Do i still have my 21 grams?
Saw 3 movies over the weekend. The first one was "Flatliners" , an over-the-top attempt looking at death by the god of over-the-top movies, Mr. Joel Schumacher himself. I can never forgive him for what he did to the Batman franchise ( Batman:forever and Batman and Robin) till it was rescued by Chris Nolan. This movie was one of his earlier forays and starred a virtual who's who of todays movie stardom - Keifer Sutherland, Julia Roberts, Kevin Bacon, Oliver Platt, Billy Baldwin. It was about this bunch of med school students played by the aforementioned who try and experiment with near death experiences. Consequently all hell breaks loose. While it might sound like one of the present day Sean William Scott, Sarah Michelle Gellar kinda movies, let me tell you straight up that its NOT! It handles the whole subject a little more cleverly, though the story could have been made a whole lot more gripping. BTW, why the hell dont we see more of Kevin Bacon and Keifer Sutherland on screen nowadays. They are such good actors !
The next movie that i saw was the one that absolutely blew me away. This was "21 grams" directed by this hotshot Mexican director Alejandro Innaritu. This is the same guy who directed "Amores Perros". 21 grams starred Sean Penn, Naomi Watts and Benecio Del Torro. Its one of the better non linear story depictions that i have seen with the flow criss crossing between the past and present. But the beauty of the entire movie lies in the fact that this criss crossing leaves you curious and engrossed in the story. The movie is basically about how 3 totally unrelated people meet together because of a freak accident. Benecio Del Torro shows why he's regarded as such a fine actor and his performance as the born again ex-con towers over Penn and Watts' performances. Penn and Watts have this Macbethian relationship in the movie and its amazing to witness the subtle manner in which Watts increases her grasp over Penn. Penn though has some amazing dialogues to his credit in the movie, the poem that i had mentioned in my previous post being one of them. Penn kinda reprises one of his underdog-loser kinda roles that he has portrayed to perfection in the past, but his acting in the movie is terrific. Watts, is a little to shrewish for my liking, but man does she look stunning in the movie or what! This is a must must watch movie for everybody.
The other movie that i saw was The English Patient for the nth time. Hell, what can i say about this movie which already hasnt been said before. Is there any director better than Minghella when it comes to adapting love-tragedies for the screen? I wish i could have seen this movie on the big screen. The desert would have looked even more alluring and beautiful than on my little 21" TV. The last few sequences in the movie where Almassy leaves Katherine in the cave and goes looking for help, often leave me with a lump in my throat. Its just too beautiful.
BTW, why the hell have i not heard of Devin Townsend in the past? I have been listening to this album of his called "Infinity" and cant get over the song " Unity". The guitar intro is just amazing. This guy, i read, is the guy behind Strapping Young Lad, though this music of his sounds like Enya meets Metal. Quite nice. Apparently, this album of his inspired by Broadway Musicals and somehow you get that feel from the album because of its grandeur-ish sounds and orchestra.
Current Music - Devin Townsend - Unity
The silence of your seclusion brings night into all you say
It took me 15 minutes of power failure with a solitary candle in a dark room of an empty house with a raging storm outside to understand why humans have worshipped fire since their existence.
I am not too much the poetry kinds but i heard this in a movie starring Sean Penn and it was quite beautiful:
The earth turned to bring us closerit turned on itself and within usuntil it finally brought us together in this dreamNights passed by, snowfalls and solsticestime passed in minutes and millennia.The earth was spinning with its musiccarrying us on boardit didn't stop turning a single momentas if so much love, so much that is beautifulwas only an adagio written long ago.Current Music: Opeth - The grand conjuration
Stapled shut - inside an outside world
It’s the same story every month. Month after month. Ceaseless. Painful. Temptation walks into my life, thinly veiled as information, news, updates, call it what you want. Temptation that just fans my fire for the unknown, for the wild, for the unbridled, for the uncharted. Its gets tougher and tougher to control when months go by and I don’t pander to its lascivious needs, it eats me from within, calling out to me like the devil sought out Eve on that fateful day. And I succumb……. yes more often that not I succumb.
What is this temptation you ask? It comes in an innocuous enough form, I’ll give it that much…those slick, glossy pages are nothing compared to what has led most other men astray, but to feed my wanderlust, those pages filled with their descriptions of wondrous lands are more than sufficient. They with their mesmerizing words, breathtaking sceneries are enough to leave me sleepless, …..ok …maybe not sleepless, but at least breathless for a few minutes. But that Outlook Traveler is nothing but pure evil in its most primitive form, I tell you. And I seek it like a moth seeks a flame, month after month, to see places far and beyond, places that are far too numerous to be covered in one normal lifetime. They even give advice on how to get there, which are the cheapest places to stay and which are the best months to visit. Hell, there is only so much a man can do to resist, ok?!!!
God, I implore you, beseech you, help me, help me to be strong enough to withstand its vile machinations, its wily games. And if you can’t do that, at least give me enough money to do its bindings.
PS.maybe I had a little too much free time at office today, but what the hell this is still my blog,ok!!. And I mean every word I wrote.
Current Music: Slipknot - Before I Forget
Waking up in a breakdown..
The quiz went alright, people did clap their hands for some of the questions, some even drew a few "oohs" and "aaahs" and one....yes one even got raised eyebrows of appreciation from the gods themselves. Mission pretty much accomplished, it would seem to me. Though the audio system of Canara Union did screw up some of my audio questions a bit, but those things can be forgotten. The quiz was won by QED ( the Chennai team) with WONLY coming second. Cant forget Anustup Dutta listening to Damageplan and then going...."How can you listen to this....this NOISE!!!" .....hahahahahahah!
The weekend in Bangalore as always was a nice getaway. Went to college on Saturday on a stupid whim. It was too weird, there are a bunch of new buildings around, nobody sits in the museum anymore, they have signboards for everything, damn they even have a freaking working checkpost of some sort. Though somethings never change. Dreamland, Old sports complex, the cows in the fields, the sleepy hostellites, the guys with their gals in front of Princi's office..... :)
Heard about this new store in Bangalore called Magazines, though didnt quite get time to check it out. Its supposed to stock only magazines and has the biggest collection in the country or so it claims. And the best part is that its right next to Blossom's so that always is an added bonus. Will check it out next time when i am there.
Though the sad part is always getting back to work on the Monday morning. That freaking never changes. I need my revitalizers pronto!!
Current Music: Dillinger Escape Plan- Baby's First Coffin
Alrite....
Whew!! Watta week....been setting questions like crazy. I am doing the next KQA open for the month of September. Setting questions for a quiz is not tough, but setting questions for a KQA open is a different ball game altogether. I have been racking my brains, burning the midnight oil so to speak to get everything in shape. I have got a decent set of fundaes prepared, could say that some of my best till date. Lets see how it goes!!
By the way if anybody wants to drop in here are the details:
Date: 18th September, Sunday
Venue: Canara Union, 8th cross,malleswaram, bangalore
Time : 2:00 pm
Current Music: Pantera - Goddamn Electric
So intense, so glorious....
Been rediscovering the joy of reading a good book. Just been introducing to the world of Asian literature by a friend who gave me a copy of Khalid Hossieni's " The Kite Runner". Prior to this the only other non-indian Asian writer that i had read was probably Yukiko Ishima, whose writings are probably a genre in their own. His style of writing is more like poetry in paragraphs with minimalism and brutual starkness bringing in a beauty of their own. Never has Japan looked as beautiful through somebody's words to me.
Khalid Hossieni's writings bring out a face of Afghanistan which is impossible for me to digest. A world where children actually play without guns, where they weep not for their parents lost to war, but because of bullies who treat them harshly. Once in the past Afghanistan was like that, as normal as any other country and Hossieni's painted a very surreal picture of that. Its almost as if you're waiting for the match to strike, for the lightening to come down and burn this unbelievable Afghanistan to ashes and create out of it the Afghanistan that we know today. Its gonna happen in the coming few pages. Cant believe I am eagerly awaiting it to see how it actually happened!
Just heard some glimpses of the new Arch Enemy album titled "Doomsday Machine". Well what do i say about this band? They have one of the better metal guitarists in their ranks in Michael Amott( ex- Carcass) who regularly comes up with some of the better licks in the business. Plus they have one of the most unique vocalists in Angela Gossow. She looks like a barbie doll but growls like Alexi Laiho on speed. Her joining the band have added that extra something that separates them from other bands of their genre. The song which has impressed me the most is Nemesis which stands out for its ferocity. Awesome track and quite a cool video too.
On the video front have found this awesome site for video downloads. It offers some really cool videos and provides very good download speeds. The rips are generally of good quality.
Check out the video of Slipknot's " Before I Forget" which features them without their masks. The intensity of those 9 freaks is just mindblowing. Another mindblowing song that i came across on one of the tapes that i bought was Satyricon's "Fuel for Hatred". Now Satyricon was one of those bands who i had heard in college days but they fell way short of my expectations with their album "Nemesis Divina". Much had been written about them after their debut EP " The forest is my throne" which was quite decent, but frankly the album was just about there and nothing more. However i have heard 2 tracks of their other album titled "Volcano". One was "Fuel for hatred" and the other was "Repine Bastard Nation" both of which stood out. "Fuel for hatred" is actually quite awesome in the sense that it sounds so much like the metal that Venom and Bathory had envisioned. The vibe of the song is eerily like Metallica's "Seek and Destroy" and Venom's "Black Metal". Plus i also happened to get the video which is directed by Jonas Akerlund. Search for it on google and you will find it. This is quite like old school metal and to some even extent even harks back to the days of Black Sabbath especially the interlude in "Fuel for Hatred" which sounds like something out of "Iron Man". The only things that make it better are Satyr's vocals and the drummer's double bass. The difference that a double bass pedal makes to the heaviness of a song is no more evident than in "Fuel for Hatred" which kicks to the next gear only because of the use of the double bass.
Another song that's got me hooked is Sentenced's "Ever Frost". Apparently Sentenced have just released a new album called "Funeral". Why "Funeral"? Because they are breaking up after this tour :-( . Another one bites the dust. RIP Sentenced.
PS BTW the site for the video downloads is
http://www.hdpvidz.com/download.html.
Current Music: Sentenced - Ever Frost.
