my  block

where uzairs roam

…that have been festering all week.

• I told everyone at work I’m leaving end-August. Well, beginning-September is probably more like it, given that I expect September 1 to be my last day at work. Interestingly enough, I didn’t even have to initiate the OK-so-you-don’t-drink-so-what-shall-we-do-in-lieu-of-leaving-drinks conversation, EC brought it up himself (he’s probably the person I was most likely to ask anyway…if I asked). Frisbee in the park was one suggestion, though I think that sounds dead-boring, and I’m not sure how it might be organized. I think the cleanest option is to take the team out for lunch. And then take my work friends out for lunch. And then take … Yeah, it’s not the most efficient, but it’s easiest to work with.
• I have a bit of a visa conundrum. I’m going to Denmark this weekend, so I can’t submit the UK student visa application until I get back. But then I’m going to France on the weekend of August 4, and that’s probably not enough time for processing, so I can’t submit before then either. And then I’m hoping to leave September 1 or thereabouts, so that’s a very tight window to get my visa processed. Also, I was planning to stop by Dubai to see Munni Begum (Inshallah), so I have to get a UAE visa too! I’m doing some research now to see how best to lay things out, but it’s looking like I might have to apply for the UK visa in Pakistan. Which should be OK.
• Zinedine Zidane is the man. Not because of the headbutt but because the two coherent memories of WC’98 I have are of Owen’s goal against the Argentinians and Zidane’s headers in the final. I found an old interview by The Observer that has lot of interesting stuff in it. I always find it somewhat amazing when dominant sportsmen turn out to be ‘timid’ in their private lives. That interview with Imran Khan I wrote about a couple of weeks ago was similar in that sense.
• Related to the above — read Paul Shirley’s journal and be reminded just how human we all are. This guy is amazing (well, apparently not as a basketball player). He’s a surprisingly good writer, remarkably introspective and completely open about his emotions and self-doubts. He’s like the goofball tall, white friend who just also happens to play basketball. Awesome, awesome.
• Those bright green/shocking pink tights that actresses in Pakistani movies have on under their qameezes are apparently a somewhat smaller fashion no-no than I thought: I see them all over London. I’m not kidding. They’re black, but they’re the same thing — tights with the foot-bits cut off, serving godknows what purpose. And I see them most of all in Hoxton, so apparently they’re a hip thing.

• I watched Superman Returns. And it didn’t stink. That’s the best thing I can say about it — it was a little uncomfortable watching someone other than Christopher Reeves on the screen, but I was bracing myself for that. Observations:

  • He (and Lois Lane) are waaaaaaay younger than the actors in the original movies. That’s important because those are meant to serve as prequels to this one (with a gap of 5 years having elapsed since Superman 2). Also, Kate Bosworth is just plain wrong for Lois Lane — she doesn’t have the cagey-veteran look at all, and her cold, impervious incisiveness comes off as a teenage temper tantrum. (This alliteration is just rolling off my tongue…aakhir Ammi ka beta hoon!)
  • He has a narrower frame than Reeves, so they had to shrink the ‘S’ on his chest, which makes it look stupid. And he’s perpetually flexed, which makes him look buff but stupid.
  • I didn’t want to have to go here, but they forced my hand: the cut of Superman’s undies is completely different. It’s a little jarring because it calls attention to itself. More than ’nuff said.
  • They darkened the costume, so the blue is a dirty-ish blue and the red is burgundy. Looks horrible. Actually, looks like the bad Superman from Superman 3. Oh, and the cape looks completely plastic, which blows. And he’s wearing platform shoes — we’re told he’s 6′4″ (wrong, he’s actually 6′2″ in the comics), and he needs platforms!?

  All that said, it’s still a Superman movie, and I gotsta love it. The story is all over the place and the climax rivals the stupidity of the turn-the-world-backwards-to-make-time-go-back trick in Superman 1, but it’s still worth watching. And hearing — the original Superman soundtrack is back!

• The tickets for afore-mentioned Superman movie cost 13.05 pounds apiece, probably because it was the Leicester Square Odeon. Tickets at the IMAX at Waterloo? 12.55. (No regrets though — IMAX didn’t have tickets for the first day.)