Scary Movie Bollywood Style - OSO

Spoiler Warning: No spoilers in here, relax(...anyways there isn't much to spoil about the movie). I'm not going to reveal the story or do anything of that sort which may deprive you of a first hand experience of Om Shanti Om...let all "burn then learn". The following is not an attempt to reprimand the film and its makers, any such thing, if it happens it is purely coincidental and unintentional (...don't trust the last couple of words)!

Thanks to Farah Khan and SRK, we have our first homemade Scary Movie, the only difference being that instead of horror films, some hit films of 70's have been the target (for those who didn't get it, the Scary Movie series is a series of comedy films which mainly specialize in spoofing popular Hollywood flicks). To add to it, in OSO most of the times they also mention the movie which they are making a parody of. For most of its length the movie can be best described as an extended version of "MTV Fully Faltoo", and the duplicates are there too-this is the baap of all MTV spoofs. And talking of MTV, one thing is for sure, SRK did manage to pull off a large scale "Bakra" on Diwali.

"Om Shanti Om"-Just like the title, the film also has too much of Om(SRK) and less of Shanti(Deepika Padukone) in it, a bit more of Shanti(pun not intended) may have helped. Actually, in the middle of the movie, one begins to think if it would be better to take this movie as an out-and-out comedy film, but sadly the film disappoints there too, most of the scenes which make you laugh are those which were meant to be dead serious and ending this sentence with vice-versa won't be exaggeration.

The film has great special effects and they are perhaps the saving grace (who knows what's behind the much talked about 6 pack abs!) , but all that is special is not always effective. What I liked the best was the awards clip with Akshay Kumar in it...not spoiling it for you by telling more, check it out and I'm sure you'll agree with me.

This reviewing thing is not what I do often in this blog, but I had to find a way to get this "Dard-e-OSO" out. Anyways do watch this one coz I've heard the other alternative in the Diwali package doesn't even provide the scope of this much to talk about it. To sum it all up, I believe quite a few of those who had great anticipations before watching OSO would have been crying this even before the film ended...."(Kya) Picture abhi baaki hai dost???"

T20 Part 2

It is not very often that I post two consecutive blogs meandering around the same topic(probably coz I don't post that often...:)). So when I'm doing it, that itself conveys something. When I was wondering how could I give this post a binding start something with which I can trap the reader into reading the second paragraph after he finishes with the first (yes...trap is the word...now you know what was I thinking while keying in these lines...mind you this is also the first para...)...I realized that the introduction of the previous blog just fits in here too...
(quoting...)
"The title of this one suffices for the introduction. You probably guessed it right this post is an after effect of the India-Pak Twenty20 encounter. Having just come out of the hostel TV Room, jam packed with fans going berserk, I had to write this one in order to let the overflowing energy flow out peacefully."

But all was not the same as when the two teams had met each other in the Group Stage. This time it was the final, and that too of a World Cup. The build up was exciting as ever. All Indians had their statistics right when they confidently stated "Pakistan has never beaten India in a World Cup match" but the point was that would these stats still be loyal to India after the final.

For Dhoni, the newly appointed ODI captain, it was a chance to win over some Ganguly loyalists who wanted to see Dada back in his favorite office. Pathan, Harbhajan also had certain things to prove, with a lot of others in the team trying to shine out of the lot. The excitement quotient had left no remainders.

The match gave the fans more than they anticipated. For a change this time it was different from the usual one-sided Aussie affairs, which one associates with World Cup Finals. Although it didn't lead to a tie followed by the penalty shootouts but the final over by all means managed to create the same tension, thrill and excitement buoyed by the magnanimity of the occasion.

This World Cup has proven to be a great success. The fact that Twenty20 has made its way into the next Asian Games speaks volumes of the nature of its popularity. The aftereffects of this slam-bang form of cricket are yet to be seen in ODIs and Tests. We might be spectators to the ODI scores rocketing to new heights and a lot more results in Tests. Perhaps T20 is the much needed pill of Viagra that would lead to the requisite resurrection of cricket.

20-20=100% Entertainment

The title of this one suffices for the introduction. You probably guessed it right this post is an after effect of the India-Pak Twenty20 encounter. Having just come out of the hostel TV Room, jam packed with fans going berserk, I had to write this one in order to let the overflowing energy flow out peacefully.

Shorter duration, bigger shots, crazy outcomes (Zim bt Aus, Ban bt WI...the latter not being that crazy...) and top that up with Penalty Shootouts..."Chak De India! style". Yes, I could have said "Football Style" or "Hockey Style" but I feel Chak De! had its own effect in adrenalizing the thrill and excitement to a new level for the viewers. The final moments were definitely reminiscent of the World Cup Final Match in the film (the girls were missing though...)

Well the future of Twenty20 depended heavily on this match. Had this been a dull one sided game, India's (read Indian viewers') first encounter with the shortest form of the game would not have been exactly encouraging from the audiences' point of view. The first impression, even if not the last impression, is a lasting impression so it would have definitely had its toll on an average Indian fan's interest in this novel form of cricket.

The tight finish, better call it the tied finish followed by the hit and miss penalty shootouts made it a treat to watch. Guessing from the reactions particularly this match has generated it seems Twenty20 will go places (unless India have really tough luck in the matches ahead and the short-lived memory of the common Indian viewer undergoes a negative "System Restore" blaming Twenty20 for the team's unholy deeds....but why even think of this...let's stay in the "Safe Mode" I mean the Chak De! Mode for the time being...)

So are the 50 over matches ready to be trimmed to the shorter version (now this phrase "shorter version of the game" has a new definition)? I believe the two forms or rather the three forms of cricket can co-exist in harmony, as after much hue and cry Test Cricket had to settle in with a fresher and a more dynamic form in the ODIs. With the ODIs ageing fast, people being interested only in the first 10 and the last 10 overs of the match it was only natural for Twenty20 to come up and be successful (For those who did not realize the mathematical gravity of the this statement...first 10+last 10 of either innings=Twenty20...I just told you the philosophy which gave birth to Twenty20!). And with this Eureka thought about the origin of the new firebrand form of Cricket, I come to the end of this post....will come back soon.

Long time, no see...

The above headline refers to this blog. Apparently but inadvertently I wasn't able to take out some time for putting up a new post here. When I started this blog, it was with this thought that it wouldn't be a one or two time affair and I'll keep this updated with regular posts. But somehow this time the interval between the posts extended a bit too much. O.K. now since I'm back posting here- "main is blog par mouse rakh kar kasam khata hoon ki, jo bhi likhoonga post karronga aur frequently karoonga."

By now you must have realized that I'm writing this one just for the sake of it. Nevermind if you decide against reading the rest of it, coz I've to anyways write this for the shear magnanimity of the pledge I've taken above in the preceding para.

Fine so you are still willing to linger on...let me warn you there's not much I have to talk about in the coming few lines, but if you have come so far, you might as well read through the whole of it...as it seems you too are on a timepass trip on the net. Actually continuing to type this one even when I have nothing much to talk about is only a reflection of my firm resolve to mend my ways and increase the frequency with which new posts appear here. Once more I echo it here in the words of our first PM -

"At the stroke of this midnight hour(add one more to it), when the whole world sleeps(not quite sure...), I'm awake writing this blog post."

By the way "PM" reminds me that our current PM to is also not having things going according to his count. Infact he is having some trouble at the very starting of the count...123...and that's where the trouble starts. He believes that the left is not allowing him to go the right way. All this while when he was busy getting the best Nuclear bet from the US, it seems that the nucleus of his alliance has become somewhat unstable. Let's see which way the deal goes - if it results in fusing an Indo-US Partnership or if it follows fission and breaks apart. Now this sounded really Nuclear...this much for the 123 deal.

This I believe suffices for a comeback post. With an honest intention to return here soon with a new post...I hereby click the submit button, in effect declaring this post "published".

Breaking News or Broken News?

This one was due for a long time, lying in the drafts folder with dust collecting over it, so here it is...
How often does it happen that you turn on a news channel and see those flashing "Breaking News" banners marqueeing all over the TV screen...actually it happens all the time now. What this is meant to imply is that there is some news which stands out of the bulletin and demands immediate attention, but these days this is rarely the case. It is often not the news item but the poor channel which pleads for your attention, putting any of the seemingly eye-catching news in the flashing ticker and if that does not rake in the desired TRP's, they don't shy from creating some news that's "breaking" enough(breaking what, they only can answer that).

What prompts me to bawl out on these channels are the following so called breaking news, have a look at these and decide yourself which one is the most breaking...

"5 year old girl claims to be a reincarnation of Kalpana Chawla"...reporters quiz the poor child for an hour on live television, the channels calls on a host of people ranging from astronomers to astrologers inspecting the veracity of the claim...

"a man who eats only grass"...gets prime time coverage on a leading news channel and is interviewed about the rather different preferences of his taste buds...

"a 14 year village boy suddenly starts speaking fluent English in American accent and further declares to be a rebirth of a scientist"...the boy being confronted by a panel of psychologists, astrologers, scientists and many others...this story was shown continuously for about two to three hours after every hour...in short the boy was a runaway TV star, threatening even the ratings of Ekta Kapoor's daily soaps.

And not to forget the daily dose of "bhoots and disturbed souls" who also get their due regularly on prime time news. Another man who has made a name for himself is the "Sansani guy", don't remeber him?..."Chain se sona hai to jaag jao"...this must help you replenish your memories. Perhaps the guy was chosen to anchor this programme coz his appearance helps the audiences to relate better with the wanted criminals he's making us aware against. Some even say that the old night time warning given by mothers to their children- "soja beta nahin to Gabbar aajayega..." would be far more effective this way..."soja beta nahin to Sansani vaale uncle aajayenge..."

With the growing list of News channels these attention seeking TRP wars are set to be more intense but what's going to suffer is the credibility of these channels and availability is of quality news. Hope these channels stop supplying broken news as breaking news and salvage their own reputations.

When ads become sensible...

Nobody likes the interruption ads cause be it on TV or those stupid banners on web pages taking millions of seconds to load...but ever wondered if the ads could just serve to your interests, if the ads could be sensible enough to market something you were just thinking of...Google has made this a reality with Adsense.

Google Adsense...is an advertising program by Google to participate in which website/blog owners put a small snippet of code onto their sites and in turn "Contextual Ads" are displayed on their webpages. What this means is that Google scans the content of the pages and only the ads related to the subject matter of the pages, the user's geographical location and some other factors (which are therefore aptly called Contextual Ads) are displayed.

Thus the probability of users visiting the site being interested in those ads becomes substantially high. For example, on a recruitment related site, Adsense will automatically be showing ads related to "writing resumes" or "potential recruiters" which are likely to interest the visitor. Now coming to the money-matters, when the visitors of the site click on these ads the owner of the site gets paid by Google, which in turn is paid by the Advertisers(who have subscribed to Google Adwords), in simple words Adsense is a Pay-Per-Click program but with the Google flavor.

Google also uses the same Adsense technology in Gmail and Google Search Results also. Have you ever noticed while using gmail, that the ads in the sidebar are closely related to the content of the mail you are reading. Similarly the sponsored links in the search results are also targeted towards the search text.

What prompted me to dedicate this one to Adsense was the popularity of this concept. Today you can seldom find sites not having the "Ads By Google" tag on them (mind you this one's no different, there's one at the top of this post).

There are a lot of Adsense success stories. People are bringing up websites and blogs for the very purpose of deploying Adsense on them...coz all it takes is a Google Account and then it's just clicking and picking....

What's also noteworthy is the fact that Adsense has been known to be really smart, people have left no screw unturned to trick it - "hiring others to click on the ads", "using automated scripts doing the clicking work" and many more...but Google bots have proven too smart to be fooled and above attempts have resulted in people getting banned from Adsense.

If you feel ever so slightly tempted to use Adsense after reading this then don't wait, hold firmly your scrollbars, scroll a little upwards and there's an invitation to glory(Referral button) waiting for you....;)

Lucky 7!

Do you realize this blog you are reading is gonna make you extra lucky....Why?...the answer lies in the date of post..."07.07.07" and yes don't leave the fact it's a Saturday, which is the 7th day of the week...This date has been dubbed as a super special one all around the world. Its on TV, internet, papers everywhere...Well I'm not one of those who believes in these sequential superstitions...coz you can find something like this occurring every year...like 05.05.2005 or 06.06.2006...so what's different this time around....

Those believing in these ceremonious sevens have more to say...they start making you count the colors in the rainbow, the days in a week, the continents, the number of musical notes and the eternal list goes on. By the way, you may ask why I chose ceremonious to describe the trio of sevens, that's coz brides and grooms, especially, looking for a little extra dose of marital fortune, are flocking to the decorated podium in droves on 07/07/07.

Whatever it is majestic or not, I think this supposed bit of positivity even if superstitious to an extent is nothing bad, after all the coming together of the sizzling sevens gave me something to write about....

Kaun Banega Rashtra-Pati/Patni

As you might have rightly guessed this one's dedicated to the lady who's most likely to win the much hyped "Race to the Raisina Hill"(I wonder how the News channels always manage to find attractive alliterations for their headlines!).

When one gets teemed up with the musical junta singing their throats out on every other TV channel(no doubt the judges always prove to be more entertaining...), the news channels are the final resort. Thus being largely influenced by the hourly dose of the same recipe I am writing this one on "Kaun Banega Rashtrapati"(another of those famous taglines...which actually appears to be more of a misnomer...as the title of this blog suggests).

So lets meet the contestants! ( actually I feel like calling everyone a contestant nowadays thanks to the talent show hangover)...or I should better call them candidates, which is more politically correct (pun intended ;) )...Madam Pratibha Patil and BJP's independent candidate Mr. Shekhawat.

Ms. Patil who's riding high with Sonia asking one and all to support her so that we can have a lady first citizen perhaps she needs to shout a bit louder coz everyone seems to be aware of the fact that Ms. Patil's name popped up out of nowhere to serve as a compromise formula and what gave her the edge was the loyalty coefficient.

Confronting her is our current VP in Shekhawat, who's quite assured of something unexpected happening and thereby improvising his present portfolio. Unexpected coz the numbers quite clearly suggest this time we'll see a lady in command of the Armed forces.

So without sounding very much like a news channel myself, I'd like to conclude this one. This time the presidential election promises to be a lot more interesting than usual lack-luster affair, of course it would take some more time for our contestants to generate interests comparable to their American counterparts...but I guess its all a matter of the stakes involved...one is a mere rubber stamp, the other has his(or perhaps "her" seems to be a better pronoun here too for obvious reasons) stamp running all over.

A Rendezvous

Well I'm back here and that too in less than 24 hrs( this Blogolution thing is really getting to me...), what follows is something I had written in one of those strange moods of mine(this one sounds a little overboard to me also when I now read it).
Nevertheless thought let me put it here...

A Rendezvous

lying in the bed i thought
pondered unguarded, whirled through whims
searching the soul was my goal

the past uncoiled, turn by turn
"must've done","should've done","could've done" left me undone

don't intend a pun, but my head really spun

brooded over the future too
saw promising pixels of a pretty image
the time ahead, looked in good stead

amidst this all
also thought, where is sleep

caught in insomnia's mess, train of fancies seemed endless

the purpose of it all?
this calculation of foregone and future
a rendezvous with the inner soul, that after all was the ultimate goal

just starting out...

Finally the Blogolution wave has swept me over...and lured me into scribbling something here.
May be I'm writing this one just for the sake of it but don't think blogspot would mind hosting another of these urls.

For the past few days I've been skimming through a lot of blogs, just out of curiosity, to see what actually prompts people to flood the web with long paragraphs and I mean this literally...while some where quite PARAnoid, others were sometimes pleasantly and other times just GRAPHical.

What I actually did was had some fun with this url http://www.blogger.com/next-blog, each time you plant it in your address bar and hit go, you'll see a new blog, in simple words I just kept on clicking on the "Next Blog" link in the nav bar of each blog ("Boredom at times can be hazardous...")

To cut the short story shorter...this trail of events led me to this innocuous piece of writing or say "typing". This one can be termed as the alpha version and lets see whether the beta is better. Perhaps this much suffices for the first one.

Long Live Blogolution!