Knight & Day

Image source - Wikipedia

Jolly good fun!

Good chemistry between Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz.

Tom Cruise is Roy Miller a rogue CIA agent who holds a zephyr a pocket-sized battery that can power an entire city!

He meets June (Diaz) a car modelling expert on her way to her sister's wedding and uses her to get the zephyr passed through the checking counter at the airport.

The movie has its share of twists, chases, humour, shoot-outs and is shot in Austria, Germany and Mexico.

Roy and June are chased by CIA agents, the police and an assassin hired by a Mexican weapons dealer. Watch the movie to find out how Roy outwits everyone.

Rating - 2.5 stars.

Chennai Super Kings are the Champions

Many considered the crowning of Chennai Super Kings as IPL-3 champions to be a fluke.
Dhoni has proved his critics to be wrong by leading his team to victory in the Champions League in South Africa.

Murali Vijay, Bollinger, Michel Hussey, Raina, Ashwin and Muralitharan have been instrumental in CSK's success. Obviously getting a place in Group-A was an added bonus with the weaker teams from Sri Lanka and New Zealand being present in it.

There was heart break in the match against Victoria, which CSK lost in the Superover. A remarkable victory defending a meagre total in the last group match against the warriors moved CSK into the semifinals. A rain curtailed semi against Royal Challengers Bangalore was made memorable as Suresh Raina went all hammer and tongs against the RCB bowlers. An injury to Dale Steyn while attempting a catch and a top-order batting failure 13/4 brought CSK into the finals.

Disciplined bowling and excellent fielding resulted in CSK defeating the South African Warriors. All-in-all a great performance by the men in yellow. The next edition of IPL with two more teams will see many members moving to other teams. This victory should boost Dhoni's confidence and help him face the Australians in the home series that will start in a few days.

As the theme song goes Dhoni Chennai Super Kings kku Whistle Podu

Prince of Persia

Image source-Internet

Jake Gyllenhal goes into six-pack mode and comes out as a convincing Prince Dastan. The boy who was picked from the streets of Persia and became a prince. The movie is based on one of the most successful video games of all time and has excellent production values.

The story is about the King of Persia who is poisoned and killed by his brother Nizam played by Ben Kingsley. Dastan is falsely accused of killing the king and is chased by the rightful sons of the king Tus and Garvis.

How Dastan proves his innoccence is linked with a magical dagger, which allows its holder to control time. The dagger is safeguarded Princess Tamina played by Gema Arterton. The chemistry between Dastan and Tamina is forced but has its share of laughs. There is a slavetrader and his faithful African slave as a side-plot.

Great timepass but not an adventure of epic proportions. The biggest problem is how does a supposed Persian speak with a prim and proper British accent:) Children will enjoy the movie.

I am still waiting to see Inception.

Hope to see it soon.

The CWG - A Mess beyond Redemption

All this while when corruption was rampant, the general public had no other choice but suffer. Years of being left disappointed has brought in a stoic calm to the psyche of the common Indian when it comes to politicians and bureaucrats.

The Commonwealth Games in comparison is a national spectacle of great proportions. What was to be India's moment of pride in replicating China's successful Olympic Games has ended up in a matter of shame for the country.

Everyday there are reports about a ceiling falling down, roads in bad condition, uninhabitable residences for players, the list goes on. When the CWG scam came to the spotlight the news that caught my attention was "Toilet Paper Scam". Apparently each roll of toilet paper was purchased for Rs. 4000. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Scams for the purchase of treadmills, toiler cleaners, there is a whole list. Everyone has a share in the pie.

Things are moving on at breakneck speed and at the eleventh hour our PM Manmohan Singh is leading the operations. I hope for the sake of the country that things are put in place. Already top athletes have pulled out citing various reasons. I guess in an unfair sense it will give an option for lesser known athletes and players to reach the podium and win medals.

Once the games end a thorough investigation regarding the financial irregularities concerning CWG should be conducted and the guilty should be punished. But knowing the way how things work in our great land it will be one long case with hearings and additional hearings, cases getting transferred, one more mess the judicial system of which I will blog later.

As of now I hope the CWG goes on smoothly and that there are no terrorist attacks. Security has been lax as shown by some Australian journalists who went about with semi-explosives without being questioned.

As they say - "May the games begin" and punish the guilty in the Organising Committee.

Back on Track

Thankfully the break was short.

Life is back on track and I am at work.

God has been kind and merciful in answering my prayers.

Now I need to work with patience and stick to this job.

On Staying at Home

What does one say?
When people ask you,
Hey aren't you leaving yet?

How do I tell them,
I'm jobless at the moment.
Dusting all my books,
My music and movie collection.

I get endless calls a day.
Some from HR personnel,
Some from friends,
And some from relatives.
Sympathetic folks, angry folks, folks who say!

You deserved it!
I always told you don't quit SFY!
Another chap says "Man, you shouldn't have refused those KPO offers!
It's the curse of that angry HR bloke.
Well reasons may be many, excuses even more.
What to do?

Helping mom wash and cook and clean the house.
Updating my resume across job portals.
Shooting e-mails to companies across the country.
Life goes on at its own pace.
So folks till something worth posting comes up!
Or till I find something I love,
Or well if I find someone to love!

Well that was cheeky:)

It's ADIEU!

One more chapter closes

Life is falling in to a strange routine, where in every six to seven months, I join a new firm, make friends, and then am forced to say adieu.

So the quest begins all over again.

Don't know how I am going to manage.

Very very scary future.

SALT

Tom Cruise missed a chance to belt out a blockbuster. Yes, the role portrayed by Angelina Jolie in SALT was originally written for Tom Cruise.

The story is about how a section of Russia's KGB trains children to become spies and sends them to the U.S. In addition, to children they also replace American adults with look-alike Russian spies.

Angelina plays a CIA agent Evelyn Salt who is accused of planning to assassinate the American President. This info is provided by a Russian defector. How Evelyn goes about escaping from the CIA and proves her innocence forms the crux of the story.

Chases, shoot-outs, plot-twists; it's all there.

The climax proves that there is room for a sequel and SALT might well end up becoming a franchise like the Mission Impossible series.

With Knight & Day tanking at the U.S. box-office, Tom Cruise might be regretting his decision of skipping SALT.