Sherlock Holmes followed by 3 idiots

Well it was more like a witty James Bond with IQ of 150+ living on Baker street. But I quite liked the movie. If you are not a purist you will like this one. I went with an expectation that this would be similar to the TV adaptation of the Agatha Christie's Poirot. But Guy Ritchie's take on Sherlock Holmes is quite snazzy, suave and laced with humor. The background music is quite enchanting and grows on you. Wasn't surprised when the Iron man won the Globe.

Purists stick to the book.

3 Idiots.

Finally managed to catch this mega blockbuster, and it surely was entertaining (except for that song which starts "woh.. something").. very simplistic, but effective humor.. well the Chetan bhagat controversy ..hmmm .. though he is from hong kong i feel the ruckus wasn't that necessary (except if it was intended for some marketing purpose... )

i have missed some movies last year - shouldn't be repeating the mistake again...

When I hear

Turn the page from Metallica I did not know it was a cover. Bob Seger's original is more "from the heart" and soulful. But Metallica's cover is great too.

Check out Turn the Page from Bob Seger [Original] and Metallica's Cover of Turn the Page.

Both the songs have a very "desert road" feel.....

wow...Very nice ad .

The men and their invention
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdrLEYXAGzQ

Avatar

There were a lot of questions after watching AVATAR; But the following kept lingering until today

1. Wouldn't Terminator 2 in 3D IMAX be better than avatar??

2. Despite all the technology the mining team had and a multi-million work contract why didnt Jake have a sophisticated wheelchair?

3. Why couldn't the 3D frames be more comfortable and wearable?

Honestly I did not like the movie that much. Appreciate the technical masterpiece but the drama lacked punch

Surroundings

Two children gaze into the oblivion. The starer of the two children listens to 1916. See the sun rays. We are the system, we are the law. We are the cold. We are the dryness. Red spots on Mars...Everything changes , but everything is the same.

Pipes and structure charts glow in the lcd monitor. Headphones bark some old memorable songs. Mediocre intake. Fret fret fret until you are tired. Smile smile and keep it that way until the other person goes nuts figuring what's up to you. Don't try to cling to the past. Get thrown into new territories. Apply new rules to life and change the direction of the boat in the river of life. The worker leaves before the dawn. The guffaw man sits with a MS Word document open. The wizard is asleep. The crustacean loving bartender is asleep. The regular chef has shut his doors. The tiny is asleep. The self proclaimed, unsure, joker checks his attachments and smiles and types nonsense. He knows everyone is guilty but there is no one to blame. Work for a living or work for the red carpet?

One word of advice : Deal well with powerful people. Show them the finger.

mineral water / distilled water

the next time I hear this in a restaurant, I want to ask them back what did they use to cook or make the drink they just served it.. and i shall buy the same..

i just get irritated when being asked this question again and again and again.. if i really need a mineral water bottle would't I ask for one .. should i be reminded / pestered.. the order goes like
mineral water..
distilled water
tap water .. are u sure.. thats when the question should come .. what do you use to cook/ for the drink.. thats like an indirect finger isnt it?

As crazy as crazy as

Gold Spot - The Zing Thing

Reached Oulu

Back here in the arctic region and once again back to the real winter...Will be here for 2 months before returning to India.

moral sceince

During school days the only non-assessed subject was "moral science", a 45 mins class held once per week. And in our case by a Christian father teaching virtues.

This was a practice to instill Good behavior in the future citizens of the country. However, I always wondered (post school days) why it could not have been thought from a legal perspective. The essential subjects covered under moral science of theft, bribe, dowry, lies, multiple marriages, killings (murder), general harm to others, drug abuse etc are Criminal offences as per legal framework in India.

Would, telling students that apart from being morally correct, that most of the above are illegal and that the guilty would be subject to punishment by the government/police, be more helpful in developing a future responsible citizen?

certainly debatable, then I think students will be more inclined in learning the loop holes to get out of the legal framework??

Cover versions of Nouvelle Vague

Nouvelle Vague come up with cover versions which rival the original versions.

"This is not a love song" was a song from PiL (Public Image Ltd.). The song was a very 80s sounding song(at least to me- it sounded like a incessant shout).

Nouvelle Vague added a very classy touch. This version sounds like a drunk fashionista singing casually. Check out Nouvelle Vague's acoustic version of This is not a love song and the original noisy This is not a love song by PiL

They had redone Love will tear us apart in the similar way. Love will tear us apart by Nouvelle Vague from the original

Forgotten memories

Sometimes "remembering" forgotten memories is like stumbling across a memory location (or the base address of an array) never accessed for decades. Once you "remember" such a forgotten memory, a chain of memories come along with it. I am experiencing that now.While cleaning my shelves, I found these

Trigger#1 : My pocket oxford dictionary - 1987

It was 1987. I was in the 3rd standard. It was my Upanayanam and I had invited my teacher Mariam Begum for my Munji. She did not come. I was expecting her. Then after sometime at 2:30 she came. She was my favorite teacher (at that point of time). She gave me a present which I had treasured throughout my school life. It was a pocket oxford dictionary. I also learnt my first few "bad words" in 6th standard using that book (also had shown that book to Shiva and Naveena). I had randomly stumbled across these bad words and shown these words to Naveena and Shiva who had commented that dictionary can also be used to learn bad words.I shall keep this for the rest of my life.

My stamp stock book

It must have been 1991,1992 time frame. If you did not have stamp collection as your hobby, you were uncool in our area. I was a stamp collector - Manja was my stamp collection partner for sometime, but he soon lost the interest. After seeing Jayasimha's collection , I was inspired like hell. His "Jamaica stamp" and his "Ethiopia stamp" had driven me insane. I wanted such stamps. The name Jamaica sounded exotic to me. I remembered the Cadbury's Old Jamaica chocolate with raisins. I had collected so many stamps, exchanged matchbox covers to stamps (and vice versa), asked my elder brother Sujay to give me his stamps. My stamp collection is really respectable now. I really have old stuff (but they maybe damaged but they are valuable for sure) :-

-India Under British (1.5 Annas stamp)
-Ceylon stamp (5 cents)
-Colonial Mauritius
-Uganda,Kenya and Tanganyika under British (a postage serving three African countries - Have a lot(6) of these....I am thinking eBay ;-) )
-Colonial Malta
-British Guiana
-Surinam, Cyprus, Greece...wow!
-Congo under Belgium!
-An old stamp says "Principalty of Thomond" no idea where it is from.

But I will keep this for sometime :-) Feeling happy

The three idiots

are the director, scriptwriter and Chetan Bhagat. Real smart idiots, though. All jokes "engineered" to perfection and make a commercial script. Chetan Bhagat for acting silly after the movie is released. My rating is 2.5 / 5.

Rajkumar Hirani, the man:
The Munna Bhai movies as well as this movie, is his superficial understanding of the way "things work" in some field, be it medicine or engineering. I cannot comment on Medicine. I do not want to comment on "Education" also right away. But nowadays I cannot stand these commercial scripts. This script is more like a Sudha or a Taranga magazine's ooha-pooha.

I somehow prefer scripts like "Rocket Singh - Salesman of the year" - There is some honesty in the story. They do not go overboard or preachy like your Munnabhai or Rancho. After seeing Raja Sen's review of 3 idiots, I thought, Raja was just going overboard after being mesmerized by Avatar. But it's true. 3 idiots is not a movie for me. It is a farce. It is an ignorant view of an Engineering College Life.

Education system is rot in India. That's true. But everyone is not a Thomas Alva Edison. What about for the rest of junta ? Also, what is this obsession with "Engineers -> Wild Life Photographers" metamorphosis. Is that the only "different" occupation the director could think of ? We've seen too many of this type lately.

I look forward for Abhay Deol's Road Movie. The trailer looks awesome. The critics are all praise to this one. No idea when this is gonna be released.

Agreed that even Cameron's Avatar movie is not something VERY different. The same aliens v/s humans - The key difference which worked (as far as the story)was: The location is not Earth && humans are the villains, this time. Technically, the idea of using 3D really was a bold and a visionary step. Using 3D for horror will create wonder IMO. Bollywood can make a Phoonk 3D or something.