Product Review #2: Origins Clear Improvements Active Charcoal Mask

Although this isn't the first Origins product I have used, it is worth mentioning that it is, by far my favourite of all in the brand. Origins products are formulated naturally without parabens, phthalates, synthetic colour, fragrance and all other kinds of gunk. Hence they don't look or smell great and are basically boring BUT that will be a huge misconception because they work amazingly well. So coming back, the charcoal mask works wonders and leaves face squeaky clean. Period. 

Usage Instructions are fairly simple as below, the warm towel part before applying the mask is the best way to start off and gives the desired results. Leave on for 20 mins while it gives a nice tingling feeling and rinse off. And tada! It feels like a kilogram of dirt has lifted off your face. It is also worth mentioning that on occasions it did also help prevent breakouts, you know when a spot feels itchy on your face, you are most likely to end up with a zit but this mask could prevent that as well!!

                                

I purchased mine at Boots UK outlet in Westfield shopping mall, London, it is available in select Boots branches or can also be purchased online from Amazon, eBay and such. Happy mask time! 

                                

      

Product Review #1 : Soap and Glory - Hand Food

Here comes the first product review on this site.

I have bought several zillion hand creams in an attempt to soften my hands worn dry by London's cold climate in the last few months. None worked, except for one and that was Soap and Glory's Hand Food hand cream. The first most pleasing experience about it is the scent, it has this nice sweet soapy fragrance that puts me into deep sleep when I apply the cream at night before bedtime. The cream itself is moisturizing without leaving hands too dry or too greasy just as it claims. I just take about a pea sized quantity and apply on both my hands before going to bed and my hands stay smooth and soft throught the next day even after washing my hands with soap, this hand cream is like elixir to dry and flaky skin. A must try for whoever is on the search for a good hand cream, it ends here!

Video-logging and Why it Won't Work in India

In the age of YouTube and vast amount of storage to literally upload and store a couple of generations' worth of data not just text but multimedia as well, it comes as no surprise that at some point of time, people decided to capture and document their lives. That is video-logging for you! Already gone are the days of blogging, that was the fancy thing of the first half of the 2000-2010 decade. The latest zing thing is to video-log or "vlog" one's life, not only on occasions of merit but every single day! And there are viewers to watch them, people out there (including me *blush*) who have nothing to kill their boredom with would readily become audience to one's vlogs. Nearly all popular YouTube channel post-ers or YouTubers have vlog channels apart from their regular beauty, health, music channels.

I have recently become a big YouTube follower because a) it is readily accessible and b) it effectively kills time. I watch channels like Bubzbeauty (2 Mil Subbies), ItsJudyTime (4 Mil Subbies), ItsJudysLife, PaulChek, TarlaDalalsKitchen etc to name a few. Now you don't have to wait for TV channels or magazines to review new gadgets, makeup, home appliances etc. Go to Youtube and there are plenty of users like you and I who have used the gadget and will give you a no-nonsense and no-jargon review of whatever you want to get. It's like getting opinions from friends before trying to buy something. Similarly, if you want to learn anything, you can learn it all free.

Anyway, coming back to vlogging, at a point, I couldn't help but wonder if I should start vlogging. It was an exciting prospect. However, after giving due credit to my mind's ability to device a tangible reason for effectively retaining its state of inertia, I arrived at a few conclusions which were detrimental to my idea of vlogging. So I decided to brood over them publicly. Yet, despite of it, some day, very soon, I would vlog. Here is why vlogging won't really work in India and somehow even have dire consequences

1. Vlogging is fundamentally about documenting life events and sharing with the world. But we Indians are too judgemental and opinionated about everything under the sun. It's because we are so diverse and different within ourselves. One would have to deal with a barrage of opinions/judgements in the form of comments on one's vlogs/video posts, not to mention the high risk of gaining many unworthy labels along the way. In the name of democracy, every fool's word would go out to the country and a whole lot of other fools will gladly follow. (Somehow, I am increasingly beginning to believe that for a country of huge population and illiteracy, democracy is not the answer, there is a need to customize democracy now)
2. Say that one even deals with it and moves on. Indian population is HUGE and a majority of it is youth , very concentrated in metros with easy access to Internet. I am really apprehensive of what would happen to YouTube if India caught up on vlogging. There are two really disturbing affects I can think of a) Consumerism and eventually commercialization will grow to crazy proportions b) YouTube will go bankrupt on storage requirements and close down (heh, can really happen or so I fear)
3. I can't imagine anyone vlogging their lives without hugely risking their social security. I don't even need to name the crimes that would potentially multiply. Male or Female, safety would be a good deal of risk. Who would take it anyway.

Movie Review : The Lunchbox

I walked into the multiplex theatre with reasonable expectations from this movie, especially since Irrfan Khan is such a fine and unconventional actor but I have to regrettably admit that except for the food packed in the daily Lunchbox, there was nothing delectable about the movie. The sparing dialogues had far too many lacunae to be filled that even a seasoned movie critic would simply find a waste of time to bother about. And I am not even talking about the ending which is a sad (?) incomprehensible catastrophe! I for one, slept through the movie for the most part or instead concentrated on eating popcorn. 

The cast of this movie is just a handful, Irrfan Khan and Nimrat Kaur in the lead. An actor like Irrfan Khan (Mr. Fernandez) who can be imprinted into one's mind even with a line or two in the entirety of a movie was underutilized and made too subtle and repetitive clearly by the monotony of the script. However, in no way does that undermine his performance which is one of the very few good things about this movie. Nimrat Kaur (Ila) did a believable job but either the character or her performance still lacked the necessary depth. Nawazuddin Siddiqui (Shaikh) did justice to his part and added a little hue to an otherwise despairingly plain movie. But when I look at it, all the characters as a whole fell in their places fairly well for which I'd like to give the credit more to the performances of the cast than the script itself.

The story was like a slow moving railway engine that refused to gain pace even after leaving the station for a long time. There were no flaws to it although why the letters started being exchanged seemed quite unlikely of the characters involved. What started of as a friendly mutual exchange of  life situations lost sense half way through when Ila finds out about her husband's affair and decided to run away to Bhutan. This too is really fine. The real surprise comes when Mr. Fernandez, who until then, was giving Ila suggestions to have babies  to uplift her marriage suddenly wanted to join her and elope(yes, that is the word, not accompany) to Bhutan. We hear song from Saajan playing, Mr. Fernandez jokingly admitting he has a girlfriend (!!), the one-way meeting between them, Mr. Fernandez realizing he is too old for running away, I failed to understand the reason they seemingly fell in love. The script faltered at this point miserably, sorry Ritesh Batra, you didn't get it right. And then the (un)epic ending, before anybody realized, the movie credits started scrolling and I was like "What the heck was all this about?".

For the food, the Mumbai dabbawalas and for Irrfan Khan alone I would rate this movie at 2.5/5.

An Introduction

Although it is not a book, nor my first blog but any new venture needs a brief introduction. I have been blogging since 2005, nearly eight years and my one and only other blog is more like a compendium of events and thoughts. This blog, however, as its title goes, will essentially be "just about anything". So, you can expect book reviews, my latest nail polish collection, political parodies, cooking recipes, photoshop tutorials, art critique, things which are insufficient to categorize into their own individual blogs will all be put up together here. The reason is I have many interests but none are pursued consistently. Hence, I feel like grazing all over them instead of being stuck on one for extended period.

If you have time to spare and you are not looking for anything particularly, then land here happily via Google! I promise everyone will find something of their interest here. Eventually...probably...possibly. Never mind.