“You can fake being cool, but you can’t fake being good.”

— Chuck Klosterman in Esquire

Dear God,

So far today, I’ve done OK. I haven’t gossiped, or lost my temper. I haven’t been greedy, crabby, mean, nasty, selfish, bitchy, or overindulgent. And I’m very grateful for that.

But dear God, in a few minutes I’m gonna get out of bed, and then I’m probably gonna need a lot more help!

Amen…

S

For those of you who give a damn, I’m ALIVE…

The past few days were absof***inglutely busy… Running around like a headless chicken or working like a dog – take your pick… Starting the day at 5:30 am or even earlier… (All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy and Shadan a v.e.r.y. dull girl.)

The highlight of this incommunicado period was last weekend when I took a short two-day trip and paid a visit to the one and only Montréal… One of kind trip… Very relaxing… Great companions, food, wine, café, music, ciggies (sorry), etc… Special thanks go to our Montréaler friends 🙂

I’ll be back with more interesting stuff soon, promise…

May I just say that I badly want chocolate? NOW?!!

Bisous

S

Have you?, originally uploaded by olivander.

Courtesy of “olivander’s photos”

If you are as fanatical of a fan as I am, then I have good news for you…

She finally did it… Did what she had to do… Showing her memoirs on the big screen…

Marjane Satrapi‘s “Persepolis” is being made into a movie as we speak, to be released in 2007… The film will depict her (and her family’s) stories through witty animations, much in the same manner as her books do.”Persepolis” is directed jointly by Marjane* and Vincent Paronnaud. And who else would write the screenplay but the author herself – afterall, it’s HER life!

Can’t wait… Can’t wait at all… Stay tuned!

S

* Yep, we’re on a first name basis. Marjane has signed a copy of her first “Persepolis” book for me, you see, courtesy of…! 😉

“No drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we’re looking for the sources of our troubles, we shouldn’t test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power.”

— P. J. O’Rourke

In Person: Deepak Chopra
Indigo Bay & Bloor
Thursday, November 9th @ 7:00 pm

To the Torontonians:

Deepak Chopra will be in town next week to promote his latest book, “Life After Death: The Burden of Proof“.

Join him in person as he’ll discuss “the world beyond” followed by Q&A and book signing.

S

God knows how long it took, but I finally finished reading “The Kite Runner“… Unlike most people, I thought the book was just alright… Maybe I expected more or maybe I found it too predictable…

I think the second part of the book, when Amir and his baba are moving to the States, was so much of a cliché to the extent that it ruined the first part – in my opinion the best part – which was about his childhood and his connection with Hassan… The story, however, gets stronger in the third part when Amir goes back to his childhood land…

My friend Katy, who found the book quite impressive, thinks that the author, Khaled Hosseini, should not be compared with others like Garcia Márquez or Orhan Pamuk… She thinks that he should get credit for the fact that this is his first writing experience and no matter how long he’s lived in the US for, he is still coming from a country with no intellectual background…

My sister, on the other hand, is rather disappointed that I found the book just “alright”. She thinks perhaps I’m influenced by prior readers… Despite the fairly easy (non-literary) writing style, she was very moved by the book’s theme… Anyway, as she said, this is when individual taste comes in…

You see the other side of the picture when talking to other people… Maybe it’s not as cliché as I thought it was… Maybe I should see it from another point of view… That’s why the book clubs are for… Maybe I should join one…

I just started another book, this one called “The Namesake” by Jhumpa Lahiri… I guess I’m back on the track of the book-reading again… It’s like traveling without moving an inch and it feels great….

S