Tyre Puncture Rum Pum

I went to see a movie at PVR today - Ta Ra Rum Pum. Both Eva and I agreed that the movie sucked! After seeing the movie, I'm confused about what the movie was about.



Was it a racing movie? If so, it does not even demonstrate the basics of racing. The racing scenes were contrived and were totally B.S. Firstly, except for demolition derby or the wacky races, there is no way one can "take out" a competitor by just raming into him. Secondly, stock racing cars don't go about overtaking other cars as if they are standing still. Thirdly, being in the pit crew is really a tough job not the namby pampy stuff shown. A good racing movie focuses on real racing, for the excitment in that is pretty much unmatched in any other sport.



Was it a movie about revenge? Nope. The "villians" were pretty ordinary, almost cartoonish, and one could hardly connect with them. Plus the revenge part of it lasted about 20 seconds.



Was it a movie about a daughter defying here father and choose her beau? That part of the movie was just rubbish. The subplot about Rani and her father was unnecessary and didn't add anything to the movie. Just one small subplot about a dad preaching "I told you so" and a daughter fighting back tears and upholding her husband's honour. Give me a break...



Was it about encouraging people to save for the future? Perhaps, but it was quite clear. The movie starts off with a girl's voice extolling the happy-go-lucky attitude that her father has, but it does quite end that way.



Towards the end, I got the impression that it was possibly a kids' movie. There's even a song and dance with animated bears (poorly drawn and with wooden expressions). God! If this was a kids' movie then it was pathetic. Kids' movies are so much better. This was just rubbish.



Overall, the actors looked tired. Javed Jaffery was unfunny, Rani was distracted and Saif was just puppy eyed.

If not anything, Bollywood movies make up for pathetic stories and huge plot holes with excellent music, great cinematography. Unfortunately, other than the title song, the rest of the songs are hardly upto scratch, and the camera work was professional but not memorable. I want my money back!!!



Myopic view of movie, review

Is it really over and done with?

I think the only way the Aussies can loose a World Cup Match is if they play the World Cup in Australia. The "host's jinx" has prevented the West Indies from even reaching the Semi's and it was business as usual with Australia winning the World Cup.

I was the only one backing the Australian team at work. From day India got kicked out, most people were supporting Sri Lanka, South Africa or New Zealand. In the end it was interesting that RSA, SL, NZ and AUS were the four semi finalists.

A lot of people were hoping for either a SA vs. NZ or a SA vs. SL final. If that had been the case then it would have been a real shock. Since the last 5 world cups a South Asian team has always made the Final, and in the last 4 world cups, Aus has reached the Finals. I think this is a sign of times. Cricket is really strong in Aus, South Asia, and South Africa. RSA has never performed to their potential and that's why its not such a surprise to see a Aus vs. SL final.

I really love the way Gilchrist plays his cricket, far more than anyone else in the Aus team. He comes across a guy who plays cricket in the right spirit. I remember a couple of instances, where he has "walked" before the Umpire ruled him out. Combine that with his batting and his safe hands behind the wicket, he surely must be counted as one of the best all-rounders of all time. I saw his entire 149 in the Final. Breathtaking!

In the end, Aus are deserving winners and I'm happy that I backed the right team :-)

Myopic view of cricket

Where is it?

I read this post about a restaurant called Potluck Cafe and decided to go there for lunch. Since the blog said that it was on Bannerughatta road it made it all the more easy. I had planned to go to Electronics City today (on work) and decide to sample the food at this place. What made it really attractive was the supposed price (15-20 bucks for some Dal) and its quality.

Since the blog didn't mention where it's located, I tried to google it. All the results talked of a different place where, I don't think we can get even water for 15-20 bucks :-)

Update: New post with directions! Maybe I'll try it soon

Myopic view of food, bangalore

April Showers

Thank God, its raining!

April Showers are really amazing. The extreme heat of the day, followed by a sudden downpour. Aha!

More than me, my collection of potted plants are happy!

Moving away from the Lillies to Jasmine. Well, I'm cheating a bit here. The Jasmine grows on the fence, and so, its really not part of my collection. Nevertheless a great couple of pics taken by Eva.

We have put some plants in a corner. Its really come out well.

and finally some more closeups

Myopic view of cool, garden

Guide to identifying F1 fans

Linksheaven has a funny list on how to identify different f1 fans. Going by the Ferrari and McLaren fans I know, the description is pretty accurate!



Myopic view of f1, formula1, funny

Bahrain 2007 GP Winners Losers

Winners

1. Massa. After the Malaysian disaster, to come and win is really nice. Did everything right this weekend. Pole to Victory
2. Hamilton. He's getting stronger each race. It will be interesting to see what he does in Spain, considering that Alonso would be desperate to win there.
3. Heidfeld. Great move on Alonso! He then held on for a good finish - fourth
4. DC, Webber and RBR. They were faster than the rest for quite a while. Considering that DC started from the back of the grid, it was really good. Too bad they couldn't finish. DC hasn't finish a race yet this season!
   
   

Losers

1. Alonso. He really lost out here. Not only did he struggle to keep up with Hamilton, once Kimi got past after the pitstops, he couldn't hold on against Heidfeld.
   
   
2. Ralf. Considering that Trulli got home 2 points, held off Fisi in the end, you would expect Ralf to have been close by. He was nowhere near. Did he even finish? 17th?

Myopic view of f1, formula1, bahrain, 2007, gp, winners, losers

More on Ads

Continuing on a bit more on ads.. I just saw a new ad by Pepsi on TV.



Their last ad had about half the cricket team in it and it was a bit ironic to watch considering that the Indian Team did pretty badly. What made it worse was its catchphrase - "If you do, you win" (loosely translated from Hindi). What made it even worse was the morphing of some of the players scowling to a Tiger Roaring. LOL!!!



From there to the latest ad, is the real change. Going with the latest mantra (ala Greg Chappell) that the team needs younger players, this ad talks about 14 year olds dreaming about winning the world cup next time round.



Time will tell.



Myopic view of cricket, pepsi

Crazy Ads

There are two adverts that I noticed. The first one is for Appy Fizz and its a radio ad. I heard it on the way to work recently and I just couldn't stop laughing. The ad makes fun of the cricket team and their pathetic showing in the world cup. It "welcomes" them back and goes on the say that the team has made the country proud. You got to hear it!



The other ad is in the latest Week. Its for Malayalam Manorama, and it proudly proclaims that MM is the largest selling vernacular newspaper in the south. The caption shows a cop shouting and the translation in English says that the biggest newspaper is not in Telugu. That's not the problem. The problem is that the language shown is actually Kannada! The words used by the cop are in Kannada and talks about Kannada. However, the English Translation talks about Telugu. Either the copy is bad or the copywriter is trying unsuccessfully to be funny. Either way the ad is just incompetent. So much for the largest selling newspaper. Perhaps a bit of editing would help!



Myopic view of funny

Malaysia 2007 GP Winners Losers

Winners

1. Alonso. He did absolutely everything right from Qualifying to the Race. Massa got the better of him on Sat but by the first corner at the start, Alonso was ahead. He also showed his experience and was faster than his teammate throughout the race, on both hard and soft tyres.
2. Hamilton. Fantastic result. The way he 'tricked' Massa was just brilliant racecraft. Loved it! But he's still a Rookie, and it showed. FA was faster all throughout the race. Its quite likely that it was FA's ability of going a tenth faster that made the difference between the McLarens and the Ferraris. In the end, KR was very close to Hamilton. Nevertheless, a great drive and even better racecraft - made watching the race worthwhile
   
   
3. KR. Circumspect in the beginning, but came back strongly. Had he been a little faster on the softer tyres, he might have been able to catch LH before the last lap. Historically, McLaren have always been better at using the softer compounds than Ferrari and vice versa.
   
   
4. Fisi. From a disasterous qualifying, to a good finish. Great start too.
5. Heidfeld. Qualified well and finished one spot ahead. Kept Massa at bay as well

Losers

1. Massa. Boy! Not only did he screw up his chance against LH, he could barely keep up with Quick Nick. Bad day at the office for sure, but I wonder what it has done to his confidence.
   
   
2. Honda. I don't think I'll move them off this part of the list for some time. The way they are going, it looks like its going to be atleast a month or so before they get up to speed. By then the Ferraris and McLarens would have long gone.

Myopic view of f1, formula1, malaysia, 2007, gp, winners, losers

Simple Pleasures

1. A great Breakfast!
2. Not having to go to work, because its a holiday
3. The start of a long lazy weekend
4. The knowledge that some of your friends have to work as its not a holiday for them! BWAHAHAHAHAHA (evil!)
   
   

Myopic view of funny

A Subtle April Fool's

The Geek House has an excellent and subtle April Fool's Page. If you visit it with Firefox, you get an IE 404 and vice versa. Neat!



However, the jokes on them when you visit it using Opera. Neither 404 appears.



Myopic view of april, fool, funny, firefox, ie, opera