Trepidations
Well, I had a blog elsewhere. I have blogs, rather. Fortunately, things got reduced to one and I have not posted for more than a couple of months. But this is not meant to be an apologia for not posting in another blog.
This blog is meant to be a journal about thinking cinema/screens. Please note that’s an ambiguous sentence and I want to keep both the senses it might convey. After completing about five years of teaching, thinking, dreaming (let’s stop there) cinema I thought I might devote an entire blog on the subject.
How should an academician’s blog on cinema behave like? It might comprise of rough drafts of my forthcoming publications. Stop there: I won’t publish anything of those sorts here. I don’t intend to address practicing academicians in this blog. But whom am I addressing? At least everyone writes with an implied reader lurking like eyes behind the lenses.
I have my students in my mind, and few friends. So do you expect a teacher addressing his students after 100 minutes of grilling them, each day and then chasing them back in the evening because he has got a new horse to ride upon: Web 2.0?
Fortunately not. This ain’t a course blog. Trying to be precise: each day, speaking 50-100 minutes on a rubric named cinema, enjoying it to the hilt, exhausting myself and then feeling inadequate after recalling the lecture, leave lots of sediments of loose thoughts and excitements. This blog might be a place to articulate those scribbles. Just not to lose those few sparks which are emitted during the moments when life is so worth living.
Expect few posts simply ruminating on how I envision the blog (and then it changes to something else, there lies the charm of blogging!). Expect a gradually growing sidebar (expect a lot of interesting links). Expect rapid changes of templates (this one has the ambiance of the cinematic, so it might stay, I am thinking of a header image).
I’m thinking about lot of things… But primarily, I wish to continue with those things I was thinking aloud in the classroom in a day. And apart from that, I wish to keep myself in a sort of discipline. Less about that now, will explicate only if I am able to maintain my discipline 
But don’t expect matters to be copied-and-pasted in your tutorials folks! Things ain’t getting so easy either. It ain’t easy for me too. I wish to keep things short; will be happy if there are comments and discussions and of course I have lots under my rolled-up sleeves. Next morning (it’s midnight now) I’ll be talking about Time in Classical Hollywood Cinema, 1920s to early ’60s.
during the moments when life is so worth living.
my guess is that there are only about, lets see…5? or, say 7? people in the world right now who can safely that.
SO, that makes u supah! lucky
im jealous.
Anindya Sengupta: Thanks! It seems like you are the only visitor…if this is not visited enough, I’ll shut it down!
joanna
July 16, 2008 at 9:42 pm
why would u be found bothering about people visiting your blog that much?
i mean, u used permanent marker, wrote the url down with it, when asked if it gave u power,
said that its actually about permanency in hearts.
so hearts it must be then.
Anindya Sengupta:
joanna
July 16, 2008 at 10:37 pm
Impressive….a great piece….bravo bravo..monsiuer…bravo…..and dont worry Frau Joanna its just the beginning…..
Abhishek"Tom Hanks"Bhattacharya
July 17, 2008 at 12:01 am
cmmn…Joana u r not the only one……i am late..but i m here….a great peace by a great man..bravo bravo monsiuer….keep them coming….Frau Joanna do keep yur comments flowing…we can end up fighting on movies…lolz….
Anindya Sengupta: Triple thanks Abhisekh! For three comments in a row. You guys are so inspiring!
Abhishek"Tom Hanks"Bhattacharyaa
July 17, 2008 at 12:13 am
dude, why u talking about fights here?
bad, bad timing
joanna
July 17, 2008 at 12:35 am
arre ami toh debate er kotha bolechi…..fight mane ki oi fight hoy naki….
Abhishek"Tom Hanks"Bhattacharyya
July 17, 2008 at 1:11 pm
agreed with joanna about “moments when life is so worth living”
Anindya da, i’m sure all of us who have broadband access have visited, there is simply no question of shutting it down
Anindya Sengupta: Thanks! Thanks! Thanks! One new visitor from the classroom and spirits go high! Thought of posting another on the Godfather III and Pather Panchali parallel…but i can’t find a clip of the latter in the net…
Gotta upload it myself!
pratnashree
July 18, 2008 at 12:08 am
pratnashree
July 18, 2008 at 12:24 am
pratnasree, ei bar bar shut down kore felar kothata motei bhalo noye…
kichu ekta korchi dara… visitor e otttishto hoe jabe…
joanna
July 18, 2008 at 12:33 am
hehe sure, amakeo bol……amio eager ottishto korte!
Anindya Sengupta: When you speak of things related to cinema…use English pleeze. Otherwise carry on your bangla banter ‘ottishto’fying poor souls eagerly, earnestly, biggerly (dunno what that means).
pratnashree
July 18, 2008 at 12:41 am
it wud be really nice if godfather trio or pather panchali cud be screened on the three days that we eagerly wait for and then we have this blog on your site ,that does not only feature ur expertise but is also enhanced with the personal appreciation of the students. it wud be an awesome way to share interpretations out of “the perfect academic course”. off course you can sieve thru the irrelevant details and then allow it to show on ur blog coz at times though i do understand conversive bengali i really cannot follow some difficult stuff that the two most intellectuals of our class normally share. im sure the others shall agree with me on this point.
sry my comments above dnt really pertain to the context but its a little wayward i guess
the suggestion that i made will definitely make life more worth it. as in an attempt
Anindya Sengupta: Hello Rohini! I have collated your three comments into one and deleted the others; okay?
Who are the two most intellectuals in your class? Probably I am not one of them
Rohini
July 18, 2008 at 8:53 am
It seems that students who are taking too much of crap must be send to Sicily..so that they can learn the law of mafia…OMERTA
Anindya Sengupta: Dear Abhishek…look, a blog is different. It’s not like orkut where you might change your name regularly. Here you are only a name, no pics, no testimonials, no common friendlist to identify who you are…if the name changes, you become another person. I can’t accommodate such strange names!
So, please keep a name constant. In any case, if I have a hunch that it is you, I am gonna change the name to Abhishek, and if I can’t figure out who is talking, I will simply delete the comment…
Okay?
Abhishek "Don Corleone" Bhattacharyya
July 18, 2008 at 9:50 pm
anindyada im very candid and i dnt mean any offence but sumit and another fella with the beard whose name i cannot decipher seem to be far ahead of our humble understanding.hehehehe……
rohini
July 19, 2008 at 6:52 am
and to top off the best of all my enjoyment in your classes was aparajito.thank you anindyada!!!!!!!!!!
Anindya Sengupta: The class on Aparajito…um…I was a bit dissatisfied. Just because to explain all one needed more time and more clips to be shown. Hope we will find chances later.
rohini
July 19, 2008 at 6:56 am
a class on “aparajito”!!!
cannot believe i missed out on that one!!
and sir,i am definitely not bunking classes and banking on the blog…but please include a topic on the apu trilogy.
Anindya Sengupta: Welcome Shreyashi! I have plans of posting things on the trilogy. Let’s see…
Shreyashi
July 19, 2008 at 1:52 pm
hahahahhahahahha!!
read about the two intellects of the batch!!
yea,rohini,right on!!half the time,i feel so inadequate!!
but then i think that is the best part about sir’s classes…he makes it so interesting even for a person who does not understand or is not as aware as others about cinema.
thank you sir for that
Shreyashi
July 19, 2008 at 1:56 pm
sir,
how can i find you on orkut?
Anindya Sengupta: Click my Classical Tollywood pic up there in the sidebar dear
Shreyashi
July 19, 2008 at 2:00 pm
orkut cant seem to locate it
Anindya Sengupta: That’s bad news. Has the link gone wrong? supposed to be here
Shreyashi
July 19, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Anindya da…..there seems to be a growing consensus on “the two intellectuals”…though I dont mind being subjected to such compliments…but if at all our comments and queries compromise the democracy of the class I shall abstain myself from further such activities…hope that will stop this treasured blog from being the platform of such personal vendetta…as for our queries i hope u will not mind replenishing our (read the two intellectuals) voids at some other free time(outside the class that is)…there is one more apprehension…r we permissible in this blog???? does my comments on “nowhere to run…” fall in the permissible category?????
Anindya Sengupta: Dhriti, you are earnestly welcome here. Everyone have their riches and lacks. It would have been boring if someone knew it all. I will definitely not comment on these things, and your queries do provoke thoughts and enough fodder for subsequent posts. When we talk in the classroom we might consider making our conversations a bit more accessible to others, many of our friends are uninitiated in these things, you see, and that’s certainly not a fault! And talking outside classrooms are always welcome (provided I have time enough and space!
)
Dhriti
July 19, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Anindya da….i vow to abide by ur advice…
as for Rohini and Shreyashi…
gals…after much cogitation…i seem to agree with u abt ‘the two intellectuals’…bang on…they need some flogging…but then pardon them on account of their “immaturity”…and lets work together towards greater cohesion and mutualism…hope no love lost…
Anindya Sengupta: Okay, okay! Let’s pour water in this issue now
Dhriti
July 19, 2008 at 2:50 pm
I don’t understand why my dear friends are here?? is it for hurting someone or a brief discussion session? It’s really confusing. So my request to all of my friends not to hurt anyone. Pls discuss only about films not anything personal here. Even I am sorry to comment on this issue, and I vow not to do it next time. Anindyada I am really sorry about this, I really respect u and ur blog is really helpful to me.
So all my friends don’t comment even on my point…thank u.
Anindya Sengupta: Welcome Suchisuvra. Yes, let’s close this issue.
Suchisuvra Sen
July 19, 2008 at 4:49 pm
this is a brilliant idea
thank you thank you thank you sir!
oh! and thank you for the trivia u shared with us on dil chahta hai, that was FUN! am yet to get over it though
Preeti
July 19, 2008 at 11:50 pm
@ Dhriti and others:
i just read your comment and since i had no other way but to communicate through sir’s blog, i offer my apologies here:)
yes,it is true that you are more aware and knowledgeable about our subject than i am. and i do feel inadequate. but your questions and informations only enrich our sessions! i truly think you are an intellectual:)
i meant no harm. if we were friends,i’d probably have pulled your leg about it too!!
but i have no malicious intentions.
i have offended you,and i apologize. hoping you’d forgive and forget!
peace!!
Shreyashi
July 20, 2008 at 9:47 pm
arey….come on…lets make short work of this issue now….
Shreyashi….its just that we got the opportunities that has made us seem well acquainted…had u been introduced to such avenues, u would have been initiated with the same things (if not more)…it was really unscrupulous of us to bring into citations which were, in hindsight, not indispensable…i really apologize….
i implore u to stop this issue…and as for being friends…that can happen any day…
Anindya da…u r doing magic…!!!
Dhriti
July 21, 2008 at 9:33 am
anindya da…plzzz…censor this “intellectual” word…it is truly embarrassing…it is ‘blasphemous’….as long as it was sarcastic, it was still acceptable…now it seems even more disconcerting…
Anindya Sengupta: Hey! Why are you getting worked up? I thought the issue is over. Did I use that word again?
Dhriti
July 21, 2008 at 8:54 pm
why would u???? I can’t explain it for that would only drag it further……sorry Anindya da.
Anindya Sengupta: Okay. We might discuss this…elsewhere
Dhriti
July 21, 2008 at 9:47 pm
ya dhriti truce man from my side
rohini
July 22, 2008 at 11:48 am
I am confused. Is it a blog for JUFS/Media lab or of Anindya da?
Anindya Sengupta: Is it mentioned anywhere that it was supposed to be a JUFS/Media lab blog?
raja alam
July 27, 2008 at 5:58 pm
classe shune mone hoyechhilo media lab er ……. tai
actually, that day, u wrote the name of this blog with JUFS websites. so i thought it would be for JUFS/media lab.
raja alam
July 28, 2008 at 1:30 am
Anindya da…lots of questions regarding Bazin…and they r actually haunting me…
Anindya Sengupta: Yes Dhriti. I am trying to find out a way regarding how you people might post your thoughts here even if they are not related to any particular post.
Dhriti
July 30, 2008 at 7:07 pm
so how do i meet my immediate needs….i was trying to catch u after the class…but as usual…u just seemed to vanish into thin air…do i post my questions here…????and yes…we watched stagecoach today…i found a glaring contradiction to the classic Hollywood editing which u may have noticed too…it runs in the time span of 13:25 to 13:50 when the coach leaves the city…
Anindya Sengupta: That should be an interesting observation. There is one particularly dramatic violation of the 180 degree rule in the climactic battle sequence; I am sure you are not talking about it.
Just go to this page titled ‘Asides’. Just designed it for your thoughts not related to any particular post. To access it in future, you will have the link at the top of the sidebar.
Dhriti
July 30, 2008 at 8:22 pm
no…not talking about that……oho…this is exciting….it may be trivial but it looked like a violation to me….well…..when the carriage leaves the city the carriage starts from the north-east direction of the frame……moves diagonally and leaves the frame through the south-west corner…..only to enter the very next frame through the same direction(i.e south-west) and halts at the direction of north west…….giving the impression that the carriage has retraced its course though the space changes…….i’ve already given the time(0:13:20-0:13:45)……maybe a violation of the coherence of the direction of action that hollywood meticulously maintains so as to signify the progression of space…..plzzz watch it and correct me if i am wrong…..
Anindya Sengupta: Should see, should see! Tomorrow, might be
Dhriti
July 30, 2008 at 9:02 pm
have u got the graphics for i’m apprehensive that i may engage u into something which may turn out to be negligible…note the time period plzzz…
Anindya Sengupta: Graphics?? I haven’t got the film with me. Need to check it tomorrow. It is always exciting (it might turn tedious though) to watch those rules and where they fail. have you seen the Asides page? You might post your thoughts on bazin there
Dhriti
July 30, 2008 at 9:10 pm