breakfast of champions

the term 'breakfast of champions' has been variously used and abused since it was first coined by the late author Kurt Vonnegut who died earlier this year.. Vonnegut in his prime was a creative satyrist, and that was the title of his 1973 novel.. but the phrase is more often used to describe any sort of a pick-me-up in the morning - cocaine and champagne (a martini glass filled with champagne and cocaine on the rim of the glass, like salt on a margarita glass - famous in the late '80s); burgers and nicotine (as popularised by Dire Straits in 'Heavy Fuel'); or any sort of alcohol and inhalant with a traditional breakfast (as my breakfast choices were dubbed by the brownie boys)

it's funny, i had actually driven past Vonnegut's house in Cape Cod and hadn't given it a second thought.. until the Wizard of Odd introduced me to '1 Giant Leap', a compilation multimedia project on which he spoke. (Side note - you must watch this video and listen to the CD if you ever get a chance - it has a track - 'The Way You Dream' done by REM frontman Michael Stipe & Indian crooner Asha Bhosle).. anyways, this post is not about the 1 Giant Leap project, or about the writer Kurt Vonnegut..

back when i was trying to finish my thesis and struggling with an on-campus job, i splurged on weekends and that was my breakfast of champions, see earlier post.. what's funny now is that it's still pretty much the same, only that it's the rare sunday where i didn't have to go into work to troubleshoot something or the other, and as a result i am up and awake at 7 am on a sunshiny sunday morn, making a slightly modified version of that old breakfast, only this one has no orange juice and coffee, which have been replaced by gatorade and beer..

getting hammered early on sunday morning and going to bed is fast becoming my new favorite thing to do over the weekend.. heh!

hot chick fix

looking back at the archives, it's been quite a while since we last had some nekkidity here, some hot gals lapping up the summer sun.. we all know you don't really come here to read.. lol!!

so what better combo than some smokin' babes in stringy bikinis, retro GTOs and rad guns?! so here's your hot chick fix, meet the Bikini Bandits..

for some history on these lovely ladies, follow the wiki link given above.. would you believe they actually got Maynard James Keenan to star in their movies as well?! y'all know i don't gush about people too often, but Maynard, well, he's the lead singer of Tool & A Perfect Circle, so i may be forgiven.. also it's 6 am sunday morning and this bottle of whiskey is getting lighter all the time.. enjoy your weekend folks!

if you never watched any of their clips, then this is where you want to go.. more at their myspace page..

perhaps, perhaps

my new favorite tv show is this Brit comedy called 'Coupling'.. it's not that new actually, but i only started downloading them a few weeks back, and i tell you it's hilarious! it's similar to 'Friends' in that it has three guys and three gals.. but all semblances of similarity stop right there! there is no moral to every episode, like in 'Scrubs'.. like the name suggests, the only thing pretty much preoccupying the minds of our six here is.. well, is 'coupling'!! ergo, we come back to this loony bunch with their eccentricities. a perfect mix of sex and humor, sang-froid and stiff wit, joie de vivre and embarrassment. check out the website for some clips as well as quotes..

talking of quotes, here are some from the character named Jeff, who is the completely antithesis of Joey (from Friends), henceforth to be known as The Wisdom Of Jeff.. [Jeff has just been complimented on his fine ass by a female colleague at work who he has the hots for, here is his passionate ode to the human rear end]..

"does she dislike me facially, or like me bottomly? it's a big deal! you know what asses are? asses are the human race's favorite thing. we like them on each other, we like them on magazine covers, we even like them on babies! when we're alone we like to scratch them, and when there is a fire we like to warm them.. and who among us in a lonely moment hasn't reached back for a discreet fondle?!

we love our asses! when God gave us our asses he had to stick them around the back just so we wouldn't sit and stare at them all day! that is cos when God made the ass, he didn't just say 'hey, it's just your basic hinge, now let's knock off early', he said 'behold ye angels, i have created.. the ass.. throughout the ages now men and women shall grab hold of these and shout my name!'.."

in another memomarable moment, sitting at the bar where they usually hang out (as opposed to the coffee shop in Friends, again).. [here the boys are discussing undressing etiquette]..

"I mean, where exactly do you take your socks off? My advice is to take them off right after your shoes, and before your trousers. That’s the sock gap. Miss it, and suddenly you’re a naked man in socks. No self-respecting woman will ever let a naked man in socks do the squelchy with her."

one more, where the boys are discussing the merits and demerits of certain items of the female wardrobe..

"You know what’s great about skirts? When a woman’s wearing a skirt, you know, you know, that somewhere in that room, shifting all the time, there is the VAA: the Visual Access Angle. A clear line of sight back to base camp."

now get out there and go look for the DVDs.. they have 4 seasons of it!
(NB: the title to this post is actually the theme song for the show)

film reviews

it's been a while since i did a movie review.. watched a bunch of movies in that time, here are some highlights:

'Inside Man' - one of the better movies of the year definitely. pretty smart movie,about a bank heist that starts off like a heist, but doesn't bear any of the hallmarks of your garden variety bank robbery. the problem with this movie is that storywise it's all foreplay and then no sex. but the acting is pretty topnotch, Denzel Washington is still one of the best actors out there. Clive Owen continues to play great wooden characters while Jodie Foster does the icewoman bit very confidently.

'16 Blocks' - a flawed Bruce Willis cop, hurt and limping, toting a gun while being chased by a bunch of folks.. flashback anyone? thank God this movie is slightly different from the norm (read Die Hard). Bruce Willis has to transport this witness (Mos Def) sixteen blocks to the courthouse, but gets waylaid. again, the ending is dodgy, but you would rather be on Bruce Willis' side than against him, cos he is one dogged mo-fo!!

'Kiss Kiss Bang Bang' - too many serious cops, robbers and murder movies, but this one was refreshing! then again, don't be deceived, it's not really the best picture ever either. Robert Downey Jr. plays narrator, and a two-bit crook who becomes and actor overnight, and takes sleuthing lessons from a suave, gay detective (Val Kilmer does an excellent job here). did i need to mention that he was gay? watch the movie and you will know. like 'Sin City', this movie also uses a film noir technique of adapting from pulp fiction novels all about girls and guns. at the end of the day though it's like a cocktail buffet: you fill your plate with little tidbits and are full after that, but did you really eat anything?

'Two For The Money' - this movie had two things that i really love, football and money.. and yet it sucked for me. i guess it was more about emotions and less about the football and money. Al Pacino was excellent in this movie, he plays passionate men to the hilt. he owns a spread prediction operation, in the grey area of the betting business. Matthew McConnaughey plays a whizkid who calls games perfectly, and Rene Russo plays Pacino's rehabbed wife. you wouldn't miss much if you passed on this one.

'Lords Of Dogtown' - based on the true story of the skateboard revolution that swept California in the seventies, this is a really good movie. excellently remade, it recaptures that hippy generation, and has one of the best classic rock soundtracks ever. you feel the energy of the skater teens jumpout at you, and it addresses the same themes we all faced as teens.. sex, drugs, alcohol, rivalry, peer and parental pressure, going against the odds. definitely worth the watch.

'V for Vendetta' - another one from the DC Comics stable, this is a good story about anarchist governments and how life may become in the future. shades of George Orwell's '1984' and Pink Floyd's 'The Wall' are present throughout this tale, echoing the Brit influence. set in Britain, it fast-forwards us to 2020 where the government plays Big Brother, and freedom of expression has been crushed, almost. one dissenting voice remains, that of V, and his protege played by Natalie Porter. let's just say that if you liked 'Zorro' then you will like this one too.

Oscar time again

yes, the Academy Awards are gonna be swinging around some time soon, and the nominations are out. here's the full list. no real surprises as such, just a few things here and there i'd like to point out:

- call me homophobic, but i am not gonna go watch that Brokedick Mountain.. no sir. i have no issues with gay and lesbian folk.. indeed i have been known to encourage lesbians to practice free love!! but yeah, that last bastion of manly men, cowboys, have been infiltrated by the gay story writers, and men everywhere are wincing. i have never liked the show Will & Grace either, so i shall be giving this a wide berth. But the publicity machine sure looks like its gonna make this film sweep a whole lot of Oscars.. blech!

- George Clooney (Syriana, Good Night and Good Luck) and Terrence Howard (Crash, Hustle & Flow) are the hot actors right now.. whatever they're doing is turning to gold.

- Charlize Theron might get the Oscar in what was her least spectacular film North Country, though she could have won more admirers (as if that was possible) by baring more in Aeon Flux. However i feel Reese Witherspoon did enough to win it for Walk The Line.. unless Dame Judi Dench pulls a suprise! (Mrs. Henderson Presents).

- the Art Direction category might be the best-fought of all categories, with a bunch of very well made films - Good Night and Good Luck, King Kong, Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire, Memoirs of a Geisha, Pride & Prejudice.

so enjoy your weekend, and go out and watch a movie or two if you missed any of these. Crash and Good Night and Good Luck are two of my favorites which i would recommend whole-heartedly, and Walk The Line, Munich, The Constant Gardener and Memoirs of a Geisha are also worth the watch.

wires and lights in a box

what part does television play in your life? i use the word 'television' to describe the press in general.. how much of what we listen to, watch or read determines the extent of our knowledge? how often do we take an extra step to scratch beyond the surface, probe a little deeper than the skin?

a certain Senator Joe McCarthy and his witch-hunting policies in the early 50's took advantage of the paranoia sweeping the country during the Cold War. read this for more info. a few men in the press decided to do something about it. these men worked for the broadcasting house CBS when there were just three big networks, ABC, NBC and CBS.

the movie 'Good Night, and Good Luck' is a story about those pressmen, and how they worked to save the country from McCarthy. directed by and also starring George Clooney, this is a crisply-made movie, and definitely leaves you with a lot of things to ponder about. its a period-piece, and excellently done too, shot in black and white, with jazz music setting the mood of the film.

this film was not made for the masses, the population led in droves to the theaters like dull, witless sheep.. watch it if you want a thought-provoking film, that raises a few questions about the role of the press in our lives, and how much of it we can believe and how much is actually controlled by entities much larger than us, namely corporations. as the lead character in the film, Ed Murrow says, "it is up to us to make television an instrument of learning and wisdom, or else it's just wires and lights in a box".. wise words indeed, even much more so considering this statement was made in 1958!

The Muppet Show

well, Muppet fever has hit again with the release of the DVD! some of my oldest memories of childhood are of the Muppet bunch.. doing their crazy stuff! i guess it was the first 'cartoon' i ever watched!! they revamped the website to coincide with the DVD.. and it's a pretty fun site too.

i loved the whole lot of them, but i guess Animal was always my personal fave! how about you guys, who do you like best?!
animal / beaker / dr. bunsen / swedish chef
   

electric mayhem / fozzie / gonzo / kermit
   

pepe / miss piggy / rowlf / statler & waldorf
   

sam / scooter
 

The Constant Gardener in Kenya

ahh, finally a movie set in Kenya that has actually been shot in Kenya! John Le Carré's novel 'The Constant Gardener' has been adapted for the large screen, starring Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz. i watched her talk to Jon Stewart on The Daily Show, and she was talking about how they shot the movie in Nairobi, and then in the Turkana desert while living in tents and stuff..

my biggest gripe with movies shot in Kenya, or anywhere in the Third World for that matter, is that the natives are made to look like a bunch of befuddled idiots, and nothing can be more galling!! this kind of colonialist mentality has to go! be it 'The Ghost And The Darkness' and 'Out Of Africa' [Kenyans], or 'Indiana Jones & The Temple Of Doom' and James Bond's 'Octopussy' [Indians], or 'Dances With Wolves' and 'The Windtalkers' [Native Americans].. the local people were in some form or another made to look either uncouth, uncivilised, or the villians or a combination of all the above!

we await to see how Hollywood's latest offering treats Kenya when the movie releases on Aug. 31st.

it's always sunny in ..

i'm starting to really like this show on FX Network.. It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia.. it has more than its fair share of inappropriate humor! catch it at 11pm Eastern on tuesdays!

haven't cooked anything different in a while, so decided to try out some new stuff today.. baked lemon pepper chicken and baked veggies!

monday miscellania

sometimes i feel my advisor is completely cuckoo.. he's asked me to write the Introduction and Background chapters to my thesis and the literature review should include at least 50 references and citations, which i must have read myself! evidently he still doesn't know me well enough.. i haven't read 50 papers in 6 years of undergrad + grad engineering!! oh well, either he'll give up and let me use references to papers i haven't read, or i'll give up and read the papers.. what do you think?

watched the new movie 'Four Brothers' this weekend.. i actually liked it, though it did involve a bit of a suspension of reality. mark wahlberg was at his gritty best here, and this movie definitely gave you a very different outlook of the mixed-race suburbs of Detroit that '8 Mile' smartly avoided. the acting was definitely the strongest point of the movie, but the chases and shootouts were pretty awesome too!

those idiots who made 'Sideways' have a lot to answer for. the movie was not bad, but they singlehandedly killed the Merlot range, thanks to all the wine connoiseur-wannabes who are drinking Pinot-Noir and sneering at merlot lovers.. bleeding idiots! apparently merlot sales dropped over 20%, and as a result Bully Hill and Robert Mondavi (two of my favourite vineyards) are looking to cut down merlot production.. grr!!

after 2 years in Buffalo, i still bow down to the unpredictability of the weather here.. it was a pretty chilly weekend in the mid-50s, and the fall jacket made an early appearance. well, the rain and cloudy weather ensured i stayed in and got some work done.

have a great week y'all!

join the Vince Vaughn fan club

it had been a quiet weekend, which apparently is a thing of surprise to a lot of you.. what sort of a hellraiser do you make me out to be eh?! okay, you're right.. we have been known to wake the dead, and steal road signs, and other assorted activities that lead to one spending the night in lock-up under the Civil Disobediences Act.. but let's not get into that now shall we?

watched 'Employee Of The Month'.. which i kinda liked! i'm not really surprised it got by under the publicity radar and quietly disappeared onto the DVD shelves.. as it doesn't really win any screenplay awards, but does have a plot as twisted as a cow's four stomachs (raise your hands whoever did not know that!) and an ending you certainly did not predict! it's like the first half and second half belong to two separate movies altogether! Matt Dillon is good, as is Steve Zahn.. this is a cableflick kinda movie, so call in a pizza if you see this playing on TV anytime soon.

went to watch 'Wedding Crashers'.. now this is a movie that started of with real potential of being one of THE funniest comedies ever, it just lost the plot somewhere 2/3rds down the road. Vince Vaughn was very, very good and Owen Wilson was quite plastic, but the two together do a great job as a pair of buddies who crash weddings to sample the wedding cake, the dinner fare and pretty guests.. not necessarily in that order either! no wedding is uncrashable, no alias too improbable, no venue impenetrable. and of course, no woman unattainable!

unfortunately, Christopher Walken was underutilised, the 'villain' Brad Cooper was just pure evil and a lot of possible threads just frayed out. do watch this for a bag of rolling-in-the-aisle laughs and not-so-subtle sexual innuendoes; do not watch this if you think you will learn anything you didn't already know about scoring with the ladies! oh yes.. do watch this for the pretty women :-)

had dinner at IHOP.. the Monster Cheeseburger is a beast, but pretty bland tasting.. keep some space for banana-nut pancakes for dessert.. yummy!

spanish film fest

watched four spanish language films in the last few days.. all have their own merits.. though i must say i really like Gael Garcia Bernal for his acting (he's in all four), and the range of films he's acted in. indeed, he's already been dubbed the Johnny Depp of latin cinema! oh yeah, i think the women think him eye-candy too!

Amores Perros (2000) - [Love's A Bitch]
A film of three interlinked stories, across the span of the social classes in Mexico City, with a strange common theme to them all - dogs. 'Octavio and Susana' is the story of a young man trying to make ends meet, amidst domestic troubles, and gang wars. 'Daniel and Valeria' is the lifestyles of the rich and famous, and how they handle the blows that are faced by common people everywhere. 'El Chivu and Maru' is about a teacher turned revolutionary turned derelict man, and how he lives with his own guilt at his life's choices.
Fast paced, twisting and turning, flashing from one scenario to the other, and a very interesting medium of the character's relationships with their respective dogs as a thread. This film brought a host of awards for the novice director Alejandro Iñárritu on his maiden attempt.

Y tu mamá también (2002) - [And Your Mother Too..]
About two teenage boys and an impulsive journey with an older woman that involves sexual discoveries. About the two Mexicos. And about the fragility of life and the finality of death. The movie is happy to advertise itself as a carefree road-trip, but there is a more serious level, and below that, a dead serious level.
This is definitely one of the best movies i've watched in a while. A narrative style is used to great effect, and the drama in the storyline gently but insistently knocks the lessons this movie tries to tell you. Get your hands on this one.

La Mala Educación (2004) - [Bad Education]
Watching a Pedro Almodóvar film, you just feel that a smart mind is at work, in each shot, and the amount of information you get from it. This story of abuse in a religious boys' school is designed to confuse, and right until the last third we are not clear what really happened!
Gael Garcia is excellent as fresh-faced actor Juan, scraggly-bearded Ángel and jaded-transvestite Zahara.. indeed its his multi-faceted personalities that keep the movie ticking when all semblances of plot comprehension fail you. Almodovar completely succeeds in both confusing and entertaining at the same time!

Diarios de motocicleta (2004) - [The Motorcycle Diaries]
The story of Ernesto 'Che' Guevara and his friend Alberto Granada as they travel on a 10,000 km journey across south america on a road trip, which is more an eye-opener.. and went on determine very strongly the political affiliation Che was going to take later in life.
Shot in a slow, narrative style, the film sticks true to the transcript of the diaries, and doesn't make any pretenses about plot development and character building. At the end of the movie though, you are left feeling overwhelmingly sad that a young man whose ideals were so bright, somehow got disiilusioned along the way and he turned out no better than the oppressors he set out to overthrow.

keeping it simple

life is kinda simple these days.. i don't demand too much of it, it doesn't ask me questions that are too difficult in return. i go to work at the library, then go on to the lab after that, send out a few resumes.. come back home, play football or cricket.. cook some dinner, watch a movie or two, or there's always M*A*S*H on tv.. weekends we barbecue, and go out for a movie..

here's our latest culinary delight, perfect for hot summer days.. nats made the cold shrimp pasta salad with apple mint sauce, and i made the potato pancakes with the salsa dip.. i'll put up the recipe on the recipe blog as soon as i can

watched a bunch of movies recently.. some pretty good, some not so memorable:

La Mujer de Benjamín (1991) - one of the better spanish language films i've watched, pretty grim, but deep.. the movie maintains a constant speed throughout, which belies the action taking place onscreen. its portrayal of small town life is quite gripping, and unnerving too.

Flight of the Phoenix (2004) - this is one of those movies in which the plot is so fantastic this cannot be anything but a movie! a plane carrying the crew from an oil rig crashes in the mongolian desert, completely off the radar.. and with the weather, thirst and smugglers threatening, they build a plane off the wreckage and fly away!! *shaking head in disbelief*
Giovanni Ribisi (who plays Phoebe's psychotic brother in 'Friends') is excellent in this movie though.. i really like his work, he covers quite the range..

Spanglish (2004) - i liked this movie.. not really heavy on plot, more like a 'slice of life' film.. but strong characters, and acted very well.. Adam Sandler-haters will be pleasantly surprised to find that he is not the craziest person in this household.. this role is played to the hilt by Téa Leoni ('Bad Boys', 'Deep Impact'), and you actually fear that there are women out there in the world who might actually be like her!! Paz Vega ('Sex & Lucia') is breathtakingly gorgeous, and plays the mexican househelp with a refreshing sense of innocence and calm.. i think i am in love with this woman.. she is beautiful!

Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005) - one of the big budget blockbusters of the summer.. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are both sizzling in this movie! all the pre-release hype about online chemistry etc.. you better believe it! not a movie to carry your brain into.. just watch and marvel! filled with witty one-liners and kick-ass action.. this is a perfect summer movie.. to just be enjoyed with popcorn and a drink. i actually liked the TV show too.. so i was kinda disappointed that they tinkered with the story.. but ahh, what the hell.. angelina jolie is smokin'!!

film review

i gotta warn you before you read this.. i'm a pretty cheap date when it comes to movies - unless the movie is absolutely horrible, i will probably give it a decent rating!

Crash -
this is a pretty intelligent, yet good movie.. set in L.A, a little too many coincidences you feel, but it does address the prickly issues of racism, and how everyone needs someone below them to dump on. the acting is excellent, absolutely top-notch (it had better be too, with so many top actors in it!)- pretty much everyone has done what they have to do, and then some. definitely a must-watch.

KungFu Hustle -
hilarious at times, this is Stephen Chow (Shaolin Soccer) at his best again! you just gotta love some of the characters in this movie! based in a poor alley, it's all about gangs and how the citizens get together to fight them off. so what if it the end is very cliched.. the stunts and slapstick humour are great.. gather round some friends and watch this one together.

Cellular -
love the idea, but that's where it all ends. a woman is kidnapped, and locked away, and she manages to make one phone-call, to a cellphone.. and that's all she got. it's well-acted and halfway plausible, but at the end you wonder how you believed the movie, sometimes it makes you want to say "hello! get real!!" product placement is maximised here, with Nokia appearing like they funded the film!! (NB: if you've watched Phone Booth, don't bother with this one)

Roger Dodger -
i wonder how this 2002 movie passed me by! shot in NY, filled with cliches about sex and relationships, and how a smart single man chases the aforementioned! Campbell Scott turns in a very polished performance, and his use of speech as an instrument to cut, heal and do everything in between too is amazing. the dialogues are quite remarkable, and though not too useful, quite memorable for the next time you want to stir up controversy in a mixed, informal gathering.

Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.

went to watch The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy last night.. i really liked it, but that was cos i hadn't read the book.. while i watched my three HGTTG-purist friends sitting next to me wince at every change to the original book! i'd love to make this post as ironically humorous as the book really is.. but then that would render Douglas Adams quite useless, the improbability factor of which is 2 raised to the power of 17165102505 against one.. which happens to be the phone number of a buffalo apartment where a really interesting party was taking place after the movie.. but hey! i digress!!

so we had a post-movie party.. got the regular large pizza & buffalo wings and lots of booze.. it was nats, sank, arul and i.. gaurav (aka gpRX100) and bhavna came as well.. and dan came too with his friend laurie. dan had burned a CD of the original BBC TV series of Hitchhiker's Guide.. which was truer to the book, but not quite as slick as the film, though i have been since reliably informed that the audio books are excellent. so the story thus far is that in the beginning the universe was created. this made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move.

anyways, won't bore you with the details.. but we pretty much did what (old) grad students do.. sat around and ate, drank and talked.. conversation was pretty funny though.. and i think we had one of our better small parties for a looong time. and so to close this post, i'd like to finish with a very famous line from the book: "so long, and thank you for all the fish", but i won't, because that will be as incredibly cliched as ships hanging in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't.. and of course, as we all know, the answer is NOT always 42.. cos if i ask you if you are really an idiot, and you answered 42, i will be compelled to think that you really are an idiot, which is marginally better than being a politician, since anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job. which is why news of George Bush's election and subsequent re-election spread very fast because as you well know, nothing travels faster than the speed of light with the possible exception of bad news, which obeys its own special laws. and when he proceeds to let us know that we are safe, i really wanna say ah, this is obviously some strange usage of the word 'safe' that i wasn't previously aware of.

NB: Marvin, the chronically depressed paranoid android was hilarious!! totally stole the show! i could tell you more about him, but you would not like it.. so Don't Panic!

interpret this

nicole kidman is The Interpreter, and she turns in one of her better performances. sean penn definitely makes his secret service agent character very three-dimensional. the story is set in NYC, with kidman working as a translator in the UN.. she was born in a fictional african country and grew up there, before civil war led her to move out. this film is a sydney pollack special, with his regular slow yet constant paced murder thriller.

the whole plot backdrop bears a more than passing resemblance to the story of several african nations today.. the senile dictators, the strife-torn countries, the dysfunctional loyalties, and the issue i identify with the most.. the politics of skin colour - what is it really like growing up in africa and being non-black skinned.

don't dig too deep behind the sheen, this is not that intelligent a movie.. but it is definitely better than the regular hollywood fare.. worth the ticket definitely! i leave you with a closing thought, also from the film: "According to custom, if a man kills a member of your family and is captured, he is tied up and thrown into the river, and it is up to your family to save him, or let him drown. If he drowns, you will have vengeance, but you will grieve all of your days. If you save him, you will be released from your lament. Vengeance is a lazy form of grief." - what do you think?

Sin City baby!

the theater goes dark, and on the screen the terrace of a tall, city building against a grim dark skyline, about to spit rain, a striking lady in a red dress walks to the railing.. "She shivers in the wind like the last leaf on a dying tree.." goes The Salesman from behind her, and starts us off on the high-speed, two hour rollercoaster ride that is Sin City!! excellently made movie, i think it came out exactly how Frank Miller's monochromatic mind wanted it to be like when he wrote the series of novels! directed by Robert Rodriguez (Desperado, From Dusk Till Dawn), and featuring as guest director - Quentin Tarantino (do i really need to write credits for him?! where do i start? Reservoir Dogs? Pulp Fiction? Kill Bill?!).. they did an excellent job with the making, the weaving together of plots and the tying off of loose ends. one really got the feeling of being transported back to that era!

so i don't wanna spoil the movie for those who haven't watched it.. but man it was excellent! the loaded star cast did their jobs well.. bruce willis, jessica alba, mickey rourke, clive owen, benicio del toro, devon aokie, brittany murphy, josh hartnett.. elijah wood (who i always slaughter!) it's shot entirely in black and white, with selective one-colour filtering.. full of angry, fighting men.. hot, sexy women.. gruesome, wanton blood-spattering.. fast, furious car-chases.. and little subtleties that are almost a trade mark of the robert rodriguez.. excellent score, brief screenshots, wicked angles.. and the car chases were done by QT.. and every time you see him at work again, you really admire his thought process when he's shooting a film.

if you thought Kill Bill Vol.1 had way too much blood, then maybe you might give this one a miss.. but you'll be missing out on a forgotten era of pulp literature, and stories that gave birth to legends like Batman. Basin City (where the stories are set) has a very uncanny resemblence to Gotham City, in Batman. the pace throughout is relentless, never really eases off the gas pedal.. well worth the ticket price definitely, and then some. do watch it in a theater if you can though. anyways, me off now to watch the downloaded dvd-rip! ;-))

sleepy sunday

man it's been really long since i last pulled a night-out.. partying, academic or otherwise.. of course having good company on YM voicechat definitely helps! honey.. you did, you did!!

sank was busy all day finishing up his proj report, arul was either in school or in limbo.. so i kinda wandered around aimlessly, smiling sheepishly/sleepishly and watching the new NFL channel.. i love that channel, it really makes up for not having football on sundays in the offseason. there's just something so wrong about not having football on tv on sundays!

made a very traditional bengali dish today.. shorshey maccher jhaal, which is ground-mustard fish curry. i'd put up a link to the recipe here, but my version was 'designer'.. i.e. made up as i went along! you can try this though, but lemme warn you all that ground mustard paste when made well is more lethal than wasabe (horse-radish) too!! another thing to be noted is that it works best if you soak the mustard seeds overnight in water.

watched 'Dude, Where's The Party' (aka 'Where's The Party, Yaar?').. which was pretty hilarious!! it has kal penn of 'Harold & Kumar' fame! a bit weak on the storyline, but a pretty funny movie nonetheless, and some excellent music in it too! every indian student in the US will find something in it to identify with, while all of you not in the US (especially mom and dad!).. don't believe a thing they say!!

hide n' seek

started off a pretty downkey day.. snow flurries in the bitter cold of 8F.. full day shift of 8-5.. fortitude, chips and good IM company kept me going.. luckily workload wasn't too big..

came home, had a leftover sub.. then went over to 122 as nats had made chocolate cake. smoked up, then we played Pictionary.. nats, arul, mal and i gave the game a whole new hilarious dimension! then we went to watch 'Hide N' Seek' with ash and mohit. the movie was pretty okayish.. but the story twists keep you glued to the screen, and creeping crescendos keep you in your seats!

robert deniro plays this psychiatrist whose wife dies, and is left to raise his young daughter himself. he takes her into upstate new york to forget her mother's memories.. and then slowly hell starts breaking loose! very creepy at times.. good stuff.

came home and we all chilled out.. had dinner and a couple of drinks. broke out the bottle of Johnny Walker, Black Label (thanks Dad!!).. and lived it up.. it was nice lively banter.. then arul n' i pushed off to 87M for more merriment.. had a very interesting focussed analysis on cricket.. got back late, and tried yet another episode in the 'Stoned Cooking' series!! came out pretty well too.. Iron Chef Saurabh has not lost his skills..

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JUST A THOUGHT.. i really need a Reiki cleansing period in a couple of years.. when i've got a job and stuff. after that it's gonna be a vicarious existence for me (seriously!!).. i've set 30 as the age to continue my insane party lifestyle until.. so am gonna keep full on as i am now.. ;-)) i have to admit though, that my best drinking and doping days are now definitely behind me.. but that's not to say i'm not gonna give it my best shot.. still lotsa partying to do!!

"it's John Constantine, asshole!"

so when keanu reeves walked onscreen and delivered that as the opening line.. you always got the feeling that this was not going to be a regular soppy movie. 'Constantine' premiered at school today.. and it was worth the cover charge.. wait a minute.. it was a free premiere.. so no charge! but it was a pretty good movie nonetheless.. ash, nats, arul n' i enjoyed it.

constantine plays mediator between the forces of good and evil.. making sure the demons stay down, and the angels stay wherever they do.. the line between is often blurred.. he doesn't give a shit, smokes 30 cigarettes a day and kicks demon ass whenever he gets a chance.. all in his search for personal redemption.

along the way he ends up helping rachel weisz solve a few personal problems, helps his assistant grow up, and works with his eclectic bunch of cronies in keeping the above-ground free from intrusions.. i think he smiles a sum total of twice in the movie! some excellent graphics and stunts.. pretty good music and very slick editing.. this should do quite decently at the box office.

NB: i have since seen the critics reviews, and they have torn it to shreds! personally i have stopped listening to the critics.. but those who do.. be warned!

blast from the past

i think i'm slowly turning into my dad!! not only have i started looking like him, but there's nothing i enjoy more than sitting at home in the evening after a long hard day with a bourbon and coke. the similarities get even more unnerving.. i've started appreciating jean michel jarre even more.. and wait.. old elvis movies too! yep!

so there i was on friday night.. winding down after what had been one of the hardest weeks of my life as far as work output was concerned.. we had subs for dinner, then sank and arul slept off early, also tracie hadn't been keeping too well since she got back from cleveland either.. so i poured myself a healthy shot of jim beam and was watching elvis presley in 'Clambake'.. which was nice..

it was an interesting time back then in the 60s.. before flower-power kicked in.. the people seemed so much more innocent.. but let me stress.. 'seemed'. humans have been playing mindgames ever since adam & eve, and the 60s were no different.. same games, different fields i guess. here's an elvis song from the movie.. 'A House That Has Everything'

I can see you now living like a queen,
    In a house that has everything, everything but love,
Crystal chandeliers, chauffeured limousines,
    Yes you'll really have everything, everything but love.

I see diamonds, sables, sapphires and pearls,
    And as the picture clears,
Poor little rich girl sitting all alone,
    Counting her treasures in tears,
Better just a shack where two people care,
    Than a house that has everything, everything but love.

anyways.. i dropped by at 87M looking to score some, and found the boys there already sitting in the circle.. bong all ready to be lit!! hehehe, just had a very irreverent thought.. wonder if dad used to do the same in his time ;-))

eternal sunshine of the spotted mind

so often i wake up and find myself playing and replaying scenes in my life.. oft-repeated scenes that keep popping up like damned internet explorer ads.. and they are usually as irritating as well.. cos they are scenes disintegrating, falling apart, crumbling away in my mind.. only to be replaced by newer, similar scenes, and the faces are different, the walls look different, the light outside shines with a different intensity, a different hue.. it's a different time..

maybe i am a different person too.. maybe i am not the ENTP outgoing character i am.. maybe i am that too.. ohh! it's a different shadow, but the same me. my shadow-brother, my alter-ego. i want to name him. and only one name comes to mind, immediately, naturally.. Calvin. the other me is a calvin. so who is calvin then? angst is calvin. calvin is dark. my hero is calvin. calvin fuels me.

take a moment off from whatever you are doing. you might be at work, or at home, or at school.. but be with me on this one. sit back and relax. i quote:

"We're gonna need your help, and your permission,
and so we need you to find a comfortable space,
that is not only comfortable, but vulnerable.
I want you to shut your eyes and go there,
and we'll meet you on the other side.."

now think about yourself. think about only yourself. now think about what you are, where you came from and where you wanna go. think about that. take a minute or two, and think about that.

here we are again. now i want you to think about the person that is really inside of you.. that pushes and prods you, drives you on, urges you forward. the person inside you who you hate so much yet you love to be. think about what that person makes you do. think about that person. that is the other you. talk to him, or her.. as the case might be. stay in touch with that person.. that is your life.

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finally watched Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind, and it was worth every moment of the wait.. i have never felt such a sense of oneness, after watching a film. it really sets you thinking. its a movie that when its over.. you have two kinds of audience.. firstly - those who it just bounced off.. they're the ones looking around picking their coats and looking for their keys and cell phones.. and then there's the other kind.. who totally understood the movie.. and are wrestling with their grey cells wondering what it all meant.. they're the ones who are still sitting there, not minding the people stepping on their toes in their vain bids to beat the rush out.. they stare blankly, interrupted.. watching the credits roll up.. and the names are just long white strings against a dark background.. those are the people the director has communicated with.

flying through time

ahh well, all good things come to an end, and all great things live on forever.. vip, missing you dude.

mal and tracie had a movie-and-pizza night at 122.. they got 'Last Samurai'.. which i really didn't mind watching again. the heroism and all was very hollywood-ish, but the countryside was breathtaking.. i dont know if its just me, but whenever i see pictures of the japanese countryside, it has a very calming effect.. that is definitely a country to go to when you take a sabbatical.. i would love to live in a shinto temple for some time.. meditate.. and write.

besides, i am fascinated by the whole samurai and ninja concepts of leading life as well.. has anyone read Eric van Lustbader? he was like Quentin Tarantino on paper.. that's how graphic his writings were.. the six books featuring Nicholas Linnear created much of the image i have of japan and its cultures as a whole in my head.

another thing i picked up from QT & EvL.. their fascination for the 'katana' - the samurai sword. it's actually a feat of engineering in itself.. so delicately crafted, yet so surprisingly strong, and immensely capable of such unthinkable destruction. i would definitely have a 'katana' hanging over the fireplace.. i cannot think of a better motif for life right now.

i want to be a 'katana' right now, strong, unyielding and tough.. yet when handled well, gentle and careful enough to be your companion for life.. a work of art, yet savage.. cold and warm at the same time.. unflinching, but still feeling everything.

"i would like to think that for me happiness is achieving some of the peace that so many seek, but so few find"

alexander the great??

went to watch the premiere last night in school.. it was so exceedingly sad!! if you thought 'Troy' was bad.. then 'Alexander' is horrific!! dragged over two hours forty five minutes.. i am really disappointed in oliver stone, the camera work was weird, a lot of scenes did not have his 'touch'..

it proceeded to chronicle a very wimpy, mama's boy alexander.. well, were you taught in history class that alex was GAY?! yep, they showed him and his succession of lovers in all his homosexual glory. now i don't wanna sound all homophobic and all, but alex got showed up as a wuss, and very indecisive. by the time his conquests led him to india, not only were his generals telling him to turn back, so were most of the audience!! it was told in a very predictable flashback way, which also didn't come off well at all.. and the war scenes weren't too well done either..

colin farrell as alexander was quite average, angelina jolie as his mother olympias was good, as was val kilmer as philip the macedon, his father. anthony hopkins played old ptolemy in a role reminiscent of zorro.

fortune favors the bold, but not in this movie.. overall rating - 'C'