Static Dust

The ED SF Project: The List

2006-09-25T01:44:00.000-07:00

Taxi Number 9-2-11

2006-02-25T07:12:00.000-08:00

Enthused by the upwardly mobile quality of Hindi movies (Zinda, Rang de Basanti, Mixed Doubles), and because I wanted to see good ole Mumbai, I went to see Nana Patekar's Taxi Number 9-2-11 ... not wanting distractions of any kind ... I went alone

It starts off with a cool "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" kinda non-linear narrative ... deftly edited

A few minutes later, I realised that the basic plot was taken from Samuel L. Jackson and Ben Affleck's "Changing Lanes"

Nana Patekar is the Atlas who lifts the movie on his shoulders ... and the plot was sufficiently original to be entertaining even for those who have seen the inspiration

It's funny and black at the same time and Nana is a 'life give-up hai' kinda person who suffers from a happy ending courtesy John Abraham at the end ...

Oh yeah ... and for those who didnt notice ... the locker number 1129 is the palindrome of 9211 ...

Go get up and see it ...

Great Indian Rock 10

2006-02-25T07:03:00.000-08:00

Last weekend, RSJ's 10 annual Great Indian Rock fest was held at Pragati maidan, Delhi.

I headbanged on the second day, with Zero ...

The show began with Cassini's Division, who played an impressive and animated all-original set. Next were Medusa, with their sampler ... they played tight, and they showed great energy ...

The crowd roared when Demonic Resurrection entered the fray ... most of the rioting in the moshpit was when DR was on-stage ... their guitarist had sound troubles ... but it was finally sorted out

Next was Perestorika ... but their sound mixing was not good ... their guitars could hardly be heard ... though u did see the lead guitarist trying very hard and playing very-visually-impressing looking guitar ...

Zero, the most-awaited band of the day, the veterans who have set the Indian Rock scene afire, finally took stage ... they played some new songs, a funky cover of Sting's Roxanne, Lucy ... and a great rendition of Mariachi ... after every song, those of us near the moshpit kept shouting PSP PSP PSP ... and Bobby and Warren and Rajeev were trying hard not to pay attention to us ...

Finally, Zero was left with 5 minutes, and their last song, began with slow opening bars ... the crowd felt it was a new one and started tapping their feet ... we fans were dissappointed ... and then suddenly we realised that it was a mellowed down intro to PSP!

At that moment the moshpit went wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiillllllllllllddddddddddddd ... and then they finally kicked off into PSP ... and no one in the crowd was left 'standing by'

The last band of the day, firangi guests from Britain, "Your codename is: Milo" took stage. The only thing that went against them was that Zero had played before them ... they were a good Brit-rock band ... if you like that kinda thing ... anyway, their bassist kept the junta entertained with his antics ... and his yellow t-shirt was in great demand ... he didnt do a Salman Khan though ... much to our disappointment ...

All in all, a good spend of Rs 150/- (better than watching a dumb Hindi movie at your nearby PVR)

Bomb Hoax

2006-02-12T09:19:00.000-08:00

Today I enjoyed watching "Fun with Dick and Jane" in the morning. Also enthused by the quality of "Mixed Doubles" (starring Konkona Sen, Rajat Kapoor, Koel Puri, Ranvir) that I saw yesterday, my faith in Indian movies was somewhat strengthened ... So inspite of having gone thru the horror called "Neal N Nikki" and having vowed never to watch a Hindi movie again ... I decided to see "Rang De Basanti" today ... at the PVR in the Metropolitan mall.

And bloody 1 hour into the movie, some people started running out of the theater ...
I was thinking ... "The movie is not bad at all ... I like it ... why are the people running out as if Neal and Nikki are gyrating on screen?"

In the mean-time some elderly uncle-aunty types started running out too ... followed by children ... followed by young uncle-aunty types ... and finally, couples who usually hide in corners started running out ...

When the couples started running out, I felt something was really wrong and took my eyes off Soha Ali Khan .. and wow - theater deserted ... then I heard the low-volume announcement ... "Kindly vacate theater for security reasons ... Kindly vacate theater for security reasons ... Kindly vacate theater for security reasons ...Kindly vacate theater for security reasons ...Kindly vacate theater for security reasons ..."

So I finally waited till they stopped the projector and left ...

And then I realised that the entire goddamn mall was being emptied! And then when I left the mall, I realised that all the malls had been emptied! People were walking aimlessly walking on MG road rather than spending their money inside - now that doesnt happen usually - I was happy to see some action in Gurgaon finally ... the crowd almost made me feel that I was in Mumbai ...

Some people were muttering something about 'bomb threat' ...

The khaaki vardi gang had arrived by now ... and were trying to clear the people

But everyone was waiting ... poeple were like, "Bloody didnt get to see the movie ... at least let me see the goddamn building blow up"

I too waited hoping to see some fireworks much in advance of Diwali ...

Needless to say ... nothing happened :(

Sicilian Ecstacy

2006-01-30T10:35:00.000-08:00

Today (it's past midnight now, and so I mean yesterday) I lived in a pasta dream.

In the morning, there was a meeting with the wonderful Science Direct people (the guys who bring you all the best scientific journals online ... for a Price with a capital P). It was in Claridge's on Aurangazeb Road, Delhi.

Man, was the continental stuff amazing! Brussels sprouts and pasta salad and chicken in tomato basil sauce.

And then Bhatti gave us his farewell treat at Italianos off MG Road, Gurgaon. We had Minestrone soup, Lasagna, Ravioli, Tiramisu for dessert and what not ...

And the pizza was the GENUINE stuff. Not the coarse slab of bread spread with greens that Pizza Hut and Dominos offer.

Believe me, every bite tasted different. There was a bottle of genuine Tabasco on the table, and did it add a fiery zest to each dish! ---> except the Tiramisu of course ;)

Poor Bhatti had thought of and calculated a 'cap' for expenditure ... and we were so carried away by the heavenly tasting stuff that the cap was exceeded and the bill doubled!

Oh yes, and i didnt tell ya about the most important bit - the Garlic Bread. It should win a Guiness Records prize or Michelin stars or something. Oh my god - soft, tender, fluffy, buttery, chewy, garlicky. Shame on you, Pizza Hut and Dominos.

We sure kept the waiter busy!

Oh yeah - I didnt tell ya. I am a Food Technologist by training.

Decision Making

2006-01-28T08:35:00.000-08:00

Today, I spent time in two activities that might seem disparate, but to the mess of neurons that make up my brain, seem similar.

First: Shopping for clothes at the malls with a lady friend.
Second: Searching for drum loop music files on the net to create songs.

Strolling through malls = Googling for loops
Searching Shops = Selecting Websites
Window Shopping = Sighing at sites that offer cool loops, that are alas, not free
Shop with a sale = Site with shareware or freeware or free loops

So you select a shop/website, and enter.

Now,

Different sections (Formals, Woolens, Casuals, etc) = Different loop categories (Rock, Metal, Hip Hop, Pop, Raggae, Rap, etc)
Seeing clothes on shelfs = browsing through titles of loop files available for download
Lifting a tee-shirt = downloading a loop
Trying it on = unzipping and playing the loop in Hammerhead or Fruity Loops or plain old Winamp.
Rejecting the tee as 'just not me' = deleting the file
Selecting the tee = playing the loop, plugging in your guitar and creating a song

Grumpy salesperson = website that does not let you download multiple files

Wearing the bought clothes = playing the new songs to friends

Final opinion of friends: "Does not suit you. It suits Bryan Adams/Britney Spears though"
(the opinion applies to either the clothes bought or the songs created)

No wonder people say I am a Nerd.

The Emperor's New Mind

2006-01-27T08:06:00.000-08:00

Now TENM is a book by Roger Penrose that I have been reading on and off since the past few days ... it is somewhat dated, and what with "Godel, Escher, Bach" by Douglas Hofstadter being more popular ... anyway, TENM I got second-hand for Rs 100 wonly at Delhi Gate and GEB being only a cool Rs 750 (new) at Om Book Shop, you know what I settled for ...

It tries to address the question: "Can consciousness/intelligence arise just from a set of electrically interacting (brain) cells or is something else required?". Penrose takes us through chaos theory, computational complexity, and his home ground of quantum mechanics as he tries to answer the question ...

I dunno how well he does ...

I'm saving up for GEB ;)

Beach Time

2006-01-27T07:59:00.000-08:00

Today, I enjoyed some quality 'Beach Time'

Naah ... I dont mean shorts and sun and sand

At the workplace, whenever you are off-project, you are on 'Beach Time'. Or when filling out the time-sheet for the day, whatever time you spend in non-revenue-generating activities, is to be charged to BT.

And it is not usual for junta in my division to enjoy BT. But with Jan 26th around the corner ... and lotsa people taking leave today, the office was near deserted ... to add to the 'haunted' feeling, two neighbouring divisions have gone for their annual off-site trip ...

So I put my shoes up, wore my silly hat, wore the reddest sweater I could find, and lazed on my seat with my feet on the desk ...

Some die-hards who were in office were trying to work, but I tried to irritate them as much as possible

Right Versus Wrong

2006-01-26T08:29:00.000-08:00

Unable to get tickets for Amir Khan's eagerly awaited 'Rang De Basanti', we (Bhatti, Porwal and me) decided to watch 'Chronicles of Narnia'. Never mind the fact that it is a movie for kids and we are all a youthful twenty-plus. And anyway, after the horror show called 'Neal N Nikki' I had vowed never to watch Hindi movies again.

So ... no story spoilers here because I want you to enjoy the movie ...

The initial few minutes showing children getting evacuated in a back-drop of World War II confused us. (Porwal: "Where's the lion? Where's the lion?" Bhatti: "Where's the snow? Where's the snow?" Me: "Where's the popcorn? Where's the Coke?")

Then a few enlightening scenes and a 'wardrobe in a spare room' later, we finally entered the magical world of Narnia.

Beautiful imagery, just the right touch of CGI and not overdone, lovely acting by the youngest heroine, a human portrayal of how families break and rejoin ...

And of course ... the eternal story of good versus evil ... and a little bit about sacrifice ...

Definitely worth a watch ... even if you are twenty-plus

Hey, I think, if you are young you SHOULD watch the movie before the 'harsh realities of life' corrupt you :)

Unfortunately my childhood was not blessed by the pleasure of having read C. S. Lewis's book on which the movie was based ... but still I feel it has done justice to it (based on reviews of the book that I have read)

Tomorrow: back to work in the 'exciting' world of patent analysis.

Rationalization

2006-01-25T22:54:00.000-08:00

The ones at the bottom
Suffer least from a fall
By being below
I'm above you all