Happy Wednesday! Today I go to the doctor again, and I am trying not to get my hopes up, but I still really really hate the surgical boot. Fingers crossed there is some small change!
I’ll start!
Reading: Still reading Thirkells! Let me see if I can sell you on them. They are all set in the same fictional county in England, often during a house party or summer vacation with lot sof walking through fields and playing games and happy things. Most of the books have a young man who gets a crush on an uninterested older woman who has to gently steer him towards a more appropriate young woman, there is also usually a young woman who feels out of place and awkward but by the end is loved by all around her and gets the proposal of the richest/most desirable young man around. Most importantly, there is a lot of very sharp character work in which irritating people are drawn clearly in all their irritatingness. Oh, and the first half of her books are set between the wars, the second half during and post-war.
Thinking: This boot! If I get it off, I can easily go back to my apartment for the weekend and actually DO stuff, like drive over to have another doggie play date, or go to the grocery store for supplies, or just pick up the apartment a little without dragging one foot behind me like an Anvil. On the other hand, if I don’t get it off, I get to keep having my parents wait on me hand and foot and that is also nice.
Watching: Last Friday I watched Salaakhen which was okay, but not stupendous. I’ve really been spoiled by the last few 70s Masalas we watched which were just delightfully crazy. This one is just sort of okay crazy. Although Shashi still looks beautiful, we always have that.
Listening: Yesterday was Mirzya day! Daler Mehndi and Gulzar, both involved. Even if I can’t persuade you to watch the whole film, I hope you will at least listen to the soundtrack.
Now, question for you! I just washed my hair last night (huge undertaking, stupid boot), which made me think, Who has your favorite Hair in Indian film?
There are so many! I am still very fond of Bhagyashree in Maine Pyar Kiya
But also, Preity in Dil Chahta Hai, the short casual light curls.
And in recent times, Taapsee in Manmarziyaan, the henna curls flying away
dontcallitbollywood 
I am deeply jealous, I really want to see Salaakhen but it’s out of reach for me.
My favourite hair is late 70s Shashi, no question. For ladies, Zameen’s Don hair or Karisma’s 90s perm.
You’ve sold me on Thirkell, but I’m trying to find a cheap option here. I am reading/watching only complete nonsense right now, but am on the verge of falling into a Shashi abyss. I can feel it coming.
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*Zeenat, good god.
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In America, Thirkell is available real cheap on Kindle. Wild Strawberries in particular (which I very much enjoyed), was only 99 cents.
Don hair short or long?
On Wed, Aug 19, 2020 at 8:32 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Short, of course.
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I was trying to think of a good short haircut but my mind was a blank, all I could think of was Preity’s short look in Lakshya, which is terrible.
On Wed, Aug 19, 2020 at 8:40 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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That is terrible. Well, there isn’t much choice. There were some good angular short haircuts in the 90s on supporting cast, I feel like.
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I think I may have a topic for a groupsourced discussion post!
On Wed, Aug 19, 2020 at 9:01 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Taapsee’s hair in Manmarziyaan is awesome. I wish I was better in doing my hair and could have the locks like Taapsee’s at least for few days 😦
Also Jacquline Fernandez, she has the best hair ever and is the first person I think when beautiful hair is mentioned.
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One of my closest friends has curly hair, and I got to listen in on a curly hair discussion one time, and OH MY GOODNESS! I would have said Taapsee’s hair in Manmariziyaan is totally low maintenance, she just rolls out of bed and runs a comb through it, but apparently you have to do protein soaks and only wash it once a week and all kinds of crazy things.
On Wed, Aug 19, 2020 at 9:12 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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But I feel it’s definitely not henna but regular hair colour?
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Preity’s hair in DCH is my hair in real life (and her character’s name in the movie is Shalini) so I suppose I should pick that but my true favorite is Dimple in Saagar/Ram Lakhan. That glorious auburn mane – me want!
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This?
On Wed, Aug 19, 2020 at 10:24 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I finally watched Ban Bang. Hrithik was great, and fun but Katrina was sooooo bad. They could’ve gotten an actress who emotes or at least speaks better than Katrina. And I hate how she ends all her -ing ending words as in – like swimmin’, runnin’ – why hasn’t any director told her to stop doing that? Anyway she nearly ruined the movie for me. And Hrithik looks older in this – I’m guessing this was during the divorce because he clearly looks tired.
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Yaaaaaaay, Bang Bang! I love this movie with a fiery passion.
I think it was during divorce time? It was released long after, but probably filmed during. He also was just too skinny of course, and at a certain point that starts affecting your face, makes you look haggard.
Sure, any other actress could probably have played Kat’s role, but personally it doesn’t bother me because it is just such a slight silly role, doesn’t matter who plays it.
On Wed, Aug 19, 2020 at 12:35 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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No its her dialog delivery that drives me insane. Either get her dubbed or she really needs to start speaking Hindi properly without getting this weird accent in.
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But her back story was that she grew up in Canada so it made sense! Of course I can’t speak Hindi and only read the subtitles so it didn’t bother me at all. Thus I’ll defer to your analysis that her dialogue delivery was terrible, but I did love her physicality in the film.
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Well I think they say something like she has been wth her grandma in India for a long time though she was born in Canada. Anyway, the only reason 90% of Katrina’s characters are brought up outside of India is because her Hindi speaking/enunciation is terrible. I felt she was bad with the comedy too, a better actress would’ve brought more to the scenes.
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Continuing with mumblecore movies, I watched Funny Ha Ha. It is about this girl Marnie as she navigates work and relationships. Her life is the almost same at the beginning and ending of the movie. But the again I guess that is the entire point of mumblecore movies. Now I am realizing that many movies produced by the Duplass Brothers will fit into this genre.
I think Sai Pallavi has nice hair in most of her movies.
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I am so glad you continue to enjoy Mumblecore films! It’s so great when you find a genre you love like that.
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I had a little crush on Samir Soni this week and decided to watch Bhangra Paa Le because he has a little role in it. I saw like 30 minutes and can’t continue because Sunny Kaushal is terrible. He has one facial expression all the time, and what’s worse he plays two roles in this film. It felt like watching Loveyatri 2: expressionless guy plays a dancer and falls in love with a girl.At least here the hero doesn’t start flyng when he sees the girl. But on the other hand he ruins two roles, so I’m not sure what’s worse.
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But Genevieve loves this movie! How can you disagree?
On Wed, Aug 19, 2020 at 1:12 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Wait a second, Angie, aren’t you the one who hates Main Hoon Na???? Should I bother arguing with your “blackhearted soullessness”? All I can tell you is what I loved about it. I loved Sunny Kaushal’s character from the past. I loved that he played them so differently it took me a while to realize it was the same actor. I loved his dancing. I loved his love interest in the past as well. I did not love his modern day character, he did not make him likable. I also did not love the modern day love interest BUT she could dance, and they had good chemistry. I saw the movie because the picture on netflix made it look like they had chemistry, and that photo did not lie. The plot was expected, even cheesy, but good chemistry and good dancing??? Of course I loved it!
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Ha Ha I’m the one who doesn’t like MHN.
It’s funny because one of the reasons you love the movie is why I stop watching. For me Sunny was bad and the same in both roles. I could bear him in one role, but two was too much. Especially because Kaptaan’s character was so interesting and deserved better acting. I also imagined Unni Mukundan playing the role (not much for the acting but for sexiness) and there wasn’t way back. I think I need a Unni Mukundan movie asap.
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I totally agree that the Kaptaan character was so interesting. Didn’t you feel he was so sweet? Wasn’t it amazing how unsweet the modern day Sunny was? I don’t know who Unni Mikundan is, I’ll look into it.
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Thinking: I love my new credit school! Technically 4 days of “school” (Friday is an optional coming to school day) and lasts only about 4 hours with breaks and lunch, the people are so nice and the commute is very enjoyable because school starts at 10 am (or 10:30 am depending on how you can make it to school, but everyone has so far come early because they love it). Also, tons of sun, open space and nature around, which is a total plus!
Listening: Italian songs, just so good and I love the language so, so, so much! (And no my Peter “actually sunshine” Johansson love hasn’t subsided, his YT channel and collab channel is addicting!)
Watching: Been watching some Hitchcock and rewatched La Dolce Vita (again)
Favourite hair in Indian film is definitely these natural curls from Premam on Anupama Parameswaran
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I didn’t watch Mirzya, but clicked on this post because I recognised the actress Saiyama Kher in the thumbnail. She played the leading role in ‘Choked’. Have you watch it btw?
My favourite hair in Indian films: Manisha Koirala in ‘Khamoshi’ and Tapsee in ‘Manmarziyaan’.
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I have not seen Choked, but glad to know Saiyami was in it! She did good in this movie, not spectacular but solidly good. I hope she gets more work.
On Wed, Aug 19, 2020 at 2:51 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Natural or styled hair? Nowadays you can’t tell what’s someone’s natural hair as everybody get’s styled. I always thought Parveen Babi had beautiful silky hair.
Dimple is famous for thick wavy hair. I miss Madhuri and Juhi’s 90s big voluminous curls, that’s gone out of fashion now. Taapsee’s curls are beautiful too.
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I think anything that isn’t a wig is fair game. Natural or styled, it still requires a lot of work and brings a lot of enjoyment to see.
On Wed, Aug 19, 2020 at 6:43 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I love curly hair, Taapsee style. My gray hairs are coming in curly, it eases the transition.
I haven’t been reading what I am supposed to be reading. There is a beautiful, amazingly well written book by Kendra Atleework called Miracle Country all about my community. But it is intense. I know her father, he sold us maps when I worked at the bookstore. I need to be alone, and in quiet to read it. Alas I’m not sure when that will happen. There is another great book all about Berlin by Paul Scraton called Built on Sand. I was good friends with his friends 20 years ago. The book is like a window into my life if I had chosen to stay, also kind of intense.
So instead of reading I’ve been watching Lucifer. The actor who plays Lucifer is great, and the character is great, and he has a female demon side kick who sometimes beats people up and of course I love to watch women beating men up. Oh, and there is a not totally ethical therapist who is awesome. Apparently season 4 is the best. I’m on season 2. Some episodes are a slog to get through. Not all the actors or plots are great. I’m contemplating just skipping ahead.
My goal is to listen to Hamilton songs, but I have not achieved that goal. I haven’t been listening to anything.
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Thirkell! You should all be reading Thirkell! You don’t need quiet, you don’t need thought, it’s just dumb pleasure.
I’ve been considering Lucifer, but sounds like there is no rush. I will wait until you tell me it is spectacularly good, and what seasons to watch and what to skip.
I don’t know if I would even recommend listening to Hamilton songs. I haven’t tried the soundtrack on its own, I watched the live performance in Chicago, and then I saw the recorded performance a week or so ago, and so much of it was in the staging and acting, I am not sure if the songs will stand well on their own. Maybe listen, but also look up the lyrics and context? Or, just let yourself off the hook and listen to the Bhangre Pe Le soundtrack or JHMS again or something.
On Wed, Aug 19, 2020 at 8:43 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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My sister and her children LOVE the Hamilton songs, as does my 8 year old’s best friend. The kids and I watched some of it today, and they liked it more than I thought they would. The 11 year old couldn’t believe that the history was real.
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Well, I don’t think they all spoke in rap back in the 1770s. But otherwise real!
On Wed, Aug 19, 2020 at 10:54 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Reading – The Chai Factor by Farah Heron and waiting for an embroidery book to arrive today from Bahrison’s Book store.
Thinking – glad a Covid test I had a couple of days ago is negative which means I can keep an appointment next week with a surgeon about a problem I have in my upper abdomen.
Watching – On Prime Video – nearly at the end of Breathe: Into the Shadows. Hunters – started watching a few days ago. On MXPlayer – Thinkistan. On TVFPlay – Kota Factory (but haven’t got very far with it yet). On YouTube – Mom & Co. On Zee5 – Pavitra Rishta – have only seen the first episode, not sure if I’ll watch a lot after reading the precis on Wikipedia. Just wanted to see SSR, I can’t bring myself to watch Dil Bechara just yet.
Listening – soundtrack from Bandish Bandits (I hope there’s a second series – there is scope with Bad Uncle)
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My Mom dug out two embroidery kits she bought at least 10 years ago (that’s how long the store where she bought them has been out of business). And she is really enjoying it! She never seriously embroidered before, although she has done fine hand sewing so she isn’t starting from scratch. It’s a great time to already have the supplies and interest for a fiber arts hobby.
Good look with surgery! Both in terms of fixing your problem, and all the extra hassles you have to go through during this time. Blech! I wish you continued negative tests and helpful surgeons and a convenient surgery calendar.
You are watching so much! You make me ashamed of myself. I am watching nothing in comparison, just sitcoms I’ve seen a million times already and Midsomer Murders with my parents. If I ever escape the parental home for weekends again, I will have to try to make myself watch new Indian content somehow.
Oh right, Bandish Bandits! I was going to watch that, and then I forgot. I forget so much, surgery is horrible and takes over your brain/life. But not yours! Yours will be great! I was joking about that with the nurse at my doctor’s office today, I have toe surgery and it is a full EIGHT WEEKS of recovery, people go in for heart surgery or knee replacements or whatever and are jumping around like nothing within days. How does this make sense????
On Wed, Aug 19, 2020 at 8:50 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I hauled off and watched Gunjan Saxena and liked it a surprising amount. It’s entirely feminist and not jingoistic. (I think they take pains to show that as there’s a scene where she asks her father, an army officer, it it’s ok for her to join the air force if she isn’t patriotic but just wants to fly a plane). It’s charming because she’s really just a regular young woman throughout the movie, not particularly feisty or noble or anything. She’s actually a bit on the quiet side, but she’s consumed by passion for flying. In fact, I think if you weren’t familiar with the Kargil War you wouldn’t have any idea what was going on, including who they are fighting. Janhvi does a really good job and is very natural. Also excellent is Pankaj Tripathi, India’s Best Dad (TM).
The best hair was Parvathy in Qarib Qarib Singlle, hands down. I could barely pay attention to the movie because I was mesmerized by her beautiful hair. I also love Mithila’s hair–it’s probably a pain and super hot, etc., etc., but I really envy people who can just put their hair up and have it have height.
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So glad to hear that about Gunjan! I may be tempted to try it after all, based on what you say.
This hair? It’s interesting because the movie had a whole plot point about her getting a hot oil treatment to smooth and straighten it:
On Thu, Aug 20, 2020 at 6:14 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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V movie (Nani, Sudheer Babu, Aditi Hyderi, Mohana Krishna Indraganti(Ashta chamma, Sammohanam)) is finally going to be released on Sep 5th on Prime – eagerly waiting.
Prabhad new pan India movie is announced – poster looks like socio-fantasy genre
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I am so excited about V! I love that cast, and it has an actual release date! I would be excited about the Prabhas film, but I am nervous it won’t actually happen. Not just because of the lockdown, but Saaho took like 3 years alone.
On Thu, Aug 20, 2020 at 11:54 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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After years of putting it off, I finally watched Jab We Met over the weekend, and aside from some technical things that put me off, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Hot take: I liked Shahid more than Kareena?
And I have been thinking SO MUCH! In apartment news, I don’t know if we’re actually going to go through with the complex that I had mentioned last time because of reasons I don’t want to get into, which frustrated me for several days but now I think I’ve gotten over it because I’ve found other places that might be better location wise and also just nicer looking, even if they’re a TINY bit more expensive. But we’re gonna have to go through individual realtors instead of a leasing office, which so far has not been easy, and I would love to pick your brain, Margaret, about all this but I’m not sure if that would go here or in the Monday question post.
And then the other thing I’ve been thinking about is that my district changed their plan for reopening and I’m starting the year remotely instead of hybrid. A little frustrated that I have to scrap most of the ideas I had been cooking up, and now I know even less about what the school year is gonna look like. The plan has to be approved by the state DOE first, so there’s no details out, but it seems like we’re still gonna follow a normal day schedule, and people are talking about the possibility of the teachers going into the building to teach to a computer in an empty classroom, which aside from my getting to use white board and fancy school technology seems completely pointless. And I still don’t have my rosters so I don’t even know the kids’ names! The only bright side to this is that I found out my pay increase is WAY bigger than I thought it was gonna be.
And I haven’t been reading anything worth mentioning, Miley Cyrus has a new song out that I really like, and there’s so much good hair in Hindi cinema it’s hard to pick just one.
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So glad you finally saw Jab We Met! Now you can watch Socha Na Tha, and then Love Aaj Kal, and finally Jab Harry Met Sejal again, and now you will like and understand it. Also, yaaaay for the Shahid train! He is so underappreciated as an actor.
Of course you can pick my brain! First, you should have a sense of your market by now from all the places you have been looking at, if the slightly more expensive place is still within market range or below for the quality/location, take it. I’ve never regretted going a hair over my budget for an apartment. Although part of that is also that I plan to move within 5 years. My current place started out slightly above my budget but below market rate, and now my rent has gone up every year and it is moving towards above market. So I am ready to move. Does that make sense?
I agree, realtors are not great. You have probably already done this, but if you can find any direct number for the building, try using that instead. Sometimes people make it seem like they are exclusive agents but really aren’t. I briefly worked for a rental agency office, and I can also tell you that your rent WILL be higher if you go through a rental agency. It’s part of signing the contract with them, the building raises the rent to cover the cost of the rental agency. On the other hand, for certain buildings there is just no other option. Smaller buildings won’t have the dedicated staff for rentals, so they outsource it. It’s worth the hassle if you can get a nicer place.
Also, on a personal note, my sister lived in Highland Park for a while and it has a cool downtown strip but not much else appealing. On the other hand, New Brunswick has THE BEST library. So you should live there!
My minister does church services like you will be doing classes, and it works surprisingly well. The room is already perfectly set up for him to be talking, he can just stand behind the podium like usual and read off his sermon, no set-up required. And once they had the camera set in the right place, they could just leave it up all the time and all he has to do is hit “play”. I think it might be easier than putting together and taking down a “classroom” at your house all the time. While still of course very irritating that you have to commute back and forth and stuff for no real reason.
On Thu, Aug 20, 2020 at 12:01 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I’m gonna be honest, I have less than two brain cells when it comes to all of this, so half of what you said went completely over my head. I’ll probably do more research later, but I have no idea what you mean by market range. I have a pretty solid budget, mostly cuz my roommate doesn’t make as much as I do, so I don’t know how far over we can go. I get what you’re saying about building contact instead of realtor, the other places we’ve gone through the building/leasing office, the most recent ones have been through realtors, and some haven’t gotten back to me, so that might be a good idea to call the building directly. We pretty much have limited options for the actual location, considering we’d commute in opposite directions. New Brunswick might not be the safest option for two young women living on their own for the first time, so I’m not sure if it’s ideal.
I just got more information about reopening since I posted this comment, fully remote is set, but we have the option of going into our classrooms or doing it from home. When we were supposed to go hybrid, we were gonna get cameras in the classrooms, but I’m not sure if they’re doing away with that, I might have to use the camera on my computer regardless. And we’d have to wear masks while in the building, so I’m not sure if it’s worth it when I could stay in my bedroom with my desk and maybe buy a drawing tablet to hook up to my computer to make my life easier. But my house with my parents isn’t big enough for me to have a space to leave set up the entire time, especially if I’d have to use the camera on my computer.
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Oh yeah, teaching on camera with a mask sounds crazy! So much of the interaction with the students would be lost.
On Thu, Aug 20, 2020 at 7:43 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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