Little Black Book

Posted by SternMystic in , , ,

The youngishly cute Brittany Murphy's energy is contagious as she single handedly sets this chick flick through its paces. Director Nick Hurran has done a tremendous job sealing the story plot and letting it unfold as smoothly as it does. Set in the backdrop of a reality show, it provides short glimpses into the milder deviousness of regular human interaction when faced with challenge and uncertainity. The reliance on Carly Simmon's music to calm herself is a peripheral touch that drifts in and out of the movie. Not a must watch, rather watch it when you are relaxed and don't want to focus heavily on details, just feel like floating through the movie.

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Keeping Up Apearances

Posted by SternMystic

This is not about the famous British sitcom. I watch a lot of tv and much of the tv I watch is in-between mainstream and obscure. In essence, the kind of media I watch is enjoyed by more than a few but not by the masses, ensuring there is certain fan following. But then I do also enjoy mainstream programming. In anycase, the point is, as I watch multiple episodes of various recordings on my DVR, I notice actors moving through time. It is curoius to note how actors have changed over time and I often find myself admiring them for sticking to their profession. They have been chipping away at it with dedication. No wonder then, when they finally shoot to fame and get roles they deserve their acting comes out uninhibited, like second nature. Here are a few good actors that I noticed, have grown to take on bigger roles over time.
  • Leslie David as sweeper after a concert briefly talks to Eric in "That 70's Show" - Stanley in "The Office"
  • Bipasha Basu in tamil movie Sachin with almost no role and one item song - Now a leading lady in Bollywood
  • Jenna Fischer, again in "That 70's Show" as Stacy Wannamaker, jackie's nemesis because she is married and well settled - Pam Beesly in "The Office"
  • Leah Remini in "Saved by the Bell" as Zach's girlfriend and daughter of beach resort owner - Carrie Heffernan in King of Queens
  • Tatyana Ali as extra girl with Rudy Banks in Cosby Show - Ashley Banks in Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
  • Salma Hayek as a nurse for a 1min sequence in Across the universe - No intro needed
  • Mark-Paul Gosselaar as Jerry Kellerman in "Raising the bar" - from Zach Morris in "Saved by the Bell"
The last two don't exactly fit the bill, but I felt like sharing anyways.

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SuperBowl 2010 - Personal Synopsis

Posted by SternMystic in ,

  • They’re changing its name to Breeses Buttercup
  • T'was an ill Breese that blew no good (to the Colts)
  • MBA students are now reading: Breekonomics
  • Beauty and the Breest
  • Women all over the country are now going in for Breest implants
  • The Saints Breesed through the evening
  • The hobbits (Saints) marched from the Shire to the Brees
  • Breesame mucho
  • The Saints put their Breest foot forward

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Politicking

Posted by SternMystic

I am pretty far form following politics but felt like posting a simple string of comments around an article that I just read on CNN. It is about the unjustified arrest of a black professor and Obama's comments around it. IMHO: Sounds like a frivolous, un-thought out comment coming from the president. I don't believe it is in the jurisdiction of the president to be mouthing loosely in such a fashion especially when people are listening hard. Words like this could easily be interpreted as lack of confidence in the justice system. While this may be true, tatistics such as those quoted by Obama should come at a proper forum with adequate substantiation and a definition of how it should be used. Any action should be left to the system to work out, else there is little difference between this and the much touted Honduran coup. Both signal a breakdown of the proper processes and the need for intervention to straighten out affairs. I have never chosen to believe in one person when one can easily fall back on procedure. Do not misjudge me, Obama is only my second favourite president after Bill Clinton, therein lies the reason for critical observation and nitpicking.

On the other end of this spectrum lies the firefighter fiasco where no fire-fighter was promoted due to lack of minorities scaling the passing grade. That is a horrendous example of how providing stepping stones to oppressed minorities and implementation of anti-racial-discriminatory practices can go awry. If the test was indeed skewed to allow certain races to pass, that can be determined and action taken accordingly. One cannot help but wonder how to make a generic test that only certain races will pass. It reminds me of the situation in India right now where most of the open seats in various educational institutions are allotted to backward classes. The goal is honourable, in that, it is a way to make up for the much prevalent suppression of the lower caste in the past. However, there is no sense of whether this is reaching the right people, there is no system in place that is making algorithmic changes as the existing procedures fall askew. It has become vote bank fodder. I am simply afraid that this history might end up repeating itself in another location. If you're going to do it, do it right!

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ListMania

Posted by SternMystic

As is my usual scapegoat, when the non-writers block strikes me, I abandon my regular post to wander off into easier pastures under the sun and making lists tops the bill in this case.

While I will continue with that thought, I wonder out aloud why its called a "scapegoat". As a Capricorn-ian I object to my class of animals being called a scape-anything, leave alone the negative connotation of the word "excuse". After some soul searching, which did not reveal any insight into my soul or into the origin of this word, I searched online and found the chain of events that led to the present usage of "scapegoat". Working backwards, scapegoat -> escape goat -> Azazel (in Hebrew, Bible 1530) -> goat that carried away evil during King's wedding (24 BC, Ebla, now Syria). There is also the comparison that can be made between "scapegoat" and "bali aadu", a sacrificial lamb (in my mother tongue, Tamil) which again is a way to ward of evil by oferrings to god.


Now that that little curiosity has been resolved, lets get back to the tangential topic that was our main one - LISTS. Below are some immediate lists that come to mind. Note that while one could make a list with 100 or 1000 entries, it would take away the simple elegance of being forced to choose a lesser number, 5 it is.


PC Games
  • Battlefield 2142
  • Unreal Tournament 2000
  • Super Mario Bros (2D)
  • Dangerous Dave
  • Age of Empires

Theme Songs
  • Star Wars
  • Star Trek: The Next Generation
  • Zelda (2D)
  • Indiana Jones
  • Coupling

Hero
  • Phantom (Ghost who walks)
  • James Bond (Sean Connery)
  • Aragorn (LOTR)
  • Angelina Jolie (TombRaider)
  • Humphrey Bogart (Casablanca)

Villain
  • Sauron
  • Darth Vader
  • Joker (Batman)
  • Amrish Puri (Indian Jones and the Temple of Doom)
  • Mokambo (Mr.India)

Movies
  • Star Wars
  • Shawshank Redemption
  • Casablanca
  • Braveheart
  • As good as it gets

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