This is something I wanted to write about for a long time now.

When it comes to movies, in general, you can tell if the movie is going to be good in the first 15-20 minutes or so. Very unlikely that if the movie is boring in the first bit that its going to be interesting in the later half. Now that doesn’t necessarily mean that movies that start out great will be a masterpiece.

One example of a movie peaking at the opening sequence and then gradually slipping is the ‘Crossing Guard’ (starring Jack Nicholson). The movie starts with Nicholson walking through the streets of NYC and the Springsteen song – ‘Missing’ in the background. Perfection. The camera angles, the atmosphere, the music, the voice. Unfortunately, the movie peaked in that song and then started dragging a bit. Here’s a link to the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUOB_kopu_o

On the other hand, there are movies that have a wonderful opening sequence and then they just keep going up. The movie ‘Midnight Cowboy’ starring Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman. Starts out with the song ‘Everybody’s Talkin’ by Harry Nilsson and what follows in the movie is what can only be described as a ‘masterpiece’. Here’s a link to the opening sequence: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBemzu1Fchk

Enjoy!

Its not that I don’t think about writing on my blog on a regular basis. I do. Unfortunately, the thought of writing doesn’t really comes to fruition. I figured it is time to think about this in a systematic and scientific manner.

Perhaps it is due to the fact that I don’t have time to do it. Well, not really. I do find time to keep up with my reading habit. So the time excuse is not really valid. Perhaps I am plain lazy. Not really. I know I am not. Perhaps I don’t have the right things to write about. Well, I read enough books, watch enough movies and think enough thoughts, each of which would easily provide sufficient material for me to right.

What then? I think it is not having, on my part, a clear theme of sorts to my blog. So here’s what I have decided, I will write about the books and movies that pass through my hands. Perhaps I will try to write a couple of posts once in a while, on my thoughts about science.

Lets see how this experiment works out. The next post will be about a couple of movies I watched – Anatomy of a Murder and The Philadelphia Story.

I keep hearing that the hindi Bollywood movie, Ghajini is a great movie. People who have watched it and also reviews in various Indian newspapers speak highly of the movie. I think we can safely conclude that it is a superhit ’cause people really did like the movie.

I am not going to try and argue that the movie sucked or people who liked the movie are not the smartest of moviegoers. That would be a waste of time and space. I completely acknowledge that people really liked the movie for their own reasons. What I want to do here is to state my reasons why I think this movie was a terrible waste of time.

Yeah yeah they say Aamir Khan (AK) did a great job. Well for one, I think he did not. For very valid reasons AK has established himself as an excellent actor. That however, does not mean that he will be great in all his movies. In this movie, he tried too hard …. he was too clinical …. every movie role these days is an exercise for him, a project and he has to finish it perfectly. A wonderful actor like him is wasting his natural screen presence. He should live that character instead of trying to play it. If he keeps at it like this, he is going to end up in the same level as some other actors such as A. Rai (who, by the way, is clueless in all movies). Its like watching movies of De Niro where he started doing comedy – he was just trying too hard.

And whats up with those songs. One is quietly tolerating all the asinine scenes with Asin and Jiah with the expectation that their scenes are part of the large picture. But no, there have to be songs! They destroy the continunity of the story and add to the confusion.

I do not mind poor acting at all. Not everyone is going to be a very good actor which is completely acceptable. In life, not everyone can be a super-success story but that doesn’t mean that the rest of the world’s contribution is negligible. However, one should try one’s best at all times.

What made the movie terrible was that Asin Thottumkal, Jiah Khan (the two female characters) and Riyaz Khan (the actor who plays the role of an inspector) don’t even bother to try to act. They just don’t. They seem pretty satisfied to be just being about mediocre about everything. The typical ‘Chalta Hai’ attitude. (A separate post disccussing that attitude – one of my pet peeves).

In summary, lackadaisical acting by three main characters, unnecessary songs, and a mediocre attempt by AK makes it a terrible movie (for me, that is).

Have been reading one of my favorite authors: Philip K. Dick. The book is – The three stigmata of Palmer Eldritch. I am still working my way through the book. I have read a few of his books but this is the first one I am reading, wherein he gets into religion and such. Like almost all other PKD’s works, this one also involves the use of drugs.

In classic PKD fashion, he questions reality – a reality that we all perceive around us. It reminded me of the arguments presented by Morpheus, Oracle, the Architect, and of course by the Merovingian. The simulacrum, the hyperreal as Jean Baudrillard tried to describe it once. My initial reading of the Upanishads gave me the feeling that those early philosophers were working on the same thing.

Back to PKD. In the book, he describes a psychotic/ hallucinogenic drug called Chew-Z which evidently lets a person to live his/her life again and again as he or she wishes. So far, the caveat has been that the guy who sells the drug, Palmer Eldritch, seems to be in control of everyone’s so-called reality.

Anybody who has listened to Pink Floyd’s Comfortably Numb or Echoes on repeat play when one is suitably drugged or drunk will understand this loss in perceiving the real and the gain in perceiving the real.

My first post. Not my first time writing, though. Written a few scientific papers but thats a story for another day. Lately have been reading a few blogs on the web. Not the politics-based ones but general ones which give a glimpse into someone else’s mind.

I will describe myself in a later post – what I do, why I do what I do etc. When I am in the mood to do so.

Alright. Now about the title of my post. I figured since the first step is always the most difficult, I will start with something that I am very comfortable with – Movies. (Science was also a possibility but since I just finished with my day here which was full of experiments, I don’t want to talk about it for now).

Thinking about movies and dialogs. I remember having conversations with my grandfather a few years back. He would always quote some famous author (Dickens, Shakespeare, Hardy and so on) when he wanted to make a point. Clearly this required a good memory about the book which would in turn, mean that he had read that book with great care. I don’t claim to be a voracious reader but I do have the habit of reaching for a book instead of the remote. However, I really cannot quote these books. When I feel like making a point in a conversation, the only things that come to my head are movie dialogs. It could be any movie, independent of language, culture, national or regional origin.

I don’t know the reason for this. Its not that I don’t read the books carefully. I remember the names of characters from books and what happened to them. Perhaps its the generation that I belong too. A generation that is sandwiched between the ‘Shakespeare’ folks and the ‘how r u? i m doing gr8′ kids. A generation that knew Vijay’s pain when he lay dying in the temple. A generation that said Yippee Kayay with John Mclane. A generation that wished Jai wouldn’t have to die near the bridge. A generation that couldn’t understand how Aida could be so attached to her piano ……

No answer to the question and …….. the juice just ran out, so I will stop here.

G

P.S. The book I am reading right now is – Haruki Murakami’s The Wind-up Bird Chronicle.