The Best of 2010: Part 1 - Movies

So, 2010 is about to end, a week or two left, and like the last two years, its time for me to compile my 'Best of...' lists.
I've watched a lot of movies, this year as always, listened to a lot of good music, played a lot of games, and another great thing, I've started reading a lot once more; so I've read a lot of books too, this year.

Also, a lot of things on these lists would not necessarily be from 2010, just things that I've watched, listened to, read or otherwise experienced this year.

So let's start off with the movies...
There are a lot of very obvious choices for the top ten (read 'Inception'/'The Social Network' etc.), but some of these are somewhat obscure (maybe not), or surprising choices as well.

Ok, so in part 1, we have,

TOP TEN MOVIES-->

10. HARD CANDY -
Little Red Riding Hood with a twist. Ellen Page stars in this disturbing (at times) thriller about a 14 year old girl who meets up with a 32 year old guy whom she suspects to be a sexual predator.

What follows is a completely intense and very gripping hour of film. The storyline is brilliant, as is the acting. The camera work is in fact the best I've seen in a movie recently, when you think that most of the movie is set in a house, with just two people.










9. MOON -
A one man movie, if you don't count Kevin Spacey as the voice of GERTY, Sam Rockwell pulls off a performance of a lifetime in this sci-fi/mystery film.

Sam Rockwell's character is nearing the end of a three year solitary stint on a mining station on the moon, when suddenly things start getting weird. A very well made movie.













8. L.A. CONFIDENTIAL -
The star-cast itself is enough for this to be on anybody's list of movies that need to be seen, with Kevin Spacey, Russel Crowe and Guy Pearce, not to mention Kim Basinger.

A classic murder mystery, set in LA, with a backdrop of drugs, sex, alcohol and Hollywood. A very slick, intelligent and fun movie.











7. THE GHOST WRITER -
Directed by Roman Polanski, the Ghost Writer is about a ghostwriter (Ewan McGregor) hired to write the memoirs of a former British PM, played by Pierce Brosnan.

What he discovers though, investigating into the former politician's life, puts his own life in danger. Some people who I talked to about it found the movie slow, and though it is a little long, its pace is part of its presentation.

With an amazing, and very surprising last scene, this is definitely one of the top ten movies I've seen this year.










6. SHUTTER ISLAND -
Leonardo DiCaprio has made a reputation for himself, starring in what are usually the best movies of the year. This time too, with Shutter Island and Inception, he's done the same.

Directed by Martin Scorcese, Shutter Island delivers chills, excitement and a good measure of dread as it slowly chips away at the viewer's psyche.

Based on a novel by Dennis Lehane (which is now on my must-read list), it's been filmed extraordinarily well, creating a very gloomy atmosphere.








5. THE BLIND SIDE-
Based on a true story of Michael Oher, and his adoptive family, the Blind Side was one movie I did not really expect would qualify to be on this list as I began watching it. But as I found out, it's one of the more inspirational, and touching movies out there.

There's great acting by Sandra Bullock and also by Quinton Aaron as Michael Oher.

A definite must watch.










4. THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION -
Yes, I understand its a crime that I saw this movie in 2010. The number 1 movie on IMDb's top 250 of all time, and I saw it this year.
Oh well, let's just say there were some misconceptions about this movie's worth in my head.

With Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman as lead stars in this story about how two men get to know each other, in a prison, and the unfolding of their lives, and of those around them, over something like twenty years, 'The Shawshank Redemption' definitely deserves the title of one of the greatest movies ever made.

And I was surprised to discover that this has been adapted from something Stephen King wrote.




3. DEV D -
Another movie I saw late.
I'd heard a lot about Dev D, and Abhay Deol's portrayal of the classic character of Devdas. But nothing I'd heard even came close to how I feel about this movie.
It is, in my opinion, quite simply, one of the best movies to come out of Bollywood in a very very long time.

Edgy, dark, sometimes surreal, Anurag Kashyap has created something that I hope is the beginning to a whole new era of Indian cinema.

Abhay Deol is a great actor, as I've discovered recently in 'Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!' as well. Hope he continues the good work.






2. INCEPTION -
Probably the most hyped movie of this year, it lived up to it.
Christopher Nolan had to do something to raise the bar once more after 'The Dark Knight' and he managed to do it.

Leonardo DiCaprio makes all the right choices.

Inception is a movie I saw in the theater the week it released, and although I knew it then I had just witnessed something special, I knew I needed to see it again to really appreciate it. So I waited for the BluRay to be released so I could watch it in HD at home, and boy was it worth the wait. I've seen it three times now, and every time it gets better.

One amazing movie.





1. THE SOCIAL NETWORK -
From the director of 'Zodiac' and 'Fight Club' - David Fincher, came this year's best movie. 'The Social Network' is about the meteoric rise of the founder of facebook.com, Mark Zuckerberg, and the story of facebook's invention.

Now this movie could have been made any number of ways, but the way it was, turned out to be one of the best movies of recent memory. Admittedly, the story itself is so fascinating, that it would've been hard to make a bad movie out of it, but everything from Jesse Eisenberg's acting to the amazing score by Trent Reznor (of Nine Inch Nails) is flawless.

I'm sure a lot of people wouldn't agree to this, as the choice for the best movie of this year, but I don't know...for me, it is.






Ok, so those are the top ten movies I saw this year. I'd love to hear about your choices, in the comments...do share.

Hope you'll read part 2 of this...coming soon.

Harry Potter and the Spell of his Movies

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows opened on the big screen last Friday, and the world is lapping it up.
I remember I was excited when I was about to watch the movie of the first book, Philosopher's Stone(or Sorcerer's Stone for the Americans) because I had already read the first four books by then...yes I saw the movie very late, on a VCD, as I recall.
I was severely disappointed, and surprised as well, because a lot of my friends had recommended it to me.
Again, when I saw the second movie, I was disappointed.
Yet the world...the world of my friends that is, had largely loved these movies. Or had seemed to.
I realized that most of them had not read the books at that time, and a lot of them haven't by now either. Not all the books, anyway.
I feel a knot developing in my stomach when I realize that Harry Potter, for a considerable part of his fan following, is no one but Daniel Radcliffe. Don't get me wrong, he's a good actor, and he looks like Harry Potter as he was first illustrated on the cover of the Philosopher's stone. But Daniel Radcliffe isn't Harry Potter. Emma Watson (stunning although, she's grown up to become) isn't Hermione Granger. Rupert Grint isn't Ron Weasley.
No, Harry is Harry, Hermione is Hermione and Ron is Ron, as JK Rowling thought of them, wrote about them, brought them to life in her own mind, and in the minds of millions of her readers.
Nothing against the actors, but I fear the Harry Potter movies will be all that will remain in the minds of future generations of children, who grow up without the excitement of standing on the doorstep of a bookstore at 6 am(its India, they don't sell books at midnight, or atleast I've never bought one), waiting for the 5th, 6th and oh the excitement it was, waiting for the final book.

Look at the Lord of the Rings...amazing movies indeed, so much better than the Harry Potter movies, but half of the people who I know, do not know that they are actually books, written more than fifty years ago, by a genius who went by the name of Tolkien.
Oscars, these movies won... setting records, in fact, of Oscars won. These movies are but ghosts of the magic of Tolkien's hand.
How many of us know the joy of reading the Lord of the Rings, cover to cover, getting lost in its romance, getting absorbed into its mythology, its intricacy...its genius? Of reading about Frodo, standing at the brim of Orodruin, ready to cast the ring...the one ring, into the fires below, ready, but struggling with his demons, struggling with the evil that has slowly crept into his heart, from the day that Bilbo left him that ring.

I gave a little girl the first Harry Potter book once, on her eleventh birthday. She said she had already seen the movie. I implored her to read it. She did, and and a week later she called me and ecstatically told me how brilliant it was, and how she wanted to read the next one. I promised her, it too would be a gift. I plan to gift all of them to her, the seventh, Deathly Hallows, on her seventeenth birthday.
At least she will know the bittersweet joy of waiting for something that you love, looking forward to it.

The thing is, you form relationships with the characters who you read about in books, not with those who you watch in movies. It's a much more rewarding experience, is reading.

Yes, watch the movies, of course, and enjoy them.
But please... read the books, and love them! It seems like such a task, reading, to one who is not in the habit of it, but you see

'All that is gold, does not glitter...'
-JRR Tolkien

Immature, misread and misinformed

There once was a girl. Let's call her Miss Red.
There was also a boy, with whom Miss Red was friends. Let's call him Immature.
Miss Red and Immature had not always been friends. They had only met a few years ago. They had not had much of a relationship at first, mere acquaintances as they were for a long time. But as time went on, circumstances molded them into the best of friends, because, as they found out in the course of time, they had much in common. They liked the same music, read the same books, even shared the same taste in friends.
Things were good.
Immature was though, for some reason, a bit immature. Even as Miss Red had all through her life been misread.
Come to think of it, sometimes Immature treated Miss Red rather shabbily. But Miss Red was not someone to take this in her stride, and there was some conflict. Miss Red objected, and Immature relented.
Things were mostly good.
Immature had always rather liked this other girl, let's call her Miss Informed, and had always wanted, for lack of a better phrase, to get it on with her.
But Miss Informed was a snotty little bitch.

Excuse my french.

But she was.
Immature and Miss Informed had too been friends, for some time, and Immature had expressed his...express desire to her, to, for lack of a better phrase, get it on with her, many times.
Miss Informed though, had other plans. She played with Immature for a while, and then flushed him away, like so much used-toilet paper. This, obviously resulted in Immature getting upset. Even though, in all honesty, Immature had been rather immature in his desire to, for lack of a better phrase, get it on with Miss Informed in the first place.
Now where's Miss Red in all of this, I hear you ask.
She was right there, consoling Immature, trying to cheer him up, reassuring him there are better fish in the sea. Of course, since Miss Red was always misread, Immature saw this as a clever ploy by Miss Red to redirect his affections towards herself. This was probably because Immature was so immature.
This angered Miss Red, but she kept her anger to herself, realizing Immature was vulnerable. But Immature always had this nagging doubt about Miss Red's intentions in the back of his mind now. And since Immature had been so wronged by Miss Informed, his attitude towards the fairer sex deteriorated quite drastically, and sometimes manifested as an increase in the frequency of his unacceptable behavior with Miss Red.
Miss Red, you see, was not perfect... no, not at all, but she handled it for a while, as best she could.
But soon, as Miss Red neared the end of her patience with Immature, she realized that even though she cared quite a bit about Immature, she could not allow this to continue. So she confronted Immature and told him that either he should get his act together, or maybe it was time she and him went their separate ways.
Immature had nothing to say.
They opted thus, and by default, for a trial friend-separation.
But fate had its own game to play. Immature had long been planning a long trip to the real world, in order to get a feel for the environment there, so that when everyone grew up and went into the real world, to live out their lives, work and die, he would at least, be prepared. The plans had been made long ago, when things were much better between him and Miss Red. But now, they really weren't, and neither Immature nor Miss Red wanted to be the one to take the first step towards fixing their relationship. And so time passed by, and it came to when Immature had to leave for his trip.
And so he left, without saying good bye.

When he came back, many months later, things had changed. He realized he was now just another guy to Miss Red, and strangely, he realized she was just another girl to him.
And so they went, as they had never thought they would, their separate ways.

Such a waste.

But they lived happily ever after.


DISCLAIMER - All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. ;-)

The Saga of Wayne Rooney...Or Was It?

Something tells me Sir Alex Ferguson is a genius.

Let's look at it this way...Wayne Rooney hasn't exactly been an inspirational figure, the last few months. One goal...through a penalty kick. Not exactly in form. Not exactly awe inspiring. Not exactly the man we had come to know and love, all through last season's brilliant personal campaign. Not exactly a match winner. Not exactly the team icon. Not exactly Wayne Rooney.

So, looking back a week or two, Wayne Rooney commits a horrible mistake. He, maybe, 'sleeps' with a hooker(or two), while his wife is pregnant, and maybe... it becomes public knowledge. Wayne Rooney, maybe, isn't the perfect Man United player anymore. So, Sir Alex Ferguson shields him from the media...he protects his star...Rooney is benched for a match or two. All this while, remember, he isn't scoring goals...Berbatov is.

The fans have developed these doubts in their minds about Rooney's ability now, and that isn't exactly how the leading goal scorer in the Premier League for the previous season is supposed to be thought about in the minds of his fans. Something needs to be done.
So what happens is, is that Rooney loses faith in his club.
And so, there are rumors flying about now. Is it true? Has Wayne Rooney not signed a contract renewal with United?!
Shit...
That's major news...if its true.
And so the rumor mill spins.

A few days of intense media speculation later, Sir Alex, in a heart rending address at a press conference, concedes that Wayne Rooney has, in fact, declined to sign a renewal of his contract with Manchester United, and has expressed a 'strong' desire to leave Old Trafford in search of greener pastures.
But there are no greener pastures, does every United fan think.
Rooney is a fool.
Rooney is after the money, after the more lucrative contract that Sheikh Mansour at the City of Manchester Stadium is apparently ready to offer him.
Oh, the very idea of Rooney playing for Manchester City makes half the United fans throw up, and the other half scream in their sleep.
Oh, Rooney is a whore, who'll run after whoever dangles the biggest bill in front of him.

We spend a day in disgust. And now, most of us hate Rooney.

By now, there are a dozen facebook status updates on my 'News Feed' that declare intense disgust with Rooney's decision. My own status is about something Sir Alex said, to alleviate the pain of his broken-hearted fans.

Yes, I'm heartbroken just then.
I don't particularly like Wayne Rooney just then.

But suddenly, there are a lot of bomb shells being dropped about in the media room at Old Trafford.
A day later, some hours ago in fact, the Manchester United website declares Wayne Rooney is a 'Red Devil After All'...he's signed a new contract that ensures he's going to be at Old Trafford till 2015, at least, which means quite possibly, till the end of his career. There's a statement released from Wayne Rooney which states that he will obviously "have to win back the fans' love and support." He will have to "score a lot of goals to win the respect and support back."

Quite a sentimental figure does Wayne Rooney cut now.
Hated by his fans, all credibility lost. A man who hasn't scored a goal from open play since March this year, a man who has been in the center of the biggest media storm that Old Trafford has seen since Beckham left, a man labeled a whore by half of his former fans, and a fool in his agent's pocket by the other half...this man, who was transformed from being Old Trafford's hero, into Old Trafford's villain...has now suddenly been transformed again into Old Trafford's wayward son, who has seen the error of his ways and is looking to mend them and get back into the hearts of his fans by scoring a few much needed goals.

Suddenly he needs to score those goals.

Something tells me that when he does score them, quite certainly in the next few weeks, he will be transformed once again into the hero...perhaps with that intriguing tinge of a tainted past.
Something tells me this whole 'incident' at Old Trafford might just have been the catalyst needed to bring back Rooney's form.

Something tells me Sir Alex Ferguson is a genius.



Sometimes you look in a field and you see a cow, and you think it's a better cow than the one you've got in your own field. It's a fact. Right? And it never really works out that way.
-Sir Alex Ferguson

If it's in the game...

I remember when my parents first bought a computer. It was back in 2000, and I was excited as hell, if only because it meant I'd get to play games on it. I had never owned those nintendo/sega cartridge type game systems. I'd played on them at friends' places, and at those game shops, but now I was finally going to have a place to play video games on my own. These were exciting times.Back then, I remember that PC came preloaded with a demo version of Road Rash(epic game btw) and a demo version of Need for Speed: High Stakes. I played those two demos to death.

Then someone gave me Wolfenstein 3d ( in a floppy disk no less!) and so I was introduced to the First Person Shooter genre. Now Wolf ( as it was affectionately called) was a pretty old game even then, but that didn't make it any less of a completely, stupendously awesome game, so addictive, I remember I used to have arguments with my mother about the time I spent playing it.

I was enamored so completely with the game that I think it had a profound affect on what types of computer games I would like in the future.

So this post, I've decided, is going to be about the best FPS games I've ever played.

The list is in no specific order, but the very best shooters I've ever played (apart from Wolf, obviously) are,

QUAKE III ARENA - 1999 - Conceived as primarily a multiplayer FPS, this amazing AMAZING game featured a single player mode which had bots as opponents in a campaign through all of the brilliant maps that it had. The graphics engine was way ahead of its time, and the high flying, space jumping, super awesome maps made killing hours of time at a stretch immensely fun. I still remember the brutal satisfaction you felt when you fragged Xaero from across the map with a rail gun. (If you haven't played it, Xaero was the hardest bot in the game... I hated him.)

HALF LIFE - 2001 - Generally regarded as the best FPS game ever made, this sci-fi extravaganza is one hell of a ride, through time, space and the Black Mesa project. This was the first game I ever played which had such a detailed, such an intricate, and highly interesting storyline...what would have made a great movie in fact.

Who wouldn't remember the first time they brought down an apache chopper with a machine gun! Gordon Freeman, the game's protagonist is a legend in gaming circles. Definitely one of my favorite games ever. It was relaunched as Half Life:Source, modified to fit into the source engine that valve created later, making it graphically a bit prettier. But kicks ass any day any how.

HALF LIFE 2 - 2004 - No one thought that Valve could match their previous effort when Half Life's sequel was announced, but Half Life 2 blew the world away.

An indicator as to how amazing this game really is, is that the first time I played this was in 2007, and it was still the best looking game I had ever played.

The story, the narration, the action, the setting, the mood...everything was PERFECT, to say nothing of the spectacular graphics. It's also one of the more frightening games that I've played, with the 'We don't go to Ravenholm' chapter especially intense. It's been awarded the 'Game of the Decade' by several gaming publications. If you haven't played it yet, I strongly suggest you do.

FAR CRY - 2004 - Crytek Studios was almost a completely unknown game developer before Far Cry came out in 2004. After 2004, Crytek Studios was widely regarded as one of the foremost game developers in the world. Far Cry is, only one word for it, epic...on an EPIC scale!

This game revolutionized the way developers would make FPS games in the future. The true predecessor of Crysis, this beautiful game puts you on a tropical island. With no idea where you are, or what this place is, you gradually uncover a very interesting plot, marked by amazingly intense fire fights, beautiful tropical settings, a completely open world with highly non-linear gameplay. This game too, is one that will give you the creeps if you play it with the lights off and the

volume up on high. This too, I played in 2007, a long time after it came out, but I could play it today, and it would remain the game I'd recommend the most.

It's sequel though, Far Cry 2, was a huge disappointment.

CALL OF DUTY 4:MODERN WARFARE - 2007 - Call of Duty was a World War 2 FPS franchise before Modern Warfare came out, and though that genre had its merits, it had become stale. So Infinity Ward, the developers, reinvented themselves and came out with an exceptionally brilliant game. Almost everyone I know, who's only even a marginal FPS player has played at least the single player campaign of COD4. The multi player though, oh my god the multi player mode in Modern Warfare is the best thing about it. So maddeningly addictive, my friends and I, on average, spend about 12 hours a week going crazy with LAN parties at my place. With a rather affecting story line, COD4 is definitely one of the best FPS games to play, if you have a marginally good computer system.

BLACK(PS2) - 2006 - The only exception in this list of PC FPS games, this one is only on the Playstation 2 and XBox. Criterion Games, the pioneer of the Burnout series went crazy with this tremendously fun and graphically beautiful console FPS. It did "for shooting what Burnout did for racing - tear it apart". The main pull of this game is that everything...EVERYTHING is destructible.

You shoot a wall hard enough, it'll crumble...you shoot an RPG at the base of a pillared building, the pillars will fall, as will the rest of the building. It's spectacular! The gun design is so amazingly cool, you'd play it just to fire a few of the weapons in the air.

This game deserved a mention, if only for how well it's designed. The campaign should have been longer, and the lack of multi player made it a short, but a very exhilarating ride.

CRYSIS - 2008 - Crysis is regarded as a preview of what FPS gaming will look like in a few years. If that's true, I'm excited. The true successor of Far Cry, Crytek Studios once again showed the world what their CryEngine technology is capable of. Way ahead of its time, in my opinion, Crysis' biggest strength, and

ironically its major weakness is that it requires one hell of a monster PC to run at full capacity.

This extremely steep hardware requirement has caused a large proportion of the gaming population to miss out on it initially. My core i7, 1 gig graphics and seemingly enough RAM do not stop this game from causing my processor to throttle like mad if I run it on the highest settings.

Again, open ended game play like Far Cry, make this a very addictive FPS.

Other honorable mentions must include - Call of Duty 6: Modern Warfare 2, Unreal Tournament 2004, Left 4 Dead, Battlefield: Bad Company 2...and some others which I don't really remember, but then that also means they don't deserve to be included.

This list, by no means complete, makes for probably the most nerdy nerd post I've ever put up, but I don't care.

I'm awaiting with baited breath the release of what I hope will be three amazing games that I'll have to add to my list soon... Crysis 2, Call of Duty 7: Black Ops and Medal of Honor.

I sincerely hope they turn out to be atleast half as good as some of the games I've mentioned above, which would still make them extraordinary.

"Rise and shine, Mr.Freeman. Rise...and shine."

My Rant

A post is long overdue.

And so an overdue post is long.

I choose the absolutely 'wrong' moments to update my blog. My exams start from Monday. But then, when

have I ever cared about exams starting on Monday?

Wisdom says I should be studying right now.

Wisdom can kiss my...

At least I'm honest.

People tell me that if I studied, I could be a great student.

Who wants to be a great student?

People say that this generation, and by association, I, am uninspired, and passionless...that their generation had a fire, a burning desire to achieve.

Good for you.

I recently made an effort to make someone's birthday special...someone I rather admire, a friend who I really care about. I planned and I planned, and I executed my plans. I was excited, and then-

Poof!

An unforeseen consequence of this, though, was that I managed to ruffle some feathers, with certain parties that perhaps have vested interests in the person who's birthday I had so naively tried to enrich. Perhaps...

Apparently my efforts were nothing compared to what this other person could have achieved, given the opportunity.

My naivete is ashamed of itself.

Seemingly, neither was a birthday enriched, nor were feathers left unruffled.

It's almost ten 'o' clock. I should either be studying, or going to sleep, in order to wake up early tomorrow morning and study.

If you haven't guessed by now, what this post is, is in fact my thoughts appearing on the screen as they pass through my head.

Yes.

My butt itches.

No, well that wasn't an actual thought.

Even the cartoon above is random...almost.

Okay, getting back to the 'subject', my mom just walked into my room, as usual without knocking...apparently I'm supposed to eat dinner now.

I don't want to.

Supposedly, I have to.

But I'm not really hungry.

Supposedly, I've developed a habit of only eating delicious restaurant food.

The key word here is delicious.

Supposedly, I have to eat.

I really don't care.

Supposedly, I have an attitude problem.

Now I've pissed her off. And my mom reads my blog.

So why am I typing all of this?

Supposedly, I can't stop!

Okay, back to the rant...People are such hypocrites!

I hate people...most people. My attitude towards the random passerby has changed from being neutral to slight dislike. I became aware of this fact only recently. Perhaps I'm becoming a pessimist.

I suppose that would be a nice change.

Okay, I'm bored now, as, I'm sure, are you.

I'm not exactly happy with the world right now.

Perhaps I had better go and watch an episode of 'friends' and cheer myself up.

A post is long overdue.

And so an overdue post is long.

It's always darkest before it turns pitch black.

-Paul Newman

So how do YOU disappoint your father?

No...that's not a rhetorical question.

I'm not thinking aloud, 'Hmmm...I wonder what I can do to disappoint my father...'

It's actually a question, I'm asking you, tell me how do YOU disappoint YOUR father?

I disappoint my own father in many ways. And boy does he rub it in sometimes...its frustrating, really.

Hmmm...Let's see...

Maybe I didn't fulfill his expectations with the college I managed to qualify to attend. But then, it's his own college too. Funnily enough, in the movies, fathers dream of the day their sons would manage to attend their own alma mater. But maybe Thapar University isn't the stuff dreams are made of.

Come to think of it, it's not.

And yet, I blame myself for this eventuality. I remember in class 11 and 12, I conjured up dreams and aspirations of those god-damned IITs, an amazing future in 'ENGINEERING!!!' was before me. But it turns out that in order to do that, you have to give up on life for a few years and cram for a test that is really the bastion of nerdy, rake-thin, bespectacled individuals...people I honestly detest. And I love life too much to give up on it even for a day, let alone two friggin years.

Which brings us to what is probably the next bone of contention.

How I choose to live my life...Let's come straight to it, I'm lazy, and I'm damn well proud of it. I watch more movies, read more books, listen to more music than half the nerdy nerd people I know in college...combined. Call me arrogant and I say screw you!

I come home from college and on a good day, manage to watch a movie, a few episodes of my favourite TV show, read a few chapters of a good book, listen to an hour of awesome online rock radio...all before I go to sleep at what is usually the ungodly hour( for the powers that be...at home) of about 2 am.

According to my father, what I should be doing instead is... (hold your breath) going to the gym, go swimming, spend a few hours studying (a laughable notion, i admit), eating at the family dining table, and then after studying a bit more, going to sleep at the normal (for the powers that be...at home) hour of 11 pm.

Lets set things straight right now...I like the way I've lived my life so far, I damn well love it. And I will continue to live it the way I like, love and want to!

So I will not stop watching a hell of a lot of movies...I will not stop reading and rereading my favourite books on my bed( when I could be...playing outside?)...and I will not start going to sleep before the next day begins.

I am not an 80 year old lady, I refuse to live my life like one. I refuse to have a routine.

If I'm a disappointment, I'm sorry, I never meant to be. But this is who I am, this is how I choose to live my life, this is how I will probably live the next few years of my life(until a great big life-changing experience befalls me)...I'm happy, and people who love me and care about me can either choose to be happy about the fact that I'm happy, or they can choose to be miserable and disappointed because they see me making horrible HORRIBLE mistakes.

I've got news, I don't give a rat's fart either way.

I have never doubted and never will doubt the fact that my father loves me very much. More than probably anyone else in the whole world loves me(doesn't include you, mom!).

But I do wish I could be trusted enough to make my own mistakes, learn my own lessons and live my own life.

But now I ask you again, tell me, how do YOU disappoint your father?

PS- the picture above is largely unrelated...i just really loved it...

Glory...

I'll admit this upfront, this article probably is a fanboy's unbelievably biased rant about his team's season. So if anyone of you is looking for a neutral...balanced take on the outcome of the EPL this time, you're in the wrong place.

I'll also admit this...that I did, infact, with every fibre of my being believe that Wigan would somehow find the strength and resilience to hold off Chelsea and afford us all a very strange, and a very romantic happy ending to the season, one where everyone gets what they deserve.

But sadly, no...

I remember in one of the season's first few matches, back in August last year, Rooney scored a brilliant goal, his first of the season, and for some reason I texted a friend of mine, 'He's finally out of Ronnie's shadow, this is wazza's season, I can feel it...'

It was something most of us reds felt then. I guess the mere collective mental suggestion of this idea turned Rooney's season into one of the most memorable, fun and brilliant personal campaigns ever. Better than Ronaldo's 42 of 07-08, for some reason.

I just have to recap...

Ok, so...this season,

THE BALLAD OF MICHAEL OWEN...he's been there for so long. Meandering, a spark here and there but no real fire. But then Sir Alex calls, and Michael Owen becomes Manchester United's last line of offence, so to speak. A sticky draw? Call Owen...and he SCOOOOORES!!!

NANI DELIVERS...he always had it. He always had that glint of audacity and brilliance. But this year, he finally came through and despite a few glitches in the beginning of the season, Nani is finally living up to his promise. A few cheeky cheeky chips, a few back heels, and he's a hero at Old Trafford...

RIGHT WING? VALENCIA!!! It was a heck of a gaping hole that Cristiano Ronaldo left in United's right wing, but around the beginning of October last year, something seemed to click with this young but rather hyped player called Antonio Valencia from Ecuador. And then for the next two months there was nothing to stop him from putting in cross after brilliant cross into the path of Wayne Rooney, who tapped, headed and at one time chested the ball into the net with much gratitude.

THEY DO NOT AGE AT OLD TRAFFORD...Season after brilliant season, Ryan Giggs seems to be a living testament to that fact. Giggs and Scholes, the Old Boys of Old Trafford defy time and continue to be living legends. Scholes especially seems to prefer the highest stages to excel, like the Manchester Derby, with 15 seconds remaining, the title race hanging in the balance and he's there!!

FRESHMEN Gibson, Diouf, Macheda and Obertan, shaky though they have seemed at times hold the promise of an emerging star in the next few seasons. I especially look forward to Obertan playing a few more games next season.

Ok, so I will say that we did not have the best of luck at times. Steven Gerrard, the iron man of Liverpool suddenly forgets where his keeper is, and poof goes the title race.

Ok, shit happens.

But 3 years in a row that trophy has rested at Old Trafford. May it hate it's stay at Stamford Bridge.

Here's to '10-'11.

GLORY GLORY MAN UNITED!

The Stock Exchange of Your Life

Ah, something to write after a looong time...

I think I just discovered a WHOLE new life philosophy for myself. It's probably something people have already thought up on their own, in their own lives, but here's my version of it.

Life is a stock exchange...

Yep...life's a marketplace, and do you know what the currency here is? Do you know what people trade with?

It's happiness.

Life is a stock exchange and every one of us...each and EVERY one of us is constantly investing our own happiness in each other.

Make new friends...you emotionally invest yourself in them.

Get closer to a friend...you're buying new stock.

Fall in love...you're looking to partake in a hostile takeover...which is unbelievably ironic.

Marry someone...you guessed it...merger.

But then, sometimes stocks crash...friendships are broken, lovers estranged...

Shit happens...

Sometimes, the whole market crashes, phew...And it's not a coincidence either that an economic downturn is called a 'depression'.

I'm quite the stock broker here, you know.

I'm not saying I'm any good at it, I'm just saying I do a lot of buying and selling. It's like I've had nothing else to do recently.

Many a stock I've bought has crashed...some have soared for a while, tempting me to invest more(which I invariably do), only to hit bottom like a skydiver with a problem.

That's not to say though, that I have not invested in the occasional gem, the return on which has constantly been overwhelming.

Some have shown promise for long periods of time, then suddenly died out.

As usual though, no naming names on this blog.

But now the reason for coming up with this wonderful analogy(yes it is!)...

I'm retiring my business...though almost certainly temporarily. For how long I'm going to close shop though, I don't know. Maybe I won't be able to resist too long, maybe I will.

But for now, for all intents and purposes, in this stock exchange I am no longer an active trader. I am done.

I'm taking my money out.

I tend to invest too heavily sometimes... invest in too many places sometimes, invest in the wrong place, sometimes...

Like I said, it's not like I'm any good at it. And it seems my depleted cache of capital is now unable to take any more hits, what with all these bad investments and such. The market hasn't been all that kind to me either recently, so let's take a little break I say.

Recharge...

There's blood on the floor at the stock exchange.

I am done.

"I wanna run through the

halls of my high school

I wanna scream at the

Top of my lungs

I just found out there's no such

thing as the real world

Just a lie you've got to rise above..."

Loafer in Go-getter-land

Dear avid reader(yes you...),

A little more than a week ago, contrary to - 1. my own better judgement, 2. my beliefs as a practicing loafer (see Loafers in Fellowship) and 3. my fellow loafers, I dared to venture into the territory of the legendary go-getters..!

Yes, it's true, what you read was not a trick of the light...I actually did it. I don't like to name names, so I won't tell you the exact nature of my 'go-getting adventure', but at this point it will suffice to say that my university is currently in the throes of a four day inter-year EXTRAVAGANZA(!!!), and like I said, I, contrary to my beliefs and those of my fellow loafers decided to jump in.

Well, it all began with that. And though this may baffle my avid reader(s?)(yes you...), but I enjoyed the first few days of this entirely new experience. Although admittedly, the scheduling of the 'preparations' rather disturbed my koala bear-like sleeping patterns. But it was mostly good, and I was feeling the excitement, much to the dismay of my colleagues in the Fellowship of Loafers.

Okay, so now the reason for this post...I am glad to report from my excursions into go-getter territory that I have finally solved the mystery of the 'go-getters'-excited-conversation...the spectacle we loafers usually see at various locations on campus, and by which we were previously baffled. I have ventured into the forbidden land and returned with the most precious thing of all...KNOWLEDGE!!!

For yes, avid reader(yes you...), I managed to get myself involved in one of these legendary 'arguments'!

Unbelievable, yes...but true all the same.

I must also report at this time, that yes, it is indeed quite a trippy experience- the build up...the suspense...the drama...the climax(!!!)...the aftermath...whew! I'm getting another adrenaline rush just thinking about it again.

In my pursuit of more go-getter knowledge, I managed to step on a lot of go-getter toes, and got myself into trouble in go-getter land. And thus was unleashed the fury of the go-getter on lil ol' me...During the unleashing(why not unleashment?) of this fury, at various points I was told what an idiot I was, and how unqualified I was for doing whatever I so naively set out to do...I was repeatedly told to watch my language(I had the audacity to say the s-word... shit... not suck...or sex...)...there was even a point where I was threatened with bodily harm(sob...whimper!), and I would not have been surprised if, had I stayed there longer, I would've received a death threat!

But alas! I had the good sense to decide then(around the time of the bodily harm threat), that it was time for me to prematurely abandon my trip into go-getter land, and return to the comfort and relative safety among my fellow loafers. I have come through this horrible HORRIBLE ordeal relatively unscathed, though I have learned much.

Now that I'm out though, I realize I had missed some of the comforts I took for granted before...being home for dinner, regular facebook, pointless internet surfing(instead of work-related googling)...the little things. Ah...

Maybe when I've re-gathered my frayed nerves in a month or two, I'll venture into the forbidden land again. Here's to the next time I fear for my life...

Yours faithfully,

Angad Singh

(Member Fellowship of Loafers)

Try not to mistake anger for animosity, and never mistake silence for weakness...for usually the weak man blows harder, and venom is shrouded in silence.

Loafers in Fellowship

People are busy.

People are planning.

People are strategizing.

And all this, while I, along with a close knit group of 'fellow loafers', watch them busily plan and strategize.

I'm talking about college, of course. All of my friends, except, of course for the 'fellow loafers' I mentioned, are up to something. And everything sounds so important too.

All this while I'm here, writing in my blog.

I'm bound to get an inferiority complex soon.

For example, there's this big thing called Saturnalia coming up in Thapar, and boy is the political atmosphere electric! Phew! There are factions, and my dear readers(yes, all 3 of you), they are a-fighting..! It's like the Godfather inside those menacing gates and I, for the life of me, can't figure out which side is the Corleone family.

There are kingmakers...coalitions...

Puppet governments even!

...

*sigh*

...

As I sit these days, with some select loafmates, in one of the many benches TU so benevolently provides for us(loafers in fellowship, yes), I see people standing in small groups, excitedly and animatedly discussing what seem to be critical and pressing matters(workshops, societies and the like...). I usually turn to my loafmates and say, "Why don't we ever get excited about something like that?"

And then usually, a particularly wise loafmate says, "But we do, young padawan, remember? LOST season 6 premieres this week!"

A loud and raucous exchange of guffaws, high-fives and back thumps follows, before we retreat into our sad and empty lives again, watching the good people in front of us carry on with their strategy discussions about critical issues.

It's discouraging really.

So please, all you go-getters of the world, slow down...slow down for us loafers. It's hardly our fault it's difficult for us to get excited about things the way you do.

But we do admire it so.

PS-My new favorite song this week is "Spin it around" by Puddle of Mudd...listen to it.

PPS- Lost did premiere this week, and it was AWE-S-O-M-E!!!

You're never alone with Blink 182

If there is one band that has always truly, albeit in a strange manner, captured the essence of all that is 'teen angst', it's Blink 182. They broke up a few years ago, although in all probability they've reunited and are coming out with a new album soon.

Sweet.

You know the feeling you get when you've had a not-so-awesome day, the feeling of certainty that no one can understand what you're going through. Believe me, there's a Blink song to fit your situation, there always is!

And it's not just sucky feeling songs either, sometimes when you're just sooo rushed, so unbelievably filled with positivity, Blink knows exactly what you're feeling.

I've only been really listening to their music for the last three or so years, but my god has it been an experience. I just got out of my bed, half asleep, because I've had my ear-phones in for the last two hours, going through their discography. And I finally realized what my new blog post should be.

STAY TOGETHER FOR THE KIDS

FEELING THIS

GOING AWAY TO COLLEGE

WHAT'S MY AGE AGAIN?

ADAM'S SONG

ALL THE SMALL THINGS

OBVIOUS

I MISS YOU

DOWN

THE FALLEN INTERLUDE

ALWAYS

ALL OF THIS

I'M LOST WITHOUT YOU

STORY OF A LONELY GUY

THE ROCK SHOW

EVERYTIME I LOOK FOR YOU

GIVE ME ONE GOOD REASON

SHUT UP

PLEASE TAKE ME HOME

DON'T TELL ME IT'S OVER

WHAT WENT WRONG

There are songs on that list you'll love, I'm sure there are some you'll hate, but that's just your opinion right now. Because see, you'll probably listen to one later, and maybe you'll relate to it, once you get past the loud punk blather and unrelenting bass that is Blink 182.

Viva La Vida

I created this blog a year and a half ago. I was about to enter into college, a new phase in my life. It was called something else then, and I published it under a pseudonym, don't ask me why.
I then abandoned it.
Hopefully it's back now, and hopefully I will continue to publish new posts, I have some ideas.
I was told recently that having a blog carries with it a certain...coolness. I didn't believe it then; I don't believe it now. In fact, I've always thought blogging was kind of lame, you have to be really sad to do it. But here I am now, in all my glory, blogging myself into sad lameness.

It's called Viva La Vida now.
Long live life. And yes, I did hear that phrase through Coldplay's album, and also yes, the picture behind the title does have a half naked lady on it...pervs.

Ok, if you're vella enough to have read this much, hope you check in again soon, when hopefully I've added something new.

Till then, take the poll on the home page...