Catching Up - (1)

Let's catch up shall we? Not like I took a vow of blog-silence (or radio silence)... but life has been breath-taking these past few weeks. Seriously. It took my breath away, and left me absolutely hollow.

I was an automaton, doing what needed to be done (most of it), having "fun" in a very very hollow way; consuming books and movies and a quick trip or two. I moved from a allowance model to a true-blue salary... rented an apartment, furnished it, moved to it, did the gazillion unimaginable things you need to do (from buying potato peelers to paying utility bills). I worked at WAY below optimal, because most of the time I was just plain exhausted and under-slept.

And through it all, I was hollow. Disenchanted. I could not get myself to blog, because I had nothing to say. Each day I was curling up into a fetal position and sleeping for a rationed 5 hours, lamenting the passage of another day when I did not find time to work on the T'yemun arc... You'd think I was in an MBA program! :)

So here we are...

Adrift again. No plans, long term or short. The leaves are a turning yellow and red, fall is here, and a winter of thought approaches. My camera is rusting from being unused, as is my brain, my blog, and my life.

Enough.

Now let's catch up/ spruce up shall we? Here's some highlights of the past month of pseudo silence. This first post contains a bunch of movie/ tv reviews...

Movie Reviews

1. A Scanner Darkly

I cannot praise this movie enough. It is a confluence of some of the wittiest filmmaking (courtesy director Richard Linklater of Before Sunrise/ Sunset, the most devilishly tricksy plotting (courtesy the late Phillip K Dick), inspired acting (Robert Downey Jr and Woody Harrelson) and plain good cinema magic.

This movie so defies description, that I am going to reserve the detailed review for as and when I buy the DVD. There is no If.

2. About a Boy

Hilarious flick. Watched a good comedy after a long time - can't really call it a romantic comedy, or can I? Hmm... In any case, Hugh Grant brings what he usually brings to the screen - that very properly British yet very lost/ naughty touch that he brought to such movies as Notting Hill and Two Weeks Notice. The difference here is, he is allowed to play a truly obnoxious character... one that will resonate with any lover of gadgets who stays single.

The story is offbeat - about a 12 year old boy with a depressed, divorced mother who forges a very strong connection with a 40 year old commitment shy bachelor by choice, who does... well... nothing.

Must see if you haven't already!

3. The Wicker Man

Starring Nicholas Cage, this movie pissed me off. I hate movies like this. Without giving anything away, I'll just say the end of this movie is as like "chinese torture" for any red-blooded male as can be. And if you don't know what chinese torture refers to... hope you never wake up with a rock on your chest.

And anyway... it was a very sobering experience for a male wannabe fantasy author modelling a civilization after army ants and termites. Sigh.

4. All the President's Men

Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman's 70s flick about the investigation of two Washington Post journalists into Watergate. Nice, but not too gripping, this one.

Rented it via Netflix (yes, I finally signed up)... and I already have 64 movies queued up, 3 a week style. Darn cool.

5. Lage Raho Munnabhai

I have deep respect for what this movie achieves - a perfect balance of humor and message, rare in a hindi movie. It is way better than the first Munnabhai flick.

Well, thats about that... no patience to write at length about it, because it needs no publicity on this here blog I think.

TV Reviews

1. Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip

If you're in the US, DO NOT miss this series. By the same genius pair as was behind The West Wing, this thing just SO totally rocks.

2. Doctor Who

Finally caught a marathon of Doctor Who (the Ninth Doctor played by Christopher Eccleston) on SciFi. Geeked Out. Totally.

Who knew Daleks weren't "Dayleks" but "Daa-leks"? :) Man oh man... what a rush. And that episode about the creepy kid walking around asking everyone "Are you my mummy?" in a proper British accent? COOL.

Some background: back in high school, Doctor Who books by Terrance Dicks and others were my initiation into the high world of B-grade (and totally imaginitive) science fiction. It got me hooked to Asimov and the rest is history. But to date, I had only ever read about the various incarnations of the Doctor and his classic enemies (Daleks, Cybermen, The Master, the Mandragora Helix, Sontarans, Silurians and so on) and his allies (Time Lords, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, UNIT, Romana, and Rose, and so on).

Total geek high this one. And the new season (with a new regeneration of the Doctor - played by the guy that played Barty Crouch Jr in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) premieres tonight!

Waiting on DVD

I ordered/ received two DVDs from Amazon this week. The DVDs are "A History of Violence" - the Viggo Mortensen flick I couldn't catch in theatres, and "V for Vendetta" reviewed comprehensively on this selfsame blog before... so shoot me - it was an indulgence buy!

Haven't got around to watching A History of Violence as yet.

Also in queue from my Netflix cache are a movie I've wanted to watch for QUITE some time now - Blade Runner, starring Harrison Ford. And an uber-geek-out fest called "Broken Saints" that I have very high hopes for.

Conclusion

And that's what comes of a sustained denial of free time to an otherwise free expressive soul! I swear I have NO time, so those of you pissed because I'm out of touch... oh, go sit on something sharp!

Anyway... this blog diaorrhaea felt good after the long constipation ;) Time to move the... er... fall cleaning to other arenas of life. If this felt hurried, its because its the first item on an 18 item To Do list...

Oh, and Catching Up - (2): Videoblog follows, and is a "first" for this blog. Wait for it!

Out!