WTF? Poirot Man-love

Just finished watching Agatha Christie’s Poirot: The murder of Roger Ackroyd and just gotta say this – not only is the plot completely changed, but Poirot is such a tosser! apart from being in man-love bonds with Japp (who wasn’t even supposed to be in this novel).

The evidence as follows:

:O Man-joy at seeing his city friend

the awkward moment: Poirot can’t choose between a hug or kiss or BOTH

  Alas, they settle at a handshake. Now only Hastings is needed to fill the void.

TRUE DIALOGUE: Poirot to Japp “Come chief inspector, let us investigate together the summer house”…. BARF

 

Claasic Japp: Haven’t they got any meat?

The “what abt me” look:

And Finally, because the killer (I wont mention his name here cause of spoilers) goes all James-Bond on them, Mr Japp thrusts his life to protect the P-man!

And he says: Plenty of time for heroics later :P

Just like that

Long time, no see Post.

1. I am on Twitter HERE.
Just a messenger.
Avoid personal reporting.

2.This is a good link for Encarta quizzes. Got a mixed variety. Pretty interesting stuff.
HERE

3. Check out this site for film posters. The Big Heat poster looks vapour-y.

4. Had a reunion with a friend who returned from the Naxal under-land, changed as a
coffee-monger, but unchanged in many ways.

5. Trying to find The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. It's a Scholastic publication, unavailable in India. Got interested because of the brilliant art work from Jason Chan HERE.

6. Watched Brick featuring Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Reminiscent of Sam Spade type/The Maltese Falcon but among the immoral, drug-abused present.
Features dialogue like:
"Maybe I'll just sit here and bleed at you."
"I've got knives in my eyes, I'm going home sick."
"Which wall's the door in?"

Personal update:
Life is drab.
Work is mercenary.

Pre-Emmy chatter

Listening to: Karunesh, Dr. Zeus, Punjabi MC. Sathiya

It's 3:10 a.m. and there is no sleep in sight. Michael Crichton's Terminal Man lies next to me, just ten pages or so in. Waiting for the Emmy is such a bore (NOT!)

There is no Indian award I'd wait for. Indian shows air a week or so later. There is no real-time excitement and they should realize this by now, after airing so many reality-tv programmes.

Just though I'd weigh in on my options before the drama/action/mystery begins in less than 3 hours. I'll also keep twittering in real-time HERE.

Outstanding Drama Series: I think Mad Men won this last year. There are some good nominations here, though nothing as hot as The Wire, which was never nominated. The only series I'll support here is Lost. Nothing can compare with the rush of excitement of this series.

The other one here that I've seen is Dexter, which is a pretty compelling watch, but not path-breaking stuff. House is interesting too, but only if you're interested in sado-masochistic antics of a delusional man.

The Comedies look good too. Here, I've heard 30 Rock or the Office dominates the scene (seen 5 minutes of a random episode. Don't like Tina Fey, is it? Ya her!). I'd vote for HIMYM (Go for Barney) but that has a slim chance of winning. Otherwise, Entourage. Nothing better than 4 guys with issues that we can make fun of.

Outstanding Actor (Drama): I think Hugh Laurie might take this one. He's portrayed House, MD with self-destructive accuracy and made ladies swoon with him, doc-style. But Mr. Mentalist-Baker is good too.

Outstanding Actress (Drama): I think Glenn Close from Damages is pretty good. Saw first season of the series and she was frightening.

Outstanding Actor (Comedy): Jim Parsons, Big Bang. I think it's pretty obvious to anyone who likes the series. But he has tough competition with Mr. Sheen and Mr. Baldwin and Mr. Carrell. And Mr. Tony Shaloub is also nominated this year, and this year being his last, no one knows where this will turn!

Outstanding Actress (Comedy): I'll say Julia Louis-Dreyfus cause I saw the Christine recently and she's awkward and silly but hilarious. But who knows, Tiny Fey-may-away with the booty!

OTHER OPINIONS:

Supporting actor (drama): Lost, baby! Emerson as Linus, who else! But just an observation here: But doesn't science fiction/fantasy make it to the big league? Will shows like Lost or True Blood always be sidelined?

Supporting Actor (comedy): NPH, Swarley, who else! No offense to Johny Drama, but who can play Barney better than NPH? and host the Emmy's to boot?

Speaking of which, I heard that no one watches the Emmy's anymore. Is the inclusion of NPH a strategy to pull crowds? Cause it's working mighty fine...

Interesting links

This post is dedicated to links.
Interesting links that will become a part of the blogroll that I will one day have.

1. Arts Journal that compiles articles on media, music, people, publishing, etc.

2. Top 100 sneakers (ya, really!)

3. A clock, but not for people who can’t read HERE

4. A package deal starring Kanye West
a. What he did (NYT calls it the celebrity run-in HERE)
b. This incident led to a buzz in the twitterati-activity leading to this Is Kanye the new O.J.? HERE

5. Discovered the classic magazine The Atlantic.

Flashbacks from The Atlantic are available at: http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/index/flashbacks

Includes:

‘Mind over matter’ which compiles articles from the 1920s to the 1990s that reflect on the revolutionary insights of Albert Einstein.

‘Defending Darwin’ that compiles articles from 1860 to the present on the conflict between evolution theory and religious fundamentalism.

‘Private domain’ where three Atlantic authors consider the fine line between security and breach of privacy.

'Obscenity, Censorship, and the First Amendment', featuring Atlantic writings from the turn of the twentieth century forward on the fraught battleground between freedom of speech and public morality.

‘So You Want to Be a Writer’ that features Wallace Stegner, Francine Prose, John Kenneth Galbraith, and others offer advice to aspiring wordsmiths.

‘Broadcast News’ where David Halberstam, James Fallows, and Nicholas Lemann write on the rich past and uncertain future of broadcast journalism.

‘Nobel Quibbles’ cause when it comes to the Nobel Prize, controversy and debate have always been the name of the game.

‘The Diamond Myth’ which compiles articles from the past 150 years reveal the dark side of "the most brilliant of stones."

‘Finding a Place for God’ includes Atlantic contributors from throughout the past century question the value of religion in a scientific world.

'The Road to the Information Age' - Decades before the rise of the Internet, Atlantic contributors were dreaming of the day when all knowledge on earth would be available at the click of a button.

'White America Reacts' compiles Articles from the turn of the 20th century onwards show that the breakdown of racial hegemony in America has been a slow, challenging process.

Random linkage, again

Here, I am back again....

1. THIS features my favourite animator Hayao Miyazaki! I haven't seen Ponyo, but I am dying to!

2. Will soon create a directory of film blogs. There are some interesting ones floating around and there is a big cult following among them as well. For starters, read THIS

3. Becoming very active on twitter, despite my caution.

More later
p.s. (to self) - Need to write more

Cause Random stuff is fun to write about

Random Happenstance:

1. Have been watching True Blood 2 and Entourage 6 among other things. Can I just get a Well done! for HBO. (And then I read that TB has the best ratings ever!)

2. This is Tarantino's list of favourite movies from here:

Battle Royale
Anything Else
Audition
The Blade
Boogie Nights
Dazed & Confused
Dogville
Fight Club
Friday
The Host
The Insider
Joint Security Area
Lost In Translation
The Matrix
Memories of Murder
Police Story 3
Shaun of the Dead
Speed
Team America
Unbreakable

This just reminds me that I got a long way to go..Been planning to watch Audition and Shaun of the dead. Will get on that soon.

3. Apparently, Wall Street 2 is coming soon with Shia LaBeouf as the young guy who falls for the Gordon Gekko charm...Don't know how that will pan out...I am especially afraid of sequels that come later like the disaster that is called Basic Instinct 2!

4. Life's a big mess!

Thoughts on turning older

In a few weeks I will be a year older. I will be 24.

The 20s have been a disaster for me... One year just running into another and falling apart...At the end of the year, all seems to be useless and worthless. I am doing something here, but it seems that the end result is either going to be delayed for a long time or is going to be something that I do not care for.

It has also made me realize that I am undecided and oscillating, a condition that I enjoyed earlier and now regret. I thought it was good that I couldn't choose between what I want to do and what I would end up doing...

It's been disconcerting and troubling, this feeling that I have carried for more than a year and half. So the question still remains...what do I wanna do with my life?

TV Linkage

Browsing through the television (read as gossip, celebrity drivel), I cam upon few good articles..

1. EW has posted a link HERE supporting 1984 as the greatest year in movies. The author says that in the year movies like Footloose, Romancing the stone, Friday the 13th -Final Chapter, Star Trek -3, Gods must be crazy, Revenge of the nerds, Nightmare on the Elm street, Dune, Beverly Hills Cop, and many more were released.
The author was lashing out against those who believe that 1939 (which gave us Gone with the Wind, Wizard of Oz) is a year for the movies.
I guess it is a personal choice, but I can see that 1984 will get a popular vote.

2. Similarly, HERE is a list by TV squad of the greatest year for television debuts. The race is tough between 1994 (ER, Friends) and 2004 (Lost, Veronica Mars, Entourage, House).

3. The top TV shows at TV.com HERE shows True Blood with the highest popular rating. TB is followed closely by Entourage, another HBO creation. HBO is doing pretty well and winning acclaim all around.

4. MUST READ: Reviews of New York and Kambakkht Ishq, courtesy Variety.

5. Is it too late to start reading comic books?Any ideas?

What the hell am I watching?

Status: Back from a long hiatus.

In the meantime, I have been watching:

1. The Wire : Exhilarating and thrilling to say the least. For more, read my new blog chroniclesofcriticism.blogspot.com

2. Fullmetal Alchemist: The story of two brothers in search of something that will make them human once again. I am watching this one rather slowly, because it is so good but has only 51 episodes.

3. Shoku-dan : Vampires are the next best thing this year and this one just adds enough taint, drama, guilt and sexual tension (with blood, of course) along with delectable figures to keep one hooked.

4. Dexter :Creepily and silently, we become part of Dexter's world. His world lies behind his air conditioner, trapped in a box, as drops of blood in slides. He is a serial killer, the one with a different agenda, but a killer nonetheless. More on him soon.

Note to self:
Update sooner!

random-ness..and numbness

I didn't know that Charlie Chaplin's body was stolen from his grave and is now cemented...WTF?!!

News and Link-age!

1. For one day the Israeli paper was handled by poets and writers...and it led to amazing results. Read more HERE

2. Watching Naruto Shippuden. Like tall, quit-er Naruto, with the less-thick voice. Gaara is amazing as always. Apparently, animation is growing in India. From 2006 to 2008, it has grown 20.1%. I'm banking on less of cartoon network and more of AdultSwim coming to India.

3. Think True Blood is a scam.. Vampires=nice, but vampires in a socially compromising setting=bleh!

4. Guardian linkage on books again...here

More, later!

Reviews and Linkage

First news...

1. A great list of sci-fi novels HERE. I have read just one of them and that too the ealiest one. Shelley's Frankenstein. It's not exactly sci-fi but more of Gothic and something else...But it includes a lot of cyberpunk and steampunk references, which I really wanna get into soon. There's a huge list on Wikipedia about the influences on the Matrix series, which is also an example of cyberpunk (hightech, low life)..The first step in that direction was watching a Miyazaki movie yesterday, which was extremely fulfilling. I think he's my favourite director. Period.

2. The Tintin movie will come out in 2011... Its like you wait for Potter movies till 2011 July, and then..this long wait...But hope its worth it.

3. Was treading around to find out which was the best anime EVER. Some sites say Neon Genesis Evangelion and some say Death Note... Its difficult to make this choice cause there are so many genres to mangas and anime. I have started watching Sailor Moon, but once you've watched "the way of the ninja" in Naruto or the madness in Paranoia agent, you cant help but dislike the slow pace of Sailor Moon and its reluctant protagonist.An interesting link I found in conjunction with this was HERE.

A man was arrested for his manga collection which contained some child pornography. The question remains whether you can say whether a manga/fictional character is underage or not?

Okay...So i watched a few pilots yesterday and here are some of my views of them.

1. TRUE BLOOD: Based on the famous Southern Vampire series written by Charlaine Harris, True Blood is about the coming-out of vampires. It is pacy, interesting and has oodles of gore and blood, which makes it an interesting watch. Anna Paquin who plays the lead is also an amazing actress and as usual, there is always one vampire who is a gentleman. (This reminds me that I hated Angel, but loved Spike..strange.)

2. THE MENTALIST: This one looks like a CSI/Numbers/x-forensic serials rip-off or spin off but I should probably give it more credit. The case is solved not by too much focus on the science but observation. However, this also leads to fast stereotypes and categories..which might create problems..But this is very similar to Miss Marple's theories of detection...that human nature is same everywhere..

3. MERLIN: In the name of whatever's sacred, this is a BBC hot chocolate. It's a series like no other. Even though the special effects are nothing to write hot about, the story line, characters and the enigma of the series is enchanting.. And Merlin and Arthur are Yumm..

Avatar-the movie

oH MY GOD...

New Avatar pics are out HERE

Dev Patel as Zuko doesnt look that good.... and Aang looks so serious .... How is Night going to pull it off?And do they plan to make all four movies or do they want to finish everything off in the first one..Impossible though..

another Linkage

Left Chennai and am back in Delhi...!Without wasting time...lots to say....
1. Delhi is AWESOME as usual
2. THIS is the new Ssherlock Holmes movie coming to town. I cannot imagine anyone else pulling Holmes except Jeremy Brett cause he was wonderful! Cant imagine Holmes punching people and jumping from his house into the Thames..!On a related note, goddesspharo has a picspam of the trailer HERE.
3. In the middle of watching Gossip Girl...Have finished 20 episodes of season 2 and dloading the rest...Although I do not want to..cause then all the silly-ness will be over and I will have to watch THE WIRE!
4. Similar with HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER...Have seen most of season 4 too...and am too excited now...Wanna watch the leap...I was rooting for Barney/Robin so much...... AWESOME...wowsugarpuss_ has an amazing pic spam of the b/r episode HERE

5. I am currently dloading Sailor Moon, Naruto Shippuden and will start will FullMetal Alchemist soon..Anime brain freeze!

Over Already? : Lost s05 finale

Another season comes and goes away quickly. And what have we learnt this time, I wonder.

Its another season of nothingness wrapped in crafts and wars and internal bickering. Some clues are thrown your way but some are just gift wrapped in complicated messes that will only be cleaned in the next season..

But in spite of all this, this season was interesting and fun to watch. It had everything, especially the final episode.

Bombs are always exploding, dharma stuff is always blowing up and there are always Jears (I think that's the copyright of ack-attack).

What I liked about the finale:

1. Jacob makes an appearance and I love him. Very suave, confident and almost God-like

2. I could see a few similarities with HP and even Batman-Joker and strongly.

3. Juliet...WOW...brave. That's all I call think of... and she made a decision many of the characters would fail to make.. Knowing that doing something will put you in the same rut that you wanted to escape from..selfless...(HP?)

2010 is too far away...

Links: Trailer for Last Vampire movie. The animation was really gory and interesting.. This looks like wall-breaking.

In Delhi...indefinitely

NEWS

1. Back in Delhi: Requires no explanation, except to say that its the most Awesome (as Barney Stintson would say it) city in India.

2. First time Voter: I would be lying if I would say that I did a wonderful job exercising my rights as a citizen. It was a shameful experience voting and an excellent sham. I thought I would read the parties and their nominees' agenda and then go vote, after being totally informed. Turned out that I could not find the name of the nominees standing from my city area and a greater surprise was that the ballot list had only the names of the candidates.

I'm no journalist!

3. Latest Passion: Anime! Have watched Naruto, Ouran high school Host Club and currently downloading a brilliant series called Paranoia Agent by Satoshi Kon (who made Paprika: a must for all). Apart from that, I have a whole list of things that I want to see ! Anime opens up a lot of possibilities that real live things cannot attain, apart from Hentai ;0

4. SHAMELESS LINKING: Posting links that I discovered through useless browsing

- CHECK the speed of your internet connection here. I was surprised!

-I want to watch THIS MOVIE. Have heard that that its wonderful and award winning...

-Discovered an amazing site for books and this trivia test that goes with it.. Will become a member soon

-Watched the movie called The Asphalt Jungle: its scenes of heist beat Oceans' 11, hands down!

More Later!

Reading for the upcoming Tests/Interviews is the only time that I can brush up on my poor general knowledge. As I read on, I realize that there are so many interesting events going on.

1. AfPak situation: Obama is sending about 17, 000 troops to Afghanistan (in the next month, I guess.) And then about 4k later, for the elections. But what propels the Afghan crisis into a larger issue, which will be addressed at the NATO summit this weekend, is the Taliban-Pakistan relationship. The Taliban in Pakistan has already taken over the SWAT valley (NWFP region) and the tribal regions (FATA) as well.
But Pakistan has been brewing with internal conflicts as well. Its shaky government, threatening army and growing corruption have made it vulnerable to attacks.
Read more on it: http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13382077

2. Economic Recession: I know zilch about it, but I know that it is important cause It is affecting us and blah blah. What I fail to understand is that how knowing the name of the RBI chairperson or the Fed Reserve person is going to help us. (at least in interviews!)
I cant understand why nobody took notice of Roubini and Krugman. Roubini, in a recent interview, said that we should make sure that the recession is U-shaped and not L-shaped like Japan's. Japan is also facing gloom; its finance minister resigned and now it is registering huge losses, more than States.

3. Indian Elections: I cant fathom that every few years these politicians rise and fall, and have the nerves to get up again. The third front, the UPA and the NDA!..I think there should be another option as "not worth it."
These days the wrong people are making the headlines for the wrong reasons:
-Varun Gandhi, for his extremely communal speech.
-Sanjay Dutt, for being unable to stand for elections from Lucknow.
-I also noticed that George Fernandes is standing as an independent candidate from Muzzafarpur, cause he has been chucked out of JD (u)...(there are so many political parties!..its hard to remember where they began and where they have ended up.)

Movies galore

Watching : Sidney Lumet's Network

This weekend was spent in watching Oscar nominated movies...Watched Milk, and Reader. But also watched movies like The conversation by Francis Ford C. A brilliant take on privacy, secrecy and loneliness.
Watched Anchorman-legend of Ron burgundy....Just a fun watch...Funny as hell
Superbad - seemingly real teen comedy. Very funny..
And now I'm watching Network... Can think of so many ways to have creative programming.....
More on it later..back to watching the movie..
From an angry old man, venting out his frustrations and pointing out the hypocrisies of this generation, to a preacher man, lecturing masses on an assembly line production show.
We'll tell you any shit you wanna hear - Network

(reviews later..if i got the time :))

Watching the screen
Listening to: Gemini-hypnotised, Sade-no ordinary love, Sean kingston-take u there

Watched Dog Day Afternoon, Burn after reading and a few episodes of Byomkesh.
But more riveting than all of this was Lost, season 5, episode three. Time travel, subterfuge and meeting with the young Charles Widmore...ahhh...TV pleasure!

I used to love Byomkesh in my childhood and I think its an important component while I was growing. I used to get up in the morning at seven, (sometimes it was only saturday, then daily) to watch the Indian sleuth or satyanveshi, as he likes to be called. He was riveting, strong and handsome...apart from being clever. And Ajit, "mere saathi"...oofff....brilliant and just a bit short of being homosexual..Ajit never marries by the way and Byomkesh's wife is never a constant companion in his adventures. Anyway, I think I am relegating her to the shadows..

Burn After Reading is a through-and-through black humor movie. Coen brothers are good at being different from the run-of-the-mill types. John Malkovich and Geoge Clooney acted well, and so did the rest of the cast. A lot of anger/ire/humor is directed towards the government that ultimately doesn't learn anything from all its run ins..

Finally, Dog Day Afternoon is a brilliant movie about a real life bank robbery. (I seem to keep collecting brill movies...cant help it!), starring Al Pacino as Sonny. I love the movie's portrayal of media/journalism. As I am studying this at the moment, its criticism is all that I keep thinking of... The movie shows that journalism is just getting the story and that is all that I have learnt from the course as well. There's no in-depth analysis of why something happened...only in op-eds (which I consider are like 2-penny novels..anyone can write them or buy 'em).

I also realised that nothing beats Harry Potter fan fiction. Ever. (Yay for pairings and smut!)

Random Thoughts

Looking at: the pc screen!

Listening to: Script session in college


1. Have to edit a few stories tomorrow and I don't know how to be polite and still get the point across. It is so tough to tell any author that I don't understand what they've written or If they could re-structure a sentence. Not trying to be sweet, but nice. :(

2. Missing home! as usual..

3. Studying International issued daily is painful. Especially when you can't listen carefully, as you are busy making notes..(which I painfully and diligently do, because I am a stenographer! :P)

4. I am so excited that LOST is returning! Just dying to watch it....I wanna see Sawyer and lap up all his hotness....Kate and take in all the lies...Jack and watch him drink his tears...
.....Wonderful

5. I watched Fight Club a few days ago and I think I should read the book soon...If the movie was so powerful, ecstatic, wrenching and zapped me awake, imagine what the novel will do?!
I hail the writer (Chuck Palahniuk) and the director(David Fincher) !

"This is your life, and it's ending one minute at a time"

" We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our great war is a spiritual war. Our great depression is our lives."

Wonderful

Thoughts on Slumdog Millionare

Watched Slumdog millionaire last night.

I won't say it was an excellent movie, but it is definitely worth a watch. Its not an unpredictable story; but the way it is told, through past narratives from Jamal's life and travelogues charting north India and Mumbai, Slumdog becomes a fable of hardship and success. (very cheesy!)

The acting was good, the direction was little short of excellent, the music was remarkable.

Overall a good movie and the awards are well deserved.

Back to the grind

Back in Chennai, after a long stay in Delhi (with pauses of sadness in form of ill-health).
Spent five days in Nagapattinam, which is a Tsunami hit district in Tamil Nadu. We were covering stories there, like post Tsunami rehabilitation, NGOs, Self help groups, and education.
Was a good experience, but nothing like eye-opening or path-breaking!

Anyway,
Following are some good sites that are worth a watch:

http://abstrusegoose.com/
Funny graphics.

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/
Immediate news. Faster than PTI

http://www.india-seminar.com/
Seminar magazine's online version. Has good articles.