It has been too long since my last post. I find this both theraputic and helpful in my writing. I should be more regular in my blogging.

Currently listening to entire audio book of 'Rememberance of the Things Past' by Marcel Proust. He employs few simple but very effective techniques in his narration. He believes in full disclosure. Little is left unsaid but nevertheless drives to think of the undercurrent of thoughts. I am about half-way through.

I recently watched the movie Miditerraneo directed by Gabriele Salvatores. It is a genuinely good movie and makes simple yet poignant observation about life and war.

I watched Sarah Silverman's 'Jesus is Magic' online. It was not bad, I liked some jokes. She can be accused of many things but certainly not of being unoriginal.

I watched a biopic of Tulsidas. Good acting, typical Indian dramatism, but it is a good depiction of his life. Tulsidas was a poet-saint who wrote the epic "Ram-Charit-Manas" the Ramayana in Hindi. I hope to read it after I have finished reading Valmiki Ramayana.

Today morning I watched "Love, Sex Aur Dhoka" which is a new hindi movie. Although it joins the long list of cinema critique of modern Indian media, reality TV, MMS scandals etc...I have to admit it is rather good. The characters are real and relatable. No wonder it was both a critical and commertial success.

I read about KaliDurga watching "Get Low" *ing Robert Duvall and Bill Murray. I am almost certain I will not find this movie in the local rental shop. I could not find it online quickly either. I guess it will have to wait.

After Kafka I am currently listening to Bhagavat Gita Chapter 4. Karma is an overused and illused word these days. The philosophical and vedantic view of karma can be felt in this chapter. It ceases to be karma and becomes Karma Yoga.

I watched 'Ghost World' *ing Scarllet Johanssen and Thora Birch. The director Terry Zwigoff has done an excellent job. The character are profound in both speech and action. Great screenplay and casting.

'Agraharathil Kazhuthai' again by John Abraham is a very Indian movie. A lonely proffesor adopts a donkey. When he is mocked, he leaves it in his ancestral home under the care of a mute girl. The way the village reacts forms the rest of the story.

Chen Kaige's 'Farewell my Concubine' is a widely admired movie. I found it to be very watchable but somewhat incomplete in the experience. Many issues are underplayed or overlooked, perhaps to avoid censorship. Otherwise is is an excellent movie.

Voilin Classes are fine. I have started Carnatic Vocal classes too.

The Most Haunting Song from Indian Cinema - Must Watch - Pyassa by Guru Dutt

Post

I finally finished Zarathustra. Now I am reading Kafka's 'The Castle.' Kafka was a quirky and eccentric writer, hardly acknowledged in his lifetime. His themes are profound and his use of dialogue very intriguing.

About Zarathustra, although I was a bit relived that I finished it, I must admit it has a poetic sense to it that I began to miss after a few days. The simplicity of the complex ideas sometimes made me laugh out loud. I think that is more of Zarathustra than Nietzche.

I watched 'Reindeer Games' *ing Ben Affleck and Charliz Theron along with Gary Sinse (I am not sure of the spelling.) I mixed it up in my head with Reservoir Dogs and had high expectations, which it did not live up to. Otherwise it is an OK movie.

I downloaded 'Tuesdays with Morrie' and hope to watch it soon.

Today

Today I watched 'Amma Ariyan' directed by John Abraham. He was a malyalam alternative cinema maker. It has strong communist references, but clearly admits that although he admires communism as a philosophy he cannot make out the modalites of implementing it. That remindes me of a remark that TSD made a while back. He said, "Most european film-makers are anti communist, especially eastern european, contrastingly most of our film-makers are communists." Why is it so? I think it is because of modalities of implementing it. Most of european intelgensia developed selecitve disolutionment over communism after prolonged exposure. The Indian intelgensia on the other hand are grossly ignorant of how communism works. The continue to live in idealised fairy tales.

I started a new medicine for anxiety and it may be having an interaction. I am feeling miserable. The doctor told me to keep taking it for another 5 days, I decided to do so, in the meantime I looked it up on the internet... That is when I got totally spooked about the drug interaction stuff.

The violin class is going fine.

Zarathustra is in its final chapters.