Lucky Strike from Shashwati Talukdar on Vimeo.

Ready! Aim! Light Up!

Lucky Strike commercials from the fifties and atomic bomb tests meet their match.

I love archival films. And Rick Prelinger is a hero for making his collection freely available to the public. I’ve started playing around with some of my favorite archival films, and I just couldn’t resist these Lucky Strike commercials and atomic bombs.

Update: The piece is part of the apexart show. Please vote for it on their page, look for ID#52, ‘Lucky Strike.’ And if you happen to be in downtown NYC, you can go to the show from Nov. 11 to Dec 22, 11am to 6 pm, Tuesday to Saturday. 291 Church St, New York, NY.

Reception on Nov. 10, 6-8 pm.

Click here for directions to the gallery and hours.

My quest to use my mobile phone as a creative tool continues.  I am surrounded by mountains and very lush subtropical vegetation.  Its futile to try and reproduce it’s complexity and beauty. The following is an attempt to express what it is like to live with this abundance.

It has been a while since I painted or drew. It is nice to get back to it.

We encounter some Buddhist nuns helping
the farm next door with their peanut harvest.

The dog steals a work glove. Everyone thinks this rudeness is hilarious.

The nuns reward the dog with mango pudding.

“mmmmm mango…!”

Damn Buddhists! plotting to spoil someone elses’ dog next.

Here are some photos of my favorite breakfast place in town.

Traditional Taiwanese Breakfast Place

They make almost everything from scratch, which is why it tastes so good.

Eggs!

Lots of oil is going into these eggs. And note the fried bread sticks on the side.

Their flat bread is the best in the city

These are a cross between a nan and mughlai paratha, and very very tasty.

Here is some quality reading from a Christian bookstore, Sharing Your Faith With a Hindu, which is about how to wean your Hindu neighbors away from an ungodly, animist, and pantheist religion (Thanks Padma). Reminded me that I had years and years of Catholic indoctrination, and recently I celebrated the fact with a little tribute to that wonderful time when we can all live in a theocracy.

ROMANS 13

CHARACTERS
Pastor Jeremiah-In his fifties.
Jimmy-a parishioner. Late twenties.
Mary-His wife. Mid twenties.
Congregation-A group of nice people.

PLACE
Church

TIME
Day

PASTOR JEREMIAH
The government’s established by the Lord, you know.
And, that’s what we believe in the Christian faith.
That’s what’s stated in the scripture.

CONGREGATION
Amen!

Storm troopers come in. The Pastor and the congregation ignore them.

PASTOR JEREMIAH
Let every soul be subject unto the power. For there is no
government but of God: the power is ordained by God.

CONGREGATION
Amen!

A soldier grabs Jimmy.

JIMMY
Hey! What the…

PASTOR JEREMIAH
Romans 13:1

JIMMY
(shouting) That verse is taken out of context.

MARY
Jimmy! Oh, Jimmy!

PASTOR JEREMIAH
Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the
ordinance of God: and they that resist shall
receive to themselves damnation.

JIMMY
But I am going to heaven. I have not made any provisions of the flesh. I haven’t slept with Mary in years.

MARY
(crying) Its true. Its true.

JIMMY
Romans 13:14

CONGREGATION (chorus)
Hellooo! Too much information.

PASTOR JEREMIAH
And do this, understanding the present time.

JIMMY
But…

PASTOR JEREMIAH
The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber,
because our salvation is nearer now than
when we first believed.

PASTOR JEREMIAH
Amen!

MARY
Oh darling Jimmy! It must be because we have debt.

JIMMY
Romans 13:6. We should have never
bought that living room set.
And put your medication on the credit card.

MARY
And now your soul belongs to the credit card company.

JIMMY
Yes.

MARY
That is how it should be.

PASTOR JEREMIAH
(In unison) And do this, understanding the present time.
The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our
salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. Romans 13:11

JIMMY
Amen.

The Storm troopers drag an unresisting Jimmy away.

Romans 13 by Shashwati Talukdar is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. In plain English, this means that you can use this work, but you must credit the author, and you can’t use it for commercial gain, unless you get in touch and make other arrangements.

Here is a micro-play I wrote a while back.

POTTED PLANTS-OR SAY SOMETHING IF YOU SEE SOMETHING

CHARACTERS
Mabel-a little old lady
June-Mabel’s neighbor, entering middle age

LOCATION
A neat little garden in front of a semi-detached townhouse.

TIME
A lovely summers day

JUNE
Your roses are beautiful

MABEL
So they are. I never believed in false modesty, but I can certainly say a nice thank you. Thank you.

JUNE
What is your secret?

MABEL
Kill your husband and bury him in the garden.

JUNE
Ha, ha, you are funny.

MABEL
Yes, funny how Frank makes such good fertilizer.

JUNE
Com’on Mabel

MABEL
You are right…

JUNE
Yeah, not even in your dreams

MABEL
Speaking of dreams, I dreamed last night that Frank went to Pakistan

JUNE
What for?

MABEL
He wanted to get one of them Pashtun outfits, you know the long shirt and the baggy pants, and grow a beard.

JUNE
And then?

MABEL
Well, he went off and joined the Taleban.

JUNE
Wow. Where is Frank anyway?

MABEL
He went out of town.

JUNE
But Frank never goes anywhere.

MABEL
Well, he’s gone now.

JUNE
That is strange.

MABEL
Oh well, gotta go.

JUNE
Go where Mabel? Something the matter?

MABEL
At my age? no.

JUNE
You are being evasive. Its Frank, isn’t it? Where is he?

MABEL
I told you. He is fertilizer.

JUNE
More like a fertilizer bomb.

MABEL
No, just for the roses.

JUNE
He grew a beard you said.

MABEL
In my dream.

JUNE
What? you were in on it, it was your dream too? eh! death to America. Your dream. Our biggest nightmare.

MABEL
Frank is buried in the garden.

JUNE
You mean he will be in the garden of paradise with a hundred virgins.

MABEL
You are crazy.

JUNE
Not as crazy as you. You freedom hater you. (she whips out her cell phone and punches 911)
Hello, Homeland Security. I saw something and want to say something. A woman just helped her husband go to Pakistan and become a terrorist.

MABEL
I keep telling you, I killed Frank and buried him in the rosebed. (June ignores her and continues to talk into the phone in a whisper) Hey! listen to me. I killed my husband and buried…

(CURTAIN as Rose and Mabel go on repeating their dialogue and action)

Potted Plants or Say Something if you See Something by http://blog.shashwati.com/2008/06/22/potted-plants/ is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. In plain English, this means that you can use this work, but you must credit the author, and you can’t use it for commercial gain, unless you get in touch and make other arrangements.