at PFC. So by the time I walked inside the theater, the film was already declared a hit, after a very hard battle over the weekend. It was also a very interesting weekend, as news from Box Offices around the country kept coming the status kept flip-flopping between Flop & Hit. I felt it was the detractors who also had a vested interest in DevD's failure. Finally Dev D emerged victorious after a week. I was 20 minutes late(Thanks to Kingfisher @ Ambala Dhaba). Completely missed the childhood part. It took us a good 10-15 minutes to get used to what we were watching. But throughout the film, I kept thinking "How the hell is this movie a Hit in India?" I was still heartbroken from the failure of LUCK BY CHANCE. I kept thinking how does one connect to the Indian Audience? Its almost like how after elections all the Exit Poll guys sit around NDTV & wonder "what the fuck just happened in Karnataka". If a simple linear film like Luck By Chance which is flawless in its execution could not connect with the junta, how can this trippy-noir-new-wavy film with a french soul connect with India? Initially I was jumping with joy. That this film signals the maturity of Indian audience & blah blah blah... But as I kept thinking more about these two films, my optimism in the audience disappeared. There were a few things in Dev D that made the film a hit - 1) Music - Amit Trivedi is the biggest star of the film. Esp Emotional Atyachar connected with the youth in a big way. 2) Sex - There was a refreshing amount of sex in the film. Characters talked about sex all the time. This probably helped with people who are not exposed to world cinema. The infamous MMS Scandal also must have fueled a lot of curiosity. 3) Style - The look of the film was Fantastic. And it was a combo of Editing , Photography & Production Design. (I love how we don't see the G of GRAND Hotel).
I feel if any of these elements were missing from the film the chances of the film working at the box office would have been very low. Just the music & Anurag's energetic direction without all that sex talk. All that great music & Sex but not that cool looking film. All that style & great music but without the sex talk.
And compared to Dev D Luck By Chance might seem grand but it had so much subtlety which is hard to notice because of its mega canvass. So as much as I would like to rejoice at the success of Dev D as, for now I would look at things in a pragmatic way.
This week I'm blogging from Las Vegas. I will finally watched a cirque du soleil show last night. It was the LOVE Show at The MIRAGE. So my list this week is full of Beatles. :)
2) Beggin - MADCON This is a Hip Hop version of the same song. They are ripping off the melody of Beggin in all their songs.
3) House Of Cards - Radiohead Its really weird to have heard this song so much in 2008 but I saw the video finally this week. Life without TV. What a beautiful song.
After weeks of listening to this song on Radio & not knowing what song is it, this morning I woke up with a headache to finally put an end to this. So the song is a Re-edit by Pilooski of an old Frankie Valli song called Begging You. There is a hip hop version of the same song by MADCON which is getting played on radio a lot.
I just found this Addidas Film shot on this song. Its a great video.
So AR Rahman is a Oscar winner. So is Resul Kutty. Its amazing. Last night was like Bollywood took over Hollywood. I'm pissed that Penelope Cruz won the best supporting actress. JAI HO!
1) Kid Cudi - Day 'N' Nite - I love thios song. And again Kanye is the producer here. I love the video. And guess what it fetaures my neighborhood Dive Bar SMOG CUTTER in the video. Its shot all around my old appartment. He walks in front of the video game arcade.
3) Bonobo - Sugar Rhyme One of my fav DJs in the world. His music always relaxes me.
4) Buena Vista Social Club - Chan Chan My fav song from this astonishing film. I get goose bumps when this song is on, even now after 4 years.
5) Wang Chung - Dance Hall Days This is a song I will always love. It was the theme song of VICE CITY. And everytime i hear it on Radio, it transports me to my apartment in Bombay with Diggy & Hitsie.
This week I was still listening to songs from past weeks listed here. Esp BLOW THE WHISTLE & LITTLE THINGS. But this was a week of Aeroplane. This Begian DJ duo have taken the Dance World by storm. Their remix of the Friendly Fires song PARIS is I think the best remix of 2008. And one of those rare occasions when a remix makes the Band that did the original a success. Nothing that Friendly Fires have done so far has become as popular as this Aeroplane mix.
MIA She is probably the most famous South Asian in the world right now. And she rocked Grammy with the most pregnant Live performance ever. My fav is still Amy Poehler's rap about Sarah Palin on SNL.
I also watched MIA on Tavis Smiley show a week back & I was floored by her. She is what they say "Keeping it Real".
This has been a week of Hip hop for me. I was listening to Power 106 a lot in my rental car over the weekend. This weekend also happened to be Grammy Night. And M.I.A just blew everyone away with her pregnant performance.
Forty activists from the right-wing Sri Ram Sena barged into a bar in the city of Mangalore and attacked the women 2 days before we celebrated our Republic Day. And they were released yesterday. While we are criticizing Taliban for its medival rules & slamming Danny Boyle for potraying poverty, who is going to deal with the Hindu Moral Monster? This stuff makes me so angry. What kind of morals are they advocating by beating up women in the streets?
Its really amazing how Ego can make someone lose it. Barkha Dutt is a pioneer in many ways & a role model for many girls in India. She had started out so well. But for past 2 years whatever little glimpses I've seen of her, if doesnt doesn't make me laugh it certainly annoys the hell out of me. She has this air of superiority about her that is really Irritating. Her coverage of the Mumbai Terror Attacks were the peak of this. She kept instructing her cameraman/woman to focus there, to shoot that. It was quite a bizzaire kind of TV reporting. At one point it seemed to me that she even staged a crowd of people in the streets to do a thank you gesture for the leaving Armymen in the busses. (I could be wrong, but thats how it felt) Seems like lot of people are finally getting fed up of her. Blogger Chyetanya Kunte is one of them. Now Barkha with the help of her NDTV lawyers has gone ahead & made him apologize on republic day. The language of his apology is very professional. Must have been written by NDTV's lawyers. You can read the criticism by Kunte that led to this action in the Google cache of his blog (scroll to the bottom). If journalists themselves start crushing bloggers, then who will defend our freedom of speech?
This week I was bombarded with Kanye's new song on the radio. They literally played that song every 15 minutes on 3 different stations. I loved that song. I wonder if I can deal with it if they keep doing this.
I'm a few days late. Been very busy working on SWAT with my PFC peeps. Meanwhile my car brakes failed completely. It was like in movies. I was lucky not to have crashed into 3-4 cars. Finally got everything fixed. Only to have a flat tire just 2 hours back. Talk about Flat luck. Anyways lets get to music.
This was the week when I discovered the Band 2 Bit Pie. Right now I'm totally in love with their songs.
As you can tell. The world is going crazy about Slumdog Millionaire. Though I'm not that crazy about the second half of the film. Its amazing to see a film about India making everyone so crazy. The soundtrack is playing everywhere in LA. AR Rahman is weeks away from being the 1st Indian to Win the OSCARS. The cast has already won SAG Ensamble Award.
53 milion domestic and 73 million worldwide as of last sunday. Yesterday's gross was approx 750k. It's also #34 on imdb top 250 films and #1 on moviemeter.
This week I was mostly listening to the soundtracks of 3 films - Dev D, OYE LUCKY & Slumdog Millionaire. It was also a historic week for us. AR Rahman won the Golden Globes & Slumdog swept everything it was nominated for. It was a total Brit-Invasion at the Golden Globes.
This must be a really great mix because I can still enjoy this song with this mix. This song is probably the sound of 2009 alongwith Electric Feel & Love Lockdown.
4) Funky Roads - Raul Ramirez
This is from the album ECOMUSICA. I found this song on Pandora.
This was a song I would hear on radio from time to time but never found out the artist. Finally last week I found it in the Hypem Zeitgeist Blog Countdown. Very very sexy song.
Hi I'm finally starting something I have been intending to do for last 6 months. Write a post about the 5 songs that I loved in that particular week/month.
2008 was a very low key year as far as music & movies goes in my life. Esp after last 2 years of marathon movie watching & discovering music. But I would still go ahead & write a diary similar to last years Discoveries of 2007.
Books - I read a lot of books this year. I tried to read of lot from the Random's 100 list.
1) Animal Farm - George Orwell This was probably the most satisfying book I read last year. What happens to Boxer brought tears to my eyes. Thats very rare in my life. I can't believe I had not read this book till now.
2) The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald A year when Hollywood got curious about Fitzgerald, I finally read his classic. Loved it.
4) GUNS GERMS & STEEL - Jared Diamond http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guns%2C_Germs%2C_and_Steel Pulitzer winning work. The story of civilization from a Biologists perspective. Highly reccomended. Why Eurasians conquered the world? And How?(The answer is diseases). Why Man could not domesticate Leopards(My fav part of the book). Etc etc
Sneha Khanwalkar - Oye Lucky Lucky Oye (Soundtrack) I think Oye Lucky Soundtrack was the best album made in 2008 anywhere in the world.
MGMT - Oracular Spectacular definitely was the album of the year for me. It was the sound of 2008. It pushed Electronic music into the living rooms of American kids. The JUSTICE REMIX of Electric feel is the most played song on radio in LA. And it just keeps growing on me.
Moby - Last Night A long awaited album. Although the magic of Moby is gone, this album had quite a good songs. Ooh Yeah & I Love to Move in here are my fav so far. Gnarles Barkley - The Odd Couple A Great second is so rare these days. Also the only big live show I went too. Gnarles Barkley to me is the best thing in Pop Music right now.
Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III My Hip-hop artist of 2008. His SNL version of Lollilop just blew me away.
But most importantly I loved a britney Spears song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4NayXtzsBo Piece of Me is the song. If you had told me that I wouldn't be able to stop listening to a Britney song I would have laughed at you. Also I also think this is the best & most personal lyrics a Britney songs can get.
FILMS -
I watched very few films this year. One film that stands out for recommendation would be Everything Is Illuminated. It was the best film I saw in 2008.
Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye was my fav film of 2008. Mainly because of how Dibankar showed us Lucky's life. My friend after watching the film said, there was something lacking in the film. My 1st thought was that it didn't have the standard "Arc" type 3 act story. And thats why it felt odd sometimes. As if questioning how this scene is moving the film. Because we are so conditioned of the standard stuff. It took some time to realize what Dibankar had created. And the music was amazing. After watching the documentary of how Sneha did the music, there was no question in my mind that this was the album of the year also.
I also liked DASVIDANYA a lot. The movie had the most heart of all the movies of 2008. This year again belonged to Vinay. ROCK ON was something that exceeded my expectation. Is Farhan Akhtar the most talented man in Bollywood right now? He might not be the best singer, best actor, best director, but he is good at everything he does.
HELLBOY II was my fav film of the year so far. This was the year when I watched a lot of SuperHero film. Even THE FANTASTIC FOUR. This was the year of Superhero films.
The best scene of the year so far also goes to Hellboy. Those were the best moments inside the theater this year. Even more so than Jokers presence in Dark Knight.
2008 movies that I missed and will watch this month would be - The Class ,Man on Wire, Waltz with Basir, Gomorrah, Che, Wendy & Lucy, Happy Go Lucky, The Wrestler & WALL-E.
TELEVISION
I watched the 2nd best show on Cable TV ever - THE WIRE Now that the show is over, I urge you guys to watch this series. Also you cannot call yourself a cinema lover & not know who OMAR is.
I also discovered what was the big deal about SIX FEET UNDER. Probably the best Pilot of a TV show I have seen. Alan Ball is one of my favorite writer/director right now.
2008 was also the year of SNL. Esp Tina Hey & Amy Poehler. My fav SNL video of last year Dick in a Box -
One of the major discoveries for me was Stop Motion Graffiti films. Check out this artist Blu from Buenos Aires
Like last year there are so much i probably don't remember right now. I will add them as we go along.
