half of a yellow sun by chimamanda ngozi adichie

regrettably due to certain emergencies, my bike test is cancelled for tomorrow. hopefully i will be able to take it next thursday, the 5th of november. i am disheartened by this. i think i have almost perfected the bridge and was hoping to come back home with a pass. sigh!!!

when i travelled to chennai in february this year, i visited a cottonite, an ex classmate, someone i am so happy to be connected with again..sheila. on her shelf rested this book called half of a yellow sun. we spoke of books and she suggested this one in particular, speaking of its excellence.

the first nigerian i have read was chinua achebe, however i have never read an african female writer before this, so i had decided that on my way back home i would pick up adichie. from chennai i took a flight to delhi, where i met up with someone i have admired ever since our first contact, someone i have learnt a world of knowledge from, raja. we walked into this bookstore where he asked me if i wanted a book and i said yeah adichie. so chimamanda ngozi adichie's half of a yellow sun was a gift from him.

to sheila and raja, thank you.

adichie was 29 when she wrote this book. to possess that kind of skill and maturity in one's writing at this age is a total incredulity. i don't know if i was captivated immediately and i am not sure if i was really delighting with everything she wrote, but one cannot fail to notice how brilliantly she had crafted the characters, narrated the war through them, twined together each event and allowed us to embrace them with all their faults and contradictions.

the ease with which she uses the language to describe and convey cynicism, racism, infidelities, desires, inconsistencies and starvation is a mark of admiration, that which very few authors can achieve at this young age.

olanna and kainene, the twin sisters who are like chalk and cheese, seem to be the main characters in this book and also the 13 year old boy ugwu, who works for odenigbo. dissimilar twin sisters portray a vehicle for parallel and different lives, providing basis of similarities and metaphors of contrasts. even though odenigbo and richard, the partners to the twins seem to be important people, much is left out about their work and ideas. i personally feel that odenigbo is endowed with knowledge that is never explored. and richard, a radical never seems to be offering any opinion, which is pretty strange. perhaps adichie meant them to exist as a background to bring forth and express the characters of the twins.

half a yellow sun talks of the civil war that broke out in nigeria during the late 60's.. the narration of the war-torn nigeria includes famine, poverty, starvation, food camps, refugee camps and other stark realities of any war. historically, shortly after gaining their independence from britain, several parts of nigeria were left competing for political and central control rights. nigerians began to massacre their northern igbo people who dominated most of the country's civil services. as a result the igbo people formed their own independent biafra which eventually led to a three year civil war in nigeria. biafra was forced to surrender but not before enduring violence, famine, and death of millions.

adichie starts with the peaceful period before the war, the beginning 60's introducing the main characters and then she alternates the sections of the book with the war, taking the characters through it, redrawing their identities and describing vivid scenes of the war's brutality. as their lives intersect, they have to question their own response to the unfolding events. destruction spreads like wild fire. during this fight against their oppressors, olanna becomes a volunteer imparting education to the famished biafran children. she explains to them their flag's symbol, the colour red is for the blood of their brethren massacred in the north, black for mourning them, green for the prosperity that biafra will achieve, and half of a yellow sun for their glorious future.

half of a yellow sun won the 2007 orange prize for fiction in britain and was a finalist for the national book critics circle award. this extraordinary novel is about love and war, loyalty and infidelity, truth and a desperate optimism amidst all the crisis. it is about the end of colonialism, about ethnic allegiance and it offers us the truth about class and race, about the way in which love can complicate all these things. it is an insightful journey to post independent nigeria, and to understand human emotions through love and despair, hope and truth. adichie excellently indulges in her imagination and blends it with history to provide us an engaging tale that keeps us reflecting long after we have finished the book.

happenings

somehow the mind gets restive when i dont indulge in writing. feels like a remedial drug and i can breathe in peace after absorbing myself in it. the mind is always bursting but one doesnt get time to sit and expand on those thoughts.

been a long gap. much has ensued. today's newspapers say that 2012 cannot be the end of the world, well, that is just one opinion. someways i wish it would be what the mayan calendar indicates. maybe there is too much arrogance and maybe we deserve an apocalyptic world..and maybe, just maybe the indigo children will make a difference.

the new budget has imposed taxes on every credit card a person owns..that would mean increased charity since i have seven. it is time to cut down to one, or two conceivably.everything happens for a valid reason, good or bad. sigh!!

the fan gave way today...everything is aging like me. i still managed to display on and fasten it with cellotapes and make it work. amazing how creative the mind gets facing the end of the road.

the washing machine is producing a huge clamour...so loud that we ourselves got a scare. with halloween around the corner, we can perchance celebrate it this way. mum says it is time we purchase a new one but i say, we will get used to the racket. let it completely collapse, only then i will decide. lol.

over the weekend, i also had a childhood relationship go bad. strange how sensitive people can be, and even more arrogant. do we blame ourselves for relationships that go sour? it does take two to tango but when you want to meet someone half way, and he doesnt, are you doing your part of the dance?

it has been raining. the rain is beautiful..have always been in love with it, but not when i am on the bike. it kills. both time and effort.

i sit for my bike test this thursday, the 29th. i still worry about the bridge. i hope i can make it above seven seconds. i have postponed it too long, its time i face those dreadful officers.

there are some friends you could have for more than 15 years who dont seem to know you no matter how close, and there are some who you have just met, who will give their lives for you...pretty bizarre that time doesnt really play a role in friendship.

when we are down, we oft forget those times when we were happy. some say we can be constantly happy if we choose to be. would i want to choose that? i think it is amazing to experience all feelings...sad, happy, down, up, regret, gratitude, everything...makes you a whole person. so i believe its great to feel down too..life offers many perspectives and as many possibilities..isnt it great that we always have a choice?

opah

i had written a tribute to opah and a little about what i wanted to remember about her. but i had misplaced the document and eventually lost it. sigh!! well, there is a reason for it all and it gives me great pleasure to write about her again.

we had many neighbours before and after opah moved in and out. but we only remember her. i don't quite know how to begin the story of opah and me, opah and us. but this year her life story came to an abrupt end.

latifah sends me a text message at 5am and tells me opah is no more. it brought tears to my eyes almost immediately. she was a dear dear woman. even though it was already time for her to go, i found it difficult to accept her passing. she is dearly missed.

she gave love a new meaning. when i was away at boarding school, i would write to her, think about her and bring her back gifts...only she was worthy of them. i would have my meals with her at her place, she would send food home when i wasn`t around.

she loved us all especially mum. they had a unique relationship, more than that of a mother and a daughter. even when i took ma to visit the already so frail opah during raya last year, that love between them emerged and was witnessed by all of us, her grandchildren, great grandchildren and us. annually hari raya visit to opah's place became a ritual and we never failed to get opah a sarong or something similar to it. her memory faded but she remembered ma. and she was as beautiful as she has always been to me.

after the morning chores, i went for the doa reading. latifah said i could hold her and kiss her but i couldnt let my tears touch her body. my tears kept flowing and i had no control of them...she meant the world to me when i was young and even though her age meant she had to go, i wasnt ready to let her go. i was supposed to visit her this raya.

finally i got a hold of myself. the tears were controlled and i was able to hold her close to my heart. i had to let her go soon after that as the tears were beginning to flow again.

i cannot describe my relationship with her. it isn`t that of a grandmom and a grandchild. it isn`t that of a friend. its that of souls and it simply cannot be described. i write about her in my blog and my journal because if i do manage to have a long life and if i do lose my memory, i would want to read this and know that there was someone like her in my life and that i was privileged to have had her blessings. she will always be missed.

continuation of my 43rd year...

ever since our friendship began, see and chee kiang, two smart young chinese lads, both lecturers of utar and ktar respectively have made it a tradition to give sis and me a treat on our birthdays. so since 29th night was only for family, 30th night was with see and chee kiang.

i wanted thai food. my favourite joint was the one in genting klang opposite stephen's corner so when see asked `where' i said it with sureity...

didon, drish and i drove there first only to find it shut. the next choice was the thai restaurant next to papa roach in sri rampai..we were all so wildly hungry so we speeded there only to find that one closed too. so didon says..maybe we are not meant to have thai...yeah in thailand, they pay homage to the king on tuesdays by wearing yellow and closing their business. however, i refused to settle for anything other than thai...

so we drove to wangsa melawati...and thank the many universes, the restaurant was open. we had a good meal, spicy tom yam with lovely thai veggies and see gave me a book ... the naked tourist by lawrence osborne. according to didon, she chose the book but see grabbed it from her after knowing she was getting it for me. i also received a massager from him...a small shoulder massage which works on batteries. nice little thing.

it did not end there...the next day, i was treated for lunch at abc. my insurance boss, arpita gave us all a treat, shamshul's bday is in july, hardip's in january, kavita's in june.

and yet another book for a gift...the wisdom of the millenium. food was good with mutton/chicken biryani, rotis, chicken and paneer masalas. i knew i would be the only person to receive a gift, so i thought of giving them gifts for their birthdays to come. so i gift wrapped three books with hand-made book marks in them.

i gave the afghan to shamshul, the appeal to hardip and the secret of the secret to arpita. we had good food, good company and good books for that afternoon.

after my return home, see suddenly calls and says we musn't miss the best pan mee in the whole world...hehehe. so we drove to kepong and actually had the greatest and the most unique pan mee...so it was a three day celebration of my 43rd birthday...hmm! didnt i mention earlier that life truly begins after 40?

43rd birthday

43 years of roses and thorns and not a moment of regret. never expected surprises...its always been just another day, nothing to shout about...but the heart has weakened over the years, the joints have loosened and the memories have faded..oh yes..i need reading glasses too. would i want to exchange my life with someone younger? to have lived a perfect life of thunder and rain, sunshine and spring..would one want youth again over maturity and fun?

life has never been more beautiful..every second and every living breath has been a blessing.

was treated to a cup of special brew coffee in the late morning, well it started with that. and then lunch, tea, late tea, dinner and supper. absolutely filled to the brim...

dinner was perfect though..the first in my entire life.

we are at pizza hut, we finish the pizza and suddenly sis clears the table, and the lights go off, the birthday song is played and ten staff walk out with this cake...i cant see for a while...is it a pie? ohmigod...oh no...its my most favourite cake in the world...the vanilla mille crepe...gawd..in my 43 yrs..i finally get the cake i so damn hunger for, they call it the slice of heaven..the one and only which i will be selfish to keep and eat by myself..lol.

thanks to sis..she spends a fortune on it..i was embarassed of course..the whole pizza hut started clapping...goodness..i felt like a child. it was a great finish to a wonderful day..and just before i started writing this...i fell on my knees and closed my eyes..not in prayers exactly...but in thanks and gratitude mainly for family.. and secondly for friends...those who have taken even that one second to send tags or wishes or call or text..they say life begins at 40..i cant agree more. :-)

sis and i have a tradition of giving each other books on our bdays...this time she gave me 2 books, ten poems to change ur life by roger housden and the book of names by jill gregory and karen tintori...honestly...i wouldnt trade today for a huge bash of a party...it was simply and perfectly beautiful.

thank you all.

farah fawcett

i was going to mention ferrah leni fawcett's memories in the same journal that i wrote mj's but i think both of them deserved their own journals...so here i am writing a different one for ferrah.

i remember fawcett mainly for the six million dollar man...after which she was married to lee majors and appeared in charlie's angels as ff majors. she was romantically involved with two men i absolutely loved...majors and ryan oneal. majors and she separated not long after their union, but oneal stayed with her till her death in an on and off relationship.

she was a sex symbol with a body to die for. her hairstyle became an international trend with young women everywhere who were emulating her hairdo. even though she wanted to be known beyond the body and the hair...she became pretty much an underrated actress..men would remember her nude pose in the playboy which caused scandals, especially with a roman catholic background like hers.

a friend faiz, asked me if i liked her because she wasnt particularly liked..and my answer was this. you dont think about liking or not liking someone especially if you have grown up with that person..and that person becomes a part of you..a part of your growing up years..when such a thing happens, its beyond like..we dont really know if we need to like a person....we just know she or he is a part of us.

she was an icon, not as much as mj was..but i couldnt not write a little about her. she acted in many movies which got her nominations especially in the movies `extremities' and `the burning bed' which i hope transformed her from the pin-up sex symbol to an acclaimed actress. however charlie's angels kate hudson, farah fawcett and jaclyn smith will stay with me forever. unfortunately both hudson and fawcett suffered from cancer. fawcett lived to document her battle with cancer before leaving us finally with only memories.

both icons of the 70's...an era..which will soon be forgotten. i still think my generation had the best of performers...lol..i can be biased of course. hehehe

michael jackson

as i was driving this morning at 7.15am to send my soul mate to school and sis to work, they announced on mix fm, a cardiac arrest with some jackson...we couldnt hear as the windows were down and the sound of the wind swallowed the name...for a while didon looked at me and said `i hope its not michael jackson' so we changed the station to bfm..and there was the news..confirmed by cnn. cause of death is still unknown until the autopsy confirms it.

it sent a pang of sadness over us..and this came about just when he planned his final series of 50 concerts starting the 13th of july.

i first started enjoying the jackson 5 when we got our first tv ...i think i was only 5 years old then...it was the seventies, he was the lead singer...and when jackson had his thriller in 1982, i thought no one could compare to him...not even elvis or the beatles (even though some would say they are in different categories and thus uncomparable)...

when i used to go to the discos in my youth, i remember doing the backward gliding moonwalk..all courtesy of mj. he was the best..the most exciting and by far the most talented of all performers, with squeals and titters and dance movements that everyone began to immitate.

what he did for charity was another reason to love him. and he adored his children, literally lived for them. and in regards to all those allegations... we can choose to believe or discard it. the public never seem to know the truth about anything anyway...its always hearsay.

hardly a few years older than me, i literally grew up with his music..each one of his songs...loving every moment, every song, every dance, every bit of everything..my first walkman only played elvis and jackson, it so easily brings tears to my eyes....i can hardly believe his demise..i think the world has just lost the BIGGEST pop star in history...

the afghan by frederick forsyth

straight after the glass palace, i wanted to complete the afghan. a fictional story of british and american intelligence and secrete missions behind enemy lines in pakistan and afghanistan. frankly i would rather watch a movie of such a genre than read the book. after watching the whole 24 series, i think no other book can beat the ctu there. so yes i would prefer watching it rather than imagine a plot described by the book

in the afghan, there is a major al qaeda operation in the works but the intelligence have absolutely no clue on the target. since they do not have anyone in the inside, they do the near impossible job of infiltrating an agent into al qaeda. they hire colonel mike martin, a former sas officer who is passed off as izmat khan, the afghan who is a former senior commander of the taliban.

forsyth has obviously done lengthy research into the movements of the al qaeda and mingles fact and fiction well. the book is a good read giving an insight into systematic schemes of international terrorism, the faith and motivation of terrorists, how they work, the people involved, the ways of the intelligence and their detection of unimaginable threats that are very much plausible in the real world. a bit rushed at the end with a little disappointing climax, and i must say this to conclude, one cannot help but compare it to the superior day of the jackal.

the glass palace

my entire life has been surrounded by books. there is nothing i love more. the glass palace by amitav ghosh was at the beginning my toilet read, which means i read only in the mornings when nature calls. as a result, i could only complete three to four pages a session.

with a slow beginning, the book pretty much dragged. but when it came to the dizzying array of events beginning with king thibaw's entrance to ratnagiri...i decided, i had to finish it in a day. i started yesterday and finished just an hour ago.

552 pages with the author's note, it is more of a political, historical and family epic, something pretty difficult to make a success of especially with all those characters and the time span across three countries mainly burma, india and malaysia.

it will take me a little time to write about this. it will be on my blog. i simply cannot leave this out. my review will be lengthy not because the book is so, but because there are many minute details that i would like to remember in years to come.

this is his fourth book, and my first ghosh...there will definitely be more.

my next is the afghan..by frederick forsyth

registered financial planner

i finally did it.!!!! all those moments of slogging with studies and projects and exams...i finally cleared my seventh level rfp exams, the recognised mark for the highest level of competence in financial planning..the dream that i have been wanting to achieve...tough paper, sat for it on the 15th of jan. handed in the final project on the 15th of feb, and today, i received the fax saying i passed....feels almost like i achieved the world. lol.

will take mum, sis, and my soul mate for a treat..they deserve this one from me. they were all so patient when i spent time studying instead of attending to them. especially the little one. just did the 3 times table with her and allowed her to play outside so she is having fun today.

such a relief...for the past month my pressure has been soaring, wondering when the results would be out, its like i can breathe again, freely.

so what's next? maybe a masters and phd after that...life is filled with education and knowledge..never seems to end. have taken to some great slokas and mantras...might take up distance learning in sanskrit..lets see.

feels wonderful to be the cream of the cream...and frankly... no money can compensate this achievement, this feeling and this fulfilled mission. i am actually qualified to be an independent financial planner...wow..just the sound of it makes me feel like a million dollars...lol.

the mayan calendar

this newfound joy of taking the bike anywhere is totaly dampened by the rain. time is doubly wasted and the after floods left by the rain is invariably splashed by the cars that pass me.

i've got my voice back..but its hoarse.

was invited to concorde hotel for lunch yesterday....a dim sum lunch!! what more could i have wanted? great food and ambience. was at lunch with a chinese business man, the managing director of tokyo bank and their school mate, the dentist who is my cousin. the occasion was his birthday.

we spoke of the supposed tsunami on the 22nd of july, the end of the world in 2012 and fires and floods.

according to the tzolkin, the most fundamental and widely used mayan calendar, with almost no beginning and end..(completely circular), there are numerous things that could easily threaten the human species in the year 2012, such as a geomagnetic reversal, asteroid strike or something more personal like a flu pandemic, or a nuclear war.

have ancient civilisations left us enough coded warnings to show us signs of terrible things possibly occuring in the coming years? are they already beginning to happen? quite possibly there might be a major catastrophe. will our ignorance and beliefs stop the end of a 52 year cycle which was recognised by the mesoamericans? but the indigo people responsible for the next transition, the hype of the calamities, the possibility of evolution in the future and the strong energies of all that is described and claimed by forecasts and so on, are still yet to be seen and proven. are economists doing anything about it? will there be global chaos?

the end of something marks the beginning of something else right?

i recently came across a book, `how to survive 2012' by patrick geryl, one that details the upheavals in the sun's magnetic fields which will generate gigantic solar flares and affect the polarity of the entire earth. maybe it's worth a read.

i stil have to write my blog. watched yet another excellent movie yesterday, the perfume. a great deal of writing needs to be done.

ciao for now.

art

i remember a time when all i wanted was to paint. i cannot begin to explain the joys and freedom of expression one can pour into their painting, if you arent an artist in your own way, you will never comprehend this simple yet meaningful passion.

sanchita, my sister was always the artist of the family..she was literally born with that pencil in her hand and wherever we went, mum just had to give her a pencil and paper to keep her quiet. i was the copy artist...meaning i only copied her work, and as a result became somewhat of an artist too..albeit an inferior one.

however, my dream was to see her have her own exhibition by the time she was 40. she achieved that soon before her death. and her loveliest of art form was called `death' which exuded vibrant and positive energies.

she took 7 months to complete her work..delighting in working with acrylics.death was serenity, comfort and warmth. and in the exhibition, she couldnt get herself to sell it. it was finally given to a very close friend of hers.

ever since her death on 26th jan 2008 indian republic day, i have never talked of art or indulged in it because everything to do with art only reminded me of her.

however, in tagged, the website where men and women perpetually seek sexual mates, i met arnab..an interesting artist with an amazing talent, a talent which he needs to explore and expand provided he allows himself to do so. he is still searching and i hope he finds what rightly identifies him in his art form. there are very few men in this world who would want to have artistic and intellectual conversation with a woman...with arnab it has been so from the beginning and what greater stimulation can i expect from someone of the opposite sex who is as eager as i am to grasp whatever knowledge that is available in the world and beyond.

a message for arnab.

if acrylics is your comfort, try others....sometimes, we produce best with things we are most uncomfortable with, those that challenge us...it matters how we perceive things. right and wrong is a matter of perception..whatever the approach, it is okay as long as you are happy with your art.

going for angels and demons now....

tagged viewers

tagged viewers

jeez. this is my third attempt of writing the third entry. it better go through this time. the first time, it didn't take in my blog address and just disappeared suddenly, the second time, the compaq batt went dead.

maybe it was just not meant to be. surprisingly for both entries i wrote different things...would those things have offended anyone? maybe, do i care? i dont know. do i need to care?

some 300 viewers checked on my profile over the past two days, yet only one friend request, which is a good thing really!! great to know that my new written demand of wanting only intellectuals have completely sieved off those who are only interested in a quick physical entry. lol!!

for those who have read my journals. thank you. i guess it is surprising that people actually read my stuff. hehehe

was a little under the weather yesterday so did not indulge in my laptop and this morning when i got up, i could hear the struggle of my intermittent voice flow...goodness, i lost my voice! so, imagine how difficult it was to have tele-conversations and explain to the other side that i was really who i was...sigh!!

wanted to watch angels and demons today...some people have said that ron howard did justice to the book...lets see. let the crowd get thinner and the ticket price lower first. hehe. compensated instead, with another movie. l. a. confidential, will write about it in my blog.

my india travel journal is yet to be written....the list of things to do!!! hmm.

tagged again...sundays and books

habitually sundays are the busiest of the seven days. day of rest indeed!!

despite the inspites, chores and all, i never forget to read a page, well, atleast a page if my greed doesnt go further than that, of any book that i constantly tug along with me wherever i proceed to.

this nice and subtle happiness of reading, this joy not chilled by age, this somehow unpunished vice...would i call it that...hmm....well, this selfish, serene long intoxication that has made me a total surrender to it, of it.....how can i not give in to the greed and selfishness of wanting my time with an entertainment so very cheap and a pleasure so darn lasting?

in the 43 years of having lived this obligated life, the companionship of good books, great variety of music, excellent and thought provoking movies, and the natural and acquired love of wanderlust, how could i not have lived life to the fullest...

one hope though, wish there were more of my kind...sigh!!!

the first in tagged

my first

never really considered tagged as intellectual but then what the heck...who cares, the love of writing needs no confinement. whether someone knows it or not, understands it or not, its like art, if there is a soul out there beside mine who can relate, then i write for that soul.

the skies may disappear, the mayan calendar dec 21 2012 may end it all, the indigos may rise or like the inconvenient truth, after kolkata we all may be under water and my guess, perhaps evolve into mermaids and gillies...whatever. do i care? (do we still worry about savings and investments? hehehe)

well, i dont know..i guess i care about writing...;-)

they say whatever u do the first time...keep it short n sweet...let mine be so..adieu

changeling - clint eastwood

a 2008 film. as a director clint eastwood has been one of my favourites, and he has given us some of the finest films we have ever seen. changeling was a far cry from eastwood's best films, but i can tell you that it was an experience i wont easily forget.

a single mother, christine collins (angelina jolie) returns home one day from her switchboard supervising duty to find her young son, walter (gattlin griffith) missing. she reports it immediately and gets a very casual and condescending reaction from the police department. later we know that the worst is yet to come. after a few months, the police chief stages a reunion between christine and a boy who christine insists is not walter. her insistence becomes an irritation for the chief and as a result she is ridiculed and treated as a hysterical, traumatised woman who is declared a lunatic and a threat to herself and to others. she is locked away in a mental hospital.

the meandering events pointing to explore police corruption, the suppression of women, the emotional effectiveness of capital punishment and rights of civilians, along with the plight of children is a little confusing at first until the whole story emerges slowly but mundanely.

set in the year 1928, besides being taken to a an era way before us, it is also black and white in terms of character portrayals. a story about the unflagging determination of an ordinary woman and her quest to find her 9 year old son. but while the tenacity in the face of overwhelming odds is undeniably admirable, the way it plays out is not always compelling.

in the story christine seems to have just one ally, a radio preacher named gustav briegleb (john malkovich) who believes in her and helps her to expose the lapd's bullying.

the methodical storytelling leads to flat and even tedious stretches and parts of the story mirrored by jolie's deliberate performance are so calm that they seem almost monotonous.

i think with this film the actors were not able to stretch out in the zone between realism and melodrama to explore their characters' raw nerves, tender spots and psychic calluses like those who did in eastwood's previous films. even though it is supposedly based on a true story, it did not quite feel real.

the script is compelling, the direction confident, the production values professional, the actress classy, and the chilling and gruesome turns, with the belief in ultimate justice makes it an unforgettable film.

watch it as you simply must watch a clint eastwood film :-)

body of lies - ridley scott

body of lies. a 2008 production. an action drama cum thriller directed by ridley scott. i would not miss any movies which starred russel crowe and leonardo decaprio. so this was one of the first ones i watched from the whole lot.

based on david ignatius' novel, roger ferris (caprio) is a covert cia operative working in jordan who is tracking a high ranking terrorist called al saleem who, with his group is targeting and bombing civilians. ed hoffman (crowe) is ferris' boss who is communicating with him from langley. ferris uncovers information on al saleem and devises a plan with the help of jordanian intelligence hani salaam (mark strong) to infiltrate the terrorist network, both men are weary about trusting each other. ferris meanwhile meets aisha, an iranian actress (golshifteh farahani), a nurse who he falls in love with. hoffman betrays ferris by not telling him the entire truth, which compels ferris to act on his own, again with the help of salaam.

a technically well crafted spy thriller with pretty exciting and well staged action, intricately woven with a splash of love story in it. crowe puts on weight to be in this film, and gives and adequate performance in a seemingly undemanding role for an actor of his caliber.

however, maybe because it was based on the book, it creates an experience now too familiar. this film addresses the issue of terrorism (another post 9/11 film) with the cia meddling, with very ordinary spy thriller genre conventions.

even though it is not boring, as i personally think no movies should be, and on the contrary, is exciting as we are trying to figure out who is on whose side, i would say it is still, not unforgettable. there are certain movies that stay in your mind, no matter how many years pass by, frankly if i allow another week to pass, i wont even remember what this was about.

body of lies doesnt really strike a few nerves and the despairing urgency is not quite achieved in this film but overall, i found it pretty much engaging and entertaining. and i am sure anyone else would too...

appaloosa - ed harris

appaloosa. a 2008 film directed by ed harris. a movie that is 115 minutes long and extremely slow paced, with actors viggo mortenson, renee zellweger, jeremy irons and ed harris himself.

with a leading cast like that nothing should go wrong right?

right! nothing really did. except maybe it was a little too slow paced with a little less action. i think one would expect more action from a western film.

in new mexico territory, virgil cole (harris) and everett hitch (moretenson) are peripatetic and audacious lawmen, hired by desperate towns as marshall and deputy. the city of appaloosa is afraid of randall bragg (irons), a rancher with wealth and a gang of thugs who escape after every trouble they cause and therefore it is difficult to prove them guilty and get the law to hang them.

cole and hitch are hired and they contrive to arrest bragg and bring him to trial. while all this is going on, a widow, allison french (zellweger) arrives in town. pretty, refined, good natured, polite and smart, cole falls deeply in love and allison seems to return his love equally, however, there is more to allison than meets the eye.

excellent direction. great performances from harris and mortenson, in both the fast action and the slow romance. the fact that one cannot stand zellweger's character in this film makes her perfect and different from her other roles. i wouldnt say this film is over rated. it is a laidback western film with a little romance and quick dual gun fights, even if it just lasts a few minutes.

i am not too much a western film fan, but still, i wouldnt have missed this one. more than real action, i think this film was about character and trust, respect and honour, friendship and freedom.

great watch if you can digest the slow pace (which i can :-))

burn after reading - ethan and joel coen

burn after reading. a 2008 film by ethan and joel coen. with an all star cast that include george clooney, brad pitt, john malkovich, tilda swinton and frances mcdormand, a moviegoer would expect an award-winning plot and script. unlike their previous film in 2007, `no country for old men' which has been highly praised by critics and was recognised with four awards at the oscars, this one was not deemed even for a nomination.

i dont quite know how to rate this movie, not because it seemed like a total mess but because i cant quite understand what the coens wanted to achieve with the audience. i dont really subsribe to movies with happy endings, i am more into a dash of reality in films therefore by right i should have rated this as a star movie, but then, strangely it sort of falls short on being a movie one can relate to.

having said that, i still think the coens must have this crazy distinctive humour to have produced a silly, quirky yet dark comedy in the best traditions of cinematic farce with a couple of surprising moments of random violence thrown in for good measure.

osbourne cox (malkovich) and his wife, katie (swinton) live offbeat lives close to separation. he is supposedly sacked from his job for being an alcoholic while katie is having an affair with harry (clooney) who is about to file for a divorce. katie is advised by her lawyer to get a complete record of cox's financial situation so she copies the files from the computer onto a disk which gets accidentally left on the floor in the gymn where linda (mcdormand) and chad (pitt) discover it and think of a plan where they can make money from ox if they were to return the disk to him. phew...all that in one breath!!

ox has absolutely no idea what these two are talking about when they call him up for a meeting and the `ransom' money that they are demanding. ox, however meets up with them and when he refuses to pay them, they take the disk to the russians thinking perhaps some confidential cia information is in it as most of the information has names and financial details, along with unimportant memoirs that ox had recorded.

it is absurdly hilarious watching the cia agents struggling to figure out who is doing what to whom and how they deal with the trail of destructions idiotically left by a those people who are involved. one gets used to the idiocy and cranky humour, but is sometimes shocked with certain scenes which spell murder, even though it is by accident. for a while one wonders if a situation like that could occur in real life, but beyond that thought, one does not linger anymore.

despite the reviews, i wouldnt have missed it mainly because of the cast and directors. worth watching a coen brothers movie despite the inspites.

street kings by david ayer

street kings, a 2008 film by david ayer starring keanu reeves, forest whitaker, hugh laurie, chris evans

detective tom ludlow (keanu reeves) is an enforcer controlled by elite squad captain jack wander ( whitaker). ludlow is often dispatched as an assassin to take out criminals when wander thinks it should be done that way. great start to the movie, full of action, ludlow bursts into a house filled with korean gangsters and shoots everyone in sight until he reaches his intention of rescuing the kidnapped twins in a locked closet.

ludlow looks for the murderer of his former partner, terry crewes. it happens while ludlow follows him to a convenience store intending to beat him up, but two masked gunmen run in and shoot crewes first. even though ludlow was there at the crime scene, the cops treat it as a robbery completely ignoring what ludlow has to say, and of course, wander encourages it.

the plot and the end is predictable. we know who the bad guy is ten minutes into the movie, but ludlow himself is unaware and is confused and teams up with rookie detective chris evans to find out what really is going on and what he has been missing all this time.

great cast with credible supporting performances, i thought it was pretty good movie but then again, just another typical hollywood one, however, i enjoyed it. then again, you wouldnt miss anything at all if you dont watch it. :-)

righteous kill by jon avnet

a 2008 jon avnet film. robert de niro and al pacino, two veteran and favourite actors of mine.

when we are told of a movie with these two as armed and dangerous veteran nyc cops and with a script writer like russel gewirtz (inside man, one wonders what would ever go wrong with a film like that right?

turk (deniro) and rooster (pacino), partners on the nypd are involved in the investigation of a series of vigilante serial murders. the movie starts with the confession of deniro, explaining the murders commited of people who actually or possibly deserved them. the crime is linked with this murderer writing poems and leaving it at the crime scene for every planned killing he commits.

the intention is to mislead the audience from knowing or guessing who the real killer is. there is a scene where turk plants a gun to put away a vicioius child killer who was about to walk off scot-free. rooster brings this up with the two young detectives who are investigating this case together with them. and this and everything else points to turk being the violent killer. however, along the way, if you are used to watching typical hollywood nyc movies, you would guess the real killer.

the story cruises. and the thriller that is much talked about seems and feels somewhat forced. even though the twist at the end is pretty much exciting, one already expects that the murderer would be someone other than turk, and so who else can he be?

as a film lover, any film lover, hehehe, i enjoyed righteous kill and no, i dont think the two were wasted. i think avnet would have given deniro and pacino enough room to continue the way they would like it. it was good to know that they were the main features of the film.

a good movie with good actors, and a good twist. dont judge it like an expert, it would spoil ur perception, instead, enjoy the flow, no matter how much it drags, and how typical a hollywood film it is, still worth a watch.

the last legion by doug lefler

again, a big gap since i last gave time to my blog. left for india on the 19th of feb and returned on the 12th march, a whole 21 day trip of interesting challenges.

still in the midst of writing my journal. it might take some more time. hope to complete it before i leave for trichy again in july.

after my return on the 12th, managed to complete a few movies.

the last legion. a 2007 film by doug lefler. has colin firth, aishwarya rai, thomas sangster and ben kingsley amongst others.

the many versions of king arthur and excaliber has made every movie connected with it a fascinating watch for me. i know others will or might complain of how badly the movie started or it isn't the way its supposed to be or maybe the actors screwed it up but well, even though i sort of think like them, i still enjoyed it. hehehe. i think if one does not take it seriously, then it is good entertainment and it will keep you engaged.

was it a bad movie. i dont know. i cant say. it surrounds the fall of the roman empire with its last emperor, a 12 yr old sangster (romulus) who would rule for a day before losing it all to guy in a golden mask named vortgyn, who apparently is looking for that same sword which would belong to king arthur one day. for rome to rise to power again, sangster must find the sword that would give the rightful ruler power to attain rome again. aurelius (colin firth) and merlin (kinsley) aid romulus in that direction. mira (aishwarya) is an indian warrior who is sent with them as a guard.

there are some atrocious and unbelievable battle scenes that emerge with ridiculous time gaps of fighters having time to hug and exchange compassionate looks with each other.

like i said, if you dont take it seriously, you will pretty much enjoy it. however, this film does not really follow any true historical events and the overall acts seem pretty unreal and inactive. my conclusion is the same, for a lighthearted movie, its fun to watch.

sex in a cold climate

it makes me a little emotional to write about this. being a movie freak, of any type, i freely give my opinions, mainly balanced ones knowing that perceptions can differ within seconds, however, very few movies touch a chord that brings up the passion in me to write emotionally.

we are ignorant of much of history that powers have managed to bury away from us not because they think we are too weak to accept them but because they are too weak to acknowledge them.

when an order of nuns in dublin sold off part of the convent to real estate developers in recent years, what emerged were the remains of women with scandals buried in unmarked graves. were they prostitutes as the nuns would have readily claimed they were?

the catholic church.

those who know me and have read my blog, please forgive my obstinacy and determination in proving karl marx right over and over again when he stated that religion is the opium of the masses. i don't know... i continue to think that way. he may have said it with some other context in mind but generally, i think we are all followers, we would be absolutely lost if we didnt have anyone to lead us.

the so called prostitutes have been virtual prisoners, confined by the catholic church behind convent walls for perceived sins of the flesh and sentenced to a life of servitude. the place was called the magdalene laundries. another misconception of the bible, mary magdalene was the so called prostitute and therefore wayward women or fallen women who were sent into such a laundry prison, were named just that...the magdalene laundries. and to think they existed until just a decade ago and no one ever raised an objection. makes us lesser beings doesn't it?

and to top it all, just imagine this, they were closed only because they were not profitable enough with the emergence of the washing machine in every home being a possibility. and since i am topping it all, it is more pathetic to know that none of these women were ever given any compensation, not that it mattered, but still, there were no apologies and no regrets.

even though, the magdalene sisters by peter mullan had a more distressing effect and showed real threatening and disturbing behaviour of the nuns, especially the mother superior, the dvd i just witnessed broke me apart.

sex in a cold climate, an appropriate title for a documentary that is so appaling and frightening that you will wish throughout the 50 minutes that it is not based on a true story, that it never really existed.

but it did.

the historical documentary is the horrific true story of sadistic and abusive nuns running a slave laundry factory. (not to mention the sick priests who think these women are their price whenever the sex urge arise). the magdalene laundry in ireland under the auspices of the catholic church's sisters of mercy had young women working under vile circumstances paying for their sins by washing other people's laundry. these girls were accused of sexual or sinful contact with men. this dvd is about an interview with four different women from such an institution, and how they explained what really went on behind those mysterious walls. one such woman's sin was that she was simply too pretty and with her looks she would definitely be a fallen woman unless she was sent to the laundry for discipline. all the four women, eventually escaped from that prison but the emotional and physical scars never left, in fact they literally damaged their entire lives.

i wonder reallly and please help me understand. these nuns have taken vows. what happened? what changed them into beasts and violent prison guards? they spent their every moment delighting in persecuting these young hapless teenagers. what went wrong?

the shameful degradation of the girls being humiliated by the nuns and then what about their families? aren't they beasts too? the movie was only a testimony by the magdalene inmates and even though i have more to say, i wonder why the church never really did anything about this? they did not know?

i ask again. did they not know?

isn't that inexcusable?

was there another side to this story? some measure of good has to be done along with all that is bad right? was there any such good? can we even look for it after knowing what were done to these women? is there a justification for it?

another friend watched this dvd and said she was lucky she did not grow up during those times in ireland, but i say this boldly and with passion, that honestly they are so lucky that i did not grow up during that time. they would have literally been mass murdered.

watch it if u can and know that cruelty did not only exist during hitler's and pol pot's times.