Sunflower Sutra

First read Ginsberg while at college. More partial to the Sunflower Sutra than Howl. Excerpt:

A perfect beauty of a sunflower! a perfect excellent
lovely sunflower existence! a sweet natural eye
to the new hip moon, woke up alive and excited
grasping in the sunset shadow sunrise golden
monthly breeze!
How many flies buzzed round you innocent of your
grime, while you cursed the heavens of the
railroad and your flower soul?

Poor dead flower? when did you forget you were a flower? when did you look at your skin and decide you were an impotent dirty old locomotive? the ghost of a locomotive? the specter and shade of a once powerful mad American locomotive? You were never no locomotive, Sunflower, you were a sunflower! And you Locomotive, you are a locomotive, forget me not!

So I grabbed up the skeleton thick sunflower and stuck
it at my side like a scepter,
and deliver my sermon to my soul, and Jack's soul
too, and anyone who'll listen,

--We're not our skin of grime, we're not our dread
bleak dusty imageless locomotive, we're all
beautiful golden sunflowers inside, we're blessed
by our own seed & golden hairy naked
accomplishment-bodies growing into mad black
formal sunflowers in the sunset, spied on by our
eyes under the shadow of the mad locomotive
riverbank sunset Frisco hilly tincan evening
sitdown vision.

This guy was something else.

The unbearable weight of being

Women can be really stupid. When it comes to men, that is. I really don't know what it is about relationships that turns the smartest of women into bumbling idiots. Take this woman, for instance. Known her for way too long, I must say. So when this guy came into her life, the operative words were 'caution', 'time', 'no involvement', the works. But did she listen? To be fair, she tried hard not to get carried away by 'feelings' and 'emotions'. But then you know how these things go - puppy dog eyes, romantic dinners and stuff. And hey, she's only human, right? Well, evidently she forgot the pain she's been through after the last time. Whats that popular quote - Only fools make the same mistake twice? Yep, she's a total fool. Absolutely, unbelievably, mind bogglingly stupid. Sorry babe, merely stating a fact. But you know you'll be fine, don't you? It will hurt for a while, but time heals all. Amen.

On that note,

Want to see this one

28

Another year older, yet none of the I'm-older-but-wish-I-were-wiser guilt this time. Yep, could be a lot wiser, but I couldn't have asked for a better start to another year. Thanks, Moles! On that note,

Good one

Pajiba rates the cheesiest movie soundtracks of all time. Great read.

Some men are like wine...

... they get better with age, of course. And John McClane is pretty impressive vintage. I was in school when my father took me to see Die Hard 2. That's right, I watched 2 before I watched 1. And man, was I impressed! Must have spent the next couple of days trying to smirk like Bruce Willis. Watched all the Die Hard movies after that, and even though I'm no action movie buff, I've enjoyed all of them, Die Hard 4.0 included.

Agreed, the plot is too straight forward, its too clean a movie (I mean, John McClane doesn't even curse), Len Wiseman could have done a better job etc, etc. But its hard to pin down a guy like McClane and the movie is still one hell of a ride (albeit a slower one in the second half). Age has caught up with him, Holly's divorced him and his daughter wont even speak to him. He is ancient compared to the post pubescent geek who's help he needs in order to save the world this time. But you can still count on him to be the right guy at the right place at the right time. Watching him get bruised, bloodied and shot makes one worry, like he's a favourite uncle who keeps getting into trouble he shouldn't really be part of.

The action sequences seem so real, none of the hi-fi CGI stuff that we have become so used to (except for the fighter plane sequences, which get a little too much). Wiseman relies more on hands on action - Cyrill Rafaelli's (District B13) leaping lizard action sequences are just amazing. McClane has gotten old, so no big fights for him. He goes straight for the jugular, and when he is out gunned by a kung fu fighting waif of a girl (Maggie Q), he just rams a car into her. Haven't watched action sequences so gritty (and real) in a long while.

Timothy Olyphant plays Thomas Gabriel with a rather chilly psychotic edge. One look at him, and you know you're looking at a mad man. A wee bit over the top perhaps, but forgiven since he's such great eye candy. Justin Long is adequate for the cliched geek that he plays. Kevin Smith's (Clerks) cameo as Warlock was hilarious!

But Die Hard 4 is still Bruce Willis' show and he plays McClane as this rock of a man who's stood firm as the world changed around him. McClane is sad and alone, being a hero has done nothing for him. Gone is that trademark smirk, gone is the rough language. But the die hard attitude is still the same. When Farrel and McClane reach the villain's lair where his daughter is being held hostage, Farrel asks him what his plan is. Pat comes the reply, "Find Lucy, kill everybody else". John McClane might have gotten older, but he's still every bit the bad ass. And a true hero!

Verdict - Impressive, especially for a part 4.

Might have blogged this before

Morrison. Never fails to make me feel better. Even if its just a wee bit so.

What are you doing here?
What do you want?
Is it music?
We can play music.
But you want more.
You want something & someone new.
Am I right?
Of course I am.
I know what you want.
You want ecstasy
Desire & dreams.
Things not exactly what they seem.
I lead you this way, he pulls that way.
I'm not singing to an imaginary girl.
I'm talking to you, my self.
Let's recreate the world.
The palace of conception is burning.
Look. See it burn.
Bask in the warm hot coals.

You're too young to be old.
You don't need to be told
You want to see things as they are.
You know exactly what I do

Thought for the day

Some people are too dumb to learn from their mistakes. And I seem to be one of them. On that note,

What can I say, I'm just a lesser mortal

Except of course, that it happens to the best of us. Never mind the video, awesome song!

Oh crap!

On that note:

Results are here again

Bracing myself for a rather rough season of quarterly results. No energy to post anything. Yet to see Die Hard 4.0 or The Order of the Phoenix. In the meantime, does anybody know how to read minds?

Seriously.

Love the video.

I am happy

Thats all I have to say.

Who knew...

... that one would actually look forward to Monday for a change?

Indonesia dreams

Planning a trip to Indonesia to meet a dear old friend and have some fun. Wish list includes a beautiful beach, orangutans, komodo dragons and a volcano. Hope it happens. Sampler:

© Suman Sinha - http://wasteland.suman-sinha.com