hello blogger land

hmmmm
am at home.
am doing nothing important or interesting.
but the nice stick that i have been given is really cool.
what else, will write again later after catching up with the rest of the blog world.

THE WATERMELON WOMAN

This is a 1996 film by Cheryl Dunaye (who acts as herself in this fictional history) that sweetheart serendipiduous lent me.
The film is structured like a documentary in which a first time film maker Cheryl sets out to trace the life of a "nanny" figure in the 30's hollywood films, a lady whose name in the credit was shown as the watermelon woman. as she finds out more and more about this mystery lady, the audience finds out mroe about cheryl herself and her relationships and also the need that drives her to find out about this woman. we get to knwo about her friendships and relationships, and get to letch at the gorgeousness that she is.
her story somehow runs parallel to that of the watermelon woman, both lesbians involved in an interracial relationship, both attached to films and trying to find their feet in the film industry.
she raises questions about blackness and lesbianism, but they are not contested categories for her, they already are full fledged questions that from now on need to be articulated, and one of these means of articulation is the film that she has been making.
that the documentary mode of narration is another one of these devices which allows you to write your own histroy is what makes the film most special. what is this fine line between fact and fiction that needs to be maintained in order to be able to make a statement about one's identity?
she overlooks it, and gives us an enjoyable film in the process.
wish you were making more such films cheryl.

i am going home

finally my parents lost all kinds of semblances of sanity, and almost ordered me home.
so i am going home coming monday, and not coming back for a month almost.
and why is it so? coz i apparently have something called "vasovagal syncope" and so need a lifestyle change.
any suggestions any one?
just in order to cheer myself up, lets have a dose of angelina.
i promise to post better stuff from tomorrow onwards, today the leg is aching to much.
i however have one of those box thingies now, which u use to walk when you cant walk. so am quite empowered.
but, walking with it is so slow that i usually carry it while hopping to the loo and carry it back again.
so now you know why my leg hurts so much.

Illness Chronicles Chapter three

We went to the hospital for tilt test today.
The physician in charge took one look at my foot (after me having paid 1500/-) and said, can't you stand on your feet?
i said no, why do i have a bandage then?
he said, then we cant have the test done.
me and frends were like, what fuck....why did u ask me to come yesterday then? after all you knew yesterday that my foot was sprained and that i was moving around in a wheel chair.
doc: go and get a refund.


i am sure we do not need a post script to say how frustrated and disgusted we were at the state of medical health in hyderabad.
bastards!!!!!!!

Illness Chronicles chapter two

We woke up bright and early (at ten o clock in the morning), and managed to go to the loo by ourselves atleast once during the course of the day.
Also, had a bath on the hostel lawn, with two women and lots of water and me sitting on a chair like royalty.
But the greatest piece of entertainment for the day was to come from the neurologist that i went to meet.
the attendant wheeled me into his chamber, and he looked at me in my shorts, saw my hair and my bandage, and said "why didn't you walk in? why did you need this chair?"
my frends: "er...umm....she has hurt her leg....."
Doc...." O....so....go on...."
Medusa: "blah blah "
Doc: Ok, get this "tilt test" done and then come to see me.
Medusa: o. By the way, does this have anything to do with smoking?
Doc: What? You smoke?
Medusa: (v v embarrassed) YA
Doc: How old are you?
Medusa: (please dont scold me, and i know u wd never ask this question to a guy) 24
Doc: That young? How many cigs a day?
Medusa: errrr.......10
Doc: Where did you get this habit from?
Now what can one say to that? so one kept quiet and ran away......

illness chronicles chapter one

hello blogworld...and thanks a ton for all the nice messages...
the accompanying picture, as you must have guessed, is of my left foot. and the rest of the pic has my room, two pics of the boy friend and the back of another friend.
tomorrow i am going to meet another neurologist (since the first two that i met, kinda shooed me off and told me it must be something to do with the heart), and see what happens.
as of now, i hop to the bathroom thrice a day, and i have become so good in jumping on one leg that i regularly beat other people on a race to the loo.
my friends are the greatest in the wolrd, they get me food, keep a watch on me when i go to the loo (which is minimal since i have practically given up drinking water as going to the loo entails hopping a hundred meters on one leg, getting the artificial comode attachment in place then do stuff and then wash it and put it back and hop back...that too bare feet), and then generally keep me entertained thru the day and sleep in my room in the night.
i also am the filthiest being on the planet right now, and so they plan to hose me down in the garden tomorrow.
till then, bye bye....

Fainted thrice and have severe soft tissue damage on the foot

am not kidding, this is exactly my state of being. last night right before dinner i fainted and fell on the floor and cut my hand and sprained my ankle, and then got back on my feet and fainted again and then a third time.
the doc think it could be a cardio vasculra thing, and have to get tests done next week. in the mean time can not put my foot on the floor, and so have to be on bed rest for three weeks.
life is hell.
i am not too traumatised though, coz fainting for me is a pretty importatnt part of life, i keep on doing that, and keep on scaring the shit out of poor unsuspecting individuals.
accha bye for now, see you gusy later, since i am confined to my room, i expect lots of comments and encouragement.

IF

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!

--Rudyard Kipling

film analysis

this is what i have been up to over the last twenty four hours....watching and disliking films that have nothing to do with the papers that i have to write and that are due in less than a week's time...
Did not like "Be Cool" at all, even though John Travolta was way too cool getting a deserving yet under-exposed singing sensation her true rights...he was all over the place, dancing with uma thurman and playing clever tricks with the pawn cards..but this ffilm is almost impossible to understand if you have not watched "get shorty:, and since i hadn't, i suppose i should better reserve my comments. the rock was way too cool for words though.
"History of violence" is definitely not a film worth viewing. and i am absolutely serious. not because i can not watch violence on screen, but because this film should have ended half and hour or more before it actually did. according to the dvd cover, this film is about one guy who shoots some bad guys trying to protect his family and job etc, and then is mistaken as someone else by some gangsters. one can only dream of what the film could have become if Viggo Mortensen (looking gross, a huge let down after Lord of the rings) was actually not the guy thses people were claiming he is. but he had to be, because the direcor was hoping for some subtle psychological drama that definitely eluded the likes of me who are as of now fully steeped in film theory. but the sex scenes were great.
"Taking Lives" was definitely the best of the lot, though medusa is proud to say that she is now a competent reader of the filmic narrative. there were some unncessary twists and turns, ones that were not important, and did not serve any purpose. but what the hell. Angelina Jolie was looking good, and that is an understatement.
so now i shall go back to not studying.

this is what i look like right now. the photo is courtesy boomshak while the hair is tootsie's contribution.
among other things, am going to sit down and start studying as soon as i finish looking through everyone's blog.
task for the week:: analyse MIss Congeneality, Legally Blonde, Legally Blonde 2, 9 to 5, and Pretty Woman.
and yes, Happy New Year