You start with an honest eagerness to learn and contribute. When you are just halfway through it, suddenly the world seems so flat, so boring, all the talks starts to fade away, you start to loose your grip on reality. You look at the time and find that you are just only half-way through. You feel sometimes frustrated on your failure to cope up like the rest out there. You doubt your competency. You just get blank, empty. You don't understand a single thing. It seems a long time but when you again look at the watch only few seconds have passed. You try to think about good times, but your thoughts become confused. You feel like dropping out of this boredom, doing something interesting than this, but at the same time you feel guilt. Then at a time the strong urge to do something interesting overcomes your guilt. You discard the reality and delve into your own world. You don't care for the others anymore and let your dreams come true. But as time passes by and nears the end, you suddenly snap out of your state and realize time is up and you can not go back! You have wasted the entire middle third of your and probably others' time. You repent, at least sometimes.
But the class is already over and you have slept through it like always. You wonder why, at all, you have taken this course. I know you don't want to sleep through it, but can't help dozing off as the class nears the halfway just like some can't help their self doubt as they enter mid-life crisis!
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Sunshine on my shoulder ...
It was a long cold winter.
Its so easy to blame on the weather, as if I didn't blog because weather ruined my mood!
Yes, true that there were plenty of dull days when I woke up under a cludy sky with chilly wind or occasional drizzles and felt so spiritless that wished if I could sleep again. But there were some good sunny not so windy days, too. Its great to see the bright sunlight in the morning. Had I not experienced day after day of overcast weather, I could nto possibly realize the warmth sunrays carry!
Officially spring has begun couple of week ago. But today I felt the spring. Its been keeping sunny for last couple of days, but today was different. I don't know why. I skipped the class, walked my way to the lab smelling hitherto unsmelt fragrance of spring coming out of dry green grass. Its a different smell. Just as the smell of first rain has a different flavour, so has the smell of first spring day. Everything was bright and colorful and cheering.
I sang a tagore song to my way to the lab ... 'Who will take me out, breaking locks of my captivity...'
My lab is a closed room, not a single window. Lets get out of this room, at least for today's sake ...
Its so easy to blame on the weather, as if I didn't blog because weather ruined my mood!
Yes, true that there were plenty of dull days when I woke up under a cludy sky with chilly wind or occasional drizzles and felt so spiritless that wished if I could sleep again. But there were some good sunny not so windy days, too. Its great to see the bright sunlight in the morning. Had I not experienced day after day of overcast weather, I could nto possibly realize the warmth sunrays carry!
Officially spring has begun couple of week ago. But today I felt the spring. Its been keeping sunny for last couple of days, but today was different. I don't know why. I skipped the class, walked my way to the lab smelling hitherto unsmelt fragrance of spring coming out of dry green grass. Its a different smell. Just as the smell of first rain has a different flavour, so has the smell of first spring day. Everything was bright and colorful and cheering.
I sang a tagore song to my way to the lab ... 'Who will take me out, breaking locks of my captivity...'
My lab is a closed room, not a single window. Lets get out of this room, at least for today's sake ...
Sunday, March 23, 2008
How lazy I've become
The sun'll come out
Tomorrow
Bet your bottom dollar
That tomorrow
There'll be sun!
Just thinkin' about
Tomorrow
Clears away the cobwebs,
And the sorrow
'Til there's none!
When I'm stuck a day
That's gray,
And lonely,
I just stick out my chin
And Grin,
And Say,
Oh!
The sun'll come out
Tomorrow
So ya gotta hang on
'Til tomorrow
Come what may
Tomorrow! Tomorrow!
I love ya Tomorrow!
You're always
A day
A way!
But I'm optimistic.
Friday, February 01, 2008
To be or not to be ...
For last five-six year, each year there's a rumour the Kolkata International Book Fair will shift its venue from Maidan due to the environmental issues. But it never changed, until last year, when it shifted to a stadium, Jubabharati Kringan. Then this year when the authorities decided to hold the fair at Park Circus Maidan, a place at the center of the city, a new row of disputs were generated and finally, on 28th January, when all the preparation for international inauguration of the book fair on 30th January was almost complete at the Park Circus Maidan, Kolkata High Court ruled that the huge fair can not be held at Park Circus Maidan. With no backup at their hand the authorities announced, the 33rd Kolkata International Book Fair stands cancelled.
These are the facts. I haven't been in Kolkata for last coupl of years, I've heard these from some newspaper, friends, etc. I am just quoting from memory, there are some more facts.
The authorities responsible for holding the book fair, the Publishers and Booksellers Guild, were served notices almost five-six years ago for shifting their venue. The reason was environment. The Maidan is the biggest source of fresh air in the city. And ten days of fair (Asia's largest book fair) was not fair on Maidan's health. It left a huge amount of pollutants in the neighbouring area destroying the gree grass shields on the ground of Maidan, this damage takes almost half a year to recover. Added to that was the poulltion caused by dust in the air to the local people and the morning-walkers. Finally one environmentalist, Subhas Dutta lodged a Public Interest Litigation for change of venue to protect the green heart of the city. And after a fierce legal battle the environmentalists won. The Guild was told to choose another venue for the fair. The Govt. promised guild another venue as it was planning to build a permanent fair ground at one side of the city. Days passed, notjing happened and as the next year came, the book fair came. Guild started to build stalls at Maidan, the environmentalists and the Army, who are the legal owner of that ground, took offence and again went to court. Guild pleaded that they were out of time, so couldn't locate a proper venue. The court graciously granted Guild to hold the fair at Maidan for the last time. The book fair was over and everyone forgot about promises. Came the 2007, Guild again started to build stalls on Maidan, the oppositioners again went to court and this time court showed no mercy. The Court ordered Guild to shift it fair and repair the damage caused by its installations. Guild, again out of time, was in hurry to find a better place. Finally they shifted to Salt Lake Stadium. Supporters of book fair at Maidan raised a hue and cry for problems of traffic and space. They said that there are so many polluting issues in the city, why only to take a toll on book fair, which is at its best only at Maidan, becuase it is Maidan! But reportedly 2007 book fair recorded maximum number of visitors. Then came 2008. Guild had already selected Park Circus Maidan for its venue. But the moment they selected Park Circus, there was protests. Park Circus is one of the most crowded part of the city. The traffic is horriblly sloweven in weekends, leave alone weekdays. Traffic jams are regular. Its a highly populated and congested area. Everyone was afraid what will happen if the largest book fair of asia is held here? How will traffic move and how will the local residents live! All these were sometime in the mid-2007. Guild answered to all questions saying, its the duty of police and civic authorities to maintain discipline in that place during the fair. They have nothing to do with it. So came another PIL. And the ruling I have already mentioned came out two days prior to the opening.
There are two fronts of people in Kolkata now. A big chunk of the intellectuals, writers, publishers and book-lovers are against the court ruling from the begining. Because Maidan is the best venue for a fair of such grandeur. So much of open space, so easy traffic and most of all, its been the venue for last 30 odd years! How can you think of any other venue when a venue becomes synonimous to the occasion! Pollution? Well, agreed that it causes a lot of pollution but, is it the only event that cuases pollution? Then why don't curb down other events first and let this great intellectual pride of Bengalis be in its place for awhile. Damn with you environmentalists, you can't control other events that is why you are so revengeful on book fair.
The other front are mainly the environmentalists and some of the commoners. They say, well, we are telling the authorities to shift the venue from quite a long time. They should've arranged for a different permanent with all the facilitites of Maidan venue by now, and the migration from Maidan could have been smoother and hassle-free. The fair, as the statistics show, is indeed on of the biggest source of pollution in the city in that locality. Why should we let it go, when you have been given other choices? Just because it is about books?
And then there is the Govt., the head of which is an intellectual, a writer (eventually his office is in Writer's Building!). They promised of a permanent fair ground near the Salt Lake long ago. I don't know how far has that gone. But surely that is still not yet ready for book fair. So it seems their agenda is more on to arrange make-shift venues for the book fair instead of giving a permanent home to it.
So that is the situation, as I see it. Even with all the warnings and notices, Guild did not even think of a backup venue. They shifted from Salt Lake stadium to the heart of the city without any backup. And when they are served with the ruling they just back off saying, enough is enough, we are not doing book fair! In this scenario I do not know who to blame! But blaming the environmentalists is just escapism. I consider myself a book lover. Though I'm out of Kolkata for last couple of year, I miss the book fair very much. Those little magazine pavilions, selling our little magazine, literary gossiping, gettign up and close with readers and authors, I miss all those. That is the reason I don't want to get the book fair go down. But it seems for the authorities some intellectuals the venue is of more importance the the fair itself! They stick to their emotion of having book fair at its old venue in spite of difficulties. I know, if book fair is not in Maidan, it might loose some its charm for sure. But that isn't enough to sacrifice the book fair itself. I belief there is game of ego and politics underlying here. And as usual a group of intellectuals who are of typical bengali talk-much-do-nothing type are supporting these egoistic stance of having book fair only in Maidan, and no where else. Some of the intellectuals are selling books at Maidan under some temporary tents, marking a protest against the demonic ruling of the court (not against the egoistic approach of not having the book fair itself, I guess). But honestly having or not having book fair is not a matter of life and death for them, its a passtime, may be a passionate pass-time
But think about a whole industry who survive on this book fair. I'm talikng about the printing and binding houses and small scale publications. They make their earning for the whole year in this ten days. There are a bunch of literary enthusiasts who wait for this ten days to get an exposure of the literary world, to meet old friends and to hear first hand reaction of their creations in some small time publication. They will definitely miss Maidan but not as much as the book fair itself.
These are the facts. I haven't been in Kolkata for last coupl of years, I've heard these from some newspaper, friends, etc. I am just quoting from memory, there are some more facts.
The authorities responsible for holding the book fair, the Publishers and Booksellers Guild, were served notices almost five-six years ago for shifting their venue. The reason was environment. The Maidan is the biggest source of fresh air in the city. And ten days of fair (Asia's largest book fair) was not fair on Maidan's health. It left a huge amount of pollutants in the neighbouring area destroying the gree grass shields on the ground of Maidan, this damage takes almost half a year to recover. Added to that was the poulltion caused by dust in the air to the local people and the morning-walkers. Finally one environmentalist, Subhas Dutta lodged a Public Interest Litigation for change of venue to protect the green heart of the city. And after a fierce legal battle the environmentalists won. The Guild was told to choose another venue for the fair. The Govt. promised guild another venue as it was planning to build a permanent fair ground at one side of the city. Days passed, notjing happened and as the next year came, the book fair came. Guild started to build stalls at Maidan, the environmentalists and the Army, who are the legal owner of that ground, took offence and again went to court. Guild pleaded that they were out of time, so couldn't locate a proper venue. The court graciously granted Guild to hold the fair at Maidan for the last time. The book fair was over and everyone forgot about promises. Came the 2007, Guild again started to build stalls on Maidan, the oppositioners again went to court and this time court showed no mercy. The Court ordered Guild to shift it fair and repair the damage caused by its installations. Guild, again out of time, was in hurry to find a better place. Finally they shifted to Salt Lake Stadium. Supporters of book fair at Maidan raised a hue and cry for problems of traffic and space. They said that there are so many polluting issues in the city, why only to take a toll on book fair, which is at its best only at Maidan, becuase it is Maidan! But reportedly 2007 book fair recorded maximum number of visitors. Then came 2008. Guild had already selected Park Circus Maidan for its venue. But the moment they selected Park Circus, there was protests. Park Circus is one of the most crowded part of the city. The traffic is horriblly sloweven in weekends, leave alone weekdays. Traffic jams are regular. Its a highly populated and congested area. Everyone was afraid what will happen if the largest book fair of asia is held here? How will traffic move and how will the local residents live! All these were sometime in the mid-2007. Guild answered to all questions saying, its the duty of police and civic authorities to maintain discipline in that place during the fair. They have nothing to do with it. So came another PIL. And the ruling I have already mentioned came out two days prior to the opening.
There are two fronts of people in Kolkata now. A big chunk of the intellectuals, writers, publishers and book-lovers are against the court ruling from the begining. Because Maidan is the best venue for a fair of such grandeur. So much of open space, so easy traffic and most of all, its been the venue for last 30 odd years! How can you think of any other venue when a venue becomes synonimous to the occasion! Pollution? Well, agreed that it causes a lot of pollution but, is it the only event that cuases pollution? Then why don't curb down other events first and let this great intellectual pride of Bengalis be in its place for awhile. Damn with you environmentalists, you can't control other events that is why you are so revengeful on book fair.
The other front are mainly the environmentalists and some of the commoners. They say, well, we are telling the authorities to shift the venue from quite a long time. They should've arranged for a different permanent with all the facilitites of Maidan venue by now, and the migration from Maidan could have been smoother and hassle-free. The fair, as the statistics show, is indeed on of the biggest source of pollution in the city in that locality. Why should we let it go, when you have been given other choices? Just because it is about books?
And then there is the Govt., the head of which is an intellectual, a writer (eventually his office is in Writer's Building!). They promised of a permanent fair ground near the Salt Lake long ago. I don't know how far has that gone. But surely that is still not yet ready for book fair. So it seems their agenda is more on to arrange make-shift venues for the book fair instead of giving a permanent home to it.
So that is the situation, as I see it. Even with all the warnings and notices, Guild did not even think of a backup venue. They shifted from Salt Lake stadium to the heart of the city without any backup. And when they are served with the ruling they just back off saying, enough is enough, we are not doing book fair! In this scenario I do not know who to blame! But blaming the environmentalists is just escapism. I consider myself a book lover. Though I'm out of Kolkata for last couple of year, I miss the book fair very much. Those little magazine pavilions, selling our little magazine, literary gossiping, gettign up and close with readers and authors, I miss all those. That is the reason I don't want to get the book fair go down. But it seems for the authorities some intellectuals the venue is of more importance the the fair itself! They stick to their emotion of having book fair at its old venue in spite of difficulties. I know, if book fair is not in Maidan, it might loose some its charm for sure. But that isn't enough to sacrifice the book fair itself. I belief there is game of ego and politics underlying here. And as usual a group of intellectuals who are of typical bengali talk-much-do-nothing type are supporting these egoistic stance of having book fair only in Maidan, and no where else. Some of the intellectuals are selling books at Maidan under some temporary tents, marking a protest against the demonic ruling of the court (not against the egoistic approach of not having the book fair itself, I guess). But honestly having or not having book fair is not a matter of life and death for them, its a passtime, may be a passionate pass-time
But think about a whole industry who survive on this book fair. I'm talikng about the printing and binding houses and small scale publications. They make their earning for the whole year in this ten days. There are a bunch of literary enthusiasts who wait for this ten days to get an exposure of the literary world, to meet old friends and to hear first hand reaction of their creations in some small time publication. They will definitely miss Maidan but not as much as the book fair itself.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Monday, January 07, 2008
One Dream per Child
There is a non-profit organisation named One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) steered by MIT Media Lab faculties and many more educationists and technologist with a dream of making laptops affordable to every children across the world for constructionist learning. A noble dream. I read abouit them almost a year ago. They have been supported by several industries like AMD, Brightstar, Google, RedHat, etc has supported them in terms of investment and technology. I was just going through some news and noticed a news regarding it. Intel had joined the the group sometime in 2007 and now it is leaving the group becuase it was conflicitng with their own program of Classmate PC! The news quotes OLPC President Wlater Bender as he mentions about 'half hearted' effort of Intel. I don't know th real story, but if the claims made by Bender ar true then it is really unfortunate to see a technology giant like Intel to do this! May be there are business conflicts, still from a humanitarian point of view, Intel could've never joined the group if it was to make this kind of effort. I don't know; may I'm being sentimental.
Actually the vision of the project is so very positive ... just thinking about it I can dream of a better future. Information can bring revolution, and in a very small quantity many projects have been undertaken to demonstrate the positive effects of computer in general in a child's perspective. I loosely remeber there was an article long ago on a NGO-based project done at Delhi, where the authoroties installed some computer in an open space under shelter in a slum to monitor the effect on the children of the slum. And as far as I rememeber, the children of the slum learned the usage of the computer without any assistance in astonishingly fast pace and their general knowledge and confidence also increased as well. Now if every such child gets a laptop of his/her own ... won't it be a great learning tool? I heard Ministry of HRD, Govt. of India is on its way of making laptops or simputers at $47! That'll be really great. Btw, India is not participating in OLPC as MHRD believes they'll be able to make these cheaper ones very soon.
Actually the vision of the project is so very positive ... just thinking about it I can dream of a better future. Information can bring revolution, and in a very small quantity many projects have been undertaken to demonstrate the positive effects of computer in general in a child's perspective. I loosely remeber there was an article long ago on a NGO-based project done at Delhi, where the authoroties installed some computer in an open space under shelter in a slum to monitor the effect on the children of the slum. And as far as I rememeber, the children of the slum learned the usage of the computer without any assistance in astonishingly fast pace and their general knowledge and confidence also increased as well. Now if every such child gets a laptop of his/her own ... won't it be a great learning tool? I heard Ministry of HRD, Govt. of India is on its way of making laptops or simputers at $47! That'll be really great. Btw, India is not participating in OLPC as MHRD believes they'll be able to make these cheaper ones very soon.
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
New Year!
Another year passed by!
Like always nothing-has-been-done feeling engulfed on the new year eve; usual new year resolutions, which are soon forgotten!
Like always nothing-has-been-done feeling engulfed on the new year eve; usual new year resolutions, which are soon forgotten!
Monday, December 31, 2007
Christmas Chronicles
Let me list down what I did in last 12 days.
I can't remember any other thing! Did I spent the whole holiday week in doing nothing? I didn't do much of work in my research or academics, didn't went out to anywhere.
Lets change this lazy habits from the coming year!
- Watched movies: Au hasard Balthasar, End of Summer, Cleo from 5 to 7, An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge, Children of Paradise and Water Horse
- Posted reviews of Au hasard Balthasar, End of Summer, Cleo from 5 to 7
- Wrote fishy chapter of survival cookbook
- Finished editing of Quine
I can't remember any other thing! Did I spent the whole holiday week in doing nothing? I didn't do much of work in my research or academics, didn't went out to anywhere.
Lets change this lazy habits from the coming year!
Monday, December 24, 2007
End of Semester
I have become so lazy... I didn't write any entry for almost a month! Well, semester pressure was on, all right; but it was not too much. It was just laziness to be honest.
Now semester's over and there can be no excuse of academic pressure. So let me list my planned activity for the semester break at least. Day after the exams were over, I went to library and checked out some movies. So now during these few days these are the movies I'm going to watch:
Now semester's over and there can be no excuse of academic pressure. So let me list my planned activity for the semester break at least. Day after the exams were over, I went to library and checked out some movies. So now during these few days these are the movies I'm going to watch:
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
We are in the same boat brother!
"PARIS, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Life has not improved for the inhabitants of France's poor, ethnically diverse suburbs since the riots of 2005, despite millions of euros in cash pledges and President Nicolas Sarkozy's election promises.
"High unemployment, underperforming schools, poor relations with the police, inadequate housing and controversial new immigration laws have created a generation of frustrated youths ready to turn to violence at any time. ...
Doesn't it sound familiar? Politicians are all the same across the universe!
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Advent of advertisements
Palashda had once told me that advertisement industry in the west is pretty much matured and advanced whereas in India, as usual, getting matured and in middle east it's still in late childhood! No wonder I had some expectations on advertisements after coming to USA. This is what I got!
Advertisements here can be divided in main six categories.
One or two are creative others are normally just eye candy and few are really dumb. 90% of the all commercials are the first five categories. Rest 10% others are also nothing notesworthy.
In Indian TV, the products, whose commercials are shown are pretty varied. So we have a huge range of advertisements and some of them are really good. The worst ads are shown in regional channels, poorly packaged and poorly executed ads. No US ads are of such low quality but the Law firms' ads often are on the verge of competing with these regional channel ads! But in National TV of India commercials are really well packaged and aggressive. Some of them are really heartwarming like classsic Raymond, Cadbury or Titan ads. Indian commercials are I felt not less matured, if not more, than US commercials.
Advertisements here can be divided in main six categories.
- Food and food chains
- Advocates & Law firms
- Insurance
- Medicines
- Cars
- and others
'Does your head jerk when you sneeze?'Car advertisements are typical just like any other car commercial in any part of the world.
'You may be suffering from sneeze-jerk disease!'
'Ask your doctor for sneezocure! Side effects may include nausea, sleepiness, lethargy, occasional urge for sex and gambling, depression, occasional urge for suicide, etc.'
One or two are creative others are normally just eye candy and few are really dumb. 90% of the all commercials are the first five categories. Rest 10% others are also nothing notesworthy.
In Indian TV, the products, whose commercials are shown are pretty varied. So we have a huge range of advertisements and some of them are really good. The worst ads are shown in regional channels, poorly packaged and poorly executed ads. No US ads are of such low quality but the Law firms' ads often are on the verge of competing with these regional channel ads! But in National TV of India commercials are really well packaged and aggressive. Some of them are really heartwarming like classsic Raymond, Cadbury or Titan ads. Indian commercials are I felt not less matured, if not more, than US commercials.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Nandigram and beyond!
So much agitation is going on on this issue, and me being from Medinipur, I always get questions like, 'What exactly is goign on there?'
Honestly, I am totally confused and ill-informed! I am away from Medinipur for last three years now, and the news I get is from my some-what-pro-left-liberal parents who are not really into politics and believe in what newspapers say and from newspapers. Essentially the sources are almost the same! So disillusioned, I stayed away from this issues. But this is getting stronger day by day.
I don't know where we are heading ... things look very grim.
Here is a nice analysis of the Nandigram situation.
The point is Nandigram is just an outburst of our governmnetal policies, "social awareness", political propaganda, "democracy"... but what happens to the real people? Where will they go?
Its all dark in the future.
Honestly, I am totally confused and ill-informed! I am away from Medinipur for last three years now, and the news I get is from my some-what-pro-left-liberal parents who are not really into politics and believe in what newspapers say and from newspapers. Essentially the sources are almost the same! So disillusioned, I stayed away from this issues. But this is getting stronger day by day.
I don't know where we are heading ... things look very grim.
Here is a nice analysis of the Nandigram situation.
The point is Nandigram is just an outburst of our governmnetal policies, "social awareness", political propaganda, "democracy"... but what happens to the real people? Where will they go?
Its all dark in the future.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Moving!
I was calling home. My parents are moving. We've got a new home at Kolkata, so we are leaving father's quarter at Midnapore and going to settle there. In fact this move was scheduled long ago before my coming to USA! But the VISA episode got all plan disrupted and so now I'm far far away just listening them packing things and getting ready to move.
We stayed at that place for ten years. Ten years - long time huh? This has been the longest spell we've stayed at one place. We never had a fixed home. Moving with my father's workplace like nomads. Just the time you feel to grow roots on a place - its time to move. Its hard. I lost many friends and gained many, too. But somehow as I grew up, I never could mingle up properly in a new environemnt, i.e., our new quarter; probably because I knew its painful to grow association at one place when you know you have to move out one day. Still once you start staying at a place
for couple of years you are bound to have memories.
May be I am fortunate as at our last quarter I haven't styaed much. I moved to college hostel and then to Pune ... Midnapore was my vacation time! But it was home. I have some memories at every corner of that house.
When my mother told me they are packing I felt as if I am losing my memories. I know there are some old book, some old letters, may be some old gifts ... which I had forgot long ago, will remain unnoticed, un-taken-care-of. Its not that if I were there I'll carry them but its worth to have a touch on them once again before letting them completely drifting into oblivion and I'm sure there will some forgotten moments associated with them. I can see my entire home, I can see them packing. When I'll be back in India we'll be well settled in Calcutta.
And probably I am never going to go to that quarter ever again. Will I miss it?
Saturday, September 15, 2007
The Progress!
Some official said after the test,
"At the same time, I want to stress that the action of this weapon does not contaminate the environment, in contrast to a nuclear one."
Do you wonder what it is? What breakthrough weapon Russia had made that doesn't pollute the environment - the eco-friendly weapon? It is what they call "FATHER OF ALL BOMBS"!
It is a fuel-air explosive massive vacuum bomb that first spreads the explosive wide in the atmosphere by a small detonation and ignites the atmosphere by the second detonation creating a very high temperature and powerful shock-waves under which 'all that is alive merely evaporates'!
So it leaves no harmful byproduct, no soot, no radiation even no biotic organisms that may contaminate the environment in future by trying to live its life!
The breakthrough progress in the history of mankind!
Saturday, September 01, 2007
Box office in a nutshell
Here are few movies I watched over last couple of weeks
2010 - Year We Make Contact
I was spellbound by '2001 - A Space Odyssey'. So much a suggestive movie - hats of to Kubrick. The almost three hour long movie might have total talking time of an hour! It leaves a space for the audience. And it creates an expectation for a good sequel. So when I realized I am watching '2010 - Year We Make Contact', I was expectant. But I am disappointed. It has lost all of its flavour. The main reason may be absence of Kubrick. '2010 ...' is just another Hollywood sci-fi. Nothing else.
My Life as a Dog
I heard of this 'weird-titled' movie while surfing Yahoo! Movies almost eight years ago. It had a very high rating. I had watched two Lasse Hallström movies - 'Chocolate' and 'Cider House Rules.' They are good movies. So I was all the more interested in 'My Life as a Dog'.
Hallström has done a wonderful job. Child psychology is so different that the grown ups often miss out the point. The most cherishable part of the movie is acting of all the child actors; they are so natural. A simple but complicated story of a village, young boy named Ingemar, his friends, his ailing mother, his dog, some weird people of the village and the dog Laika who was sent on Sputnic. The thing that makes the movie all the more enjoyable are occasional narrations by Ingemar when he ponders over his miserable life and takes into consideration the life of Lika the poor dog who had no benefit of space research but had to sacrifice her life in space for sake of her human masters. And he always comes up with the positive attitude, 'I'm lucky in a way, it could have been worse.' It is wonderfully positive and fresh movie.
Autumn Sonata
When two Bergmans come togethre on a project which in a way is so much related to their real life, what do you expect out of it? A Sonata in Celluloid. Magnificently supported by Liv Ullman. I already have written something in it!
The Barbarian Invasion
It really hurts when at the end of your life you get to know that you have achieved nothing! This movie really kept me thinking what I am here for. Its a comedy of all the trifling things like politics, various isms, sex, addiction that keeps on invading in your life and makes you confused about your goal. I will like to watch it again along with its prequel, 'Decline of the American Empire'.
Rent
The much waited musical. I wished to watch it on the Broadway someday. But the movie served the purpose for the time being. As a matter of fact, I felt it could have been better as a stage-play only; not the movie. The style is not really suited for screen. It is very good, though, but still... It is well acted, well sung, and indeed well cinematographed but still, the way it is presented, I mean song in every two dialouges, it better suits the stage. But still to me this movie version is lovable. Because I really love the songs of 'Rent'. And the movie is worth of my love for the 'Rent' soundtrack.
Children of Heaven
They say, Iranian directors know how to end a movie. This was my first encounter with any Iranian movie, and I'm bowled over. Kudos to Majid Majidi. A simple tale, brilliant acting by the children and brilliant cinematography and really brilliant closing sequence. I wish to write on it in somewhat more detail someday. So lets save for it. After watching this, it seems the movie could not have ended in any other way. It lost its 'Best Foreign Language Film' award at Oscar, 1998 to 'Life is Beautiful', which is also a wonderful movie. But 'Life is beautiful' seems too artificial after this one! I love this movie.
2010 - Year We Make Contact
I was spellbound by '2001 - A Space Odyssey'. So much a suggestive movie - hats of to Kubrick. The almost three hour long movie might have total talking time of an hour! It leaves a space for the audience. And it creates an expectation for a good sequel. So when I realized I am watching '2010 - Year We Make Contact', I was expectant. But I am disappointed. It has lost all of its flavour. The main reason may be absence of Kubrick. '2010 ...' is just another Hollywood sci-fi. Nothing else.
My Life as a Dog
I heard of this 'weird-titled' movie while surfing Yahoo! Movies almost eight years ago. It had a very high rating. I had watched two Lasse Hallström movies - 'Chocolate' and 'Cider House Rules.' They are good movies. So I was all the more interested in 'My Life as a Dog'.
Hallström has done a wonderful job. Child psychology is so different that the grown ups often miss out the point. The most cherishable part of the movie is acting of all the child actors; they are so natural. A simple but complicated story of a village, young boy named Ingemar, his friends, his ailing mother, his dog, some weird people of the village and the dog Laika who was sent on Sputnic. The thing that makes the movie all the more enjoyable are occasional narrations by Ingemar when he ponders over his miserable life and takes into consideration the life of Lika the poor dog who had no benefit of space research but had to sacrifice her life in space for sake of her human masters. And he always comes up with the positive attitude, 'I'm lucky in a way, it could have been worse.' It is wonderfully positive and fresh movie.
Autumn Sonata
When two Bergmans come togethre on a project which in a way is so much related to their real life, what do you expect out of it? A Sonata in Celluloid. Magnificently supported by Liv Ullman. I already have written something in it!
The Barbarian Invasion
It really hurts when at the end of your life you get to know that you have achieved nothing! This movie really kept me thinking what I am here for. Its a comedy of all the trifling things like politics, various isms, sex, addiction that keeps on invading in your life and makes you confused about your goal. I will like to watch it again along with its prequel, 'Decline of the American Empire'.
Rent
The much waited musical. I wished to watch it on the Broadway someday. But the movie served the purpose for the time being. As a matter of fact, I felt it could have been better as a stage-play only; not the movie. The style is not really suited for screen. It is very good, though, but still... It is well acted, well sung, and indeed well cinematographed but still, the way it is presented, I mean song in every two dialouges, it better suits the stage. But still to me this movie version is lovable. Because I really love the songs of 'Rent'. And the movie is worth of my love for the 'Rent' soundtrack.
Children of Heaven
They say, Iranian directors know how to end a movie. This was my first encounter with any Iranian movie, and I'm bowled over. Kudos to Majid Majidi. A simple tale, brilliant acting by the children and brilliant cinematography and really brilliant closing sequence. I wish to write on it in somewhat more detail someday. So lets save for it. After watching this, it seems the movie could not have ended in any other way. It lost its 'Best Foreign Language Film' award at Oscar, 1998 to 'Life is Beautiful', which is also a wonderful movie. But 'Life is beautiful' seems too artificial after this one! I love this movie.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Choices
It is really hard when you have plenty of choices. Everyone seems to be equally exciting. Its not difficult to pick out the good ones from bad ones; but to pick the better one from a lot of good ones - a tough game. It becomes a lot tougher when you don't have any constraints at all. For me right now there are a number of project to work on. I've to chose any one. And current situation is so favorable that it won't matter for at least a year if I don't chose any project; I mean I can just fool around for a year and get paid! But practically that is, you know, never advisable.
So be it!
So be it!
Monday, August 20, 2007
Culture shock
Its been two weeks now. And I am coming in terms with the situations. The things are different here. The culture, lifestyle, socialism - everything. To be honest, the society seems more organised, more professional. Thats the good part; but that makes them more self-conscious and to some extent more conservative in the thinking process. I mean, they are so organised that they don't need to use their brain for everyday situations, and thats why they become dumb if life the daily routine goes little astray. Overall, I must admit its better to be organised.
The most striking part for me was traffic. India you never think so much of traffic rules. Especially in places like Pune, Mumbai, following traffic rules may sometime causes accidents, because nobody ever obeys them. But here the story is just the opposite. The cars stop at a stop signal even if no one is around. In India if you are confident, you just cross the road dodging the traffic, forget about zebra crossing or pedestrian walk signals. But here if you do that, or rather, I feel guilty in doing that because the traffic is so so so organised and law-abiding.
Second thing that is different is what is called freedom of an individual, i.e., no one is bothered what you are doing, may it be public place, but is is your choice. No one will poke his nose unless you are doing something awfully wrong. And if you ask for help, they are ready to help. May be this is the characteristics of a small college town. Things are different in big cities, as my friend Benny was telling. Thats what I like about small towns - the homely-ness. This weekend I went to Cleveland, OH. And I liked it. An old city, big city. Old buildings, little shabby buildings. People are more casual; they are walking down the road on shabby, or rather commonplace attires, wooden houses, brick roads, and so on. It looks like it has a root. But State College is a mixed culture. Most of them are students. If you take a cross section of the streets, you will found most people are dressed carefully and consciously. They are always busy, and little more populated than a town like this should be. This town seems more urbane than it should be.
But overall, I like State College, after all this is going to be my home for coming few years.
The most striking part for me was traffic. India you never think so much of traffic rules. Especially in places like Pune, Mumbai, following traffic rules may sometime causes accidents, because nobody ever obeys them. But here the story is just the opposite. The cars stop at a stop signal even if no one is around. In India if you are confident, you just cross the road dodging the traffic, forget about zebra crossing or pedestrian walk signals. But here if you do that, or rather, I feel guilty in doing that because the traffic is so so so organised and law-abiding.
Second thing that is different is what is called freedom of an individual, i.e., no one is bothered what you are doing, may it be public place, but is is your choice. No one will poke his nose unless you are doing something awfully wrong. And if you ask for help, they are ready to help. May be this is the characteristics of a small college town. Things are different in big cities, as my friend Benny was telling. Thats what I like about small towns - the homely-ness. This weekend I went to Cleveland, OH. And I liked it. An old city, big city. Old buildings, little shabby buildings. People are more casual; they are walking down the road on shabby, or rather commonplace attires, wooden houses, brick roads, and so on. It looks like it has a root. But State College is a mixed culture. Most of them are students. If you take a cross section of the streets, you will found most people are dressed carefully and consciously. They are always busy, and little more populated than a town like this should be. This town seems more urbane than it should be.
But overall, I like State College, after all this is going to be my home for coming few years.
Monday, August 13, 2007
...and the Seven Dwarfs!
The other day my good old friend Arin was desperate to watch samurai movies! He could recall only one samurai movie - that too because this samurai movie was inspiration to a big-budget Hindi movie named 'China Gate'. So he rented the Kurosawa classic 'Seven Samurai'. Though I had watched it earlier, but how can miss a second screening if its being played in home! We watched the movie together that night. Enjoyed Mifune's (Kikuchiyo) eccentric role play, Shimada's well planned strategy, Kyuzo's cool swordplay.
The next day in the same video store Arin found 'The Magnificent Seven' and readily realized it to be a western remake of last night's movie. Still charmed by the Samurai chivalry, he rented the 'Magnificent Seven' (Mag7). Again we started watching it together along with Benny, who liked Mag7 a lot because it was one of the movies he grew up with. I've heard of Mag7, its an undoubted western classic; and I liked the theme very much.
So we started. And was disappointed.
Mag7 is basically same plot set in Mexico, where poor villagers speak in English only to end the sentence with a Spanish word to let you know that they are actually Mexican! The village, which is basically supposedly a farming village is situated in the midst of arid valley with hardly any greenery surrounded by. The villagers are as dumb as they can ... they don't have any expression at all. In the first five minutes I was getting a feeling this is going to be a bad remake, and I looked up at Arin. He lets out a sigh and states, 'I'm never gonna watch a remake after I had watched the original!'
Well to be honest, we couldn't find out why Mag7 is so great. The acting is poor, the script little shaky, too much of statements in form of dialogs. Whereas in 'Seven Samurai' even the small extras have done wonderful believable acting, the script never loses its focus of defeating the bandits. Mag7 has tried to put some subplots but before the subplots mature they are abandoned (e.g., Lee's nightmare). You wonder why were these situations brought into the movie at all! I'm not mentioning the scene by scene or sometimes word by word copy of the original (e.g., closing dialogues)
The final conclusion was pretty simple. Arin had already spelt it out, 'Never watch a remake after you have watched the original!'. I agree there are some exceptions, but this is the general truth. And as per Mag7, it turned out to be Seven Dwarfs in front of the Seven Samurai.
There is epilogue. Benny now wants to see the 'Seven Samurai' and Arin wants to wash away the memory of Mag7. So we may rent 'Seven Samurai' again very soon.
Saturday, August 11, 2007
There's many a sleep ...
More than two months have passed after the last post and by that time I've learnt what the good old proverb really means. I have left my old job and jumped into something, which I thought was sure to get. But, as I mentioned... till the final day I was unsure whether I'll be able to launch my new career. As a matter of fact I was jobless, uncertain and stressed out for more than a month as one after another petty problems came up on the formal path. Now I'm an expert in all Passport and VISA hassles (Yes it had something, sorry everything to do with foreign travel)!!! Any problem in these front ... I have the expertise. Even I was seriously thinking of opening a VCS aka VISA Consulting Services if I don't get my VISA in time and be left jobless in India! But things have clicked finally.
Now I have made the first sip from the cup.
Now I have made the first sip from the cup.
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