Getting over it

NCFOM hosed my sleep.

Lest my Sunday get BBQed, I had to do something to overcome the bone-chilling evil taste that Anton Chigurh left in my mouth. It's not just the cold, unflenching and psychotic image of Anton that the Coen brothers managed to create, but the whole philosophy of 'can't get away from the evil that is your past' that is deeply unnerving.

So I digged into my collection to pull out this one. Look at the sheer beauty and charm of this shot. Fantastic! If there is ever a reason to love cinema, this is it.

A three minute long tracking shot from the masterpiece Goodfellas. The scene has the protagonist Henry Hill escorting his date Karen Hill through the back doors of the happening place - the Copacanana. Of course, he is a wiseguy and she doesn't know it.

Can't believe that the whole scene is a single shot. Three looong minutes!

Just about the perfect scene. Even the background score is amazing.

Scorcese is God.

Do not mix.....it's never a good idea

Boy have I not got that advice many a time?

Just that I never knew it applied to Cinema.

'Taare Zameen Par' and 'No Country for Old Men' do not go well. Matter of fact 'No Country for Old Men' does not go with anything.

I had heard plenty about both movies. Today I watched both. TZP is not going to win an Oscar. It is too long, takes a couple of wrong turns with the story and editing and yields to 'preachiness' (I'm not doing a Colbert here; it does exist) than to originality in some frames. The background score falls short. But Darsheel Safary and Mr. Khan stand out with their performances. No items or item numbers = +5. And kudos for the entire unit for

a. having the balls to make a movie about dyslexic kids
b. attempting to create awareness than sympathy
c. doing it in Bollywood...

NCFOM is going to win Oscars. Heck its been nominated for eight. It's dark, gritty and gets into you like one of those alien worms from Men in Black. It's gory, but not patronizing; agonizingly slow but gripping all the way. Best part is the ending. It snaps shut and there you are just putting the jigsaw together. The characters get etched out in your mind and trouble you long after you are done with the movie.

TZP leaves you with hope. NCFOM, if you can get away from it, leaves you with evil. It's like watching The Exorcist right after Patch Adams. Yuck.

Oh No!

Was my reaction when Divs told me of this BVN tag.

First up, I ain't the prolific writer types like my dear BVN. Second, for the last two months I've been on narcissistic quest about my past,a kind of pseudo self-discovery - just like BVN. Sud-suddenly I have to get back to reality and feel my own pulse and hear my own voice to get this tag complete. It's a fucking challange to get real .....nowadays.

BVN, here's to your tag.

PS: Now you may find many things in common between what I'm going to say and what Divs and BVN have said in their tags. That's because our recent lives have been like Scorcese's movies - different stories, different actors but all set in NYC, with plenty of Italians in each movie and twice that number of WTFs. That song from the the latest Kukunoor movie is the right jingle ...

..................."We are same same but different"

BVN's tag: Ten things I'd like to do before I cross 35

10. Visit the Taj Mahal (lemme get the girly thing out of the way first)

9. Go Skiing in the Alps. Stand on top of Mount Blanc

8. Get beyond page 2 of my DSLR's user guide so that I can click pictures atleast half as good as the one above.

7. Wake up on a beach and see the sun-rise. Alone.

6. Be that garrulous tour guide, slick bartender at a beach-cafe or shock jock -- for one day


5. (Since Divs robbed my BMW) get a classic Lincoln Premiere to drive on an empty highway that winds through a mountain. Oh yeah, before that -Get my Drivers License


4. See places. Travel. Venice. Rome. Jim Corbett. The Aurora Lights at Bear Lake. Watch Leno do stand up.


3. Get out everything that is buried inside of me. Make a movie --BVN, you can write the story --- Deal?


2. Stop making plans. Stop getting dinged. Start Living life. Be at peace with myself.


1. Do more things for the first time than I have done in the last 25 years..

BVN's tag: Ten things I miss about my life right now.

10. Direction.

9. Weston.

8. Extracurriculars and Arithmetic (that would help me find my Direction ----hopefully)

7. An office 10 minutes from home. Or better yet, a home that is 10 minutes from -- the office, barber shop, liquor shop, park, lake, library, pizza joint, chinese place, the movies........shoot I'm going back to Weston --- (You were right BVN, "We had a good time in Weston, on Miami, the best of times perhaps.")

6. Direction (unfuckinghelpable man)

5. Geez, you guys are right - this IS tough.....

4. Unbridled laughter

3. Interviews and Admits...

2. That 'my life's credo' types book. Fountainhead is too commom. I guess I've gotto to write my
own.

1. The nonchalant happiness that I see on my face in my photographs from school and college.