The Watch List -2

The ones for this week are-
1. From up on the poppy hill
2. Only Oceans Can Hear
3. Blue Jasmine
4. Dallas Buyers Club
5. Frozen

It is interesting to note that these two posts are inspiring me to start a similar trend to improve my productivity by investing at least ten hours per week slots. Touch wood, will start from tomorrow.

The Watch List

This is my first post on my new kick ass laptop and I want it to be on something that I love the most - Movies. Over the last two years, one of the things that kept bothering me sometimes, which must have been talked about in the previous posts coming involuntarily, is my lack of touch with movies which are worth watching. I mean its like just a 2-6hrs per week to cover 3 movies, that should be really that hard, marriage or not.

Anyway what has brought to me is this link about Sudha Murthy where she mentions she challenged her friends that swatch 365 movies in a year and she won the challenge. Nope I ain't challenging myself I will do that. The take away though is that movie watching can be quantifiable. That which is quantifiable adds value and that in-turn allays my regrets and put an end to that thing bothering me. Not only this but in one of movie reviewing blogs that lists best of the year flicks, I read the author mentioning he had watched almost 200 movies last year. I mean that is tremendous.

That is what I too have decided. I will start listing out and numbering the movies I have seen starting this year. These may not be the movies that released this year but can be from any period of time.

Anyway here it goes -

1. 1 - Nennokadine (2014)
2. Rush
3. The Way Way Back
4. The Worlds End
5. Jack Reacher
6. The Lone Ranger
7. Lunchbox
8. B.A.Pass
9. Moonrise Kingdom
10. Dhoom-3

Not bad 10 movies in 18 days. 

Kkrishhhh --shhhhhhhhhhhh

Warning:This review is going to contain some amount of profane language that can be only fit for reviewing a movie like this.

To begin with from the very first instance when they had the contest to win Lava/Karbonn or some phone for the tweet that finally manages to reveal the full poster of Krissh3 (each tweet breaks some piece of the poster on some god forbidden site and so the contest), I knew this is going to be one fucked up movie. I mean which person with a sane mind would want to get such sick phones as gift. Given a choice, I would rather delete my twitter account than tweet on the hype of #Krissh3. This was much before any sneak peek of the movie.

Then came the trailers. Glimpse of mutants, Hrithik vrooming around from one end to other closely resembling Shaktiman albeit with two hands on his side rather than having two in the front. Face fully contorted, landing on top floor of building in a setting that looks nothing like any city in India, Hrithik starts running and the scene shifts to him in battle with something that looks like a badly made robo-cop suit. Just when you think to say not bad, you see the elder Hrithik on screen and then you are screwed.

Days passed on and finally the movie was about to hit the screens. I was waiting for it with as much anticipation as waiting to get into office lift. I didn't give a fuck. Some twisted fate or rather the obligations of marriage forced me to go to this movie. You see there is an unwritten rule in the house that says for movies that either of us want to see the other have to go. My wifey chose this and I had to see it. Not hard and fast but ya something close to it. Now let me get on with the review

Plot -
Krishna Mehra (Hrithik) and Priya Mehra (Priyanka Chopra) are living happily in a nice remote place that looks like outskirts of a hill station. Grandma Rekha and bubbly Zinta are dead and elderly challenged Rohith Mehra(again Hrithik) from the utterly forgettable Koi Mil Gaya is now living with them making some crazy experiments and part of the elite scientific team doing some R&D for Indian government. Krishna works as a security guard in a bank along with Rajpal Yadav earning his living non-super hero way and in parallel doing some desh sheva. Meanwhile in a palace/lab far far away in picturesque Swiss Alps, there is evil brewing . A quadraplegic telekinetic evil scientist Kaal (Vivek Oberoi)is on a quest to get a bone marrow treatment from a possible suitor that can cure his disability. In this endevour he creates some by-products solely through his lab and intellectual prowess called Manvaars a.k.a mutants. Each of them have their own skill and name. All this by the way is explained through voice-over. In an attempt to propogate their evilness further they unleash a deadly virus in Africa which starts killing people. The only person the entire world can now look up to is Rohit and is called upon to work on antidote. By the time he figures it out, Kaal's empire is ready with it. Satisfied that their havoc worked, they next target Mumbai. Three mutants are sent out to accomplish this job to unleash the virus. Endemic ensues and people start to die mercilessly. Krissh is rattled to the bones because his entire sixty pack body can do nothing. Teaming up with his father they miraculously find a cure and Mumbai is saved much to chagrin of Kaal. You see the antidote is only possible to produce with Kaal's blood. The rest of the story is about how Kaal tries to find out what happened also getting to know his origins and the final battle with Krishh.

Things that pissed me off -1. Have you ever seen a statue built for Spider-Man or Bat Man having inaugration ceremony with complete song and dance performance? T-Shirst, masks, posters, graffitis granted but statue? That too one of the most attrocious songs ever. The only Hollywood movies that did have that I can recollect is one in Megamind and the other in The Iron Giant. Both were animated ones. The circumstances that has brought out the statue in the latter movie breaks your heart while the former is intended for comedy scenes.
2. In of the scenes that shows Krissh's bravado, he rescues a kid tangled in wires and safely on top of a ledge of a building. They then continue to have whole 5 minutes of conversation about why he got in the mess in first place. Upon hearing that in an attempt to save a bird stuck in a wire which led him to in the current mesh, with some melodramatic background score Krrish proceeds to tell him that he has done the bravest thing and he goes on tie black band with krish logo on it around his hand telling him "there is krrish in everyone of you". All this while anxious parents are waiting restlessly, completely panicked. I mean, couldn't they add one more small scene of the boy being handed over? (For some time I thought these will play a major role for some catastrophe for deflecting evil virus like people with bands not getting affected then leading mass production of bands, thankfully that didn't happen.)
3. What the hell was that whole situation comedy with Rajpal Yadav and Hrithik about? He boasting that he is Krrissh and the latter arguing he is too short. Are there any takers for such retarded jokes? I am sure even kids would feel it disgusting. A completely wasted role.
4. In the attempts to find out information regarding how the antidote has been created, Kaya (one of the manvars played by Kanagana Ranout) takes the place of Priya by impersonating her. In one of the scenes where Krrish and Kaya a.k.a are talking to each other, every time she faces away from him we are shown that she is Kaya by transforming her face and then immediately changing to Priya when facing Hrithik. Was there any remuneration based on screen time or do they think audience are really stupid and everything needs to be spelt out for them?
5. More than 3/4th of the film Vivek Oberoi is in wheelchair in black robes, kajal laced eyes black lipstick resembling more like a missing member of Addam's family. Is it for this we get to hear that it was one of his toughest roles and Hrithik too trumpeting that he wanted badly to play the villain?
6. Special affects are mediocre at best. As already said before this ain't no Mumbai and some of the scenes where we see Krrish jumping across buildings looks like a lift off from some cartoon.
7. One of the scenes we see a mutant getting cought because he keeps stealing the ice creams with his long tongue. WTF moment right there.
8. In the climax scene we see that Krrish upon getting the know-hows of where Kaal and his wife is, rushes to the place to face his foe. This my folks is akin to pivotal scenes of say any James Bond movie where the showdown of good and evil is gonna take place and you await the grand adrenline rushing-action to unfold. Instead what you see is Krrish barging into Kaal's place with hardly any need for dramatics. A fort as large as our parliament building doesn't even seem to have some guards forget about any military reserve force. So all Krrish had to do was barge in with super speed and fight the mutants in good old fist fight. What the hell are their powers then? Not once in the entire movie barring Kaya the chamelon or the frog man the only power being flicking ice-creams, we never understand what others powers are. Forget about any comparision to X-Men, this doesn't even hold a candle to it.
9. Kaal upon regaining his senses and control of his body, right away gets a ready made suit as you see he is like magneto having ability to control metal. What we see is all the metal pieces getting off the metallic room and clingning to him as the camera rotates 180 degrees. The end result being having jumped into a garbage can full of scrape metals after having applied good amount of fevicol. I mean attrocious. When the scene finishes and end result is shown you can see clearly the briefs near right beneath the torso. WTF were they thinking of putting such a costume? A fancy dress competition gone wrong eh?
10. Kangana Ranout certainly seems to be the most intelligent and confident person going by the interviews she has given. I for one felt this was such a bland performance lacking any acting capabilities. Hoping for sensible roles in future.
11. Lastly why the hell is it Kkrish 3 if Kkrish came into existence in Kkrish that is Koi Mil Gaya later?

I don't think the review came off as I intended as I have already spent over a week on this by writing small bits of the article each day. Also if you folks have noticed there is no spoiler alert as this was intended as every scene in the movie is a worst nightmare to endure and I wanted the people to have that benefit.
Anyways wanted to get this out of my system and flush of Krrish forever as the movie says 'there is krrish in everyone of us'.

Priorities and movie watch-list

I have yet to make any progress from the last post that I talked about how office and home should not be the only end points in life and that one should start working towards your career. It's a big ask and tough one to emulate. Am still working on it.

On the other hand in one of the articles in ET about some of game changers in FMCG/Retail industries and what makes them tick, I really liked one. I don't remember the name of the person but his message was "Do everything you like and everything you want to the fullest. Do everything you can to live up to it."

Of course, what is unsaid is the proper planning that should go with it. For me movies/series and books are the top most priority. That said of course I gotta keep up with industry, so need to catch up on that front too. I have now decided come what may, I am gonna dedicate an hour to my knowledge build-up. The only time I want this is in the morning. I also need to fit-in my fitness exercise

God, too many things, too less time. Will update this blog in a week's time on my progress.

On the other hand there are hellava movies I need to catch up. Listing some of them here-

Ship Of Thesus

The Lunchbox

Lootera

Gangs Of Wasseypur

Shahid

Next up or in parallel (some series)-
Suits
Arrow
Friends
Two and a Half men

Authors to catch up on -
Japanese authors
Anita Desai
Rohinton Mistry

That's for now. 

The Big Bang Theory rocks!

Just finished watching The Big Bang Theory Season 6 up until the last episode and it has got to be one of the best shows ever. The one I loved the best was the episode 22 titled 'The Professor Proton'.  I laughed so hard I had that my stomach and jaws hurt. Just wanted this to go on my blog for recollections. 

Hunt for the next book

Having finished "Inspector Singh Investigates: The Most Peculiar Malaysian Murder"  I am in the process of finding the next best book to read. Should I go for profound and poignant Indian novels such as 'A Fine Balance', 'Lessons in Forgetting' or any Anita Nair's books or should I go for Japanese thrillers or should I go for stay-whole-night-and-complete kind of sci-fi novels?

For almost two months now I was in a state of book-drought thanks to 'English August' by Upamanyu Chatterjee. I haven't been able to complete it for the simple reason that the book is not compelling enough to invest time every day reading it. I have to admit it is one of the most funniest novels I have ever read depicting the story of a IAS officer posted in remote village called Madna and the realistic descriptions of the lackadaisical attitude of people in authority, the kind of hold they have on uneducated villagers, their lives in general were accurately portrayed and make you part of the lives in 40's India. The problem is it doesn't seem to hint at where the story is progressing. Almost half way through and the novel is still about the same set of people with their idiosyncrasies. As much as it made me laugh it also made me sleep quite wonderfully I might add.

Here is my review of Inspector Singh Investigates novel that I am re-posting from GoodReads -

This is a murder mystery involving a certain Singh from Singapore on assignment to Malaysia to save a high profile Singaporean celebrity accused of murder. Though this definitely is a page turner it doesn't really show any ingenuity in the police thinking or clever wits of a detective. Without giving much away the police only find out who the murder is by the murderer's own confession. Pity.

Was looking for a thriller on the levels of Keigo Higashino Devotion of Suspect X but was severely let down. Good time pass read. 

I have now decided to remove the The Vishnu Puri chronicles from my to-read books as even that has a similar pot bellied sardar investigating murders. Ain't fair eh? So be it.

Coming back to the task at hand in order to avoid this predicament of knowing what to pick up next, I had chosen the root of tagging books with 'Want to Read' on goodreads. Sadly I see that it isn't helping me. Some of the ones I chose aren't available in Indian store and for the ones that are makes me think there must be better ones out there! Ironical isn't it? The reason they are there as 'Want to Read' is because I had spent considerable amount of time zeroing in on them and to make this part of search anyway.

I digress. When it comes to book selection the only God I look up to is the one and only Jai Arjun. No matter how many other book reviewing websites I have dug up, I always come back to his. His reviews are impeccable and I just lap up to the books he recommends. There were one or two instances where I didn't enjoy as much as what he wrote about a particular book. I am trying very hard to remember about someone who told me that he/she also does go through the same route of selection.

I did something similar for movies until Roger Ebert passed away. Thankfully I now have moifightclub blog. Well currently though my search is still on. Will update the blog with the one I chose.

Note- somehow I am highly inclined to Japanese thriller.

Edit-
Finally I have chosen 'The Bone Season' surprising myself and even Jai Arjun maybe. Touted as the next best thing to happen to Literary World since J.K. Rowling.

Funny ways how your mind works

It is a habit of mine that I get a urge to eat something that I like and keep my stomach full whenever I accomplish some difficult task racking my brain for long time during my office time. Earlier this used to translate to eating Chicken Biryani or Chicken Soft Noodles during lunch and if its a snack time that would be one plate Rava Masala Dosa or Samosa Cutlet etc.This was during my bachelor times.

After marriage though my appetite has changed for good but my cravings didn't. I only found out yesterday. There were 3 issues plaguing me since last week. Yesterday I was able to successfully close two of them around 5 in the evening. It was snack's time and my regular coterie of friends weren't around. Anup was off to his driving school, Nitin was sick and had taken half day leave and that left only Hegde. Somehow it doesn't work. Anyways my stomach was growling with anticipation.

I rushed to the ground floor where we had the common eateries for the building. My first thought was to have a nice warm soup and be done with it. I went to Shanghai Shef only to be shooed away saying they were closed until 5:30. I then went to sandwich maker but then I thought "Heck I am not going to pay 35 bucks for one sandwhich with two bread slices and some aloo. Come on I almost get to eat whole 4 slices of bread at home once every two weeks or more than that". I ruled that out.

I then went ahead to the general counter where they serve all kinds of assorted food where you get all kinds of chat, poha, samiya, cut mirchi, bajji of various kinds and so on. My first pic was Cut-mirchi. I stood in the queue with 5 guys ahead of me. By the moment two guys left, I had a change of heart. Wasn't it too oily for?. I went back to the menu and then decided I would have dosa. Then again don't I get dosa twice every week, why should I buy and eat? Then I thought samsosa which I outright rejected in my mind. I was also in the queue in the meantime and it was my turn.

Quickly on the spot I decided I am gonna have one Boost. This was done not to embarrass myself as the guy at the counter already saw me in and out of the queue twice. It would be pretty awkward to make a hat-trick of it. Upon finishing my order I had a really good laugh with the way my mind works and no wonder people tell me I am confused all the time. Damn it, the one thing that I want to get rid of but comes back to me like a long lost acquaintance, mingling with you nonstop.

First off I need to get hold of Shrivas, who had recently told me not once but almost 2-3 times in the last week "Itna confused kyon ho bhai?"

H to the S to the B to the C - HSBC

My relationship with HSBC dates back to almost 7 years now and they have kept their word not to charge me annually. Few years back when they shortchanged the bonus points, I felt absolutely cheated. A bonus points of 1000 that fetched 750 bucks now gives only 250. They never kept their promise of increasing the credit limit. That was the second shock.

I did inquiry around to immediately looking for alternatives. I mean what the heck why should I keep losing the goodies? The other ones I tried were HDFC, Axis itself and of course the Citi. All these demanded a mandatory clause of 15K spending per year. The reward points too I saw that were actually same across the banks. I stuck to this. On top of all this I am making great effort to stay away from credit.

Excepting for the months expecting variable pay,  we were able to achieve it quite well. For good number of months there were absolute zero transactions. I hope to continue on that.

Anyways the sudden interest in bank has come about because of the latest new security device that the bank has delivered. After completing all the PIN generation and security set up etc. I realized that with the new set of security I would first need to enter my username, password, then enter security device password get the security code, and then enter that number to finally enter it.

Its frustrating to the tilt. Suckers.

The Extras that matter and hurt

First it starts at the outer layers on the face, on the cheeks, near the chin. It then builds up on the stomach, then it takes over your thighs and before you realize, it then creeps on your hands and legs. The once fit body becomes a constant irritant and taking two steps at a time walking a staircase makes would start feeling as if you have done an hour of trekking without a break. Deplorable and absolutely pathetic.
Deep within myself I know tomorrow is the day and I vow to keep it.This extra bit of fat hurts the most and matter the most. 

Dangers of Pass-By Date

Among many things I have been reading (a lot actually) be it on web, quora, twitter, zite, flipboard and so on, one of the comments in an article caught my attention. The commentator talks about the idleness and the complacency exhibited by millions of working Indians post marriage. I can just look at myself in the mirror and give a resounding stamp of approval for the theory.

I look around among my colleagues and friends its the same story. Excepting the times when someone looks for a job change, the zeal and the desire to excel and gain knowledge is sorely missing. This quest for knowledge need not be in one's own field. It also may be related to some other professional courses that one can take up like the hundreds of MOOC's that are available free of cost. With a baby thrown in after few years one can as well forget it. Doing one's work in a day itself will tire them out leaving not much scope for further development.

I am without a doubt in this dangerous zone and it's really scary. On top of that being part of support all I am able to help is in troubleshooting issues occurring in Prod and not adding any value to myself in terms of learning. As the Dev team keeps building components here I am languishing lethargically doing nothing of significance. It's as if my pass-by date is stuck on my forehead and having nothing new to bring to the table.

I have to set this right and I have to do it right now. I shudder to think if I leave my brain to rot and relish in this 9-7 lifestyle will be extinct by the next cycle. I have to start setting targets, giving presentations, learn new things and make this habitual.

"Don't take medical seats, your life will never set. You have to keep on reading and writing exams for ages together before you settle. Even then you would need to upgrade" This used to be my oft-repeated quote to many a post-intermediate folks. Thing is this basic motto extends to everyone. This kinda reminds of one of the recent advertisement for Kaun Banega Crorepati where a guy refuses to study further thinking all that was needed to learn was over only to find himself losing out entirely in his profession.

I pray I don't bccome that guy. The things I need to set out to accomplish would start with mastering of XQuery, SQL Server Replication, SQL Server MDX and the biggest of all - Hadoop with BigData.

Godspeed.