Indian movies and fence philosophy

I spent the evening at Claudia's, watching Indian movies. It was a cultural experience on several levels. Indian movies are a lot like Broadway musicals. First, the characters expound on some bit of plot, then they sing about it. At length.

The movies are long and incredibly cheesy, but they were still entertaining. We started watching at 4:45pm, and by the time we gave up for the night, it was midnight, and we hadn't finished the second movie. No, seriously. They're long.

And based on what Claudia's friend (who's Indian) was telling us, I concluded that Indian movies are a window into Indian culture in the same indirect way that American movies are. Media aren't a direct representation of a culture or a country, but they reflect on society exactly as society reflects on them.

So after the Indian movie marathon, it was a late night before I went to bed, and the cats had declared war on one another, so they weren't helping. Morning came far too early, so I made a rather conscious decision that I wouldn't be bothered with hurrying to work.

It was chilly out, so I, bundled in my coat, trudged my way to the bus stop. On the way, I noticed one of those black edging strips that are generally used to separate a garden bed from the grass around it, dividing two yards. And that got me to thinking about fences and the politics involved with them. People take their yards very seriously, you know.

I wanted to take pictures of the fences and dividers I saw, but Claudia's borrowing my camera, so it'll have to wait until Thursday or so, when I'll present my fence philosophy essay, complete with illustration. I really spent far too much time thinking about this as I waited for the bus.