I Love Test Cricket

What a match Steyn is having. Five wickets in the first dig, a maiden Test fifty, now he comes back into the attack and snaps up a couple wickets in a maiden over. He can do no wrong at the MCG. Australia are falling apart at the seams while Ponting bats excellently at one end. Steyn has nine wickets in the match. Australia lead by only 80 runs. I love Test cricket.

So do I!

signing off,

Surreal Moment

I was watching Body of Lies the other day. It is a decent movie, doesn't tell you anything that you don't already know unless you are one of those people who cannot spot Mexico on the world map. At the end Hoffman tells Ferris, "Ain't nobody likes the Middle East, buddy. There's nothing here to like."

Quite true. In the global world where the boundaries are shrinking fast, we are becoming narrower and narrower and are just thinking of ourselves. Now as Seinfeld would say, not that there is anything wrong with that. But when you try to impose your views on them without knowing their background, there is something wrong with that.

The example is of middle east, but can easily be applied for any region in India, especially with current row between so called Marathi Manus and Outsiders.

signing off,

Clever

There are few laugh out loud moments in Jaane tu ya jaane na.

{You know, spoilers alert. Blah, blah, blah.}

1. Pappu Can't Dance sala song. I don't watch any "entertainment" channel like Zee or Star (thankfully I don't have to) nor do I track latest songs or happenings in movies online. So I was potentially spared from onslaught of the clips of the song 5 hrs a day 6 days a week (That's how much I watch tv). When I watched the song in the movie for the first time, I was, too be frank, not impressed. But all that changed with that "Papa kehte hai" snippet. Very clever lyrics!

2. 12 o'clock Cindrella incident! :-)

3. Ratna Pathak's "Phone pe beta" (Btw, if you want to watch Ratna Pathak in full form, look no further than Sarabhai vs Sarabhai, the funniest comedies of recent years)

4. And of course, Naseeruddin Shah. He is splendid and plays the late father without being creepy like Chamatkar. (Remember that?)

The other thing that I liked is the music, both soundtrack and background scores. Heartwarming "Tu bole", playful "Kabhi kabhi Aditi", soft romantic "Kahin to" and very different interpretations of "Jaane Tu Meri Kya Hai" to match Aditi's and Jai's characters. (So instead of being male and female versions of the song, they become Jai and Aditi versions.) These and of course Pappu. Maybe they should have included Jai, Aditi, Meghna and Amit themes in the soundtrack. That would have made my day.

All in all, very enjoyable film. Go watch it.

signing off,

PS: I hear that Olympic opening ceremony was spectacular. I should catch it on youtube.

Indian Mythology and Andrew Stanton

Q: What did Sugreev say when he saw Vali die?

A: WALL-E!!!

Save the opportunity of this very poor joke, the movie is quite brilliant and clever. We don't see a lot of vibrant colors that we saw in Nemo land or Nemo water, but the visuals are breathtaking nevertheless. There are numerous chuckles for grown-ups while the offsprings will enjoy the cuteness of WALL-E, that indestructible cockroach and EVE. A must watch!

Besides, what a year this is turning out to be for movie buffs! Already we or I have seen Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Indiana Jones, Iron Man, Kung Fu Panda, WALL-E. And at least one more to come, the Batman. Woo hoo!!

signing off,

Of Presidential Candidates

There's no doubt that /. commentators are quite impressive. Exhibit A

signing off,

Travel Chronicles

What is it with flights and me? Does Joe Pesci want me to give up on flying and just take a walk instead? First time when I had traveled to US, the date was shortly after 26th July. For folks in Mumbai, that date is as notorious 11th September. Thus my flight got canceled and I had to reschedule. Next time there was that whole visa issue and I had to extend my vacation by two weeks. This time the flight gets canceled, I get stranded in Amsterdam (Amsterdamn seems more appropriate), and get routed to Mumbai via AMS-KWI-MCT-AMD-BOM. Four different countries, five different airport. Curses, nwa.

Then while coming back they lose my bag. Agreed it is on the way and I will get it tomorrow, but you know one gets frustrated with these kind of things.

Had it not for those wonderful 6 days between these two flights and had I not been looking forward to actually flying again in a few months time, I'd have accepted your suggestion of giving up on flying. :-) Maybe some day.

signing off,

How to Open and Close?

If your movie begins with AC/DC and ends with Black Sabbath, it is ought to be good.

And so it is. Barring a few flaws in second half where we get reminiscence of the bore movie Transformers when two Iron Men fight, the movie is delight to watch. Very Sleek. Robert Dawney sir, if I may quote Mr President, are awesome!

Now to next big superhero release of summer. I am sure Mr Nolan and Mr Bale will not disappoint me :-)

signing off,