Oprah attacked for India special

I haven't seen the episode yet, but I will soon & then make ky comment on this. But living in US, I can tell how Americas still have stereotypes of India & Indians - how we travel around on elephants, with snake charmers around (I m not kidding), cows roaming everywhere, rushed & crushed in traffic/transport, hot & sweaty, beggars & people with no food, always religious & stuff etc etc. Some of which is true but many of it us not. Plus making fun of our culture - like eating with hands, sitting on floor, religious rituals, arranged marriages (not all the time now), living with family (not always again) etc are great things we are proud of. So no one has right to make fun of or even think of these as lowly or bad things. Indian culture & traditions have there greatness & some not so great points like anything else in world but no one has right to judge us. We are proud of ourselves as Indians and the great growth, development and everything we have. If you cone to our home, if you can't learn from us, at leastcplease respect us..
Oprah attacked for India special

Santhi Soundarajan: an Indian athlete's story

The only reason I am pointing this out is that I feel bad about how a talented athlete like Santhi has to go through this. Can we do something to make this right?

Share http://timesofindia.feedsportal.com/fy/8at2EuS0cCMWr2oH/story01.htm

Last day at NYSE..

I don't know if I had said it openly earlier that I was working at NYSE (what's NYSE? r u crazyy??). And today was my last day at the project where I have been for 2 yrs.. longest I have been on one single project at one single place, nostalagic & all that. Moving to new opportunity, new project.. in Stamford, CT. (Read this too from few years ago, when I left job at Sapient)

Pranab as President?

Seems Pranab Mukherjee is going to be next President of India. Should he be the president? Dunno.. Congress always brings in this shitty political candidates for president & it sucks. First thing we don't get to chose or vote for our own president, he doesn't have any real powers and then on top of everything. Why not have somone non-political, reputed and someone who can represent our nation in a good way. Like great APJ Abdul Kalam, who could've been the president again, but..

Anyways, I watched few movies:

• The Silver Lining Playbook (7/10)
• Moonrise Kingdom (8/10)
• Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (5/10)
• Ides Of March (7/10)
• Fast Five (6/10)
• Scent Of a Woman (8/10)

Happy Birthday Maa!!

Special post to say a very-very Happy Birthday to my dearest Maa (mummy/mother/ mata/maatey/mum/amma/maiya/maai/mom..)  Janmadin ki haardik shubhkaamnayein!! :)

Making The Bus Monitor Cry.. But why are we paying for her vacation??

So, I just saw this & this is really bad of course. We never had such problems growing up. Kids respected elders & seniors. I'm not sure how it is now. But this was instilled in us by parents & teachers & everyone. Showing respect to elderly, helping them if needed, offering our seats in bus/train etc etc.. I've seen this behavior in kids in US and its really pathetic. Fault of parents, school & society to not be able to inflict proper manners and behavior. These kids should be properly punished and taught a lesson to not only for them, but to set an example for others. And we as a society should take responsibility to grow our younger generation into better human beings.. On a second note, I saw this campaign to get this poor lady a vacation. Almost $200,000 as of right now & still 30 days left. Really? So that's the idea to teach lesson to those kids & set an example?? People are dying of hunger, heat, cold etc etc in different parts of world. They need more help or this poor lady for vacation?? We don't seem to be as concerned about fixing this problem so thousands & millions of other victims of this can stop suffering. Why do we think more about compensating the victim than fixing the problem and making a better world for everybody. Think about it..


(please read the comments to see what people are saying here & my views further..)

Happy Father's Day

I did wish my Dad Happy Father's Day just now.  Well, it is still Father's Day here. Again, there are so many days to remember - Day for mom, Day for love, day for thanks, day for rose, day for this, day for that... Seriously seems a scam by gift & card industries to make money. And that's why I don't waste money on gifts & cards. But why not take an opportunity to remember, thank & show your love for these important people in your life... So, on this Father's Day, again, I want to thank you Dad. For being you, and for making me what I am today. Thanks.. & I love you!!!!

It's been a nice interesting week. I've been working out quite well. Didn't really watch any new movie except Snatched (7/10 - good performances & interesting but nothing gerat about it. Although Benecio Del Torro does looks like Brad Pitt); The Descendants (8/10 - great performances & interesting storyline, good movie); Bbudah Hoga Tera Baap (6/10 - a fun masala movie for masala & Bachchan fans). Weather has mostly gotten better. But I still just mostly rested this weekend & got good sleep. Cooked too, a new omelet+mixed-veg subzi and ch-ch-chholey. Looking forward to a great week!!

I N-joyed "Stakes" again..

I didn't misspell it, I do mean stakes & not steaks - Belmont Stakes 2012. I'll have another was not playing, so no Triple Crown, but still was a nice day. Bet $40 total & won $20, not too bad I'll say for a fun day of horse racing. What sucked was tolls. From Jersey, you have to pay $13 toll to get in Staten Island and then $13 again to get back to Staten Island from Brooklyn. WTF?? And on top of that we had to pay $3.25 toll each way for visit to Far Rockaway, which is not as bad at night as people may tell you, but not any shops open or enough people after sunset, to have any fun there.. BTW, Union Rags won!!

Watched J.Edgar (6/10), which is not a great movie but good performances by actors, specially acting old. Plus interesting to see what happened in recent history during those days. More like fun documentary for me. Also watched Singham (7/10) which was fun. Not a great storyline or amazing plot/performances etc but not bad either. Actually Ajay Devgn (he's Devgn now & not Devgan) & Prakash Raj were quite good. Over the top action, over the top acting, over the top everything with dropping cars, flying people (when slapped by Singham), tacky dialogues etc etc, but FUN. What else do you want from a movie? Every movie is not suppsoed to make you a better person. When Mithun & Dharmendra were doing similar movies but low budget B-graders, we were too posh to watch those & laughed at them. Now we are enjoying similar movies but presented in a better form. Full fledged Action & Masala time is back in Bollywood!!

Prometheus | Snowhite and the Huntsman | My Week with Marilyn | Life of Pi

I should just make this a movie blog now, no? No. But how many movie reviews do I put & how many movies do I watch.. Anyways, I saw Prometheus (8/10) today in advance screening. The heavily awaited Ridley Scott supposed prequel to Alien is very good. The movie is shot in 3D & looks awesome. It's scary too, one scene of a creature eating some creature actually made me crawl & jump. The idea of finding your creator is interesting. But who created them & who created them & who.. And if someone was not created but was just there, why not us.. That's not what movie talks about but very interesting movie & well shot, good performances & everything. Also, go well before time & do not miss the trailer of Life of Pi, which is actually a scene from the movie. An Indian boy stuck on a life boat with a Bengal tiger and suddenly flying fishes start bursting from all over. Funny & fun scene with very good visuals. Looking forward to the movie..

Snowhite & Huntsman (5/10) could've been a good movie, but it is not. It just tries too hard to be a great movie with un-required scenes, un-convincing performances, un-understandable dialogues. Why show this BIG SFX/VFX scene of horned deer etc to show she's special when mirror already told that & we know, everyone knows she's special. Why she comes back to life after kiss from huntsman but not William who seemed more like the love interest. The last scene with her getting crowned is so unconvincing too, like most of the film. Also watched My Week With Marilyn (7/10) from Netflix, good movie. Not much of a story but good performances & well done. So I have watched lots of movies & we have hod lot of cold-ish rainy weather here in NYC. Although its been clearer & warmer since yesterday. I am working out too, back in Crunch Gym., 70+ mins of non-stop work out, pretty good. BTW, why do they name all these workout classes so ridiculously. Cant just call what it is, like ab class, full body workout, spinning or whatever. Whats the deal with all this fancy names. That's it for now, have a great weekend!!

Madagascar - 3 - Musketeers

Quite obvious that I saw these two movies, very smartly put by me as one phrase above :) Madagascar 3 (8/10) is a very good & fun movie. I went to the preview, where they gave clown nose, paper wig, water tattoos etc with special dance performance too. The movie is full of new characters, gags, jokes & Afro Circus is just funny. This time the gang is trying to escape from Africa to New York by becoming part of a failing travelling Circus with a fierce tiger that can jump through hoops as small as rings, a  sharp jaguar-ess who loves Trapeze Americano & an average intelligence Sea Lion who's cute & funny as hell & likes to "fly". The gang also has to fight & run from Capt Chantel DuBois, a crazy french animal control officer. And at the end they fight it all off & win with 2 wonderful circus performances!! Only bad thing, King Julien (& even others except Alex) kinda reduced, want more.. 3 Musketeers (6/10) is an average movie with some stunning visuals & nice action scenes. The weather's been warm/hot or rainy-ish again & I took a drive to Philadelphia yesterday to meet friends & had a great time.. & a great weekend!!

Gangs of Wasseypur @ NYIFF2012

After camping in Wharton State Forest, I went to the closing event of NYIFF2012 this Sunday and watched Gangs of Wasseypur Part-1 (8/10) by Anurag Kashyap. Its an interesting movie which starts in 1940 with bandit looting british trains; then war of landlords & workers of coal mines; then a boy raised into a ganglord who wants to avenge his fathers death; to his family & further events etc. All original north Indian cast with all original story inspired by  or similar to City of God. Anurag said that Part-2 is almost ready & will be done by Jun 20th but release depends on reception of Part-1. At the after party, I met Anurag, Pooja Batra, Aishwarya Rajnikanth & legendary Shaym Benegal who was given Life Time Achievement Award. The weather is really hot now (have put my A/C) so yesterday was mostly resting, cleaning & time-pass etc.

Wharton State Forest NJ

Spent 2 days 1 night at Wharton State Forest camping this weekend. It's pretty cool & nice. It's biggest forest in New Jersey which is 115,000 acres of pine barrens. It's just 2-3 hrs drive from Jersey City. For NJ residents, the permits are $20 for family sites & $3 per person for regular wild/back-country sites. We took a spot in Batona Campsite & did car-camping (no setting up of tents, just sleep inside the car). Did real camp-fire though, for 4 hrs. Bought a bag of firewood there for $7 and picked up rest of wood from around & burnt it all with help of "crap" (pine leave & grass etc); so cool, I mean so HOT!!

Also did more than 12 miles of hiking. All the trails cross dirt roads here so can be disappointing in the sense that you can reach anywhere by just driving a 4x4 or a dirt bike or maybe even a regular car. But there's no directions & stuff so you need to know the roads & paths. First day was 5+ miles of Mullica River trail from Atsion in 2.5 hrs, which is really boring. Next day was 7+ of Batona Trail from Carranza Memorial to Apple Pie Hill in 4 hrs. You can see Atlantic City & Philadelphia from the top of the tower along with whole forest. Saw some rare species of tree-frogs & special kinda pine trees & interesting flora & fauna. Also there's Atsion lake with fake beach & all that. Also can do lot of canoeing adventures. Overall, very-very exciting & FUN!!

Chernobyl Diaries (6/10)

Just watched Chernobyl Diaries (6/10) in a preview screening. It was kinda good. Not all about noises, booms, shock etc. Kinda tried to build up on story, but kinda failed at the end. *SPOILER* So this guy visits his brother in Kia, with his girlfriend/to-be-fiancee & her friend; and the brother takes them on an extreme tour of Chernobyl area with a ex special-force guide. No one is supposed to be there, but there are not just some crazy dogs & bear but something/someone else. No surprise, nuclear radiation contaminated crazy people who now start killing them. Almost all die in the chase, except one girl who is eventually caught by authorities; revealing those things were run-away patients. They finally have her killed from other patients. *SPOILER ENDS*. But movie goes on in nice pace, with no over drama, but enough tension. Nice camera work, editing, dialogues, acting etc. on a well-done set. Only if climaxed was better, but worth a watch for thrill-horror-suspense fans.

It's been an okay but rainy week. Lotta rain going on suddenly. But I am still busy working & working out. Watched 3.10 to Yuma (8/10) & The Road (8/10) this week. Good plot, great acting and very nice movies. Christian Bale & Russell Crowe playing southerners/cowboys & doing great job; or the young Australian kid Kodi acting so fine.. good stuff. Going to real camping in forest for first time tomorrow to Wharton State Forest, very excited!!.. will let you guys know how it was after I am back.. until then, have fun & have a nice long weekend!!

FUN weekend.. & Modern Indian Village!!

After my Sleep No More experience this Friday night, the weekend was FUN too. Wokeup really late at 2.00 pm on Saturday & went to city to Karaoke48 (I am terrible with English songs and it proved it again) and then dinner at Ah Chiuaha (really nice tex-mex food). Then took the tram ride to Roosvelt Island, which is nice view of city & Island. Tehn went to ruins of Smallpox Hospital where we got stuck cuz the gate got locked at dawn and had to jump over to get out.. FUN!! Then to Serendipity for desset, but the 1.5 hr wait forced us to go to Ralph Lauren's daughter's Dylan's Candy Bar (sundae was fine but no long spoons, no nuts & stupid large cups). Got back home & watched Rang De Basanti (10/10).  Also did some shopping, cleaning etc, went running and had a nice FUN weekend... On a separate note, read this story about this nice modern-ish village in India 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/Gujarat-village-that-puts-metros-to-shame/articleshow/13309567.cms

Sleep No More, New York City (7/10)

I watched Sleep No More. It was good but not what I expected. I expected it to be a performance of Macbeth going on in that setup. Story of Macbeth going on in the building, with different scenes in different rooms and you follow people & the story. Something like Shakespeare in the Park but more interactive, more real, more fun. This was not that. This definitely did not seem like Macbeth or even Shakespeare. There were no dialogues for gods sake. Just some grunting & sounds. Thats not Shakespeare as I know it. What happened to that poetic language & weird-ish accent etc etc. Although somethings were good... The setup of the so called McKittrick Hotel was nice. Being able to get in & run around & explore & touch things etc etc was really nice & fun. Also, the choreography of the different dance sequences was nice. I am not going to strongly recommend everyone to go watch this. But it was a very different & cool experience!!

So if you still wanna go, some tips & pointers:

• Its not scary. It could be spooky, but def not scary!!
• Knowing or not knowing Macbeth doesn't matters, cuz it doesn't seems like Shakespeare's Tragedy of Macbeth.
• Its not period show, not 1800s costumes etc etc. Supposedly, its modern interpretation/adaptation of story of Macbeth.
• Its warm inside, so don't need warm clothes/coats unless you need them outside. You'll just have to pay $3 for coat check.
• There's a bar inside right before entry with live music. You can use credit card.
• Bathrooms are on many floor I think & definitely near the bar.
• You can follow the characters/actors if you want to see people & some dancing etc etc. They are really fast, so you have to be fast runner.
• Otherwise just explore. Touch things & do w/e u want. EXPLORE!!
• Try to get personal experience by getting locked in room with some character. Its more on upper floors with nurse/maid & some people.
• The grand-finale is in ballroom, so be in ballroom by end of the show.

Kya Swaad Hai Zindagi Mein

Its been a usual week so far, nothing special.. Watched Braveheart (7/10) which was good, what happened to Mel Gibson? Watched Griff the Invisible (6/10), which was okay.. Been running too, outside running in my new New Balance 993, pretty awesome.. It kinda rained on Mon & Tuesday, so then I couldn't.. Going to watch Sleep No More tomorrow.. About the title, it means "Life has what a taste." Just was thinking about that Cadbury Dairy Milk ad from early 90s, which had this tagline. Here it goes..

Mother's Day.. & New Balance 993

As I have said in the past, why do we need a special day for celebrating love or fatherhood or motherhood. Should be able to celebrate any & every day. Just seems like scam for giftcard companies to make money. Still, will take this opportunity to congratulate all the mothers.. Thank you maa, for being best mom in the world!!

Weather is getting really warm, inda hot. I've been running outside with my new shoes. I feel a "New Balance" while running with these shoes (yes, they are New Balance 993.. they are really awesome but why $145?). Rest all is well!!

Aladeen movie.. The Dictator (6/10)

It's kinda silly/stupid but FUNNY. Sacha Baron Cohen is weird & crazy, but he does what he does & does it very well. Admiral General Aladeen of Republic of Wadiya is a stupid/crazy dictator, who just does not wants his country to be a democracy. Americans and other free country may not understand how dictatosrship allows 99% wealth to be in 1% pupulation's hand, rich to get richer, so called free media but controlled by few people etc etc. So I am not sure that if I aladeened the movie or aladeened it, but its definitely an aladeen movie and you'll aladeen it!!

Marvel's The Avengers (2012)

After watching two invasion movies (one by Aliens and one by North Koreans, same thing huh? We don't know much of what they are and what they are upto) Battleship & Red Dawn, I went for a preview invite of Dark Shadows but the seating was full and couldn't watch it. So ended up watching The Avengers (9/10) instead. Is it awesome or what? Its again one of the best superhero movies I have seen, on the lines of The Dark Knight (which is really dark & cool) or Ironman (more like it). It's a great combination of action, comedy, fun, thrill & everything with a good storyline & great performances by the actors. Lot of credit goes to Joss Whedon who's both the screenwriter & director of this movie. Mark Ruffalo is very good as Dr Bruce Banner/HULK, although I am not sure if I liked "the other guy" bit, but great performance by Mark. Better than both Edward Norton & Eric Bana. Funny, nerdy & totally cool (& its awesoem how he hulk totally beats up Loki). Robert Downy Jr is a great actor as I have said in the past & he's very much the Tony Stark & Ironman we know him for, proud, snobby, intelligent, funny and somewhat of a team player this time (his speech/conversation with Loki is just awesome). Chris Evans is good as Captain America, the conflicted guy trying to fit in and the soldier trying to keep his army together. Thor was just fighting almost everyone in the movie but was fine. Everyone else is just fine and they all have decent part in the movie. Even Black Widow, Hawkeye or Nick Fury. Watch the movie till post credit cuz its COOL;)

I was in DC and the weather has been rainy, coldish, warmish etc. I've been okay too. Nothing to tell.. Did watch When Harry Tries to Marry (6/10), good plot/story line but bad casting/acting. Tani really enjoyed it though.. and she almost knew about the movie already i.e. predicted lot of stuff including dialogues correctly.. Almost SCHMOOL!!

Battleship & Red Dawn : 2012 INVASIONs

I watched preview of Battleship (5/10) last week and it was an okay movie. Has lot of action & fighting & some humor and some patriotism for earth & all that. Just another Alien invasion movie which is not bad atall but not great either. Taylor Kitsch was really good in Bang Bang Club and he has 2 big projects already this year with John Carter (supposedly, one of the biggest flop ever) & this one.

Red Dawn (7/10) is really good movie. A group of teenagers from Seattle, called Wolverines, headed by a marine fight against a Korean invasion. When you watch such movies, makes you think of what US has done in Iraq or Afghanistan. I mean, maybe they feel the same way when they are fighting against our forces. Don't know.. But anyways, movie portrays the fight, teh struggle nicely and performances are not bad & Chris Hemsworth is good. A good movie which has been struggling to release fro 2 yrs..