Monday, 11 April 2011

craigslist

A listing i came across on Craigslist....sometimes it doesn't take too much to tell a story. This is not my creation...merely a discovery.

Cuisinart

Make good gift.
Everyone Loves Waffles. ------------------------------------ Also selling an Awsome 50 inch Plasma TV in great shape. Almost 4 yrs old. Use your tax return get great tv. Hate to sell it. Hubby left for new chick and can't afford lux stuff anymore. Don't even have cable/dish anymore. Don't need it. Need to sell $500 Cash and its yours.
Need to sell got Bills to pay off. Thanks 4 looking.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Waffle Iron is great.

$10.00 Cash

Thursday, 7 April 2011

ain't no sunshine when she's gone...it's not warm when she's away.

Saturday, 16 October 2010

Never ask.

A California supreme court judge rules that the retarded "Don't ask don't tell" policy practised in the U.S. armed forces is unlawful and unconstitutional.

Nobel laureate, and president Barack Obama and his team have finally announced that they are going to oppose the repeal of the "Don't ask don't tell" policy by the legislature. This team had promised to repeal the policy before the election. They are still claiming that they would repeal the law alright, except that they would much rather change the law through the parliament so as to avoid any precedence of a federal law being overturned by a court.

I just don't know which I find more appalling; the attitude of "The world needs to be saved, but only by me." that seems to be at work, or the sheer lethargy that politicians seem to get struck with once they win an election.

I should not really be concerned, after all. That said, the charade that lawmakers seem to play all around the globe through the ages is simply offensive.

Never ask.

Simply take.

Monday, 14 December 2009

Thursday, 10 December 2009

...and the Nobel Peace Prize '09 goes to...

Barack Hussein Obama "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples".

Isn't it ironic that someone who declares war on a country to be necessary, and allocates troops to continue that war should receive any 'peace prize', least of all the Nobel Peace Prize in less than a fortnight of that allocation of troops.

I try to stay away from politics. I'm not informed enough perhaps, nor qualified enough. But I had to put this down here, lest I forget how grave tragedies can often be so very comic.

Friday, 27 November 2009

Thanksgiving and Henry James

It's Thanksgiving Day today in the USA. This is the day people remember the things they are thanksful for. What are the things I am thankful for? Well, that will make a very long list, but let me stick to the past year or so.

1) A new career; rather the beginning of one. To say that I was bored and frustrated with my corporate job would be a gross understatement. Moving from the IT scene to research in biomedical engineering...bliss! The fact that I made this move right before the market crash everywhere didn't hurt either.

2) Friends, old and new, older and younger...all of them, some who I have not even met yet. My teachers, my lab partners, my neighbours, my roommates and my colleagues. And Frodo. They are my support system.

3) Books, books, and lots more of books. Library sales, thrift stores, abebooks.com and different other online book sellers. Henry James, Herodotus and Daphne du Maurrier. Saki. I don't know how I would live without them.

4) My sanity. And that of the people around me, and generally everywhere. I am thankful that we've not yet had a nuclear war, and that we are finally waking up to the global issues of discrimination, exploitation and negligence, however slowly the process may be. I am happy Sarah Palin is not in any powerful post currently. I am happy India and Pakistan have not started another war yet.

5) My family. My parents and my elder brother. I am thankful that I have these three wonderful people in my life. I am happy that they are people whom I would have respected and honoured even if they were not my family, and that they are.

Monday, 9 November 2009

Nilanjana...

I can't stop listening to this song for some reason. Mostly because it defines to me how bengali as a language has evolved from the ornate to the simple and still has maintained its imagery and its beautiful, oh so beautiful, poetry.

Also, this song sings about adolescent first love like no other song that I've heard, does.

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Thursday, 5 November 2009

Funny thing I saw today



This is an ad for Abercrombie & Fitch.

Yes, a prepped up plastic pretty boy with impeccable hair is indeed the epitome of 'fierce'. (I'd have used the noun form, but it's 'fierceness', and sounds rather lame. English does need to be revamped!)

Oh, and Arthur Conan Doyle, seriously? Somebody really got paid for this ad!

Even olde english can carry trash only so far!

Its been one of those days.

My mouse bone cells have been contaminated by fungi.

My fingernail partially split while i was lacing my boots.

I missed my statistics class so i could complete my homework.

My nanoparticles are micron size in diameter.

My mice refuse to have sex, well...at least they refuse to breed.

I had a hamburger for lunch. Yes, i know i should watch what i eat.

My labmate's newly wed wife is waging a facebook war on me.

A mouse we had anaesthetized woke up in the middle of a surgery.

I scored below the class average in the statistics midterm exam.

I got 5 different emails from naukri.com based on a 4 year old resume. (Do they never upgrade?)

Some kid in urging the PM in India to join all the major rivers so as to fight draught.

I am out of milk, eggs, oats, cereals, shrimp and honey.

I am so utterly jobless right now that i am whining on my blog.

Betty will be pissed :D

my mood is gradually improving at the thought of that; and at the thought of this song. There's a context here that i am not going to divulge...at least not yet.

Sunday, 25 October 2009

(?)

“So, the way I figure it is so –”

“Isn’t that an extra ‘so’… grammar-wise?”

“Shut up and listen Cilly… I’m philosophizing.”

“At effing 2.47 in the morning? Of an effing working day?”

“Not for me… only the staff in McDonald’s works weekends. Not us suits.”

“Great… go ahead… be a selfish bitch… show no mercy for the under-working-class friend.”

“Alright then. In which case, like I was saying –”

“Ugh Dee… just ugh!”

“Shh… listen. Everyone loves themselves, right?”

“Not everyone. Some people pretty much hate their lives.”

“But that’s just it… they hate their lives because they are convinced that they deserve better… which is because they love themselves. Even people who keep drawing attention to their faults or illnesses or shit… they just want the rest of us to notice how interesting they are. See?”

“Hmm… maybe. So?”

“So if someone knows me the way I know me… he, or she, depending on gender… or orientation... or... so many things to factor in these days! Makes you miss the good old 'wham-bam' days!”

“Knows you the way you know you?”

“Hmm? Oh yeah. Knows me the way I know me. Then he has to fall in love with me. I mean logically… I know me. I love me. Ryan knows me. Ryan will love me. Right?”

“Who’s Ryan?”

“No one. It’s just a name. Don’t you just love names with a ‘y’ in them?”

“You’re so Russian sometimes Dee.”

“Is that good or bad?”

“It’s Russian.”

“Like salad?”

“Yup… completely tossed.”

“I wish you were a guy Cilly… then I could have fallen for you… I think.”

“Okay… disturbing visual there. Maybe we should put the bottle away now.”

“What have we been having anyway? Doesn’t taste like any wine I’ve ever had.”

“Not wine… wine finished an hour back twit. This is scavenged white rum.”

“Scavenged?”

“Discovered under the sink while rooting around for kitchen towels.”

“Oh. Well. No harm done I suppose. After all, if they use alcohol to preserve stuff then alcohol itself can’t possibly go bad, can it?”

“I suppose not.”

“And it will definitely not rip your heart out, shred your self-esteem to bits, and tell you over an effing sandwich that you are not meant and that it met someone else.”

“Ah… we’re back to Neil now, are we?”

“What? Who’s Neil? Never heard of a Neil in my life. Except for that Armstrong fellow. That bastard! That assholish moronic scum-of-the-universe jelly-limbed stone-hearted bastard!”

“Armstrong?”

“No! My Neil!”

“You mean ex-My Neil. Or is it My ex-Neil? No that is definitely wrong… he is still Neil. Just not yours. Maybe ‘ex-My’, give a pause, and then Neil.”

“Just give me more wine Cill.”

“Rum. We’re having rum. At least we are for another shot each. Then we’re down to vodka.”

“Whatever. Just continue pickling my liver please.”

“C’mon Dee! I gotta go to work tomorrow!”

“Why? You hate it anyway. Quit.”

“You can’t be plastered enough to not be able to spell money dear heart. Plus it’s not like you like your job either. In fact, if memory guides me correctly, which to be fair, at this point in this evening’s entertainment is fairly doubtful, you way beyond hate it.”

“Oh gawd Cill! How did I end up this way? How? I was going to be so glam… I was going to have exotic adventures… I was going to have a high-flying job, a gorgeous absolutely-Rhett love-of-my-life, a black cat, and one of those nifty convertibles. I was going to be Sex-in-the-effing-City. And now look at me! I am… I am…”

“Teletubbies?”

“Worse. A Teletubby rerun. And not even in plural.”

“I know honey… I know.”

“No you don’t.”

“No. I don’t... More vodka?”

“Keep it coming sister… just keep it coming.”

***

Saturday, 10 October 2009

homesick

It was a misty, misty morning in here. And it was Durga Puja back home. Puja was early this year, and so it must have been rather hot and humid; not the usual cool of the onset of winter and the coral lilies strewn on the ground with the soft sweet smell sifting through each breath that I usually associate with Puja. But it was misty here, and I was homesick for the first time in a long long time.

So here I was, listening to Tagore's songs on youtube, feeling melancholy and perhaps even lonely. I have almost always been more comfortable with english than bengali as a mode of communication, partly because i've been away from home since a while; but these songs have a way of touching my soul that I've not experienced with anything else. If it has to do with Tagore being the genius he was, or with the language, or the fact that I literally grew up with these songs I do not know. But I'll just post one such song here.



This is not the best version of the song. Tagore's songs should not be overpowered with instruments. But some misty mornings, the soul of the song transcends its rendition. Some misty mornings distances and time lose out to the flight of a nostalgic dream. Some misty mornings, the mist rolls down your face and ruins homework you've been working on, and yet you don't really care.

Saturday, 19 September 2009

Affirmation

Yes... we are dead.

Saturday, 1 August 2009

Father prays while daughter dies...

A father and mother in USA watched their daughter die of undiagnosed diabetes as they, and other people from their bible study group prayed around the 11 year old girl. They did not seek medical attention for the girl as he thought "I can't do that because Biblically, I cannot find that is the way people are healed." He added: "If I go to the doctor, I am putting the doctor before God. I am not believing what He said He would do." You can read the whole story here.

I do not know how to react to this. The title could have been a poignant one; had they simply taken the girl to a hospital, and prayed.

I haven't been so angry as now in a long long time.

Friday, 12 June 2009

Mission Mehbooba

With all due respect, the Chinese know jack. All that zengaling about contemplation being the zenith of civilization doesn't wash. I've been doing nothing for the past few months, so I know what I am talking about - lethargy annihilates as many grey cells as indirect tax law classes. I haven't had a new thought in aeons... nothing... nada... zero... (see what I mean). Aargh!

Allegedly, the perfect way to snap out of a state of somnolence is to find direction... hence, I hereby announce the launch of Mission Mehbooba... get 3.64 inches off my waist or perish in the attempt.


Ooh... thought! Umm!

Sunday, 31 May 2009

May Hare

Up with the rats... in it to win it... who moved my cheese... 23% off on shoes-that-make-squeaky-noises-and-occassionally-light-up-when-the-mood-strikes-them in Walmart...

This is just so not all the posts in May are Abhi's... yes, it is a good reason... you have no idea how holier-than-thou he can get.

Kind Regards.

Wednesday, 6 May 2009

Generation gaps

In a world that's forever changing, what are the chances you find someone with who you can spend the rest of your life together?

I see my mom and dad and I wonder, almost 30 years of being together through plenty of hardships right from financial instability to moving base to bringing up two brats; and to think that theirs was an arranged marriage wherein they did not even know one another. At least not well enough in my terms to get into a lifetime of committment. They met, I think, just once before their marriage!

And now that I am old enough to appreciate the differences in temper and character, I know that it must have taken more than just the bond of marital status to hold them together as they are held maybe this is just one more form of love that we, the young and the restless, in our haste, refuse to acknowledge or appreciate. I would give up a lot to be the way my mom and dad are right now -- happy, and at peace.

The jump in generations is actually a rather queer thing. Perhaps it is the difference in outlook and perception, perhaps it is the difference in exposure and expectations from life; perhaps it is something different.

Mmmm...shiny!

I watched X-Men Origins - Wolverine on sunday...(take that Betty) and it was better than I had expected it to be after the debacle The Last Stand was.

It's a prequel to the X-Men trilogy, and while there are a few lapses/differences when compared to the original comic, its good. Liev Scheiber as Sabretooth is particularly good. Lynn Collins is almost ethereal. The movie is however essentially, and justifiably dominated by Hugh Jackman. It is sort of amazing, as well as a tad disconcerting how he has refined the character of Wolverine from its comic origins. It is indeed difficult to think of anyone else performing that role.

And now for a very personal opinion; I thought Gambit stole the show everytime he was present in the frame. I guess it has to do with the fact that I like Gambit as a character in the comic than I like wolverine, and that the character in the movie had an amazing aura of grace about it. Again, it is a very very personal opinion, but I will stick to it.

If you have not seen this movie yet, go see it. Here's a preview for you.

A rather despirited show!

THE SPIRIT



I love action comics...I love Wolverine, Storm, Batman, Green Arrow, Catwoman, Cyclops, Hulk, Thor, Saturn, Elektra, Gambit...and I could go on and on and on. I had loved Sin City and 300. So when the promos for 'The Spirit' started showing with Eva Mendes and Paz Vega scorching the screen, I could barely wait to watch it.

I should have stuck to the promos!

The movie is a visual feast. The actors Gabriel Macht, Eva Mendes, Paz Vega, Jamie Fox, Scarlet Johanassen, Sarah Paulson and Samuel L. Jackson are all good actors, some of course better then the rest. And this brilliant cast and fantastic graphics makes the bad direction and screenplay even more appalling!

First things first...the dark edgy Frank Miller graphic novel visual style DOES NOT go with the general camo tone of the film. Secondly, nobody wants to watch a camp superhero movie! And finally...and the worst of all; you CANNOT change the character of a super villain and make him look worse than a comic strip clown in the name of "...oppurtunity to be larger than life...". The Octopus is larger than life and making him period costumes will not change things for the better.

Why is it so difficult for people to leave the good things be? A menacing villain identified only by his gloves; whose face has never been seen versus a black man behaving like a queen who can't dress. Frank Miller is a briliant director...but he should stick to what he's good at -- edgy, adrenaline stashed movies.

Anyhow, now for the good things in the movie...Eva Mendes is the ultimate femme fatale. But then again, she's always that. She's the only woman I've seen on screen who can carry off orange lip tinge with panache! Paz Vega; very good and very underrated, is stunning as Plaster of Paris. Jamie King is alluring as Lorelaine - the angel of death. Scarlett Johansson and Sarah Paulson are prim, pretty and seductive. Samuel L. Jackson is wasted in a role that did not need him. And finally, Gabriel Macht, did look the best I've seen in any of his pics online. He should keep the dark hair look.

I am no great movie critic, and I am perhaps out of my depth here...but it's a very basic flaw in the entire show -- the director wanted to cram in too many things. He wanted the original camp humour of the comic series, he wanted the dark look of Sin City, he wanted a brilliant star cast, and he wanted to touch up the whole thing with his 'vision' of 'larger than life' costumes signifying the 'samurai, nazi, russian, and blaxploitation' movies.

Aaaarrrgh! It's a comic strip movie. Just keep it simple!!!