Hello and Goodbye.

I haven't blogged in a while and I apologize.

Ive been busy, with all my insignificant pursuits in academics, personal life and more indulging in rich scoops of self absorption.

As for life on my planet, Earthlings remain as stupid as ever. The race towards materialistic hell is still on, The recession being a minor hurdle in their paths. The environment's withering further with every passing day.

2009 however, seems to be making an extra effort to wash away all the grime the last century washed up on its shores, both ecological and otherwise, to make place for newer filth.

The next set of the glorious decades are almost upon us. I cannot help but fantasize about another hippie revolution coming our way. Pop not my bubble.

But I digress, not that I had much of a point to make in the first place. Anyhoo, here goes-
I'm packing my bags, I'm leaving. I'm going on a longer hiatus than the previous one.
I'm going to put on my summer skin, spread my wings, meet new people, party hard, see new places and maybe even dip my feet into the waters of philanthropy.
I hope to come back a better person, one who blogs more regularly at least. I vow however, that my writing will remain as invective and insubstantial as ever.

Signing off,
Yours truly,
The Vagabond sunflower.

Image Courtesy: www.candicealbach.com

The Ordinary

Survival of the fittest pfft!
Its about surviving for the purpose of existing rather than excelling.
Indifference engulfs me as I stop struggling and allow myself to be dragged down to the bottom. All around I see people flailing to keep their heads above water; I watch them struggle, half admiring, half mocking their determination.
Human beings are distinct from one another, this does not necessarily mean each of us is special too. Bitter pill this is, but swallow it one must. Not a term to be wildly sown about, Only a few are special, the rest are average. Some of us live all our lives trying to rise above the water and claim the 'special' tag for ourselves.
The others, the ordinary, plod on with their lives knowing true greatness will never be theirs..

Tell me grandma, tell me again how I'm special.

Show me the moon, stroke my hair.
Rock me gently to sleep and assure me that I will make it big someday..

I Believe I Cam.. [Post- 02]

The Approval

Come let me burst your bubble.

No one wishes to be branded ordinary. Everyone plods through life with some sort of purpose, some distant dream that they wish to reach out and touch, dreams that sometimes take a backseat to other priorities. Everyone believes their existence to be a significant link of the chain of life.
If you didnt exist at all, what difference would it make to the world really? One mouth less to feed if anything. If I didn't exist, that old lady might have been killed by that speeding car. What if that was the defining moment of my existence? What if my purpose in life was to be there at that moment and push that old lady out of harm's way? I'm done. Now what? While away my time till death comes to claim me? Nothing stings more than knowing your existence is meaningless. It isnt easy watching all your dreams come crashing down right before your eyes.
Life isn't easy. It was never meant to be. C'est La Vie. Its all a matter of perspective. You can choose to start every day with a smile, and be a ray of hope splicing through every cloud of gloomy doubt that the path of life is pockmarked with. Or you can choose to see the future for what it is; To come to terms with the gritty truth and continue on your path, shoulders drooping with the very weight of the truth, the verity of a future that holds absolutely nothing. The very realization of it all numbs you into leading a zombie like existence.
Hope is just so much easier.

Blogger made me do it. I swear!

Here I am with an urge to blog yet again. So what shall it be? Something deep and meaningful? Patooie!.. I'm here to indulge in some self obsession.

'List 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you.'
Yes there was more about tagging all the people I knew or summat. But never mind that, the Gods of facebook have handed me an opportunity to talk about myself. How? Oh how can I refuse?
Here goes:

1) I'm fascinated by everything nature has to offer.
2) I prefer movie scripts over the real thing (for in depth zzz please refer to an older post)
3) I've come to accept I'll never sit through The Godfather without nodding off. (the script was mind blowing though)
4) The amount I'd have spent on therapy by the time I hit 30, could buy me a small Asian country.
5) I do not have a social life and I don't mind it as much as I pretend to.
6) When I sprout wings, I vow to give all of them non-toilet trained birds a taste of their own medicine.
7) I'm a very boring person. Pathetic as that is.
8) My social skills are retarded. I cannot, for the love of God, understand how I have any friends.
9) I'll never understand why people find fur appealing. Look out for a post on that soon.
10) I've lusted after every profession there is.
11) I lost my virginity at age.. *cough* Look! Pretty butterfly!
12) I gained it back when I was.. *cough* Look there it is again!
Since the last two points nullify one another.. More turns for me! yay!

11) I was a poser goth in high school. The horror.
12) I freak out when anything comes close to my eyes.
13) I used to have my very own cockroach circus.
14) I'm smarter than I look, and not as smart as I sound.
15) Sloth is the name of the tiny alien that lives between my ears and controls me.
16) My tombstone is going to read ''The attention whore that wasn't". Subtlety is the name of the game, my friend.
17) I'm a hippie. I should never have stepped into that darned time machine.
18) I take my friends for granted though they mean the world to me.
19) There are only 3 people in the world I can claim to truly love without doubting myself.
20) Pregnancy is beautiful only when its someone else's.
21) I've absolutely no eye for design.
22) I freak myself out with my own messages on my foggy bathroom mirror the morning after.
23) My cooking is lethal to anyone else except me.
24) I relate to QE's Faye so much it freaks me out. I cover my face with my hands and peek through my fingers to see if she's gone off my screen yet.
25) For a few months after watching The Truman show, I used to put up little acts everywhere I went. I also used to strain my ears to hear the laughter track every time I cracked a funny.
26) I should have never ever joined manipal.
27) Sliced cheese rules!
28) Guys PMS more than chicks do. Go figure.
29) I've never been any good at math. Never will be either.

29 points, I know. Read the last point again. You're lucky I shut up when I did.
Now you know me a little better.

Till we meet again.

Peace.

PS: You gotta love facebook for coming up with the cutest of things.

Images Courtesy: http://www.cartoonstock.com/
http://www.fauxfooddiner.com

Half Full is right.

Here's a video that's been making its rounds on the web. Cadbury Eyebrows is the latest in a long list of programming that comes under the very popular genre that I'd like to christen the 'WTF' genre.



Go ahead...
say it..

I Believe I Cam..

Remember the time I said I was going to start a movie blog?
Well I was just about to do it when huge dog came out of nowhere and ate it up!
Ah well, spilt milk, dog poop and all that..

Taking inspiration from Mali of the Gone Fishing Without My Gps fame, Bblack Sunshine proudly presents,

"I Believe I Cam.."

Photojournalism? Exhibition of my brilliant photographic works? Pfft! Not even close.
Nothing but,
Sights I simply had to capture and share.
Sights I wish could freeze till I get my hands on a decent camera.
Sights that made me wish I was any good at photography.


For my very first post,

Opportunity.

(Yipee! Me - 1 Sloth - 0)

Ladies and Gentlemen this is your Captain speaking

Image courtesy: http://media.comicvine.com

20th January, 2009

As I watched Obama being sworn in, I thought about something I'd read once about people with names beginning with 'O' and how they are destined for greatness.

Anyone recall "Rosa sat so Martin could walk; Martin walked so Obama could run; Obama is running so our children can fly."? How droll.. Well, the man's fought the good fight and has been rewarded with his place at the Oval Office. Now that he's managed to dislodge the sword from the stone, the world munches on popcorn as we watch and judge his every move as the poor feller trudges through the difficult times he's up against.

Love him or hate him, Obama is unarguably one of the greatest orators of our time. Here's his Inagural address. As carefully put together as it was, I thought it still managed to sag in places.
Give it another looksie if you aren't sick of it already.

Fasten your seatbelts earthlings.

Gramazing Grammar. Yes, corniness is me.

Image Courtesy: www.scsv.nevada.edu

Here I was sitting in my comfy armchair in my imaginary penthouse, stroking my pet unicorn, when what do I see, but a bevy of self obsessed creatures, vying for the top position as the most vain person of the lot. Long and winding as that sentence was, here I am leading you into reading another equally long and winding sentence. I do love how I control your eyes. You're still reading!
But I digress! Here's what I'm really here to talk about.

I'm here, because I simply had to share a few of the gems that fall from the lips of them who'd make Narcissus blush.

'Handsome is who does handsome.'

'I think the picture right now my faverout.'

'Handsome boys and cute girl will be choicen. Every week three boy and three girls will choice.'

'Vote for me and you'll be the winner.' (funny how this one reminds me of them politicians. )

'Handsame so much' - (In context to a girl.)


Readers please note: These lines were delivered with nothing but utmost seriousness.


Grammar? No thanks, I'm vegetarian.

Patootie

Pfft.. Riight.

Happy Happy New Year!

Late by only a few years..

Image Courtesy: www.collider.com
Another of those awesome posters

This post is long overdue and I apologise. It slipped my mind a couple of times and I tried to avoid it the other times, because the Ledger post had way too many whining about how I'd blasphemed against the greatest actor that ever lived.

But anyway, here I am again..
The Dark Knight- easily the grittiest superhero comic book movie I've seen. That and all the other used and abused adjectives people use to describe this movie. Tight direction, a few decent performances, high adrenalin action, visually delicious and an above average script to go, its small wonder every single movie goer has lapped up this celluloid offering from the Nolan brothers.

In a quick run up, here's the dirt- Bale brings disgrace to the Batsuit. I may go as far as to even brand him the comic relief in a movie, that would have been tagged as 'dark' had it not been for him.
Gyllenhall, didn't impress like she usually does, and the sadist within me rejoiced when she blew up, disappointed however, that it couldnt be Bale instead.

Aaron Eckhart shines in the movie, and was killed off way before he could show off his acting powress or even kill himself offscreen, what with the extended shooting hours.

Freeman fit just perfect, like he does into any role he is handed. Caine on the other hand ought to.. well.. just retire already!

Ledger, I admit was better than I expected, but fell short of the hype I'd ranted on about earlier. His Joker shines in a movie that has no other decent performances to boast off, save for Eckhart's.

So there we have it. Overhyped beyond belief, this movie once again goes to prove how people will mindlessly follow anything that is even remotely popular. Kudos however to the excellent marketing on this one; Not to mention the movie posters, each one better than the one before it.

All said and done, I did enjoy this movie, though a summer movie that runs on for about 150 minutes is simply asking for it.

Curiosity killed the cat, procastination shot it in the head to make sure it was dead.

I'll post something soon.
I promise!

When boredom hits new heights.. literally...

Image Courtesy: www.imajsteeldoors.com

We decided to test the limits of boredom, on the not so hot and sticky afternoon of October the 30th. With 3 hours to kill, having done our assignments weeks before the deadline, we set out on a little adventure that would have done the pot smoking creators of Dora the Explorer proud.

Never having really understood the architectural intricacies of our wonderful wonderful university *stab*, we decided to check out the brand new concrete addition to our campus- the building that houses the engineering department of our college. Yes, engineering... as if my university wasn't Indian enough already.

So we climbed the floors.. examining each one and cribbing about how our block wasn't half as impressive. One of the two males from my 'Team Adventure' , Zaheen, true to his six year old self, stole a saw from the engineering workshop and then proceeded to almost put my eye out with it. The rest of the group consists of perfectly sane people- Aneesha, who thinks any time is photo time; the high heels donning Disha, with her bathmophobia; Keegan, my Mensa pothead who spent the entire time looking for a good spot to smoke up, and ofcourse, Zaheen- Curious George, wide eyed, fidgety and all of six years old.

After about an hour of reliving childhood days on the jungle gym by squeezing in and out of the tangle of pipes and ladders on the roof; We managed to lock ourselves outside on the roof of the building... We then proceeded to momentarily panic before calling up our friends to leave their classes and come rescue us.
We'd just about decided on sending signals in the air using the fire extinguisher and decided on eating Keegan first, if we were stuck there forever.
My overactive imagination had by then given birth to a whole new generation that had sprung up as a result of horny media kids mating, a culture that accepted dokha smoking as a privilege allowed to a select few, a people who worshiped the fire-extinguisher as a benevolent but dormant God who occasionally awoke to hiss out the last few remnants of what was once used to put out fire; The 'mediakidsstuckontheengineeringblockrooftop' tribe who lived in the belief that the last puff would mark the end of the world..

Back to reality now,
My favorite moment of the day, Jerry coming to 'rescue' us, waving a specific finger high up in the air.

Life Lessons learnt:
- Assignments are meant to be completed minutes before their deadlines.
- Fire exits don't always open both ways.
- I now have a perfect venue for a post-graduation day kegger.

Blessy.

PS: Click here to see what Disha has to say about our adrenalin pumping adventure.

New Blog

Blogger's gotten to me again. I want to start a new blog. My third one.
I dont know why, as I'm already struggling to update the two that I do own.
But I still want another one. And I'll get around to doing it when im on my weekly caffeine high. Till then, I'm going to allow sloth take over.
The new one is going to be a movie review blog. I hope I do a good job of it.
Will keep you updated.
:D
cheers!

One World One Dream... part 2

India won her first ever cluster of medals this year at the Olympics. This ought to be the final push that the Indian Government needs to finally invest a lot more into the much needed building up of the terribly backward sports infrastructure; One that poses a crippling setback to the performance of Indian sportspersons at international sporting events.

Abhinav Bindra
10m Air Rifle event
(Gold)
Image Courtesy: www.topnews.in

.

Sushil Kumar......
Men's 66kg freestyle Wrestling
(Bronze)
Image Courtesy: www.cricket.zeenews.com


....

. Vijendra Kumar....
.Boxing- Middleweight.
(Bronze) ..
.Image Courtesy: www.tribuneindia.com.

Keep these faces in mind people. Here come the countless endorsements.

One World One Dream... my rather dated rant on the Olympics

Image Courtesy: www.olympicgames.lt

The 2008 Beijing Olympics opening and the closing ceremony were the two most beautiful spectacles my television screen has ever offered me. I sat through the entire opening ceremony. Twice. Though I admit to having dozed off for a while when the never ending list of countries paraded in.
Its amazing how six colorful rings have so much power. How a sporting event manages to draw people from all over and bring them closer. How countries like Iraq and North Korea, that are rather twitchy by nature, were welcomed just like all the others; How all the world set aside their differences to come together at one place to compete in the spirit of the Olympics.



The closing ceremony was equally brilliant if not better than the opening ceremony. The Chinese Government have left no stone unturned in their attempt to assure that these will linger in the minds of viewers for a very long time.
Call it a desperate attempt to be accepted by the West, but they sure have done a good job of it.
One can not help but wonder if the mind boggling expenditure figures, could have been put to better use rather than being spent on a highly extravagant excuse to flaunt their country's progress to the rest of the world.



The ceremonies themselves were without a doubt, awe-inspiring. The careful mix of both technology and tradition is what made this one a cut above the previous Olympic ceremonies. London has quite a lot to live up to. It's preview of what to expect from it in 2010 was rather pathetic, as it only went to show how much London depends on star power to endorse itself.

The land where flat packs rule...

Image Courtesy: www.ikea.com

What is it that makes this store is so endlessly fascinating? I crib every time my folks tag me along to Ikea and yet I sulk when they say its time to go home. How on earth does a home products retail store prove to be so bewitching?
Just what is it about that place that makes it so...dare I say it?.. magical!..
Everything about this store, from its ceiling high shelves filled with brown cardboard boxes and their ability to flat pack just about anything, and how the staff are almost always so damn nice; from their bright yellow carry bags, to the surprisingly efficient trolleys, to the food that is insanely good for a home products store, all of their weird furniture and almost every conceivable home accessory, right down to their catalogues that make you drool after every interior design combination shown inside.
I met the cherry pitter for the first time at Ikea, and I must say we took rather well to each other.
I want everything... from the colorful throws, to the endless line of wicker furniture. I want it all.. I love this place. I love how you can identify the building from miles away thanks to its bright color, I love how you can just dump your kids in a ball pen and shop till you drop. I love how nobody frowns when u pick up things and bounce them about,or feel them up, even stretch them out if needed; and how almost everything runs on a principle of self assembly. I love how everything has a wonderfully exotic and imaginative name, each one that stubbornly refuses to be pronounced. All of this adds to the magic that is Ikea.
Who needs adventure when you have good old Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd to liven up your days? When a place like this gets me excited to the point of exhaustion, I say its time to put up my feet and raise a toast...
*Clink* Here's to ageing prematurely.
You can have all the excitement. All I need is my champagne glass and my comfy new armchair from, you guessed it, Ikea!

Image Courtesy: http://www.canvasli.com

All's not well in Celebland..

Just when the world had grown at ease with DeGeneres and De Rossi, and had grown accustomed to Lohan's wild partying and her constant and rather useless trips to rehab; From the land of celebs comes a combination of the two, in the form of Lohan's current squeeze: Samantha Ronson.
Gossip mags call her a gold digging little *censored* who is no good for Lindsay whatsoever. Sound familiar? The photos of the two are all over the place. They remind me of a not too distant Doherty and Kate Moss scenario.

Time for a little game of Spot the difference between the following pictures =)

nbvklmnbvckjh

Speaking of similarities, Ronson and Doherty seem to be perfect for each other, why you can barely tell them apart!
And No! Lindsay dearest, this is not your cue to move on to Moss next. The world run out of hunky Greek heirs and the fellow spoilt celeb brats you used to go for?


Images Courtesy: http://www.connietalk.com
http://news.bbc.co.uk

Ledger mania

Image Courtesy: http://www.moviepulp.be

Another superhero movie. Don't they just make the perfect summer releases? But this one seems to be the most awaited of them all, not to mention the most successful release in recent film history. With due respect to Heath Ledger, I wonder if this movie could have possibly gained the same hype, had it not been for his untimely death. Every one who has seen the movie, does nothing but to sing praises of Ledger's acting. Being one of the more serious actors of the industry, its not like I expected him to mess up this role. But I've seen almost every preview, every poster and the reviews he is getting sound a little too exaggerated. Weepy movie watchers, emotionally charged co-actors hail him the Joker ever. Most of this over-appreciation has to stem from his death.
To praise his acting is one thing, to brand him the best Joker ever is just....

Nicholson's Joker was everything the Joker was supposed to be, and so much more! A supervillian with the power to instill a mixed sense of humor and fear, a pairing that is the first of its kind; and Nicholson outdid himself in what was one of his rare displays of acting talent. The comedy element came as a relief in the otherwise too dark movie, without going over the top. Moviegoers argue that Ledger played his part to perfection. But what people refuse to see is that his character was always written up as dark and intimidating, and play that well, he did. But its a pretty easy part to play. Imagine any other actor with a single serious bone in him, reprising Ledger's role. See how easy it is?!..
The gossip rags are abuzz with news of Ledger being up for a posthumous Oscar. The odds of him winning it are plenty. If not for best actor, then I assure you he will bag "special awards" at the various award ceremonies. Another news making its rounds on the grapevine is that of Terry Gillian accusing Warner Bros of 'shamelessly capitalizing in on Ledger's death'; and of course, their denial of the same.
Had it been Nicholson who kicked the bucket instead of Ledger, the latter would have been subject to a volley of comparisons, each one concluding that Nicholson was the better Joker. Today a man needs to die to prove his worth. Not having seen the movie yet, I will gladly eat my words should Ledger live up to the all the ballyhoo.
Here's a video currently making its rounds on the web:

In all fairness..

The world of television programming is peppered.. to sneezing point, with advertisements of just about every product imaginable.
I'm still reeling with disgust at having seen an ad for a fairness cream. It actually made me turn of the television in revulsion. If you knew me, you'd know how difficult it is to get me to turn off the TV.
The ad had a young and UNsucessful woman, finding success at her feet as soon as she begins to use a particular fairness cream. Not only does the glop take away her previously dark skin, it also allows her to overcome every obstacle she couldn't earlier. Fair skin supposedly gives the women confidence in themselves, which leads them to try new avenues and in the end, succeed in everything. Relationships, careers, material possessions....All by the power of fair skin..?
DISGUSTING! What sort of message does this send out to dark/not so fair skinned women world wide..? Not just women, isn't this an indirect message to men to choose fair skinned women over others..? Even men are not spared from the clutches of the fairness cream. Move over 'tall, dark and handsome'; here comes metrosexuality.

The very root of racial differences is the supposed superiority of fair skinned over the non.
"Skin color has nothing to do with how beautiful, or successful a person is." While accepted by most. There are some who find the above statement very hard to digest. Who is to tell whether such thoughts are not the seeds sown by exposure to such propaganda..? South Asia is the prime market for these corporations,where sales of skin lightening products are sky high. This can be attributed to a pre-established cultural belief of the characteristically darker skinned people of the region who equate fairness with high caste status, good looks and high eligibility for marriage.

I am aware that they are a profit oriented industry with little else to lose. But I wonder if these people are aware of the effects of such adverts? Cashing in on the South East Asian mentality where fair skin rules the roost is not very commendable and to top that they do it while hiding beneath the cover of such cosmetics being a matter of 'personal choice'.

Image Courtesy: www.indiantelevision.com

45 seconds of a fairness cream ad. That's 45 seconds of luring gullible customers into buying these products, 45 whole seconds of driving home the carelessly veiled message of the 'superiority' of fairer skin; not to mention the constant repetition of the same ads. These figures may be slightly dated, but with the advent of fairness creams for men, I can safely assume the 45 second segment has only increased further.
Click here for more figures of fairness creams TV advertising.

I find it difficult to believe that in a world like ours, with rising literacy rates and increasing global integration, one is still exposed to and influenced by such propaganda. Rather pitiful actually. And don't even get me started on the effectiveness of these products.
Tut tut cosmetics industry!... more on that later!


Here's a rather comprehensive article I found while surfing:
http://www.mcphate.com/clips/fairness.htm


On a lighter note, thanks to Muaz, my knight in shining armor when it comes to all my computer related problems, for helping me with this seemingly simple photoshop effect.