Flip-flop

Act 1: In the cricket-field

Balaji always wanted to spend time playing cricket with his apartment friends on the road. Balaji is fielding near what is supposed to be the boundary line and is anxiously hoping to contribute something for his team by taking couple of wickets or score a massive six, but those are out-of-his-zone thanks to the skill-level. So, being a safe fielder, he is hoping to pull of some reasonable saves or catches if at all the ball comes near him.

Balaji could hear someone shouting for him and turns around in one of those "don't disturb me now.. not now" looks and finds his grand-mother calling him.
Balaji dismisses her in one of those polite gestures, but on repeated calls he tells his buddies "sorry guys, i have to go.. my grand-mother is calling for me" and leaves politely ignoring any adverse reaction from his cricket-mates.

Act 2: In the house

Balaji enters the house and before he even thinks of shouting at his grand-mother on disturbing him on what was a key match of his life.
His grand-mother in an amazingly pleasant tone pleads to her favourite grand-son "Please get this wheat grounded from the mill shop close-by".
Balaji knew he is one sucker for such pleads and knows he could never ever say 'no way' to such pleads, atleast not to his grand-mother.

Act 3: On the road

Balaji walked fast towards the 'mill shop' to get the wheat grounded and at times did those quick jog followed by the fast walks when he wanted catch his breath.

Act 4: The machine

On receipt of the wheat content, the shop-keeper got his apparatus ready i.e he turned-on the heavy noise-making motor and slowly started turning the gears of the mill-machine. It's tough to appreciate the science behind how such a massive machine works, but it doesn't take much long for anyone to appreciate the noise which comes out of this gigantic apparatus.
Balaji liked this machine, not for the science behind it, but for the noise it makes. The noise will scare most of the mortals but not Balaji, he will stand close to this machine and will sit on the stool close to that.
Now, having got used to the high-decibel level from this machine, he will use his index fingers to close his ears.
Any person would perceive this act as being scared of the noise, but what Balaji will do is just use his fingers to close his ears and then open it subsequently.
And this open-close goes on and on until the shop-keeper asks him to pay-up for 'grinding the wheat'.

Act 5: On return

When Balaji enters the apartment, he finds a small crowd before his apartment-block, but ignores the crowd and slowly he finds his way back home.
When Balaji is about to enter his house, he could only hear cries which grew much higher when the folks in the house saw him.
Balaji had seen most of these folks in one of those marriage-functions but never at his house.
Balaji finds his father over a huge ice-block which was surrounded by saw-dust, in sleeping posture with his head seeing the ceiling and his foot-toes tied together and cotton stuck on the nose and ear. Balaji is a trifle too amused and could hardly understand why all this fuss. He could hear his grandma crying 'Raju.. Raju.. ' repeatedly. Balaji could not locate his grandma, but walked towards her den.

Act 6: In the kitchen

His Grand-mother's den had way too many people than the den can hold. As long as Balaji can remember, it has always been his grandma's domain.
The moment his grandma set her eyes on Balaji, her cry seemed to have hit a crescendo. Though she held him close to her like never before, but still only one name seemed to come out of her mouth 'Raju .. Raju.. '.

Act 7: The chant

Balaji had to change his dress i.e from his shirt-trouser to just dhoti.
And had to sit before the homam (or sacred fire) and the priests started chanting mantra (or the sacred lines chanted before a dead person is carried to the graveyard), even though the cries grew louder and louder.
Balaji sat still and used his index fingers to open and close his ears.

Elvis rocks

Listening to "Can't help falling in love" by Elvis Presley is fantastic.
The initial polite drum rhythm for the first 8 seconds of Elvis's song reminds me of the starting beats in 'piyu bhole' song from the movie 'parineeta'.
Guess, Shantanu Moitra replaced the drum beats with piano tune. Of course, inspired stuff I guess ;-)
Though the transformation from pallavi to anupallavi is kind of rotten with some carol kind of harmony. Though the voices were brilliant i.e Sonu Nigam and in particular Shreya Ghoshal with her silly smiles inserted all through the song.

Feels blessed to hear such songs.

words & music by george weiss - hugo peretti - luigi creatore

Wise men say only fools rush in
But I cant help falling in love with you
Shall I stay
Would it be a sin
If I cant help falling in love with you

Like a river flows surely to the sea
Darling so it goes
Some things are meant to be
Take my hand, take my whole life too
For I cant help falling in love with you

Like a river flows surely to the sea
Darling so it goes
Some things are meant to be
Take my hand, take my whole life too
For I cant help falling in love with you
For I cant help falling in love with you

Jaws

Act 1:
title: Varun realises he has a tummy

Wakes up as always and then gets ready for office .. and during the shirt tucking ceremony identifies that if he tucks his shirt his tummy pouch is quite obvious. So, refuses to tuck in and then leaves for the office preferring informals to formals.

Arun: It's a Monday and you are coming like this..
Varun: You don't have this tummy, so you can't understand my problem... (and taps his tummy)

(the shot is done indoor and then when Varun and Arun leave with their laptop bags, the shot is preferably done from the terrace..i.e from a higher location)

Act 2:
title: In a huddle-room

(the shot is done in some huddle room where Krishna, Arun and Varun when Dileep enters the room)
Dileep: So, how are we planning to handle the CUSTOM pll packaging. Seems like yesterday's pack had overwritten the customizations introduced in the previous pack. Buggers, please change your MD120 in such a way that old code is not deleted from the code unit.

(Dileep spots Varun in casuals)
Dileep: Dude of the nation, this is Monday and you have come in casuals..
Okay guys, get the pack ready in another hour for client-release.

(And shouts on the phone, ) Sunil bugger, wait for me, I am coming for the smoke..

Act 3:
title: Wakes up early for gymming

(The alarm rings with LedZep's "Kashmir" ringtone and Varun wakes up with all the energy at 6 am... gets ready)...
(V starts his rather slow jog on the street, but seeing a dog he just starts to walk )
(V reaches office and does the climb to 9th floor via stairs and breathes heavily when he reaches the gym, taps his tummy and starts cycle-pedaling ... )

Act 4:
title: And the story continues everyday

(V runs on the running machine and the fm radio in the gym room gives him company.. , along the pressing his tummy to check if it has reduced..)

Act 5:
title: V reaches home after one of those usual runs but now looking a lot slimmer and of course tired

Arun: What's wrong with you? Why are you over-doing your exercises... hang on.. i think your face has gone out of shape..
(Varun gets all worked up when he hears the 'face deformity part' .. and goes infront of the mirror and can't figure out anything)

Varun: Moron.. what do you mean ? Guess, it's looking all okay
Arun: No, your left-jaw is much longer than the right-one.. never noticed this earlier in you.. guess, it has to be related to some wrong exercise technique.. anyway, got some work, bye da..

(Varun just gapes at the mirror)

Act 6:
title: Jaws up-close

(In the gym, he goes infront of the mirror, now he knows the tummy is not his concern which is now in controlled shape, but the jaw is not.. and just wonders why it is like that.. )
Varun: Damn.. Arun...

Act 7:
title: In the bay

(Varun is working infront of his laptop in his bay and that's when Deepika starts up a conversation )
Deepika: So, any plans for the weekend ... ?
(holds his chin in 'rodin's thinking man' posture and replies..
Varun: Nothing much, though planning to play tennis..
(Deepika leaves in disgust.. )

Act 8:
title: Stares

(Varun reading newspaper in the reception and a girl passes by who just stares at Varun, Varun is not sure if it is the jaw that the girl just stared.. so just holds his chin.. )

Act 9:
title: V gets an email forward from Neemit in his gmail id, with subject as 'Deepika Padukone ***Careful'..

(Varun opens the mail and scrolls through the clips, but he stops scrolling and gets real close to the laptop to check one photo.. - Bach's "air on the g string" in the background)
Varun: Ah, the jaws and smiles..
(Varun notices that Deepika's left-jaw is also longer than her right.. and realises it's the same for all )

Holy Smoke

Here in Dublin, when men and women stand outside a pub, for a smoke and pint, that too when it is too cold out in the open. You wonder what's wrong with these people! But since 'no smoking' is religiously followed in all pubs, pub makes an amazing place for non-smokers who don't have to take the smoke when inside the pub.
But, what happens when the non-smokers have to pass through the platform :-(
More worrying factor is that the smokers do not realise that they are puffing the smoke directly on pedestrians who are using the platform :-(

Wonder why in India the rules are straight opposite i.e people are mostly banned from smoking outside in the open(public), but allowed inside enclosures :-(

Norah Jones

I knew she was a bit short, but when she came on stage in a lazy sweatshirt and jeans, you might wonder if she is just out of school. The concert was to start at 19 00 hours and I made a foolish mistake of taking that 1900 hours seriously. I was there in the hall 18 55 hours and I knew something was wrong when the entire hall was empty except for maybe 20 odd people (max) sitting in their chairs. I got curious and enquired if the concert is at 1900 and I was told by the usher in a polite tone that the concert will start around 9 or 9 30 pm and there will be another cover artist who will perform from 8 pm to 9 pm.
The chair was small uneasy when I wondered how am I going to kill time for another couple of hours, but things coasted when I took out my mp3 player and started listening to the usual dosage of LedZep. The flipside of the ticket had lots of instructions and one of them included come early and the organizers reserve the right to reject admission for latecomers. Damn, I took those words a bit too seriously and I was there on time like a school kid. Another instruction was 'do not carry any cameras and audience will not be admitted with objectionable materials'. I decided not to take my camera. Guess what, once Norah came on stage cameras of different models came out of people's hands and lots of lightning like flashes came in :-(
Quite disappointing, but was glad there was no other disappointments.
When the concert started at 8 pm, Norah sang some duets (those typical country/jazz/school rhythms) along with the cover singer and disappeared soon leaving the male cover singer to sing for another 30-45 minutes. I think Norah might have reached the venue just then and without reaching the make-up room she would have appeared on stage (so that she is not too late :-) ) and later get out of stage via backdoor for a makeup and reappear for the actual concert later around 9 pm.
And she came, this time she looked like a doll with the bright red gown. She was interacting constantly with the audience and it was more like Wimbledon-style i.e someone from the backbench gets her attention after the backbencher shouts 'norah, i love you.. ' or '..you are beautiful..' and she replies 'yeah.. i know..' with giggles all around.
She started with her hit 'Come away with me.. ' song and I was glad since it was one of those very few songs that I know which belonged to Norah. I guess she has an amazing fondess to country music style singing or maybe school rhythms, somehow songs of these genre kept coming after the initial song. I thought she was losing the audience with these slow songs, then came the interval. After the break, she starts performing funnier tracks and used drums a lot more effectively. Once the drums tempo came-in, the crowd started clapping and the concert became more livelier than ever.
The lighting was spectacular i.e not much fanfare but yet so lively. Norah comes across more of a country singer rather than a jazz singer at times. I guess the best part of the show was when she announced 'that this is the last song of the day' and performed 'sunshine .. sunshine.. ' and she and her entire troupe kind of performed a bow and she was on her way out. But, most of the audience did not move, I guess most of the audience knew the trick that she will always be back to perform one or two songs extra after she threatens to leave by claiming that this is the last song. And she came in again with the entire band and performed two more songs.
Some trivia on Norah, she was born to Pandit Ravi Shankar and Sue Jones(a NY musician). Her birth name is Geethali.Ravi Shankar and Sue got divorced early in her life. Her relationship with her father is stormy. Her father had played in Woodstock 1969 music festival and performed alongside 'the beatles' in 60s. I guess the genius in Norah was always there with this kind of background.

Rain

While browsing through tv channels I hit upon this song and I kind of knew this song has got something really kicking

Crowded House - 'Take the weather with you'

Their style appears to be similar to duran duran i.e strong rhythmic sound all through the movie typical of 80s music style. The lyrics appeared to be very simple too, though the video could have been much more interesting. Nevertheless, the steady beat and the genuineness of the song makes it so easy to relate to.

When people cringe about the dark clouds all around and the lousy rain spoiling all their weekend or weekday plans of going out, you feel sorry for them. Read some article a while back that suicides rates are much higher in western europe cause of its lousy grey rainy weather. The importance some give to weather forecast really beats you. One person on a TV interview replies 'It always rains here', when asked 'why she wants to leave England'. Thought these are heights anyway.
No wonder, this Crowded House song 'Take the weather with you' adores the blue sky.

Remember one exciting episode on NGC a while back, which tracked back as to how 'Cherrapunji' got the title as the wettest place on earth. Seems like one Scotsman was put on government duty to Cherrapunji more like a punishment posting by the English somewhere in 19th century. And the Scotsman got tired of the frequent rains in Cherrapunji, which was worse than Scotland where it rains 250 days of the year. In Cherrapunji, the rain is ferocious though and this Scotsman thought of committing suicide, but later to hit back on the boredom he started doing experiments on the rain water and came to the conclusion that 'Cherrapunji' is the wettest place on earth.

Leaving the trivia on Cherrapunji aside, I think rain clouds are a beauty to gaze at, thanks to the speed at which rain-clouds move around. And it is so beautiful when the rain does not pour down but just trickles and also when there is only rainclouds over you, but no rain. Those are the days, which I used to adore so much. Also, the exciting part when the school closes down expecting heavy rain, but by providence there is no rain and you play cricket all day.

Can remember a dialogue in 'Taxi Driver', where Robert DeNiro wishes that it rains in NY, so that all the dirt/sins are washed away from a sinned city like NY. Remember another interesting sequence related to rains in the movie 'City of Joy', Om Puri a hand-rickshaw guy charges more from the greedy Sethjis who take a ride in his rickshaw during monsoon time.

The best part about rain is that it gives a fresh start to various life-forms in the land. In particular, it is a delight to see how fluorescent green a grass gets during rainy days or just after rainy days.

The Animals - House of the Rising Sun

Truly remarkable song. When I saw the Scorcese movie 'Casino', I could pleasantly remember the amazing song which was running in the background when bodies got piled up after being brutally slaughtered near Las Vegas in the movie's climax. The song had a distinct "western" tinge (those typical Ennio Morricone or Clint Eastwood kind).

Video here

The song has a mesmerizing effect when you listen to it.

Where is my leg space?

Flying business class for 10+ hours is tough, the kind of frustration which creeps in knows no bounds at all. The problem with such flights is that you know there are lots of people who are flying with you are trying to be nice to one another and worst the flight attendants are also too helpful. Now, who is going to take the burnt of the bad leg space or hardly any breathing space available or arm place etc., - ah. Yes, it is you and you start grinding the teeth and hope the 10+ hours will end quick. Worst if in the name of flight entertainment, one gets to see sub-standard movies then god help us all!

Zindagi ne Zindagi

Classy song this from the movie 'The Train'. Probably the voice made all the difference, for a moment thought it was Atif Aslam, but it appears that the singer is Mithun. I thought maybe I need to read the lyrics, but the moment I start reading the lyrics I feel I am no longer bothered about deceiphering the meaning/my interpretation of the song, which will immediately make me lose interest over the song. So stopped reading the lyrics and started listening to the song.

Kind of reminds of a Ruskin Bond story 'The train stops at Shamli' in which the protagonist wanted to propose to a beautiful vendor at the railway station. The protagonist finds her beautiful but always worried to go ahead to her and propose to her fearing failure or worst fearing the future. The theme sounds so real !

Hi There

If words can lose any purpose, here it is when you hear a stranger telling you 'Hi There' or 'Are you okay?' or 'You alright?' or 'How are you doing?'. In India, when you hear these words from a stranger the first thing you ask yourself is 'is this person alright?' or 'what is his problem?' cause these greetings sounds so phoney.The problem in such greetings is that they hardly get to the next stage of any intimacy or even to start a simple conversation. Thus, 'Hi There!' sounds terribly absurd cause the person who greeted you is not keen to get on a conversation with you. 'Hi There' is more like a fence or shield i.e now that I told you 'Hi There', you either greet him/her back and then buzz off is probably the likely meaning.Anyway, I guess it takes great courage to still say 'Hi there' to a total stranger, cause there is always the chance of being ignored or worst insulted.

Mistake - whose stake is it anyway ?

There are so many times we volunteer to point out a mistake of someone's of course! And this seems so easy to pass the buck/blame, though it feels like doomsday when you are at the receiving end.

If a person 'A' blames another person 'B', does it make 'A' a hero ?
Hmm.. Listening to A's, 'I told you then,... ' or 'I wish you had done this way .... ' or 'You should have asked my help .. ' is probably one of the most nauseating experiences for 'B'.

I think if B commits an error/mistake 'E' and 'A' is able to point the mistake 'E', then 'A' by default becomes a stake-holder in this mistake 'E'. Thus, the moment 'A' identifies the problem he is also part and parcel of the problem and there is no way 'A' can play the holy ghost by lecturing that 'this could have been done that way'.

Movies by Weekends

HotFuzz:

One of those British comedies similar to 'Borat' which kind of fails to understand whether it is going to be an out-and-out spoof movie or an original comedy movie :-( The final product is more of a parody which is just ordinary :-(

Insomnia:

Saw this Al Pacino, Robbie Williams, Hillary Swank what appeared to be a total waste of the talent. Maybe the plot was too weak, though the part on how Al Pacino loses sleep cause of the sun-which-never-sets in Alaska was well thought out!

Notorious:

This Alfred Hitchcock movie was fun to watch, typical story but nothing really special about it though.

Bheja Fry:

Somehow the story does not suit the Indian context, so never really liked this movie.

Hideous Kinky:

The storyline is fascinating i.e how Kate looks all around Morocco for finding herself, but always misses the part that she can never find herself in Morocco cause there is nothing to find. Life just moves on, cause there is no 'destination'.

Stranger than fiction:

Too good a movie. The stars really lift the story and the plot speaks volumes for itself.Must see!

Oceans 13:

Fun movie to watch. Though the screen looks too over-crowded with so many actors (thirteen is too many, cause of that many hardly get a screen presence at all)

Goal and Goal II:

Typical feel-good movies, some of the shots are breathtaking i.e roping in so many football stars and getting some beautiful clips on screen.

The good shepherd:

Decent movie. De Niro's debut into direction. One dialogue between Joe Pesci and Matt Damon was really the pick of the flick in which Matt Damon tells Joe Pesci that his(cuban immigrants views) or Italian-Amerian views or Irish views etc., do not matter in this country(USA), but only views like his(English Protestant) matters cause they are the true patriots. Joe Pesci's role was a good cameo.

Birds:

Really good movie this. Only Hitchcock can scare the viewers with even harmless innocent animals like sea gulls or with other birds. Seagulls seems to have earned enormous respect from me !

A Good year:

Drab movie this, surprising how Russel Crowe picked this role :-(

A Simple Plan:

Creepy movie this, not sure I enjoyed it anyway

Rogue Trader:

The story of Nick Leesing, somehow it appeared to be more of a documentary rather than a movie, not enjoyable of course!

Airplane:

Typical Leslie Nielson movie, enjoyable !

Movies by weekend

The Namesake:

Ordinary movie. What could have been a ripper of a movie was sadly lost.
I have serious doubts on any biopic(running through years/decades) being flawless!
What a star cast for this movie - Kal Penn, Tabu, Irfan - but sadly the director loses them all with some rather pathetic plots all around. I have not read the book by Jhumpa Lahiri, but will try my hand on that soon.
Hopefully, the book is much better than this movie.
I really wish Mira Nair could have done a better job when Kal loses Irfan and then decides to shave his head.
There is something so innocent about Kal Penn's role, which the director manages to lose. Irfan's story and Tabu's story also could have been developed better. I think you cant have too many plots all around and still manage to pull off a coup. Only very few movies like Steven Soderberg or Alejandro González Iñárritu or Paul Thomas Anderson (Magnolia) or Darren Aronofsky(Requiem for a Dream) can pull it off.

8 1/2:

Federico Fellini movie was simply puzzling all the way. Some of the imagery reminded me of David Lynch style of film-making with dreams allowing the audience never to really understand where the story is really running.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang:

Bad movie. I only wished I had given a skip watching this movie !

Barbarians at the Gate:

Not sure, if I enjoyed this movie. It was more like a drama and the movie just coasted along thanks to interesting dialogues. But this movie is certainly nowhere near Wall Street's class.

Eating lunch infront of the computer !

I hate to eat lunch in office cafeteria alone and would gladly skip lunch if I don't have company. But it was a rude shock for me to find some on site colleagues having their lunch (sandwich) in front of the computer @ work. Damn, thought how unsocial this :-( and was wondering what is wrong with these guys! But, I guess these guys really take their 8 hours at work too seriously, while we in India have an idea of extending this 8 hours to an extra hour or two, since we think it is important to socialize with colleagues/friends at work during lunch or tea time or chatting online with a friend or chatting with a friend on sports/current affairs. Lunch for an hour is certainly a luxury for on site colleagues but not for offshore workers here. Socializing helps in a way to beat the drudgery that one hits at work.

When relationships does not mean a thing!

Have you ever sit with your relatives or friends who you consider close, but still afraid to utter a word cause you think that might really hurt them or you are afraid they might consider this offending. Hmm.. , it's a real tragedy this predicament. I only wish I don't have to face a situation like this. Guess, the ideal situation is for people to be more open and talk it over honestly with sincerity.

Movies by weekends

The Big Lebowski:

Nice comedy.
Jeff Bridges coming across as 'dude' and his friends were major fun to watch.
The political sub-context though was a bit tough to understand, why censure George Bush?

Fearless:

Classic Jet Li action flick.

Mindhunters:

Ordinary plot :-(
Definitely not worth the watch

Asterix and the Vikings:

Not sure whether I enjoyed this animation flick.
Ordinary one.

Just my luck:

Chick-flick featuring Lindsay Lohan.
Ordinary movie all the way !

The Queen:

Fantastic movie.
The way the story unfolds is really outstanding.
The way the chemistry between Tony Blair and the queen builds is picturized in a fantastic way.
Philip, Cherie and Charles characters were also nicely pictured.

The last king of Scotland:

Another fantastic movie. I think the James McAvoy deserved the Oscar and not Forest Whitaker, wonder how come he got
nominated in the first case :-(
The historical background made this movie a delight i.e the 'eviction of Asians' and 'Raid on Entebbe'.

Pan's Labryinth:

Another fantastic movie which has a historical background, this time Spanish civil war.
Maribel Verdu had a superb role.
This movie was certainly mesmerizing and eats your brain all the way.

Dead or Alive:

hmm.. I wish I had not seen this movie :-(

Heat:

When De Niro and Al Pacino act in a movie - what else does one need - it's a true delight !
Movie was really fantastic. Probably the best sequence is when Pacino has dinner with De Niro !
Movie had superb casting too.

Thank you for Smoking:

Liked this movie. It was so dark, so insensitive but still was so real.

The ladykillers:

Decent watch this Tom Hanks movie.
Probably too many gospels all around and the slowness are the spoilers.

Traffic Signal:

Though the movie is a bit ordinary.
But one really has to admire the conviction of Madhur Bandarkar in experimenting with movies such as this with a
novel backdrop.

Clueless:

When I first saw this movie a few years back I got so bored with the cliches that I switched off my TV.
But ever since I read 'reelfanatic's review on 'Clueless' I was keen to give this movie another chance and now I guess
I think I am happy I saw this movie again. The movie appeared to be lot fun if you could patiently watch through all
the antics of Alicia Silverstone..

Casino:

What a movie! Guess, this probably has to be the best Scorcese movie ever!
De Niro and Joe Pesci combination was a treat to watch.

Saving Silverman:

Good comedy movie this.
Wished Jack Black had a bigger role in this flick. Though have to admit Jack Black parts were great fun to watch.
Amanda Peet's role was also good fun to watch.

Letters from Iwo Jima:

Not sure whether this movie deserved all the nominations that it got in Oscars.
Think it s an ordinary flick from Clint Eastwood.

Lucky Number Slevin:

Good masala all around and time just flies when you watch this movie.

Dirty Harry:

Not sure why this movie appears to have a cult-following :-(
Very ordinary flick

The Last Temptation of Christ:

This movie was too good an attempt.
Mel Gibson's movie "the passion of christ" really fades away when one compares his movie to Scorcese's.
What a shame really a person like Mel Gibson who has directed really phoney movies like 'the passion of christ'
and 'braveheart' was awarded an Oscar for best direction :-(
This movie had a few technical faults like camera shadows, bad lighting and shadows due to those lightings during
many parts in this movie.

Chasing Amy:

Good movie. The dialogues were crisp and quick and the movie was short which would help one to enjoy the movie!

Hannibal:

Thought this movie was very good.
Though one would wish Jodie Foster could have acted in this sequel!

Black Friday:

Very good movie.
Anurag Kashyap is certain to go places.
Inspite of many sub-plots all around, the movie sequence was coherent.

Mozhi:

Okay kind of movie, but I think my mother liked this movie.

Curious George:

Dont think I enjoyed this movie.

Nacho Libre:

Jack Black movie sadly failed to live up to his usual standards :-(

Hercules:

Another animation flick, which is really ordinary.

Ferris Bueller's Day Off:

Out of the world movie.
This was a total entertainer.

The tragedy of MacBeth:

Did not really enjoy watching this movie. I did not like 'The Pianist' either.
Maybe Roman Polanski movies a bit hyped.

Fistful of Dollars:

May not be the best western movie, but still a decent watch thanks to the climax.
Though I feel that bullet proof was a bit silly, but still the high-pitch music will really get you behind the lead actor.

From Hell:

I think I am a sucker to conspiracies.
Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell certainly have to be the god of conspiracies.
This movie will certainly grow on you if you are willing to ignore some gory brutal scenes.

All the Kings Men:

Was totally lost while watching this movie. Thought this entire super starcast is wasted in a rather ordinary movie.
Later via imdb, got to know that this happens to be a take on the life of Huey Long.

Apocalypto:

This movie was a ordinary, though the saving grace was the 'action chase sequences' in the climax.

Frankenstein:

Wished I had skipped this movies :-(

The road to Perdition:

Thought this movie was brilliant. Tom Hanks ' underplayed performance is a delight to watch.
Sam Mendes is brilliant.

The Dreamers:

Bernardo Bertolucci's movie is a master-piece for sure.
Probably a movie fan's delight.

Idiocracy:

Ordinary movie. could have been a laugh riot but somehow lost its way.

A History of Violence:

Movie based on a graphic novel, ordinary movie though.

All Quiet on the Western Front:

Decent watch this movie. Though it was black all the way.

Dog Day Afternoon:

The movie was ordinary, though it was fun at times.

Rat Race:

Surprised that the maker of 'Naked Gun' series made this movie :-(

Falling Down:

Ordinary movie.

300:

Was expecting this movie to be similar to 'the 300 spartans' but the moment movie started was certain that this is a take on a graphic novel. The movie was slick and was reminded of Robert Rodriguez's 'Sin City'(also authored by Frank Miller) i.e the flying robes, the bright eyes, the night shots.

8 1-2:

The title refers to the total number of films Fellini had previously directed: six films plus three collaborations (one of them, Boccaccio '70, counted as half a film as it was a short segment), making this production number 8½.[citation needed] Its working title was La Bella Confusione (The Beautiful Confusion). (picked from wiki).
Enjoyed the parts when flash-backs come-and-go unannounced and when director's imagination runs wild when real scenes are running. But was disappointed to see the movie running on and on, wished the movie had a more interesting climax :-(

Good Night and Good Luck:

Superb movie!
Set in 1950's this story of 'typical' New York left-leaning Democrats taking the fight against McCarthyism.

Movies by weekends

Borat:

Somehow, could not really appreciate this movie.
The movie was comical in parts but otherwise it was a major bore.

The Day of the Jackal:

Almost everything about this movie was good.
No unwanted zoom or rowing camera work, no unwanted dialogues, no blaring music, clean story and typical European kind of stylish cinema made this movie a treat to watch.

Corporate:

Madhur Bandarkar's style is slick and is good. Fellow is trying something out of the box.
Though this movie was a bit ordinary, maybe the movie was a bit too long.

Duck Soup:

Movie was an ordinary slapstick comedy, but for a movie made in 1934 it is good.

Pride and Prejudice:

Classy Jane Austen novel adapted into a movie.
I have become a fan of Jane Austen movies(novels adapted into) ever since I saw Sense and Sensibility and now with Pride and Prejudice maybe the all-Brit star cast and the Brit-accent tilts my opinion towards these movies.

Alwar and Pokkiri:

Alwar is definitely forgettable. Ajith really needs some acting lessons.
Pokkiri is a take of 'the departed'.
The hero-orientation in tamil movies and the punch dialogues has added lots of slick-content to tamil cinema, but also kills the content part.

Old School:

Good fun movie, more of teenage american comedy genre.

If Only:

The movie appeared to be a drab and hopelessly romantic.

Blue Velvet:

David Lynch movie.
Surprisingly less confusing story for a Lynch movie.

Waist Deep:

Decent masala movie. Fast action packed thriller.
Listening to Ebonics or Brit accent is major fun.

The Last Kiss:

Started as a good movie, but somehow lost its way after a while and never really got back on track.
Hopelessly romantic and a bit of a drab.

Requiem for a Dream:

What a movie !
Totally mind-blowing.
I have seen couple of drug-addiction related movies, but this is certainly the best.
The best scenes must include how the old lady tries to diet and refuses to eat food inspite of all the demons she is facing.

16 Blocks:

Decent watch. Out and out masala movie.
Though all the while I hoped someone will shoot Eddie Bunker who kept on talking nonsense in spite of Bruce Willis instructions asking him to stop talking.

Dazed and Confused:

Looking at the star cast I was really surprised to see so many good actors featured in this movie, though I could not identify many of them in this movie.
Thought this movie was a bit ordinary.
Surprised to find 'cricket bat' used for hitting juniors in this movie.

About Shmidt:

Did not like this movie, thought there was hardly a plot in place in this movie.
Movie was also a bit too slow.

25th Hour

Spike Lee movie.
Thought this movie was just ordinary.
Worst could not understand the rationale of reminding us the WTC debris.

Find me guilty:

This movie does not have much of action though it is about Italian Mafia in New York.
Decent watch though.

Derailed:

Nice thriller. Clive Owen is a fantastic actor. Shame he missed out James Bond's role.

Manhattan Murder Mysteries:

A classic Woody Allen movie.
Fun to watch.

Man on Fire:

This movie is an ordinary one where Denzel Washington does a Terminator.
Radha Mitchell sadly has a pretty much of a nothing role in this movie.

Amorros Perreros:

Master-piece of a movie by Alejandro González Iñárritu.

Little Miss Sunshine:

Too good a movie.
Like American Beauty, the idea behind this movie is also about American dysfunctional family but this one is so much fun to watch and falls more into the feel good genre.

Crank:

Damn fast action packed movie.
Worth a watch and time really flies while watching this movie.

Paths of Glory:

Classic movie. This movie made a fantastic watch.
The men humming in the background before the war and long shots in the trench reappered in Kubrick's future classics like 'Dr. Strangelove .. ' and 'The Shining'.
Michael Douglas ' walking style and dialogue delivery is so similar to his father Kirk.

Unforgiven:

This movie appeared to be an ordinary western movie by Clint Eastwood.

The Prestige:

Too good a movie. The Edison-Tesla conflict really made this movie more interesting.

Defensive cricket :-(

Whether it is 10 for 2 or whether it is 200 for 2, when Sachin and Dravid are in the crease one thing is certain to happen i.e game becomes drab when they both compete who scores lesser runs or who leaves more balls to the wicket-keeper. It is such a miracle how these guys have done this time-and-again i.e to kill the spirit of the game.

1999 India in Australia - First Test in Adelaide - the infamous test in which Sachin got out lbw to a McGrath bouncer(which sadly did not bounce). When Laxman got out after a quick 35 runs in which he was freely pulling/cutting/driving McGrath and other Aussie fast-bowlers (Laxman was kind of hinting to us all on what he is going to do in the next tests(he scored 167* in Sydney then) and in all the future matches against Australia), Sachin and Dravid started their patnership. The next hour or two probably saw the worst defensive batting one can ever see in international-matches when Sachin and Dravid were competing each other as to who is a better leaver of the ball. Once Aussies knew these guys are playing a drab innings they nailed us and India never lifted its head all through the series including the one-dayers. Imagine what other batsman in the dressing room will infer if Sachin gets to play such a pathetic knock in a pitch like that of Adelaide(which historically is kind of similar to India pitches i.e conducive for batting)!

Both these guys did it again in the recent series in South Africa when they needlessly went for another hugely irritating defensive tactic while setting a total for SA for the 4th innings. SA attacked and India kind of went kneeling from then on. What a shame, at one end we had Kumble/Sreeshanth/Zaheer struggling very hard playing attacking cricket high-priests of Indian cricket Sachin and Dravid spoiled the party.

Sachin did something similar in 1998 test against Pakistan in Chennai too i.e when he and Nayan Mongia played atrocious defensive cricket against bowlers of the calibre of Nadeem Khan(who is like a Mr.Nobody in international cricket) or Shahid Afridi. Though a good thing about that test is when, Sachin suddenly let loose and went on to play a memorable attacking shorts of Saqlain, though sadly we lost that test by a whisker.

Sachin has this rather irritating habit of looking at the pitch when he gets out to a ball which did not bounce as much as he had anticipated, and my god you have to see the commentators reaction when Sachin does this glare on the pitch immediately one gets to hear some mumbling by Gavaskar/Shastri(and other Sachin-crony commentators) as to pitch not conducive for test cricket and all that blah. The worst part is the kind of signals Sachin sends to other players in the dressing room who are bound to get psyched with all this and will stop playing attacking cricket.

But it s such a surprise how Sachin ups his game from nowhere for World Cup series alone. One has to look his World Cup average to realise how much of a big-match series this player is. Hopefully he does some justice to that reputation this world cup.

Movies by weekends - Directors copy themselves !

Me, You and Dupree:

Ordinary watch this movie. Did not expect such a drab of a movie.
There is hardly any comedy worth and worst part Michael Douglas too has a bad role.

The Departed:

Too good a movie. Mark Wahlberg character was total fun right from the start.
The starcast of this movie made this movie an enjoyable one.
I am reminded of Kamal Hassan's 'Kurudhi Punal' while watching the undercover agent plot, but this one was more fun to watch thanks to those all those f words, b words, s words and the chiding comments by Mark Wahlberg made this movie a really entertaining one.
But I trust this movie will find it hard to break into the Oscars, cause this movie is not really all that feel-good.
Surprising, how Scorcese left his NY backdrop for Boston.
Yet to see 'Infernal affairs' though, would love to see that.

The Curse of the Jade Scorpion:

Fun movie. Woody Allen calls the shots all along. Helen Hunt looked a bit old in the golden blonde hair style.

Cars:

Decent watch this movie. The history part of Route 66 and Inter-State made this movie more interesting.
The way Hollywood brings in a little bit of history/social consciousness/political activism into the movies and making the plot relate to that is pure genius. Range De Basanti tried something similar and it was a brave attempt.

My Super Ex-girlfriend, Step Up, Miami Vice, Step Up:

Watching the above list of movies in-flight, helped me doze off.
Definitely not worth the view.

Tightrope:

Ordinary Clint Eastwood movie, not much of a plot to follow.

Crimes and Misdemanours:

Good movie. Woody Allen parts are fun to watch.
The 'luck' part in this movie plot seems to have been reused in another Woody Allen movie 'Matchpoint'.
One gets the feeling that it is kind of impossible for any directory to copy himself.

Manhattan:

Good movie. Fun to watch all of Woody Allen antics again.
Best part of the movie is when Woody Allen runs towards his former girl-friend in a sudden moment of realisation and tells her about his love for her - that part was so Hollywoodish, but the ending was certainly not. It is truly remarkable how Woody Allen movies end.

Small Time Crooks:

Fun movie again. Woody Allen carries the movie all the way.

Teen Deewarein:

Thought the movie was slowly taking the 'Shawshank Redemption' route with all the slow shots on jail-life and the plan to escape, but the movie took a rather tame turn in the end. Decent watch.

Babel:

Fantastic movie. The way different stories are shot in different geographies and the way all the stories bind together made the movie an enjoyable one. Think this movie has the potential to win a few Oscars. Great actors and great story.
Kind of in the same mould as 'Traffic' or 'Crash' or 'Syriana', but still a lot different.

Wonder Boys:

Decent watch this movie. Both Frances McDormand and Katie Holmes were a treat to watch.

Happy Feet:

Not really a good entertainer. Ordinary view this movie.

First Daughter;

Bad movie. Surprised that Forest Whitaker directed this movie, did not know him much as a director.
Bad chick-flick (is this a deadwood?) :-(

Everyone Says I love you:

Good movie this one. Funny musical. Woody Allen parts again is great fun to watch.
When you watch a Woody Allen movie, one gets to see all characters in the same Woody shade.
Old or young or poor or rich or male or female - you can see a little bit of Woody in all the characters.

The Purple rose of Cairo:

Fantastic movie. Mia Farrow was a treat to watch.
It s truly a ripper of a fantasy story.
The best part is the ending of this movie.
The end seems to be so real to all the magical reality that one got to see all through the movie.

Magnolia:

Good movie. The story is so complex that there is no way out while watching this movie. You are glued to the movie from minute one and you have to go all the way till the movie ended, the director gets the credit for making a movie like this. The toad rain was another unexpected part of the movie. Another movie which totally caught me was 'butterfly effect', movies like these kind of grips you to find out what the ending is ...

Ask the Dust, Bandidas:

Mexican sub-plot in Hollywood is pretty irritating at times cause of all the type-casting that have gone through in all the movies that have been made till now. Salma Hayek or Penelope Cruz probably were too naive to get type-cast like that. The credit for making good Mexican sub-plot in movies must go to Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino, these guys romanticised the Mexican sub-plots in their movies.

After the Sunset:

Decent flick this one. Certainly not as classy as 'The Thomas Crown Affair', but still pacey movie.
Enjoyed this dialogue,
the FBI guy says, "Just because you're English doesn't mean you need to hide your emotions."
Pierce Brosnan replies, "I'm Irish. We let people know how we feel."
And then says, "Now fuck off."

Frida:

Good movie. Probably a once in a lifetime role for Salma Hayek.
Very complex story as any biopics are always are.
Still, this is a superb attempt.

Colour of the night:

Bad plot, not worth the watch.

Get Over It:

Small role for Colin Hanks, who I thought is a good actor after seeing his 'Orange County'.
This is an ordinary movie, and Colin Hanks comes across as a bad actor who can never challenge Sean William Scott of American Pie fame in potraying a happy-go-lucky dude of American teen comedy movies.

Chasing Papi:
What a bad movie - chick-flick again.
The Mexican type-cast really sucks.

Guru:

ManiRatnam movie. One would get a feeling of deja vu while watching this movie.
Hardly anything original, probably re-ascertains the fact that directors end up copying their own old movies/ideas.
Abhishek certainly has played his part well, probably once in a lifetime role for him this.
The final sequence when Abhishek gives a lecture to the court, appeared to be totally senseless and totally stupid.
Thought ManiRatnam maybe tried a lift-off of 'The Aviator' in this sequence, but it comes across as a really poor attempt.ManiRatnam has shot this movie mostly in Mysore and one cannot miss out lots of landscapes or backgrounds which he had earlier used for his other movies like 'thalapathi'. I wish ManiRatnam can try something novel in his next attempt rather than copying ideas from his own earlier movies.

The Kid:

Decent watch this movie. Entertaining in parts, particularly the fat-chubby kid and the way he expresses himself to Bruce Willis.

Ay Hairathe

This song really took me by storm.
Guess, Hariharan and Alka Yagnik are lucky to have got this song.
Wish, Shreya had got this song though.

The starting of this song, reminded me of mouth-organ tone featured in 'Iruvar'.
Beyond that, 'dum dara duma...' was pretty much okay, though again not mind-blowing.

And alas, suddenly Hariharan sings 'Ai Hairathe.. ', what a start to the song, more like a dialogue. I cant understand much of what is sung but the starting phase of the song(pallavi) really is the highlight of this song.

And my fancy towards lyrics that I cant understand grew more when Alka sings 'Kyon Urdu Farsi bolthe.. '. I cant make out what 'farsi' means, but it really sounds romantic. Guess, it means 'why are you speaking Urdu so bad. .. maybe.. '

Of course Irish filler between pallavi and anupallavi is not really great.

And the 'tabla' accompanied all through the song is also pretty regular one but again nice. Remember my mother used to be a fan of 'tabla'-usage, will try to check with her, if she liked this 'tabla' piece.

'Hey Beauty, Dont go my love'
'Dont keep your foot on the ground'

'why do you speak Urdu like a foreigner'
'when i ask you to speak, you run away'
'the king of lies, why dont you speak'
'wherever i go, my eyes , hearing a poetry'
'which opens the mouth'

'Hey Beauty, Dont go my love'
'Dont keep your foot on the ground'

'2 4 months time have passed by'
'life has gone for a toss..'
'i see whom, who has till now'
'who has forgotten my face'

'Hey Beauty, Dont go my love'
'Dont keep your foot on the ground'

Here, goes my yet another translation attempt. I think I am pretty brave to try this, in spite of not knowing the language in which this song is sung. Guess, it's a Gujarati song?

The violin piece in unison in the final phase of the song i.e in sync with Alka's and
Hariharan's 'Ai hairathe... ' is a fine piece really. Only Rahman can pull off something like this..

Movies by weekend

Being John Malkovich:
While watching this movie, I could not help notice a similarity between this movie's style with 'Adaptation', later came to know that 'Charlie Kaufman' is the writer for both these stories.
The story and the sequence of events were original which must be the USP for this movie.

North By Norwest:
The starting credits for this movie was awesome.
The backdrop of UN for this movie, reminded me of Sydney Pollack's "The Interpreter".
The background music was also quintessential Alfred Hitchcock i.e the fast violin which raises the tempo of the movie.
The long shot when the bus comes from distance through a deserted highway in mid-west also made a fascinating shot, reminded me one of trade-mark David Lean shots.
The movie was an entertainer for most-parts. AH simply rocks!

Water:
The movie was good, the cinematography was also rich.
Fine display by all actors including the little girl, Seema Biswas, Lisa Ray and John Abraham were a delight to watch.

The first few sequences with the little girl walking around the streets merrily and the pleasant sitar chords in the background will remind the viewer of Satyajit Ray's "pather panchali" which had similar visuals with Pandit Ravishankar's
sitar in the background.
The final slide which mentions India still having too many married widows being treated shabbily sounded mythical.
That slide seemed like Director's attempt at selling India's poverty or shady past to West in-parts, which I guess even Satyajit Ray was blamed-upon. This statistic reminded me of Sidhu's famously lifted-quote:
"Statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital"

Gandhi's effect on ordinary Indians can never be disputed. If not for Gandhi or Raja Rammohan Roy or Dayanand Saraswati, maybe India's social evils would have never waded away. But still reliance on macho-men like these, is never going to help, in the end it is individual's resolve/courage to stand in his/her own legs and think on his/her own which is more important. Thus, the ending of this movie was greyish i.e expecting Gandhi to rescue the little girl. After all Gandhi himself was accused of sleeping with girls to test himself (of course the veracity of this information is disputed), but still the point to note is that, one just cannot rely on someone else to fight one's battle. One can take advise or support, but in the end of the day, it is he/she who has to fight for himself/herself.

And the background music in some parts seemed to be a lift-off of 'Titanic' theme music.
Otherwise, Rahman's music, Sukhwinder's songs and the flute-solo were awesome.

Don:
Farhan Akhtar is yet to catch up to his "dil chahta hai" standards.
Except for the end and some parts of the 2nd half of the movie which were decent, the movie was a bad-watch :-(

Breakfast at Tiffany's:
This movie was ordinary.
Thought the story was pretty weak and bland, so Audrey Hepburn's role would never really impress the viewer.

V for Vendatta:
Ordinary movie.
Movie has got loads of style, but not much content.
Some dialogues are out-of-place, reminded me of the conversation between "oracle and neo" or "architect and neo" in 'the matrix' trilogy. Wonder why someone would write those "smartypants" kind of dialogues and thus, lose the respect of the viewer.

The Magnificient Seven:
This movie certainly has to be the source for "Sholay"'s story.
The movie seemed like a typical wild-west-story and enjoyable for the same reason.

Arsenic and Old Lace:
Cary Grant movie, so unlike the Cary Grant one saw in 'North by Northwest'.
Almost everyone overacts in this movie, must have been an entertainer during the time this movie was released.

High Hopes

Beyond the horizon of the place we lived when we were young
In a world of magnets and miracles
Our thoughts strayed constantly and without boundary
The ringing of the division bell had begin

Along the long road and on down the causeway
Do they still meet there by the cut

There was a ragged band that followed in our footsteps
Running before time took our dreams away
Leaving the myriad small creatures trying to tie us to the ground
To a life consumed by slow decay

The grass was greener
The light was brighter
With friends surrounded
The night of wonder

Looking beyond the embers of bridges glowing behind us
To a glimpse of how green it was on the other side
Steps taken forwards but sleepwalking back again
Dragged by the force of some inner tide

At a higher altitude with flag unfurled
We reached the dizzy heights of that dreamed of world

Encumbered forever by desire and ambition
Theres a hunger still unsatisfied
Our weary eyes still stray to the horizon
Though down this road we've been so many time

The grass was greener
The light was brighter
The taste was sweeter
The nights of wonder
With friends surrounded
The dawn mist glowing
The water flowing
The endless river

Forever and ever


Great lyrics and a super video encapsulates the abstractness, which is so typical of Pink Floyd.

Nostalgia - a baggage?

Why would someone want to visit 'nostalgia'?
I guess 'Nostalgia' is like an easy virtual-meal.
You might be hungry and you might want to eat something
Now, what is it you can do ? :
i. Do some work or sweat and then earn your meal
ii. Or visit nostalgia. In 'nostalgia' one has the luxury of gaining a good dosage of ego-boost by just visualising the amount of hard-work you
might have done 'once upon a time' and the way you relished the fruits you got through that sweat.

Is 'nostalgia' good ?
Sadly no. What nostalgia provides is a fake self-esteem.

Why do we still visit and revisit 'nostalgia' no matter how 'stupid' it is really ?
Hmm.. that's a good question really :-)
I think self-gratification is the key.
And the moment one does not want to sweat any further, mentally one gets transported to nostalgia.
But the sad part of nostalgia is, 'nostalgia' does not pay, since the 'past' does not matter, while the 'present' always does.

Does yahoo groups or orkutting or clubbing onself to groups via alumni network or other groupings based on race/religion/nationality/caste/interests, involve revisiting nostalgia?
Yes, since we are more comfortable with folks we knew or we worked with or we studied with, one is bound to feel more at-home.
Everytime we associate ourself with a community i.e family or friends or religion or race, one is just trying to find a way to be @home rather than explore oneself in foreign places.

Guess, sustaining one's contacts(network) is an impediment, cause that is bound to allow the gradual evolution of onself and instead will provide a 'readymade short-cut' and thus, bound to kill one's originality or individuality.

Movies by weekend

A bout de Souffle or Breathless:

Saw this French movie without English sub-titles.
Thus, I did not really get the hang of this movie.
Though I felt the movie did not have much of a plot or build-up that one would associate with movies in-general.

American President:

Ah, It feels quite good to watch a 'Democrat' movie.
Wonder why too many 'Republican' movies are not getting their due in Hollywood ?

Runaway Bride:

Ordinary movie, though it was fun to watch in parts.

Lucky Numbers:

Lisa Kudrow with her wisecracks makes the movie interesting.
But otherwise the movie is a drab.

Shiva (2006):

This Ram Gopal Varma movie made up a good-watch.
RGV's underworld movies make up very good viewing and I guess it s difficult for people to get tired no matter how many
times RGV tries to make more movies on underworld-themes.
RGV is a genius i.e in the way he shot action sequences, the old-world style of simple fist fighting and simple background
score made up good viewing.
I saw the old 'Shiva' featuring Nagarjuna and Amala, that movie too made up very-good viewing thanks to the pregnant
silences before any action sequence. Raghuvaran's acting style was an added fillip.

Yun Hota To Kya Hota:

I think this movie which also happens to be Naseeruddin Shah's directorial debut, could have been lot more interesting had
the director not mentioned the "date" i.e Sep 10/11 during the various phases of this movie.
Since Sep 10 or Sep 11 dates is mentioned often, one is already aware of the ending and the climax wont surprise most
viewers :-(

Thunderball:

This movie was a thorough entertainer, quite advanced for its time.
Guess, this has to be one of the best Bond movies ever.

Free-hand writing

(In this passage, read skill in the generic sense)

I just have this feeling that, it is really not difficult to gain a skill. Only thing one needs to gain a skill is the motivation and hard-work. I think all men(and women) are born with equal skill, it is the exposure and the interest that really separates them.
For example, I once read an extra-ordinary interview with Gary Sobers(West Indies all-rounder). He once said in an interview that he got to see some extra-ordinary talents i.e better players than him in the islands and considering that Gary himself made this point makes it more astounding to read, but quite tragically Gary Sobers said none of those folks really got to represent Windies or shine like him. That interview made a fine reading.

I guess, there is an inherent difference between acquired and a natural skill. Natural skill has its pitfalls i.e you think you are good and you will be the best in a small-group and there comes the great recognition inside the group, but some rude shock awaits you when you find folks who are better than you in that skill. And the wall would seem to be closing on you from all directions. And it is quite a bad feeling and you will feel like calling it quits. Cause you are totally dependent on the natural skill. And natural skill has its limitations cause you cant improvise beyond a certain point.
And there comes the "acquired" skill. Acquired skill has no borders as I see, cause you are open to get snubbed all the while and learn more in this process. Acquired skill's advantage is that you start from nowhere, while the naturally skilled person is already moulded and thus, difficult to get out of that moulded-shape.

Here an interesting question arises, which is - "is natural skill an acquired skill?"
Guess, it s true.
Considering the fact that nothing is really natural/original. One acquires even the basic skills via copy/inspiration based on an existing skill. But what differentiates the natural skill to an acquired skill is in the mind.

Once you feel your skill is natural i.e you start becoming loyal to it and you stop learning or get drubbed by others and thus, you would stop learning/growing.
The moment you feel you are in the zenith, the learning stops and so does the growth.

Now, arises another interesting question, "does Federer or Tiger Woods or Sachin survive with their natural talents?". I think "no" is the answer. It is truly amazing to see Federer or Tiger or Sachin going on-and-on inspite of breaking any existing record. I guess, these folks would have to create their own demons or competitors to keep themselves competitive.

This thought of creating ones demon sounds like 1984 in a way. In 1984, the government or the big brother wants its citizens to work/grow and thus creates a mythical demon called "enemy state". The citizens listen to the big-brother and do as he says i.e they wage war towards the enemy state. Now, had there been no enemey state the citizens are bound to divert their interests on something else and if these citizens start thinking on their own the position of the big-brother goes for a toss. Thus, creating an artificial enemy helps the cause i.e to keep the status-quo up and running for some more time.

Guess, prodigal folks rely totally on the creation of "artifical barriers" or their own "big brothers a la 1984" in their heads and compete to achieve those "self-designed goals".

And, this cycle is definitely infinite i.e there is no peak in this quest. It goes on and on forever, cause there is no logical end to this search.

Guess, the solution lies in sticking to what one has(or rather relinquish) and not run after these artifical goals. This has got to be nirvana i.e this realisation.

Do we need nirvana or do we want to wantedly aim try to conquer the peak inspite of the knowing "what the logical end for this quest is" ?
Guess, the answer is there in the latter part of the above question i.e no matter what, we still try to invent a logical end to something which has no logical end.

Why do we do this i.e inspite of knowing the inevitable ?
hmm..
wish i know the answer...

Movies by Weekend

Road:

Thought this movie was good.
The plot looked more like a soft-porn movie with action-here-and-there.
And this movie kind of seems to have been inspired from some Amritraj-movie or some Jag Mundhra movie.

The best part include the final-climax sequences(and the real good chase, which reminded me one of those Road-Rash or Need-For-Speed kind of backdrop). Too bad, Antara Mali is not to be seen in many movies.

Swimming Pool

Good movie.
The slow lift that this movie gets is the best part of this movie.
There is hardly anything happening for maybe first 30 minutes of this movie and suddenly the plot lifts off in an extra-ordinary fashion. Guess, "plots" are what make movies exquisite to watch.
The actors were all brilliant. Most of the dialogues were in french and my un peu french was not of much use.

United - 93:

The last scene or commentary is what this movie is all about i.e the part when the narrator says "it s about the fight as to who controls the world".
Good movie to watch out with lots of characters playing as real-world themselves in this movie. It was rather awkward that when the passengers of United-93 revolted against the hijackers one might foolishly hope for a typical Hollywoodish-escape where passengers all defeat the hijackers and save the President of USA and reinstate the honour of USA etc., but that's not the case here.
It's also truly remarkable to see the resolve of the hijackers as well to die for a cause, but again it is very scary that someone will give their life-for-nothing. Afterall nothing really changes in the ground-level except maybe the hostile-attitude between warring-factions will hit the peak.
For the director, to have come-up with that climax-plot was truly remarkable i.e as to how the passengers fought-back against the hijackers.

Woh Lamhe

Dont think I am going to watch this movie after a disastrous visit to watch "Gangster". But thought this music-video "Woh Mujhe pyar hai" was good and not sure what was good, is it the song or the remix tune or the woman - Kangana.

Lost in "Tere Bin"

Pakistani singers are sensational and the best part is the way they mix slow-rock with their Urdu songs. Atif Aslam has really lifted this song to great heights.
Planning to listen to this non-stop as always, to see how long this song can last.


tere bin, main yun kaise jiya, kaise jiya tere bin
tere bin, main yun kaise jiya, kaise jiya tere bin

lekar yaadein teri, raatein meri kati
lekar yaadein teri, raatein meri kati
mujhse baatein teri, karti hain chandni

tanha hai, tujh bin raatein meri
din mere, din ke jaise nahi

tanha badan, tanha hai ruh
nam meri aankhen rahe
aaja mere ab rubaroo
jeena nahi bin tere

tere bin, main yun kaise jiya
kaise jiya tere bin
tere bin, main yun kaise jiya
kaise jiya tere bin

kab se aankhen meri, raah main tere bichhi
kab se aankhen meri, raah main tere bichhi
bhule se hi kabhi, tu mil jayen kahin

bhule na, mujhse baatein teri
bheegi hai, har pal aankhen meri

kyun saans loon, kyun main jiyun, jeena bura sa lage
kyun ho gaya tu bewafa, mujhko bata de wajah
tere bin, main yun kaise jiya, kaise jiya tere bin


Here, goes my translation-attempt of the above urdu lyrics into english:

without you, how can i live, how can i live
without you, how can i live, how can i live

brought your memories, i spend my night
brought your memories, i spend my night
talking about you 'does the moon

while alone, without you it's all night
morning is, is like no morning

...
...
come mine when
cant like without you

without you, how can i live
how can i live, without you
without you, how can i live
how can i live, without you

when ...
"

giving up :-)

Where is Vidyut?

Challenger Trophy was a surprise package this time, thanks to Neo Sports Channel. Guess, Nimbus are really investing hard in domestic-cricket. The coverage was clean, with no irritating advertisements all over the picture frame and no stupid-celebrity commentators.

And the best part of this package was "Sachin Tendulkar". He really got into the thick of action in no time. I think Sachin is really too-good a player for such tournaments, that too when he is in vintage touch. Lately, Sachin has started playing those irritating knocks no one really enjoys, maybe ever since the Syndey hundred against Australia. But not this time, Sachin was playing those usual straight drives and the speciality of this stroke of course is that there is no follow-through with the bat. Sachin also took Piyush Chawla on with those really brutal cross-batted strokes which he had earlier used to demolish Shane Warne or Saqlain Mushtaq(until he got out to Saqlain in that really disastorous Chennai test against Pakistan). Another person who got rather sever treatment from Sachin was Shreeshanth. Sachin came down the wicket to hit him over long on. Damn, that was audacious. That reminded me of a similar stroke Sachin played against McGrath in the Nairobi one-dayer.

One really wishes, Sachin continues to play positive innings rather than the hugely negative, selfish innings that he plays day-in and day-out lately in international cricket.

Sachin stole the thunder of the tournament from a few prospects who were expected to shine in this tournament like Rohit Sharma(who Vengsarkar considers to be a prospective India player), Badrinath(he is still in the reckoning, guess he is yet to do something special to catch selectors eyes). Now, speaking of prospects, where is Vidyut ? Remember some of his really booming shots that he played in the last Mohali Challenger tournament. Too bad, he did not play in this tournament. Guess, he should have cause this venue(Chepauk) is also his home-ground.

Also, one wishes more under 19 players were introduced into this tournament. Maybe India U-19 team can be introduced into this tournament as the 3rd team rather than usual 3rd team. That will really make this tournament a good opening for lots and lots of prospects.

Mediocrity

It's been the story of my life.
I get to know about a skill "A".
I try to learn skill "A" for a while.
And I am simply amazed with my ability to pick up that skill in no time.
I feel extremely comfortable with skill "A" and pursue with it for a while and suddenly I find there are folks who are much better than me in that skill "A".
There comes the frustration cause I cant beat those folks in skill "A", cause I have hit upon a plateau myself and I resign I cant improve my skills in "A" and I say quits.

Soon, I see a new skill "B" and the cycle goes on....

Somehow, it s been always quite easy for me to score 5 or 6 out of 10 in 5 different skills, but never achieved the 10 out of 10 in any one skill. Really wonder how I thrive in mediocrity rather than ever bothered to specialize in one area.

Movies by Sunday

The Thirty Nine Steps:

Alfred Hitchcock movie. The plot was a bit silly i.e in identifying a Mr. Memory to remember the secret and thus pass a secret formula to pass it on to enemy-country, but nevertheless the movie was a good entertainer.
One shot which was truly breathtaking was the one in which two spies(masquerading as policeman) travel in a car alongwith the hero and the heroine in the Scottish countryside. The camera appears to have been placed inside the car(travelling at good speed) in a still-fashion allowing all four people be present on-screen and suddenly the camera pulls away and appears to be on the ground and the car moves on the road at good speed. Thought this was something spectacular considering the year in which the movie was shot i.e 1935.

The Human Stain:

Good movie. The story was spectacular and somehow the "Lagey Raho.. " value of "tell the truth" hit me while watching this movie. Only if Anthony Hopkins had done that ...
Of course, Anthony Hopkins did not and thus we have a good story. Good starcast truly lifted the viewing-experience.

The Road to Guantanamo:

Documentary tale, quite gripping but sadly while watching this movie one's opinion is bound to oscillate between "being tough on terrorists/terrorism" to "adopting a humane approach to terrorists".
Thought some portions of this movie was badly shot. In one sequence the three Brits of Pakistani origin are said to be in Guantanamo but sadly the terrain in the backdrop appeared to be totally barren with rocks and seems to have been shot under a terrific hot sun. But I guess these shots instead of being shot on a tropical/equatorial location (considering the fact where Guantanamo is located), those shots were shot maybe in Iran or Afghanistan.

Movies by weekend

Lagey Raho Munnabhai:

Surprisingly this movie was good.
One forgettable moment in this film is the "good morning mumbai .. " chant -
I know for one Radio Mirchi RJ was a motor-mouth and you wish sometimes RJs really stop talking and play music.

Omkara:

This movie was good, with its brilliant star-cast, except that this movie was a trifle bit too long.

The Corporation:

Strong documentary movie.
After seeing this documentary, one would really have doubts whether he should be working for any corporation.
Concepts dealt in this documentary are a bit impractical. For example, they talk about how Nike is exploiting third world countries as its manufacturing base. I think sometimes the cruel truth is that third-world countries hardly have anything left with them that they are willing to work in sweat-shops. It's an extremely complex topic and guess, unless the haves are willing to forego their wealth the rest hardly have any chance to grow. It is impossible for law/state to distribute wealth to have-nots without the approval of haves(who can take refuge in capitalistic democracy-fabric).

Wall Street:

Another Democrat movie.
Made up good viewing and it was fun to watch the cocky Michael Douglas.
The talk on Republican/Democrat between Martin Sheen with Daryl Hannah was an interesting one, when Martin Sheen enter's Charlie Sheen's apartment.

Unsent

Listening to Unsent non-stopped for a while. Nothing like only one song getting played in winamp and you force yourself to listen to the same song again-and-again until the song totally sinks into the head.

Here goes the lyrics:

"Unsent"

dear matthew I like you a lot I realize you're in a relationship
with someone right now and I respect
that I would like you to know that if you're ever single
in the future and you want to come visit me in california
I would be open to spending time with you and finding
out how old you were when you wrote your first song

dear jonathan I liked you too much I used to be attracted to boys
who would lie to me and think solely about themselves and you
were plenty self-destructive for my taste at the time I used to say
the more tragic the better the truth is whenever I think of the early 90's
your face comes up with a vengeance like it was yesterday

dear terrance I love you muchly you've been nothing
but open hearted and emotionally available and supportive
and nurturing and consummately there for me I kept drawing you in
and pushing you away I remember how beautiful it was to fall asleep
on your couch and cry in front of you for the first time you
were the best platform from which to jump beyond myself what
was wrong with me

dear marcus you rocked my world you had a charismatic way
about you with the women and you got me
seriously thinking about spirituality and you wouldn't let me get away
with kicking my own ass but I could never really feel relaxed and looked out
for around you though and that stopped us from going any further
than we did and it's kinda too bad becasue we could've had much more fun

dear lou we learned so much I realize we won't be able to talk for some time
and I understand that as I do you
the long distance thing was the hardest and we did as well as we could
we were together during a very tumultuous time
in our lives I will always have your back and be curious about you
about your career about your whereabouts


The crushes story makes super listening and so was the music-video(when I first saw it on TV)

The Devil Wears Prada

Thought this movie was very good.
The best part about this movie include the climax when the Anne Hathway has to decide which path to choose.

For pulling off a Anne Hathway kind of decision i.e to pursue the dream-career, one really has to be passionate towards the same and have loads of confidence in oneself. I guess not many of us really do what we really want to do, instead we do what pays us better to enjoy the mortal-pleasures of life. Maybe we are not all that passionate on the dream-career, to give up what we have got or what we might get at the moment. It's a clear case of "The Road Not Taken".

Really wonder, small kids who are into sports and have sets their sights high on what-they-want and work-very-hard towards the same, losing their childhood/adolescence to sports instead of idle-fun.

Guess, most of us think of Plan A, B, C.. and so on before we even take any decision. But there might be some moments that what is in-store is just Plan A. Guess, the availability of only one 'plan' pushes the achievers to achieve something out-of-the-blue.

Unbreakable

Lion King 2:
I wish I hadn't see this movie. But somehow the compulsive movie watcher in me took over and I just hoped that the movie will end !

Dude Where's the party yaar:
Bad movie. Wish I had not seen this movie, but blame it on my bad-selection of movies sometimes.
Now, I think I am going to become a little more selective in watching movies.
Kal Penn - huge waste of talent like his, in this movie.

Unbreakable :
This movie is one of my all-time favourite one.
I remember seeing this movie for the first time in a theatre in Madurai called "Manicka Vinayagar". And it was a night show and I was keen not to miss out this movie. It's quite a trend there to dislodge any movie which does not have full-house immediately and replace with tamil-dubbed some English/HongKong action movie. So, I did not take a chance of post-poning my watching this movie for the next-day. I went to the theatre without much of an expectation. Then, I have not seen "The Sixth Sense", but just came to know about Shyamalan's meteoric rise.
"Manicka Vinayagar" theatre is well known for their motley editing-crew who cut short any given movie. You might really get irritated with all these random cuts then and there, but it wont bother you if you are watching the movie for the first time, cause you never know what scene really got cut. After watching this movie, I had a fairly long walk back to my place for a nap. The walk was extremely memorable, cause that really got me thinking into the overall plot of the movie. Somehow, Shyamalan clearly bowled me clean then.
And after approximately 6 years after watching this movie, I got hold of "Unbreakable" again in my computer. And I could not really wait for long to watch that movie again, with more attention than ever. And did I not enjoy this movie !
It's a real class work by Shyamalan for sure.
The best part was the search by Samuel L Jackson as Elijah for Bruce Wills as David Dunn. I think all of us sometimes really wonder the reason for our existence in this planet. And one just cant do much but appreciate Elijah in not giving-up, but trying to find out 'why he is here(earth) in first-case?'.

And the interest Bruce Wills shows to really identify "who he really is" is spectacularly portrayed. I think there are folks who really show tremendous interest in spirituality or sports or astrology or work, which are nothing but avenues through which one really find out who they really are.

It sounds such a perfect story and one cant but really wonder how Shyamalan pulled-off such a fantastic movie.

Vettayadu Vilayadu:

Got to saw this 'hot' movie in PVR after a huge-delay. Surprisingly it was housefull even for a weekday night-show. It's quite a boring movie. Gautham with his rowing shots and sometimes the overindulgence of animation/graphics was too predicatable right from the start. Kamal looked awful in a role of a policeman and so many sequences in this movie were taken in a rude unaesthetic sense that you wonder why the director had to include them in the story. Wonder if Jyothika has really set the standards for female-lead to overact in tamil movies. There are so many aspiring actors(female) who copy her over-acting style.

Sillendru Oru Kaadhal:
Yet another forgettable movie, but seems to be better than VV. Bhoomika looked brilliant for most part of the movie, forgive her outlandish costume she wears during the closing stages of the movie. Santhanam gets poor screen presence and so does Vadivelu, so nothing much left for slapstick comedy fans.

And I happen to saw Arul Mani(http://al-lude.livejournal.com/) in the theatre but could not speak to him :-(

I remember reading Beatzo's spectacular post(http://beatzo.livejournal.com/116945.html) on Sillendru Oru Kaadhal songs infact that was nothing but a damn good tribute to A R Rahman.

Aicha

Guess, Khaled makes all the difference to a song like this.
The lyrics are mostly in French except for a few lines which are in Arabic.

A romantic song like this in a romantic language like French sung by an expressive Arabic crooner with those real strange pronounciation of "h" or "g" and other syllables makes it an absolute delight i.e the experience to listen to this song.
Remember seeing some interview by Priety Zinta sometime back which was shot soon-after the release of "Veer-Zaara". During that interview Priety said that she had to really work on her pronounciation cause her dialogues were in Urdu and she gave a demo on the pronounciation of certain syllables like "h" or "g" in Urdu. The way she pronounced it appeared like these syllables will need lots of air in-them(like Shreya Ghosal or Harini who have this particular style which appeases the listener thanks to their innocent voice and pronounciation of lyrics). Guess, the same rule applies to Arabic(from which Urdu is supposed to have been derived).


Comme si je n'existais pas
Elle est passée à côté de moi
Sans un regard, Reine de Sabbat
J'ai dit Aïcha prends tout est pour toi
Voici les perles, les bijoux
Aussi l'or autour de ton cou
Les fruits bien mûrs au goût de miel
Ma vie Aïcha si tu m'aimes

J'irais où ton souffle nous mène
Dans les pays d'ivoire et d'ébène
J'effacerais tes larmes tes peines
Rien n'est trop beau pour une si belle

Oooh!
Aïcha... Aïcha... écoute-moi
Aïcha... Aïcha... t'en vas pas
Aïcha... Aïcha... regarde-moi
Oooh!
Aïcha... Aïcha... réponds-moi

Je dirais les mots les poèmes
Je jouerais les musiques du ciel
Je prendrais les rayons du soleil
Pour éclairer tes yeux de rêves

Oooh!
Aïcha... Aïcha... écoute-moi
Oooh!
Aïcha... Aïcha... t'en vas pas

Elle a dit garde tes trésors
Moi je vaux mieux que tout ça
Des barreaux sont des barreaux même en or
Je veux les mêmes droits que toi
Du respect pour chaque jour moi je ne veux que l'amour
Aaaaah!

Nbghik Aïcha ou nmout allik
[Je te veux Aicha et je meurs pour toi]
Hadi siyet hayaty ou hobbi
[Ceci est le conte de ma vie et de mon amour]
Inti omri oua inti hayati
[Tu es ma respiration et ma vie]
Tmannite niiche maake ghir inti
[J'ai envie de vivre avec seulement toi]
Oooh!

Aïcha... Aïcha... écoute-moi
Aïcha... Aïcha... ana nbghik
Oooh!
Aïcha... Aïcha... t'en vas pas
Aïcha... Aïcha... ou nmout allik
Aïcha... Aïcha... réponds-moi
Aaaah!
Lalala....lalala... ya layli.... lalala....


I had earlier learnt French and eversince been a fan of anything which is French :-)
I cant understand some of the lines in the above lyrics but still nothing stops me from enjoying this Khaled's song.

Kevin Costner/Nicolas Cage by Independence day

Open Range:
What a waste of talent - Kevin Costner, Robert Duvall, Annette Bening :-(
Movie had loads of typical Hollywood sentiments and way too many cliches.

WaterWorld:
Movie was a bit too long, felt like I was watching this movie forever.
Full marks to the bold-storyline.

Dragonfly:
Boring movie again. Really wonder how come I watched such a movie :-(

Revenge:
Again a typical Hollywood masala movie with was too many cliches.
Best if avoided!

For the love of Game:
Good movie.
I had earlier seen "Bull Durham"(another Kevin Costner-Baseball movie) and thought this one was not really in that class, but still was enjoyable.

Lord of War:
Nicolas Cage had tried to pull-off a "The Rock" kind of movie with this one.
The movie does no justice to the cause(against arms-trafficking) that Nicolas Cage tried to patronize, nor was it an entertaining :-(

Matchstick Men:
Good movie.
Ridley Scott has pulled-off a blinder with this movie.
Not really of the "The Usual Suspects" class, but still a decent one.

The Family Man:
Ordinary movie.
Best part in this movie, of course has to be Tea Leani

Found a strange coincidence, most of the Hollywood movies featuring the big-stars seem to have the actor as the producer as well from Tobey McGuire to Sylvester Stallone to Kevin Costner to Nicolas Cage. Guess, this allows them the liberty to call-the-shots over-ruling the director. But there are some star-director combination which has worked too well like Zemeckis-Hanks or Soderbergh-Clooney.
Even in Indian movies this trend can be seen, but it is still slightly rare cause Aamir or Shahrukh or Kamal or Ambitabh dont try this all-that-often. Rajnikanth is slightly differnt in this aspect cause he is in-charge of distribution for a number of his movies, which reflects on the confidence he has in his movies or maybe in his fans.

Eagles consumed

What is Peace-of-Mind?
Nothing comes close to hearing songs that you like, when you are down and out.

Do you really need people around ?
Of course one needs, but never too close

Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest

Cant really follow the movie. Maybe a revision of 'The curse of the black pearl' would have helped. I guess the best pattern for watching such movies is to go for a marathon session i.e watch all sequels at one go. I did something similar for LOTR and it kind of helped, though quite draining in the end of the day.
So, guess it makes sense to wait for the Pirates 3 and get a dvd and watch all 3 at one go.

6 Weird Habits

Six weird habits:
1. i used to avoid walking on floor lines, of course this was some long time back(when i was a kid, before the jack nicholson movie "as good as it gets" got released)
2. watching movies in theatres was a painful experience cause of the screen-brightness and dark-surroundings and lousy noise inside most movie theatres, so most of the times i will be out of the theatres with a big headache. but still gave this a shot, so in the long-run this irritant stopped bothering me
3. use my left-hand for handling computer-mouse(though i am a natural right-hander)
4. always wait till the 11th hour to do anything (guess, this is not really weird, most of us will be in this category)
5. compulsive newspaper reader ('the hindu' mostly)
6. cant help thinking that i know french, even though my french is a real disastor

thanks afj for the tag

passing the tag to : bidda, ashok, pras, rahul, eshwar, aquaM

Child Labour

Are we really a party to child-labour?
Sadly yes, but most of us think the answer is "no".

Go to any shop/hotel/establishment, one can see that almost all shops/hotels/establishments employ kids for regular chores :-(
And we just take a sorry look at those kids and then continue to buy the lesser-priced products(quality) coming out of their hands :-(

Cruel really! :-(

Remember most school-kids/school-establishments avoided buyin deepavali-crackers cause they felt that buying such child-laboured products is "wrong". But do these same folks really bother to think about the children they employ directly or indirectly, tough question really!

Sidhu - My God

"If one-day cricket was pyjama cricket, then Twenty20 is underwear cricket."


Navjot Singh Sidhu waxes eloquent, but he doesn't stop there...

Bowled over by Eagles

Currently listening to 'New York minute' and 'The Last Resort' by 'the eagles' back-to-back and in that too in an infinite loop :-)

Damn good songs both..

Vive les bleus

Today, it s gotto be France winning 2-0 against Italy.

Yesterday, the match between Portugal and Germany was good.. both teams played attacking game.

I think Trezegeut is going to be the pick of the finals!

Movies by Weekend

Pudhupettai:

Ordinary movie. Wish Selvaraghavan could have made a better movie :-(

Superman Returns:

Ordinary movie. Not worth the watch ..
Some sequences reminded me of watching 'captain' movies... "shock ku ke shock adikkum"... :-)

Rockumentary: This is Spinal Tap:

This Rob Reiner's documentary was fun to watch in phases, but it was difficult for me to appreciate this rockumentary cause I had never heard 'spinal tap' earlier.

Hell Freezes Over:

Nice rockumentary this one. Enjoyed listening to songs 'New York minute' and 'The Last Resort'.

Freedom from the known

Some excerpts taken from the book "Freedom from the known" by J. Krishnamurti...

"We are trying to understand violence(which is fundementally the problem,either from you to others or from others to you) as a fact,not as an idea,as a fact which exists in the human being,and the human being is myself.And to go into the problem i must be completely vulnerable,open,to it.I must expose myself to myself - not necessarily expose myself to you because you might not be interested - but i must be in a state of mind that demands to see this thing right to the end and at no point stops and says i will not go further.
Now it must be obvious to me that i am a violent human being.I have experienced violence in anger,violence in my sexual demands, violence in hatred, violence in jealousy and so on - i have experienced it, i have known it, and i say to myself, 'i want to understand this whole problem not just one fragment of it expressed in war, but this aggression in man which also exists in the animals and of which i am a part.'
Violence is not merely killing another.It is violence when we use a sharp word, when we make a gesture to brush away a person, when we obey because there is fear.So violence isnt merely organised butchery in the name of god, in the name of society or country.Violence is much more subtle, much deeper, and we are enquiring into the very depths of violence.
But to be beyond violence i cannot suppress it, i cannot deny it, i cannot say,' Well, its a part of me and that's that ', or 'i dont want it'. I have to look at it, i have to study it, i must become very intimate with it and i cannot become very intimate with it if i condemn it or justify it.We do condemn it though; we do justify it.Therefore i am saying, stop for the time being condemning it or justifying it.
It is no good just sitting back and asking, 'How am i to get such a mind?' You have to want it as you want your next meal, and to have it you must see that what makes your mind dull and stupid is this sense of invulnerability which has built walls round itself and which is part of this condemnation and justification.If the mind can be rid of that,then you can look, study, penetrate, and perhaps come to a state that is totally aware of the whole problem."

--
This passage was sent by my friend via email.
Somehow me thought this had some amazing similarity to 'Johari window', the problem of course is the workability of this total-introspection !

Allez les bleus

It s going to rain goals on the finals of the world cup.
France Vs Italy

I think France will win this match 2-0.

And in the semifinal seeing Ronaldo(Portugal) diving for no reason was slightly irritating. Fellow does some amazing dribbling, disco dancing, moon walking, salsa etc., but still tries some cheap tricks like diving :-(
If the fellow grows up maybe he would make a real good star!

Find the Variables (Movie Connect: Great Depression)

Name the movies 'A' and 'B'(and also, try to find out 'C' and 'D').

Both the movies 'A' and 'B' were set during the 'Great Depression' times(real-stories).
The protagonists of 'A' and 'B' had to struggle a lot during the Depression days, but with typical Hollywood-grit they fight back and show the rest the 'art of fighting spirit' and everyone can leave the theatres feeling-good.

Clues:
-> The character(playing the title-role) in 'B' lived for just 14 years.
-> The movie 'A' had actor 'C', who got nominated for Best-Supporting Oscar for his role in 'A'.
-> 'C' is currently playing the lead role in the movie 'D'.
-> The director of 'D' had earlier famously told:
"I'm going to stop making movies if they end the cinema experience. If there's a last film that's released only theatrically, it'll have my name on it. This is life or death to me. If you tell audiences there's no difference between a theatrical experience and a DVD, then that's it, game's over, and that whole art form is going to go away slowly. Movies will end up being this esoteric art form, where only singular people will put films out in a small group of theaters."

Surprisingly, both of these movies 'A' and 'B' did not make much of an impact in Oscars.

Leave your answers in the comments section.

Gaming Question

"Pilot Geneva's spaceship through the mission to defeat the alien forces. Fly a spaceship in space and explore planets with a ground vehicle. ....."


That's how the story goes on... (in bold). Identify the name of the game.
Leave your answers in the comments section.

GI

How do American Marines fighting in Vietnam during 60's and 70's call Vietnam rebels as and why?

Clue: for the first part of the question,
Almost all American movies on Vietnam wars will have American GIs or Marines calling Vietnam rebels with this name.

Leave your answers in the comments section!

FIFA Cup - Semifinals

Hmm... things really didnt go well for England. Becks leaving the ground with an injury and Rooney red-card spoiled it all!

France did what I thought i.e win over Brasil but the margin being just 1-0(real surprise, as one would expect Brasil to score for sure).

The matches are mostly turning out to be real bore to watch with the negative tactics adopted by all the teams :-(

Now, the predictions for semi-finals:
Germany wins over Italy 1-0
France wins over Portugal 2-0

FIFA Cup

Nothing really goes as per my plan.
Yesterday, Germany pulled off a miracle by beating Argentina!
I was expecting Argentina to pull-off a 3-1 win, going by their agressive-game. But sadly, after goal one, Argentines went on the defensive(a needless move, instead of going for the sucker punch) and that cost the match.
The match was overall boring otherwise(except for these two goals and the Argentine offensives from nowhere). Quite brave of the commentators to make the prediction earlier in the match that 'if the match goes for penalty kicks, then Germany will win thanks to their home-advantage' and it became true!

Next match, I was hoping Italy will win 1-0 going by their defensive-game plan. But alas, Italy did attack after goal one!

My predictions for today's match:
France vs Brazil:
Though I think Brazil is strong on paper than anyone, France will pull-off a win this time.
Scoreline:2-1 for France

England Vs Portugal:
I think England will win this match 1-0.

Movies by Weekend

"Rumor has it..":
Nice start for the movie i.e 'The Graduate' connection, but otherwise the movie was a bit ordinary..Shirley Maclaine's role was entertaining!

"Guns of Navrone":
Did not like this movie much, maybe because I had seen better war movie-thrillers.

"Sing in the Rain":
Good movie. Enjoyed watching this movie. All credits of course goes to Vadivelu for popularising this title song 'Sing in the rain... I am sing in the rain...". Cosmo(real name: David O'Connor)'s dancing was simply awesome and fun to watch. The man who plays the role of a producer in this movie has some striking similarity to the way 'Ranga Rao' would have played in any tamil movie adaptation of this. And Cosmo has some striking similarity to Nagesh or Chandrababu.

"Tin Tin":
Saw a few Tin Tin episodes lately (Red Rackham's treasure and The Seven Crystal Balls/Prisoners of the Sun). Not sure whether I really enjoyed watching those episodes again, but noticed 'Blistering Barnacles, Thundering Storms, Greats Snakes' all too well that I might use these phrases often :)

"Who is afraid of Virginia Woolfe?":
Absorbing drama. Initially thought this movie was really going nowhere with the slander between the husband and wife going-on-and-on, but was hoping that climax would be interesting after all the real redundant slander. And found the climax to be quite good, not the violent one that I had anticipated which might have introduced blood bath into the plot.

"Lost Highway":
One of those really confusing David Lynch movies, but not as confusing as the 'Mullholland Dr.'. Nevertheless enjoyed getting confused with the plot that this movie had to offer.

"The Italian Job"(the original):
This movie was fun to watch, not the action-packed-thriller that had Charlize Theron and Mark Wahlberg which had no comedy whatsoever(maybe that's its plus). This movie had Michael Caine in the lead role and one would really enjoy watching the 'Lord' Noel Coward as Mr. Bridger who finances the loot. The movie had decent action sequences as well, but having seen better action sequences one would really not get moved with these action sequences. Mr. Bridger's antics are enjoyable, but surprisingly Benny Hill's antics are not really all that rollicking.

Some Trivia on Michael Caine: For all soccer addicts who got to watch the documentary-style matches(episode produced by FIFA themselves) of previous FIFA world cups, the narrator in the background is none other than Michael Caine himself!

"Basic Instinct 2":
Total disastor of a movie. Really bad sequel for the original.

"Shadow of a Doubt":
Good Hitchcock movie this. The movie did not have much of a dull moment. Hitchcock is really a master of making-thrillers!