So I typed this fairly long post earlier but I stepped away for a bit, came back, and found that my browser hates me and ate my post. I'm too lazy to re-type it all so I will just write about something else.
When I was commenting in the previous post and was asked where I was from, it reminded me of the most frequent responses I'd get after I said "New Jersey."
Top 5:
5. North or South? (Representin' South Jerz! South Jersey > North Jersey)
4. Isn't that NYC's landfill? Haha (You've got it backwards, buddy! Though North Jersey does stink, what with all the factories up there.)
3. Ah, the Garden State. Why's it called that? (We've got a lot of farm land and generate a lot of flora and produce.)
2. Joisey??! Hahaha Where's your accent?? (There is no accent!)
DRUMROLL - And the number one response I get is...
1. *stare for a second* No, I mean really, where are you from? (Like it's impossible that I come from NJ! But really, if you want to ask me which ethnicity I am, just "grow some balls" and ask!)
I can say with 99.99% confidence that every time I get the #1 response, it has come from a white person. Don't mean to be racist but it's true. When I was younger, I would be clueless and just kept repeating myself until he/she elaborated with, "So were you born here?" And there's also: "Oh, NJ. So how long have you lived here (or there, depending on where I am)?" Unfortunately, I don't recall the exact age when I realized these were thinly veiled indicators of ignorance. Now, depending on how I'm asked, where I am, who I'm speaking to, and my mood, I give different answers. Sometimes I tell the truth, sometimes I make shit up and give some very random answers, and sometimes I would be a complete asshole and say "Earth" or something like it. It has become quite amusing, really, seeing people's responses to my ridiculous answers.
The title of this post is quite fitting. If you may not have noticed, all of my posts have titles that come from either a movie, song, and tv show, or may be a hackneyed quote/phrase. Anyway, this one is no different. It's a line from the lyrics in a song by Amy Winehouse, a British soul/jazz/r&b singer, called "Me & Mr. Jones." She says fuckery. How can you resist?
Amy Winehouse - Me & Mr. Jones
Amy Winehouse - You Know I'm No Good
EDIT: So Hamilton has this music festival type thing every year near the end of the school year called Mayday. I think this started in 2004. Anyway, last year, they brought The New Pornographers and some other people I can't remember. This year, they're bringing Asobi Seksu!!! I'm so excited!! (Well, actually, the headliner is Citizen Cope but I've never heard of him 'til now. Checked him out on myspace and I must admit I'm not a fan.) If you've never heard of Asobi Seksu, they're a shoegazing indie/pop rock band from NYC whose name means "playful sex" in Japanese. The lead singer, Yuki Chikudate, sings in both English and Japanese against a background of lush guitars to create this surreal, dreamy sound. It's hard to explain so you'll just have to listen to find out what I'm talking about.
Asobi Seksu - Thursday
Asobi Seksu - Lions and Tigers
Ah, racism.
ReplyDeleteSo how long have you lived there? :P
good work with the post title thing! I once read an Archie story where every single sentence entered by the characters was a song title. Quite good!
Btw I was just reading an old post of yours - did you watch 300 finally?
I've actually only lived in New Jersey for about 11 years. (Pennsylvania for 6 before that, and Hong Kong for 5.)
ReplyDeleteEvery single sentence?? That's pretty crazy. (Crazy tough!)
No! I still haven't gotten a chance to watch it! I'll probably have to dl it from somewhere since everyone I know who wanted to see it already has by now. =(
ardlkw: aardvark lacks words
Oh, and where are you from? Don't know why I have neglected to ask.
ReplyDeleteYeah crazy tough - and in an Archie comic!!
ReplyDeleteSo where did you meet Mighty and Praggy? You do know each other in person, right?
(I hope Praggy doesn't mind the liberties I'm taking with his name :) )
Me: Tamilnadu 17 years/ Delhi 5. Stephen's.
eoatazwx: Eat your Weetabix!
PS - the lack of movie company thing has happened to me for all the movies in the last 4 months. It sucks!
Know them in person? Not exactly...I'm their facebook stalker. Haha..sike...I go to Hamilton College with Maity and Praggy. We're buddies...hehe. I'm a year ahead of them, though. How do you know them? And I say Praggy all the time! =D
ReplyDeleteI had to wiki both Tamilnadu and Weetabix. Is Weetabix good?
That does suck! At least there haven't been too many watchable movies of late so it doesn't happen too often, right?
No idea, I've never had Weetabix! The name sticks in my head though. Tamilnad is lovely :) although quite hot.
ReplyDeleteSo Hamilton College is in New Jersey? The three of you do not, however, share accomodation. You stay with your parents and they stay outside. Have I understood fully?
I don't know Pragmaster, and I barely know Maity too. But he was also in Stephen's. And was/is held in high esteem by everyone I know who knows him.
Watchable movies... that depends. Let's calibrate our movie tastes... I loved The Devil Wears Prada and found the beginning of 2001: A Space Odyssey too mind-numbingly boring to complete it. Although I did enjoy the book. What do you think of those?
I see there's a new contributor to your blog... Here, Chouball... here kitty kitty...
(I'm sorry!)
cecnwg: The OTHER Chechnya
I took a cue from you and 'wikied' Hamilton College (I think using wiki as a verb is incorrect, albeit inevitable, usage btw)
ReplyDeleteYour motto features in The Matrix!
@ Perekath: It's a pity Perekath that I simply remember you as the man who played the drums and Revenoor as the guy who played the keyboards and liked Dreamtheater. But, it doesn't matter. You were in Rud North, right, on Udayan's floor, end of the hall? Are you in Delhi these days or back in TN?
ReplyDeleteHamilton College as you have no doubt discovered by now is in Clinton, NY... quite a distance from NJ. All of us live on campus, except for the past year, Pragyan and myself have been at LSE, London. We're due to return this fall. Unfortunately we will miss Maggie's graduation.
Chouball, is Allison Chou, she's been inactive, but I don't blame her because I've been inactive on Zorro.
I don't like the idea of calibrating movie tastes, there are certain movies who some people think are great because it's been accepted that way and vice-versa... it's warped, I no longer take anyone's word on whether a movie is good or, I watch it myself, even if I've heard it's terrible. Then there are idiots like Nikhat Kazmi on TOI who said "RIP Tim Burton" for her review of "Big Fish".
Lack of company for movies can be an interesting experience. I watched "Big Fish" alone in a completely empty Satyam Theater, because everyone else had exams, or some other pathetic excuse like that. It was quite surreal.
iyxaboz: Boss of the yak yakuza.
Hamilton College, the most "preppy school", really?
ReplyDelete(I just wiki-ed Hamilton to see what was on it.)
^ Well the year that you joined I was in K-2, which is the centre room on the ground floor. Right opposite the block tutor's door. It used to be the central entrance :) but yes, Rud North for 3 years, discounting a day in U-14.
ReplyDeleteI'm still in Delhi, studying law in Law Fac, which is a terrible place. But it's apparently one of the better places to do a 3-year law course from, so... I still have another year to go to graduate :(
I couldn't decide whether or not I like Big Fish. I decided that I liked it, but not enough to save a copy on my computer. I asked about 2001: A Space Odyssey because it's considered a great, classic movie!
But I know what you mean about once a certain aura is gained, noone contradicts it. It applies to more than movies - would anyone say Amitabh Bachhan is a dick?
Perhaps the best example is The Godfather. Routinely features in people's favourite movie lists, indeed in Best Movie Ever lists. I found it too boring to get past the scene where people go to the Godfather and suck his cock like there's no tomorrow! (Pardon my French.)
The only time I went to a movie theater alone was for Phantom of the Opera a couple of years ago. Revanoor and Plammoottil had an exam the next day, so they wanted to go after their exam. But I had an exam the day after that, so I went without them. I paid for the movie twice also, because just before leaving college I stopped at the main corr water cooler and left my ticket on top of it! Luckily there were tickets still available at the box office...
But I love Andrew Lloyd Webber and didn't care what the world would think - I had to see that movie. And it was sooo worth going alone, IMHO!
I hope you're sufficiently absorbing the cultural delights of London?
hdtyg: Hi-definition TV Guide
Oh and have you tasted Weetabix? Are they any good?
ReplyDeletemchsll: Master of Surgery, specialising in Saturday Night Live
whoa! looks like my name has become pretty popular. no probs, perakath, for using my name so many times.
ReplyDeletei guess i am the only one here who is not into movies so much. thanks to dear maity and some others who had convinced me to watch some of the movies they liked. otherwise, i would have looked/sounded like a complete moron whenever people talked about it.
heard big things about 300...finally watched it. in the end, all of us were like wtf. well, as maity said, i think it's better not to trust others' opinions when it comes to movies.
good to meet some of u guys.
vcrxi - Queen Victoria XI
Wow, a lot of comments since I last checked.
ReplyDeleteHamilton is quite far from NJ. In fact, it's at least a 6.5 hr drive.
When I said there weren't too many watchable movies, I was referring to the fact that there were a lot of crap movies recently such as Norbit. As for calibrating movie tastes, I usually don't listen to anyone's opinion unless I know their tastes are similar to mine. Even then, however, it's not like I would no longer go watch a movie if a friend said it was bad when I desperately wanted to see it in the first place. It's more of a guide I can follow if I want to (or not).
Perakath: I actually did not like The Devil Wears Prada. Meryl Streep, Stanley Tucci, and the wardrobe were the only reasons why I didn't completely hate it. And I've never seen 2001: A Space Odyssey. I've never seen a lot of the "classics." For example, The Wizard of Oz (never saw it in its entirety), Casablanca, Gone with the Wind, etc, etc.
I am not surprised we're the most preppy liberal arts school. Although I doubt we're the preppiest college.
Amitabh Bachhan...is that the guy who's going to be in The Shantaram with Johnny Depp?
And yeah, The Godfather was boring as hell. I dunno how I watched the entire thing. Why is it so many guys love that movie? Scarface owns The Godfather, I'd say.
Pragy: It's ok you're not into movies cause at least you're into House. That's all that matters...haha
And I'd much rather "wiki" something than "google" something. Google sounds so foolish.
Hooray for Amy Winehouse!
ReplyDeleteMurthy and I once wrote down a random conversation composed entirely of lines from songs. It was supposed to be between a guy and a girl. It started with "You and me bade, how about it?" and ended 2 pages later with "She fucking hates me!"
Haha That's awesome. Sounds like the Archie comic thing Perakath mentioned earlier.
ReplyDeletewhzkke: whiz kid's a keeper
Oh sorry - I keep forgetting you're completely American and have no links to the subcontinent, Maggi! As we've discussed, your name has Indian connotations too :)
ReplyDeleteAw thanks Praga - call me Parakeet whenever you like! :P I'm guessing it's House the tv show and not House the genre of music you like, huh...
Anyway, I don't know whether Amitabh Bachchan is going to act in Shantaram - I still haven't got around to reading that. But he's this absolute superstar, sexuagenarian (?spelling) movie actor who's bald and ugly as sin. He uses a toupee and a french beard to hide all that. His son is due to wed Aishwarya Rai - have you heard of her? She's stunningly beautiful. The son also used to be considered ugly though. Then he figured out that a beard could hide his face - now he's a hottie!
Hmm I seem to have some strong feelings about the Bachchan family.. anyway yeah I guess there's been quite a bad set of movies released. I'm sure we're a little behind you though - this week saw the release of Provoked, Marie Antoinette, and The Good German. I wouldn't mind seeing this movie Eragon, if I get a chance.. Yohan/Maity have you seen it?
But fear not, summer approaches, and with it - Spiderman III! Haha!
Oh btw Mag, I've been checking your other blog every day. Just realised that the posts are dated 2006! :S
ReplyDeleteOne more thing - if NJ is 6.5 hours away from Clinton, NY, that means a drive of at least three hours through either NJ or NY, right? Which means those states aren't quite as small as I picture them in my head... to me it's just NYC, and Xyz, NY, just refers to a suburb...
I have links to the subcontinent! Vicariously through you guys! =D
ReplyDeleteYeah, I mean the tv show, not the genre of music. Do you watch it?? If not, you should! As for house music, I mean I have a few songs in the house genre but I didn't even know they were until I just looked on wiki and saw them on this arbitrary list...haha
Ahh, yes, I was right. He is slated to be in The Shantaram. The pics on wiki don't look too bad, although the whole dark hair and white beard thing just looks ridiculous. It's like, because the hair is so dark, you KNOW it's fake. And you're right about his son. Definitely better with the beard. Yes, I do know of Aishwarya Rai. Her eyes are utterly captivating.
Marie Antionette is out on DVD here already. I saw trailers for The Good German a few times on tv but didn't hear much about it after. I guess it didn't do too well..haha
I wanted to see Eragon, if only for Jeremy Irons. I have quite a crush on him. =P
Spiderman 3 does look pretty good. I'm wondering how they're going to end it since I read somewhere that Tobey Maguire doesn't want to do anymore Spiderman movies.
And yeah, I haven't written in my other blog in forever because I can't think of enough to fill two blogs and my life is hella boring.
Actually, I drive through Pennsylvania, not NJ. The route I take is NJ->PA->Syracuse, NY->Hamilton. Reason being that it's faster going straight up through PA than going through NJ into NY, where the highways are not as direct. If you look on a map, I live in the middle of NJ, right by where this piece of PA juts into NJ. To drive from where I live to NYC, it's at least 2 hours, if that gives you a better idea.
Perekath don't bother watching Eragon. Jeremy Irons has a screentime of 5 minutes, as does John Malkovich, the chick who plays Arya isn't hot and the guy who plays Eragon has the acting talent of a stick. They could have replaced him with Lassie and we wouldn't be able to tell the difference.
ReplyDeleteI watched "The Namesake" recently and am quite curious to see how "The Shantaram" turns out. I want to see what firangs think of "The Namesake"... is it thoughtful, or merely a pisspot of Bengali idiosyncracies?
Have any of you seen "The Illusionist"? It's just come to the UK, I look forward to catching it sometime. I've seen "The Good German" and "Marie..." both were disappointing. "The Life Of Others" on the other hand was quite good...a mixture of "Munich" and "Enemy of the State", sounds odd, but you'll know what I mean if you see it.
Haha @ the Lassie comment.
ReplyDeleteI've heard both good and bad about The Illusionist. Was Munich good?
boguxv: bogus times five
I thought "Munich" was quite good, definitely a watch, then again I liked "Spy Game" so there...
ReplyDeleteI heard Amy Winehouse's "Back in Black" and "Rehab". She's like a combination of Tina Turner and Billie Holiday... have any of you heard "Gloomy Sunday"? It's been covered by many people, but I like the Billie Holiday version the most.
Feel free to disagree, but unlike in rock, where except for Janis Joplin and Grace Slick all lead vocalists are male, in jazz, some of the best singers are female... I am of course, talking about Ella Fitzgerald and Rosemary Clooney (remember "Hey Mambo"?) etcetra. Instruments on the other hand are completely dominated by men.
To end I leave you with an observation by conductor Sir Thomas Beecham of a cello player in his orchestra:
"Madam, you have between your legs an instrument capable of giving pleasure to thousands, and all you can do is scratch it!"
@Maggie: I get the 'no, really, where are you actually from?'line a lot from North Indians, much the way you get it from white people. It's as if they don't understand the concept of migration.
ReplyDelete@Maity: I saw Munich last year. Between gunshots and explosions, I thought it was really boring. Marie A, on the other hand, I wouldn't mind seeing again. I suppose it all boils down to what kind of things you like.. and the TOI movie reviews are crap anyway. At least The Hindu is mildly more objective, even if they never seem to properly like anything they review.
Eragon the book was just bearable to begin with, so it stands to reason that the movie would fuck it up. And the boy in the lead looks like he needs a haircut.
And yes, Amitabh Bachchan's beard is weird-looking. But his wife was an amazing actress before she married him and kicked it up to look after kids. Pity one can't say the same about the would-be daughter-in-law. She might have eyes straight out a a Margaret Keane painting but the woman just can't act. And the simpering gets ANNOYING after about five minutes.
Margaret Keane?
ReplyDeleteNever have I had to wiki so much after a blog post :)
sjshdmwq: How I feel now that I've begun studying properly :(
Maity: I liked Spy Game as well.
ReplyDeleteAnd Tina Turner? Hmm...didn't think of that. When I first heard it, I thought she was a combination of Lauryn Hill and Dinah Washington. And I agree with you about your observation regarding jazz singers. Haha @ the Sir Thomas Beecham quote.
Blue floppy hat: Haha...yeah, the concept of migration. So where are you from?
Margaret Keane?! That's harsh..haha Her paintings scare the crap out of me. They're so freaky looking.
Wasn't Aishwarya Rai named the most beautiful woman in the world a few years ago? I personally don't think she is. Pretty eyes but other than that...no.
And unfortunately/luckily (depending on which side you're on), I cannot comment on her acting skills or lackthereof.
wuijtl: what would i, jesus, tell lois lane?
At least we can all agree, well at least Nisha and I, that "Kill Bill" kicked ass.
ReplyDeleteOl' Maggie had a keane sight for eyes didn't she? Adriana Lima has nice eyes, but she reminds me of this Bulgarian girl in my economics class who's always pouting... like a bear about to insert its butt-plug before hibernation. Ash has pretty eyes, but her acting skills are at par with Eragon.
Speaking of which, anyone think Eragon is a complete "Star Wars" rip? Farm boy lives with his uncle, wants to become great, finds something cool, attracts the empire's attention, uncle and home is destroyed by evil empire, runs away with an old man everyone thinks is crazy but is actually one of the greatest of the now almost extinct dragon riders, old man trains him, old mentor killed during a rescue attempt of a princess with an unlikely ally, joins the rebellion, defeats one of the bad guys, gets rewarded. Begins training with old mentor's mentor, falls in love with princess, finds out his father was actually a pupil of his mentor before he went evil and joined the emperor... sounds like a familiar story?
By the way any of you follow Formula 1? What's the deal with Lewis Hamilton, that kid is absoltely amazing!
Reporter: How did you find America?
John Lenon: Turned left at Greenland.
Add me to the list of those who agree that Kill Bill kicked ass. I didn't really like Vol. 2, though.
ReplyDeleteKeane sight for eyes...pun intended? I was quite amused when I read that sentence. Adriana Lima does have nice eyes as well. And she is pretty damn hot. Adriana Lima > Gisele Bundchen any day.
And Eragon does sound like a Star Wars rip. Even down to the casting of a young blonde actor who cannot act his way out of a paper bag for the lead role. Hayden Christensen, anyone??
bzywfi: Byzantine wifi
Lively comment space!
ReplyDeleteEragon was a bore. Terribly cliched. Lord of the Rings lite. Was the book any good? The Illusionist was so-so. The Prestige was far far better.
cyrol: the latest mystery pill being peddled by a US drug company - it cures restless elbow sydrome.
I just watched "The Prestige"! It was great. I haven't seen "The Illusionist" yet, I've just seen the trailers. I'll watch it anyway.
ReplyDeleteThe Tesla Project in Colorado Springs was a bit far-fetched, was he really trying teleportation? I always thought he was into other weird stuff like sending radio signals to UFOs and all... quite an eccentric chap though... no wonder they cast David Bowie as Tesla! That's the only problem I have with the movie, is the machine.
Eragon the book sucked as I've said in the previous comment, a medieval star wars.
David Bowie is acting in movies? Is he still alive?
ReplyDeleteCome on, Hayden Christensen did a decent job in Star Wars Episode III!
I watched my first F1 race in a long time yesterday. Had a little trouble figuring out who's racing for whom these days! Lewis Hamilton does drive very well. He and Nico Rosberg should both drive for Ferrari!
@maggie: for a moment there I thought you meant Mark Hamill, not Hayden Christensen, and I was getting prepeared to disagree.
ReplyDeleteMy grandparents, all four, are from Kerala, but a fair bit of moving around the country happened and we ended up being from Calcutta, which is where I went to and finished school.
@Yohan: Eragon the book was so-so. Not worth buying, but ok if you're the kind who reads books in the shops. And a total Star Wars/LotR ripoff, yes.
mhcilirl: some long complicated Scottish word.
David Bowie's greatest role: himself in Zoolander. Haha
ReplyDeleteI've never seen Episode III in its entirety but from Episode II and a few other movies, I think he stinks. =P
blue floppy hat: Wow, from Kerala to Calcutta...that is quite the move (at least, it seems like it on a map).
ehagx: egad!
Quite the map lover eh, Magister?
ReplyDeleteI always carry a city map in my bag. Never actually get off my bike to refer to it, but it's mentally comforting to know it's there...
uqoge: Best-selling atlas in troll land
That wasn't me, that was just my parents..the trajectory goes something like
ReplyDeleteDad: Kerala-->Calcutta, via assorted parts of West Bengal
Mum: Mount Abu,Rajasthan -->Hyderabad-->assorted parts of West Bengal after marrying Dad-->Kerala-->Calcutta
Me: Hyderabad-->Kerala-->Calcutta-->Delhi (for college)-->Bangalore (for law school)
It's honestly nothing compared to some kids, though my parents, when they were first married, moved through seven houses in two years.
ryylt: not nearly as interesting as they were in the days when they could order decapitations, but they'll do.
Full family history and all.
ReplyDeleteMallus from outside Kerala are the best!
I didn't have a problem with Nikola Tesla's machine, because it didn't really have anything to do with the plot. And he did claim to have achieved all kinds of bizarre things, including a disproval of Einstein!
vfdxydea: ve fix dis, my dear.
Not a map lover, really. I just like to know...stuff (facts, random trivia, and the like).
ReplyDeleteI meant your family in general...just overall, seems like quite the move. Like my parents...from Hong Kong to the US. That's quite the move as well. =P
lqbzbnxn: The Martian eqivalent to an ISBN