From Vantage Point:
D: I loved Sarah, Charles. It was mine, that love. I owned it. Even Sarah didn’t have the right to take it away. I can love whoever I want.
K: She thought you were pathetic.
D: That was her business, not mine. You are what you love, not what loves you. That’s what I decided a long time ago.
Awesome piece. I really do not know what Orchid Thief is, but I am keen to find out.
Read MoreTo all those still kido at their hearts, Happy Children’s Day.
The only good thing about Chacha Nehru is that we used to get a holiday and lots of those little red candies on his birthday 
A quiz, sent by Sandeepan (ex-BITSian) yesterday, had a connect for Don McLean with American Pie and Vincent Van Gogh. While I figured outthe Vincent connect, Ojas knew the American Pie one.
But February made me shiver,
With every paper I’d deliver,
Bad news on the doorstep…
I couldn’t take one more step.
I can’t remember if I cried
When I read about his widowed bride
But something touched me deep inside,
The day the music died.
McLean was a paperboy in his youth, and the incident is about the death of Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and The Big Bopper in a plane crash on February 3, 1959. Since all three were so prominent at the time, the day came to be known as “The Day The Music Died“. Holly’s recent (widowed) bride, Maria Elena, was pregnant when the crash took place; she had a miscarriage shortly afterward.
The lines were also used by Time in December 1980, on the death of John Lennon. The song has many more references to both political and musical events during the life of Don McLean. You can read more about it here.
Also came across two new songs yesterday. Linger – Cranberries and I Can’t Tell You Why – Eagles. The latter has beautiful lyrics and below are my favourite lines from the song.
Read MoreNothing’s wrong as far as I can see
We make it harder than it has to be
and I can’t tell you why
One great weekend. Three movies. All awesome. Things I liked about them below.
The Departed - 4.5/5.0
Who am I? I’m the guy that does his fuckin’ job! You must be the other guy!
The Departed is Jack Nicholson and DiCaprio’s movie. Matt Damon is good, the female (Vera Farmiga) is hot, but Leo and Jack make the movie what it is.
Okay. This is not a review. These are points I noticed about the movie.
1. The first one of the few movies I have seen with a Floyd song, Comfortably Numb at that, as a part of the OST. Just this alone made the movie worth all the money I spent on it. Though the rendition is not great, but still.
2. Fuck. Yes. You hear the word so much in the movie that Anoop requested that we shift to shit for sometime to recover from the after effects. Good shit man.
3. The movie has like a gazillion people getting killed, with only one dying a natural death. And that with no fuss at all.
4. I admit. I have started liking DiCaprio. I haven’t see The Gangs Of New York but The Aviator and now this. Martin Scorsese has picked a brilliant actor. In the current crop, no one beats Leo and Depp.
5. Two best scenes incidentally both involve Di Caprio. First, where he gets interviewed at the police headquarters by Mark Wahlberg. I mean the intensity on his face is just awesome. Second, when he is face to face with Jack Nicholson and tells him that he is not the rat.
You accuse me once, I put up with it. You accuse me twice… I quit. You pressure me to fear for my life and I will put a bullet in your head as if you were anybody else. Okay?
Best movie of the year so far, for me, and a sure shot Oscar contender in many categories. Better than V for Vendetta and Munich (which though are technically last years movies). So, all those who haven’t watched it yet. Guys you are missing something. Catch the movie ASAP.
Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels – 4.0/5.0
Its been emotional.
If Sanjay Gupta is the Indian Tarantino, then Guy Ritchie is the British version. I mean the movie reminds you so closely of Pulp Fiction that you sometimes feel it is the same movie hadn’t it been for the thick British accent the characters had. The movie with no big stars, yet creating magic out of nothing. Which proves that the absence of stars from a cast is not a good reason to label a movie bad.
The story of four small time criminals who dream to make it big by betting big. The lose big time and end up half a million pounds in debt of a sort of a mini mafia boss. After that it is almost like a comedy of errors.
Jason Statham (The Transporter) is good. And so are Vinnie Jones (Big Chris) and Little Chris. Another character I liked is that of Rory, the black mafia boss. Hilarious like shit. Also the movie reminds me a lot of Snatch, another Guy Ritchie movie which I incidentally saw before this one.
Must watch. And last but not the least.
The School of Rock – 3.5/5.0
This movie along with Independence Day and Big Daddy is amongst the very few movies that I like, even though they are rated pretty low on IMDB.
Those who know me know why I would have loved the movie. Rock music is something I adore. Story of a useless bum who loves music, is kicked from his own band, pretends to be a teacher to pay off debts. He hears the kids play during a music class and believes that they have talent to make it big and will help him achieve his dream of winning a rock contest. During his interaction with them over the next few months he, unknowingly even, helps many kids get over their doubts and believe in themselves.
God of Rock, thank you for this chance to kick ass. We are your humble servants. Please give us the power to blow people’s minds with our high voltage rock. In your name we pray, Amen.
They finally don’t win the contest but are loved by one and all. And man they put up one hell of an act.
Read MoreShivam Vij wrote a post a couple of days back about some fine Goan restaurant – Barnardos, right in our backyard in Gurgaon. So here comes the weekend and a gang of us start to hunt it down and try the food there.
The restaurant is hidden in some corner of DLF Galleria and geting to it was not very straight forward. But then all of us (10 in all, including Ojas, Shailesh, Undi and Pappu) made it to the restaurant finally. The first thing you notice here is the size of the place. It is small and donned with black and white photographs (of his family I am guessing).
Now comes the funny part. Though the non-veg options are plenty, three veggies (Neha, Madhukar and me) placed our order in this fashion, “Aapke paas jo bhi veg hai sab le aao.” He got four dishes in all including the starter.
The service is slow and at times frustrating. But, once the food arrives, you forget the cribbing and start enjoying. Fine food. One brinjal curry, an Okri curry and one coconut mix veg dry subzi, served with bread/rice, in all it made for a yum evening. Topped it of with (what I am guessing to be home made) chocolate cake and ice cream
Now only if Sudeep/Rahul/Thax come to Delhi, I would take them here. Rahul is coming here on 24th. I hope we go there then.
Read MoreThere is something about U2 that I just love and also believe that most other do. I mean there are very few people who like music and do not like U2.
They have been one of my favourite bands and their songs amongst my top 10 always. With or without you, City of blinding lights, Sometimes you can’t make it alone, Elevation, Mothers of the disappeared, and so on and so forth. The latest addition to the list of U2 songs I adore is “Walk On“.
Read MoreAnd love is not the easy thing
The only baggage that you can bring
Love is not the easy thing
The only baggage you can bring
Is all that you can’t leave behind…
I hate Microsoft for Windows. So buggy and sometimes so arrogant. But I do respect them a lot for MS Office. This is one product that kicks ass and Excel VBA programming saves us so much time and effort that I have come to love it.
But then this happens and I start doubting it.
How am I supposed to react to this shit?? Duuh??
Read MoreI was watching MTV yesterday (after ages) and happened to watch a nonsensical 5 minute long promo. The first thing to strike me was the title of the movie “Aap Kaa Surroor – The Moviee – The Real Luv Story” (at this point I was trying hard not to fall off my seat, laughing as hard as I was).
Indian movies and soap operas have for long murdered Hindi and English going overboard in the usage of extra alphabets in their titles and names to conform to some numerology shit!! The first one I remember is Suniel Shetty. I am pretty hazy however, when it comes to remembering what effect it had on his career or acting skills. Since then a huge number of actors have tried changing their names to varying degrees of success. KEkta Kapoor brought the practice to the silver screen and set another height by naming a Star TV soap as “Kkusum”.
But this is breaking ground stuff!! I mean Moviee. The lengths they would go to ensure the sucess of a movie, other than ensuring a decent cast. Did I happen to mention that the lead actor here is none other than Himesh Reshammaiya and the entire promo is shot like a pop video rather than a movie!!
Next thought in my mind was, what will happen if they need a comic scene? Himesh baba, as far as I know, can barely manage a smile, let alone a laugh (I think he should start using Close Up, the ad jingle matches his voice). Also, I was thinking of a probable climax scene. Himesh slowly (the camera zooms in from different directions at this moment) lifting up his cap and revealing “What lies beneath“.
A must read here. An article on IndiaGlitz. Sample the lines below:
The rock star is back.
…
One of the best shots of the promo come a few seconds later as freeze frames of traffic moving down the road are shown with Reshammiya looking at it from the top in his usual pensive mood.
…..
One of the best shot sequences for a video arrives when he walks down the stairs of a monumental building that appears to be a historic site or an educational institute from the West.
Disclaimer:
This post is not a rant against the Himesh baba. This post is not a rant against his pathetic voice. This post is not a rant against his cap, pensive look or the now overgrown beard. This post is not a rant against a mindless 5 minute long promo for his upcoming debut movie. This post is not a rant against him being the protagonist in what is being touted as the most expensive Hindi movie ever made.
Read MoreDarrell Hair seems to beat the current bad boy cricket (Sohaib Akhtar) when it comes to being the centre of a cricketing controversy. The apparently no nonsense umpire has been removed from the elite panel of umpires and will no longer be officiating in International matches.
While the media from Down Under and Britain are crying foul and terming it as strong arm tactics of the Asian bloc, Mr. Hair is not stranger to courting controversy. Lets take a look at his career which has never remained free from the limelight.
1992. Adelaide Test. India vs Australia. In this match eight Indians fell victim to LBW decisions but only two of their appeals were upheld. Australia won by a narrow margin of 38 runs. Wisden felt that the entire affair was “marred … by controversy over lbw decisions – eight times Indians were given out, while all but two of their own appeals were rejected”.
1994. Adelaide Test. South Africa vs Australia. Peter Kirsten had an animated talk with Mr. Hair after a series of Proteans were declared out LBW. Kirsten was promptly declared out LBW in the next innings, and South Africa lost the game. Many felt that the decision was flimsy at the best.
1995. Melbourne Test. Sri Lanka vs Australia. Mr. Hair infamously no-balled Murali (from the bowlers end) for chucking. Now though the Aussies agree that Mr. Hair is very fair in all his dealings, I am ready to bet that such instances are not very common in the cricketing arena where the leg umpire is generally the one to declare a ball as being “thrown”. Lot of water has flown under the bridge since then. ICC has cleared Murali of all charges. Mr. Hair was charged (note, not penalised) for bringing the game into disrepute by calling Murali’s action “diabolical” in his autobiography.
2005. Faisalabad Test. Pakistan vs England. Mr. Hair declares Inzamam run out for leaving his crease while taking evasive action. Cricketing gurus feel it is contradictory to cricketing laws that stipulate that batsman cannot be run out if he leaves his ground due to evasive action. [Side note: I was happy as the decision against Tendulkar at Eden Garden is avenged.]
2006. Oval Test. Pakistan vs England. Mr. Hair, in consultation with Mr. Doctrove, declare the ball as being tampered with penalise Pakistan 5 runs and change the ball. Now, we all now that Pakistan has long faced such charges and are often in trouble for tampering with the ball and getting “some” reverse swing. Anyways, Pakistan decide that they had done nothing wrong and decide to not take the field as a mark of protest. Mr. Hair declares the match as forfieted and awards it to England. An enquiry committee then finds the ball being not tampered with and clear Pakistan of ball tampering charges but penalise them for bringing the game into disrepute. This was done after hearing the views of former cricketer Geoff Boycott and TV analyst Simon Hughes.
On the receiving end of Mr. Hair’s decisions have been India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and South Africa while on the other end stand Australia and England. Now, only if someone could explain me why the so called Asian bloc (supported by South Africa, West Indies and Zimbabwe) was for, while Australia and England (supported by New Zealand) are against, the suspension of Mr. Hair?
Read MoreThis is the first instance of people coming to my blog while searching something so specific. I must say there is a high chance of me knowing this person. And please do not get any phunny thoughts!!
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