And The (Real) Oscars Go To

I do know that no amount of cribbing on my part is going to change things but just to soothe a frustrated mind here is my revision of the oscar list.

First of all not nominating The Dark Knight and WALL-E for the best picture and best direction seems really stupid and populist to me.The Dark Knight is rated as the 4th best movie of all time in IMDB and is one of the highest grossers and it is left out.Why? the movie is dark and sombre and is not in tune with the time.The message that a jackass can win a million bucks guessing an answer is more to the times than somebody being decent inspite of the times.Why WALL-E was not nominated in the best picture category i cannot even begin to fathom.
Anyways here goes the list

1.Best Adapted Screenplay:
Agreed the slumdog adaptation was fresh but does it compare to Benjamin Button? The movie is a stunning transformation from a complex short story by fitzgerald.To visualize a story where your two leading characters age in reverse
directions and to pull it off in the most convincing style is worth a oscar man com'on.
Winner : Benjamin Button

2.Best Sound Mixing
Dude you give sound editing to Dark Knight but sound mixing to Slumdog.I cannot understand the logic.Dark Knight clearly outscored here.
Winner : Dark Knight

3.Best Cinematography
If somebody has seen Revolutionary Road or The Reader or The Dark Knight then the choice would have been from the three.

4.Best Film Editing
Benjamin Button without a doubt.Stunning visual brillance.

5.Best Picture
The Dark Knight Or WALL-E.I cannot sing more praises for these films it should be evident to anyone with a +ve IQ.

6.Best Director
Christopher Nolan or Andrew Stanton.Period.

7.Best Original Soundtrack
The Dark Knight's soundtrack was way better than any other released this year.The music sustains the dark mood throughout the movie and keeps you on the edge of your seat.

8.Best Song
Should've been O Saya instead of the Jai Ho nonsense. or listen to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OSvJvSwmd4

So there it is and comments/brickbats welcome

Of Fools And Mad Men

This EPL season has been great with plenty of laughter points all over.
1.Joe Kinnear - never seen a fool like this guy.Charles Insomnia had me laughing so hard that i got stares from my colleagus.St James Park is much more a circus ride this year than in previous seasons so much so that Given that saintly magpie packed up and left for the other circus in town.
2.Chelsea going bonkers - roman's deep pockets can no longer be picked at chelsea anymore.They sell bridge and cudicini and sign quaresma [the leading contender for the serie a duckass this season] on loan.
3.Arsene losing his plot - no idea why he dint anyone in the summer and signs arshavin when they can do with some decent defenders and good midfielders esp. when veloso and bullard were available.
4.Aston Villa playing some great footie and leading the charge to break the top four.
5.Everton playing for so long without a striker and sitting at sixth.This guy David Moyes should write a how to manage book that all bankers be forced to mug.
6.Man City - need i say more?? 100m+ for one player earning 26m a year.Dude you can buy ireland + iceland for that money nowadays.
7.Hull City - joint leaders in October relegation favorites in Feb.Hmmm we need more clubs like this one.
Meanwhile another Madrid coach loses his job and a president soon follows suit.I think people are taking the Joker too seriously and are not being too serious anymore.

Some qns to keep the donkey alive

1.Until recently the German town of Herzogenaurach was divided into two bitter camps. ''There were always the ones who supported X and others favoring Y,'' said Hans Lang, mayor of the town.An X employee put it more brutally: ''You would be fired immediately if you showed up in Y.So strict is the line that locals claim even marriages between X and Y families were rare until the 1970s.Until the 1980s, children usually chose to join the firm where their father already worked, separating the city into X and Y families who visited their own pubs or played for their clubs. Explain.

2.X originally was a short story by Y that tells the story of Z attending a boring dinner party at the Government House in Nassau with a group of socialites he can't stand. While the story does not include action elements, as other Y tales do, it attempts to posit that Z’s adventures pale in comparison with real life drama.

3.______ was born in Hungary moved to the US in 1913 with his parents.He became professor of physics at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The original system used for something was developed in 1950 by Kenneth Harkness. By 1960, using the data developed through the Harkness Rating System, _____ developed his own formula which had a sound statistical basis and constituted an improvement on the Harkness System. The new rating system was approved and in 1960. In 1970 the governing body also agreed to adopt the _____ Rating System. Id the guy and for what the rating system is used.

4.He's every employee's worst nightmare. He wasn't born mean and unscrupulous, he worked hard at it. And succeeded. As for stupidity, well, some things are inborn. His top priorities are the bottom line and looking good in front of his subordinates and superiors (not necessarily in that order). Of absolutely no concern to him is the professional or personal well-being of his employees. He is technologically challenged but he stays current on all the latest business trends, even though he rarely understands them

5.In ancient China coins were circular with a rectangular hole in the middle. Several coins could be strung together on a rope. Merchants in China, if they became rich enough, found that their strings of coins were too heavy to carry around easily. To solve this problem they did something that evolved into a first of its kind in history.Id?

James Bond b.1962 d.2008 RIP.

I dont know what this re-booting of the Bond series is meant to acheive.The things that made the bond series so memorable
a]The super cool villians - Blofeld,Scaramanga,Dr No
b]The delicious dialogues [I thought Christmas came only in winter :-)]
c]The super cool bond girls.
d]The gadgets
e]Bond himself being the ultimate arrogant chauvinist.

All of that has been removed and we have an watered down film having a no good villian making cheap jokes [the damaged goods commment was just too childish].The bond girls [Olga & the other one atterton i think] hardly make an impression.Bond himself goes through the movie with just one expression on his face.There are no gadgets,no witty dialogue nothing that even remotely interests us.The less said about the plotline the better.If producers want to make a realistic spy movie they would better watching the bourne movies [though these movies themselves could have been made much better.]
If i wanted this "humane raw" movie i might as well go to a vin diesel/statham movie they probably would have better stunts.
We need someone to do a nolan and rescue this series.

I think that most of the problems with arsenal is self inflicted with their so called pay structure severely screwing their team. Arsene's arguments on leaving behind a good financial situation behind for his successor is his usual bollock stuff. I mean common you need atleast one good CM to replace players like diarra, flamini and gilberto.A player like that Arsenal do not have presently in the squad [denilson,diaby and song are all too young to step up]. So a player has to be bought.That will surely cost somthing in the range of 7-8 mill atleast.That plus he will definitely be on a payscale significantly more than the pittance arsenal paid to flamini.
Also the team spirit came under some severe beating in the preseason with hleb gone,flamini gone and adebayor agitating for a move too all tied up with salary issues.
Now the team seems broken and without spirit.Arsene has to put his hand up accept his mistakes and buy decent players in the January window.Also Gallas as capt is a joke.Everybody except arsene know it.
All this makes for a hugely entertaining fare for me.As i just LOVE to HATE Arsenal and arsene wenger.

PussyCat Doll wins

I've only now recovered from the severe shocks suffered on sunday night.In two minutes i experienced a multitude of human emotions from
1.dull gloom - Hamilton 5th good enough for championship.
2.bafflement - kubica tries to overtake vettel and hamilton.
3.joy - vettel overtakes hamiltion.massa gonna win championship.
4.ecstasy - massa wins race and with it the championship.
5.horror - in the middle of jumping all over the room awaking my poor roomies i see the race classification stating hamilton as fifth.
6.anger - video of glock slowing down.
7.sadness - this was realistically massa's best chance to win the championship and at home too! cause Ferrari will pull behind kimi the minute he comes back to form.

This was as good a finish as i've ever seen.Right from the start of the race it was evident that it was going to end in rain.So it was beautiful watching the teams plot their way with multiple pit stop strategies.And the last fifteen laps especially was dripping with tension and suspense.
Sadly one team's gamble did not pay off.

Can india produce a phelps or a bolt

Watched the cnn-ibn coverage of sushil's kumar's residence in delhi yesterday.The place was inhuman, with twenty people being crammed into one room with just a bed for each trainee there. There is no gym, no food specialist, no tv nothing even remotely resembling a decent living place let alone a training place for national sportsmen. Contrast that with our cricketers being paid crores for loosing their pants everywhere and playing politics more than cricket. Yes this is an age old complaint but i did not realise the extent of it till now. These guys [the wrestlers,boxers and the others]dont want to be pampered like the cricketers all they want is a decent training facility and they promise to bring glory. Is this too much for our government to provide?Why try to outdo each other in doling out rewards to a medal winner [yes these guys deserve the adualtion they get but then rewarding only the winner and leaving the other thousands in the same old situation leaves me a bit sick] when this money and attention should have been given to the guys long before when they are preparing for these events.

Akhil kumar in his interview after the quaterfinal bout loss,said if one of the two remaining boxers win a medal my pain is nothing. I was really touched by this spirit of sportsmanship and love for the country. Men and women like him have to be cherished and not left to rot in obscurity.I serioulsy hope that some corporate group takes up the baton for indian sports becoz i dont think the babus give a shit about any of this.