The Things you will do...

Out of the numerous things that one can do with a laptop come this sudden urge to type. One must look at a four year old blog and update it. Privacy has become a big thing now- earlier no one wanted to hear your shit, then came the wave when everyone wanted to say their shit and now its like oh man I don't want to say my shit coz I don't want people to know that I am full of sh*&.I discovered how far privacy will go - people now object to a prospective buyer calling up the utility company coz they don't want you to know how much gas they consume. Its like the environmentalists will come to sit in front of your 1million dollar home in which just you , your wife and a dog live and ask you why you are guzzling gas at the rate a whole African nation can be powered for a decade. I mean seriously? Do you think people would come all t he way from California to do that? Really- honestly- to Minnesota? In -35Fahreheit? you think they care? Or no maybe you are afraid that its invasion of privacy to know about anyone's heat and electricity bills- like their underwear size? I would really like to know what are people scared of- and this comes from a superbly paranoid person who really thinks that privacy is a very scared and guards hers with all her might- go check my profile on blogger- go on- do it...see what I mean??;-) till next time... maybe quicker that than the last one... adios

Movie Review: Inception

So this is almost a fortnight after watching the movie but since i have been thinking of it so often its best to write a review and get it out of my mind.

Rating: 5/5.Excellent storyline, direction and acting.Ellen page remains a above par, somewhat cynical teen(and gifted I must add)and di caprio has once again managed to fit right into the plot.He plays his part beautifully, because you would think that rose's(titanic) absence has left him bereft!

Must watch and rewatch...

too much of statistics

ask any engineering student....he is sick of stats...mostly coz of the marks he gets in stats papers...

but a very interesting thing blogger has started showing....geographich profile of people who visit my blog...now this is really fun...try looking up the view stats of your blog and you will be very very suprised...

Yanni.Y first.Read to find out

Well i am breaking the cycle.It was supposed to be Yanni third in line.

But I came upon this interesting fact:

"The regents of the University of Minnesota conferred upon Yanni the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters. He attended the University of Minnesota where he successfully obtained B.A. in psychology and an honorary Ph.D in music"

which of course gave him a priority over the rest!

classical music

I intend to educate myself about classical music.

Starting with Beethoven.

Then I go to Mozart (whose short life has been depicted in Amadeus that i watched a few years back).

and the evergreen yani...

From then onto Bach...

Any more suggestions?

Movie review: Bucket list

Rating: 4.5/5

Pros: Beautiful visuals of lovely places....Jack Nicholson is a treat to watch...though is couterpart is more morose and sad than he ever looked...nice storyline...not overdone...

Cons: Why show the grossness of hospitals? why is Jack the owner? some skewed bits here and there...but overall very watchable

till the next one

Me the foodie

Yes, gluttony abounds.As i said there is too much choice and that includes the terrific cuisine .Some say its healthy food, some say its delicious, some say its lean...in the end- food cooked outside of home that is delicious is NEVER healthy for your arteries, veins, brain or whatever.But who cares?!

So here is a review of some of my favourite mid western food joints:

1. Kabobs: Ohhh the smell of hyderabadi biryani so far away from home!Yes this is THE most authentic indian food place i have been to date in the US...they even have a post 2:30 chai samosa special!! Reminds of my good ol' BITS and all the redi-waalas there...

What totally takes the cake is the supe dupe price for anyone (means non income generating person :P) which is with tax 5.30 dollars.As their banner says- over 30 items to choose from. I love the concept- Indian food served fast food style- a la Chinese food- panda express go hang..my i want my Indian food.

Ok so that this post doesn't seem like an ad..i shall tell you the cons as well..North Indian fare here is a little off the mark- which is to say their cholay bature are again not very northy...the fish fry is also not very great...but all in all i good value for my money and my arteries sigh and say- ok well i give up- since your brain and stomach refuse to let go of this oily food!

And the location!!! Downtown Minneapolis!! Where else can you walk 20 min in the skyway, when its sub zero outside , with a baby in the stroller and have yumm food ...!

2. Pracna: Riverside, Minneapolis.

Its the soup.Always start with the soup.Its the tomato cognac soup.Yes Cognac.Like in Alcohol.Yes, combined with tomato.Yes, its good.Tasty.Very much so.Yes, I hate tomato soup in general.What made me try it? Hmm..serendipity.

Ok baby is up.More later. Rating 7/5.Not a typo.

Book Review: What the Dog Saw" Malcolm Gladwell

Rating: 3/5

Pros: Very interesting stuff, well researched , esp the article about McK is hilarious!

Cons: Very long winded in places- you could prolly take it in NYT, but its too much.You realise that you paid 30 dollars for most of the stuff thats available online for free reading..

Its different..

Like Maggi hot and sweet tomato ketchup.

But you probably knew that before.

Its about here and there.

Here there is electricity.There is none there.None being 12/24 in winters and 12 tending towards 24 in summer.

Here there is food.Organic, inorganic, grade A, B,C ,D ALpha beta gamma, theta, t2 t3 suchlike.You would starve in the aisle while chosing whats good for your heart.But yes, there is food. There is food there also.Mostly non shiny, non polished, chemical free, precious food...you want carrots- there is just one way its available...you want eggs- you have no clue whether they are grade abcdefgh or brown or white or organic or inorganic..you neither know if the hens were caged or not or treated rbst pqrs etc nor do you care.Its life as BB (Bhagwaan Bharose).

Here you are perpetually afraid and try to avert disasters- get h1n1 vaccine, know how to do basic first aid, read the manual, install the car seat, take life insurance, take medical insurance, take car insurance take renters insurance, take insurance insurance...jeeeez as they say.There it is BB- jab hoga dekha jayega...kis kis cheez se bachogay...life is short so enjoy it to the hilt..why eat unpalatable food- agar heart attack hoga to uskay baad exercise karengay...In my 10 yrs of car driving not even once did i think of what to do if car fell in water.Here i see a soap about a guys car getting in water and i start to do a PhD in how to escape from a sinking car...my mood changes and i am yet again afraid..

Here you weigh in pounds...the upside is when u are putting on weight it seems like its just in pounds..its not in kilos so its acceptable...which is also the downside...there anyone above 60kgs in weight whatever height sex religion, caste, social status...is consider obese and is called fatso either behind or in front of their backs :D

Here you have the maximum choice of anyone in the world- but you also do not have the basic freedom to earn your living if you are a foreigner...on a dependent visa.You have the best salaries but you have no assured employment, you have the best stuff for babies in the world wide world..but your employer gives you no paid time off to have babies...you have everything, you have nothing....There you have classes, but no teachers, you have medicines, but half of them work no better than placebo, you have institutions that prepare you for going abroad, you have the most intelligent people- in the bureaucracy - whose life is dedicated to making the country function less efficiently than before....

But you wish you were there...and you are a free bird there...its all greener there..just because its home....

Book Review: Digital Fortress: Dan Brown

Rating : 3.5/5

Pros: Pacy, uses some level of brain power, better than watching a sitcom
Cons: Author struggles to keep the suspense going and adds unecessary long winded sentences and chapters to the movel.Its OK to write a "under 100 pages" novel.

Good for a restroom read.

Movie review: Brother Bear

After a long time I watched a decent animation movie...matches up to best of the lot- ICe age, Lion king (though the music in this one is not as great) and has lots of gyan and lessons for young and old alike...Wonder why i never heard of this before...

Rating : 4.5/5

Must must watch for disney and animation fans..

Book Reviews

1.Sundays at tiffany's:

Rating: 3/5

Good for: Its fast pace, some descriptions of NYC and a easy flowing plot.

Bad for: imagination, restricted descriptions, overkill in visualisations, and as usual making the career woman an evil character without a heart.You almost feel as if the author decided suddenly to recast the characters he had written up and inverted them to let go of biases and gender stereotypes.

Can be avoided unless desperate for something brainless to read.

2. Breaking Dawn:

Rating: 4.5/5

I think i developed this superhuman power to increasingly tolerate the vampire series..it was like being punished --the first time is the toughest..so was twilight..but i got so addicted to the plot that i wanted to know what happens to the hapless dame featured in the earlier books...and yeah to the complicated love triangle she is in...
The good part about this book is the solutions it gives- pretty extreme ones to the problems the writer created in the lives of its main characters, but yeah it makes u feel almost relieved that there is much less morbidity, and much more sunshine in this book than in the earlier versions..less creepy, more emotional and feel good...

Pink Panther 2

Ok ...lols...dunno why they gave it such low rating in USA today...Me, I like fine brainless comedy and Steve Martin is just too good to give up on. Aish Rai is another disappointing story altogether..but yeah the movie is good timepass....and Nicole...is a superb actress. There is something warm and familiar about the whole movie..and yeah PP 1 was much better in casting and storylines but the Vatican scene in this one totally takes the cake...

Rating: 4.9/5

Inertia..

ok i have this massive inertia problem..yeah i know they say inertia is directly proportional to mass etc etc ..which is why its true for me..but the funny bit is that i really have extreme inertia..case in point:

1. i cant seem to drag myself to the shower.Once i do manage- like once a week types, i cant seem to be able to get out of the relaxing environ...

2. i cant seem to get up from bed...or once up i cant seem to go back either...same applies for chores...cant seem to start them, cant seem to stop doing them once i start...

3. Ditto for eating, drinking, partying, walking...blah blah..got the flavour? Any explanation wud do...

The Hectic Week..

Movies: 

1. Slumdog Millionaire: (4.7/5)

Books:

1. Catcher in the Rye: JD Salinger (4/5)

2. New Moon: Stephanie Meyer (4/5)

Watch this space for detailed reviews..

Movie Review: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

I watched this movie solely coz Brad Pitt stars in it. I ended up enjoying it for everything else too. The LOR Cate B doesn't disappoint.The make up artist should win an oscar for this one as hubby and I both agree. The storyline is quaintly victorian- reminds you of the birtish classics more than american contemporary.

The only bothersome part was the long duration (2hrs 45 min) and the prolongation of some of the stages of Benjamin's life. The lady who has played Brad's foster mom is a super actress. I must look her up in wiki- and yes her arm heart touches u in this winter's cold. I think she is the best character drawn in the movie.

Though the movie is very well directed , casted and played, yet it doesnt touch your heartstrings too much...maybe coz we indians expect the film to be super melodramatic and full of emotional dialogues to make us cry.The exception was the scene at the end almost when Cate is holding baby Benjamin in her arms ..thats the most poignant part of the movie.You half expect the kid to start growing up again after the clock has been restored..

Ok, this review has revealed the plot too much i guess! But I would still recommend this to my fellow movie watchers.

Rating: 4.7/5

Fish Market

Ok, so you like eating fish?

How about the freshest fish in whole of New England? How about a blackened Red Snapper with extra veggies? This is after the shrimp cocktail the menu has, two glasses of fresh lemonade (make that two half glasses- the guy removed half of the lemonade when i said i didnt need the ice-- very cheap for such an expensive place). Oh we ate something else too-- yeah crab cakes.

All in all, i spent 10% of my paycheck on the food and the crappy lemonade.

This is the Mitchell macchi bazaar in dowtown stamford.

Movie Review: Chandini Chowk to China

For those of my fellow sufferers who have seen this movie, I admit I should have read a few reviews...

For those who haven't and are reading this- grab this lifeline before you sink 3 hours of your life in watching this piece of drama which the promoters released post consuming a truckload of opiods. 

For those who know Chinese, I empathise- it must have been doubly painful for you folks. I apologise on behalf of the hindi film industry.

And for those who have anything to do with the making, promotion and release of the movie- remember there is God....

Another week....

Oh yeah firstly, wish all you folks a very Happy New year 2009.

So well lets start with the reviews:

Movies:

1. Over the Hedge: One from my favourite category- animation movies.. great story, great animation and total fun to watch, though hubby thought otherwise. Could have gone deeper to become a lion king though. But I liked the simple and nice touching story...

Rating: 4.5/5

2. There is something about Mary:

Oh well, old movie, watched it so many times...its still watchable in parts..like in between cooking. Really like the unbelievable character Mary is...

Books:

Well didnt have time to dig into too many books, but yeah accomplished finishing one:

Twilight:

Stephanie Meyer

Rating: 2.5/5

Ok I really dont understand how this became a best seller, but i guess if u survive the slow first half of the book, you are in for a treat..just because it took me as much time to finish the first half as all of Rowling's books put together! Some nice editing and better vocab could have made this book and the mythology beneath it pretty captivating. Anyways, I shall definitely read he sequels to see if she gets any better!

Must Watch

Out of the three movies i watched this weekend:

1. Gajini: Mementos minus the subtle acting that keeps the movie pacy plus lots of bollywood drama and overkill +really bad songs + haryanawi accent to accentuate the bad elements in desh

Star Rating: 2/5 just for the nice romantic angle to it

2. Outsourced: A Must watch..really..its got our bourne identity side hero and a whole lot of american- indian humour..its really a fun watch and very well directed, though Ayesha Dharker is a little over the top and acts more american than indian from a village, but you got to give her that since she is trying to relate to an essentially ABCD audience.

Star Rating: 4/5 for e fresh plot and glorification of our eccentricties as a nation

3. Made of Honour: A really funny movie, good performances and nice scenic beauty of Scotland adds to this oft repeat oft cliched storyline. But its the protagonist who takes the cake with others following his cues ... the only incongrous bit being it turns a little bigot-ish for the scottish or others looking to integrate themselevs with the foreign women...but no one asked you to analyse below the glass surface...its all in goood humour..

Star Rating: 3.5/5 for the good laugh and entertainment