Horrible planning! 9 hour, 45 min stopover at LA airport - will definitely check bookings next time instead of delegating! Anyway, been quite a breeze so far - reading "tipping point" finally (book gifted to me in Sept'04!), blogging, msn chats, office work, idle daydreaming! Only 3 hours more to kill!
Top 2 things that make American airports unappealing
1) Infrastructure - much of the route for passengers is not temperature controlled (freezing here!) Toilets are a mess and the only food one can get is chilli dogs! Only thing "diverse" about the food is a restaurant selling german sausages!
2) People - Very impersonal, insensitive and (as always) with fake laughter & fake comments ("you have a good day now, hear?")
Tried for "top 5 or top 10" but it all boiled down to just the 2 above!:-) On the way back, shall meet up with friends and go out for some seafood!
Sunday, January 21, 2007
apocalypto
Had a boys day out recently to see Apocalypto (mel gibson's latest). Expected a fair bit of gore (got lots more than I needed) but also expected (and didn't get) a lot more of story around their obsession with "the gods". I guess my bias was the books I've read on ancient civilisations etc. so I was quite disappointed at half the movie being just about a random "rambo" hunt for the protagonist. First half was really interesting since it gave insight on what daily life was like in those days. Reminded me of "Curse of the golden flower" which also transported us into daily lives in Beijing several centuries ago - weak storyline right out of a ZEE tv soap I thought.
Got me thinking that Mel Gibson will be my one link to history - my fascination of knowing what daily life was like "back then" is coming alive through his movies like passion and apocalypto - they speak in the ancient languages and the scripts/dialogue etc. are very realistic & (i guess) representative. Now I want him to make something on Egypt, The rise of protestants and subsequent religious warfare in Europe, the industrial revolution in England ala Hugo, the battles for Jerusalem and Marco Polo !
Got me thinking that Mel Gibson will be my one link to history - my fascination of knowing what daily life was like "back then" is coming alive through his movies like passion and apocalypto - they speak in the ancient languages and the scripts/dialogue etc. are very realistic & (i guess) representative. Now I want him to make something on Egypt, The rise of protestants and subsequent religious warfare in Europe, the industrial revolution in England ala Hugo, the battles for Jerusalem and Marco Polo !
Sunday, January 7, 2007
a firm resolution 2007
Am typing this up for all to see so that I actually live up to this! I WILL lose a minimum of 5 and a goal of 10 kgs within the next 12 months! Watch this space and ask me in 358 days!
a new passion
Started golf over the holidays! Made me realize how out of shape I was even for such a low-activity game! But it's interesting enough and a 100% brain game so I have developed quite a liking - the complexity is interesting (at the moment at least!). Took a week or so of lessons from this pro arjuna award winner (etc etc etc) kind of guy in Delhi. Went and bought a basic set of clubs and shoes this afternoon - all sparkling clean without the muck so far! Feeling good even after having slept over it and no longer averse to giving this a shot for a few months and seeing where I want to take it.
As the family expands, music expands (3 bands active), work expands, waist expands (unrelated but fits!), I remember this Philippines country manager words that one can only play 5 roles in life at a given point of life with any focus on each. These could be that of father, son, husband, brother, friend, nephew, uncle, golfer, musician etc. etc. Interesting concept from him - let's see how this goes since I've kind of taken on 3 new roles all within a 6 month period! My guess is sleep will be first casualty, followed by either lower or higher stress in personal life (depending on the NET effect of the extra hobbies:-)).
As the family expands, music expands (3 bands active), work expands, waist expands (unrelated but fits!), I remember this Philippines country manager words that one can only play 5 roles in life at a given point of life with any focus on each. These could be that of father, son, husband, brother, friend, nephew, uncle, golfer, musician etc. etc. Interesting concept from him - let's see how this goes since I've kind of taken on 3 new roles all within a 6 month period! My guess is sleep will be first casualty, followed by either lower or higher stress in personal life (depending on the NET effect of the extra hobbies:-)).
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