Arish recently recommended House M.D. TV series. Netflix makes it easy to live a few years behind the world and catchup in a week -- so I am catching up to many seasons of this series. I am still on the fist season, and I've come to like it quite a bit. I think the reason Arish recommended it was that it has Hugh Laurie -- who made Wodehouse' Wooster come to life on screen. I like it -- to the extent that watching it sometimes made me want to become a doctor. It makes medicine seem more like puzzle solving than anything else.
I, of course, went to see Borat. When I saw the preview of the movie, it looked hilarious, but I was skeptical -- these things work well in half an hour sketches at more, but rarely have the lasting power to make a movie. Borat tries, but it's riding on marketing and hype. You have to hand it to Sacha Cohen though -- it's a performance worth applauding. The movie itself is ok -- he picks on the people worth picking on, and in many ways picks on the audience itself. But I still found it a tad boring -- thought it does have some very funny parts.
I've been meaning to watch The Departed. It's always a lot of fun to watch Jack Nicholson chew everyone else in bad boy roles like this one. But I haven't. Infernal Affairs was a damn good movie, and remakes, however well made, don't pack the same punch. Maybe, one of these days, I'll get around to it. Meanwhile, I do recommend Infernal Affairs -- the Hong Kong original that inspired it.
If you haven't seen the Gods must be crazy, you must. Both parts, I and II. Hilarious stuff.
Journey of Man is an interesting documentary. It traces genetic mutations to track human history all the way to 50,000 years ago when Man started to branch out of Africa and human race spread all over the world. Just for the science and the story alone, it's worth watching. But it does seem overstretched and seems to have missing pieces. It is also a promo vehicle for the presenter/scientist. Despite the flaws, it is a good story.
Tony Jaa might grow up to be the next Jackie Chan?
I've had a hard time finding something from Eddie Izzard as good as Dressed to Kill. But he was working solid magic in Definite Article -- something I saw recently. I am waiting for "Unrepeatable" to show up in the Netflix envelope one of these days...
In case you do not know, Almodovar's latest -- Volver -- should be out soon.
And so will be the new Bond flick, and the new Spiderman flick.
Sunday, November 12, 2006
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Murder by Death
The movie I am writing about this week is Murder By Death.
There are many reasons to watch this movie -- David Niven, Alec Guiness, Maggie Smith, Truman Capote, and the king of them all Peter Sellers. They all come together in this amazing comedy. Peter Sellers turns in a brilliant spoof of Charlie Chan -- his character in the movie is Wang -- and packs in a whole new, and even funnier, one liners that the Charlie Chan was synonymous with. And of course he delivers it without any prepositions. Take this: "Conversation like television on honeymoon -- unnecessary."
The movie itself is a spoof on several well known detective characters -- Poirot is Perriet, Columbo is Sam Diamond, Miss Marple is Miss Marbles, Charlie Chan is Sidney Wang, and so on. They all come together in a mansion, as guests of Lionel Twain, played by Truman Capote. The movie unfolds as a murder mystery -- or spoofs one. All these supposedly brilliant detective minds are supposed to solve the murder mystery to get a prize. Don't expect any brilliant detective work here -- just laughs.
Another cute one from the movie, this time by Sam Diamond -- "This all could mean just one thing.... and I don't know what that is!"
There are many reasons to watch this movie -- David Niven, Alec Guiness, Maggie Smith, Truman Capote, and the king of them all Peter Sellers. They all come together in this amazing comedy. Peter Sellers turns in a brilliant spoof of Charlie Chan -- his character in the movie is Wang -- and packs in a whole new, and even funnier, one liners that the Charlie Chan was synonymous with. And of course he delivers it without any prepositions. Take this: "Conversation like television on honeymoon -- unnecessary."
The movie itself is a spoof on several well known detective characters -- Poirot is Perriet, Columbo is Sam Diamond, Miss Marple is Miss Marbles, Charlie Chan is Sidney Wang, and so on. They all come together in a mansion, as guests of Lionel Twain, played by Truman Capote. The movie unfolds as a murder mystery -- or spoofs one. All these supposedly brilliant detective minds are supposed to solve the murder mystery to get a prize. Don't expect any brilliant detective work here -- just laughs.
Another cute one from the movie, this time by Sam Diamond -- "This all could mean just one thing.... and I don't know what that is!"
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
A tale of two movies
The first movie is about a warrior who travels from the desert of Rajasthan to the snow of the Himachal, in a joueney to discover himself. The second, is a story of a woman who travels from Himachal's mountains to the sand dunes of Rajasthan to find someone else. So, in some ways, you can call this a Tale of two States.
The first movie is a patient, indulgent, raw-looking story of a "warrior" who gives up weapons, loses his son and finds some form of salvation. It's Asif Kapadia's The Warrior. Irfan Khan gives a splendid performance. The rest of the cast are non-actors, but the movie adds up quite well. It has a much more art-house feel to it -- it has subtle imagery that was lost on me initially.
The second movie is a little more popular cinema stuff -- though very different in its treatment than Bollywood stuff. It is Nagesh Kukunoor's Dor. The movie carries itself on some brilliant performances by its lead actors. The movie is shot very well -- it frames the sand dunes, the temples, the Himachal backdrop very well. It also has some really well etched characters -- at least the central characters. One can't say that Nagesh Kukunoor is a master of his craft, but he's getting better. His Hyderabad Blues seemed like a school project, his other movies in the middle didn't seem to break much ground either. But there were occasional flashes in the pan -- specifically Teen Deewarein and Iqbal.
Undoubtedly, he tries. Though he couldn't stop himself from giving Dor a crowd-pleaser of an ending. Nevertheless, it's good to see such cinema come out of India -- instead of the regular mush and dramas, or the remakes of Bachchan flicks of old.
The first movie is a patient, indulgent, raw-looking story of a "warrior" who gives up weapons, loses his son and finds some form of salvation. It's Asif Kapadia's The Warrior. Irfan Khan gives a splendid performance. The rest of the cast are non-actors, but the movie adds up quite well. It has a much more art-house feel to it -- it has subtle imagery that was lost on me initially.
The second movie is a little more popular cinema stuff -- though very different in its treatment than Bollywood stuff. It is Nagesh Kukunoor's Dor. The movie carries itself on some brilliant performances by its lead actors. The movie is shot very well -- it frames the sand dunes, the temples, the Himachal backdrop very well. It also has some really well etched characters -- at least the central characters. One can't say that Nagesh Kukunoor is a master of his craft, but he's getting better. His Hyderabad Blues seemed like a school project, his other movies in the middle didn't seem to break much ground either. But there were occasional flashes in the pan -- specifically Teen Deewarein and Iqbal.
Undoubtedly, he tries. Though he couldn't stop himself from giving Dor a crowd-pleaser of an ending. Nevertheless, it's good to see such cinema come out of India -- instead of the regular mush and dramas, or the remakes of Bachchan flicks of old.
Friday, October 20, 2006
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Christopher Walken
I pretty much like whatever this guy does. He was Zorin years ago in A View to a kill, and he was the headless horseman in the Sleepy Hollow, not so many years ago. I remember him in a zillion small cameo-like appearances in movies from Annie Hall to Wedding Crashers. Here is a link to a video on You Tube (gTube now?) -- it's a music video for "Weapon of Choice." Yeah, Walken and music video? And it's a solo performance too... Check it out.
It's not a new one, but something I remember every time I see him on screen.
It's not a new one, but something I remember every time I see him on screen.
Monday, October 02, 2006
Sorting things out
Here is a simple problem. One that I am sure many of us would have encountered when programming. You are given a set of objects -- say customer orders -- such that each object is a fairly complex collection of attributes. Customer Order definitely qualifies. Now that you have this collection, I want you to give it to me sorted by order date.
Simple enough, right? All you need to do is sort them. But wait, you don't want to _write_ a sorting algorithm, do you? Really, how many of us have actually written a sorting algorithm since we left school? And rightly so -- others have done it well, have put it in a library for you to use, have tested it, and have written books about how good their library is, so really there's no point in writing one yourself. So, coming back to customer orders, how do you go about sorting them?
If you do it in C++, you'll probably rely on STL or something similar to manage your collection. In order to make your collection sortable, you will have to make sure your objects are 'Comparable' and the comparison works on the order date field. Simple but probably not simple enough. If you are a Java programmer, you probably did something similar.
C actually did it a little better. In the sort function you could pass in a pointer to the comparison function that would be called for comparing two objects in the array being sorted. All you had to do was to write a function that returned the comparison result based on date.
The reason C is even better is that when you need to have several different ways to sort this array of objects, it starts to get onerous with the 'Comparable' approach. You probably would have to wrap each class into specific Comparable versions for each field. In C you would just write a small function for the new field, and use that.
In Ruby, however, if you want to sort an array of objects, all you need to do is write code that looks something like this:
This just feels beautiful. Sort it on customer name, no problem. Just sort it with a different code block. One line of code. That's it. There are no complex design patterns to worry about, no layers of Objects. It is definitely similar to C, but far more elegant, and far simpler. I recall it took me a few tries to figure out the function pointer declaration.
This kind of stuff makes it much simpler to design lean API -- because despite being lean, it doesn't require a bunch of glue code to make it work for a particular application.
Minimality of code has many, many virtues. Not the least of which is that less code implies less bugs. And that has to just spell happiness for developers, project managers and consumers alike.
Simple enough, right? All you need to do is sort them. But wait, you don't want to _write_ a sorting algorithm, do you? Really, how many of us have actually written a sorting algorithm since we left school? And rightly so -- others have done it well, have put it in a library for you to use, have tested it, and have written books about how good their library is, so really there's no point in writing one yourself. So, coming back to customer orders, how do you go about sorting them?
If you do it in C++, you'll probably rely on STL or something similar to manage your collection. In order to make your collection sortable, you will have to make sure your objects are 'Comparable' and the comparison works on the order date field. Simple but probably not simple enough. If you are a Java programmer, you probably did something similar.
C actually did it a little better. In the sort function you could pass in a pointer to the comparison function that would be called for comparing two objects in the array being sorted. All you had to do was to write a function that returned the comparison result based on date.
The reason C is even better is that when you need to have several different ways to sort this array of objects, it starts to get onerous with the 'Comparable' approach. You probably would have to wrap each class into specific Comparable versions for each field. In C you would just write a small function for the new field, and use that.
In Ruby, however, if you want to sort an array of objects, all you need to do is write code that looks something like this:
orders.sort! { |a,b| (a.order_date <=> b.order_date) }
This just feels beautiful. Sort it on customer name, no problem. Just sort it with a different code block. One line of code. That's it. There are no complex design patterns to worry about, no layers of Objects. It is definitely similar to C, but far more elegant, and far simpler. I recall it took me a few tries to figure out the function pointer declaration.
This kind of stuff makes it much simpler to design lean API -- because despite being lean, it doesn't require a bunch of glue code to make it work for a particular application.
Minimality of code has many, many virtues. Not the least of which is that less code implies less bugs. And that has to just spell happiness for developers, project managers and consumers alike.
Friday, September 29, 2006
Official Jambool blog
The first post to the official Jambool blog is out. More to come.
The reference there is to a movie called Abre los Ojos. It was subsequently made into "Vanilla Sky" starring Tom Cruise.
The post also made references to sleep, and while on that I should mention the recently out "Science of Sleep." Parts of the movie stuck chords. Though the movie seems to lose its path towards the end, the first 4/5th of the movie is quite brilliant.
The reference there is to a movie called Abre los Ojos. It was subsequently made into "Vanilla Sky" starring Tom Cruise.
The post also made references to sleep, and while on that I should mention the recently out "Science of Sleep." Parts of the movie stuck chords. Though the movie seems to lose its path towards the end, the first 4/5th of the movie is quite brilliant.
Monday, September 11, 2006
Waisa bhi hota hai, part II
It seems the Arshad Warsi has arrived. The first draft of Munnabhai was, it seems, just a means to get to Lage raho Munabhai. I've been a fan of Arshad Warsi for a while. It's unfortunate that it took out audiences a Munnabhai to warm up to him. Where other actors are known for their comic timing (Govinda in his heyday, and Bachchan in his prime are a few), no one can light a candle to Arshad.
But wait, what I really wanted to say was that you should go see this movie called Waisa bhi hota hai, part II. No, it's not a sequel. This movie starts with a prologue -- that lasts about 5 minutes -- and the rest of the movie is "part II." It is an extremely rare Indian movie. Why? If you've watched Japanese cinema, you'd have marveled at its ability to find engineer ridiculous coincidences and make it seem natural. And the ability for characters to constantly surprise you. Why, I often wondered, is this quirkiness that is so omnipresent in life, and so evident to the Japanese, Korean and Thai filmmakers (and of course on Mr Tarantino), is it lost on the Indians? But then, as the Maruti ad goes, the times -- they sure are a changing.
Check out this gem of a movie. It also features an absolutely delightful song -- "Allah ke bande" by Kailash Kher. And wait for the movie credits to roll in the end. In one take, the film makers thank Beat Kitano, Tarantino and several others of my favorite directors for inspiration! That's another rarity in India cinema. For one, it is a fairly orignal movie, not a rip-off (afaik). Second, it actually lists people who inspired them.
But wait, what I really wanted to say was that you should go see this movie called Waisa bhi hota hai, part II. No, it's not a sequel. This movie starts with a prologue -- that lasts about 5 minutes -- and the rest of the movie is "part II." It is an extremely rare Indian movie. Why? If you've watched Japanese cinema, you'd have marveled at its ability to find engineer ridiculous coincidences and make it seem natural. And the ability for characters to constantly surprise you. Why, I often wondered, is this quirkiness that is so omnipresent in life, and so evident to the Japanese, Korean and Thai filmmakers (and of course on Mr Tarantino), is it lost on the Indians? But then, as the Maruti ad goes, the times -- they sure are a changing.
Check out this gem of a movie. It also features an absolutely delightful song -- "Allah ke bande" by Kailash Kher. And wait for the movie credits to roll in the end. In one take, the film makers thank Beat Kitano, Tarantino and several others of my favorite directors for inspiration! That's another rarity in India cinema. For one, it is a fairly orignal movie, not a rip-off (afaik). Second, it actually lists people who inspired them.
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Movies of the week: Andaz Apna Apna and Main Hoon Na
I'm sure most people who read this blog would have seen Andaz Apna Apna. Probably more than once. So if I say I recommend this movie -- well, fat lot of use that is. But wait, it gets a little better.
You see, Andaz Apna Apna has apparently become a "cult" hit. I was trying to figure out what makes a movie a cult hit, and what I came up with was something that has limited appeal to the masses but over time builds credibility and popularity with a select following. AAA wasn't that big a hit when it first came out, but ever since then it has gained tremendously in popularity. So I guess it does qualify to be a cult hit.
I obviously do recommend this movie. It has its flaws, some slow parts that dragged a little bit -- they could have easily done away with a couple of songs -- but the movie is a laugh riot all through. But I recommend the movie for another reason. This movie is one of the rare Bollywood movies (the other one is the second movie in this post) that never takes itself too seriously. And it piles in quite a few homages and references to other movies.
For example, did you know that this movie's characters were loosely based on the characters from Archie comics? Aamir Khan is Reggie, Salman Khan is Archie, Raveena is Veronica and Karisma is Betty. Then, there are references to Aamir Khan's and Salman's movies. The twin brothers played by Paresh Rawal are Ram and Shyam -- a popular reference to the movie of yesteryears about twin brothers switching roles. Mehmood runs a studio called "Wah Wah Productions" -- something he was doing in a 60s movie Pyar Kiye Ja as well. Jagdeep plays "Soorma Bhopali" -- right out of Sholay. Shakti Kapoor is Gogo, the nephew of Mogambo -- Mogambo from Mr. India. There's a scene where the movie Sholay comes up in the dialogue, and Salman says yeah, he's seen it many times. Aamir retorts, yeah Salman's dad wrote it. Which, in fact, is true. Salim Khan (along with Javed Akhtar) did write Sholay.
The climax of the movie is one of the best half hour of Bollywood cinema. It is almost cartoonish in parts, and has a weird pelvis thrust "fight" sequence between Shakti Kapoor and Salman Khan. I haven't been able to figure out if it has any more subtle reference or meaning except maybe just a mojo war. In any case, if you ever need a dose of laughter, go get this movie.
I rarely ever recommend a Shahrukh Khan movie, but I thought the movie Main Hoon Na was a rare bird. I enjoyed this movie again primarily because it didn't take itself too seriously. In fact, it revelled in its pranks and subtle references and more. The movie has Naseeruddin Shah in a small role with a 20 year old past that haunts him -- and it is something right out of his 20 year old movie, Masoom. The movie takes off on Matrix, except that bullets are replaced by spit from Satish Shah's mouth as Shahrukh's character tries to dodge them. There's another sequence where Shahrukh drives a cycle rickshaw, chasing an SUV. The chase starts at a movie theater showing Sholay, and the cycle rickshaw, very cheekily, has "Basanti" (or was it Dhanno on the rickshaw, I can't remember) pasted on its back. The movie otherwise too unabshedly broke rules -- the sets would transform suddenly as a song kicks off -- and that makes it fun if you are ready to play along.
You see, Andaz Apna Apna has apparently become a "cult" hit. I was trying to figure out what makes a movie a cult hit, and what I came up with was something that has limited appeal to the masses but over time builds credibility and popularity with a select following. AAA wasn't that big a hit when it first came out, but ever since then it has gained tremendously in popularity. So I guess it does qualify to be a cult hit.
I obviously do recommend this movie. It has its flaws, some slow parts that dragged a little bit -- they could have easily done away with a couple of songs -- but the movie is a laugh riot all through. But I recommend the movie for another reason. This movie is one of the rare Bollywood movies (the other one is the second movie in this post) that never takes itself too seriously. And it piles in quite a few homages and references to other movies.
For example, did you know that this movie's characters were loosely based on the characters from Archie comics? Aamir Khan is Reggie, Salman Khan is Archie, Raveena is Veronica and Karisma is Betty. Then, there are references to Aamir Khan's and Salman's movies. The twin brothers played by Paresh Rawal are Ram and Shyam -- a popular reference to the movie of yesteryears about twin brothers switching roles. Mehmood runs a studio called "Wah Wah Productions" -- something he was doing in a 60s movie Pyar Kiye Ja as well. Jagdeep plays "Soorma Bhopali" -- right out of Sholay. Shakti Kapoor is Gogo, the nephew of Mogambo -- Mogambo from Mr. India. There's a scene where the movie Sholay comes up in the dialogue, and Salman says yeah, he's seen it many times. Aamir retorts, yeah Salman's dad wrote it. Which, in fact, is true. Salim Khan (along with Javed Akhtar) did write Sholay.
The climax of the movie is one of the best half hour of Bollywood cinema. It is almost cartoonish in parts, and has a weird pelvis thrust "fight" sequence between Shakti Kapoor and Salman Khan. I haven't been able to figure out if it has any more subtle reference or meaning except maybe just a mojo war. In any case, if you ever need a dose of laughter, go get this movie.
I rarely ever recommend a Shahrukh Khan movie, but I thought the movie Main Hoon Na was a rare bird. I enjoyed this movie again primarily because it didn't take itself too seriously. In fact, it revelled in its pranks and subtle references and more. The movie has Naseeruddin Shah in a small role with a 20 year old past that haunts him -- and it is something right out of his 20 year old movie, Masoom. The movie takes off on Matrix, except that bullets are replaced by spit from Satish Shah's mouth as Shahrukh's character tries to dodge them. There's another sequence where Shahrukh drives a cycle rickshaw, chasing an SUV. The chase starts at a movie theater showing Sholay, and the cycle rickshaw, very cheekily, has "Basanti" (or was it Dhanno on the rickshaw, I can't remember) pasted on its back. The movie otherwise too unabshedly broke rules -- the sets would transform suddenly as a song kicks off -- and that makes it fun if you are ready to play along.
Saturday, August 12, 2006
Movie Review
This is a movie review, and I've decided not to care about lack of credentials for movie journalism -- if there are really, anyway. You see, sometimes Bollywood comes out with movies that I truly despise (that I still watch a whole gamut is a sign of hope -- and there have been reasons). And I feel this uncontrollable urge to get it out of my system. A need for catharsis.
On to the movie. Bollywood put out another candy floss movie based in an American metropolitan, wrapped in designer clothes and soft-focus marketing stills. This movie is a dud. You see, when you watch a movie you are gradually led to a denouement, a climax. At this point, all questions get answered, and mysteries are solved, and it ties everything together. Good movies work because they handle this buildup and the eventual denouement well. This movie bumbles along, for most part builds up a confused mess, and when the time comes for final denouement, it falls with its face on a slab of cement -- there is blood splattered everywhere, and you wish you weren't there to witness it.
Starting with the first frame where Shahrukh Khan shows his arrogant, smirking face I wanted some character to slap him hard and wipe that stupid grin off his face. I wished Amitabh would do that for daring to think he could do a Don. When Shahrukh meets Rani Mukherjee, I think she came pretty close to doing the honour. When Shahrukh blurts out his affair with Abhishek's wife, I thought this is it! Bachchan Jr. is going to land him a sock. Nopes. Then Shahrukh's mom comes face to face with him, having caught him red handed. I think the slap got edited away, because it was hanging there in the air. And then, finally!, when Shahrukh tells his wife madam Zinta about the affair, she, amongst all the fine cast of this movie, has the pluck to deliver what it takes. She delivers a slap that I clapped hard at. I even shouted for an encore! This, for me, was the denouement of the movie. The climax. This is what the entire movie seemed to be building up to.
But alas, someone thought differently. According to the writers and directors of this movie, you get punished for adultery by spending 3 years alone. So the movie blunders on, till there are enough weddings and funerals, and till they've captured the fall, the winter , the summer through 20 different camera angles, and finally ends with the dumb and dumber couple walking off the Grand Central. It makes one wonder -- what a shallow, sheltered, deprived lives the writers and makers of this film would lead. You wouldn't notice if most of the cast was replaced by plastic cards.
The first half hour or so of the movie works -- primarily because of the chemistry between the Bachchan father and son duo. The rest of the movie is an exercise in sadism. The Chinese may have invented many different torture schemes, but we have them beat with Shahrukh Khan.
If someone is interested in more details of the movie, there are none -- or at least not any more than what you already don't know. Shahrukh Khan chews gum, limps, yells, smirks, frowns and thinks he is the super stud. And so thinks Rani Mukherjee, who happens to be married to Bachchan jr. Why is Rani Mukherjee smitten by the wimpy Khan? Because he is a loser with a limp and a smirk, who tells her what an idiot she is. So they do a Silsila thing, have a fling. The loser yells some more. The dumb girl cries and falls along. And yes, she makes it a point to clean the gardens and apartments of New York when you are not looking. They get caught, they admit their folly. Shahrukh Khan tells his wife over coffee -- I was hoping there would be hot coffee splashed on his face and then a slap, but madam Zinta (as she herself said) was too much of a man to do that. Rani Mukherjee probably tells her hubby in bed. Big noises ensue, furniture is broken -- the designer stuff in Rani's house, and Shahrukh's ugly face in Preity's. The guilty are thrown out. And then the director tries to make it a redemption saga. The real redepmtion was that Shahrukh's character walks off the screen to 15 days in jail(are there chains in New York trains?). 15 days won't cut it, but they'll do for a start.
On to the movie. Bollywood put out another candy floss movie based in an American metropolitan, wrapped in designer clothes and soft-focus marketing stills. This movie is a dud. You see, when you watch a movie you are gradually led to a denouement, a climax. At this point, all questions get answered, and mysteries are solved, and it ties everything together. Good movies work because they handle this buildup and the eventual denouement well. This movie bumbles along, for most part builds up a confused mess, and when the time comes for final denouement, it falls with its face on a slab of cement -- there is blood splattered everywhere, and you wish you weren't there to witness it.
Starting with the first frame where Shahrukh Khan shows his arrogant, smirking face I wanted some character to slap him hard and wipe that stupid grin off his face. I wished Amitabh would do that for daring to think he could do a Don. When Shahrukh meets Rani Mukherjee, I think she came pretty close to doing the honour. When Shahrukh blurts out his affair with Abhishek's wife, I thought this is it! Bachchan Jr. is going to land him a sock. Nopes. Then Shahrukh's mom comes face to face with him, having caught him red handed. I think the slap got edited away, because it was hanging there in the air. And then, finally!, when Shahrukh tells his wife madam Zinta about the affair, she, amongst all the fine cast of this movie, has the pluck to deliver what it takes. She delivers a slap that I clapped hard at. I even shouted for an encore! This, for me, was the denouement of the movie. The climax. This is what the entire movie seemed to be building up to.
But alas, someone thought differently. According to the writers and directors of this movie, you get punished for adultery by spending 3 years alone. So the movie blunders on, till there are enough weddings and funerals, and till they've captured the fall, the winter , the summer through 20 different camera angles, and finally ends with the dumb and dumber couple walking off the Grand Central. It makes one wonder -- what a shallow, sheltered, deprived lives the writers and makers of this film would lead. You wouldn't notice if most of the cast was replaced by plastic cards.
The first half hour or so of the movie works -- primarily because of the chemistry between the Bachchan father and son duo. The rest of the movie is an exercise in sadism. The Chinese may have invented many different torture schemes, but we have them beat with Shahrukh Khan.
If someone is interested in more details of the movie, there are none -- or at least not any more than what you already don't know. Shahrukh Khan chews gum, limps, yells, smirks, frowns and thinks he is the super stud. And so thinks Rani Mukherjee, who happens to be married to Bachchan jr. Why is Rani Mukherjee smitten by the wimpy Khan? Because he is a loser with a limp and a smirk, who tells her what an idiot she is. So they do a Silsila thing, have a fling. The loser yells some more. The dumb girl cries and falls along. And yes, she makes it a point to clean the gardens and apartments of New York when you are not looking. They get caught, they admit their folly. Shahrukh Khan tells his wife over coffee -- I was hoping there would be hot coffee splashed on his face and then a slap, but madam Zinta (as she herself said) was too much of a man to do that. Rani Mukherjee probably tells her hubby in bed. Big noises ensue, furniture is broken -- the designer stuff in Rani's house, and Shahrukh's ugly face in Preity's. The guilty are thrown out. And then the director tries to make it a redemption saga. The real redepmtion was that Shahrukh's character walks off the screen to 15 days in jail(are there chains in New York trains?). 15 days won't cut it, but they'll do for a start.
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Castro coincidence
I had picked up the latest issue of New Yorker as I left home yesterday to catch a flight. I usually start with the Fiction piece, but this time around I got off the block with the article on Cuba and Castro. And as I was leaving the plane I saw the news plastered on newspapers -- Castro steps down. Lucky for me, I had had a real good primer for the state of affairs in Cuba, and I knew who Raul Castro was, and so on.
The article is online here.
Talking about topical stuff, this Middle East buddy list from Slate was useful in trying to figure out who's on whose side. When the recent war started and Egypt and Saudi Arabia criticised Hezbollah, I was a bit confused. It's complicated.
Dave the funny guy with a funnier hat posted a yet funnier joke on Jibjab. Check it out!
The article is online here.
Talking about topical stuff, this Middle East buddy list from Slate was useful in trying to figure out who's on whose side. When the recent war started and Egypt and Saudi Arabia criticised Hezbollah, I was a bit confused. It's complicated.
Dave the funny guy with a funnier hat posted a yet funnier joke on Jibjab. Check it out!
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
movie of the week.. Jakarta
This week another Korean movie gets the pick. I had picked up Jakarta because of its premise -- it seemed like an interesting thriller/heist movie. It turned out to be a lot more than that.
In the first 10-15 minutes of the movie, I was thinking that I had picked up an amaterurish production -- horribly acted, poor cinematography. The plot looked silly and simplistic. It didn't seem promising. To my pleasant surprise, however, the movie seemed to evolve. In 90 minutes, everything in the movie got increasingly better. The plot of the movie turned out to be quite a twisted one, where loyalties changed as we learnt more about both the present and the past of the bank robbery that the movie starts out with.
In most movies, as an audience, you figure out your loyalties with some characters, and wait as the directors predictably leads you to a tragic or satisfying end. This movie, however, doesn't make it that easy for you. And yet, its denouement is quite satisfying.
Unfortunately, I haven't seen this movie get mentioned in many places, and it may be hard to find its DVD in the States. I know Scarecrow in Seattle carries one, and Netflix doesn't. But if you can find it, enjoy!
In the first 10-15 minutes of the movie, I was thinking that I had picked up an amaterurish production -- horribly acted, poor cinematography. The plot looked silly and simplistic. It didn't seem promising. To my pleasant surprise, however, the movie seemed to evolve. In 90 minutes, everything in the movie got increasingly better. The plot of the movie turned out to be quite a twisted one, where loyalties changed as we learnt more about both the present and the past of the bank robbery that the movie starts out with.
In most movies, as an audience, you figure out your loyalties with some characters, and wait as the directors predictably leads you to a tragic or satisfying end. This movie, however, doesn't make it that easy for you. And yet, its denouement is quite satisfying.
Unfortunately, I haven't seen this movie get mentioned in many places, and it may be hard to find its DVD in the States. I know Scarecrow in Seattle carries one, and Netflix doesn't. But if you can find it, enjoy!
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Jambooling...
Last week was pretty significant. For me, i.e.
Last week I incorporated my company -- Jambool, Inc.
It's one of the many small steps before I can start taking any step I can call big. What is Jambool about? It's about users, and trying to figure out how to help me, the user, make sense of the spread of content online. Vague enough, eh?
Last week I incorporated my company -- Jambool, Inc.
It's one of the many small steps before I can start taking any step I can call big. What is Jambool about? It's about users, and trying to figure out how to help me, the user, make sense of the spread of content online. Vague enough, eh?
Movie of the week: Time and Tide
For a very long time when I thought of an action movie, the only movie that came to mind was Die Hard. It still remains one of the best action movies ever. However, ever since I saw this masterpiece from Tsui Hark, Die Hard moved to number two spot.
Time and Tide is a Hong Kong action movie, and packs some of the most incredible stunts and action sequences. The movie has two distict parts: the build up and the deliverance. And luckily, it is the latter that fills most of the movie. There isn't a lot to the plot of the build up, except that it sets up a tame looking character against a gang of dangerous looking (and sounding) assasins/killers/mafia/what-have-you, and lands all the characters in one of the tall congested apartment buildings in Hong Kong for a good part of an hour. The action is nicely scripted, and some of it just -- literally -- takes the breath away.
Time and Tide is a Hong Kong action movie, and packs some of the most incredible stunts and action sequences. The movie has two distict parts: the build up and the deliverance. And luckily, it is the latter that fills most of the movie. There isn't a lot to the plot of the build up, except that it sets up a tame looking character against a gang of dangerous looking (and sounding) assasins/killers/mafia/what-have-you, and lands all the characters in one of the tall congested apartment buildings in Hong Kong for a good part of an hour. The action is nicely scripted, and some of it just -- literally -- takes the breath away.
Movies of a generation
Every generation has a movie that sort of defines it. So it seems to me. When I look at those around me, I see people clinging to some movie or the other that they feel was "theirs." My view has a strong Indian bias, of course, and one has to admit that cinema is more entwined with people's lives in India than elsewhere. Where else would one find temples erected to celebrate film stars?
Coming back to generations, I thought I'll try and come up movies that probably some generation identifies as "theirs." These are more ruminations on my part, so if you have comments, please do share.
The first generation and the first movie that comes to mind, my mind, i.e., is the bell-bottom angst-ridden 70s and the era of teeny-bopper romance Bobby (the bell bottoms) and Zanjeer (the angst). Both these movies came out the same year (1973), and both started two parallel mainstream trends that sometimes met. With Bobby, Rishi Kapoor began a long career trying to romance women of varying age with a routine that more or less stayed the same over 20 years. Early on he tried to romance older women Simi Grewal (Karz) and Rakhee(Doosra Aadmi), and later on girls less than half his age.
Rishi Kapoor's antics notwithstanding, anyone with even the remotest of Indian connection will probably know the significance of the other movie of that year. Zanjeer brought to Indian cinema the persona of angry-young-man, with rage that was simmering just beneath the skin of the otherwise tall, charming police officer. The cause was much helped by the fact that this persona was played with endearing sincerity by Amitabh Bachchan. The rest, as they say, is stuff history is made of. From 1973 to today, no generation has grown up without being fed on his legend. And he still remains a tour de force.
It is small wonder then that a generation would identify themselves with Zanjeer. 1970s were pretty tumultous for India. We saw the corruption and Congress-led dirty politics at the worst, culminating in an emergency and total breakdown of the democratic system. The decade started with a war with Pakistan and ended with the Indian political system having gone through a complete upheaval and returning to its original state. And still, through all this, it was a time of bell-bottoms and rebellious love -- thanks to Bobby.
Coming back to generations, I thought I'll try and come up movies that probably some generation identifies as "theirs." These are more ruminations on my part, so if you have comments, please do share.
The first generation and the first movie that comes to mind, my mind, i.e., is the bell-bottom angst-ridden 70s and the era of teeny-bopper romance Bobby (the bell bottoms) and Zanjeer (the angst). Both these movies came out the same year (1973), and both started two parallel mainstream trends that sometimes met. With Bobby, Rishi Kapoor began a long career trying to romance women of varying age with a routine that more or less stayed the same over 20 years. Early on he tried to romance older women Simi Grewal (Karz) and Rakhee(Doosra Aadmi), and later on girls less than half his age.
Rishi Kapoor's antics notwithstanding, anyone with even the remotest of Indian connection will probably know the significance of the other movie of that year. Zanjeer brought to Indian cinema the persona of angry-young-man, with rage that was simmering just beneath the skin of the otherwise tall, charming police officer. The cause was much helped by the fact that this persona was played with endearing sincerity by Amitabh Bachchan. The rest, as they say, is stuff history is made of. From 1973 to today, no generation has grown up without being fed on his legend. And he still remains a tour de force.
It is small wonder then that a generation would identify themselves with Zanjeer. 1970s were pretty tumultous for India. We saw the corruption and Congress-led dirty politics at the worst, culminating in an emergency and total breakdown of the democratic system. The decade started with a war with Pakistan and ended with the Indian political system having gone through a complete upheaval and returning to its original state. And still, through all this, it was a time of bell-bottoms and rebellious love -- thanks to Bobby.
Sunday, July 09, 2006
Le Bikini
The Bikini turns 60!
Bikini's impact on this world is phenomenal. They've helped sell everything from automobiles to zips. On our trip to Mexico, we noticed that every billboard, irrespective of what it was trying to sell, featured a bikini-clad model. I was wondering if there is anything we men wouldn't do if a hot babe in bikini asks us...
Bikini's impact on this world is phenomenal. They've helped sell everything from automobiles to zips. On our trip to Mexico, we noticed that every billboard, irrespective of what it was trying to sell, featured a bikini-clad model. I was wondering if there is anything we men wouldn't do if a hot babe in bikini asks us...
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Inspiration comes from all kinds of sources
Someone recently invented a submarine explorer that looks like a shark -- something right out of Tintin's Red Rackham Treasure. As it happens, that comic was indeed the inspiration for the contraption!
Srini just referred to an article about Tintin. Incidentally, just yesterday I was browsing the interesting store called Karikter, off of Union Square here in SF, and picked up a couple of small toy figures, including those of Tintin and Thompson & Thomson. Though Americans hardly know of Tintin but everyone else in the world does. And, yes, did you know Tintin's the only comic characters to be honoured by Dalai Lama for spreading awareness in the world about Tibet? Tintin in Tibet remains one of the reasons I find traveling, mountain climbing, Tibet, remote monasteries so alluring.
Tinin also makes a good way to connect with people from different parts of the world. I remember I was having dinner in a very international crowd -- German, French, Indian(myself), Dutch, Arab -- and I brought up Tintin. Everyone looked at me with blank stares. They hadn't heard of him. Strange. Snowy? No. Thompson and Thomson? No. It couldn't be happening, I thought. In a final attempt, at the risk of looking and feeling totally ridiculous, I started describing the two crazy detectives. The moustaches, the crazy antics, "with a 'p'"... "Dupond et Dupont!" cried the French guy. "Shultze and Shulze", goes the German. "Jansen and Janssen", went the Dutch!
International currency -- that's what Tintin is.
Srini just referred to an article about Tintin. Incidentally, just yesterday I was browsing the interesting store called Karikter, off of Union Square here in SF, and picked up a couple of small toy figures, including those of Tintin and Thompson & Thomson. Though Americans hardly know of Tintin but everyone else in the world does. And, yes, did you know Tintin's the only comic characters to be honoured by Dalai Lama for spreading awareness in the world about Tibet? Tintin in Tibet remains one of the reasons I find traveling, mountain climbing, Tibet, remote monasteries so alluring.
Tinin also makes a good way to connect with people from different parts of the world. I remember I was having dinner in a very international crowd -- German, French, Indian(myself), Dutch, Arab -- and I brought up Tintin. Everyone looked at me with blank stares. They hadn't heard of him. Strange. Snowy? No. Thompson and Thomson? No. It couldn't be happening, I thought. In a final attempt, at the risk of looking and feeling totally ridiculous, I started describing the two crazy detectives. The moustaches, the crazy antics, "with a 'p'"... "Dupond et Dupont!" cried the French guy. "Shultze and Shulze", goes the German. "Jansen and Janssen", went the Dutch!
International currency -- that's what Tintin is.
Monday, July 03, 2006
My geekiness of movies.. or maybe not..
When I sat down in the theater to watch Superman, and credits started appearing, I was surprised to see a name called 'Eva Marie Saint.' The image I had of her is from the Hitchcock movie, North by Northwest. So when the movie started in earnest, I was on the lookout for her. An old lady appeared first, and I wondered... Yes it is her, and lord, oh lord, she is wearing the same lipstick from North by Northwest!
I felt a little sheepish telling my wife as we walked out that I recognized the actress from the shade of her lipstick, especially since I'll be damned if I can recall my wife's shade of lipstick from any day.. But you have to grant that Eva is a woman in a different class, and that shade of lipstick is rather rare. Or maybe it was just that I was sitting in the fron row of an Imax theater. You can't miss much from there, can you?
When I read Lane's review I felt I was in good company -- there were others who felt more excited about Eva Marie Saint, and Kevin Spacey, in the movie than the Supe himself.
I felt a little sheepish telling my wife as we walked out that I recognized the actress from the shade of her lipstick, especially since I'll be damned if I can recall my wife's shade of lipstick from any day.. But you have to grant that Eva is a woman in a different class, and that shade of lipstick is rather rare. Or maybe it was just that I was sitting in the fron row of an Imax theater. You can't miss much from there, can you?
When I read Lane's review I felt I was in good company -- there were others who felt more excited about Eva Marie Saint, and Kevin Spacey, in the movie than the Supe himself.
Thursday, June 29, 2006
HR
I was reading Ranjit's post on how ridiculous HR was in one of his companies.
I thought I'll share an anecdote that was almost funny.
This happened in a small company of about 100 people in India, mostly engineers and about a handful of HR like people. There was an event being organized that kept getting postponed, and it wasn't clear why. So one day I popped around to the HR cube -- about 5 cubes away from mine -- and seeked to gain some higher knowledge. The conversation, honestly, went something like this.
HR-czar: "Oh. that.. uh.. yeah.. it needs budget planning and PR, and then approval from business, and then finance approval and budget sanctioning, and then only we can do this. It's a long process. It takes time."
I thought at this time that the governing overseas company must be really clamping down now on costs. But something else was bothering me.
Me: "What's PR?"
HR: "Purchase Request."
Me: "Who does that?"
HR: "X does."
I turn to X, "how long does it take?" expecting that this probably needs a lot of evaluation and planning, so maybe a few days.
X: "about 2 minutes. Shall I get it?" "Yeah, let's."
2 minutes later, with a PR in my hand. "Who gives the business approval?" I was getting the hang of it.
HR: (and she's begun to laugh by now.) "Y can."
I walk over to Y, in the next cube. Signed, no problem. I jump over to the HR cube again. "How does finance approve?"
HR: "Well... it's just Z." Z's sitting next to her. Finance signs.
There are some sheepish grins and blushes, but there is joy all around. We had a party to plan. You had to see the sudden rush of excitement in the HR cube.
I thought I'll share an anecdote that was almost funny.
This happened in a small company of about 100 people in India, mostly engineers and about a handful of HR like people. There was an event being organized that kept getting postponed, and it wasn't clear why. So one day I popped around to the HR cube -- about 5 cubes away from mine -- and seeked to gain some higher knowledge. The conversation, honestly, went something like this.
HR-czar: "Oh. that.. uh.. yeah.. it needs budget planning and PR, and then approval from business, and then finance approval and budget sanctioning, and then only we can do this. It's a long process. It takes time."
I thought at this time that the governing overseas company must be really clamping down now on costs. But something else was bothering me.
Me: "What's PR?"
HR: "Purchase Request."
Me: "Who does that?"
HR: "X does."
I turn to X, "how long does it take?" expecting that this probably needs a lot of evaluation and planning, so maybe a few days.
X: "about 2 minutes. Shall I get it?" "Yeah, let's."
2 minutes later, with a PR in my hand. "Who gives the business approval?" I was getting the hang of it.
HR: (and she's begun to laugh by now.) "Y can."
I walk over to Y, in the next cube. Signed, no problem. I jump over to the HR cube again. "How does finance approve?"
HR: "Well... it's just Z." Z's sitting next to her. Finance signs.
There are some sheepish grins and blushes, but there is joy all around. We had a party to plan. You had to see the sudden rush of excitement in the HR cube.
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