The Good Wife and Glee...

Two TV shows that have caught my interest are 'The Good Wife' and 'Glee'. The Good Wife is a lot like The Practice... lots of interesting legal drama and courtroom scenes. The female lead is wonderfully cast and she brings a kind of dignity to the show. Everything about the show is nice, the way the camera captures mundane yet meaningful scenes, the guy from 'Dead Poets society' as one of the partners and the cases they come across. I used to love the Practice, had a huge crush on Dylan McDermott until I saw him as a gay guy in Will and Grace, that ruined the whole image I had of him. Anyway, The Good Wife is really well taken and I hope it becomes popular soon... here's a preview.

Another show that is worth watching is Glee, it took me some time to like it though... my sister and the cousins were discussing Glee on facebook and I couldn't understand what the big fuss was about. I mean it's supposed to be like high school musical without Zac Efron and I only saw High school musical because of Zac Efron (yeah I kinda like Zac Efron and Miley Cyrus... weird no...) Anyway, I got hooked after they performed the single ladies dance, it cracked me up. I like the gay guy 'Kurt'the best, everything 'bout him is funny... his dad is pretty cool too. Apparently Glee is quite the rage out there in the sitcom world and with these few videos you'll understand why...

And they sing brilliantly too (especially lea or rachel), sometimes most of the songs I hear on Glee seem better than the original composition. You should check out these songs too 'Dancing with myself' and 'Defying Gravity'

Anyway, here are a few one liners that cracked me up...

Sandy : Who is Josh Groban?! Kill yourself! He is an angel sent from heaven to deliver platinum records unto us and if he were here right now, I would club you to death with his critics choice award.

Kurt (the gay guy): At least you don't have to worry about me getting someone pregnant.

Kurt's Dad: What's up with your brain today. I think it's going soft from all that crap you put in your hair.

Rachel: Maybe one of these days you will find a way to create teaching moments without ruining my life.

Sue: I didn't want to end up stuck in a lousy high school wrestling with mental illness, or 40 and single coaching THE worst football team in the history of this state or having to go to the salon every week to have my hair permed. (directed at Emma , the coach and Will... I thought the perm part was hilarious.)

I hope the world doesn't end in 2012, I have a whole lot of books to read...

I heard bout Flipkart.com from Anju and that site has changed my life. All the books that I have been searching for since centuries, are now sitting prettily on my book shelf. Landmark is a thing of the past now... in fact Landmark is not what it used to be anymore, they do not seem to have stock on most of the good books. So I am deliriously thankful to the creators of flipkart, I seriously love you guys... continue with your fabulous work.

Talking of books, here are a few people who have enriched my life with their recommendations of the written word...

• My brother Manoj for buying the 'The Partner' by John Grisham. Now I hadn't heard of Grisham before so the book was just lying there at home. One day I got bored and picked it up, that was the start of my love affair with Grisham and legal thrillers in general. This was the first John Grisham book I read and it was in a word mindblowing. I couldn't set the book down, my heart was racing away with Patrick Lanigan (the protagonist) on his incredible journey. I love that guy Patrick, he's only a character but he's got me through many things in life. Anyway after that, I got hooked to John Grisham and his other novels (prior to The Partner) were deadly exciting too... though 'The Partner' and 'The Street Lawyer' remain my favorite. Recently he hasn't been writing all that well though, his recent books lack the excitement and the adrenalin rush of his earlier novels. So you might wanna stick to his older well known and well loved legal thrillers.

• My sister Nameeta introduced me to Harlan Coben and I love this guy! Man! he sure can keep you guessing till the very last page... his books are intense thrillers and you can't set them down. Everything is fast paced, and you get so sucked into the novel that you seem like a zombie to the rest of the world (this will irritate the people around you and they will threaten to destroy your library membership card... but nothin registers cause you are right there in the middle of the story waiting with bated breath to see what happens next). I read 'Gone for Good' recently by Harlan Coben and absolutely loved it, another book that was equally exciting was 'The Woods'.

• My cousin Tina... I don't know where to start with her. Since before I can remember we have been exchanging and discussing books. Back in school we were crazy bout Malory Towers, Twins at St. Clare's, Naughtiest Girl in school and the whole Enid Blyton series. In our teens we used to exchange Hardy Boys (I had a crush on one of the hardy boys... can't remember if it was Frank or Joe) and Nancy Drew books... those were some good times. Whenever I go visiting the cousins in Bombay I find books lying all over her place and that's how I came across Maeve Binchy and Joy Fielding. I totally adore Maeve Binchy, her books are large and full of joy... she writes simple stories bout people and their lives. Its like sitting in a park or in a station and you see some people that catch your interest and you wonder how their lives are... you wish you could know their story. That's how her books are, they bring a smile to your face. Joy Fielding on the other hand is totally different, she writes psychological thrillers... her books are suspenseful page turners. I've read only a few of them, and she really plays with her characters mind and you get caught in between. The whole experience is totally unnerving, you get so damn scared and you can't set the book down... I love that bout her, she grips you by the bones and shakes you. Anyway, you should check out 'See Jane Run' and 'Kiss Mommy Goodbye' which are bound to keep you on edge. And if you are interested in Maeve Binchy you should read Evening Class, Circle of Friends and Tara Road to name a few.

• Anju my pal from college gave me some the most supernaturally and spiritually exciting books that I've ever read like The Last Vampire series by Christopher Pike and I loved them. Pike's novels seem to encompass time, eternity, cosmos, universe... stuff like that, stuff too large to comprehend and that's what I love bout him... he makes you think, takes you on a thrilling ride through time and space and its exhilarating. You feel different after reading his books... I can't quite explain it but its as though you've seen things, you know things and you know why you are here, you just have to read his books to understand what I'm saying. I remember reading 'Sati' and being blown away by it... its a story bout a girl who claims to be God and its so invigoratingly simple. Anju seems to have set me off on many series... like the Vampire series by Pike, then The Great Brain Series by J.D. Fitzgerald and the Harry Potter series. The Great Brain series are a riot of fun and laugher, it is loosely based on the author's mischievous brother Tom Dennis Fitzgerald... I love this series, the way the author describes life back in 1890's is interesting and the escapades of the author and his brothers makes for a very delightful read. Anju was the one who got us (me and shil) started on Harry Potter before it became a world wide phenomenon. One day in college she was talking about this boy Harry and how he attends a wizardry school and she was like why can't our college be more exciting like that. She lent us the book and we muggles got caught in the magic of JK Rowling... until the book achieved cult status and that's when the series went downhill after the third book. But the first three books were exciting and fascinating and I grew to love Ron, Hermoine, the twins, the magic and all the charms and the way she used words like You-Know-Who, dementors, patronus, muggle, quidditch, gryffindor, slytherin to name a few. Anju also got me started on Michael Crichton and that guy is amazing, some of his books like The Lost World, The Sphere, Jurassic Park, Disclosure, Timeline and A Case of Need are wonderfully written, most of them are either scientific or medical thrillers. His books keep you hooked and you learn something intellectual along the way. His most recent books aren't all that great though, he kinda lost his touch with all the fame and seemed to write more for the big screen than for the joy of reading. Crichton is still a great author and I hope that he is happy roaming the skies with the creatures he brought to life from eons ago.

• Shilpa another pal from college is a sucker for anything romantic and because of her I've come across many a good Mills and Boons. She also gave me The Heiress to read, this book by Jude Deveraux is about mistaken identity and its very entertaining. Another great book that Shil recommended and that I absolutely love is 'This Heart of Mine' by Susan E. Philips. Shil mailed me an ebook copy last year and I was hooked to it at work, it's hilariously entertaining and the flawed characters are endearing... I had a hard time trying to stifle my laughter at work. This book is a refreshing take on modern romance and the way she starts each chapter is interesting, this book is a real treasure.

• Mithun a junior in college who lived in my colony gave me The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes one day and that was the start of my obsession with Arthur Conan Doyle and his most famous character Sherlock Holmes. I totally love the author and I revere Sherlock Holmes, no other character even compares to him. If there was one character I could wish to life, it would undoubtedly be Sherlock Holmes... such is the mastery of Sir Conan Doyle who created one of the most exceptionally intelligent and beloved characters of all time.

• Abid a friend from my days in Bangalore gave me Princess and its actually a true story bout the life of a Saudi Princess. This book is truly captivating, it shows you the atrocities meted out to muslim women in this time and age. A real Saudi princess has told her story anonymously to the author Jean Sasson and its heart-wrenching. On the surface everything seems fine enough, the daughters of the ruling sheikh's have everything that money can buy except pure love and happiness. They hop on a jet and go to Paris to do their shopping, they are filthy stinking rich yet they do not have the basic respect and freedom as human beings, they live in a polygamous society and are often married off at a very young age. They are royals yet live like birds in a golden cage... its a sordid tale of what goes on behind the veil.

• Deepak a friend at work has given me many interesting books to read like Agatha Christie's 'And then there were none' and Jeffrey Archer's 'Not a penny more not a penny less'. These books are sure to keep you engrossed and happy, I love them both. He also suggested 'The Bridges of Madison County' by Robert James Waller, its a poignant love story very beautifully and lyrically penned. This guy Waller sure knows how to string words together, take a look at this: candles of sunlit frost melting upon the green grass of summer and the red leaves of autumn. Isn't that pretty...

• Mother Magdalene, the Mother Superior in the special school I used to work in earlier is an avid reader too and she told me bout the works of A J Cronin. Now his books are hard to find, but when I got hold of a few of them from the library it was like falling in love. I loved his Keys of the Kingdom, Adventures of a black bag, The Citadel and Adventures in Two Worlds. Adventures in Two Worlds in kinda like his biography and I admire the guy for the kind of person that he is, I love the way he writes... in fact I think I really love the guy. If there was one author I could meet, it would have to be Archibald Joseph Cronin.

I did not intend for this post to be so long... apparently when it comes to books I don't know when to shut up.

Disney Vs the real world...

I am sitting here munching on hide and seek biscuits and trying to listen to the rain outside, but the sound of machine guns and people screaming keep breaking the silence... Antonio has entered a hospital and he is firing away at random doctors and patients, he is entering the ICU now. I will never understand how GTA IV and similar games are considered fun, I know its funny when you see them dying like that with blood spurting everywhere, kinda like the kill bill series... but after a while it numbs the senses. And the wrestling games are the worst, they are morbidly cruel and violent... atleast in GTA a bullet ends your life and you are not tortured as in the wrestling arena. Well guys will be guys I guess... but they could be a little less morbid.

Talking bout morbid stuff, the mindless suicide bombings in Peshawar and other parts of Pakistan is sickening what with so many civilians dying. Reading these stories in the paper is heartbreaking, seeing the acute grief on their faces is haunting... everywhere and everyday stuff like this is happening and it makes you wonder bout mankind, what did we learn from the past... I don't know where we are headed. If you ask me I think the problem all starts with boundaries, because of boundaries we have countries and nations... if there were no boundaries we would all belong to the world, we could travel all over and think of the whole earth as our land. I know that doesn't sound right too, problems would still evolve. What then can be done... for us to live in harmony with our fellow beings? I really don't know... on a lighter note I read the following idea somewhere a long time back and it made sense to me... seeing how Walt Disney is always perfect in everything it does, they plan everything from scratch and every project they undertake is a runaway success and since they have been in the business of making people happy for many years, maybe the entire world should be put under their care... knowing their track record they would take pains to make the world a fun and safe place. If everybody is employed and if everybody is happy... all the problems will take care of themselves.

I know, I am just rambling... the rain does put you in a contemplative mood.

I wanna go here...

Aren't these pictures really pretty... can you believe they were taken down home, in Nagercoil... at a place called Aralvaimozhy...

Go here to see more pictures.... or check my photography blog to find out more...

Nobel prize...

So my sister is very dedicated to her work and that really baffles us (her family members... especially me). If you know my sister, you'll understand why we find this strange... she is and has always been a carefree person, the one who likes to laze around and do nothing in particular. She is more of a people person, she likes hanging out with her ever increasing circle of friends and having a good time. So when I heard that she was working late these days and working during the weekends too, I started to panic. I rang her up yesterday to find out what happened to the sister I used to know...

Me : So, what's up?

Nam : Nothin much... I have a three day weekend.

Me : Great! Do you wannna come here, shall I book the tickets? (note how loving and kind I am)

Nam : No, don't go booking anything. I will have to go to office tomorrow.

Me : But I thought you said you had a long weekend...?

Nam : Yeah, it is a holiday but I volunteered to go and help.

Me : I am deeply touched by your dedication. If there was a Nobel Prize for hard work... you would definitely get it, Nam.

Nam : And if there was a Nobel prize for sarcasm, you would win it.

Yeah, even I am relieved... she's still herself.

My quiet birthday...

There are some people who are birthday maniacs (like Shilpa and Nameeta) and then there are the others who just want a nice quiet peaceful day (meaning me)... I don't know why but I was never keen on celebrating my birthday. I like celebrating others birthday like Elvis, Ronaldo (the Brazilian one) & Michael Ballack ... okay I'm kidding, I celebrated Elvis's birthday only once and I happen to remember Ronaldo's and Ballack's birthday because they fall close to mine. A long time back during one of those crazy world cup days (I used to cut out pictures of footballers from the newspapers and maintain a scrap book on them... the craze returns every four years but I don't do the scrap book thing anymore) a cousin Sunoj asked me when my birthday was and here's the ensuing conversation...

Sunoj: When is your birthday?

Me: Two days after Ronaldo's and two days before Michael Ballack's.

Sunoj: Oh...

Me: When is your birthday?

Sunoj: 9 days before Jesus Christ's...

Yeah, after that conversation when people ask me when my birthday is I just tell them the date. Anyway, getting back to the topic at hand... I told Antonio I wanted a quiet birthday this year, and the guy orders a cake with the words "Wishing you a quiet birthday" on it. That guy is so funny, makes me laugh all the time & I then call up Nameeta, tell her the joke and we both start laughing and Tonio says "What, you girls think I am a joker or something?" and that cracks us up even more.

The first call I got for my birthday really surprised me, it was Mother Magdalene (the Mother Superior) from the special school I used to work in earlier. She called and I was like 'Motherrrrrr you remembered!' She said ' How can I forget your birthday child...' ain't she really sweet. My sister kept calling throughout the day singing the birthday song (birthday freak... kidding nam) and there was a small gathering at home for lunch... I like the way food plays a major role in binding families together. Any event in the family and everybody gets together to cook up a great spread, and after a splendid lunch the elders all sit around and discuss other elders while the kids get together and create enough havoc to break up the discussion and then its bye bye till the next birthday comes along. Today too there was a birthday lunch party and we got together to cook up a great feast... so cool.

Some really great movies...

The Fox and the Child (Le renard et l'enfant)

This is an amazingly beautiful movie, its a story about this little girl's fascination with a fox and how she roams the mountain side searching for the wild fox. The entire movie is set against the backdrop of some mountains in France and each and every frame is blindingly pure and pristine, it'll make you wish you were living in that little mountainside village instead of in a city thick with smoke and people. Another interesting thing about the movie is that there are hardly any people in it... just the little freckled girl (with her hair rolled up into buns at the side of her head, very cute) and the elusive fox. Kate Winslet narrates the story in English and the movie takes on a documentary tone... oh, don't roll your eyes, when I say documentary I mean it in a good way, like those amazing documentaries on discovery or the natural geographic channel. Watch that movie, you will love it... and then start saving for that trip to France!

P.S. I Love You

This one made me cry like a lunatic, it also made me fall for Gerard Butler. Its a heartwarming story based on the book (P.S. I Love You) by Cecelia Ahern. Now people (like Shil and Megh's) who have read the book earlier (before seeing the movie) claim to hate the movie, cause like any other movie adaptation of a book, many characters and situations have been left out (personally I am glad they excluded a lot of characters and scenes from the book cause the author does ramble on unnecessarily... and I really mean unnecessarily). The only problem with the movie is the 'sleeping with the butt naked guy' (which was totally unnecessary and downright sick) and the lead actress (Hilary Swank), I mean... she hardly looks feminine, she shouldn't even be in Hollywood (same goes for gwyneth paltrow, can't stand her either). Anyway coming back to the story its bout a series of letters that the husband (Gerard Butler) writes to his wife (Hilary Swank) to be read after his death, and each of them end with the words PS I Love You. Gerard has been diagnosed with brain tumor and he worries bout how his wife will cope with the world after he has left it. It's heartbreaking stuff, the part where Hilary dials his number over and over just to hear his voice nearly tore at me. You hit an emotional nerve watching the movie and for sometime all those overwhelming feelings tend to stay with you. You end up being the nicest person on the planet since you are simply grateful for life and all your loved ones... then you watch a movie like Hangover and all that emotional stuff goes out the window. (That was one hilarious movie... Bradley Cooper deserves a post entirely to himself.)

Becoming Jane

Oh, I like this movie a whole lot too, it is loosely based on the life of one of the most influential and famous female authors of all time, Jane Austen. Anne Hathway makes a great Jane and James McAvoy as Tom somebody (I forget his name) is simply wonderful. The scene in the library is hilarious and the other scenes between Jane and Tom will tug at your heart. I like the bittersweet ending, the way Jane and Tom smile at each other after she finishes her reading and the closing shot of Jane's hands resting on one of her books... it says so much. She achieved something more than the life she desired, she achieved immortality... a truly outstanding movie.

Here is the library scene I was telling you about... listen to the dialogues...