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Shantaram. It is a name meaning “man of peace”. It’s a book. A very long book. A 936 page book. By Gregory David Roberts. A very long book. And worth every delicious moment spent reading.

It’s an amazing mix of thriller, drama, memoir, cultural immersion, love story, criminal methodology, big thoughts, and little ones, too.

Our lovely mortgage officer, Dinika, loaned it to Jamie & I. This was a while back. Jamie read it right away; I, didn’t. I admit it, I was daunted by the book’s physical heft; a book you could kill someone with. But finally, I started. Now I’m just past the halfway mark and loving each and every one of its many pages. It’s an amazing ride, a wonderful education; a tome to savour.

What’s it about? Briefly, it’s a novel about a man who escapes from an Australian maximum security prison (where he has been justly jailed for various criminal offences) who’s run from the law takes him eventually to India. Bombay/Mumbai to be exact. There he meets a cast of characters from ex-pats from across the globe, to make-shift slum dwellers, to Mafia kings. And his life is changed. Boy, that really doesn’t sound interesting. But really it is. It is phenomenal.

The author, Mr. Roberts, is a man who escaped from an Australian maximum security prison (where he had been justly jailed for various criminal offences) who’s run from the law took him eventually to India. Bombay/Mumbai to be exact. There he met a cast of characters from ex-pats from across the globe, to make-shift slum dwellers, to Mafia kings. And his life was changed.

I’m anxious to see where he and the character wind up. So back to reading I go.

Nite,
k.

**Two things, while digging up the links for this piece, I discovered that the novel is in film pre-production; starring and produced by Johnny Depp. I have mixed feelings about this. While I understand the desire to film this story, it is an amazingly visual piece, I worry that even a longish film won’t do the story justice. I would much prefer to see it done as a BBC mini-series. While it wouldn’t reach the mass audience that a “major motion picture” would, it would allow the tale to take its time, unfold as it should. Just compare the TV & film versions of, for example, The Singing Detective, TV/film or The Lives and Loves of a She Devil, TV/film (as simply, She Devil, to witness what a vast difference an extended time-frame can make. I hope it comes out well.

Also, I thought I should mention that when I link to amazon or any other such selling entity, I’m doing so only to help ya along should you wish to seek out the whatever for yourself. There’s no payback on this end other than the joy of spreading the word of things I like.

Nite,
k.

Tags: Books, Ephemera, Movies, Television by Kirk
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I think Boo Radley lives in the next building. Well, not the next, because the building next to ours is the other half of the Co-op clump. It’s 4410 and 4414. Our building, 4410, was built in 1929, 4414 in 1931.

But it’s the single-family dwelling next to 4414 where Boo lives.

Actually, I don’t know who, let alone Boo, lives there. When we first moved into our new home, there was never a light on in the place. The flagstone sidewalk in front of Boo’s place all cracked and shifting, the lawn overgrown, the shades always closed.

Then about a week ago, I noticed, during one of my late-night walks, a light on, on the second story. Just a little glow. As the days have passed, a first floor light will be on, or a different second floor light. Always the blinds down. The other day, I noticed that someone, at some time had cleaned up the front yard a bit. But I don’t know who. Never saw ’em.

It’s odd the things that intrigue us, that catch our notice and fancy. I’m loath to find out who actually lives there; it’s probably someone who’s resident part time, just getting the place back into order. How incredibly mundane.

I like thinking that I live next, or next to next, to Boo. That some night on one of my walks, I’ll run into this person, look into their eyes and know: they’re Boo. “Hey Boo,” I’d say, in my best Scout immitation.

They, of course, would look at me as though I were quite off my rocker and cautiously move on.

Here’s hoping I never meet them. I like the illusion.

And maybe this will explain something, my friend Nath led me to this personality test. It’s pretty interesting; I know, there are thousands of these things on the net, but this one has a nice, different presentation. According to them I am a “Considerate Inventor”. Here’s my PersonalityDNA (their little gimmick).

I’m not going to post the rest of the report, it’s a bit long, but quite accurate.

Go ahead, try it.

Nite,
k.

Tags: Life, Movies, Moving, NYC by Kirk
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Just a quick round-up of happenings this week in the life of Jamie & I.

• Got a closing date for our Co-op.
• Had dinner with my High School French teacher at Chez Josephine. A great reunion!
• Tried to watch Walk the Line but it stopped halfway through. Netflix is replacing.
• Did I mention we got a closing date for our Co-op?
• Packed some more boxes.
• Got extremely drunk at the above mentioned dinner with HS French Teacher.
• Regretted the item above seriously the next day.
• Got vegetables galore at our Greenmarket.
• Watched The Passion of Joan of Arc, an amazing silent film with an amazing history.

Yes indeed, as of the late afternoon of June 21st, Jamie & I will finally be homo-owners. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate Gay Pride. Who needs a parade?

Nite,
k.

Tags: Food, France, General, Jamie, Life, Movies, Moving, NYC by Kirk
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I am not a procrastinator.

I seem like a procrastinator to, well, most people who know me. But I’m not a procrastinator.

Take this site for example; a year or so ago I moved my site to its current host. They supply many, many, options for blog/web publishing that can be effortlessly installed onto your site. While this is, indeed, not unique, it was daunting.

I decided to install, for reasons that memory fails to retrieve, Drupal. Drupal was, well, simply, much more than I needed. And thus daunted by the myriad of options, doohickies and whistles, I wrote one post crowing my entry into the blogging world and then promptly ignored my site.

For about a year.

Until I came to my senses yesterday and decided to switch to WordPress. This switch effectively killed two birds with one stone.

1. One: It meets my needs (although arguably, who needs to blog?).
1. I need a heart transplant.
2. I need to get out of the way of this speeding truck.
3. I need to see Jello Biafra at the Knitting Factory because he comes to the East Coast so rarely.
4. I do not need to blog. Although I’m sure that someone actually does.
2. Two: Jamie already uses WP and thus is readily available for assistance.

So, yesterday I installed WP and today, Jamie gave me a list of all the cool toys he uses on his site, queerspace.com. And I’ve spent the day fiddling and uploading and cropping pics for the front page. And now, it’s 1:30am and I’m busily writing this post.

Jamie will be pleased. Jamie will be overjoyed.

You see, Jamie is convinced that I’m a procrastinator.

Jamie has also said that I think too much. There will be no argument here; I do think too much. This is why I can’t sleep. This is why when he’s calling me from the other room, I don’t hear him. I admit it, my head is obsessively caught up in thought.

I am not a procrastinator; I am an over-thinker.

This is not new, I’ve been overthinking all my life. It’s not what I do, it’s who I am. I’m not saying it’s pretty, but for the most part, it has served me well.

Have you ever seen the mini-series The Singing Detective, not the movie, which I’m sure is lovely, with Rob’t Downey, Jr. and all, but the mini-series? Michael Gambon’s character is an over-thinker. If you have an over-thinker in your life, I urge, no, compel you, to rent it from Netflix or where ever else you procure you home viewing matter. This work is required viewing, both for your sanity and the sanity of your beloved over-thinker.

If you’ve not seen it… no, just go and rent it. I know, it’s three disks, it’s seven hours long, but the disks and hours fly by and even if you know no over-thinkers (and if you say you don’t, well, I’m sure you do or perhaps are one yourself), it is worth the time simply for the brilliant writing and amazing performances.

So anyway, I love my dear darling husband who spent all day packing up the apartment for our impending move, cooking lunch and answering my WP questions whilst I searched for plugins and such, but he’s wrong on this account. I am not a procrastinator, I am an over-thinker.

And if you are reading this and it’s, oh say, June 15th of this or next year and it is still the second post, well then, ok yes, indeed, I may be a procrastinator. And then, maybe, if I have time, I’ll work on it.

Nite, k.

Tags: General, Jamie, Movies, Television by Kirk
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