Interstellar

I do not write movie reviews. And this is not a movie review either. I was thinking of the science behind 'Interstellar' after watching the movie yesterday. But what triggered me is the fact that this gave an opening to discuss physics with the kids.

'Interstellar' has some cool physics strewn all around it. Wormholes, black holes, tesseracts and the all consuming gravity everywhere. It is easy to fall prey to the fascinating concepts versus the reality of how it is depicted. There is enough of that nitpicking going all around the net (sample here).

When we came out of the theater, Vanathy trashed the movie and said it would be better if  we've watched 'Big Hero 6' another time.

But she was curious about what has happened in the movie and she started by telling us (me and Sibi) the story of Isaac Newton seeing the apple falling down and realizing gravity in the midst. It gave the opening to start the discussion on how gravity works and how it affects time relatively.

Sibi has read a few things on it himself and so was interjecting with questions of his own on relativity and Einstein.

I read the 'Theory of Relativity' in an erstwhile Soviet hand book on an 'Introduction to Physics'. I don't remember understanding anything. It was full of discussion on Frames of reference, thought experiments, the moving trains and of course, gravity. It took a while but the 'Eureka' moment did happen in the middle of a biology class (taken by my beloved Jemima miss who was particularly fond of me to an extent that she usually sends me out of class when she comes in!). I was able to connect gravity, time and mass.

George Gamow did the incredible with his easy books on physics explaining the basic concepts of big things. I was scouring the old book stalls around the Meenakshi Amman temple for more reading on relativity and usually found something.

So it was that we started discussing relativity. Vanathy fell asleep fast but Sibi had a load of questions. I was just glad that I was able to answer them to a large extent possible. The multidimensional world is not something that you understand immediately as it is almost impossible to  visualize. So it was. While we could discuss the one-dimensional or the two-dimensional worls easily and he was able to understand and visualize a bit easily, the fourth dimension was a bit difficult to introduce. But I am sure he will have his 'Eureka' moment sometime in the coming days. By the time we went to bed, we've been discussing time travel, worm holes and a lot more.

So it was that though I've a mixed liking to the movie itself, one thing it did inspire is to start a discussion around Physics which I think is more than what is expected out of a movie anyway. For that, a big thanks to Nolan.

Story of the Eye

It is not expected that a book which is deemed pornographic will leave anyone depressed. The book may have its faults in the way it progresses but the accomplished objective of such a book is to leave one on a high and not feel depressed.

'Story of Eye' by Georges Bataille is supposed to be a book what, in literary circles, is called a 'Transgressive fiction'. It runs through the sexual exploits of the narrator (who remains unnamed) and Simone, a girl with an insatiable(if it can be called that!) and perverse sexual desire. It can also be called a pornographic fiction (as it was called multiple times after its publication).

It took me about two and a half hours to finish reading it. More intrigued by the 'adventures' of the couple across varied locations it was simply a page-turner. And it is only about 100 pages long and starts off with Simone reaching her orgasm in the midst of a thunderstorm, in the middle of the road, beside the corpse of a cyclist they ran over. Simone just has a fetish for pain, humiliation, bodily fluids and what not. It is transgressive, of course.

Transgression, as a word, does not imply all that that can be made to be called such. Dostoevsky's 'Crime and punishment' is transgressive. It details the life of the people living on the edge in the metropolis and tells the tale without any word plays or gimmicks. It does not preach any morals but leaves that to the reader to deign the meaning of the tale.

'Story of Eye' does not pretend to be something it is not. It does not try. It is impossible to read it  purely because of the impossible situations in which Simone finds herself in and derives pleasure from, without putting oneself in that same place. The book immerses one in the situations, however improbable and impossible it may be. It is difficult to stand aside and watch the goings on .

What the Eye in the title refers to, is the obsession Simone has with all objects associated with Eye and the shape it represents. There are repeated references to the Eye, Sun, Moon, Testicles. What it represent is left to one's conjecture.They represent the almost mad-in-the-world eyes fetish Simone has with all things that relate to it. Or is it Simone?

Georges Bataille's epilogue explains a bit. He grew up with a blind father who urinates wherever he is and suspects his wife of adultery with his doctor. That may be the obsession with the eyes.

But the way Simone approaches it, it becomes a deeply personal experience. The eye (or the bull's testicle) as the case may be, becomes a ball/sphere once it detaches from the socket or the bull. Is it still an eye if it is not attached to the body? The de-humanization this brings into the novel is deeply disturbing and relieving at once. After all, Simone is not getting her orgasm with an eyeball stuck in her vagina, it is only a spherical fleshy-mush.

This was supposed to be a pornographic novel. An average Tamil movie will titillate you more than this book. For me, the intensity of the experience is not in the sex but the revolting nature of it all around. An egg becomes a potent symbol of all the transgressions in the book from absolute orgy to murder.

And the book is not for the prude and squeamish. The absolutely pervert nature of sex as in this book does not titillate but depresses mind. The focus is on the search for an explanation to the multiple violations of the sanctity of the life and death and the imagery of it all with eggs broken, testicles served in platter reaching the crescendo in the final act of Simone murdering the curate slowly while having sex. Nothing explains it more than human nature.

Or otherwise, you can just skip all the explanations and read it.

துயரத்தின் நிழல்

துயரத்தின் நிழல்
இருளின் நடுவே
என்னைத் தேடும்.

என்றோ நிகழப் போகும்
சந்தோஷத்தின் சப்தம்
சன்னமாய் ஒலிக்கும்.

அதிரும் மௌனத்தின் மெல்லிய
நீட்டலாய் சிறு மலரொன்று மலரும்.

தூரத்தின் வெளிச்சத்தில்
இரவின் காணா
பாதைகளில் சிதறி இருக்கும்
துயரத்தின் சுவடுகளை
நாம் தேடுவோம்.

மலரும் பூக்களின் பனித்துளிகளின்
மேலே மரணம் மெல்லமாய் படரும்.

நாட்களின் நீட்சியில்
சிறு பூவாய் மரித்த உன்னை
கையில் ஏந்த மறுப்பேன்.

பாதையின் சுவற்றின்
மறு புறம் உன் உறக்கம்
எப்போதும் என் நினைவைக் கூட்டும்.

வார்த்தைகளின் குரூரம்
கொல்லும் மனங்களை நினைந்து
மனம் தூக்கம் மறக்கும்.

கண்ணின் நீர் மறைக்க
உன் நலம் கேட்கும் என் மனம்.


நள்ளிரவின் விழிப்பில்
மறுதூக்கம் தேடி
உன்னை எண்ணி இருப்பேன்.

துயரத்தின் நிழல்
என்னைத் தேடி வரும்.
நாம் அப்போது
தூர தூரத்தின் சந்தோஷக்
கடலின் கரையில்
நம் பெயரை எழுதி இருப்போம்.

கடல் சங்குகள் நமக்காய் காத்து கிடக்கின்றன.

Vanathy's Travelogue - Malaysia & Singapore By Vanathy Abhinav

Trichy

We went to the train station and waited for our train to arrive. Then our train came at 10.30PM

Kuala Lumpur

From the Trichy junction, we went to the airport to catch our plane to Kuala Limpur. It arrived at 4.30PM

In Kuala Lumpur

We went by bus to 'My Hotel'. We went to the nearby mall, ate there and went to sleep.

The next day we went to the twin towers, first we went to
the sky bridge, then we went to 86th floor

Penang

We went to the Kuala Lumpur airport, caught our plane to Penang and went to Penang.

In Penang

We went to 'Sheraton' by taxi. We went to the nearby beach. There, I wrote my name with sea shells. Then I wet my legs in the sea water. Then I took the wet sand, made balls by that and threw it on my dad! I laughed and laughed until my dad got annoyed. Then we went to room and ate at the roadside food shops.

The next day we went to Monkey beach by a boat, there were no monkeys except us.

Penang Hill

To Penang hill we went by taxi and to its peak by train. We saw the playground, then to the monkey cups (carnivorous plants) garden. We came back to the hotel, we ate and went to sleep.

Singapore

We went to the Penang airport and went to Singapore. We went to 'Tai Hoe' by taxi. At night, we went to night safari. There they made us sit in a tram and took us around. Our tram was tiger.

Aquarium

In Aquarium, we saw Stingray, blue tang, clown fish, sharks and many other types of fish.

Next we went to Gardens by the bay. Then we went to Singapore flyer. We saw the view of Singapore from the top.

Parent's Anniversary

Universal Studios 

We went to the Universal studios by Metro, then by walking.

 

First we took a photo with Marilyn Monroe. Then, we went to Madagascar, A crate adventure and merry-go-around. I sat on Marty, bro sat on penguins and dad sat on monkeys. Then we went in Junior roller coaster. As it was the first time I went in a roller coaster, I sat like a statue of liberty when it tilted on my side. Then we went to 'Far Far away - A 4D movie'.  Then we went to a Donkey show and it was funny!
 

Then we went to the Rapids raft adventure (Jurassic park) and it was scary!

Then we went to Dino-Soarin, the dino we can fly by ourselves.I took a blue Dino and it was joyful to sit on a dino. Then we went to Transformers. It was superb! I wanted to go on it again! but the queue was so long we left it alone.

 
Then we went to 'Lights, camera, action!'. There they showed us how they make a storm in a movie. It was like I was imagining but it was real. 

Then went to Sesame Street, A space chase! It was very, very, very, very,very superb! First we went by family and then another time I and bro only went. 

Then we said 'Bye Bye to Universal studios and went to our room.

Birthday

It was my birthday! I was so happy that day! That day we went to river safari. There first we took a photo with anaconda (toy). Next we went to 'The Amazon river quest' and it was nice. We went in it 2 times. 
 



Next we went and saw a panda. Oh! it was cute!. Next we saw how a panda grows. It was wonderful! My birthday went on perfectly and my treat was at

PIZZA HUT!

And here is the food I ate all that day.

Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner
McDonalds	Pizza hut	A meal
Hash brown	Cream of Chicken soup	Nuggets
		Fries
A chicken from Chicken McMuffin	Signature chicken pizza - 1 slice	Corn
Icecream	Emerald mocktail	Low fat milk

 

I was a potato girl that day!

In the evening, a driver drove us to Johor Bahru.

Legoland

The next day the same driver drove us to 

LEGO LAND!

Let us see what we have done there 1 by 1 in the coming page...

1. The day started with a roller coaster. It was scary but fun. In a book I read 'what is scary is fun and if it is not scary it is not fun'

2. We went on a water ride by which we can shoot bombs from outside. Mom was a non-rider , so she shot water on bro, dad and me.

3. We went and registered for robotics. I took doctor and bro took treasure hunter.

4. Next we went on a small roller coaster and it was super.

5. Then I and bro went on a pony ride. It went 'Giddy, gid giddy gid' as it I was going on a up-down slide.

6. Next I and bro went on a ride called grappling rope which is also called 'Kids power tower' in which we have to pull a rope to go up and loose it to go down.

7. Next we went to a 4-D movie called 'Lego Chima'. In this movie for snow, they sprinkled soapy water. It was like I was drowned in a pool of soapy water.

8. Then we went to Pizza mania (Pizza shop) and ate there.

9. Next we wen to a round looking thing called Observation tower which came up slowly and spinning and had an AC (air conditioning)

10. Then we went to a place where we can build cars and race. Lets see how many times I won and lost in the next page.

Name	Won	Lost
Sibi	1	2
Vanathy	2	1

  I won 2 times and lost 1 game.

11. Next we went to a game called shaking. We should build a Lego tower and press to start it to shake. Bro lost and I won.

12. I am not sure about where we went next, but I can say it was superb, it was called 'Beetle bounce'. It went up and came down jumping.

13. It was 3.00PM. We went to the robotics academy and asked it the classes started. They said we were half an hour early. So we went and built something in the waiting room. 

Then the classes started. There were 4 tasks. They were

1. Give anesthesia - We have to control the robot using a computer. There was a antenna like thing. When we shoot to it will show a white flag.

2. Pick bad cells. - There were 6 balls. 3 blue and 3 red. The blue were bad cells and red were good cells. We have to pick the blue and put it in a cylinder.

3. Pick bad vein. - There were 4 straws. 2 were blue and 2 were red. We have to cut the blue straws (bad veins) and replace them with a red straw (good vein)

4. Give Vitamins. - We have to put 2 balls in the antenna like thing.

14. Then we went to a ride called 'Lego rescue academy'  in which we have to pump a hand crank to shoot the fire out.

15. Next we went on a airplane ride.

16. Then we went to Junior Riding school. In this we have to drive following traffic rules. This was the first experience for me driving a car following traffic rules.

17. Then went to boating school.

18. We went on a train that showed all around the theme park, then it was time to go to the hotel.

Batu Caves

The next day we went to Batu caves by metro. We saw a big Murugan in gold covering and Hanuman showing his chest open with Rama and Sita inside. We climbed 300 stairs and came down.

We caught our Air Asia plane to Trichy airport. We went to the trichy junction. We waited for the Thirukkural express in the waiting lounge. 

OUR TRIP WAS OVER!!

It was the most fantastic trip ever!