Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Recommended. And Other Things.

The Kannada superstar Vishnuvardhan passed away this morning. He was a good actor and acted in some fantastic movies. My generation kind of grew up with his movies every Sunday on DD1; his Nagarahavu is a particular favourite. May his soul rest in peace. Yesterday, Kannada singer C Ashwath passed away. He was a very good singer too.

Somehow, personally and otherwise, 2009 has been quite the worst year of my life. I am glad it is over. I am glad it is not going to come back.

I have things to recommend today.
If you have not yet watched James Cameron's Avatar, do so NOW. It is way too good. Bharadwaj Rangan has thrashed the movie, but then, he thrashes every movie. The story line is old, but then, even Titanic had one of the oldest story lines ever---the poor boy-meets-rich girl. So watch Avatar, if only for the graphics.

There is this online library called www.librarywala.com that I am a member of. They have branches in a few cities in the country. The monthly plans are great, as little as Rs 139 for three books. And the collection is amazingly good. The best part is that they have free pick up and drop facility for books, all you do is choose the books online and you get them delivered anywhere in Bangalore within 24 hours! Things like this is what makes living in a large city bearable. Check it out.

I don't quite remember if I wrote about Nicholas Sparks here. He of The Notebook fame that was made into an ok-ok movie. He has written several others, though The Notebook remains the most well known. All his books are pretty much the same, nice, candy-like, the boy always gets the girl, there are no too-evil people in the story and its most often a happily-ever-after. But the way he writes his stories is lovely. And I am not ashamed to say that his books always make me cry, for the beauty and tragedy of it all. I like happy endings in such books, life isn't like that, so why not expect fiction to be all the way good?
So read him sometime when life is depressing. He makes you feel good.

There is a new cafe that has opened near office, an international chain called Au Bon Pair. I loved the Parisian feel to the place, wrought iron chairs and tables and all. Not too expensive a place, rather sinful pastries and good salads. I am a lot into the Parisian theme these days; the image of a little cafe where you can sip a coffee and read a book and bump into writers and artists is on my mind a lot these days. On that note, UB City Mall has this place called Toscano, run by a former 5-star hotel chef called Jean Micheal Jassarand. I had met him for a story I had to write and he made me taste some chocolate mousse there. Out of the world good! I shall head there soon for more espresso. The chef is French, the food all Italian, the ambiance is great, a little expensive but great for a special day.

That said, Happy New Year everyone.

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