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OK. This is Crazy.

Yesterday, like I said, I went and bought a hardcover edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. I did not pay too much attention to it, because, hey, there’s no way Iit can be a first edition – I just bought it because the copy I have is a pirated one, and Hardcovers look better on a shelf. Plus, this one did not have a book jacket.

Now I just decided to check up on prices of Harry Potter books on eBay. Nothing too hoity, just a cursory glance to find out how much the hardcovers are really worth. I generally do that quite a lot. To boost the collector in me.

And that’s when I came across this. The book I bought. The exact same condition. It was put on sale on 12th June, for a starting price of $1. And today, right now, with eight hours to go before the bid ends, the price of the book has risen to $286. 29 people have bid for it so far.

Two hundred and eighty-six dollars for a book that I bought for 125 Rupees. Whooof! I am almost tempted to stay for eight more hours and watch how it ends.

I think I need to play a little Unreal and massacre some ‘bots. Maybe it will calm me down a little.

I get excited at the darnedest things, non?

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The worst kind of scenario:-
Indian Ocean has come out with their latest album Jhini. I thought the name of the album would be Bhor, but no, that’s just a song. Now I came to know of this information two weeks ago, at Music World, when I happened to see the poster. Went and asked the dumbasses at the counter where it was on display. As usual, half of them didn’t know what Jhini was. Finally, a bright chap, incidentally the same guy who put the poster up, says – “It’s sold out.”

Hello! Sold out even before I got to SEE the freakin cover. Nice. Some hasty explanations later, he adds – “The cd hasn’t come yet, only the cassette.”

Great! I rant and curse inwardly and that day onwards, I frequent the Lifestyle Music World daily, inquiring about the Indian Ocean album. And needless to say, they still don’t have it!!!

Another moronic thing that only the Music World dumbos could think of – I was hanging around on Monday looking at (and drooling over) random vcds, when they started playing the opening strains of Nahin Saamne. “Great”, I thought. “Another DJ Suketu 420 volts remix of a Rahman song.” And then the tune merged into that of The Journey Home. A female voice. “Has to be Sarah Brightman”, I thought, because that was what I had heard, la Brightman covering Rahman on her latest album Harem. Shweta Shetty on the “Aaja Saanwariya bit. Just to confirm whether it was Brightman, or the cover of a cover ( there were some nasty Eurobeats towards the middle of the song which ruined the mood), I went and asked the guy at the console. Yep, SB it was. And guess what – it was a sample tape.

Now look at this. These guys don’t play anything good in Music World anyway. They don’t even have a half-decent collection. The latest Nirvana album arrived something like six months after I saw it in Planet M, Bangalore. And now, when they have a sample tape of something good, they have the nerve to say – “Oh no, this is not for sale AND we don’t have any copies yet. And some more good news, we don’t know when it’s going to come in stock, either.”

I don’t know what kind of business sense these guys have.

Anyway, the Jhini cd is still not available.

Gave in to temptation and visited Best Book stall the other day. New goodies include:-

a) Lata Mangeshkar – a biography, hardcover, UBSPD – Raju Bharatan. A pretty nice buy for 150 rupees, I must say. Choc-a-bloc with interesting anecdotes and facts.

b) Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Bloomsbury, Hardcover, 1999 edition – I bought this because my (pirated) HP books are with someone whom I don’t expect to meet again in the near future, and also because of the beautiful binding. 125 bucks.

c) Srimad Bhagavatam. Bhavan’s Book House. – Kamala Subramanium – Like Sasi had predicted, it was less than half of what he had paid for his copy. ;-) This is not the Bhagavad Gita, it’s the translation of the Bhagavat Purana. Just to point out that, no, no spirituality in my life.

d) Filth – Irvine Welsh. I used to suspect that Ahmedsir prices his books depending on how much my eyes glitter when I take the book to him. Yesterday my suspicions were proved right.

And the tragedy of the week – this dwarfs even the Jhini-fiasco(though by a narrow margin) – Inspite of having gone to Abids on two consecutive days, I did not, or rather, could not – have any panipuri. Sigh!! The inhumanity!

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Movies, Weirdness

Hate

It is time…for me to tell you what I should have told you five days, ago, Harry. Please sit down. I am going to tell you everything.

The Prophecy is true, Harry. I hate to say it, but that doesn’t change things. Not one bit. I…..you, me, all of us, had hoped for better things, and we thought we had them, we believed, we trusted too much. Ah, but for the meaningless twists and turns of two convoluted minds, we might have felt it.

You felt it, Harry? That familiar tightening at the pit of your stomach, when you think you are about to experience something you’ve been waiting forever. That rush of adrenaline when the people you knew a long time ago were brought back to life after five long years? You did, of course. And after that, my boy? How long did it take for you to find out about…..about the Truth. The Truth had been in the air for months, shadowy whispers that we chose to ignore. The ravings of unbelievers, we called them. But the Unbelievers were right all the time. The Prophecy, all of it, is true.

Unbelievers, Harry.

I am an Unbeliever now, you know. One of them, now.

The Matrix Reloaded sucks, Harry. It sucks big-time.

Maybe it was The Agents that did it. Maybe the version we’re seeing onscreen is not the version Larry and Andy planned and directed. The System must have assimilated our collective consciousness and given us what we’re meant to see. Not what we wanted to.

*we hates them*

No.

*stupid flying people in black coatsssss. stupid kung-fu. stupid architect. stupid mero-mevo-meor-aaaarghhh. stupid oracle. stupid EVERYONE. we hatesssss them*

No. NO!

I am raving now, Harry. I am sorry.

Your turn, my boy. Five days to go, and it’s going to be you all over again. And you, Roland. Five months for you. I will be waiting, of course. Somewhere deep down I feel you are going to let me down too, and I am not holding my breath. No sir.

*Stupid wizard boy kirrrrrrmmmmphh*
Shut up.

I am waiting, Harry.

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From Sandman#4: [A Hope In Hell]

MORPHEUS: Never trust a demon. He has a hundred motives for anything he does… Ninety-nine of them, at least, are malevolent.

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MORPHEUS: I thank you. The kings of Hell are honorable. I will remember this.

LUCIFER: Honorable? You joke, surely. Look around you, Morpheus. The million Lords of Hell stand arrayed about you. Tell us why we should let you leave? Helmet or no, you have no power here… what power have dreams in hell?

MORPHEUS: You say I have no power? Perhaps you speak truly… But — you say that Dreams have no power here? Tell me, Lucifer Morningstar.. Ask yourselves, all of you… What power would Hell have if those here imprisoned were not able to dream of Heaven?

More quotations here.

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The Sandman FAQ contains a delightful synopsis of what actually happens in the 75-issue series. I stumbled onto an older version of the faq and it has the tale told until issue 58. A single-line decription of what happens in each issue….I can’t wait to read all of them. The comics, I mean – not the descriptions….
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