The Days Of Our Lives

"Michael. Dear Michael. Of course it's you, who else could they send, who else could be trusted? I... I know it's a long way and you're ready to go to work... all I'm saying is just wait, just... just wait and please just hear me out because this is not an episode, relapse, fuck-up, it's... I'm begging you Michael. I'm begging you. Try to make believe this is not just madness because this is not just madness. Two weeks ago I came out of the building ok, I'm running across 6th avenue there's a car waiting, I've got exactly 38 minutes to get to the airport and I'm dictating. There's this panicked associate sprinting along beside me, scribbling in a notepad, and suddenly she starts screaming, and I realize we're standing in the middle of the street, the light's changed, there's this wall of traffic, serious traffic speeding towards us, and I... I freeze, I can't move, and I'm suddenly consumed with the overwhelming sensation that I'm covered in some sort of film. It's in my hair, my face... it's like a glaze... a coating, and... at first I thought, oh my god, I know what this is, this is some sort of amniotic - embryonic - fluid. I'm drenched in afterbirth, I've breached the chrysalis, I've been reborn. But then the traffic, the stampede, the cars, the trucks, the horns, the screaming and I'm thinking no-no-no, reset, this is not rebirth, this is some kind of giddy illusion of renewal that happens in the final moment before death. And then I realize no-no-no, this is completely wrong because I look back at the building and I had the most stunning moment of clarity. I... I... I realized Michael, that I had emerged not from the doors of Kenner, Bach, and Odeen, not through the portals of our vast and powerful law firm, but from the asshole of an organism who's sole function is to excrete the... the... the poison, the ammo, the defoliant necessary for other, larger, more powerful organisms to destroy the miracle of humanity. And that I had been coated in this patina of shit for the best part of my life. The stench of it and the sting of it would in all likelihood take the rest of my life to undue. And you know what I did? I took a deep cleansing breath and I put that notion aside. I tabled it. I said to myself as clear as this may be, as potent a feeling as this is, as true a thing as I believe I witnessed today, it must wait. It must stand the test of time, and Michael, the time is now."

- Arthur Edens (played by Tom Wilkinson) in Michael Clayton (2007)

If this soon-to-be legendary quote does not clinch the best supporting actor for Tom Wilkinson, I will lose all faith in the Oscars. The man absolutely shines among the other superb performances (mainly George Clooney).

The plot of the movie came about as nothing new to me, partly because I had been watching the first season of the TV show - Damages, almost non-stop for the days preceding viewing the movie. The world of corporate-hired-thugs, relentless top-management and selfish law firms is common to both. Hence, instead of giving a biased opinion, I choose to remain mum. However, I can still sing lauds about the acting; maybe after my second viewing.

Labels: oscars 08

My tryst with Oscar 2008 nominated movies continues. Today I watched Juno. It is absolutely delightful. The style of direction and the bright colours reminded me of Garden State.

The story deals with teenage pregnancy and how the cute little protagonist (played by Ellen Page, Kitty Pryde from X-men 3) goes about being an expectant mother at the age of 16. The range of emotions she portrays is amazing - from a wise cracking know-it-all to a confused and lonely kid. She definitely deserved the best lead actress nomination. I haven't seen the other performances but I will surely be rooting for her.

The other characters are also full of life, esp. her back-talking step mother and the most amazingly-supportive dad in the world. Theres never a dull moment with all the vivid, lovable characters around. Just goes to show that you don't really need an evil antagonist to make a memorable movie. Not quite a comedy and never too serious, Juno is quite a watch. Hats off to Ellen Page.

Labels: oscars 08

Just finished watching this movie called 'Into the Wild'. I stumbled upon it by chance because Eddie Vedder (the lead singer of Pearl Jam (my joint favourite band)) wrote and sung all songs in its soundtrack. The soundtrack, itself, is refreshingly acoustic might I add. Reading a bit about the movie, it reminded me of the greatest movies of all time IMHO - The Motorcycle Diaries - discovering the great outdoors; and another common feature - it is also based on true events.

Words fall short for 'Into the Wild' - what an experience! The visuals seem like straight out of the National Geographic channel. Who knew America was so beautiful! I'm sure India has a lot of natural beauty too and I feel more compelled than ever to discover it. Alas, if only wishes were horses and horses could fly. :(

The reason why I loved the movie was also because I can almost relate to the protagonist's mindset - to run away from this "ordinary" life. I think we are all meant to do greater things than sitting on a chair inside some glass building from 9-5 staring at an LCD screen. There is so much in life to do. Fortunately (or unfortunately), I have a long time to go right now. Lets hope I also have the ambition and courage.

Labels: introspective, oscars 08

I am that what the title says, a good-story whore. I don't know how many of us are but I do know one thing - I sure am! :)

Lets see how this came about - here are some of my current interests - watching movies, watching TV shows, reading novels and comics, playing video games, licking wikipedia end-to-end, etcetera. It all comes down to one thing for me - a good story.

To tell you the truth, most of the times I don't even like playing video games (its just mindless button mashing after all); I only do so to see how the story progresses. Sometimes when I am extremely captivated by a game's story, I just stop playing, read the whole thing on the internet and throw the game away.

There - thats my secret - I am good-story whore. Tell me a good story and I will be all over you like flies on a half-eaten-banana.

Labels: introspective

First real post in a long time I guess. Well heres a quick recap. When I started this blog I was a college student, living in hostel surrounded by people of same age, same thinking. Now that I come to think of it - what an awesome life it was indeed.

I mean who wouldn't love college - your *working* day ends around 5, you get to walk back to your home (how I miss that in this stupid urban Delhi), no tension of food, no worries about money (good ol' mom and dad FTW), blah blah. I could just go on and on.

Now here comes working life - work is *mostly* boring (I do enjoy it at a lot of times but I can't imagine doing another 40 years of the same shit), more responsibilities, have to scavenge for food (again, most of the time my mom takes cares of that, but she is away a whole lot), managing money is a pain in the you-know-what (who the hell cared about investing in mutual funds, who huh?), traveling to work makes you a half-zombie; I can go on and on and on and...you get the drift?!

Also the stupid Delhi freezing weather has made me physically impotent (my activity potency period is a matter of parliamentary debate but with all of those hung sessions and people throwing microphones at each other, I'd rather let that be for now on). Mostly I am confined to playing video games on my PS3 at nights after coming back from home or late night dinners with friends.

So whats wrong with the picture? Not much actually. I earn more than enough for my needs, have loads of friends to hang out with, have lots of free time (which I have got to stop wasting), have a girl-friend (hmm!!), again blah blah. I also have ambition (hmmmm!!) but theres something missing which I cant quite point a finger at.

Anyway, back to the original topic - I want my college life back. It was peaceful, it was fun. I can understand why someone would leave his job and head back to do a PhD (holler if you read this Ghaza). I just might too!! :)

Labels: introspective, retrospective