Wolverine - Movie or game?

I was at Sid and RPM's (hehe) place yesterday evening. They've got this awesome new big screen tv a month back. And of course movie downloads etc. are also going on fine.

(by the way if you haven't seen a HD movie on a 40 inch LCD tv, you've missed one of those little elements that makes human existence the good thing it is. Somehow I haven't been able to be at any of the scheduled HD movie screenings at their house and have only seen parts of Top Gun http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_gun and Dark Knight http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Knight_(film) there. And the picture clarity is just mind boggling. Combine it with a kickass surround sound system and the experience would be just breathtaking. The colours literally leap out at you. Actually, the images looks like - you know when there have been a couple of gloomy rainy days, or just before a sandstorm is about to come - and then there's a bit of rain and the sky clears up, dust settles down and you see the world suddenly all bright and clear in sharp focus. The colours seem more defined and crisp and objects look very sharply defined and boundaries of objects just..just..come out in a way I can't put into words. )

Anyway moving on.

So the crux of this entire rambling story is that I saw Wolverine the movie yeaterday evening.

Also, last weekend I went to another new office colleague's place. And on his big screen LCD tv (Seriously, am I the only one with a regular 21 inch cathode ray tube tv?) and PS3 I played Wolverine: the game.

So movie vs game, I'd have to say the movie didn't quite live upto the build up. I really don't like movies which try to go into the past and show how the characters became what they were. I'm not a big fan of such stories - yes, X-men are awesome and cool - I really don't want to know how each of those characters evolved and grew into their characters. No, really, I'm just not interested. I'd rather see them battling newer, stronger, more devilish villains than going into their past and the angst that turned them into what they are now. (Except Star Wars, but the past was an intrinsic part of the story there)

Bah, not interested.

So Wolverine follows the same path that's standard in such movies. Most of the time was spent in showing the trauma of the hero's childhood and his early years. And only a small part of the movie had any great action. Also, the much hyped super-villain (Spoiler alert: A guy with a lot of mutant powers put together) was really lame ass. He lost almost effortlessly.

I loved the X-men trilogy. And this one just didn't make the cut. Hugh Jackman as Wolverine is awesome when he's playing a game-changing rebel in a bigger plot but alone in a movie with really weak villains he just doesn't come across powerful enough.

a 3 on 5 at most.

The game however is a whole different ball game. I only saw the demo version but it had some really cool moves and brilliant action cuts. Wolverine's feral moves like the lunge and the slashes and throws are pretty good. Of course I didn't get a feel for the emtire game play and the plot in the demo version but on first look it looks really really good.

huh??? horoscope

1. I think I need twitter on this blog. The length of posts is going down

2. My horoscope in Bangalore times today (yeah, yeah I read it, and also the numerology one on Sunday - it tells me what days are going to be lucky for me. Bah - YOU shut up you cynic!)

"You should be encountering a minimum resistance to excellent implementations of your excellent optimizations"

huh? What does that even mean??

Jumpstarter post...

It's been a while, huh?

Somehow I haven't been able to write anything on this blog for a while. It's not like I don't have things to write, in fact I keep having the ah-this-just-has-to-go-up-on-my-blog moments but somehow by the time I get online in the evening they slip through like sand through outstretched fingers.

But then we all know that the best cure for this kind of ennui is to grit your teeth and just write. So I have decided just that. But I won't be able to do a sensible long post so I shall just sqeeze shut my eyes, try to remember the aforementioned moments and quickly list them down along with a small paragraph about them. Ok?

hehe like you have a choice!


1. It's not you...

Someone I know recently got dumped by a girl with an atrocious cliche from the girl. After a regular "she wasn't really that hot man, you're better off without her" converstion that is appropriate to the situation (it was quite a casual thing, not too many emotions attached) we both have decided that at least once we will break up with a line: "Really,it's not me, it's YOU" :)

Also a pretty funny blog on cliched break up lines: http://kerryisbetterthanallanah.blogspot.com/2009/04/its-not-you-its-me.html

2. New office fun...
Well i've been having a tough week at work this week (actually i'm supposed to be doing some work today as well - but i'm just too lazy to do it)so when a colleague at my new workplace invited me to a home party late yesterday evening I quickly acquiesced. Anyway I was sad that I wasn't able to go to Chennai this weekend - R came in for a visit to AG's place but I couldn't go because of this work I mentioned earlier.

Very good fun was had. Just add a bit of beer and music to the equation, take them away from the office and people just become so much fun!I was thinking i'd come back early from there and probably hang out with my NGV gang, but I ended up coming home quite late. Just read a bit after that and slept off

3. I am reading Prestige (the book on which the movie is made). Two magicians, a life long feud, and an obsession. A very good book and written in a different style as well. On an aside, it reminds me of the other movie based on magicians - The Illusionist. Again some awesome performances. I think Edward Norton is made for doing these strange, mysterious, silent roles. He's quite awesome in the Illusionist.

4. I am also reading a James Bond book - On her majesty's secret service. This is the first James Bond novel I'm reading and I actually quite like it. Though it is a very simplistic plot, it's well written.

ok, now I better do some work or else I'll feel like a weekend I could've visited AG and R and didn't and still didn't do any work. And the worst feeling is that of wasted a weekend. No, the worst is that of wasted a long weekend - and I know all about that! :)

Added later: This is more of a tweet than a addition: Just watching Maqbool on tv. I think it's a way better movie than Sarkar, as far as Indian gangster-mafia type movies

IPL et al...

This year's IPL http://www.iplt20.com/ has it all!

All teams being in neck to neck competition - awesome locations - good pitches- bowlers finally getting there's back - some awesome hitting from the old masters - spinners playing crucial roles - most matches going down to nail biting finishes - hell, even the cheerleaders are allowed to wear..um..cherrleader-ish dresses rather than the covered up pseudo bhartiya naari look that was forced upon them last year.

Perfect recipe for an awesome tournament, right??

RIGHT??

NO - I hate it. It just doesn't have last year's fanatic following. I just don't feel like watching any of the matches to the point when people look at me in a weird way that this guy is not following the IPL at all in water cooler discussions!

Apart from knowing that Delhi is on top of the table I just don't know anything about it. I think the sole charm of this tournament was in the home and away game format. As loyal readers of this blog would remember I had gone for the opening ceremony ( http://swappinglives.blogspot.com/2008/04/old-letters.html ) last year. ANd followed and discussed the whole thing all the way till the end. And this time - no interest - at all. IPL belongs in India. Taking it to another country just takes away the charm. I loved the fact that there was finally some sporting event that was within the range of people like us to go and watch. I mean, seriously, we have no sport that happens regularly and that can ignite local passion and loyalty - and fits in nicely over the weekend. All we get as entertainment options are movies, plays (and those have also been affected by the Kannada-first brigade - yes, i'm talking about you Rangashankara (I used to go watch plays regularly but now they only have Kannada plays on the weekends ( It just makes me sick - this kind of culture policing is just not right. Put up Kannada plays, but don't deprive people of good, watchable plays just because they're in English or Hindi - Hindi is the National mother tongue for christ's sake)) and pubs. Going to sports events is so much more fun (Like the time AK and I went to watch the Williams sisters play in Bangalore http://swappinglives.blogspot.com/2008/03/weekend-diaries-continued.html

I want the IPL back home, I want some sporting culture to pervade through the country :(

Cooking Trouble...

I hate to convert this blog into a place where I vent out my domestic issues, but it's a sad commentary on my life that the most interesting things have started happening on the domestic front itself...yeah, yeah I know- whatever happened to cool swapnil?

We've shifted into this new house for a while but have been too lazy to get a cook. Of course we weren't too lazy to go out every night looking for a place to eat and end up paying huge amounts of money. Eventually PS couldn't take it any more and took up the job of getting us a cook and what a cook!

So this guy comes into our life as a ray of hope - dreams of home cooked scrumplicious, delumptious (anybody remember Secret Seven from Enid Blyton and the awesome 'meetings' they used to have between eating amazing sounding food. These two terms were invented by them and have been stuck in my mind ever since - though none of my class 11-12 Physics has stuck - strange, isn't it? :)) meals waiting for us as we got back from work.

People who stay at home or have the skills to cook up a decent meal (NOT maggi)- please wipe that snigger off your face - hot dinner gives you an amazing high when you're staying in a bachelor pad.

So this guy comes in and the first day sees PS and me high-fiving and congratulating ourselves at getting this awesome cook between discussing that what were we thinking, not getting a cook till now.

And the next was just as good.

But just as we were getting into the habit of a comfortable existence, he didn't turn up the next day...or the next. Calling him anxiously and forlornly every 5 minutes, we were treated to some brilliant Ooriya song that was his caller tune, but no answer from him. We were on the verge of tears next day when the doorbell sounded like the musical chime of heaven as I leapt to open the door.

I swear I almost had tears of joy in my eyes and it took all my fortitude to stop myself from hugging him. It would've been unprofessional, considering that I had to blast him for two consequetive absences, but to tell you the truth we were too thankful to actually listen to his cock-a-bull story about me telling him that I'd call him if he had to come. Obviously I had done nothing like this.

To cut a long story short (I know your time is precious - all those bosses walking around while you read this in office!), this became a regular thing and we had to fire him.

AND then we got another one.

He seemed quite sincere, but he's got such a depressive face and attitude that one look at it in the evening and I feel more fatigued than ever.

No, nope... I've given it a fair chance and not just on one experience, but this one is going out too...

Anyone know a good cook in Bangalore?