Sydney Blues

I will probably do a review later but in the meantime a filler post on actors who should be hearthrobs but aren't:-)

And more filler to kick off 2012 by way of pictures taken on a hot Sydney summer day which was pretty much cloudless.

Manthiri Kumari

New review is of a Tamil movie released in 1950, Manthiri Kumari.

Reviewing these films have left me little time for writing anything else, though tres facile and silly they require a fair bit of work. I wouldn't have watched these films were it not for writing the reviews for my cousin - perhaps a good thing as the earlier reviews of arthouse flicks on this site perhaps just have the one interested reader :-).  It's been an interesting exercise and makes me appreciate commercial films (for lack of a better word) a little more.  Manthiri Kumari for e.g. is a crowd pleaser and inordinately long but once you enter into the spirit of the thing it proves to be quite a delectable film.

And some random pictures I took this week.

Peonies on my Window



Life Death



Assemblage

Jacaranda Season

Gerberas

Such a tiring week.

Review of Mr and Mrs 55 here.

And a pic of the pretty terracotta coloured gerberas in my office this week.

Ashadh Ka Ek Din

There is no season of rain in Sydney.  Instead sudden bursts of rain punctuate most months.  After a mild beginning to spring, this weekend turned wet and cold.  I walked around all morning for several reasons and took a few pictures.  50 to be exact but a few below.

Blooms

I had an internet less weekend which was so blissful that I fell to thinking about pre-Internet days and reconsidering my online obsessions.  Nevertheless a post for the first day of spring.  The weather has been mild and we have had one of those sudden seasonal transitions resulting in a riot of blooms on the roads.  The light here, always so distinct, also changes with the seasons which must account for the colours in some of the pictures that I took on a walk.

A few artificial blooms (brooches) too arranged on an old magazine that I dug up (it saddened me a bit that I have almost abandoned the leisurely flip through a magazine for internet time...).

Let's see how long the Internet in Moderation lasts!

Lines

New and Old

Two unconnected pictures for the day.

First, a picture of the city on a rainy day a few weeks ago.  Taken on a quickly darkening afternoon while attempting to keep the camera out of the rain.

The other is from a friend I recently got in touch with. Taken more than two decades back on an afternoon spent amiably strolling through the campus. Things have changed much since except I have never met a tree I didn't feel like climbing :-)

Poladroids

For precisely a week, I was quite obsessed with making polaroids via the Poladroid project. The last of my experiments is pictures of people I like - or nearly always like - original pre-polaroid pictures naturally taken off the web (and the award for my favourite pic goes to - drumroll - Lorca!). And just by way of trying to make this post a little more than a polaroid showcase, some well known factoids on them.

L: Federico Garcia Lorca: Spanish poet, killed in the Spanish Civil War at age 38.
R: Marcel Proust : shares my birthday :-) more seriously wrote In Search of Lost Time/Remembrance of Things Past, right up there amongst the best books ever written.

L: Octavio Paz; Mexican author, political and ambassador to India in the late sixties.
R: Eric Rohmer; French New Wave director, apolitical and still making films that are essentially the same yet watchable.

L: Agnes Varda: also French New Wave and living proof of rocking it at age 80.
R: M.S. Subbulakshmi: divine voice, iconic and a different kind of role model for growing old.

View from my Window

This morning, walking to work the purple asters at the florist's immediately caught my attention. I bought a bunch and they have been brightening the office today. Here they are on the ledge looking on to the city streets and a tiny bit of the harbour. Its taken on my mobile so not the best pictures ever. Click to see a larger view.

Train of Shadows

I like many elements of this movie still. The colours, that it looks like a photograph and a painting, the costume. Information on the film here.

Children's Photographs

Some enchanting pics from the Guardian, especially the last one.



"The picture shows me and my brother walking our dog. Well, our clothes, walking our dog collar! We live in the country and we spend quite a lot of time together outside in the fields. Our dog’s name is Lillie and my brother is Julius. I love our dog but I’m not so sure about my brother."