A month-long vacation is a long, long, long time, especially if you’re living
in a country with limited access to internet, friends, family, and movies.
Luckily, I am nothing if not resourceful. Thanks to a second-generation Kindle
borrowed from my mother and the wonder of books available either in the public
domain or from Grinnell Library’s eBook collection, I have had adequate reading
material. Also, since my bedroom doubles as our television room, there have
been a few nights where I have watched not one, not two, but three
English-language movies in a row—with a few Hindi films thrown in during the
commercial breaks. Here are a few highlights of my entertainment regiment:
Books
-Himalaya (Michael Palin) – Yes, that is
Michael Palin of Monty Python fame. Little did I know, but he is apparently
quite the world traveler, and he has made many TV documentaries based on his
trips. This book is his account of making the documentary for a trip from one
end of the Himalaya to the other. He avoids many of the “touristy” things in
order to observe how real people go about their everyday lives in what can be
harsh and isolated locales. I love when a book can make me laugh so hard I cry,
and this was definitely one of those—his running account of the latrines he
visits is priceless. Unfortunately, some of the information is a bit outdated.
When he visited Nepal, it still had a king, which is not the case anymore.
Despite that, this is an excellent read for folks back home who want to know a
little more about this region.
-Tarzan of the Apes (Edgar Rice Burroughs) – Seeing as Tarzan is one of my favorite Disney
movies, I thought I would give this series a try at the recommendation of my
friend Ealish. There are actually 25 books in the series, and so far, I have
gotten through eight of them. They are pulpy, fun, a tad repetitive, and
unfortunately, sometimes rather racist (a sign of the times they were written,
I think). Good light reading, with some truly suspenseful bits.
Fun fact: Clayton, the name of the villain in the
Disney film, is actually Tarzan’s English last name in the original books.
-Unnatural Creatures (edited by Neil Gaiman) – I don’t
normally go for short story collections, because I find many writers like to
write unnecessarily depressing short stories. Neil Gaiman is a man I trust,
though, for finding stories that start in dark and scary places and end in
light. I was not disappointed. He put together a huge variety of stories,
written by different authors over the last hundred or so years, all dealing with
the theme of “unnatural creatures.” Many of the stories went far beyond what
you might expect from the genre. One of the most fun stories was written by
Neil Gaiman himself as a birthday gift for his daughter, but all of the stories
in the collection are excellent.
-The Fault in Our Stars (John Green) – I won’t say too much
on this one. Many of you know I refused to read it for a long time. And then, I
had a dream that I should read it. So I did. And I cried. Profusely. I hope all
y’all are happy.
Films
-Seven Years in Tibet – I am too lazy to look up when this
movie came out and who directed it, but I can say it starred Brad Pitt and
David Thewlis (aka, Professor Lupin). We (the Fulbrighters) watched it on one
of our last nights in our apartment before moving to our homestays. If I say
that while I was watching, I forgot that Brad Pitt was Brad Pitt, that should
tell you how good of a movie it was. It tells the true story of a self-absorbed
German mountaineer who, through a series of unfortunate events at the beginning
of WWII, finds himself advisor to the young Dalai Lama. Beautiful
cinematography, great acting, and a good history lesson for those interested in
this part of the world.
-Predators – This is a very different kind of
movie from the one above, and part of me wonders if the only reason I found it
completely awesome was because I watched it at 12:30 at night. Or because it starred
Adrien Brody, who I find rather handsome. Anyway, it’s kind of a sequel to the
Arnold Schwarzenegger film Predator,
and it’s loads of fun. A bunch of trained killers wake up on an alien game
preserve, and they find they are being hunted. Simple, effective premise. But
please don’t show it to your children. If I said it were only a little violent,
I would be lying.
-Chennai vs. China – This is a South Indian film about…well,
I still have no idea. It focuses on this circus performer who falls in love
with a female scientist, realizes he’s the reincarnation or something of some
Buddhist/martial artist/healer dude, and races to save India from an ancient
plague unleashed by an evil Chinese organization. There’s humor, there’s
action, there’s martial arts sequences…and of course, there are at least four
or five song and dance numbers. Very entertaining.
Games
-Indiana Jones and the
Last Crusade – I have
not actually completed this game yet, because it’s pretty hard. It came out in
the early nineties, I believe, and I purchased it as part of a Lucasarts video
game pack on Steam (an online game store). I can only download very small game
files in Nepal, so this was perfect. Anyway, it deviates a little from the plot
of the film it’s based on, but that’s okay. It’s filled with hilarious hidden
jokes and Easter eggs, tough puzzles, and even tougher Nazis. Despite its age,
it holds its own against some more modern games I’ve played when it comes to
entertainment value.
-VVVV – My friend Patrick gave me this
game about three or four years ago. He said it was one of his favorite games.
Me being me, I didn’t start playing it until I got to Nepal. But boy, is it
fun. It has very simple 8-bit, 2D graphics, although it is a newer game. You
control a spaceship captain whose crew members mysteriously vanish. You can
move left and right, AND you can reverse gravity: with these controls, you have
to find your way through some pretty tricky puzzles. “VVVV” refers to the
spikes you land on if you do something wrong, and also to the fact that
all of the characters have names beginning with the letter “V”.
Bonus: Dishonorable
Mentions
Sometimes you watch a movie and, as the credits roll,
think to yourself: “That really stunk. Wow. How did that get made?” These weren’t
quite that bad, but they disappointed me for various reasons.
-Oz the Great and
Powerful – Oh James
Franco, what has happened to you? I used to be a big Franco fan, but recently,
it feels like he puts very little effort into his films. This was one of those
films that really depended on the charisma of its lead, and unfortunately, for
most of it James Franco had a charisma score of 0 (or maybe 1, because he’s
still handsome). His performance was inconsistent: too overblown in some
places, too understated in others. And too bad, because it had the potential to
be a very fun movie.
-Percy Jackson and the
Sea of Monsters – I can’t
even write about this one. It makes me too sad. They took Rick Riordan’s
excellent book and turned it into something just kind of…blergh. While there
were some genuinely funny moments and great nods to Greek mythology (plus an
excellently cast Nathan Fillion as Hermes), it just felt kind of half-baked.
They never earned the grand, CGI-tastic ending that they tried to create. I’m
not a big fan of the reboot craze, but this is one of those series that I
wouldn’t mind if they rebooted ASAP.
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