Ok, I agree that once in a while I have to come out of my reclusive self and accept the tags that one my blogger friend graciously led me to(whats is so gracious one might ask, but that is beside the point)
I am ready to believe that people would enjoy reading the weird quirks of fellow beings, rather than some boring rant of long forgotten movies, books and other assorted paraphernalia which lie on one’s bedside table. But do I digress?? (well this is my blog and I would digress as and when thought appropriate...)
Without further ado, I shall come to the tag in question which is to list 5 weird things about oneself and pass it to five others (who should also fall in the league of weird people, for obvious reasons)
if you don't know already , I suffer from the cleanliness bug(perhaps I took the adage ‘Cleanliness next to Godliness’ from my Moral Science lessons in school too seriously)yes, my fingers itch for - setting right every disarrayed picture frame which cries out to me , organizing shelves at home or the office, rearranging my handbag every morning. This also extends to emptying the recycle bin of my comp as well the deleted items of my mails, almost everyday and ‘am guilty of losing some of my precious data.
I hate visiting the restroom while traveling, unless it is absolutely and painfully necessary. Trains, railway stations, bus stands as well as other people’s houses - form the huge weird list in some remote corner of my brain which refuses to let go even when the bladder beckons.
I have a huge phobia of flying which seems to increase along with my frequent-flier miles.(the flights I took from B’lore to Hyd’bad for 7 months last year did nothing to improve it) But yes, I do try to put on a brave front, on my flight from Rome to Brussels I was assuring a 16-year-old kid that it is not such a bad experience at all after one gets used to the fear-factor.
I flip for guys who write well and am mightily impressed by guys who are also voracious readers. If I tell you my latest crush is Oscar Wilde, you would know why I call this 'weird'
I can be at my vindictive best in my imagination - devise elaborate plans of making the other person embarrassed or hurt .If a friend promised to come to my party and did not turn up, I shall imagine 101 ways of hurting her but actually I would meet her the next morning with a big smile on my face.So much for my 'V for Vendetta'!
Now that this ordeal is done ,I once again pass it on graciously to
Arty
Anumita
Seashells
Shruthi
C. Tigress
(and how do ya like my new blog template?, brickbats welcome)
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Friday, June 16, 2006
Human life don't mean as much to them as it does to us!
Though 'Fanaa' was too tempting to write 'bout(I would’ve gladly ripped it to pieces),better sense prevailed and here comes a rant on some amazing movies I happened to watch last month.
12 Angry Men:
It is not only Indians who have misunderstood the Western culture but it seems to be a case of vice-versa as observed by me during my last visit to Europe.
Some of my collegues (Italians, Dutch and French) had only great things to tell about India - how spiritual Indians are, how we are never materialistic and how our movies always depict moral values.
I am not saying that we are not all of that but we are also not an epitome of the aforementioned list of values. We are, I think, not any more or any less materialistic than those in the West (the booming Multiplexes, the new shopping Malls and the number of cars on our roads are evidence enough for this fact)
If you are wondering about the relevance of the above thoughts in regard with this movie, I would say that this movie I think is testimony of the fact that not all movies in Hollywood are devoid of any moral values.
Without any special effects, without any modern gadgets, without the use of any out door locations and finally without a single lady in it, this movie manages to get appreciation from all quarters.
12 men are part of the jury which is to declare a young boy in question whether he is guilty or not guilty of murdering his father. What starts off with 11 to 1 for Guilty against Not Guilty ultimately ends in the 12 voting as Not Guilty. The forceful dialogues and the way the quirkiness of each individual is brought to surface make it a movie that one should add in their Must-Watch-in-your-lifetime lists.
See a wonderful review of it here.
(the title of the rant is based on a statement made in this movie)
The Hours:
I don’t know if statistics exist but if it does, it would surely state that the largest number of suicides, of famous people from all walks of life, would be by writers (Hemingway, Plath and Poe (??) spring to my mind).
Based on Pulitzer Winning book of Michael Cunningham, this deals with women in three different time periods enmeshed in a single common thread - Virginia Woolf and suicide. Since I haven’t read the book, I could appreciate the movie which seemed to oscillate between three women all of them associated with some form of depression.
While Virginia Woolf writes the book 'Mrs. Dalloway' in 1925, another woman Lara Brown reads it in 1950 and yet another woman who is lovingly nicknamed Mrs. Dalloway, by her poet friend, is preparing to throw a party for him.
I am sure the book would have been brilliant because the essence of thoughts wouldn’t have been rendered on the screen so effectively. But it still is a wonderful movie to watch - all the three actors -Nicole Kidman, Mery Streep and Julianne Moore couldn’t have done more justice to their characters. Those of you who do not like the type of slow movies should keep off this one because it has a very unconventional movie which wouldn’t seem to make much sense and would be particularly make you feel low if you are in that existing state of mind, but yes folks who love Woolf’s books would definitely not give this movie a miss.
Memorable lines : “To look life in the face, always, to look life in the face and to know it for what it is. At last to know it, to love it for what it is, and then, to put it away. Leonard, always the years between us, always the years. Always the love. Always the hours”
Maine Gandhi Ko Nahi Mara :
the movie opens with the wonderful lines 'Himmat karne walon ki haar nahi hoti' (Courageous people never get defeated).
A retired Hindi Professor who suffers from dementia who believes that he was the one who killed Gandhi and how his daughter with the help of a psychiatrist deals with the situation forms the plot of the story.
The nuances of a father-daughter relationship as well as the sibling rivalry while trying to deal with their mentally-ill father are captured quite sensitively.
Thankfully the cliché of the doctor romancing the daughter is avoided and a sensible ending makes this a very lovable movie.
The Gandhian philosophy that is advocated in the last scene of the movie and the inspiring poem which is repeated thoughout the movie as the professor's favorite poem are very socially relevant in today’s India.
And of course the memorable lines are :
Kucch Kiye Bina Hi.. Jay Jay Kar Nahin Hoti
Himmat Karne Walon Ki.. Haar Nahin Hoti
Lehroon Se Darr Kar.. Naauka Paar Nahin Hoti
Himmat Karne Walon Ki.. Haar Nahin Hoti
One must be wondering what a weird selection - an age old vintage classic(12 Angry Men), a vague interpretation of Cunningham’s book (The Hours) and now a flop Hindi movie (Maine Gandhi …) ?? But these are my very own recommendations and you can watch them or give them a miss depending on your take on movies.
For all those interested in books, I have started a parallel blog 'bout books which you can check here.
12 Angry Men:
It is not only Indians who have misunderstood the Western culture but it seems to be a case of vice-versa as observed by me during my last visit to Europe.
Some of my collegues (Italians, Dutch and French) had only great things to tell about India - how spiritual Indians are, how we are never materialistic and how our movies always depict moral values.
I am not saying that we are not all of that but we are also not an epitome of the aforementioned list of values. We are, I think, not any more or any less materialistic than those in the West (the booming Multiplexes, the new shopping Malls and the number of cars on our roads are evidence enough for this fact)
If you are wondering about the relevance of the above thoughts in regard with this movie, I would say that this movie I think is testimony of the fact that not all movies in Hollywood are devoid of any moral values.
Without any special effects, without any modern gadgets, without the use of any out door locations and finally without a single lady in it, this movie manages to get appreciation from all quarters.
12 men are part of the jury which is to declare a young boy in question whether he is guilty or not guilty of murdering his father. What starts off with 11 to 1 for Guilty against Not Guilty ultimately ends in the 12 voting as Not Guilty. The forceful dialogues and the way the quirkiness of each individual is brought to surface make it a movie that one should add in their Must-Watch-in-your-lifetime lists.
See a wonderful review of it here.
(the title of the rant is based on a statement made in this movie)
The Hours:
I don’t know if statistics exist but if it does, it would surely state that the largest number of suicides, of famous people from all walks of life, would be by writers (Hemingway, Plath and Poe (??) spring to my mind).
Based on Pulitzer Winning book of Michael Cunningham, this deals with women in three different time periods enmeshed in a single common thread - Virginia Woolf and suicide. Since I haven’t read the book, I could appreciate the movie which seemed to oscillate between three women all of them associated with some form of depression.
While Virginia Woolf writes the book 'Mrs. Dalloway' in 1925, another woman Lara Brown reads it in 1950 and yet another woman who is lovingly nicknamed Mrs. Dalloway, by her poet friend, is preparing to throw a party for him.
I am sure the book would have been brilliant because the essence of thoughts wouldn’t have been rendered on the screen so effectively. But it still is a wonderful movie to watch - all the three actors -Nicole Kidman, Mery Streep and Julianne Moore couldn’t have done more justice to their characters. Those of you who do not like the type of slow movies should keep off this one because it has a very unconventional movie which wouldn’t seem to make much sense and would be particularly make you feel low if you are in that existing state of mind, but yes folks who love Woolf’s books would definitely not give this movie a miss.
Memorable lines : “To look life in the face, always, to look life in the face and to know it for what it is. At last to know it, to love it for what it is, and then, to put it away. Leonard, always the years between us, always the years. Always the love. Always the hours”
Maine Gandhi Ko Nahi Mara :
the movie opens with the wonderful lines 'Himmat karne walon ki haar nahi hoti' (Courageous people never get defeated).
A retired Hindi Professor who suffers from dementia who believes that he was the one who killed Gandhi and how his daughter with the help of a psychiatrist deals with the situation forms the plot of the story.
The nuances of a father-daughter relationship as well as the sibling rivalry while trying to deal with their mentally-ill father are captured quite sensitively.
Thankfully the cliché of the doctor romancing the daughter is avoided and a sensible ending makes this a very lovable movie.
The Gandhian philosophy that is advocated in the last scene of the movie and the inspiring poem which is repeated thoughout the movie as the professor's favorite poem are very socially relevant in today’s India.
And of course the memorable lines are :
Kucch Kiye Bina Hi.. Jay Jay Kar Nahin Hoti
Himmat Karne Walon Ki.. Haar Nahin Hoti
Lehroon Se Darr Kar.. Naauka Paar Nahin Hoti
Himmat Karne Walon Ki.. Haar Nahin Hoti
One must be wondering what a weird selection - an age old vintage classic(12 Angry Men), a vague interpretation of Cunningham’s book (The Hours) and now a flop Hindi movie (Maine Gandhi …) ?? But these are my very own recommendations and you can watch them or give them a miss depending on your take on movies.
For all those interested in books, I have started a parallel blog 'bout books which you can check here.
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