Remakes, Reboots, Rehashing

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Remakes, reboots – I’m not a big fan of this concept of remaking a movie unless ofcourse it was a really badly made movie albeit with a good story / plotline. And then there is stuff that I wish got an update or instead would have been made in the recent times so that the special effects wouldn’t look too dated and also for it to stay fresh in people’s memories. Like any good science fiction series or movie from the the 70s, 80s & 90s should have updated effects done – that’s it! Just to make it look fresh. Like Star Trek TNG or DS9 or any of the other ones in the franchise. Which they have done to some extent and me, and their millions of fans are glad for and appreciate.

Movies and tv series will always get remade & rebooted mainly because some will see it as 1) a tribute or homage to the original 2) like the concept but want to make improvements to it as they felt it lacked a certain something or 3) have run out of ideas and will steal anything that looks like it could be a seller (I’m looking at you Michael Bay) and that is the worst kind. I’m happy with the first two reasons and that gives us fans something to cheer about. Like if I were a movie maker I’d like to see some older Scifi stuff like Forbidden Planet remade with a new cast, because even if I am such a big fan of the original and a huge, huge fan of the work that Leslie Neilsen did (he cannot be replaced in that role, just given a tribute to) that movie was in the 50s!! The 50s! We could use a reworking of that with a younger cast and maybe a few changes here and there to make it look brand new. That’s what I would do – pay my respects to a classic. However, I am the sort of person who likes new stories and would therefore want to make my own story & movie and hence wouldn’t look for too many remakes.

How about you guys? What do you think about reboots & remakes? Do you like it or hate it? One more thing that I would want to add is that most people who have seen the original and loved it might be the ones who hate the reboot or like the new one but still feel that it was best to leave the classic original as it was and enjoy it rather than have someone else make their own interpretation of it. Some share that feeling while some are like “ok impress me if you are gonna remake something!”

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Dating Scene

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Ah, the dating scene. To be honest I have only gone on a few dates with a handful, ok less than a handful of girls/women in my life. I had a steady girlfriend for about 5 years and after that broke up I’ve gone on a few dates with girls I has an interest in and in some cases I have gone on multiple dates with the same girl but not in a very, very long time. I have stated in my blog once before about the worst date I have been on, and to be fair it was at a party with a bunch of other people around but she was my date and I was going to the party only because she invited me to come. In hindsight, it was truly hilarious but at the time it was the worst thing to have to go through.

Usually I would ask the girl, like my steady gf for those 5 years, to come out for a date. This was during my teenage years and early 20s which was during the 90s and let me tell you that it was a lot harder for young couples in their teens to date out in the open where I live. Nowadays you have a lot more places for these couples to go and it’s a lot more free these days but back then it was like conducting a secret mission. Parents, relatives, neighbours and classmates cannot know lest someone lets it slip and then all hell breaks loose. We would visit a library that was atleast 40 minutes away from our houses and therefore the chances of our folks finding out were highly unlikely. After about an hour there I would take her to this ice cream parlour owned by a couple I was friendly with and it was a safe place for us to sit and be together. Once or twice we have met at a mutual lady friend’s house.

By the time I was 21 we had broken off and I tried to be casual about girls and never took anything seriously. Dating was still very hard and I have only dated 3 other girls other than the ones mentioned above. By this age I’d try a lunch out or coffee and snacks at some small cafe in the city. Usually it would be me asking after a lot of practicing in front of the mirror and if surprise! surprise! the girl agreed I would fix a time and a place and we’d meet there and I’d try to be my “charming” self and try not to act like a fool. Then a couple of times I have asked out and gone with women I really did not like that much at all! Do not look surprised, I just did. I asked and they came out and we’d have a lunch or something in a nice place but it’s not like I wanted it to blossom or forma relationship at all. Just because I wanted to know what it would be like to go out with them and that’s why I asked. I remember on one of those dates within 10 minutes I wanted the whole ordeal to be over, not because the date was bad but I’d wonder what I was doing with that particular gal, and couldn’t be happier when it was over. I must have been going through a weird stage or something!

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Apollo 18

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Apollo 18 is a science fiction/horror movie written by Brian Miller, directed by Gonzalo López-Gallego, and produced by Timur Bekmambetov and Ron Schmidt. This is a fictional movie that sets out to be like a found footage styled movie, supposedly the lost footage of the Apollo 18 mission that was only recently discovered. It claims that over 70 hours of footage was found and uploaded to a website, lunartruth.com and that the film is a heavily edited version of it. The movie stars Warren Christie, Ryan Robbins and Lloyd Owen.

The  crew of the Apollo 18 are informed that they will proceed with the mission, which was cancelled previously and moved to December 1974, as a top secret Department of Defense (DoD) mission disguised as a satellite launch.  Commander Nathan Walker, Lieutenant Colonel John Grey, and Captain Ben Anderson are the 3 astronauts in the mission and are told to place detectors near their landing site, the south pole of the moon, to alert the United States of any impending ICBM attacks from the USSR. We see the men excited with their families before the launch and then the footage moves to when they are in the shuttle. Grey remains in orbit aboard the Freedom Command module while Walker and Anderson land on the moon in the lunar module Liberty. While planting one of the detectors, the pair take moon rock samples.

After they return to the Liberty they hear noises outside, which Houston claims is disturbances from other detectors, and the camera captures a rock moving. Anderson also finds a rock lying on the floor, despite the sample being safely secured. During further lunar exploration they discover footprints that lead them to a bloodstained, functioning Soviet LK lander, and a dead cosmonaut in a nearby crater. Walker queries Houston about the Soviet presence but is told only to continue with the mission. The next day they find the American flag that they had planted missing. With their mission completed they are about to leave but have to abort the launch is aborted when the shuttle experiences violent shaking. Walker steps out to investigate and notes extensive damage to the shuttle and he also sees non-human tracks, which he says proves extra-terrestrial life. Walker feels something moving inside his spacesuit and is horrified as a spider-like creature crawls across the inside of his helmet. Walker disappears from view and Anderson finds him unconscious outside of Liberty. Walker later denies the events. A wound is discovered on Walker’s chest; Anderson removes a moon rock embedded within him. The pair find themselves unable to contact Houston or Grey due to increased levels of interference from an unknown source.

Anderson speculates that the true intention of the devices are to warn of alien advances. Walker’s infection spreads at an alarming rate and becomes paranoid. The mission cameras capture the rock samples moving around in the interior of Liberty, revealing that the aliens are concealed as moon rocks. A delusional Walker destroys some of the cameras and but accidentally damages the system controls, causing Liberty to depressurize. Realizing the Soviet LK is their only source of oxygen, the pair travel towards the LK lander in their lunar rover. Walker causes the vehicle to crash as he runs away, believing he should not leave the moon because of the risk of spreading the infection to Earth. When Anderson tracks Walker, he sees his comrade pulled into a crater by the alien creatures and is unable to pull  him back out. Anderson flees to the Soviet LK. Anderson uses its radio to contact USSR Mission Control who connect him to the DoD. The deputy secretary informs Anderson that they cannot allow him to return to Earth, admitting they are aware of the situation and fear he is also infected. He pleads but the deputy secretary is firm on his decision and says that his family will be taken care of. Anderson manages to contact Grey, who tells him to head for Freedom. Anderson prepares the lander for launch but it is attacked by a psychotic Walker. Before Walker can enter the vehicle, he is attacked by a swarm of the creatures, which breach his helmet, killing him.

Anderson launches the LK as Grey is warned by the DoD and orders him to abort the rescue or communication will be ceased, rendering Grey unable to return to Earth. As the lander enters orbit, the reduced gravity causes small rocks within the craft to float, some of which reveal themselves to be alien creatures. Anderson is attacked and infected by the creatures, preventing him from controlling the vehicle, leaving it headed uncontrolled toward Freedom. The space footage ends abruptly. As the movie ends, the ‘official’ fate of the 3 astronauts are written on the screen. An epilogue explains that many of the rock samples returned from the previous Apollo missions are now missing.

I found the intentionally bad camera footage a bit deterrent to my enjoyment of the film. It’s not really my idea of an exciting movie but it does have it’s moments. 6 outta 10!

The X-Files – Season 3

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The Indians are beaten by the men in black to intimidate them. Upon returning to Washington, the FBI puts Scully on mandatory leave and forces her to turn in her badge and gun. Upon entering Mulder’s office, she finds the cassette missing.  Mulder, alive but severely wounded, is found buried under some rocks near the buried boxcar. Hosteen begins the Blessing Way chant to heal Mulder. During the ritual, Mulder has ghostly visions of Deep Throat and his father, who urge him to recover and continue his search for the truth. Scully finds out that she has a small metal rod inserted in the base of her neck and has it removed. Mulder and Scully search for answers regarding the old photograph with his father and other unnamed men. Their search takes them to the abandoned Strughold Mining Facility where they uncover a dangerous secret.

Mulder is skeptical over a coroner’s report regarding the fifth person to be struck by lightning in a small Oklahoma town. Their investigation into the latest death seems to point to the only person to have survived a lightning strike, an emotionally-charged youth. Guest starring Jack Black and Giovanni Ribisi. The next episode is one of my very favourite – Skeptical of a famous psychic’s predictions regarding the murder of several prognosticators, Mulder instead finds someone who he believes truly can predict the future. Catching the killer could prove difficult, though, particularly if the murderer can also see into his future. Guest starring Peter Boyle. A death row inmate makes good on his promise to come back from the dead and kill the five people involved in his death. The fear of his retribution has everyone scrambling to determine if they are on the list, while Mulder and Scully attempt to determine how he has returned to execute his tormentors. Meeting insecure women through an on-line service, a serial killer seduces his prey with the right words. However, Mulder and Scully determine these killings are far from ordinary by the presence of a strange substance coating the victims, a substance which seems to digest the fatty acids in flesh.

Another failed suicide attempt by a patient in a military hospital interests Mulder with the talk of a “phantom soldier” which has prevented the man’s death. The general in charge is at first opposed to the FBI’s involvement until the invisible killer begins stalking him. But none believe when the primary suspect is a quadruple amputee. When a young girl is kidnapped from her home, a fast food worker miles away collapses on the job, apparently experiencing exactly what the child is feeling. When Mulder learns that the woman was kidnapped and held hostage for years as a child, he begins to believe that she may be the key to help find the missing girl. Mulder & Scully then investigate a recording of a seemingly alien autopsy by a Japanese doctor. Mulder is trapped on a train carriage with a ticking bomb and a killer who claims to be an NSA agent. Mulder tracks a series of religiously motivated murders. Each of the eleven victims claims to have been stigmatic but all turned out to be frauds. When Mulder and Scully discover a little boy displaying inexplicable wounds of religious significance, they try to protect him from the killer they know will be coming. A small town is plagued by deaths in which the bodies are found covered in cockroaches. Working from home, Scully has scientific explanations for all of them but Mulder — at the crime scene with an attractive bug expert — suspects the insects may not be organic, or earthly.

Mulder and Scully investigate strange murders in New Hampshire that may be due to a rare planetary alignment that affects people’s behaviour. Agents Mulder and Scully join Mulder’s former mentor, the FBI’s chief profiler, on a case involving a serial killer who claims to be possessed by a demonic force. The case gets even more mysterious when the suspect is apprehended and the murders continue. Mulder gets involved more deeply than expected and Scully as well as Skinner are deeply concerned. When a French salvage ship sends a diving crew to recover a mysterious wreckage from World War II, the crew falls prey to a bizarre illness and Agents Mulder and Scully join the investigation. The investigation leads to the discovery of a familiar face, and to Skinner’s life being threatened. While Mulder continues to investigate a bizarre illness that originated with the discovery of a mysterious World War II wreckage buried at sea, several government figures try to thwart their efforts. And as Skinner recovers from his shooting, Scully discovers that he is still in danger, from the man who killed her sister. Agents Mulder and Scully’s assistance is requested for a case involving a man seemingly capable of bending people to his will. The suspect uses his mysterious abilities to manipulate Agent Mulder into a dangerous end game. A series of deaths occurs immediately after an ancient artifact is brought to Boston from an excavation site in Ecuador. According to Scully, the deaths appear to be the result of political terrorism, but Mulder suspects something more improbable.

A string of mysterious deaths of recent Chinese immigrants brings Agents Mulder and Scully to San Francisco’s Chinatown. The Agents team up with a Chinese-American detective to better understand the language and customs of the Chinese culture, but one thing remains frighteningly clear — all of the bodies are missing various internal organs. When a couple claims to have been abducted by aliens, Agents Mulder and Scully try to get at the truth but everyone has a different version of the story, including the “aliens” themselves. During a difficult time in assistant director Skinner’s life, he meets a woman in a bar and spends the night with her. The next morning, the woman is dead and he is accused of murder. Agents Mulder and Scully join the investigation to clear their supervisor’s name. As they unravel the threads of a conspiracy, they also learn more about Skinner’s personal affairs. When a series of mysterious deaths and disappearances are reported near a lake in a small town, Agents Mulder and Scully are called in to investigate. With local folklore of a killer sea serpent running rampant amongst the locals, the agents must take their search for the truth to the water. As the agents investigate a series of murders committed by ordinary citizens angered after seeing illusory images, Scully’s trust in Mulder is put to the ultimate test. Agents Mulder and Scully search for a man who seems to possess strange powers, which leads to the discovery of a dangerous secret from Mulder’s past. The secret could bring Mulder and Scully to the brink of exposing the truth about alien existence.

Downtime And Ready For Onam

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Well now for some rest and relaxation. We have two days off for Onam – or because I work late night shifts, I left the office at 9 am this morning and will only have to go back to work at 1:30 am early on Friday morning (Thursday in the US). That gives me a lot of time to sit back, chill out at home and enjoy myself. Everyone deserves to have some downtime and a few days off once in a while to recharge your batteries and enjoy some rest for the brain cells. So this morning after leaving for home I went to look for some coffee and a sandwich for breakfast and found one CCD outlet not yet open and the other one just setting up. I settled down and ordered a mocha cafe and had to wait for a while before they got the sandwiches and other eats in from where they make them.

I found the cafe so hot, sweaty & stuffy and the buggers took some time to switch the ac on and yet they have a huge pedestal fan in one corner which they didn’t bother to switch on. I also find the staff very unprofessional, not rude, but unprofessional in that they were bantering out loudly and making a huge fuss and noise in the cafe. Hey I know that it’s Onam and everyone should enjoy it, but not when you have customers in the cafe. Even if it was just 3 of us in there! I got my coffee, which is posted below, and enjoyed it a lot but it could have been a bit more hotter. About 30 minutes later I got my sandwich and ate that up quickly.

After that I went to a nearby bakery & store to buy some snacks for the 3 day holiday. Banana chips, sweet banana chips, jaggery-banana chips, cutlets and puffs for me and the folks. Mom also wanted to give some chips to the neighbours and so I bought a bunch of those. After that I came back home and took a long nap.

The Sports For Me

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Until I turned 22 I watched a lot of tennis. Table tennis too on occasion but tennis was it for me. And therefore I guess I would have to say that I preferred individual sports a whole lot more back then. I mean I did love football but until 1998 I rarely got to see any club football at home on tv and would have to depend solely on World Cup & European Championships which happened once every 4 years and once in a while they might show some Champions League final here or there. But tennis was readily available atleast because of the 4 Grand Slam events and Davis cup rounds that happen each year. So you got a lot more of tennis yearly on tv which was back then only the national channels, 2 in number, that the Indian government strictly regulated.

In 1991-92 cable tv channels started blooming all across India and in my area we started subscribing to it in 1992 and got 1 sports channel. All day sports, wow. Now we have 8 to 10 such channels of which I get around 6. Anyway, I got to see a lot more sports and my options were many. I watched all the grand slams and many other tournaments on a regular basis. I never got into sports like F1 or golf or any of the other individual sports. Slowly club football matches started being shown with some regularity but if I am not mistaken it was in 1998 that the two main sports channels, ESPN & Star Sports, started showing the English, Spanish, Italian & German football leagues every weekend and some Mondays too and ofcourse the UEFA Champions league and UEFA Cup competitions. With 10 sports coming in options went up and soon we got a whole lot more.

Along with football firmly establishing itself as my main sport to follow, hockey or ice hockey also found a footing in my heart. That was in 2000 and soon I was hooked. The NHL hockey is my second favourite sport and even if I rarely get to watch games, except for regular Youtube highlights clips of each game that I watch as much as I can. I perfer team or club sports. I feel more as a part of something rather than just in an individual. You can have a lot of stars in football & hockey but they still are team sports and it forms a sense of community that individual sports just can get you.

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Elevator

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This movie should probably bee shown as an example of why you should put small, obnoxious children on a leash and have a watchful eye on them at all times. Elevator  is a 2012 American thriller film directed by Stig Svendsen. The film has an ensemble cast with Tehmina Sunny as Maureen, Anita Briem as Celine Fouquet, John Getz as Henry Barton, Shirley Knight as Jane Redding, Christopher Backus as Don Handley, Joey Slotnick as George Axelrod, Devin Ratray as Martin Gossling, Waleed Zuaiter as Mohammed, Michael Mercurio as The Bombmaker, Amanda & Rachel Pace as Madeline Barton. It has some elements of an art house movie and 98% of the movie is shot inside the confines of an elevator.

It’s a nice enough New York city evening and there is a cocktail party happening in a huge skyscraper owned by millionaire Henry Barton, who is going to announce his retirement from the stocks & bonds industry to spend more time with his family. Accompanying him to the party is his 10 year old granddaughter Madeline. We see the characters of the movie getting ready and coming to the building and are greeted by a security chief at one of the large elevators that they have to take to the party floor. The security chief inspects their ids and invitations and let’s 8 people into the elevator, who are accompanied by Mohammed, a member of the security staff. Joining Barton & his young granddaughter are , the hired comedian George Axelrod, the pregnant office worker Celine, Maureen who is a reporter and her boyfriend Don, Jane Redding a widow and Devin a robust office worker.

The elevator closes and rises up. George immediately establishes himself as an unlikable person, making snide remarks at Muhamme’s race and soon complains of there being too many people in the elevator. As they move up he confesses of suffering from claustrophobia and is getting a bit nauseous within the closed confines. Madeline antagonizes him by placing her hand on the emergency stop button and then pushes it. The elevator stops with a quick jerk just between the 49th & 50th floor. They try to pacify George who gets a little angry at the girl, while she claims it to be an accident and try to get the elevator moving again. However it has gotten stuck and won’t move any further. They push buttons and try contacting maintenance but are greeted by an obnoxious staff member who chastises them for pressing it and who gives vague promises of finding and sending someone to fix it. While they wait Jane gives George some brandy in her flask to calm his nerves. The people casually talk with each other with George further antagonizing everyone else with some racist comments at Muhammed.

There is a bit of hilarity when Celine need to pee – she does so into her handbag, assisted by Muhammed and with Devin holding his coat to give her additional privacy in one corner. Tension arises when it comes out that Don is the father of Celine’s baby, resulting from an affair they had and Maureen is furious. Jane soon confesses that she became a widow when her husband lost most of his savings after he bought stocks that Barton’s company and Don in particular, had suggested to him. Redding committed suicide and Jane has been holding a grudge against Barton & Don. She rebukes them and then has a heart attack just as she reveals that she has a bomb! Janes dies leaving the remaining 8 in panic. They search her and find a bomb strapped to her waist. Panic strikes and they look for options. They call 911 and inform them of the situation and the building is evacuated but the authorities are taking their time in getting them help. Maureen connects to her new channel and does a live streaming video informing & making their situation available on the news. Then they pry open the door and Don tries to use Jane’s can to hit the button to go up. The moment he hits it, the doors close and the lift moves a bit (as a frightened Madeline pushes buttons) and his arm is severed. As the blood splatters and shock ensues, they tie a belt to stop the blood flow.

Seeing the news, the bomb maker who sold the device to Jane, comes forward and states that they now have just 10 minutes left before the bomb explodes. Now the sense or urgency really begins to pile up and the still standing 6 adults decide that they have to cut Jane’s body in half and throw the part with the bomb away by prying the doors open. George, by now back in peopls’e graces and trying to rally the group’s spirits, tries to cut the body open but fails to do so and so Henry steps up. They cut her up but by then the cops & bomb squad reach them and pry open the doors a bit and pull people up. They haul Madeline and carry an unconscious Don up and then one by one the rest go through but an obese Devin is unable to squeeze through. The door closes and the elevator goes down leaving a stranded Devin to his death as the bomb explodes. The survivors are taken to the hospital, except for Mohammed & George who seem to have become friendly and talk until George’s wife calls him.

Focusing on the conflicts and banter of the characters in the elevator, the tension and panic that occurs. Within the closed confines I think the actors did a fine job but I found the ending to be a bit hasty and unsatisfying. Making the likeable Devin the one who dies in the elevator with the bomb was a good choice but what happens next leaves you asking more. 7 out of 10!

RIP Neil Armstrong

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The first man to ever walk on the moon, Neil Armstrong passed away today. The astronaut who marked an epochal achievement in exploration with “one small step” from the Apollo 11 lunar module on July 20, 1969, becoming the first person to walk on the moon, died Aug. 25 at 82.

His family announced the death in a statement but did not disclose where he died. They attributed it to “complications resulting from cardiovascular procedures.” Before becoming an astronaut, Armstrong was in the United States Navy and served in the Korean War. After the war, he served as a test pilot at theNational Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) High-Speed Flight Station, now known as the Dryden Flight Research Center, where he flew over 900 flights in a variety of aircraft. As a research pilot, Armstrong served as project pilot on the F-100 Super Sabre A and C variants, F-101 Voodoo, and the Lockheed F-104A Starfighter. He also flew the Bell X-1B, Bell X-5, North American X-15, F-105 Thunderchief, F-106 Delta Dart, B-47 Stratojet,KC-135 Stratotanker, and was one of eight elite pilots involved in the paraglider research vehicle program (Paresev). He graduated from Purdue University and the University of Southern California.

Armstrong, who had just turned 82, underwent surgery on August 7, 2012, to relieve blocked coronary arteries. He died on August 25, 2012, at a hospital in Columbus, Ohio, from complications following that surgery. He gave the immortal quote “”That’s one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.”

RIP Neil Alden Armstrong (born August 5, 1930 – August 25, 2012)

11-11-11

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11-11-11 is a movie which I had first came to know about back in late 2011 but after seeing the trailer, I wasn’t too impressed by what seemed to be a cheaper production. As I sat down to watch this movie this afternoon, it was a unique experience for me as I didn’t know anything about the storyline (which I usually do about each movie that I choose to get). 11-11-11 is a 2011 supernatural horror film written and directed by Darren Lynn Bousman. The film is set on 11:11 on the 11th day of the 11th month and concerning an entity from another world that enters the earthly realm through Heaven’s 11th gate. The film was released on November 11, 2011 in 17 theaters domestically.

The movie starts with Joseph, a successful author, having a recurring nightmare of his son & wife being trapped in their burning house, set by a crazed fan and dying in the flames. As he wakes in his hotel room on November 7, 2011 at 11:11AM. His manager, Grant, arrives and urges Joseph to write his next novel after telling him that his previous book sold over 5 million copies. Joseph begins writing about how after his wife and son died, he lost all faith in a higher power and God, and writes God is dead, or maybe he was never alive. On the 8th he goes to a support group meeting where he never speaks a word and always  leaves before the rest. Sadie, who has spoken up about her husband’s death, follows him out and asks him to be open about his feelings. She gives him a new notebook to write. Joseph drives but ends up in a car crash where the other driver is killed but he himself is without a scratch. Joseph tells Sadie that he feels that he has no purpose and prays for God to kill him every day. He then examines his watch and sees that it stopped exactly at 11:11. That night, Joseph gets a call from his estranged brother, Samuel, who is living in Spain with their father, Richard. Samuel tells Joseph that their father is dying.

On the 9th Joseph goes to Barcelona and meets up at his father’s house where a wheel bound Samuel runs a church. His creepy father warns Joseph and tells him that he is to save his younger brother and his chosen. Samuel urges Joseph to put aside his hatred for the Church and asks Joseph to stay the night. Later Samuel tells Joseph that his congregation dwindled away, and asks him to try to get some of his fans to follow his church. The housekeeper Anna makes Samuel show Joseph a security video taken on November 3 that depicts the faint outline of what appears to be a demon at 11:11PM. Joseph tells Samuel that he’s been seeing the number 11-11 frequently in the past few days. Joseph then goes to talk to Ana and finds a diary, only titled El Libro de Ana. When confronted about it, Ana tells Joseph that it’s the gospel according to her. That night, Joseph reads that people who frequently see the number 11-11 have been “Activated”. Joseph then saves Samuel, who is being strangled by demon-like creatures.

The next day, the 10th, a man named Javier brandishes a gun at the brothers, just after Joseph sees a demonic looking figure peeking from the bushes. Joseph knocks the gun from Javier’s hand and the latter runs away. Joseph and Samuel then visit the cemetery where their mother, Lauren, is buried. Joseph points out that Samuel’s birthday and Lauren’s death both took place on November 11. Joseph tells Samuel that the attack the night before, Joseph’s accident, David’s death, and the apparitions all occurred at 11:11 on the clock. Samuel urges Joseph to not look for meaning where there is none. Joseph then goes to find a shop to develop the photos on Javier’s camera, and they tell Joseph that the photos will be developed the next day. Joseph goes to an Occult Book Shop where the keeper reads a passage from a book, detailing that on November 11, 2011, a sacrifice will be made that will destroy faith and the Serpent will rise. Joseph becomes convinced that Samuel is a prophet to save the church and that on November 11, 2011, at 11:11, Samuel will be sacrificed by these demons for the Devil to rise.

On the 11th Sadie comes to Barcelona to meet Joseph and they  are cornered in a maze by Javier, who brandishes the gun at Joseph before fleeing. When Joseph and Sadie return to the house, they find that Richard has died. Joseph breaks into Javier’s home, and finds Samuel’s photos in a diary with the word SACRIFICIO scrawled on its pages, along with 11-11-11. Javier finds Joseph and shoots him. Joseph runs out and calls Sadie to tell her to get the photos from the store. He then runs back to the house and finds Samuel, who urges Joseph to save the notebooks that chronicle the church’s history. Joseph and Samuel, with the notebooks, are cornered by the demonic beings in the house, and they take Samuel at 11:02PM. Joseph attempts to find and rescue Samuel as Sadie gets the photos. Joseph finds Samuel, suspended in the air, surrounded by the beings. A sinkhole opens, causing Joseph to fall away from rescue. Joseph manages to crawl out of the sinkhole as one of the creatures readies a blade to stab Samuel. Joseph steps in the path of the blade exactly at 11:11, and the beings disappear.

Samuel tells Joseph that 11-11 was not a window opening, but one closing, and that the end of the world could only be stopped then. Joseph finds the notebooks and reads one that Samuel wrote, depicting his own death. Samuel stands, collects the notebooks, and leaves Joseph to die after revealing that the beings were, in fact, angels and that he was the devil that needed to be stopped. A new religion will start, and Joseph’s, Samuel’s, Sadie’s, Grant’s, and Ana’s books will become the new gospels. Some time later, a large church is filled with Samuel’s followers, each bearing a book titled The Book of Joseph.

I liked the ending so much more than the rest of the movie. So a new religion is created? Hail Satan, lol. 5 out of 10!

Lurking in the Deep

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The sea as always been enchanting mankind since the primitive cave men first chanced upon the waters. It feared & yet beckoned him. Men wanted to explore, curious beings that we are. What would let me float on it and go beyond this shore and onto the next and the next? That’s probably what ancient men thought. They first tried wading in the waters, getting their feet wet so to speak. Then they tried to see how they could stay afloat. And then swim. Once they learned how to swim they thought, this is not so bad. I love being in the water but I can only swim so far. I need to float for days to get to the next shore, so what can I use? The first rafts were born by tying planks of wood together with twine from the trees. Then man first set out , baby steps as far as we are concerned but it must have been a monumental and historic day when that first happened.

Once they got the rafts going they wanted to transport stuff from one short to another. People, belongings, food and animals. They needed bigger & bigger rafts. Finally canoes were created and then boats and ships. But that only satisfied the lust for exploring on land – with these boats & ships you can only go from one point to another across the seas & oceans – but what lies underneath! We fished, we caught them for our food and for sport. We loved what creatures we could find in the sea, her bountiful loot of delicious food for man. We also feared the bigger creatures like sharks & whales but we needed to get to go even deeper. The plant life and creatures that lived further down the surface of the seas were beautiful and plentiful. We are fascinated by the oceans and it’s abundant life. But what lies beneath at the very bottom? At the deep end.

The ocean god awaits us. Right now he/she is in a deep slumber and we haven’t awakened him up yet. Mankind is still inconsequential to it and therefore it has never threatened us. It has been asleep for many millennium and is yet to find anything to threaten it’s existence and be worthy of it’s wrath. But one day man will go poking beyond where he should poke. And he will awake the beast. And the beast will be angry and unleash it’s deadly weapons against us, huge creatures which are also in deep slumber at the moment. Once these giant sea creatures or monsters awaken, they will wreck ships on the oceans and then climb onto our lands. And they will destroy anything in their sight. They will topple skyscrapers and wreck cities in a few minutes. And they will crush us all and eat all living things. Nuclear weapons will not have much of an effect on them; it will be just like pin pricks to them. All will be destroyed and once that it done, the creatures will go back to the bottom of the seas & oceans and go back to their slumber for another few 10,000 years or so. Until the ocean god creature decides that it needs to venture out again.

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Deja Vu

Posted on by Roshan Leave a comment

Déjà vu, which is a French word and literally means “already seen”, is the phenomenon of believing an event or experience has occurred in the past. It’s a very common experience for all of us humans (not sure about cats, dogs and other animals). But we do and I’m sure those of you reading this have experienced it atleast a few dozen times in their lifetimes. I have felt it several times in my life and I wish I could explain some of it. A lot of them are very easy to explain – conversations that I have had with people, going to a regular place, watching a movie/tv series episode. We have all felt that we have said or heard the words being said somewhere, sometime ago.

Having conducted a lot of training sessions since 2006, I sometimes get the feeling that I have taken a particular slide, or given a particular explanation or even quoted a particular incident earlier. I get confused – “did I already take this or speak to you about this before today?” 99.9% the case is that I haven’t taken it for that bunch of people but it was for an earlier batch and it’s just that it’s fresh in my memory. That is quite frequent. I stop in between and wonder “Hey didn’t I just have this speech earlier with these same people?” And I even ask them just to be sure but it’s a funny feeling when that happens.

Sometimes when I am with friends or relatives and we are discussing something and in between I feel like “deja vu” and it gets weird for a while. Similarly when I go to some places, even if it is for the very first time, I feel like I have been here before, walked these floors, touched these walls and stuff. But I dismiss them as just my mind playing tricks on me. Since I don’t believe in past lives and stuff, I don’t believe that I went to this place in a previous life. That’s the stuff for bad Indian movies! Ugh!

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Here’s A Bud For You

Posted on by Roshan Leave a comment

Had my first taste of an American brand of beer today. Budweiser has been available in India for a while but I only know of one bar (that I go to) that serves it. However each time I had asked them if they had it, although it’s right there on the menu, they never seem to have it. Today was the day that it changed.

Since I do night shifts now, I wanted to  go out this Sunday evening or Monday afternoon for some beer but was too tired to do anything other than crash at home. Last night I though that I should try and get a beer before coming back home in the morning. So post my work, I left the office at 9:10 am and reached the city area at 10. I went for breakfast at a coffee shop and also got a novel for me to read and relaxed till about 12 pm. Then I headed over to Couchyn for a beer and found that they did indeed have a Bud. I ordered one 650ml bottle and a plate of barbecued sausages.

The beer was ‘meh’! Just plain old bland stuff. I prefer Tuborg & Carlsberg to it, heck I’d even prefer to get Kingfisher over this. Did not live up to the hype of what some people were saying about it.