Month: September 2011

Daybreakers

- Roshan

Supposed to be one of the best vampire movies in recent times – my reaction? Meh, it’s an ok movie. Good enough but nothing outstanding although I loved some of the concepts and found certain things funny. Daybreakers is a sci-fi/horror  written and directed by Australian filmmakers Michael and Peter Spierig. The film takes place in 2019 and most of humanity have been converted into vampires by a plague. So they stay in during the day time and go out and work at night. Humans have become in short supply, only 5% remain and therefore blood is also on short supply.

A corporation led by Charles Bromley (Sam Neil) is working on a blood substitute and their lead scientist is Edward Dalton (Ethan Hawke) a human sympathizer. Edward secretly refuses to drink human blood, and faces a strained relationship with his brother, Frankie (Michael Dorman), a human-hunting soldier.

Elvis (Willem Dafoe) & Audrey (Claudia Karvan) approach Ed to help them in their struggle to survive. Elvis is a former vampire – he found a cure for vampirism when his car crashed and he was exposed to sunlight and then fell immediately into a river. Edward experiments with the “treatment” and is cured himself. Also vampires who feed on a former vampire who has been cured also get cured. There is a side story of the subsiders; vampires who are deprived of human for too long turn into grey skinned aggressive bat like creatures who attack humans & vampires alike.

What I liked about the movie is the starkness and darkness. There is some black humour in the way that coffee shops cater to vampire with 20% blood in the coffee and when supplies fade, it is reduced to 5% blood! A little dig at coffee giants like Starbucks perhaps? There’s plenty of blood & gore, exploding body parts and blood splattering. The final attack scenes are pretty awesome, with vampires feeding on former vampires and getting cured only for more vampires to come and attack them. I wasn’t very impressed or convinced with the ‘cure’ that they come up with or the experiment but overall this is a good watch. Especially if you like vampires and that kind of stuff. I’d give it a 7 outta 10!

Won’t You Come To My Funeral

- Roshan

This post is influenced by two episodes of two totally different tv series that I watched within the last 12 hours. It’s about funerals & death. :) Last night during dinner I was watching tv (yes one of the now extremely rare occasions that I find myself watching a full show on the television) in particular an episode from Bones season 6, ‘The Hole In The Heart‘. In it a lab-assistant is killed by a renegade sniper who meant to shoot FBI Agent Booth. At the end of the episode, the cast of Bones gather round their dead colleague’s body which is to be sent to England for the funeral. As one of the characters state that The Coconut song (by Harry Nilsson) was their dead colleague’s favourite song – slowly one by one the cast start singing the silly lyrics to that song as they bid farewell to their colleague. It’s funny lyrics like:

Bruder bought a coconut, he bought it for a dime,
His sister had anudder one she paid it for de lime.

She put de lime in de coconut, she drank ’em bot’ up
She put de lime in de coconut, she drank ’em bot’ up.
She put de lime in de coconut, she drank ’em bot’ up
She put de lime in de coconut, she call de doctor, woke ‘im up

This morning just as soon as I woke up I watched a Star Trek TNG episode from season 5, The Next Phase. Data has to organize a memorial to two crew members, Geordie La Forge & Ensign Ro Laren, who are though to have died.  The memorial/funeral turns out into more of a festival wake and a celebration, with a jazz band and everyone mingles and talks about fond memories of the two ‘presumed’ dead comrades. Now the memorial turns so because Data could not decide as to which custom to follow but the end result was more appropriate & fitting. This made me wonder and I ask anyone who reads this as well, how would you like your funeral/memorial to be?

When I die, I’ll you how I DON’T want it to be: the typical Hindu ceremony that we follow here in Kerala – with a lot of pompous talk and ritualistic mumbo jumbo. That means no rituals,  no pandits or poojaris or swamis. I don’t deal with religion & gods when I am alive so why the fuck would I want it to be part of my death? No people standing around just because they are expected to. Rituals & crap are great if you want to go that way, if it comforts you great – but you can lie about it, I just don’t buy it – but it is less about the actual person who died than about some age old bullshit that has been handed down for generations and conducted by someone you know nothing about. While there must be some order and people who can arrange things, I’d want you to have a nice time!

I’d leave you a playlist of my fav songs, songs that mean something to me and you can listen to it as the day goes on. Have some good food & drink; share in the stuff that I liked. Watch clips of my fav movies & tv series and have a football theme. Or better yet, a Star Trek theme. Laugh at the comedies that I found funny and cringe at the horror stuff. Enjoy yourself and experience something of who I was. That’s the way a funeral should be. And the end should just be the people closest to me, having dinner and talking about me and about things I did and how I affected their lives. That should be great.

So if you are gonna burn my dead body do it my way! Or else, I’ll come back and haunt the living shit outta you!!!! Beware…..

5 Things I’m Thankful For

- Roshan

Friends – I have a few and that is more than enough for me. When the going gets tough, that’s when you know who your friends are. I have been touched by the loyalty that I can get while at the same time a lot of people who I thought were my friends just showed their true colours and I’m glad that I know who they really are. I am happy with anyone who wants to be a friend. I also include the few friends that I have made online and never met in real life. You, and you know who you are, are all awesome.

Music – man if it weren’t for good ole rock n’roll I have no idea what I would have done. There’s a song for every mood, feeling, happy though, fear, anger, pain, despair, hope, death, lust, love, longing, depression, vanity, vengeance, humbleness & pride. What isn’t there on the songs of rock? It keeps me sane, it keeps me grounded, it keeps me going on.

The Internet – do I need to tell you why? It has replaced tv for me. I watch my fav tv shows, movies and music all with the help of the net. I love it so much. The internet is almost like a lover to me.

Family – we never know how tough it would be without family. They are there no matter what, in most people’s cases. Sometimes they can piss you off, comes with the job description. But there are times when you know that you are lucky to have them. And grateful.

Coffee – You can never be too thankful for coffee. It is the fuel that I run on. It brings me energy in the morning and the in the evenings. Coffee is the nectar for us humans.

Powered by Plinky

actualtests ccda to prepare Pass4sure 000-377 and Testking VCP-510with certification. Also get certkiller icnd for review of examsheets ccna.

On Luck

- Roshan

“Luck be a lady tonight”! I can’t seem to make up my mind. I don’t think that we can influence that much stuff that happens in our life or that there is an outside force that helps people. You can make your own luck but doing certain things or doing things in anticipation of other events to come. Hard work is also something that helps. But don’t you think that some guys have all the luck?

I know some people – they get the well paying jobs, won’t work hard but everything is given to them on a silver plate, get the woman they like, get married, have kids, live in nice apartments or nice homes, drive a bike and a nice car, have the latest gadgets, buys things that they want, luxuries and all that jazz. Their luck just doesn’t seem to run out. Always get what they want. And you know what? These guys are the biggest mother-fucking assholes on the planet!!

Meanwhile there is me. Luck just isn’t my friend. She never plays nice to me, not a smile nor a glance in my direction. Well to be fair, lots of people have had it a lot tougher than me and I shouldn’t be ungrateful for whatever I have had. But those guys, the assholes who have everything going for them. They certainly don’t deserve it but they always seem to get what they want. I think I’m a nice guy but I don’t want to be one. Nice guys, always seem to finish last!

Sing it Alice Cooper “No more Mr. Nice Guy”!

Powered by Plinky

Afternoon Visit To Couchyn

- Roshan

I was going crazy sitting at home and thought that I should go out today for a little while. With the work situation taking time to get sorted out, I had a few days to myself. Sitting at home the last couple of days made me go a little wild inside and I just  needed to get out for sometime. After I woke up this morning, I thought hey, I could use some beers!!

I also had an errand to run so around 11am I was out of the apartment and headed to get that sorted out and completed. That being done I needed more coffee in me and I took an old novel with me to read as I chilled in the cafe for 90 minutes or so. Cafe Coffee Day at Shenoy’s Junction is the place I went to, one of my usual hangouts but they are getting terrible in the service department. I finished two chapters before someone came to hand me the menu! 2 chapters people. They are always changing staff all the time, I dunno why the attrition is so high but it is affecting their service. Anyway, I got my coffee a little after that and atleast my Kaapi Nirvana was really good. Slurp, ah, cool stuff!

Around 1pm I left the cafe and walked around for a bit before heading to the Couchyn lounge bar. I have featured this bar before in my blog but I’ve only been there a few times, 5 I think in total. And that’s because their wares are very expensive and I am not rich. I can only afford the beer over there as all other drinks are priced way above my budget; but they do have a lot of imports and hence the price is high. Their food is delicious; again overpriced and they can lower that because hey, the food is not imported. But according to some people, they do that to avoid the riff raff (too late, I’m already in :) ) and hence ensure a more decent crowd. Well yeah ok! They have a huge bar counter area with all kinds of foreign brands, expensive looking glasses and stuff. There’s bar stools and some lower tables + chairs near to the counter.

I usually sit on the other side of the bar which is semi closed due to the huge tv that they have there. I sat at one of the tables, the second one from the left and that’s the same table that I have sat at everytime I’ve been there. I ordered beer and a plate of their delicious barbecued sausages. Just thinking of them sausages makes my mouth water. They give you some free snacks – tapioca chips and masala peanuts, which goes well with drinks I must say.

A couple of tables behind me sat the only other patrons in the tabled part of the bar/lounge. A guy and his woman sat crunching on their snacks and sipping their drinks. As they were talking loud enough I could hear most of their conversation and I found it funny when they were talking about the menu. Couchyn serves only snacks, no rice, curries, porottas or any other main food dishes. Out of 24 items on the snack menu, there were 2 or 3 Chinese styled dishes. Yet this woman was saying that there were mostly Chinese dishes to eat. Did she even go through the menu? How does Kerala styled fried prawns, fish & beef fit in the Chinese section woman? What about kebabs?

Yet I must admit that she had a sexy giggle. That of a woman and not that of a girl. The kind of giggle that suggested sexual experience, long hours between the sheets and that she knew how to please a man in the sack! I couldn’t see her as there was a huge table blocking my view. And I couldn’t just get up and go and look her up. But I bet she is sexy and is buxom. My imagination was running wild each time she spoke with her throaty voice and that sexy giggle sent shivers down my spine. I have got to get laid soon!

One other good thing about Couchyn is the music that they play. Mostly soft rock, hard rock and stuff from the lates 60s, 70s and early 80s. Each time that I have been there that is what they have been playing Today’s music selection was songs by the Eagles, Doobie Brothers, Joan Baez, Art Company (Suzzanna), Janis Joplin (I think that was her), Cream – and I was headbanging lightly to Sunshine Of Your Love –  mostly blues based rock and they ended with Ozzy Osbourne’s Mama I’m Coming Home as I was leaving. And yeah I did go home to my mother!!!

The Hair Chronicles : Part 2

- Roshan

Long time readers & friends of mine know of my crazy obsession with hair – body hair & the stuff on my head! My main issue is ofcourse the fact that I am balding. It’s beyond just thinning on the front, there is a patch at the back devoid of hair. It’s bad, the end is inevitable folks! One day in the coming next years the twain shall meet and I shall be officially bald. If I grow my hair longer I can cover the bald patch or mostly people do not notice it much as my messy hair naturally can cover it. But 3 days ago I just went to cut my hair short and it should be more noticeable.

Looking at all the hair that was left on the ground after the barber had had his way with the clippers, I am upset. All that hair and I can’t cover my head properly. Worse I could shave all the body hair that I have and create a long & luxuriant wig for myself! Can anyone tell me something about this – what the fuck is body hair useful for? Does it have a purpose? No. And you say that there is a god! There is no purpose for body hair. Armpit Hair, leg hair, chest hair, back hair (ugh of which, thankfully, I have very little), ass hair and the worst thing ever – pubic hair! No just look at this fact people a little further people!

Us men are losing hair on our heads. We need that, to be more presentable and fashionable and it’s the only hair that we have that is beloved to us and that makes any sense. And yet there is plenty of pubic hair – what good is it? I’m not gonna oil & shampoo it, style it and showcase it to the people on the streets or in public places! Pubic hair serves no purpose at all, just like the rest of the hair on your body. You can take all of mine. Shave me body please and I do not want it to grow back. Instead can I have more hair on my head? I don’t want a whole lot of hair or for it to be very stylish. Just cover the parts of my head that is supposed to be covered; a full head of hair if you please.

Oh and one more thing? I remember a couple of guys, former colleagues of mine who had the kind of body hair that looked like they were wearing a sweater when they were actually bare chested! You would need a lawnmover to shave them! Sheesh and they were both balding! Cruel, cruel world!

Anticipating Autumn

- Roshan

Autumn is pretty much like summer for us here in Kerala, with occasional showers. I love the autumn that I see in some parts of the US & Canada. The last couple of days I’ve been viewing some awesome photos in people’s blogs and long to be in those places. All those leaves, oranges & reds. Also they tend to have sumptuous feasts like on Thanksgiving (turkey man, I’d love turkey) and the awesomeness of handing out chocolates & other types of candy on Halloween. So good!

What am I looking forward to this autumn? I’m looking out for another job or things to go much better at the current one. I hope to enjoy myself, have some fun with my friends and have some nice meals with them. More drinks, yeah that would be great. Watch some cool movies and keep increasing my tv series collection of all the great shows that I want to watch. I’d like to go out and see new places. That’s it. And I dunno why but I am craving a large chocolate bar right now!

Powered by Plinky

Dead End

- Roshan

I heard about Dead End in a Youtube video in which this movie & especially horror movie fanatic listed & briefly reviewed his favourite horror movies of 2000-10. I was intrigued by the storyline and hit up the movie in Wikipedia and found out that Ray Wise (he’s known as the Devil in the tv series Reaper, a villain in RoboCop & I have seen him in an episode each of Star Trek : TNG & Star Trek : Voyager)  & Alexndra Holden (who played Ross’s much younger girlfriend & student in Friends). So I thought hey’s let’s check this movie out.

On Christmas eve the Harringtons – dad Frank, mom Laura, daughter Marion & son Richard – are traveling to visit Laura’s mom for Christmas. Along with them in the car is Brad, Marion’s boyfriend. Without initially telling the others, Frank decides to take an unknown route through the woods. They almost crash into another car as Frank falls asleep and they see a woman in white holding a baby. The woman has a cut on her forehead and doesn’t speak anthing, so the family decide to take her to a house with a phone (the cell phones don’t get reception in the area) and call for an ambulance. Marion offers to walk back as the car is small and there is no space for a 6th person.

As Frank & Laura stop and enter a small cabin looking for a phone, Richard goes out into the woods to jerk off to a nudie magazine. Brad is alone in the car with the woman and he screams when he sees the baby is dead & mutilated. As the Harringtons rush back to the car, Brad & the woman are missing and Marion sees him being driven off in the back of a black hearse. The family give chase but find Brad’s burnt and mutilated body on the road. Marion is in shock and has to be carried back to the car. She later announces that she is pregnant. On their way back, a baby carriage is found on the road mysteriously empty and Richard plays a sick joke on his parents with it. Soon Richard wanders off at the next time they stop and he encounters the woman in white. She kisses him and undresses but then bites his lips off and he screams. The Harringtons see him driven off in a hearse and when they chase it, once again they find  a dead burnt body – Richard’s!

Laura goes insane with grief and states that Richard was not Frank’s son but born out of a brief affair she had with Frank’s best friend Allen. She also says that she knew about Frank’s affair with another woman; both revelations shock Marion. Father & daughter talk about the affairs while they drive and they keep seeing a sign for a town call Marcott but no matter how long the drive they can’t seem to get out of the woods. A now childlike Laura takes out the shotgun (which was supposed to be a present for her brother) and accidentally shoots Frank in the leg. However, Marion cleans the wound and they go on the road again with Marion now driving. Laura jumps out of the car when she says she saw a dead friend and as Frank & Marion stops, they see her driven off in the same black hearse. Frank shoots at the car and it stops.

Laura comes out and starts rubbing the wound on her head real hard and dies. Frank tries to kill himself using the gun but is dissuaded by his daughter, saying that they have to walk through the woods. But they end up at the same spot that they started and then go to the cabin. Frank rushes in and is scared by the woman in white and he goes a bit insane and attacks his daughter, knocking her unconcsious. He then shoots at the woman in white but he too dies mysteriously. Marion has a dream that she sees all 4 of her loved ones in body bags on the road and the woman in white appears and tells her that the black hearse is not for her! Marion then wakes up in the car in time to see Frank falling asleep at the wheel and colliding with an oncoming car, driven by the woman previously seen dressed in white. In the car also is her baby daughter. The accident claims the lives of everyone in the vehicles but Marion. She suddenly wakes up in a hospital bed, and a female doctor with the name-tag “Dr. Marcott” is at her bedside.

As the movie ends we see a man dressed in black talking to Dr. Marcott; he says he was the one who found Marion and brought her to the hospital. Dr. Marcott explains to him that all the people in the accident were killed but this one girl Marion. As they both leave the man in black offers to give a lift to the doctor, as her car has stalled, and they both drive off in his….black hearse. As they leave the man tells the doctor that he is a collector! As the credits roll we see the cleanup crew finding a note, written by Frank, on which he had listed buying an Atari and being the best grandfather ever as his to do list, while talking with Marion.

Spooky film thought not as spooky as I thought it would be on hearing about the premise of the movie. It could have bee done a lot better but the film does have it’s moments and does it’s job for a small budget movie. There are some dark moments of comedy also, especially with Laura (Lin Shaye has won some awards for her comedic relief in this movie). Released in 2003,  I’d give it a 7 outta 10!

Time To Watch

- Roshan

I was a watch wearer from very young till the age of 29. I remember wearing a lot of watches during my youth (even an infamous Michael Jackson electronic watch which has ‘Beat It’ as an alarm at the age of 9). As I turned 12 I wanted more normal style, grown up men’s watches an usually either my dad or mom would pick up one for me. I remember getting a really good one for my 15th birthday and years later at the age of 23 another one. Watches are usually a good birthday present.

In 2005 I started developing a bad rash on my left wrist that itched like crazy. I was allergic to the strap material of my watch. I went to a shop on Marine Drive and changed the strap twice – both times the rash still persisted. I remember I would wear my watch to work and then remove it as soon as I reached my work station, where it would remain on my desk until quitting time. My super boss, a DGM, asked me what happened and I showed him the rash. He recommended a good ointment and told me to consult a renowned skin specialist who was a friend of his and told me not to wear a watch for a month or two.

The ointment worked well but I just stopped wearing a watch and till date have not worn one yet. I just got used to not wearing one as the months passed by and it was easy enough to check the time on my mobile phone which I carry with me anywhere I went. During the last year or so I’ve thought that maybe it was time to start getting a watch again but I haven’t bought one yet. I love Mark Ecko watches, like the one pictured here, and would love to own one soon. There are a few designs that I like a lot.

My Top 5 Comedy Tv series

- Roshan

Will & Grace : This show beats out long time favourites King Of Queens & Everybody Loves Raymond which would come it at numbers 7 & 6 for me. Personally I feel that the show should have had another name – it’s not just Will & Grace but Jack & Karen to! Although the name Will, Grace, Jack & Karen would have been too much for audiences to take. Jack & Karen were hilarious on their own but when they combined together, it was dynamite. I haven’t actually seen the last season of the show so I am looking forward to getting this show on dvd or downloading it. Grace was my least fav character in the show; she was a bit whiny.

Frasier : Like my cousin used to say that the funniest part is that both Frasier & his brother Nyles were pompous snobs and they did it to great effect. I loved this show so much that I dreamed of drinking sherry and playing the piano and moving to Seattle. Even the dog is funny! Kellsey Grammar is one of my all time fav comedy actors and I usually watch anything that he is in. Except Cheers – I never did like that show at all!

Seinfeld : I know that a lot of you think this is the funniest show of all time. It’s won several awards and TV Guide’s best show of all time. I beg to differ but I still love this series. It took me a while to get into the show even though I loved Jerry from the very beginning but wasn’t sure about the eccentric character of Kramer & George too – in a few months I would look forward to them doing their stuff. I mainly watched this show on reruns and first started watching it because it was just before Friends on Indian cable tv during both shows initial runs on Star World. The show about nothing is great; however they have one big flaw – Elaine! I cannot stand that woman/character!! I avoided watching the series for a while just because of her.

Friends : Well the other show that most people claim as they best/favourite or funniest tv show of all time is the one about 6 New York based friends who go through life’s trials & fails with each other as support. The cast was tight and it showed. Funniest thing to ever come out of the US according to me. I’ve watched most episodes of this series atleast 4 times and seasons 1-6 atleast 10 times on tv in reruns. I also watched the entire series on dvd twice. I considered this to be the most addictive thing and it was my favourite sit-com or comedy show for so long – from the first time I watched it back in 1997-98 (I think). But if I remember I didn’t like it that much at first; I didn’t like Phoebe at first sight – I’d love her to death in a few months! Fav female character keeps changing from time to time; I’ve had crushes on all 3 women. But Chandler is the funniest of the lot! He really is a hoot – downright funniest character for me on tv till date. So Friends was my long time fav – what happened then?

Corner Gas : This show happened! Well, I first saw a few episodes, the first 5 I think, online back in 2007. I couldn’t get any more and almost forgot the show. Then towards the end of last year I started getting into it again after watching some interviews with the cast. Saskatchewan is funny! I started downloading the show and watched it all. Devoured it is more correct! A couple of months ago I finished the entire 6 seasons. It should have lasted atleast another 6 more! I started getting upset while watching the final season, like the first episode of season 6! How can a show this good and this funny wind up when they seemed to getting even funnier? I wanted to  move to Saskatchewan and the fictional little town of Dog River if I could. I love the characters so much, they are all hilarious but Hank as the village idiot is downright belly-busting funny! 8 wonderful cast members. This is my fav & IMHO the funniest tv show ever!

Your list will defer from mine no doubt. I’d like to know which are your top 5 or top 10 comedies!

International Travel vs Space Travel

- Roshan

One free trip to space or free international travel for life? You are killing me with this prompt. I just cannot choose. I would love to travel in space but not the kind that we currently have. I don’t want to dress up in a monkey suit and float around weightless in something that resembles a big phone booth….wait that might actually be fun! Not the monkey suit but the weightless floating around. Floating balls of liquid that you have to chase around just to get that drink in! Might be fun!

But it’s only one flight to space and that’s it. Versus a lifetime of traveling and seeing all the wonderful places on earth that I want to see and have wanted to see for a very long time. Oh I want to see the UK & Ireland, Canada, Spain, France, the US, Australia, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Fiji, Sweden, Norway, Denmark & Finland, Germany, Italy, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, the UAE, Abu Dhabi, Morocco & Kuwait once again. Man what a dilemma. How can I choose? Me, the space geek, the Star Trek man. But oh, so many places to see on earth. So many foods, drink, beer, women and the culture!

Cruel, cruel blog prompt. I just cannot choose even if it is only one space trip. That is just so wrong to make me choose!

Powered by Plinky

Chemical Wedding

- Roshan

I hope you all know who Bruce Dickinson is – if not, he is the powerhouse vocalist behind the heavy metal behemoth Iron Maiden. Well he wrote the story of this movie and co-wrote the screenplay. And I hope you know of Alistair Crowley, the famous English occultist, mystic & ceremonial magician. Directed by Julian Doyle, Chemical Wedding is a British supernatural and horror movie with a touch of science fiction in it.

We start off with 2 young men who in 1947 go to see a terminally ill Crowley (John Shrapnel) at his home. Crowley dies but not before cursing one of the boys who tried to take his precious pocket watch away from him. As a result the young man loses his voice and is paralyzed from the waist down. 50 years later we are at Cambridge University, the venue of a VR machine & suit which is part of an experiment conducted by a visiting American professor Dr. Joshua Mathers (Kal Weber). A meek & stuttering professor  Oliver Haddo (Simon Callow) & his assistant Victor, who are both followers of Crowley, upload all of the late occultist’s works & rituals into the computer that runs the VR suit/machine.

Prof. Haddo steps into the suit and the information is all uploaded into his brain, causing him to somehow be possessed by the immortal spirit of Crowley. This transform the shaggy haired Haddo into a cocky, confident & powerful man with a smooth, shaved head and a hypnotic glare. He steals a natty suit, walks around with a cane and has lots of sex, performs some rituals and kills a few people. He also needs to perform a “chemical wedding”,  a ritual ceremony that involves him having sex with a scarlet hair woman, in 3 days to complete his reincarnation. After a few that don’t measure up, he settles on a university student Lia Robinson.

In between there is some nudity, even a somewhat hilarious scene in which Haddo/Crowley lathers and shaves the pubic hair of a call girl who is blond but wears a red wig before brutally killing her. Prof. Mathers & Lia are involved with each other after she wanted a quick interview with him for the university paper and he has to save her before Haddo can complete the ceremony. As he is successful, the timeline reverses itself to just after Prof. Haddo has used the suit and he is back to his bumbling & stammering self with the spirit of Alistair Crowley no longer alive in him. No one remembers what has happened except for Symmonds (Paul McDowell) who was one of the young men who went to see Crowley at the time of his death and is a professor at Cambridge who helps Mathers. Everything goes back to normal.

With the exceptional & brilliant acting of Simon Callow there isn’t much to offer in this movie. Granted that the photography is done really well but that’s about it. I’d give it a 6 out of 10 (or a 666 out of 100)!

If I Had To Wear Only One Color For The Next Month

- Roshan

I don’t think that this question if fair on the guys as we men usually have to rely on one colour for our trousers (pants for you Americans) and a different one for our shirts. That’s the way it has to be. Because otherwise you’ll be thrown stones at and ridiculed for ages! Unless it is part of your work uniform, in which case ridiculing will not be followed by stones.

Women can wear the same colour for their outfit and pull it off in style. But I have rarely seen a guy being able to do the same. I certainly would not dare. Anyways, coming back to the answer for the question, if I had to choose one colour it would have to be blue for my shirts and only for my shirts. I tend to favour blue as the colour for my shirts, although currently I only have one shirt that has white & blue stripes (I kind of look like an overweight football player for one of them clubs). But in a crunch I would always look out for blue shirts. It’s the safest bet. As for trousers, everyone knows that I only wear black trousers. It’s been that way since I was a teenager. Unless it’s jeans in which case I have had a beige/light brown pair, blue jeans, gray jeans other than black. But I prefer blue jeans as well. It’s the classic colour.

Powered by Plinky

Desk Cleaning

- Roshan

I finally got round to cleaning my desk. My computer desk is a small one – my 15.6 in laptop, 2 speakers and a mouse almost cover the entire top of the desk. Yes it is that small! I also store two of my external hard drives in the keyboard slot/slip drawer. There is a small rack below on which I have my modem/router, a large four outlet extension plug and my 50 blank dvd set resting on it. The bottom rack is split into two – the smaller one has my Western Digital 1 TB drive and 2 20 set CD cases on which most of my mp3s are stored and the bigger section had a huge 100+ set of DVD-R on which I have stored copies of some movies, mp3s and tv series. I have some spare batteries, a coffee mug in which I store some pens and stuff, an old hard drive which is dead and my copy of Wayne’s World.

Mine is a dusty city and we get a lot of dust blowing in throw the windows as the cars, trucks, bikes & autos pass by on the road below. You should see the amount of dust that was collecting on the desk, on each rack and on top of the dvds that used to be kept here. I took a couple of old cloth rags, wet them and cleaned the entire desk last night. I even cleaned the DVD-R cases and the plastic covers of the dvds that I had on my desk racks. It looks neater and I organized my dvds into my steel cupboard (I still don’t have a proper shelfs set that I can keep them on) and the desk finally looks a little clean. This weekend I will spend some more time organizing my dvds in alphabetical order and clean the desk out some more.

Preparing For Miss Universe or Miss World

- Roshan

The last time I watched a beauty contest like Miss India or Miss World Or Miss Universe or Miss Behavin it was still the 1990s! I do hold any of these titles in any esteem whatsoever and find most of the show & pageantry to be a laugh (and not a good laugh) and a joke (a poor joke). Kochivibe has listed the most frequently asked questions during a contest like this and if I were female and, ahem, a contestant on one of these shows, here’s how I would answer:

1.What famous person does your personality resemble and why?

A. Mother Teresa!! I am so like her, giving & loving & sharing and taking care of others

2.At what point does a girl become a woman?

A. Silly question. When she first needs to start using a pad! And I’m not talking about the one from Apple (fits of giggles)

3.Do you consider yourself to be a giver or a taker? Why?

A. Well I give but I also take. When I take I am being given but by giving I am also taking pleasure at the same time in the act of giving. So I am a Givetaker!!

4.What would you like to see done to improve the public’s understanding of the importance of organ donation? Why?

A. There are so many musicians who can’t afford to buy their own instruments. That is talent gone to waste. We must donate keyboards & organs & guitars to needy musicians who are poor, so that they can make a lot of music and make a living.

5.What are the best qualities a parent could share with their children? Why?

A. Good looks & hygiene.

6.What do you expect to gain by participating in pageants? Why?

A. Money. Offers to act in commercials & tv & movies. Hopefully a tasteful Playboy spread.

7.If you could change one thing about the world what would it be?

A. I would make it easier to locate on the map. It really is difficult. They say world map but then they don’t show you where the world is. I’m pretty sure that it’s somewhere between Europe & America but that’s all.

8.What is the biggest challenge to young people today?

A. How to remain young & beautiful on a budget!

9.Which is the most significant role in a woman’s life? Is it of a daughter or a wife or a mother?

A. Definitely it’s all 3. Because a woman is a daughter and a mother and at times a mother. She can be a wife but sometimes she is the significant other. Or just the other ….woman that is. It’s all so hard & fulfilling!

10.If you are crowned tonight how would you feel and why?

A. I would hold my hands to my face and yell out loud. I’ve already got my air kisses and smile in place. The tears are the hardest but I have a pair of tweezers – one yank on my pubic hair and tears will start streaming.

Thank you!!

These are the answers of a winner.