The Year that was…

The Haps and Mishaps, most of these are around places I have visited.
Travel seems to have been the motif for 2006

- The Golden Sand and the Setting Sun on the world’s best beach (according to me at least) Tiracol Beach, Northern most tip of Goa.

- White Water Rafting and Mountain Biking in Dandeli. Awesome.

- On the Road to the gold fields; Getting to know that I would be losing someone. With no big bang, with no fireworks, it was all over.

- Helen and Matt's Indian wedding celebrations :)

- Mom and Dad’s 25^th wedding anniversary celebrations in Bombay with the entire gang.

- Lying on the grass in Edinburgh after an entire day of cycling, and watching Vat mimic kittens, remains etched in my mind for GOD knows what reason.

- Getting “married”, eating cotton candy at 3 am in the middle of nowhere, all in Pondicherry.

- Going crazy over scrabble with Krymson and Pappu

- B11, 13^th floor, Purple Haze, Zero G, JAP, Tavern and LIT’s

Mysteries

There are so many of the world’s mysteries that I ponder upon, like

- Why is it that Sanjay Dutt gets all the media attention and pages of print in the papers, whereas a gun battle in Kashmir gets a 4 line mention and is quickly forgotten?

- Whats the deal with all the kids falling into open narrow wells?

- Why do people find it weird when I tell them I plan to spend the New year’s eve at home with my parents?

- Why does Anil Kumble of all the people have to field at ‘point’ ?

Photu of the Week

Well now the plumbers know where to head to get lucky :P
Though I wonder why such niche marketing, why only plumbers?? siiiigh one may never know

That time of the year…

Yeah the Pirelli’s, the King Fisher’s etc are all here with their calendars, so am I!!

The Calendar has been designed, gone into ‘production’ and being a collector’s item: P, very few copies are available; I have a list of people (read lucky people) who are going to get it this time round :D

Movies !

The Party
Peter Sellers plays Hrundi Bakshi, an Indian who is mistakenly invited to a Hollywood party and manages to wreck havoc albeit innocently. Brilliant situational comedy, in true Peter Sellers style.
It seems a perfect set up for India bashing, but Bakshi turns out to be the only normal guy in the movie, yes there are a few stereotypes but then an enjoyable movie that even a fanatic patriot like me enjoyed.

A Scanner Darkly
A very dark movie, using Rotoscoping (animating over actual actors) the movie provides a doped effect. Very different and very nice, though I would not call it wholesome entertainment. Stay away if you want to watch a fun movie. This one is dark throughout. Lovely.

Mystic River
A star studded cast and a nice movie, I personally found Clint Eastwood’s Million Dollar baby pathetic, But Sean Penn and Tim Robbins in one movie, very nice. A lil Depressing though.

Memento
AWESOME, more than anything else the structural complexity of the movie is brilliant, I wont say a word about it, just that it’s a must watch (thanks for putting this one in my must watch list Amu)

The Cheap detective
A spoof of Bogart movies especially the Maltese falcon, nice and funny.

Pulp Fiction
Quentin Tarantino. The only bad thing bout this one was John Travolta, he is so freakin irritating!!

Photu of the Week

We found this one real real funny last night. lol.
notice the "dog" ?
maybe the greeks picturised Kerberos (Cerberus) more like this.

Hooters!!

I looked out of the kitchen window on Friday, and lo behold there sat my favorite bird around 10 feet away. An Owl !!

I looked out of the bedroom window on Saturday and there it was again, just 4-5 feet away. Looking like it was at peace with itself after a night long hunting session. It sat there oblivious to the bunch of admiring onlookers (that included Mom, Dad and I).

The crows came cawing with all their might; it obliged them with a casual glance, not moving once.

A couple of squirrels came, feinting as if they were going to attack it, it sat there immovable, as if saying “I do not attend every argument I am invited to”.

The most amazing thing about this owl was that it showed absolutely no sign of fear.

I tried singing to it (Yes I did, I sing to anyone who is willing to listen), talking to it, even tried to mimic birds and rodents (or so I would like to believe), and all it did was lazily opened its eyes, gave me a look that made me feel like an idiot and went right back to sleep.

Basically this owl looked like it had figured out the meaning of life.

It had chosen its position well, nicely camouflaged from other birds of prey such as kites and eagles.

At first it just looked like a cuddly little soft toy, however a closer glance at its fearsome claws and you knew this was a bird of prey and a successful one at that.

As far as I am concerned this is the most super cool of all birds, in every sense.

Movies over the week

Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels – This movie has loads and loads of style. The only other movie with more style that comes to mind is “The good, The bad and The ugly”.

The soundtrack is a killer. No wonder this one is such a cult classic !! wonderful watch

“I am 18 with a bullet; got my finger on the trigger I am goin to pull it…”

For a few dollars more -

Clint Eastwood and one of the most popular of movie music themes makes for a very nice western indeed :)

American Psycho 2 –

Why do I do this to myself, I am no fan of Marquis de Sade, I do not enjoy inflicting pain upon myself, unless you do, do not watch this one.

Shwaas – Nice Marathi movie, about a kid who is going to lose his eyesight and his grandpa who wants to show him the world around before the kid can stop seeing it.

Talking about regional movies and theatre

I remember being totally awed by the play ‘Jaanta Raja’(About Shivaji) in Bombay, where there were live horses and elephants used on a massive stage. So Marathi art forms still seem to have a chance.

Kannada Movies unfortunately have sunk to an all time low, gone are the days of beautiful cinema like “Beladingala Baaley” (moonlight maiden) one of my all time fav movies.

Today the underlying theme seems to be the underworld (or so I hear because, I do not remember when I last saw a Kannada movie)

Apoorv’s Angels?

My angel gave me peanuts (with a note sayin “that is what u deserve” lol) and a T-shirt that proclaims “I am crazy about Balls!!”

Siiiigh no looking a gift horse in the mouth

I gave my devil

A box of shoe polish

A bat and a ball (the plastic one, I got it for 15 rupees)

A biscuit packet

A Puzzle, on solving which the devil would get the next gift namely – A frog

And just to be nice….a Beautiful Kurta :D there I am done with my good deed for the week :))

eh... what?

There is not much to write about, recently a friend was asking me if my life has become all normal and I have not many surprises in store.

Well then I vehemently disagreed, right now life sure does look like heading towards normalcy (a very rare occurrence)

Nevertheless, I do have an Indoor cricket tournament to play (held in a meeting room at office!!)

I have signed up for a prank, it’s more of ‘helping a friend out’ than a dare. (The Prank may have 2 results. Either the victim falls in love with India or The victim would not be visitin India again anytime soon)

My Secret Angel is so secretive that I have not received any gift yet (hey u reading this angel??)

I am thinking of a whacky gift to give my devil, I am thinking a cauliflower would do nicely for starters.

My Muse (if I had one in the first place) seems to have left me, and I am down to writing gibberish.

Reading…

Terry Pratchett – the Truth.

Back to DiscWorld, after a long time… Last time around I had read all the novels, terry has come back with like a dozen more maybe. So I need to Catch up!
Ummm by page 52 I realized why this one did not feel as good as the rest, there are no ‘notes’, damn I miss em’ :(
However Terry’s inimitable style remains.

Dorothy Sayers-The Nine Tailors

This is church bell ringing jargon, death is announced by ringing in the ‘Nine Tailors. Lord Peter Wimsey is there but the book in not gripping enough for my tastes

Movies Over the week

Team America – World Police: Absolutely brilliant!!, relative to the movies I have been watching recently, this seems to be a master piece.
While watching it I was constantly reminded of South Park and only later realized that its directed by Trey Parker. A must watch!

L.A. Confidential : A fresh breath of air. A great watch. Period.

I love Huckabees – I hated it. One weird movie. Pathetic

Revolver – I was expecting Jason Statham style action (a la transporter) ummm another weird movie

American Psycho – Christian Bale, movie lives up to the name, another weird one… that’s a hatrick!

Match-up

Yeah I am a crazy, but its fun, so here are a few match ups.

James Bond v/s Jason Bourne

- Bourne, The guy uses a magazine as a weapon, does not need the gadgets. More street smart.

Sherlock Holmes v/s Hercule Poirot

- Holmes. Simply superior intellect.

Inspector Morse v/s Lord Peter Wimsey

- ummm Inspector Morse. He solves the times crossword in minutes, a guy who can do that must surely win

Snoopy v/s Snowy

- Snowy, has been everywhere…but then Snoopy is the world war ace and a legal eagle beagle. Close

Wile E Coyote v/s Tom

- Coyote, c’mon he deserves a break.

Terry Pratchett v/s Douglas Adams

- Douglas who?? Terry obviously, for his consistently good writing.

Sandman (gaiman) v/s DEATH (pratchett)

- One can Scythe you out the other can Psyche you out, but I back Death….funnier of the two :)

Bangalore v/s Bombay

- Blore for its weather and Bombay for its infrastructure.

Retrospect

Past week felt long, I spent couple of days being anti-social, grumpy and wearing a “Do not come near me” look. Just feels good to let some steam off.

Some good things –

- My next project deals with music and another personal fav, it’s so confidential that if I tell you anymore I may have to kill you.

- Talking to a colleague I realized the client pays us insane amounts of money on an hourly basis (wow makes one feel extremely imp :P ).

- The T-shirts I helped design are here and they look gooooood :), I feel proud.

- We are back to playing cricket in office, its rejuvenating!

- I still find happiness in everything I do, see and feel.

The bad things

- ummmm never are any bad things :D all is for the good !

Movies over the weekend

Casino Royale – I was not in the least impressed, whats the point of making a bond movie that does not stick to bond stereotypes? Who want to see Bond get mushy over some chick? Not me.

To be fair Craig makes a very realistic looking secret agent but he is just not cut out to be Bond, there is no charisma, no charm. The Bond girls are boring. The movie is slow paced (I blame the book). The opening chase sequence is the best part of the movie.

Licence to Kill – Watched this without expecting too much, but ended up enjoying it. It’s a nice movie. Timothy Dalton makes a decent enough Bond. I never liked Sean Connery as Bond (I know the whole world thinks he makes the best Bond), I still would rate Pierce Brosnan as a better Bond.

Batman Begins – No matter how many times I watch this, I love it. Superman returns was like a cheap B-grade movie compared to the sheer brilliance of Batman Begins.
“You are not the Devil, you are just practice…”

Fast Times at Ridgemont High – A very Archie type crowd in a 1980’s movie about a group of teenagers. Decent watch. We get to see a very young Sean Penn play a doped, good for nothing but funny guy :)