O pen up…

Hi,This is an old movie of 1995 and I happened to watch it on TV. Earlier I had watched some movies of Michelle Pfeiffer, but this one by far was her best I have seen. She looks like a perfect fit for the story – a teacher trying to educate the unruly guys. Although I normally don’t like those movies where you need to reach for tissues (there is a particular category which I have always liked but not the sad ones!), I was moved by Michelle’s acting in some particular scenes in the movie. She gave a lot of life to her character – do try to grab a dvd and watch this one!

Hi,

If you have ever liked an action movie, even a part of it – even if you are one of those kinds who hate action movies, do not do NOT miss the movie ‘District B13′. It is a wonderful amazing adventurous super movie. I saw the first scene of the movie by chance and could not take my eyes off it. It was directed at a breathtaking pace, with wonderfully athletic actors in the lead roles. The way the characters Le’ito and Damien jump from the ground, on to the buildings, off the buildings, onto the roofs, over the walls, up and down – Oh My GOD! I am never going to say I don’t love action in movies. Such splendid action with wonderfully choreographed martial arts – it is seriously unbelievable! And no, they did not use much graphics. The two heroes are I believe originally stuntmen and they did all the stuff on their own. The pace of the movie is just ammazzingg… Trust my word and get the movie – btw, it’z a French movie so you need English subtitles to understand the dialogues and yeah the dialogue are good too! 

Hi,

 The good news is – since I am at US for the Christmas season, I could receive the $25 gift movie card that is given away to everyone in the team for the holiday season. The bad news is – I wasted more than half of it on a bad movie – I am Legend. Yep, it is a bad movie. I won’t give stupid opinions like – “It’s a decent plot, but a half baked one but still there are some takeaways” etc etc. A bad movie is a bad movie is a bad movie. It was gripping in the middle, but seriously lacks any meat. It is based on a novel and I think the author lacks the maturity of some other prolific writers of the age. He/she does not give any importance to detail. OK, I accept your idea that some virus spreads out in the world and 95% humans become infected, but where is the meat? Support it with facts – show the transformation. In the end, a touch of GOD is given, but again lacks any depth. Facts may not be required here, but some depth of the sentiment needs to be shown. He tries to put in some concept of destiny in a very naive manner. Will Smith is OK, but can try to be more choosy about the movies he takes up.

aaj mausam..mmm.. bada beimaan ha.i.. bada (try to forget all your worries)
beimaan ha.i.., aaj mau..sam
aane vaa..laa.. kO..ii toofaan ha.i.. koii
toofaan ha.i.., aaj mau..sam

Lakhon Hein Nigaah Mein, (roll your eyelids and sing dreamily)
Zindagi Ki Raah Mein,
Sanam Haseen Jawaa…a..n,
Hoton Pe Gulaab Hai,
Aankhon Mein Sharaab Hai,
LEQkin Voh Baath Kaha..an..?

And the final Kishore da touch…

Mere sapnon ki rani kab aayegi tu (remember Rajesh Khanna looking at Sharmila through the rearview mirror)
Aayi rut mastaani kab aayegi tu
Beeti jaaye zindagaani kab aayegi tu (Just chill out)
Chali aa, tu chali aa

Mere sapnon ki rani kab aayegi tu
Aayi rut mastaani kab aayegi tu
Beeti jaaye zindagaani kab aayegi tu
Chali aa, tu..u chali aa

Pyaar ki galiyaan (pippipippipiou.. pippipippipiou),
baagon ki kaliyaan (pippipippipiou.. pippipippipiou),
Sab rang raliyaa.an poochh rahi hain

Pyaar ki galiyaan, baagon ki kaliyaan,
Sab rang raliyaan poochh rahi hain
Geet panghat pe kis din gaayegi tu (tarampum)

Mere sapnon ki rani kab aayegi tu
Aayi rut mastaani kab aayegi tu
Beeti jaaye zindagaani kab aayegi tu
Chali aa, tu chali aa
Chali aa, haan tu..u chali aa
Chali aa, tu.. chali aa
Chali aa, haan tu chali aa

Are yodley..hee.. yoodley..hee.. ho..hoo.. yoodley.. hi.. yodley.. hi..hO
yodley..hee.. yoodley..hee.. ho..hoo.. yoodley.. hi.. yodley.. hi..hO
yodley..hee.. yoodley..hee.. ho..hoo.. yoodley.. hi.. yodley.. hi..hO
yodley..hee.. yoodley..hee.. ho..hoo.. yoodley.. hi.. yodley.. hi..hO

I love Rafi and Kishore…

yodley..hee.. yoodley..hee.. ho..hoo.. yoodley.. hi.. yodley.. hi..hO (volume fading)
yodley..hee.. yoodley..hee.. ho..hoo.. yoodley.. hi.. yodley.. hi..hO

The next day we set off to Mystery spot, a nice mysterious place located near Santa Cruz. It was a 1 hour drive through hilly winding roads with nice picturesque sceneries and amazing roads – all of which I had captured on the cam. Mystery spot is a hilly area where gravity laws are defied – no perfect scientifc explanation has been given so far. A person taller than me appeared shorter than me and I could walk slantingly etc etc. It was a nice experience, I did take the photos and the video. When we returned, I was all tired and sis took me to a nice mexican restaurant – Chipotle’s. Nice tacos stuffed with Black beans, Guacomela sauce (again the spelling!!) and also some rice item with corn, sauce, beans etc filled my tummy – my GOD that was a meal! I have to take Deepthi to such restaurant some day – she will enjoy it a lot.

I had a nice dinner and set back on the return journey, only to learn at the Oakland airport that the pilot had not turned up!!! After listening to my complaint that my first ever trip within US was being ruined, the United guy offered me a direct flight trip from San Francisco till Philly the next day morning along with accommodation in a nice hotel called Westin. The hotel was good, but the experience was unwanted. I had to take time off on monday and probably will have to compensate by working on a saturday. Neways, that was about the journey. It was great and I am all tired. I returned to my hotel to find my Dell Lappy delivered ! I love it!

We set off to San Francisco on train. I captured the train journey on the handycam. Nice journey with a 15 minute travel over the pacific bay. we got onto a tram in San Francisco – looks like the trams are a trademark of the city. I captured even that on my cam. Then we reached the ‘Fishermen’s wharf’ from where we set on a Bay cruise that took us through the bay area of the pacific ocean around the golden gate bridge – that is a historical bridge which had opened up trade in San Francisco some centuries ago. The boat then took us through the Alcatraz – which is an island in the ocean. Alcatraz is a prison where dangerous criminals are jailed. It is next to impossible to escape from the prison because of the security there and also because noone can swim 1.5 miles through the cold water to reach the city. Only 2 tried to escape long time ago, one of whom died and the other only survived bcos he was captured by the coast guards.

Then, we spent the entire day walking through the streets of San Francisco – we visited Madame Tussaud’s museum over there. The wax idols there were not exact replicas – not the quality ones they have in London and Los Angeles – but they were good all the same. Srikanth took a picture of mine with Julia Roberts, Halle Berry, Nicole Kidman, Salma Hayek, Marilyn Monroe and Angelina Jolie. We bought some ghirardeli’s chocolates (did I spell it right?!) and set back to Fremont. It was a tiresome night and I had a good night’s sleep. Ankith was in a good mood and sang danced for several rhymes he has been learning nowadays.

Hi,

I had been to California over the weekend. It was a long journey – a 6 hour long flight and another 1 hour long flight. United was the airlines I flew by. the operations were bad, I had to run for the connecting flight in Los Angeles with a transit time of 15 minutes only to learn that it has been delayed. And the gate number had been changed 3 times, before they finally flew us through a small flight where even the cockpit was visible to the passengers. The good thing was I met a Japanese guy there who started talking about India. I was wearing a kurta that time and he said it was looking good. He asked me for all the info about India – where do you find the people with turbans, where do you find those guys in mela doing all the tricks with fire, ropes etc. I had to tell him that the cities do not have such population. He was even interested in meeting fakirs. I was amazed at the knowledge he has on the Indian culture, but had to correct him several times of the perception he has. He was so afraid of catching flu over there, etc etc.

The air hostess in the first flight was a 50+ year old lady , but she had nice sense of humour which made the travel enjoyable. I got down at Oakland airport to find Srikanth, my brother in law waiting for me. I cannot tell you how happy I felt that time. Here I am in an alien country and for more than a month have not met a relative in person. It was really a great moment to see him and we headed straight to fremont. Fremont was a nice city with a fine weather and wonderful residential localities. I found my sister’s residence beautiful. Ankith, my nephew was sleeping and my sis gave me some nice home made chapatis to satiate my hunger. I had a nice sleep. I woke up in the morning and had nice andhra food cooked my sis – rice, donda kaaya curry and mamidikaaya pappu. It was gr8!!!