Preparation A through G.

At last.

2008-03-17T22:57:00.006Z

Who is Benny Lava?

2007-10-15T11:41:00.000Z

Misheard lyrics Part 2.

I found this video on Melody's site here.

Hilarious.

O...kay

2007-04-18T13:47:00.001Z

This blog links to a funky desi Canadian ad for Doritos. Make sure you see the alternate endings as well.

If you scroll down to the bottom of the write-up, you'll see that the guy got dancing lessons from someone called 'Little Superstar.' Now I did not know who this guy was , but there seems to be a entire Little Superstar subculture that has spawned its own parodies.

Check it out. In a Rajnikant movie no less.

Now check out Ron Jeremy(!) in the video below. Though why Ron Jeremy, I have no idea.

Simply indispensable

2007-04-13T13:36:00.000Z

Both the people who read this blog have asked me why I haven't been blogging. No answer, apart from laziness, I guess....

Anyway, I hope to blog more regularly from now on... Plus the film reviews seem to be back at a new site, so some company for me ;-)

*** Warning: Geeky stuff ahead ***

One thing you may or may not notice is the longish 'Blogs I visit' column on the right has now been replaced by a single Netvibes button. I have been using Netvibes for about a year now, and it is a superb content aggregation tool. It aggregates RSS feeds (similar to Google Reader, Bloglines etc) but it also provides plugins (or widgets, which seems to be the fashionable word these days) for a variety of Internet apps such as Gmail, Yahoo mail, Ebay, Meebo, Flickr, Del.icio.us etc. So all the information you are interested in, pushed to you, on one web page, accessible wherever you go. And as is di rigeur with any internet service these days, it is a nice AJAXy, drag and drop UI. Very cool. Give it a shot.

Jack Bauer must die....

2006-11-06T16:01:00.000Z

Check this site out. from some pretty funny Jack Bauer 'facts'.

"Jack Bauer" is Arabic for "I'm f***ed".
Jack Bauer is the leading cause of death in Middle Eastern men.
Superman wears Jack Bauer pajamas.

and my favourite -

If Jack Bauer was in a room with Hitler, Stalin, and Nina Meyers, and he had a gun with 2 bullets, he'd shoot Nina twice.

Season 6 of 24 is due to be aired in Jan, and after last season's cliffhanger ending, I can't wait. Some minor spoilers in the video.

Repeated mentions of Jack being sacrficed (gasp!). Will Jack Bauer really die? Will Fox really kill off a series that won a a cluster of Emmies last season? I think not.

Update: A 10 minute teaser preview of Season 6 (or Day 6, as it is officially called) at Sky's site. http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid291708786

No spoilers for those who have been followign the story so far....

Chad overload!

2006-10-12T14:59:00.000Z

Episode 2 is excellent!

Episodes 3 and 4 are out as well - so much for keeping up with the zeitgeist.

and

Is it me, or is Chad starting to sound more and more like Arnie?

I am the K..K..K..King

2006-09-28T10:59:00.000Z

Saw the trailer on Youtube today.

Looks pretty darn slick. Chases, explosions, action pieces and gunplay set to a remixed 'Arey Deewanon...' instrumental. Nice work.

Of course, I share other's apprehensions about SRK's "interpretation" of the original Don. Just hearing him say 'Don ko pakadna mushkil hi nahin..." is cringe-inducing. Amitabh was uber-cool in the original, and I imagine SRK will try to outdo that. Indeed, the promos I have seen so far (and the trailer) show him swaggering around with tons of attitude.

Having said that, I have immense faith in Farhan as a director, so fingers crossed.

The trailer also shows a couple of new characters that I haven't seen earlier - Boman Irani in Iftekhar's role, and Om Puri in Om Shivpuri's (!) role. Oh... and Arjun Rampal in Pran's role. WTF?

While on this topic, the music of the new Don is pretty mediocre. I was expecting more from Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, and the only song on the soundtrack that really rocks is 'Aaj Ki Raat.' The Don theme is good, and 'Main Hoon Don' kind of grows on you. 'Yeh Mera Dil' sounds like a bad T-series remix though and 'Khaike Paan...' is marginally better, mostly because of the thumping bassline. Disappointing.

Incidentally, I remember hearing/reading about a fallout between the Bachchans and SRK - allegedly to do with Abhishek's growing popularity. Not sure what the story is these days, but Amitabh could nuke this film purely by orchestrating a re-release of the original Don this Diwali. Of course, this wouldn't do Abhishek and Farhan Akhtar any favours..... Just a thought.

Sidebar. Read Jabberwock's piece here on KANK for his take on the SRK - Karan Johar erm.... relationship. And a comment on this piece here is quite insightful...

At last we meet.....

2006-07-19T11:24:00.000Z

Another YouTube vid.

Very funny. Meet Chad Vader - lesser known brother of Darth.

Blast From The Past

2006-07-13T11:51:00.000Z

If you were a kid living in Bombay in the 80s, then this site is certain to strike a chord. References to Chacha Chaudhary, Champak, Giant Robot, Fusen Gum (!) and plenty more.

There is other stuff here as well: my personal favourites are the misheard lyrics animations here and here. ROTFL.

Check it out - you won't be disappointed.

Ramayana... Reloaded

2006-07-10T20:11:00.000Z

Apparently, Rajkumar Santoshi has announced that he plans to make a film based on the Ramayana.

On Star News today they had an SMS poll on for the best person to play Ram. The candidates were Ajay Devgan, Hrithik Roshan and Salman Khan. And they had expert opinions from er... the experts, namely Arshad Warsi and Irfan Khan (Were you expecting anyone else?) All this interspersed with cheesy footage from the Ramayana TV series.

In the space of a day, this is the second revival/remake of the Ramayana that I've heard of. The first is a set of comics (or graphic novels, if you will) launched by Virgin Comics, and created by Shekhar Kapoor and Deepak Chopra. Yes, that's right - that Deepak Chopra. Perhaps brought in to give Ram a new-age sensitive feel.

The artwork looks stunning though.

Virgin Comics are launching other lines as well - most notably a Lara Croft-esque desi heroine, called Devi, dressed in PVC and looking diabolically divine..

You can get a sneak preview here.

Check out the brooding, angst-ridden Inspector Rahul, dressed like Sam Spade, but no one told him the action had shifted to Sitapur in India.

While on the topic of the Ramayana, Ashok Banker was arguably the first person who started this revival, and you could do a lot worse than read his supremely written modern re-telling of the epic.

KANK Trailer

2006-07-07T09:34:00.000Z

Most of you may know that KANK, or Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna for those of us who just don't get this damn acronymisation of Hindi film names, is the new Karan Johar flick out sometime this year.

Happened to watch the trailer on YouTube a while back.

It is obviously a slickly packaged product and has Yashraj written all over it - right from the opening shots of autumn leaves in the wind to the rising dramatic background score. This film is also, if Karan Johar is to be believed, "different" to Karan's previous offerings as it is "me all grown up." Rumour also has it that this film is based on 'Closer.' The question I have is - who's playing the stripper?

I digress.

Back to the trailer.

There is a bit where Abhishek Bachchan gets angry because Rani refuses to sleep with him. Rani tries to tell him that a marriage doesn't mean sharing a bed, it means sharing life. The trailer doesn't show Abhishek's reaction after this, but I'm sure he goes 'Oh, so that's where I was going wrong all this time,' and then goes off to do some housework. Understanding fella and all.

Then about a minute and a bit into the trailer, SRK comes on. "In this house, the only thing that's a bigger failure than I am is our marriage," he says, loftily arching his eyebrows. I say. This is SRK trying to underplay, and he does it pretty badly.

I think Ashutosh Gowariker was reasonably successful in repressing his personality in Swades, but in every other role, he is the same person on screen i.e. SRK.

I used to think being in the position that he is, he should maybe experiment a little more. And no, I don't mean grow a moustache. But now I think he just doesn't know how to do a film which doesn't require him to stand with his arms wide open. Or run in slo-mo.

Anyway.

The second thing that got me in the trailer was an Amitabh shot. He's in a hospital bed mouthing 'mohabbat aur maut, dono bin bulaye mehmaan hain." Instead of bringing a tear to the eye, as I'm sure Karan Johar intended, this scene reminded me of an old email that someone had once sent me entitled 'jeevan ki suktiyan', one of which 'sukti' was 'maut aur tatti, kabhi bhi aa sakte hain.' ROTFLMAO!!!

Having said all that, I'm sure the movie will be a mega success, and I'll probably end up watching it as well.

And I'm also sure I'll get loads of flames for criticising The Khan. (Ed: You wish - if there was any traffic at all to this site.) Bring it on.

A fine line between inspiration and plagiarism...

2006-07-06T21:45:00.000Z

.... and I'm sure Bappi-da and Anu Malik would agree with me.

Take this for an example.

"Don't phunk with my heart" is a very catchy tune by The Black Eyed Peas (who I quite like, btw.)

The opening riff is very familiar, but of course it would be - very straight-forwardly "inspired by" "Yeh mera Dil, Pyar ka Deewana" - that awesome Helen number from Don.

I knew that.

What I didn't know is that The Peas have also lifted the rest of the song from other sources (Shock! Horror!)

The website Pardonmyhindi.com has an article called "Dont Phunk with Kalyanji/Anandji".

The Peas' phunky thievery doesn't end there. The group also snatched lyrics from "I Wonder If I Take You Home," a 1985 hit by Lisa Lisa and the Cult Jam

Moreover -

Maybe the Peas were having a bout of writer's block, so they grabbed a rhythm and melody from the soundtrack to the film "Apradh."

Grabbed indeed. The song is called "Ae naujawan sab kuchh yahan". You can listen to a sample of the song here at the bottom of this page here.

When contacted for comment (not by me), they said (not to me) -

"We fused Lisa Lisa with Bollywood and Miami bass [on "Don't Phunk"] So that's a whole new, different sound."

Hmmph! At least think of an original comment - this sounds uncannily like Anu "Oonchi Hai Building" Malik.

Incidentally, The Peas have done it before. Old news perhaps, but on their first album Elephunk, they "grabbed" an Illayaraja number and "fused" it with some hip-hop beats and called it The Elephunk Theme. While it sounds quite good, I must admit I don't know if Illayaraja has been credited on the album or not.

Go here and listen to both songs.

Btw, pardonmyhindi has a cool T-shirt of Kalyanji/Anandji here. Quite cool in a post-ironic desi retro chic kind of way. Or something like that anyway.

France are through...

2006-07-06T21:43:00.000Z

...beating Portugal 1-0.

Scolari is not a happy camper.

Ricardo, the nemesis of English strikers, finally fails to save a goal, but then again this time the striker was Zidane.

The English must be experiencing mixed emotions - happy that Portugal is out, but beaten by..... France??

Incidentally, read here that the Enlgish are boycotting holidays in Portugal.

England fans seeking solace from their World Cup woes are shunning Portugal as a holiday destination after the national squad knocked England out of the tournament, travel agents said on Tuesday.

Hmm... I bet the Portuguese are disappointed by this reaction. Damn! No more English tourists getting drunk, throwing up in the middle of the street, and generally making asses of themselves? That's a bummer! Can we have a re-match please?

Read here that some enterprising person had put Cristiano Ronaldo up on Ebay. The entry read "One Ex Manchester united Player (Cheat)"
Ebay have taken it off now, but bidding had reached £10K at one stage...

Also read this about rumours of a vote-rigging campaign to prevent C. Ronaldo from winning the FIFA Best Young Player Award.

PS. I posted this last night but it didn't show up, problem with Blogger I expect...

Hmm.....

2006-07-05T14:12:00.000Z

Did you ever think that the comics you'd read during your childhood had various sub-texts? Or are we just too cynical these days? Either way, this is pretty funny...

Too many good ones to mention here, but try this, this and this.

Courtesy: Jabberwock's blog here.

In fact, the entire site is quite funny. Check it out.

And the Oscar goes to....

2006-07-05T13:06:00.000Z

...someone else, because this is so darn awful.

Hard to believe they still make movies like this.

Hilarious. NTR's son, in case you were wondering.

Courtesy: Amit Varma's blog here.

Hyde Park Calling 2 July 2006

2006-07-05T11:34:00.000Z

Finally the day.

Second day of Hyde Park Calling. A mouth-watering line-up -
1. Ocean Colour Scene. Quite an under-rated band, with a classic 90's brit-pop sound (whatever *that* is).
2. The Zutons. My new favourite. They absolutely rock.
3. Razorlight. Hadn't listened to them much before the show, apart from the songs that they play on the radio.
4. The Who. Of course. This is what we shelled our money out for.

In that order. There was another group which opened, but we missed it as we were at The Carpenters Arms, erm...preparing ourselves for the day :-) And there was another stage where Primal Scream was headlining with some other bands, but we didn't venture there.

How was it?

Pretty &%$*ing amazing is how it was. The music just kept getting better and better as the day went on.

OCS were good. The Zutons (Did I tell ya I love them) and Razorlight were amazing.

And then The Who came on.

The combined age of this band is probably equal to the combined age of the previous two bands, but in terms of sheer energy and performance, in the words of my dear friend Maithu, they made the others look like they were out for a gentle amble in the park. Roger Daltrey belting it out (and he's still got the lungs for it), Pete Townshend windmilling at every given (or not) opportunity, truly an amazing sight.

No broken guitars, unfortunately - I've heard that Pete's given that up. No explosions as well, Keith Moon being dead and all. Yeah, I know - bad taste.

The play list AFAIR:

I can't explain
The seeker
Anyway, anyhow, anywhere
Who are you
Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere
Who are you?
Bargain
Behind blue eyes
Drowned
Baba O'riley
Reign O'er me
The kids are alright
My Generation
Won't get fooled again

I'm sure I've forgotten a couple of songs.

They came back for their encore, and I and Maithu were wondering what they'd play next. They hadn't played Pinball Wizard yet, and there were murmurs of 'Magic Bus' around us. Finally, they played
Substitute,
Pinball Wizard
See me, feel me

The visuals were mesmerising as well. For 'Who Are You?' they showed a speeded-up b/w video taken from the front of a train so all you can are tracks and the countryside rushing by at great speed. And the song ends when the train reachs its destination and the passengers disembark. Gimmicky maybe, but it worked very well.

Click here for more pictures of this event.

All in all, Total paisa vasool!

They are streaming their concert footage here.

And when you're there, look out for us. After 'Who Are You?' and after Pete says 'You guys are younger than us' there is a crowd shot. In the upper right of the frame, you can see Maithu in his orange t-shirt.

Next to him, if you look closely, you can see about half my face.

Our claim to fame.