This must be a joke!

Obama awarded Nobel for Peace! I guess the might of the US is all encompassing. Read this:

What's the authority of a prize that has been awarded to terrorists like Yasser Arafat or Marxist mythologists like Rigoberta Menchu Tum?

Again

A new job, and along with it come new expectations, pressures, people, practices, timings. It is always tough to move out of a comfort zone, but its never good to get too comfortable. Hopefully, things should work out well. As we all know, the world can be a different place in a few months.

Listening to Wake Up Sid!'s soundtrack - Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy have created a breezy, flirty soundtrack. Easy listening, but not in the league of say, Taare Zameen Par or Johnny Gaddar. Besides, it has this very 'inspired' feel to it that makes me go 'hmmm'.

Finally!

Picture courtesy the official website.

I am thinking about work, even though I am off all responsibilities for this week. If I persist in this vein, its going to lead to nowhere good.

On that note, let me talk about a movie that the hubbysaur and I thoroughly enjoyed watching - Kaminey. I can't remember the last movie I saw where my favourite (and possibly the best) scene in the movie had none of the lead actors in it. Two crazy guys encircle each other with guns in their hands, enacting an eerie mock shootout, but only one of them is truly crazy, the other is merely pretending to be- I was literally at the edge of my seat with my heart thudding!

The movie boasts several non-regulars - the hero (Shahid Kapoor as Guddu) is dressed up as a giant condom in his introductory sequence, the heroine is a manipulative woman (Priyanka Chopra as Sweety) who cons her boyfriend into marriage, and the other hero (Kapoor again as Charlie) is in a borderline-homoerotic relationship with his best friend!

The plot is fairly mainstream - politicos, drug kingpins, police, and other irregulars with the main leads caught in the crossfire. Vishal Bharadwaj (Maqbool, Omkara) dips liberally into Guy Ritchie and Quentin Tarantino but adds a completely Bollywood flavour and sensibility to the plot. Shahid could have been better, but shows promise. Priyanka is great - as if she knows she's landed the role of a lifetime and has really sunk her teeth into it.

But what really makes this movie tick is the sheer brilliance of most of the supporting cast. Special mention goes to Mikhail (Chandan Roy Sanyal) , a guy so off his rocker that he's mesmerizing. Others, such as the hilarious Bengali brothers (Mikhail's actually) and Bhope Bhau (Sweety's brother) are wonderful as well. Everybody else (Bhope's goons, Tashi the drug trafficker, the crooked cops, the wily child) also adds on to make this movie a thoroughly enjoyable experience. Bharadwaj could have done away with the songs, though. Much as I like Dhan Te Nan, it does break the momentum of the movie!

Verdict - Finally, a movie that lives up to the reviews!

Hilarious

The Quick Gun Murugan soundtrack is hilarious!

Such is life!

Henry Blodget interviews Elliot Spitzer, the man who famously destroyed the former's Wall Street career before going on destroying his own in a prostitution scandal.

Girl Power!

(Warning - Spoiler ahead!)

Watched Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof (part of the Grindhouse double feature with Robert Rodriguez), and for some absurd reason, was really tickled by it. Maybe it was because the pervert (Kurt Russel, playing creepy to the hilt) who commits 'vehicular homicide' (i.e. stalks and kills young, attractive women) gets his ass whipped by a gang of badass girls! Great fun - Zoe Bell was such a scream!

I'm happy

That's all :).

Alice in Wonderland

SOme stills from Tim Burton's adaptation of Alice in Wonderland. Love the pictures, but Johnny Depp is so not the Mad Hatter!

Bill killed himself

David Carradine was found dead in a Bangkok hotel. Sadly, Bill did not die because of the 5-point-palm-heart-exploding-technique. RIP.

This is how politicians abuse taxpayer money

This is really absurd. Make an ailing ex-MP's wife a Minister of State so that the old man can get free medical care?! As if they are distributing their ancestral wealth instead of taxpayer money! When most of the country cannot even afford proper medical care, why should we pay for a politician who has probably lined his arteries with the fat of the land? If Pranab wanted to help Munshi, he should have paid the hospital bill himself! Its appalling, the way the so called 'clean' PM has also agreed to this. He is just as corrupt as the rest!

Fabulous

The new Star Trek movie is great. Review soon.

Kamala Das - RIP

Until I found you,
I wrote verse, drew pictures,
And, went out with friends
For walks…
Now that I love you,
Curled like an old mongrel
My life lies, content,
In you...

I never understood that emotion when I first read these lines. When I did, I appreciated them even more.

Hubble flies again

The Hubble space telescope is flying alone again, after its fifth and final repair. Hope the Hubble lasts for as long as possible, and continues to dazzles us with its brilliant glimpses into the universe! Sampler:

Places

I've always wanted to travel, and the hubbysaurus has made it possible to travel more often. He loves travelling as much (if not more), and we've been to some nice places including Goa, Kerala, Thailand and Singapore. I will try and post some pictures and experiences later. Still, Peru remains on top of my wish list - if markets continue to improve, maybe next year! In the meantime, a spa vacation sounds like a good idea, don't you think?

Look what's happening to me

I seem to be able to find no time to do some thing that I used to really enjoy - I don't blog, I hardly listen to music, I don't read books at the same pace and definitely not with the same excitement levels, and worst of all, I think about work all the time. Damn it, I have turned into a workaholic!