Stills (or should they be called blurs!) from The American Experience...

...have been uploaded here, and more will follow soon.

Hope you like them!
Adios!

Weaknesses galore!

Tomorrow, it will be exactly a month since my arrival in Philly, and I can't help marvelling at the two mutually contradictory feelings I'm experiencing. While it's hard to believe on one hand, that just a month has passed, considering how much water seems to have flowed under the bridge, there is a certain amount of dissatisfaction at the time it's taking me to settle into a routine.

The workload is considerable, which isn't really a talking point, because all folks I know in their first semesters have said the same. Then I am really suffering because of my bad sleeping habits, which means that I sleep around 6 hours a night, in general from 3:30 am to 9:30 am. To boot, I still haven't got internet at home, which makes a fellow like me stay till late in the Engineering building, accumulating tiring hours on a chair, when I can be far more comfortable on my bed at home. Then, there is the small issue of food. Eating out is interesting in the sense that you get to try out lots of new dishes and cuisines, but somehow, unless you pay a visit to the Indian restaurants in the vicinity, which offer sizeable meals in the form of buffets (albeit at somewhat high prices), you never get the feeling that you stuffed yourself till you could eat no more! Then we have the devil of free calling within the US after 9 PM. This implies that I am spending approximately 1.5 hours (eeek!!!) a night talking to friends, especially at the time when I think I am at my productive best (granted that it's not as if I move mountains when I'm productive, but still...), and there is usually so much to talk about that if you happen to get started, it's tough to look at your watch and say: Hoi! I have to get back to work!!!

But this post isn't for the purpose for whining about my troubles. The damnable thing about the situation is that I don't feel bad, in general, but I surely feel the pinch, when I am running out of time, trying to get an assignment in, on time, or when I have to skip a class, because I feel like I simply have to sleep, or when I wake up and have to walk to campus with no breakfast in my tummy because I missed the last shuttle.

Ah well! Not many options exist. So I might as well stop griping, and get on with the job. However, I would really appreciate it, if somebody could make me believe that a month is really too small a length of time for hardened procrastinators like me to be able to mend their ways!

Hope to have more cheerful things to tell you about, next time!

Alarms!!! (not clocks, though!)

Spruce Street, between approximately 39th to 45th Streets, is a great residential neighbourhood. It's clean, inhabited by nice people (like me!), has quaint buildings, and is supposed to look good in the Fall (coming up!). Basically, the only complaint I have is that it's 20 minutes on foot to Towne Building, which houses the MEAM department, and that means ooh-ah-ouch in the winters. Pretty good, no?

NO.

DEFINITELY NOT!

Right at the end of Spruce Street, is the University of Pennsylvania Health System's main operations, which comprises the Hospital of the University (it has the cute acronym HUP...huppp!! haha!!). And in an infamous city like Philadelphia, which has a number of assorted law-breakers (Nipun says: Texas is very law abiding!), the personnel and their ambulances have their hands full. Spruce Street happens to be one of their favoured roads, and if you are in the middle of a potentially bad dream, then the ambulance may be thrown into it, as it is passing by my window, just to make matters more serious...

Well, no problem. Let's just say I am glad not to be in one of those ambulances.

See you!

An Addendum to the previous post

It was somehow fitting that while watching the movie, I kept hearing these lines again and again:
(Maybe I've watched this film too many times...)

"...And that's the day I knew there was this entire life behind things, and... this incredibly benevolent force, that wanted me to know there was no reason to be afraid, ever. Video's a poor excuse, I know. But it helps me remember... and I need to remember... Sometimes there's so much beauty in the world I feel like I can't take it, like my heart's going to cave in..."

That's right...'American Beauty' again.

I somehow feel that Mendes and Cinematographer Conrad Hall just managed to make me feel like MY heart was going to cave in...thanks to them both for such an enthralling exhibition of beauty!

Now...

When am I going to buy that digital camera??

Hmmmmmmmmmmm....truth be told, I can't wait!

An Unintended Review: Road to Perdition

I had latched on to 'Road of Perdition' at the very mention of director Sam Mendes' name, whose 'American Beauty' is one of my favourite movies. I was lucky enough to get it from the Van Pelt Library's video collection today, it having been listed as Checked Out last night, because the guy who had borrowed it happened to be in front of me in the line!

I've just finished watching the film, and while I will leave it to you to form your own opinions on the storytelling, the acting and the characters, I couldn't help being awestruck by the visual impact of the film; in particular the locales, the angles and the harmony between colours, and even more so between shades. It also helped to have a number of striking looking people in the cast, including Paul Newman, a spine-tingling Jude Law (creepy is more like it...), the craggy Daniel Craig (Pierce Brosnan's successor as Bond...James Bond!) and even the young Tyler Hoechlin as Tom Hanks' son.

As far as I know, some of the scenery in the father-son duo's drives are from the Prairies of the American Midwest (even if they aren't, who cares?), and the desolation, coupled with the stunning colours and grandly manoeuvered angles, make for an unforgettable viewing experience. Set in the winter of 1931, the quaint automobiles, oil lamps, elegant homes and refreshingly open streets (now this may not be due to the cinematographer's genius; I have a soft corner for empty streets!) provide a wonderful backdrop to the story. It also happened to be my first experience of a widescreen DVD, and I am sure I can never forgive the ordinary prints for being ordinary again!

In particular there is a street shooting scene at night, in the rain, with men in overcoats and hats, and a particular sequence in the scene of Hanks walking into the background. I think I'll try and put it on my desktop as a wallpaper, even though it means absolutely nothing, except that its visual appeal is irresistible.

Do watch the movie folks...and if you have any other tips for films with great cinematography, please do let me know. Next on my list is Clint Eastwood's 'The Bridges of Madison County'!

See you around!

The Compulsive Blogger

...is what I am not. In fact, I realize with some disappointment that one of the foremost reasons I started to blog in the first place was because I had nothing to do. This further implies that I was doing nothing that people might want to know about. Now, I am busy. I have, what can really be termed a 'life' (yes folks, staying at home and enjoying the holidays does not qualify as 'life'.) And so, now I have a lot of stuff to share with people who scrap me on Orkut asking me how I find it here. But I don't have the time to talk about it any more. Paradox!!

I have, thus far, been shortchanging everybody with the same 'trying to get settled' crap, which is perfectly true and absolutely useless to a well-wisher. But, as I said, I am not a man who blogs due to an inner urge. So, I'll try to write about some oddities of Penn and Philly, as I keep on encoutering them. Now, as I had just reiterated, I am not a compulsive blogger (haha...I love doing this!!), so I think this suffices as a post in itself, and I will end it right here. Oh, and maybe you should know that we (Roomie and Me) need to cook dinner now, and (here I go again!!) I am not a compulsive blogger (!!!!!). So I'll take your leave for the moment.

See you around!

PS: Before I go, Oddity number one: I solved an entire tutorial assignment by myself yesterday. Don't recall the last time I came even close...

Post One from the First Capital

So, finally in Philly!

Folks, this place is good, and I am really, really apologetic about presenting such a useless assessment of this place's charms, but it's next to impossible to do better right now. The sheer volume of input is quite overwhelming, really. The only consolation is that my mental bandwidth is completely occupied, so I am thinking of nothing which even remotely approaches philosophy. And I am thankful for it. Today, I'll move into my apartment, which is anice piece of realestate at just over 500 dollars per head of rent. Will update you later on the ghosts in the closets!

More coming up very soon. Thanks again for your concern and best wishes.