One of my favorite songs, Wuthering Heights by Kate Bush. Kate Bush is one of the few, who write their own songs. I like her despite her weird voice :).
It has been covered so many times by different bands. Here are two ends of the spectrum. First is by Puppini sisters, second by Angra.
We live in our own wells.
once in a while
with the change in the weather
a wind passes by
bringing in a few leaves
and maybe a feather.
but i want more,
somebody put in a bucket and heave me up.
You know the Snake, apple, Eve version right. Now hear the alternate version. Had a chat with a indian classical music teacher. Very interesting man, he was telling us the virtues of music. During this discussion this story came about:
“So the gods decided to make someone in their reflection. They made Adam and Eve. They gave them all the organs. Everything that was needed to start a human society. They also made a lot of beautiful animals, plants and trees.
But to their dismay, Adam and Eve did nothing. Their plan was failing. They called Adam and Eve back and examined them. Everything was normal. Then they realised. Both of them did not have appreciation of music in them. So the needful was done and Adam and Eve returned to earth.
Now even the wind through the trees, or the chirping of birds stirred something in them. The gurgling stream encouraged them to unknown deeds. Once they came to a valley. Adam and Eve were separated mesmerised by the beauty and the music of nature. When Adam realised he had lost Eve. He cried out loud, “EveSSSSS!!!!” The sound echoed through the valley “EveSSSS!!!”…“EveSSS!!”…”EveSS!”…”Eve”. When Eve heard her name being called so musically she was attracted to that voice. She also cried out loud, “AdamSSSS!!!!”…. “AdamSSS!!!”…. “Adam!”.
They ran towards each other in slow motion choreographed to the music of the winds, water and the birds.
Hence make music/love not war!!
Yesterday I, Mayank, Golak and Smriti went for the 6;30 show at siri fort. The movie was “Hia W’Houa” (She and He). And the director was Elyes Baccar, who was there to answer questions. I won’t say much about the movie, apart from the facts that there was just one set, an apartment of two rooms; two main characters; and it was pretty experimental.
What was most interesting was the question answer session.
Anchor: We have the director Mr. Baccar here. If you have any questions ….
Critic 1:mmmbbbl mmmmbbbbll mmmbblll
audience (chorus):plz speak in the mike.
Critic 1:I was saying that your film was remarkable, economy of sets, characters, and it was almost like a play. At least I concieve it as such. Where you influenced by the ‘The theatre of the absurd’, say Beckett.
Director:Yeah, I like Becketh, as he zays a lot without zaying anyzing. Just by actions. etc..etc..
Critic 2:The last scene, I think it made the film fall into hyper-reality. Where we know that this cannot be real but still subconsciously think it is real. The pain, angst, his infertility (other words), which He must have felt definitely play a big part. The woman in his life about whom we don’t know a lot. The Un-knowledge we have of her makes her seem unreal.
Critic3:Did you intend it to be sadomaschist, or sadist. As in when the girl seems to torture him. What did you intend to achieve?
Director: I wrote the film keeping logic aside. The most difficult thing for me was to keep that feeling, which came to me when I wrote the first line, throughout the script. I mean to keep that feeling throughout making the film. There is no logic to it. I wrote it, something came out, the end result is this film. If I were to direct this film now, I might do it differently, change the camera angles, change in direction etc. So your question is a big questionmark for me.
Critic 2(to critic 3) :You mentioned about sadism and sadomasochism, but I completely disagree. I think there’s definitely a homage to Fellini’s ‘Leather .mmbbl mmmbl’, in this film. Also the way ….. … is ……… etc..etc..
In short I hate critics.
Saw ‘Domicile Conjugal’ today, with sudeep and mayank. I have started liking french cinema more and more. The best thing that i liked about this movie was that it seemed as if it had layers. The outtermost layer would be the comedy, which everyone understands and laughs at. The indications of the second layer would be the surreal touches, the out of the ordinary things which happen, like the flowers in the vase opening up 500 frames/sec and popping out small paper messages. These subtle hints which indicate at a second layer of meaning.
And the worst part of this movie was that I couldn’t see any coherent second layer.
the octopus clouds slimed forward
towards its prey
I laid there on the plastic mat
eyeballing it
but it sprayed after all
to my dismay.
I am back from hyderabad, after attending the USID 2007 conference. It was my first conference in usability/design. All I had to do was sit, listen and eat. My paper on ‘Digital Identity’ selected for publication got me a free entry into the conference. And the speakers who came from varied backgrounds have left me satisfied. First I’ll jot down the points which I liked about the speakers I liked. And then what fun I had in hyderabad.
M.P.Ranjan: He is a professor in NID. And his concepts of design are so clear. This clarity becomes obvious when he asks questions which are so poignant while not being stumblers for the speaker. And he has got to a stage where he is more beneficial in macro design, that is pushing for design policies to the government, etc.
Ravi Krishna: I was not very excited about e-learning. But his talk was an eye opener. In most e-learning programs, there is the concept of an instructor, which we have incorporated just to translate our offline experience online. But is that really necesarry. For a different media the options could be different. He talked of formats taking the example of tv news programs. Of how news has changed from, news readers reading to us >> talking to us>>people to us>> people talking to people, etc.
Kentaro Toyomo: Works with microsoft, in enabling technology in rural india. He too has a sense of design which takes into account other factors like socio economics factors etc..into account. I learned a thing or two.
Lalitesh Katragadda: As google india head, gave us an insight into google. how things work there. Google india maps was launched his year while I was launched in US around 2 years around. The reason he gave was, ppl in the US navigate using road names, while in India most ppl use landmarks. This fundamental difference brought the question of which landmarks to include.
Also went around hyd a little. Saw Hussein sagar lake, smoked some hukkah in ‘My cafe latte’, and ate boti kabab roll under the charminar. (*thanks to gajju for the ride and being the perfect host 🙂
I hate it when people take forever inside an ATM booth. It would have even been forgivable if what inside that persons mind would have been this:
“pehle dekhen ki kitna bacha hai.
hummm…. babuji ke ilaaj mein lagega 3 go hajaar… fir bitiya ki sadi bhi toh hai…agar koi ladka mil jaaye achha toh bhala ho jaaye rampyari ka….haan agar parvati ka bachda ho jaaye toh thoda doodh voodh bhi bik jaayega.
etc..etc..”
But no here the person would be suited booted, but still would take 10 mins. First he would check the balance. Then try to play a video game on the touchscreen. Then probably if everything seems fine, he would decide on an amount to withdraw.
Oh i hate it when people take forever inside an ATM booth.
Delhi is a wonderfull place for arty films, theatre and the like. The two days movie marathon at Indian Habitat Center, where I saw 6 movies in two days. After each show going out, stretching all my muscles for the next show. Getting tired after watching a lot of movies is the second best kind of tired I know. First best would be after a long trek.
And i have started driving classes. And my teacher is 5 years younger to me and casanova number one. With him telling me about his conquests with a hollering of “accelerator chhodo” in between.
While I try to get my two wheeler experience translate into the four wheeler one. Narrowly avoiding rickshaws and such. He goes on,
“yaar mere jeevan mein pata nahi poonam hi poonam aati rehti hai. Ek saal pehle ki baat hai. Poonam ke papa ka phone aata hai. Kehte hain aao sunday ghar pe. Yaar ab mein bola kyon bula rahe hain ghar pe. Vo bolte hain aa jao chai pee ke jana. Ab mein gaya sunday unke ghar. Pahuncha toh poonam ki maa bolti hai, baitho vo toh naha rahi hai. Mein baith gaya. Unki mummy chai leke aayee. Mein aur uske papa chai peene lage. Itne mein vo aati hai. Taawal lapet ke.”
F&*& i thought. What kind of stuff is he talking about. Is it really true?
He goes on,”Vo aati hai taawal lapet ke balon mein.”
OHHo..I thought.
“Aur mere bajoo mein baith jaati hai.
Mera hava gul.
Samajh mein nahi aa raha thha kya chal raha hai.
Uske mummy papa, biskut namkeen lekar khila rahe hain. Beti mere baajoo mein baithee hui hai. Mainey toh pata nahi man hi man kya kya khvaab dekh dale.”
Fir kya hua jee, i asked him.
“Fir uske papa chabi dete hain, aur bolte hain, Ja isey thoda sikha la.”
Aur mein usey 2 ghante ghumaya, india gate, CP vagera.”
Dost unhone tera bahut bada kaata hai. I told him, thoda chai vai pila ke fokat mein gadi chalani seekh gayi.
“Dost thoda katva ke zyada lene mein hi bhalai hai. Bhaisaab seekh jaao aap bhi.”
Hmmm…
After Shawn of the Dead, this i think would be my favorite zombie flick. I want to see it, see it, see it. If you find it somewhere.. point out the source to me.