Feeling : Introspective, actual physical pain (never again will I play tennis, jog, swim and gym in the space of 4 hours)
Listening to : Tangga, La Luna , the Chorus Line original soundtrack

Barely got back from finally watching V for Vendetta at Odeon and figured I might as well get down to some blogging while my synapses are still warm from trying to pick out all the subtleties in the dialogue/plotline and trying to understand the psychology of the insane genius behind the mask. I know its been out for a while, so I will pass on inflicting yet another blogger’s 2 cents about it on you folks. ( mostly because in a bit, surprise, surprise, I’m gonna pop a book review in yo’ ass!)

In a nutshell, I loved it. Although the part at the end is daaamn fake.

Been going through quite a few books lately – although none are course related. Goddamn Amazon’s recommendations – its evil and spot on I tell you. Even catching up on some serial 3-4 parter comics ( some Aliens, Star Wars and Predator stuff – tres geek, I know) that I started but could never finish because I could never find the goddamn books.

I can’t remember how I stumbled across this particular recommendation, but I’ve found a fuckin gem in Marjane Satrapi’s “Persepolis”. Its an autobiography, in graphic novel form of the life of an Iranian girl, born to Marxist parents, who grew up during the Iran-Iraq war and Iran’s Islamic revolution. The first book focuses on the revolution and the people caught in it , both family and friends, through the eyes of a child-preteen. A well read, enlightened quick witted child – thanks to her parents’ emphasis on raising a smart, liberal and outspoken daughter – but still a child nonetheless.

Not only is it actually a somewhat educational read when it comes to the history of Persia/Iran , it is also thought-provoking, moving and even amusing at times. The author is apparently an illustrator by profession, and her simple black and white drawings belies the symbolism and the imagery that can convey more than the words themselves.

I just finished Persepolis 2 today, fresh out of the Amazon box it came in. The second book has a completely different feel to the first, but it is just as good. It picks up with our protégé continuing her studies at 14 in Vienna at the behest of her parents who thought it best to send her away instead of seeing her continually chafe under the cultural and intellectual oppression back home. We see her go through the typical throes of adolescence – and a little bit more – what with being torn between her liberal curiosity and being true to herself and her traditional upbringing and values AND also the desire to fit in in a foreign culture. Also, we see her return to her homeland where she gets even more lost and confused.

I'm sure many of you would identify with at least a few aspects of the protege's experiences, and if nothing else be thankful for the liberties and freedoms ( well, comparatively ) that we have back home that we've been taking for granted.

Nothing sums up both books better than this quote from Zadie Smith (author of White Teeth) :

“…reasserts the moral bankruptcy of all political dogma and religious conformity; how it bullies, how it murders, and how it may always be ridiculed by individual rebellions of the spirit and the intellect.”

Grab or bum a copy now! If you’re in Warwick, I’ll probably chase you down and whore you my copy myself. Muaahahha

After reading both books and watching Vendetta, something just clicked and I remembered something I wanted to write about some time ago.

Disclaimer : I'm gonna breach the subject of religion. If you do choose to read on, please keep an open mind. Or just skip this bit.

How religion and politics are as inseparable as dance and song. It’s just a matter of who’s leading to the music at the moment.

This is vividly illustrated in the entire slutarded geopolitical climate of the middle east, and more subtly ingrained in the last 2000 years ( and a little bit more ) of our recorded history. The Romans own take on ‘original’ Christianity that still remains in much of the ritual and symbolism of Catholicsm. The civil wars after the passing of Muhammad. The Crusades. The Spanish Inquisition. The many ways the Vatican crowned and deposed kings and queens during the rest of the medieval ages and the renaissance. The Holocaust. I’m sure you can’t help but wonder what the last 2000 years would have been like without the hand of the three major Monotheisic religions, hmmn?

Like what I said – the more you read into the history, the more flawed the concept of organized religion is especially when it comes to statecraft and the mandate of the rule.

From the ruling caste’s point of view, the people need a symbol to rally around and unite. In societies of old and even some today where a significant portion of the population remain illiterate or comparatively uneducated, monarchies or theocracies maintain control over the masses by claiming the divine mandate to rule, and relying on the subjects fear of divine retribution or eternal damnation for acts in contrivance to the set moral/religious codes.

…..To be continued. I need to do a bit more reading to get my facts straight. Especially about current governments. Its already gonna be fuckin peningfying , and that’s without involving crazy ass conspiracy theories and other parties like the Freemasons and other quasi-religious orders. Or I could just stop there and reiterate my point that organized religion was just a phase in the evolution of the science of government. Whether you think it is a success or failure is your own bag.

And that’s enough of me trying to be an all opinionated, pretentious literati wannabe. Bring on the superficialness!!

Back to our regular programming...

Been listening a lot to the whole West Side Story and Chorus Line soundtracks – I’ve seen neither on stage, but from listening to the songs and reading the stories, I bet I’d just LOVE Chorus line more than any other musical I’d ever seen if I actually would get to watch it. God knows when its coming to the UK again, but apparently they’re gonna start another run of it on Broadway.

Believe it or not, I’ve not been to a proper , old school – like Giselle or Swan Lake- ballet either. When better to further my cultural enrichment than the Bolshoi’s first UK tour in 16 years? But as luck would have it, its in bloody summer during the holidays. Haih. Looks like I gotta do with whatever they’ve got at the Royal Opera House next time I got some spare cash. I’m sure they’ll have something I’ve been dying to watch – but just cannot find kaki to go watch with.

Karma is , and always was, a bitch. I think I’ve told that story of the weather turning from sunny to a torrential hail in May a coupla years back over a game of tennis too many times. The other day managed to scrounge a threesome for tennis as the weather was KiNdA nice, and no sooner than when we got warmed up it started bloody snowing. Fuckin snowing. Kept playing through tho like the crazy people we are. Thank god when I played the next morning the weather was a skosh nicer. I coulda sworn I felt a faint tingle of sunburn on my face as well.

Its irritating when you’re stuck with going to the gym during the peak hours during holidays – its surprisingly just as busy as term time, if not busier. What is MORE irritating, however, are the fuckin twats who hog the weights machines like ni gym bapak diaorang. Yes, you’re entitled to catch your breath and rest up for a little bit if you’re doing multiple sets of reps or supersets but don’t fucking sit there for fucking 5 minutes scratching your balls and talking cock with your other inconsiderate iron monkey friends. Bloody asswipes hanging around holding on to the machines like bloody gorillas marking their territory. Bloody gorillas with protein shake tumblers.

Here’s more finger lickin prettiness from my kitchen that I just had to share. The first pic is some canapés I made outta smoked salmon ( that my housie greedily bought but couldn’t finish ), hummous, tomatoes , cucumber and chives.

And this is a colourful, tasty snack I fixed yesterday - grilled halloumi cheese, some nachos, guacamole, tomatoes and turkey ham. Was absolutely ravenous after an insanely physical morning( like I said earlier – tennis, quick jog, half hour of laps at the pool and an hour at the gym doing circuit ) which left me with killer cramps in my thighs.

Oh and a few pics from my recent London sojourn – at CC club- ( I wonder who’s that bumping into the camera on the bottom right ) that I just picked up courtesy of Elle’s Facebook page.

Oh yeah did I mention that? I’m on my way towards being a Facebook addict as well! For those of you not in the know, its basically a simpler Friendster, except that you gotta be part of a uni or college. Its all nice and uniform, meaning no keling karam unreadable colour schemes and those annoying music videos. That, and the fact that tagging walls are so much more fun than lameass testimonials.

Finishing of this longass bitch of a post with a link that you will find either really stupid or really funny. Or not get it at all. Curse you, Bakry for getting me hooked on ‘em.

“Chuck Norris doesn’t wear a watch, HE decides what time it is.”