Reading... writing

3 years ago, I posted a lament about how I'd ended up reading fewer and fewer books. I'm happy to report the situation has changed over the past year (or more. Didn't keep track until recently, when I felt like making a list). A recent conversation reminded me that I've read loads of books recently (Thank you Kindle!) and I felt I should make a small list.

What kick-started my return to reading was the Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson. I'd already seen the Swedish movies before so I knew the basic plot-line but the detail that books offer and the pace of such genre of books meant I was hooked onto reading all three. Since January, I have revisited old classics - The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, A Christmas Carol, The Man with Two Left Feet And Other Stories. India trip meant I found some great cheap editions of - Hitch 22 (highly recommended and still unfinished by me as I chug through it a couple of chapters at a time) and One Hundred Years of Solitude (recommended if you enjoy magical realism).

Project Gutenberg, and Archive.org mean that I have a steady source of classics (Three Men in a Boat, P.G Wodehouse stuff and Gogol's short stories). And then, I stumbled upon the A Song of Ice and Fire Series (I think the individual ebooks might be better, this 4 book version has slight problems with formatting, indexes etc.) Whoa! If you enjoyed Lord of the Rings, you will love this. Do read. Taking a break before I start reading the 5th book of the series.

So, as a diversion from Game of Thrones... I reread Asimov's Foundation Trilogy. Another great epic. And a few days ago, I stumbled on one of the first complete English translations of the Rig-Vedas. One of the times where I was glad that Google digitizes books. Reading has commenced at a slow pace, thanks in part to archaic English and OCR errors.
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I'm at the end of doctoral research. Quite fast, I know, but French doctoral programs are time bound. They last 3 years and deadlines are rarely extended. Which leads to the writing of my thesis. I currently joke that reading epics is good training for writing one. Wish me luck :)
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PS: Added Amazon Affiliate links in certain places. If you buy something from Amazon by clicking  through links from here, I earn a slight something (while you pay the same price that you normally would).

TV

My last post was written a long time ago. I posted it recently only because it was lounging around in the drafts section for too long. But polishing it up with the IMDB links and adding a few newer movies to the list led me another stream of thought. What sitcoms or comedy TV shows would I recommend to others?

Turns out it's a more difficult question to answer than I imagined. I realized that I've not followed any Indian TV series in more than 8~9 years. And to think that I've been outside India only half of the time. Most shows are generally crap... everywhere. Even then, it's not difficult to end up with a list of around 5-10 good American shows, 2-3 British ones (I've only just begun looking for them) which one could watch and follow.

Very few good Indian shows come to my mind. Most are not recent. And since I only speak Hindi and Marathi, I wouldn't want to comment on shows from other languages. But I'd wager there are much more good Marathi shows than Hindi shows. Probably because a relatively smaller audience, and even smaller funding opportunities automatically weed out the bad?

It also leads me to wonder about sitcoms. I now realize how language is an important factor to humour. When we crack jokes in Marathi or Hindi, they are generally puns, or play on words. Probably my lack of a good literary grounding in these languages is the cause for that. My knowledge is limited to some of the works of P. L. Deshpande.  I recently re-listened to some of his recordings (where he reads out and performs his own essays) and was struck by how different it is to what one sees now. He includes puns and play on words, yes, but his jokes are better written. There is a premise, a lead up and then a pay-off.

The better comedies in Marathi (405 Anandvan, Gangadhar Tipre, ... oh-god I can't remember any more!) tended to sprinkle it with some serious-er moments, but always followed the golden rule of not having the characters in on the joke. For the characters, the situation at hand was something of concern... they didn't realize it was funny to others because they were invested in its outcome. Which makes it so much more enjoyable.

Among the many gripes I have with Indian tv and cinema is that to me it seems everyone is trying to ape the flash-bang-hollywood movies and popular tv. We should rather figure out what we do better and do it.

Here's a parting thought: Watch shows like 30 Rock, Community, Doctor Who, Sherlock, Coupling, and even The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother. Now how many recent Indian shows can you think of that make laugh out as loud (Ok.. that IS subjective I know). Or rather, think of which show you can quote from and have someone else instantly recognize it. "Sorry Shaktiman" is one, but is only said ironically. :-/

[Edit: The post and thought was mostly inspired because I spent some time in an improv troupe, and some people I know from there write 'notes' (on fb, so can't link here) or blogs on such analysis often.]

What's up?

I realise that I have subscribed to 32 feeds in my Google Reader. I'm also following 44 people. I have an active Facebook account, I've not switched off Buzz. And I frequent Cnn, Times of India (bad choice, I know), Cricinfo, Engadget, Cnet.

Oh, and I'm also supposed to be doing a PhD. I've re-discovered my addiction to reading. Though, along with books it includes all those above things. Which means that reading papers and work stuff is lagging behind. Shit! Hence, a recent curfew was put into place. Most forms of chat were switched off. I didn't go as ninja as this one suggests. But I have contemplated it.

So what has happenned in recent times? Trip to Venice. It's a great city. VISIT it. I would definitely want to go there again. I caught up on Tv Shows  - How I Met Your Mother and Californication. HIMYM is the simple-minded addicted sitcom thingy. Once you start a season, lack of anything better to do makes you want to finish it. I finished it. Californication is good. Though I would have been happy if they had stopped at Season 1. Now that Season 2 has ended in a way to set up Season 3, I will have to watch it.

As a way to be less online and more in the "real" world, I picked up sailing lessons. Catamarans! It's fun. Especially when 6 minutes into the sea, a gust of wind and inexperience causes the boat to flip. Not entirely, but you get thrown into icy cold water. But sailing requires you to be able to swim 50 metres unaided. I can swim, but not too far. So I need to go the pool and do them some laps. And doing them laps I am.

Went skiing the other day. I was told that since I can roller-blade and since I have tried ice-skating, skiing wouldn't be a problem. Big old overconfident me had a fun time trying to figure out how to stay standing on those skis. The repeated taste of snow+ice is not all that fun. But eventually I managed to move and stop when I wanted (almost). Success!

And finally, have been looking for motorcycles. And will be buying one in a week. In the process of doing the paperwork and insurance and stuff. So, next week a 500cc baby monster will roll in.