My Injured Ankle Story

I seem to hurt my feet every once in a while. Read this and this and this and this before you proceed. And there was a time once before back in 2005 but that was before I started this blog! And that one had me hobbling for a week at home and then not being able to wear shoes for another week while I still went to work.

So yeah, I apparently do this a lot. The last three times, including this one, has featured me and the headpost of my bed. As some of you may remember posting about it, I sleep upside down on my bed because my computer table and laptop are placed next to the head of the bed and since I watch movies / tv series episodes at night before I go to sleep, I always have slept on this bed upside down. Meaning with my head towards the foot of the bed and my feet at the head post. Now this head post is made of solid hard wood and it has railings. Usually what happens is that I get my foot stuck in between the railings and injure it by pulling my leg in my sleep. That’s what happened the last couple of times.

This time though, I decided to be different (note the sarcasm) and must have fallen asleep further down the bed than I would normally have. Early morning on Saturday, I apparently tossed and turned and the back of my foot (ankle just above the heel, whatever) from high hit the top of the bed post. Hard! I woke up with pain and realized what I had done in my sleep. I nursed it a bit but went back to sleep in a couple of minutes even though my ankle was hurting. After I woke up and tried walking, I realized that there would be swelling and lo and behold there it was. So I’ve been limping for the past three days and applying an ointment and a pain relief spray (that really works) and resting my foot as much as I can. Today it seems to be much better with the swelling almost all gone, I can walk without pain. Just a little uncomfortable feeling, which should be gone by tomorrow.

Walls Of My Bedroom

mindbump suggested by Bri is unashamed. Are you?

“What color is the wall of your bedroom, why did you choose it, and if anything, what does it say about you?”

Ok the walls of my bedroom are the same colour as the rest of the apartment. Pink! A light, sickly looking pink. The colour of Gelusil syrup. I’ll wait a second until your queasiness dissipates.

Ok now that you are back I’ll tell you what happened and how we got stuck with this sick colour. Back in 2006 my folks and I sold our former home, a nice big house in the suburbs, due to a cash problem caused by my dad’s business going bust and we owing a lot of money to the company that we used to do wholesale distributions for. With the interest going up over the years the option was to sell our house and we got a lot of money for it. We also needed to buy a new place and the idea of an apartment in the city came up. This was because of two reasons 1) after living in the area for as long as we did, we wanted to be near the city 2) my dad wanted to be close to my sister and her children who also live in the city area just minutes away from our current place.

The person we sold the house to, paid half the amount first and gave us enough time to find a new place before we had to vacate the house. However in between he came and asked my dad if we could vacate the place by the end of September as his family wanted to celebrate Onam in their  new house. So that gave us very few weeks to find a new place, purchase it and move our stuff in. So we sttled on the only place that was within our budget and, most importantly, was ready to be occupied by the end of September. If that person could have held off moving into our old house till the initially agreed date, we would have been living in a much better place than this one. Anyway, we settled on this place and made the arrangements. Now the initial paint colour for the apartment was to be a nice, inoffensive beige as selected by my mom but the stupid workers & painters opened up the wrong cans of paint. They approached my dad and asked if they could continue as once opened they cannot replace it or it will be charged from their wages. My dad was tired, we had to move in within a few days and so said yes! Without checking with mom or me.

So imagine the horror on mom’s face and mine (I was the last one to see it as I was arranging furniture to be sold and some to be moved to the apartment from our old house) when we saw the colour. My dad explained what happened and I was pissed off but didn’t say anything to the workers/painters either. So what does that say about us? We are pushovers and we have had very little luck in such matters.

Furtherest Trip I Have Ever Taken

Tell us about the farthest you’ve ever traveled from home.

That would have to be back in 1997 and I went to Bhopal & Indore. Well the plan was that 4 of us were supposed travel to Indore for a few days of fun and drinking (back then aged 21 I still hid the fact that I drank from my folks; it’s an Indian thing) and to attend the bachelor’s party of another friend’s big brother. So we were lined up for a 2 week stay in Indore and never having been to the state of Madhya Pradesh we are excited and being away from family and drinking every night would be a lot of fun. So, this would have been around May or June of that year, me and the other three guys booked our tickets well in advance and packed our bags and boarded the train. The train journey itself was a lot of fun – 2 & a half day journey where we played a lot of cards while awake and cracked a lot of jokes. In between I would read a book while the others would wander about the compartments and try and find other people to talk  to.

The first big event happened on the way – we had a long delay ahead of us. The route was heading to Bhopal and then to Indore but just at the outskirts of Bhopal we had a goods train derailed that effectively blocked our train from heading forward. Stuck with not knowing what to do we decided to find a cheap hotel for the 48 hours or so that the railway authorities expected us to be held up in Bhopal. So we found the one that we could afford and got sleeping bags – no cots or beds in the place – and sheets ready for the two nights we expected to have to spend in the hotel. Actually, hindsight being 20/20, we were in the old part of Bhopal and if we had known that just a few streets away we could have stayed in the newer section of the city and enjoyed a nicer stay but we can’t change that. Anyway, we bathed, changed our clothes and went to a tea shop for snacks and tea. That done we decided to walk about and take in the sights until dinner time. And that’s when it happened – someone threw stones at one of us. On inspection we found out that 3 or 4 kids (around 10-16 years old) were the culprits, throwing stones at my friend while their mother sat there on their terrace laughing. The reason – my friend was the only one wearing a ‘lungi’ (a coloured dothi) and that singled him out to be a ‘South Indian’ and hence he was subjected to a little bit of racism! Fine upbringing bitch. Angry at them, my friend went and banged on the door of the house and as the kids and their mother rushed back indoors, the father came out and he sorta apologized to us. Not wanting any trouble in a strange city, the rest of us dragged our friend away.

The next day we hooked up with some acquaintances from the train and we decides to have dinner together that evening. In the afternoon I went to a store near our hotel and used an STD booth in a shop to call my folks and let them know that I was temporarily stranded and would be back on the way to Indore soon. As I went to pay the store keeper, he asked me in Hindi to which area had I dialed as he didn’t recognize the STD code. I replied “Cochin” and he looked surprised and said he didn’t know where that was.OK! so I said “Kerala” and this ignoramus smiled and said “Oh Madrasi!”. “Madrasi” means a person from Madras, the old name of the city of Chennai in Tamil Nadu state, that borders Kerala. This is what ignorant Indians in some parts of India call everyone from the 4 Southern states. It reeks of being idiotic, ignorant of one’s own country, illiteracy and let’s face it kind of racist. North & central India vs South! Anyway, I said some words of abuse and went my own way. That night after dinner however we had a bigger issue. After dinner, we bought some colas and were drinking it in our room while cracking jokes. The same guy who had the stone thrown at him started laughing and didn’t stop for a while. He then started coughing and couldn’t stop, pointing towards his chest & heart area. We rushed him to the hospital unsure of what was wrong with him.

The doctors would inform him that he had a problem with his heart, a hole in one of the valves or something (I am typing this from memory and could have some details wrong but I remember it as being that) and that he would need to be admitted for a couple of days as they monitored him. The dude hadn’t told us about his condition even though he knew it before hand and so did his family. We had to push back our trip for a further two days as he recovered in the hospital. We took another train to Indore and enjoyed our trip and came back without any further incidents.

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Sons Of Anarchy – Season 1

Sons Of Anarchy is an American television drama series created by Kurt Sutter about a close-knit outlaw motorcycle club operating in Charming, a fictional California town. The show centers on Jackson “Jax” Teller (Charlie Hunnam), the son of the late founder of the club who is currently the VP and stepson to the current club president Clay Morrow (Ron Perlman). Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club, Redwood Original (SAMCRO), is an outlaw motorcycle club with deep roots in the town & surround area of Charming. Although they front a legitimate club & garage/repair shop, they make their real money in illegal ventures such as guns & smuggling them. They have many charters in the rest of the country but the show focuses on the founding chapter. The Redwood chapter is headquartered in a clubhouse adjacent to the Teller-Morrow auto mechanic shop. The townsfolk and some of the law officers adjust to the bikers due to them providing protection, support & avoiding hard drugs within the county.

Vietnam war vets John Teller and Piermont “Piney” Winston (William Lucking) co-founded SAMCRO in 1967 and settled in Charming the birthtown of John’s wife, Gemma (Katey Sagal). In 1993 John died and Gemma remarried Clay Morrow, the youngest founding member of the club. In season 1 Jax becomes a father when his druggie wife Wendy delivers a baby boy Abel. Due to her drug problems Abel was born 10 weeks premature with a hereditary heart malfunction and a hole in his stomach. Jax is divorcing Wendy and gets sole custody of the baby. In the mix comes returning former Charming native Dr. Tara Knowles, Jax’s ex-girlfriend who left as things got complicated between her & Jax and was practising in Chicago until a relationship with an ATF agent becomes too dangerous for her due to his obsession. When a rival club cleans out and then destroys their illegal arms warehouse, SAMCRO (Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club Redwood Original) executes their own sense of justice in retrieving their guns. Meanwhile, family issues take center stage with a medical emergency involving Jax Teller’s newborn son. As the club deals with the aftermath of their illegal arms warehouse attack, the Deputy Chief of Police poses a new threat to SAMCRO’s reign over Charming. Jax continues to worry about the fate of his newborn son and begins to question the club’s rough way of doing business. Opie’s financial struggles leave him with a difficult choice. When the young daughter of a prominent Charming family is assaulted during a visiting carnival, SAMCRO races the authorities to capture the assailant. Meanwhile, a new shipment of guns arrives from their IRA connection with an additional price.

The club travels to Nevada to store arms with a brother club, The Devil’s Tribe. When the Mayans pose a threat, Clay decides to “patch over” the Tribe, making them an official SOA charter. AnATF agent begins investigating SAMCRO. Gemma hosts a town fundraiser, which brings the ex-club member responsible for Opie’s arrest back to town and into direct conflict with Jax and Opie (Ryan Hurst). Clay deals with protecting a perverse parolee who can lead to a big payoff. ATF agent Kohn continues to investigate SOA. A small favor for Piney’s old war buddy turns into a big problem for SAMCRO. With Clay detained, Jax must step up to handle the situation. When old bones are discovered on the outskirts of Charming, Clay is forced to deal with secrets he buried long ago. Meanwhile, the club sets its sights on prize money, backing Half-Sack in a bare-knuckle brawl. ATF Agent Kohn’s investigation turns personal when his true intentions are revealed. With the IRA gun payment looming, SAMCRO scrambles to come up with the cash. The Mayans and Nords take a drastic step in strengthening their alliance. And Jax finds himself in a dangerous position with Tara. SAMCRO plans retaliation on a rival MC while dealing with a wounded ally in the clubhouse. Meanwhile, Jax, Bobby, and Opie aim to put an end to the gun debt for good. With ATF Agent Stahl pressing the women of SAMCRO, Jax sees Chief Unser as the key to the club’s salvation. Tara still reels from the Kohn situation. And Cherry reveals some interesting information about her past to Gemma. When one SOA member is arrested for murder and another goes missing, Jax must choose between friendship and the club. Meanwhile, Abel grows stronger and is soon to be released from the NICU, but he is not the only one coming home.

When Agent Kohn attacks Tara at her house, she pretends to seduce him before reaching for a gun. In the struggle he gets shot so she calls Jax. Kohn antagonizes the two and so Jax kills him and burns his body in the woods. In need of cash to fund Bobby’s defense, Clay’s solution leaves SAMCRO in a vulnerable position. What is supposed to be a happy homecoming for Abel ends in more turmoil for the club. As the ATF agent leads Clay to believe that Opie had betrayed the club, Tig (Kim Coates) & Clay decide to kill Opie in secret. However a hooded Tig shoots Opie’s wife Donna by mistake and at the same time the Chief tells Clay that Opie hasn’t turned but was being setup. The death of his wife devastate Opie while Clay & Tig must deal with having killed a loyal brother’s wife.

Escape From Planet Earth

Only in an animation movie can Rob Corddy be the lead! Escape From Planet Earth is a 2013 Canadian animation movie produced by Rainmaker Entertainment, and directed by Cal Brunker. This is the debut film for Rainmaker Entertainment. The movie stars the voices of Rob Corddy, Brendan Fraser, William Shatner, Jessica Alba, Sarah Jessica Parker, Craig Robinson, Jane Lynch, George Lopez, Ricky Gervais & Sofia Vergara.

The movie is about two brothers Scorch Supernova – a flamboyant, swashbuckling, hero famed for his space adventures where he goes on missions – and Gary Supernova who works at the controls back on planet Baab at BASA (much like our own NASA). Although they actually work as a team Scorch gets all the accolades for being the brawn, while super cautious and by the book nerd Gary sits and mans the controls and effectively is the brains behind the missions. After a daring mission rescuing a bunch of babies from a rival species and once again paraded as a hero, the head of BASA informs Scorch that he is respond to an SOS call from the Dark Planet (Earth) where no alien has ever returned from. Gary pleads to abort the mission and then asks for 3 weeks to prep but he is denied. After further arguing finally Gary says that he won’t be helping Scorch and quits BASA before Scorch can fire him. Gary then goes home to his wife Kira and son Kip only to find out that Scorch has already gone on the mission to the Dark planet, while Kip, who idolizes his uncle Scorch, is watching it on live TV in excitement.

Scorch lands on earth in the desert and finds a 711 store & mistakes an inflatable figure for a dying being. He is then tranquilized and captured by a secret part of the US military, headed by general Shanker Saunderson, and taken to Area 51. On seeing this young Kip wants to go rescue his uncle but Gary scolds him and makes him go to his room. Late at night, Gary finds Kip missing and rushes to BASA headquarters with Kira. They find Kip launching a ship to rescue Scorch on his own but after Kira takes her son aside, Gary decides to go on his own and save his brother. He soon arrives on the Dark Planet. As soon as he arrives his ship immediately activates a self-destruct sequence, but Gary manages to get out. He then arrives at the same store that Scorch arrived at earlier. Gary goes inside the store, but is spotted by two men inside named Hawk and Hammer. Both Gary and the two men get freaked out by each other and try to hide from each other. After the two men realize that Gary is not a hostile alien, they offer him a slushie. Gary takes the slushie but drinks it too fast and gets brain freeze. Afterwards, Shanker’s men break into the store and capture Gary, taking him to Area 51.

At Area 51, it is revealed that Shanker, disguised with a hair piece and looking a lot younger is in league with Lena, who has fallen in love with him. They had planed to smuggle a powerful source known as blubonium in Scorch’s suit and faked the SOS call. Lena, meanwhile, has captured Kira, who stayed at BASA to try to contact Gary in concern for his safety. Lena then reveals her plan to give a lifetime supply of blutonium to Shanker to power his ‘peace shield’ which he says is to protect earth against hostile aliens. Gary is placed in a cell hall with other alien geniuses named Doc, Io, and Thurman, who tell Gary that various human technology has been invented by them for Shanker to rip off and sell to the world so he will release them. Gary reunites with his brother, but is again annoyed by his conceited behavior. After Shanker reveals the blutonium, Gary unintentionally provokes Scorch into stealing it after stating it’s dangerous power and when being chased, Scorch destroys the blutonium, causing Shanker to freeze him. He orders Gary, a techo-whiz, to fix the peace shield & reveals that he’s going to destroy all of the alien planets with a laser ray the captured aliens have built due to 3 imprisoned aliens accidentally killing his dad when he was 6. Gary fixes it with help from his new friends, but Shanker goes back on his promise to release him and instead freezes him like his brother.

The other aliens realize Shanker’s true intentions when the general tries to destroy Baab with the laser ray, it is revealed that Gary rigged the blutonium to malfunction and destroy the laser ray, thereby releasing the captured aliens. With Gary and Scorch released from their icy prisons, the brothers, Doc, Thurman, and Io escape Area 51 and eventually find Scorch’s ship. Meanwhile back on Baab, Kip rescues his mother who stops and subdues Lena after the latter took off with the blutonium shipment and Kira learns that Shanker was using her. Kip guides his father to safety via mission control, but Shanker (wearing Scorch’s robotic suit that he wears on his adventures) uses a tractor beam to stop the ship, but Gary and Scorch jump on him and manage to get the suit off the villain, causing the latter and the brothers to plummet to their dooms. After reconciling, the aliens that killed Shanker’s dad rescue them and take Shanker away. After returning to Baab, Scorch marries a reporter named Gabby Babblebrook.

It was fun to watch, especially if you like good animation & scifi stuff. I thought it was ok even though the movie was panned by critics and it made $70 million against it’s budget of $40 million. It was good enough for me to give it a 7 outta 10.

Book & Documentary On Yourself

From a famous writer or celebrity, to a blogger or someone close to you — who would you like to be your biographer?

A famous writer? Non-fiction writer well maybe Richard Dawkins. He would do a splendid job and it would be a complete honour for me. That would be awesome. Fiction writer would have to be Stephen King, hands down. Maybe he could spin my life into one full of macabre and horror with a lot of humour added in between! Wait a minute! Isn’t my life actually like that?

If they were going to do a documentary film on my life based on the book who would you want to narrate it?

If in the unlikely event they were going to make a film documentary on your life, who would you want to narrate it?
Off the top of my head I’d want either of the following to do the narration for a documentary on me:

  • Patrick Stewart
  • Morgan Freeman
  • Eddie Vedder
  • William Shatner
  • Christopher Plummer
  • Christopher Lee
  • James Earl Jones or
  • Lorne Green had he still been alive!

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One Event In Time

mindbump suggested by Bandpox

“If you could travel through time to an era from before you were born, what single event would you most like to attend?”

Here is a difficult question : how do you only pick one event from before you were born to attend? History is full of great things and exciting events and I wouldn’t know how to single out just one event. Which one do I pick? August 15th 1947 – the day that India was declared her independence from the UK? That would be a momentous day to go and visit. Just to see all the people who fought for India standing around and waiting for the moment that they had been fighting for and how proud & touched they would be at that historic moment. How about going back in time to see either World war coming to an end? Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg speech?

Or perhaps like me you would want to go further back in time and go to Egypt and check out if there really were some aliens behind the construction of the pyramids? Or any other wonderful constructions/monuments? The Taj Mahal? The Eiffel Tower? The Statue of Liberty? Some cathedrals or palaces? Wanna go back to the beginning and see the big bang and the formation of the stars, galaxies, planets, moons etc? I would like to see exactly what happened and how life was formed, that spark that ignite the simple beginnings of life on earth and from the single cell organisms that would later evolve to form more complex creatures. Or try and go back in time to just before a tragedy occurs and stop it so that millions will live instead of dying. Like…..I dunno, go and visit Hitler when he was a baby and drown the motherfucker in the toilet!

However if I had to choose I would rather go and attend Woodstock in 1969 and take in the shows. Who would I have been psyched to see perform? Richie Havens, Santana, the Grateful Dead, CCR, Janis Joplin, The Who, Johnny & Edgar Winter, Jimi Hendrix & Crosby, Still, Nash & Young. The last band would have been my major attraction along with Santana & Hendrix. I was never that big on Hendrix but he defined Woodstock and is great performer while Santana is just great anywhere.

10 Years Younger

mindbump suggested by Spelling Search

“If tomorrow morning you woke up ten years younger, what would be the first thing that you would do?”

Good prompt! If I woke up the next day suddenly aged 10 years younger, 27, I’d do a lot of things. First I’d go back to college and enroll for a completed degree to add to my diploma. I’d also like to enroll for some other courses to improve my work skills and apply for various jobs. I’d then find a way to apply for permanent citizenship in another country – Canada or if not there then Sweden or Norway or Holland. And I’d get out of this place.

I’d also sharpen my romantic skills and start looking at younger chicks a lot more differently. I’d set the ball rolling and put out a wide net and find that young woman 24-27 who’d be perfect for me and romance her until she falls under my spell and cannot stay away from me. And then I’d make sure that I could get her a nice place to stay in and propose when the time is right and marry her after a couple of years.

What else would I do? Mostly I’d try and make it so I could leave the country and try and settle in Canada or somewhere else. That’s what I wish I could have done earlier in life but feel like it’s way too late now. I’d love to get that opportunity again. I still might get the chance but I wish I could have done it earlier.

Cold Squad – Season 3

Season 3 starts off with a bang and sets off the host of changes for the show. Gone are the dark, offices and gone are most of the main cast. Joy Tanner, Lori Ann Triolo & Bob Frazer are all replaced with only Frazer’s character Eddie being explained for – that he moved to a desk job following his near death. Michael Hogan & Peter Wingfield return as guest stars for the first two seasons. Replacing the cast are Stephen McHattie, Tamara Craig Thomas & Gregory Calpakis will now form the core of Cold Squad along with series lead Julie Stewart. Also joining are Sharon Alexander as the department’s rather sweet secretary Bernice Boyle, Richard Ian Cox as Manny a rookie officer and usually the comic relief & Gary Chalk as the new Inspector in charge of that department.

When Ally comes back from a long vacation, she is a changed person atleast physically. Gone is the, what seems now like unfit for her, red hair and instead she as dirty blonde locks. I must say that she looks sexier with the blonde look. She meets up with Inspector Ross at a bar and finds out that she might be losing her job no thanks to Ross not sticking up for her. But he himself is being replaced after the mess that caused the chief to be arrested following the revelation of her dealings & Eddie to nearly die. Ally is being set up as a scapegoat as well. Upset she breaks her glass in the bar and leaves in her car and hits a boy holding a machine gun in his hand. She crashes the car and is taken to hospital and wakes up to find that she is being charged with drunk driving and hitting a boy with her car. The gun is missing from the scene. Ally finds herself at the sidelines while the new chief, Magnus Mulray played by Michael Ironside, gets Ross to clear up the mess. Lugozzo tries to get the kid & the gang he is in to confess to the fact that street sold machine guns were involved and gets shot in the process, paralyzing part of him. Ally saves his life and shoots at one of the boys involved. The cops who were moved to this district to investigate the case – Sgt. Frank Coscorella & Det. Mickie Collander are assigned to Cold Squad. Also an undercover RCMP officer Nico Sevallis who was investigating the gangs selling machine guns to boys in the streets joins Cold Squad as his cover was blown while being tangled with the Vancouver police. Lugozzo retires and takes his pension and insurance money says goodbye to police work and to Ally.

With two Sergent’s in the same department, there are bound to be a lot of friction as both Ally & Coscorella don’t see eye to eye. Meanwhile Mickie & Nico gel much better even giving advice & genuine concern for the way each others love lives are going. Nico is having problems with his long time girlfriend as he is unable to get her pregnant and they break up towards the end of the season while Mickie is courted by married prominent defense lawyer Bailey Gallanson (David Pallfy) and the two begin a torrid adulterous love affair. Coscorella has a troubled son who is depressed and the fighting between his parents does not help. At the station the boy almost kills himself so Frank & his wife take him to Toronto for treatment. The 13 episode season is dominated by two main cases – other than the one with the gun gangs, for which Ally has to undergo a lot of scrutiny by a Internal Affairs investigation headed by an officer who seems to have a personal grudge against her and the case of Anita Dunn (Alisen Down in one of her best roles) & several girls & prostitutes who were raped & murdered. Anita is a young college student who was raped & had her hair chopped off by Lance Rivet who is in jail, serving a sentence of 8 years. Frank investigating the case of several prostitutes & girls murdered after being rapes gets a lead that a person who possibly worked with Lance might be the likely suspect. In exchange for early parole, which Anita must agree to be sanctioned, Lance will give up the name & location of the suspect – TJ Laper! TJ a guy known for roughing up women has raped and murdered the young girls & several prostitutes but there is no case against him and Ally is frustrated on questioning him.

Lance gives up a location for bodies that TJ has buried and a lock of TJ’s red hair is found with the remains of the victims but TJ is missing. Lance is paroled and has to move to Regina, seemingly having set this whole thing up with TJ so as to get himself freed early and now Frank is furious. Anita meanwhile finds solace in Nico and keeps calling him and coming to meet him as she feels safe with him. She has him patrolling her apartment as she says she saw someone hanging around that could be Lance. Nico ends up sleeping on her couch a couple of nights to make her feel safe but it is obvious that Anita is falling for him. As the investigation for murdered prostitutes continues with joint efforts from another division, Lance is brought in from Regina for help on identifying TJ’s methods and also since hair chopped off was found at another crime scene. Anita is stunned and devastated on running into Lance at the police station. That night Nico promises to stay the night after his work is done but Anita is gagged, raped and her hair cut off by TJ – who tries to frame Lance for outing him. Nico & Frank both blame themselves for Anita’s death but they must catch the two criminals. Frank sets up Lance for the fall from TJ and suspicious by nature both the criminals end up shooting each other. TJ dies on the spot while Frank watches Lance bleed out, not allowing Ally to call for an ambulance until it’s too late.

Mickie who’s affair with Bailey had progressed to serious is upset that he won’t divorce his rich wife and the two run into his teenage daughter who seems them kissing. This leads to his wife making a huge scene at the police station embarrassing Mickie while Bailey calms her down. After long telling her that he won’t leave his wife, Bailey gives her some jewellery as a gift and tells her that he if finally going to divorce his wife. Mickie is happy but it is short lived. She is arrested on suspicions of having killed Bailey’s wife who ends up being shot by a same kind of gun that she carries. Her gun seems to have been fired and Bailey claims that she went missing the previous night when in fact she was actually asleep with him. He set her up to take the fall for killing his own wife. What will happen in the 4th season?

A Blast From The Past – 1997

mindbump suggested by Spelling Search

“Describe your very first job and what you learned from it.”

Ah I have to go all the way back to the age of 21 and a summer part time / freelance job I did for just a couple of months for a small marketing company that focused on computer & accessories sales in the city of Cochin. Man that was almost 16years ago. Like I said I only did it for 2 months or so, no commitment of any sort. The small agency, run by a middle aged woman, who ran it out of one of the two houses she owned with her husband, was launched a dealership with US Robotic to sell their then models of dial up modems in Cochin. This would be around 1997!

I had heard, from my sister who had met this lady, that they wanted to hire one or two young freshers who would go about to some companies and market the modems to them. I went and met the staff at the office and she agreed to hire me. Pay would be based solely on sales and I would get a good cut per modem sold. The next day I went in for a couple of days of introduction to the internet – my first time on the net ever as we had just started getting it over here! I even remember the first 3 websites that I had visited – Wimbledon’s official website, CNN.com and Joe Satriani.com! I still remember that cause I blogged about it somewhere in one of my old blogs I guess. Anyways they gave a run down on the modem and how to connect the dial up to the system, phone etc etc. About a week after I joined them, I pinpointed a few companies in the city, close by to each other, that I would hit one afternoon. I spent 3 hours that day going to each of them after my diploma in computer science classes ended and met a few people in each company and asking them to sign on for a demonstration of the modem for internet connectivity.

I didn’t have much luck the first few days but through a family friend of mine I got a couple of contacts in some companies that wanted to check them out. So I arranged for them to have a demonstration sent and when they agreed I went back to the office and gave the address & contact numbers/names of the interested parties. A couple of days later I went in again and found out that one company had already purchased a modem based on the demo. But I didn’t get  my commission because the lady said she had already spoken to them previously. I was dissapointed but said ok. Next was another company but again the same thing happened. She said that one of her regular staff had already gone there to arrange a meeting and hence the sale should be his! I got annoyed at this point and didn’t go to the office or for marketing for a couple of weeks.

Then I decided to catch her at her lies. My friend wanted a modem and so I arranged a demo at his office for his boss. Once the sale happened, she tried the same thing again but I called her on her lies. I then told her that my close friend works there and she could call his boss in front of me and that the two of them would confirm that they had only met with me and have made the purchase only because of me! She was visibly angry and called in her assistant who was told to give me the cash in an envelope. Then she said “Oh you have only made one sale till now (it was almost 2 months), I think I will have to stop this arrangement.” I smiled and repied that I was tired of this place and wasn’t going to freelance for them anyways. I took my money and went way.

What I learned? Snakes can walk on two feet! And the world is full of bastards & bitches who will try to cheat you so beware!

Evil Dead (2013)

I was heavily anticipating this movie ever since I heard the announcement and then saw the trailer. Evil Dead aka Evil Dead 2013 is a reboot of the 1981 movie of the same name. It is the 4th in the movie franchise (after 1987’s Evil Dead II & 1991’s Army Of Darkness) and also a loose continuation of the Evil Dead franchise. Produced by Sam Raimi, who directed the first 3, along with Bruce Campbell (who was the hero of the original 3 movies) and Robert G Tapert and directed by debutant Fede Alvarez. The movie stars Jane Levy, Shiloh Fernandez, Lou Taylor Pucci, Jessica Lucas & Elizabeth Blackmore. Of these I only knew luscious Jessica Lucas.

The story line is simple and similar to that of the original in that it is 5 young people in an old rundown cabin in the woods. Why the fuck would you want to stay in a small, dusty, shitty cabin in the woods that has old plumbing, rusty pipes and electricity is bound is go out at any time? Why, why why? In the very beginning of the movie we see a young girl running the woods and is captured and tied up the cellar of this cabin. Upon revealing she is demonically possessed, her father sets her on fire and shoots her dead.This time it’s 2 friends – Olivia & Eric who have dragged their friend Mia to the cabin to help wean her of drugs. Mia’s brother David & his girlfriend Natalie also arrive at the old family cabin which hasn’t been used for many years – or so they think? When they get there they find out that there were some occupants there earlier and they left behind a host of rotting animal corpses, a double-barreled shotgun and a book titled Naturom Demonto, a Sumerian  variation of the Book of the Dead, with some translations scribbled here & there in English. As Eric reads out a passage from the book – despite clear warnings written next to it, the idiot went ahead and read them anyway – which summons a demon that possess Mia while she is out walking in the woods nearby. Why was she allowed to walk in the rain when she is suffering from withdrawal? Anyway the roots & vines near a tree grab her and a filthy, disgusting looking thick black slides up her leg and enters her through her nether regions.

In one of the most annoying way of speaking I have heard – she tried to warn David about the “something” but it is too late. The other 4 think she just wants to get out of there but when she burns herself in boiling hot water, they get scared. The road is flooded so David can’t take her to a hospital, so they are stuck. So possessed Mia starts doing all these crazy things; shoots at David, cuts her own tongue in half and French kisses Natalie and kills the poor dog! Awesome scene by the way! Olivia is possessed next, after a scene in which pee runs round her leg and she cuts off part of her face and then attacks Eric. Eric kills her by using a broken piece of the sink. Next it is Natalie who is possessed, cuts off her own hand and then attacks at Eric with a nail gun and a crowbar. David kills her with the shotgun leaving her bleeding. Attempts to destroy the book are futile, as it describes a prophecy by which a demon named Taker of Souls needs to devour five souls in order to free the Abomination from hell. To achieve this, the demon has taken possession of Mia’s body, and the only ways to release her are to burn her, bury her alive or dismember her. David goes down to the cellar and tranquilizes Mia with Eric’s help but the latter seems to die from his wounds. David buries Mia alive, as he is unable to cut her to pieces – she dies and then he digs her out and shocks her to revive her, free from the possession.

However, back at the cabin a reanimated & possessed Eric attacks David & tells him that the abomination is coming. David hands Mia the care keys and blows up the cabin killing both him and possessed Eric in the process. As Mia grieves her brother’s death, the final part of the prophecy comes true – it begins to rain blood. The Abomination, a demon in the form of the girl, comes out of the ground and goes after Mia. Cutting her hand under David’s jeep Mia then manages to kill the Abomination with a chainsaw she finds in the storage, and its remains sink “back to hell”. The rains stop and day breaks as Mia begins to walk away from the area and unseen to her the book closes itself on the ground. The end!

I hope we get sequels. Awesome blood, gore & scares. It’s good enough for some scary jumps. Most fans of the original will like it but I just wonder a bit since we get nothing new. I also question the cast. Mia is no Ash! Anways, 7.5 for me!

My Blog Posts, For Everyone?

Who is the one person you hope isn’t reading your blog? Why?

I don’t have any one person who I hope won’t read my blog. This blog is open for everyone – except for people who work at the same office as I do. And that goes for the current place & each different place I will work for in the future. It’s just awkward to have people, especially your superiors go through your writings and then discuss them with you the next day. I’ve not come across much of that type of situation at work – at a previous workplace, a bunch of my peers & at the levels below my position have read my blogs and commented to me about them the next day. Mostly is through Facebook, since I link my posts to Facebook, hoping to reach a wider audience that way. A lot of them didn’t comment much but some are regular readers to this day.

The thing is that I write about some stuff which may seem controversial to a lot of people over here. Criticism of religion and government and other such stuff. That might not go down very well with some of the people at work. If it is a peer or a subordinate who has an issue, I can tell them to mind their own business and to take a hike. But one can’t just say or do that when it’s a superior employee to you who is inquiring about the content can one? The inevitable questions start coming up and you have to do a bit of explanation and finally stand your ground and inform Human Resources that your world outside of the office is completely separate from the one in the office and you have the right to do whatever you want in your personal time.

And then from time to time I will do a password protected post because I don’t want everyone to read it and prefer that only a select group of trusted readers get to go through the post. Those are few and far between, less than 10 at the last count.

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The X-Files : Season 8

Season 8 sees the addition of Robert Patrick to the main cast for the show as David Duchovny  elected to return only as an intermittent main character, meaning that he appeared in only half of the episodes. And that took fans a long time (perhaps never) to adjust to as the show Agent Mulder’s defiance of the system and his search for proof of extra-terrestrial life was felt by many to be the heart of the show. Annabeth Gish, who would join the main cast in the 9th & final season appears as a guest star in 4 episodes in this season while Nicholas Lea also returns as Alex Krycek for 3 episodes.Season eight takes place after Fox Mulder’s alien abduction in the seventh season. The story arc for the search of Mulder continues until the second half of the season, when a new arc about Dana Scully’s pregnancy is formed. This arc would continue, and end, with the next season. The season explores various themes such as life, death, and belief.

An FBI taskforce is organized to hunt for Fox Mulder but Dana Scully suspects the taskforce leader, Special Agent John Doggett, and instead chooses to search for her lost partner with Walter Skinner (Mitch Pileggi). She is quite hostile to Doggett being assigned the search and his initial reluctance to reveal who he was pisses her off. At a remote school in the Arizona desert, Doggett, Scully, Gibson and Skinner – as well as a host of students and agents – do not know who to trust as the bounty hunter works among them; and – in a spaceship close by – Mulder is tested on. Having been assigned to the X-Files, John Doggett joins Scully to investigate a series of gruesome murders that appear to be the work of a bat-like creature. This being their first case together, Scully and Doggett find that their investigative techniques are less than similar. Working alone, Scully pursues a cult that worship a slug-like organism; but in her efforts to save an injured stranger, she discovers she’s in over her head. Doggett tracks her down and rescues her while killing off the slug. Having been kidnapped for ten years, a little boy mysteriously reappears but has not aged one bit. While the case stirs up painful memories for Doggett, suspicion stirs that the boy is not all he seems. After his wife is murdered, a lawyer friend of Doggett’s tries to clear his name of the crime but the days regress backwards.

Doggett and Skinner work to avert the murderous spree of a religious cult leader, while Scully takes time off to deal with the early stages of her pregnancy. The fatal shooting of a realtor while alone in a cinderblock jail cell has Doggett hoping motive will yield more than method, but they soon learn that there is more to this case than meets the eye. Doggett and Scully encounter a dead man who is still living – only somewhat changed. What they discover is a man made of metal, enacting vengeance on those he believes created him. When a mystic smuggles himself out of India, Scully and Doggett give chase as his murderous spree starts terrorising two families in suburban Washington, D.C. But Scully soon comes upon a crisis of faith when she realises how dissimilar her techniques are from Mulder, even as she tries to be the believer. It’s one of the most ridiculous concepts that the show has ever come up with. Doggett comes upon an old case about a professed ‘soul-eater’ that Mulder kept secret from Scully, which he hopes will ultimately prove the truth behind Mulder’s abduction. A string of bizarre deaths in the tunnels of the Boston subway system sees Doggett join a team of professionals underground to investigate. Meanwhile, Scully has to defy the train authorities above land, who are determined to get the trains up and running within hours. Scully becomes personally involved when she encounters several women who had no way of naturally conceiving but who claim to have been abducted and impregnated with alien babies. Doggett calls on another agent, Monica Reyes (Annabeth Gish), to assist in the Mulder case, but Scully’s fears about finding him come to a head with the sudden recovery of abductees seized at the same time.

Three months after Mulder’s funeral, a former abductee awakens from the dead and Scully pins her hopes on resurrecting her partner. Meanwhile, Alex Krycek offers Skinner a loathsome deal which he claims can save Mulder’s life. Mulder secretly conducts his own investigation after a man is gunned down on the White House lawn attempting to inform the President of a planned alien invasion. However, he is soon in over his head as he tries to expose further evidence of colonization. Reyes enlists Mulder’s help investigating a killer’s connection to the unsolved murder of Doggett’s son but Mulder soon finds himself clashing with Doggett. Mulder and Doggett are asked to investigate several deaths aboard an oil rig, but Mulder is convinced the rig is carrying an alien black oil; meanwhile a heavily pregnant Scully attempts to protect Mulder in absentia. With Scully on maternity leave, Doggett is paired with an enthusiastic young agent named Layla Harrison who knows everything about the X-Files, and her apotheosis of Mulder and Scully leads to him learning a thing or two. But when Harrison and Doggett disappear, Mulder defies orders in an attempt to find them. Mulder, Skinner and Doggett come up against the horrible consequences of the Syndicate’s pact with the aliens, as a hybrid attempts to erase all evidence of the tests – including Scully’s soon-to-be-born baby. The men call on Reyes, and – reluctantly – Alex Krycek to help them. Mulder, Doggett and Skinner face off with the alien replicants as they desperately try to expose the conspiracy within the FBI. Meanwhile Scully goes into labour in a remote location, but Reyes soon learns they may be no safer there.

The Nomadic Lifestyle?

If you could live a nomadic life, would you? Where would you go? How would you decide? What would life be like without a “home base”?

Like I’ve said in a previous post, I’d travel to a lot more places if I could avoid the actual train or bus journey. I hate the sitting in a train / bus for hours in general Indian services. Well you can still travel in relative comfort in some Indian trains but they will charge you an arm, a leg and a kidney for the tickets. The flight ticket charges within India is also killing most of us. So if I had to travel I’d have to take the train or a bus or pool money for a car with a bunch of others and that is not that comfortable either. Otherwise if money wasn’t an issue I would have traveled a whole, whole lot more.

Now for the nomadic life – what the fuck am I gonna do for money? Once again, if a few things were in place and if I either had lots of money so that food, drink & shelter were taken care sure why not? I don’t want to camp out and live on the streets or anything like that. A roof over my head, a proper bed and a decent bathroom will be needed but not much more that that. And of yeah, medical facilities within reach. Or alternatively if I could travel to some places and get work there and stay there for a few weeks that could be cool as well. I don’t suppose that is very feasible in this day and age. Or atleast not in most countries at the moment.

But that would be cool if you could pull it off right? Wherever I lay my hat, that’s my home. Home keeps changing on a regular basis. You could see more of the world, experience new things, get to see so many new sights and to meet all walks of people all around the world. I would love to be able to do that. If it were practical for me to do so.

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