a new cinephilic obsession
“I am not very good with money.” is an understatement and a euphemism. I discover plenty of innovative means of dissipating my modest source of income in a matter of minutes and I feel no guilt. I am excited because I truly believe that my expense is justified and absolutely worth it. And with that, I discovered a newfound love for collecting original posters and scene cards of films that I love. Naturally, my first acquisition had to be something from Stalker. While I couldn’t get the 1979 poster because my pockets are not deep enough to indulge my madness, I did get a French scene card from 1981 when it was shown in France. It took a while for it to arrive from New York but it came last morning and I braved a visit to the nearby post office in the rain to collect it.
The scene card looks so new that I had apprehensions about its original production. It looks nowhere near 40+ years but this worry was quickly dispelled by the accompanying authenticity certificate that came, watermarked, and signed by the owner of Posteritati. I’d have to make a trip to the nearest Dollar Store in the next couple of days to have this beauty framed. It has Aleksandr Kaydanovskiy and Anatoly Solonitsyn as Stalker and the Writer respectively in a scene from The Zone when they make their way to The Room.
Here’s a photograph of the scene card and the certificate of authenticity:
a cinephile’s latest acquisitions
When I wished to watch Nostalghia by Tarkovsky, I dawned upon a much-belated realization that my Criterion Channel subscription is not adequate for all the films that I want to watch. To begin with, Nostalghia was the only film by Tarkovsky that wasn’t available on Criterion. It was truly bewildering to me, especially because it is perhaps his most well-known film for the Western audience.
Of course, I resorted to other ways of acquiring the film and finally got around to watching it. But it did make me realize that I should perhaps start storing my favourite films on my laptop for days when I decide to pause my subscription or head off to a remote place with a spotty internet connection for a weekend. My laptop, on the other hand, is in its death throes in terms of space and I know it will give up on me the moment I download more than 6 GB of data. The only solution that presented itself to me was procuring a Solid State Drive (SSD).
And so, I went online and looked for a reasonably priced SSD with 1 TB storage capacity and an SSD converter. I found a Chinese brand called Fanxiang that was selling it for 52 CAD which was a lot lower than a lot of other SSDs with the same storage capacity. My dream of creating a collection of my favourite films was finally on the verge of being realized. In my excitement, I threw in a copy of The Stanley Kubrick Archives by Taschen with the hopes that the purchase of this book would push me to finally start watching Kubrick’s films. Of course, my excitement did not end there. I decided that I must have a physical copy of Sculpting In Time despite having a PDF of the same. Why shouldn’t I buy physical copies of my favourite books when I’m doing something similar with my favourite films? With that rhetorical question, I placed my order and rested my case.
Today was the day when my newly purchased belongings arrived and I duly formatted my new SSD and copied three of my favourite films. I will begin watching Kubrick as soon as my schedule gets freer. I did watch Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai a couple of nights back and I will be reviewing it soon, but for now, enjoy this little flat lay of my most recent cinephile purchases.
Today’s spoils
a fall photowalk
My friend Niloofer messaged me a night before to tell me that there was a photowalk that the university photography club was organizing the next afternoon and asked if I’d like to be a part of it. Knowing that I needed to take photos on my Konica Auto S3, I took the offer immediately and turned up where all the other photography club members had gathered. Within ten minutes, we made our way to the Medway Valley Heritage Forest and lost ourselves in conversations about Tarkovsky’s cinema, vintage film posters, and Persian poetry amidst the beauty of Canadian fall colours.
Soon after, as I made my way into the tall grasses of the trail, I was photographed and immediately told of it by a fellow photographer. Very quickly, Jaytee and I became friends and I introduced her to Niloofer who turned out to be a fantastic subject for a photoshoot because of her Iranian features. We shared conversations about our university degrees, the work we do, our interests, and opinions about Canada as we munched on M&Ms that the exceptionally organized Jaytee had packed along with her camera gear. I am glad I came out of my home and actually touched grass, felt the sunlight on my face, and the wind in my hair, and made a new friend. It was a really good day. Perhaps the last day of warmth and sunlight of this year.
Here are 8 of the fantastic set of photos that Jaytee took of Niloofer and me. More of her work can be found here.
film fantasia
During the pandemic years (2020-2022), when I was home with my parents and had so much time in hand, I had the urge to dabble in film photography. Very promptly, I bought a Lomo LC-A+ camera and lots of rolls off the Lomography website and tried shooting with it. And I got them processed last week. Yes, it took me about 2-3 years to get it to a film lab. And no, I don’t use the Lomo LC-A+ anymore. There were issues with the winder and I had to send it to Hong Kong for repairs and then it broke again, so I had to deem it to be permanently out of commission. However, the photos on this post are the ones that came out of the LC-A+ and I quite like them. These photos are from my daily jaunts that I took next to the Satluj river with my parents while I was with them in 2021. The film roll that I used was the Lomography colour 100 ISO. I have to say, for someone who was using a film camera that was not merely a point-and-shoot for the very first time, these photos came out extremely well.
I did end up doing my due diligence for an actual film camera. I specifically wanted a rangefinder and I have no idea why I was so hell-bent on getting one despite the overwhelming popularity of SLR cameras in film photography. I really wanted a Leica M6 but of course that would have meant giving up an arm and a leg. Other options that were attractive but hefty in terms of price were the Minolta CLE and the Konica Hexar AF. Finally, I came across the Konica Auto S3. Granted, I couldn’t get a fully mechanical rangefinder. But I did get a great lens (the Konica Auto S3’s lens has been compared to Leica’s Summicron 35 mm lens on the internet) for a relatively reasonable price.
To me, these photos are really evocative of my evenings by the river. Spring sunsets were truly glorious there and the tranquility was unparalleled. I would always carry a book with me to read but I’d never get around to reading it because I would be so taken by the operatic sunsets and my camera that reading would no longer be an option. This river bank was truly a succour for my soul during uncertain times. And for this very reason, Satluj would always have a place in my heart.
I’m still experimenting with my Konica Auto S3 which I have named Sauron. Quite literally the “Eye” that sees it all. I’ve been in the process of composing photos but there’s nothing that is worth putting here so far. In due time, as I hone my craft, more photographs will populate this space. For now, I will keep experimenting and learning.
curating a reading list before I conclude my Ph.D.
This summer’s trip to India rescued me from a lamentable collapse that I feared I would be fated to live with for the rest of my days. In those few months, I found my former self who lived for and loved intellectual conjecture, artistic ideations, and theoretical discussions with the hope that it would amount to some elegant ideals. Reading, which was such an integral part of my identity ever since the tender age of six, came back to me—almost magically. I was however not as lucky in terms of literary creativity and kept myself limited to lengthy journal entries. But by the end of it, I did decide to curate a reading list that I would try to get through as I got through the last leg of my dissertation. So here it is:
The Illogic of Kassel by Enrique Vila-Matas
The Undercurrents by Kirsty Bell
Pleasures and Regrets by Marcel Proust
The Encyclopedia of the Dead by Danilo Kiš
On Time and Water by Andri Snær Magnason
Locus Solus by Raymond Roussel
Being and Time by Martin Heidegger
Eye Level by Jenny Xie
The Artist’s Reality: Philosophies of Art by Mark Rothko
For Strasbourg by Jaques Derrida
Outlive by Peter Attia
A Sorrow Beyond Dreams by Peter Handke
Parallel Worlds by Michio Kaku
Flights by Olga Tokarczuk
A screenshot of my Apple Books Library.