3 Idiots

Movie Review : 3 Idiots
Released : 2009
Language : Hindi
Director :
Genre : Comedy
Starring : Aamir Khan, Sharman Joshi, R Mahadevan, Kareena Kapoor, Boman Irani
My Rating : 9 out of 10

Vidhu Vinod Chopra has had an illustrious career. When he has teamed up with director Rajkumar Hirani, absolute wonders have happened in the Indian Comedy genre. Both "Munnabhai" movies had a refreshingly unique style of presentation. Now add to this team actor Aamir Khan who has made himself synonymous with movies that are fresh, different and worth watching. This definitely raises the expectations of their combined venture. Judging by the box office response to this movie, both in India and abroad, it's clear that the movie has met or surpassed the expectations of most.

There is not much point writing the synopsis of the story which is based on a popular book by Chetan Bhagat ("Five Point Someone") . Most must have already watched the movie. The story as such is minimal. The focus is on characters and their interactions. So let's just skip the formality of capturing the story.

Most of the movie is about what these 3 idiots - "Rancho" (Aamir Khan), Farhan (R Mahadevan), Raju (Sharman Joshi) - their classmate "Chatur", the faculty chief "ViruS" and his daughter Pia (Kareena Kapoor). Much of it happens during their years together in a fictitious Imperial College (which is based on of course IIT), and this is presented in the form of numerous flashbacks. Right out of the gate, the movie sets its tone with a nice opening scene and maintains it till the very end.

The movie will be remembered for the relentless comedy. It should be. The director and writer do not shy away from using absolutely any situation to infuse with sudden jokes. Nothing is sacred and every character is a fair game. Sensitive viewers, take note. This style is refreshingly different in Indian cinema. Be prepared to feel surprised for laughing in what is otherwise a melodramatic scene. Even the deliberate use - I think its deliberate - of common devices like the bride running away, is full of hilarious punch lines.

But it's more than that. There is significant social commentary tucked in between the fabric of comedy. The comedy doesn't arise from some forced situations or impossible characters. The entire premise is firmly grounded in reality. The carefree crazy acts are common in numerous colleges and hostels all over India. The pressure to excel and its sometimes tragic consequences are real. The aspirations of parents and their sacrifices for their kids are real. Hence this movie touches you and strikes a chord, while making you laugh loud at the same time. The combination of realism and comedy is presented here with near perfection.

The movie is just a little bit on the longer side for my taste. Some trimming to keep it below 2:30 wouldn't have taken anything away.

This is correctly rated as U/A in India - which is PG13 in US. I do not recommend this for young kids. There are adult situations. For others, this is a movie you have to watch.

Ciabatta !

Ciabatta is a favorite of all bread lovers ! It's wonderful light, airy crumb just invites breaking and biting. I started using the bread machine about an year ago, and has been quite successful with it. But baking a crusty rustic bread has always been the real goal. So recently, I have started experimenting with oven baking.

Ciabatta requires a starter and a very wet dough. I found a quite straight-forward recipe and was delighted at the result. The outside was uneven but with proper crust.

The inside, was a near perfect crumb.

And a close-up.

This was delicious and simply melted the mouth.

Avatar

Movie Review : Avatar
Released : 2009
Genre : SciFi Adventure
Director : James Cameron
Staring : Sigourney Weaver, Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana
My Rating : 10 out of 10

Many many years ago, while growing up in Mumbai, I watched "Star Wars". It was my first movie in a theater with stereophonic sound. That and the visual aspects simply blew me away. And as the sequels happened, I became a life long fan. I agree with a lot of deficiencies pointed out by critics of Star Wars. But to me, they simply do not matter. Star Wars is a fairy tale for adults and an experience to immerse yourself in.

Avatar generates exactly the same feeling in me. And I know there will be critics. I might agree with the objections they would raise. There is very little character development. The movie has a strong political message, about the history of interactions with Native Americans, as well as the desire to go on a war for "minerals". Cameron is repeating some of the "save the planet" message from his own "Abyss". I might shock a lot of people, but there is a certain lack of originality here. Yes, I mean it. The aliens are very human-like, the animals very much like dinosaurs, and the planet is very much earthlike. The plot elements have been seen in many movies, from Disney's "Pocahontas" to Kevin Costner's "Dances With Wolves". The planet that's alive (kind of) has been used in many SciFi stories. Even certain scenes like jumping in the waterfall have been done numerous times from "Fugitive" to "Anaconda". OK, enough.

So why 10 out of 10 ? Because all the objections listed above don't matter. Of course, more originality would have helped. There is enough imagination to overcome any such defects. But that's not the point either.

This is an experience. I watched it in IMAX 3D. Without 3D or IMAX, the opinion might be drastically different. I don't know. When you are watching the movie as it was intended to be watched, the awe and amazement of the entire package will overwhelm you. The action scenes, the attention to detail, the music and of course the extremely realistic 3D will put you "in there". You will not just be watching it, you will feel it.

The movie is not just action and visual effects. It is strong in the story-telling department. It's easy to root for the natives. We know them more than the human characters. We understand their lifestyles and their desire to protect it. The human characters are extremely single dimensional, but they are mostly villains, so it's OK I guess. It's kind of strange to be happy at the end when aliens win and humans lose.

Will this revolutionize movie making the same way Star Wars did ? I am not competent enough to discuss that. We will know in coming years. I am sure there will be sequels. Good sequels are more of an exception than norm. Unlike Star Wars, this is not a multi-generational saga, at least yet. And Lord Of The Rings is one cohesive story across many books. Here  story has ended, and Cameron will have to invent a continuation, may be another attack by humans. But he has proved that he can do great sequels, "Aliens" and "Terminator : Judgement Day". So I think I should look forward to them.

Please make sure you watch this in IMAX 3D. Movies as game changing as this, do not happen every day. Most kids would enjoy this, but younger ones may get scared once in a while.

Jon Stewart and India

Here are some nice Jon Stewart episodes related to India from 2009.

First about the suspected mastermind of the Mumbai terror attacks being caught in Chicago - "Scary Plotter".

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Scary Plotter
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

The best was about Indian Space Agency discovering water on Moon - "Deep Space Naan".

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Deep Space Naan
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

The one about Shah Rukh Khan was just OK. Nothing great.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Shah Rukh Khan Detained at Newark
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

Taken

Movie Review : Taken
Released : 2009
Director : Pierre Morel
Genre : Thriller
Starring : Liam Neeson
My Rating : 7 out of 10

Taken has at its heart, a nightmare scenario for every parent. A son/daughter being kidnapped. To make matters worse, the teenage daughter is kidnapped in a foreign country by a large criminal network, who is not interested in ransom, but selling off the girl for prostitution and then eventual murder.

This time, the parent happens to be an ex-spy who still possesses superhuman skills and great contacts. This aged superhero is racing against time to save his daughter and has to succeed in an amazingly diverse challenges thrown at him by the situation.

These are the kind of movies that require a firm commitment to not raise any logical objection whasoever. If you start thinking then you can find more holes in the plot than there are craters on the Moon. So the director has to make sure that the viewer does not get any time to think. And in this movie, the director succeeds.

He does that, by keeping the movie short, by not wasting any time in any unrelated fluff, by keeping it moving at a very rapid pace and by letting a very good actor take on 90% of the screen time. Casting was extremely important here. Liam Neeson is neither Daniel Craig (James Bond) nor Matt Damon (Jason Bourne). But he is perfect for this role who has to play both a doting father and a skilled mercenary. Everyone else, including the villains and the kidnapped daughter, gets only a few minutes, and manage to not ruin the fun.

I recommend this movie if you are willing to just enjoy a fast and furious 90 minutes of action.

A Brief History Of Mind

Book Review : A Brief History Of Mind
Author : William H. Calvin
My Rating : 3 out of 5

The complete title of the book is "A Brief History of the Mind: From Apes to Intellect and Beyond".

With a provocative title (obviously inspired by Stephen Hawking's blockbuster "A Brief History Of Time"), I was very enthusiastic about reading this book. But I came out much underwhelmed after reading it.

The book starts off well. The author is trying to trace the chain of events that must have led to the evolution of our mental abilities. It's mainly anthropology, with some neurobiology sprinkled in. Obviously, we start with investigating behavior of primates and then move along the evolutionary branches.

There is a wealth of information here. The author is trying to explain what must have been the "Big Bang" for our mental abilities. This turns out be the development of language, which seems a very logical conclusion. And it's also one which author arrives at by presenting a strong case.

So why am I not so happy about this book ? I am not a student of anthropology, but it does seem to involve a lot of speculation. That's not a problem to me, because even a lot of cutting age theoretical physics seem speculation to this layman. My problem is about the style of presentation. After reading many chapters, I was wondering, yes, the discussion is interesting, but how exactly does it help the argument move forward ? After reading a chapter, I would go back and read the summary of it in the contents pages, and then would I understand, "Oh, so that's what the point is of this chapter". Considering how short these chapters are, summaries should not be needed, but ironically, it was these summaries that made me understand the point of some chapters.

In many cases, the author presents what we think must have happened, only to discard it quickly, without presenting an alternative. I was not sure, if I was following the chain of reasoning correctly. Hence I didn't always detect a coherent theme and was getting lost once in a while. This reduced the enjoyment of such a nice idea for a book.

As a result, I am very much interested in reading and learning more about anthropology. I remember reading "Guns, Germs and Steel" written by Jared Diamond a few years ago and was extremely impressed with it. I yearn to read a book like that again.

I can only tentatively recommend this book. It's quite good, but it could have been so much better.

Audit The Fed : Response From Senator

I had sent a letter supporting the bill to "Audit the Fed" to both my congressman and senator. I had received a response from the congressman very quickly. It took a while for the senator to respond, but it sure did come.

It doesn't look like Senator Feinstein supports this bill.

Dear Mr. Avachat:

Thank you for contacting me to express support for legislation to increase transparency at the Federal Reserve. I appreciate your interest in monetary policy and welcome the opportunity to respond.

The Federal Reserve was originally established in response to the country's need for a sound and independent central bank to manage decisions relating to U.S. monetary policy. I understand your concern with some of the unprecedented steps that the Federal Reserve has taken recently to ease the flow of credit and stabilize financial markets.

On March 16, 2009, Senator Bernard Sanders (I-VT) introduced the "Federal Reserve Sunshine Act of 2009" (S. 604), which would require the U.S. Comptroller General to audit the Federal Reserve System before the end of 2010. This bill has been referred to the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee. Representative Ron Paul (R-TX) has introduced a similar bill (H.R. 1207) in the House of Representatives. Please know that I will keep your support for this legislation in mind should it come before the full Senate.

While I recognize the importance of accountability in the operations of the Federal Reserve, I strongly believe that monetary decisions should be made independent of political influence or motives. You may be interested to learn that I supported an amendment to the Congressional Budget Resolution (S. Con. Res. 13) offered by Senator Sanders requiring the Federal Reserve to disclose how it has disbursed emergency economic assistance to financial institutions during this severe economic crisis. Be assured that I am carefully monitoring the actions taken by the Federal Reserve to help stimulate our economy and unfreeze credit for businesses and homeowners.

  

Once again, thank you for writing. I hope that you will continue to share your views with me. If I can be of any further assistance, please contact my Washington, D.C. office at (202) 224-3841. Best regards.

      Also, may I take this opportunity to wish you a happy and healthy holiday season. And may 2010 be a good year for us all.


Sincerely yours, Dianne Feinstein
        United States Senator
Further information about my position on issues of concern to California and the Nation are available at my website http://feinstein.senate.gov/public/. You can also receive electronic e-mail updates by subscribing to my e-mail list at http://feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ENewsletterSignup.Signup.

Kambakht Ishq

Moview Review : Kambakht Ishq
Language : Hindi
Released : 2009
Director : Sabbir Khan
Starring : Akshay Kumar, Kareena Kapoor
My Rating : Not worth rating

There was a time when I could watch any movie till end, or read any book till the last page. Maybe it's age, may be it's scarcity of time, maybe something else. I cannot waste my precious time on anything now. Beginning of a movie or a book, very quickly gives you an idea of things to come. Based on this, I make a decision to invest more time or not.

Kambakht Ishq, in it's first 15 minutes of pathetic comedy, told me to move on. Maybe the movie turns out better as it progresses. I was willing to bet that it won't. Hence I did not watch it past that point.

Of course, my recommendation is to avoid this movie.

One for the winter

It's been cold and wet here for last few days. Cannot get away this time, so I have to console myself looking at these pictures.

Going to Hawaii in an off season is highly recommended. You will have the entire beach for yourself.

 

Or I could be easily here, in Mexico.

Sigh.

Henry The Cheater

Last world cup, Zidane's heroic effort made it possible for France to reach the finals, only to be overshadowed by his headbutt. I was sorry for France and upset with Italy. Being World Champion, Italy has already qualified, but I am still going to root against them. But now, because of what Henry did, I am not going to root for France as well. Not that my rooting matters, but this is how I feel.

Playing against Ireland in the deciding match to qualify for World Cup 2010, France sneaked through, based on this handball by their best player Thiery Henry. Incredibly, neither the referee nor the linesman saw this. Poor Ireland lost their bid due to Henry's skillful hands.

I know soccer players try to get away with as much as they can. But this is disgraceful. I hope France, along with Italy, does not even make it to the knockout stage in World Cup 2010.