Happy Wednesday! I started the day by taking down my Veer-Zaara kitchen poster and clearing out all the under the sink cleaning supplies I never really use. I am PRODUCTIVE!
I’ll start!
Watching: My parents and I watched Strictly Ballroom on Friday and it is as wonderful as always. Tonight I have a friend movie night, and I was thinking of doing Dedh Ishqiya for Madhuri’s birthday, but now I feel all tired and sweaty and I may fall back on Student of the Year 2. It’s just so happy!
Reading: Oh, my Mom sent me a link! An article in the Tribune about a class on art versus artist that has been running for decades and how the attitudes of the students have shifted over time. And also, of course, the 3 ballad poems I picked for next Sunday. LESBIANS!
Thinking: I am so sick of PACKING!!!! And it never seems to end! Have you noticed this? Every time you think you have reached a stopping point, there’s another cupboard you forgot about, or a drawer that still isn’t empty. UGH! Oh well, at least I have the movers scheduled. And the junkman. Next Thursday, everything is going to a storage unit. And next Friday, everything that didn’t make it to the storage unit is going to with the junkman. No matter what, I will be DONE.
Listening: Madhuri week!!!!
Question: A vital question! I have been getting more substantial and less sugary breakfasts to encourage packing. With that in mind, What is your favorite bagel order?
I’ve been doing Blueberry toasted with honey walnut cream cheese. I know, it’s disgusting and wrong and blah blah blah. But it tastes good!
dontcallitbollywood 
Packing is like big cleaning – you can work like crazy but there is still so much to do and one thinks it will never end.
I saw Sardar Ka Grandson, first day first show 😉 Well, I will say one thing – my romantic, cute dream starring Arjun K was better.
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Oh dear. Well, that makes me feel better about not wanting to watch it for Friend Movie Night tonight.
On Wed, May 19, 2021 at 1:18 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I want you all to watch it, but must confess it reminded me Shimla Mirchi because it’s about a man trapped between Rakul Preet and an older actress I found absolutely insupportable
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I won’t watch it which is sad because AK looked good in promotions.
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He has very nice hair in the first scenes. But unfortunately later his father calls, and says: What is this shabby look? clean yourself before going home! And so he returns to his usuall boring hair I hate 😦
Why they just can’t let me enjoy the movie?
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Sardar ka Grandson…what can I say? Big meh is high praise. Switched to YouTube halfway thru to assure myself that Arjun is really handsome and sexy becuz he
certainly isn’t in this. He has helmet hair, goopy clothes, and runs funny. Generally
he disappoints. Grannie looks anything but 90…not a line on her face, and the ancillary characters just confused me. The only parts I enjoyed were the flashbacks (John Abraham in a turban, oh my!) Is it worth going back to see the rest of it tonight? Does it improve?
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No, it doesn’t improve. There are few touching moments when granny finally sees the house and thinks about John Abraham. You can skip all the boring part about moving the house and watch only the last 10 or 15 minutes.
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It’s a good week for Arjun Kapoor fans. First Sardar Ka Grandson, and now unexpectedly Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar dropped on Prime.
Today Prime also added Tovino Thomas’s Kala, unfortunately not in Italy 😦
And I heard 99 Songs will be available from tomorrow on Netflix.
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I’m curious about Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar. We deserve a good AK film.
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I sorry, Angie. I take it all back, all the negativity about Arjun Kapoor. Just saw Pinky and he is back! Or he never left. He’s handsome, commanding, and sexily brooding. His hair is attractively rumpled and he doesn’t run funny. He started out that way the first 5 mins of Sardar when he tells his girlfriend that’s the way he is, take it or leave it. But then he turned into that sappy noodle. It occurred to me after watching Pinky that maybe he was supposed to be a sappy noodle with his Grannie and so he was ACTING. I forgive him and if I was a Parineeti fan, I could have really gotten into Pinky. I don’t know why I’m not her fan; she certainly knows what she’s doing, but something about her…
Anyway, doesn’t matter. Helllooo, AK!
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loool I can’t believe his acting was too good
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Well, maybe not TOO good, Popka. But I can overlook a lot when the visuals fall into place.
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Yes! That scene in the beginning of Sardar when he gets angry! Goosebumbs. I immediately thought: Man, he should stop doing those nice nebbish roles and return to violent, sexy ones like in Aurangzeb. He was soooo sexy in Aurangzeb!
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Where did you watch Aurangzeb? It’s on Amazon but the audio and subtitles I have are from another film. It’s been that way for months. I actually connected with someone at Amazon but their reaction was, “Oh really? How odd.” Drives me crazy. So far I can’t find it on Netflix or Hotstar or even Youtube.
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Aurangzeb on einthusan:
https://einthusan.tv/movie/watch/1683/?lang=hindi
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Oh good! I can skip Sardar for Tovino. He never disappoints. Then MAYBE Pinky which I heard is stinky.
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That sounds like a great class, thanks for sharing the article. So interesting that there are students quoted whose moral absolutism makes the professor cringe in the moment but who later speak about this being their favorite class because it complicates their thinking and gives them space to explore their ideas. Goes to show that so much of what older adults want to interpret as generational trends is probably just young people posturing on the internet while they learn about the world and figure things out for themselves. The difference is that now they leave a record behind as they go.
Don’t have much to share this week but I did want to drop this link to a round up of new books from the diaspora. Just a really interesting, diverse list.
https://electricliterature.com/new-and-forthcoming-books-by-writers-from-the-indian-diaspora/
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Oh! Also…I know I discover things way after everyone else knows about them but, this band! So fun! Like bhangra meets New Orleans jazz, and they even sing in Spanish!
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Kunal Kapoor fans (so all of us I guess) ! His newest movie, I had no idea about, Koi Jaane Na, will be on Prime next week 🙂 I like the poster, so intense!
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Oooo, it’s kind of an old pulp novel cover feel to it, with the fake aging effect and stuff.
On Fri, May 21, 2021 at 1:18 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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It looks great on the posters but the story does not appeal to me at all. Of course it might be that what it actually is has little to do with the synopsis, so.
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I feel like every time I comment on one of these posts it’s always depressing. This one’s also gross. Sorry.
Thinking: On Friday I noticed blood in my urine. I had the suspicion that it was kidney stones. I’ve had them before, and this was the first symptom last time too. So I was going to call my doctor when offices opened back up on Monday. But I had terrible pain on Sunday afternoon so my parents took me to the ER. I did have kidney stones and was sent home with meds to help pass them. All week I was stressing over it to the point where I was crying hysterically in my bathroom last night because I was in so much pain and was still expected to do my job and live my life and do my responsibilities and teach hybrid which is getting harder by the day. But I passed it a few hours ago, and I still have to recover, but I feel a lot better. 20 or so days until the end of the year.
Watching: I finished Ajab Prem blah blah and I don’t know how to feel about it. I think my one word review would be inconsistent. Some stuff was not funny at all, but other scenes I was cackling. Katrina was lovely, and I was rooting for her happiness. But I couldn’t really feel for Ranbir. I don’t think the petulant man-child-ness of his typical roles was as obvious in this one, but it’s still there. I couldn’t really get behind Ranbir and Katrina as a couple, but they did have a great rapport. Salman has a cameo that’s wild. There was lots of meta stuff. The music was okay. But it’s silly and stupid, so if you’re looking for something like that, sure, maybe you’ll like it.
And then when I was recovering from my ER visit on Monday, I watched Enola Holmes, which was SO GOOD. Fast paced and smart and well put together. I absolutely loved it.
Reading: Something to Talk About, a lesbian romance novel in Hollywood. Haven’t read much this week with everything going on. Haven’t really listened to new music either. Olivia Rodrigo has an album out which I should listen to soon cuz my students are going to ask about it.
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First, silly comment, I kept reading “20 or so days until the end of the year” thinking that somehow I had lost my mind and it was secretly December while I thought it was May. And then I figured it out.
Only 20 days!!! You can make it!!!! That’s no time at all!!!!
On Sat, May 22, 2021 at 5:58 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I’m so sorry to hear you were unwell.
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