Monday, December 22, 2008

Movies.. movies...in this year...

First, I wanted to make a list of movies which I liked. But then, life is defined by moments of love and hate and 'what the heck were they thinking?. So, here are my movie moments from 2008:

The movie which redeemed my faith in Superhero genre after the traumatic experience of watching Spiderman cry:



The movie the then came along and kicked the ass of the above movie so much that I did not miss the show even after falling from an escalator ( its very very difficult to walk up an escalator going down). And it was my second viewing.



The movie which betrayed me:



Edward Norton, I love you. But I did not go to this movie to watch you play a brilliant scientist with a sad, sad story left to tell. I went to watch HULK smash things and people, not to see you play the tortured soul. For that, I would have watched Pride and Glory or Painted Veil. Stick to indie movies, please. And next time, please do some comedy - you are only going to be 40 man, its not the end of your life!

The song which can put me in a peppy mood even on a rainy and cold day:



The song which goes best with red wine:



The movie which I can watch again and again :



Movies yet to watch:

Aamir
A Wednesday
Cadillac Records
Doubt
Frost/Nixon
Gran Torino
Marley & Me
Milk
Mumbai Meri Jaan
Slumdog Millionaire
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Wrestler
Transporter Three
Yes Man

But the one movie which I really, really want to watch, is this :



:-)

And finally, the movie which made me re-like Brad Pitt & George Clooney:

The allure of Brad Pitt was somewhat lessened after me became Ms. Joilie's wife. Ooops, sorry, my bad, partner. Clooney was fast becoming a male Paris Hilton - always being photographed, being with different and younger women who look like clones of each other. However, this one movie made me remember that those two men are pretty good actors.



That's about today. Do sugggest any good movies that I might have missed. And oh, not considering the OST of Slumdog here because man, its a class apart.

Saturday, December 20, 2008

For the next year....

Its that time of the year when people start making lists. Christmas lists, New year resolutions... the like. Being a Hindu means I never celebrated the gift giving tradition in Christmas. I of course will be giving some of my friends some gifts when I visit them, but that would have happened even in the middle of the perfectly ordinary day. Like the Mad Hatter, I believe in celebrating Not a Birth Days.

So, for the next year...

1. I want to run - more often, for more time. But it is January, in Finland. However, we have an office gym open 7 days a week and I have friends who frequent the same regularly. So I will be there come next year, to do some Indian bonding and to run a bit.

2. I want to give away stuff - more regularly, more methodically. I do have more clothes and accessories than I need, and I end up wearing the same stuff most of the times. I had already given away around five bags full of clothes, but I want to take a look at other things too, that may find better homes with someone else.

3. I want to jive - by myself or with friends, to head thumping music. I have friends who love rock to jazz to even heavy metal. And I must go for concerts with them, and when they are busy, I should go alone.

4. I want to travel - there are friends across Europe, who would be happy to have me visit them for a few days. There are places, about which I have only read about but always wanted to go. And there are places where I want to go again; to experience what I missed last time, and to relive amazing experiences. With others, alone - it does not matter.

5. I will invite more friends home - and will have pizza parties to traditional Indian meals. I love cooking for others, but my home always seems to be a mess. I just need to clean up the place first. But the first invites go out in January.

And when I get used to this five, I will replace them with more activities.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Rules of Engagement

What do you do when you are just up after a 30 hr blitzkrieg of fever, feeling like you feel after 7 shots of tequila but without the happy buzz and fatigue?

Why, you try to read your feeds, email and tweets. And then looking at the pileup which kind of resemble Mumbai peak hour traffic jams, realize that it’s time for a bit of cleaning up. I have a job and interests outside the internet, so...

So, let me present to you my rules for the social networking sites that I frequent:

Facebook/Friendfeed/Orkut:
#1. I don’t know you, I don’t add you. Doesn’t knowing you mean I don’t know your real name, what you do for a living, whether you are likely to have any criminal charges against you.
#2. I have heard of you, but if your name does not invoke a friendly feeling in me, I don’t add you.
#3. Only exception to above rule is if we have been class mates or if you have been my direct senior / junior in the various educational institutions that I spent time in.

Google Reader:
#1. I follow the website if it makes me laugh or provide info that I find interesting. Personal relationships don’t matter - sorry!

LinkedIn:
#1. I add you if we belong/ed to the same organization / educational institution / LinkedIn group / if I will/have something professional to offer you or vice versa.

Dopplr:
#1. I add you if we are colleagues / friends.

Twitter:
#1. You are my friend / colleague and I find you fascinating enough to stalk you 24x7. (Let’s face it people, Twitter is a sanitized stalking medium for people who want to stalk and people who like the attention. Just a little bit. Without the scary parts.)
#2. I can't understand what you are posting - be it links, be it @ messages to others. And if you keep on @ messaging others, 5/10 wrt your latest posts and I will be walking away
#3. I don’t know your a/s/l, but love your tweets and the tinyurls that you provide.
#4. You tweet as any of my fav fictional characters.
#5. You are a celebrity who actually tweets by yourself. WTG, Shaq!
#6. You are a tweet feed for a political leader / office, of a country which I find interesting.
#7. You update at least once a week. Unless your FQ (fascination quotient - what were you thinking?) is high in my book, I will remove your feed. Sorry about being so uppity about having a clean twitter feed. Im into minimizing stuff in my life these days.

And I follow these rules too.

Yes, I know this comes across as /add your fav adjective for me now here / as hell, but hey, it’s my life, and how I spend it is my prerogative.

Let me get back to my blankets and giant teddy bear now. Being sick sucks.