Valentine’s day last year was a lot more ‘exciting’ then this year and I mean that in a World sense rather than a personal sense. On a personal scale they were both equally laissez-faire. In the world sense last year’s Valentine’s day was heavily objected by the right wing dumbasses and the highlight was the campaign against them called Pink Chaddis. Now that was something I can get on board with. Whereas this year Political non-forces realized that they were too many guys they wanted doing partywork were instead overly preoccupied in koochie-cooing with their girlfriends come Valentine’s Day. Probably the same ones who sent out Pink Chaddis last year :p. Score 1 , Nil to the Liberals.
Now the, suggested, hero of this day (St. Valentine..duh) died cause he decided to marry soldiers despite the Emperor’s order not to. See, the old Emperor was of the opinion that marrying a gal made a soldier weak in battle. Ahem.. for .. ahem obvious reasons ;) However the popular legend suggests that the Saint decided to marry them anyways for which he was hanged , killed ,burnt limbs hacked, whatever school of imagination you prescribe to. In retaliation to this scores of lovers decided to get married en masse on the 14th of February and so we have Valentine’s day. Of course grand, as was the intention of the Saint, we now have a perfect hallmark holiday. Chocolates makers, Wine makers, Gift wrappers, Flower peddlers & innumerable restauranteurs rejoice :). As for people in relationships it is a day of Drama what to give what not to give ? Romeo & Juliet.. That is the question.. And it is Drama I assure you cos umm who is gonna celebrate the day as its meant to be ;) … by getting hitched. Takers, Any ??
So all of the above would suggest one is rather cynical. But to be fair one is just more oblivious to this social merry-go-round. But I reckon its our choice which concept of love we chose to celebrate this day. So as a single dude I chose to celebrate this day with people I love, than with people you wanna ‘get with’.
This brings me to one helluva interesting movie I watched. Its called 500 Days of Summer. I have been saving this movie for a while to watch. Also, since movies feature as one of my loves I decided to watch it on V-day. The movie as the trailers suggested was about ‘a boy meets girl, girl meets boy but this is not a love story’. The strangest thing about watching obvious love stories is that somehow we end up comparing it to the greatest romcoms or to other love stories we have watched. However in my opinion the good love stories are the ones that make you root for the characters in a way that makes you almost shout at the screens, ‘she just left this room.. go after her you IDIOT’ or ‘he still misses you..go back.. u NITWIT’ . They make you hold your breathe for a minute in anticipation of what happens next or lets you sip into their ‘I will have whatever they are having moment’(s).
The writers clearly know that everyone out there has watched some good love stories and hate sappy lines “I have been waiting for you my whole life”, “I am different person because of you” to the ever quoted “ You complete Me”. Just to flip that around we see Tom & Summer's relationship as measure of days, 500 to be 'dead-on-balls-accurate'. We start with scenes starting at Day 350 or something and then snapping back to Day 1. This back and forth makes it a fresh , alive and a bit confusing too. Thankfully there is a Narrator with a baritone almost wonderfully as deep as James Earl Jones (aka Darth Vader). This helps us sort this back & forth. It is very worth mentioning that the narration actually adds to the movie increasing our anticipation at times other times just making sense of whats happening. But I suppose that’s the point. In allusion to the earlier sappy lines, boy meets girl at the place that sells the sap …. Their office makes greeting cards J Of course the protagonist is the pretty much the Daddy O of the cardmakers. Joining the office is the new assistant Summer. And, that is how Boy meets girl. Classic !
Tom has a couple of classic friends, one is a sad sack type , the other is quasi normal dude & his go-to-girl for life’s queries his perceptive little sister. We start with watching Tom’s antics in trying to go out with Summer. How he believes in ‘The One’.The narrator puts this obsession of Tom's down to ‘ due to some early introduction to sad English rock bands & misinterpretation of the movie Graduate’. Yeah I am still trying to figure that one out. The movie is a wonderful deconstruction with the back n forth sequences about their relationship. With Tom being the doe eyed, lovelorn guy & Summer the mysterious, unpredictable girl. Truly worth a watch. I could say a lot more about the movie but it’s a very visceral experience one that will be enhanced by watching the movie as is, rather than giving anymore away.
Joseph Gordon Levitt plays the role like a complete natural which is difficult to believe since he was a (terrible) child actor. Then again I hate most child actors except mebbe NPH & Maculay Culkin. And as NPH’s alter ego Barney himself says ‘Child actors are not what they used to be’ :P. Zoey Deschanel is always a pleasure to watch & good to know that she can act too ;). It’s a solid performance on both sides. The director has done astounding job of keeping the story fresh and grounding it solidly. One particularly set sequence of Expectation Vs Reality was hard to keep up with but have never seen it done quite that way before. In parts the movie kept reminding of bits from Juno. A Wonderful soundtrack that perfectly complements the mood the movie sets. Lest I forget this is not a love story. But watch it for umm.. 'Love's ways' I suppose.
There is one additional interesting feature here a song n dance.. Something hollywood is embracing more often nowadays and as long as the quality remains this good I aint gonna complain. As a bonus there is a very noir dance sequence not made for the movie that might pique your interest have a look see.
And now for a poem every bit as challenging as the movie… another thing I love
Hey, Great & Grand Poet(ess..
In case Alanis Morisette is really God, wouldn’t want her pissed at me)
Find
those sparks igniting lovers, minds, eyes
Visions of the meadows where secrets are revealed to those priveliged
Those clouds of frothy heads flowing
Of Love, being in it & its being
Those pretty posy pictures of loves memories
( & not lovers memories, cos that’s just envious)
Those vacant photos that mean so little &
Signify the promise/demise of..
Burnt of this fire are not pretty (Tom)
Still Charcoal makes just the right flavour
The Artist begs to feel
So pound those gifts exchanged … to mites
Water shed ….it in… buckets
Paint those forlorn looks .. reminder of a joy past
And last get that empty aching vacuum out .. from within
Bring them to him
So he may pour this nectarous hemlock in his veins
Fumes in his mind
‘He lives,
Laughs,
Cries at ‘
.. be told
Let this rain of your loved lovers love(s) fall
& the World learns
No pinballs are you
Unaware of, ‘who, what , where, when, what, how’, the nudges
You know
You go
You feel
You live
The fun, perverse, is (and you know this)
To pretend, not to know
Peace Out ;)
