Diwali as I knew it

On such an auspicious day as today, when most people feel a euphoric sense of celebration for various reasons, I'm sitting indifferently in front of a computer. It has been like any other day; spent in front of a computer that yielded nothing. As I talk a walk around my campus, a lot of sounds of the crackers and lights that make the night as bright as the mid-day fill me with reminiscent thoughts of the way this festival of lights used to be celebrated.

 As a kid I used to adore this day. I used to wait for this day a week in advance. I still find it nebulous to define what used to cause that excitement. A day that used to start with a very ceremonious oil bath and prayers that ensued it. It used to be day of lavish feasting and soirées. A few hundred rupees spent used to entail crackers that used to panic all the poor creatures that strayed into the roads.

As I got older, everything got costlier. The same few hundred rupees used to buy happiness for a few minutes.  But it became more of a social gathering rather than a festival of lights. It just became an occasion when I used to meet my family and friends. But the joy still remained the same.

Only this year it has changed. I would not go to the extent of calling it appalling but the sense of celebration is gone. It is just another day now, when I've to eat the same dry food that I'm vexed of eating every day. As I think of this, I'm reminded of a comic strip I just read.


http://tambrahmrage.tumblr.com/post/11938307001/happy-deepavali

It is the same as that of the foreign lands save the lament.

Happy Diwali folks!

Canteen experiences

Gamer rage

My feelings when people tell me they game a lot and then tell me the names of those games.

No ideas

Wrestlers names

This was my reaction when I read the kayfabe names of wrestlers from the 90s.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 -- My review

At the outset, let me say that I’ve not read the book. I’ve only read the wiki pages of the summary. So I don’t have a scale to compare the movie but with itself.

                David Yates had progressively made the movies more awesome starting from the ‘Order of the Phoenix’ and the storyline of this movie (from what could I get by complementing stories of the rest of the movies) does pack quite some punch. It has been quite a saga, starting with the Sorcerer’s stone a decade ago. This is probably the best adieu anybody can ever bid to a franchise of that awe-inspiring magnitude. Starting with the scene of Voldemort taking the Elder Wand to the final scene where there trio send their kids off to Hogwarts, the movie has a nice fluidity to it. The actors, Daniel, Emma and Rupert, look mature enough to even think about facing a villain of the intensity of Voldemort. . Snape’s past that involves quite some story with the inclusion of Lily, Albus and Voldemort is probably one of the best scenes in the movie.

                It is a quite a sight when many actors of the artistry and prowess of Ralph Fiennes, Gambon, Rickman, Bonham Carter conjure some wizardry with and without their wands, on the screen, together, for one last time. Fiennes has completely steals the show with his portrayal of the most powerful villain of the modern times

                The graphics is really amazing. Two scenes, I can’t help but mention are, magical shield of Hogwarts being bombarded by the Death Eaters and Aberfort  Dumbledore fending off a horde of Dementors, probably grabbed my attention more than most other scenes. Most of the time, with the exceptions of a few seconds here and there, the visuals are very engaging. Something else I can’t help but talk is the background score in the movie. Alexandre Desplat did an excellent job of complementing the great work by the rest of the departments.

                I recommend watching it in IMAX 3-D. This is an epic movie with lots to offer in a good movie theatre.

My rating: 9/10.

Photos of self on Facebook

My first tryst with the 'rage' comics on the photos people have on their Facebook pages

Every Micheal Bay movie in under a minute

We all thought of this. This guy just made the video. However, it is extremely well made gist of all the Bay's movies I've seen.





I got this from this page Every M.Bay movie under a minute.

The 90s

Being born in the 80s, I've always had the problem of not being able to wrap my head around the fact that it has been more than 10 years since the 90s have passed. Just as I was thinking how to put it in words, I found this excellent cartoon here-- http://www.dailydawdle.com/2011/04/oh-my-god-i-am-retarded-and-old-pic.html

Dear Human

 

This is something I found on another blog whose link I'm providing here.

http://thedarkverse.blogspot.com/2011/06/dear-human.html
I hope there is no copyright infringement or anything of that sort in this.

One of my intital trysts with doodling

I wrote this piece sometime in November 2007 after being enthralled by a concert of Kadri Gopalnath.

            As a kid, I have always revered Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan a lot. I used call him thata, connoting my admiration. There was a period of time when I disliked him, because I felt that he was blemishing the whole essence of music with the games he used to play with his miraculous violin. Recently, when was watching a pre-recorded concert of his, a very old one, I found that I was wrong. The songs that his violin sang with melody and also with the astounding command over the instrument, which a I always craved to learn. Idi kada anandamu, tattvamu teliyaka and so on the songs went on. Enthralled by that, I sat down, with the songs still ringing in my ears. Magic it was, really mesmerizing!!

           

            I suppose I was still in school, when I first had the chance of listening to the saxophone maestro, Kadri Gopalnath, in his album ‘Dream journey’. Tears of joy roll down my eyes, when I listen to the Vatapi Ganapathim in that. The exact gamakas and the masterly blend of the western music into it have rocked me. The didactic uses of the drums and the key-board have always engrossed me.

           

            One other violin wizard I would like to mention before I get into the main phase is Kanyakumari. With the perfect rhythm and the clockwork of musical sense and the beautiful perfectly sounding violin, she is always a show winner, if I can put it that way. I had the privilege of listening to her music along with 27 other violinists. The beautiful rendering of Nagumomu, must have made Tyagaraja exultant.

            On the eve of the telugu basha brahmotsavalu, I had the great opportunity to listen to both of them playing. It started off with the beautiful krithi on Vinayaka in Hamsadhwani. The next song was an enthralling masterpiece composed by Tyagaraja, Endaro mahanubhavulu, in which Tyagaraja quotes “Chandra vadanuni anda chandamunu hrudayaravindamuna juchi brahmanandamanubhavinchu varendaro mahanubhavulu” in the context of exhilaration people get on catching a glimpse of Lord Rama. Nanati baduku natakamu by Annamacharya was no way less enthralling than the previous one, in which he says the whole world is a theatre and we are all puppets. After I listened to this, I find that Shakespeare saying the same thing in his one of his best plays “as you like it”. The main song, of course was “Nagumomu” also by Tyagaraja, in which he is desperate to see Lord Rama and says ‘vagachupaku, taalanu, nannelukora’. The stage, on it had three persons felicitated by the Tamil Nadu government by the famous Kalaimamani. It was the first time, as far as my knowledge goes that a carnatic music concert had a tabla accompaniment, which even blended the Hindustani and carnatic music making it much more beautiful. The engrossing concert ended with one more Annamacharya’s masterpiece “tandanana hi”, leaving us spell bound. I hope I get to listen many such masterpieces rendered by wizards like these.

Kung Fu Panda 2: My review

        With the likes of Jack Black and Dustin Hoffman dubbing for the major characters in the movie, I definitely wanted to watch 'Kung Fu Panda 2'. After the herculean task of vagabonding the whole day and then getting to the movie, my friend and I were thoroughly famished and jaded. After a minor meal in the evening, whose repercussions were present till the next day, I met a few of my movie mates and walked into the hall.
        This was my fist 3-D movie in quite some time. So I'd an adrenaline rush for sometime. For as tired as I was, and for as cool the theater was, I felt very dopy. Let me get to what I think of the movie rather than ranting about my escapades that day. I'd watched KFP and liked it. So I got into KFP with some expectations. But there was something deterring that. The awesomeness factor of the first movie was because of the transition of Po from being slothy, fat panda to a dragon warrior. I walked in with mindset with which I watched Matrix 2. You know the hero is the one. So he is going to beat the crap out of any number of villains. So the only uncertainty was about how.
        This one was different. The emphasis is more on the past of the panda (how did he land up with his dad) than its present heroisms and bêtise. So there still was some suspense left in the movie. Let me not reveal anymore about the storyline and try not to spoil it for people who would want to watch it. The movie is Jack Black all the way. If it wasn't for his enunciation, diction and energy, the movie would have been a drone. I'd expected a few more dialogues from Jackie Chan as well. It was refreshing to hear the voice of Dustin Hoffman and Danny Mcbride for whom I've a lot respect. But the outstanding part of the movie was probably the score by Hans Zimmer and John Powell- geniuses of the highest order. The visuals are really good; but you really can't rate a movie based only on animations in 2011 after Avatar set the bar so high. The dialogues, how ever hackneyed on Po's squishy belly, haven't lost their charm, probably owing to Jack Black again.
        Overall, it is a very entertaining flick with some exceptional visual effects sometimes hampered by the old-hat comedy and a rustic audience who couldn't keep their kids silent.
       My rating : 7/10.
One of my friends wrote another review of the movie which can be accessed at http://abhiramviswamitra.com/blog/?p=50

Change of blog

              I've been using livejournal for quite some time to blog. I haven't posted anything great on that blog. Now I'm thinking of shifting from livejournal to blogger for obvious reasons. That blog will not be deleted but will not be functional.
Here is the link to the blog : monarch1212.livejournal.com

Cheers
Monarch

The Hangover: Part II

             I'd watched 'The hangover' and really loved it. It should pretty much self explanatory that I do enjoy crass, crinchy humor. After watching Road Trip, Old School, School for Scoundrels, The Hangover and Due Date, I liked the way in which Todd Phillips goes about.  So watching the second part of the Hangover series was definitely on the cards. I have watched a few stand-ups of Zach Galifianakis and really liked the fresh comedy devoid of any expletives but full of euphemisms.
             The movie starts off on a cheerful note with a phone call from Phil expressing his concern in the obvious way of "we fucked up". The story line exactly the same; just a beer, wake up in an obscure location (that is a change from the first movie), find someone missing, spend the rest of the movie searching in a city where people keep saying "Bangkok has him now". Stu is getting married to a Thai girl whose dad is obnoxious enough to keep ranting 'we don't consider dentists to be real doctors'. She has a 'genius' brother ( What is it? A stereotypical Asian?) and The Wolfpack invites him for a couple of beers and the rest is history. Instead of Doug, its the bride's brother this time. Ken Jeong ( Mr.Chow) reprises his role of the crack dealer with whom Alan is good friends and goes to the extent of calling him sweet or nice guy or something like that. Jeong, whom I liked on the show Community, has a slightly larger role to play than to jump from the trunk of the car and beat the pack with a scourge. Paul Giamatti has a cameo as an Interpol cop. Its Alan who drugs them again but says it was not supposed to happen as he meant it only for the kid. He drugs them with muscle relaxants and his ADHD medication ;)
             The comedy is much darker and obtuse. Zach Galifianakis plays his role to utmost awesomeness and Ed Helms, as usual, has a great screen presence. Bradley Cooper, though very abusive, has done a decent job. The music complements the movie well, though some of the soundtracks seem to be from the first movie. At times, the movie is not logically coherent ( the pack assumes Mr.Chow to be dead because he passes out after snorting some coke who is dumped in the cooler and is still magically alright after half a day or so).  On the whole the movie was thoroughly enjoyable.

My rating - 3.5 / 5.