Friday, July 31, 2009
Movie review: Love Aaj Kal (2009)
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Movie Review: Luck (2009)
Michael makes a comeback! ... and an overdue award!
Its a done deal! The king of F1 is scheduled to make a comeback to replace an injured Filipe Massa. I cannot wait for Aug 23 to see the racing legend's comeback in the European GP!
A lot of Questions will be answered there.... A few on my mind are - Will he be the same Schumi after the break? How good will he be in the new car? Will he be fit @ 40? By how much margin will he beat Raikkonen? Suddenly August 23 is so far away when all these questions will be answered...
The circumstances are sad as Massa is badly injured, but I'm glad Ferrari roped in the king to fill the void! Anything to see the legend behind a Ferrari yet again!
Welcome back Michael Schumacher! You were missed!
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The PROXIMITY award was given to me by Vee and Smita in Dec 2008. I did not pass it on to anyone because at that time, I did not know 8 people who didn't have this award! :D
Off I go to find 8 blogs worthy of this awards.
This award is given to a blog that invests and believes in PROXIMITY – nearness in space, time and relationships! These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award. (Note added by Eye-in-sty-in: At their own time and convenience)
I pass it on to -
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Where the streets have no name...
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
The Journeys: Part deux
Monday, July 13, 2009
The Journeys
======================
Me (on phone): Hey, can you gimme a ride to the airport
Friend: Sure, at what time?
Me: ASAP. Flight leaves in 2 hours and 25 mins.
Friend: Thinking. Ok.
Me: Thanks (gives quick directions and hangs up)
Friend reaches after 20 mins.... Throws bags in the SUV.... off we go
Friend: You are cutting it fine... Are you sure u'll manage to catch the plane?
Me: I'll wing it, like I always do... Didn't I manage all the other stuff? In any case, the best laid plans get washed away, so its better to have a rough sketch and then add finesse to it as you go along. This allows us to take care of the last minute anamolies that might come into play...
Friend: True
Me: You can merge into the traffic now...
Friend: Your inability to plan will not have me driving your way. In any case you should have planned for THIS anamoly...
Me: Mumble mumble.... (translated... the other route was much shorter n direct)
Phone call...
Her: Are you in the airport longue?
Me: I'm on my way there...
Her: Are you walking?
Me: No I'm being driven
Her: Are you on a handicap cart? Why?
Me: I'm on my way to the airport
Her (launching into a lecture): YOu shd be there 3 hours in advance... you shd have done this... you should have done that.... blah blah
Me: Just like honking is not gonna make the traffic move faster, your verbal volley is not helping now. (gestures friend how to navigate around the traffic)
She: well, have a safe flight.
Me: Thanks! (guess she never heard of the "just in time" concept)
(20 minutes later and taking a route that took us twice the time and distance, we made it to the airport! In his defence, I did see a lot of different construction zones too!!!!!! Grrrrrrrrrrr!!)
All was good as we still had time to eat a meal in a sit-down restaurant after the bags were all checked in!
2) Boarding passes for flight legs 2 and 3
==========================================
Me: Hello
Ticketing lady: Hi, how are you.... (and other plesantaries)
Me: I see you are having a busy day
Her: Yes. Its okay though...
Me: You have a nice name Florence (thanks that lying is not necessary. Her name was lovely indeed)
Her: Thank you. What seats would you like
Me: Door seats on the aile
Her: Not available
Me: Just do your best and give me what you think is the best (she looked experienced)
Her: well, do you have a choice?
Me: Tail section is better. Its safer, right?... Wait a minute. Will I be flying Boeing or Airbus?
Her: All flights are Boeing.
Me: Goody... I'll take the center seats on the wing. Less movement there.
Her: hmmmm... ok. Let me see what I can do. (takes her time to issue me tickets)
Me: Just out of curiosity, how much did my check in bags weigh
Her: one was 50 Lbs, another was 49 and the 3rd was 47.5
Me: Wow! I am proud of myself
Her: (Smiles at my self praise)
Result of this interaction was... I had no one sitting next to me in both my legs of flight. The 1st leg to Frankfurt had me sitting in the center of the plane on the wing. The 2nd leg had me sitting as near to the exit door as possible. She knew I would be in a hurry to get off the plane as I was so close to home :-) Smart! Experience helps!
Friday, July 10, 2009
Fly away...
Try not to miss much and pray that there are no planes tumbling out of the sky for the next few days ;-)
Yes, this blogger will be hopping on a plane for a long long flight and expects to be away for a few days from the virtual world! This just made him think... why don't they have internet at Frankfurt airport?!
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
8th July - What a day!
Was out celebrating a friend's wife's b'day @ the martini bar while living out of a suitcase when it dawned on me... this is the 3rd person I know who celebrates their b'day on this day!
Waitress was a 10, btw! And my friend was not happy when I snubbed her... yeah, the same one whose wife's b'day we were celebrating! lolz! Such is the understanding between them that when the waitress didn't hover around our table (I was blamed for it, btw) the wife asked her hubby "how come she disappeared?" wonderful couple indeed with deep sense of understanding!
Come to blog world and find out there is a marriage that happened on the same date! And its my cuz's wedding anniversary! And a blog pal's son has passed away on the same date!
Wow! Such an intense and filled up day is 8th July! makes you feel that you are standing still on the side walk and life is zipping past you... (Maybe it was not just a coincidence that our table was on the patio with cars and ppl zipping past)... Kinda tell you - better go out there and do your thing before its too late, else you'll always be playing "catch up"
Although, I still maintain I was right in snubbing the waitress when she tried to take the camera from me for a pic! So what if she is a 10, she still has to ask if I need a group pic taken and not TELL that she can take the pic!
My friend's daughter thought she was a little ditsy. The daughter may be young, but she ain't naive... I agree with her :-)
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
50th Post: Dedicated to MJ
7/7/09 - 11:54 pm
Jackson died at the age of 50! Coincidentally, my blog also turns 50 (posts) today. not the best way to remember this milestone, but its noteworthy indeed. I can only dedicate this post to the undisputed king of pop who was buried today!
You may be gone, but your time will always be remembered! Thank you for entertaining us and for being a part of our lives!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Jackson
Thursday, July 2, 2009
A splendid tale of an explorer's love for his dogs
It is said that spending time in extreme climates like a desert and a cold barren wasteland OR experiencing near death situations will leave a lasting impression on a person ... people who have undergone such an experience prefer to stay secluded in the more civilized world. At the same time they develop an innate bonding with all the beings they interact with in the wilderness - human or animals - probably because these beings have provided him with social interaction when it was most needed.
Dogs have been an integral part of Human civilizations and were one of the earliest animals to be domesticated along with wolves, the earliest records pointing to 100,000 years back. There are numerous stories involving man and his best friend and the bond between them.
Set in Antarctic, the movie is one such splendid tale of an explorer’s love for his dogs in the wintry wilderness of the south pole.
A scientist visits a US base station on the South pole to collect Mercury meteorite fragments that will help researchers know more about the planet and such. The mission involves going south from the base camp and further away from civilization. The ice being too thin for an airplane to land, the trip must be made by dog-sled. Although reluctant to make the trip for safety reasons, the explorer - Jerry - has no choice when he is ordered by his boss to assist the scientist.
The duo take a sled pulled by eight dogs to collect the meteorite. En route, they face problems and hardships as the Antarctic weather can be very unforgiving. To make their matters worse, a storm is about to hit them. They need to cut the trip short. The scientist reasons with the explorer that he needs to find the meteorite as it means the world to him. being an explorer and a man driven by feelings and used to doing what he likes, the explorer understands the scientist. even though knowing the weather and the intensity of the storms, he agrees to take the risk in order to fulfill the scientist’s dream.
The mission is successful, the discovery is made - but the trip back is no joke and someone nearly dies! On reaching base, evacuation is ordered as the storm has increased its speed and intensity. They need to go to a safer location that is 3 hours away by plane. The evac plane is small and the dogs need to be left behind in the storm and will be retrieved in the second trip. At the larger base, things change. Weather reports show that the storm is the worst storm to hit the South Pole in 25 years!! They have to evacuate this larger base too. The Dogs are not a priority anymore...!
Jerry is disappointed and heartbroken. He cannot find peace within himself as he knows it was not right to leave the dogs behind. But the people in power have other thoughts as the rescue of Dogs is unimportant to them. The risk and the costs are not justified and Jerry’s requests of a rescue effort are denied.
Although the movie is very exciting and engrossing till this point, this is where the real story begins...