Maybe I should really start writing reviews on the stuff I watch. By a general rule however, I gravitate toward the lousiest movies in town automatically. If there are 4 good movies and one lousy movie running at any given time, chances are I would end up watching the lousy one. It sounds statistically impossible but yes, it happens. Motivated by our monotonous, mundane careers, my friends and I agree that any given weekend is incomplete without mindlessly watching (mindless) movies. (So that we don't lose touch with the asinine over the weekends when we aren't working - did I mention mindless?)
My saving grace is theatre, of course. But they are often too few and far in between. And as I mentioned my ability to be the only exception to every rule, with my luck any good play will usually be staged on the same day as when some acquaintance I barely know, convinced me it would be a crime against humanity to not attend her second cousin twice removed 's engagement or something. In a moment of weakness (or some state of wakefulness brought about by my work/shift) and being the embodiment of benevolence that I am, I would have put it down as my good deed of the day (week, month, ok fine.. year).. And more often than not, if I make it to these occasions (maybe like 3 times in my life), the person who instigated it will simply not be present. Maybe she had to sucker some poor soul into attending her neighbour's dog's birthday (that, I would gladly attend). Coming back to the point (Of course there is NO point, I am just suckering you into reading my rant),nothing good is being made these days (though I may not entirely be old enough to use that phrase).
Ever wondered how a lousy movie was born? I have watched more than than my share (and the share of any average sized family in the 60's share) of crappy movies. Hell, I have watched enough of them in the last one year. The only explanation for most of them, is that the makers seem to have aimed for an audience of somewhat backward eight-year-olds. It is not just movies, however. It is all media, networking, communication, everything.. How many of us can honestly say we have never checked FB accounts, walls, posts, scraps, tweets, whatever of people we don't really know, but are curious about? The upsetting part is not that the media is quick to follow the trend, it is just that this trend seems to be catching on. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy some light reading, comic strips and things not all THAT thought provoking. (You already know the lousy movie bit). But there are these newspapers whose headlines are taken directly out of Reuters 'Oddly Enough. And Paparazzi is a new occupation, apparently. These great works of Literature are being published as dailies now. Maybe their mission statement is "You read us, 'ergo' you are a moron".
I am not bitter. After all, variety is the spice of life. And these people have their right to artistic (?) expression. It is their uprise which I find disturbing. And only a small part of it is that it is all attributed to being entertaining, amusing and even humorous.
That’s right. Humour with a 'U'. Though in reality, my vote is for the Americans. They speak a different language, but maybe they had the right idea: Striking the 'U' off humour. There is no humour left in the world, when i think (forced to think) of other people. There are compassioned pleas sent out against terrorism, crime, for people with chronic diseases. What about the living?
Maybe it is just my lot, and the usual IT corporate job thing. I guess every other urban Indian knows what I am talking about. I think one of the pre-requisites for working where I do, is to be brain dead. I have not had a single intelligent conversation in my whole working career. Admittedly, I may have closed views on a good many things. And I have been working at the same place ever since graduation. But that does not let people off the hook, for being as dull as they are, does IT?
But Really.. Why is humour being taken so lightly? All the movies that are making it big these days seem to have totally done away with comedy. The ones that list 'comedy' as their genre are unfunny slapstick efforts.
My mom always chastises me, ‘There are two sides to every story’. Yes,I agree and the other version is plain BORING.
As I was saying.. I spend a good portion of 104 days in a year watching movies.. I should start writing it down so that I can calculate how much I spend.. :)
Who cares? You got here.. Shut up and read..
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)