Do Yourself a Favor

One of my dearest friends told me today, that I should take some time and put recommendations of all the things that interest me on this blog. Share my interests, because some of my interests are highly...interesting. Movies I've seen and loved that you might not have watched, music you might not have heard, places you might not have been. And the idea resonated. I love poetry and all my stream of consciousness work and I love that you read it. But it was never my intention to turn this into a purely literary blog.

So...Do Yourself A Favor shall be my new thing. A list of things you need to see, do, watch, get lost in. Enjoy.

1) The Weeknd - an R&B artist from Canada who's been putting out songs on the Internet as mixtapes that, too put it modestly, are revolutionary. Such a lilting, high voice, that could have been annoying if projected and used badly. But the man knows how to croon and put together his music. Plus he's got lyrics like this - "Bring your love, baby. I'm going to bring my shame. Bring the drugs, baby. I'm going to bring my pain. I got my heart right here. I got my scars right here." Do yourself a favor, my friend, click this and turn out the lights, and call your significant other over slowly and kiss 'em long and slow to this song called "Wicked Games"


2) Frank Ocean - another Internet R&B artist that is doing exactly what the Weeknd is, which is slowly but undeniably introducing a fresh new perspective and sound into conventional R&B as we know it. He's got such an odd delivery, like a rapper that can sing, with his almost stream of consciousness lyrical style that it spoke deeply to my introspective soul. This one is a deep deep favorite right now. Queue this next and don't stop kissing your lover - Novocane

3) Saw a film tonight that absolutely devastated me with its power and performances. It's called the "Devil's Double", directed by Lee Tamahori whose previous works include the stunning survival thriller "The Edge", the bond film "Die Another Day" to name a few. But all those aside, this film, about the true story of Latif Yahia, an Iraqi soldier who is chosen by Uday Saddam Hussein to be his body double and 'brother' is a stunning portrayal of power and corruption and psychosis. Top it off with an jaw-dropping performance by Dominic Cooper and this is one movie that you absolutely, absolutely have to watch. To those in the West, get your ass moving, and to us poor unfortunates in India who get to see only a fraction of the wondrous cinema out in the world, somehow the God of Cinema sent this film to us. It's running right now. Open a newspaper, get online, get in the car. You can thank me later. Check out the trailer here.

4) I've also recently started rereading George R. R. Martin's "Songs of Ice and Fire" series. I remember picking it up at the Harvard bookstore during my first weekend in America, far away from everything that gave me strength and security. I remember finishing it nine a.m. the next morning in my dorm room. I had read the entire thing in one night. It took me a few minutes to get the feeling back into my legs. Imagine the Lord of the Rings during the War of the Roses period in England: knights, beautiful women, power politics and intrigue, a land so rich with history you'll get amazed it even fits in a book.

Beautifully deep, accessible prose, and a cast of characters so replete with monstrous flaws and tender vulnerabilities that I dare you not shed a tear or two when they fall, and pump your fists and shout when they triumph. There's a reason that books will always be better than any movie could ever hope to be. Treat yourself to something magical and fantastic. The tired airport paperbacks and the serious novels can wait awhile.

The first book is called "The Game of Thrones". Do yourself a favor, pick it up. Winter is Coming.

Oh, and for the literally challenged, HBO has turned it into a rather magnificent TV series called 'The Game of Thrones'. The first season just finished so the thing is out there for the procurement.


5) For all Indians to read about their country and it's current battle against corruption. Click.

The current anti-corruption storm in India is highly amusing to me but for reasons that are far from what you think they are. I'm loving how wonderfully orchestrated and organized the furor over Anna Hazare and the UPA government is and not many people seem to notice. Maybe I'm just a conspiracy nut, but all this is looking too damn convenient to me. I mean children in the street know it's political suicide to arrest someone like Anna on the morning of the commencement of his fast before he even gets to the venue of his protest, a day after Independence Day. You really think that the people who orchestrated all of this were blind to it. You think after all the game playing and maneuvering that politicians have been doing for years, that they're going to be that stupid? Maybe you do.

And Anna Hazare's blind supporters amuse me greatly. They're so adorably militant about things they don't really understand. They understand the need to rid ourselves of corruption, but I don't think they understand the stage upon which the war is being fought, or the all the players on the field either. And that's a dangerous position to be - it's called being cannon fodder. I don't deny the man's charisma and his drive and what not. But putting a gun to a democracy's head and making them sign a bill isn't much different from a stick up. It's Gestapo tactics, even if it's being done to rid the country of corruption. A democracy already has its checks and balances on power in place. What should be done is to improve and clean up those current checks and balances, not introduce a Supercop committee that will sit atop all government decisions. And you mean to tell me that whoever gets to sit on the Lokpall committee will be incorruptible all the time, every time? Come on now. Getting down and dirty is what human beings do best. But I'm no political scientist, what do I know.

I pray this country gets a break and a chance to regain it's once magnificent soul. But until then I'm going to enjoy the free entertainment.

Hope you enjoyed some of the things on this list.

Have the memorable kind of weekend.

In the immortal words of Big Boi and Andre 3000 of Outkast - "Get up, get out, get something. Don't let the days of your life pass by. You need to get up, get out, get something, how will you make it if you never even try?" Shiiiiiit. Why don't give that song a listen too. It'll get you going.