something to think about

don't give in to fear. face it. fear leads to anger. anger leads to hatred. hatred leads to the dark side. - Yoda (i might be paraphrasing it)

i think most people flit between the dark side and back..

someone i know once mentioned that Wolverine's (from X-men) special powers not only included getting wounds healed very fast but also forgetting traumatic incidents of the past.. apparently forgetting trauma was akin to mental healing.. i was surprised that mental healing did not constitute facing the past and accepting it instead of forgetting it! when i voiced this i was told that this was apparently the western philosophy's point of view..

i was just reading the similarities between the jedi force and other existing religions on wiki.. that's what triggered this train of thought..

doppleganger

when watching movies while younger on star movies i used to get confused between actors and mistake one for the other.. slowly as i began to see more movies i got more familiar with faces.. i don't think i'm good at placing faces...

i used to think Matt Damon and Mark Wahlberg looked alike.. at one point of time i suppose they were similar.. but later Matt developed muscles and Mark became slim and lanky..

but i swear i'm still confused about Natalie Portman and Kiera Knightley!! i kept 2 windows with pictures of them both side-by-side and i still can't make out the difference! i googled this and this seems to be the opinion of most of the general public.. there's even a facebook group about it.. wouldn't it be weird if they were twins unknown to each other like some hindi movie? :))

P.S: I just found that Kiera did play double for Natalie in Star Wars 1!! How weird is that? I thought there were no camera tricks in the movie.. they would show the queen and her maid together and i was pretty amazed then..

P.P.S: they could be sisters - not twins.. kiera is almost 4 years younger than natalie.

Family Guy & Musicals

I got to know just recently that Seth MacFarlane modeled the way Stewie talks after the misogynistic professor Henry Higgins of 'My Fair Lady' (played by Rex Harrison)! He even made the character sing 'I've grown accustomed to her' song in one episode of season 2.. There are a lot of songs from musicals in Family guy which are a delight to watch..

parent trap

it's one of my favorite movies... its not my fav bcoz its the funniest, cleverest, wittiest movie.. it doesn't excel exceedingly in its genre... but IMHO the most rewatchable movie.. this one gives me a warm feeling everytime i see it.. may be i always wished for a twin sister i would find somewhere who would make my boring childhood eventful.. :))

i guess another rewatchable movie released in 2010 was How to train your dragon..

my fair lady (1964)

was pretty good.. i've seen Audrey Hepburn in 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' before this and though this movie had come before and I was surprised to hear her cockney accent! she did a pretty good job.. The guy playing Henry Higgins on the other hand just plain got on my nerves.. the movie description says that he's a misogynistic professor.. but i wasn't ready for all his rudeness! we who were watching it wanted to throttle his neck! :))

heard the familiar song 'all i want is a room somewhere'.. they made the brittania marie jingle with it - 'all is want is english marie.. oh so english the real marie.. isn't it loverly?'..

didn't really show how much higgins was dependent on eliza.. don't know what happened to the poor guy who lost his heart to eliza.. but on the whole i liked it..

musical movies - part 4

watched 2 more recently.. and i have to say that one changed the scale by which i rate all musicals! The Sound of Music! It was freakin' awesome! The songs were all brilliant and I loved the story. I've heard a lot about it from friends but sadly only got to watch it now. It has now replaced 'Singin' in the Rain' at the top of my best musicals list..

and the other one i saw was 'love me tonight'.. from the description i thought it would be funny but it wasn't really.. dukes, countesses, viscounts, squandering nephews, impostors in the castle, unsuitable matches.. the story could be right out of a Wodehouse book! only difference is this is based in some village in France instead of Shropshire, England. most of the movie i spent in observing the life of the peerage.. the music was not bad.. i loved the starting bit where the sights and sounds of Paris were all blended in to a symphony.. :) a typical love story of two people not of the same class.. and i have to say this for the old movies.. boy! did it take very little to fall in love those days! :))

ROFL! ROFL!

still LOLing for Barney's Christmas message!
not for what he said but how he said it.. i was expecting a regular christmas message and the shock of it was too much!

movie time - part 5

saw beauty and the beast the next musical movie on my list.. it was not bad.. the only fault in the storyline i could find was that they didn't give much time for the beauty and the beast to get to know each other..

why do all the fairy tales have stories where a prince usually saves a very beautiful princess (for ex. sleeping beauty, rapunzel) whereas a girl is always supposed to a save an ugly prince (for ex. 'beauty and the beast', 'princess and the frog').. i didn't notice this trend in old fairy tales until now.. maybe even then they knew that only girls can be expected to see beyond the surface and really observe the inner beauty of people.. :)

movie time - part 4

A Night at the Opera
Found it really funny! the crowded cabin in the ship bit, moving the beds in the apartment bit, converting the opera to a baseball game.. it was all fun.. the silent guy in the movie (harpo marx i think) was the funniest! i think the marx brothers type of comedy has to grow on you.. so would recommend watching 'duck soup' before this one.. also i think this would be more fun while watching it with a group..

chevy spark

i saw the tail light of chevy spark recently.. it looked brilliant! i'm not able to see a good picture of it with the lights on.. until a few days back, i thought the tail light was made of LEDs.. but sadly found out that its regular bulb inside with strategic etches on the silver plating surrounding it.. really sad... LEDs would have looked much better..

movie time - part 3

was watching movie musicals recently.. in India all movies are musicals.. but only some are musicals in English.. my all-time favorite, as I might or might not have mentioned, is 'Singin' in the rain'.. very upbeat and fun.. a few years back in Chicago i went to a musical performance and got hooked to live performances too.. some of the plays i saw were 'Grease', 'Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Raincoat' and 'Cabaret'. I loved 'Joseph'!! very funny and innovative.. loved all the songs.. got sooo hooked that i bought the entire album cd from amazon a few days after i saw the show! i don't know why some people criticize Andrew Lloyd Weber's musicals..

well anyway getting back to the point.. saw some musical movies over the past few days.. have already seen 'Singin' in the Rain' lotsa times and 'Wizard of Oz' on tv many times too.. i saw 'Lion King' (which i've seen before).. it was god as usual.. then i saw this Marx brothers movie 'Duck Soup'.. it was funny, but was too slapstick for me most times.. loved the mirror scene! was ROFLing.. i've seen the mirror scene copied soo many times in cartoons but never as funny as this!

will be seeing more of these still..

returning to origins

when i was younger i used to think that i would not do some things (actions, deeds - whatever you may call them) when i became older and more matured in my thinking.. because i thought some of my (then) current actions were immature... but when i became older i realized that i did the same things and the only difference was i knew exactly why i was doing them.. its hard to explain with a specific example but hope that this makes sense..

when i was younger my habits and beliefs were of one kind.. when i became older i discarded them as immature and changed to a method that made more sense to me.. and later now i see no fault in the things i was doing in the first place but much the wiser for my experience...

i guess i'm rambling - but i'm reading this book 'Eat Pray Love' and every time i read some of the author's observations that i can completely relate to it gets me thinking in these terms..

bewitched quote

Endora says: "the ability to forget is very important to you mortals. you do so many stupid things, a perfect memory would be impossible to live with." do i agree with her or what?!!

apart from the mistakes i do being my own biggest critic sucks bigggg time! not only do those mistakes remain in my memory, they are magnified ten times by my critical mind!

i wish

i could freeze the time when i was reading 'famous five's and 'secret seven's! that would be like 3rd std.. or even 'nancy drew's, 'hardy boy's or 'the three investigators'.. that would be 5th i think... yesterday i passed an old book shop and when i looked in i saw these books and it was kind of nostalgic.. its hard to work up an enthusiasm for those books now but i think i'd like to collect them just for fun..

comparison

on observing the BBT episodes I feel whenever Bill Prady steps in to write the story its a lot more technical (and fun for me) than when Chuck tries to.. the dumb storyline can be credited to Mr. Lorre i suppose.. i guess then in 2.5 men Chuck dictates the entire story and Bill discovers big 'tough' words for the chiropractor guy to utter! brain without sense isn't worth anything..

The taking of Pelham 123

was pretty lame! a halfhearted attempt by the director and a very weak storyline..

Why do we watch TV shows?

The whole reason you watch a TV show is because it ends. If I wanted a long boring story with no point to it, I have my life. LOL!

ROFL!

i grew up here.. i speak conductor!!

prayer

I hope you never lose your sense of wonder
You get your fill to eat
But always keep that hunger
May you never take one single breath for granted
God forbid love ever leave you empty handed
I hope you still feel small
When you stand by the ocean
Whenever one door closes, I hope one more opens
Promise me you'll give faith a fighting chance

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance
I hope you dance
I hope you dance

I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance
Never settle for the path of least resistance
Living might mean taking chances
But they're worth taking
Lovin' might be a mistake
But it's worth making
Don't let some hell bent heart
Leave you bitter
When you come close to selling out
Reconsider
Give the heavens above
More than just a passing glance

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance
I hope you dance
(Time is a real and constant motion always)
I hope you dance
(Rolling us along)
I hope you dance
(Tell me who)
I hope you dance
(Wants to look back on their youth and wonder)
(Where those years have gone)

I hope you still feel small
When you stand by the ocean
Whenever one door closes, I hope one more opens
Promise me you'll give faith a fighting chance

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance
Dance
I hope you dance
I hope you dance
(Time is a real and constant motion always)
I hope you dance
(Rolling us along)
I hope you dance
(Tell me who)
(Wants to look back on their youth and wonder)
I hope you dance
(Where those years have gone)

(Tell me who)
I hope you dance
(Wants to look back on their youth and wonder)
(Where those years have gone)

Mayim Bialik is back in business

when i saw the 2nd episode (of BBT season 4) i thought for a moment that the 'Amy' character was not going to continue. but in the 3rd episode she was back with a bang! and i liked the episode too because they mostly talk of social interactions (which i can relate to) and i liked the part about the neuroscience perspective dominating the scientific one.. and after all Mayim has a PhD in neuroscience (in real life). so it was cool..

and its weird that in an earlier season in the episode where they form teams to win the Physics quiz trophy, Raj suggests that they recruit the 'girl from Blossom' who apparently had a PhD in neuroscience.. :D