kaali kaalam

I read the word office somewhere and wondered why it is spelt wrong and not as oppice!

I saw inception a week ago - spoilers galore

The first few minutes of inception made me panic that this might turn out to be one of those over the head movies and I am not going to get any of it. Thankfully, the rest of the movie was all crystal clear.I quite liked that aspect of the movie.

Somewhere they start talking about architects and introduce more and more rules, I dont remember which ones but I almost felt like laughing out at couple of the scenes.That is always bad when the scenes in question were quite serious. It isnt that I didnt try, I even went up to the point of trying to look at the defenders as some sort of metaphor and in the real dream world, we will have something more sensible than that. Such extrapolations arent me at all but I tried. The execution was good though. Quick scenes always makes a movie watchable, even  with a  lengthy movie I look at the watch less. 

But yeah, with all that set of rules, it did seem like a video game and it looks like i am not the only one to think so.

It just wasnt bizarre enough as my dreams. In a way that might be the real problem, unlike topics that matrix touched from advaita philosphy to all sorts of things which we only have a slight idea of, dreams are something all of us know. Not that we can write a thesis of why, what but we can raise our hands up when we see it on screen - the jolt, the rain, the timeline, and also to say no when we see what is not a dream.

Oh, not the least important point, but di caprio? the jollu flooded the theatre.

Ps: To think, even the execution could have been better, but then this is all one can do with this script.

Lesson for the microsecond

Look children, what fame can do to you.

"its not enough to play the game or be a game player, its important to be the one who changes the game. dont know why i wrote that but i did" 

"hvae an issue with nights. days are so eventful that nites seem empty...as if the music has suddenly stopped...in the middle of a dance step " 
 -  http://twitter.com/iamsrk

Which is why i hope none of you ever get to be Phamous... that is a bad word stay away from it. 

Met that one again

Dear Peoples,

Met the person of that kind again today. The wife of six months that thinks the world of the husband which spills out into every word, sometimes the very air that fills the room. In a way, it is good for the marriage as I see. It will be a couple of years before she lands on her senses, by then, the ground has been dug, foundation laid for the many years of trust, love and other deebledadee.

But its a tad bit much( for you guys, for 'EQ' less irritating people like me who are such stickler to the truth esp. in these situations it is asking a lot), when you start expecting me to be in the bubble with you - the bubble that the Husband is the greatest thing that landed on the earth. It is hard for me or any other person who is not the wife to accept the bubble or even remotely fake the bubble and extremely annoying to even hear of the bubble. Also, to control the laughter.

Newly wed wives, no one marries a cartoon character, so be relieved the husband is not a super man.

Yours truly,

Sachu kichu.

Ps: wokay, before the devoted wives jump in and start saying i think i married a super man, as long as you dont think i/a non-wifey person should think of him as a super man, you are ok, okay.

It took only 15 years

Initially thought it was released after I crossed the shore - no sir, no, it was released when I was in school. May be missed it due to Rahman mania then? It is by Rahman. It is only for cult followers, you say? It was a Mania and we were very much part of it, the neighbourhood audio cassette shop owner who called my brother on the arrival of Rahman release would vouch for it. So, I have no clue how I missed it for 15 years.

One of the benefits of following Airtel super singer is it throws up songs, the ones I have heard, our all time favorites just flushed out of the temporary buffer, then the new popular ones and rarely like this one, a song I have completely missed. 

It isnt just the song is carnatic raaga based, but initially the words are caressed just the way it happens in some carnatic ones. Initial part 2 minutes is better than latter part. Unni rocked this one.

தமிழில்  எழுதுவது மிக சுலபம்  இப்பொழுது எனக்கு*. தமிழ் இனி மெல்ல சாகும் என்று யாரோ  கூறியது ஞாபகத்திற்கு வருகிறது.

* Saw some browser called Epic in timesofindia.

Today is Wednesday

"Is the soya one good here?", the man dressed in blue stripped shirts and equally formal pants asked.

"I am not sure, I havent tried."

"My friend has and heard it is good.", I added.

"Where do you work?". 

This one alarmed me so after trying to mumble some company in silicon valley, I blurted out my company name.

He then said where he was working and some blah, blah. I nodded and moved from that spot.

When I finally got the take out, I saw he was sitting alone in a table. That sort of disturbed me. Problem let me spell out is AMWAY.  I have had atleast twice a year random stranger approaching me in malls/safeway/lucky(yep that is our grocery store name, it also gets heard as yucky). And I always think of them as AMWAY. My theory is I dont see any necessity for an Indian living in south bay to strike up a random conversation with another person just because they are Indian too like it is common in those sparsely populated areas of US. In gradschool town, we used to even strike up conversations with Srilankans. But here, we are too many of us.

And also considering the spread of AMWAY among desis, the probability of this randoms stranger turning out to be one of those ~=1. But what if they arent and were really strangers looking to strike a friendship in  new land/ just someone who was looking for company during a lunch? Like the girl in the mall in an Indian dress who looked so fob. Damn you Amway, not sure how rich you guys get but but there is no Vimosanam' for this fear you have instilled in me.

Ps: I know, I could have cut off once the AMWAY topic comes on, but most days I am out of patience in this aspect or my shyness creeps in/ feel talking is too much of effort but mostly i dont want to talk even if there is a remote possibility of AMWAY.

***

In case you didnt know about AMWAY/ even if you did, AMWAYs in bay area are a special species and you should know about them. The species appears dressed in formals if male, and something more normal if female and usually appears wandering in some random aisle at walmart/ Ikea/ mall on a weekend. Yes, the species is more likely married and works in tandem with the partner(do they get married just for this? you might ask and I think that is a very good question). More likely to be found on a saturday than a sunday(why? coz they have a life too?) but dont count on it. Then they strike up conversation with strangers tapping on desi-desi bhai-bhai or bhai-behen. Couple of minutes later, you are exchanging phone numbers. When I was caught, I mean I was warned by my friends and yet till it happens to you once, you wouldnt know,  they started talking to me straight away about work, how arent we all dissatisfied with work? I stopped them here and said no, I could hardly be with just a month's work. But then they assured me in five year's time I would (Wow, just what a newbie had to hear:)) and proceeded with how I could be a millionaire in few years. So I cut them off right there with a false number.

Others are even more crafty. A friend who was looking for a job in the previous recession was misled over a couple of meetings. Another friend who moved to bay area couple of years ago, had to go endure lot more than that and still didnt know how to cut them off.  My own brother on a visit was caught right under my nose before I can mouth AMWAY, they had exchanged phone numbers. As they say in tamil, ethallam oru puzhapu?

A Troll

1. Some one who does not comment on your post with  words such as incredible, you are awesome, great post.
2. Some one who disagrees with your post.
3. Some one who disagrees with your post vehemently but stays away from any personal attack
4. Commentator who disagrees with you in a personal post on a personal decision.
5. Some one who calls you name because they disagree

Now, who will call you a troll based on the above definitions? 1/2/3/4/5
In real situations, do you still maintain that.

Charity

"It was almost as if she wished those people were blind so that she could help them. "

Tamil Padams

seen over the last few months.

Tamil Padam:

Don't know if it is because friends had quipped all the jokes already or the movie itself, I tried watching the movie twice - online( am an anti-piracy person but for the not so sure ones I like to sample online) and then got the DVD, couldn't get past half the movie. It couldn't sustain my interest. It wasn't that I didn't know what they were doing like it happens with some really pathetic ones, this one just didn't seem interesting enough.

Think I enjoyed the trailer better than the movie.

Goa:

Goa's first half hour did it so much better what the whole of Tamil Padam tried. Especially the chandrasekhar's military role who just launches into an advice rain(advice mazhai pa:)) even when he can't find a situation to fit in.

After which the movie wasnt anything much, it really doesn't have depth or honestly a story line. Weird - post interval one of the guy comes up with a story that was happening all along without anything amiss shown earlier. But then nothing much is happening for you to pinpoint only that as a problem.

These guys are a fun bunch though. Much funner than tamil padam.

Pasanga

Initial portions where the kids launch into a super starry song didnt just have the effect they had intended i.e kids acting like adults -> cute, unfortunately, kids acting like adults on screen is the norm - so got a bit scared that this is going to be one of those movies. It wasnt. After the initial 10 minutes, kids were acting like kids.Small town authentic setting if you must know is my new favorite- and tamil cinema rarely fails me on this, these days. This movie brings alive the ordinary lives where richness is a defined by a house with one more room and a bike - real people, with a quirky love story on the sides are all the good parts. But this over utopian thingy of every one in the class becoming studious so on was too childish to even make a comment on. With too many good things going for it, this just remains a slight skirmish on the side.

Subramaniapuram

This is the usual cinema story set in what is now becoming the usual for Tamil cinema - rural setting with a lot of reality dose. Pretty interesting.

Nadodigal

Aiyoo, a friend told me it isn't worth watching. should have listened. What a load of a pathetic crap. Because a bunch of morons decided to think a young couple in love as one of those psychopathic historical lovers suffering from obsessive disorders( if only romoe juliet had survived into a marriage, madhavan shalini would have kicked their asses) and stupidly jump into a fight without realizing their opponent's strength, two people have to put up with each other for the rest of their life. 

Well, it is getting very clear,  these directors are drawing from their own life experience. Fine. 

To the girl who ditched Gautham menon - you are fine. The guy milked three movies out of one story but they werent really bad you know. 

And the guy who took this Nadodigal's director's help to run away with his girl friend only to separate later - look i am not judging your decision to ditch your wife, but you, my man, you have single handledly ruined way too many people's two and half hours. Choose your friend carefully next time.

A Tiger,  missing friend - the groom i may add, missing tooth(!), a baby, stitches on the wrist, a cop car, typical vegas impromptu wedding to a stranger, undamaged without a scratch mercedes, a chinese man without clothes in the trunk- hello? you want more?

I am surprised I enjoyed this movie. Recent American comedies gross me out - this one does but not as much as say a 40-year old virgin. Either that or I am getting used to these comedies. And some one said this movie is like one of those mindless Hindi comedies(obviously, they havent tried watching ten minutes of Golmaal 3 because it was available on netflix) so that put me off. But this was hilarious, well directed.

So, only hindi comedies are bad.

Ambani charity - oxymoron.

It is strange, when people topping the Forbes top 5 rich list from the land of honey and whatever are doing as much for charity while the names of the ones from India figuring in the same top 5 list are to be hardly found anywhere near charity. 

What does the Ambanis plan to do with all that money?

On the other hand, when reading the first few pages of maximum city where I read something that I have only read/heard many times before and have been annoyed all those times at the writer/speaker, that how in Mumbai it is disgusting that at one side you find all these riches - the tall skyscrapers, the BMWs and at the same time the slums and people without any basic amenities - it annoyed me because it is no different from a part of the world living in excess and while other part lives in heart numbing poverty. Just like the people in new york dont really worry about the poverty in Africa, it is the same in Mumbai. The rich in New york aren't any less guilty than the ones in Mumbai, no?

Besides, if some one doesn't really feel like giving away for charity, there isn't any obligation, isn't it? It is their hard earned money - they can do what they want. Or so I thought. 

But as heart warms every time I read Bill gates tweet or the news that Warren buffet gave away one more installment of his money - it does make me judge the people back home. All that money and not a mentionable charity act?  It sounds disgusting now.

Ps: People who want to comment how do I know if they aren't secretly involved in charity, stay away. Seriously!

Ketch up colonel

"If he could not kill anyone, then at least a "fake" encounter should be staged. An NDA cadet and brought up under the culture of obedience, Kohli made, what it seems now, the mistake of his life.

He dressed up five men and made them lie down on the ground. They were sprayed with ketchup and pictures were taken of them."

  

Source: timesofindia

Taro roots
to be boiled and steamed just like sweet potato.

- Read the card description next to chepankizhangu at the grocery story. Blasphemy I say, probably more than danish cartoon.