Saturday, July 24, 2010

I Am Back!

So, I'm back from celebrating Spain's victory in the 2010 World Cup Soccer finals :)

Of course, what I've actually been doing couldn't be further removed from that. I have spent days having my brains chewed by a random assortment of people. Apart from that, I've been up to the following...

Watched 'Inception'. I'm not going to discuss the movie here. I'll just say that I was part of that vast majority of people who did NOT get the movie when they watched it. I had been warned that it's a Matrix-type movie - difficult to understand - but I ignored the warnings b/c I "get" movies, you know. I had no idea I was in for such a strange, yet ass-kicking movie.

Hats off to Chris Nolan for thinking of something so out there, yet so intelligent. It was the dream-within-the-dream-within-the-dream-within-the-dream bit that confused me. Then, with the help of Google and a friend who had actually understood the movie, I put the pieces together. And voila! I figured the movie out! Ta-da!! And yes, I love Leo :)

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Have you seen the new Sony Vaio ad? The one where Kareena Kapoor changes her dress as she walks with a Sony Vaio in her hand, and the laptop changes covers to match the color of her dress? I like! Like the concept, like the music, like the execution. Now only if Airtel Digital gave their advertizing contract to the same agency as Sony Vaio. "Yellow se mujhe meri girlfriend yaad aati hai". WTF! Does she perpetually suffer from jaundice or what?

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I had a wonderful Saturday after a very long time. Just the kind of Saturday I love. Lunch, followed by coffee & desserts, followed by an impromptu haircut, followed by book shopping. I picked up the last book in the 'Shopaholic' series (Shopaholic & Baby), The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4, and an Agatha Christie.

The haircut, this is what it's like except the 'bangs' are a little shorter. Maybe I should've gone for longer bangs! Hmmm....


The girl in the picture is a hair model. Ce n'est pas moi!

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I am addicted to Agatha Christie! Hercule Poirot, to be precise. I just started reading her and am already on my third consecutive book. And I've bought the fourth.

At first I couldn't make up my mind about whether I liked it. I mean, of course Poirot is brilliant but the thing with detective novels/mysteries is - as far as I am concerned anyway - that I like to work along with the person solving the case (in my mind, of course :) to unravel the mystery. I like to put the clues together myself to arrive at my own guess on who the criminal is, and I'm curious to know whether my guess is right. But the thing with Poirot is that the clues/facts that help you build the case aren't visible to you as the story goes along. Rather, they're concealed in Poirot's mind and are laid out infront of you only towards the end when Poirot explains how he identified the criminal. You feel like a mere observer.

Inspite of that I'm addicted to Poirot. Also, I find his English so funny! He'll say "I thank you" instead of a simple "thank you", "see you" instead of "you see", he'll refer to inanimate objects as "he/him" (such as "I'm trying to remove this stain on my suit but he refuses to go away!"). It's very cute! And then there's Captain Hastings, Poirot's co-detective (self-appointed, I presume). He thinks of himself as a very gifted detective when he's actually quite pathetic.

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I've found an innovative way of fighting Sunday evening blues. Go work out! Be it the gym, or a walk or jog...almost any kind of exercise works. The rush of endorphins will drive the blues away. Try it.

11 comments:

Kalyan Karmakar said...

Good to have you back. So you'll meet my friend Aidy Mole. Sort of grew up with him. Read the series at similar points of life as he was in

Scarlett said...

@The Knife - I've been looking for this book for the longest time! Finally found it at Oxford. They had a couple of other books in the series, not all, so bought the first one only.

Moonshine said...

Finally!!! Where have you been :)

I will refrain from commenting on inception :)) .. The haircut is really cute!! I think short is hep.

Best way to spend sunday.. for me at least is visiting a book store. Went to crossword yesterday and picked up a couple of random books. Looked for Dracula.. didnt get it. In the meantime reading a borrowed book called Angelology!!! I cant think of going to the gym!!!!!! That too on a sunday!!!

Scarlett said...

@Moonshine - Been around but didn't feel like blogging for a while. I have 'Dracula' though I haven't read it yet. I was put off by a friend who said it's too slow. What's 'Angelology' about?

Moonshine said...

Angels.. it is a fantasy type of a book.. fallen angels..is interesting till now!!! I have heard from 2 people that dracula is good. I plan to buy

eye-in-sty-in said...

You did not get inception? And you got Matrix?

IMO Matrix was like a 5/5 and Inception well, 3.75?? Had it been released much after Shutter Island was wiped out from my head, I'd be more impressed. The execution was very good, but then Dark Khight was more complex, and more brilliant as was Batman Begins.. (I can see you shaking your head and swinging the bangs from side-to-side going "different generes") but if we are talking about depecting complexity in an interesting manner, the comparision is apt.

Perhaps its because I got Inception very easily that I'm unimpressed...

Nice haircut, btw. Your pis would have been much better than that pale anorexic model... Now she does makes me think "yellow".

I used to love watching Poirot on television.... although I admit, I didnt always 'get' the story... But the manners of short, stout detective (who incidentally reminded me of a tea-pot) were highly amusing to watch. I used to have a nice laugh @ my friends expense by imitating Poirot and irritating them to no end... ^evil^

I like your idea of working out to drive away the blues... Now what is that other thing that brings the same explosion of endorphins and leaves one feeling happy and relaxed... The word is on the tip of my tongue, but I cannot remember for the life of me...

Scarlett said...

@Eye-In-Sty-In - Ha ha...you're funny! Yes, there are multiple ways of driving away Sunday evening blues, and I'd much rather prefer what you're refering to over sweating it out in the gym, but it wasn't to be that Sunday!

Well, I didn't quite get Matrix either when I saw it the first time. But I was only a teenager when the movie was released. I understood it much better when I watched it again later.

Yes, 'Dark Knight' was more complex than 'Inception'. I liked it better too though I did find the concept of 'Inception' brilliant. Chris Nolan must be a genius to come up w/ such a concept. It's surprising many people didn't like Shutter Island. It was a little slow but I really liked it.

eye-in-sty-in said...

Was Nolan a pioneer of the Inception concept you are referring to? I thought Legilimency has been around for quite some time now... The execution of that concept was very good in Inception, but it could have been a bit better in certain transitionary stages of the movie. This is where Shutter Island scores a tad more than Inception (which I liked, btw).

PS: If you mean to say you are not a teen anymore, perhaps you should change that picture of yours to a more recent one... Although I must say, the blue looks quite fetching on you...

Scarlett said...

@Eye-In-Sty-In - That's a very recent picture of mine. As recent as 4 months ago. Don't think I've changed so much in the past 4 months, so that picture should be OK for now. Do I take it as a compliment though? Or are you trying to be a smart ass? :P

eye-in-sty-in said...

Well, Scarlett... What do you think?

PS: You forgot to reply to the 1st part of my last comment :-)

eye-in-sty-in said...

I guess ur still thinking.... ;-)