So I walked under a bus
I got hit by a train
Keep falling in love
Which is kinda the same
I’ve sunk out at sea
Crashed my car, gone insane
And it felt so good
I want to do it again

- Lyrics from the song Buses and Trains. 

This chorus probably best describes my emotions right now. 

Truce

I feel elated and relieved for I have regained the “I’m the smartest” title at home. Up until three days ago my conniving little sister has always managed to pull my leg and I without fail fall for it. You may be wondering considering the fact that I’m 9 years her senior that I should pay more attention and avoid getting myself into embarrassing situations, well the thing is it’s not easy when she’s extremely devious (a quality I seem to use only at work). She’s always on her long limbs before she cracks a joke, asks me a riddle or make me fall for a prank. Devious little punk waits and watches (I think) till my energy levels drastically drop, a mood that she can take advantage of or simply spring a surprise which usually is ahem a SURPRISE!!!

Things turned my way when she walked into my room, which is clearly prohibited area but she walks in anyway and makes herself comfortable on MY bed. I’m busy cleaning my wardrobe. She sits and waits, I know she’s thinking of something smart, what she doesn’t know is that I’m thinking of something smart too. Then quite suddenly she says “akki, that top over there, you don’t wear it right?”. I look, she’s right I don’t wear that top so I could give it to her, aha that’s it she wants the top, my chance at revenge. So I tell her “no”. She quickly asks “why?” I smile but she can’t see my face and the I tell her quite seriously “well I’m waiting till I grow shorter so then I can wear it as a dress”. No answer. I still have my back turned but she doesn’t answer, I feel slightly happy then feel a surge of panic and my mind says “oh no she distracted me to eat my cherry flavoured body shop balm”. So I turn and she sits there, still, with her eyes fixed on me with a disbelieving look. I know she wants me to tell her that I’m joking but I level my eyes and give her a serious look. She waddles out. I close the door and start laughing. She believed me for some strange reason, maybe that was too much for her to handle. I know she’s sitting somewhere in the corner and thinking “man, is that even possible?”

I know I’ve had an effect on her because she has left me in peace for three whole days.

Sorry I had to blog about this I know it’s probably not very funny but you should have seen her face.

Inside/outside view of unreel

Last Saturday. Beyond Borders organized a documentary festival, it was good but not great. I’ve never been to a documentary festival before so I was eager to go watch some documentaries, munch on some snacks, observe everybody with curious eyes, mentally separate the stupid ones from the intelligent ones and feel nervously excited knowing that others would also be doing the same thing. So here’s my viewpoint or rather criticism of it.

First. I’m going to put the audience under scrutiny. They were a young bunch while an odd one or two were the ‘young at heart’. That essentially is a good mix but the problem I have with most of these young people (being one myself) is that they or rather we are far too opinionated than necessary. This poses a problem because we believe that everyone must come to some agreement, if someone doesn’t latch onto our way of thinking, cynical comments, laughter and the disappointed wagging of the head ensues. I’m ashamed to say that sometimes I’m guilty of that too. The important thing to remember is that people have the right to their opinions and expressing them is important but coercion is not. Also agreeing to disagree maybe a good idea but don’t take it too far.

Second. The choice of documentaries that were shown. What pissed me off was when a supposedly film/commercial director screened his short film. Doesn’t he know the difference between short film and documentary? Considering this question made me think that La Salle might not be the right place to study. The other thing that pissed me off further was when a young woman in the audience congratulated him for the film he’s done and that she’s happy that a Sri Lankan had done something like that. Let me make one or maybe two things clear. First he had to do that short film as his last project for school so no biggie. Second, the short film was bad, bad acting, not artistic (I have considered the fact that he was given only 2 days for filming) and plain boring. Third, we don’t know whether he even passed his course, ok now maybe I’m going a bit too far so I’ll stop. Look I have nothing against him and hope he does well in the future but what I didn’t appreciate is the fact that he used that as a screening for his film, that’s what irritated me.

Third. The facilitator should have made sure that the discussions weren’t too long, people started getting bored with these ‘opinionated young people’.

Apart from all that I did enjoy everything else, my brains were a tad bit fried, but I was happy to be a part of it.

So a round of apple sauce for the committee who pulled it off.

* I’ve been politely told by one the commitee members that they did ask for short films too. So my bad. Then why wasn’t it called a film fest or doc/film fest? Yikes I’m gonna be in trouble now.