Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Gum for thought!

Do you know that chewing gum is banned in Singapore?? I realized this on watching a video on youtube which was pasted in someone's blog. Here is the interesting video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2Flfj3mmaU

Some funny chewing gum commercials:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6S3THlF_Z04
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=To-hsc6y9u0

While on the topic of chewing gum, here is an interesting short animation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZDVXgP21Ao

Clearly, youtube is a modern day messiah!!!

Saturday, May 20, 2006

The Da Vinci Code

I watched Da Vinci code on the very day of its release. I don't remember waiting for any other movie so eagerly. Incidently, this is the first English movie I watched in a theatre since I came to the US almost two years ago. I'm not going to write a review of the movie since you can find it from numerous sources. I'm only going to express my interpretations and thoughts on the movie. The director, Ron Howard, did a commendable job of not meandering away from the actual story. It is very difficult to condense a book into a two and a half hour movie. It was interesting to note how Ron interspersed several sub-plots when in actuality, they are separate events in the book. I read the book more than a year ago and hence do no recall each and every incident. Suffice it to say, many incidents from the story were conveniently deleted and I was able to detect two 'artistic liberties'. One was at the very beginning of the movie where the symbologist Robert Langdon (played by Tom Hanks) presents some cultural misinterpretations of very common symbols. The second was near the end of the movie where Langdon browses the internet using a cell phone instead of going to the library and searching for some information required to solve a riddle. Thankfully, no chemistry was shown between the two protagonists.
As far as acting goes, Tom Hanks' array of emotional skills were grossly under-utilized. Audrey Tautou, playing Sophie Neveu, as his accomplice on the run was adorable. Paul Bettany as the albino monk Silas was really scary and portrayed his character to the hilt. I read in one of the websites that his might be the first character which speaks Latin into a cell phone. The icing on the cake, however, was the character of Sir Leigh Teabing played by Ian McKellen. He was hilarious at times and a raging lunatic at others.
Ofcourse, its just exhilerating to watch the sites of Europe with the Louvre, the Eiffel tower, the many churches, chateaus and the beutiful landscape.
Even though many who have read the novel would be disappointed, it is an absolute thriller for those who haven't. All in all, it is worth a watch.

Monday, May 15, 2006

Sweet nothings!!!

Whew!!! The exams are finally over. Although I didn't do particularly well, I think I will survive. The past few weeks have been really hectic and stressful. In the interimperiod, I did manage to do some research ( thanks to my friend Vindy) and completely revamp my blog. Summer is almost here and I would be busy with my research work but thankfully no coursework for some time. This means that I should be able to indulge in more things than usual.One of them is watching more movies.
I along with some friends watched 'MI:3' a couple of days back. Thank god we didn't spend any money since we watched the pirated version. It was more like a Mithun or Rajnikant movie, only on a much grander scale. There was just excessively absurd use of technology like inserting
a time release capsule through the nasal cavity into the brain, which upon rupture after a certain time interval, would kill the poor individual. Other mouth-openers include identifying a person from behind a wall through infra-red radiation by comparing his blood profile and building a mask of a person in just 10 minutes to name a few.
Poseidon didn’t get great reviews since like most disaster movies, it was very predictable and hence I’m going to skip it. The movie that I (and a multitude of others) am waiting for is ‘The Da Vinci Code’. I read the book when it was a rage about a year ago & fell in love with it. The movie stars Tom Hanks as the symbology, or more appropriately, a semiology expert, Robert Langdon, who is summoned to the Louvre to decipher a mysterious murder incident. He is helped in his crusade by the victim’s grand-daughter Sofia, played by Audrey Tautou, of ‘Amelie’ fame. For those who don’t know about Amelie, it’s a French movie which I seriously recommend everyone to watch. It’s a satirically funny movie and Audrey as the protagonist is splendid. I will do a comparison between the book and the movie after I watch it. Till then, I will be counting the days to the movie’s release.