I watched The Hudsucker Proxy last night w/ my friend John. Everyone in the costume shop was raving about it, it was ok. I think I was a little too tired to fully appreciate it, but it was clever and had good costuming. Jennifer Jason Lee as the reporter was the most annoying thing this side of a red headed stepchild, although she had beautiful red hair. Mostly I hated her accent which was more circa 1943, not 1958.

I'm done w/ my finals. I'll keep working the rest of the week, and I'll work on getting my show ready to go into the shop almost as soon as I get back.

I checked out Swades and Kal Ho Naa Ho to watch before I leave for Christmas. I can't get enough of those, mostly the first, but I haven't seen the latter in a long time it seems like, probably 4 months.

I updated fashionephemera w/ my more costumey projects, so check it out if you want.

commercial

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1UmAaz325E

here's the link to the commercial I wardrobe supervised at the end of October.

Nine

1) I had five birthday cakes.
2) I have a tall man friend that seems very tall. I asked him how tall and he said 6'2". I said that I was 6' and that I thought he was taller. He said I must be wrong about my own height. I measured and I'm 5' 10 3/4". Epic fail. I'm having separation anxiety from my beloved 6'. I wrote it on my new UT driver's license though, so meh.
3)I got a UT driver's license.
4)On the Friday before my birthday me and a bunch of friends went to Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam at IC. The dubbing was horrible and the subtitles were way off basically the whole time, but the movie was epic. Aishwarya of course was breathtakingly beautiful and Ajay was adorable. Salman, whom I strongly dislike all the time, was dislikable. It was a FANTASTIC movie.
5) It rained/snowed/slushed yesterday for about 6 hours straight. All our parking lots, drives, and sidewalks were covered in miserable puddles. I have no Wellies, which I've wanted for forever and must get for the Holidays, but my roommate let me borrow her snowshoes for the walk to church.
6) I got officially accepted to the London Theatre Study Abroad for this Spring!! Huzz-ah! I need to start making a a list of things to do.
7) I don't want to go back home after London so I think I will go back to Provo and sew a new show for the Young Ambassadors. I don't think I'll need to be in school so I can just pay cheap housing and work all day.
8) I want to go to BU real bad. Whether or not I decide to apply right out of my undergrad I want to go out to Boston once I'm done. Janet has connections that could get me hook ups for jobs.
9) I've never been so excited to go home and sleep in my life. I'm so tired of waking up between 5.30 and 6.30 everyday. I'm a morning person, but when you oversleep until 6.30 you know something's wrong.

daniel craig, hugh jackman, gerard butler

I would make out with any of these guys in a second. Can you tell my type? haha. Anyway, that comes from an ongoing convo I've been having w/ a guy friend of mine, and I watched Wolverine and Quantum of Solace this weekend.

ready for boise

I'm SOOOO ready to go to Boise and eat Colette food and watch Bollywood and get away from school and some recent drama. Thanksgivings recently seem to be rather cathartic.

Water 3+ years later.

Little did I realize when I watched Krrish 7 months ago that it was in fact not the first Hindi movie I'd seen. I don't say Bollywood b/c Water, the movie I rewatched tonight after 3+ years at International Cinema is not Bollywood, but is still in Hindi.

Sarah and I had a mad summer attending many indie films at the Ross Theatre back home in Lincoln once upon a time. The summer was of 2006 and we experienced John Abraham and little Chuhiya together. We were blown away, by the themes, the story, the acting and of course, John Abraham.

Three years later I am still v. impressed, but like the movie for much different reasons. I will say that the acting is much shallower than I'd originally thought, but the story overall seemed a little rushed, or rather short for a Hindi film, so that might have had something to do with it. I could swear the announcer at IC said it was 170 minutes, which isn't far fetched for a Hindi film, but it ended after two hours!! I couldn't exactly remember what all happened, but all the sudden we're chasing Gandhi's train and it's over!!

Anyway, so yeah. Now that I've seen John in other things, I'm not a huge fan, mainly b/c he's too hairless and musclebound, but even though we had to believe in the "falling for a girl merely b/c she's beautiful and pious" schpiel, I still found him endearing, and loved his dhotis.

Meanwhile I'm pretty sure (I'm too lazy to imdb right now) that the music was done by the same guy who did Jodhaa Akbar and Slumdog. I don't remember what I thought of the music when I first watched Water but I sure liked it this time.

Before Water I watched 2 1/2 hours of Army of Shadows, in French about resistance in France during WWII. It was labeled War Noir or something. I wasn't blown away, but it wasn't bad, although those I watched it with labeled it as the worst movie they'd ever seen. They've never experienced Brazilian realism, or whatever wacked out Italian movie Genevieve and I watched last year.

Winter '10 Sched

BYU's started this new thing where we don't use add/drop cards anymore. It used to be you got an official piece of paper that you'd fill out and have your prof sign for upper level and special classes, or when a class was full but they let you add it anyway. This worked great for me b/c Janet could basically sign off on all of my classes then I'd just turn it in. Now we have to enter codes online after we email/talk to our teachers to get them. However, many teachers are having trouble actually getting their codes. They've also added this other deal that upper level classes, that could once be registered for online, now need 'departmental approval' which is basically emailing your teacher to get on the role, then actually being added once classes start.

All this being said I'm only signed up for one class for next Winter so far, World Religions, for which I'm STOKED. My other classes will include...

Advanced Costume Design
TMA 396 (Theory and Lit or something)
History of Eastern Costume
Jewelry and Armor
Blood Wedding

V. busy, but full of loveliness. If you didn't figure it out, that's all theatre classes but one, and Blood Wedding is a lot of work, but not actually a set time, although I will need to spend certain amounts of hours in the shop. This is the last year w/ our grad students, so even though I was planning on taking intermediate make up I'm foregoing it until next year to take the Costume History AND Jewelry/Armor class. The second block of the semester I'll also have a 1 credit London prep class, to prep me for London.

Exited, I think so.

Of horror flicks and commercial shoots.

So on Friday I went to Dark Water w/ Genevieve, her friend Ben and my friend John. fun was had by all. The movie was ridiculously scary in a very Japanese way. John and I were scared out of our minds. Genevieve and Ben stayed for Ringu, John and I got gelatto.

On Saturday!!! I wardrobe supervised a commercial shoot!! The commercial had Israelis and Palestinians and was shot at a run down mill south of Eureka. It was amazingly awesome!! This being my first time on a set I was nervous, but it was really the best possible first experience. Since there was fighting and guns and explosions involved the worse the costumes looked the better. All I did was give them their costumes (the director got everything together) and then rub professional dirt on their face and spray them w/ glycerin water (it doesn't evaportate so it looks like sweat). I drove down at 7 am and drove away at 7pm. I got home at 8 then struck the opera at 9. Fun times!!!

Halloween this Saturday. I'm going on a temple trip to Manti then making chili, then going to a scary Swedish vampire movie (Let the Right One In) with John. Friday night is a tri-ward ice skating/hockey activity. Hopefully I won't bash my head open like I did the last time.

I haven't watched a Hindi movie for over a month I think. Ug classes!!!

I've updated fashionephemera w/ some of my recent projects.

Midterms!! Technically none of my classes really have midterms, but projects have piled up this week.

Genevieve and I still haven't watched New York. We're planning on watching it tonight, but I don't know if I can in good conscience w/ all the homework I have.

Genevieve and I went to Psycho at the International Cinema last Saturday. I'm in love w/ Norman Bates. He is so ridiculously attractive and endearing, it isn't fair. Needless to say I screamed my head off. Fun was had by all.

Friday night I'm going w/ some friends to IC to watch Japanese horror films Dark Water and Ringu. So scary!!!

The week before my birthday IC is showing Straight from the Heart w/ Salman, Ajay, and Aishwarya. I'm stoked and am planning a party.

Time to go to work!! Since the opera's running and we're super productive w/ Children of Eden there is very little to do.

OPERA

Instead of being at work right now, I've been trying to do my homework, and it's done...for the most part.
Last night was the first dress rehearsal for Tales of Hoffman, our fall opera. I think in all it has around 60 cast members, which is unheard of. Last year Don Giovanni had maybe 30, as did Millie. Also last year, Don Giovanni's first dress went pretty badly. The performers were hard to train to be theatre people and the rehearsal started an hour late and went on forever. I didn't have high hopes for this year's opera and was gearing up for a long night. Said night started at 5 for me (I'd already worked 2 hours yesterday morning to get ready for it). The performers (I'd say actors, but they're not, they're vocal performers for the most part) were to arrive at 5.30, but most didn't get there until 6 or so. However, I was pleasantly surprised when the show started around 7.20, when 7 was our goal, not bad. The show ran smoothly, there were many many stops, but all in all no costume disasters. Even though the show is projected to run 2.5 hours, somehow it stretched until a quarter to midnight. Huh...
All in all the performers were pretty great and my dressers were fantastic. I can't really give an opinion on the opera in general b/c I didn't really watch it, and had no idea what was happening, but it sure looked great.
I got home a little after midnight and was in bed by one. I didn't do any homework yesterday and since I can't go over 20/week for work I opted out of working today so I could do my homework. Tonight I'll do makeup hours for the opera from 6-8, then I have a production meeting from 8-11. How excited!!
I'm most excited for the Hoffman potluck at work this Friday, with French food!!

Kurbis stealing

Our ward's month long activity is pumpkin stealing. Each apartment starts with a miniature pumpkin and whichever apartment has the most pumpkins at the end of the month gets Cafe Rio. No stealing pumpkins after curfew or when no one is home. Pumpkins must be in plain sight in the kitchen or living room. Once a pumpkin is out the door, it's yours, but can be stolen back once it's in your apartment.
Last week we nonchalantly stole our first pumpkin from the apartment that hosted FHE. I just reached up and grabbed it and was gone. We got two more from girls across from us when we went to borrow cinnamon.
Last night a giant boy named Clark came to deliver our friendship notes after ward prayer. He proceeded to throw the notes then jump for our four pumpkins that were on a very tall display on our entertainment center. He got one but I jumped him and he got totally startled. I saw fear in his eyes. We let him go when we were sure he didn't have any of our pumpkins.
Afterward Rachel, Stefani, and I went across the way to game night, during which Clark and his Rugby Roommate gang busted into the apartment while Genevieve was home alone and ended up getting one pumpkin. Genevieve called us immediately and we ran across the street to get our pumpkin back. Since we knew they'd be expecting retaliation we got our super sweetheart cool Home Teacher to knock on the door and distract them w/ Rugby talk while we hid around the corner.
This was accomplished and we bum rushed into the apartment. Long story short there was a may-lay of craziness and we got TWO pumpkins out of the giant Rugby Apartment. Seriously, these boys are HUGE!! Even though technically they were our pumpkins once they were out of the door they followed us across the street, seriously scary, and camped out on our stoop. I was going to get the 15 people across the way at game night to help us out, but Rachel took the pumpkins up to her friend's, then handed them to Genevieve through our window. The boys left dejected, telling us that it's not fair that we're girls and all that, and that they won't talk to Dusty for the rest of Oktober.
I have some nice bruises from said giant Rugby Players, but boy was it fun.

And then tonight after FHE, before our friend Sarah, who's in our FHE group got back to her apartment we rushed over to her apartment to bum rush whomever was home, but no one answered the door. Upon discovering that the door was open we let ourselves in to wait for Sarah, then planned to rush past her with her pumpkin. We giggled in the kitchen until Amy appeared from the back rooms b/c she'd heard us. We snatched the pumpkin and accidentally and viciously pinned her to her front door. After some cordialness she actually let us take the pumpkin. We're scared for Sarah's retaliation. We're always paranoid and have secret knocks and strategic pumpkin decoys and all that jazz.

What a fun month eh?

Genevieve's blog

http://realmofthepachyderm.blogspot.com/

Genevieve's newest entry is a nice update for me as well. I am Grandma in her entries.

Theatre I've Seen

I was just trying to figure out how much theatre I've seen in my life. I haven't included singing and dancing performances I've seen.

UNL
The Magic Flute
La Boheme
Susannah

Southwest High School, Lincoln NE
Footloose
The Diviners
Black Elk Speaks
My Fair Lady
Beauty and the Beast
Amadeus
Westside Story
A Piece of My Heart

Western Stage
Arsenic and Old Lace
Anything Goes

BYU
You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown
Little Women
A Midsummer's Night Dream
The Seagull
Roofsliding
Woyzeck*
Houseboat Honeymoon
Don Giovanni
Dial M for Murder
Thoroughly Modern Millie**
MacBeth
Dancing at Lugnasa
Berenice
Jungle Book
Tafettas
Various and Sundry Mask Clubs

This BYU season!!
Tales of Hoffman
Children of Eden
Tartuffe
As You Like It
Blood Wedding*
Absent Friends

Other Companies
Death of a Salesman--Theatre Mitu
Sweeney Todd in Concert--The Castle

*designed
**associate designed

Saturday

I went to Theatre Mitu (a company from NYC)'s production of Death of a Salesman last night. It was a very good production. The performances were superb and the concept was great, but it couldn't help the fact that the play was Death of a Salesman. I just don't like that play. But it was good. I went w/ my friend Lando and it was great.

I filled out the passport app online this morning. I just need my birth certificate and photos. I'm excited. I was looking into going to Germany or Vienna whilst in the London area, but Vienna is 14 hours away by train. Granted I'd get to be in Vienna for a day, but I think Paris is a better option, only being 6 hours away. I would like to use my German though. I wonder if there's anything on the coast worth seeing, seeing as Berlin and Frankfurt and Hamburg are so inland.

I heard it snowed in NE today. That's fun. The weather's still nice and warm here, although the mornings are frigid so I carry my coat around all day.

I want to make coffee cake real bad.

I re-watched Luck By Chance on Thursday with Genevieve. Such a good movie. We have New York and need to watch it, but we haven't been in the mood for a downer, and I'm not a huge fan of John Abraham.

Just some stuff

While walking home today I straight up saw some human hair on a tree branch like someone had gotten caught and yanked themselves away. I thought about CSI.

I can't spell "skillz" without a Z anymore.

I updated fashionephemera w/ my outfit from today. I felt cute.

I've been dying at work for the past three days. It sure is fun, but frustrating.

I made faces at a baby through a trashcan while eating my dinner in the Cu-gare-ee-uht today.

At first you'd think Nigel from So You Think You Can Dance? is the definition of a poser, but he's pretty straight legit.

On that note, there was a same sex ballroom couple on tonight. They were good and I was uncomfortable.

One of my roommates has a fever, I refuse to talk to her.

I wish I watched bones more often.

I'm considering working for a couple of years before grad school. It's highly recommended.

I talked with a friend once about how some people's lives seem so great because they only update their blog on good days. I think I must be the opposite and you must all think my life sucks.

I had a bad German day. I thought I had a good German weekend. I watched The Sissi Trilogie from the 50s auf Deutsch on Netflix. It was super cute w/ great costumes and was in German and it was great. Then I had a nice chat w/ Whitney and was all proud b/c my accent's getting better and I really studied the new material and did my worksheet on Saturday.

Well, I get to class today and realize I worked one worksheet ahead and I have no idea what the answers are. When they get to me of course I have the easiest sentence were I just have to conjugate sein=to be for past subjunctive and I totally just babbled something and got it totally wrong when that's like the easiest verb ever!! What a life! I've also noticed that not only can I not speak German, but I'm losing my ability to speak English.

On a good note, I stole a pumpkin from girls in our FHE group. It's a ward activity. Whoever steals the most pumpkins wins.

I dyed at work today. It was super fun and I learned something new.

Meanwhile there are only like three pictures of baby SRK online so I better cheer up!

One of those off days

Whitney said once to google panda pictures when you have a bad day. I'd rather google baby
SRK photos and compare them with adorable hairy chimp babies. Count me in for brown babies^max.

Genevieve and I had a great night last night hitting up a 30 minutes bday party and watching Chak De! but b/c it's impossible to turn off SRK in flat front khakis, crisp white shirts and aviators with scruff I got to bed after 1. I hadn't gotten all of my homework done, but was going to wake up early to do it, but didn't b/c there wer storms all night and I didn't sleep well. I got it done anyway, but getting out of the door was no fun b/c my cream cheese froze.

It rained all day, something I usually love, but both of my umbrellas are MIA and I have to say that today was honestly the first time I've just gotten drenched. I've never found myself walking in the rain before w/o an umbrella, unless I was 6 I guess.

We were informed when we got our group papers back in my English class that one group had tanked. Guess who's!!!

German was fine, but I talked w/ James a lot in English, which actually kind of puts me in a bad mood these days b/c I know I should talk in German more. Also, we did a worksheet and if it weren't for James I'd have been completely lost. James got a haircut, that was a nice surprise for the day I guess.

Make up class was fine, but it can be not the best b/c the bags under my eyes conceal for about .2 seconds then bust through my yellow nutralizer like there's no tomorrow which ruins any look.

And now I have to go back on campus and do a group presentation w/a girl in my English class and miss Glee >: (. After a day like this all you can do is clean the kitchen, which I have. I just wish we had more Swiffer pads b/c my socks are black.

Abhi and Ash on Oprah aka Oprah=rah-dik

I'd call Oprah a dork, but she isn't cool enough to receive that title. She's just a crazy old woman.

Abhishek und Aishwarya am Oprah:
http://tv.yahoo.com/daytime/video/oprah-the-view-divorce-court/15318054/

You tell her what for Abhi!!

The whole episode is available on YouTube.

Can I say again and enough how much I love Provo? The weather's fabulous, the air is clean, the mountains are bursting with color and my life is drama free. Oh how different from a year ago, well, all the landscape stuff was the same I guess.

Anyway, I love fall and I love this new semester if you couldn't tell. I love my job, at which I am doing well and progressing. My future at school, and career wise is looking fabulous. I'm going to try to get a research grant to work w/ Mary on the historical clothing collection again and present research at the Costume Society of America's regionals (I'll be in London for the nationals...but maybe after I graduate).

German is getting better and better. My test scores are going down...but I'm getting more comfortable. I fit in about one Hindi movie a week (Awaara most recentley, and DDLJ again), and that's fantastic. I'm in a super fun makeup class and Genevieve and I go jogging everrrrnight. My life is fabulous.

Dear SRK and disembodied hand...

To the former: Stop smoking! It will kill you, it's disgusting and we can see your nicotine stains in your films, esp in Swades and Rab Ne. Not attractive. Also, you have children, for shame.
To the former's haircut: never again, but good side burn length
To the latter: could you be any more the epitome of a stereotypical Indian gesture? I think not. Also, you freak me out.

just sayin'

Review: "Bollywood Homicide"

Everyone and their mom let me know about the Bollywood episode of Psych that was on last Friday so of course I had to trangle down to Ashley's and watch it on her wall mounted big screen.

Apparently the Indian from Heros was in it. Like I knew, I don't watch popular network television shows (The Office, Glee, cough cough). Anyway, basically this ridiculously good looking Indian man (just the way I like them) is convinced he's cursed after his girlfriend almost gets crushed by a truck. Lassie brings Sean and Gus in to freak them out about the curse. Of course they solve the case.

A GREAT episode, not so great for the Bollywood, but oh for Sean and Gus. Heralding back to the first ridiculously well written season of Psych, this, the fourth season is fantastically quotable. This episode included such gems as "No offence, but you people are just stupid for eating food this hot" and "Indian givers!!". Even though Sean is getting a tad chunky monkey and wears ridiculous man chokers I still love him. And who could forget Gus. And I have a tad crush on Lassie in all his giant crooked-nosed black Irish goodness.

As for the Bollywood, as much as I wish they had miraculously gotten Baby B or Preity, we had to settle for the guy from Heros, who, albeit is a stud muffin in a ridiculously perfect kind of way, was a little too dark and hairy for me (says the girl who's spent 5 months w/ SRK and Hrithik's wheatish bare chests). We must remember though that all Indians portrayed were Indian Americans, haha. The women were very fair, and I do wonder if they were actually Indian (although I'd never guess Preity was if I didn't know).

The costumes were pretty shabby and low-budget, but they WERE working w/ television budgets and not real Bollywood numbers. The Indian girlfriend performed to Aaja Nachle (again, I wish they would have wowed me with a ridiculous dancer a la Madhuri, but alas alack) wearing who knows what, but the backups looked great. Of course the episode ended at the Holi festival where all the costumes were painted with color and lacked the serendipitous splattering of the real deal. Also, Jules' sari was just that, sorry (ew, pun!).

The episode was in fact directed by the brother of the main desi boy character (here) and you can really tell. It had many of the melodramatic and beautiful hallmarks (imagine the scene from above as Sean's pulling the girl out of that hole beautifully shot) of Hindi cinema. The directing wasn't a masterpiece, but it fit the bill.

Overall the actual Bollywood was v. minimal, but done adequately given the resources. The episode as a whole was fantastic.

PS I've updated fashionephemera.

I had a good day today. I'm getting more confident w/ German by the day and the weather is GORGEOUS!! The leaves on the mountains are changing and it's the first day of my favorite season!! Genevieve and I watch clips from Swades everrrday, which does nothing for our homework doing, or our realistic ideas of men. We went running tonight to 9th and back (I live on 29th, grrr. Oh I guess I should tell you that 9th is really 900, and I live on 29th, and 900 is actually 9 blocks east, so is 29th a 29th from University? I don't know, but I like the grid system). So yeah, running was good. A boy talked to us for a bit. Imagine!! I love south of campus!! I'm now trying to do my homework. If when I get married any of you want to get on my good side/want a present idea, a score of white tshirts for my husband would be appreciated, as long as I was talking about Swades...Don't worry, those thoughts are connected. Um...Oh, I got a raise at work and I'm going to be the first hand for Tartuffe, for which I'm mad stoked. I updated fashionephemera and should really do an Emmys fashion/ NY fashion week review, but that would include a lot of research I don't have time right now. I'm trying to think of something costume related I can spend $1200 on so I can get this ORCA grant and do fun things. Anyway, that was a long entry, but there it is.

something that makes me happy...

I used an iTunes gift card and bought lots of Hindi music, Rab Ne, Jodhaa, Swades and other random great songs. Because I've been listening to Swades all day I had to check it out from die Bibliothek. Genevieve and I watched the best parts (the best part being "Yeh Tera Woh Tera") this afternoon and I am more agog every time I watch it that it didn't get nominated for an Oscar. Ug! It's such a fantastic movie!

I also checked out Awara w/ Raj Kapoor, for which I'm super stoked. Apparently this movie is where we get the Charlie Chaplin scene at the beginning of Phir Milenge Chalte Chalte from Rab Ne (don't even try to convince me that RK made that look up all on his own 20 years after Charles Chaplin was super successful w/ it). I'm excited to watch it for a Sunday afternoon treat.

Three more performances of Tafettas, then I'm done! Lando and I are co-designing a film project. I'm excited.

BW: Sholay (say it like T-pain)

I'ma gonna be a little inarticulate right now: OMG SHOLAY!!!

Ok, done. So Genevieve and I watched Sholay on Monday b/c I didn't have Taffetas and ignored my homework and have heard for ages that Sholay is a GREAT movie. You know what's good about watching movies from an entire genre you've hardly scratched the surface of? Discovering movies like Sholay. It's like watching a Steve McQueen movie for the first time, or discovering Gene Kelley. This movie is a Hindi classic and it's obvious to see why. It is FANTASTIC!!

Besties and petty thieves Veeru and Jai are recruited by a retired police officer Thakur, as private guns to take down bandit extraordinaire Gabbar. Veeru falls in love w/ the horse cart girl Basanti and Jai falls for Thukar's widowed daughter-in-law.

Can we just talk about the cast for a minute?..
a)Veeru, played by Dharmendra (who's apparently v. big in Bwood), wasn't my favorite, but that's probs because Big B plays Jai and come on, Big B. BUT he totally grew on me and oddly enough by the end of the film he was ridiculously attractive, in a strangely chunky but not chunky way.
b)Jai, oh Jai. Amitabh Bachchan was and is an extreme hottie. I love this man to distraction. I just wish such long hair wasn't popular back then b/c Abhishek looks so great w/ short hair and I'm sure Big B would have too.
c)Jaya Bhaduri plays the widow, beautifully. I love this woman to distraction (apparently Big B loved her while distracted...oh, cheap shot).
d)Hema Malini as Basanti was hilarious. She was great, her dancing was great, as was her horse carting.
e)Sanjeev Kumar as Thakur was super creepy and I just kept seeing Amrish Puri w/ his bug eyes.
f)Amjad Khan as Gabbar was perhaps one of the most intense, ridiculously evil in a straight up insane kind of way villain I've seen.
e)The stunts men, mad props. Seriously, some of the best work I've seen from this era of film making, or ever. Just classic horse tricks and falls.

Basically the cast is the movie. Oh so good. The story is of course a take off of every Western ever, including the Spanish (?) tiles on the roofs. It really reminded me of a Henry Fonda movie I saw once on a Saturday afternoon that I can't remember the name of. From a bandit raid on a train, shootouts at the water tower and dynamiting the village bridge, classic Western, but in a totally doesn't even need cowboys sort of way. Curry Westerns are delicious. Genevieve and I were screaming and stopped breathing and I wanted to cry, but for some reason I couldn't. Very cathartic all the same however.

Just. a. great. movie.

If you want to read about my fabric dying class w/ Jeff Lieder, I've posted an entry about it on my costumey blog...http://fashionephemera.blogspot.com/

It basically sums up what I've been doing for the past two days. More photos are on Facebook.

A minimum passport validity of 6 mos. is required to get any kind of Indian visa. Shoot!

India for New Years?

Grad friend Jaynanne drew my attention to the Costume Society of America's study tour of India this coming holiday season (Dec 26-Jan 6). The tour goes to many many major cities and visits fabric museums and so forth. Here's the agenda http://costumesocietyamerica.com/India_Agenda.pdf.
My grad student friends think I could get a grant. Field Studies is looking less and less like an option b/c they go to mostly Tibetan India, but this would be PERFECT. If I get a grant I'm totally there!

Today was much better than yesterday. Yesterday I watched Taffetas and it was great, but that meant that I didn't do my homework during the show. After the show when I got home I had no desire to do homework so I lolly gagged around until midnight, did my costume history homework then woke up early this morning to finish my German, which went better today, but I feel bad for my new friend James whom I sit next to. Whenever we discuss things auf Deutsch I suck big time and mumble, so he does most of the discussing.

Taffetas is going SO well. The women are a dream to work with. I'm almost done w/ my homework for the night. On Friday is the master class on textile dying from 9-4, and on Saturday as well. There will be a lunch break for the Taffetas' opening potluck. I'ma make dreamcicle jello, like I always do, and like the shop always loves, but of the 2 free hours I have tomorrow between classes and the show I've already scheduled one to figure out Doctor Who Club. Maybe I'll have to make a quick run after the show to Smiths, or heaven forbid hit up Wal-Mart. Anyway, I'm so STOKED for the dying class. One more thing for me to learn!!

Grrr...I have a love/hate relationship with my German class. I love doing the reading at home and thinking that I understand and get it. I hate coming to class and learning that I didn't, or coming to class and realizing my accent sucks, or coming to class and realizing I can barely form a simple sentence, or coming to class and having all my adjective ending homework be wrong. It's probably not so bad, but I'm used to things coming naturally to me and of course am frustrated that after having taken so many classes to get this far I still suck rocks at German. I feel like scheduling a time w/ my professor to explain why I suck so bad, but that's a cop out and how would it really help? I'm doing what I can, but could probably do better if I had hours more to devote to German than the already hours I spend every night. UG!!

I'm really interested in maybe doing a field study or internat'l intership in India. I popped over to the Field Study booth in the WILK today and even popped on over to the office after German this afternoon. Pretty much it'd be awesome and I could go over and study/work film (a kid just pwnd the India Film scene recently I guess) but the bottom line is that if I want to graduate in April '11 I'd have to pick between Spring in London or Field Study in India Spring/Summer. Any other options tacks on a year or so to my major. I think the best bet is still to go to London and try to find an internship on my own. Maybe the Indian Film kid has some contacts that could help me out though.

I'm going to watch the Taffetas tonight because it's the last rehearsal before an audience. I'll have to do my homework after instead of during.

At least my hair looks good today.

Labor Day Weekend

Here are some pictures of the past Labor Day weekend. I got a new camera so I told Lindsey (who came to town on her way to Rexburg/for Ashley James' wedding) to make sure I took a lot of pictures.

So yeah, we went to Ashley James' reception in Alpine on Saturday night (I didn't watch a second of the game...) then watched a Bollywood movie w/ friends(I'd already shown Lindsey Lagaan). On Monday we went up to Draper and had lunch w/ the wonderful Shelleys then stopped by the temple. Afterwards we watched Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (making Lindsey's Bollywood grand total 4 for the weekend, we watched Om Shanti Om on Sunday night :))

And so starts another week. I'm feeling more comfortable in German and am realizing that others don't feel as comfortable as I thought. Friday and Saturday is my textile dying all day masters class. I'm stoked.

First week of Classes and BW: Lagaan

The first week of my Junior year went well. I'm far enough along in this whole college thing that I kind of just get going and it doesn't even seem like it's only been a week. My class load seems to be pretty manageable.

History of Costume: The textbook is perhaps the second most beautiful book I own, after my 2 volume edition of FASHION. Mary of course is a great teacher and I've already learned a lot, mostly about Mesopotamian and Egyptian costumes, even down to the differences in the Old, Middle and New Egyptian Kingdoms.
Writing about Arts and Humanities: This I think will have a moderate work load w/ a big finish at the end. The class if full of students of the arts and it has progressively shrunk from about 30 to 10 or 12.
GERM 202: taught by a real German! He's super nice and works hard w/ us on pronunciation, but I get the feeling that the kids in my class either a)had GREAT high school teachers or b)have had this professor before because they have REALLY good accents. When I pronounce something wrong as I read aloud (like Bayern) the professor prompts the class and they all say it correctly. My bad.
1st Half Doctrine and Cov't: No homework, no tests, all assignments are done in class and the final is a paper we write in sections, in class.
TMA 360: I'm dressing for The Taffetas, where I am right now. It' great. The girls are faculty and so forth so it's a dream.
I'll be taking a master's textile dying and painting class all next Friday and Saturday. I'm excited!

I met w/ Janet and we discussed my future. It's looking good. We talked grad schools and London and all that. As for Bollywood, there's a film prof. that's been to India, and he's our only remote chance at a Bwood "in". We'll see. A field study is also possible. BYU's program places you w/ something major related. I'm going to look into it, but I don't know if I'll have time before I graduate.

I took my first trip to the BYU Music and Dance Library yesterday (not for lack of trying) and lo and behold all the Hindi films that are perpetually checked out were all there! Om Shanti Om, BOTH Dhooms and Lagaan! I checked out the latter three. I was so jazzed to get Lagaan that I started the nearly 4 hour movie at 10 o'clock last night after rehearsal.

Lagaan, the third Hindi movie ever to be nominated for an Oscar, is about a village in late Victorian India forced to pay double taxes to the British in a drought year. When the village men try to talk the British down, Bhuvan (Aamir Khan) agrees to a bet with the British Captain to alleviate the tax. In three months the villagers must beat the British soldiers in a game of cricket. If they do the entire province doesn't have to pay lagaan for three years. If they lose the entire province must pay triple lagaan that year. Of course there is a beautiful villager, Gauri, and a beautiful British woman, Elizabeth who both fall for Bhuvan. The village bans together and two hours later they play cricket, which last an HOUR! of the movie, not in total. The game takes like 3 days. Oh cricket...

Bottom line, great movie. It combines the realness of my favorite Swades and the ecclectic, rural beauty of Jodhaa Akbar. Amir was magnificent and Gracy Singh as Gauri was superb, as an actress, dancer and character. Her costumes made me die with joy and want to learn Indian dying techniques real bad. And I so want three dots on my chin! The supporting cast was well balanced and I grew v. attached. The British were disgusting, of course. Capt. Russel's Hindi was painful. At times the accent wasn't so bad, but when he wanted to be a jerk his Hindi sounded like the American in the French musical Not on the Lips. Elizabeth, who miraculously learned Hindi over night, was just as bad. UG! The Hindi Hindi however seemed to have an accent. Was it just me or were the "main"s a little different?

Costumes: As far as I could tell, which isn't very yet, the Indian costumes were phenomenal. The palette was amazing and esp. the women's costumes were to dye for. The festival dance for Krishna's birthday pallete made me cry with joy. Oh, just all so good! And Gauri was so pretty!

Alright, now the British costumes....AH! 1893=serpentine skirts, leg-o-mutton sleeves, CORSETS. Oh dear. Just because a costume has a full length skirt with a doily for a top doesn't make it late Victorian. And by the same token a brimmed hat with flowers doesn't a) need to be worn everywhere b) mean it's period. And riding w/ a capelet, in India??? or wearing a felt hat w/ a pheasant feather? I just can't, UG! The ballroom scene was painful, OH OH OH! As was Elizabeth's song in English in some sort of demi-slip negligee, so bad. And she never wore her hair up and the woman's got a short neck but they insisted on poorly constructed dog collars. It was just painful. I'd say they did well w/ the military costumes, which they did, except apparently they couldn't find a supplier for enough fabric for everyone so various and sundry shades of khaki abounded, and not in a "worn and weary" kind of way. As far as I could tell the cricket uniform's worked, except they never got dirty. Which leads me to....

The fact that cricket is ridiculous. Period. That's all. Wickets and bowling and spacey oven mitts. I want to understand its appeal, I really do, and maybe someday I will. I'm not defending any American sports, but seriously, cricket?! I'm more of a ball in a goal type of girl.

And thus begins a new school year.

PS I'm going to try and find a theatre in Salt Lake that plays Hindi movies. Amodini's tipped me off to the Bollywood Twelfth Night/She's the Man (with CRICKET!!) and I really want to see it. Looks like a really colorful Punjabi explosion of ridiculousness. I'm convinced there is one field of yellow flowers in Punjab that is constantly inundated with Bollywood shoots.

grad school options

MFA-Costume Design

Theatre
UofI-UC Facilities comparable to BYU's. A good program from what I here, however their head prof is/has retired and there is a hiring freeze so the progam's kind of in limbo from what I hear.
Boston University: excellent facilities. looks good, although the grad classes look similar to some I've already taken. Boston's nice
UC-Irvine: lookin' good. has "multicultural spring" w/ visiting professors and masters classes.

Film
USC: Deborah Landis teaches here, NOT UCLA like I thought. However, they don't currently offer an MFA in design, but will in the near future
UCLA: just another good CA choice.

I'm meeting w/ Janet tomorrow to discuss my future. I'll write an entry for this week at the end of it.

Fall '09 Begins

I'm back in Provo! Hoo-ray! I love routines and all and having Vay-noos back and doing my grocery shopping is nice. What is not nice is having a mild cold that could turn deadly at any moment. My new roommates are all sophomores and seem like sweethearts. They are amenable to a pre-semester roommate agreement of sorts to get the logistics of living together figured out before there are problems. I have my new laptop. I call it Big Blue in my head b/c it is blue. I like it/her/him. I'm listening to my Bollywood playlist for the first time in a while. The Music and Dance Library where I get my Bollywood DVDs was closed when I went tonight to get something nice to entertain myself w/. I bought three of many books I need. One for each make up, costume history and my writing class. My costume history book is perhaps one of the most beautiful I've ever owned, although my Taschen editions of FASHION are almost too ballin' to surpass. I started reading my writing book b/c I know we'll have reading assignments I won't be interested in or have enough time to read later. Church starts at 12.20. It's backwards. I've never decided on my opinion of backwards church schedules. I bought the fixings for stroganoff, baked potatoes and burritos. Any ideas for other meals w/ minimal ingredients? I also bought an ironing board, hoo-ray! I should make an entry of semester goals so they're more concrete.

That was long paragraph a/b a lot of random stuff. That's what I get for writing after reading T Starr's newest entry. Mine's not as funny.

I'm in Payson for the night, then on to Provo tomorrow! UG! I have SO much to do! I looked over my German syllabus tonight, scary. I have to resubmit my health insurance stuff so I don't get charged for the crappy student coverage. I have to figure out how to get one of my Doctor Who Club officers to a mandatory meeting, then attend another meeting so I can actually get the info which will be hard b/c Taffetas starts on Thursday, which I why I can't go to the meeting in the first place. I have to move in, set up my laptop, buy books and groceries tomorrow. UG! And I got an email about the textile dying class being taught by a big USF guy. I have to devote a whole Friday and Saturday to this thing if I want credit, which I do...but um hello, I have other classes on Fridays! UG! College is crazy. And it keeps going faster and faster!

I'm in Boise for another week, then get into UT on Friday, and into Provo on Saturday. I'm excited to get going again with school. I'm a little frightened of my German class. Last year my professor gave us an A as long as we tried hard. I tried, but probably would have gotten a C if Mr. Prof. hadn't been so kind. This year in 202 I'll have a different professor, who I'd guess will grade me based on my actual skill with the German language. I'm excited to actually learn German for real though. I've had 5 years so far, you'd think I'd be pretty good at it by now...but I'm not really a study-er. However, since I've been teaching myself Hindi I've developed some pretty handy language studying skills. I really would love to be bilingual, or trilingual, so let's work hard at it shall we? Maybe I'll blog in German eventually, just for practice, and so my German fluent sister can laugh and cry over my horrible grammar. I know I can do well. Heck, I got an A in pattern making last semester which I thought was impossible. Same with advanced construction, writings of Isaiah was a different story...

I'm planning on really delving into my major this next semester. Not that I haven't been. I spend every extra moment I can researching and such, but I'd really like to continue sewing projects, namely Indian costume projects, while I continue my other studies. This could be difficult b/c of the German and all, but I want to get really good at patterning and construction. I also have my own design I want to get ahead with. I designed an Indian inspired wedding dress I might even try to drape before the Holidays.

Anyway, brain dump. That was nice. It's been over a week and a half since I watched any Bollywood and much longer since I saw anything new, but hopefully I can reassemble the Bollywood Posse once I'm back in Provo. The BYU library has a pretty great collection of Hindi films. If only I could get a hold of Lagaan....it's always checked out!!!

In Limbo and loving it!

Ah life. I am no longer in Nebraska. I plan to be away for awhile. School starts in little over a week. After Fall and Winter I'll go to London for Spring, hopefully stay in Europe to work on a film for the rest of the summer, then finish up my Senior year. Right now I'm in the glorious limbo of Boise, ID. I'm visiting and helping out a dear friend and haven't been on the Internet for 4 days! It's really been wonderful actually. I've read a lot and kept busy and all w/o the Internet.

I read Austenland by Shannon Hale. A woman obsessed w/ the idea of Mr. Darcy inherits a 3 week vacation to an Austen retreat that promises love and adventure. At times I thought the author tried too hard (using words like "diction" when "choice of words" would have done just fine), and reading the reviews I thought it wasn't all THAT funny, but it was enjoyable. The character was all too real (watching Colin Firth over and over) and actually likable, although I get in a huff when authors/characters try to use Austenian language/manners and really have no idea. Not that I do, except for I used to/am a complete Anglophile, but come on, not a corset, STAYS, and blah blah, modern girl hates to wear a dress. Of course I always think I could do better in the past than characters that get a chance to. Which makes me sound insane. Anyway, it was fun and worthwhile. Oh!! and it badmouthed Northanger Abbey, EVERYONE badmouths NA, it's a GOOD book. Super clever if not abruptly ended. Henry's a peach and Catherine doesn't deserve him, but HELLO, that's every romance ever. The other Austen references were appreciated though.

I'm now reading a Robin McKinnley dragon novel. I read one in middle school. This is of course another one w/ a ravishingly beautiful tom boy that can slay dragons. I'm sick of tom boy stories, but oh well. This one is keeping me entertained.

My Netflix account is on hold, so no Bollywood recently, but my friend and I have plans to watch RNBDJ on a very LARGE scale. I'm ueber excited.

Project Runway's new season premiered on Lifetime tonight! Basic Cable yay! I watched it with aforementioned friend. I haven't watched it since I actually took pattern making and advanced construction classes. While I could do what they are it wouldn't be too great, just yet.

SRK detained at airport.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/08/15/indian.actor/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

How ridiculous is this? Shah Rukh Khan was detained in Newark for 2 hours because his name was flagged as being similar to one on the airport's computer. Officals insisted on getting numbers of people in America to vouch for Kahn even though other travellers in the airport recognized him. In the end he called some politician in India. Ridiculous. I understand that procedure needed to be followed and I'm grateful that it is, better safe than sorry and all that, but really? This man is an international superstar and it took them 2 hours to confirm who he was? Oh America... This is also pretty ironic because his new movie that's being released in Feb '10 sometime is about an Islamic man in post 9/11 America. The film's title is "My Name is Khan". Hahah.

I still have yet to even begin cleaning my room or packing...my flight goes out at 2 or something tom. Hopefully I won't be detained b/c who knows how long it'd take for me to get off the hook if it took one of the most, if not the most recognizable man in the world 2 hours to be released.

camping

Can I just point out that the newest entry of Stuff White People Like is basically my last entry about camping? Camping is ridiculous and I'm glad that I am not white in this respect.

On other topics, I head to Boise on Sunday. I am far from ready i.e. my luggage is not packed nor is my room ready for my 2 year absence, but I'm very ready to see my dear newly Idahoian friends and be that much closer to being back in P-town.

I live a very sedentary lifestyle and am almost convinced that if I worked out more, say started running at night again, I'd have more energy during the day. As it is I can take a nap anytime, anywhere. When I really have nothing to do this is bad b/c I usually will take a nap and the my day is just wasted, as opposed to me watching HGTV all day, which is so much more productive.

Spreading the Bollywood Love

I watched Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi for about the fifth time tonight with some of my dearest and oldest friends. For all but one it was their first Bollywood experience. I LOVE showing people Hindi movies for the first time and I think this is a great one to do it with. There are obvious, glaring and unavoidable lapses in plot and character judgement, but I just can't get over how fantastic Suri is. After taking acting I can mos def appreciate the paradoxes and ridiculous amount of emoting that goes with playing both Suri and Raj. Mad props SRK. And who doesn't love Phir Milenge Chalte Chalte? I watched Om Shanti Om w/ Sarah last night for about the 6th or 7th time. Again, plot holes and deficiencies, but how can you not love Dhoom Taana and Dard-e-Disco? Or Akshay Kumar w/ a gun in his pants? Just fun times. I think I'll write an entry for my other blog about the amazing costume transformations in RNBDJ and OSO w/ Suri/Raj and Om/OK.

BW: Side By Side 2

Kareena Kapoor & Paris Hilton

Zayed Khan & Keanu Reeves

Om Shanti Om was the second Hindi film I saw, Krrish being the first. As you can imagine the Deewangi number was way over my head. I saw OSO w/ dear Genevieve and because we didn't recognize the cameos we assigned the Indian celebrities Hollywood counterparts or doppelgangers if you will. The matches are made on appearance and first impression personas. It's pretty fun actually. The previous Abhishek/Sacha Baron Cohen comparison was courtesy of Sarah. After watching Jhoom Barabar Jhoom the comparison between Rikki and Cohen's Ali G was a no brainer, or at least the very least hilarious.

Don't worry, I have more. And once Genevieve and I are back together I'm sure the comparisons will be epic.

A Side by Side For Sarah

Abhishek Bachchan & Sacha Baron Cohen

Rikki & Ali G

BW: Jhoom Barabar Jhoom and Bollywood lessons learned

Imagine if you can a movie fueled by a 60 year old subway performer that reminds you of a black plague quack and a gypsy. That is Jhoom Barabar Jhoom. After Big B opens this acid trip of a movie with a rousing subway performance on his double necked guitar we meet Rikki (Abhishek) and Alvira (Preity) who are both waiting for their fiances to come on the Birmingham train. While waiting they recount their respective love stories. Rikki is engaged to Anaida (Lara Dutta), the sexy assistant manager of the Paris Ritz. She's Pakistani w/ an amazingly horrible French Hindi accent and a femme fetale purple bob. Meanwhile Alvira made a pact with God not to marry an Indian or Pakistani (which she is) but settles for orange haired Steve (Bobby Deol), who's half British half Punjabi, when he saves her from a falling Superman figure at Madam Tussuad's. Of course during the telling of these stories Rikki learns some Urdu, Alvira's cold exterior begins t melt and they fall in love. Whatever will they do?

This movie was a lot of fun. The stories were over the top and the songs were catchy and colorful. The look of the movie overall was fantastic, the lighting and costuming especially so. The characters were lovable (esp. Rikki's boss Huffy Bhai) and the actors seemed to have the time of their lives playing them. And let's not forget Big B w/ the feather in his cap popping up for musical interludes. Priety of course has the shrill, standoffish heroine down to a T. Abhishek is tacky, uncouth, but adorable (sounds like Dostana!). Lara Dutta is stunning, Bobby Deol doesn't float my boat, but he did well in his role. This movie knows it's ridiculous and you love it the more b/c of that.

And now, After 4 months and 35 films, here are some things I've learned from watching Hindi Films
Aas: Don't trust people w/ lazy eyes
Bhoothnath: If you send your child away to college it will lead to your death.
Chak De! India: Don't make Indian hockey fans mad
Chalte Chalte: Date before you get married
Chirag Kahan Roshni Kahan: Marry someone before you give them your child
Deewana: even if you're super annoying you can still marry Rishi Kapoor and SRK
Dev: Don't live in Mumbai
Devdas: Madhuri Dixit+Aishwarya Rai+dancing=gold
Dhaai Akshar Prem Ke: A Walk in the Clouds is better in Hindi, and Abhishek slaughters Keanu Reeves any day.
Diwale Dulhania Le Jayenge: Just be as Hindustani as you can be
Don '06: Kill the bad guy when you have the chance
Don '78: Make sure the only guy who knows your identity doesn't die
Dostana: If your script is tacky and offensive, at least make sure your actors are attractive
Fanaa: Don't let your blind daughter out of your sight
Jhoom Barabar Jhoom: Don't talk to strangers
Jodhaa Akbar: Be careful where wet nurses are concerned
Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna: Just don't be horrible
Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham : Say what you mean
Kal Ho Naa Ho: The heroine never deserves the hero
Koi...Mil Gaya: Who needs Flubber to play basketball?
Koyla: Proves, like Dewaana, that you should really make sure they're dead, and that Amrish Puri is one scary dude
Krrish: MacDonald's shoes are the chosen footwear of Hindi superheroes
Kuch Kuch Hota Hai: SRK can cry 1001 different ways
Love Aaj Kal: When in doubt, listen to the Sikh
Luck By Chance: When in doubt, listen to SRK
Main Hoon Na: Learn to recognize people's eyes
Mohabbatein: If Harry Potter were Indian, he'd teach music at a prep school
Om Shanti Om: There's nothing worse than the pain of disco
Pardes: Americans will always try to rape you.
Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani: SRK+diamond stud= me barfing
Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi: Punjab's my favorite
Salaam Namaste: Abstinence is the only fool proof method
Shakti: The Power: Stay in Canada
Swades: We The People: NASA scientists can't do math
U Me Aur Hum: Kajol is a powerhouse of talent
Veer-Zaara: Indians and Pakistanis are the SAME thing!

And when in doubt, mesh shirts are always a go and you should probably cast Anupam Kher.

BW: Love Aaj Kal

First: can I tell you how much fun it was to see this movie? Just out in India on July 31st, my Nepalese friend from Omaha let me know that it was going to be shown in an Omaha theatre this weekend! He works for an Indian grocery and his boss apparently buys the rights to have two showings of an Indian movie once a month. So of course I was so excited to go b/c I'd read a review of this film already, and my mom's Indian doctor friend told me (when she had him call me from the hospital to talk movies...) that this is the big blockbuster in India right now! Another man at the theatre said his sister just got back from India two days ago and there it is sold out. At this dollar theatre in Omaha there was a 7 and 9 o'clock showing. Well, of course the 7 ran late so there were scads of Indians and Nepalese and who knows whom else lined up inside this theatre waiting for the film. Both showings were sold out! and my friend and I stood for the first half, after which my friend's super nice boss found me a seat and I watched the rest in a chair. What fun!

So, Saif Ali Khan plays Jai, a modern day Indian living in London who dreams of working for Golden Gate Inc. in San Fran. Deepika Padukone (of Om Shanti Om fame) plays Meera, a fresco restorer, also living in London who dreams of restoring Indian monuments. The beginning of the film is shot after shot of these two getting together and their subsequent relationship. The movie really gets going when they decide to break up after Meera gets her big break and heads back to India. They part with a party and all is well until Rishi Kapoor, playing lovable Sardar Veer Singh (is it just me, or is that a super popular Northern name?), enters in ballin' turbans to recount his own love story with Harleen to Jai. These stories, one in 1965 Delhi, and the other in present day London/Delhi/San Fran, are told side by side for the rest of the movie. Basically we see how love was done in the olden days, and how it's handled now.

I must say I didn't really know what to think of this one at first b/c the main romantic leads are broken up from the get go, but the more I think about it the more I like it. It's a real story a/b people who think they're doing their best, but really have no idea what they're doing. And I've noticed something! I like a lot of Bollywood heroines, whereas Kathleen Kelly from You've Got Mail is about the only Western heroine I can stand. Don't get me wrong, Elizabeth Bennet is great, but most heroines are completely flawed and annoying (I could go into the real reason for this, but I'll spare you for now). Anyway, I loved Meera. She was real, and thoughtful and goal oriented and handled her mistakes v. well. I also loved Shanti and Sandy and Anjali (both) and this is really a break through in cinema. How did I not realize that Bollywood has had the "unlikable heroine" code cracked for so long? Don't get me wrong, I can't stand most of Aishwarya Rai's characters, and don't get me started on Rani, but there are multiple heroines I'm absolutely in love with.

Anydoctorwho, great movie. The songs were so-so. Some really had no motivation, but meh, it's Hindi cinema right? Saif did a good job as both characters (he played young Veer as well) and Deepika was a easy to relate to kind of crazy beautiful. Harleen, played by a Brazilian model, was a gem. Not your average epic romance, or your "normal" romance this film presented a nice angle to a classic genre.

Lesson Learned: They always said Delhi, or Dilli (cute pun, and actual local name of Delhi) and never New Delhi, so of course I wikied the terms. Turns out New Delhi is India's capital, which is a part of the larger Delhi metro. It's technically in its own territory (like D.C. I'd imagine) but is basically in the state next to Punjab (which is quickly becoming my favorite).

P.S. The front of that train says "Raj" but I couldn't ever get a good enough look at the second word during the film to read it.

Happy 4 month Bollywood Anniversary to me! I saw Krrish on April 7th, and since then have seen 34 Hindi films, have taught myself the Hindi alphabet and can say basic introductory things, not to mention the short phrases I recognize from the films.

5 Things

a) What's the point of camping? I camped last night and it was so windy the tent wall was on top of me the whole time from blowing in so hard, the noise was ridiculous and it's HOT. I'm not a wimp, I've camped in worse: tornadoes, much hotter weather, floods, you name it, but seriously? What's the point even if there is nice weather? You may say "Oh, camping in the winter, or in the mountains is great b/c you get all cozy at night". Fine whatever, but I still say civilization has worked hard so I don't have to rely on packable bedding and shelter. I love camp fires, camp songs and camp stories, but camping is ridiculous.

2)I'm going up to Omaha tonight to see Love Aaj Kal (just opened last weekend in India!) w/ my new friend Rohit. He says there are subtitles, let's hope so.

iii)I can write and read Hindi, very slowly, but I can't speak it. I can say the basics, Mai Shelby hu and so forth but I hate to study vocab which is very important. I will work on this, as I will my German so I can have fun in Berlin when I work on the Don 2 set.

Vier)If you have any Bollywood connections that could get me on the Don 2 set next summer let me know :)

5) I'm exhausted from a night on the ground listening to the wind whip around our tent. I'll force my sons to go to scout camp, but if my girls don't want to go to girls' camp I'm not forcing them, unless we live in CA or some other place other than Nebraska by then. In that case I'll pull the whole "when I was your age it was either 115 degrees with 80% humidity or we had tornadoes"

BW: Salaam Namaste

Blech. Ambar (Preity Zinta) and Nick (Saif Ali Khan), hip young Indians living in Melbourne, start a radio feud after superstar chef Nick is late for a radio interview w/ popular DJ Ambar. They meet at a wedding and fall in love, not knowing each other's real identities. Of course they get over this when they do and decide to move in together to give each other a shot. Young and fancy-free-idness comes crashing down when Ambar discovers she's pregnant before intermission.

Blech!! Two characters who live only for themselves decide to live for each other w/ disastrous results. What can be expected when the intros to both characters include how they both moved to Melbourne to please themselves b/c they didn't care for what their families thought. It's one thing to think differently about your future, but I didn't feel bad that neither had relations with their families, and neither it seems did they. Ambar, the DJ/med student gets by w/ help from her push-over nice guy best friend. Nick's best friend meanwhile rushed into marriage and this sets the theme of "marriage is a ball and chain and all you do is fight". Basically a case study of how loose morals, selfishness and the wrong idea of what marriage is totally ruins "perfectly good" lives, and how a lifetime of selfishness is forgotten b/c a baby smiles at you. Not even Baby B as the incompetent OBGYN could save this stinker. Was anyone else completely disgusted by the birth scene? and not for the gutsy/gory reasons?
Boat Floater (singular)
The landlord was a fabulous Indian turned Crocodile Dundee w/ AMAZING English skillz.
Point of Interest: Preity's VERY nimble for a woman 8 months pregnant w/ twins, who's belly seemed to explode from day one then stay the same size until birth.

BW: Bhoothnath

Bhoothnath (Amitabh Bachchan) is a ghost that haunts the house Banku and his Mother (Juhi Chawla) occupy in Goa while the father (SRK, special appearance) is away being a cruise liner captain or something. Banku is a mischevious prankster that befriends Bhoothnath.
Family fun for all! This movie was adorable and I laughed out loud multiple times. The music, including a street gang/American football/ rockstar showdown on the playground and Big B and young Aman Siddiqui as Banku in blacksuits with swelt models was upbeat and catchy. Juhi was great and SRK's appearances were delightful. I enjoy him when he plays his real age with kids. Afterall, the guy's 43. Not that he can't play younger, but he's starting to stretch it. Suri single at that age makes sense, but lovable Aman in Kal Ho Naa Ho is a no go. Anyway...
Boat Floaters
-Big B's makup, obviously make up of course, but well done in a way that made him scary, w/o being too scaryor cartoony.
-Juhi's salwars and churidars and kameezes.
-SRK, b/c you know I'm a sucker for him.
-The BEAUTIFUL house with the grey wooden floors.
-Banku was so chubby and cute you just wanted to eat him up.
-Casper only better.
NonBoat Floaters
-Big B's costumes weren't always adjusted for his lopsided-ness (one seersucker blazer sticks out in my mind). You can tell his signature ghost look was made for him, but probably had multiple copies of the same jacket. For some reason it seems that some were altered and others weren't. I can sure tell when Manish Malhotra costumes Big Bachchan (Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna); he alters everything.
-The switch back and forth from western to Indian costumes on Juhi. At first I was like "oh, she's a western girl" then the rest of the movie she was in kameezes, and then BAM, she'd be in her gypsy skirt and low belt again. And it wasn't even an "at home/at school" thing.
-SRK w/ a pony tail, BLECH. I have a feeling this was for another movie he was filming at the time, but there's no excuse. He needs to leave the mullet w/ Koyla.
-Banku lost a front tooth and they didn't bother w/ continuity at all. Marta in The Sound Of Music lost a front tooth during filming, they made her a cap.
-They didn't define what a ghost could and couldn't do v. well. Sometimes Bhoothnath was tactile and solid, other times he had to disappear and reappear to get places, other times he could step through the walls, but had to step over the bottom of the front gate only to walk through the rest. Normally I wouldn't mention it, but make up your mind. And where did he get his wardrobe?
-Why was there the sound of crackling, hot burning coals when the ghost was around? There was nothing demonic or devilish really about him. Even when he was nice and made his presense known to the dad you heard this. Didn't make sense to me, super cool, but didn't make sense.

Made just for him, I'm sure, although those tutus are a disaster.

Altered for his sloping left shoulder and square right shoulder. Minimal wrinkles.

Most likely NOT altered. Note the slack wrinkles under his left arm, and the stress wrinkle from the button to his right shoulder.

Thing of Interest: Amitabh Bachchan has some of the narrowest feet I've ever seen. Check out "Ain't Nobody Does it Better" from this movie, or "Shava Shava" from K3G.