Did I mention that my discman died two weeks ago? My faithful companion since 2001 ( or possibly 2000, considering that it was originally absolut_69‘s baby that I stole away and paid him six months later), my ecape valve during final year examinations, Sunny Deol-infested bus journeys, my PRECIOUS little precious finally gave up. Was bound to happen, but I am not giving up easily. It’s off for repairs now, and the guy at the service center ( unauthorized, the Philips guys said they don’t repair discmans, especially not the Expanium, and DEFINITELY not this model.), the guy said the lens needs to be changed. I don’t have too much hope of it working for more than a year, new lens or not, and I am pretty sure it won’t be able to read any of my older Frontech mp3 CDs. But no matter. I am not giving up on you easily, precious.
It’s one of those unacknowledged laws that whenever you lack the means to listen to music, your urge to listen to music increases dramatically. I have been spending my free time ( Ha ha ha) revisiting some CDs that I hadn’t heard in quite sometime. Travis, Moby’s Play, Dixie Chicks, Bad Company, Jethro Tull, Van Morrison, Cowboy Junkies. Loads of Suzanne Vega too.
Has it ever happened to you that you hear a song, and then don’t hear it for a long time, and when you hear it again, it sounds completely different from what you had thought it sounded, in terms of the orchestration and the arrangement? That happened to me with Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks, a song which I keep remembering because of the opening lyrics, that go – If I ventured in the slipstream, between the viaducts of your dream, where immobile steel rims crack, and the ditch in the back roads stop – Could you find me? Would you kiss my eyes? – the imagery just kills me, man. I heard it after a long time, and was really, really taken aback to find that it was not really as guitar-driven as I remembered it was.
And now for some venom.
I think it was V For Vendetta that did it, finally, but I realised that the ratio of returns to investment has been mindblogglingly low for all the movies I’ve seen in theatres this and the last year. Movies that I’ve loved and enjoyed, like Sin City, Hostel, The Devil’s Rejects, even The Corpse Bride have no chance of attaining theatrical releases in India. What do we get? Pap. Bile-inducing insults to my brain. Pixellated eye-candy with six tracks of digitized nonsense. So I say, enough. No more movies in theatres. No more paying inflated prices to be mentally assaulted for 90 to 180 minutes, and with cellphone ringtone interruptions too, to boot. Especially comicbook movies. I have been completely uninterested in Superman Returns ever since yada yada yada and I am not really interested in talking about it, thank you. If you see it and you like it, well, I am happy for you. Obviously you haven’t been reading Doom Patrol or All Star Superman, so I can’t really say I am too happy for you, but yeah, you should know that I have absolutely no problems with you watching Superman Returns. Nope, none at all. Not a teensy weensy bit. Honest.
The trailer for Spiderman 3? Not interested. Ghost Rider? Pah! 300? Ditto. Nacho Libre? Well, yeah, interested, but I don’t think it’s coming to theaters here, so there!
I was also more than a little pissed off because the last copy of Hanzo The Razor available at secondspin.com got sold off this week, as did the two copies of Varttina’s Miero. GRRRAH! My credit card’s maxed out, so I couldn’t pick it up. CD-WOW still has it, but it’s almost twice the price.
I am a man of taste. I shall now go home and listen to Himesh Reshammiya until I fall asleep. I have a presentation to make tomorrow morning. Er, today morning. I am in such an ebullient mood (Part of the reason: Roger Ebert gave Superman Returns two stars. I don’t really like the guy, but that didn’t stop me from grinning a lot on reading his review) that my technical presentation has taken on shades of a standup comedy routine. Wish me luck.
Douche
“If I ventured in the slipstream, between the viaducts of your dream…” Sounds like a Carrier blurb, no?
And if you have Travis discs, whytf did I download three albums for you last night?
And think about it this way: When Superman Returns bombs (fingers crossed), *maybe* they’ll stop making comic book movies …unless they make Mandrake. Or Bahadur!
Re: Douche
Er, that was me.
Re: Douche
Because the only Travis disc I have refuses to play in my computer at the office. And I am too lazy to search for the mp3 version that I have. ;-)
Carrier blurb, Pi? Remind me to Carrier blurb you the next time we meet. Hmpf! Carrier blurb, indeed!
I haven’t been following them closely, but what do Doom Patrol and All Star Superman have to do with enjoyment of Superman Returns?
Ghost RiderSpider-Man 3 looks pretty sweet.
So there.
Because without having read Doom Patrol and All Star Superman, one cannot believe in the concepts of love, peace and universal brotherhood. :-P
Ah, don’t mind me, Brian. I am just becoming an elitist psycho. ( Though, in my defence, I am an elitist psycho who believes in love, peace and universal brotherhood.)
Dude, I have two MP3 CD Discman, one expanium and other sony. You can borrow expanium if you want too. :)
Well, mine’s fixed! But I might still borrow yours. :-)
FYI
I am going to watch “Superman Returns” in a “Theatre” tomorrow.
Re: FYI
I am so happy for you!
I could support you by not watching Superman Returns. :P
What about Spiderman 3? Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna? ;-)
The key word here being *could* not *will* ;)
Why don’t you get an mp3 player? I won’t mention an ipod… but the Creative ones are jam-packed with features. Discmans are old news now.
Also, check this out.
I am rather fond of listening to music off my mp3 CDs. I know the precise order in which the albums and songs are arranged in most of them, and ….
Well, actually, I am just a cheapskate who does not want to spend money on mp3 players.
I know the precise order in which the albums and songs are arranged in most of them
Ever heard of playlists ? ;-)
yeah, the way I see it, if you are going to spend money buying a new discman… rather buy a new mp3 player. Go for the 60GB ipod and you wont need to worry about changing CDs too often.
The discman got fixed yesterday. 600 Rs, it cost, to get the lens fixed. So my wallet is safe for now. :-)
cheapskate.
;-)
Bah! Interested in Nacho Libre, but not in Spider Man 3, he says! What a blatant display of arrogance!
To repeat the famous exclaim, PHOO!!!
I think you would have been happier had I said Krrish instead of Nacho Libre, eh? Heh heh heh.
http://archive.gamespy.com/comics/dorktower/images/comics/CBG28.gif
In case you missed it on your friends page. :)
Don’t bother, he is just being a jerk, missing you because there’s noone to accompany him to a movie. Snooty assed C!
I havent been watching Superman Returns, or other comic-book-based-movies(or for that matter, any other movies:-). Do be nice enough to treat me sometime in return for my support of your tastes.
Shamanth
I think I shall show you Eli Roth’s Hostel, or The Devil’s Rejects. *snicker*
er.. What will it take for you to make me a copy of Hostel brudda ??
besides plssssssssss plsssssssss plsssssssssss.. :-)
Urmmm, a new DVD writer? The one I have is busted. :-(
I have the DVD, not a divx.
ok, so what collateral are we lookin at for loaning ze DVD for a day?
been a long time since we swapped movie lists man.. lemme knw when u have the time..
Your constant cribbing about V for Vendetta motivated me to buy my first graphic novel. :) I loved the Prelude to the “Vicious Cabaret”.
What about the rest of the book? :)
First impressions: extremely ingenious and quite poignant, with moments of wild invention [eg, Vicious Cabaret]. But I will need to read it a few more times before I can come up with a more meaningful response than a few adjectives. Actually, that last proposition probably tells you what you want to know. :)
So when are you seeing the movie? :-D
I saw the movie at around the same time you did. Didn’t like it, though there were a couple of visually stunning scenes. The plot just seemed confused and Natalie Portman annoyed me beyond measure.
Man, I need a new userpic. The initial heady rush of the BOss Tanaka scene has worn off a little.
As Poirot would say “It gives one furiously to think”…
Superman Returns is outrageously silly and stupid and boring.
Rejoice!
Really? I don’t believe it!!!!
You are right not to do so. Superman Returns is a great and subtle work of art. The sort of art that wins the Turner Prize.