entertainment attempts

It’s funny how I seem to have hit a writer’s block. There seems to be nothing interesting to write about. Sure there is always something happening in my life and office, but does it really warrant a post? Especially on a blog that about my daughter growing up. Like today when we put money on the table and incited a trainee to pull the cheek of her boss. We had to really push her and motivate her. We kept putting one tenner after another till the purse became around 150 odd bucks. The only condition was that she should pull the check till it turns red. No red no money. Since her boss reported into me, I also had to indemnify her against possible back lash, which I promptly did. So finally she did. She pulled his cheek. But alas, no red. But we weren’t complaining. We got the shock and awe we wanted without losing a single penny, her boss was wondering what happened to her and we had a great laugh all around.
So how does this qualify as a blog entry except for the fact that her dad is a complete whacko and can constantly think of funny stuff to liven up the office. Office by definition is a dull drab place needing a shake here and a shake there. But it can’t warrant too many posts.
As regards Jispa latest adventures, she was on the last book of the Harry Potter series and her vacation started. Vacations means less sleep for me, late nights for her and me stuck in a time warp where I can’t make out if I must wake up early or sleep in till late and screw my carefully orchestrated schedule. So as her vacation started she simply has left her Harry Potter and picked up on Asterix comics. She loves them and the wam, boom,crash, poof etc that come along with it. As I did so at her age, she too is too bored to read the names of the characters, which though long winded have clever use of the pun, Getafix and Vitalstatistix as prime examples. I too never really read their names in details. Just passing them over to see the big fights with the Romans. It’s weird how we find the clearly one sided fights so funny. There is never a balance and the magic potion is the answer to almost every problem. Smash everything through a magic potion. The only one time I remember a twist in the tale when at the Olympics, Asterix refuses to take the potion and comes out superior. In fact gives it to his opponents and wins the fight in the end. How did he do that? Sorry I am not giving any spoilers here, but it surely was a fun issue. In front of Asterix, even Tintin looks more human, more vulnerable.
I remember being completely lost in these comics as kid. Full of amazing adventure and imagination. I feel Jispa is really lucky to be in an era of book shops where the child is completely allowed to sit and read, lost in the books around. When I was smaller, in dubai, we used to be near the book section reading comics at the Choitaram stores. These were the big supermarkets run by the mallus from india. While their book collection wasn’t so big, it was enough to give us enough reason to be lost in it. Every 10 minutes a mallu would run around chasing us away. We would disperse only to be back in five minutes. It’s nice to see bookstores like the Crosswords and Landmark having large children book collections and large comic book collections. It is always fun to be lost at a book store. This time around in Pune Landmark, Jispa was lost at the Amar Chitra Katha section. Pic below.



Noting much to note about, except the fact that I have bought the entire collection and it is lying at home at her disposal. Not that she doesn’t touch them; she does read them, but I just found it queer for her to intently read at a section where she has unlimited access to at home. Kids. I think you always love something more if it’s given outside of the house.
But it’s a lovely and heartening thing to see her thus. Completely at ease and completely at bliss at a bookstore. Jasmine and I believe that this largely due to the absence of the TV at the house. This too is going to soon change. Jasmine believes that now the time is right for the TV to make an appearance in the household but still the cable is not welcome. Only TV for movie watching. So the bug debate is plasma vs LCD vs LED and 32 inches vs 42 inches. With three choices on one axis and two on the other, this is causing severe stress. Add to these axis the third dimension of the price trade off, and what have you – complete inertia. Now I don’t care about it and I want to not buy the dam piece. Screw you. No TV. Poor Jispa was telling me that she doesn’t really require a TV, she is happy with the books at home. She probably wants to spare me the expense. What to do? Will let you know the update in a weeks time. as of now one is playing with a 35k 32 inch LED vs a 42K 42 inch plasma or feel rich with a 42 inch 60K LED. While the Sony looks good, the brand choice might be simply dictated by the model that plays MP4 format. And that seems to be the LG. so that is a easy choice. MP4 is critical as all my handycam and digital video shoots are in that format. I am not sitting and converting those into anything else. Especially if I want to play them directly off the TV. But if I am buying the optical media player in any case, I simply buy the drive that plays the format and screw whatever the TV okays as it will simply show whatever the DVD player wants it to. Which brings me to the next question – blue ray versus normal VD or simply buy a movie media box player that plays off the box in HD clarity. Add to that is the 3D versus non 3D technology. ARRRGGGHHHH. I don’t want the dam thing. screw you.
While on the topic I wonder, why would they give only set of 3D goggles with your TV. Shouldn’t you give at least 2?