BETTER THAN THE BEST!!!!!

Saturday, March 31, 2012

Chicago, Broadway Musical

After my first broadway musical - HTSIBWRT, I watched Chicago, the Broadway Musical (7/10) today, the 2.30 pm matinee show. Bought the tickets at TKTS, South Street Seaport (there is no sea or seaport there) for just around $70 each with no crowd or lines like at the one at Times Sq. I thought its like a crime drama but it was quite funny/comedy-ish & fun. Most of the female cast seemed lil older, especially Velma Kelly. And beginning was lil boring & end was not as exciting. But rest was really FUN, good music, nice choreography, decent laughs & FUN. (My rating would be 7/10)

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Avengers & Am. Spiderman Hindi Trailers

I watched Hangover-2 (5/10) today. It's pretty much the same movie as last one, but set in Bangkok/Thailand this time, where Stu has to get married and his to-be brother-in-law is missing. Only innovative & extra/special thing is a drug-dealing monkey. They are releasing a third one, next year memorial day weekend... This week has been col, 30-50 F. So enjoy these HOT Hollywood movies trailers in hindi. The Avengers Trailer is kinda funny-ish, with the use of words sainik-bal & khudgarz/sanki & praani etc. Captain America sounds like Amir Khan though. Amazing Spiderman sounds & seems much better in Hindi, but surprised that they didn't show Irrfan Khan..

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Jai Mata Di.. Agent Vinod & Hunger Games & Puss in Boots & Muppets

First, "Jai Mata Di" on the occasion of Vasanta Navaratri!! & yes, I watched all these movies over the weekend. Here's what I think:

Agent Vinod (6/10): Decent plot &nice performances with funny elements & lot of action &great background score. Action seems little outdated/old, too many villains & they die so easy.
Hunger Games (7/10): Hmm, its quite good but too long. It takes forever for the game to begin when you already know she is ging to win. But HOW? Also, not enough background story to understand. the WHY??
Puss in Boots (8/10): Just FUN-FUN-FUN, !!
Muppets (6/10): If you are not a muppets fan, its still kinda FUN!!

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

300

This is my 300th post here. Some of my most popular posts as per Google's stats:

General Motors Diet Plan - so people really care about health &dieting etc, hmm!!
FUNNY QUOTES - humor always sells, so did this blog I guess..
Fight Against Max Hospital... just another chain-m... - this was me writing & fighting for a cause & it gained its popularity in the process. Not sure what eventually happened though
Trip to Vaishno Devi & Delhi to Jammu to Vaishno Devi to Jammu to Delhi - people love travelling &googling about travel, so there's that. Plus Mata Raani ofcourse.. Jai Mata Di!!
Happy Navratri-1 2011... Fasting is Good!! - now not sure if this is Mata Raani or fasting/health agenda but it has worked too.

& here are my personal favorites:

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Happy St Patrick's Day!!

Watched the New York City St Patties Day parade. It starts from 50th & 5th av near St Patricks Cathedral &goes till 80th street near MET. It starts at 11 am & was supposed to end by 4-4.30 pm. I went at around 3 cuz I woke up late & felt lazy. I was late so I went straight to 80th street to watch it. Not very crowded & Igot a good spot. People marching, bagpipes playing, some dancing kinda & walking & all that. But would you believe, that the parade lasted past 6 pm? Yeah, really-really long. Anyways, I left around 6, took a walk through Central Park to Times Square. Met Cyrus, the goat guy there with his goat Cocoa. Yeah, a Goat @ Times Square. Went to a St Patties party at a club at night & then almost sleeping all day Sunday. That's it, that was my weekend!!

Friday, March 16, 2012

Congrats Sachin, on your 100th 100!!

Tendulkar hits his 100th hundred

Sachin finally did it.. AWESOME!! The best cricket player in whole world has finally done it. We all have been waiting for this moment, like forever. Creating so much pressure on him. Almost forgetting all the wonderful cricket he has played in past 22 years, the 99 centuries, the 33K+ runs. ANyways, he has finally did it & we are all very HAPPY. He deserved this & made this happen. I think its possible that he'll retire after this series? I think so.. Anyways, CONGRATULATIONS SACHIN!! (lets hope India also wins this match)

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Don't work after 8pm, Gurgaon tells women... REALLY? WTF??

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/12254740.cms

Seriously? That's what they are telling?? After numerous incidents of rape & molestation in past days, that's the solution they have come up with. And we live in a the biggest democracy of the world. WTF???? You gotta be not kidding me but REAL STUPID. Or should I use a more horrible word!! Just go & find the culprits and hang them.. publicly. So others can get a lesson that what kind of punishment they'll get if there sick minds ever even imagine of any such crimes. Do your job right and stop playing a stupid dictator. Or none of these idiots should be even paid..... Sorry, my blog is read by families &minors maybe and I am just being very-very polite, but I am REALLY MAD. We all should be MAD and have to get this MADNESS fixed. or God Help Us!!!!

Monday, March 05, 2012

Chronicle (7/10) & Red Tails (5/10)

Chronicle is a fun movie about bunch of young high school boys gaining super power & dealing with it by not becoming super heroes but being stupid. Nice concept & good execution too. Performances were good by all the boys & emotions have been well played too (ppl cried). The movie does has you asking for lil more maybe, in terms of action & happening at few places but overall its a fun to watch movie. Use of many cameras is mart giving exposure to better camera angles than usual found footage movies.

Red Tails is a 58 million disaster. Its based on Tuskegee Airmen, the bunch of African American soldiers who fought in WWII. Its extremely corny, filled with cliches & bad performances too. Cuba Gooding Jr whatever happened to you man? You were such a nice actor!! He's just standing & smoking pipe through out the movie, looking extremely bored & un-interested. Anyways, the action sequences with planes are nice & the concept is wonderful &true. Only if the movie would've been made well...

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

A very-very special post..

It's the leap day today afterall, wont be Feb 29th for another 4 years... And my first time writing a blog on LEAP DAY.... For whatever day you maybe celebrating today.. Congratulations & Happy "*" day!!

Monday, February 27, 2012

Oscars, Academy Awards 2012

Academy Awards 2012 were held today & the results were:

Best Film: The Artist - I was surprised a little, cuz I thought it could/should be Hugo. Similar concept but grander execution & stunningly beautiful.
Best Director: Michel Hazanivicius - Could've been Marty but thsi was well deserved. Making a silent likable movie is quite a task.
Best Actor: Jean Dujardin (The Artist) - Very surprising actually. I thought it would be George Clooney or Brad Pitt or someone. A french guy with no dialogues to say except 2 words. But he was definitely very good in the movie & deserved it I guess..
Best Actress: Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady) - She's so damn beautiful even now. I haven't seen the movie but with 17 nominations and 3rd win, I am not sure that she deserved it for thi smovie or not, but good she got it.
Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer (Beginners) - I remember him from Girl with Dragon Tattoo & haven't sene this but dunno.. must be good or just got it cuz he's 82?
Best Supporting Actress: Ocatvia Spencer (The Help) - I haven't seen this movie or her. Did she get it cuz she's black woman? Just kidding.. I think she probably is very good and didn't have Meryl for competition
Best Original Screenplay: Woody Allen (Midnight in Paris) - I have not been able to see this movie inspite of my multiple attempts through Netflix. I got the disc but it didn't play, got 2 more but they didn't play sound, getting a dvd now. Anyways, I like Woody Allen a lot and waiting to watch this awesome movie.
Best Animation feature: Rango - That's the only animation I had seen out of all nominees & it won.. not fair, but it happens.

You can see the other results which were mostly swept by Hugo I think, nobody seems to care much about the other technical categories but they are important and contribute heavily in making a good movie (although we find it boring & that's why I am skipping talking about them). AR Rahman was orchestrating the music I think, i did see him playing which was cool. I didn't like Billy Crystal's hosting, but much better than last year. But Jon Stewart was much better, or even NPH at Tonys (NPH should get to host Oscars!!).

I also watched two movies: 2001 a Space Odyssey (8/10) was pretty cool but I wasn't blown away by it. Although, I enjoyed the extras much more. Tells you how it was so awesome for that time. The visual effects, the imagination, the execution etc and the music is all just AWESOME. I didn't get the plot a lot initially & didn't make lot of sense but I kinda get it now. Stanley is definitely a filmmaker's filmmaker, a great guy. I also watched Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu (7/10), which I thought was a rip-off of What Happens in Vegas; but it was not. It's a good movie with ok performance by Imran Khan (he sometimes seems dead-ish, cinema should be more cinematic I think), decent performance by Kareena (she suits these kind of crazy roles) and good plot, interesting ending and great name of the lead guy.. RAHUL!!

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Happy Birthday Sister!!

Monday, February 20, 2012

Om Namah Shivay.. MahaShivRatri!!

Happy MahaShivRatri to all Shivabhaktas... Har-Har-Har Mahadev, Jai Shiva Shankar!!

Trip to Providence RI = AWESOME

What an awesome weekend, with a totally awesome trip to Providence, RI. Its around 200 miles from Jersey City, driving on I-95 N. We started Saturday morning & the drive was nice with two Cracker Barrels & lots of Mcdonalds on both sides. The stay in Marriott Courtyard Providence Downtown was great, its right in center of the city, walking distance to everything. So walk around downtown Providence in the evening was fun - visit/walk in Brown University (another Ivy League conquered!!) to Prospect Terrace Park (surprisingly nice view of the city & all that) & walk on Benefit Street (maybe it was just time of the day, but BORING).. Most of the time was spent in the hotel having FUN. I got a free upgrade to a room with whirlpool/jacuzzi (those can get real dirty after use, glad I am not the one who had to clean it) and nice view. Thoroughly enjoyed the gym (worked out twice), swimming pool (tried to swim once) & spa at the hotel. Also ordered "stuffed" pizza in room for dinner, while watching Russel Peters.. REALLY NICE!!

Next day after more hotel fun (same stuff, but still fun) we decided to go to Warwick, RI. First stop the Warwick Light House which was not easy to locate (drive straight on Warwick Neck Av. till dead end) was closed doors, 4 cars had to turn back. Then 5 mins drive to Oakland Beach, which is nice small rocky beach. Then to Apponaug Village (where was it? is it real??), right next to famous City Hall, Public Library & Art Museum etc. Surprisingly enough, everything but a Walgreens store & a Chinese Restaurant was closed, everything... So drove straight back, stopping in Stamford, CT for dinner at a nice Italian Place called ZaZa (best Italian food I have ever had!!). Then back home in time to watch Scarface (8/10), quite a movie... Quite an awesome weekend!!

P.S. Quite a great foodie weekend too - Not just the best Italian food with various tapas', pasta & crushed cannoli; great "stuffed" pizza; nice Korean lunch (in Providence); delicious burritos & quesadillas (in NYC).. I also enjoyed some "delicious" home made Lava Cake this weekend, really memorble with long lasting effects :)

Sunday, February 12, 2012

12 02/2012

What's that? Today's date in Indian/European style, 12 February 2012. Or in US, 02/12/2012. Nice date huh? It's not bad for sure.. Anyways, this weekend's been mostly a cleanup weekend for bedroom floor, kitchen counter-top & living room area. Which was nice & quite an accomplishment. Also watched 2 movies, again.. The Artist (8/10) which is a great film (here in US, we make movies, american movies.. leave the films to french) with nice performances, good story line, great visuals & great dialogues.. oops, almost no dialogues but I could feel them & felt nice. It's almost a silent movie with mostly soundtrack only. & it's black & white. Still lot of fun to watch, great job for sure!! Also watched Woman in Black (6/10) starring our good old Dan the Harry Potter. Well, he's older now, playing a widower dad.. and he does quite well. But I do not really appreciate horor movies who just try to scare you with shock value & loud sounds but nothing really scary to arouse your fear from inside. That's what this does mostly so not super-impressed. But if you are a fan of horror genre or dan, you can go & watch it for once. Also went to this decent diner next to water in Edgewater, NJ (apparently, Whitney's mom lives here) and had this nice Banana Split.. YUM!!!!

Sad news for many, Whiteny Houston died yesterday... RestInPeace Whitney!!

Wednesday, February 08, 2012

Annie Hall (10/10)

La-dee-da, la-dee-daa... I just watched Annie Hall, one of the most wonderful, entertaining & fun movies I have seen. Yeah.. I am giving it 10/10, cuz I loved it so much. It's funny, it's neurotic, it's crazy, it's silly, its smart & it's AWESOME!! It's my kinda movie, like my style... Woody Allen is so smart with his dialogues, his ideas, his actors, & everything... His frequent breaking of fourth wall is so nice (same as I talk to U guys.. U think he copied me?). Watching of past events live, very well used. Great concept & thinking behind the movie too. It's story of a neurotic jew comedian, born & brought up in Brooklyn & living in Manhattan. He meets Annie (beautiful & wonderful Diane Keaton, really great), he dates annie, they break up, they get together, they breakup & all that. Lot of stuff happens in between.. in New York and some in "LA, the city where only cultural advantage is being able to make right turn on red light", LOL. Just watch the movie & you'll love it.... Congratulations & Kudos Woody Allen (I know it means a lot to you & you've been waiting for this)!!

Sunday, February 05, 2012

NY Giants WON Superbowl

That's the biggest news of the weekend of course. Second news is I went to Metropolitan Museum of Art which is not just an Art Museum as I thought or people may expect but has lots of awesome artistic & historic & cultural artifacts including, sculptures, paintings, crafts, designs and lot of awesome stuff from all over the world. I saw some Egyptian & Indian stuff only with little Japanese & American/European paintings etc. It's really huge too, I probably saw just 10% of it. Third news is, I saw Tree of Life (5/10). One of most boring movies I have seen in a while. Good performances & great imagery but BS movie. Overall, it was a nice weekend!!

Thursday, February 02, 2012

Agneepath (8/10) & Underworld 4 (5/10)

After last "Quite a Weekend", I watched 2 movies today.. Agneepath is definitely a great movie.. very well acted, very well presented & very well done. As most of you may know that it's remake of 1990 movie of same name with Amitabh Bachchan in lead role & directed by Mukul S Anand. I honestly do not remember a lot from the movie except Amitabh's introduction as Vijay Deenanath Cahuhan, his white suits, some fights & the climax scene (spoiler) where he dies in his mother's arms. I do remember Mithun da as Krishna Iyer MA, which role has been completely eliminated from this movie. But Karan Malhotra has added Rauf Lala played by Rishi Kapoor in negative role, which is most definitely one of his greatest performance & highlight of the movie. Rishi is menacing, mean, crooked, fierce & BAD.. & most definitely REAL. Unlike Kancha Cheena played by Sanjay Dutt, which is definitely a great performance by him, but seems quite unrealistic & out of place for the movie. He has this semi-devil kinda role which would be great in a mythology or fantasy or some crazy movie, but does not seesms to fit in well in this movie.. which in turn make the Scene with Sanjay Dutt not as fantastic.. which in turn makes the whole climax scene in Mandwa, not as awesome as you would expect. Because movie has got you in high wits and emotional state by 2/3rd of the movie with all the things going on, some great scenes between Hrithik (who's at his usual best, nothing exceptional but very good) & Priyanka (who's really good in the movie), mother-son scenes & ofcourse Scenes with Rishi. Regardless, it's a fantastic movie with great visuals, background score, music, dialogues & performances. Definitely a must watch great movie!!

Underworld Awakening on the other side was quite a bore.. or maybe not. Wasn't horrible, it was just what you expect. But definitely not as good as first two movies. It's very low on content & high on action. 3D is again a misuse and just seems the money making scam. It was a an okay/kinda-fun watch.. If you are an Underworld or Vampire franchise fan.. then go ahead!!

Monday, January 30, 2012

Quite a Weekend.. Really!!

Why? Well.. it all started on Friday when I was supposed to take Bolt Bus to DC from Newark and I ended up on bus to Boston.. yeah!! The driver checked the ticket and didn't say anything and I thought it was bus to DC as it was on same spot & boarded it. No announcements made either.. Half way through I realized I am on wrong bus and asked the driver, he tells me I need to go to Boston & take another Bus back. WTF? I call customer care & they get me to dispatch, which tells me to get off at rest stop Burger King & they'll have bus to NY from Boston pick me &take to NYC where I can take bus to DC. They talk to driver about location & the idiot again screws up by giving them wrong location. I end up waiting 4.5 hrs at that stop when after making five calls, finally a bus shows up. I get in NYC at 10 where I finally board Megabus (which I don't like, but they came to my rescue) to DC reaching DC at 2 in night after 15 hrs of journey.. Could have made to India in that time!!

Next day i.e. Saturday, paid a visit to National Zoo in DC with Tani. Small zoo, but okay. Orangutans & Gorrillas there are nice & active & smart seeming. Orangutans take the high rope & fly across one cage to another, was fun to watch. One was pissing & pooping while hanging in air, weirdo.. The other specialty is Giant Panda. They were being leased fro $1 Million until recently and now US is paying $500,000 to China. All they do, is sit & eat Bamboo. For that kinda money, they should do a dance show or something... Regardless, it was fun but the evening was not. Went to Amy's birthday party at PF Chang in Arlington where I was served with completely wrong dish, extreme opposite of what I ordered. The manager came & apologized & all that, but still.. very-very bad.. We did get free appetizer coupons and $45 gift card for me & Amy each. So anyways, all in all, it was REALLY.. QUITE a WEEKEND!!

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Happy India Republic Day 2012!!

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Jay Leno's insult to Sikh

US defends comedian Jay Leno jibe

Really? Why so?? With republic day coming tomorrow.. I mean, maybe be more open to humor... I do not personally approve of what Leno did, I don't even like him actually. But this is right of free speech and what he showed what just sarcastic skit. Didn't say anything in particular about Sikhs or the religion at al in this skit. So maybe loosen up & take it easy. We see even more in India itself, direct insults & dis-respect. This is an American guy just doing his job the way he does it.. & it didn't show any direct dis-respect to sikhs or even Golden Temple.. Maybe we as a country and as Indian people need to losen up a little & take things easy??