I been confused and unsure of where my blog is headed, what its about, how it should look, and all that stuff for a while now. I've tried doing a couple of challenges and other such things, hoping it would bring clarity. But I'm still unclear, and it's one of the reasons for my repeated disappearances. It's come to a head now, an I must step back and figure things out.
I've decided to take a sabbatical from the blog for a bit. I want to sit back and figure a few things out. I'll see you guys soon. Until then play safe and stay alive.
While randomly surfing the internet today, I stumbled upon the news that Harper Lee’s new book was releasing this month. Bells went of in my head, chimes of happiness started to ring, then a voice whispered, ‘is it even possible’.
A little digging around and I found out that, there had been a book Harper Lee had written before she wrote ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’. The book was about Scout coming back to Macomb to visit her father twenty years later.
This is the book that Harper Lee had submitted for publication. Her editor had found some of Scout’s flashbacks to her childhood interesting and had asked Harper Lee to write a book about that. And that is the book we know as ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’.
Her first book ‘Go Set A Watchman’ had been shelved. After To Kill A Mockingbird’s success Harper Lee started writing other books but never finished them. One of the reasons, she says, for never publishing another book was her fear of all the attention she would get.
Harper Lee had drawn away from the public eye when she couldn’t take all the attention anymore. And even though people thought her going away meant she was writing new books, her pen was silent. No new works were announced until this February.
In February 2015, Harper Lee suddenly made the announcement that she would offer her first book for publishing. ‘Go Set A Watchman’ would see the light of day. A date was announced - 14th July - that’s 55 years after her first book!
I had read To Kill A Mockingbird as a kid doing the round of the classics, then I read it again some years back and found that I still enjoyed it immensely. Now it’s time to read it again, in preparation of it’s sequel.
I can’t wait for ‘Go Set A Watchman’, I’m all excited. I even tried to pre-order it but it seems I can’t do that for a Kindle book. :(
So for now, I’ve saved the date and started rereading ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’. :D I even found a rather cool version on Amazon - A Kindle Edition With Audio/Video.
Is To Kill A Mockingbird one of your favourite classics too? Are you looking forward to it’s sequel?
I’ve got my fingers-crossed that it won’t disappoint me like other sequels.
One of the biggest lesson’s I have learned from the dogs is to find happiness in small silly things. To let go and just go with the flow. Don’t let it get to you, what it is, depends on how you see it.
There are so many things the dogs do that completely flips my mind. Like waking up day after day to a puddle of pee, or Buddha digging holes in my garden just after I’ve loosened and levelled the soil.
On bad days the dogs have it from me when things like this happen. But on good days (and there are more of those each day) I can see though it and smile.
One of those rare days when Senti managed to hold the bladder through the night. And then was in such a hurry to pee that he aimed at his spot though Buddha's legs.
On good days I can understand that Senti couldn’t hold his bladder for another hour. He needs to pee around 3 or 4 in the morning and a lot of times I’m too tired to wake up for him. Picking up pee first thing in the morning doesn’t see so bad those days. I find myself smiling indulgently.
Buddha in his pit, while Elu contemplates joining in.
That indulgence also shows up these days when I catch Buddha covered in soil inside a pit of his making. Or when I find Cuckoo and William comfortably settled is soil they have just disturbed to bring out it’s coolness.
A favourite spot of the dogs. First they dig, then they settle.
They may not be the best thing for the garden, but the garden is the best thing for them. The same applies to me too I think. They are the best thing that has happened to me and on bad days, it’s what I have to remind myself the most. It’s also one of those things that helps me though bad days.
It’s difficult but I’m trying to chuck the pains and the bad days, the issues and troubles, and remember that it’s the small joys that bring happiness. Live in the moment, move on quickly in the bad ones and linger and enjoy the good ones.
I’m not sure if FatCow arm-twisted us and forced us into an upsell or was it a genuine problem. Should I pay SiteLock Rs.15,000/- every year to keep my server clean or are there other options? Let me explain...
I’ve been away from the blog for 10 days now. It started with me being unable to write one day. I figured I’d get the post done the day after and then all would be back on schedule.
But there were other plans underfoot. The next day when I tried opening the blog dashboard I was told, it was down and that I should contact FatCow to find out why.
Initially i thought it was an outage that would resolve itself in a few hours but 5 hours later the situation was still the same.
Time for Che’s entry. Che check other blogs of friends that shared server space with my blog and they were all down. A FatCow ticket was raised.
The FatCow guys came back saying there were malicious files on the server and until it was all cleaned up they would not take anything back online.
Rewind 6 months. My blog went down 6months ago and FatCow said there was malicious code. They recommended SiteLock as a service to monitor and remove malicious code. I didn’t have much of a choice or rather I didn’t know enough about wordpress coding so we hired SiteLock at around Rs.5000/- a year.
Now 6 months later all blogs on the server went down and FatCow said my site is fine because of SiteLock but the other two sites have malware. They said the easiest way to get all sites back online was to get SiteLock subscription for the other two sites too.
Again, not knowing what else to do, we paid an additional Rs.10,000/- (approx.) and got SiteLock on the job for the other sites as well. Within 24 hours all blogs were back online.
In the situation it felt like we were against the wall, our arms twisted by a giant like FatCow - ‘Pay us or else…’. We were fighting what felt like a losing battle, not knowing if there was another way out. We gave in.
Did we do the right thing? Is it worth paying SiteLock Rs.15,000/- every year? (Along with server space, domain, etc. this makes blogging expensive).
What can I do about this? How can I avoid this in future?
I as hunted around for today’s video to share I stumbled upon Ranveer Singh’s latest ad for Akshaye Patra. This guy has a wacky sense of humour, I really like him. Good looks, an cheeky smile, stunning body, brains and a witty sense of humour is an excellent combination in a man. :D
After one, I went on a hunt looking for more ads done by Ranveer Singh. He’s been doing some really wacky and weird ads lately. Here’s 5 ads I really liked.
This one’s killer. Until I saw this one I used to think only his Durex ad was cheesy. :P
And here’s the much talked about #DoTheRex ad. Ah ha ha ha ha, ah ha ha ha aha… Do The Rex. :P
And another performance for Ching’s.
This guy is a good talker too. Like here in Chup - The Durex MTV Rex Talk
And finally the ad that started it all. Ranveer Singh's latest - India Ke Hunger Ki Bajao.
I loved all these ads of his but my favourite is the RUPA Frontline one. It doesn't get cheesier than that. :P What's your favourite?
Last month was a bumper at the movies. I watched 11 movies in total and a lot of them were old Hindi movies. It's fun to go hunting for movies to watch on Youtube, especially when a lot of them are free (but not ad free). Here's the last set of four movies from April...
Rating: ***/5 - Could Watch!! Release: 5 January 1979 (India) Language: Hindi Running Time: 1h 57m Director: Basu Chatterjee Actors: Navin Nischol, Amol Palekar, Moushumi Chatterjee, Asrani, Keshto Mukherjee, Dina Pathak, Ranjeet Music: Hemanta Kumar Mukhopadhyay
The story of two broke young robbers who impulsively kidnap a child that was supposed to be the target of a kidnapping gang. What forms is a triangle of sorts, the pros are demanding ransom while searching for the stolen child, the amateurs are caring for the child and making novice demands, and the parents and police and in knots trying to untangle the multiple calls and demands.
I picked this movie to watch on a whim and wasn't disappointed. But I wasn't sold on it either. It's supposed to be a funny movie but I didn't find it humorous. Palekar's falling in love with a widow and immediately turning a good leaf is cliched in both departments. The end also is very unbelievable. It as if the director got tired of doing his thing and ended the movie with the first ludicrous happily-ever-after idea he thought of.
Rating: ****/5 - Should Watch!! Release: 1961 (India) Language: Hindi Running Time: 2h 22m Director: S.A. Akbar Actors: Ameeta, Mehmood, Johnny Walker, Helen Music: R. D. Burman
Chhote Nawab isn't chhote, he is a 20 year old who behaves like a 5 year old because he was born on February 29th. Spoilt and pampered he has no understanding of the world and it’s ways. When his father suddenly passes away Chhote Nawab is left floundering. A friend of his fathers find him and takes him away to Calcutta where he grows up rather quickly.
An old movie but a gem, not only for Mehmood but also the ideas, emotions and situations explored. There are a lot of layers to this movie. My only complaint though is the sudden jumps in time the director made maybe because he was running out of time. the pace of the first half and second half are mismatched.
Excellent music! Especially 'Matwali Ankhon Wale’, it was a treat to watch Mehmood dance with the beautiful Helen.
Rating: ****/5 - Should Watch!! Release: September 5, 2008 (India) Language: Hindi Running Time: 1h 45m Director: Santosh Sivan Actors: Purav Bhandare, Anupam Kher, Sarika, Rahul Bose, Rahul Khanna, Victor Banerjee Music: Taufique Qureshi Cinematography: Santosh Sivan Editing: Shakti Hasija
Based on the life of a little boy in Kashmir who is trying to reclaim his donkey that the family lost to debt. This is a story of borders, militancy, violence and the people of Kashmir.
The story explores various things, but what stood out for me was the ease with which children can be used for terrorism. Their innocence misused. That said the intelligence of children is also shown. An good movie both for children and adults.
Rating: ****/5 - Should Watch!! Release: July 25, 2014 (USA) Language: English Running Time: 89 minutes Director: Luc Besson Actors: Scarlett Johansson, Morgan Freeman, Choi Min-sik, Amr Waked Music: Éric Serra Cinematography: Thierry Arbogast Editing: Julien Rey
The normal everyday man uses only 10% of his brain. What would happen if he used more? That’s the premise of this movie.
Lucy gets used as a drug mule, the substance leaks into her system and give her powers. She is able to use more than 10% of her brain. What happens when you use 100% of your brain is the story.
That’s it from April. What did you watch in April? Any outstanding movies?
Disclaimer: this article is shit, is about shit and everything shit, so if you are not into shit or eating at the moment, don't read further.
For 29 years of my life the only poop I knew intimately was my own, then the dogs came along. Now I am a professional Poop Inspector and Investigator along with being an expert Poop Hunter and Collector. That's a lot of titles so let me explain them.
Poop Hunter
Each of the dogs have their poop zones, their favourite spots, but sometimes I think the pressure comes on suddenly or they decide to set up a treasure hunt and then the shit could be anywhere. Even in the middle of the hall!
Poop Inspector
Having six dogs means somewhere between 6 to 12 piles of shit. As a well experienced, researched and studied Inspector I can tell whose shit is whose at a distance mostly. By close-up inspection my guess would be right 95% of the time. :D
Poop Investigator
Identifying poop is just half the battle, the second half involves observing, identifying and tabulating what the turd indicates. Special points are given on finding bone shards, coloured nylon chewie shavings, balls of hair, fur and grass. Thankfully I've not found anything else, yet.
Poop Collector
Poop comes in various states - dry and crumbling, dry and firm, wet and sticky, soft and gooey, liquid gel. The dry and firm variety is the simplest and easiest to pick up. It comes clean of the ground. All the others need a little ingenuity, experience and skill before the art is perfected.
Why is Shit so Important?
Shit holds a lot of secrets. I'm not kidding, it's true you know. Your poop can tell you a lot about your body and health. It's colour, consistency, ease of passing and smell are indicators of many a thing. Looking at poop can tell you about excess vitamins, malnourishment, bleeding, infections, and much more.
I started out a novice, but in the last six years of picking up poop, it's amazing how much I have learned about and from SHIT!
