Christmas!

I know, it has been ages since I last posted. No, I'm not dead, in case anyone was wondering or pretending to care. I've just not been in the mood for blogging lately. Its not like I've been overly busy with work or something of that sort. To tell you the truth, I've been doing everything but work these days. My days generally consist of endless procrastination, heavy lecture skipping, talking to TPF on the phone, going out with TPF when I'm not on the phone and attending various social events.

Yes, I did say those magical words, social events. It is after all the time of the year where Pan actually goes out for social events and does not shut herself up in her bedroom, listening to alternative music.

I have always viewed Christmas season with a mixed feeling. It is one of the few religious holidays that I'm not totally indifferent to. I, for some strange reason actually care about Christmas (I blame this completely on my convent school upbringing). However much of a clichè this might sound, Christmas season makes me cheerful; the lights, the decorations, the irritating repetitive songs, the silly red hats (especially the ones with stars that light up) make me happy.

The best part of Christmas is Christmas carols. Anyone who knows me can confirm this. I love Christmas carols. I make it a point to sing them randomly all through the year. I also happen to be one of those creepy people who know the lyrics of the second and the third verses of 'Joy to the World' and 'Silent Night'. I can never make up my mind on my favourite one though. It changes from year to year. Presently, I'm stuck somewhere between 'The First Noel' and 'White Christmas'. The only problem about Christmas carols is that ahem, I don't sing very well. Sometimes I feel sorry for the people I hang out with. They must really love me if they can bear my rendition of 'Silver Bells' or 'Winter Wonderland' and still speak to me after that.

Another great thing about Christmas is Boxing Day. The thought of Boxing Day shopping is already making me smile.

I suppose, the whole deal with singing about reindeer and Christmas trees is all very silly considering the point of Christmas is to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ (who might or might not have been born on the 25th of December). But nobody cares about these unimportant details, do they? This point always seems to get overlooked for some strange reason.

But Christmas season isn't always full of joy and happiness. No, Christmas has a dark side that also needs to be explored. It involves Christmas presents. There, I've gone and said those evil words. Every single year, I have to spend time, energy and money on buying Christmas presents to a whole load of people that I don't care much about. I'm not even Christian, so I'm not quite sure why I'm buying these presents, but that is how it is! Christmas presents are really stressful. They involve a whole load of strategic planning. Its not just the money that is the problem, every year I keep running out of creative ideas on what to buy for people. I cant get someone a scarf because I gave them a scarf last year. I cant give someone a pair of gloves because that is what they gave me last year and thus, the problem continues.

Christmas in Milan is no different from Christmas anywhere else, although it involves a whole load of pandoro and panettone. The problem with both, panettone and pandoro is making up your mind, which one you prefer, and this decision is not half as easy as it sounds. Its almost like Sophie's Choice actually (by the way, has anyone apart from me actually read that book? No, having watched the movie does not count!).

Audrey!

To say that I love Audrey Hepburn would be an understatement. It is actually surprising that I've never mentioned her on my blog before. I know that a lot of people think that she is over rated, and I suppose they might be right, but I fall into that mainstream category of people who believe that she was the most beautiful person they have ever laid their eyes upon. My current Audrey Hepburn merchandise includes:

1. A large Breakfast at Tiffany's Poster.
2. A small poster from Charade.
3. A small poster from War and Peace.
4. A small screen shot photograph.
5. A hand bag with a screen shot photos on both sides.
6. An Audrey card that TPF gave me last Christmas
7. A bookmark with a Breakfast at Tiffany's picture.
   
8. A big, door poster that I'm not supposed to know about because it's my Christmas present this year from TPF

This list will probably go on as time passes because I don't see myself getting over her any time soon. I know it is very superficial to like somebody because they are pretty, but however cruel this sounds, looks are quite important. Why do you think people worship Becks? No, it's going nothing to do with football. Its just that people can recognize a fine piece of ahem, booty when they see it. I'm not trying to say that Audrey has a fine piece of ahem, booty here. In fact, people hardly think about any of her other assets because they are so enamoured by her pretty face.

She almost makes acting a dignified profession. You can't imagine Audrey Hepburn baring it all on screen because the role demanded it or even participating in a sex scene in any of her movies, can you? She is a dignified person who wouldn't stoop to that level, even if the role demands it. People can see that she is beautiful woman, even without her showing any skin at all, and that is a rare quality in a person.

The first Audrey Hepburn movie I watched was My Fair Lady. I was quite young when I first saw it. It was a great movie and I loved it. I could never quite figure out the end actually, but I thought that it was a wonderful movie in any case (and Audrey totally deserved that Oscar that went to Julie Andrews for Mary Poppins that year!). I've actually not even watched too many Audrey movies. I've just watched My Fair Lady, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Charade, Wait Until Dark, Roman Holiday, Sabrina, War and Peace and Funny Face. Actually I was re-watching Sabrina on television the other day and it struck me that she wasn't just beautiful, anyone can do beautiful. She is charming and elegant and stands out, and this is what makes her different from all other Hollywood actresses.

I didn't particularly like Breakfast at Tiffany's actually (because I read the book a week before I watched the film and the end of the film is completely different from how the book ends), but I thought Audrey made a delightful Holly Golightly. I thought that Wait Until Dark was a brilliant, but it scared me. I can't take thrillers, its just too much suspense and I get frightened quite easily. My personal favourite is Funny Face, because you get to see Audry Hepburn dancing with Fred Astaire in Paris. What more can one want in life from a movie?



As a short footnote, I would like to apologise for the infrequent blog updates. I've been really busy with real life lately. Its driving me mad. Sigh!

God save the Queen!

I'm back! Ok, I've been back since Monday actually, but I haven’t had time to do absolutely anything. Once would think that they would give you some leave once you finish your mid-term exams, but nothing of that sort seems to be happening. It's just work, work and more work for me. I don’t think I like Uni anymore.

Well, the trip was great. England, according to me would be the most beautiful country in the world if it was less colder or if it rained less there or if it didn't get dark there at 4 in the evening or if it was not full of drunk British people. But what would the world be without British people, really? British people are so absolutely strange that you can't help but be fond of them.

I love being in England. People there actually speak in English! This means that I don’t have to actually try to eavesdrop on people. It just comes naturally. Even rude airport staff in England speak English! You have no idea how great it feels to have people talking in English around you. It’s not that I don’t speak Italian, it’s just that I’d much rather speak in English than in Italian because lets face it, my Italian is not very good.

I remember when I very young my mum had gone to London for work once. When she got back I asked her all about it. Since I was too young to understand anything much about tourist-London, my mum described England in the best possible way that one could to a child. She told me that in England, you could press buttons and get Dairy Milk from machines. Ever since that moment I’ve always been fascinated by the concept of vending machines (you see, we don’t have vending machines in India). I love England because it’s full of vending machines. I pretend not to, but I still get a minor thrill every time I put in some coins, press buttons and get things.

From this trip I have learnt some new things about the U.K and English people that I didn’t know before:

1) People from Aberdeen are supposed to shag sheep. I still haven’t quite figured out why sheep and not cows, but I’m working on it.

2) Pastries are not sweet in England. The can also be salty, like stuffed croissants.

3) Crisps and chips do not mean the same thing. Crisps actually mean chips in the normal world and chips in England are French fries in the normal world.

4) Sainsbury makes the best chocolate chip cookies in the world. Nothing can beat those cookies.

5) ‘Chavs’ are bad, bad people, and you don’t want to be considered one of them.

6) People have to actually show their IDs there to buy alcohol. (This is so not the case in Italy)

7) People actually use the words ‘blimey’ and ‘cheers’ as a part of their normal vocabulary.

8) Scottish people have their own currency, which could possibly be labelled as one of the most useless currencies in the whole world.

9) British people are very fond of potatoes. I’m not sure where this obsession comes from, but it’s definitely there.

10) However funny this sounds, people in England still drink to the Queen.

And one more because I love prime numbers so much.

11) What is the deal with dinner at 6 in the evening? And why for the sake of God do people refer to it as supper or tea?

I'm getting very fond of lists these days. I should stop doing these.

Having said all this, I have to admit that I’m very fond of British people. After all, they all have sexy, unintelligible British accents and have the best tabloids in the world.

Cheers!

And she's back...

After long night of sleeplessness and dreadful days that didn't seem to get any shorter, I'm back! Have I mentioned somewhere on this blog that I hate exams? Well, I've never met anyone who actually likes exams in my entire life (unless it's TPF who says that she had a lot of fun doing the SATs), but I happen to dislike them more than most people.

Ha, at least I've finished my midterms now. I have more exams in the first week of January that I'm not even going to bother thinking about at this moment because I suspect that I'll start worrying if I do think about them. I know, I can never be happy, can I? I keep worrying about everything!

Hmm, this blog post doesn't have a point if you're wondering why I'm not getting to it. I don't have any news, and I haven't even been following world news for me to discuss what is happening in the world. Actually, I do have some little things here and there that have been happening. So let me write a small list of the things that have been going on lately:

1. I fainted. It sounds rather funny when I write it down, but it did happen last week. I'm not sure why it happened or how. It was at about 5.30 in the morning. The alarm rang wasn't supposed to ring until 6. I should have known something was wrong, since I had actually woken up before it rang. So, as soon as I woke up and got out of bed, I started shivering. I went to brush my teeth and started feeling rather ill. Then, I started sweating and feeling very hot. I finished brushing my teeth and started walking towards my room to go back into bed because I was feeling rather ill. On my way back, I lost consciousness for a few seconds and found myself on the floor. After an another hour, I started feeling completely normal and nothing has happened ever since.
2. I had a terrible sore throat and cold all through my exams courtesy TPF, who passed it onto me the weekend that she were here. It just couldn't have been worse, could it? I've never felt this ill all through exams ever before.
3. If I cough once more, I might consider strangling myself because it is seriously getting on my nerves.
4. I have a Facebook account. I feel strangely exposed. It even has photographs of myself. I'm paranoid about putting my pictures up on the internet. Facebook is repulsive to me and therefore that makes it extremely addictive at the same time. I considered linking up blog up there for 10 whole seconds and gave that idea up. I don't think I am comfortable with a whole load of people who I know in real life reading my blog. (Also, if they started regularly frequenting my blog, this would mean that I couldn't bitch about them any more.)
5. My Facebook account lists me married to TPF. It feels great to be married!
6. My beloved ipod has officially stopped working. You can't even switch it on any more. I miss it. I'm going to buy one of those cool, new 8GB Nanos some time next month, but I would much rather prefer my old second generation, bulky, scratched ipod. My mother thinks that I'm the most sentimental person she knows, but I can't help being sentimental about inanimate objects.
7. The love of my life, Julia has also ceased to function. She refuses to start up anymore. It's making me miserable. I hate living without her. I'll have to contact the support people after I get back from England. *sigh*
8. I'm leaving for England tomorrow. YAY! I still have to pack though, and am not sure when exactly am I going to find the time to do so because I have to go out tonight and I have lessons at uni early tomorrow morning. On a second thought, maybe I should be doing that now instead of updating my blog.
9. Have I mentioned somewhere in here how ill I am? I'm really ill. I've been following the sit-com routine lately.
10. I have dark circles. There was a time once when I was actually proud of them because they made me look mature and old. Now I just look old and ghastly.

And one more because I lurrrrve prime numbers

11. I've become stalkerish in the last few weeks. I'm such horrible person because I don't even feel guilty of my clandestine activities. I keep looking up random people on Google and Facebook searches. You'll be amazed about the kind you stuff you find out about people on the Internet.

That is all from me for now. I promise to be more interesting for my next post. I'll be back from England by then, and I'll have loads to write.

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.