Boring Bourne
Finally completed the 7th book in the Bourne series. Aptly titled Bourne Deception. The deception being done to the readers. The author Lustbader has managed to fuck up the whole series that was created by Ludlum.
Piece of advice to others and note to self: Stay away from any continuation series in any form (movie, book or tv show) if the original team is not involved
Something is just not right..
Watched the movie 187 a couple of weeks back. A teacher is brutally stabbed by a student. After surviving the attack, he moves to another city and faces a similar situation. Interesting premise.
Last week, I read about this incident in Chennai. The article talks of the student being reprimanded, belonging to an affluent family and finally being influenced by a movie. Shocking!
I don’t really recall being a ideal student. I was indifferent to most of the classes and the teachers. Maybe changing six schools in a span of ten years lead to this.
Anyway, I remember a case when one of my acquaintance’s kid was graded poorly. So, the parents took up the matter with the higher authorities in the school to reverse the grades. It was fucking retarded!! Are parents to be blamed for the kid to think that he/she deserves much more than they truly deserve ? As far as parents go, I recall hundreds of incidents when I had to put up with their kids just to be cordial. Are we going in the right direction ! I do not have kids. Maybe I do not understand how this works. But I do know that this was not how it used to be earlier ! There is a clear distinction between right and wrong when you bring up a kid. It is the right thing to do too.
How about humiliation in classrooms. Does this warrant the kind of reaction evoked in this case. Is it not normal for the student to be punished when he/she does not perform to the extent expected or to maintain discipline? The degree of punishment is always debatable. I remember in one of my schools; we were in constant fear of a particular teacher who used to carry a cane with him. The fear of the cane did the trick. I don’t think any of my classmate has turned out scarred due to this experience.
There are multiple instances where the teacher is responsible for causing physical/mental harm to the kids. Heck, a teacher recently forced the girls in his class to dance when he was consuming liquor. This was in the classroom during regular school timings.
Finally, are we really influenced by the movies or celebrities to try and ape them ? When I was a kid, there was this popular tv show in Doordarshan. It was about the first Indian super hero ‘Shaktimaan’. There were lot of kids who died trying crazy stuff hoping for the superhero to save them. But how many really believed that this superhero exists ? Why is it that most of the audience knew that it was a TV show and there was nothing more to it. But there were a minority who thought otherwise.
The point I am trying to make is this. In my experience, what works for one may or may not work for another. There are layers within layers. I am not really sure what works best. Nor can I suggest solutions for I am no expert. Though it does not take an expert to see the fault in the current scenario. Maybe it needs to be worked upon based on every individual case. The degree of responsibility needs to be well defined for the kids, schools and the parents. And hopefully everyone attempts to work towards it.
Life is good and so are we
It is that time of the year for fresh resolutions, embracing the future, making new plans etc etc. It is the last day of this year!!
I have fond reminiscences of this day. The ones I treasure the most are when we used to reside in the bank quarters allotted to my dad in Mangalore. We had moved in here when I was in the 7th grade. Being the first time I had ever lived in an apartment, it was a different life. I had 4-5 of my classmates staying in the same quarters. My brother too had a bunch of friends from his age group. Those were the days 
The one occasion that all the kids as well as the adults looked forward to, was the New Year’s eve. All the people in the apartment used to contribute for this. Basically, a small stage used to be erected on the open space near the parking lot. No cars were permitted. All of us were involved in taking active part in plays, dance or the ‘critically acclaimed’ fashion show.
A week before the New Year, games were held for the kids. The kids were divided in 2 categories. Above and below 7th grade. I did win a couple of prizes in the ‘lemon balanced on the spoon’ race and in the ‘aim the wicket’ competition. It was fun!!
The New Year ceremony usually began with the prize distribution. I also participated in dancing to popular hindi film numbers. I vividly remember getting most of the steps wrong for these songs. But nobody really bothered. Then came the fashion show. I don’t know why but every year the music played for this used to be the one from the Enigma project. I remember dressing up like a cow boy of sorts in the first year. This was followed by dinner in the parking lot. The New Year was welcomed by cutting a cake and playing with glitters. The finale included burning the old man and running round the bon fire under the supervision of our parents. Post celebrations, we were tucked into bed and I remember discussing the day with my brother. I used to eagerly wait for the next New Year.
We did not have digital cameras those days. So we needed to be careful with every click. I still have these snaps at home and it is a souvenir of these days gone by.
After moving out of Mangalore, we shifted to Manipal. Even though Manipal has a vibrant party culture I used to stay at home glued to the idiot box!
The past 3 years I welcomed the New Year with my closest of friends in Bangalore.
This year it is going to be totally different. I will be taking my wife to a fancy Thai restaurant tonight. It will be a quiet time. We will embrace the New Year with new hopes and expectations.
To quote my good friend ‘Life is good and so are we’. It sounds just right .
Have a rocking year ahead.
A game of cricket
I am not a big fan of cricket. In fact, I change the channel immediately if a match is being broadcasted on TV. However, when my colleagues decided to play a game I knew that I of course should be a part of this experience. The chief motivation for me to do so was that the match was scheduled for a Friday afternoon and any team building activity in our ODC is a very rare event. The best part of this game was that I got to know a lot of the people who work in other teams. I never had an occasion to get acquainted with any of them before.
After the teams had been formed, my side decided to bat first. We did post a modest target for our opponents. The only difference between the two teams was that they played to win and we were indifferent as to the outcome. This led to two things, everyone in our team got to bat or at least bowl a couple of overs. While in the other team, only a few good players were part of this and the others were reduced to just fetching the ball.
I wondered what is more significant. In a corporate environment, there are huge/small teams to be motivated as well as guided. Should only the key players be a part of the big picture? Or should everyone in the team contribute with a common goal? I feel each and everyone in the team should be rewarded reasonably and hence contribute to their full potential. But in a competitive world with cut throat approach, is this truly possible? For the greater good everyone in the team has to play his/her part without a hitch.
And our team did win the match. Cheers
Predators 2010
I am going to rant till kingdom glory… why? I am pissed
This is the bad guy (aka the predator)
This man had fought the above mentioned bad guy in the 80s
This guy battles the predator in 2010
I hope you can spot the sarcasm/mockery in the movie. I happened to watch the latest Predator movie titled ‘Predators’ this Saturday. The cast should have been a forewarning for me to step back. But having watched the earlier installments, I was duty-bound to watch this one too.
People are dropped from the skies, dogs are let loose to pursue them and the predators hunt. The movie had an 18+ rating. I was expecting gore. But all it had was the characters screaming ‘f***’ every time they speak. YAWN !! The forest scenes were a gigantic disappointment. Acclaimed film maker Robert Rodriguez being associated with such a piece of crap is really distressing. I am clueless as to what the film makers were thinking.
To crown all this bullshit, the movie had subtitles too. Imagine subtitles in the movie hall!! In a few of the comic scenes, I could hear people laughing out loud before the delivery; courtesy the sub-titles. See, the subtitles slaughter the movie. It can’t get more wretched. When Star movies, HBO and Zee-Studio had initiated the practice of sub-titles, I stopped watching movies when screened here.
I only hope this fad does not catch up with all the multiplexes. I hope these folks have enough logic to not use the subtitles and also not screw-up movies in the name of sequels.. Bah what a waste of time and money.
Also, so much for the 18+ rating. I saw 12-15 year old kids in the hall. Hope they have a merry time in school tomorrow with the wide-ranging step up in vocabulary this movie provided.
After watching Hulk battle Thor and Wolverine in the movie Hulk VS, the other face-offs that I look forward to
- The green monster against the man of steel
- Dexter Morgan Vs Jigsaw killer Vs Hannibal Lecter
- Jason Bourne Vs James Bond
- Optimus Prime and co. Vs the whole lot of Terminators
- Gandalf Vs Lord Voldemort
I will keep adding !
Shatanand
