Arts...Travels...Writing

Stoner has been described as "a little novel that could." While the book was first published some fifty years back, I have only started hearing about it late last year, when it seemed to have a resurgence especially in Europe. Stoner as a character is the most stoic I have ever encountered; even in the post-war era where simplicity was perhaps the norm, his brand of stoicism was probably quite extreme, and more so if put against today's landscape - he owns just a few pieces of clothing, lives in a spartan room, and hardly expresses what he felt. Today's emoticons would be lost on him! The novel has a relatively simple story arc as compared to today's literary fictions, but I was kept engaged, rooting for Stoner to overcome the many travails along his life path. One could admire him for his resilience in many ways, although he is by no means a perfect saint (no spoiler alert here, but the source of conflicts that John Williams had planted were highly probable an...

Someday I am going to do a really nice book spine poetry. But for now, I've set my horizons more realistically and settled on DVD spine poetry - which I thought would be easier to manage as I have far fewer DVDs than books. So here we go... The virgin suicides at muriel's wedding resulted to the lovely bones at grey gardens...scary movie genre! Period Film: This is a love story about the duchess and the other boleyn girl at the downton abbey Summer comedy: She's having a baby - it happened one night at the circus on an enchanted April Classic: The taming of the shrew at the last station resulted to war and peace and letters to juliet Senseless comedy mash up: Citizen Kane, Sweeney Todd and the Young Girls of Rochefort were all at the big store Eclectic adventure: There is some kind of wonderful in dreams and motorcycle diaries and Paris Sarcastic Comedy: Gentlemen prefer blondes and room service to an education or a night at the opera ...

I  don't agree that Steve Jobs was as great as Michelangelo, as some people tend to compare. There are similarities for sure, but there are also some differences. Both were said to be very dedicated, both were meticulous, both were very focused. Both produced great art.  But Steve Jobs was also more than just a great artist (not your traditional definition of artist anyway). While Michelangelo changed the Sistine Chapel (which of course was also a great achievement in itself), Steve Jobs changed far more than that, he changed the world and our worldview. He touched many lives and generations with his great products and innovations. His impact is far bigger and wider with the iPhone alone selling more than 90 million units to date, his iPad being a big game-changer, creating a category all its own. He changed the way we consume music, and so much more. He was the world's No.1 CEO, growing Apple by so many folds since he returned to the company, after an 11-year absence du...