Wah! Wah! Girls

Don't hold your breath, grandpa, this post ain't about girls, girls, girls :)

It is about a musical that is playing in London, which the Guardian doesn't care for much:

You could translate "wah! wah!" – how some Indian audiences express their pleasure at a performance – as "bravo!". Sadly, there's far more woe than wah in this feeble attempt to create a British Bollywood musical, which seems to owe more to a dull episode of EastEnders than it does to rich traditions elsewhere. The costumes often have a bright, jewelled swagger, but the rest of Keith Khan's designs, including what appears to be a papier-mache red London bus, look cheap and tacky, as if the budget had unexpectedly run out.

Ouch!

And the review ends with this line:

there is not a single song you'd come out singing.

Must have sucked big time, eh!



The music that the above video begins with is one of my favorite fun-songs-videos--the colors, the tune, the beat, ... I haven't watched this movie.  Early on during my graduate schooling days, one of the visits back to India, this song was the rage then and seemed like I could never go five minutes before somebody somewhere cranked it all over again... here is that movie original:



Anyway, hey, grandpa, that Elvis movie that you had in mind, featured this awesome piece:



It is crazy to think that "Return to Sender" was in 1962, and the Beatles appeared in the Ed Sullivan Show only slightly more than a year later.  Yet, the two come across as from two different generations!

With the girls theme, here is one of my favorite Beatles number:



Well, I might as well wrap up this post by looping back to India, with the Beatles; happy listening!

The middle way. And just right. Life isn't a bore then?

In response to a dear ol' friend, I said I led/lead a dull and boring life.

But, I wonder if that is an incorrect statement.

For instance,

My students, who are always impressed that I have been to all the continents, except Antarctica, would not agree that my life is boring.
My lunch earlier this afternoon was far from boring--grilled ciabatta bread sandwich with pepperjack cheese, onions, and black-pepper salami; banana; roasted and salted cashews; and coffee. I made the sandwich at home.  How can this be boring? 
As I was driving to work, it was a fantastic blue sky, with puffy white and dark clouds, and the Sun was shining brightly, with a gentle breeze blowing.  Far, far, from boring.

Maybe some times it merely feels like a boring life, when I forget to sense and understand the gloriously joyous and wonderful life all around?

The television program on PBS reminded me about this teaching from the Buddha:

Fair goes the dancing when the Sitar is tuned.

Tune us the Sitar neither high nor low,
And we will dance away the hearts of men.

But the string too tight breaks, and the music dies.
The string too slack has no sound, and the music dies.

There is a middle way.

Tune us the Sitar neither low nor high.
And we will dance away the hearts of men.

Yes, indeed, that middle way. When things are just right so that our hearts will sing and dance.  Easier said than done, buddy, er, Buddha ...

Speaking of the sitar, here is a part of Ravi Shankar's famous 1967 concert at the Monterey music festival



Ravi Shankar and the sitar always reminds me of : "Within you, without you" by the Beatles

But then, I am a mortal, and there are moments when I say, "it's a bore"

I read the news today oh boy ...

Yes, The Beatles, of course:

I saw a film today oh boy
The English Army had just won the war
A crowd of people turned away
but I just had to look

No video on YouTube though .... but, the song, yes

The Daily Show and Jon Stewart are hysterically funny in "Bye Bye, Beardie" :)

The Daily Show - Big Deady
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Music video post-storm: Here comes the Sun

It was one heck of a windy and rainy yesterday.  It was pleasant and a tad sunny, and yet far into the horizon the dark clouds were obvious.  Soon the wind and the rain came and they seemed as if they were pissed off at everything.  Boy, the fury!  If thirty- to forty-mile per hour winds are like this, I cannot begin to imagine how a category-five hurricane will be like, and don't want to experience one either.

It is now the morning after the storm, and the Sun is struggling to peek through.  More rain has been forecast for the next couple of days.  But, for now, Here Comes the Sun.



I hope a pleasant Sun will appear soon over the Land of the Rising Sun too.  What a tragedy that one is!  Puts in perspective the literal and metaphorical storms that I have experienced here.

Excitement over Paul McCartney's death and funeral

While in India, I missed, among others, The Onion.  But, hey, am now scanning for the best of what I missed and watched this one about Paul McCartney's death and funeral. 
No, he ain't dead, yet :)

Excitement Growing Among Beatles Fans For Paul McCartney's Funeral

Elvis, the Beatles, and the Rolling Stones: same generation!

Because Elvis was already an established star by the time the British invaded the US with their music, we tend to assume that somehow Elvis was much older than the Beatles or the Rolling Stones.  Well, compare their birthday info:

Elvis Presley: January 8, 1935
John Lennon:October 9, 1940
Paul McCartney: June 18, 1942
Ringo Starr: July 7, 1940
George Harrison:  Feb 25, 1943
Mick Jagger: July 26, 1943

Elvis and Lennon separated by a mere five years and months.  It is not as if they were a generation apart.  But, it is their music that makes us think that these are of two different generations.  And, add to this list Bob Dylan, who was born in 1941.

I suppose it is a challenge that performance artists have--how to keep up with the changing times, and the younger audiences ....  Hmmm ... to some extent we faculty also face similar issues in our working lives.  We have to keep up with the times and the rapidly changing technology and student expectations.  I am glad then that a couple of terms ago a student told me that I am "with it" in the way I conduct myself and my classes.  It will be awful if I am no longer able to connect with the students; I hope that day does not arrive too soon .. at least not before I turn 64 :)

"India. India ... take me to your heart" ... a John Lennon song

Thanks to YouTube, we can listen to this rare song--apparently a demo version ... that never got past the demo version; really?
I like these lines, in particular:

Reveal your ancient mysteries to me
I'm searchin' for an answer, but somewhere deep inside
I know I'll never find it here - it's already in my mind

That is a neat way to describe the complex nature of India, and why it is so goddamn hard to understand that country, even for a guy like me who was born there and has always had a serious interest that strange place.  I am glad though that I have reached a stage where I no longer fight to understand it and, instead, as my mother always says is her approach to life, I "try to float along with the currents" ... Perhaps given the centuries of history there, life has its own speed and direction, and our choice is to either go with it or simply step aside :)


The question that you, the reader, have is probably this: why this blog post out of the blue? (editor: are you talking to yourself, again?)
I came across a reference to this Lennon song while reading what Nigel Thrift had to say.  Who is Thrift?   He is a British geographer, and now a university vice-chancellor, whom I vaguely recall meeting at a graduate student gathering about twenty years ago!  I think he was the one who remarked that Southern Californians are strange that we kept saying "Santa Monica Freeway" when we could easily say "I-10" ... how strange that some trivial remarks stay with us for years, eh ...

Video of the day

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Video for the day: "Twist and Shout" from Ferris Bueller :-)