Wise Cracks

Hitchhikers Guide To Galaxy

2009-04-22T17:09:00.000-07:00

According to me this is the best book to come from west about philosophy. A single day doesnt go by without me quoting or thinking about the book.

Orignally written for BBC Radio 4, it was also an extremely successful TV show and series of books. You can read more about the book and background here.

Among the Pentalogy(or shall we call it quintet), the first one is the best. The story begins with Arthur Dent's home being demolished to build a highway. He gets whisked by his friend Ford Prefect into space as earth is demolished by Vogons, begining their journey.

Now coming why this book is philosophical. The book talks about how pointless everything in life is. Also how we take ourselves too seriously, and how in grand scheme of things we don't really matter. I mean seriously, in the vast universe, we are a tiny planet. There might be other planets with life that is probably much more intelligent than we are.

No talk about Hitchhikers guide to galaxy completes without mentioning 42 and improbability drive. There is answer to the question is 42. Yes! My life is on improbability drive.

Tibet & Olympics - My Olympic Torch Experience

2008-04-09T18:52:00.000-07:00

Olympics have created quite a row about Tibet. I am upset with Indian govt for restricting Tibetans right to protest. There are about 200,000 Tibetan refugees in India. I visited Dharamshala when I was in college. It is home for most of the Tibetan refugees in India. I start missing India if I dont visit the place in two years. I just cant imagine the plight of people who are completely displaced because they cannot live in their home countries anymore and visit their homeland anymore. May be all these have prompted me to be a part of the protest.

Olympic torch runs have been a little troublesome all over the world. When I told my sister that I am going she was a little concerned.

I decided to take Caltrain, as driving and parking on the day was not going to be easy. I blocked my calendar to make sure no meetings are scheduled. Torch relay was going to start at 1PM at Justin Herman Plaza, in front of Ferry building.

I took caltrain from redwood city. The train was fairly crowded with mostly Chinese people. I reached city a little past one. I started walking towards Ferry Building. There was a lot of crowd in front of AT & T park. A chinese guy was saying that 'It is pretty sad that I have to leave the country to be able to speak against the government'. While walking up on Embarcadero I heard another person saying 'Like many Americans are against American Government's policy, many Chinese against Chinese government policies too.'

On my way I spotted a funny board that says 'China you murder in Sudan and Tibet whom do you think you are, US?' I clicked his picture using my cellphone and told him that I liked his board. He replied 'Well, it is true. Sad! But true'.

It took me almost 40 minutes to reach Ferry building with all the crowd. The corner I ended up had a lot Chinese. There were also a few anti china protesters. A Chinese shouted 'Dont believe what western media says about China.' A pro-Tibetan shouted 'How much of freedom does press have in China'. After waiting for sometime a middle aged Chinese guy with Olympic T-shirt almost fainted. Protesters around him helped him to sit down and made sure he drank some water and relaxed. Humanity is always comes before politics, doesnt it?

Only in San Francisco do you see a Chinese Flag and a Tibetan flag together. Both shouting their own Slogans. I mentioned it to a person standing next to me. He replies, 'Yes! I bet you cant do it at Tiananmen Square'. But there were some tense moments with couple of people exchanging some words. After sometime a huge group of Tibetan protesters passed our intersection. A person started shouting ta Chinese 'You know why I hate you, you guys are communists' Another protester tried to calm him down. A small fight broke out and Police calmed them. We figured that they changed the route, I finally got in touch with my friends, met them and left for home.

As many Chinese at the Rally said Politics and Sports should not be mixed. But if Sports can lend some voice to the oppressed, why not?

La Chinoise

2008-01-23T13:23:00.000-08:00

Thanks to new wave and beyond festival at Berkeley. I am getting to watch a few great French Films. I happened to watch La Chinoise last Friday.

This film is one of the best films I have ever seen. Though I have heard about Godard before, this is the first time I watched his film. It is story of five roommates who listen to 'Radio Peking' and are influenced by Mao and Communist Manifesto. The film was shot mostly in an apartment with white walls, red doors and some graffiti on the wall. Most of the film takes place in skits and conversations.

Everything about the film was marvelous. First the subject. The movie talks not only talks about influence of Mao on young people, but also about Russian Chinese conflict and Vietnam war. For those who are aware of naxalism in India precisely know what this movie is talking about. As a political junkie I find all movies about politics interesting.

Direction is terrific. Film making was very unconventional. The film takes place as skits and conversations. It was made in 1967. In those times, I am pretty sure the movie would have created has a huge stir. The setting, style lighting and colors of clothing was amazing.

Another highlight of the film is the background score. It was western classical music, mostly violin. It stays with you for a long time.

There was a time I when I didn't care much about French film. When I mentioned it somebody, he said that I did not watch right cinema. After watching Alain Resnais, Jean Renoir, Truffaut and Godard I agree with him.

4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days

2008-01-20T23:58:00.000-08:00

I watched this movie at Talkcinema yesterday. For those who dont know what Talkcinema is, they screen movies that havent created any buzz. The screening is followed by a discussion about the film.

This is my first Romanian film. The film is set in 1987. The entire film takes place on one single day. A woman is 4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days pregnant. She wants to terminate the child. It was illegal during that era in Romania. The film is not about abortion. The film is about many other things. Relationship, friendship, oppression, and the society in the communist era.

Though I thought this film is more about women, men seemed to like it more than woman some reason. Movie was excellently made. The film is mostly shot with a stationary camera. You see only part of the room and just hear the voices of the rest. Another notable thing is, the movie has no background score.

Some scenes might probably seem unnecessary. From the talk I learned that some scenes were cut and some part of the preceding scenes were left for the sake of continuity. I was expecting story to take some turn to give some dramatic effect(many audience were), but thankfully they dont.

You may like it or hate it, but you will find this movie stimulating.

Shakespeare to Bond

2008-01-11T14:44:00.000-08:00

Sometimes you get some impression about an artist, it stays with you till they prove you wrong. The opinion I had about Vishal Bhardwaj was that he was a one film wonder. The only contribution to film industry was his music of the film 'Maachis'.

About a year and half back, I was browsing movie review section and came across the review of 'Omkaara'. When Sulekha.com offered me free tickets, I grabbed them to check out the film myself. First scene, my jaws dropped. By the time movie finished I was totally impressed. It was a brilliant story telling. Staying close to the story, Vishal Bharadwaj added additional complexity to Othello's character. Another additional dimension by showing UP politics and violence that rules that area. Indianizing Shakespeare is not easy. Vishal Bharadwaj does it brilliantly.

I have heard quite a bit about Blue Umbrella. I also like Ruskin Bond. I was awaiting the release of the film, that never happened. I got a chance to watch it at my sisters house.

The movie had a delightful story. Pankaj Kapoor as a greedy shopkeeper and the girl who played Biniya were excellent. Camera work was fantastic. The way the director used seasons to capture the mood of the story was brilliant. The follows complete seasonal cycle, Summer the delight, Fall the theft, Winter the gloom, Spring the hope.

The movie was shot in Chamba Valley and surrounding mountains. I guess the locale was selected to compliement Missouri to capture the mood and weather. I had been to Dalhousie a city that oversees Chamba Valley a couple of times. So I have seen how beautiful the place is first hand. Also fairly familiar with the names of the places and also traveled in those buses.

One thing worth mentioning is the contrast between Omkaara and Blue Umbrella. One is a Shakespeare's tragedy meant strictly for adults and the other is a film that can be enjoyed by both adults and children. One has to be exceptionally talented to be able to do justice to both films. Now I call Vishal Bharadwaj an exceptional film maker.

Movies, Movies and More Movies

2007-11-19T16:10:00.000-08:00

Last weekend Bay Area had two film festivals. 1. Latino Film Festival in Redwood City and 2. South Asian Film Festival in San Francisco. Close to 80% of the audience for Latino Film Festival were Latinos. At South Asian Film Festival not even 50% were South Asian. I think this is really sad.

I ended up watching 1 film at Latino Film Festival and 4 at South Asian. Here are my opinions about the movies I saw.

The Violin - Mexican-Spanish
I was attracted first by the name and next by plot. The movie is not about Music. It about rebels, ruthless soldiers and a father who wants to help his son. It is a well made dark film. Photography is amazing.

Loins of Punjab Presents- Indian American - English
Weird name. I went to watch the film as I had to go to the city for my finger printing. As usual I got a parking ticket at that parking lot. When I bought the ticket I saw a huge line that extended a block and half. The movie is about a singing contest in New Jersy. It was a laugh riot. Dont expect anything from the movie and it is politically incorrect humor. I had a stomach ache after watching the film.

Unni-Indian-Malayalam
I love Malayalam movies. They introduced the movie as being a Pather Panchali. It is about a child and his relationship with friends. It is a not a Pather Panchali. Pather Panchali is like a song. This movie is not. The movie doesnt have much of a story line. It made me relive some of my childhood memories in Hyderabad.

Sankara-Srilankan-Sinhalese
This is my second Srilankan film. It is about a Buddhist monk and his temptations. The movie is strictly for art film aficionados. The film is sheer poetry and beautiful. Photography, acting and direction were fantastic. I wished they did not describe certain things in the end though.

Kya Tum Ho-Indian-Hindi
I was debating whether I should watch this movie or not. They called this movie neo noir film.It's about 3 people whose paths are interwoven. I was expecting the film to be a very dark film. But it was not. I felt the movie was very average. I could not understand what my dissatisfaction about the film was.

So last weekend was all movies, movies and more movies.

Movies, Previews & Reviews

2007-10-02T16:25:00.000-07:00

Previews are expected to give to an impression of what movie is all about. I watch a preview and think that I am going to watch a drama and the movie ends up being a mushy romantic film or a senseless action thriller. Latest in that list is 'The Kingdom'.

Watching the previews I thought that this is some film like Syriana. I liked Syriana. Infact the film opens with history of friendship between Saudi Arabia and US. A suicide bomber attacks an oil company picnic. After that it is a regular Hollywood action thriller.

If it is not a serious film and does not want to talk about politics, why do they give an impression that it is a political film? They are probably turning off the regular action movie watchers. Ofcourse you could ask me why the hell I haven't checked out the reviews. My reply "Oh yeah! Do they mean anything?" King Kong got rave reviews, but the movie royally sucked.

Now my point, don't rely on previews or reviews. Have a friend who watches every film that releases, and ask them the story and make your decision. :-).

A few rants about India..

2007-09-27T17:24:00.000-07:00

There are a few things I have been wanting to rant about but did not find time to do so. So here are the short pieces.

Ram Sethu Project: Politics in India are always sad( I don't mean to say that politics here are any better, but atleast I'm a spectator here not a citizen.), but Indian media also going down the drains. Most of the reports I have been reading in the media talk mostly about Ram sethu as a symbol of religion. None of reports I read talk about possible environmental havoc it could create. Dont people in India want to talk about environment at all? I refuse to believe that. Media is selling what majority of people are interested in hearing/reading. Whatever has happened to the responsible journalism?

Infrastructure in India: Recently bridge collapses in middle of Hyderabad, it takes four hours for rescue team to reach the place. It's time government did something to improve our infrastructure. Why do we even talk about India shining, we our citizens cant get them aid in the right time?

Indian cricketers: These idiots win once in a life time. They shower crores(1 crore=10 million) of money on them. Why? From what I hear some 10s of crores of rupees have been showered on these guys as gifts. How about spending them on infrastructure development or education instead?

Rest later...

The God of Guitar?????

2007-09-22T23:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday when I got my email that informs me about different events that take place around Bay Area, I was very upset. John McLaughlin was performing today at Masonic Center in the city as a part of San Francisco Jazz Festival. Had I known it before, I would have definitely gone. Not that I had any plans, I did not think that I could get tickets.

But I wanted to give one final try. I posted an ad on Craigslist. Then went to SFJazz website and checked the availability. To my surprise a few tickets were available. I bought the ticket and deleted my ad. My seat was on the side, that did not bother me much(Infact it turned out be a great seat).

I reached the city at around 6:15. I wanted to be a little earlier as parking in the city is superpainful. I just couldn't believe my luck. I got street parking right in front of masonic center's parking lot. After that I grabbed a quick dinner and went to the theater.

Another jazz guitarist Kevin Eubanks performed before intermission. He was excellent. After a break of about 20 minutes, John McLaughlin showed up in a blue and red colored pochampalli shirt(I had a similar chudidar) and auditorium exploded in applause. Many people I talked have seen him before, but a while ago. My seat was in perfect position to observe his hands.

There are couple of things I loved about McLaughlin. One, He gave every member of the ensemble to showcase their talent. Every performer pretty much got equal time, including him. The other the way he acknowledges his audience. He looks at them smiles and while talking to audience he moves around to every corner.

Now about his music, somethings are better left unsaid. To sum what I felt after the show, "What the hell! Why is it so short?" He is called The Consummate God of Guitar not without a reason.

National Steinbeck's Center

2007-09-03T10:19:00.001-07:00

I drove to Salinas by mistake a few years ago. I got lost driving back from Monterey. At that time I didn't find that town fascinating. I wanted to come back. Not for Salinas but for John Steinbeck.

Finally I could make that trip to National Steinbeck's Center. My friend Sahithya & I took off at 12:00 from Santa Clara. Traffic was bad. It took us 2 1/2 hours to reach the place. An hour and half short of what we needed.

Museum was amazing. It gives you an insight of how Steinbeck was influenced by people he knew, his family, and his experiences at farms of Salinas. They also had orientation films and introduction videos to some of his works. We didn't get much chance to check them out in detail.

Another interesting aspect was culture of Salinas. It's migration patterns and how they influenced the local economy and agriculture. They also had information about local labor and their issues and different points of view.

I'll go back now for two reasons Steinbeck and Salinas. If you are in the area, don't miss out on this one. I bought their membership. I'll get free admission. ;).

The Bridge

2007-08-30T22:51:00.001-07:00

Golden Gate bridge fascinates many people. People travel from all over the world to see it. People travel from all over the world to jump from it as well(But the average jumper is from bay area according to a recent study).

There is a guy who left cameras in 2004 to capture the scenic golden gate bridge. I forgot what he took permission for. All he filmed was people jumping from the bridge. He released it as documentary. I had heard about this film at San Francisco Film Festival last year.

This film was played on IFC last Monday. I happened to watch the last hour of it. It was incidents of people jumping interlaced by relatives of the jumpers and survivors talking.

I dont know what compels people to end their life. All I know is, it very difficult on the family. I read somewhere that attempting suicide is a cry for help. May be if they seek help in time or call that suicide hotline(there is one on the bridge) it may keep them from doing that.

There is one thing I could not fathom. Mental state of the film maker. Seriously, how did he edit the darned thing? He has to watch the entire footage to see whether somebody was jumping, he had to go back edit the scenes of the person before he jumped. What gives me the eerie feeling is the fact that they are real people. It was difficult for me to watch, I wonder how the film maker could do it.

The movie does make somebody contemplating suicide think twice. May be that's what motivated the film maker.

It is a supermorbid film. If you want to watch it, please do. It does provide some insight.

One the greatest film makers is no more!

2007-07-30T21:48:00.000-07:00

Ingmar Bergman died today. It is a huge loss to the entire film industry all over the world. And to all of us cinephiles.

He is a master film maker who made excellent films about human relationships and complex factors of thought process. The first film I saw of Bergman was Seventh Seal. It was mind blowing to say the least. Next film of his I watched was Saraband in a film festival. His wild strawberries along with seventh seal ranks among my all time favorites. I also have a few films of his in my netflix queue.

I hope there will be a tribute film festival around bay area soon. I will not miss it.

Ghatak - Broken Dreams??????

2007-06-10T15:17:00.000-07:00

Ritwik Ghatak made 8 feature films. None of them were hits. Heck! Not many people have even heard of him. Is he a failure?

A film is a form of artistic expression. If you have any doubts, watch Ghatak's films. His protogonists go through a lot of toughtimes in their life. Most of the times are failures. I usually dislike that kind of films. But not in Ghatak's. His movies seem like reflection of his soul. He wanted to all his anguish in them.

I was watching Subarnarekha lastnight. In that you see 2 characters who love to cry(That's a crude way of putting it. One likes to sing sad songs/raagas and the other writes sad stories). Another character asks the girl why she sings sad songs all the time. She replies that's what she sees around her all the time. That's what ghatak has seen. He wanted you to see it.

Now coming to the question whether he's a failure. You may say he is. He was an alcoholic and died at 51. Made 8 films none were hits. But hey, his films are a relection of his soul. How many artists can really do that? Now he's considered by many as one of the best film makers from India. His dreams probably were broken, but his work will live on forever. Thanks to British Film Institute trying to restore them.

And Finally He Wins!!!

2007-02-25T22:04:00.001-08:00

Few months back there was an article in the headlines of the onion "Martin Scorsese's Next Film To Be Three Hours Of Begging For Oscar". I thought it was hilarious for 2 reasons.
A. It talks about how pointless Oscars are and
B. How Scorsese detiorated as film maker over a period of time.

Somehow my 2 of my other favorite directors never won Oscars either. Stanely Kubrick and Alfred Hitchcock. 2 Visionary directors. One who can send chills down ur spine without being gory and another a visionary who was way ahead of his times. Kubrick was nominated 4 times for best direction and Hitchcock 5. (Kubrick won it for best visual effects for 2001:The space Oddessy though).

When the departed won other oscars I thought it wasnt going to be scorsese's night. Though departed wasnt as bad as "Gangs of New york" and "The Aviator", it lacked the magic of his earlier films. It's noway close to Raging Bull, Taxi driver, or Mean Streets. If you see a scene of those films, they just glue u to the screen. Departed clearly lacked that. Another downside was the sound track. Where was the haunting sound track a trademark of Scorsese's films! Also, I couldnt take the soulless rendition of "Comfortably numb" in the background.

But at the end of the day I'm happy for Scorsese. He had to make a sub-standard film to win and the award was presented by 3 of the most overrated directors. But, nevertheless and award is an award.

David Gilmour Vs Roger Waters

2006-10-11T00:57:00.000-07:00

What is more important for a musician? Heart or voice? OK! Heart is just a blood pumping machine. Brain or voice? This was precisely my question tonight. Is there an answer to it? Probably not.

Waters is a GREAT composer, Gilmour is a GREAT singer & guitarist. When Waters sang "Shine On" as a tribute to Syd Barrett(I'll rave about Syd Barrett some other time, meanwhile check him out on youtube), I missed Gilmour. But, I dont think Gilmour can ever compose a "Another Brick on The Wall" which happens to be my alltime favorite rock song.

When waters and Gilmour split up Waters took animations & flying pigs, and Gilmour took lasers. Waters took the brain and Gilmour took the voice. I cannot help but feel sad like many other Pink Floyd fans.

Concert ROCKED. Started off with "In the Flesh" just as I expected and ended with "Comfortably Numb". For the penultimate song, I could've paid any money(Yes it was "Brick on the wall Part-II"). But I missed David Gilmour.

Resisting Temptations

2006-01-20T11:19:00.000-08:00

Last wednesday after eating dinner, I was sitting on the couch watching tv, opened a box of candies and started eating 1. Awesome truffle, I thought.

I got a few boxes of candies for christmas as a gifts. I also buy another love of mine dark chocolate covered raisins from trader joes, which I religiously eat everyday. There was a story on NPR a couple of weeks back about how chocolate can help in reducing the risk of heart attack. What else can make a chocolate lover happy? It might 've been a reserach sponsored by chocolate industry & results might 've been skewed. But who cares.(I'm considering only chocolate lovers here.)

There's one more thing about chocolate, it is very addicting. I used to eat a lot of chocolate when I was in college. To fight the additcion, I used to buy chocolate & keep it on the table in my room, but not eat it for a week. I felt it was the ultimate test of self control. I always won.

I have been eating chocolate almost everyday for last 5 months now. Now that could mean one hell of an addiction. So I had to do it again, have chocolate in front of me and not eat it. I left a candy box and chocolate raisins on the coffee table and decided not to eat it for a week. Well, I did it again. Yesterday was the eight day. Fellas! nothing in this world is addicting.

God, The Savior

2005-03-23T22:32:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I was watching "The last temptation of Christ"

They show that Jesus is rescued & he's not a messiah. There's an interesting scene which goes on like this.(I changed the dialogues as I dont remember them word by word)

He sees a preacher talking about Jesus & resurrection. Jesus goes to the priest asks

"Did u see Jesus after resurrection?"

"No I did not. But his disciples did."

"They couldnt have. I'm jesus. Neither did I die nor was I ressurrected."

"Y do I care? People want a savior and god. So I give them that. It doesnt matter whether you are dead or not. I dont care."

"I'm going to tell people."

"They will kill you. " While leaving the preacher says "Oh! BTW it was nice meeting you."

This got me thinking. ISnt that what people want? A security that there's some1 to look after me. Some1 to redeem me from my sins. Some place nice to go after death.

People love the idea of the savior, would love to believe in one. Whether he exists or not, doesnt really matter.

The person I dont want to be

2005-03-21T18:20:00.000-08:00

It is Terri Schiavo. Poor woman has been kicked around so much. Neither her parents nor her husband want her to live or die in peace.

I really feel sorry for her. She has been in a vegetative state for 15 years now. Doctors say chances for her recovery are almost nil. I'm a supporter of euthanasia. I totally support her decision to die, if that is what she wanted.

At the sametime, I understand the fact that her parents have a problem with accepting that her daughter may not recover. It is tough on any parents. Now these conservative groups jump in for thier own political gains, adding another angle to it.

Whatever the decision might be it's not fair to either parents or husband. But the way she's being treated now(remove the tube today, feed her tomorrow) is not fair for Terri.

Let her live, let her die. But whatever it is, leave her alone. Dont torture the poor woman anymore.

Introduction

2005-03-19T16:14:00.000-08:00

My blogs are about irrationalities, ironies, musings , views, etc about any random thing & experience life throws in. Most of blogs are my thoughts penned in & unedited.