Pardon me while I burst...

A decade ago, I never thought I would be at twenty three, on the verge of spontaneous combustion. Woe-is-me.

I'm scared of lighting matches. The sound of the ignited match, the flame's sudden growth and its close proximity to my fingers all scare me. The flame always seems to devour the match so quickly.

Shuffle

I usually end up skipping a few songs when I put music on shuffle, but I had a good run this morning without a single skip:

1. They Say (feat. Kanye West, John Legend) - Common
2. Sweetness - Jimmy Eat World
3. A Lack of Color - Death Cab for Cutie
4. Hallelujah - Jeff Buckley
5. The Shining - Badly Drawn Boy
6. Warning Sign - Coldplay
7. Everything's Not Lost - Coldplay

and then I was off to meetings.

Visual Stimulation

I've watched several movies, plays and documentaries the past couple of weeks (and went to a concert). I recommend the following:

• Afghanistan Unveiled: a documentary about Afghan women by Afghan women journalists. It was heart-breaking and enlightening.
• The Sort of Happy Ending to the Sad Sad Tale of Mr. Ali Ali, Or: The Lighter Side of Outsourcing Torture: A play by Craig Abernethy based on the practices of extraordinary rendition, which is "an American extra-judicial procedure which involves the sending of criminal suspects, generally suspected terrorists or alleged supporters of groups which the US Government considers to be terrorist organizations, to countries other than the United States for imprisonment and interrogation" (Wikipedia).
• Tsotsi: A South African movie about a gang member who hijacks a car one night and later discovers a baby in the back seat. He crudely takes care of the baby and we slowly see his transformation. Set against the backdrop of poverty and AIDS, this movie was a beautiful story of redemption. The townships were amazingly shot - very impressionistic. I want to go back...
• A Special Day: A 1977 film by Ettore Scola featuring Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni. Great acting, a simple story, brilliant work with the camera and sounds. The movie was intriguing and alluring.
• G. Love and Special Sauce concert: Thanks Ames. It was uber rad and so fun. We somehow ended up in the front row, which was a bit intimidating. The special sauce was quite special and G. Love, well... that guy plays a mean harmonica. I enjoyed every minute!

Well, I think that wraps up the entertainment report. Maybe I'll write something of more substance later on... 'til then..

Looking for something to open my eyes