Must see

Absolutely, no holds bar must see...

The Happening

I watched M. Night Shyamalan’s The Happening this weekend. I watched it on the top floor of a suburban shopping mall near where I live. I came out of the theatre, came to the ledge across from the concession stand and happened to look down. There was a clear drop to the basement, may be 80 feet. I wanted to throw myself down it. May be the movie is kind of like an Escher painting, and the people in it are killing themselves because they just watched the movie themselves. May be.

And I was expecting to like the movie. I am a simple minded person when it comes to movies. I am easily pleased. I liked Om Shanti Om, for crying out loud! And I like Mr. Shyamalan. I have not seen “Praying with Anger”, his first film. But I saw “Wide Awake”, a movie in the exact same format of the “Sixth Sense”, a kind of precursor to the things to come. Of course, like most of the rest of humanity, I watched and was blown away by the Sixth Sense. And then came “Unbreakable”. I liked the John Mclane styled Bruce Willis and the comic book styled message that Nature is usually such that it produces both extremes of any parameter space. Nothing to be blown way by, but I was happy.

Then came the Shyamalan movie that I like best, “Signs”. The thing in the movie about two possible world views, a) everything is just a sequence of random events versus b) everything is part of a grand preordained plan, resonated with me. And the way the dilemma was resolved for Mel Gibson was beautiful. I don’t agree with the conclusion, but I liked it. And of course Joaquin Phoenix and the little Ms Sunshine Abigail Breslin were so good in it.

And then started the plummet down. “The Village” was alright I think. I remember not being bored during the movie. But that’s about it. I can’t remember anything else, apart from facts like “The Happy Days”-kid-turned-director-of-beautiful-mind’s daughter was the heroine or some such trivia. Unmemorable but not bad, for my unsophisticated tastes. But Lady in the Water? What the heck was that about? It left me irritated. And now this, The Happening leaving me with the feeling that I should kill myself for having spent 7 dollars and 2 hours of my life on it. May be its time Mr. Shyamalan stopped making movies. Or may be its time I stopped watching them. May be.

Hindi movie synopsis : Netflix IShtyle

I recently saw Sanjay Leela Bansali’s “Black” again as my mother had not seen it and I used it as a way to keep her engaged (do you know how hard a task that is? No no, not watching black but rather keeping my mother engaged. I don’t want to crib about it for if I start I cannot stop). I myself had actually seen the movie whenever it came out back in Florida, back in grad-school, back in a different place in life somehow. This was the synopsis that the netflix DVD sleeve carried (parenthetic comments are mine):

“Michelle McNally is a deaf and blind young girl who's trying to survive in an often harsh world while hoping to determine why she was dealt such a cruel hand (she was deaf and blind and did not yet know what words were, but yeah she was contemplating ). When jaded and stubborn teacher Debraj Sahai enters Michelle's life, it's for entirely selfish reasons on his part (huh?). Unexpectedly, however, the two end up forging a lasting bond, as Debraj works tirelessly to bring light and knowledge (can we get more bombastic) into Michelle's wounded but boundless heart.”

(and no mention of the one useful statement that could have been made – scene by scene line by line the screen adaptation of the Miracle Worker that came out in 1962 + SJB’s imagination leading to additions of a) the bull shit sign (if you do not remember what that was, you can watch it here, about 12 minutes into the video), b) Michele falling in love with Debraj c) life comes a full circle d) loads and loads of melodrama)

I just cannot help but say WTF? And this is pretty standard when they write synopsis for foreign movies. Don’t you think? Here are a couple of more examples that I found on the site while browsing for Hindi movies to rent for my mother. I am sure you know what the movies are:

1. “In this drama based on a real-life incident, Roja (Madhoo), a girl from a small Indian village, meets and falls in love with computer expert Rishi (Arvind Swamy). Soon after they marry, Rishi and Roja travel to Kashmir and are kidnapped by terrorists en route. As the couple struggles to escape the terrorists' clutches, their love grows deeper. Rishi is then abducted and held for ransom by a group of militants seeking an independent Kashmir.”
2. “Shahrukh Khan and Kajol sparkle in a film that redefined romance for young Indians. Raj (Khan) is blessed with charm, good looks and money, but when he meets Kajol on a European train, he's instantly smitten. She feels the same, but can they surmount the wishes of their respective families, who have already arranged their marriages … to different spouses?”

I think I almost found a new source of amusement! Or may be a job opportunity for a desi movie buff like me?

Frying our brains apparently

Unless cell phones emit some particular frequency that is in resonance with some crucial mode in the corn, I think this is BS. Do watch and tell me what you think. And if you google, there are a whole number of people doing this experiment apparently.

Proof of Life

The Meg-Ryan-her irrelevant husband guy-Russell-Crowe movie?

No no, proof of my life and the life of this blog.

So why this long holiday?

Too many people in the real life (mom visiting from India and complaining about everything, brother visiting my mom visiting from India and complaining about my mom complaining about everything). Plus many things happening physics wise.

When can a rejenuvation in terms of regular posts be expected?

Starting now (fingers crossed behind my back)

So, what else is up? Any "life universe and everything" realizations to be thrust on others who stumble here?

Well, now that the question has been asked, may be I will share just one (of the usual one an hour that I have). Do you, in your circle of friends, have this go-to person you call when you need to know where to find something, or how to get someplace? They have a near encyclopedic knowledge of what is where and where is better and so on. Well, in my circle of friends I am that person. Even if they have lived in that place longer, I usually end up knowing more. Now, why am I saying all this? I have lived in a couple of different places in the US since I have been here. And as I stated earlier I do know these places well as my friends will attest for you. Now, in the decade or so I have been in the US, I have never once been stopped to be asked for directions by anyone (only exception being on campus).

Then, I recently went back to Madras, a place I used to know like the back of my hand. But I found it so changed that I did not know up from down. Naturally, given my tendency, I was insecure like crazy. Still, I got stopped on the streets to be asked for directions to places that I had not ever heard of, at least half a dozen times.

So here is my realization together with its caveat. If this is not just an artifact of Madras having way more people than in the places in the US I have lived in, then this must be what people call belonging. What do you say?

Ok enough realizations, what about science posts?

Coming up shortly. Cross my heart and hope to die if I lie and so on.

A Picture speaks a thousand etc.

Is it all men or is it just all the men I know? They scrub dishes like they are rubbing their girlfriends' backs! If there are any men out there that want to rise up in defense of your kind either with a counter punch or with a refutation, now is the time...

Abandonment, letters and other things

This is really one of those “Random thoughts” posts that seem to show up on this blog with alarming frequency, but I am kind of tired of that title, hence the change. First up, abandonment. That is the sensation that my blog and feed reader would be feeling if they could. As the screenshot along side shows, I have been rather disconnected from my “cyberlife”. But that is because I have been reading! Not Attention-Deficit-Disorder-inducing blogs, but books and papers! It has been almost a year since I last read and I am having so much fun! First, I reread “Guns Germs and Steel”. Then, I read 15 papers that I had put together as essential reading for a new project that I have been meaning to get started for almost a year now. Now, I am reading “A Suitable Boy”, a book that has been on my reading list for a number of years now. This is fun!

And that leads me to the second random thought about letters. In the book, Mrs. Rupa Mehra is writing long letters on Inland letter sheets. I barely remember those now, though I recall that I used to write letters when I was in high school and the first couple of years in college. It used to be at that time that you opened your mailbox, or whatever was its equivalent (like the table on which all the residents’ letters were dumped on in the hostel), with anticipation of personal communication. Now I open my mailbox, with no feeling as I only get junk mail and a few bills that have not gone paperless yet. I personally do not feel any nostalgia for the written letter and am just as happy to receive long emails from long lost friends. But my thesis advisor, an old man that must have had more letter writing years than I have been alive, used to say that there is nothing like the written word on paper and he is never as happy with an email and he necessarily feels they are less meaningful. I put it down to conditioning. We are always reluctant to accept any change are n’t we? Times have changed. In my parents’ time, calligraphy and penmanship were considered invaluable skills and the ability to spell was important. But now, who cares as long as you know how to use the spell checker in your favorite word processing software?

Well, on that note I shall sign off with promise to return with more meaningful posts in the near future. Hope you are all having fun too!