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Love the song. Aside: Jakob Dylan has pretty eyes.

A lot happened over the weekend...

... a lot of rest, that is. Neck and shoulders more or less in shape now. Just hoping that sitting at a computer doesn't make things bad again! Moved out to catch Music & Lyrics and the Roger Waters show on Sunday.

The Roger Water's show first.
Long queues, total chaos and hurting feet seemed to be worth it when the show started off with In The Flesh. But at the end of the show I came out feeling...well, disappointed. I am still wondering why I didn't enjoy the show - he played quite a few of my favourite songs (Have A Cigar & Vera were the high points!), the sound was great once we hit the right spot, the crowd was roaring away to glory. But! Maybe it was the fact that I couldn't see anything on stage, or that the show seemed to run like a well oiled machine with no spontaneity whatsoever. Or maybe I have just outgrown Pink Floyd.

Movie Review: Music and Lyrics
At the outset, let me make it clear that I don't like romantic comedies. I find them cliched, sappy and unbearably cloying. Music and Lyrics is cliched, a little bit sappy, but is saved from being boring and icky sweet by sheer virtue of its lead pair. Hugh Grant seems to have gotten a wacky sense of comedy when he got rid of his famous locks. And Drew Barrymore is so likable, even when she is in a bad movie. Together Grant and Barrymore redeem Music and Lyrics from descending to routine romcom fare.

Grant plays Alex Fletcher, a has-been pop star from an 80s band called Pop! (which is clearly inspired by Wham!). Reduced to playing at amusement parks and high school reunions where he happily obliges the crowd with his once famous hip shakes, Alex gets an opportunity to write a song for teen star Cora Corman. According to Alex's manager, Cora (a mix of Britney and Shakira) is bigger than Britney and Christina put together and a hit with her would help Alex's non existent career. But Alex can only write music and needs someone to help with the lyrics.

Enter Sophie Fischer, who comes in to water Alex's plants, who seems to be a natural born lyricist and plant killer. Sophie is also nursing a broken heart and crushed spirit post an affair with her professor who has used her as a model for an unflattering character in his recent best seller. Well, the rest is easy to figure. Barrymore and Grant seem mismatched at first, and as the movie progresses, we see that's why they are so right for each other. Together, they rise above all the little problems that romcoms typically have and their banter is just so causal and funny. I loved the scene where Sophie tells Alex "That's wonderfully sensitive, Alex. Especially for someone who wears such tight pants." Beat. Then Alex says, "It forces all the blood to my heart". Man, find me a guy like that!!

The soundtrack also works well for the movie, A Way Back Into Love - the song that Alex and Sophie eventually write for Cora is catchy, but I really loved Pop! Goes My Heart. Replete with weird hairdos (they were fashionable then, says Alex!), funny dancing and dream sequences, its a scream, just like the movie! Watch:



PS: I went to the Roger Waters show after I saw Music and Lyrics and I couldn't help relating Waters to Fletcher. And did I mention that I streaked my hair violet?

Falling for the first time (No, its not what you think!)

An old favourite.

Well

People I know have come back to me after my last post saying, "what the hell do you mean?" Like I said in this post, some of my favourite people died young. Morrison said that he wanted to be a shooting star, glowing bright against the sky one minute, gone the next. Extended life spans and immortality are highly overrated, IMHO. I mean, no one wants to be Wowbagger. Go figure! And if you are a fan of the Hitchhiker's Guide, try this.

Date with Roger Waters on Sunday. Can't wait. Here's a song in the meanwhile...

RIP

I am always envious of people who die young.

Ashley Treatment in Grey's Anatomy

Last week, I posted about the controversial Ashley Treatment. In their blog, Ashley parent's have argued that the procedure also insures her against cancer, pneumonia etc. I just recalled an episode of Grey's Anatomy (yes, the doctors and interns on the show actually have time to look at patients too!) in which a woman wants a mastectomy and hysterectomy because she is afraid that she will get cancer. Agreed, this was a TV series, but what if it happens in real life? Does this mean that any body part that one can live without should be removed in order to prevent disease? Would I do the same if I was told that I had a high possibility of cancer? Would you?

Part of the Queue

A wet morning

Earth stained red with a poor man's blood
A smile on a face so long missed
Hands touch...
Smells rise up from unannounced rains
An explosion of feeling sears across dendrites

The city warm after a long awaited bath
A shy sun hidden in the grey sky
Droplets whip past the window
And people drip in on a Monday morning.


In other news, another one bites the dust. And the pain is excruciating!
And did I mention that I finally met Azim Premji, and actually spoke to him?

News that chilled me to the bone!

Doctors at the Seattle hospital operated on a disabled girl to keep her from reaching sexual maturity, the treatment included removing a 6-year-old girl's breast buds, giving her a hysterectomy, and administering high doses of estrogen to keep her short. OH MY GOD!

Apparently, the girl's parents requested the treatment to keep their daughter small and desexualized so they could continue to care for her at home and provide her with the "best possible quality of life."

Read the full article at Salon. The parents have a blog! How the hell could they do this to their own child! How can such things be allowed? How can you mutilate a child with disabilities just because you feel it will be easier for you to take care? Christ, I am just so appalled!!

The circle has turned!

Wipro's analyst day today! The best part of this job is meeting companies!

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Playing around with a photo editor!

I mean, really!

The world does a pretty good job of bring people down to their knees.

God bless Ozzy!

Ozzfest is free. Gotta applaud to the old geezer for doing something like this. Wish I were there!

Gajini

For a change, a really sweet Tamil song. Makes me homesick - want mama around. And dad, and my bro. This is from the Tamil remake of Memento (yes, we have songs in it!)

If

If I am not blogging, its not because I have nothing to blog...
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its because my nerves are too frayed to make the effort!

PS: Watched Guru. Wish I had watched Blood Diamond instead!