Saturday, September 20, 2008

Definitely, Maybe- a personal review

*Spoiler Warning*
(Also, it'll make more sense if you read this after you've watched the movie)

I identified with April from her very first scene. When she says "Why does one have to be a Democrat or a Republican? I'm struggling with the copy machine! I am nothing. Why am I obligated to be something? Why do I have to have an opinion about everything anyway?"

I've felt that way for ages.

I didn't realize she was one of the central characters in the movie. Or that she would be "the one". This is cos I try to avoid knowing anything about a movie before I watch it. That way the story unravels in front of me. So I thought she was one of the side-characters.


There's this scene where he asks her what she wants to do with her life ("What do you wanna be when you grow up?") and she says ...

Oh! I don't know! I don't know how to know! You know?
You know what I really wanna do is I wanna go to all those places I know nothing about.



Travel makes sense to me. Seeing the world, understanding a little bit about People, who we are, what we were, what we've done with this earth in our time to, how do you say... personalize it a little bit. I like to know all that.

I didn't like the first girlfriend, the college sweetheart, at all. And I was kinda disappointed that she was the mother, cos really, that woman had no balls whatsoever. She was scared by her boyfriend's ambitions and wanted out before she got sucked into his "dreams". And instead of doing the dignified thing and telling him she wanted out, she slept with his roommate!
Pfft!

And the daugther, she was cool. She had the balls to confront her dad and force him to look at himself and make him realize that he was unhappy and needed to do something about it. So I thought the mother would be Rachel Weisz, whose chracter is a real go-getter when it came to such things (the first time she met Will, as he was leaving her house, she ran upto him and kissed him. Sorry, I was curious, was her excuse!

I didn't like Ryan Philips as the hero too much. They should've gotten someone more convincing. The only scene he was convincing in was the one in which he was drunk. Every other scene, he looked like creep-trying-to-act-nice types. Dunno why. Maybe he's just not a good actor.

But I liked the movie! It was good, everyone other than the lead guy acted very well. :P

And there was this line in the movie that is an inscription on a book -

With love and hope and dreams of second chances

-Alice


I like that the name they chose is Alice. Like Alice in Wonderland.
Cos really.... love? hope? second chances?
She's gotta be in Wonderland!


Ok, sorry! That was the cynical me speaking!
But really, I like the movie. So I can't be that bad a cynic as I make myself out to be!
Right? :o)

Monday, September 01, 2008

More than a fender-bender

I had an accident yesterday.
It was on the highway, and the first accident I've had where there's actual visible damage to both my car and the guy that hit me.I was pretty shook up when it happened, cos it was a hard knock. But I'm ok now, and I was wearing my seat-belt and all, so I was fine.

Can't afford to have another accident cos I'm going to India on the 6th.

This time round I'm going to Kerala, to stay with my parents and my sis.
Sis has gotten admission in the UK and I wanna spend some time with her before she leaves.
I'm so proud of her! But I'm gonna miss her a LOT!

Oh well... such is life I guess. Filled with hellos and goodbyes.
Just gotta make sure the in between part is worth it all.

Friday, August 29, 2008

*Sighhhhhhhhh*

Freshly brewed coffee, "cowboy" omelette, (with minced meat and spring onions and salsa and cheese folded into it) with sour cream on the side and potato wedges. And pancakes with butter melting into the warmth of the pancakes and maple syrup dripping off it...

Perfect recipe to get over a hangover!

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Sense and Nonsense

So I'm at Festival City's canal walk with a friend. I ask her to take my picture. I sit at the edge and she takes my picture. We walk back indoors, walk all the way back to the Ikea section of the place, and I realize that I've left my cellphone back there at the canal walk, when my pic was being taken.

We walk back to the place and find 2 security officers standing there and there's this other random guy, who's sitting on a bench, enjoying the sun.

My phone is not there.

I cried out "Oh no! It's not here!" and the man on the bench asked me "Did you lose your cell phone?"
"Yes yes!"

He pointed at the security guards.

We went upto them, one male, one female.
"Excuse me, I've left my cell phone right there, do you have it with you? It's a Nokia phone. Bronze and black. "

The lady guard takes my phone out of her pocket.
I know it's mine, cos well, what are the chances of someone else leaving the SAME model of the phone at the SAME place at the SAME time?

But to prove it to her, I asked my friend to give me a call. She started dialling the number, and the lady guard stopped her and told "No, I'll give a call from MY phone.
We're like ... ok! Whatever!

I give her my number, and for whatever reason, she can't call me. The other guard and my friend, both try sperately, and the phone starts ringing.
But the woman, is not convinced.

"There's something wrong with this number. Why is it only 10 digits?"

I was so shocked! Hellllo! What freak country is she in?!
I wanted to shout IT IS ONLY TEN DIGITS HERE YOU MORON!
I didn't, but I did get very irritated.
Standing out in the heat brings out the worst in me anyway.

I said "Excuse me, I don't know what you're talking about, I don't know why it's not working when you call from your phone, maybe you're not dialing it right, or there's something wrong with the connection, but my friend here has called the number and so has the other guard and it's ringing, so I think we've established the fact that the number I have given, does indeed, belong to the phone in your hand. So I don't understand what you're waiting for."

By this time the other random guy on the bench had also come up and dialled my number, which was being repeated so many times that anyone would have remembered it by-heart by then.
Still, she refused to give me the phone on the grounds that it wasn't going through from her number and kept repeating that the number didn't seem right, cos it was only 10 digits.

The male guard apologized, and asked her to give the phone to me.
She finally gave the phone, and she said "Don't become angry. This is my job, to ensure that it is your phone."

PLEASE!

What the hell happened to common sense?

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Yes, I'm 27.

I don't believe in having my own birthday party.
I love birthdays and organizing birthday parties for others, and I always wish someone would do that for me too!

Of course, there's nothing wrong with organizing your own party. I admire people who have the kind of friends circle to do be able to do that. Or the kind that don't care and invite everyone over! Me, I would feel conscious about inviting people over.
It's silly maybe, but that's how I am.

So every year, I do nothing.

Today, again, I did nothing. I went to work, some guy at work had saved the date on his calender, so he wished me and proceeded to tell everyone at work that it was my birthday.

I got a catty reply from one guy "Oh! It's your birthday today?! Well, see, usually you get flowers, so that's why I didn't realize."

Oh, and I also had this other guy telling me "Hope this is your last birthday as a spinster!"

What is with men being so bitchy?!

After work, I went home, had my dinner (I'd made pulao) and I was watching a movie when my friend called up.

She said "Open your door!"

She and her husband had come with a little cake!
For me!

She didn't have candles, so we had to make do with matches!
We lit a match, stuck it in the middle of the cake, they started singing, I cut the cake and she yells "What are you doin?! You gotta blow out the match first!"

"Oh right! I forgot!"
It'd been so long since I'd cut a birthday cake!

We ate the cake, and she ate my pulao, which she loved, and we talked and laughed for a while.

What she did ... it was the sweetest thing! :o)

Monday, August 04, 2008

Living in Paintings and Fake Hotels!

We had a 3 day weekend last week, and we drove 1250km away to a Salalah ( in Oman. That's a neighbouring country).

Overnight, the scene changed from nothing but desert on both sides...

... to this!


The weather was wonderful, the temperature at a pleasant 20- 22 deg C, and the place was so greeeeeeen!




We were going up this mountain at one point of time and we had camels climbing alongside us, ambling along, calmly grazing. And then, 10 minutes later, we came across cows!
Never have I ever heard of camels and cows sharing the same zip code!


And the place was just soo beautiful, I felt like I was in a painting, cos it's so hard to believe that a place this beautiful actually exists! That too in the middle of a desert!


The whole trip was planned at the spur of a moment, so we didn't have any hotel reservations, which was the only downside! The Hilton, which is supposed to be the only decent hotel around, was completely booked. We stayed at another place, which was very opulent in it's decor, what with arabic-style furniture and all, but felt like a fake hotel!

Ok, I know that sounds weird, but let me tell you why! First of all, we went to one of the restaurants at the hotel and when we ordered a dish, the waitress had no idea what it was! We had to give her the number on the menu! The food, obviously, was pretty awful.

Then, in our suite, I decided to relax in a bubble bath for a while after the long drive. I got into the tub, and pulled the shower curtain, and the whole thing came off in my hands! I'm not Incredible Hulk and I hadn't tugged that hard! So when I looked up, I saw that the rod was not fixed to the wall!!! It was just there, a rod about the same length as the wall, just propped up!
:P

Later, in the tub, my elbow hit the soap dish, and it just fell off the hook that it was resting on and plunked into the tub!

See what I mean? It's a building pretending to be a hotel!

But besides the hotel thing, everything else was wonderful! I had amazing company, fantastic views and the best weather one can wish for (esp. when one is used to roasting in 50 degrees heat all the time!)

It was a wonderful road trip, and driving there was half the fun! We had to drive through clouds that were so thick that visibility was zero, and the only way we could make out where to go was by the reflectors on the roads! And this on a 2 lane road on the side of a mountain with oncoming traffic on the other lane!

I can't think of a more perfect break! I would recommend this trip to anyone who lives in the UAE. Just make sure you book the Hilton in advance!

Friday, July 25, 2008

Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na

In case you still haven't seen the movie *Spoiler Warning*

It's been ages since I went to a movie and laughed so hard!
There is nothing special about the story, it's the normal boy meets girl and they don't know they're in love till the end thing.
But the dialogues were hilarious and the way the scenes unfolded were so normal and casual-like. It's like my friend said... even the most serious bits were not taken too seriously. Very real. Not like a movie.

Everyone I know either loved Imran Khan or Genelia D'souza.
They were good, yes. But my favourite character was Shaleen. She is so cool! So sorted!
I've never wanted to be so like any character before! And I like that she's single. There's no pressure on her to get a guy cos everyone else in the group is hitting on each other. No tension! Just calm, logical and so cool!
I've not been able to find any pics of just her character, but here's one with them all (she's the one on the extreme right).

I actually don't like Imran Khan's character so much. I don't like the idea of someone who is so into the girl he's seeing that he ignores his friends. That's not a very nice friend, if you ask me.

But the movie itself, if you don't try to psychoanalyze the characters, is hilarious!