The quitter's blog

Have started a new blog. This is, as they say, a topical blog. And a personal blog.

This blog discusses the travails of a person whose orkut profile mentions, in the 'smoking' coloumn, as trying to quit.

Read if you have a lots of time in hand, and a taste for gross jokes....

But I insist, the real me is here, that blogger over there is just a pretender...

In the end

A fair result, say Moi. What say you?

Criticisms and Observations:
Bad refereeing, extremely biased commentary.
With Messi (and Tevez), Argentina will be a force to reckon with in the next four World Cups.
Ronaldinho was not very effective, Lampard even lesser so. But Lampard is bigger for Chelsea than Ronaldinho for Barca, IMHO. There are people in Barca who will raise their hands and take responsibility when Ronaldinho is slightly off-colour. On the other hand, due in equal parts to the lack of another player of a similar stature... (ah, wrong word, there's Makelele) style as well as the amazing consistancy of Frank, an off-colour Lampard becomes a huge factor of Mourniho's squad.
I'd like to see Giuly come in at the right, and Messi move to a more central role in the return leg. And may Bridge play if Gallas is not fit, not Jeremi, in the second leg.

On to Nou Camp then.....

P.S.: If there would have been no office tomorrow, I would have loved to watch the second half of the Bremen - Juve match. The first half was riveting to say the least. These Bremen guys play a surprisingly open game! And Ibrahimovic (whom I quite like) is having a surprisingly bad day. Capello should get Del Piero (whom I detest) in. Bremen leads 1-0 at the half time. And well, the score could have been 5-4 in Bremen's favour. Why doesn't Johan Micoud get a place in the French team? He could be a good cover for Zizou.

At the half time

It was a red card. Use your eyes for christ's sake.

Cech is the best goalkeeper in the world. What an awesome stop.

I think Crespo will be replaced by Drogba in the second half. As a lone striker, Drogba is a better bet. Bigger, stronger, faster even though lesser-skilled and not a genuine goalpoacher the way Crespo is. And against Puyol who isn't a match with him physically, Drogba should be a better lone striker. But then, there's Marquez too. And he is physically on par with anybody.

So let's wait and watch....

22nd Feb...... is today

And last time, Ronaldinho, like Moses himself, parted the ocean that was the Chelsea defense with a feint, and sent the sphere to the promised land. That was my second greatest football moment ever. Chelsea won nonetheless.

And this time? I am keeping my fingers crossed.

And for all the admiration I have for Chelsea's bloody-mindedness, I will support Barca in the match. They are the only team in sight which reaffirms the moniker 'the beautiful game'.

Barcaaaaaaaa, Bar-ca!

Bimalprabha Baksi (nee Ghosh) – 1924-2006, RIP.

Krishnanagar - Nodia

There is this series on ETV Bangla (which happens to be the only Bengali TV channel that my cable operator can transmit), called 'Jaachchi' (Bengali for 'I am going'. Horrible name, na?). In each episode of this serial, they basically take you through one town in Bengal, show you the various major landmarks of that town, discuss the historical significance of the place and interact with a few local people, of course along with the regular fanfare of the slapstick and the jing-bang. Even if only on TV, I like to know a bit more about these quaint sleepy towns of Bengal, most of them not picturesque or historical enough for me to visit for visiting's sake anytime soon, but interesting nonetheless. Even then, I generally tend to flip the channel if I happen to encounter this series, the production values are so poor. If you encounter this show on TV, I'd suggest you avoid.

But today, I did not flip through. They were showing Krishnanagar/ Nodia today. I saw it to its entirety. Now Nodia's where my ancestors from my father's side come from. And well, this episode made me realise how litle I know about my folks from my father's side as compared to my mother's. Remember that post on the Durga-Puja in Khandra? In contrast to that, I don't (or rather, didn't) know a single thing about Nodia. Surprising, considering that Krishnanagar is rich in history. As rich, if not more than Barddhaman. The how come none of that came down to me?

[Edit: And no 'We Bongs are a matriarchal society' analysis please.]

Movies: One-paragraph reviews

One-paragraph reviews of movies watched in the recent past:

Run Lola run: I could not figure out what all the brouhaha about the movie was for. Apart from Franka Potente’s flaming red hair, there was nothing that I could find in the movie that would (or did) stay with me 5 minutes after the movie got over. So this girl’s dad is cheating on her mom. So her boyfriend is about to rob a supermarket. So there are these long (and close-up) shots of a no-doubts-pretty-but-not-quite-Bo-Derek girl running all about town. So life has innumerable possibilities. So what?

Children of Heaven: Perfect, is a difficult word to use for any movie. But for this little masterpiece from Iran, I must. Know what? I think that the toughest thing for any movie-maker to make the normal and the commonplace, arresting. And Khalid Khalidi Majid Majidi performs this difficult task with élan. And as the movie eventually came to an end, I just did not feel like letting go. I just wanted to stay in the world of Ali and Zahara for a while more. Beautiful. Don’t miss.

The Interpreter: Hurriedly seen. Nothing special.

Agantuk: One of my top five favourites of Ray. Watching this movie after nearly five years. This was the last hurrah for arguably the greatest Indian director of all times, and one of the greatest Indian actors as well. And they did not fail in showing us for the last time, their calibre. I have always felt that with Ray’s urban movies, the awesomely humorous wordplay that he indulges with in the screenplay is very often lost in translation. Ray, for all his exposure to western movie-making, never for once compromised on his Indian-ness or his Bengali-ness. For all for you who have recently (or never) been exposed to Ray’s movies, Agantuk is the perfect start. Of course, but too many others are, too.

In America: Not quite the perfection that Children of Heaven is, In America is much more poignant, more devastating, and of course wants to say much more as a film. And manages to do so too. Was completely taken aback by this semi-autobiographical movie by director Jim Sheridan, describing the life of an immigrant family in I guess the 1960’s in Manhattan, and trying to cope with the triple pains of poverty, a completely new city and the death of a child. And yet how they find, and hold on to what little joy that comes their way. Djimon Hounsou and Samantha Morton are absolutely fabulous, but the two kids Emma and Sarah Bolgar totally steal the show. Have seen very few child actors performing at this level in a movie.

Shwaas: The reviews have not been consistently favorable, but the ones who matter have told me that this is a movie worth seeing. So I saw the movie. And was not disappointed. And they say the movie was maudlin. You know, I wonder if one can make a non-maudlin movie about the relation between a doting grandpa and a grandson who is sure to be either blind or dead in a few days. And also, for the few reviews I have read, one was in IMDB which says that in this movie “The final reels indirectly imply that a blind life is a wasted one”. Well, to start, a tiny boy from the village is about to get blind. Portray one’s self in the grandfather’s shoes. What would one expect to think? Blabbering morality is fine, folks, but reality does suck, and often, you know!

Ray: Not Satyajit, but Charles. Innumerable similarities to Ali. Great acting in an average movie. I have noticed that in biopics of really famous folks, the story gets totally neglected and what is left over is just the lead person’s acting. But of course this is a life-time role for Jamie Foxx as it was for Will Smith. But of course they did justice to it. But what about the movie? Most often, it does not quite become a movie, it remains just a biopic, almost a documentary but not quite. As for Ray, It’s got average screenplay, does not hold the interest of the public for the whole time, and apart from a performance from Jamie Foxx which, in one word, is HUGE, there is seriously very little else to take home from this movie.

The times they are a'changing...

What's in with the times with the romantics? Wrong question. What's not in with the times? Let me tell you. Sweetie-pie.

A friend was telling me how she was livid at her boyfriend for daring to call her that. Quite an erudite, sophisticated couple, and sweetie-pie might not really be in tune.

That brings us to the next question. What do erudite, upwardly-mobile, educated couples call each other nowadays, really? Not pumpkin and honey-bunny for sure!

Danish last names

Thanks to the great AI.

This is in continuation to her post here.

Kierkegaard is what you say on receiving the fourth sales call in the morning, trying to sell you personal loans.

Ulrich is a sneeze, in the middle of a meeting, which you have been trying to avoid desparately.

Schmeichel would be the little bits of food, generally of the colours green or orange, that are left on the gaps of your teeth after a dinner.

Laudrup, on the other hand, is just snot.

Tonight, it's Tull

About a year ago, it was Sting. Then, God came. Later, Joe Sat.

Tonight, it will be Ian Anderson and his not-very-often-merry men. And I would really mind sitting this one out.