La La Land- “What If”

What if. 

This has been my favourite phrase for as long as I can remember. With everything that happens, the trail that leads to “what if” always stirs a doubt in my head. It’s good to know I’m not the only one who wonders “what if…”.

La La Land is a movie of dreamers and for dreamers. When I watched the trailer the first time, I knew then that I wouldn’t miss this movie- mostly because it had my favourite, Ryan Gosling in it. And anything that Ryan Gosling does- can’t be bad. I mean come on, I watched that horribly violent movie, “Drive” for his sake. He looked so cute in that horrible violent movie. SOO- I couldn’t have missed this.

Anywhoo, after a month of the movie’s release, I found myself standing outside the cinemas, with my bottle of sparkling water and a big bucket of popcorn.

A musical- La La Land is a definite see. Especially, if you love Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Jazz, LA and just old school retro romance.

giphy

My favourite part was when they are sitting in the cinema- their romance just beginning- and they’re slowly trying to touch each other’s hands. It was so cute and reminded me of how love and romance starts in most relationships- in the cinema, holding hands in the dark and grinning like fools. Although, not many first kisses get interrupted by a burning film roll.

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If you don’t want jumbled and confusing spoilers- do not read ahead.

It doesn’t have your regular happy ending- it doesn’t end with Mia and Sebastian together. But, it isn’t sad. I’m not going to explain the plot of the movie- because I am going to press on the point where I’d rather you watch the movie than just read about it.

It’s about regular people, who meet, fall in love, and move away- metaphorically and literally. But, years later, when they see each other again- what if haunts them. That haunting might have been only the last 5 minutes of the movie, but it was enough to make me watch it all over again.

I might be the only person, but the idea of haunting what ifs is quite poetic to me. To me, this movie ended on that note. It made me wonder, why do we spend so much time pondering over what if when we could have done that in the first place. Is it always too late to do anything? Or is it relative to what is being discussed?

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With the girlfriends dancing in sync in the beginning (where did they go in latter half- is still a mystery!).

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Or the running in giddy realization- and hoping it’s not too late.

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And it’s not too late…

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Or the first kiss all over again…

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Oh wait- did I tell you there’s John Legend in it? John Legend singing and acting?

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For the first time, even without the happy ending, I walked out of the theatre with the biggest smile on my face- it could have something to do with Ryan Gosling- or just to do with a really good movie.

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Okay, watch the trailer again here: La La Land Trailer

Emotional Stages of Watching my First Ballet Show

Just last month, at the age of 23, I finally saw my first ballet show. Growing up, I have always heard the words, ‘Russian’ and ‘Ballet’, go together. So obviously, when the trip to Moscow and St. Petersburg was finalised, I looked up whether the Bolshoi Theatre (Moscow) had seats. *Bolshoi theatre has one of the best ballet shows, especially the Swan Lake.

Unfortunately, Bolshoi was due to open the morning I was flying to St. Petersburg, disappointed and slightly upset, I booked my tickets for Swan Lake at the Alexandrisky Theatre. The show, obviously, blew me away. Below is a very simple gif-esque rendition of emotional stages of watching my first ballet show…

  1. Is it time already? Can we please go? I’m ready! How far is the Theatre?
    1-running
  2. We’re heereeeee!
    2-omg-move
  3. Look how fancy!!!
    3-look-how-fancy
  4. Ok, I’m here, I’m sitting, WHEN will it start?
    4-start-already
  5. Am I the only one here without the binocular glasses?
    5-woah-what-kind-of-glasses-are-those
  6. It’s finally starttttttingggg
    5-its-starting
  7. Oh my god! Look how pretty!!!!!!
    7-omg-look-how-pretty
  8. There’s the prince!!! OH- What’s with those pants?
    8-there-is-the-prince
  9. Wow, look how they dance…
    9-they-look-so-coordinated
  10. SWAAAAAAANSSSSSSS
    10-swans
  11. I should have been be a ballerina.
    11-i-could-totally-be-a-swan
  12. Swan is actually Swan Queen! Still so pretttttty!
    12-oooh-shes-a-girl-now
  13. WOW.
    12-wow
  14. Swan Queen and Prince. This is so enchanting- all but the prince’s pants.
    14-mesmerized
    14-b
  15. IT’S INTERVAL ALREADY?
    15-what-interval-already
  16. Oh, yay, courtyard scene. THERE’S THE PRINCE…and those pants…
    16-the-prince-is-back
  17. NO PRINCE NO, SHE ISN’T YOUR LOBSTER- SWAN, I mean SWAN!!!!!!!!
    17-shes-isnt-your-swan
  18. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
    18-nooooooo
  19. THANK GOD, he’s realized!
    19-oh-thank-god
  20. Oh no! Swan Queen’s dying!!! Save her, do something!!!!
    20-save-her-do-something
  21. AWWWWWWWW!
    21-aww
  22. I’m not crying.
    22-crying
  23. Nope, I’m not crying!
    23-nope-not-crying