Masala .. Housefull .. Strike .. Thoughts

Post Dated: 02 May 2010

I am sitting in shade on the terrace of my apartment as the May heat thaws assortment of red chilies left out to dry. Yeah I am in place of a scarecrow, to scare away, not just crows, but also pigeons and sparrows, or at least those curious enough to poke their beaks into the chilies.

The chilies are being dried for our well known “Malwani Masala” which we (mom/dad) make at home for “domestic consumption”. Yeah we do give some to friends and relatives. I just love it. I love spices, so much that sometimes I cant eat pizza without adding Tabasco sauce. Non spicy authentic pizza tastes good, but sometimes I miss the spice. All this food talk makes my stomach growl. Hungry!!!

Post Dated: 04 May 2010

Mumbai suburban railway motormen strike has finally been called off, ending hell for many. I ride bike to work so I was affected only by the increased road traffic due to non-operation of trains.

Also watched Housefull on Monday. 

A typical Sajjid-Akki flick.

Its a no-brainer comedy with a dash of emotions and stupidity. You may enjoy it once, but if you like movies like Hey-Babby, De-Dhan-Dhan, etc you may like it a lot.

Boman Irani very good but slightly over-the-top.

Arjun Rampal had a small part but was ok, his real test would be “Rajneeti”.

Among the girls, Deepika was enchanting; Lara kept up the oomph factor, while Jiah was sparsely used.

Randhir Kapoor seemed drunk or too-jolly throughout. Not a great comeback.

Akshay Kumar was solid as usual. He was funny and sensitive but within the boundaries of his movie character.

 A fun filled entertainer where there is negligible over acting. Critics will hate it, masses will love it. Just watch it to be entertained not to learn a life altering lesson. You decide. 

Awards Nite!

gracias! thanks a lot to chocolatychocolatelover for this award.   

According to the rules of the tag. I need to tell 3 good things about me. But also that I have freedom to add more if I want.

>>If I dedicate myself to something or someone, I put my heart into it and also all my effort.

>>I can really plan things very well. 

>>I also write quite well, usually better than I can speak.

>>I am quite good at riding two-wheelers, from a bicycle to a motorcycle.

Ok, enough of self boasting.


I pass on this award to Niyati, Shruti, Chandrika, Pooja, chocolatychocolatelover, gentlewhispers, humming words, tys on ice, priyanka, Tasha, Sameeta, Priyanka M, Radhika M ,  Refak, Sonali, Rajlakshmi, Sorcerer 

Sure I can write! uhhh.. I hope so.... uhhh...

I am not sure what to post. Earlier a flash of creativity used to make me post something good. Nowadays my posts have become like Facebook updates. Of course, I can't deny that morning tea tastes good only when reading newspapers or facebook status updates.  

Its Sunday, and steaming/yummy poha is enticing me so I should try and post a bit faster. But its really difficult because I am still staring at this small plant on my desk and wondering what to write about.

Yesterday two wall lizards (tiny ones) waltzed into my sisters room, and she freaked out. Part of the reason for her "freaking out" is that once a lizard had fallen on her head. Well, I rushed in and had to ki.... (next part had to be censored because of risk of protests from PETA), as they were trying to hide into tiny gaps. 

So after such brutal assaults on these creatures I need to go and confess my sins to god and ask for forgiveness.

I have not yet recovered from the hangover of eating to many veg. cutlets yesterday and it is having adverse effects on my writing, I better stop.

Adios !!

Updates

I have been away from my blog as I was down with heat boils/skin rash due to summer heat.
Usually I don't face much problem due to summer heat, but there is always an exception when my habit of eating spicy and heat inducing foodstuff (non-veg) can make things worse.
Still anyway things are better now, and I am back.

In sports update, Arsenal are out of the title race sadly.

Mumbai Indians are in IPL finals which is good news.

In F1, Force India missed a chance to score points in Shanghai GP while Karun Chandok managed to finish the race. In the same race Hamilton came second while Vettel and Kubica were dissappointingly below in the standings.  

Now that I have missed watching "Green Zone". I am waiting for another action movie to reach the theaters.

Right now, Agile Methodologies And Extreme Programming is interesting me a lot, so I am reading up and hoping to implement it soon.

Prince movie review

Watched "Prince".

Enjoyed making fun of stupid scenes.

A couple of smart scenes were applauded.

Plot is not intelligent and too mashed up.

Dialogues were cheesy not one memorable

There is 5% thrill, even though the special effects are top quality (bollywood standards).

Sound effects were excellent too, but movie had unnecessary songs and that irritating singer loved by everyone called Atif Aslam

But action scenes were bland. It was as if they all were trying too hard to be cool. And ended up looking dumb.

Aruna Shields was only eye candy in spite of the movie starring two other actresses, the reason is she acted better than both. 

Vivek Oberoi was disappointing, I expected more from him, looking at his performance in "Shootout at Lokhandwala", "Company", "Dum", "Saathiya", "Yuva" , "Mission Istanbul" it was a valid request.  Alas he was suffering from the same "I have to look cool" syndrome as everyone in the movie. 

Prince is a "campy" or "Cheesy" movies.

The makers of the movie tried too hard, they should have watched 16th December, not the best, but at least it had decent plot in the 1st half. And also they can learn from "Blue" for action sequences. Action sequences isn't about slow motion, its about thrilling people.

Mind you thriller doesn't mean you add stupid twists.

It is only appealing (to me) because of its bad taste and ironic value.

I still think, "Tashan" is my favorite cheesy film of recent time, even "Race" was better than "Prince" according to me, maybe because of Anil Kapoor. 

Its fine, if you miss it in theaters, but watch it on TV, if you are curious. 

Clash of the Titans movie review

Watched Clash of the Titans
Here is a short review:-
Thrilling action sequences
Superb acting
Good script
Predictable climax but worth it
Perfect sound effects
Scenic locations
And very good one-liners!!
I didn't watch the movie in 3D, but loved it in 2D.
Go for it if you like action movies and don't mind Greek mythology.

Sporting Week

IPL watch: Mumbai Indians seem to be cruising towards being crowned the IPL-3 champs

English Football: Bendtner scored in stoppage time to give Arsenal a 1-0 victory against Wolves, thus keeping them in title race.

Champions League: Arsenal drew 2-2 with Barcelona at Emirates stadium and now have to win at Nou Camp

F1: A good day for my fave F1 drivers at Malaysian GP.....  S.Vettel wins it.. Kubica came fourth..and Hamilton fought his way up the grid to finish 6th...good day for Force India as Adrian Sutil came a very good 5th ..showing his prowess in wet conditions....Karun Chandok finished the race in decent 15 position . wow!!

Phew!! 

Telly movies

Among the numerous movies watched on telly, here are this weeks favorite.

"Dirty Rotten Scoundrels"

A (1988) comedy starring Michael Caine and Steve Martin. It is basically a story of these two con-artists out to outsmart each other. It isn't a super story and its twists are not necessarily unpredictable but what will delight you is the stupendous acting of Michael Caine (got golden globe for it) and also Steve Martin (one of the best of his career). It is one very very good comedy movie. And surely a movie theme that may have been "copied" in a bollywood movie or two. Go watch it for some hilarious moments. 

Second recommended movie is, a movie I liked a lot.

Rescue Dawn

The movie stars one of my favorite actors, Christian Bale. 

it is said "he is the most accomplished character actor of his generation and a man whose talents have been on display for so many years that most people just overlook him"

also many critics say "Bale is a master of using his entire body as a performance tool, letting a thousand meanings play around in his eyes or face and doing whatever’s required for the part to shape his body around the role"   

To put it simply it is story of fighter plane pilot who bails out of his plane to land into Viet-Cong controlled area of Laos. From then on it is his story of survival in the prisoners camp. I am tempted to reveal the further story, but it would damp out your experience. So watch this movie about survival and spirit if you don't mind a few scenes which are required to be shown in such "survivor" kind of movies. 

Beauty of this movie is that it does not take a political stance instead focuses on the lead and his survival. Its a story that is  moving in its simplicity.

Forgot that my blog is 5 yrs old

Yeah! I completely forgot that some 5 years back on Sunday, January 16, 2005 I began this blog. And as time passed, the content of the blog also passed through various stages. And in spite of 5 years of evolution, my blog still lacks the ability to belong to any genre of blogosphere. 

So as I continue on this direction-less journey, I would like thank all my current and also past readers (if they are still reading!) for reading my posts, commenting once in a while, and inspiring me to keep posting at least "something" to keep you entertained. And special thanks to followers of my blog, Niyati, Rajlakshmi, chocolatychocolatelover,Refak, Tasha, Mamta and Priyanka m.

Even though entertainment is still a bit low, the blog still abides with it tag-line, 

the world as seen by sankoobaba i.e. ME

See you! When I see you!

adios!

Things and stuff

 

Trying to finish a book, "Icon" by Frederick Forsyth. I really like his style. The way he builds the story and characters without acting in hasty manner is commendable. 

Arsenal drew with Birmingham (1-1), making me sick.

My guess of RCB (Bangalore) winning IPL this year looks difficult if MI (Mumbai) play well. 

In Formula One, Force India continued to win points in the second race at Australia. Among my fave, S. Vettel could not finish the race, Hamilton came 6th and Kubica came credible 2nd.

Indian interest Karun Chandok of HRT came last but at least he finished the race.

Also I am trying to increase my practical knowledge of UML and Software Engineering models, with special focus on "Agile Model".

One of my best friend Mahendra Bhatt rejoined our company, after leaving it for EClerx a couple of weeks back. He was very disappointed with their work environment, as he does not approve of environment which looks like an assembly line of robots. Well, his talent is valuable to us, so their loss is our gain. 

With my promotion to designation of "Team Leader", I am looking forward to the responsibilities of this new role. Hoping for the best. 

The climate here is settling down to more of"March heat" instead of the "blistering May heat" as it did a week back. 

Thats all! Adios for now~