This makes my day!

These are few that could make my day bright and overshadow the irksome and irritating chores that happen around me everyday. It is a response to the tag dropped by Ramesh in his blog which I can never spell correctly. Ramesh, good points on yours by the way. Though there might be more generic small events that can make my day, I couldn't include them because either I am refused of it or not in the vicinity in recent times.

1. Sleeping as long as I want and waking up naturally without the nuisance of beeping alarms, speaking roomies, ringing cellphones, buzzing instant messengers or the direct sunrays.
2. Mom made dosa with two chutneys for breakfast. (Something I couldn't get for a year now)
3. 15 minutes hot shower with no thoughts of the busy and troublesome day in office ahead.
4. More than 5 persons online in the messenger for me to wish "Good morning" and get a reply back too.
5. Getting drenched in the rain.
6. "Someone said that my post on XXXXXXXX is good!!!!"
7. Finding out and laughing at the hours of pain, anger and confusion caused by a single quote or comma on my 300 lines code.
8. A game of Foosball and smashing the opponents with direct *zap* shots from the Goalkeeper.
9. The urge to cook that comes once in a blue moon and the output matching the recipe I tried and it IS yummy!
10. 1-hr lunch break with discussion on time travel, butterfly effect, 10th dimensions and Satman's surrealistic theories with not even a single word in Hindi which would make me just "nod". [No hard feelings on my "Hindi-speaking" fellow colleagues. I know your day happens by the other way around]
11. Find an unsuspecting victim online and tease him/her till they start swearing me. *Narayana* *Narayana*
12. Come home and see dinner hot and ready to be served.
13. A kiss from a sweet innocent kid.
14. Help a stranger even with right directions and getting an honest appreciation with thanks.
15. Watch an episode of Friends with Joey's "How you doing?", Phoebe's "Smelly cat", Geeky Ross, Sarcastic Chandler or goofy Rachel or even the all-perfect Monica and laugh out loud or sometimes smile with tears ready to drench the eyes.
16. A phone call from my friends with no special news except "Was wondering what you are doing?"
17. Pizza night!!!!! (Limited these days)
18. Play deathmatch in Quake 3 Arena against human players in a LAN environment. Love to create havoc with Rocket Launcher and make headshots with the rail gun.
19. Sit alone on a scenic place and listen to the breeze moving against the leaves with closed eyes.
20. Someone says "You have reduced weight".

Few indicators I am turning Evil

I am getting a feeling these days that I am turning more towards evil and sometimes I feel happy rather than worried about it. Here are few indicators I noticed on myself. Try to point it out if you know more. I promise that you will not be hurt by any cruel means.

1. I have developed a liking towards movies with serial killers or Psychotic villians. My favorite characters include the villains or anit-heros in the movies like "Phone Booth", "Seven", "Saw I", "Identity", "No country for Old men" and the recent Thumbprint killer "Mr.Brooks".
   I also have a special liking to Gotham City's crazy villain "The Joker".
2. I also liked the movies even when the hero dies at the end. "The Departed", "Pattiyal"(Tamil), "The Matrix Revolutions", "I am Legend" etc . Though one movie I hated because of this same fact was "Scarface".
   
3. I enjoyed watching Mr.Ribbon getting tortured (verbally) by Mr.Biscuit. See post for details.
4. Long-tailed Vinay is no more. He could probably been the last of his/her/it's species. I killed it by smashing it hard with the spam newsletters we get everyday and also took a photo before the final swing.
   My flatmates remarked whether I photograph my victims before killing them.
5. On reading one of my short stories "The Second Chance", a reader commented if I am a Psychotic in nature.
   
6. Important reason I like Quake 3 Arena better than Unreal tournament is the higher level of gore you can see when you kill the opponents in Q3A.
7. I am also a fan of violent-immoral-antisocial Grand Theft Auto game series even though I agree it should be rated as 15+)
8. I have little regret in writing this post about exposing my affection towards evil.

Long-tailed Vinay says Cheeze!

Here for your eyes is "Long-tailed Vinay" who readily posed infront of my Nikon D40 camera while sitting (or standing) on the ceiling of our kitchen. When my 200mm lens could not get a close-up shot, he/she/it was kind enough to move under the kitchen shelf bringing him/her/it-self closer to my camera letting me shoot at various angles.

If you are wondering about the name, it was named after my flatmate Vinayak who first discovered the insect in our kitchen. Also, as the name explains itself, it had a very long tail atleast twice the side of its abdomen. (Please don't ask whether insects will have tail.)


Also, this is one of my worthy-to-mention snap that I am able to create after days of fruitless experiments on telephoto, potrait and finally macro photography. If you do not find this good enough, and think you can easily take a better photo, please keep it in your computer and dont you dare show it to me. Just kidding. Seriously, please do share your inputs and corrections on improving my skills.

Dasavatharam - Avatars unnecessary

First things first. This is one of the best well thought stories in Tamil film industry. And it is comparable to the best movies of the Hollywood and better than many of them. Hats off to Kamal Hassan for that.

But why??? Why does he have to go to KS Ravi Kumar to direct that movie????? And why? I mean why he has to do the 10 roles in this otherwise turning point of the Tamil film industry. For one, a Hollywood action packed scientific movie is turned down to pointless hero-centric masala movie. And another, any character that wears a plastic mask sold in Mariamman kovil festivals can be identified as Kamal. I am sorry. There are three roles of Kamal in which he looks normal. And he does NOT put any makeup for those characters. Short and simple way of saying it is "It would have been a great movie if Kamal had went to Shankar or Maniratnam instead of KS Ravi Kumar and had done only 3 or 4 roles instead of the needless 10 roles.

Let’s talk about in detail. *Spoilers ahead*
The movie starts at 12th century with the first avatar of Kamal as a Lord Vishnu Devotee. But why? I mean why would they have Asin the girl who melted hearts with "Sutrum Vizhi Sudarae" as his wife crying in literature Tamil? All my friends would have definitely cried at that scene. After that, the movie takes us to Chennai, US and Japan and there is Kamal everywhere. Is he proving to be the "Universal" hero.

Coming back, the main story revolves around the cat and mouse chase for a biological weapon in a vial by Good Kamal who made it and Bad Kamal who wants it. Isn’t that the essence of every evil corporation sponsored project movie in English? That was the first step in taking the movie to the Hollywood level (Sarcasm intended). But did I say Good and Bad Kamal? Yes. How do we differentiate? Is it moustache? Is it beard? Is it shaven head? Or is it the dwarf trick? No. Bad Kamal is an ex-CIA officer and he is an American. And how does he get the face of a American? Simple. Take a packing brown tape and stick all over his face and don’t forget to pull holes for eyes and mouth. The same applies for almost all other avatars that include Singing Singh, Police Naidu, Funny Bush (The American President:D:D:D), tall Bhai and a special brown tape over the hair for his role as a 95 year old lady.

I am sure many people would agree with me here. If he had chosen few roles like Vishnu devotee, Scientist, ex-CIA officer and the Police leaving the rest of the characters to other actors, the movie would have not got deviated from the story. Instead, you are forced to see the imperfect makeup most of the time distracting from the fast paced action movie. Though it is very much appreciated of using Andy Dixon (Transporter 2) as the action choreographer, we cannot say that we liked Michael Westmore work as the Make-up artist. Some one might have told him that they liked his work on the movie Mask and he decided to do the same make-up on Kamal for none of the make-up appears natural. But as said before, the action sequences are worth watching and definitely speak well in front of the international crowd though it is not perfect due to the cheap graphics and special effects employed in the movie.

Verdict:
Story: 10/10
Actor: 7/10 (3 points for Govind, Balaram Naidu and Krishna characters; 4 points for efforts put on the rest)
Actress: 3/10 (1 point for each character again. 2 Asin(s) and 1 Mallika Sherawat). And I almost forgot. Mallika Sherawat does not make any impression in the movie.
Dialogue: 8/10. (The "literature" Tamil could have been toned down a bit for everyone to understand.)
Graphics: 3/10 (3 is for the Tsunami scene at the climax)
Direction: 1/10 (Is it too late to change the director for this movie?)

Overall: 5/10 (Good attempt spoiled)

யுகங்கள் காத்திருப்பேன்

அஷ்த்தமித்த சூரியன் மீண்டும் உதிக்க
நேரம் காத்திரு என்றது - காத்திருந்தேன்.
பொறுமையுடன் கிழக்கு திசை நோக்கி.

தேய்ந்த வெண்ணிலா தெளிவுடன் தென்பட
நாட்கள் காத்திரு என்றது - காத்திருந்தேன்.
நட்சத்திரங்களுடன் கருகிய வானம் நோக்கி.

தழுவிச்சென்ற ஆடித் தென்றல் தொட
மாதங்கள் காத்திரு என்றது - காத்திருந்தேன்.
மெல்லிசை ஊதிய புல்வெளி நோக்கி.

நேரம், நாள், மாதம் காத்திருந்தநான்
வருடங்கள் காத்திருந்தேன். யுகங்கள் காத்திருப்பேன்.
உன் இமை என்மேல் விழுந்திட.

UPDATE: On request by Nimesh, I have tried to translate the above words to English. It might not be entirely correct, but should speak the essence of the poem.
[+/-]English Translation

Will wait for eons

For the sun to rise after sunset,
I was asked to wait for hours - I waited.
Patiently looked towards the east.

For the waning Moon to shine again,
I was asked to wait for days - I waited.
Looking towards the dark sky with the stars.

For the seasonal breeze to reach me,
I was asked to wait for months - I waited.
Looking towards the grasslands that sang melody.

I, who waited for hours, days and months,
Waited for years. Will wait for eons.
For your sight to fall on me.

Daffy Diner - GOAL!!!!!!!!!!!!

Daffy Diner Foosball Championship

Players:

Team 1: INJEY & Nimesh

Team 2: "Sucks" Srikanth & Vinayak the Rookie.

Commentators: Apple and Orange
Venue: Daffy Diner

Date: June 13th 2008, Friday

Time: 6:00 PM

Apple: Hello readers! Its a lovely day as I meet you once again on the daily match between the awesome Duo INJEY and Nimesh vs "Sucks" Srikanth & Vinayak the Rookie. This is your Apple on the air with Orange who has just stepped in.
Apple: Hello Orange. How do you feel today?
Orange: Thanks Apple. I am already feeling that its going to be a great match.
Apple: I too feel the same Orange. The excitement is in the air as every other day in the foosball tournament in this magnificentDaffy Diner room.
Orange: No doubt about that. The players are already holding the bar ready for the final game of the day.
Apple: Yeah! I can see that now. INJEY and the Rookie are in the defensive positions as usual with Nimesh and Srikanth taking the aggression.
Orange: But who knows where the aggression will start. You must be aware of INJEY's zap shots. The ball just passes from the goal keeper to the goal post on the other side at lightning speeds.
Apple: Hell yeah! Orange. Thanks for reminding me. God knows how he does that. But did you notice that we have Srikanth on the offensive side. And you can expect a tough competition here. And of course, those two would be playing in their own area leaving Nimesh and Vinayak with time to finish a beer.
Orange: Well said. Ok. I think the game is about to start. Please recall that it is 2-0 games in favor of INJEY & Nimesh now. Here we go and the ball is in.
Apple: Srikanth takes the first shot as usual.
Orange: And INJEY blocks it as usual. He returns it back to the center of the table.
Apple: Nicely picked by Nimesh. Did you notice, he has a knack of controlling the midfield.
Orange: It goes to Vinayak though. He does the cross shot and the ball passes untouched straight to INJEY.
Apple: Stopped again. Tries to hit straight but stopped by "Sucks" Srikanth.
Orange: Oh no! Here they go.
Apple: Srikanth strikes hard. But blocked. Pulls the ball and sends it cross to the side of the post. *Blocked* He waits while holding the ball.
Orange: This is going to be a tricky shot. And he does that. Right forward passes the ball to the middle man and off the shot goes back to the right end of the post.
Apple: Oh S#%t! INJEY stopped that. He returns it with a straight shot.
Orange: Zap! The first goal. What a shot! I bet the speed topped 30mph.
Apple: Here they compose for the game again and the ball is in.
Orange: Damn! Second goal. Direct shot by Nimesh from the 1st midfielder. No way for Vinayak to stop. 2-0 for Nimesh.
Apple: There was no time even to think. The ball is in again.
Apple: Srikanth zaps the ball to the post. But S#%t! INJEY is there already. He does the cross shot. Stopped by Srikanth. Blocked by INJEY. Held by Srikanth. Shot back to the post. What not. Blocked again.
Srikanth: Sucks!!!
Orange: Here he goes. Now you know why he is called "Sucks" Srikanth.
Apple: INJEY does the cross shot. It reaches the midfield now. Picked up by Srikanth. And he shows his Mid-field Cross court trick. The ball goes at 60 degrees from left to the right corner of the goal post.
Orange: Oh!!!!! That was close. It hit the post and gets to the safe legs of INJEY. Here he goes again with his zap shot.
Apple: That was lucky. Vinayak just happens to be in the right place in the right time for once.
Orange: And he sends it straight to INJEY.
Apple: Did you see that? The ball went very slow. But no one was able to touch that. I wonder how he does that?
Orange: Everyone here have tricks under their palms here.
Apple: The ball is on hold with INJEY. He plans hard and here it is. Hits the Attacker on the other end, gets deflected and jumps inside the post. GOAL!!!!!
Orange: Thats 3-0 to INJEY. It sure was a lucky goal. No doubt about that.
Apple: yeah! But in games like these, you are bound to get one now and then and you can't ignore it.
Orange: The ball is in again. Srikanth takes the shot and once AGAIN, INJEY blocks that.
Apple: A smile on Nimesh's face. INJEY sends it back. Nimesh picks it with his midfielders. The ball hits the corner of the table and back to Vinayak. He hits straight. Blocked by Nimesh. Vinayak holds it.
Orange: I think he is trying for the zap shot.
Apple: But its INJEY's own. Dont think he can..... GOAL!!!!!!! Nimesh does the counterattack to Vinayak's zap shot and now the score reads 4-0.
Orange: I think you should call it 4-L0ve.
Apple: *laughing* Sure Orange. 4-"L0ve forever" ha ha.
Orange: ha ha. Back to the game. INJEY is holding the ball. He hits it but is stopped by Srikanth. Srikanth does the Squeeze-through-the-sides trick.
Apple: Didnt work though. The ball is sent back to midfield by INJEY. Nimesh takes it and fires it out of the table.
Orange: What a shot! Bad it wasnt a goal. The game continues.
Apple: Nimesh blocks Srikanth's midfielder. Sends it to the attacker now. Vinayak gets ready now as the ball is still with Nimesh.
Orange: One mistake they have been doing is slowing down the game to plan. It elimiates the surprise on the opponent.
Apple: But you must understand the pressure inside the game. They have to breathe before they can think.
Orange: Nimesh still waiting with the ball. And flips it.... slow.
Apple: And its a goal! Vinayak moved early thinking its a fast ball.
Orange: And it cost them another point. 5-0.. sorry. 5-"L0ve".
Apple: Ball is in, Srikanth picks up but we know what happened then. INJEY sends it back.
Orange: Srikanth makes the mistake. He hit the ball back to his side instead.
Apple: And Vinayak sends it safe inside his own post. Its a self-goal!!!!!! 6-0.. "L0ve" again.
Orange: You can see Srikanth very furious now.
Srikanth: "Sucks!!!!"
Apple & Orange: AND WE KNOW WHY HE IS CALLED "SUCKS" SRIKANTH.
Apple: Oh my! I love this game. The ball is in "once again".
Orange: Srikanth hits. *Blocked* He sends it again. *Blocked* Tries the slow ball now. *Blocked again* Drags from the side and smashes. *BLOCKED*
Apple: No wonder he is furious. INJEY slips the ball with an angle shot.
Orange: INJEY is at his best today. 6 matches won at a straight already.
Apple: Lets see if he can continue that.
Orange: The ball is stopped by Vinayak. Tries for the straight shot. Blocked, held and returned back by Nimesh. Another score for Nimesh. 7-0.
Apple: Are you thinking what I am thinking?
Orange: Hell yeah! Could it happen? Lets wait and see.
Apple: The ball is in.
Apple: Another shot straight to INJEY. It is as if "He knows" where the ball goes.
Orange: Zap shot again!
Apple: But it misses the post and goes outside the table.
Orange: No one have ever done that remember. 7-0 is itself a record on its own.
Apple: There is always a first time for everything you know.
Orange: 3 more points to decide if today gets to be the first.
Apple: Zap!!!!!!!! This time by Nimesh. What a shot by the midfielder. 8-Love.
Orange: Srikanth is cursing the rookie now. ha ha.
Apple: Poor guy used to be a irritating sensation when INJEY takes the aggression bars. Now he is getting bashed up.
Orange: INJEY and Nimesh seems to be immersed inside the game.
Apple: Thats true. But all they have to do is to be patient and hold their breath.
Orange: .... and shoot a goal.... like this!!!!!! What a shot. Lucky one though.
Apple: The ball was deflected by almost every player on the table. Not sure which foosman should be awarded the goal.
Orange: No one is talking here. Everyone's heart beating in unison as we fight for the final point. 9-LOVE.
Apple: The ball is in. Srikanth takes the shot. Oh!!!!!!
Orange: So Close!!!! INJEY blocks... leaves it as the ball goes again towards the post. But then saved at the last fraction of the second.
Apple: He sends it back straight. Blocked by Vinayak. He returns back. It hits the corner on the other end straight to INJEY's men.
Apple: INJEY hits hard. Blocked by Srikanth and back to INJEY. He hits again and gets blocked again.
Orange: This time it is with Srikanth. He waits.
Apple: I cant believe what will happen if he makes it.
Orange: He goes for the Squeeze-through-the-sides trick!!!!!!
Apple: BLOCKED!
Orange: Phew! That was close. INJEY does the angle shot.
Apple: Blocked by Srikanth's midfielder. Does the Mid-field Cross court trick.
Orange: BLOCKED!
Apple: Returns it back with another angle shot.
Orange: Again held by Srikanth. But this time took over by Nimesh. He sends the ball to the corner.
Apple: Vinayak is there.
Orange: Geez! That was a perfect angle shot. The slow ball went untouched and almost makes to the goal post.
Apple: Sent back by INJEY. This play is extending longer than ever.
Orange: Another heartbeat skipped as the ball bounces back from Vinayak's goal post.
Apple: Lucky for him. Nice angle shot again but blocked by Nimesh's midfielders.
Orange: Yeah! Very lucky indeed. Nimesh shoots to the corner. Taken by Vinayak.
Apple: He tries for another angle shot but blocked by the attackers. He hits it again and this time it passes the attackers.
Orange: ..... and GOAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Apple: Unbelievable but true! Everyone is screaming now.
Orange: Can you believe the last shot?
Apple: Believe it or not! It happened today. What an end to the greatest game ever played as Nimesh tries Srikanth's own "Mid-field Cross court trick" and almost makes it.
Orange: But thanks to Vinayak's defenders, the ball was deflected to the goal post bringing the awesome game to an end of 10-"LOVE".
Apple: INJEY and Nimesh are giving high-five to each other while Srikanth and Vinayak get booed once again.
Orange: Does this mean that this is the end of Srikanth's trash talks?
Srikanth: Its all fluke man! total flukes!
Apple: Looks like the answer is "No". ha ha. What do you think INJEY and Nimesh would do about that?
Orange: Hmmm! If I know them right, they should let the losers talk. They did not win. Atleast let them do something that they are good at. "Talk".
Apple: Well said! Well said!
Orange: Ha ha. Thanks to everyone for joining us today. We hope to bring you more in the future. But don't hope for a comeback from Srikanth and Vinayak. They are off with just... "Talks". Good bye and have a nice day!

PS: I hope all the players take this post on the lighter side and continue 'talk'ing and try to play as every other day.

Vroooooooom on Friday the 13th

This is the latest update on the Go-karting races, I talked about in my previous post. Lot of happenings on this eventful Friday the 13th.

• The record was broken again as I vrooomed at a surprising 33.173 seconds beating my previous best of 33.548s.
• And once again I maintained in the Top 10 of the day list (actually 10th).
• Placed an average of 34.3s beating Sachin, the master of karts by more than a second.
• Yet lost 10 bucks in bet against Sachin on finding who gets the faster time in each lap. Damn! I should have placed bet on average time.

Go! INJEY! Go!

Okay, here we go.
Focus.
Speed. I am speed.
One winner.
Fourty-two losers.
I eat losers for breakfast.
No, no. Stay focused.
Speed.
I'm faster than fast,
Quicker than quick.
I am Lightning!
-- Lightning McQueen from the movie "Cars"

You think that I am flaunting about myself. Don’t you? But I don’t care. I won the race! Didn’t I?
It’s been just 2 months and I already won not just one race but two. What’s more? I beat my own personal best on the track and got into the Top 10 of that day. When I play Need for Speed, people always ask the same question, "What good do you get by racing in the computer?” And my answer would be "It lets me do what I could not do in the real world". But now, I got my chance in the form of Go-karting on the Victory Lane Indoor center just 10 miles from my home to put all the efforts and tricks into reality. Now don’t judge that this is some 5 mph kids track in theme parks like MGM and Kishkintha in India that even a child in his/her stroller can overtake. We are talking about professionally maintained track with fully geared 40 mph karts driven by experienced racers.

When Sachin (not the cricketer) introduced me to the world of karting, it was like entering a new world. But the only difference was that I sometimes get the feeling that I know the world very well. When I first started learning to drive the car, I understood one important lesson. You have to feel the car's movements within you. Your mind has to get together with the car's. Once that is done, you can control and drive the car in anyway you want. And this is what I did in the karting race as it is more important to know how to control the kart here. Too many sharp turns; you need to understand when to brake, slow down, overtake and zap. Believe me when I say, it is not easy as it seems while watching from the sides. With the small and flat body of the kart, you always tend to skid when you turn while speeding fast. And it is built as a safety measure inside the kart to slow down when you skid or turn rough. Add to this that picking up the speed again is not fast enough. So you have to very careful on what you do in turns. A lot of patience and experiments can tell you how to get around. Though few tips from the pros might help you, but it is always your experience that will count inside the track.

When I started my first race on 28th March 2008, I recorded my best time with 38.831 seconds which was 6.832 seconds behind the first place. I also realized that things so different when you compete with real people instead of AI in the computer game. 1. People don’t slow down for you to keep the race interesting. 2. They don’t try to hit you to get you off the track and so you can’t hit them too. 3. To make it worse, if you are shown a blue flag, you have to MOVE OVER for the guy who is coming faster behind you and that for a beginner like me is MOVING OVER for everyone else in the race. So I started counting on how many times I MOVED OVER instead of how many cars I over took and that had been the winning factor for most of the races. I always wanted to finish at least one lap with no one overtaking me. And I think I have achieved it once or twice in the 6 races in the last month. But June was different. I have started to count the number of times I overtake and it has reached 20 or more. And here I am winning my first race and entered the Daily hall of fame.

Does this mean there is something more ahead? It sure is. Watch over racers. A new rookie on the rise!

PS: I am compelled by the pure heart to mention that the races in June were mostly against new players that include Satman who appears to be a promising driver to challenge me soon, his roommate Seetharam, Vinayak who forgot that he is in a racing track and was searching for turn indicators in the kart, Nimesh who I crashed hard on the track for not MOVING OVER and his wife Bhakti who did not kill me for crashing her husband. More drivers welcome as long as they have zero experience in races (betting on horse races excluded). Go karting Go.

Reviews in a nutshell - First pack

So where do I start? I watched hell lot of movies more than the number of times I had dropped my mobile. For people who don’t know me, I have butter fingers and drop my mobile at least once a day. And trust me, all these movies are watched either on the large silver screen or Original rental paid Blockbuster DVDs on my employer sponsored newly repaired DVD drive in my Toshiba laptop. I am thus holding on to my resolution as I mentioned here. And after every movie, I always wanted to write a review about it, but as it happens every other time, it slips my mind until now. It is Sunday and I thought I have wasted enough time for today. So here it goes. As the list is pretty huge, the reviews are shortened, but I will try to give everyone a generic idea about the flicks. And more will continue shortly.

[+/-]Speed Racer

I can bet on the Wachowski brothers any time and this is one movie that lived up to its huge hype in 2008. It’s got its own style like The Matrix. Flashy colors, awesome graphics, adrenaline packed races, still with a cartoon finish and of course the best fantasy sporty movie you can ever imagine. If you like to watch something different and unbelievable, you are in for a treat. Its Rajini's movie for the Hollywood.

Verdict: Please race to the theatres NOW!

[+/-]Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Crystal Skull

The Archeologist with a whip is back to explore tombs and supernatural powers in this new installment of Spielberg and Lucas's money making Franchise. Though it’s been 19 years since we seen him before, Indie hasn't changed much and so is the story. But hell with that. It’s still fun and crazy. Harrison Ford hasn’t lost his best and does some pretty action that will make you jump. LaBeouf is a nice touch to the movie. But bringing in the family again? We have seen Sean Connery to do the same stuff in the last movie isn’t it? There you go. You have it all. Lots of action, Evil Russians. Devil Queen, deadly traps, and an alien civilization that has magnetic skull with psychic powers.

Verdict: Forget the logic. Go and have fun.

[+/-]Charlie Wilson's War

I had bit of ear-to-ear knowledge on America's involvement in getting rid of Russians from Afghanistan in the eighties. And this movie is enlightenment or should I say blunder on America's greatest covert operations. The best part of the movie is its crackling dialogue and the way the actors present them. Even brutal talks like "Let’s kill some Russians" were said so casually that makes you rethink if you heard the words right. Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts and of course Philip Seymour Hoffman have done well in what they always do. A good entertainer with some insights for sure.

"These things happened. They were glorious and they changed the world...
...and then we f****d up the end game." - Charlie Wilson
Verdict: Politics? America? Afghans? You got it!

[+/-]Following

Christopher Nolan's debut film for the big screen is no different from the rest of his films. Mystery, non-linear screenplay, spooky characters, multiple twists revealing itself towards the end and what not? a troubled hero as always. If you had watched Memento, you are going to love this movie too. Though the actual story is never understood till we go close to the movie, the hero character or should I say the victim's role is intriguing. It tickles the curious part of oneself and the character itself is an achievement of the writer/director who is promising on the dark knight in the next month.

Verdict: Good choice to rent on DVD.

[+/-]Shaun of the Dead

I was interested in this film mainly because of Simon Pegg from "Hot Fuzz". If you haven’t seen the film, I meant "Hot Fuzz", watch it without fail. It will bring your down with laughter all the way. I do not know how to categorize this comedy. But closest experience would be Vadivelu on a sci-fi thriller. It has a combination of good story, funny characters and witty dialogues with a mystery till the end.

As for "Shaun of the Dead", hmmmmm.... please avoid it if you can.
Verdict: Watch [+/-]"Hot Fuzz" not the dead one.

[+/-]Equilibrium

Two reasons I took this movie. One is Christian Bale and the other for its crazy story line. Christian Bale made it worth a mention. The second reason actually made it stupid. May be the actors were unable to make an unemotional performance. This was needed as the movie is about turning people into organisms without "feelings". A difficult task I would say. But wait. Something else came out of the movie. I found the source of inspiration for the emotional less face and black Tuxedo suits of the Matrix. And sometimes it makes me think... could Christian Bale have outperformed Keanu Reaves?

Verdict: One time. Just one time!

[+/-]Big Nothing

It is seriously "Big" but definitely not "nothing". David Schwimmer (Friends) and Simon Pegg ("Hot Fuzz" and not "Shaun of the Dead") bring a dark comedy that makes you laugh and smile with few nothing but accidental murders. The movie starts with the daily nothing big life in call centers and takes you to the something big of blackmailing and axe on a woman's head and finally ends up with smiling face on the dead Ross Geller. I liked it.

Verdict: Watch it for Ross. You will like him.

[+/-]Identity

This is the not the first movie I had seen on that topic. There was quite a few and each one equally good. One happens to be in my all-time favorites list and I added this into it.
So whats the story? Strangers stranded on a motel with no where to go and each one starts dying. Before you judge it as some Texas chainsaw movie, please watch it. You are in for a surprise. I bet you didn’t think it. At least not the second surprise.

Verdict: A must see. Identity is mandatory.

The black-out - Office or the mind?

Thanks for your prayers. I am safe and back in home alive. I do not remember much of what happened in office. I think the Men in Black must have erased our memory with the Neuralizer. Probably they invented a memory manipulator now and my memory is transformed. Because all I can remember was having lunch in an Indian restaurant and playing Tennis against Ferraro and Dent in my Sony PSP. There is also a two hour black out inside my mind. But my memory was again manipulated to make me believe that I slept in the afternoon. So with no evidence of an alien invasion or break out of a scientific experiment on a four eyed and two headed monster, the world just goes on with not even an incident being reported by CNN. An impressive work by the secret agents, isn't it? I think so.
Anyway, though I am bit upset that no one tried to help us with lead coated refrigerators for saving us from Nuke detonations, it is forgiven for there doesn't seem to be any plan for that as we are all asked to report back at our cubicles tomorrow morning as usual. Damn it you lame aliens or monsters or whatever they were.

S.O.S - The Black out

There may not be much time.

So let me say it before the laptop goes down too. There has been a black-out in our office block. All the computers are down and the elevators have stopped working. The only light that is lit in our floor is the bulb in the photocopy room. And I am not sure how long we can survive without the Air-conditioner in this hot temperature of 86F. It might be luck that it happened in the morning when the sun is still out. But clock is ticking and if the power doesn't come back, it might get darker inside. For what it's worth, I might get a chance to slap the ones I would like in the dark. There are already talks about possible Alien invasion or US military's secret project running beneath our office building. And who knows what hell could have been let loose. The last time I checked the head count; there were 10 in our team with the head still attached to their torso and life still flowing through them. We do not even have a shot gun or an axe to defeat the zombies. I even checked inside the long row of drawers that no one has ever opened in the past one year. There were only papers, rotten food and a dead rat though. But the good thing that came out of all these is that the never-ending project might get shutdown forever for the administrators never knew and will never know how to recover the backups. Time is running out and I think I cannot continue more. If you happened to read this, I want to let you know that I always tried my best to be good to "Everyone^*" all my life.
Also please ask the Fed-ex to send us some lead coated refrigerators immediately just in case that the US army decides to nuke our place. (Yeah yeah.. I saw the new Indie movie.)

*-"Everyone" may not include everyone and depends on your position to me.

It feels Good to be Evil

Muhaahhahaahaaaa! It feels so good to be evil. I know it is wrong to laugh at others' suffering. But I could not resist smiling at Mr. Ribbon breathing hard and getting heated up during the discussion with Mr. Biscuit. As I explained already about Mr. Biscuit in my pervious post, he has been acting as the showstopper for everyone in the development team. This time, the victim happened to be Mr. Ribbon who was constructing the new Kennel for the client's pet. Something to say about Mr. Ribbon is that he had once tested my temper on a different situation when I was making the boat house. His suggestion to build the house in the shape of a boat tested my third eye but I rubbed it away saying "I know what I am doing". We finally settled down to keep the roof in the shape of an inverted boat. Coming back to the current situation, I happened to the spectator for the meeting between Mr. Biscuit and Mr. Ribbon and I enjoyed and cherish every moment of the meeting would be an understatement. Though my pure heart tried hard not to laugh at one's suffering, like a dark comedy movie, there I was devilishly snickering all the way. Questions on the capacity planning for the kennel and whether the kennel should have a ring bell were interesting as hell. But there were genuine and valid discussions like fixing a door and window and Mr. Ribbon was stepping into the world of hell slowly. If the meeting had lasted for another 10 mins, I am sure we would have seen a showdown between the two and could have been a perfect start of the day. But they decided to continue the fun on a different day and I went back to my desk starting to write this post, Mr. Ribbon probably to bang his head on the wall and Mr. Biscuit to wait for the next unprepared victim.

Finally it happened to me too

I once read a forward. It was nice with the picture of a small kid praying with closed eyes.

God give me Courage.

God give me Health.

God give me Wealth.

But God, please

don’t give me Strength.

For I will break my manager's skull.

Funny it was and was not different from what most people in IT industry speak about. Surprising though, I have not felt that I had such nerve breaking managers yet. And there were not many difficulties with the client too to make me pray that hard. Of course, there were and are few, I would prefer be stuck inside a worm hole (Not the one in the space). But never had a chance that would push me to drop my pen to avoid it hurting the other person. And that was until last week for I had the opportunity to pray like that kid in the email forwards.

Well-known for creating issues out of no where and prone to claim superiority over others; Mr. Biscuit was one I always tried hard not to judge. Marked as shrewd, cunning and in general a huge show-off trying to get attention all the time, he was also a best person for everyone to mock for fun. Lucky enough to see things from far side all these time, but this month brought us closer for building a small tree house, he being the customer and myself the engineer designing the house. The early weeks went on as expected with him asking for 40" widescreen TV to a swimming pool inside it. I was as usual calm with myself and decided to keep a iPhone instead of TV and a mug of water for the pool. Requirements were finalized and the team worked on the tree house building on the impractical necessities. After weeks of hard work with little hocus pocus and a drop of Felix Felicis potion, we were ready for the review last week.

On first look, he was even pleased with the ladder we had put to climb the tree. But then he complained that the number of steps is even. We decided to break one spoke on the top. Slowly we climbed up. Once we reached the entrance, he was worried that the door is opening inside. It was hard to convince him that if he tries to pull it outside, he would fall from the tree house. As we went inside, more and more comments poured in ranging from need for fireplace, ping-pong table inside this small 50 sq feet cabin and concrete lining inside the house so that the construction will be strong. Though I was able to control my anger to all these comments or requirements on the "Day of sale", my anger temperature shot out of the thermometer when he suggested building the house on the ground instead of the tree. But sill he wanted it to be called a "tree house". I wished that I could really build a tree house; make him stay inside and finally lit up the tree. The hell broke loose after that as I gave him one among the five. Heated arguments and exchange of spells and curses went on and on before he walked off saying that the house looked smaller than the tree. I was just glad he got jinxed at last.

What was so significant on this was this was the very first time, I have lost control of myself in a meeting and I don’t regret anything in it. All that mattered was that being right in what I do, I deserve the right to say what I feel is right. Customer or your manager is just a person on the service you provide. You can do your best to listen and understand them. But never must you loose your self-esteem for any reason. I hope that I can maintain the same as I travel through my career and meet more challenging persons in the future.