Happy Independence Day India!!



I love this print ad that Amul ran in 97. We were celebrating 50 years of India's Independence then. Today we celebrate our 57th year as a free nation.

Walking towards Grant Park. Passing by the SAIC.

.

The City before it got too dark

It didn't rain.

Yippeeeee!!!!!!!!

Gave in my script today. It touched 79 pages. It's a LOAD off my mind. I haven't slept more than three hours a day in the last two months. Well, at least it feels like that.

So anyhow. I really really tried to keep the melodrama out of my script. I mean, really. If anyone asked me what genre my script fell under, I'd be compelled to say that it's a thriller with a little bit of comedy, a small element of drama and some action near the end. Which isn't too bad. At least I kept the supernatural out of it. But as the end loomed near, I had to forcibly take the pen out of my hand as the story seemed to write itself. Scribble scribble scr....

And now the second draft. *groan* But I won't think about it today. na an. no chance.

Am off to watch Invasion of the Body Snatchers at the Chicago Outdoor Film Festival in Grant Park. It's going to be fun!! (It looks like it's going to rain.)

tada folks.

Quote of the week

Changing Beds does not make the pain go away.

Priest, The Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago

Glaring opportunities
get turned around,
their missives bound
to wellness, nearness, dearness
newness.

Decorative notes in turn
lilt off a summer's rose concerned
with melodies that slowly fade away

Why does this mind not leverage
the weight of thoughts
Ideas wrought
with crushing songs of
crystal clear decay.

Garnish the roots
disguise the mood,
Let loving display
be cleverly new
Develop a sense of selling anew
a life.

Level's unleavened
If fate could be so clear.

Am toiling, am toiling, am coming up for air *gasp*






Leaving for Boston tomorrow to shoot the Democratic National Convention. (hee hee, wonder if the FBI / CIA  are reading this). Just for the record, I think I'll go shoot the Republican National Convention too (at the end of August, in New York).

Anyhow... the next few days are going to be tiring.  I don't know how many hours we'll be on our feet, with camera in hand. (my arms will get a workout too!)   I'm excited though, it should be fun.

Oh yes, I need to get back to mah script which is still not done. Ne'er ye mind folks, it's comin' along. I haven't moved from my seat in two days. And I have a sore butt to prove it.

tada.

S u r f a c e

Am feeling stupid. Went to Filter to try and work on my script... which
is due in exactly a week.  Since I don't even have a step outline
yet, I'm predictably (and deservedly) stressed.  So I thought a
change of scenery
would do me good and get those literary nerve-endings to sizzle with
ideas and cause-&-effect situations that would write
themselves. 

I went. I looked around. I sat my computer down and
went to get a beverage. I came back and set myself up. Notebook,
computer, paper, pen. I looked at the blank screen. It took me about
five minutes to miss the internet and feel so alone.

I
held out though.

Another five minutes later I had bought one of those connectivity cards
to go online. "Need to try the wireless card," I thought, "in case it doesn't work." Huh?

It's amazing
how easy it is to convince oneself to do something that one really
wants to.  After all, my decision to get connected was a charitable one. Not
only is FaceFive making money off it (and making money, as everyone
knows, leads to a convoluted chain of transactions that ultimately
helps the economy prosper. Or so the government would have us believe),
but I'm spending less time stressing about what I could be reading
online; instead I'm actually reading it.

Except that I never got connected. A tiny button on my computer was off
when it wasn't supposed to be. And in all my workings-out I didn't
think of pushing it. Pity.

Which is where the feeling stupid comes in. Because instead of stressing about what I
could be doing, I spent two hours troubleshooting the
network card. Drank an iced tea and hot cocoa in the
process.

The economy's definitely boosting.

I'm constantly amazed at how much I rely on the internet though. I
don't read as  much online as I used to last year, or the year
before that. I don't play games. I've even given up the online
crosswords. I don't chat with my friends as
often (ask them!) It's just the thought of not being able to do any of
those whenever I
want to, that is crippling. I mean, how will I know that color is still
spelt colour in some parts of the world if I can't get to www.m-w.com right
now?

Just what I needed .. to be dependent on a machine. As though people weren't enough to screw you.

Like a lot of other people, I hate saying goodbye. But what I hate even more is not saying it.
Contradictory?

In an ideal situation, farewells would be an acknowledgment of how
we touch each others lives. I could see tham as the milestones that
highlight my journey and my existence. Markers that can be visited over
and again, to capture moments and dreams that grew more lovely in
retrospect.

But it isn't always easy to be that strong. To let go and say 'Take
care,' nonchalently averting one's face as the eyes mist up and the
nose turns red (mine does! kinda sucks really). I tend to run away and
hide, just so that I don't have to see that last turning away, more
metaphoric than actual. When the filmy
this-scene-will-be-in-slow-motion-to-tug-at-heartstrings actually makes
sense because that's how it did feel. Have I really known you that long, or not at all. You were there one minute and not there the next.
Did I blink?

Yes, perhaps I did. And in blinking away the tears I denied them to you too. No wonder there's a distance.

But the world still exists. Cold through frosted glass, but it's Summer yet.
And
I can still see the leaves outside my window. There is still time to
ride my bike (Once I get a wheel for it). Time to finish my script and
edit my film. Need to find a sound mixer.

The oasis is lost. No matter.
My cat loves me. I think.