The Best of 2005: A semi-illustrated thread.
This post is in the spirit of nostalgia that seems to haunt everyone at this time of year. The tsunami at the end of last year seemed to be a harbinger of the omnipotent and omnipresent disasters through 2005 - the awful earthquake, Delhi blasts, floods all over India, Katrina, riots in France and Australia are just a few - but on a personal front, 2005 was a really, really good year for me. I have to divide the highlights of the year into geographical sections; I need to put them down to remember just how lucky I've been this year in terms of meeting some... fucking awesome people and also in getting some incredible opportunities.
Montreal
- The establishment of Happy Hour on Thursdays at Else's with Abby, Callie, and Andy.
- San Francisco with a best friend and a big brother.
- Seeing Steve Earle, Joel Plaskett and The Arcade Fire in concert. Oh man.
- James Bond sandwiches and Lychee Martinis at Pistol
- The best Cocktail
Party
Ever.
- Graduation!
Dubai
- Fujairah with the fam
Bombay
- Navigating Dongri to find ICHRL the first few days.
- Despite everything, ICHRL - Learning the ropes and meeting some amazing people.
- Re-experiencing an exceptionally brutal Bombay monsoon
- An allergy-ridden walk with an old friend through the chaos that is Bandra.
- Spending time with Bo when we both needed it most.
- Delphine and Raghu's stay in Bombay
- Pujo after 4 years
- Being with Daddy in Bombay after years and years and years.
- Being with old friends on my birthday after 4 years.
- New wonderful friends
- The weird reincarnation of Else's nights with the girls to Toto's nights with the girls.
- Unabashedly leching at Ramu, being leched at unabashedly by Proshonjeet.
- Naming Ramu and Proshonjeet, "Ramu" and "Proshonjeet"
----------------------------------------
I've been dreadfully out of touch with movies/music/books since I've moved back home, but considering the limited access I've had, here are my favourites:
Favourite Album: It's a tie between Spoon's "Gimme Fiction" and Beck's "Guero." I actually don't think "Gimme Fiction" is too consistent, but I had to put it on here just for the opening track "The Beast and Dragon, Adored" which, with its restrained piano and surreal lyrics, is ridiculously awesome and also for its first single, "I Turn My Camera On" which sounds like Prince covering The Clash. "Guero" got a lot of flack, but it's a very upbeat album and I could - and I do - listen to "Girl," "Earthquake Weather" and "Rental Car" endlessly.
(Honourable Mention to Franz Ferdinand's "You Could Have Had It So Much Better")
Favourite Movie: "Head On" was fantastic. There were a bunch of films I really wanted to see - Sin City (thanks for reminding me, D), Walk the Line, Grizzly Man, A History of Violence - but haven't got the chance to. Next film I'm renting is definitely Sin City. Oh yeah, Downfall was good too, but I wouldn't say it was a favourite.
Favourite Book: Um, okay, I don't think I've actually finished reading anything that would qualify as a 2005 book so far. Incidentally, the two books I'm currently reading ("Shalimar the Clown" - Salman Rushdie and "The Argumentative Indian" - Amartya Sen) are both 2005 books, but I'm far from done reading them. I have to cheat here and say that "Everything is Illuminated" by Jonathan Safren Foer was the best book I read (twice..ha)in 2005. His new book would qualify as a 2005 release, but I haven't read that yet even though I really want to.
For those who haven't read "Everything is Illuminated," here's a sneak preview.
My legal name is Alexander Perchov. But all of my many friends dub me
Alex, because that is a more flaccid-to-utter version of my legal
name. Mother dubs me Alexi-stop-spleening-me!, because I am always
spleening her. If you want to know why I am always spleening her, it
is because I am always elsewhere with friends, and disseminating so
much currency, and performing so many things that can spleen a
mother. Father used to dub me Shapka, for the fur hat I would don
even in the summer month. He ceased dubbing me that because I ordered
him to cease dubbing me that. It sounded boyish to me, and I have
always thought of myself as very potent and generative. I have many
many girls, believe me, and they all have a different name for me.
One dubs me Baby, not because I am a baby, but because she attends to
me. Another dubs me All Night. Do you want to know why? I have a girl
who dubs me Currency, because I disseminate so much currency around
her. She licks my chops for it.
---------------------------
On that note, Merry Christmas/Happy Chanukah/Happy Non-Denominational Pluralistic Holidays!
Montreal
- The establishment of Happy Hour on Thursdays at Else's with Abby, Callie, and Andy.
- San Francisco with a best friend and a big brother.
- Seeing Steve Earle, Joel Plaskett and The Arcade Fire in concert. Oh man.
- James Bond sandwiches and Lychee Martinis at Pistol
- The best Cocktail
Party
Ever.
- Graduation!
Dubai
- Fujairah with the fam
Bombay
- Navigating Dongri to find ICHRL the first few days.
- Despite everything, ICHRL - Learning the ropes and meeting some amazing people.
- Re-experiencing an exceptionally brutal Bombay monsoon
- An allergy-ridden walk with an old friend through the chaos that is Bandra.
- Spending time with Bo when we both needed it most.
- Delphine and Raghu's stay in Bombay
- Pujo after 4 years
- Being with Daddy in Bombay after years and years and years.
- Being with old friends on my birthday after 4 years.
- New wonderful friends
- The weird reincarnation of Else's nights with the girls to Toto's nights with the girls.
- Unabashedly leching at Ramu, being leched at unabashedly by Proshonjeet.
- Naming Ramu and Proshonjeet, "Ramu" and "Proshonjeet"
----------------------------------------
I've been dreadfully out of touch with movies/music/books since I've moved back home, but considering the limited access I've had, here are my favourites:
Favourite Album: It's a tie between Spoon's "Gimme Fiction" and Beck's "Guero." I actually don't think "Gimme Fiction" is too consistent, but I had to put it on here just for the opening track "The Beast and Dragon, Adored" which, with its restrained piano and surreal lyrics, is ridiculously awesome and also for its first single, "I Turn My Camera On" which sounds like Prince covering The Clash. "Guero" got a lot of flack, but it's a very upbeat album and I could - and I do - listen to "Girl," "Earthquake Weather" and "Rental Car" endlessly.
(Honourable Mention to Franz Ferdinand's "You Could Have Had It So Much Better")
Favourite Movie: "Head On" was fantastic. There were a bunch of films I really wanted to see - Sin City (thanks for reminding me, D), Walk the Line, Grizzly Man, A History of Violence - but haven't got the chance to. Next film I'm renting is definitely Sin City. Oh yeah, Downfall was good too, but I wouldn't say it was a favourite.
Favourite Book: Um, okay, I don't think I've actually finished reading anything that would qualify as a 2005 book so far. Incidentally, the two books I'm currently reading ("Shalimar the Clown" - Salman Rushdie and "The Argumentative Indian" - Amartya Sen) are both 2005 books, but I'm far from done reading them. I have to cheat here and say that "Everything is Illuminated" by Jonathan Safren Foer was the best book I read (twice..ha)in 2005. His new book would qualify as a 2005 release, but I haven't read that yet even though I really want to.
For those who haven't read "Everything is Illuminated," here's a sneak preview.
My legal name is Alexander Perchov. But all of my many friends dub me
Alex, because that is a more flaccid-to-utter version of my legal
name. Mother dubs me Alexi-stop-spleening-me!, because I am always
spleening her. If you want to know why I am always spleening her, it
is because I am always elsewhere with friends, and disseminating so
much currency, and performing so many things that can spleen a
mother. Father used to dub me Shapka, for the fur hat I would don
even in the summer month. He ceased dubbing me that because I ordered
him to cease dubbing me that. It sounded boyish to me, and I have
always thought of myself as very potent and generative. I have many
many girls, believe me, and they all have a different name for me.
One dubs me Baby, not because I am a baby, but because she attends to
me. Another dubs me All Night. Do you want to know why? I have a girl
who dubs me Currency, because I disseminate so much currency around
her. She licks my chops for it.
---------------------------
On that note, Merry Christmas/Happy Chanukah/Happy Non-Denominational Pluralistic Holidays!
posted by Auri @ 9:40 PM
2 Comments:
At 9:10 PM,
banthehyphen said…
'Allergy ridden walk...'
:) We should do that again... minus the allergies... the chaos I didn't mind so much
At 12:37 PM,
sowmya said…
I love you, babe. I'm so glad I found you this year. Its one of 2005's highlights for me. Getting to know you, and the entire gamut of experiences we've had in this short time together as friends. I love you. Will miss you terribly.
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