Not-so-recent reads

Before an emergency flight to India (a while ago in May), the wise guy bought two books (e-versions for the iPad). I had not finished two books in a week in a long time (not after those crazy Jeffrey Archer days as an undergrad). The books are very similar sounding and I did feel like Brad Thor's was much more fast-paced than the one by Ben Coes.

Power Down by Ben Coes; a terrorist plot to cripple the United States by blowing off its energy supplies and Dewey Andreas is a serious threat to this plot

Brad Thor's Lions of Lucerne; Scott Harvath a secret sevice agent who is out to find the kidnapped President (of United States) and avenge the death of his co-workers


Henry James's 1880 Washington Square

A simple story about the relationship between a brilliant father and his plain daughter; a dominating brother and his sisters and a love affair gone wrong.

A must read classic!

Belly of Paris by Emile Zola

Belly of Paris by Emile Zola

The sights and sounds of Les Halles in Paris complete with the smells of fresh fish, butchered meat, fresh vegetables and fruits and fresh baked french beauties. Emile Zola took me on this amazing journey into Paris of around 1860 and into the day to day lives of Parisiens. It is about Florence Quenu (a political prisoner from Guyana who escapes) who returns to Paris and is reunited with half-brother who runs a charcuterie with his wife. The story, despite the apparent lack of plot, takes you through a journey of how people's reactions to a stranger in their town. The rumors that are spread, the complaints that are made, the love affairs that are kindled- all by this one stranger in their town!

And if you like a book that includes food as a major part of the story- this one is definitely for you.

Read it- today!

Two thumbs from me...

Don't be sick and bored

 

Image sourced from here

 

This was a few weeks ago when I was out under the weather...

When you are sick and bored

you make resolutions

when you make resolutions, you decide not watch the tele

when you decide not to watch the tele, you go crazy and paint the wise guy's nails...

don't go crazy and paint the wise guy's nails, don't be sick and bored....

Wonder how many of you watch as much TV as I do to get the reference :)

PS just kidding about painting the wise guy's nails :)

7 am arivu- makes me feel like a genius!

read as ஏழாம் அறிவு (seventh sense)- a movie by people with absolutely no sense/arivu.

We watched it simply because we were told that it was a decent movie, better than many of the recent times. But everything about that movie made me cringe in my own skin- the actors (Surya and the female history-genetics-public health- know it all PhD student whose name I don't care to know!), their acting, the screenplay, the plot, the songs- everything!

A misguided sense of regionalism/, misrepresented scientific facts...tch tch tch. Was it meant to be a sci-fi or was it meant as a Tamil propaganda film? Pick one people- do not confuse the two and hope that the audience would be fooled. For all the grandiose Tamil psenti they put- the female-know it all PhD student whose name I don't care to know could not even speak a word without some sort of a strange accent.

Serioulsy these movie makers think that we are stupid and we will pay real good hard earned money to watch such s*!# in a movie theater. Well we are not that stupid, or are we?

They did not even pretend to make an effort to know what the hell they were talking about in the first place- the female whose name I don't care to know could actually see the 3-d helical structure of DNA under a really low power microscope! Yeah she would make a credible geneticist- lets send her to Mars- may be she could make a few of her own clones and stay there FOREVER! Possibly even take Surya, the producer, the director and most importantly the screen play writer (or who ever wrote the damn story) with her!

PS In defense of tamil movies, we did watch two movies that were not so bad afterall- Azhagarsamiyin Kuthirai (Azhagarsami's horse) and Kadhalil sodhapuvadhu eppadi (how to mess up in love)

Onward we march

Our next stop along with a lovely couple from Cambridge, MA: Moab, Utah

We stayed at the quaint Red Cliffs Lodge- I mean it was right by the Colorado river and with all the snow that was melting, it was quite a dirty sight (literally the river was all muddy and brown; bringing down all that it could on its way!). We spent two days at this lodge.

We have been to arches before but it such a huge park- we clearly had not seen everything and if you have not already- you must definitely visit the fragile landscape arch.

As much as I hate heights- the canyoneering experience totally rocked!

This is where the nice couple had to return to work, while we still had a long way to go- oh did I mention- our final destination was San Diego.
If you are the kind that likes rugged individuals in cowboy hats and boots that say little but shoot a lot....you have then definitely seen "the monument valley"- home to a lot of western movies!

Well, that was our last stop in the Utah-Arizona border.  But we are not in San Diego yet, are we?

Where have I been?

WARNING: PHOTO HEAVY!


It is going to be almost an year since my last post- since June 2011 it has been a roller coaster ride with many trips culminating in Houston, Texas. We bid Cambridge, MA an adieu, packed our bags and left for our first stop (well, my first stop)- Boulder, CO by air.
 

 

 

A visit with a dear friend was something I definitely needed after a hectic month of packing, entertaining, and saying goodbyes. I love Boulder- a quaint little city surrounded my snow-top mountains. Nothing gets more idyllic than this, does it?

I even managed to spend a day in Denver- a trip to the Botanical garden and then of course some shopping.

My next stop was Colorado Springs- to join the wise guy who was attending his big annual conference. I got to literally not do anything or even think about anything remotely useful- complete mindlessness. Between sessions at the conference- the wise guy was nice enough to hang out with me.  We paid a visit to the Garden of Gods, and Pikes Peak (apparently one of the 53 14ers in Colorado- from my trusted source), no we did not hike up the mountain- we took a train ride up top with a bunch of friends. And of course there is always food to talk about (but I will probably resist it just because I cannot seem to remember much about the details!). The conference ended with a group lunch at Giuseppe's Old Depot Restaurant (of course the wise guy's group).

Now now- you thought the trip ended there didn't you? There is more- and I promise I will post more photos real soon. Till then sayonara folks