« April 2005 | Main | June 2005 »
May 29, 2005
Not Enough Money
Kids use their parents' money for the gadget craze. Worrying trend - not understanding the value of money and spending truckloads even before they earn it.
The Capitalist world is a scary place to live in.
Posted by lainey at 03:17 PM | Comments (4)
Movies
True enough, I've been watching more movies since the BF left. Here's a record:
1) Millions : I caught Millions with him and it was a fabulously fantastical modern-day fairytale which was whimsical and heartfelt at the same time. Broke my heart, made me laugh, made me cry and had a bit of suspense all at the same time. Nice. Too bad he thought it was a kiddy movie though.
2) Madagascar: Saw the preview on Wed and I'm sorta glad I didn't have to pay for it. (I know I'm cheap ;) ) I liked it that it is not as garish and loud as the previous Dreamworks outings (namely Shark's Tale and Shrek 1/2) but it could be funnier. The star-studded voiceovers made up for it and the terrorist penguins and a certain lemur-king was hilarious. Backdrop of New York never fails to make me nostalgic. It was good fun but not any better than...
3) The Incredibles : was incredible! I can't believe it took me so long to watch it (even on DVD). Can't believe that I keep seeing crappy Dreamworks animation on big screen and had to catch the incredible Incredibles on DVD! But glad I finally did, good Sunday morning watch and boy - Dash was so cute!
4) Since Otar Left : Heartbreaking lunchtime watch. Great storytelling, sensible characters and heartwrenching circumstances. Nice for a rainy afternoon.
5) Born into Brothels : Powerful documentary on the children of sex workers in red light district Calcutta. The American photographer who tried so hard to educate the kids on photography and get them to better education and hopefully, a better life. In the end, only two kids follow her guidance and the poverty loop will never be eradicated. I felt alot seeing the film. The American "Zana Auntie" gave so much of her time and energy even when she knows she can never help much. And I keep wondering, what am I doing here? In my own pathetic little comfortable existence? She helped two kids. But if all of us tried a little harder to help, we can make a difference to the lives of one, two kids. And then, it will be a big bunch of them helped, saved.
Hmm. I blabbered too much again.
Posted by lainey at 01:37 PM | Comments (1)
May 26, 2005
Fear of Inertia
Inertia...Oh, nature! People are alone upon earth - that's the terrible truth! 'Is there anyone alive upon the plain?' shouts the Russian epic hero. I too am shouting, but I am no epic hero, and no one replies. They say that the sun gives life to the universe. The sun will rise and, when it does, look at it - what is it but a corpse? Everything's dead, and everywhere there are corpses. Only people are alive, and around them is silence - that's the earth! 'People, love one another' - who said that? Whose teaching is that? The pendulum's ticking heartlessly, repulsively.
-Fyodor Dostoysevsky, The Gentle Spirit
I don't want to hear silence everywhere I go. Life should be more than this.
Posted by lainey at 01:17 AM | Comments (1)
May 24, 2005
The Beauty in the Kitchen
I love the sheer weirdness of the kitchen life: the dreamers, the crackpots, the refugees, and the sociopaths with whom I continue to work; the ever present smells of roasting bones, searing fish, and simmering liquids; the noise and clatter, the hiss and spray, the flames, the smoke, and the steam. Admittedly, it's a life that grinds you down. Most of us who live and operate in the culinary underworld are in some fundamental way dysfunctional. We've all turned our backs on the nine-to-five, on ever having a Friday or Saturday night off, on ever having a normal relationship with a non-cook.
-Anthony Bourdain
I've always liked cooking for the catharsis and sense of control it gives me. But suddenly, Anthony Bourdain makes cooking so poetic and cooks so very sexy. :)
Posted by lainey at 12:46 AM | Comments (0)
Reinstating Life
The BF has left for China. And despite being beseiged by social engagements and work commitments, I managed to get some reading in order and saw a quarter of Crying Out Love, In The Center of Earth, half of The Incredibles and three-quarts of the Bollywood (I still need my dose of Indian!) Kuch Naa Ka Ho.
Ate at Banana Leaf Apollo Restaurant and Curry Favour today. Too much curry and it drove my stomach insane. I am going to go into full detox this week.
Reading Anthony Bourdain, some poetry and Dostoyesky concurrently. And reading makes me feel alive and functional. So read more we must.
:)
The weekend's tiring, but good.
All good even without him around :)
Posted by lainey at 12:28 AM | Comments (3)
Nothing remains the same
Angelus
One opens the book at random, opens the day,
reads the old architecture whose face runs
like a dog along the window while the sun plays
catch with itself, bounding from Sunday
to Sunday, speechless with desire.
What more could there be than this?
The beams of the cottage, the sheltering
bones of your hips, the great abbey
of the afternoon that fills as we watch with sound
and the voices trail back to you from the apse,
from the nave, from the shell-shaped hollow
at the base of your throat that even as it says
what it wants, even as it wills it, holds back,
and a great threshing noise saws the air
as the new beams are hewn all over again as
they must be continually, and knowing this
our very words, making and undoing, are torn,
the color of blood. For why are you here before me
after all this time, time which was mine alone
but now, because we have brought each other
here, belongs to you? We talk to each other
as birds do under the eaves, like the swallows
who return and return, and each time find
everything changed, everything different.
-Cynthia Zarin
I'm not the sort of girl who can deal with change well. But the struggle to deal with change in life is the most exhilarating experience one can have. And I think that differentiates living from being.
:)
Posted by lainey at 12:17 AM | Comments (1)
Well-done Steak
I smile my secret smile to peeps who think it's gross that I love my steak medium-rare.
"People who order their meat well-done perform a valuable service for those of us in the business who are cost-conscious: they pay for the privilege of eating our garbage."
-Anthony Bourdain
Well, expect lotsa quotes from Anthony Bourdain (my second-fav chef). In other news, Curry Favour at Stamford House was a terrible disappointment.
Posted by lainey at 12:13 AM | Comments (3)
May 17, 2005
The Theme Song of that Bintan Trip
"Silence, like a whisper
Maybe tomorrow it won't be here
So tomorrow we could teach them
Some new styles
You're such a killer
So shoot me down again
It won't hurt when the killing is done by a friend
Silence, like a whisper
So this is all we need
The fully air conditioned sound of speed
A violent whisper
And this time it's for real
So this day I made plans for us to leave
Silence, why won't you listen
Maybe it's just me
but sometimes it's impossible to breathe
A violent whisper
Maybe this time it won't heal
Maybe this time it will bleed until I'm free"
-Kent, 747
Posted by lainey at 12:51 AM | Comments (0)
May 14, 2005
You make me smile...
Posted by lainey at 01:13 AM | Comments (0)
May 08, 2005
Once Again
"Where you used to be, there is a hole in the world, which I find myself constantly walking around in the daytime, and falling in at night. I miss you like hell."
-Edna St Vincent Millay
Maybe Leonard Cohen, Chai Tea, rain and old photos arn't good for health after all.
Posted by lainey at 01:06 PM | Comments (1)
Atmospheric Music
Two weeks after buying Leonard Cohen, I've finally fallen for him!
Apparantly, the trick is to blast his music so loud to drown out the thundering rain outside. Keep the room dark, squint and have a cuppa of Chai tea.
Life on Sunday is perfection.
:)
Posted by lainey at 12:50 PM | Comments (0)
The Lesser Loss
"A dozen bad love affairs had taught me that the problems of the courtship are the problems of the relationship. Sometimes, I'd stop myself midstep and say, "Why am I in love with this man?" The answer was that the losses involved in this love were acceptable...or more acceptable than the losses of other loves. Finally, my sadness about my own life was so profound that I was willing to make a choice that might be wrong."
-Coconuts for the Saints, Debra Spark
Posted by lainey at 12:31 PM | Comments (0)
Being Normal
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same
-Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken
I hope at the end of the day, I will be walking on the road not taken. Right now, I have to take the other, to appease the souls around me.
Posted by lainey at 12:27 AM | Comments (0)
May 06, 2005
Naughty Lainey
In an alternate universe, I'd be living with Kenneth Rexroth and making wild insane love to him in between his writing breaks.
Posted by lainey at 01:19 AM | Comments (0)
May 05, 2005
We shall arise presently,
having said nothing,
and hand in vibrant hand
walk back the way we came.
-Kenneth Rexroth, The Minute Fingers of A Tiny Wind
Posted by lainey at 11:27 PM | Comments (0)
May 03, 2005
Parents take better care of PRETTY children
What kinda of crap is this?
Posted by lainey at 12:45 PM | Comments (0)