Showing posts with label random. Show all posts
Showing posts with label random. Show all posts

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Fire! Fire!

I had always thought of what would happen if I burn my hair! (it's all a part of my paranoia for my hair) The other day I did.
I had a candle in one hand and tried to take a call on my cell phone. My front hair was up in flames. I dropped the phone. Tried to put it off with my hand and then rushed to the basin to splash some water.
I was almost in tears. I thought my almost damaged hair will finally see its end. I kept pulling out burnt strands of hair for the next 5 mins. Thankfully not much damage was done! It's something else to live your fears. It's a small example of how by facing your fears you can overcome them.
Anyway...but the bottom line is that now I'm like dying for a haircut!

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Where do you go?

Don't know when it all started. I have been craving for a trip to Europe. It's quite wierd for someone who's never set foot outside the country to claim to love travelling. You meet so many people who say they love travelling but when you ask them which places they have been to, they don't really have a list. Sadly, I'm one of them.

I day dream about various places across the country and the world. Read about them, imagine myself in those places and feel good thinking about all the good things I could experience when I travel there.

But the way I have been hung up on Europe is not funny. I have already half-travelled to several cities there. Through books, maps, online articles, couchsurfing.com, info on rail passes, flight tickets etc. I have even started to prepare a budget. When I look at my bank account, there's nothing there to fund this huge ambitious PROJECT EUROPE. But somehow I know I'll go- 'when where and how' are not relevant here.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Love handles

“Love handles are hot,” a friend told me. Why? “They cause pain when you squeeze them. There’s pleasure in that. So the whole idea is quite sexy as bitter sweet pain is sexy. And so love handles are hot.”

“You mean they are sexy when making sex…oops making love,” I tried to say.
She laughed.

I was like, “I don’t think men find love handles hot!” So she quickly replied, “No they do.”

A guy friend was quickly called on to testify. And he said. “Yes love handles do look hot on some women.” I was zonked. I thought to myself. “I have a chance with all my bulging fat!”

But when she gave him the pain theory even he was zonked and wondered why he even became a part of this strange conversation.

Friday, August 22, 2008

Hottest Olympians of all time

Here's something I put together...

Nadia Comaneci
Age: 47 years

The Soap opera ‘the young and the restless’ became associated with her after a TV program— ABC's Wide World Of Sports— used it as background music for montages of her routines. Composer, Barry De Vorzon, renamed it to ‘Nadia's Theme’ after her.

She wrote a book called ‘letters to a young gymnast’ and launched an album.

She launched her own music album in Bucharest.

Nadia Turner, singer and actress, and American Idol Season 4 Finalist was named after Nadia Comaneci.

Lance Armstrong
Age: 37 years

He dated singer-songwriter Sheryl Crow and the couple even got engaged before a sudden split.

He also later dated fashion designer Tory Burch, Ashley Olsen and most recently Kate Hudson.

Armstrong owns a house in Austin and a ranch in the Texas Hill Country. Neighbours of his ranch property claim that Armstrong polluted a local swimming hole when he was creating a dam on his ranch.

Since retirement, Armstrong has focused his efforts on the Lance Armstrong Foundation, which provides support for people affected by cancer, and on other interests

Sebastian Coe
Age: 52 years

Coe was featured in the Brass Eye (UK television show) spoof documentary on pedophilia unwittingly accusing American blue-eyed soul singers Hall & Oates of not only being the same person but also of being child abusers.
Post-divorce a handful of glamorous women have been seen on his arm.
He is a multimillionaire, a worldwide ambassador for Nike, owns a string of health clubs with a membership of 20,000 and is a member of the East India Club in London.
He has a very large collection of jazz records.

Steffi Graff
Age: 39 years

With her father dominating her personal life until the Graf tax scandal in 1995, Graf often declined social invitations and made few friends on tour.

Graff spent much of the 1990s in a relationship with race car driver Michael Bartels.

She eventually found that she had more in common with tennis superstar Andre Agassi, whom she married in 2001.

The couple have many homes, but prefer to spend much of their time in Las Vegas.

Mark Spitz
Age: 58 years

Spitz is a motivational speaker and travels to Japan, China, Hong Kong and most of Europe since he began in 1973. “My middle name is Mileage Plus,” he says.

His iconic moustache was his hottest feature and was seen as a sign of notoriety as most competitors opt to swim without facial hair, often shaving their bodies completely.

In 1991, he appeared for a sports event sans moustache. When quizzed about the absence on TV show he simply said, “it had become too grey.”

Chemist EH Bronner maintained that Spitz was a prophet. He is mentioned in Bronner's fifth MORAL ABC which appears on each bottle of Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap. Spitz sued Dr Bronner's over this reference.

Dara Torres
Age: 41

At 41, she’s the oldest woman to participate at the Olympics.

During her retirement from swimming she has worked as a reporter and announcer for television networks, NBC, ESPN, TNT, OLN and Fox News.

She also hosts a golf show called the Clubhouse on the Resort Sports Network.

She has been a model and in 1994 she was in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.

JAYNE TORVILL & CHRISTOPHER DEAN
Age: 50 years & 51 years

Dean's first ice partner was Sandra Elson. They began skating together when he was 14 and competed as ice dancers for a few years. However, despite becoming British Junior Dance champions, the team parted, as Dean and Elson did not get along well.

Dean was in the police force till 1974, when he decided to quit his job completely to concentrate on ice-skating, and so did Torvill.

Even after retiring the pair continued acted as coaches, choreographers and performers in ITV's Dancing on Ice.

They returned for a second series and third series after the 2007 & 2008 UK series of Dancing on Ice Torvill and Dean took the show on the road for a British tour.

Summer Sanders
Age: 35 years

Summer married Mark Henderson in 2001 and then World Cup skier Erik Schlopy in 2005.

Summer admitted to having a teenage crush on Kirk Cameron.

Summer published the book Champions Are Raised, Not Born: How My Parents Made Me A Success in 1999, which is a tribute to her parents.

A mother of a girl now, Summer launched the Similac Moms Alliance, an online community for moms which gives tips regarding important mothering issues.

Monday, August 11, 2008

I smell you

Yes, I love perfumes and deodorants. I’m not faffing. I bet you can come within one metre of my radius without cringing!

Another proof is my cupboard. You open the door and at any given point there will be at least 4-5 different deodorants in there (thats how much I can affored). I feel bad when I don’t have the money because that means that I can’t have a better variety of deos in there. My room mates think that I have become a fashionista just because I have a couple more deos than them! Ask me which brands I use, and all I’ll manage is my most famous blank expression. So immediately I don't qualify. But I still maintain I love variety as far perfumes go.

While I can’t get too close to people with body odour for obvious reasons, what intrigues me more is the millions of fragrances around us. While people who stink have different stinks! People with fragrances have different fragrances too. Very often when you pass by someone in office, you get a hint of fragrance from them. I often begin to guess the fragrance. She smells like peach, he smells like lemon, while this girl smells like berries!

I love axe ads. You use axe and women will cling on to you. You use the new chocolate fragrance and all the women will want a bite of you! That’s a great concept and innovative thought process. I do feel sexy when a man asks me what perfume I’m wearing even if he doesn’t immediately want to cling on to me or bite me. Imagine walking down the street and attracting people with your smell.

Someone had once told me that when you get attracted to someone or feel positive vibrations it also means that you have caught on to that persons smell. Like dogs I guess. I don’t know if that’s true but it sounds interesting. I wish I went out and men came looking for me. Do you think I attract too many men because I often mix my deos (two deos at the same time) or use different deos every other day? I’m not complaining. Heehee…

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Happy?

Watch two ladies sleeping under a shed of a high rise building. Hiding from the rains. Trying to protect themselves from the cold breeze with an old piece of bedsheet. Selling water to make a living. When you come back in the evening. They smile. Greet you. Ask you how your day went. You say just about fine and enter the building. The women share a sweet joke behind you and break into a laugh. They seem happy. As I walk up the stairs I remember my day. There is too much pressure at work. I have to deliver. I can see my boss get impatient with me. I have a lot to prove. An extra story to file. Many ideas to generate. God, I wish I was paid better for all this shit I have to go through. Even as I enter my home I think of how much money the two women earn. How they manage to smile through so many problems. Their laughter still rings in my ears. Shouldn't I be happier?

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Time to go home?

A traveller had travelled miles away from home. He had taken the bus, the train and even a flight to get where he was. He had acquired some wealth on his way up to this country up north. He had grown a lot, seen a lot and was really happy about all his accomplishments. He had made lovely loyal friends in this new country. One evening as he sat in his balcony staring at the sunset, he remembered the promise he had made to his parents. "I will be back soon," he had said.

But he didn't feel like going back anymore. Though he loved the country of his birth and still had a few friends there, he was very comfortable where he was now. He didn't know whether it was the right time to leave all this behind and go back to his roots. Where are a traveller's roots really? When does a travaller know or feel that its time to go back? Does a traveller never return home? Or is it his each new experience that makes him feel more at home?

Is it time to go home?

Thursday, June 19, 2008

R Balki (Cheeni Kum director) on spirituality...

I don't know what spirituality is, except that when I accumulate a lot of garbage in my head, I need to shed it and be at peace with myself. I retreat to a quiet corner and am alone with myself for half an hour. Today, any job is stressful. At times, despite doing our best, bad things happen to us. I could get stressed due to my work, my wife...though she also unwinds me! I could get stressed if someone bombs my ad campaign or when nice things aren't said about a movie i have made. I learn from all of it. How you cope with stress is what matters.

I have less tolerance than most people and therefore need to introspect more often. And that's when you realise that in the end, nothing matters. Being a movie buff, I destress myself faster when I watch films or cricket. In fact, it's important to unlearn things. I believe in a supreme power which guides our destiny and who is above our control. I remember I once met a friend of mine in Delhi and she told me that on a particular day, a particular thing would happen to me. And believe me, it did. That's when i experienced God.

I am not a ritualistic person and don't go to temples or wear amulets. I remember the last time I went to Tirupati was some four-five years back and I still remember it was the special vada there that drew me. I don't believe in rituals or praying endlessly for good things to happen.

I believe that if you do good, good things should happen to you and things will work out. The truth will always prevail. For example, I believe if i have been paid for a campaign, I should do the work to the best of my ability and if I haven't, I explain to my clients that this hasn't been up to my satisfaction. And they appreciate it. Truth is the biggest con job. The solutions to most things lie within yourself.

PS: I AGREE...

Thursday, June 05, 2008

Interesting

Here's an excerpt from Ram Gopal Verma's blog

Question to Ram Gopal Varma: In one shot in Bhoot after the car leaves the basement the shot changes with the sound of a dolby click.

RGV's Answer: That was not a dolby click. It is the igniter sound which Urmila uses on the gas stove. Anyway as long as you felt the impact it does not matter. The psychology of that shot is that the audience would be used to the fact that the shot will be cut after the car left the frame. But the fact that it lingers on automatically puts them into a heightened tension thereby making them anticipate something terrible will happen and that’s why even an ordinary click sound will scare them. Similarly one more example of this is when Urmila comes down into the hall to go into the kitchen for a glass of water. In a wide-angle shot I show the audience that there is no one in the living room. If the camera follows behind her they will be half expecting something to jump on her from of the frame. But the fact they can see the whole room their eyes will be darting all over to see if anyone is hiding somewhere. Meanwhile Urmila takes her time to drink water and comes back. As she goes up the stairs I cut to top angle where the audience can see behind her.

Now as the audience can’t see anything in the back and from Urmila’s expression they can see that there is nothing in the front, they slowly relax as she comes close to the camera into out focus distance thereby expecting the shot to be cut. But as she crosses the camera we reveal Manjeet under the stairs making them jump out of the seat.