All Consuming : Kapitan Niemand

A story about the last time I consumed "Be Kind, Rewind"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Kapitan Niemand) — Sat, 17 May 2008 22:16:09 GMT

Be Kind, Rewind

With MM, on a random afternoon in London.

A story about the last time I consumed "Thina Simunye (We are together)"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Kapitan Niemand) — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:40:39 GMT

Thina Simunye (We are together)

by Paul Taylor

Today, with Raghav, free tickets courtsey Time Out.

OK Tata

nobody@allconsuming.net (Kapitan Niemand) — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 18:46:50 GMT

The Creation of Wealth

by R. M. Lala

A well researched biography of the group, albeit occassionally void of the ability to critique, if any, negatives of the group. Like the rest of R.M. Lala’s work however, it has helped immensely in giving a broad overview of the history of the group. The foreword and epilogue by JRD and RNT are a treat.

Steel not there yet

nobody@allconsuming.net (Kapitan Niemand) — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 09:37:45 GMT

Forever Jeh! Interactions with an Icon

by Surekha Tenneti Venugopal

Insightful and painstaking, but would not qualify for wikipedia’s NPOV.

A story about the last time I consumed "Jean-Philippe"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Kapitan Niemand) — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 22:42:43 GMT

Jean-Philippe

by Laurent Tuel

Kind of ironic. After seeing the door size poster behind the sofa at Mat’s place almost every day of my four month stay in Brest, I didn’t see the movie or wonder about it, till I noticed it on the flight entertainment service an hour after I flew out of France. Mais, ce vrai, tres bien. Bon memories of the parties at Mathieu’s.

A story about "IS SEX NECESSARY"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Kapitan Niemand) — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 15:14:09 GMT

IS SEX NECESSARY

by JAMES THURBER and E.B. WHITE

For some reason, ‘The Trumpet of the Swan’ is still White’s best.

A story about "15 Park Avenue"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Kapitan Niemand) — Tue, 11 Apr 2006 15:50:49 GMT

15 Park Avenue

by Aparna Sen

“Illusions commend themselves to us because they save us pain and allow us to enjoy pleasure instead. We must therefore accept it without complaint when they sometimes collide with a bit of reality against which they are dashed to pieces.” – Freud

“I believe that the moment is near when by a procedure of active paranoiac thought, it will be possible to systematize confusion and contribute to the total discrediting of the world of reality.” – Dali

Why I recommend "Lord of War (Widescreen)"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Kapitan Niemand) — Tue, 07 Mar 2006 16:16:05 GMT

Lord of War (Widescreen)

by Andrew Niccol

A unique blend of mass appeal and intellectual onanism. The cinematography and symbolism of individual images are exemplary. My favourite shot in the movie has the protagonist arms dealer sitting on a toppled statue of Lenin with an array of tanks behind him, calculating his capitalist profits in a lucrative arms deal after the break-down of the U.S.S.R. Quirkily, there are many similarities between the lead Yuri Orlov and Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. Both have vague links to Jewish ancestry, were polyglots (Lenin was distinguished in Latin and Greek) and had more than a passing acquaintance with the law (Lenin had a job as an assistant to a lawyer).

Both believe in the statistics of gun running –
“One man with a gun can control 100 without one.” – Lenin
“… one firearm for every twelve people on the planet. The only question is: How do we arm the other 11? – Orlov

Both believe in the virtues of dualism –
“A lie told often enough becomes truth” – Lenin
“Some of the most successful relationships are based on lies and deceit. Since that’s where they usually end up anyway, it’s a logical place to start.” – Orlov

Both had strong views about democracy –
“Democracy is indispensable to socialism.” – Lenin
“Democracy? What have you been drinking Andy?” Orlov to Andre Baptiste Sr.

A story about the last time I consumed "Gandhi"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Kapitan Niemand) — Sun, 26 Feb 2006 16:08:35 GMT

Gandhi

After Cinema Paradiso, it is only The Pianist and Gandhi which have evoked strong emotional reactions. The scene depicting the massacre at Jallianwala Bagh was heart-rending to say the least. It is surprsing and sad that the country and the world in general is so far removed from the incidents and principles that occured so recently that they are in living memory of many.

“Generations to come will scarce believe that such a one as him ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth.” – Albert Einstein

“I think it would be a good idea!”
- Mahatma Gandhi in reply to a reporter’s question “What do you think of Western Civilization?”

A question I have about "Pespi Cafe Cino"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Kapitan Niemand) — Sun, 05 Feb 2006 13:24:06 GMT

Pespi Cafe Cino

by Pepsico

Kick ‘n’ kiss?

A story about "Wish"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Kapitan Niemand) — Thu, 02 Feb 2006 13:17:00 GMT

Wish

by Paul Ruderman

Where’s the grammy?

A story about "Summer in Algiers"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Kapitan Niemand) — Mon, 16 Jan 2006 14:32:11 GMT

Summer in Algiers

by Albert Camus

Come now… Pocket Penguin is doing a great job, bringing classic authours in pocket classics, making ‘quality writing available for the price of a packet of cigarettes’, but can anything in paperback be called a book?

Summer in Algiers (ISBN 0-141-02214-0) is of course, a collection of essays – Summer in Algiers, The Minotaur and Return to Tipasa, and in so much as it qualifies as a “set of written, printed, or blank pages fastened along one side and encased between protective covers” it is a book. In as much as these essays are another insight into a the understanding of a literary genius, that Summer in Algiers is poetically imagistic and in as much as the his views on lucidity and of a “way of life” are a peek through the looking glass to The Stranger and his other works, this is more than a book.

“Near the villa there is a funicular railway, and we take a car down the hill into the working-class district of Belcourt, where Albert Camus, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, was brought up, and about which he wrote in an unfinished autobiographical novel, Le Premier Homme (The First Man).

The Camus family apartment at 93, Rue Mohammed Belouizdad (formerly the Rue de Lyon) is still there, above a photographer’s shop. There is nothing to commemorate the fact that a Nobel prize-winner lived here, but then Camus was a French Algerian, one of the European settlers they called the pieds noirs, and he was as critical of the Marxist revolutionaries of the FLN as he was of the French colonialists. But it does mean that the room in which he worked is very little changed, apart from a sticker in Arabic on the door, which reads ‘In the name of God and Mohammed his messenger’. It’s small, maybe 15 by 18 feet, with grey-blue French windows opening onto the street with its neatly clipped shady trees. It faces west and even now, in November, I can feel the force of a midday sun that must have made life unbearable in the long hot summers.” – Michael Palin

A story about "Death of a Salesman (Penguin Plays)"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Kapitan Niemand) — Mon, 16 Jan 2006 13:32:16 GMT

Death of a Salesman (Penguin Plays)

by Arthur Miller

One can see that the style and stage setting was the basis for many contemporary theatre techniques. The duality of the characters is exhibited only as the play draws to a close, and yet one cannot help feeling that the characters are often unidimensional, and seen from a third person’s perspective. Of course, one can easily attribute that to the lifestyle and nature of the family unit in America when the play was set. All in all, a good read, even if not enthralling. Much is left to the peformances of course, and I would love to see it on stage.

One of the reasons I set out to read it was to draw analogies to a play I had abandoned last year, “The Death of an MBA”. Yet, after reading Miller, one feels that the whole capitalist-world-is-actually-inhibitive-to-individualism has been done to death and a more personal angle needs to be developed to make the audience relate to the characters at a deeper level. Not that I dare to take anything away from Miller’s work, for in itself it is a brillant piece – “nobody dast blame this man”. One hopes though, that there are more buckets in life where one can dwell.

A story about "Pancakes with Ice-cream"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Kapitan Niemand) — Tue, 10 Jan 2006 16:12:19 GMT

Pancakes with Ice-cream

by Raja Cafe, Khajuraho

Scandinavian, I think. Brilliant!

A story about "cheese omelette"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Kapitan Niemand) — Tue, 10 Jan 2006 16:05:33 GMT

cheese omelette

by ?

Yum!

A story about "On the Waterfront (Special Edition)"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Kapitan Niemand) — Sun, 25 Dec 2005 17:41:12 GMT

On the Waterfront (Special Edition)

Ah… and I figured out why I didn’t like ‘Parinda’.

A story about "When Harry Met Sally..."

nobody@allconsuming.net (Kapitan Niemand) — Sun, 25 Dec 2005 17:07:35 GMT

When Harry Met Sally...

I’d seen the movie before, and technically it was a break from my decision to finish with the imdb top 100 before I start other movies, but this was with a specific purpose. I’ve been trying to figure out who Sally is. I think I’m on the beginning of an exciting journey…