The Prestidigitator

I’ve been fiddling around with a Rubik’s Cube for sometime now. Just because Will Smith solved one in few minutes in The Pursuit of Happyness doesn’t mean it’s an easy affair. It took me quite some time to figure that out.

I’ve always assumed that a slightly above average level of intelligence was the only pre requisite. Unfortunately, that’s not true OR I’ve grossly over estimated my level of intelligence! Last afternoon, I succesfully managed to get 4 faces right…then proceeded to dismantle all of them in order to get the other two right. Currently, I’m back where I started.

Normally, I’m not the kind of person who would look up ‘How to’ books/articles (mostly because I couldn’t care less) but I had to make an exception in this case. I’m amazed at the amount of articles out there. If you are the least bit interested in solving the Rubik’s Cube, you may want to look up the following links.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubik%27s_cube

http://peter.stillhq.com/jasmine/rubikscubesolution.html

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/How_to_solve_the_Rubik%27s_Cube

In all probability, the results will be pointless and time consuming like everything else I do…

“You better be sure you wanna know what you wanna know.”

Brick(2006) by Rian Johnson is a daring film in many ways. It assumes, much like Primer that the viewers are smart and are willing to go with the plot no matter how far fetched it may seem. The lines are confounding to say the least. Sometimes they don’t make sense at all and it may take a couple of viewings to actually figure out what the characters are talking about. In that way, it’s a lot like A Clockwork Orange; you have to learn the lingo as you go on.

The narrative centers around a detective story but the setting is a modern day high school and somehow it’s all just very very cool. Brendan Frye (played by Joseph Gordon Levitt from 3rd Rock from the Sun) is a high school student who unlike most others knows how the ‘upper crust’ of druggies operate, their inner workings so to speak. He is pulled into this once he gets a phone call from his ex-girlfriend who cries and mentions something about a ‘brick’, a ‘tug’ and a ‘pin’. Confused, he launches an investigation of his own to make sure she’s alright with the help of another recluse, The Brain,a prodigy of sorts. He also informs the Vice Principal of the school of some of the goings on. As things move on, he meets a lot of shady and sophisticated characters like Laura , the violent Tug , seductive Kara, Brad and drug baron The Pin.

Now, the film is very very confusing mostly because it’s not that easy to understand what the characters are talking about. It takes a little time to get into the flow, but once you’re in, it’s very rewarding. If you’re a fan of film noir, you’ll love it for the freshness it brings in to the genre.

What really struck me was the direction and editing. The camera is still for mostof the scenes and the editing is excellent. Some of the scenes are really mindblowing. Most of the special effects were made thanks to some very original techniques. There is a scene where Tug comes to hit Brendan…very neat stuff. The film was shot on 35mm stock and hardly any scene required a green screen.

The film had a very low budget but won the Special Jury Prize for Originality of Vision at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival and was also nominated at Independent Spirit Award 2006 for the John Cassavetes Award (best film production with a budget under USD 500,000).

The posters for this film are pretty amazing too. All in all, 9/10. One of the best films of 2006.

Recent revelations:

• I’m not as patriotic as I’d like to be. Republic Day came and went without me even pausing to think what it was about. I did manage to stick that India Poised tattoo which came free with Times of India on my arm though. Patriotism on my sleeve!

• Went bowling and I’m good. Finally, a sport that I may actually not suck at. Then again, there is something known as beginner’s luck right?

• I’m amazed at how hard it is to make a short film. Had a great time trying to come up with ideas with a friend and I think we may actually pull this off! If a 10 minute short is so hard, the thought of work that goes behind shooting a full length feature scares me.

• I’ve discovered a security flaw at Forum (mall in Bangalore). Everybody is expected to go through those security scanners but if you go at 9.30 am when the windows are being cleaned, you can walk in with firearms, detonators or even Chuck Norris without being detected. Oh yeah, the mall doesn’t really open till around 11 am though…

• I have had food equalling my body weight over the weekend. Also, the weighing machine at Garuda (another mall) is of the opinion that my body weight is optimum for my height.

• I’m so bloody bored at work today!

Listening to Crawling in the Dark by Hoobastank

Stars lookin at our planet watching entropy and pain
And maybe start to wonder how the chaos in our lives could pass as sane
I’ve been thinking bout the meaning of resistance, of a hope beyond my own
And suddenly the infinite and penitent begin to look like home

I’ve been thinking bout everyone, everyone you look so empty

But when I look at the stars,
when I look at the stars,
when I look at the stars I see someone else

When I look at the stars,
the stars, I feel like myself

                                    – From Stars by Switchfoot

As always thanks bro!

Came across these two articles. Very interesting.

The Science is clear: Marriage should be eradicated

The Big Questions (How did life begin? What’s the universe made of? Why do we sleep? 42 of the biggest questions in science.)

Born into Brothels is an amazingly inspiring and uplifting documentary that puts other narrative documentaries to shame. The widely acclaimed film, written and directed by Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman won the Academy Award back in 2005.

I picked it up only because I had heard a lot about it and I thought I could get a pointer or two on filming a documentary but I was moved immensely for different reasons altogether.

Zana Briski , a documentary photographer went to the red light districts of Calcutta to photograph prostitutes and their lives. She befriended their children in the meanwhile and decided to teach them photography seeing their interest and enthusiasm. The film goes to show the lives of these children of sex workers and the things that they have to go through. Anyone who goes to argue that ‘family life’ is a lot more valued in India will be shocked to see young girls forced into prostitution. Their fathers just sit around drugged and apathetic all day and open their mouths either to eat or abuse. The mothers are no better; constantly beating and abusing the kids. However, by the end you realise that these relationships are strange indeed; no matter how the sex workers treat their children, there exists a very wierd maternal bond.

The children are given cameras and they go on a clicking spree. Seeing things through their eyes is, forgive the cliche, an eye opening experience. The film uses mostly just pictures and expressions to weave a very painful story interspersed with short bursts of narration by Briski. There are some very funny moments thanks to the playful children and by the end of it you really do care about them.

Sadly, as always in real life, things do not turn well for most of them. One person cannot do anything to counter hundereds of years of narrow mindedness and Indian bureaucracy. However you have to hand it to Briski for coming down to one of the worst places on the planet without any visible false pretensions. She does admit that she is not a social worker and this is what brings a sense of truth into the entire excercise.

More on this can be found at http://kids-with-cameras.org/

Also posted on The (Strictly Indian) Frontal Lobe 

Disclaimer: The author wishes to state that the following pointless rant (as always) is the fault of  Andhra Pradesh Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) who in their great wisdom gave him the last seat on the bus from Hyderabad to Bangalore as a result of which the author was unable to get any sleep. To add to his woes, his co passenger was drunk and kept singing hindi songs whenever he woke up (which was quite a few times).

I’m already at that point where work is taking far too much of whatever time I have. Time.

Time is a fundamental structure of the universe, a dimension in which events occur in sequence. Breakthroughs in theoretical physics and long lectures by my bro have given me reason to believe that it is practically impossible/difficult to alter the sequence, extend it, reverse it or go back to a previous or future point. In essence, time sucks. Big time! Time is entirely non customizeable and just not that cool.

If there is anything that stops us from doing anything, it’s just time. I mean everything else you can build or develop over a period of…well…time. Time makes us regress, time makes us age, time makes things obsolete, time makes you smell if you don’t take a bath, time makes bread go mouldy, time causes people to drift apart etc…In short any effect in the entire universe will have it’s cause as time. Time is the ultimate cause.

I’ll be 23 in less than half a year and the thought itself sends shivers down my spine. Not becuase it hurls me closer ot death or anything but simply because I have this stupid feeling that I NEED to do something(s) with my life.

Now, over the last few weeks, work has been taking way too much of time and sometimes it pisses me off when I get calls from work during the weekend but being the ‘newbie’ I am, I can’t do much. Blogging during work hours is my way of laughing at The Man’s face. Ok maybe chuckling. Fine…grinning at The Man’s face.

I’ve got a pile of unread books, unwatched movies and more than a fair share of friends/family I haven’t been able to keep in touch with!

“To live is so startling, it leaves little time for anything else.”

                                                    -Emily Dickinson

Listening to Stuck in a Moment by U2

Back to work…

 Scrubs is undoubtedly one of the most amazingly original, funny and heartwarming shows on TV! Second only to the criminally overlooked and underrated Arrested Development.  Every season betters the previous one by leaps and bounds, the characters are always fresh and funny and seldom become redundant.

Perhaps what makes this show stand out from the rest is the fact that every single character is immensely likeable and a lot more *real* (in TV terms ofcourse) than a group of friends who hang out at a coffee shop all their lives.

The show hooked me back in college and over the seasons I’ve seen this show handle some really cliched subjects like death, disease, friendship, sex, family etc… with humor, originality and humanity. I admit I’m getting carried away here.

At the start of Season 6, I was quite apprehensive because the first episode honestly wasn’t that good but succesive episodes have assuaged those fears and Episode 6 of Season 6 is perhaps the best episode in a long time.

It’s a musical and apart from being funny, it’s solidly heart warming. The video is a pretty neat example of things to come. The episode is available on tv.peekvid.com . For how long, I don’t know…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GF6rSGfUdyg]

But all the clocks in the city
Began to whirr and chime:
O let not Time deceive you
You cannot conquer Time. .

In the burrows of the Nightmare
Where Justice naked is,
Time watches from the shadow
And coughs when you would kiss.

In headaches and in worry 
Vaguely life leaks away,
And time will have his fancy
To-morrow or to-day.

   - From I Walked Out One Evening by W H Auden

One of my favourite poems.

Last evening, a friend and I were walking through one of the numerous side roads in Koramangala when we happened to see a huge crowd in the middle of the road. Now the first thought that went through our minds was ‘accident’. There was a lady in her early fifties lying on the ground screaming and crying. Her face and legs were dripping with blood and she was pretty much screaming that her arm had fractured. Close by, 2 guys (probably college goers) with nasty cuts and bruises all over were standing with apologetic expressions. People tried helping her but she wouldn’t stop crying.

Crowd. Blood. Screaming.

Normally, a scene like this would turn a lot of people off, because trust me, it was pretty disturbing. What surprised me was the fact that I was totally apathetic to the entire situation. I didn’t cringe or feel sorry. I just stood there looking at it. Just stood there watching it like it didn’t concern me at all. It didn’t, of course but why was I so numb?

Is our generation truly apathetic to everything that goes on around us? Has the media, films and books shown us too much that nothing shocks us anymore? Are we developing a distorted and clinical view of everything? I’ve seen a fair share of gross out movies and read a few disturbing books and I think all of it has really made me numb. I may not be able to react to reality too well.

This isn’t good. Not good at all.