The Whiz’s Crucible

…a society where below the veneer of respectability there is crassness, intolernace and a susceptibility for violence and degrading acts. A society where women just do not get the rights and respect they deserve.

For details of the specific incident you can launch off Scoble’s article – http://scobleizer.com/2007/03/26/taking-the-week-off/

This is one reason so many of my friends, including my wife, are scared of publishing on the net. In today’s world being frank and open can make you a very easy target for intolerant idiots.

And please do not tell me that you can threaten somebody and that is all rght as long as you do not do the act. As Kathy rightly points out in her blog, the threat itself is enough to derail a person’s life – to make a person start looking over their shoulders day and night. This is no less intense than a terrorist threat and should be treated as such!!!

After a spate of okey dokey movies here is one I really loved.

In a word this movie is:

BEAUTIFUL

Beautiful in every sense of the word.

Beautiful – in the sensitivity with which the lives of some of the players, who are part of the losing side, are portrayed during the fall of the Tokugawa Shogunate.
Beautiful – in the way the the visuals are shot, with Nature often pointing a mirror to the state of human relationships
Beautiful – in the way individual relationships are portrayed, in isolation to the teeming world around them
Beautiful – in bringing out the delicate nature of the heart, even in the face of the cold nature of societies rules or the hot state of affairs in wartime
Beautiful – in the way the writer has managed to pick up a stor about the Shinsen Gumi and give a character in it a completely different take from what is expected of these warrors
and above all
Beautiful as in the beautiful beautiful acting by the main characters who manage to bring out the story with so much force, and so much love.

It is not an art movie, it is not world cinema, it is not just a samurai’s tale of heroics.

It is about a learned and sensitive man, caring and loving, and the decisions he needs to make at the same time as big decisions are made about the future of his country. And it is about his antagonist.

And finally it is about money, in the way people less priveleged than me would look at it.

P.S: I did know about the general history of the Shinsen Gumi and about the fall of the Tokugawa shogunate before seeing this movie.(Thanks to Rurouni Kenshin)

For a good review hop over to Kungfu Cinema.

Ultra Violet

After Aeon Flux let us take on another ultra-stylish, sci-fi, kick-ass, neo-punk, chick flick – Ultra Violet.

Now I will not go into the silly double review stuff I did with Aeon Flux. At the core it is almost the same movie!!!:) The story is indeed very different but once again the story is secondary to the Gun Kata trained Milla Jovovich in red, white and multicolored tight-ass leather outfits with cool weapons and an ultra-cool sword. Ands hats what the movie is about.

Yup there are interesting gadgets, but just jump over to the links to read more about them.

In conclusion what differentiates the two movies?
One has CT the other MJ; one is tight ass black or white outifts, the other has more colour(especially the vermillion outfit); both fight gracefully and both fight hard. So the choice comes down, as it often does in life, to personal choice. And for me that means I have to go with Aeon Flux.

BTW if you were wondering, the movie is worth a one time watch. It does have some real good stunt sequences.

Fantastic, irreverant, gut-wrenchingly funny movie.

The plot is well summarized over at IMDb by Martin Ford:

A female descendant of Mary Mother of Christ and two unlikely prophets are called upon by Rufus, an unknown 13th apostle, to stop two angels, that were cast out of heaven, from unknowingly erasing all of God’s work by restoring their souls by entering a new church. Restoring ones soul by entering a new church is a part of the Catholic Dogma, and by restoring their souls the angels could reenter heaven thus revealing there is a loophole to return to heaven. This would prove God was not perfect and upon proving this all of God’s work would immediately be erased.

The beauty of this movie is how it uses satire to take potshots at the Catholic Christianity’s orthodox rules and edicts without, in any way, insulting the religion itself. I laughed and laughed at the idea of God having to make sure that her word was maintained and how if it ws not there was no world!!! Of course it helped that the cast was fantastic.

I was not sure of the movie when I picked it up at Blockbuster but as rule of thumb I find that I like most movies which have either Ben Affleck or Matt Damon. With both of them figuring in this one I was sure that I would at least enjoy their interaction. Not only was I not disappointed with their performance, their chemistry is nothing short of extrordinary; I was bowled over by the whole movie and its theme and its take on the theme.

Wonderful movie, watch it!!!

Got a lot of comments for my log on Dune. Thanks mates. HyperPat was especially helpful in his comments. Will be looking out for more advice from him wrt sci-fi and reading in general. Pat, will be a regular visitor of your site for sure. NULL also has an interesting site.

One obvious reference I missed was “To tame a land” – thanks to Dr. J for pointing that out. Miss hearing albums with you pal!

And finally my lazy friend Venks wants to see the movie rather than read the book. For him, here follows my review:

Dune, The Movie:

My one liner review: Watch Dumb and Dumber instead!!!

After a long long time I saw a movie I absolutely hated! The difference between the richness in the book and the stupidities in the movie were too many to ignore. Now don’t get me wrong. I am a movie buff and not a movie critic. I end up loving almost every movie I watch. I normally try to keep an open mind and try to keep a context of when a movie was made to judge the moviemakers efforts. For eg. Tron is a movie which is quite campy in today’s context but in the time it came out one can understand why it would have been cool. Movies based on ooks, one does not expect much from them, still you do like them. Hell! I even liked Hellboy-The Movie!!

So after all the background let me tell you categorically – Dune was thrash. Tremors is a much better movie, at least its honest about its B-gradeness.

Frank Herbert has written a great book, God alone knows why he supported this movie and not Iron Maiden’s song:)

So Venks watch Kal Ho Na Ho rather than watching Dune.

My pal Sujith had adviced me to read this book quite a number of years ago. For one reason or another I was not able to do it (one of the reasons could be that I did pick up one of the subsequent books but found it very boring and confusing, most probably cause I was trying to read it without any context)

The book is fascinating! I could not find any single idea which was revolutionary or shocking (to be fair, it is an old book and i might just be jaded with al the sci-fi we get today) but the way it was put together was really beautiful. It’s sci-fi part of the book is in fact quite interesting – especially in the idea of the whole galaxy depending upon a dry, almost inhabitable planet. his central idea iself makes this book really really good. However this alone would not make his book great.

What makes this book great is the analogies with older stories and histories. Most iconic sci-fi books are iconic because of the way they weave in the myths and histories of human life into fantastic departures from the real world. This makes them topical given any time context. Well in this case that this book is truly iconic!!!

There was not one chapter i read which did not remind me of something else. The two main things it reminded me of was:
one) The story of Lawrence of Arabia. Unmissable in the latter parts. However this was the more tivial of analogies

two) the way the protaganist’s story feels very close to Prophet Mohammed’s story is the real kicker. Unluckly I have ot read the koran or the story of Prophet Mohammed’s life. So the analogy to the beginnings of Islam is just what I know from pop history but it is an uncanny feeling one has while reading the book. And it’s great how that messanic tale has been given a new outlook here.

There were other connections I saw but these where after Dune was published. For example in Robert Jordan’s Wheel Of The World series you have the similar organisations like the Bene Gesserits. Then there is Tatooine – like Dune a desert planet.

Hopping over to the Wikipedia site for Dune I see even more connections which did not click earlier. Primary among them the allusions to the East India Company and foretelling, in a way, a powerful organisation like OPEC. And I completely missed the Aiel reference which can be found in the page “Dune in popular culture“.

Well seems I have come to the end of my page with nary a critical view of the novel. Guess you will have to live with that:D

But before going I will quote these lines which I read here:
“Frank Herbert’s 1963 Dune is to science fiction what The Lord of The Rings is to fantasy: the most popular, most influential and most critically-acclaimed novel in the genre. Herbert’s novel was a revelation: before Dune, even the most well-written science fiction had been mostly “wonderful gadget” stories, or political commentary expressed through exaggeration. It had never occurred to anyone that science fiction could offer the literary depth of Dostoevsky, the intricate “wheels within wheels” intrigues of Shakespeare or so deeply fulfill the heroic epic form behind Gilgamesh, The Odyssey, Le Morte D’Arthur, The Mahabharata, and Beowulf.”
That sums it all – the ability to use science fiction to create myth!
Thanks Sujith!

…welcome back in this here year of the Pig!!!
Fantastic coincidence this – pigging out on pigs in the year of the pig.
Blame my absence to the aforementioned pigging out:)

Ok, alright, it is not that bad I am just in my solitary moods, you know the snarling, hypersensitive, I wanna be left alone, Wolverine moods. But then again that’s not a true state of affairs either. I mean, I have being traipsing around the country, in enjoyable company, swapping old jokes, playing cards and dominoes and all in all enjoying myself.

Still I am largely in my solitary shell (except when I am not) – not been here for a long long time – and me like, as long as it is for a short time – which it is:D Of course I am happy and in good spirits too ;D

Cheers mates, don’t worry overmuch, that’s a result of an overload of Sandman (- that and Sarat has been unleashed on an unsuspecting populace)

To get back on track, my apologies, once again given too freely, for absonding from this here hallowed ground. Just been so sucked up with work that… Well no excuses – guilty as charged.
The time though, has been well spent with many a book and movie having passed me these few days. So as you can visualise I have a lot of material. Just need to be disciplined enough to sit down and write it.

So I have decided to challenge myself. I will make a shopping list and anchor it here. If I am unable to finish it by the 21st of January 2007. After that time if I do no finish the whole list anyone who asks will get a round of drinks from me (subject to whenever you meet me and as long as you ask in January itself.) Of course you get the drinks even if I finish it but this round will be sponsored by my good friend (Thanks for the offer Venks, you know how it is, every challenge needs a prize. And you are an oilman after all;))

So here’s my shopping list, in no particular order:

1. Food.
2. Dune
3. When the last sword is drawn.
4. Dogma.
5. Once a thief – by John Woo.
6. Aeon Flux.
7. London.
8. Ipswich.
9. Beer.
10. Food.
11. Dune – the film.
12. Civil War.
13. Cars.
14. Cars – the film.
15. MK.
16. Christmas.
17. New Years.
18. Kenshin.
19. Manga.
20. Roadside Food.
21. ebay.
22. Blockbuster
23. Ben Nevis and Snow.
24. Dominoes.
25. Misc buys.
26. Porky’s
27. Sandman.
28. Flight.
29. JLA
30. Port Wine.
31. Christmas foods.
32. Kaiser Chiefs.
33. A good friend and his Wii.
34. Infernal Affairs.
35. SIN CITY
36 Sin City – the novels.
37. Edinburg.
38. Xmen – The last Stand
39. Dune – the movie
40. Goal!
41. JSA.
42. Misc softwares
43. Rudebox
44. Malayalam Movies
45. Fear And Trembling
46. Lock, Stock and 2 Smoking Barrels
47. Ultraviolet
48. Blogs around
49. Gym
50. Food:D

I think I should stop here – else I might let Venky off the hook;)

yes, Yes, YES – Zizou banged that ball in and France are through. Now all that remains is for Germany to win over Portugal and I am a happy man. Mind, I am a great Figo fan and was slightly sad for him. Also, though I personally did not think that Henri took a dive (and he is no saint as he has taken the occassional dive now and then – this time there was the trailing leg of Caravalho – borne out by the fact that the normally voluble Portugese did not really contest the decision strongly), I did feel a pang of sympathy for Portugese that they were undone by a penalty. However any such feelings evaporated after seeing C.Ronaldo, Postiga and Pauleta fall around like a set of ten pins. Blah!!! Cheaters!!!
Sorry guys but it really irks me see talented guys cheat regularly. C.Ronaldo showed his talent many times yesterday with his runs towards the opposing goal – still i despise him for 2 reasons:
- a lack of vision. He does a great job of pulling away the defence but never passes it to a team-mate who might be unmarked and reasy to shoot
- Cheating when frustrated – you can depend on the fact that he will cheat.
This is the same grouch I have with some other talented players like Robben and Ruud Van Nistelrooy.
Well enough of the acidity-on with the day.
P.S: One last one;) – I was one of the spectators booing whenever Ronaldo got the ball – at the same I was praying that the booing does not raise his game:)

The pic of the day (2 of my fav players respecting each other afte the match):

The only thing I am happy about – inspite my gambling streak I did not put any money on this game:)

Well I seem to be giving the Kiss of Death to my favs. But then again, if my choosing them as favs is jinxing 11 overly paid players then I guess they do not deserve to be playing at all;)

BTW inspite of my rant yesterday’s semi was a beautiful game. I thoroughly enjoyed the game. If there was one game which deserved a big hurrah for both teams it was this one. My special kudos to Cannavaro, Gattuso and Buffon. I personally feel that Grosso is another of the crybabies but his goal was superlative. Deserved to be a match winning goal. This Italian team is really getting better. As an aside it was fun to see good ol’ del Piero get a goal.

Now my predictions again;)

First
Second
Third

I feels silly to go out and predict after such a debacle as was seen last week. Still the gambling streak in me forces my hand:)

First
Second
Third