Mechanical Life

Weekly Movie Watch WMW003 Apocalypse Now (1979) Starring: Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, Dennis Hopper Director: Francis Ford Coppola A masterful, thought-provoking, pretentious film, with beautifully-chaotic visuals, about the nightmarish, moral madness of the Vietnam War, inspired by the novella Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. Considered by many to be the best war movie of all time, with incredible performances, especially that of hawkish Lt. Colonel Kilgore (Duvall) who "loves the smell of napalm in the morning." Sweeping, surreal, still-controversial Vietnam war epic. An Army captain (Sheen) is sent into the Cambodian jungle aboard a patrol boat carrying a young, spaced-out crew. Their mission: to assassinate ("terminate") a Buddha-like Colonel Kurtz (Brando) who has become an insane demi-god and now runs his own fiefdom. The grueling production in the Philippines led to vast budget overruns and physical and emotional breakdowns. Academy A...

Below is a short story I wrote. God knows for what I did but since its done I thought I'll publish the damage.

A NEW BEGINNING Arjun stood on top of the dais and he could feel the sweat breaking on top of his forehead making its way to his eyebrows. This is the 326th time it’s happening. He can't use his handkerchief, it looked as though it fell into a bucket of water. He had asked for fans to be kept on his either side and an old bum intervened 'Oh no, It’ll put off the fire in the alter!’ Fuck him. Arjun turned to his left only to see Sudha going through the same treatment. Only she was dressed up in silk and gold everywhere neck, hands, fingers, toes, nose, ears. He made an effort to look at her again if he had missed any other place of her body wondering at the same time if she has rings on her navel. Dirty me, he thought. Well not exactly I stopped at the navel, didn't I? He justified. She was pretty with sweat all over and vermilion and sandal and what not on her forehead she still looked pretty. And then it happened without warning. Someone started it by saying '...

Continued... He saw his friends sitting in the front row with thumbs-up sign. He wanted to show his middle finger back. He saw his parents smiling at him. They had a sense of satisfaction especially his dad. It was smile that says, "Join the gang". He turned around to look at Mrs. Sudha Arjun. She looked at him and smiled. Sweet smile. It could also be a smile that said "Gotcha". Now can the groom kiss the bride? Everyone was smiling. Like a major task has been completed. He didn’t wanna miss anyone’s expressions. All his male-friends were laughing. They were sharing some joke. Maybe the jokes are on me, he thought. "Can we have some water?” he asked some helper assuming that she'll need it too. She nudged and said, "I was about to ask". Odd those were the first words that we spoke as hubbie and wife. They brought two bottles of juice. Anything will do for thirst. He looked at his wife and said "Cheers". She smiled and 'Clink...

Continued... Strangely none of his friends came up. Nor did they go to the dining hall. They patiently waited till the whole crowd disappeared. Then they came. All grossly animated. Satya, Arjun's best friend came up, shook his hands and said "Congrats". Then he shook her hands and said "All the best". "What's that supposed to mean, assole?" Arjun whispered to Satya. "Fuck you" he replied back. Arjun shut his mouth up. His dad came up and said "Lunch?" Yeah whatever. Arjun ate like a pig. Didn't know what all he ate. He just ate. Whenever the cameramen, who by now have become a pain in the ass, came, he tried to strike some strange topic with Sudha and made it look like some intellectual discussion on the video. The time was already four. There was only 200-0dd people left out of which 20% was his friends. Satya was sitting next to him along with his wife. She had a strange way of eating. She made a lot of circles with h...

The Sign Last night, I had gone to pick up my tickets. While returning it was slightly drizzling and in front of my bike there was an auto-rickshaw. On the back of this highly volatile piece of automobile, there was a stencil-sign that said "BLACK SMOKE THE LUNGS CHOKE". I wouldn't have really bothered about this not so unusual grammatical error. It is always bound to happen in a place like India. The real reason is that this is not the first time I'm seeing this sign on an Auto; Thats a short form for auto-rickshaw; and the probability of accidentally seeing the same auto in a city like bangalore is unlikely. This sign is a popular one. Maybe the guy who erroneously made this stencil has to be kicked on his balls. But then its a nice way of educating our society on Pollution. Which also makes you wonder why it wasn't done in the local language. Maybe it's there and since I do not know kannada I wouldn't be knowing. There are many autos in various cities...

Weekly Movie Watch WMW002 Annie Hall (1977) Starring: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Tony Roberts, Carol Kane Director: Woody Allen Bittersweet, cerebral, stream-of-consciousness, 70s, urban romantic comedy about a New York couple's neurotic love affair. Many consider this Allen's best work, and a transition from his earlier absurdist comedies to a richer, more thoughtful consideration of relationships. Innovatively filmed, with cartoon segments, flashbacks, monologues toward the camera, and other unique elements. Allen co-wrote, directed and stars as a kvetchy, neurotic, Brooklyn stand-up comedian Alvy Singer, wistfully recalling his bygone relationship with flighty, adorable, and irrepressibly Midwestern Annie Hall, an aspiring singer. (Film marks the fourth pairing of Keaton and Allen, who were also an off-screen couple at the time.) At first the cultural gap seems insurmountable, but despite their differences, they fall in love. As they get to know one another, they invar...

Today I saw a couple walking into this crowded, decent looking but costlier than its worth restaurant. They had ordered for some Roti+Sabji Dish. God knows why there are idiots in this world and most of them end up in bangalore restaurants. For the first time in my life I saw the dish being served along with a 'SPOON' and 'FORK'. Yes you read that right. But that was not all. This lady, pretty good-looking with you-look-once-i-put-up-my-price eyes and her companion (Could be her husband), prepared themselves for the attack. The guy took the fork and the spoon and started to kill the roti (and to an extent my apetite). He within a second understood the purposelessness of these metal contraption for this particular adventure and decided to use the most proven and reliable form of bridging the mouth and plate gap-Hands. The lady on the other hand for some unknown reason (or it could be that I was eyeing her and she was aware of that) wouldn't do without them. She picke...

Weekly Movie Watch WMW 001 All Quiet On The Western Front (1930) Starring: Lew Ayres, Louis Wolheim Director: Lewis Milestone Based on Erich Maria Remarque's timeless, pacifistic anti-war novel, this poetically brilliant epic about the horrors of war was hugely popular in its day. The moving drama, the first great sound anti-war film, follows a group of seven German schoolboys, with central character Paul (Ayres) inspired by their professor to fight for their country. They voluntarily enlist in World War I, believing in the glory of the Fatherland and learn about the realities of war from veteran soldier Katczinsky (Wolheim). The film documents their descent into war (and disillusionment) in graphic detail, from the everyday reality of trench warfare to starvation and butchery. The film tracks the boys in training, battle, and eventually their senseless, untimely deaths. Paul dies from an enemy bullet in the final scene as he reaches out to touch a butterfly. Shot on an epic...

The A.T.L.S.-New Spot I went for some shopping and got back home to realise I was penniless, and the instrument that gives access the ATM is not there and the bunch of keys that let me into my compound and my house and ... For more on the Adventures of TLS

The EXORCIST - Loosely based on a true story POLTERGEIST BEGINNINGS The Exorcist was loosely based on true events that were reported in Washington, DC newspapers in 1949. The story began in Maryland on the evening of January 15, 1949, when 14-year-old "John Hoffman" and his grandmother heard strange scratching and dripping noises in their house. No explanation could be found for the noises, which stopped after ten days, only to be replaced by mysterious footsteps and drumbeats. After John's Aunt Dorothy suddenly died, the poltergeist-like phenomena increased - with John's mattress shaking violently, food flying through the air and furniture falling over. John and his parents tried to communicate with the poltergeist, which at the time claimed to be the spirit of Aunt Dorothy. TALKING SKIN Then, in late February, livid red marks emerged on John's skin, taking the shape of actual words. After neither physicians nor psychiatrists could find anything ...

Any good deed should start with an Anthem...here's mine! Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day You fritter and waste the hours in an off hand way Kicking aroundon a piece of ground in your home town Waiting for someone or something to show you the way Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today And then one day you find ten years have got behind you No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun And you run and you run to catch up with the sun, but it's sinking And racing around to come up behind you again The sun is the same in the relative way, but you're older Shorter of breath and one day closer to death Every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way The time is gone, the song is over, thought I'd something more to...