« Previous month (Jun 2008) | Main | Next month (Aug 2008) »
Sunday Aug 17, 2008

A drop from the ‘Pensive Bowl’ (PART III)

Lightning doesn’t strike the same place twice? Hmmm… The Birds Nest thinks otherwise

August 16
- Zubin was fortunate to watch the cocky ‘Bolt’ of lightning scotch the track - making the recent developments at the cube seem passé.
August 15
- Zubin having fluked an eagle, intends to stay off the greens for most part of the next few decades.
August 13
- Zubin wishes to be fortunate enough to watch Bupathi-Paes take on Federer.
August 11
- Zubin " G O L D!".
August 9
- Zubin having missed the $43 billion -‘One world, One dream’ extravaganza, is searching for reruns.
August 8
- Zubin 080808 080808 080808.
August 7
- Zubin is all eyes on the biggest spectacle- and the chance for the Dragon to stamps its arrival in grandeur.
August 5
- Zubin is expecting an implosion sooner than later in the former Test playing nation, that has had an annual inflation of 2.2M% (yeah.. ‘M’ as in ‘MILLION’).
August 3
-Zubin isn't sure what to make of his comeback from a setpoint down, before he goes on to win the next 6 games and the set.
August 1
- Zubin Confidence vote? Checked!...... IAEA? Checked!....... Next? NSG, US Congress… Nov?? hmm...
-Zubin has new found respect for the symptoms brought on by the human emotion identified by a drop in serotonin levels and increase in cortisol.
July 29
- Zubin wonders if Reino de España will extend their dream run (courtesy Sastre, Nadal, Euro'08, F1, beauty pageant, etc) at Beijing.
July 27
- Zubin is catching up on the latest season of 'Ticky-Tacky, Little Boxes', but doesn't see any 'Ticky-Tacky, Little Boxes'.
July 25
- Zubin in his spare time, continues devouring info regarding the feasibility of 'fission' plants, in light of the latest gambit.
- Zubin wishes someone would help answer the question that recently popped up,… please?
July 23
- Zubin is ecstatic that the 'people who matter', are going all out to hedge the future using Thorium. "w00t! w00t!".

Posted at 09:52PM Aug 17, 2008 by zubinabraham in Personal  |  Comments[0]

Saturday Aug 16, 2008

69. Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu’s US/Mexican/French film "Babel" (2006): Lack of empathy or a problem of communication?

There is a revival of interest worldwide in making feature films that comprise several disparate stories that link up with a common thought or use a common location. This is now called the portmanteau film. Such films have sporadically surfaced over the decades but their appeal seems to be limited to the serious film goer. Babel belongs to that odd genre stitching together several stories, one taking place in rural Morocco, another set in towns on the Mexico--USA border, and a final one in urban Japan. Understandably you hear five languages--Berber, Arabic, English, Japanese and Spanish—with subtitles to help the viewer, not to mention sign language used by the hearing impaired.

To understand the film one needs to know the historical meaning of Babel. Babel is a city described in Christian and Jewish scriptures relating to King Nimrod in The Book of Genesis.[Read More]

Posted at 09:11PM Aug 16, 2008 by zubinabraham in Personal  |  Comments[0]

Friday Aug 15, 2008

57. Canadian filmmaker Paolo Barzman's second film "Emotional Arithmetic" (2007): Subtracting the past, adding the present and balancing the equation

It is fascinating how the horrors of World War II continue to spark off good, intelligent cinema around the world even after a gap of over half a century.

Emotional Arithmetic, based on a novel by Mark Cohen (I guess, a Jew), begins with an astounding remark "If you ask me if I believe in God, I am forced to answer does God believe in us?" The film is not about atheism. But it is a startling opening statement that makes you re-evaluate the film even after the movie is over. It reflects on the terrible scars left by war on orphans, on individuals who stand up and protest when wrong is done, on relationships forged in times of stress, pain and loss. It probes the secondary effect the scarred individuals have on their close family, who were not directly affected by World War II. Thus, a beautiful Canadian landscape seems to hide the horrors that inhabit the minds of some of its inhabitants.

[Read More]

Posted at 11:00PM Aug 15, 2008 by zubinabraham in Personal  |  Comments[0]

Friday Aug 08, 2008

62. Haitian director Raoul Peck's US/French film "Sometimes in April" (2005): Remarkable feature film on the Rwandan genocide




“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." Martin Luther King, Jr.

(Opening quote from the film)

After I saw the Hollywood’s multiple Oscar nominated film Hotel Rwanda (2004) in a regular theater, I could stand up and be counted as one who felt that that the noble efforts of a hotel worker (based on a real person who worked at Hotel des Mille Collines) to save so many lives were worth emulating, if I was ever to be in his shoes.

Just a few days ago, I chanced to see Sometimes in April (2005), on the Rwandan massacre on television’s HBO channel, released a year after the release of Hotel Rwanda. You begin to wonder why so few have written about this wonderful little film made for TV, partly with US financial support. This small film is undoubtedly far superior to the acclaimed Hollywood product in both content and style, even though the subject matter of both films pertain to the real events that surround the genocide in Rwanda. The genocide took place in the month of April, when the rains begin, and hence the title of the film.

Yet the two movies are as different as chalk and cheese.[Read More]

Posted at 08:58PM Aug 08, 2008 by zubinabraham in Personal  |  Comments[0]

Saturday Aug 02, 2008

A drop from the ‘Pensive Bowl’ (PART II)


July 23
- Zubin is ecstatic that the 'people who matter', are going all out to hedge the future using Thorium. "w00t! w00t!".
July 21
- Zubin "The most popular 'mammal with wings' had a tryst with debonair".
July 19
- Zubin 's attention is on Tues vote, which shall potentially influence the economic prosperity of appx 2 billion people (for the next 2-3 decades).
July 13
- Zubin 's eyes are on Vietnam!(at least for the next couple hours) :p.
- Zubin is (nearly) distraught by the implications of Barclay's projection of 17% WPI inflation, as it may be the harbinger of worse news.
July 11
- Zubin believes that being 'The best' in a well represented athletic event at both age 14 and 41, deserves a fairytale ending (though unlikely).
July 9
- Zubin begins counting down the days until the next installment of 'Heracles (purported) gift to the modern world'.
July 6
- Zubin xpects history that evaded Borg to be finally made today. And yeah, hearty congrats to Dara Torres!

---The most popular 'mammal with wings' had a tryst with debonair---

Posted at 09:44PM Aug 02, 2008 by zubinabraham in Personal  |  Comments[0]

Friday Aug 01, 2008

65. Alfred Hitchcock's "Marnie" (1964): Unusual Hitchcock—where marriage is preferred over jail by a strong-willed woman

This is NOT the stuff that director Hitchcock usually dealt with. The subject and the treatment of the subject are different from most of his other films.

Hitchcock was scared of jails. In this film, the lead female character prefers to be bridled by marriage rather than go to jail. It is an intriguing choice for a character who had earlier stated to her husband "You don't love me. I am something you have caught. Some kind of wild animal you have trapped." Aware of this, the young lady who has so far fooled a lot of rich men and escaped the law, prefers marriage to jail. She is smart, a woman who embezzles her employers to buy rich gifts for her mother, aware of modesty in dress (keeps pulling her skirt over her knees) and a convincing liar. Like Hitchcock's Notorious, the marriage in this film is one of convenience, or so it appears—the end of the film is open-ended.

Hitchcock fired the initial scriptwriter (a male), who honestly felt the rape of the wife by the husband was out character with male lead played by Sean Connery. The replaced scriptwriter (a lady) wrote the sequence which was used, in a suggestive way rather than a graphic way. Hitchcock loved to slip in sex even if it was out of character.

[Read More]

Posted at 12:31AM Aug 01, 2008 by zubinabraham in Personal  |  Comments[0]