Yesterday, i blogged about the my top #5 movie endings and something didnt feel right after that.
Philadelphia was not on my list and i didnt like that. There are couple of other ending sequences that were good contenders like the end in Bleu with that music in background, and the irreversible ending trying to give consolation to a disturbed heart after watching that movie.
But Philadelphia is special. Because it has got a beautiful song in the end. Its called Philadelphia by Neil Young. Death is handled so brilliantly in the end that i just love it!
And Philadelphia is an awesome movie, its one of those movies that whenever it is played, i have to sit and watch it. It never bores me. It has Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington and is made by Jonathan Demme, the man behind silence of lambs.
Sometimes I think that I know
What love's all about
And when I see the light
I know I'll be all right.
I've got my friends in the world,
I had my friends
When we were boys and girls
And the secrets came unfurled.
City of brotherly love
Place I call home
Don't turn your back on me
I don't want to be alone
Love lasts forever.
Someone is talking to me,
Calling my name
Tell me I'm not to blame
I won't be ashamed of love.
Philadelphia,
City of brotherly love.
Brotherly love.
Sometimes I think that I know
What love's all about
And when I see the light
I know I'll be all right.
Philadelphia
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Friday, September 26, 2008
Complete insanity
Five things to identify whether a person believes in Left or Right wing politics:
1. When taking his pants down, which leg comes out first. The leg that out comes last is the political belief of that person.
2. While eating food, which side of teeth chews food first, right or left?
3. When climbing stairs down, the first step is taken by which leg, left or right?
4. When reading a newspaper, after page 1 is over, which page do you read next, left or right?
5. If you are to be a pirate in a drama, which eye will you cover, left or right?
If your answer to the above questions results in more number of lefts than right, you are a leftist or else you are right wing supporter.
If you answer the above questions with : "it depends on from where you are looking", you are a diplomat.
FAQ:
Q1) What will a man do at the brink of complete insanity?
A) Make the above questionnaire or answer it.
Q2) What will a man do at the brink of incomplete insanity?
A) He will read the above questions.
Q4) What is the rationale behind above questions?
A) See answer to question 3.
Q5) Will this insanity ever end?
A)Depends.
Q6) Depends on what?
A) LHC.; FSM; HKA and YOU.
Q7) Is there any cure from complete insanity?
A) sanjivani booti 2.0
Q8)Is there any cure from incomplete insanity?
A) Yes. It ends now.
1. When taking his pants down, which leg comes out first. The leg that out comes last is the political belief of that person.
2. While eating food, which side of teeth chews food first, right or left?
3. When climbing stairs down, the first step is taken by which leg, left or right?
4. When reading a newspaper, after page 1 is over, which page do you read next, left or right?
5. If you are to be a pirate in a drama, which eye will you cover, left or right?
If your answer to the above questions results in more number of lefts than right, you are a leftist or else you are right wing supporter.
If you answer the above questions with : "it depends on from where you are looking", you are a diplomat.
FAQ:
Q1) What will a man do at the brink of complete insanity?
A) Make the above questionnaire or answer it.
Q2) What will a man do at the brink of incomplete insanity?
A) He will read the above questions.
Q4) What is the rationale behind above questions?
A) See answer to question 3.
Q5) Will this insanity ever end?
A)Depends.
Q6) Depends on what?
A) LHC.; FSM; HKA and YOU.
Q7) Is there any cure from complete insanity?
A) sanjivani booti 2.0
Q8)Is there any cure from incomplete insanity?
A) Yes. It ends now.
The lives of others
After mentioning this movie in my last post, i had to watch it. With such hectic schedules going on, still this movie has such a powerful impression in my mind that i had to watch it. Absolutely brilliant, cult, classic. There is so much to praise for, i can sing about it for one whole day.
If you abstract the movie with just its structure, this movie is 90% similar to the movie Fahrenheit 451. I hope people understand the common feature in both movies as this is the way to write a movie. I will also try to write something on this structure. I say 90% because we also have an ending here which is simply beautiful.
This movie makes a strong contender for my top #5 movie endings. Here is my "as of now" list
1. Cast away. No one can beat this ending for me. Standing at the cross roads, Tom Hanks wonders which way he should take.
2. Before sunset. Linklater does it again, he makes a sequel and leaves it as before.
3. Sixth sense. It had to be here.
4. Lost in translation. Another open ending, but totally deserved.
5. Lives of others. This ending is closed, but the last line - "Its for me" completes the movie. There is one thing in viewer's heart that is not fulfilled, the last scene fills that void and aha!
I am tempted to write Kill Bill vol 2 but its climax is the best climax ever, but its ending is not among the best.
Here is a song from that movie. All that internet tells me about this song is :
It is a poem Stell dich mitten in den Regen (Stand Right Out in the Rain) by Wolfgang Borchert, best known for the post-war drama Draußen vor der Tür (The Man Outside). Borchert, who died in 1947 aged 26 from hepatitis contracted as a dissident conscript on the Russian front, stands as an example of moral integrity. His poem consists of three stanzas, which urge the reader to confront rain, wind and fire, each concluding with the exhortation ‘und versuche gut zu sein’ (‘and try to be good’).
Taken from : http://www.ajr.org.uk/journal/issue.Sep07/article.917
If you abstract the movie with just its structure, this movie is 90% similar to the movie Fahrenheit 451. I hope people understand the common feature in both movies as this is the way to write a movie. I will also try to write something on this structure. I say 90% because we also have an ending here which is simply beautiful.
This movie makes a strong contender for my top #5 movie endings. Here is my "as of now" list
1. Cast away. No one can beat this ending for me. Standing at the cross roads, Tom Hanks wonders which way he should take.
2. Before sunset. Linklater does it again, he makes a sequel and leaves it as before.
3. Sixth sense. It had to be here.
4. Lost in translation. Another open ending, but totally deserved.
5. Lives of others. This ending is closed, but the last line - "Its for me" completes the movie. There is one thing in viewer's heart that is not fulfilled, the last scene fills that void and aha!
I am tempted to write Kill Bill vol 2 but its climax is the best climax ever, but its ending is not among the best.
Here is a song from that movie. All that internet tells me about this song is :
It is a poem Stell dich mitten in den Regen (Stand Right Out in the Rain) by Wolfgang Borchert, best known for the post-war drama Draußen vor der Tür (The Man Outside). Borchert, who died in 1947 aged 26 from hepatitis contracted as a dissident conscript on the Russian front, stands as an example of moral integrity. His poem consists of three stanzas, which urge the reader to confront rain, wind and fire, each concluding with the exhortation ‘und versuche gut zu sein’ (‘and try to be good’).
Taken from : http://www.ajr.org.uk/journal/issue.Sep07/article.917
Saturday, September 20, 2008
After the wedding
Just finished the movie - After the wedding. All thanks to Vivek for recommending it to me.
A good movie to watch after a long time. it was killing me to be away from cinema for such a long time. After the wedding is just one bit less than The lives of others to which it lost the oscar(BTW, the lives of others is a cult movie.) And the only place where After the wedding is left behind is in the music dept. A good solid theme and it would have taken it to the next level. But other than music, the acting is good, camera work is excellent, those closeup shots just add to the storyline.
I have this notion that all Oscar nominated foreign language movies fell into a category of "formula movies". There is something that is common to all of them. Ofcourse they are brilliant, but each one has got a different storyline but each one has got the same effect on me. The awe experience. There is a formula which some people have understood and they make movies with that formula and get oscar nominations.
I know formula movies generally come with bad examples like David Dhawan or Emraan Hashmi etc. But i can still prove my theory.
The formula that these movies follow is tension distribution. One thing that is common to all these movies is that they keep the audience engaged the whole time. Even if their pace is slow, nothing is happening on screen, but still they know how to create the tension in the story and in the viewer's mind and thats the formulae, thats the art. The beauty lies in how much to tell the viewer and how much to withhold, that thin line so that viewer knows something and wants to know more.
Consider this example: A murder happened. Now there are two ways to go about it, (1) We take the journey from detective's point of view where he (and us) are searcing for the murderer. (2)In the second case, we know who the murderer is. It has been revealed to us, but the detective doesnt know it. Now the case becomes more interesting, because we are following the story from detective's eye view but we know the end.
Movies which follow the above two cases are good movie but they are not oscar noms. The thing that makes these oscar movies special is that they start with case 1, but somewhere along the line, they will switch to case 2, and they will do so delicately that we wont notice.
Thats precisley what happens in After the wedding, when we suddenly know what the secret is. The same happens in Live of others where we know that the guy is helping them, in Counterfeiters where we know that they are delaying the mission.
Btw, i do have wathchd some good movies in the last month. I watched chariots of fire and irreversible.
The pending list is getting longer :)
A good movie to watch after a long time. it was killing me to be away from cinema for such a long time. After the wedding is just one bit less than The lives of others to which it lost the oscar(BTW, the lives of others is a cult movie.) And the only place where After the wedding is left behind is in the music dept. A good solid theme and it would have taken it to the next level. But other than music, the acting is good, camera work is excellent, those closeup shots just add to the storyline.
I have this notion that all Oscar nominated foreign language movies fell into a category of "formula movies". There is something that is common to all of them. Ofcourse they are brilliant, but each one has got a different storyline but each one has got the same effect on me. The awe experience. There is a formula which some people have understood and they make movies with that formula and get oscar nominations.
I know formula movies generally come with bad examples like David Dhawan or Emraan Hashmi etc. But i can still prove my theory.
The formula that these movies follow is tension distribution. One thing that is common to all these movies is that they keep the audience engaged the whole time. Even if their pace is slow, nothing is happening on screen, but still they know how to create the tension in the story and in the viewer's mind and thats the formulae, thats the art. The beauty lies in how much to tell the viewer and how much to withhold, that thin line so that viewer knows something and wants to know more.
Consider this example: A murder happened. Now there are two ways to go about it, (1) We take the journey from detective's point of view where he (and us) are searcing for the murderer. (2)In the second case, we know who the murderer is. It has been revealed to us, but the detective doesnt know it. Now the case becomes more interesting, because we are following the story from detective's eye view but we know the end.
Movies which follow the above two cases are good movie but they are not oscar noms. The thing that makes these oscar movies special is that they start with case 1, but somewhere along the line, they will switch to case 2, and they will do so delicately that we wont notice.
Thats precisley what happens in After the wedding, when we suddenly know what the secret is. The same happens in Live of others where we know that the guy is helping them, in Counterfeiters where we know that they are delaying the mission.
Btw, i do have wathchd some good movies in the last month. I watched chariots of fire and irreversible.
The pending list is getting longer :)
Misconceptions
This came out of discussion with Shobith. I was telling him about an interview where i was asked this question:
Interviewer: Tell me a thing about yourself that your friends do not know about you or have misconceptions that they have about you.
My answer at that time was some gibberish. I laughed when i heard this question and still do. However i was mad at my interviewer for asking such silly questions. BTW, i hate all HR interviews. They are more difficult to handle than the tech interviews.
Anyways, this is the answer that i should have given to the interviewer:
If i had a boxing glove in my hand, i will punch your face with it and hit you. Later, i will go and tell my friend about this. He will surely not believe. So, there is a misconception that my friend will have.
Are you satisfied?
Interviewer: Tell me a thing about yourself that your friends do not know about you or have misconceptions that they have about you.
My answer at that time was some gibberish. I laughed when i heard this question and still do. However i was mad at my interviewer for asking such silly questions. BTW, i hate all HR interviews. They are more difficult to handle than the tech interviews.
Anyways, this is the answer that i should have given to the interviewer:
If i had a boxing glove in my hand, i will punch your face with it and hit you. Later, i will go and tell my friend about this. He will surely not believe. So, there is a misconception that my friend will have.
Are you satisfied?
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Life in Aug23 - Spe 13
Continuing on with the life-in series, this last phase of life as reported by 24x7 journalist, Arvind Batra, was a mixed bag.
Absolutely baffled by my course - Cognition and culture. Cant believe i am doing it and its been sometimes interesting, sometimes boring and sometimes just over the head.
Just came from a 2 day fast paced trip of SFO. Gave two interviews. SFO is like being home, no worries, life is natural at its best. I wonder what that mean :)
B-l-o-o-o-m-b-e-r-g i think earned too much of money last quarter and so in their elation has decided to give me a full time offer. However, they have MADE me an offer which i MAY/CAN refuse.
I wanted to use that godfather line since so much time!
Took a 3 day course of meditation at sahaj marg. It was good and interesting and all that but they like all others they share the common flaw, they want me to do it by myself and that too everyday. Even i do not demand this much from myself.
And to conclude, here is a song from the movie - Gegen die wand(Head On). All thanks to Vivek for giving me this movie. The movie is lovely in its own respect but this soundtrack just makes it special. This is After Laughter comes tears by Wendy Rene.
Absolutely baffled by my course - Cognition and culture. Cant believe i am doing it and its been sometimes interesting, sometimes boring and sometimes just over the head.
Just came from a 2 day fast paced trip of SFO. Gave two interviews. SFO is like being home, no worries, life is natural at its best. I wonder what that mean :)
B-l-o-o-o-m-b-e-r-g i think earned too much of money last quarter and so in their elation has decided to give me a full time offer. However, they have MADE me an offer which i MAY/CAN refuse.
I wanted to use that godfather line since so much time!
Took a 3 day course of meditation at sahaj marg. It was good and interesting and all that but they like all others they share the common flaw, they want me to do it by myself and that too everyday. Even i do not demand this much from myself.
And to conclude, here is a song from the movie - Gegen die wand(Head On). All thanks to Vivek for giving me this movie. The movie is lovely in its own respect but this soundtrack just makes it special. This is After Laughter comes tears by Wendy Rene.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Shame
Shame on me,
Shame on us.
Here was a market, there was a bus.
History continues to repeat itself.
I sit in my room now
as i did the last time.
A young reporter asks a bystander,
what did you see?
what all did you see?
I saw four bodies stacked
one on another. Need more?
What did the reporter expect?
Has there been a time when it was different?
Some group claimed responsibility.
Some group is proud today.
Some people had their way.
And again we ask, why, how and who?
I bet that's all we can do.
One day, i can see it
I will be there, lying.
And then i will understand.
That's the only way i can understand.
Some people learn it the hard way.
Just that, it will be a touch late on that day.
Blame me, Blame us
I am the silent witness
I knew it all the first time.
That all lines from now will rhyme.
Yet, i kept it to myself.
Since then, History has repeated itself.
It is not an Arabian Phoenix tale.
No bird rises from this wail.
Lives today are put on sale.
Buy one get many free.
And i am on a shopping spree.
Shame on me, Shame on us.
Shame on us.
Here was a market, there was a bus.
History continues to repeat itself.
I sit in my room now
as i did the last time.
A young reporter asks a bystander,
what did you see?
what all did you see?
I saw four bodies stacked
one on another. Need more?
What did the reporter expect?
Has there been a time when it was different?
Some group claimed responsibility.
Some group is proud today.
Some people had their way.
And again we ask, why, how and who?
I bet that's all we can do.
One day, i can see it
I will be there, lying.
And then i will understand.
That's the only way i can understand.
Some people learn it the hard way.
Just that, it will be a touch late on that day.
Blame me, Blame us
I am the silent witness
I knew it all the first time.
That all lines from now will rhyme.
Yet, i kept it to myself.
Since then, History has repeated itself.
It is not an Arabian Phoenix tale.
No bird rises from this wail.
Lives today are put on sale.
Buy one get many free.
And i am on a shopping spree.
Shame on me, Shame on us.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
करियर फेयर
करियर फेयर
अजब तमाशा है लगा हुआ |
हाल है चका-चक सजा हुआ ||
हर आदमी बने फ़िर रहा है सेठ |
सूट बूट पहने लग रहा है ठेठ ||
कहते है इसको करियर फेयर |
आज हमने भी की इसकी सैर ||
कंपनियों ने लगाये हुए है अपने बूथ |
नौकरी देने के लिए भेजे हैं अपने दूत ||
नौकरी का मेला है यह मंझा हुआ |
हाल भी है कचा-कच भरा हुआ ||
नौकर ले रहे हैं नौकर का इम्तिहान |
शकल दिखाने पे दे रहे हैं इनाम ||
काग़ज़ की चिठे पे लिख रखी है सारी दास्तान |
तू मान न मान , में हूँ तेरा मेहमान ||
क्या मोल है मेरा तेरी दूकान पे |
नौकरी दे भई, आज तू मेरा भगवान् रे ||
यह नौकरी भी मस्त चीज़ है
जब ना हो हाथ में
तो जो मिले वोह सजे
जो एक आई हाथ में
तो भाव भड़ने लगे
जो दूजी हाथ आवे
तो सर चड़ने लगे
खाली हाथ गए खाली हाथ लौटे |
कुछ सपने अन्दर ही अन्दर लपेटे ||
ख़ुद को बाज़ार में बेच नहीं पाए |
अपने आप को ही घाटे में खरीद लाये ||
अजब तमाशा है लगा हुआ |
हाल है चका-चक सजा हुआ ||
हर आदमी बने फ़िर रहा है सेठ |
सूट बूट पहने लग रहा है ठेठ ||
कहते है इसको करियर फेयर |
आज हमने भी की इसकी सैर ||
कंपनियों ने लगाये हुए है अपने बूथ |
नौकरी देने के लिए भेजे हैं अपने दूत ||
नौकरी का मेला है यह मंझा हुआ |
हाल भी है कचा-कच भरा हुआ ||
नौकर ले रहे हैं नौकर का इम्तिहान |
शकल दिखाने पे दे रहे हैं इनाम ||
काग़ज़ की चिठे पे लिख रखी है सारी दास्तान |
तू मान न मान , में हूँ तेरा मेहमान ||
क्या मोल है मेरा तेरी दूकान पे |
नौकरी दे भई, आज तू मेरा भगवान् रे ||
यह नौकरी भी मस्त चीज़ है
जब ना हो हाथ में
तो जो मिले वोह सजे
जो एक आई हाथ में
तो भाव भड़ने लगे
जो दूजी हाथ आवे
तो सर चड़ने लगे
खाली हाथ गए खाली हाथ लौटे |
कुछ सपने अन्दर ही अन्दर लपेटे ||
ख़ुद को बाज़ार में बेच नहीं पाए |
अपने आप को ही घाटे में खरीद लाये ||
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Blame the thing
Some things never change.
People change
Time changes
But some things never change.
Don't blame the people
Its the things,
they never changed
Ergo, People towards that thing never changed.
Blame the things, not the people.
The world is full of surprises.
Unexpected things surprise me.
Sudden things surprise me.
But what surprises me the most,
expected things surprise me.
Blame the thing, not the act of astonishment.
What goes back comes around.
Time is not a circle
and I am also not standing still.
But that thing still came back.
Blame the thing, not the time.
All that glisters is not gold
Shakespeare had had me told
If only i was wise and not bold.
Thou should not argue with a fool
Its not the fool, its his thing.
Blame the thing, not the fool.
People change
Time changes
But some things never change.
Don't blame the people
Its the things,
they never changed
Ergo, People towards that thing never changed.
Blame the things, not the people.
The world is full of surprises.
Unexpected things surprise me.
Sudden things surprise me.
But what surprises me the most,
expected things surprise me.
Blame the thing, not the act of astonishment.
What goes back comes around.
Time is not a circle
and I am also not standing still.
But that thing still came back.
Blame the thing, not the time.
All that glisters is not gold
Shakespeare had had me told
If only i was wise and not bold.
Thou should not argue with a fool
Its not the fool, its his thing.
Blame the thing, not the fool.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
September is here!
September 2009 is here and so it has been 2 weeks of my last semester (hopefully!). Had a wonderful long weekend. I have started going to gym. It has been 5 times in past 6 days. This is my third attempt in the past 5 months to be regular.
Going to gym is like getting a new job after college. In college, you get money from parents, you spend it as and when you feel like. But the moment you start working and start getting pay checks, as it is commonly said "aate daal ka bhav maloom chal jaata hai". Everytime you go to a market, every time you go to movie theater, to a restaurant, you always ask for prices first. You become careful. Its the ditto case in gymming. After going to gym, everything you eat, every grocery you buy, you always look back and see how much calories it contain. You look online to find meanings of trans fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium and what not.
You know the value, the pain it will take to burn that. You ask questions like : Is one maggi worth 20 mins of treadmill? Can you survive without eating that chocolate muffin. Pizza is out of the question, milk is bought fat-free, white bread turns wheat bread, and everything in life changes.
But then again, there are people like me, who neither cared before, neither care now (Liar, Liar!!:). Anyways, lets see how long this relationship lasts.
And to conclude, here is a statistical joke shared by Hasan. If you do not get it, you just don't get it.
Three statisticians go for deer hunting. They see a deer and the first one takes aim. The bullet goes 5 meters left of the deer. The second one takes aim and the bullet goes 5 meters right of the deer. What does the third guy say?
We nailed it.
I had a hearty laugh at this.
Going to gym is like getting a new job after college. In college, you get money from parents, you spend it as and when you feel like. But the moment you start working and start getting pay checks, as it is commonly said "aate daal ka bhav maloom chal jaata hai". Everytime you go to a market, every time you go to movie theater, to a restaurant, you always ask for prices first. You become careful. Its the ditto case in gymming. After going to gym, everything you eat, every grocery you buy, you always look back and see how much calories it contain. You look online to find meanings of trans fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium and what not.
You know the value, the pain it will take to burn that. You ask questions like : Is one maggi worth 20 mins of treadmill? Can you survive without eating that chocolate muffin. Pizza is out of the question, milk is bought fat-free, white bread turns wheat bread, and everything in life changes.
But then again, there are people like me, who neither cared before, neither care now (Liar, Liar!!:). Anyways, lets see how long this relationship lasts.
And to conclude, here is a statistical joke shared by Hasan. If you do not get it, you just don't get it.
Three statisticians go for deer hunting. They see a deer and the first one takes aim. The bullet goes 5 meters left of the deer. The second one takes aim and the bullet goes 5 meters right of the deer. What does the third guy say?
We nailed it.
I had a hearty laugh at this.
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