thisduck

i am here, again

so firstly, i’m not in pakistan. i’m here.

secondly, i’m here again. what does that mean?

that means i am, once again, thinking of writing a blogging program.

“why would you engage in such madness adnan?”, you ask.

“because madness engages me”, i respond. and i assure you that i’m just as confused by the response as you are.

but in part seriousness… the nature of blogging used to be simpler. if you had a one liner, you’d blog. if you had a link to share, you’d blog. if you had a long piece to write, you’d blog. if you had to rant, you’d blog.

now, we have different tools to do each. i don’t fancy this. twitter for one liners and updates, tumblr for links, blog for long posts… meh. no. it’s too complex, too many logins, too much work. i need simple and minimal.

the blog needs to do all that. while i can just blog the links and updates and what not, the presentation of that information isn’t exactly friendly to the way it is absorbed and consumed. i know what i mean in my mind, so i won’t even explain it.

oddly enough, and as many will attest, it doesn’t get simpler/minimaler than nothing. but i keep coming back. for one reason or another.

if i knew i could stay away, i would. but i can’t. no really, i can’t. i haven’t blogged like this since… since forever.

so, as it were, i am… here… again. hello.

you complete me

“What would I do without you?… you… you complete me!”, says the Joker to the Batman.

Let me start off my saying that I’m itching to go see it again.

Christopher Nolan is beyond genius, he is gifted. In both script writing and direction (and editing I’m sure). This movie was mind-numbingly good.

Beyond just a super-hero movie, it was one of the best thrillers I’ve seen in a long time. I was constantly on the edge of my seat.

I saw Batman Begins the night before and I liked it a lot. But The Dark Knight just took it up several notches.

Aaron Eckhart was very good. I liked him in “Thank You For Smoking” as well. I think I’ll look up more Eckhart movies. Oh, I absolutely loved the Two-Face look. Magnificent! The thought that went into the design of this thing. Unreal. Blew me away.

Heath Ledger was superb. And very soon I’ll run out of adjectives. Just a brilliant performance. I do wonder though whether he will win any awards simply on account of him being not alive. Would he have otherwise? I think he was great and definitely worthy of winning awards for this performance. The look and feel and the nature of the man… was just creepy. The delivery of the lines was slow and methodical when it needed to be, and crazy to boot.

I didn’t notice Katie Holmes was gone. Maggie is a better actor no doubt, but it’s not like that character had much depth in the first place.

Christian Bale was Christian Bale.

Again, Nolan is a mastermind. The movie is very fast paced and the tension is very well placed. As I said, I was on the edge of my seat.

If you haven’t seen it, go watch it. Watch Batman Begins right before it for the best experience. I’m itching to go see it again.

10/10

p.s. i am never going to see a movie with you again. it’s over.

wall-e

absolutely fabulous! =D

I like stories that depict the future in certain ways. Immediately my mind starts to assess the gaps and realize how close we actually are to such a future. No matter how many times, no matter how many movies this happens in, I can’t help but have this visceral reaction to seeing a sparsely populated planet Earth.

Wall-E starts off with exactly that future. Empty. Desolate. Lone. Void of any organic life. I loved it!

Without actually giving out any details, I think the movie could have ended about 5 minutes before it did. And if it did, it would have taken the movie to an entirely different level. But I understand this is a Disney movie targeting children. I have come to terms with this.

Oh, one of the things I noticed during the movie was that I was laughing a good 2 to 3 seconds before everyone else. Either I was seeing into the movie more than was there, or everyone else was just slow that day.

Yes, if you haven’t seen it, you should go see it.

9/10

p.s. thanks for asking me out to see it. besides just talking about it, i might not have actually gone to see it otherwise.

And although this art is so wonderful, still it is held in no honor… The reasons are various, it seems to me; first, the art is concerned with useless matters; second, it is practiced by men of low degree.

G. Cardano on card tricks, De Subilitate, 1554

khafa

kyun hai dil khud se khafa?
kya hai naraazgi ki whajha?
jaaye to ab jaaye kahaan?
dil se kaise faasle, kaise dil se dooriyaan?

poonchta hoon khud se yeh sawaal,
par jaanta hoon kya marz hai.
dil se hoon is liye khafa,
kyun ke dil badaa khudgarz hai.

dosti ke gaane

so a whiles back Z sent me a link, it was a post by someone who listed their top 5 friendship songs. In that list there was a song from Main Hoon Na and from Mujhse Dosti Karoge. sigh…

so i figured i would make my own list. not so much of a list really, there are only two songs. i don’t need to make a list of 5 or 10 and add filler songs.

i list the songs here in no particular order:

yaari hai imaan, mera yaar meri zindagi [YouTube Link]

i love way too many things about that song video. first of all, i like how Pran hands over the instrument so he can get up and dance @ 0:30. the turning dance and drum beats @ 1:40. when Pran pulls in Amitabh to dance, Amitabh doesn’t comply at all, Pran gives him a hug, then gently “puts” him down, haha @ 2:45.

the lyrics @ 3:30, “jaan bhi jaaye agar yaari mein yaaro gham nahi, apne hote yaar ho ghamgeen matlab hum nahi”.

and pretty much the rest of the song from 4:20 onwards. all the words about laughter. “teri haseen ki kheemat kya hai bata de tu”

point to note, that in the movie, this is pretty much the only time Amitabh is seen laughing/smiling.

diye jalte hai [YouTube link]

this is a beautiful song.

that there is my list.

tera naam

bhatakti nigahen
woh rahaa dhoondti hai
asmaan dhoondti hai
dektho to
saara jahaan dhoondti hai
par meri aanhkein
sirf teri aaha dhoondti hai

bhatakti nigahen
woh jaam dhoondti hai
sar-e-aam dhoondti hai
jeetne ko
koi eenaam dhoondti hai
par meri aankhein
sirf tera naam dhoondti hai

memories

my old memories
are long gone and
i cannot make memories
for more than a day

every book i read
is like deja vu
a faint thread
a slight sense of connection
but that too falls
my memory fails me
but brings me
a new day everyday

in ways it is good
i can cry today
and not remember tomorrow
but i can love today
and not remember tomorrow
that thought hurts me today
but will not hurt me tomorrow

i am reborn every day
a reminder of death from yesterday

movies alone

i prefer watching movies alone. because it’s easier that way. it makes more sense.

try getting 5 or 6 people together for a movie. schedules have to match, you all have to want to see the movie, have to buy multiple tickets. it’s too much work.

not only that, but when you watch a movie, you just watch the movie. you’re not going to be looking at the people around you, or conversing with them. at least not during the act of watching the movie.

me: “oh, i’m going to see XYZ movie this weekend”
person: “oh yeah, with whom?”
me: “ummm… i’m going alone”
[awkward looks from person]

what? if i want to spend time with people, i’ll sit and talk, go to a restaurant, or even go bowling. if i want to see a movie, i’d rather go alone.

a friend sent a group email this week, wanting to know if we wanted to see The Dark Knight. i’ve been meaning to see Batman Begins for a while. but never really got to it. so this seems like a good excuse. but really, i have nothing against anyone, i’d just prefer to go alone. i’m going this time though. only because i actually really want to catch up on Christian Bale’s Batman, and it’s directed by the director of Memento (which is an awesome movie that you should watch).

the last time i went with a group of people to watch a movie was The Prestige, that was sometime in 2006, over a year ago. and then i went to see it alone. because, you know… i wanted to see the movie. and it was that good (if you haven’t seen it already, you should, why haven’t you?). incidentally Christian Bale was also in The Prestige, Christian Bale is a very good actor(go watch: Equilibrium and The Machinist). the only other time i went to see a movie twice was the matrix reloaded, i couldn’t believe how bad it was, so i went again to make sure. Carrie-Anne Moss was in both the Matrix and Memento. see how all this is connected? there is a greater force at work here.

point is, if i’m watching a movie. the fewer people the better. preferably none (except me).

dr. horrible’s sing-along blog

http://www.drhorrible.com/

muahahahahhaah. go watch it, go watch dr. horrible.

brought to you by a lot of the same people who brought us firefly.

apart from all the funnies and goodness, why is something like this “important”. it’s because this is coming to your directly from the director and the actors and the writers etc. directly on the internet, there are no major production companies or networks involved. which i think is awesome.