Aggaaggaaa!

It is after intense thought that am writing this post. I just unearthed a priceless piece of general knowledge. Or even wisdom, you may call it. And simply having it in my head is painful. I want to get it out.

Post rating: U / PG (Meaning, read only if U are alone, living in a PG. Veetla irundhaa padikkaadheenga)
(Ok, very seriously, this post has infinite direct allusions to a very popular and fulfilling Tamil swear word. If you are the kind who winces on hearing such words, you might have a seizure before you finish reading this post. Don't blame me later!)

Come Maadi Learn Maadi

All you non-kandu buggers at Bangalore.. I know exactly how you feel when folks on the road give you directions that consist wholly of words like "aagbittu hogbidi.. periya bittu malabar beedi" and the like. So here's an effort to learn the basics of the language that will ensure survival in the city:

http://absolutegyan.blogspot.com/2010/06/kannada-kali.html

Movie Review: Singam

Vanakkam machas and machis. Generally I don't write movie reviews cos' at one level I find that quite repulsive. It takes months and years of hard work to get one movie done, and eventually arm chair critics simply write stuff off as "flops". Must feel really painful for the creator to see his creation being torn to pieces by folks who do not even realize the amount of effort that has gone into the making of the film.


That is at one level.


Now I have realized that, at another level (viz. lower), I too feel writing reviews could be fun! So here's my first.

Singam is Director Hari's new offering, which is very novel in that the hero has been given a name that is usually given to his Dad or the kanakkupulla ("maths-kid", if it helps): Duraisingam.


Also, this is the only movie in Tamil film history in which the combined height index of the hero and heroine is 15 feet.
(Surya contributed 5 to this number, and Anushka's legs, an equal number)

I am the back!

Aaahhhh dandanakkaaaa.. Aaahhhh danakku nakka!!!

Usuroda than keeren machi's!!! After suffering from life at IIMB and the complete joblessness thereafter, I am back!!

(Ok this is the closest icon I could find that kinda indicates a historic return. My intelligently thought-up search terms ("back") took me to a lot of backside pictures (wink wink) that I don't like seeing.

in office.)

A lot has changed in the world since the last time I blogged (except my blog itself). For starters, my course at IIMB is done. And as a result I have been re-inducted into my family. Been enjoying loads of quality family time in the past couple of months. Felt so refreshing to be back in context at the home turf.

A Trip to Gopalaswamybetta, Bandipur and Mysore

:)

--------------

The last weekend was an amazing time - took for a trip to the Mysore region with a gang of friends. Just after midnight, early Saturday morning, 7 of us (including self and the missus) trooped into a rickety old Qualis and made our way to Gopalaswamybetta.

We reached the hillock at around 7 am only to be treated to rib chilling cold and mist and fog! Some pics from the Godly place where mist hangs around till noon apparently!

Hitchcock Rocks!

Have been watching Hitchcock movies in the last couple of days and have fallen in love with the man's style!

Psycho was the first one I watched. Though I kinda guessed the plot half way through, there were some elements in the movie that kept me doubtful until the end. Can guess what kind of a rage this movie must have been in 1960 when it was released. Similar movies are still being made today, 50 years after the master made his version! Hitchcock was surely ahead of the times.

The second one was Rope. A very short movie - just an hour and a quarter. But very stylishly made. Loved the strong characterisations, and the amazing histrionics of everyone involved. Each character was amazingly convincing - especially the important 3 of Brendon, Philip and Rupert.

* Spoiler Alert *
The plot of the movie thickens bang after the titles, when we find Brendon and Philip strangling a friend of theirs - as they converse after that, you chillingly realize that they committed the murder simply to prove that they were capable of doing it! Simply to establish that they could commit the perfect murder and get away with it. As you slowly get out of that, you get to know that they are throwing a party in the same room as the venue of the crime - to be attended by the nearest and dearest of the dead man. What makes it further gripping is that the food is served right on the chest inside which the dead man was dumped! A gripping tale right till the end!

I just loved the dialogues in the movie, especially Brendon's cheeky references to the murder in the presence of others, with a naughty, sly smile. A slew of double entendres!

One aspect of the movie that sets it apart is that the scenes are all loooooong. In the sense, that the camera is kept rolling for a loooooong time. And they have tried to make it seem like the entire movie was made in one shot, but you are able to identify where the cuts are made - something that let me down. Surely, Hitchcock must have known better!

But overall, I am stunned by the man! Hear from a friend that Shining is a great movie of his. Should catch up with it sometime.

--------------- Errata -------------------

Just got an alert that The Shining is a Kubrick movie. Sorry for the faux pas!

GM Diet!

I am not so much of a supporter of diets. I believe more in working out rather than in cutting one's intake. The missus is a proponent of dieting. And I usually fight with her over this.

But I heard about the GM diet a couple of days back. Anyone I spoke to about this had a good thing or two to say about it. So in a sudden pang, we decided to jump into it yesterday.

The version we're following is here.

My updates:

Day 1:
86 kg before the beginning of the diet.
All fruits day.
Was kinda tired of all the fruiting and pissing around all day! And had to suppress a lot of temptations :(

Day 2:
84.7 kg! 1.3 kg down in a single day!
Today's an all vegetables day.
It's evening, and slowly getting used to the diet.
It feels great though :)
More tomorrow..

Day 3:
85.2 kg :( Gone up a few hundred grams! Not worried though.. The first 4 days are only supposed to be preparation for the last three days of dieting, which is when the actual weight loss is supposed to happen. Lets see.

Day 4:
84.1 kg :) Ah! Back on track!

Day 5:
83.6 kg - Not a stellar fall from yesterday. Nonetheless its a fall at least!

Day 6:

83.1 kg - Things look great!! 3 kg in 5 days!!

But alas :( This was the last day of my diet :( Given that this is my Thalai Deepavali, couldn't really argue with the in-laws on the validity of my diet. So broke the diet today!

And didn't measure my weight for 3 more days. Kept feeding heavily on sweets and stuff. Finally reached 86 after all the munching on the occasion of Diwali. So am back at square one, but the diet prevented me from reaching 89! In that sense, was successful!!! And the inches I lost haven't come back (as yet). And now am quite conscious of the amount of food I take, and am able to say no anything, however tempting it might be!! So on the whole, I give this diet a thumbs up.

(Note: Some people complain against this diet, saying it might lead to side effects like loss of hair. I have always been losing hair rather fast, so I didn't notice anything odd)

If you're happy and you know it...

Small is big nowadays. From Twenty20 to Twitter, the message is loud and clear. One more example in this list is FML.

FML is not a very popular site - as yet. But I think it will grow bigger. The concept is simple: it eats on our tendency to gossip, to pass judgments on others, and to crib about life in general. And it is only a couple of hundred characters in length. One more instance of micro blogging a la twitter.

Drawing from this idea, this post is an attempt at another form of emo-blogging (sorry, my coinage!). This is a request to all readers to mention what made you HAPPY today. Please don't use more than a line or two. It could be a smalllllll thing, but then small is big!

So go on!! Keep the page growing for ever...