Now I need you to relax. I mean, really relax. I've got some news. Something big. Something new.

I'm redesigning Vinoj.com.

Okay fine, I may have already said that. But ladies and germs I have a sneak peek for you today. I bet you woke up this morning and thought, "This day is gonna be special... but I just don't know why." Well here's why.

Basically I realized that most of the people who come to my site view it for the blog. That's the number one thing. Not the pictures, the portfolio, or even the 'About Me'. (I'm shocked!) So I've redesigned with that in mind, and there's going to be a front page that has just the latest blog, and a main page that has access to everything else. Do I know how to code that yet? Nope. Do I ever consider these things before making my website plans? Nope. Why? Because I figure, "Hey, I'll learn somehow." So without further ado...

So I read a lot of RSS feeds, and I saw a headline that read, "Arkansas to start Dick at QB in Capital One Bowl." That in itself is funny.

But then I followed it to ESPN.com where the story originates and the title is funnier than anything I could've come up with....

You've just gotta check it out.

Have fun.

So i was pumping gas into my bike, and i opted for the higher octane gas. it's a bit more expensive, and in the long run it costs more, but at the same time, it helps your engine because it keeps it cleaner and there's less damage done to the engine. So like, after years or whatever you don't have to replace the whole engine or whatever.

Then I thought to myself- if I put high octane gas to keep my engine clean, then why do i have such bad eating habits? Vehicles come and go. But the body-- I've only got one of those.

And then further along, i thought about the fact that women (or relationships) are just like vehicles. It's nice to get one that looks hot/nice the everyone will look at and go, "oooohh.." but in the long run, what you really want is something that's dependable and will stay with you and won't break down. it's nice to get the new flavor of the month car that looks fuckin hot at the time, but after a few years, the design will look old, and what you really wish is that you got the boring Toyota Camry or Honda Accord because it's not going anywhere AND here's another one- If you get a Ferrari, that looks great throughout history. But for that, just like women, what do you need? MONEY. LOTS of it.

Alright, so maybe the end part was a bit cynical about me marrying Angelina Jolie or Adriana Lima. But hey, I think that the rest of them apply to men AND women.

K, I'm out. Peas.

IM of the Day
You don't like the SRK (Shah Rukh Khan)?
He's so cute.

-Dave Leichtman, explaining his man-love for Bollywood men folk.

So I was talking to Apsi this morning and I thought, what would I say when our kids ask me, "How did you two meet?" And I decided that this is how it would go....

"I once went on a hiking expedition in the Ranthambore jungle. It had been a long and difficult day, and all of my friends and I decided to camp down for the night. For whatever reason, I was having trouble sleeping in my tent, and I heard some faint rustling near our campsite. I took a flashlight outside and began searching. I went deeper and deeper into the jungle, and further and further away from the safety of our campsite. There seemed to be nothing. I turned back, thinking how silly I was in the first place to have to come out here. I felt something move near my back, and I whipped around to see two piercing eyes staring back at me-- two exotic, piercing eyes. After that, it was all a blur, the strange creature jumped on me and began hitting me and scratching and biting. I fought the best I could, and I was bloodied from the surprise attack. I looked around to see if there was anything I could use to protect myself-- when I spied a tree branch on the dense jungle floor. Somehow I grabbed a hold of it, and THUD! Hit the creature over the head. It collapsed onto the ground beside me. I grabbed it by the hair, and brought it back to camp because it was like nothing I'd ever seen before. It was important others knew about this as well and I take it to a zoo or something.

[Insert kid's name here], that creature... that crazy jungle creature... is your mother. That's why she still has the long hair and her hugs are very tight. In fact, if you get her too angry-- and this has happened to me-- she will attack, just like the crazy jungle woman that she was when I first met her. So be careful. Although it took me a while to tame her, it was only a little before you were born that the zookeepers allowed me to take her out of the cage and into this house. And I've been keeping an eye on her ever since."

So yeah, that's what I came up with. It'll keep them guessing for a little while. Or at least annoyed.

Quote of the Day
"Die. With rabies. Alone. In a ditch."
-Sharanya (my director), after I joked that I won't be at rehearsal tomorrow

Quote of the Day
"I've nicknamed my showerhead Fabio."

-Kaci

Quote of the Day
"This guy is on my ass like a thong!!"
-Deja, referring to the car behind her while driving through heavy ice and snow

Quote of the Day
"hot in any color - is still hot"
-Jon, referring to the fact that regardless of the race of a woman...... hot is still hot.

Here's a very good video that Arshy sent me. Note- in most instances I find it annoying as hell when people send me videos online? Why? Because they suck. This is most probably because I have a very odd sense of humor, etc. (I esp don't find babies cute thanks.)

Anyway, this one has to do with Islam, and even though I'm not Muslim, I got most of the jokes and the film is shot rather well. So check it out.

-v

Taking off to Ameeeeerica....

So less than 12 hours to my flight to America, and I'm sitting here wondering, "I should probably start packing, huh?"

What's the big deal with packing, people? Really-- seriously now. I mean unless you're a designated carrier of holiday gifts for 30 people, it really shouldn't be all that hard. I learned to pack (I think) back when I was 17--

1. Make a list of stuff you need to take.
2. Put stuff into suitcase.
3. Cross out whatever you've just put in the suitcase.
   

And you're done in 20 minutes, tops. But the way people go about it and even STRESS about it, it's as if it's supposed to be some major brain surgery. Having done hundreds of brain surgeries myself for victims--err-- patients who come to me, I'll say that this is clearly *not* brain surgery.

Just a matter of shoveling your closet into your suitcase, locking it up, and going.

Now getting your HAIR done in the morning. Now that takes a while. (Side note- except for me now because I have a mohawk again. All for Vinni.)

Too funny

IM of the Day

Sharanya: may all the camels of arabia unite and kick u
in the crotch

So my mom told me yesterday that I was spoiled by India. Whaaa..??

You know what? She's right. Here lemme explain.

See, Aparna makes the best coffee I've ever tasted. It's strong, sweet, and still has cream/milk too. Jojin also makes a badass cup of joe and I'm very happy with it. As a result, I've totally given up on making coffee. I can make a whole barrage of just about anything in the kitchen - from appetizers to main courses to entrees, and just about any cuisine you desire- , but the one thing I've never been able to make is a decent cup of coffee.

I was telling my mom last night that I don't even try coffee because I've got these two, and she told me that I'm spoiled. She recalled how back in America, I used to wake up every morning at my apartment, make an omelet, french toast, waffles, pancakes, whatever. Along with that pour some fresh juice, and I'm out. But here, I don't eat breakfast. Or lunch. Why? Because I just wait for someone to make some coffee. Once I have that coffee, I basically just wait until dinner. I know I know, it's a horrible diet I have. But at night, I just go out and have dinner at a local restaurant that has dirt cheap food. Weird.

So India has spoiled me. Never thought I'd be claiming that.

Quote of the Day
"Guess who I ran into.. JAI RODRIGUEZ... he had a man with a kilt with him.. no idea."

-Rumman, about her brush with celebrity. In case you're not aware, he's one of the guys on Queer Eye for the Straight Guy

IM of the Day
"Gabby: In my dream some woman kept pestering me to buy her puppies
Gabby: I wouldn't, so she smuggled them into my house
Gabby: and they turned into kittens
Gabby: but no sex was involved"

-Gabby, when we were talking about strange dreams we were having

Birthday festivities

Alright, so I think I'm supposed to automatically include what happened on my birthday, correct? So let's start with this: it was awesome.

First off, I decided I wanted a Friiiiied Chicken Party. (You gotta say it all Southern for it to be correct btw.) Apsi was wonderful and bought a whole lot of KFC including Zinger Burgers (my favorite in India.. btw did you know that KFC in India is better than KFC in America? Seriously- the chicken is juicier, fresher, and tastes better. Weird.) In America there's the Zinger Wrap, but it doesn't do justice. No no, this is perfect because it has full mayonnaise, a slice of cheese, fresh lettuce, and then a sesame seed bun. Awww YEAAH.

Anyway, a bunch of people were here, with a majority of them being people I didn't know. Basically Jojin's friend John brought over two of his (girl)friends (fine by me, ahem ahem), and Jojin brought like, 2 or 3 guys (boo). Then there were my friends Eleyah and Serah whom I adore, Vinod, Apsi, and Vinod's sister Maggie and her husband and kids. So it was a rather incongruous lot... very odd.

After the finger lickin' good chicken, most of us (except the parents, kids, and Vinod) went out to a new club. The music was so-so, but I danced like it was 1999. I know that I burned off ALL of the Zinger Burger I had eaten, and I didn't care because I hadn't danced in at least 8 months, maybe a year. Fine, maybe I'm exaggerating. Either way, we partied hard until 12:00 or so, and then headed home.

Serah and Eleyah spent the night with all of us, and we just sat up talking and making retarded jokes until 2 am or so. Good fun.

So what, I didn't get my birthday wish of a threesome. But I spent it with people that I cared about, cared about me, and it was great.

Quote of the Day
im gonna die one day, and when you see my obituary in the paper its gonna say "arshia, the only idiot to die losing balance while on both feet but still satisfied cuz her shoes KICK ASSS!!!'
-Arshy

Wow. So this Senator in Virginia decided to be 'funny' on his campaign trail. Sen George Allen (Republican, duh) decided his humor would be best served by picking on an Indian guy who was recording his speeches.

Basically, the guy (S.R. Sidarth) is a Democrat and volunteers for the opposition party. It's a common practice lately to have the opposition's speeches recorded. I suppose it's to pick up on inconsistencies in candidates speeches later and stuff. But Sen. Allen decided hey, why not, let's pick on the one non-white in the crowd.

Allen called him 'macaca'-I have no idea what it means. Allen's manager at first said it was because Sidarth had a mohawk (ahem ahem... me too) and that was the nickname evolved into 'macaca' as time went on. The irony is that I checked out a picture of Sidarth- he has no mohawk. He has long hair.

Check this: "This fellow here, over here with the yellow shirt, macaca, or whatever his name is. He's with my opponent. He's following us around everywhere. And it's just great," Allen said, as his supporters began to laugh.


Sick sick sick. But we (Indians) don't have enough of a voice yet to derail this guy. So sad. Check the article out if you're interested.

Quote of the Day
Some people are born on third base and go through life thinking they hit a triple.
-Barry Switzer; taken from the Google homepage. Who knew he was that big?

Quote of the Day
" so i have decided that white people suck"
-Rumman

Of course, her issue was a valid one and has to do with Tony Blair talking about how Muslim women in Britain wearing a veil causes a rift between non-Muslims and Muslims.

Quote of the Day
" Don't make no damn sense being that to' up!!"
-Gabby, on seeing a person on Friendster that we both agreed was... not exactly lookin too great in her photo

So the Opus Kroaking Supernova Encore (concert) was last night and I'm totally exhausted. I have a crapload of stuff to do, and to be honest, I haven't seen Aparna in almost a week and I miss her. She's been helping her cousin with her wedding (or as they say in India, marriage), but she got married yesterday and I guess that means I can finally talk to my boo. But I must continue on! I have work for a website that I'm dedicated to finishing today so I can hand it over tomorrow.

On another perhaps more interesting note, I'll be auditioning for a radio station in November or so. Whaa??? Yep. There's just a single station in Bangalore that plays "world music" (translation: american) and I think I'd like to audition to be a dj for an hour of hiphop during the week sometime. I know-- you're thinking, "Vinoj? Hip-hop?" Technically, I don't have street-cred or anything like the real dj's in America, but for India I think I'll be fine. And besides I'm not going to have any trouble playing some Eminem or Snoop once in a while. "Now taking your calls-- V-Unit!"

Actually that sounds retarded.. help me come up with a better radio name.

Peas.

Not that I recommend YouTube very often, but this is an Indian commercial for XBox 360 and it's wicked good. Check it out

Quote of the Day
"umm..if i am coming to india...it'll be to kerala with my parents...they wont let me out of the house for fear that i might die"
-Donna, talking about the typical overprotective Indian parents. Note though that she IS really hot.

:)

[blonde cheerleader voice] Oh. My. Gawd. I finally have my scooter. OhmyGOSH! It's blue and I think it's awesome and I love it and I rode it and I rode it![/blonde]

Alright. Enough of that. Well it looks like I finally have my scooter. Hopefully it'll be permanent, and here's the reason why: I haven't paid for it. Allow me to expound:

I've been working with this dealership for about 3.5 weeks now. I ordered disc brakes on the bike because I wanted it to be safer than the drum brakes, and I was told it would take 10 days. Alright, I thought, 10 working days. Fine. 10 days passed. I called them again. 'Hi do you have the Blaze with the disc brakes yet?' 'No sir, it will be 10 days.' I became highly irate. 'You said that 10 days ago...' 'Yes sir it will be 10 days.' 'No I just said that--- ARGH.. forget it.'

I called yesterday and said, "You know what? Just get me the drum brakes. Yes. Don't worry about the disc. And yes I'd like the blue one. But guess what- if you can't do blue- that's FINE-- I'll do RED because you have 70 of them parked right here." I was met again with, "Oh right sir, yes sir, no problem sir."

TODAY I called an hour before I'm to show up and I say, "Is everything in order?" "Yes sir just come sir no problem sir." I show up at the prescribed time (5:30) and expect to have something else go wrong.

I was right.

"Okay sir, you filled out the loan details, right? Everything is done?"
"No, that's why I'm here- we were supposed to do all that today."
"Oh," and he gave one of those pensive stares going to nowhere. "Let me get the paperwork." I know immediately that he has no paperwork.

Basically the loan guy never got back to him because they were jacking around doing... oh... nothing.

After a lot of 'discussion' (to put it lightly) I gave them the ultimatum: "You give me this bike tonight, and you figure out the paperwork and whatever on your own time, OR you lose a customer tonight and you never see me again."

I got the bike.

Quote of the Day
"arshia > vinoj because i said so."
-Arshy. Sometimes, logic can be so hard to defeat.

Arrrrrgh. Alright so I'm getting a bit ..annoyed.. with India. First off Bangalore, quite probably, has more holidays than any other place I've been to in India. Now I know what you're thinking- holidays are good! No they're not. Not when everything in the frikkin state shuts down. Not when you can't go to buy milk/sugar/etc. And definitely not when you're dying of patience waiting for your scooter to arrive.

PLUS, tomorrow there's a 'bandh'. A bandh just means strike. So yeah. There's a huge strike throughout all of Karnataka. Banks, stores, autos, everything- closed. And what happens if they decide to run their business? The stores get stoned by losers who have nothing better to do.

GRRRRR... I just want my damn bike already!

After a tiring week, a wonderful weekend arrived. Tiring because I ran around like a madman trying to get a driving permit which I have yet to receive, tiring because I waited two complete days indoors waiting for a bank to come 'verify my address' so that I can be approved for a loan (for the scooter), and tiring because the rest of the time was spent either coding websites or chasing around auto drivers.

Sigh.

But, there is some positive to all of this. I got a good amount of work done. One of them is a church website, and I've actually posted it on my own server for now until they have the rest of their information to me. Make sure to check it out by clicking here, and leave a comment below as to your thoughts.

Another site had to be updated extensively, so that will be up soon too-- that should be Tuesday or Wednesday at least. But the link is here.

Last, Jojin came to me and asked me to do a poster for a church group he's part of. Considering he's my roommate, my cousin, and I like the guy, I said, "Yeah sure." Their theme for this summer camp for kids is 'Finding Nemo'. I think they want to equate it to the Jesus Fish and also about how the father searches for the son, and so on. Basically a modern-day prodigal son parable by Jesus. Anyway, there was a bit too much information with the design that they had proposed, so I finished theirs, started from scratch, and came up with another one. If you're interested you can check them out here and here. (Just a warning, they're both around 400K.)

So that's what's been keeping me busy. Also, I've started my own company- The Designs Bakery. I'll be taking orders (well I've already begun I suppose) for websites, print designs, whatever.

And with that, I bid adieu. Until next time.

Quote of the Day

"You gotta OWN ya blackness."

-Vinni

Alright, so it's time..ONCE AGAIN.. to format my computer. I don't know when I'll be back up to par, if ever, but yeah, here goes nothin. Hope I saved everything. And hopefully I'll be able to get back online soon.

Peas.

This is a post I found online which had me crackin up HARD out loud. So I'm just copy/pasting:

The Best Headlines You Will Ever Read

Bush Found Guilty Of War Crimes
Geneva- Former President of the United States George Bush was convicted by an international tribunal Monday morning of crimes against humanity and mass genocide. He is to be sentenced later this year for his crimes in Iraq and recently discovered role in the 9-11 attacks. "Even though we have not seen one in years, the possibility of a firing squad has not yet been ruled out.."

Internet Neutrality Laws Passed
Washington- A new amendment was passed in a majority vote by Congress early this morning guaranteeing the neutrality of the World Wide Web. Investigations were also announced into the dealings of certain large internet service providers, including AOL and MSN. In addition to net neutrality, the amendment also states the distribution of spyware is to be considered a serious offense that allows for the offenders to spend prison time getting ass raped...

File Sharing Deemed Legal By Supreme Court
Washington- In a unanimous vote last week, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of internet users everywhere in their class action lawsuit against the MPAA and the RIAA. An unprecedented $200 billion fine was levied upon the entertainment industry for violating invasion of privacy laws. Despite the ruling in favor of the plaintiffs in this case, cocaine use amongst rock stars this weekend was not affected...

Bill O' Reilly Arrested On Crack, Child Pornography Charges
Colorado- According to his lawyers, the police roughed up the popular right wing television personality when he was arrested on charges of child pornography and possession of crack near downtown Denver Friday night. "There was an unwarranted full body cavity search and my client was repeatedly tasered," said the high profile attorney outside of the courtroom Monday morning. According to the police, O'Reilly was hyped up on crack and threatening them while masturbating in the middle of a busy street...

Rare Plant Found In Rainforest That Cures Everything
Brazil- A team of scientists have confirmed that a rare psychedelic herb found growing wild in the rainforests of southern Brazil is indeed the miracle drug it has been called in the press as of late. The herb creates a LSD-like high when smoked and causes human cells to regenerate and repair themselves. The first batch of cancer patients began their trips early this morning...

Marijuana Legalized Worldwide
Geneva- In a stunning move Friday at a special session called by the United Nations, governments all over the world agreed unanimously to legalize the cultivation and sale of the hemp plant. Over the weekend sales brought in more money than all other industries combined and single-handedly repaired the world’s economy. In related news, everyone is stoned...

Science Finds True Origin Of The Universe
Rome- The group of scientists hired by the Vatican to prove the existence of God without a doubt did just the opposite last Thursday when they unveiled irrefutable evidence that the universe was actually created by a rogue group of garden gnomes. “Apparently, everyone was wrong.” One of the scientists was quoted as saying. The Pope was bathing in his Naziness, so he could not be reached for comment…

Superman Thwarts Terror Attack: Cheney Arrested
New York- A plane set to collide with the new World Trade Center was intercepted by the Man of Steel last Wednesday morning. Former disgruntled Vice President Dick Cheney was found to be controlling it remotely from a nearby public restroom. He was led away in handcuffs by FBI agents after getting slapped like a bitch in front of everyone by Superman...

First Contact Made: Aliens Bring Better Gaming Technology
Florida- NASA has announced early this morning that three astronauts made contact with an alien species last Tuesday while doing routine repairs on the international space station. "Their handheld technology was awesome," reported one of the astronauts, "They had a gaming network running through the entire galaxy. When you get shot in the game, it actually hurts!" The purpose of the contact was apparently to announce a release date for their own gaming system to compete with Microsoft and Sony just before Christmas...

Quote of the Day
"theres a fine line between wanksta and gay, you just tend to cross it often."
-Arshy

Ahhh... finally back after another exhausting rehearsal. Tonight was our final run-through for the concert tomorrow, and it really seemed to gel pretty well. (I rhymed! I'm a poet and I just don't know it!) Everyone's energy was finally up, and I kept yelling my heart out for anyone that was onstage. I don't know if they thought I was retarded or if it helped, but eh, I tried.

I've been given some more awesome opportunities for website design and I'm totally pursuing them- more on that later sometime.

Another note- I'm getting a scooter! Yep, those little Euro-bikes that are basically the equivalent of an automatic car are what I'm lusting after. Okay lusting would definitely be too strong a word. It's just that with a regular motorbike, I'd have to learn gears on them, and in a crowded city like Bangalore, you almost never get out of 2nd gear anyway. This way, it's cheaper and not as much of a headache. Of course, they're just not as sexy as motorbikes are. Ah well. I just need a way to get from point A to point B. Here's the bike: Kinetic Blaze

Last, I want to insert a quote of the day that's not funny, but just shows how lucky I am in my life to have my mother. So without further ado....the

Email of the Day
"I love you sooooooooooooooooo much
With prayers for you
your loving mama"

Quote of the Day

"Did you take the keys from my bum?"

-Eleyah, asking (her sister) Serah if she had the car keys

So...exhausted...

I'm absolutely exhausted. I had a rehearsal for a play in January from 2-5 or so, then from 6:30 to 9:30/10ish I had rehearsal for the concert that's coming up this Wednesday. Yep, this Wednesday. I've got.. lemme count this.. 1 solo (Luck Be A Lady Tonight), 1 Duet (Suddenly Seymour), then the following group songs: I'll Be There for You, Bohemian Rhapsody, The Rhythm of Life and a small bit of Eminem. I'm not worried at all about Seymour or the Eminem. But the others, there's still stuff to be DONE. I'm talking like, me memorizing words or harmonies. And Bohemian is the sketchiest because I'm uncertain of the lyrics AND the bajillion different harmonies that we've got going between the groups. :: SIGH::

On top of that, I went to Chennai(/Madras) on Friday and came back on Friday night. Jo and I took a train and..blah. I hate trains in India. I've never been on trains in America (other than the subway in NYC) but as far as I know now, trains and I are a no no. I got stuck near these three huge women who wouldn't shut up, took off their slippers and kept eating for like 6 hours straight. AND sitting next to a guy who had a staring problem. As in staring problem at me. I figured it was the mohawk, and trust me, I'm used to stares. But this was RIDICULOUS. So I told him to take a nice long look and get it over with. He informed me that he has some 'genetic condition which makes [him] not blink for long periods of time.' I told him that's great, but stare somewhere else.

Anyway, I think I'm gonna drink some cough syrup so I can get some sleep. Sleep aids. Gotta love em.

Out.

Blogged with Flock

Well here they are, my children. I finished planting them yesterday, and filled it up with soil. In case you've noticed- the soil here is the same as in Oklahoma- red clay. I don't know how plants survive in it, but apparently these are doin okay. Go figure.

So yeah, I'm out for now. Up early for some reason. 

Planting..and..

Tired. Well today I did something pretty nice. Well by pretty nice I mean I did some more gardening. I went and bought four plants to put in my windowsill, a bag of soil, and two bags of topsoil/fertilizer. Felt nice. The only problem is that because it was 2 pm and I was walking facing the sun most of the time, I've got a really bad sunburn on my eyelids right now. Ouch.

Blogged with Flock

Quote of the Day
"dang when did you get a life?"
-Arshy, wondering about a very true question!

IM of the Day
Some old dude walked by and said "You two are studying hard!"
I wanted to be like "I'm almost 30, f**knut!"

-Dave, on some guy seeing him and Jon do research at the library

Green Thumb

Just about every day, I try to do something that I feel is 'productive'. Whether it be working on something in Illustrator (I'm still getting a hang of it) or a website for someone, or even just making sure i get exercise, I like to keep myself occupied. It's a good way to keep me from killing myself out of sheer boredom in the house.

I have a small balcony outside my room, and there's a place where you can garden if you desire. Until now it's just been left as a bare valley, but Jojin decided to buy some dirt and plant some stuff on his balcony, and I decided to do the same.

Today was/is 'Gardening Day'. We had some cow manure that we also bought, and so I decided to mix it in with the soil that had just been put in. I put on my gloves, and began to put some of the manure (they call it cow dung here) into the little garden. ONE BIG PROBLEM: IT'S FRESH. AS IN NOT DRY. ICK.

See, back home, if you buy horse manure, you're talkin about buying dry shit. Here-- well-- I guess it's 'FRESH' here. I almost gagged at the smell of it, but kept working it in. Just touching it made me feel gross, but hey, I guess it's the price you pay to have healthy plants.

Now I'm gonna buy some more real soil, and then get some plants. I don't think I want too many flowers if any, because that'll probably just attract bugs. No thank you. But some greenery there would be good for the soul, I think. Just a little something to make me feel like I did something.

And with that, my cow shit story is complete... for now.... peas.

Blogged with Flock

Untitled

Sometimes, the comments I get from my friends are too funny for me to handle. Arshy wrote something, and then Amit one-upped her. God DAMN it's funny.

omgs i saw boy meets world yesterday arshia | 08.24.06 - 10:52 pm |

i saw "small wonder" dubbed into tamil yesterday amit | 08.25.06 - 5:09 am |

Blogged with Flock

Ugghhh... I am so... tired...

I just sat up and watched 9 episodes of Lost in a row. Incidentally, that was also the answer to yesterday's blog, so Niya got it right! It is now 7 am and time for me to go to sleep.....

aarrrrgghhh......zzzzz.....

I'm just going to "replay" a conversation Apsi and I had earlier today. Try to figure it out...

V: Babe, you're not coming over tonight, right?
A: No, I've got work and then I've got a bunch of stuff to do in the morning so I have to be home.
V: Right... listen. There's something I need to do. I mean, you're not here, and I can't just keep waiting anymore.
A: Huh?
V: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (You guess the line.)
A: Oh. Fine. Whatever.
V: Baby don't get mad- I mean, you and I can do it together too. It's just that right now I can't wait.
A: I already said 'fine'. Go right ahead.
V: It's not like that, listen, it's much more special when I'm doing it with you anyway but I... (sigh) yeah, I just wanted to let you know. We've been waiting for so long and something keeps coming up. Tonight I have time, and you're not here. Again. So yeah.
A: I'll probably be able to see you Monday!
V: I know, but I need to xxxxx right now. So xxxx and I are going to. Anyway.... that's it. I'll talk to you later.

Points if you can guess what we were talking about.

:)

Quote of the Day
"We're well on our way to hell, might as well stop to smell the black roses"
-Nitu

Wow. You know it never ceases to amaze me the lengths that guys go to in order to impress girls. I mean let's face it, women are extremely tricky. You don't want them to think you're ignoring them, but at the same time, ya just can't come on too strong. And when I say strong, there's a LIMIT.

I think the reason why Indian guys (born here) are so bad at these is because they're brought up on these horrible Bollywood movies that have a song and dance number every 15 minutes and always- ALWAYS- a man and a woman falling in love. There's not a single one I can think of that doesn't; at least any commercial successes. So without further ado, I give you a prime example of why Indian guys have been pussy whipped by their own film industry. So. SO. SAD.

(To my friend Eleyah)

Hope the creator might have taken a lot of time to create you,beauty is not the word to describe you...u r beautiful than the word beautiful,Cute than the word cute....wat a beauty....I would really be honoured to be seen on ur frnds list,Would u mind me being there......wanna be ur frnd if you have no issues

I bid you adieu.

Top 10 most beautiful cellphones - Fosfor Gadgets

Wow. You've gotta check these out. I drooled.

I just watched Goal! and if there's even a tiny bit of a soccer lover in you, you have to go and rent this movie. Sports movies in general are okay, but when it's a game that you actually are passionate about, it makes it so much more worthwhile. The movie is actually a trilogy, and the next two sequels are coming out....well...I have no idea. I guess I could check at IMDB. Anyway, go rent it- you'll enjoy it.

Since I haven't put one of these in a while, I thought I'd put a really good one from Nitu:

Quote of the Day
"We're like two halves of an evil soul!"
-Nitu

As a child I'd always wondered if God was like a scientist, playing with us like some sort of 'Universe Kit' that He'd bought at His Toys R Us. Of course, the idea was met with understandable resistance, and was seen as blasphemous. Perhaps I wasn't so off after all if humans can do the same? Check the article out. Scientists try to create new universe

Alright, now in general, jokes don't get put up on my site. But this one is wonderful, so I had to go for it.
-v

Three men were standing side-by-side using the urinal.

The first man finished, zipped up and started washing and literally scrubbing his hands ... clear up to his elbows ... He used about 20 paper towels before he finished. He turned to the other two men and commented: "I graduated from Harvard and they taught us to be clean."

The second man finished, zipped up and quickly wet the tips of his fingers, grabbed one paper towel and commented: "I graduated from the University of California and they taught us to be environmentally conscious."

The third man zipped up and as he was walking out the door had a smirk on his face and said: "I don't know about you guys, but where I went to college, they taught us not to piss on our hands."

Alright- good news! I have a job currently. After a few months already of lying around waiting for my movies to start, I'd definitely started to feel bummed about not getting anything done during the day. I mean for Pete's sake, some days I'd never leave the house.

But I'm designing a website for a client, and it'll take a good deal of time, energy, and creativity. He wants a lot of Flash, which is something I need to get reacquainted with, pronto. It shouldn't be too hard- I've done pretty complex stuff on there. I just need to get my feet in the water again.

In other (nerd/geek) news:
The role of The Joker has been cast for the next Batman film, The Dark Knight. And the actor is (drumroll please..) HEATH LEDGER. Whoa. So Batman decides to go Brokeback for its next villain. He's immensely talented though, and I think it'll be great.

And with that, I'm out. Peas.

Ladies and gentlemen! I can access Blogger again, hence, I can blog again! (Did I just say 'hence'?) Anyway, I was in Kerala for the past week or so because my maternal grandmother had some severe complications from diabetes and high blood pressure and was in the ICU. My mom and my sister flew down immediately, as did the rest of my mom's siblings, and most of their kids. There were two who didn't show, but one of them was definitely not missed. At least, I sure didn't miss him.

Anyway, she's more stable now, and I'm trying to get Vinni here this Friday so that we can all go to a Black Eyed Peas concert in Bangalore. (Who knew they'd come here???) That's it for now. I'm totally pooped. I've been working all day on web/graphic design stuff and it's tiring but wonderful. I love being creative again.

Here's a wonderful quote by Stephen Hawking:
"I think computer viruses should count as life. I think it says something about human nature that the only form of life we have created so far is purely destructive. We've created life in our own image."

Lance Bass’ boyfriend is ‘proud’ he came out - Celebrity News - MSNBC.com

HAHAHAHAHA!! I'm sorry.. I just can't stop laughing. HAHAHAHA

Email of the Day
"i would never let u play soccer wiht my possie if ur gona be like that. sheeeit, besta recanize."
-Arshy, telling me that I hadn't emailed her in too long

Well, I'm on my second-to-last day of antibiotics, and the fever has stopped. Whew. So I'm feeling better. I've got my nagging cough, but that will abate as well if I can quit one of my vices. In fact, I was feeling so good today that I actually attempted running for a bit-- and it worked! Aparna and I went jogging- she ran for about 8 continuous laps around the apartment complex and I ran two and walked three. Not bad for me starting back up after a 3 month unofficial sabbatical.

After running, we met some kids who were just around the courtyard kicking a soccer ball. I asked if we could play. And we all had a blast. It was so great to play soccer again, even if one of them was 8 and the other 13. Another kid came in, and he was probably around 9. Did I kick some ass? OF COURSE. IN YOUR FACE, GRADE-SCHOOLERS! They cried like little babies as I smashed the soccer ball into goal, threw up elbows into their chins and slide tackled from behind causing them to fall onto the harsh unforgiving pavement below. One kid lost a tooth, and I just learned that one of the others got a hairline fracture in his skull. You wanna play with the big kids? Huh? HUH?!!

And I'm out.

Blaaaaahhh.. I'm sick. And yes, perhaps I'm whining a little about it on my website. Anyway, to all my dedicated readers (thousands I'm sure), I'll be back as soon as I can. I started off with a slight cold on Sunday night and now it's become a full blown chest infection and fever. Yum. I'm dizzy half the time, and if not, I'm asleep. So that's that.

Peas.

Ladies and gentlemen, I did it. I went and watched Superman Returns. And in my humble opinion (IMHO i suppose), it was wonderful. The direction is top notch (not that I expected less of Bryan Singer), the story was woven together very well, and the acting was great.

Brandon Routh did admirably as Superman, but I suppose the only complaint I had against him would be that I didn't see anything new- you could tell that he can do a wonderful impersonation of Christopher Reeve as Clark Kent, and that his understanding of the Superman character was done aptly. But there wasn't much originality other than that.

Kevin Spacey also did well as Lex Luthor, capturing the character's genius with delusions of grandeur. Of course, Spacey's greatest strength is his innate ability to mock someone without saying a word, and to communicate with a faint glance. It's perfect for Luthor, and Gene Hackman was also wonderful with that. The difference in style would probably be the deciding factor as to who to crown the best Lex Luthor, with Hackman performing Luthor as a conniving but hilarious used car salesman, against Spacey's performance of Luthor as a god among men.

The person that most impressed me in the story was actually Kate Bosworth, who plays Lois Lane. I hadn't seen much of her acting before, and when I heard she was cast, I was initially skeptical. She hadn't done anything that I'd considered worth my time watching (wasn't she in some beach movie?), and I didn't understand it. But from what I hear/read, her chemistry with Brandon Routh was palpable and real and so she was cast. Interestingly, the same story happened almost 30 years ago. The studio had decided on Christopher Reeve and auditioned numerous actresses (including Stockard Channing) until they decided upon Margot Kidder.

It's impossible not to consider the original Superman by Richard Donner when watching Superman Returns. Singer has left thank you notes laced throughout the movie, including the title sequence, the original score by John Williams (and trust me, hearing that once again in a theater full of people excited about Superman gave me goosebumps), and even the final shot of Superman flying over the planet and looking into the camera.

This creation however, is clearly Bryan Singer's. The understanding of the complicated love triangle between Superman, Lois, and Richard White (James Marsden, in a subdued and genuine performance) is done subtly, without pushing boundaries. Instead of making it easy on the audience to wish that Lois would simply leave Richard, the movie makes you wonder about which life is honestly better for Lois and her son. A life with a (super)man who is not just yours but of the world's, or a life knowing that your one true love is still around and makes your heart flutter.

Singer has also taken the Superman as a modern day Christ idea and gone far. A Son is sent from above by his Father to save mankind. "What do you hear," Superman asks Lois on a 'flight' above Metropolis. "Nothing," she replies. "I hear everything," Superman explains, "and these people need a Savior. And I'm here to save them." At another point, Superman falls back to earth, his arms outstretched in the classic Christ-on-the-cross pose. Although it can be an effective allegory, the thought crossed through my mind a couple of times- "Why does this movie need to have the gravity of bringing religion into it? It's a comic-book."

All in all, this is a movie that needs to be seen. There are some points when I wish I was back in the theater back when the original Superman was released so I could feel the magic of watching Christopher Reeve. But with Bryan Singer's Superman Returns, I finally have a reason to believe a man can fly again.

That's right, even SUPERMAN wears a US Soccer jersey.

Star Tracks - Thursday, June 29, 2006 | Page 7 | Kate Bosworth, Brandon Routh : People.com

Could Wonder Woman Come From India?

Yeah seriously, could she? Apparently Priyanka Chopra, a pretty big Bollywood actress (not size-wise, durrrr) is being courted about the role.

Considering that Wonder Woman is an Amazonian princess (Brazilian), I guess I could see it. And in the picture they have with the article she's DEFINITELY got the hair for it. Check it.

Ugh.. Power goes out here constantly, and it's high time Bangalore gets with it, as far as I'm concerned. A city which makes millions of dollars a day shouldn't be dealing with power failures daily. Neither should the ISPs. I lost my connection for pretty much 24 hours. Yeah. For a person like me who's ADDICTED to being online, it can definitely numb the brain.

On a much more positive note, I'll be watching Superman Returns the first day of release in India, which is on Friday. Almost all the reviews I've read have been positive, and I'm not too surprised. Bryan Singer hasn't let a comic fan down yet. So why start now?

One thing that DID annoy me- I was reading on MSN user reviews, and this one jackass totally ruined all the surprises that are in store. Now I understand that at some point someone's going to tell you, but THIS SOON??? I mean, you didn't hear people tell you about The Sixth Sense's twist or Fight Club's ending until a few months later. This dumbass told me what happened the day that it opened in the US! I should sue him.

Or just get over it. Which I'll do, because I don't care-- all I'm waiting for is that opening score by John Williams... and I'll be a six year old boy once again, watching a man fly.

And that my friends is how the cookie crumbles...

Of the millions of US Soccer fans who are crushed today after the US failed to beat Ghana, the one person I'm thinking most about is my sister. She is the most hardcore of hardcore US Soccer fans, and I'm not sure how she's gonna take all of this. Maybe she'll root for her second favorite team (England), or maybe she'll just stop watching.

Today's game was a bore. We played almost as badly as we did against the Czechs, and even with the unnecessary penalty kick, we wouldn't have won. Sure there are a lot of what if's out there. What IF McBride's header went in? What IF the penalty was then not given? What IF we didn't have red carded players who played today's game... none of it matters.

The best two teams from Group E advanced. And that's the end of that.

Had another run-in with crap customer service in India. This happens in the US too- they take people with no technical common sense and put them in the call lines. But whatever, not gonna waste more ink on that.

SOooo... today's the big game. Or rather, today are the two big games that decide whether the US goes to the round of 16 or not. There are 7 different ways in which the US could advance, all of them needing the US to beat Ghana today. It's not going to be an easy task. The Ghanaian defense is stingy, and their striker Michael Essein is ridiculously fast. Both teams are very physical, so I can see a whole bunch of yellow cards and fouls being given out. Perhaps more than any other game I've watched thus far.

Basically it boils down to this- if the team that showed up against Italy shows up today against Ghana, we'll probably win. If the team that showed up against the Czechs shows up, we'll lose.

Let's wait and see...

Astonishing. Amazing. Awe-inspiring.

As I was preparing to watch the US-Italy game on Saturday, all I hoped is that they'd do their best. Their best meaning that when they lost, they'd lose knowing that they gave it their all against a superior Italian team.

What I got was something completely unexpected.

What I got was America playing like men on a soccer field who don't get respect. Who don't have anything to fight for except themselves, and to prove everyone wrong. To shut up the naysayers and once again inspire the millions who pinned their hopes on US Soccer's proverbial back.

From the first minute onwards, they fought like dogs and kept fighting. After the game, Landon Donovan had to be given an IV to replenish fluids. Brian McBride had three stitches under his eye. Jimmy Conrad had cotton stuffed up his nose, and played part of the game with vision so blurry he had to ask a teammate whether he was bleeding. Our goalie Kasey Keller said it just right after the game: "Those guys bled out there."

But the Americans did the unthinkable- they tied the mighty Italians 1-1. We've never taken a single point on European soil, and now it's finally happened.

It was the most beautiful game of soccer I'd ever seen in my life. I was shaking during and afterwards, and just wanted to tell the guys one thing:

"We're proud of you."

Is it bad for me to find the following Korean player's name funny?

Ho Lee.

"Hi there, I'm Ho Lee. I'll be conducting your wedding today."

Or,

"Hi there, I'm marketing my new brand of water! It's called Ho Lee Water!"

Or last,

"Please, just call me Ho."

Memorable World Cup Quotes (thus far)
"Henry thrusts his head straight into Zidane's ball!"
-Announcer meaning to say that Thierre Henry (sp?) headed the ball kicked to him by Zinedine Zidane

"He can stand there and keep shooting until midnight, it doesn't appear that he'll be scoring today."
-Announcer regarding Lampard (England) not being able to score goals in the game against Trinidad and Tobago.

Ugggggh... alright, I'm awake. At 3 pm. I just had some ramen noodles and read the reports about the game. Yes, it really happened and it wasn't a nightmare. Coach Arena blasted into his players, which is something he doesn't usually do. He picked on Donovan and also Keller, our goalie. "There was no aggressiveness." That's what he said, and I completely agree.

Now I guess we just wait. Saturday we play Italy. Yay! Another loss!

To change to a more funny note-- my friend Kaci came up with the most hilarious quote for one of my pictures. It's the last picture in the group. In my defense, I'd like to say that I've never used my dad's Mastercard in India. Oh yeah, and I sorta stayed longer than 4 years at OU.

So here's the link.

Out!

Message of the Day
"Bitch, I asked you to message me!....sooo bored!"
Aparna, from a meeting at work.

There's usually a formula for making pretty good alcoholic drinks, I've decided. 10% alcohol, 90% mixer. So for a Jack and Coke- 10 Jack 90 Coke. Mix it together and badabing, you have a drink that's not too strong but not too bland. Of course, that's just my combo. But after this game, I've increased my intake.

50% Jack my friends. And 50%...umm.. nothing. So I guess that's just hard liquor after a horrible showing by my team. Here's the problem- the Americans played like.... Americans. Lemme explain- we're a good team. Yes, I firmly believe that. But we played it was like Major League Soccer today against a very strong Czech team. Aparna said that it looked like the soccer team of her high school gym class. Ouch. But I can't disagree much. I have no idea what happened. But it did. 3-0 Czech Republic.

Do we have a chance of breaking out of this group? Yes. IF ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE. Basically, we have to defeat Italy and/or Ghana, and one (or both) of those teams has to beat the Czechs. Then, we have to get a high number of goals in the next two games while also hoping that the others have low scoring games.

Possible? Yes.
Probable? No.

But until then, here's some more of Uncle Jack.

I.... I can't speak. Really. I'm watching the US-Czech Republic game right now (World Cup, btw) and the Czechs are up 2-0. In the world of soccer, that's as good as dead. It's like a 30 point lead for a football team, unless they start playing like crap all of a sudden and don't play D. Considering that this is the Czech Republic, ranked number 2 in the world behind world champions BRAZIL, I don't see that happening. Did I also mention that the US has never won a WC game on European soil?

We're screwed.

I just hope that our team hasn't lost hope like I have.

Holy shit. I actually placed. I got third!! Woohoo!!

And in case you hadn't read the earlier posts, it was exactly the way I predicted- Megha, who sang Lady Marmalade rocked the house and got first, Barry, with his own mix of Indian and American songs, got second. Both of them deserved it heartily. I mean people- you should've been there-- these two were AMAZING.

I'll put up a picture or two coming up... but for now, here's my single from the CD.. Vinoj singing The Real Slim Shady.

Peas.

Breaking News: Woman kicks the ass of an astrologer

Not kidding- that was actually on the news a few minutes, ago, complete with footage of said woman beating the crap out of said astrologer with her sandals. Her husband (?) joins in and does the same.

The story goes that apparently the astrologer tried to molest her, so she kicked her ass; I firmly believe that this story (and video) need to be replayed again and again so that more women can stand up to a$$holes who try to take advantage of them.

Still though, the image was AWESOME.

In other news, I'll be headed to the Finals in a few hours. I finished up practicing and worked on my Elvis hair. I'll put a photo up before long so you can see the entire outfit. It should come out pretty spiffy. I hope I break a leg! (Or do you just say Good luck to a karaoke singer?)

All in all, a good night.

I went to 'rehearsal' today before the finals tomorrow of the Karaoke contest. I showed up a little late, considering that I've been to a number of these events and I'm the only one who's ever there on time. So I decided what the hell, can't beat em, join em. (At least on this occasion.)

Yesterday was a photoshoot for the finalists, and I didn't really get any warm vibes from anyone. Everyone was sectioned off, in their cliche, and so I expected more of the same tonight. I just wanted to practice, warm up, and get going.

With all that in mind, I was surprised that tonight everyone seemed a little more mellowed out- and affable to the idea that I too could be included in the group. I got to talk to a lot of them, and I'd say I really like most of them. But I do have to remind you, most. Not all. It's basically two guys who are complete divas who think they're God's gift to.... I don't know. Whoever. But the girls that I got to talkin to were all very sweet and friendly.

Instead of practicing, we all ended up listening to our album that's gonna be given out tomorrow. (That's right, all of us recorded a song.) It was pretty wicked because just about everyone sounded frikkin fantabulous. Afterwards we started practice- I just sang the Jailhouse Rock because I'm not too psyched out about The Real Slim Shady. Also, since I'm sick (oh yeah- forgot to mention that), I didn't go too far with it- thought I'd just save up my energy for tomorrow.

BUT WOW. There were three people in specific that I was AMAZED by. One dude basically mixes his own karaoke tracks, and he mixed in all these old songs with new stuff and the results were amazing. Then another girl sang Lady Marmalade from Moulin Rouge and she has so much...SOUL.. that she could've easily fit in with Pink, Mya, Christina, and Lil Kim. And last was another chick who sang R-E-S-P-E-C-T by Aretha Franklin. Mucho impressed by that one too.

So basically I've decided that I'm just gonna go have fun. If it works, cool. But if I lose to ANY of these three, I'll be more than happy. In fact, I'm rooting for them..

This promises to be a blast.

I MADE IT TO THE FINALS OF THE KARAOKE CONTEST!

Proof of this can be found at opusbangalore.blogspot.com. I was in Semi Final B.

Anyway, that means that I'll be competing this Wednesday the 7th. I have to sing one song pre-1979 for the first round to be held that night, after which they'll immediately cut 6 people. Then comes the second round where the remaining 6 have to sing a song post-2000. For the first round I'm singing Jailhouse Rock and for the second (if I make it), I'm going with The Real Slim Shady.

I'd recommend those of you who are around town (AHEM..JOSH...) to come to the competition because there are going to be some cool performances and Lord knows I'll be singin' like my pants are on fire. :) They're even selling a CD of the finalists' performances. We recorded yesterday, and I recorded The Real Slim Shady in the probable case I won't be in finals. At least people can check the CD out that way.

Be there or be square- I've recorded your IP, Josh! ;)

Quote of the Day
"Hey- I'm not watching Brokeback Mountain... with gays.... I mean if it was lesbians then okay..."

-Jojin, on me and Aparna insisting that Brokeback Mountain is a good movie

I'll be formatting my computer tonight to get rid of all the crap that I've installed over the course of the past two months. SO, the point is that I won't be blogging for a bit. Be back soon. Hopefully I don't lose EVERYTHING. ACK.

Quote of the Day
"Viagra, Levitra, Cialis- the Holy Trinity."
-Vinod, after seeing an ad. (No, not my cousin Vinod.)

Quote of the Day
"The server made a boo boo. Your page can not be displayed."
-Google

Allllright. So last night I went to this get-together thing at Opus, where I karaoke. It was a bunch of people who Aparna went to med school with and stuff, and at first I was bored out of my mind. They had a lot of catching up to do, and I... well I had the stars for company. (Thankfully it was a clear night.) I signed up to sing, and after waiting more than an hour, got up.

Wait- before that. Right before I went up was this guy... apparently he had been chosen for the contest also, but he was waaaaay too arrogant about it. I mean, this fool was up on stage going, "Well when I win this competition...", "Oh THAT song? I'll sing it for you a little later, baby...","Get ready for something great," and whatever nonsense. He may as well just have said, "By the way, have I mentioned that I have a small penis? Because I do. And this is the only place where I'll ever have any recognition."

But anyway...

I went up, rather quietly, and just said, "I've never sung this before guys...so please forgive me if it's bad." And then I sang Jailhouse Rock. It brought the house down. People were dancing, jumping, and the best part- singing along. I didn't care that I was singing- I was just happy that people were enjoying it. The thing is, it has NOTHING to do with your voice, I surmise- it's how much energy you put into the performance and how much you enjoy it. I was enjoyin myself really really well. And it showed. If you wanna hear a sample, you can click here for a small audio recording I did (badly) tonight at home. (less than 1MB)

Anyway, went back to the table, and by this time people were up standing around and talking, which was much better than the stuck nature of a table. I ended up meeting this guy- Srinivas- who's a pretty funny fella. He was definitely a bit on the tipsy side, but he had some pretty frikkin hilarious stories so I listened.

Later he turns to me and says, "So what do you do?" I answer with, "I'm an actor," expecting the usual, "Oh..." and the confused stare. (Vy is he not doctorr?) Instead he says, "Hey I should introduce you to a friend of mine- Ramya. She's in Kannada films."

Now I don't know Ramya very well, but I think I'd read a couple of things somewhere in Bangalore Times about some movies she was doing. I find out later from them that she's like, the number one Kannada actress in films today. Oh. Whoops. Later last night he says, "Why don't I introduce you to her tomorrow?"

Whoa. Umm... okee?

So today I went to the Taj West End to meet her. I had no idea what to expect, honestly. A lot of people around here are completely full of themselves. I don't do well with those people. Expect me to kiss your ass? Not gonna happen. I treat people with the same respect that they give me. That's the way I roll. I hoped earnestly she wasn't like that. I showed up and- gasp--

She was down to earth!

Whoa. We had a very normal conversation- she talked to me about what I'm doing and Srinivas was also there to facilitate the meeting. She asked if I had any headshots. D'oh. Good job Vinoj. Really smart. How's she supposed to talk to other people if you don't have a headshot? Moron!"Uh... not on me, no.."

"No problem."
And then she just took up her digital camera that was sitting on the table and started taking snaps. "Smile...now be angry..now show me your profile.." and so on. Then she said, "Try to woo me." She was going to record video- great idea. So it was like a mini-audition. I did, and then I said, "Let's try the anger one again." So I did a 'scene' of me threatening to kill some dude if he got near my sister. You know, realism. :p

Afterwards, she said, "That was good-impressive!" And that meant something. I've been so long without acting, you know? Since last November I haven't had a chance to act, and it's slowly killing me. And then to have someone validate the acting that I DO is... is very nice. It felt very nice to have a fellow actor telling me she liked my work.

ANYWAY, she said that we can meet up next week sometime and talk about the acting process. (Which I asked for.) Very nice of her to offer.

All in all, a good day I'd say. Pretty pleased with all of it.

Out.

"I..I totally didn't expect this. It was just an honor being considered (/nominated)...I guess I should start by thanking Chasity, my karaoke lady at O'Connell's Pub in Norman, Oklahoma..."

What the hell is he talking about, is probably what you're thinking. So I don't know if I mentioned that there was a karaoke contest here in Bangalore..I performed a bunch of songs, but the last night of the competition, I sang You Ain't Nothin But A Hound Dog by Elvis.

I'm now in the semi-finals!!! WHOA. I shouldn't be this surprised/shocked. Not because I'm amazing or anything, but considering what I've been doing for the past month or so (not much..), this is as exciting as being nominated for an Oscar. Hence my speech at the beginning.

I'll be performing Without Me by Eminem this Wednesday and I hope i'll make it to the finals. I doubt it considering I'm the only one doing rap, the crowd is decidedly pro-rock, and some of the others have pretty strong voices. Rap doesn't exactly need a strong voice- just a lot of energy if you're doing karaoke.

So I guess I'll have to perform really hard and knock their pants off. I'll post the results as soon as I get them (probably next Sunday).

Peas.

IM of the Day
"i spif tha truf, son"
-Arshy, explaining the political t-shirt that she made to me

Quote of the Day

"No no, it's poSIDon. The 'e' is silent."

-Some guy trying to explain to his friend the (incorrect) pronunciation of Poseidon after they finished watching the movie. Was he even paying attention???

Boy howdy has it been a bit since I've posted. Unfortunately, I don't think it's gonna get any better for a little while. Not because I've become unreasonably busy, but because there's NOTHING going on worth telling. Weekend...slept.

Alright one thing- I'm addicted to Lost. Completely. I never really watched it when I was back home, but since I downloaded Season 1 when I was there, I've been watching it like mad over here. I watched 5 of those that I downloaded back at home, and then in the past week, Apsi and I have watched 15 or so of them. Insane. 15, people. Do you realize how much time we wasted? But considering the caliber of acting and writing on the show, I guess you could hardly call it wasted time.

Anyway, now for the last episode of the first season. Gonna watch that, and then prolly hit the sack. G'night.

I know what you're thinking: "Wow good job coming up with Sunday's action the very next day, Vinoj. You're totally punctual." I admit, I've lagged a teensy bit behind. So I'm just going to sum up last Sunday as saying that it was really fun because I went to a place in Bangalore called Opus and had a blast at Karaoke Night. They had this local celebrity lady there too (Usha Uthep, I believe) who's a wicked good singer. She ranged from traditional Indian songs to a KICKASS rendition of Heartbreak Hotel by Elvis. Then she brought the house down with I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor. I sang Sweet Home Alabama, to a very responsive crowd.

But that night I saw a video that I need you all to see. It's on YouTube. It's an old video of Rajkumar (a South Indian actor) from the 60s and he's doing some kind of English song. It totally cracks me up and I love it. Check out the lyrics too.

Anyway, in homage to the great video and awesome singer, I've done a 'cover' of it, if you will. Just open it with Quicktime, you'll be good to go. (If you've got iTunes, then it already comes with Quicktime.) And yes, that's really me singing on top of the video in the background.

Ciao.

This weekend was quite possibly the most fun weekend I've ever had in India. It's a long as hell story to cover the two days, so I think I'll be breaking the weekend into two posts. So let's start with Saturday.

Sandwich and Biryani Day

Saturday was Sandwich Day, which I had decided on earlier in the week. I decided it's time to get some cold cuts and make some REAL sandwiches instead of the weak sandwiches you get around town. Of course you can get some pretty decent/good sandwiches at the 5 star hotels, but that's like paying $50 for a patty melt. Do ya really wanna do that? No thanks.

I wanted to tell Jojin (my other cousin/roommate) that I'm gonna be having a bunch of people here for it, but boy was nowhere around. Finally around 12 he shows up with a bunch of bags and about 4-5 friends of his. GULP. Uh-oh. He was going to have people over as well, I thought. "What's up, dude?" He explained that he bought groceries. "Oh," I sighed, relieved. As I was getting ready to leave he says, "Where are you going?" "Oh we're buying groceries too-- because we're making sandwiches." "I'm making biryani!" "SWEEET!!!" So Sandwich Day effectively became Sandwich and Biryani Day.

At about 5 or so everyone shows up, and there's altogether like, 15 of us. There are groups just hanging out playing Playstation, talking, listening to music, cooking, and just chillin. Just a totally relaxed environment and we were all having fun. We obviously ate, and then put on music and danced like crazy people at home. We were doing Irish Riverdancing to Hindi music and rap. Insane, and we decided to go out for dancing afterwards. Suha, one of Apsi's cousins, sorta knew this chick who knew this other chick who was having a wedding reception. That's right... we were gonna go crash a wedding.

Wedding Crashers

We arrived at the place and everything had already been going on for a while, it seemed. The music was just ripe, and people had already eaten. NINE of us jumped onto the dance floor and started dancing like crazies. (I say that with utmost respect to the crazies out there.) The music was typical Hindi-- stuff from movies and also some Punjabi music. That's the stuff that goes, "Bolay Bolay!!! PPRRRRRRRRAA!" Anyway, I pulled out every move that I'd ever seen in any horrid dance scene in an Indian movie and it was a blast. I danced until my abs cramped up, got better, and got up again. Apsi and her cousins were dancing NON STOP for an hour and a half. We danced until the music died.

MTV Celebrity?
So afterwards we're all tired as hell and sitting around. The others got food, but I was still full from the subs in the evening. I noticed this girl in front of me had looked back to check me out. A second later, she AND her mom turn around to look at me. Ooookeee...and then her DAD, her mom, and she turn around and look at me. I just smile politely thinking, Hey there... I know you're staring...can I help you? This other guy who apparently knows that family comes up and asks if we're with the DJ. Apparently we were dancing our asses off so well that they thought we were professionals! (Prolly not me, but the others.) The girl then says, "You are on MTV, right?"

Duhhh...whaaa??????

"No..maybe someone who looks like me but me...no.."
"No it's you- you're on MTV."
"Not that I know of..?"

Finally I convinced them that I wasn't on MTV and it was a mixup of some sort. But I must say, I had a huge head for the rest of the night.

RAVE!

We all stumbled out, completely high on adrenaline, and ready for another party. Someone mentioned that there was a rave in some remote location. Basically the night life shuts down at 11:30 pm here now, so you have to go to places that the police cant find you to party all night and into the morning.

Now I've never been to a rave, either in America or here. And wow this was an eye-opening experience. The trance the DJ played was absolutely mind-blowing and there were a crapload of people just in the dark in the middle of a forest just dancing the night away. People (including me) who finally got to see the stars-- a sight that's not possible in Bangalore because of the city lights. Amazing trance music, dancing, and the company of the heavens.

It was glorious.

So that's SATURDAY. Sunday coming up...

Yesterday I went and saw a movie called Rang De Basanti. It's Hindi, and in case you didn't know, I can't speak or understand Hindi. But I took it as an advantage in watching the movie because I was still able to understand it, and I focused on the other factors I tend to watch in movies- acting, directing, cinematography, music, etc.

You have to see this movie.

It's beautifully acted by a great ensemble cast, led by Amir Khan, who was in the Academy Award nominated Foreign Film Lagaan. Ironically, he's partially ineffective at times when he's goofy because it seems like he's trying too hard at points. However, during the drama, YOU CAN'T take your eyes off of him. There's so much charisma with him at these points that it's unflappable. But the same goes for the rest of the cast as well-- very natural and intense at the same time. There are a couple of times when the sound gets a little melodramatic, but for the most part, the director does a great job of keeping it natural and the story flowing.

Plus, I HATE the whole dance routine thing where people start singing out of nowhere, and that's not to be found in this movie. If there is some dancing, it's in context- they're partying, at a club, whatever. Normal.

Anyway, it's one of my recent faves and I highly recommend it.

Now to end on a joke. In India, there are sardar jokes. Sardar is another word for Sikh; Indians who follow Sikhism, and who traditionally wear a turban and don't shave their beards. Around here for whatever reason they have the same connotation as the Polish jokes in America. You know, they're conidered dumb. I don't know if there's any truth to it, but it's funny anyway. So here's the joke:

A sardar goes to his daughter's room and finds cigarettes..."Oh my God! She smokes!" ...He finds a bottle of rum..."Oh my God! She drinks!"...He finds condoms.."Oh my God! She has a penis!"

Peas.

So I totally got pissed off at the mall today. You see, it all has to do with a simple concept that people in India don't really get-- standing in line. You see, let's say we head to a KFC over here. In most civilized countries, you stand in a line and wait for the cashier to say, 'Next' or something.

In India, it's different. EVERYONE just rushes to the register. There's no sense of order. It's whoever can yell loudest or throw their money at the poor cashier trying to make sense of it all.

Today at the mall, I'm waiting behind this one lady who is waiting for her Coke or whatever she ordered. Another guy shows up to my right, obviously not waiting behind me (what good would that do?), and decides to grow the line laterally. "Uh uh uh," I explain, "...after me. I came here before you did." He looked at me as if he wasn't even THINKING of doing that (they always do this- it pisses me off...most of these guys are complete pussies) He started trying to say, "Hey relax man, it's okay...don't get mad, I didn't know, blah blah blah." I just ignored him. Somehow, the punk managed to get in front of me. I kept my cool.

Until the next poor sap tried it.

"Yah I vant Coke."
!!!!!!!!
"Whoa, hold the f*** on. When did you f***in get here, huh? AFTER me. So who goes first? ME. Two Diet Cokes please. Now f***in WAIT."

The poor guy never knew what hit him. I swear to anyone reading this for the first time- I'm a pretty patient guy, and nice. But the thing that pisses me off the most is lack of respect. I took this to be an example of that. Others include being late, not following up on your word, and yes, cutting lines.

But now onto some better things! After my sushi brunch this weekend, I think I'll be putting up a little beginner's guide to sushi. Just let people know one of the things I love and some of the terms associated with it. I got the idea when I was talking to my cousin and he said he'd never tried it. So yeah, that's that. Peace!

I had to go ahead and add a quote from my favorite Vice President, Dan Quayle.

[It's] time for the human race to enter the solar system.
- Dan Quayle


I guess the elder Bush really was just looking for someone just like his son when appointing a Vice, huh? They both have such a way with quotes.

Well boo. But good news first- I'm getting closer to my sushi brunch on Sunday. You have no IDEA how much I've been craving it.


Bad news- the movie seems to be postponed or at least heavily delayed for now. What does this mean? I guess I can finally start looking for jobs again around here. Waiting around for movies to transpire with no cash-flow isn't so much fun, so I'll have to take care of that starting next week.

Also, I've decided on the phone I'll be getting- it's the Motorola SLVR L7. I think they have it in the US, but I'm not sure. Whatever it is, I'll be able to get it for a good price. Aight, peas

****TECH GEEK ALERT TECH GEEK ALERT****

So you know how in those sci-fi movies or just 'future' movies people are always talking to the computer screen directly? They never have to worry about some webcam off to the side making their face look all weird when they talk to someone.

Well guess what- a patent has been filed to fix it. By who else- Apple!

I know I know, a lot of patents are written and never acted upon, but this one just seems too good to just let go. Hell I'd certainly go buy an Apple monitor if it had that technology. But then again...

I'm also a tech geek.

Ah yes, another day of doing absolutely nothing. And trust me, that's no where near as fun as you might think. I'd much rather be working right now...acting would be nice whenever I'm supposed to start filming.

Just wanted to post a quick note- I'll be putting up pics of my sushi brunch on Sunday, so the pic of the week will be slightly delayed.

Another thing- anyone know of a good phone I can get? I'm lookin to get one.

So last week was the muhurath of SMS 6260 and I've been checking the paper for any articles or anything about it. Didn't find anything. I was told however that a lot of other papers (Kannada mainly) have already featured us, so I went today and checked on Google. Badabing, there's actually some stuff about it. I'm even IN one of the photos, gasp!

Here's the pic of me

And you can click here to see some stuff about the movie and about Sandeep, the director.

Peas

Blaaaaaaaaah.

Every night I try to go to sleep by 11 or 12 so I can wake up at 6 and go running. Last night, I tried my best and couldn't and so ended up taking two little sleeping pills that I got when I was in London. Took them at 2 am. I woke up at 5 pm.

I just woke up, went to get something to eat, and feel like shit for not having done anything today. It's too hot right now to go running (plus I just ate), and all I want to do is sleep again.

On top of that, I found out that ReNu, the contact solution that I use, is being pulled from the shelves because they're causing eye infections for people. Yay. Guess what I wake up with this morning? An eye infection. And since Aparna also used some of the solution when she was here, she has one too. We're both on antibiotic eye drops right now to get rid of the muck and the tearing and redness. Wonderful!

Just one of those days. Ah well... we all have em, gotta get through. Good news however is that I should begin shooting this week- I just need to get the call from my director.

Out.

You all will HAVE to download this to realize how funny this all is. I went to a party with some of the people who are in the movie with me. Songs come on, and you know Indian people- they're crazy about music. (At least most around here and in the movies...) So they start dancing like it's 1999. WORD.

Hey who knows- this might be choreography for the dance numbers.

Peas.

I think this is gonna be a long blog. Read on if you wish, but I've already warned you.

I was lying down to get to sleep yesterday and for whatever reason, I couldn't. So, as most of us do, I started thinking about random people/things. And then I remembered this girl back in high school- in Spring Valley, NY. I had a big crush on her and spent all my time with her after school. But just as you probably did, I was petrified to tell her. What if she didn't want to hang out with me anymore? The possibility of me not hanging out with her after school was mind numbing, so for a long time I didn't tell her. This is how crushes go I suppose, especially for a boy who was as shy as me at the time. After a few weeks of building myself up, I finally did it and told her I'd liked her and so on. I think I very weakly (and stupidly) asked if she felt the same. Her answer: "No.." Ouch. And the she added dryly, "I know, I broke your heart, didn't I." So I thought of that last night and went, "That b*tch...hmm.. wonder what she's upto in life now.." and I Google searched her. Within a few minutes I was chatting with her. It'd been almost a decade since I'd spoken to her.

Now here's the interesting part- I don't know how I feel after that conversation. As in, usually when you hear from old college or high school friends, it's like, "Oh crap! HEY! Yeah this is what I'm upto!" But if you've read the About Me section on my page, you'll notice that I hated New York with a passion. And even talking to her- though fine by itself- lent itself to reminding me of who I was at that time. And what I disliked.

Just think about those days that you have when you feel that everything is going wrong. Everything. You just want it to end, want to get to bed, and hopefully start over. You knew (just knew!) that so much of it was your fault, and that you could just hide somewhere. Then on top of that your parents are mad at you for something, and you realize that you can't talk to your best friend right now. That was my life from 14-16 in New York. (Note: Not NYC- I was a tad bit more upstate...Rockland County... I pray I never live there again. I really dig NYC.) Every single day. And I just thought of all that, and it made me shudder.

If this were an essay, I suppose this might be the appropriate section where I could put, "In conclusion...". But you know, I guess some things of your life, no matter how much you've grown past it and learned from it... they still never fail to sting. I look at my life now and I'm so glad- I have a wonderful woman in my life whom I love dearly and loves me in return, I'm doing acting which I love, and have a family that supports me. I really couldn't ask for more. And that makes me happy. Very.. very...


happy.

Conversation of the Week

Amit: "I haven't had a single cigarette since January."
Vinoj: "High five!"
Amit: "Now I just smoke weed. No wait! Still a high five! That's still good!"

Alright kids, it's finally happening. I'm in a Bollywood movie.

The movie that I begin my scenes on next Monday (they already started shooting yesterday for other characters) is GOING TO HAVE 2 SONGS. AND WHAT DO SONGS NEED? THEY NEED DANCES! So yep, those trite things you see on TV and you glare and go, "Are you fer real? Yes, this movie's gonna have those. It's called SMS 6260 and should be released in November in India. I'm sure all you kids back home checking this will be running to your nearest torrent site to download it as soon as it gets released. BLOCKBUSTER HIT! (Jazz hands!)

I'm even IN the second dance scene. No, not dancing or singing, but the scene where the second song will be shot. All of a sudden I've entered another dimension, a whole new level of movie, and am totally excited.

It's interesting when you meet people who speak English, but..well.. just don't get the sentence structure. As in they can mostly function (in India only) if they need to. Example:
Aparna and I were at Coffee Day and we were done eating and I guess the place was getting packed. The waiter comes to us and says,

"Customers are waiting. You can move."
I looked at him and said, "I'm sorry?"
"Customers are waiting here. You can move."
"I can, huh," I replied. "Thank you."

What he MEANT was, "There are customers waiting, would you please move?" But they dont get that here because of their native languages being structured differently than English. And he didn't even inflect his voice up at the end, which made it all the more confusing. Whatever. I didn't say anything, and I left, clearly annoyed.

Anyway, more stuff tomorrow....

Quote of the Day

"I thought you were moving to India to get married
to a princess or some shit. What happened?"
Casey, catching up on my life

Well, so I'm back in India and waiting. Waiting at a Coffee Day. To meet with the director of the movie that I'll be in. And boy am I pretty nervous. What if he sees me and goes, "Ohh ho hey there fatty. You're a little pudgier than I expected. We'll use you as chunky boy #3." Or hell it could be ANYTHING else - my hair-- too spiky? my teeth--too funny? my laugh-too hyena-like??

God this is like a first date, even though I don't think I've ever really been on a date. But if this is what it's like, then I know exactly what people are talkin about. Whew. Out for now.. more details at 11.

Email of the Day
"Cool...see u then..eda dude don't forget the nasal hair remover for me"


-Vinod, after hearing that I'm coming (/going?) back to India

Quote of the Day
"...they all look the same lying down...its how you move it"
-Sara Habib, on her wanting to jump on top of short Indian movie stars

IT'S SNOWING!

It's near the end of March, and it's snowing in Oklahoma. Wow. This is after we've had spells of days when we've reached into the 90's. For the past few days it's been pretty cold here, and tonight, snow.

Yes it's 2 somethin am and I was outside driving. I've got this thing where my whole sleep cycle is all screwed up that I can't get to sleep until 5 am every night. (4 if I'm lucky.) So that then causes me to sleep in until 11 or 12. That can be fixed. The worst is when I end up taking a 'nap' from 3-6 in the afternoon. That then leads to me being up all night again. Right. But the point is, I was outside and I was able to watch absolutely thick full flakes of snow waft gently onto the ground. Magnificent.

There's already about half an inch covering everything, and as I drove I had my windows down fully so I could hear the snow. There's something magical about the sound of snow. It's... silent. It's the only weather phenomenon (precipitation) that's silent. And yet you can listen carefully and hear a rustle of leaves here, a whip of wind there. And that's it.

When I grow up, I want to be a snowman.

Quote of the Day
"Ethnic girls stay fertile for a long time"
-Sara

You know, as I sit here after finishing Jarhead (a very good movie btw), I also read that the amount of people going to see movies in the US decreased about 7.9% last year. Hollywood would, I'd surmise, like to blame this all on file-sharing and movie piracy. After all, anyone who watched the Oscars could easily see how transparently they kept bashing in the idea that 'watching a movie in an actual theater' is an experience. We get it. You lost money.

Here's why I don't really care-

The movies last year were HORRID. Among the top movies are Diary of a Mad Black Woman, The Ring II, Chicken Little, Fantastic Four, and the money-maker that was terrible- War of the Worlds. Of course it should also be noted that WOTW made most its money overseas anyway. But with movies like that, should studios really be surprised? Honestly?

I say chill out and wait for this year. We've got X-3, Superman Returns, Mission Impossible 3, Scary Movie 4 and others that promise to raise some money. I have to say however that as of the last movie I went to go see, I saw enough previews for crappy horror movies that it's sickening. How many times do I have to see a preview for a scary movie that just has some creepy kid? The shtick doesn't work anymore, gentlemen. It just doesn't.

And with that, I bid adieu.

Quote of the Day
"brighter than sunshine. says:
so my cats sniffin my stuffed tiger"
-Arshy, and no, there was no point of reference

Apparently I cant keep my hands off of new software. The newest Mac-ish thing I'm using is Yahoo! Widgets. It started off on a Mac, there was a program called Konfabulator, then Yahoo! bought out Konfabulator. Anyway, my desktop has now changed to a whole slew of otherness.

Anywhoooo...OSCAR TIME, baby! I really have nothing to look forward to... Philip Seymour Hoffman will win and Reese Witherspoon will win. Whoopdeedoo. Hoffman did a very good job in Capote, yes, but... sigh.. I dunno. It seemed so much like a 'award film', that movie. I happen to like the years for Oscars when there's a crowd favorite. A Titanic. A Lord of the Rings. A Godfather. This year is nothing but self-righteous drama, with those that I've seen, especially Capote. (So horrendously boring that I couldn't finish it...and that's rare.)

The only star quality could be George Clooney maybe winning best supporting. Other than that, I'm just tuning in to listen to Jon Stewart. :D

Quote of the Day

"It's so cold out here that when you breathe in and you're outside, your snot freezes."
-Gabby, on Wisconsin weather

For those who haven't read Proof, try reading it. The play won a Pulitzer, and it's wonderful. Once you have, go rent the movie. It's got Gwyneth Paltrow, Anthony Hopkins, and Jake Gyllenhaal. GP is absolutely amazing as Kate. STUNNING. As an actor, I think there are a alot of things that an actor sees in his/her head when reading a script. Paltrow so MUCH with the dialogue that she's given that it's phenomenal. An entire character is fleshed out through ticks,jerks, glances, and breaths.

Wonderful movie.

Well howdy.. been a long time. Aparna left on Saturday, which was kind of a downer. But things are back up to speed I think, partially because I have a new toy... I've been using a program called FlyAKiteOSX to basically make my computer look like a Mac.

GASP!!! A MAC?!!

I came to realize that I'm able to use a Windows XP PC with all its functionality and compatibility and have the only thing that I like about the Mac-- the GUI. (Graphical User Interface) So it's like eating your cake and having it too. No, I didn't write that wrong. Most people say it incorrectly, that's all. It really is supposed to be eating, then having.

And I'm out.

Well, Aparna's in town (been here since last Thursday), and I've basically been taking her all around town showing her the beauties and majesties of this great town of Norman, Oklahoma.

From our non-existent monuments to our shady college sports bars, it's a wonderful experience, I can imagine. No doubt she better be having lots of fun.

Well even if it's not fun at least she's being entertained by Casper over here. The two of them seem to have fallen in love, and it's really odd for him to like anyone, honestly.

And I'm out.

I'll probably create an album of my trip to Houston to see Arshy and Nitu and another one of Apsi's trip to Oklahoma sometime soon. But if I get lazy maybe I'll put it in one of the photo album websites out there.

Oh boy. Only in America would the following be a number one video on Yahoo! Music and be considered totally normal:

AIM Quote of the day

"oh speaking of gay, i got a boys haircut on accident
and now my boyfriend and i totally look like brokeback mountain"
-Jenni

So ironic- I'm in the US and I haven't posted on my site in forever and a day. Partially I've been busy (you know...sleeping....sleeping...sleeping..) and then I really have been doing things. For example, last week I went to Aparna's house and met with her family and such. Cool people, although meeting her dad was a frightening ordeal for me. It's still fine, as far as I still know.

Today however, I decided to go back to the haircut that I had when I first left India. It had lost its...zing... so I decided it's time for a comeback. So here it is. Have a looksie and leave a comment if you'd like.

I'll go ahead and say it now though- I RULE