My First Interview

Not bad

Saints and Soldiers

A war movie this one. Not entirely unique, though. Its a journey of 5 allied prisoners of war walking from behind enemy lines back to their base. Its a real good one. Mr. Movies has very less to offer these days, after all the movies have either been seen by me or else not attractive enough. But, this thing caught my attention because it won some awards. Its worth every award it won. It has some moments of itself that just makes you feel the humanity within a soldier. The scene when two friends meet in bizzare circumstances, only thing is both of them are from opposite sides fighting the war, is the best scene. One dialogue that touched me was the one an allied soldier tells to another 'Germans are just like us, only different uniforms'. And the guy replies 'Its not just uniforms, its more than that'. But the fact is, its indeed just uniforms, isnt it? Watch the movie.

Road Test

Sometimes, things just dont happen. Its like they were not supposed to happen. You look back and laugh about the way they didnt happen, the way they got screwed up. I, usually dont feel bad about things for a long time, so the looking back happens pretty soon. Its been an hour since I screwed up my road test. Iam already laughing about it. Everything was going perfectly fine. The parking was so smooth, even I was surprised. I was like - "Not bad dude, we gonna get it today". The inspector was happy too. We were going back to the license office. I had to take a left turn. The signal was there to do it. A bus was obstructing my view and after I made the turn. After I made the freaking turn I knew what the bus obstructed. There were two lanes and on one of them construction was happening and no points to guess what happened next. It was such a stupid thing to do, but the freaking bus had to come just then to screw up my already not so perfect driving.

Heroic Greek Gays

Read Homer or watched 'Troy', you might know what is the greatest one-on-one battle. Achilles and Hector fought what history says so. Well, the movie and the poem have different versions of the fight, but the heroes fought for glory, they were eager to be remembered for ever. I watched Troy today and I liked the fight sequence, if not anything else. Both knew they will be dead by the end of the Trojan war, but they fought for glory, for pride, if Homer were true at all. Hector kills Polydora Achilles friend or cousin, mistaking him to be Achilles and then Achilles gets his revenge. Pity, the Gods didnt favor any of them . But I asked the God Google about this fight. And what I found surprised me. Achilles and Polydora were lovers, according to Greek mythology. I mean, the greatest hero Achilles was gay. And so was Alexander the great. They did enjoy the company of women in bed, but for heaven's sake, they had male lovers. Well, either Greek mytholgy is a bit weird, or the God Google pointed me in the wrong direction, but it doesnt seize to amaze me.

Being a Team

The World XI, will have to face two challenges, which I feel will lead them to eventually losing the Super Series. The first challenge is that they are not a team, just a bunch of brilliant individuals, something like a magnified Indian XI. You cannot make a team in a couple of weeks, it takes years. The second challenge will be the Australian side, desperate to prove themselves in their own backyard. After losing The Ashes in one of the greatest test series, against probably the best English team, they have a lot to prove. They will fire all their ammunition to claim their supremacy. There is a probability of them being out of confidence, but they are in their own home and they cannot be more comfortable. The Super Series should provide quality Cricket entertainment for the coming two weeks.

Indian cricket has hit the rock bottom, no doubt. After what happened, its hard to play as a team. Coach and Captain will start to have different views, different supporters in the team and different egos. One of them should have been fired, and Ganguly was the fit candidate. Time for Ganguly to realize that his era has ended, and to leave with dignity ala Kurt Kobain's statement "Its better to burn out than fade away", something like that.

Another era that seemed to have ended is the era of the Newengland Patriots. Tom Brady seems to be really down in confidence, the way he has been playing the last couple of weeks. They were trashed yesterday by SanDiego. Well, three super bowls is a lot and its time for a new champion, may be. And Iam sure that wont beVikings. No Moss and there strength - their offense has already started to become their weakness. I dont see them even reaching the playoffs.

Willi Wonka's Chocolate Factory

Duluth has started to become a boring place for me for the absence of my friends I made here. With Sudip and Poorva in a trip to California I have been left with Kedar and Apurva among others. I knew Appu will be bored too, so I suggested a movie. She, in her-usual- excited-self said a loud YES. So, we walked to the IMAX to find Charlie and the Chocolate Factory playing there. For the next 100 minutes, we were the audience to a remarkable experience. It was a lovely movie. Johnny Depp played Willi Wonka, the owner of the Chocolate Factory and he was brilliant. The movie had moments, which as a child everyone of us wanted to witness. I enjoyed it and for some time I forgot that I was a child a long ime ago. The imagination of the writer should be really praised. And Tim Burton, in his typical style, created a wonderful movie. Iam sure its not to the liking of many Johnny Depp fans, but I should say my admiration for his talent just increased. I would recommend watching it, just to be a child again, atleast for sometime. Dont go to an IMAX, though, its too much for your eyes and things are a bit twisted.

The Malt Shop by the Lake

I have been here in Duluth for more than two years now and I havent been to this place till today. I have been thinking about having an icecream there since my first week in Duluth. Now that I think about it, I couldnt figure out the reason for not going there for two years. I might say no one gave me company to have an icecream there. I went by myself there, today evening. I was out for a walk and was passing through the place and a lot of kids caught my attention and then I decided to go there, have an icecream looking at the lovely Superior. Its called 'The Malt Shop' and it was built in 1921 and the 'Thing' about this shop is one cannot go inside the shop. Order from the window, pay by cash (only) and wait till you get your order and walk off. Iam not a good judge at ordering food. It took me a long time to decide what to have. For a change, I didnt have chocolate today, which is a surprise if I think about it now. I had 'Butter Scotch' malt with a scoop of Vanila on it. It was the best I ever had. It had a unique taste to it and I totally forgot about the nice weather, the lake, the waves, the children around me and I was lost in my Malt. I dont see myself going there more than once or twice, now that these are my last few days in Duluth. But I will make sure I will have a chocolate malt there and hopefully not alone.