Mid-Terms *sigh*

This is an unfortunate post to let my imaginary following know that I shall be away from the blogosphere for the next few weeks on a mini-break. I have my very first university mid-term exams starting from next week. Whoever said that uni was about debauched, decadent alcohol ridden parties was so very wrong. I haven't partied properly since high school ended now. It's not that I actually enjoy partying, but it's the lack of opportunity that I find frustrating.

But on the other hand, I have some good news too. TPF is going to be back home for the weekend. It's the first time I'm going to see her in a month. Okay, I know she's not been away for that long, but you know how we both are. Although, she couldn't have chosen a worse time to come to visit. Something tells me that I'm not going to get any studying done this weekend.

I cant wait for my exams to get over because once those are done, I'm going to be in England in the second week of Novmber. I'll just be there for 3 days though. I'm visiting TPF for a long weekend of fun, fun and more fun. WHEE! Okay, I'll stop. I'm just excited.

Right, back to studies now :)

Diwali!

Happy Diwali everyone!

Diwali is the most depressing day of the year in Italy. Also, if having a depressing Diwali in a European country wasn't enough, it had to rain all day and be dark and cloudy. However, it could be worse, right? I mean, at least this year Diwali has fallen on a weekend, and so we have some semblance of a holiday. For the last three years, I've been going to school and pretending that it's just another day.

*sigh*

Le fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain

After much deliberation I have finally decided to write my first review. I’m always cautious about reviewing because I’m a very biased reviewer, as in I only like reviewing the things I like. Also, I don’t like reviewing the things I don’t like because someone has worked very hard to make a film or write a book and I feel guilty making flippant remarks about someone else’s hard work (unless it’s Dan Brown, of course. I mean, his name is DAN, why would people even consider reading something written by a man whose parents weren’t imaginative enough to give him a name that is no longer than three letters?)

But as usual I digress, the subject of this review is going to be the movie Amélie or Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie Poulain, as it is called in French. Don’t worry, there are not going to be any spoilers in this post, just some silly gushing that might give some of you an insight into female sentimentality. The movie is made in such a way that you either dislike it because you think that it is plot-less and well, a waste of time or you love it. I, unlike my unsentimental father, fall into this latter category.

I’m not sure what is it about this movie that makes it so different from all the other movies that I’ve ever seen; maybe it is the way in which the movie is filmed, maybe it is the soundtrack of the movie or maybe it is Amélie herself that I can identify with because she reminds me so much of myself. The first thing I wanted to do when I finished watching the movie the first time was re-start and watch it all over again

I’m not very sure how one could possibly label Amélie into a particular genre. I’m not sure whether it would be appropriate to call it a comedy. It doesn’t make you laugh out loud, just subtly smile and maybe even have a good cry. This tale of an innocent, lonely, naïve girl living in Paris charms everyone’s hearts. At the end of the movie, you can’t help but fall completely in love with this delightful character.

The movie has a brilliant cast. Audrey Tautou as Amélie is wonderful and I cant think of any other actress who could have played a convincing Amélie. The only danger for roles like these is that it might make an actor typecast for a certain set of roles. Also, just after seeing Amélie, I also watched Un Long Dimanche de Fiançailles (A Very Long Engagement) which is also directed by Jean Pierre Jeunet and stars Audrey Tautou in a very Amélie-like character. Even though that movie was great, I was kind of let down because of Tautou’s stereotypical character. Of course, I then watched The Da Vinci Code, which TPF has written about in a fabulous review that describes all my sentiments for that movie. Mathieu Kassovitz, on the other hand, is absolutely adorable. I am completely in love with him. I remember squealing and gripping TPF’s hand hard in the cinema hall when I realized that he was in Munich.

The movie has a wonderful soundtrack by Yann Tiersen. I’ve never loved the whole soundtrack of a particular movie before. But every track in Amélie is heart warming and it is impossible for a person to be indifferent the music in this movie because music plays such a pivotal role in this film. You just have to feel something when you listen to it, and I’m not saying this because I’m an angsting alternative-music listening teenager, but because I really do mean it.

Another strange thing is that though I’ve seen Amélie several times now, I’ve always seen it in Italian. Since Italian is not my first language, I don’t focus much on a movie when I’m watching it in Italian, but end up just keep trying to figure out the plot. It is rather rare for me to actually feel any emotion to what is happening on screen because I’m so caught up in the plot. Also, since it was a French movie translated into Italian rather than an English movie translated into Italian, it was much harder for me to understand it, at least the first time I watched it. I wonder how the English translation is. I am rather curious. I shall watch it in English eventually if I manage to find someone who owns the DVD in English.

Having said all this I have to admit that this is not a movie for plot oriented people, but for people who like focusing on the cinematography and the actual filming of movies. It is also meant for sentimental teenage girls who are looking for the smallest possible excuse to shed copious tears.

As a side note, I have a humongous Amélie poster in my room bought by TPF from Istanbul.

Another one of these meme thingies

TPF tagged me for a meme ages ago. I love memes because this means that I don't need to think of something relatively intelligent to blog about. This does not necessarily mean that most of my posts are intelligent, but still I don't need to worry about finding a topic to blog about.

This meme is part of her 'meme experiment'. I have to post the 10 most played songs on my itunes counter. This means that, however weird my results maybe, I have to do this meme because I don't want to get on TPF's bad side. Actually, the results of this meme are going to be completely incorrect because even though I've had itunes for about two years now, I recently changed computers from Quincy to Julia, all my old play counts were deleted and I basically restarted the whole list. Therefore, right now, the most played music on my counter happens to be my recently added music.

1. Dhadak Dhadak from the movie, Bunty aur Babli. I went through a whole period a few months ago that I was obsessively addicted to this song and used to listen to it more than once a day. Right now, that phase of mine has passed and I no longer listen to it with the same frequency that I used to. But, it's a great song and rather catchy.

2. Tainted Love, by Soft Cell. I heard this song for the first time when I was in the Supermarket with TPF (don't ask me what were we doing together in a supermarket, it's a long story). Marilyn Manson has re-sung this song and it's electric guitar version is quite popular. But I downloaded the original version of the song by Soft Cell just a few weeks ago. It's a great song and I listen to it at least once a day on my way to and fro from uni.

3. Sexy Back, by Justin Timberlake. Oh Justin, Marry me! *sigh* Sorry, that was the teenage fangirl in me talking. I wasn't a very big Justin Timberlake fan for a long time. (Please feel free make fun of TPF, a few years ago she went to a Justin Timberlake concert). But this song is the epitome of good pop. It's so catchy and had a great video with Justin looking overly sexy. Britney must now feel like an idiot for leaving him to marry that sleeze bag of hers You show her who's the cooler one, Justin!

4. Supermassive Black Hole, by Muse. It's from their latest album. I'm not much of a Muse fan, but I love this song. It's great, but I'm not a big fan of it's video. It's creepy because it has the band playing in masks, and I've been terrified of masks ever since I was a child. It's just one of those little things that I really don't like.

5. Every You and Every Me, by Placebo. TPF called me mainstream when I told her that this was my favourite Placebo song. Well, I cant help it if I'm mainstream. I mean, it's mainstream because it's their best song, isn't it? Things are always mainstream for a reason. So there, that is my excuse for liking the most popular Placebo song.

6. Bohemian Like You, by The Dandy Warhols. Well, this is the only Dandy Warhols song that I know apart from, 'We Used to Be Friends', which is also the Veronica Mars soundtrack. As a side note, how great is Veronica Mars? I am mildly obsessive about it. Anyways, both these songs are great. But the only reason this appears so high on my playlist is because I recently downloaded it, which means that I listen to it more frequently because it is on my Recently Played playlist.

7. When You Were Young, by The Killers. Okay, I like The Killers. Anyone has any problems with that, huh? Do you, huh? No, tell me, do you? Because I don't care! Hmph! I like this song. It's from their new album. I even like their old songs. The Killers are a great band and I am not looking for anyone to tell me that they're not. I almost bought myself a band tshirt a few years ago. The only reason I decided not to buy it was because the infamous Vintage Girl had the same tshit and it would have been silly for me to own the same thing.

8. Main Hoon Don from Don. It's from the new movie Don starring Shahrukh Khan. It's the remake of the old Don movie by Farhan Akhtar. I can't wait to watch it. It's going to be great. I also have another song, Yeh Mera Dil, which I listen to much more often than this track, but I managed to get Yeh Mera Dil just a few days ago. Anyways, call me mainstream again, but I love Shahrukh, even though he's the crappiest Bollywood actor in the film industry. But god, he's Shahrukh Khan, how is one supposed to dislike him?

9. Tell Me Baby, by Red Hot Chili Peppers. It's from their new album, Stadium Arcadium. It's a great album, even though I've heard just two songs from it. I loved Dani California. It kept playing everywhere when TPF and I were in Bombay a few months ago and Tell Me Baby is just as good. I'm not a hardcore Red Hot Chili Peppers fan, but they are a good band.

10. The Blues are Still Blue, by Belle and Sebastian. I discovered this band via TPF who went to a concert of theirs a few months ago in Milan with her brother. Anyways, both TPF and I have become big Belle and Sebastian fans after that. It's not a very popular mainstream band, but I love it. All their songs are great. This also happens to be my only alternative entery in this top then list. (I am pretending to ignore the fact that Radiohead missed this list by like 2 places or something) You know, I just pretend not to like alternative music. When it comes down to it, I'm as big an alternative music fan as anybody else.

And one more since I am so fond of prime numbers:

11. Cakkidi, by Kenan Dogulu. Ah, my first and only Turkish entery in this list. This is such a great song and I even have the video, which is as great as the song itself. Turkish pop is the best kind of pop in the whole world. Once Tarkan figures out his sexuality, I'll be his slave for life regardless of what he decides.

Technically, since I am known to be the meme killer and everything, I'm not actually supposed to tag people. But I shall have to make an exception in this case since this is TPF's meme experiment, and I cant kill it at the second person. Therefore, I tag Nitin, Szerelem and Eris.