Things that I've been doing

I have not been blogging too much lately. It's not because I don't have things to write about. Rather, I don't feel that what I write is not going to be interesting enough for reading. I guess this is very much part of the negative thought loops associated with depression. I have been reading a couple of books about depression that have opened my mind about this.

This  post is about what I have been doing, apart from worrying/being depressed and working, in the past few months (from January 2014):

• Watching
• TV series
• Downton Abbey
• Game of Thrones (who doesn't?)
• Rome
• Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey
• SGU Stargate Universe
• Stargate SG1
• Sports/Entertainment
• Cricket (all kinds)
• Football (all of the World Cup 2014)
• Tennis (Wimbledon/French Open)
• Wrestling (WWE, TNA, and ROH)
• Movies
• Resident Evil 1, 2, 3 (2.5 out of the 5 movies)
• Stargate (1994)
• Transformers: The Age of Extinction
• Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
• The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (can't seem to finish it)
• Reading
• Finished
• Cat Sense: How the New Feline Science Can Make You a Better Friend to Your Pet
• Neanderthal
• 2BR02B
• Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
• Ender's Game
• Currently Reading
• Dune
• The Hindus: An Alternate History 
• Manage Your Day-To-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus, and Sharpen Your Creative Mind
• Kraken
• Social: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Connect
• Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy
• Guitar Exercises For Dummies
• Music Theory for Dummies

• Listening
• Podcasts
• The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe
• Ring Rust Radio
• Quirks and Quarks
•  
• Radio
• NPR: All Songs 24/7 Music Channel 
• Radio One 94.3
• BBC World Service
• BBC Radio 3
• BBC Radio 4
•  
• Shows:
• AT40 by Ryan Seacrest
• Books
• Ender's Game
• Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
• Learning
• History
•  A History of the World Since 1300
• A Brief History of Mankind (not finished)
• Some others that I've not finished
• Astronomy
• Some that I've not finished
•  Music
• Some that I've not finished
• Doing
• Music
• Learning new techniques on the guitar on YouTube (PapaStache, GuitarBlogUpdate)
• Learning some new techniques on the bass on YouTube (BassLessonsOnline, Jim Bennet, TalkingBass)
• Working on/recording new ideas
• Jamming/writing songs with a friend (in the first two months) 
• Traveling (to Jodhpur)
• Going to Museums
• Going out occasionally with the BF and friends

CM Punk

I have always had a liking for professional wrestling. When, I was a kid, when I thought it was all real, I used to love the action and contests, following storylines as if they aren’t scripted.

Then came the time that I realized that everything was fake – well, all the story lines – and I started losing interest. Then came startling plots starting with the take over of WCW by WWE. Then came personalities like the Stone Cold Steve Austin and the Rock who were more than just wrestlers, but entertainers.

That was followed by a time when the whole wrestling industry took a bit of a beating – they couldn’t find people to fit in the shoes of these biggies who had found greener pastures – Hollywood, to be more specific.

Then came CM Punk – Punk has been here a long time, however, but he hasn’t risen to such a stature until recently - and the wonderfully plotted storyline where he was supposed to leave the the WWE with the championship.

That main even – Money in The Bank pay perview in Chicago, was the best that I had seen in my entire life. The energy in the crowd was amazing. And of course, this was all thanks to that wonderful guy behind the mic – CM Punk.

Thanks to him and his extraordinary skills – and some wonderful writing from the WWE – wrestling has become entertaining once again.

To CM Punk – thank you!

Sports Entertainment

This is a wonderful time for a spectator-sport admirer. The World Cup is going great guns with the English cricket team doing every bit to make life more exciting. The Irish are show grit outside the pubs, the Bangladeshi Tigers have surprised a few with their spunk, and teams like Pakistan, India, and West Indies are showing tremendous inconsistency to even things up.

It's not just the cricket which is grabbing the attention. WWE is pulling out all their trump cards out. The Rock, Triple H, Stone Cold Steve Austin, - all legends, pulled out from from hibernation and thrown into programmed television. Today, I saw the RAW episode which featured the return of Stone Cold. And what at return it was! Honestly, I fell in love with him again!



It's not just WWE. Even TNA is trying to get their act together by bringing icons like Sting back and holding their title. Alas, Jeff Hardy fucked up again, falling prey to substance abuse (yet again!), bringing the whole industry down when it was really on the way up. I hope TNA finds its way out of this slight mess that Hardy has pulled them into and competes head on with WWE.

Whatever, it's compelling viewing for the sports entertainment lover! And guess what, IPL is just around the corner! Long live sports of television!

Homophobia in WWE?

I was watching the episode of WWE's Raw (21st February, 2011) on Ten Sports tonight. John Cena was responding to the Rock's monologue during which he made fun of Cena's "You can't see me" catchphrase and his boyish antics. Cena started out well. But I thought he went into a phase where he sounded extremely homophobic. Here's an excerpt of the monologue from Prowrestling.com and other sources.

Cena continues to rap and knocks Rock for wearing makeup and a dress in his movies. Cena says he's like a big purple pinwheel and tells Rock to "blow me." Cena goes on, saying Rock spends his next movie in a bowling alley, polishing Cena's balls. Then he makes a jibe at the Rock: “Don’t go racing to Witch Mountain Rock, because your mountain is Brokeback!”.

Here's a video of the excerpt from YouTube:



Now, I don't consider that the writers and the management staff of WWE are doing great by promoting angles with clear homophobic tendencies. After all, the mass they cater to is the kids and adolescents more than any one else. The only way to justify this is they WWE is plotting Cena to turn a heel soon. In that case, maybe this would be alright.

More links to read:

• http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=121413230346&topic=16137
• http://bleacherreport.com/articles/624351-homophobia-a-serious-issue-plaguing-john-cena-and-the-wwe
  

The Rock's back

This weekend, I spent most of my time watching sport and sports entertainment of television. My excuse was that I was recovering from a brutal week which reminded me of my days during internship and residency. I still remember a 108-hour shift that I had taken during my internship - I was so tired that I fell asleep by the side of patient of snake poisoning! My present non-medical life lacks stories of such superhuman effort. :-(

The highlight of the weekend, hence, was the coming back to WWE of the one and only Rock (Dwayne Johnson). It seemed that WWE was running out of ideas to come up with interesting stories and personalities. All the 'faces' were too juvenile (John Cena and Rey Mysterio for example) and all the 'heels' were incredibly annoying (The Miz and Cody Rhodes).

Vince McMahon, I think, did a careful analysis of the present scene. There were no 'faces' who were brash, arrogant, charismatic like to good old days featuring Stone Cold Steve Austin and the DX. He must have looked back at the roster to see if anything could bring him back the audience which love blatant cockiness that such superstars bring to the table. He must have found the Rock, the one guy which combines all of those missing elements and adds an amazing mic-presence and sense of humor to them.

I'm not going into a cliché here, but Rock did arrive and conquer the WWE universe in all but a 15-minute presence in the ring where he narrated everything that was going wrong with the WWE and how he's going to change them come Wrestlemania XXVII. This has reignited my interest in watching professional wrestling again - if the stories/plots aren't good enough, at least you can hear one of most flamboyant superstars make fun of everything under the sun!

On behalf of all fans of professional wrestling, welcome back Rock! We missed you!

Homo-eroticism

Today was a better day for my studies despite a dull, hot afternoon which went to waste thanks to another episode of sleepiness. I'm beginning to wonder if this exaggerated tiredness is due to depression or some nutritional deficiency. It could very well be and I guess I'll have to deal with it until I get the record label money comes in. What made an otherwise drab day were a couple of incidences of homo-eroticism.

I had gone out to buy my Rs. 20 dinner and on my way back I saw a middle aged man wanking his member by a pavement on a busy road in the heart of Andheri. Being a naturally trained voyeur, I was captivated by this 'show'. Initially I thought it was just another act of micturition but I'm sure it was more than that as this probably continued for about 3 minutes or so. I don't want to go into a vivid description but there was visible evidences of pleasure in what he was doing.

Don't drop your jaws. I'm sure everyone has a voyeur hidden inside. It's just that I'm honest enough to admit that I have fun doing this. My interest in it stems from the numerous exposures to the male genital organs in various settings during my childhood. In Kerala, this seems to be a norm; something the society happily accepts without protest. Not just men, but women too. But then, I never had a thing for women.

When I was having my dinner, I was browsing through the TV channels and I stumbled on to a Professional Wrestling show on Star Sports. Yes, I do enjoy Professional wrestling. Again, don't drop your jaws. I know it is all scripted and stuff. But, it has hot men. It's a treat to the gay eyes. Big muscular men with athleticism, power and grace.

Then I dropped my jaw. I saw a wrestler of Indian origin called 'Sonjay Dutt - The Guru'! I'm sure the media in India haven't caught up with the developments of the wrestling world. Judging by the hype that the Great Khali gets - full interviews and features of serious channels like NDTV - such a name should have got some attention.