Monday, July 28, 2008

Six days

Have you ever been in a morbid state of mind? when the niggles and sniffles of life and an active imagination seem to fuel your paranoia. Did you know that the inability to sneeze when you felt the onset of one could be a manifestation of medullary neoplasm, whatever that means. Wow, that does sound morbid! Have you ever seriously considered writing a will?

The newly opened H&M, seemed to have caused the entire Seattle to descend on the South Center Mall as did I, it was a sea of people either queuing up to enter the store or seeking to heed to the call of their growling stomach or just watch the Dark Knight/X-Files. I somehow managed to do all three and that's when the thought that there could be a deranged killer in our midst crossed my mind. It's not the first time that such a thought has crossed my mind, it has probably to do with that sense of morbidity that seems to be looming over me!


Today in church, (for some unknown reason, I made it to Church in good time, which I must say has become a rarity of late!) I started to dwell on the complexities of the mind that takes the life of unknown strangers, after all, colleges, malls and churches seem to have the highest incidence of random shootings.

And amidst all the thinly veiled death threats, there's the miracle of life, of birth itself. Three babies were baptized today, with their beauty and innocence intact. It somehow served as an affirmation, that this is what fuels life, the marvel of a child. Each of babies seemed averse to the holy water being poured on their heads but not so much to the holy oil on their foreheads. It was indeed a marvel when Father lifted each baby up at the altar, presenting them to the parish and declaring them a member of the Congregation. It was a humbling experience.

The title of the post has nothing to do with the fact that it took six days for God to create the universe however it has everything to do with the fact that I believe in a higher eternal power, in a God who possibly created the universe as we know it, and despite the thoughts of morbidity, I am in awe of life, despite the roller-coaster or the see-saw that is called life, I hope to do my bit for a better world... however cliched and beauty pageantish it may sound!

The title of the post is a song title sung by DJ Shadow

Monday, July 21, 2008

Government fixing?

An MP's job seems like the most lucrative profession in India right now! Match fixing in Tennis or cricket seem to pale in comparison to 50 Crores!. Our very own version of the big fat greek wedding seems to be unfolding in the Indian parliament.

I do support Manmohan Singh and his government's stand on the nuclear deal, it will be good for India and for once the government seems to have decided in the interest of the country by not backing down despite pressure from its 'so called allies'. It is however surprising that not enough focus has been given to take the benefits of the nuclear pact to the common people, very little has been said about the deal itself.

The government has to win the trust vote, plunging the country into elections/presidential rule just eight months shy of completing its term seems unfair and a burden amidst countries of the world trying to recover from a falling economy and high inflation.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Grasping at straws

A couple of brilliant trailers, if only the end result were half as good. Spoiler alert for those who have not yet watched 'The Happening' and 'Wanted'

What's happening in 'The Happening'? Manoj Night is one of those guys, who you could bet on getting India within arms reach of the Oscar's, I do believe he has the ability to direct a Oscar winner movie. The Sixth sense, Unbreakable and Signs were truly commendable efforts. Despite the strong presence of Mark Wahlberg, this work of his fails to make an impact. The lead actress seemed in a constant drug induced wide eyed state, almost as if she was going to collapse in a fit! Incorporating global warming and all in the movie didn't really pay off and the story seemed very open ended.

In one line - Poor acting, horrendous dialogue and absolutely no substance in the storyline.

Wanted - I really don't get the need for all the extreme close up shots of bullets going through heads!, dreadfully painful movie to watch and I must say I am surprised at this movie's pretty good tomatometer ratings.

The storyline seems close to Minority Report. That was a well made movie with brilliant flow and execution, full stop to the comparison. The mistakes in the woven fabric spinning out the perpetrator's (the person who has to be assassinated next) name, fate and belief to made a heady cocktail... which unfortunately is unbelievable! Too much violence and too much slow motion for my liking, neither of James McAvoy(brilliant performance in Last King of Scotland and Atonement), Morgan Freeman or Angelina Jolie's performances were worth talking about either.

Wesley Gibson, the lead protagonist, its not a wonder that he is Ego surfing, but it is a wonder that his search yielded no results. I can bet that even before the movie was released google would have thrown up at least a couple 100 pages of dirt!

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Waltzing Matilda

I am halfway through the JAG marathon, which started about three weeks ago and ‘waltzing matilda’ has stuck in my head!. I started from the finale episode of Season 1 for obvious Harm & Mac issues! Anyway it’s been a pretty awesome ride so far, refreshing my memory of this almost too good series of JAG lawyers. Which other TV show could I try a marathon for? Of my mind only two other shows seem worthy - X-Files and Lost.

While sprinting towards a long weekend which I know will be calm & relaxed, I’ve been catching up with my latest obsession! Blogging live on AC360, I could not contain my excitement when Anderson Cooper’s comment followed mine on a couple of occasions on a couple of weeknights. Talk about beginner’s luck… How often you have a comment to make or just feel like sharing your view when the newscaster reads out the news? Obviously gone are the days when the newscaster’s only job was to read out news!, but you know what I mean.

Live Blogging gives you just that, share your thoughts, your opinions all in real time and respond to fellow bloggees. The timing of the show is unfortunately kinda inconvenient to us West-Coasters… 7 PM is still kinda early in the day to be blogging...

Amazing news out of Colombia, with the rescue of hostages held by farc, truly a miracle. I can't even begin to fathom what it would be like to get back to life after 5+ years. It's no question that it is going to be a tough ride for all the rescued hostages and their loved ones.

Back to my matilda, the image that comes to mind on listening to Waltzing Matilda is one of Scottish men with kilt and bagpipes, I love singing this song at the top of my voice!.. but it sure would have sounded better with an aussie accent!

This one is a pretty neat version



The title of this post is a popular folk song considered as the un-official national anthem of Australia and is sung by the JAG officers in the Season 5 episode ‘Life or Death’