Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Finally!


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!

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Hilarious

The Quick Gun Murugan soundtrack is hilarious!

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

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.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

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!

Friday, July 03, 2009

I'm happy

That's all :).

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

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!

Friday, June 12, 2009

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.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

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!

Thursday, June 04, 2009

Fabulous

The new Star Trek movie is great. Review soon.

Monday, June 01, 2009

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.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

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:

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

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?

Thursday, May 14, 2009

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!

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Monday, April 20, 2009

I need books

Came across the BBC Top 100 books in the UK (2003). I’ve read only 45 :(.

1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien (Read)
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen (Read)
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman (Read)
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams (Read)
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling (Read)
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee (Read)
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell (Read)
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë (Read)
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë (Read)
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier (Read)
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger (Read)
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens (Read)
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott (Read)
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell (Read)
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling (Read)
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling (Read)
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling (Read)
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck (Read)
30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll (Read)
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez (Read)
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens (Read)
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson (Read)
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert (Read)
40. Emma, Jane Austen (Read)
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald (Read)
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas (Read)
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh (Read)
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell (Read)
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell (Read)
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Read)
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden (Read)
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens (Read)
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough (Read)
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman (Read)
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding (Read)
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind (Read)
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce (Read)
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy (Read)
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley (Read)
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac (Read)
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo (Read)
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho (Read)
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer (Read)
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez (Read)
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie (Read)