Thank You for 1500 Visits

I wish to express my sincere thanks to all the readers who have visited my blog and read my posts. My special appreciation to those, who have posted comments on my posts. I personally feel that even posting your comments is also a form of writing like blogging as one has to organize his views and thoughts on the post to write his/her comments.

Thank you all again for taking my Blog Visits to 1500. My blog has recently crossed the 1500 mark in about 4.5 months and I feel happy about it.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to everyone who is reading this. I know its a bit belated wishes, but this christmas was so busy in meeting with friends and hanging out, that I barely got time to access internet.

It was a great fun to be at Times Square and Rockfeller Center on Christmas eve with continuous drizzling and comfortable temperatures.

Forbes 40 richest Indians

Forbes 4o richest Indians in the world list has been released and is quite exclusive. It gave a great sense of pride while reading that lists and the achievements of the people featured there. The article can be accessed here and the ranking is here. The details of each person's business can be seen by clicking on his name. This list spans all the major sectors business including steel, software, telecom, pharmaceuticals, energy, textiles, real estate etc. Here is a snapshot and an excerpt:

"FORBES ASIA's second annual list of the 40 richest Indians is quite a bit more exclusive this year. Folks needed a net worth of at least $590 million, up from $305 million last year, to make the cut. Twenty-seven members are billionaires, more than double last year's count. The group's collective net worth soared to $106billion, up from $61 billion; by contrast, China's 40 richest are worth a collective $26 billion."

I personally admire the spirit of entrepreneurship which has been driving the human civilization and society's development. Hats off to all of them.

More Movie Reviews

Well, I watched some more movies recently this week. It seems that I have been watching lots of serious kind of movies. Most of them are depressing ones and now I need to change the genre to action-packed or raunchy commedies. Here goes the list in my preferred order:

1. Crash*****(#62 on IMDB's Top 250)
2. Downfall****(#51 on IMDB's Top 250)
3. Layer Cake**
4. Oldboy **(#118 on IMDB's Top 250)
5. Ordinary Decent Criminal
6. Requiem for a Dream(#47 on IMDB's Top 250)

Crash is a an excellent movie and shows how different people of different races in US are linked to each other. Its focus is on racism and humanity together. It will definitely touch you and make you think. The scene in which the locksmith's girl was shot in order to save him from the bullet made me dumbfounded. That was a turning point for me.

Downfall is a german movie based on WWII. Unlike other WW movies which mainly show battlecenes, this one shows the different moods of Hitler in his last few days when he was loosing the war and Red Army was marching over Berlin. Its based on a book by Traudl Junge, Hitler's last private secretary from 1942 to 1945. One dialogue by Hitler which shows his character, goes like:

"Be ruthless. Life doesn't forgive weakness. This so-called humanity is religious drivel. Compassion is an eternal sin. To feel compassion for the weak is a betrayal of nature. The strong can only triumph if the weak are exterminated. Being loyal to this law, I've never had compassion. I've always been ruthless when faced with internal opposition from other races. That's the only way to deal with it".

Requiem for a dream, although rated quite high and critically acclaimed movie, was very depressing for me. Lives of all the four characters are ruined and destroyed in the end by drugs and will leave you with a question, "Why did I watched it ??"

Layer Cake and Ordinary Decent Criminal are good entertainers (crime n commedy) and Oldboy is revenge-based with a real twist, but still kind of depressing.

Mulholland Drive

Another post with a movie review. Yes, I do love watching movies, all thanks to those monthly membership options of Blockbuster, Hollywood Videos etc. Mulholland Drive is a thriller (#228 on IMDB's Top 250 list) directed and written by David Lynch. Based on the dream world of Hollywood and L.A., this movie depicts human psychology in general and the thin line between our imaginary world and the real world. You need to watch it very carefully without missing even a single scene or single shot or even a single dialogue. Then only you would be able to understand it and unlock the mystery (if not, then see it again and even if not after that, ask me). I am sure that if you are able to understand the storyline, then you gonna definitely appreciate it. And yes, if are a big fan of only chick-flicks, hardcore kick-a** movies which dont require any involvement of grey-cells, please dont rent this one. Some good quotes :

1. A man's attitude... a man's attitude goes some ways. The way his life will be.
2. There's sometimes a buggy. How many drivers does a buggy have? (One) So, let's just say I'm driving this buggy. And, if you fix your attitude, you can ride along with me.
3. It is all an illusion...

Run Lola Run

The audio playing in the background of this blog is the OST of one of my favorite movie, Run Lola Run (#133 in IMDB's Top 250). Winner of several awards, this german movie shows one story from three different perspectives, to prove how much fate controls one's life and how much the happenings of our lives are closely associated with so many "what if"s. With only a few dialogues and mostly Lola (Franka Potente aka Marie from The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Identity) running to save her boyfriend, this movie is an interesting watch. I am very much fond of its background score and the main soundtrack "I Believe". So now, I guess you are also listening to it. Care to heed to the lyrics...???? Here you go...I am sure you will like the lyrics equally well.

Men's Brain: 10 Mysteries Revealed

Check out this article from today's MSN Health and Fitness, titled as "10 mysteries of the mind revealed". An interesting read, this article will tell some answers of following mysteries about our mind:

1. How a memory is made ?
2. How alcohol affects your memory ?
3. Why you can't remember being born ?
4. How memory stacks up to an iMac ?
5. How testosterone can help you remember ?
6. What amnesia is all about ?
7. Why you never forget how to ride a bike ?
8. Why hypnotism works—sometimes ?
9. Why you lose your keys ?
10. How to preserve your memory ?

Most interesting is the answer to Question No.2 :- "When you encode memories while in a specific state, like being drunk, you're more likely to remember them when you're again in that state," says Jonathan Schooler, Ph.D., an assistant professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia.

So, if you got drunk and did something which you dont remember, then get drunk again and try to remember. So, next time, when you plan to get drunk, you have got a good reason to do so. Ok, time is up, I dont remember what I did yesterday evening..lemme get back to my beer. :)

Malena & Monica

I watched a few movies this weekend and the recommended ones are:

1. Malena (starring beautiful Monica Bellucci) ***
2. Kiss the Girls** (Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd)
3. The Confession* (Ben Kingsley, Alec Baldwin)
4. Under Suspicion *(Morgan Freeman, Gene Hackman & Monica Bellucci)

Malena is a very good movie and shows the story of a very beautiful woman in WWII time Italy and a young boy's crush on her. The actress in the lead role is indeed very lovely and beautiful. The moral of the story is: "A beautiful woman cannot live alone in this selfish world governed by physical desires. All she can do is to use her beauty, either willingly or unwillingly." This post will be incomplete without a serious appreciation of her acting and one of her picture.There is one quote from "The Confession", worth mentioning here. It is said by Ben Kingsley, an excellent actor with stern face expressions.
"It is not difficult to do the right thing. It is difficult to know the right thing. Once you know what is right, it is difficult not to do so".

Rest two movies are good ones. Gene Hackman is good as usual in "Under Suspicion". It shows how a person can be victimised by circumstances and be held responsible for some heinous crimes. (If I tell you, whether he really committed them or not, your thrill will be all over)

So, if you have seen these movies or planning to see them soon, feel free to comment here :).

Brief Hiatus & The Dilemma

I have been very busy lately and was not able to keep it regular in blogosphere. But now I am back with the usual vigor. Now I ma gonna make you feel my presence by overwhelming your blogs with my comments and posts on my own blogs.

Sometimes, I get intot he confusion about what to write and what not? For instance, I do not like to write about my daily chores (nor do I read) or about the daily happenings. I do like to express my views and quote them as my "idiosyncracy", just in case, if they are in strong contradiction with others views. Thats like being diplomatic, so that I dont gt sued or dragged into a useless altercation.

The phase I am going through right now is very thought-provoking. This is the time which makes you think what you are worth of or are you worthless altogether? This is the phase of being "unemployed" after an advanced engineering degree. I think a lot to write about it, but the more I think to organize my thoughts to write, the more pessisimistic I become and then eventually I dump the idea to do so. But I wish, I would have been able to write about it to track my ups and downs during this difficult time. I am certain that currently I am down. Anyway, wait for some more posts.