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His return is as surprising as his unceremonious exit after the 2016 World T20, where he was given no reason for his non selection. It left fans devastated and lovers of the finer aspects of the game in disenchantment, as they missed his magical voice, beautiful descriptions of the game and acerbic wit on the commentary box.

While Cricbuzz used the opportunity to its hilt to make him their poster boy, watching cricket without him in commentary was definitely not the same. It also needs to be said that the Indian commentary scene is not particularly gasp worthy either, thus making his absence all the more evident. A lot of former Indian players who have been commentators longer than players continue to be on the scene, but some of their statements on air are often ridiculous, obvious and as monotonous as the world is round. The new age of commentators, lead by a former swashbuckling opener is the other extreme- who consider commentary to be a stand up comedy show, and more so, a very poor one at that. The aforementioned gentleman in fact, was severely reprimanded and scolded on air by a fellow commentator, a former Indian captain and left handed batsman.

Harsha Bhogle provides a perspective that is unique, thought provoking, and makes you further cherish the game this country loves so much, and his addition will also perhaps compensate for the lack of interest in an India- West Indies series, owing to the fact that the latter team is now a pale imitation of its former self in its hay day.

In a world with a lot of great people, Harsha Bhogle is not just great but a genuinely nice person – a fast disappearing trait in today’s dog eat dog world. It restores ones faith in justice, the simplicity of life and the value of being virtuous, to see the return of a man the international cricket scene has sorely missed. Out go the clichés, in comes in the context.

The post Cricket Has A Voice Again appeared first on OutFocus.

With GST, there will be no entertainment tax but one universal tax that will apply throughout India. This is touted to reduce tax load on consumers by eliminating stacking of tax; but as with most things in the current government, things don’t always happen per plan. Since the exemption rule is a state thing and GST is a central device, GST will be applicable on all movies. This will of course level the playing field for U/UA movies and will give way for more creative titles.

* Side Note

It’s worth mentioning here that we’ve always been paying a phantom tax for Tamil movies. In 2015, Madras High Court directed that moviegoers should receive the benefit of exemption; but cinemas have always charged ₹ 120 instead of ₹ 84 even if the movie had tax exemption.

With the debut of Goods and Service Tax, theatre owners will push for increase in the cap on ticket prices. With the tax for cinemas fixed at 28%, this will push ticket prices up to ₹ 160. Since we are already paying non existent taxes, GST will be a tax on a phantom tax. Effectively this makes a staggering virtual “tax” of 47%. Along with “online booking charges” and other ingenious ways multiplexes have conjured up to drive up the prices (like “pushback seat activation charges” for one), this could easily go way up to ₹ 250 or ₹ 300. If the cap is completely removed, these prices can hit the roof in the likes of Bengaluru and Mumbai.

Kollywood is the second largest film producer in India after Bollywood, producing more films than entire countries. Lower ticket prices has been an incubator to encourage the movie going culture and hence movie production in Tamil Nadu. How this will impact the current scenario is to be seen.

* GST Update (12 June 2017)

According to the revised GST rates, movie tickets that cost less than ₹ 100 will be taxed at 18% slab and above ₹ 100 will be taxed at 28%. While this looks good on paper, it is not likely we’ll see a reduction in price.

* GST Update (1st July 2017)

We understand that corporations may levy additional taxes over entertainment apart from GST. This will only worsen the situation described above.

A quick view of impact of GST on other products: Keep reading at: http://outfoc.us/1064

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During the peak of the cold war between the USA and the USSR, USSR early warning systems detected that the USA had launched 5 nuclear warheads towards Russia. Had the higher authorities been informed of this, Russia would have retaliated with hundreds of warheads of their own. This would have triggered a full-scale retaliation from USA and the NATO countries, resulting in an obliterated USA, Canada, all of western Europe and western Russia. The entire world would have plunged into a nuclear winter for centuries.

(Fallout would have been real)

Stanislav Petrov was the man in charge of monitoring Soviet Air Defense Forces. He was supposed to report the incoming nuclear attack to his superiors but decided not to. He believed it to be a system malfunction, which it turned out to be. The system had indeed detected clouds over North Dakota to be a nuclear launch. Petrov’s instincts saved the world that day. He later recollected that he did not really know if the alarm was false or not. He had acted purely on instinct.

On 26 September 1983, Petrov saved humanity. In countless interviews thereafter, Petrov has stated that he does not know if he should be considered a hero because he was indeed “just doing his job.” Although later western media criticized Russia for having punished Petrov by removing him from the position, Petrov says that he was neither rewarded nor punished and simply moved to a less sensitive position and took an early retirement. Initially General Yury Votintsev did promise a reward; although if Petrov was to be officially rewarded, it would have meant that his superiors and influential scientists who designed the alarm system would be at fault and had to be persecuted.

Many organizations have later recognized him as a hero and given him awards and such, but the incident reminds us that even small and relatively easy to make mistakes could have plunged us into a nuclear winter and the threat is only slightly minimised now. The fact that North Korea and USA are increasing tensions doesn’t help.

Could humans survive a nuclear winter? Watch this video from Life Noggin:

Featured image: Fallout Minimal Poster on Rebrn. Not linked to Petrov in likeness or otherwise.

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Episode 1: Try to buy Snapchat

In 2013, Facebook offered to buy Snapchat for $ 3 Billion (that is over 19 thousand crore ₹). Two year old Snapchat refused to sell. So Mark tried to get back at Snapchat. How? In the following steps.

Episode 2: Try to make apps to weaken Snapchat

Facebook tried to make an app that would rival Snapchat called Slingshot. Basically the idea is to sling your shot back to see your friend’s shot. Naturally, this did not go well.

Source: The Verge

Episode 3: Launch a full fledged copycat campaign

When Facebook owned Instagram launched Stories to spite Snapchat, it wasn’t the last time they were going to try to spite Snapchat. The following images will tell you that.

Instagram Stories. Source: TechCrunch

New WhatsApp Status. Source: Instagram

Facebook Stories. Source: Business Insider

Episode 4: Deliver the death blow

Finally after Facebook copied the same thing three times, inevitably the fourth time was due. TechCrunch did a full cover on “Messenger Day” if you want to check that out.

“Messenger Day”. Source: TechCrunch.

Here’s what’s worrying. Facebook doesn’t care for originality anymore. Even though this has happened before with not so popular apps, Facebook has launched a full scale attack on a competitor. It’s dominating the social platform and making sure no one can come behind.

Finale: Why isn’t Snapchat suing Facebook? And is this the end?

Snapchat is not suing Facebook because it’s not strictly illegal. In one of the oldest of such cases, Apple computer v. Microsoft Corp., Apple tried to sue Microsoft citing that their Windows 2.0 Graphical User Interface (GUI) similar to Apple’s Lisa. Apple lost the case and the court ruled that Apple could not patent something because the “look and feel” of something was similar. The individual elements could be copyrighted but Apple did not have rights to them, Xerox did. Apple lost the cases and subsequently, Apple almost went extinct. Microsoft bailed Apple out by agreeing to invest in Apple for five years and continuing to build the Microsoft Office Suite for Apple’s devices in exchange for making Internet Explorer the default browser on the Macintosh. Apple only regained its strength after the revolutionary iPod hit stores in 2001.

Snapchat could sue Facebook but would inevitably lose the case because “ideas” or content “formats” (as the Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom says) cannot be copyrighted. The only way for Snapchat to survive is if they do something revolutionary as well. Filters or “lenses” as Snapchats calls them won’t cut it because as much as it is fun to use Snapchat lenses, it’s not revolutionary.

Personally I have no love for Snapchat or the “stories” feature, but we’re going to find out how it’ll work out with all of you.

The post Facebook vs Snapchat – the copycat spree appeared first on OutFocus.

As any true Christopher Nolan worshiper, I have the compulsion to reply to this article with my own.

First of all, the article starts by stating a quote by Oscar Wilde – “Every effect that one produces gives one an enemy. To be popular, one must be a mediocrity” and then goes on to compare Christopher Nolan to leaders like Stanley Kubrick and Spielberg. Does this mean they also attained popularity by mediocrity? I’m starting to sense hypocrisy already.

The author Supriyo Mukherjee argues that Chris’s brother Jonathan Nolan is the real genius behind Christopher’s masterpieces. While I will agree completely that Jonathan is a genius of his own accord which is evident with (as Supriyo points out) Person of Interest and WestWorld, I will also leave the following data here (if anyone cares):

[SKIP TABLES]

Meanwhile, Christopher Nolan’s filmography [Wiki]

You can see how that some of the most iconic movies of all time by legendary filmmakers Kubrick, Spielberg and Hitchcock are actually not written solely by themselves. Same goes for Chris although the only difference can be that most of Nolan’s films are written by Jonathan. So he has a good brother, what’s your problem with that?

Claiming that Christopher Nolan’s films are not emotionally built on can be answered easily:

>Memento happens because Leo’s wife was murdered. He strives for vengeance.

>Insomnia shows Dormer’s remorse and subsequent loss of sleep after an accidental homicide.

> The Prestige shows the dedication of Borden that makes him such a great magician.

> The Dark Knight trilogy is a story of loss and finding one’s self again.

> Inception shows a Cob willing to do anything to reunite with his children.

> Interstellar… Well that’s very obvious if you’ve seen the movie.

Chris’s movies refuses to have emotion that is dramatic and overplayed. Instead, it is subtle and embedded with the plot itself. It doesn’t put him OVER the other directors we’ve mentioned – in fact there is no contest. It only proves that these points cannot undermine Christopher Nolan’s fame as overrated publicity.

The only other criticism that Nolan can have is that he is commercially successful and he probably has more commercial audience than most other leading filmmakers. Christopher Nolan is unique in a way that he appeals to both the intellectual and the general audience alike. His films have subtleties that aren’t easily noticeable and are only visible the second or third time around.

Why do people still argue that Christopher Nolan is overrated?

It’s because people are always prone to complain about what they have now against what they used to have. The only difference is now that millennials are not ready to accept anything at face value – in fact they are ready to reject things faster than accept. We like to challenge authority and superiority. While that is generally a good thing, I do not know if I’ll stand by when someone undermines the superiority of one of the greatest, if not the greatest filmmakers of our time. I’m open to be challenged for this statement too. Comment away!

Featured image borrowed from Indhu Kanth’s Behance!

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Let me explain.  The education system in India is very definitive.  It begins at 40 (35 in some cases) and ends at 100.  There are two things the education system in India is utterly intent on, currency and proficiency.  If you have the currency, good school.  If you have a good school, good proficiency.  So basically, in all its simple effectiveness, currency = good school = good marks.  You can easily stop me right here and ask me why it works this way in this country, or that I’m wrong and there are exceptions and so many other things, and I agree.  There are always exceptions to things.  But in general, what I’ve said stands.  I’m sure we’re in unison.  I could also prove to you that my assumption is at least 60% authentic, but I’ll have to write a mini series of articles about the same.  Let’s just stick to the basics and do what we always do, believe in the things we read.  Indian education system for the win!

Now that we’ve established that this is the way things work in this country, let’s talk about how the recipients of March Madness feel.  These people come out of their Mothers’ wombs all prepared to face the many blessings good earth is going to bestow upon them.  Then they grow up and get put into schools.  The school teaches them, instructs them how to live their lives because there IS no alternate way of life.  I mean, how blasphemous would it be to stand out in a group of friends and do what you believe in!  I would never forgive myself.  So this phase passes, and they reach tenth grade.  The CBSE has obviously moved on from this phase in a show of progressive development and adapted a new method of evaluation, the CCE (Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation).  What does this mean?  Only one thing.  A student who usually ended up in a fierce petrificus totalus spell during the months of March and April now ends up having to take up pressure throughout the academic year.  Well done, CBSE.  And having been the first to experience everything sucky and new about the Indian Education system, my batch can vouch for everything I’ve said up until now, and probably the things I’m about to say as we move on as well.  The tenth standard boards are generally cake walk for most of us, because we’re already told what to expect in the examinations.  You pass out of that phase and you have to pick a major.  What do I do?  Do I go science?  Do I go computers?  Do I go mathematics and accounts and commerce and anything else but physics, chemistry and biology?  Or do I just sit down and cry with the rest of them?  About a year after making this choice, welcome to the world of pain that is grade twelve in India.  Day minus one of school and your parents can’t shut the hell up about the importance of this year.  Day one of school and your principal and teachers can’t shut the hell up about the importance of this year. By day three, you’re like a piece of metal held in place by a lathe chuck.  As the boards approach, more classes, more homework, more assignments, more tests, more pressure.  I remember clenching my guts and barfing all over the bathroom floor not because of my fear of examinations, but for the dreadful Lochness monster everyone made it out to be.  So, the Kraken is unleashed.  You go through a month of absolute hell at school, at home, at your tuition, in your mind, everywhere.  Then you wait for results, and that, believe me is a different kind of hell.  This is when you have to start preparing for your college entrances.  Come on, you’ve just had ONE year of pressure, here’s some more.  YOU CANNOT AFFORD TO SLIP UP AND END UP IN SOME RANDOM COLLEGE.  IT HAS TO BE IIT OR NIT OR IIM OR BITS OR ELSE YOUR LIFE IS OVER.  This is the part where I’d like to interject and throw in some advice, whether it’s being considered or not.

You’ve done your exams.  Take a breather.  Do not care for what people have to say, because we were made with tongues that cannot not roll and speak words.  Take some time to yourself, find your own peace palace, concentrate on what you love most.  Life does not end with your twelfth board exams.  Trust me when I tell you that.  I wasn’t an A-lister coming out of high school, but look at me, I’ve done quite decently for myself four years later.  Now’s the time the world really opens up to you.  Now’s the time the world is literally your mantle.  So many opportunities, so many experiences, so many clueless situations, multiple suggestions.  If you can open up your mind to these infinite possibilities, I swear to God, you will never feel sorry for having done so.  I didn’t.  I want everyone who’s reading to.  Relax a bit.  Take time to make a decision about your future, and do not let a couple of digits shape who you really are.  As I said, what is life but a million opportunities crumpled up in unrecognizable clusters?  Recognize your cluster, grab it, unwrap it and find your beacon of solace.  Be your own true self.  Peace out.

The post The March Monster appeared first on OutFocus.

Traders in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu have banned the sale of Coca-Cola and Pepsi in favour of local products.

The ban, which was proposed by the state’s top two associations of traders, came into effect on Wednesday (March 1st 2017).

It was around 2:00 AM in the morning, when I saw my editor’s message to continue with this article.

The moment I started researching for this article, it was pretty obvious that I have to take sides. That’s when I decided to have a cup of Green Tea and started thinking about my past.

Cut to 2006, I was studying 6th at that time. I came to Madurai for summer vaccation and stayed there for like 2 weeks at my aunt’s house in K.K Nagar. She used to have a shop below and I used to spend most of my time there, just because it had a computer. That’s when, I was introduced to ‘Badam Milk’, ‘RoseMilk’ and ‘Jigarthanda’. 250 ml bottles were stocked inside the fridge and people frequently used to come on a hot sunny day and get a gulp. Sales would usually go high during evenings- thanks to students, staffs and parents from a nearby school.

In 2008, I was studying at Madurai and my school took us for an industrial visit to the manufacturing plant of Badam Milk and Rose Milk. The guy, who was explaining all machinery and stuffs, was saying that there had been significant decrease in the sales.

Fast Forward to 2011.

I came back to Madurai to get my 10th std certificates. I was searching all the streets I know, just for that bottled Badam Milk. I couldn’t find any. Not even in my aunt’s shop.

2012 – I was introduced to Pepsi and Coke, thanks to McDonalds. Later, I became a frequent consumer of Mountain Dew during 2014-15, to a point that I used to drink 600ml daily along with 2 Lays packets. Since then, even though I have reduced the consumption to once in a week, every time I see those bottles lined up in the fridge at mess, I have a tendency to buy one.

Back in November 2015, I wrote an article insisting to save Thamirabarani River from Tamilnadu Government selling it to Pepsi. That seems to be one of the reasons now.

TNVSP secretary K Mohan explained the rationale behind this boycott. “The decision was taken to wean the youth away from MNC soft drinks, which are killing domestic companies. Besides this, these foreign firms are also using up scarce water resources at a time of unprecedented drought.”

Let’s clear few things up.

First, it’s not an overnight ban like Maggi but boycott. Mohan, on the other hand, calls it more like an appeal to TN youth. Second the boycott was announced by two associations of traders Tamil Nadu Vanigar Sangangalin Peramaippu (TNVSP) (or Tamil Nadu Traders Associations Forum (TNTAF)) and the Federation of Tamil Nadu Traders Associations (FTNTA).

Coming back to the rationale, the very first question one might ask is ‘Wouldn’t the local companies drain up the ground water and rivers?’. May be so. But then I remembered an interim stay on the supply of water to the tune of 15 lakh litres per day to PepsiCo’s Aquafina water purification plant and 9 lakh litres per day to Coca-Cola’s bottling plant at Gangaikondan in Tamil Nadu’s Tirunelveli district issued by the Madurai bench of the Madras High court. A major development in this issue came yesterday on March 2, 2016, when Madras High Court overruled the stay and allowed the giants to take water from Thamirabarani river.

I am purposefully not going to arguments like “Why ban Pepsi and Coke alone? Ban i-phone, Samsung, Nike, etc…”. I personally feel those arguments are kiddish.

The next argument was by A.M Vikram Raja president of TNTAF. “About 70% of the traders have decided to boycott the sales of Pepsi and Coke from today onwards for their toxic nature.”

Indian Beverages Association quotes, “the products manufactured by Coca-Cola and Pepsi are of global standards and one of the safest available.” It also cites Supreme Court order of 2013, which had reportedly quoted an FSSAI panel’s submission that ingredients present in aerated beverages do not pose any health hazard.

IBA’s press release also states that, “Hindustan Coca Cola and PepsiCo India are local companies registered in the country, and comply with all applicable rules and regulations.” and also added, “Coca-Cola and PepsiCo India together provide direct employment to 2,000 families in Tamil Nadu and more than 5,000 families indirectly, through their extensive supply chain. They also play a critical role in improving the livelihood of over 2 lakh retailers, who earn more than Rs. 400 crores in income by selling products manufactured by the two companies. The companies also sustain the interests of thousands of Tamil farmers, by procuring agri-produce.”

This is exactly where I was stuck in choosing sides. I know that those drink contains ‘No fruit’ and have a high artificial sugar content. I know that there are manufacturing sites of these products in India. (Two in Tamilnadu). A short-term dip in profits would be there. And those products are not going away from Tamilnadu overnight. Infact, many traders in Chennai and other cities, especially national and international retail and food chains like Reliance Fresh and Dominos are not going to remove them. Vikram Raja assured optimistically that this will be settled soon. He said, “Their initial response is encouraging. They only want some time to work out the boycott plan.”

IBA argues that the boycott violates the consumer’s “right to choose” and also adds, “This call is against the proven fundamentals of robust economic growth, and against the clarion call of ‘Make in India’.” The companies, on the other hand, hadn’t commented on the boycott.

Meanwhile, I heard that most of the shops are displaying “No Pepsi, No Coke” Posters. Like the Pro – Jallikattu movement in Jan 2017, something big has started. Problem is we don’t have enough facts to support the cause and prove IBA wrong, or I might haven’t dug deeper. But things are changing. I could see many youths in their Facebook statuses pledging and vowing not to drink Pepsi and Coke. I know I can’t trust those statuses, but Jallikattu proved me wrong. Hope it proves me wrong again. Hope I could see those bottled badam milk again. And I pledge to boycott Pepsi and Coke products.

The post Banning Pepsi and Coke in Tamil Nadu – the full story appeared first on OutFocus.

Before you move on to skip this post, this is not about more whining about all social media. I’ve been in social media for a long long time. Facebook for 7 years and Orkut before that. Yet it was always about making and sharing memories for me. I like to look back at my best and worst moments. Some might say social media (and technology in general) is ruining our lives but I’d say that’s the same as photographs do. They don’t take away our memories, they’re a way to extend them, to keep them safe.

I’m not going in to how going overboard with it will prove detrimental, but the rising trend that worries me is that not only are people no longer being in the moment (taking selfies for Instagram) but that social media itself has become amnesic. It started with the brilliant idea of Snapchat. You could say it’s useful for young teen girls who want to share photos but have it deleted, but if you can’t take responsibility why share in the first place?

Snapchat has begun a revolution in social media like PPAP in the YouTube music industry. It’s going out in ripples so fast that I wish and pray Snapchat sues these companies – not for the good of Snapchat, but to save all the other social media. First I noticed this in hike, India’s own messaging and social media app. The familiar, easy UI gave way to some fancy stuff and had a new feature – stories. Stories would last only 3 seconds and move on to the next. They can be seen again within 24 hours of posting. My first reaction was – what the actual heck is this! And yet few days later, I saw Instagram introduce their own ‘stories’.

I couldn’t understand this at all. Instagram, which had been trying to become Facebook for a long time with likes, comments and private messages, now suddenly wanted to be Snapchat – the new cool kid in town. A lot of my friends have jumped on this wagon of temporary, of responsibility-free-posting. I can’t remember the number of times someone wanted to show me a photo and they don’t have it on their device so they dive into insta to find it. With Instagram stories, be sure to forget what you posted so you don’t have to recollect it later. And guess what I saw yesterday morning on my newly updated WhatsApp?

Now we only need dog filters and WhatsApp is the new Snapchat. Apart from the user being responsibility-free, the social media itself becomes responsibility-free in these cases. Since stories last for seconds and rarely are viewed again, companies like Snapchat and Facebook will have to worry less about inappropriate content and spam.

This is a shocking revelation. Social media is getting amnesic. This time though, we will neither be in the moment nor be able to relive it in photographs. This of course is plays well with major companies like Snapchat, because they don’t have to store all your duck faces and smug faces anymore. They don’t need to build immense servers to store all your happy, sad and outright stupid memories. This is an age of social amnesia, and given the amount of support it garners, I don’t think it’s going away any soon.

The post ‘Stories’ and Social Amnesia – Neither in the moment nor after appeared first on OutFocus.

However, there’s this perfectly healthy, pristine relationship that I’ve had since I was a little boy just learning to spell out words.  Reading. Books.  My relationship with books has been a constant, a pillar of support to my growth and I’m at a loss of words to describe how much the habit of reading means to me.  Reading a book makes me consolidate in my mind the fact that this world’s just not good enough for a person like me.  I’m as human as human gets, but I’ve always felt like an alien, given the kind of Utopian ideals that I’m exposed to through books.  There’s a whole bunch of people out there like me, going through an existential crisis, wishing they were just characters of a work of fiction rather than a mechanized nine to five specialized robot.  I met this friend just before Christmas Eve and he was like “Dude, who’re you taking to the New Year’s party?”  I looked up for a split second, breaking my concentration from the book I was glued to and my first reaction was “What party?”  He explained.  “Oh, I RSVP’d no to that.”  He asked me why and my answer was the same thing I tell everyone else “I don’t need a relationship to quantify my social appearances or the debauchery, because I would rather spend my time with a book than with a human person.”   Yes, I may have a problem.  Even whilst being this accepting about me having a problem, I’m confident I’ll have a lot of time for the “important things” at a later stage in life and not when I need to be thinking about what book to read next.  A million rom-coms tell me otherwise.  There are these beautifully written love stories that are made into movies every year, and for a person like me, watching rom-coms is like getting struck in the brain with a hammer.  I simply don’t get it. You’re great friends, you’re helping each other with your relationships and they’re finally happy and you suddenly have feelings for your friend and she does too but she can’t tell you because she’s already in a relationship that you helped fix and it’s all horrible until the person she’s in a relationship with realizes the fact that she’s in love with the person that helped fix their relationship and intentionally screws something up so she can be with the man she was meant to be with.  I mean, give me a break.  I have a rather healthy and stable relationship with my own habits than you have with a million people you find on tinder and Facebook.

There’s one other thing that I get from this particular friend of mine every year around New Year’s.  Now this person has been in a relationship since Gandhi said “Screw you, Great Britain.  I’m breaking up with you.”  She’s a couple of years older than I am, and she’s had this high school sweetheart kind of thing going on with this really sweet guy.  Every year, she comes up to me and asks me if I’ve found the one or something.  The answer’s the same every year – not interested.  I guess she wanted to mix things up this year.  She came up to me and said “I know how hard it is for you to feel like people accept you, treat you like a normal person.  To be honest, most people don’t get you. I know you don’t care even a little bit, but please try to understand that at some point in time, you’re going to have to force yourself to fit in.  Don’t do that to yourself.”  I kept listening, knowing where the conversation was headed. She continued “You keep telling yourself that there’s something much better written for you in your tiny, fiction filled brain.  I know you’ll do great, but please open up your mind to the frailties of society.  Be more accepting of society than it is, of you.  You can keep believing in all your mumbo jumbo, but eventually you’re going to feel completely lonely on the inside.”  I’d had enough. “Oh, please.  Stop quoting Nyx from Sense8” and I begin laughing.  She’d been made.  “You’re obsessed with books and TV shows, get a girlfriend.  Get a life!”  If a person with that much authority over my personal life can’t break me, a hundred trillion rom-coms most definitely can’t.  There’s just one big discrepancy with my theory though.  The same story in a paperback book looks so appealing to me that it makes me want to live the life of the characters in the book, makes me yearn for the perfect Hazel Grace to my Augustus Waters and all that but meh, what’s a theory without loopholes?

As long as there are amazing books, beautiful TV series, friends (F.R.I.E.N.D.S) and delicious food in the world, could I BE any blunter in asking you to not ask me of New Year’s and relationships?

The post Relationship and the New Year appeared first on OutFocus.