the namesake and waterworks

boy oh boy. what a movie for a sunday nite. if i were in better spirits (in a general sense), the movie would have been a bit freeing, and prophetic in a good way (like a road map of what's to come.) i'm not sure if it's the hormones or if the movie just struck some deep chords within, but tears were streamin.

overall, the movie was neat in that i felt like i could relate to the immigrant child perspective. growing up and figuring out that you're different from the mainstream wasn't really a fun process until these adult years when it's now 'cool to be ethnic.' funny how that happens, innit?

there were so many parts of the film that were times in my life that watching those scenes transported me back into those times, so much so that during these scenes i felt like i was watching my own life flash by. like the perpetual fear of late night calls from relatives in india, peer pressure to try blend in rather than be yourself, learning how to reconcile beef with your family, the trips to and from india as an american born desi (i refuse to add in the 'confused' cuz that word is just downright condescending. i mean who isn't confused in the grand scheme of life!!!), and much much more : )

basically, i think it's a must-see. it was worth my ten bucks (and duane-reade bought, 99-cent popcorn).

on maintaining practice of participatin in nyc nightlife

after close to a month of not going out out, i allowed a friend to convince me to venture into manhattan for dessert and dancing. and, yes, it was another extremely late night - got home close to 5 am.

the post mortem on the night: sadly, i was sans contact lenses and avec my glasses. and despite hearing about how nerdy girls are attractive from some folks, i myself don't feel all that comfortable in a club/lounge scene with my glasses. on top of that i was also sporting a newly contrived clothing combo that i didn't feel 'hot' in, so that added another element of general discomfort.

as the night progressed, following a series of random conversations and lots of people watching, i got to thinking that maybe i'm just out of practice in these social situations. i mean i wasn't stuttering excessively or spitting on people or anything, but in terms of when to stop certain conversations, when to shut up and dance, and when to check out before it's 4 am (!!!)

all in all, it was a decent night on the town. although i could also convince myself that it was a borderline-should've-stayed-in-bed case : )

ha! - revised

goodness gracious me! the city of new york has reached yet another level of insanity. the nightlife sector of its development has 'warranted' the development of a bureaucracy to regulate the industry. beyond words, innit?

check out the excerpt, shmoes:

---------

The Sound and the Fury

Joe Fornabaio for The New York Times

By NOAH MARCEL SUDARSKY

Published: January 21, 2007

Late last month, for instance, the City Council made public a report on New York night life that among other things, calls for creating a special body to rule in cases involving “problem” bars and clubs, and even a citywide Office of Nightlife to oversee the industry. Two days earlier, the State Liquor Authority published the findings of its licensing task force, which recommended ways to tighten up licensing.

regaining the sensation in one's toes (in a positive sense)

a minor detail that i failed to mention in the post-friday night post was that i wore new and rather sleek-lookin black boots. while they did look phat on me, they also did a number a couple of toes. this might have something to do with the significant heels on them....

toes are in much better condition two nights later

bhangra-ing in nyc

last nite i headed in to chinatown area to a spot called the canal room. dj rekha spins there every friday, i think. the venue itself was pretty tight. spacious, a diverse crowd, not one of those the-spot-to-see-famous-folks-and-be-seen-at types where i tend to not feel free to be me : )

i ended up getting there close to midnight and stayed there until the wee hours of the morning - 4 am. insane, i know. i hadn't had a night like that in a long, long time though. probably last august when one of my friends had her bachelorette party in the city. i can't even remember if i've _really_ been dancing since then - so that means i probably haven't.

when i strolled in, i was stressin a bit b/c i didn't want to spend that much money but i knew i needed at least one drink to loosen up and the website said $10 cover. to top it off, as soon as i set foot into the spot i was informed that there was mandatory coat check, another $2. what's a gal to do? so i checked my coat in, pulled out a twenty and went to pay cover. the dude at the ticket counter was like - it's free right now. i headed into the club, a tad bit confused but psyched that i didn't have to part with my bill. (i did however break my cool cuz i turned around a smiled real big at him cuz i felt like i just won $10) haha. anyways. ended up spending a grand total of $15. $10 for a drink, $2 for coat check, and $3 in tips.

this leads me to another topic though cuz i 'm not really sure that i understand tipping etiquette for people in my income bracket. usually, when i order stuff at the bar - be it an actual drink or even water - i tip the bartender. and even when i pick up my coat at the end of the night. i may not have always done this, but i'm starting to think it's the right thing to do. sometimes i even tip the person who tends to the bathroom. in any case, i just noticed that folks don't always do that, and wondered if i was being extremely generous (cuz i really don't have THAT much money to spare either.....)

resurrecting my going-out-tops

since i was 'working from home' today, or whatever that means, i've been doing odds and ends around my apt, cleaning up after myself from my wknd activities. among other things, this entailed folding my going-out top from saturday night and putting it back into a suitcase that contains my stash of dramatic and scandalous tops. it's actually quite amusing to me that i've built up this stash over the years.

humor me while i attempt to give you a description of sat nite's top as an example - it's an aqua blue top that glittery all over, has one strap - it's one of those tops that leaves the other shoulder naked (i know - the scandal!), and the front part of it has gold lining. sometimes i wonder what gets into my head when i make these purchases.

the irony of it is, i don't even really like wearing these tops that much any more, but i feel compelled to because i *am* in nyc. i do end up sporting them though (not without a cardigan or light jacket to tone down the dramatics though.) case in point - sat nite, i think i looked good, and that's also what my friend-like-acquaintance (whose party it was) had told me. the gentleman from georgia also thought i looked good - but he asked me to talk off my little cover-up sweater. i knew that wasn't happening, esp. since you could pretty much see all that it was necessary to see with the sweater on, if you know what i mean. it's always a bit weird to me to wear this kinda stuff out cuz when i hear guys ask me to take off my sweater or something, part of me is screaming but i don't even know you well enough for you to ask me that. and of course, this makes me a bit of a conservative in the dating world. oh well, i am what i am :)

i guess i'll go back to 'working from home'....

p.s. i guess i did end up giving you some of the gory details of the evening :)

and she did it!?!?

yup, luckyd, i did make it out there. it's a record. two nights in a row. trekked out to forest hills this time - the opposite direction of manhattan. it was a going away party for a friend-more-like-acquaintance who i'd met during an acting class at baruch. (don't ask what i was doing taking an acting class - i realize it's completely out of character.)

we went to this spot called bartini's - a joint that makes over 600 different flavas of martini, and they had a longass drinks menu to prove it. i didn't expect to get there as early as i did so i actually had a good 30-45 minutes to laboriously peruse the menu. i ended up with a chocolate monkey martini - a drink that had enough alcohol content in it so that it gave me enough of a buzz, but not strong enough to make me forget where i live and what my name is....

since i was so friggin early (actually the first customer at the bar) i had time to make friends with a 32 year old gentleman from the republic of georgia, a country that borders turkey, as he informed me later that night. he was a funny one. i'm not sure i'd like to get into the gory details, but all in all the night turned out to be rather entertaining.

as i finished it off rather early (in nyc terms), and walked myself to the train station i felt decidedly good about how the night turned out. i also have to admit that i realized i was feeling my age creep up on me. gone are the days of drinking myself into blissful ignorance and dancing the buzz off to overplayed and misogynistic hip hop beats, knowing that my girls would have my back if the alcohol didn't sit well with me. but since i still had a bit of a buzz, i rushed those thoughts out of my over-analyzing head, and enjoyed my walk home from the train station...

a night on the town

finally, getting out there and takin those social risks :)

last nite, after drinkin a small cup o joe from dunkin donuts, i headed into manhattan - the part of nyc where fakers and posers are a dime a dozen. i waited for the n/w train for about a half hour, was on it for twenty minutes, waited for the 6 train for ten minutes, and was on it for around five. the whole time i was thinking - why am i even bother making the effort to get all dressed up, made up, and cutsy? it's such an ordeal really, living in nyc - esp. going out out in the city.

no worries though, this isn't another one of my sordid rants. it has a happy ending actually. i ended up having a fly time with some cool peeps. i didn't really know any one there all that well. a couple travel buddies from a recent stint in india, another coupla folks that i've heard of and met once before, and a few folks i've never met before. it turns out that i was a bit over dressed (read hooched out) but it's cool - i ended up not takin off my coat cuz i felt too dramatic (plus my shirt was a bit sheer...)

in any case, the conversation was good - reminiscing about exchanges and incidents in the motherland, the traditional questions (job, location, etc.) and other random shit. also, i allowed myself one drink to loosen up a bit (my tolerance has gone way down these days)

so big ups to me for getting out there. i might be tryin to get out there tonight also...we'll see.

for that immediate gratification

having stated that disclaimer, let the games begin....

last night i went to BAM (brooklyn academy of music) to check out this alternative-ish event that was a little over my head (the link will take you to a description of the event), and i'm thinking at least half the audience felt the same way b/c when the discussion with the creators rolled around, poof! a significant chunk of the audience bounced.

the 'performance,' if you can call it that, was a series of pieces that used a range of media to contextualize ideas.....and, now i'm starting to sound like the creators of the piece. in any case, it was a very unique and, yes, interesting in that it tried to expand our notion of who journalists are in this day and age (bloggers), what it means to be a spectator/audience (generally passive consumers), and the over-stimulation/desensitization of the media industry and its consumers.

some parts of it were definitely engaging, but sadly enough those parts were the ones that alluded to pop culture references. i guess that's something that i got out of it - an opportunity to self-reflect on how i respond to post-modern pieces : )

another piece of it that i found refreshing was the distance that was created and taken away between the performers and the audience. it made us (the audience) do the work, try and latch on to something, process as we experienced the performance.

a few things that i wondered about are the (1) accessibility of the piece in terms of the language/references made throughout the piece, the audience that it's trying to reach and the audience that it ends up reaching, and if it's a relevant form of expression; and (2) the 'what next' of it - i'm finding that the arts seems to be such a self-indulgent area of pursuit some times and it's so easy to put things out there, but the harder part is to sift through it all and build connections to it - and this isn't something that can be expedited with the technology wave. i think that building connections to art is a very individual process - making the 'objective' display/experience into a subjective one.

given all this, i'm not sure i would attend another event like this, maybe just for kicks. but i don't find them to be that fulfilling (and they're likely to be designed that way, but still it's frustrating) and i'd much rather watch sex in the city or read calvin and hobbes for that immediate gratification. call me shallow, but when the disillusionment sets in, post-modernism is not the answer.