Oh great, there’s no one in the house now except me. Rishi’s gone to Bangalore, Vineet to Bombay. Sasi’s gone home to Eluru, and Vasu’s gone with him. And I am leaving for Bangalore tonight.
Christmas Day passed by like any other holiday, except there was no sunshine, and it was real chilly outside, which gave me quite a shock when I woke up in the morning, expecting the watch to say 7:00 AM. “Congratulations, buddy.” I was telling myself, “You woke up early today.” *Shocked look at watch* “Sputter! Gak! 10:30??!! It can’t be! ”
But it was. The clock said twelve before I finally got into the groove, that is, before I decided what to do with the half-day that was left. Finally made it to MR Book Stall, where I had to repay some money – and as usual, the guy had a couple of new books. I was in control – asked him to keep them until next month, by then I would either change my mind, or get the money to buy them.
The books were –
Stanley Kubrick: Interviews by Stanley Kubrick.
Burton on Burton, by Tim Burton.
And another book on Stanley Kubrick, about which I am not too sure whether it’s the Vincent LaBrutto book or the Paul Duncan one. ( Yes, that’s the way it was, iI didn’t even look at the book, I saw it was about Kubrick, and I looked inside and read the first couple of pages, which were all very good ) He was charging 250 rupees for the first book and 450 for the other two.
I bought a couple of back-issues of Cinefantastique, and two issues of Cinescape, an original game cd of Kingpin for eighty rupees, gulped a couple of panipuris, and that was that.
Forgot to mention this, but I seem to have become a very good DVD ripper. All you need is the programs Smartyrip and FlaskMPEG, a nice big hard disk ( look again, that’s ‘s’ )and oodles of patience, and you’re done.
Kevin Smith’s Mallrats was brilliant!!! The kind of movie that makes me glad I am me. Which is not a very sensible thought, I know. Next stop: The Clerks animated series, and then Chasing Amy, and then Dogma. Cinema Paradiso, I love you!
Dinner at Angeethi’s with Mons, followed by an unsuccessful attempt to buy tickets to Bangalore. God help me, I need to go there and I don’t have tickets yet. It’s the holiday season, so chances are slight. It’s chilly, very chilly, so I am not going by General Class in the train ( besides, I hate going to Kacheguda station ) Let’s see……
Edit: Also bought a Fantasy Masterworks reprint of Lord Dunsany’s Time and The Gods at MR yesterday.
Edit: Got bus tickets to Bangalore. Madhav, Uddu, here I come! Hoo hoo ha.
Mallrats is always so underrated. For what it is, and what it was intended to be, I think it’s very funny.
Wasn’t it a big hit in the States? At least, I had the feeling it was universally lauded as one of the funniest offbeat movies…
‘Mallrats’ was a big flop in the States. It became a cult movie but it didn’t do anything as a theatrical release. Smith talks a lot about this in the DVD commentary.
Burton on Burton is an excellent book.
What thepopa said, though I’ll add that the film’s biggest supporters tended to be Kevin Smith films, and even then they’re pretty divided over this movie.
For the most part, Smith’s films don’t do that well theatrically (Clerks being the exception), but do make a ton of money on their video/DVD releases.
Jiyo beta! Arrange more viewings of the likes of Mallrats and i will make your favourite chicken curry whenever you ask for :p
– Mons.
Coming up next: Clerks. ;-)
(which rhymes with clucks, which is the sound a chicken makes, of course not when it’s in a soup, or curry. :-D)
What about ducks?
Ducks are very sweet critters, except when they are named Donald or Scrooge.
Or Daffy!
or Bombay.
And to think i only prefer chicks on fire (:o :o :o shut up! no hidden meanings or suggestions!);not geese or fish
-Mons.
Or Tendulkar.
Hmm, I sense a disturbance in the Force…