Category Archive

I am, contrary to possible common belief, in the process of writing a post. It’s taken me a while to adjust to my internship and to sort out my thoughts coherently enough to write. But the posts will begin to flow soon enough - for there are many things to say.

In the meantime I wanted to tell my small little audience of readers about this movie that is releasing in Los Angeles on June 15th and in select U.S. cities over the summer - I am not sure about possible release dates beyond North America. The film is called Amu, the site is here, the description of the film is below (taken from the website):

The year 1984 has a dreaded historical significance for India’s Sikhs, and one oddly buried deep within the collective memory
of that country, and for that matter the world. Indian-American director Shonali Bose resurrects that period marking the brutal
ethnic government abetted massacre of thousands of Sikhs by Hindus in her film, “Amu”.
Between three thousand and twenty thousand Sikhs were the victims of indiscriminate slaughter over three days, following the assassination of Indira Gandhi by her two Sikh bodyguards acting on their culture’s separatist sentiments. The ensuing horrific sectarian violence against the Sikhs brought such shame and indeed guilt to the perpetrators, that the incident is absent from any national dialogue. In addition, the failure to bring the perpetrators to justice, among them police and the politicians, meant that Writer/Director/Producer Bose was subjected to censorship of the parts of the movie exposing this massive cover-up, while filming in India.
“Amu” crafts the horror of that period as a dramatic story with historical components. Kaju (Konkona Sensharma) is a recent college graduate and aspiring filmmaker who returns to her homeland to visit with relatives in New Delhi. Adopted when she was a baby and taken to the United States by an Indian family, Kaju (once called Amu by her real mother) is shocked to learn back in India that her adoptive parents’ version of how she became an orphan, is untrue. Rather than her parents perishing in an apparently nonexistent malaria epidemic, Amu discovers that they along with her baby brother perished in the 1984 massacre, of which she was the sole survivor in her family.

I have had the pleasure of meeting the director and encourage anyone with the opportunity to see the film to do so. I think it is going to be amazing - I’m going to see it this Saturday and will be sure to post my thoughts about the movie.

It’s like I hit a second wind of exhaustion. It’s 9 pm and I’m going to bed. I hate feeling unable to pull myself out of that tiredness. Not even sleep-tired…just…done. Throw - your - hands - in - the - air - and - yell - I - can’t - do - this - anymore - done.

You know what? I’ve always dreamt of marrying someone I knew in college. Isn’t that funny? It almost seems outdated to say. But there it is.
Today I realized why.
It’s because I always wanted him to know what college was like for me - so that he would know the struggle I went through in college to get where I am in the future, whatever that struggle may turn out to be. So I wouldn’t have to narrate it. So he would believe me.
Life is so funny.

I really want to visit the Museum of Modern Art in the city. They have some neat new exhibits going on this summer. I’m debating if I should go alone or wait and see if someone wants to go with me. MOMA is a really personal space for me. Actually all museums are. I really like looking at art in galleries and museums - but there’s something about the San Francisco MOMA.
When I turned 18 I went on my birthday to see the big Chagall exhibit there. I always think that was the best time I’ve spent in a museum. But the truth is that the exhibit was so big and there were so many people - it was nearly impossible to enjoy the space.
Then I remembered what my all time favorite art museum moment has been.
I went with my art class in high school once - we had some time to roam around as we pleased.
There was a piece there by artist Abbas Kiarostami. It’s called Sleepers.

It’s a life size, real time, screen projection of a couple that is put onto a large block space on the floor of the showroom. It’s just this couple - sleeping. There are traffic noises outside that you can hear in the room and that the couple is obviously reacting to. I spent forty minutes with this piece. I wish I could articulate the kind of serenity and awe that came with it - you would initially think it’s creepy to be staring at a projected couple — but the way it was done - it was stunning.

Since then, I’ve felt that sort of feeling in a museum/gallery space only once..

I have a love hate relationship for this painting. There’s a part of me that hopes I paint it for the rest of my life and a part of me that hopes I wake up one morning and it just gets done.