January: Trip to India. Went on a grand temple tour of South India culminating in Rameswaram & Dhanushkoti.
February: One of my close friends moves to the US of A. Yippeee!
March: S moves to Lexington. Start having loooong phone conversations with parents in India about wedding plans. It was a bit tense at first because Dad wasn't getting any mandapams in Chennai. One night, I was on the phone with Dad and we were discussing wedding dates. Started bawling on the phone all of a sudden that I wanted my Dad here in the US right away, right now. S was totally confused by my sudden tears and tried to assuage me. Meanwhile, Dad on the phone totally panicked..:)
April: Engaged to S! Party Time! RS & PH devised a jodi porutham type of game for S & I. We scored above 50%! Whew!
May: Nothing much happened here. I just had these umpteen conversations with mom and dad about wedding planning, shopping etc..!
June: RT, N, S & I started practicing Carnatic songs for "Glimpses of India" to be performed at the Univ of KY. This was major fun! :)A good friend in Lex gets married!
July: "Glimpses of India" on Jul 28th! Had a ball of a time performing in a huge auditorium. S&I broke into a major fight soon after that...:) Another friend gets married..!
August: Moved apartments again! Sigh. S made me an amazing necklace for my birthday. India trip again! Whopeee!
September: Married S without PMJs or any other incidents..:) Chennai had a Tsunami alert on the evening of maplai azhaippu. Entire trip was so hectic that we were both looking pretty worn out in our wedding pictures.
October: Friends sent us on a honeymoon to the Great Smoky mountains. Priya was the architect of this trip. Hats off! Started formal Carnatic music lessons again.
November: In-laws were here. Thalai Diwali. New place. A-mazing Thanksgiving party with lotsa jamming, friends and food. This was a rocking month..!
December: So December has rolled around yet again. I think I've fulfilled one resolution from last year -- staying in touch with Carnatic music. I learnt a lot of new krithis and Dinesh told me I've improved vastly! I have not really blogged that much this year compared to previous years' averages. Hopefully, I'll reverse that in 2008. For starters, I personalized this blog a little bit.
Farewell, 2007! I think you've been a good year for me.
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Movie Critique
The Break-up:
Unless you're this die-hard fan of Vince Vaughn, please don't see this movie. I don't know who thought up Vince's character in the movie. He seems to be delivering dialogues without commas, punctuations or pauses. Just like the annoying train noise that you hear when you live close to the tracks. And if anyone ever courted me the pushy way he courts Jen Aniston, I think I'd be downright annoyed.
Apart from Vince Vaughn, the story itself seems quite silly. So please don't see it.
Music & Lyrics:
The movie was kinda cutesy in a pink way. But the songs got stuck in my head. Especially the "Way Back Into Love" number. Hugh Grant's role as the funny, lost bachelor is being reprised again. But it is quite passable.
Kannamoochi Yenada:
We've watched one half the movie. So far it has been quite funny and interesting. Sathyaraj, as the girl's dad, is very convincing..:) Very clean comedy too! I am eager to finish watching the movie.
Chak De India:
Best Hindi movie I've seen in recent times. I was observing to S that if a male coaches a female sports team in India, there's usually a scene where the blameless hero gets entangled in sexual harassment allegations and goes home in disgrace. Thankfully, the movie didn't have such cheesy scenes and everyone had acted well! I loved it.
Azhagiya Tamizh Magan:
I've probably seen 20 mins of the movie seeing as I fell asleep after a very sumptuous dinner. So far, its been all Vijay's gyrations & masala. Others who managed to stay awake say that it was passable. Of course, everyone's watched just half the movie. I don't know when I am going to see the rest! :)
Unless you're this die-hard fan of Vince Vaughn, please don't see this movie. I don't know who thought up Vince's character in the movie. He seems to be delivering dialogues without commas, punctuations or pauses. Just like the annoying train noise that you hear when you live close to the tracks. And if anyone ever courted me the pushy way he courts Jen Aniston, I think I'd be downright annoyed.
Apart from Vince Vaughn, the story itself seems quite silly. So please don't see it.
Music & Lyrics:
The movie was kinda cutesy in a pink way. But the songs got stuck in my head. Especially the "Way Back Into Love" number. Hugh Grant's role as the funny, lost bachelor is being reprised again. But it is quite passable.
Kannamoochi Yenada:
We've watched one half the movie. So far it has been quite funny and interesting. Sathyaraj, as the girl's dad, is very convincing..:) Very clean comedy too! I am eager to finish watching the movie.
Chak De India:
Best Hindi movie I've seen in recent times. I was observing to S that if a male coaches a female sports team in India, there's usually a scene where the blameless hero gets entangled in sexual harassment allegations and goes home in disgrace. Thankfully, the movie didn't have such cheesy scenes and everyone had acted well! I loved it.
Azhagiya Tamizh Magan:
I've probably seen 20 mins of the movie seeing as I fell asleep after a very sumptuous dinner. So far, its been all Vijay's gyrations & masala. Others who managed to stay awake say that it was passable. Of course, everyone's watched just half the movie. I don't know when I am going to see the rest! :)
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Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Music mania!
A bunch of music maniacs got together this Thanksgiving holiday at our home. We rented a few instruments from a local music shop, put together a list of film songs and started jamming. Dinesh wanted to sing "recordable" material -- so we sang a few songs for the "record"..:) Arun was our aasthana keyboardist. Sujan & Dinesh were the drummers. RT, me, Nick, Moni and a few others were the vocalists. ANM and Venky were our sound/recording guys. Amidst giggling, musical missteps and flashes of brilliance, we managed to record a couple of songs with probably an hour of practice..:) I consider that quite a feat..
It was fun to have the camaraderie of practicing together;of laughing together at some good and some dead-end jokes; of just just giggling away to glory for the most trivial of things; of just having friends over for the holidays.
Later in the night, after wolfing down pizza, we had a Carnatic music session. It went on and on and on until 2.30 AM in the morning..! :) Finally, exhausted but thoroughly entertained after a long evening, we settled down to just "talk" into the wee hours of the morning..
Here's a song we recorded with our miscues and all..:)
Singers: Subha & RT
Drums: Sujan & Dinesh
Keyboard: Arun
Ahh, it was a memorable thanksgiving! :)
It was fun to have the camaraderie of practicing together;of laughing together at some good and some dead-end jokes; of just just giggling away to glory for the most trivial of things; of just having friends over for the holidays.
Later in the night, after wolfing down pizza, we had a Carnatic music session. It went on and on and on until 2.30 AM in the morning..! :) Finally, exhausted but thoroughly entertained after a long evening, we settled down to just "talk" into the wee hours of the morning..
Here's a song we recorded with our miscues and all..:)
Singers: Subha & RT
Drums: Sujan & Dinesh
Keyboard: Arun
Ahh, it was a memorable thanksgiving! :)
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