The Boat that Rocked... Rocked

 Its an awesomely cool movie. Thoroughly enjoyed it. 8/10

What’s with the Moon?

Lunatics, werewolves, tidal waves, eclipses, Armstrongs, Chandrayaans... All of them are related to moon in someway or the other. Writing this entry on the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission to moon, it just amazes me of how much impact the white dotted satellite has on the human history.

Been around since the creation/evolution of man (err... and woman), the moon has never ceased to inspire and confuse us. For all the things that the moon can change, it is pretty funny to imagine an earth without it. An earth without the Chinese Lunar Calendar. An earth without its monthly periods of tidal waves (Wow... that's quite a metaphor... :)). The scores and scores of text written by astrologers missing a large chunk. The millions of poems inspired by the moon... all vanished. No Solar or Lunar Eclipses to link Doomsday to. Billions and trillions of dollars to buy weapons instead of spending it on spacecraft and research. And lots and lot more many things that would never exist, if not for the moon. It is pretty convenient and easy to imagine about the things that would not be there if the moon never existed. But it really takes a creative mind to think of the things that would have been there, if there was no moon. Probably a giant reflective mirror to make the night sky bright? Well, who knows...? If you've got some thoughts please do comment in.

Another thing that I have been totally amazed about, are the moon landings of Apollo. We all know that there are numerous conspiracy theories questioning the events that lead to the man-on-moon incident. Keeping all of those aside, I have just one question... rather a few of them... Why has USA never sent a manned mission to moon for the past 36 years? Why has no other country ever been able to replicate the event? 3 years is a long time... we have come eons from the B&W TV to HDTV and to IPTV. The average size of a computer has shrunk from being measured in Sq Meters to sq inches, and there have been much unimaginable advancement in material technology since 1969. Am sure many of us would think it probably was not worth spending so much money to send people to moon. In that case we Indians should be branded fools and idiots to be lagging behind US in space technology by 50 years (first planned manned moon mission for India is in 2020). Agreed that when the Americans had sent men and chimps and dogs to space, we were just launching our first rocket from Thumba. But still things have changed now, we are so connected and well informed, that it should seem possible to work out something. Okay... if u think India is lagging, leave it aside. What about USSR/Russia? They were right there shoulder to shoulder with US. Why didn't they ever succeed, even after 40 years? If you've got any thoughts on it, please do share it.

Forced to break my Silence..

It is the longest 'silent period' in the short history of my blog :) But then am forced to break it, cos of this totally whacky... weird.... no-words-to-describe-it newspaper snippet.

check out the attached image.

A thousand elephants

Long long time since I typed in a blog.. So here goes my thoughts on the latest tamil hit movie "Vaaranam Aayiram". First of all, this movie should not be considered a mainstream commercial movie cos it lacks comedy, a climax or even a villain for that matter. But all said, its a great movie. 

The movie is a very casual recollection of all the events in a mans life. The thought process starts with the demise of Suriya's father. I found many people feeling the movie had very little entertainment value and that there were many scenes in it that need not have been there. But then I say, the movie is a great walkthru of another persons life. Of his ups and downs. So the guy gets the liberty to chose what the milestones of his life is. 

Now what makes the movie intresting is, for one Sameera reddy.. Her mesmerising smile is a heart stealer. And next the make up for Suriya (not the old one, the new one). He acts as a teenager, College student, young adult, drug addict, responsible son, army man, father, a sober lover. And each of these roles that he adorns have been aptly set with costume hairstyle and make up. Splendid job on that front. And how can I miss the 6-pack show off. That really inspired me to shape up. Keeping up with the North Indian actors, Suriya shows off his 6 packs, bisceps, trisceps and whatever else is there to show off. Divyas' role though vital to show the completion of his story, has been given very little empahsis. Nothing in particular to tell about Simrans role. Dance moves are great. Music is fantastic. There were few loopholes here and there, but that doesnt take anything off of the movie's essence.

Vaaranam aayiram (A thousand elephants) - 8.5/10

Trash and Trash

I have always been a bit picky about wasting energy and water. More cos back home in India these two things hit real hard. I also loathed the site of plastic trash sliding down the cliff, which is a common sight in most of the hill stations in India. so is the case with trash thrown out of the trains and busses in public places.
But then after coming to the US, I find that the Americans for sure have to be generating more trash than India per year, though India boasts of a population 3.7 times that of the US.
Everywhere you find paper disposal kits, plastic spoons, forks, bags, paper and still lot more. US is bestowed with so much natural beauty and so many natural resources, that it doesn’t take satellite imagery and advanced studies to figure that out. But still it is pretty sad to see that there is hardly any effort taken by people to save on paper. Many a times its cos they have got so very much used to consuming things that saving for later and regulating supply seems like alien technology. To my surprise, I was even once asked why I print papers on both sides, cos it is supposedly difficult for the readers to turn the papers over to read!!!! Thats something you would not expect an Indian to say or at least I have never heard anyone speaking that way. Even the way the buildings are constructed here seem to be consuming so much energy, with heavily tinted windows blocking natural sunlight to enter the office space. Instead they prefer lighting up the interiors. And in India I would assume most of the places have either tube lights and affluent sections might use the CFL bulbs, but here most of the people still use the conventional amber coloured light bulb which is supposed to gobble up power. And I don’t need to mention how fuel is consumed here... not literally... but by the vehicles. The number of 4-wheelers is astounding. I would hope if it was India, the people would have started a road roko bandh to ask the govt. for providing public transportation. But here traveling in public transportation apart from aircrafts is almost like a taboo. Leaving apart the long distance railway system which is priced at par with flight services. There are certain cites in this country, like Boston, New York, Chicago where public transportation is pretty much the bloodline, but majority of it still lacks the basic thought. And the sight of streaked lines of the gases left behind by the aircraft up above in the sky is not a rare event... The sky is generally cris-crossed with it, (read as ripping apart the ozone).
I came across this article few hours back. Am just amazed by how much damage we cause to our own planet. A person would India would consider India filthy and trashy. But I believe we live with less, we have got in our way of living to consume and use less and save. But in America, it hardly pinches anyone when they use rolls of paper to clean their kitchen or paper towels to wipe of their hands or dispose off all their flatware after use. No hard feelings against the Americans, but lets practice before we preach. This is not just with the trash, but also with nuclear weapons, politics, war, environment, fuel consumption and lots more. There is a lot that this civilized and developed country needs to learn, starting with living SIMPLE.

PS: Punctuation marks are not my forte.