The Coming to End of A NeedleGone State

Sometimes in life, we tend to get into a sort of undesirable, tsk-tsk-able  habit or temperament that we persist no matter what we really think about it or what other people – friends, well-wishers, family, ‘elders’, and all those others who think they were born to dispel advise down unsoliciting throats – say. These are things that you know you are better off not doing, but no matter what others say, you just continue to remain in a state of unintrospected daze, almost like some unseen power has you under a negative spell.

Like holding on to a job that is doing you no good. Or taking books from the library that you never read. Downloading pdf documents even when you know you are never going to open them any day in the future even by mistake. Like continuing to watch Rakhi Sawant ka Swayamvar even when it makes you cringe and shudder.

Like not writing a new post on Pathe even after days and days of saying to yourself  ‘I must make a post today’…

Now like you, there are millions of fans of JustPathe. That’s right, I have 3 million as of last count. Did I hear you ask How do you know? Well, I hired a team to do the research and do the counting. (I am, however, bound to disclose that I had hired the same team that counted votes for US elections before the first term of Dubya – so please factor in a margin of error. Of +/- 99.8%.  Mostly -, I might add)

Anyway, all those fans of JustPathe have been calling, writing, commenting, tweeting [I also don't write on @JustPathe, btw] and the crescendo of voices of the fans shouting “Post, Post, Post…” has been getting louder.

But, it had no effect.

But then, once in a while, some thing happens or someone says something that shakes you up and snaps you out of your daze and you wake up and see how you have been exhibiting a behavior pattern that is a deviation from your concept of the real you! 

That sort of happened to me a few moments ago. And it has to do with me continuing the state of not-posting a new Pathe.

K, aka Karthik, aka @The_Karthik has declared the current state of Pathe “NeedleGone”.

Shudder!!!

Not good. If you are not Tam, ask one near you what that means.

Listen up all ye fans of Pathe!!!

The slumber is gone.  Add Pathe back to your bookmarks, subscribe to the feeds, follow me again on twitter and I shall get back to being the real me that you all love.

aill be bak.

The Girl From “Fall Down”

One of my friends is a terrible cook. But he enjoys a reputation of being a good cook though. Reason? Simple. He never announced in advance what he was going to cook.

Whats the big deal, I hear you ask.

Well, he’d finish cooking the dish and then taste it first. And only after that, would he decide what to name it – based on, of course, what it tasted like.  And sure enough there were always oooohs and aaaahs.

Inference: When you set an expectation, you are always measured against that expectation. And when you don’t, you are operating in a new category and you are never put through a harsh assessment.

And why am I saying this? Let me explain.

I had this sudden itch to do a sketch. It has been a long time and a nice picture presented itself to me that seemed like a great subject to subject to sketching. Now, normally I take a few days to a week to do a sketch (size 2 ft by 2 ft). Since it has been a long time, I decided to do a quick rush to see how it feels to be back there. And so I did the one below (24cm X 36cm) in about a 30 min rush.

This is where my good friend, the cook inspired me. I am taking a cue from him, but damn, I cant think of one human who looks anywhere close to this.

Ummm….are you thinking what I am thinking? No, that is not what Dennis Lillee would look like to a cock-eyed drunkard in a smoke filled laser show auditorium reverberating with loud trance and an intoxicated jumping crowd. It is not him. But don’t get your hopes high, because I am not gonna tell you who that is. There is a good reason why I don’t want to.

Because it has turned out terrible. I had to make drastic last minute changes to salvage it so it at least looks like a human. Besides, I don’t want Meena getting mad at me.

Ooops….did I just…..? Damn I don’t believe I said that.

Well, OK. I shall admit the truth now. That was supposed to be a sketch of Meena.  Yes, the ‘fall down’ girl (see this and this for context). A mag recently ran a half page feature and had a nice pic of her and this, ladies and gentlemen, is the charcoal version of that pic. And I shall just name it – “Fall Down” to suggest where my sketching skills are headed lately.

sigh.

From Regressive To Progressive – A Matter Of Choice.

Some time back I watched I am Legend, and wrote about it. It was, to me, a brilliant movie idea executed very well. Of course, there are always moments when you go “Oh damn, they could’ve dealt with THIS part slightly differently!”, but by and large that did little to radically change my overall good impression of the script, storyline and execution.

The movie is based on Richard Mathesons book as we had discussed in that post. The book was first made as a film in 1964, and then again in 1971. I am Legend was the third adaptation. Although this is a well known fact, no one sighed or rolled their eyes or dismissed it as a me-too.

Stop and think about it. A third attempt. A much used plot. Yet, why was there not much rolling-the-eyes?

Now consider this.

You’ve watched Pyar Toh Hona Hi Tha?  Well that’s French Kiss. Bad Boys, Reservoir Dogs, Hitch, When Harry Met Sally, What Lies Beneath…..they’ve all been used. And its not as if the cinema viewing public doesn’t know about it. The Blogosphere is full of these references, for example this exchange of comments in the forum of Think Digit. And everyone is noticing these  supposed ‘inspirations’ and eyes roll about in their sockets in a crazy frenzy all the time. With each release of such ‘inspired’ movies, reports suggest that Ophthalmologists yelp out in joy and keep their clinics open for 3 extra hours each day. 

DishumDishum.com,  the blog dedicated – sort of – to Bollywood exploits even made a sort of a cross referring analysis of the general views in the blogosphere on shameless copythis, copythat orientation of Bollywood. They even referred the post of a famous blogger you follow religiously. 

Apparently, and I havent noticed any myself, no credits have been made to the original in any of these ‘copywood’ releases, as DishumDishum.com calls them. And really that lack of grace is probably what sets eyes rolling. Adaptations are not new and need not be objectionable. But trying to pass it off as your own certainly is.

Oh and theres music. Take a look at this.

It is time for some serious change. As people of this country, we have history of producing some of the worlds most awe inspiring creative thoughts. But now we confront creative bankruptcy.

Now read this refreshing piece and you will see what I mean. What incredible magic with just black and white! As Karthik points out, what brilliance in 1959!

It is now 2008.

We seem to have have mastered the art of One Step Forward, Two Steps Back. I won’t be surprised if 9 out of every 10 movies is a copy. Nothing surprising, if you consider that 8 out of 9 alphabets in the name of our movie industry is a copy afterall.

The fact that the media, industry and the public allowed the industry to be called Bollywood should say something.

Sigh.

A Musing Note To Myself. . . A Case For Creative One Upmanship

What can one say when one is going through a phase of having nothing to say?

One can only try and recollect things that one thought about during the time one went through the exact opposite phase of one having a lot of things to say.

But then when one indulges in jogging ones memory to revive some of ones thoughts, one question inevitably pops up in ones mind:

If one had a lot of things to say at one point of time, and if one has not been able to say all of those things yet, then how come one goes through a phase of having nothing to say?

One of the most important points that one can note here is that the one who goes through these phases must have the one key habit that one must have in order to do justice to all the things one has to say.

Maintain notes. Especially if one writes a blog.

One must maintain a notebook or a small notepad where one can note down all those humorous episodes that one experiences, the lightness one sees in many mundane events of life, or insights thereof that pop up in ones mind – all of which inspires one to write.

If one cannot harness ones thoughts such as those mentioned above, if one cannot seize a spark, if one cannot capture a moment, one might end up missing a chance to find joy in writing a brilliant rendering forever.

And if one cannot share such moments through ones blog, one cannot share the amusement and joy of such moments with all the readers of ones blog, can one?