Are you friends with your Mum?

Video

Facebook in Real Life! It is so great!

I found it on Method Uncertain who knows how to embed videos, while I do not.

Pushing Forward

It's interesting reading about you guys gearing up for the new semester. My girlfriend starts school on Wednesday as well. It's scary how quickly I've forgotten what student life is like. I guess I've made so many changes since I graduated that it's no wonder my brain has written-over some of those old routines. So, what's going on with me this week? My girlfriend moved into a new apartment on Sunday. It's a very nice apartment in a yet-to-be gentrified area of Bushwick. It's 4 subway stops east of my apartment, and only takes about 15 minutes door-to-door, which is nice. The area is interesting because it borders Ridgewood, Queens, which is very residential and pretty, and on the side there are vast industrial vacant lots and tons of projects. The rent is cheap, and artists and hipsters are swarming there. The area can be dangerous, but as long as you're not an asshole to the long-time residents and you support the local businesses, the day-to-day vibe is friendly. I hope that she will be a lot happier there.

I start band rehearsal on Wednesday for our Brooklyn show on Saturday. We haven't played a hometown show in a while (Siren Fest excluded), so it should be pretty crazy and hopefully fun! I have several solo shows coming up in September and am also playing in a guitar ensemble for a piece that my friend composed. Also, it seems that I'm going to be playing a show in Nîmes, France in December! An experimental music festival there wants to fly me out to perform, and that's just not the type of opportunity I can say no to at this point in my life. I should be receiving the contract soon, so hopefully this will happen and be amazing. Another exciting thing on the horizon is that I was invited to screen one of my short films at a festival here in NY in October that features the work of women in multimedia arts. I'm excited about all of these opportunities and trying not to get stressed out about fitting everything into my schedule. I need a day job where I work less and make more. Not going to happen, but it's nice to fantasize about sometimes...

The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

A book like The White Tiger comes around only once a generation in the jungle. Last time it was The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. This time it is The White Tiger, by Aravind Adiga. My aunt recommended the book to me, and I picked it up from The Noble with a birthday gift-card. I didn't find this out until later, but The White Tiger is suddenly getting more press because it made the Man Booker Prize Longlist.

I loved the book because it is about slavery, manipulation (especially of the familial sort,) and individuality. If you read the reviews on Amazon you won't find the mention of slavery. The novel takes place in a (realistically portrayed) corrupt India. In this world, the rich have enough money to live as human beings, and the poor barely exist.

The best thing I found on the internet about this book was an interview with the Author. In the interview we find this quote:

Actually, my background as a business journalist made me realize that most of what's written about in business magazines is bullshit, and I don't take business or corporate literature seriously at all.

That sums up the feel of the novel. I love it because I feel the same way. Maybe not about business magazines, but certainly about Academia. Additionally I like the book because of the (lack of) morality of the protagonist, Balram. "Survival Before Morality" is his unofficial motto.

My favorite quote of the novel:

These are the three main diseases of this country, sir: typhoid, cholera, and election fever. This last one is the worst; it makes people talk and talk about things they have no say in. (p.82)

Finally, other bloggers who have read The White Tiger:
The Kingfisher Scrapbook
Redhead Ramble
The Complete Booker
The Mooske and the Gripes
Always Listen To Your Pig Puppet
Books for Breakfast

Introduction

Hey all Galya here. I just graduated college (woo woo) with a B.S. in Comp Sci and a minor in Russian language (hence the russian name :-D ) I'm originally from St. Croix in the USVI or the rock as I liked to call it.
Here's a short list of things I <3>