Richard Gere and Winonna Ryder star in this sadly ending romance.
A womanizer crossing generations of gullible ladies, Will's life is rampant with instantaneous pleasures and constant breakups from boredom. During one such breakup, he catches sight of a young girl and sees her again in his restaurant on her birthday. He finds out that she is the daughter of a girl he once used to date and she, Charlotte is explicitly abashed by his attentions towards her.
Making up an excuse about being stood up, Will asks her to be his date, ending the night with her in his bed. He also finds out she is terminally ill. Charlotte takes the dating seriously, while Will fulfills his desire with another woman during a Halloween party. Charlotte breaks up, but both are uncontrollably in love with each other. Will gets back with Charlotte, a changed man.
The rest of the movie shows sweet and sad moments between the two with Charlotte leaving the world for a better place, in the end.
As much as these movies could become a tear jerker, it teaches how important every moment of life is and how it should be spent. Inspirational and touching, the movie is good watch for those seeking some perspective. Certainly I did :).
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Saturday, August 23, 2008
mugavari
Starring Ajith Kumar and Jyothika in the lead role, the movie is about a musically gifted young man, trying to make it big in the cinema industry. His family supports his decision for a long time inspite of the difficulties. Along the way, he also finds love. For a long time, he tries hard to make it to success but is unable to. Along the way, his girlfriend’s father asks him to choose between music and his love and with much pain and reluctance, he gives up his love. But eventually he is forced to give up the music because of his family.
The movie was an interesting subject based on family ties. Nothing seemed too outlandish, although the music could have been better considering it was about a man making it big in the music industry. Jyothika, as usual, stunned with her overacting, but Ajith carried out the role of the pained, ambitious youth well. Good movie to watch with family, but fast forward the songs.
The movie was an interesting subject based on family ties. Nothing seemed too outlandish, although the music could have been better considering it was about a man making it big in the music industry. Jyothika, as usual, stunned with her overacting, but Ajith carried out the role of the pained, ambitious youth well. Good movie to watch with family, but fast forward the songs.
Mona Lisa Smile
Starring Julia Roberts in the role of Ms Watson, a revolutionary single woman (unheard in those days) trying to make a difference in the life of a traditional school.
Ms Watson is a single woman, who has refused offers of marriage to better herself and to make a change in the life of the women in the society. She receives an invitation to teach at a prestigious institution and accepts it. Daunted on the first day, she catches up with the rhythm of the school and becomes dear to many students, except one. Her arguments, discussions and advice falls on her deaf ears, but the student feels it, when calamity hits her life.
With the rigourous change brought about in the course outline, the school decides to oust Ms Watson and the teacher sees the difference and change she has brought about in the faces and eagerness of her students on the last day.
A good movie to watch – although it seemed like a typical chic flick, it covered other aspects and emotions of the era and society as well.
Ms Watson is a single woman, who has refused offers of marriage to better herself and to make a change in the life of the women in the society. She receives an invitation to teach at a prestigious institution and accepts it. Daunted on the first day, she catches up with the rhythm of the school and becomes dear to many students, except one. Her arguments, discussions and advice falls on her deaf ears, but the student feels it, when calamity hits her life.
With the rigourous change brought about in the course outline, the school decides to oust Ms Watson and the teacher sees the difference and change she has brought about in the faces and eagerness of her students on the last day.
A good movie to watch – although it seemed like a typical chic flick, it covered other aspects and emotions of the era and society as well.
Mamma Mia
Adapted with music by ABBA, the story was of a girl finding her father amidst three possible choices. Her reckless mother in youth dates three men around the same time and gets pregnant. Finding her mother’s diary, she invites all the three possible men to her wedding. After an explosive and emotional reunion, the men stay for the wedding, which never happens. In the end, one of the men proposes and her mother accepts.
Starring Meryl Streep, Colin Firth, Pierce Brosnan and others, the cast was huge and the music was great, yet the movie failed to make no impression on the audience, except the remade songs, inserted at the appropriate moments in the movie. A tolerable movie for ABBA fans but the others can pass it.
Starring Meryl Streep, Colin Firth, Pierce Brosnan and others, the cast was huge and the music was great, yet the movie failed to make no impression on the audience, except the remade songs, inserted at the appropriate moments in the movie. A tolerable movie for ABBA fans but the others can pass it.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
The Mummy 3
Here was the much awaited sequel of the Mummy and the Mummy Returns. The disappointment was in proportion to the hype and enjoyment that the prequels had.
Brendan Fraser, Maria Bello, Jet Li and others came together in this movie to portray the return of the mummy of the Dragon king, who was cursed by a witch, whom he double crossed.
O’Connor’s son, Alex, follows in his parents steps in finding and excavating the tomb site. He meets with some obstacles, but succeeds in finding the emperor. The financier of the excavation project is a Chinese general obsessed to bring back the Dragon king’s regime for the betterment of China. In spite of their efforts, Dragon king is brought back and seeks immortality. The O’Connors with Lin (daughter of the witch) and her mother, try to prevent him, but are unsuccessful. Now the Dragon king is invincible save a dagger, which will kill him if pierced through his heart.
After a battle of decomposing soldiers and victims and fight between the O’Connors and the Dragon King, he is finally sent to afterlife and the movie closes with some frivolity at Imhoteps, Jonathan’s bar in Shanghai.
The scenes were well made – good use of realistic and computer generated images. The camera, lighting and technical aspects were all good – except the coherence of the story. The jokes and punch lines were clichés from the older movies and were too overused to get laughter from the audience, especially someone who has watched the movies many times, to a point where they could recall jokes, etc.
A movie OK to skip, except for die-hard movie fans, but even for them, it might kill the appetite for more ‘Mummy’ fun.
Brendan Fraser, Maria Bello, Jet Li and others came together in this movie to portray the return of the mummy of the Dragon king, who was cursed by a witch, whom he double crossed.
O’Connor’s son, Alex, follows in his parents steps in finding and excavating the tomb site. He meets with some obstacles, but succeeds in finding the emperor. The financier of the excavation project is a Chinese general obsessed to bring back the Dragon king’s regime for the betterment of China. In spite of their efforts, Dragon king is brought back and seeks immortality. The O’Connors with Lin (daughter of the witch) and her mother, try to prevent him, but are unsuccessful. Now the Dragon king is invincible save a dagger, which will kill him if pierced through his heart.
After a battle of decomposing soldiers and victims and fight between the O’Connors and the Dragon King, he is finally sent to afterlife and the movie closes with some frivolity at Imhoteps, Jonathan’s bar in Shanghai.
The scenes were well made – good use of realistic and computer generated images. The camera, lighting and technical aspects were all good – except the coherence of the story. The jokes and punch lines were clichés from the older movies and were too overused to get laughter from the audience, especially someone who has watched the movies many times, to a point where they could recall jokes, etc.
A movie OK to skip, except for die-hard movie fans, but even for them, it might kill the appetite for more ‘Mummy’ fun.
Monday, July 21, 2008
dasavathaaram
The much awaited magnum opus of Kamal and Ravikumar is finally here. Starring in 10 different roles with varying depths and backgrounds, Kamal has truly shown his versatility in acting and portrayal. Although some of the roles could have been avoided to lower the number of avatars, the movie didn’t seem disjointed or in bits – which is commendable.
The movie starts off with the old feud between the two prominent lines of worship in Hinduism – Shaivism and Vaishnavism. Here, a devout Vaishnavite, Rangarajan Nambi, is cruelly killed, by a Shaivaite king, as Vishnu is ousted from the temple, and his wife loses her life on the same shores that her husband loses his.
Moving into the new millennium, Dr. Govind is a leading scientist in synthetic biotechnology, who is against his boss to sell a harmful microbial for money to immoral people. Meanwhile, the entire research unit witnesses the harmful effects of the microbial as an accident happens to one of the lab monkeys. Knowing that his boss has been bought, Govind tries to remove the vial himself and succeeds to escape to his friend’s house, whose wife is Japanese.
He is pursued by an ex-CIA trained killer, Christian Fletcher, from who he escapes, but his friends die in a bomb blast. While escaping, he meets his friend, who is about to mail his packages to India, and in a mix up, the vial (which was also in a packet similar to the mailings) is switched with one of the packets. As he tries to convince the company to stop the mail from going out, he spots Fletcher and in his escape gets packed into one of the mail delivery containers and is transported to India. Meanwhile, Fletcher ‘marries’ a club girl fluent in Tamil and follows Govind to India.
The brother of the Japanese girl who dies is informed of her death and he pursues Govind after knowing he is responsible for her death.
George Bush gets updated on this loss of biotechnology and after much ‘discussions’ decides on going to India to fix this issue.
In India, Govind is met by Balram Naidu, a local official, who is put in charge of his case. As Naidu is trying to interrogate Govind, he is forced by his superior to welcome the agents from America, who have followed Fletcher to India. As Naidu leaves, the Fletchers enter the room posing as agents. After a couple casualties, Govind leaves with the Fletchers at gunpoint with a local policeman.
As they are trying to leave, the arrival of a pop singer, Avtar Singh, catches the attention of the local crowd. He ends up coughing out blood and in heed of his safety, the gate to Fletcher and his hostages is left unguarded. The group leaves in the mayhem.
Along the way to discovering the vial, the group meets with an accident where the policeman gets badly injured. As a deal, Govind sends the policeman to get help and escapes from Fletcher.
Meanwhile, Naidu is collaborating with the real agents from the U.S. He finds out that Fletcher has been to the local despatch office and destroyed all records, save one. Using the despatch list, he starts to send his officials to watch each delivery.
Govind heads to the location where his package was being sent to – Azhagiya Singar madam – which is a devotional group practising Vaishnavism. The package is sent to an old woman, Krishnaveni, who is slightly deranged, since her son died in U.S. She is very stubborn and refuses and give up her package. Here is where Govind meets a beautiful devotee called Andal, who also lives in the same house.
Naidu’s agents inform him about Govind and the package, and Naidu starts to hurry to the location. Fletcher also finds the location and keeps an eye on Govind. Meanwhile, a religious procession of Vishnu passes by in the street and Krishaveni insists on ‘asking’ her God before giving up the vial. Instead of bringing it back, she drops it off in the idol. Panicking, Govind tries to get it back but his efforts are thwarted by the rest in the procession. Getting the idea, the Fletchers try to get it as well, when the sirens stop them. To distract, Fletcher distracts one of the temple elephants in the procession and mayhem ensues. Govind escapes with the idol, but Andal persists in following him and go along with him.
For the rest of the movie, they keep trying to shake off Fletcher. Along the way, a tall muslim man is introduced as part of a family in an accident. A Dalit protesting against soil erosion are also introduced. Although these two characters weren’t entirely a part of the chase, they provided the distractions that Govind needed to escape Fletcher. The Japanese brother also understands that Govind is innocent and helps him out.
The antidote if the vial breaks out would be loads of NaCl – which is salt and using this concept, the movie tried to create a situation for one of the most horrific, unexpected tsunamis that hit South East Asia.
An interesting movie – definitely covered all the ground and without many bloopers. Considering the number of characters and expanse of the plot, the feat was amazing and kudos to Kamal for coming up with a great storyline. But certainly, some of the characters could have been better woven with the story to keep it together, though one can’t expect everything to be perfect. Definitely worth the watch.
So the 10 avatars were: Rangarajan Nambi, Dr. Govind, Christian Fletcher, Balram Naidu, Krishnaveni, Avtar Singh, the Japanese brother, the tall Muslim boy, the Dalit and George Bush.
The movie starts off with the old feud between the two prominent lines of worship in Hinduism – Shaivism and Vaishnavism. Here, a devout Vaishnavite, Rangarajan Nambi, is cruelly killed, by a Shaivaite king, as Vishnu is ousted from the temple, and his wife loses her life on the same shores that her husband loses his.
Moving into the new millennium, Dr. Govind is a leading scientist in synthetic biotechnology, who is against his boss to sell a harmful microbial for money to immoral people. Meanwhile, the entire research unit witnesses the harmful effects of the microbial as an accident happens to one of the lab monkeys. Knowing that his boss has been bought, Govind tries to remove the vial himself and succeeds to escape to his friend’s house, whose wife is Japanese.
He is pursued by an ex-CIA trained killer, Christian Fletcher, from who he escapes, but his friends die in a bomb blast. While escaping, he meets his friend, who is about to mail his packages to India, and in a mix up, the vial (which was also in a packet similar to the mailings) is switched with one of the packets. As he tries to convince the company to stop the mail from going out, he spots Fletcher and in his escape gets packed into one of the mail delivery containers and is transported to India. Meanwhile, Fletcher ‘marries’ a club girl fluent in Tamil and follows Govind to India.
The brother of the Japanese girl who dies is informed of her death and he pursues Govind after knowing he is responsible for her death.
George Bush gets updated on this loss of biotechnology and after much ‘discussions’ decides on going to India to fix this issue.
In India, Govind is met by Balram Naidu, a local official, who is put in charge of his case. As Naidu is trying to interrogate Govind, he is forced by his superior to welcome the agents from America, who have followed Fletcher to India. As Naidu leaves, the Fletchers enter the room posing as agents. After a couple casualties, Govind leaves with the Fletchers at gunpoint with a local policeman.
As they are trying to leave, the arrival of a pop singer, Avtar Singh, catches the attention of the local crowd. He ends up coughing out blood and in heed of his safety, the gate to Fletcher and his hostages is left unguarded. The group leaves in the mayhem.
Along the way to discovering the vial, the group meets with an accident where the policeman gets badly injured. As a deal, Govind sends the policeman to get help and escapes from Fletcher.
Meanwhile, Naidu is collaborating with the real agents from the U.S. He finds out that Fletcher has been to the local despatch office and destroyed all records, save one. Using the despatch list, he starts to send his officials to watch each delivery.
Govind heads to the location where his package was being sent to – Azhagiya Singar madam – which is a devotional group practising Vaishnavism. The package is sent to an old woman, Krishnaveni, who is slightly deranged, since her son died in U.S. She is very stubborn and refuses and give up her package. Here is where Govind meets a beautiful devotee called Andal, who also lives in the same house.
Naidu’s agents inform him about Govind and the package, and Naidu starts to hurry to the location. Fletcher also finds the location and keeps an eye on Govind. Meanwhile, a religious procession of Vishnu passes by in the street and Krishaveni insists on ‘asking’ her God before giving up the vial. Instead of bringing it back, she drops it off in the idol. Panicking, Govind tries to get it back but his efforts are thwarted by the rest in the procession. Getting the idea, the Fletchers try to get it as well, when the sirens stop them. To distract, Fletcher distracts one of the temple elephants in the procession and mayhem ensues. Govind escapes with the idol, but Andal persists in following him and go along with him.
For the rest of the movie, they keep trying to shake off Fletcher. Along the way, a tall muslim man is introduced as part of a family in an accident. A Dalit protesting against soil erosion are also introduced. Although these two characters weren’t entirely a part of the chase, they provided the distractions that Govind needed to escape Fletcher. The Japanese brother also understands that Govind is innocent and helps him out.
The antidote if the vial breaks out would be loads of NaCl – which is salt and using this concept, the movie tried to create a situation for one of the most horrific, unexpected tsunamis that hit South East Asia.
An interesting movie – definitely covered all the ground and without many bloopers. Considering the number of characters and expanse of the plot, the feat was amazing and kudos to Kamal for coming up with a great storyline. But certainly, some of the characters could have been better woven with the story to keep it together, though one can’t expect everything to be perfect. Definitely worth the watch.
So the 10 avatars were: Rangarajan Nambi, Dr. Govind, Christian Fletcher, Balram Naidu, Krishnaveni, Avtar Singh, the Japanese brother, the tall Muslim boy, the Dalit and George Bush.
I am Legend
Starring Will Smith, this was probably one of the most thought provoking scary movie I had seen in recent times. Will Smith is a lone survivor after a cancer vaccination gone wrong. The rest of the people had been vaccinated or infected by each other to live an existence of a wild brute, that were afraid of the dark and thrived on violent and propagation of their own disease.
Smith lived with his dog and conducted experiments to find the cure, in which he was unsuccessful so far. He would go on a hunt everyday to find supplies to survive. From time to time, his past will be shown.
After the discovery of a cure for cancer, vaccination for cancer became popular and everyone started to get it. However, the strain started developing other kinds of symptoms and people started getting more aggressive and violent and started losing their sanity.
During one of his hunts, he loses his dog to the savages and becomes desperate to kill himself and get a revenge, but gets knocked out and saved by a woman and a boy. Shocked to find another and refusing to believe that there is a safe human camp away from the island, he tries to fight away the savages, who are now on his trail, since his saviours forgot to clean off their scent.
In the last few moments, he finds out that one of his experiments was successful and he sends this cure with the woman and boy, while he dies in a blast. The movie ends with the woman and the boy reaching the ‘promised land’.
An interesting movie and thought, but it was scary to think what would happen, if indeed all that was true. Our society is very interested in having vaccines for every possible disease and do not hesitate in introducing viral strands in us, for example, with the flu. Either way, a good movie to watch.
Smith lived with his dog and conducted experiments to find the cure, in which he was unsuccessful so far. He would go on a hunt everyday to find supplies to survive. From time to time, his past will be shown.
After the discovery of a cure for cancer, vaccination for cancer became popular and everyone started to get it. However, the strain started developing other kinds of symptoms and people started getting more aggressive and violent and started losing their sanity.
During one of his hunts, he loses his dog to the savages and becomes desperate to kill himself and get a revenge, but gets knocked out and saved by a woman and a boy. Shocked to find another and refusing to believe that there is a safe human camp away from the island, he tries to fight away the savages, who are now on his trail, since his saviours forgot to clean off their scent.
In the last few moments, he finds out that one of his experiments was successful and he sends this cure with the woman and boy, while he dies in a blast. The movie ends with the woman and the boy reaching the ‘promised land’.
An interesting movie and thought, but it was scary to think what would happen, if indeed all that was true. Our society is very interested in having vaccines for every possible disease and do not hesitate in introducing viral strands in us, for example, with the flu. Either way, a good movie to watch.
Wall-E
Wall-E is the story of the compressing robot left behind by humans centuries ago to ‘clean up’ the Earth. He shows many anthropic qualities, in being able to trinkets, keep a pet (a cockroach) and feel love (while watching tapes of old musicals). Often during his day of compressions, there comes a huge dust storm and gale that he hides from in another machine. As he continues collecting trinkets, he comes by a plant growing inside a discarded refrigerator and adds it on to his collection. One day he sees a bright red spot that remains uncatchable and he curiously follows it, only to find that it from a huge machine landing on Earth and out of it comes the prettiest little robot. It is love at first sight for him, but it takes a while for him to confess since the pretty robot also had a quick hand in shooting down anything that she thought was harmful. He finds out that her name is Eva and takes her to his home to show all he has. After a few clashing interactions, he shows her the plant and suddenly Eva becomes unresponsive, save a beeping green light. Wall-E tries everything in his power to bring her back but nothing happens. This was probably the cutest set of scenes.
Then a few days later, the big machine comes back and sucks up Eva. Wall-E refuses to leave her and follows her along into the machine. Here he finds a whole new world and we, as audience, have some funny moments to watch. He finds out a whole bunch of bloated humans stuck to their seats and their screens without any movement. Although the thought is scary enough, sometimes it does feel that the world might just come to that. Eva after scanning and searching makes it to the captain’s cabin and he is unable to fully realize the impact of the plant. However, after a day’s lesson on Earth, during which Wall-E and Eva have fatal adventures, he is firm on returning back to Earth and after battling his rebelling autopilot, the craft returns to Earth. Mankind resumes and Wall-E is fixed!
A very sweet and thoughtful story. Definitely a must see.Saturday, July 5, 2008
Sherlock Holmes - The complete novels and stories - Part I and II
Never have I felt so complete than when I was reading this set of 2 part collection, bringing together all the jewels of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s writings about his famous sleuth, who is the epitome of excellent observations and deductions. Often I have wondered if such a person existed in the world, and if he did, what loads of astonishment he could create in this monotonous world.
These set of stories bring all the cases together starting from when Dr.Watson first moved in with Holmes to his early conclusion with Professor Moriarty and then a rebirth, including the Hound of Baskervilles, until the final conclusion of the series.
The author extracts a new skill of Holmes in every story – women psychology in the Scandal of Bohemia, cryptology and text analysis in the Case of the Dancing Men, makeup and disguise on countless occasions, etc. There are few skills that aren’t present in the stories.
Part 1 consists of the adventures, the memoirs and the return of Sherlock Holmes with the Study in Scarlet and the Sign of Four.
Part 2 starts off with the bone chilling Hound of Baskervilles and ends with the case book of Sherlock Holmes.
Personally, I feel that these books are great sources for people who would like to develop their analytical and deductive reasoning as it gives clues on how Holmes arrived at a certain conclusion. Putting these theories to practice would definitely help in decision making of the day-to-day problems of mankind. Of course, that is not to demean the intrinsic value of the methods of this sleuth, but it is give credence to the unusually complex society that we live in, with multitudes of rules and regulations.
I often consider the probability of survival of Holmes’ methods in today’s worlds. Would he have survived with his analytical and deductive reasoning? Are people as transparent as they were in the century that he lived? Most of the criminals today are aware of their act in cold blood and take every step to erase the marks that might lead to them. However, it is also worth to note that technological and biological advancements have brought even unimaginative detectives (the quality that Holmes thinks the local inspector lack in the Adventure of the Silver Blaze) are able to get somewhere without any toil. And often Holmes claims to know the n number of tobacco types or soil types in the area or locale. With so many people migrating and moving to all parts of the world, still facing an ever growing population and exchange of so many materials and natural resource, would Holmes have been able to keep track of what belongs to where and come to his conclusions as easily? Chemical analysis is possible today to gauge where samples originate from, yet they take some time to complete. And yet, for a seasoned detective as Holmes, this time of wait might be expensive. The argument may go on, yet the result might be inconclusive.Allure Confessions of a beauty editor
Written by Linda Wells, the magazine strove to cover aspects of beauty.
Starting my life in the professional world, I needed some professional advice and since this glossy magazine reigned the world of fashion, I tried it out. It was definitely interesting to see the techniques to maintain hair, skin, body, nails separately and it was even more interesting to see the techniques to apply makeup and maintain the equipments. I have to sincerely admit that I don’t remember anything that I read, since none of them were actually doable for a person like me who gets up 10 minute before leaving to work in the morning and one who is not really interested in constantly touching up. I think I’m one of those people who thrive in natural beauty, yet with scars of adolescence, I can only depend on cosmetics to help me with the ‘beauty’.
I think discovering what will suit you and what will be good is a journey that everyone has to go by themselves and reading books aren’t really the best ways for all of us out there. Yet, this book was very elaborate and covered many aspects which might be useful to others, who might gain more by reading others’ experiences.
Starting my life in the professional world, I needed some professional advice and since this glossy magazine reigned the world of fashion, I tried it out. It was definitely interesting to see the techniques to maintain hair, skin, body, nails separately and it was even more interesting to see the techniques to apply makeup and maintain the equipments. I have to sincerely admit that I don’t remember anything that I read, since none of them were actually doable for a person like me who gets up 10 minute before leaving to work in the morning and one who is not really interested in constantly touching up. I think I’m one of those people who thrive in natural beauty, yet with scars of adolescence, I can only depend on cosmetics to help me with the ‘beauty’.
I think discovering what will suit you and what will be good is a journey that everyone has to go by themselves and reading books aren’t really the best ways for all of us out there. Yet, this book was very elaborate and covered many aspects which might be useful to others, who might gain more by reading others’ experiences.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
sandai
Starring director-turned-actor Sundar C, yesteryear beauty Nadiya and other cast, the movie is about a family broken apart due to circumstances and brought together by the persevering heir of the family.
Nadiya comes to her native village with her grown up daughter for her marriage. Her main aim to carry out the ceremony in front of her estranged family, whom she wants to get revenge out of. She constantly opposes them and refuses all their requests.
Eventually, she trusts a henchman, Sundar to protect her. She fixes her marriage with a good family and yet on the day of the marriage, the groom is kidnapped. To save her honour, in spite of her family’s requests, she marries her daughter off to the henchman and discovers that he is also her family.
Frustrated, she keeps her daughter away from her husband. Eventually, she relents to sending her daughter with them, to let her daughter see the truth behind her family, but her daughter gives in. In the end, Nadiya realises that all the confusion in her family was caused by a trio, who were a distant relation of the family and the whole family comes together.
Although Nadiya’s comeback in M.Kumaran s/o Mahalakshmi and Thamirabarani was appreciable, this movie didn’t make to the mark. Most of the times, she was overacting and was annoying. As for the background score – it was super annoying and very dumb. But Sundar C is definitely climbing up the ladder of success. A tolerable movie to watch for Sundar C.
Nadiya comes to her native village with her grown up daughter for her marriage. Her main aim to carry out the ceremony in front of her estranged family, whom she wants to get revenge out of. She constantly opposes them and refuses all their requests.
Eventually, she trusts a henchman, Sundar to protect her. She fixes her marriage with a good family and yet on the day of the marriage, the groom is kidnapped. To save her honour, in spite of her family’s requests, she marries her daughter off to the henchman and discovers that he is also her family.
Frustrated, she keeps her daughter away from her husband. Eventually, she relents to sending her daughter with them, to let her daughter see the truth behind her family, but her daughter gives in. In the end, Nadiya realises that all the confusion in her family was caused by a trio, who were a distant relation of the family and the whole family comes together.
Although Nadiya’s comeback in M.Kumaran s/o Mahalakshmi and Thamirabarani was appreciable, this movie didn’t make to the mark. Most of the times, she was overacting and was annoying. As for the background score – it was super annoying and very dumb. But Sundar C is definitely climbing up the ladder of success. A tolerable movie to watch for Sundar C.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Robin Hood
As part of my crazy period for Richard Armitage, I wanted to watch this BBC adaptation of Robin Hood. And by the end of the series, I started getting crazy about other people on the screen – which is an inherent problem when there are too many cute and gallant stars in one show. Jonas Armstrong plays the lead character of Robin Hood, with Lucy Griffiths as Marian, Keith Allen as Sheriff and Richard Armstrong playing as Sheriff trusted sidekick Sir Guy.
So far, I have watched seasons one and two, which have been well paced and racy enough for a much tried archetypal figure and storyline. There were some instances where I couldn’t understand the heroism of the characters and sometimes I couldn’t agree with the kind of clothing and sets used. But mostly, the series has been well done and I’m definitely looking forward to the end of season three which is ending this year. Jonas Armstrong seems too short to be addressed as a gallant hero but as I found out with the ‘Behind the Scenes’ video for the series, short men are better archers than taller ones. And his partnering with Sam Troughton (playing Much) is funny enough from time to time. Much portrays a feminine man by taking care of his master and being in charge of cooking food and talking a lot. Will (played by Harry Lloyd, a descendent of Charles Dickens) is the creative, quiet, shy teenager in the group, whose skills help in smuggling arms and creating ingenious hideouts for the group. Allan (played by Joe Armstrong), though, not entirely gallant, owing to his shady past, helps the group with entering the castle. Little John (by Gordon Kennedy) is the strong, passionate man known for his physical strength and weak mind. Lastly, Djaq (Anjali Jay) joins the group as a Saracen boy, but is found out to be a woman disguising as her dead brother. She has a physician background, assisting her father in the Holy Land.
So far, I have watched seasons one and two, which have been well paced and racy enough for a much tried archetypal figure and storyline. There were some instances where I couldn’t understand the heroism of the characters and sometimes I couldn’t agree with the kind of clothing and sets used. But mostly, the series has been well done and I’m definitely looking forward to the end of season three which is ending this year. Jonas Armstrong seems too short to be addressed as a gallant hero but as I found out with the ‘Behind the Scenes’ video for the series, short men are better archers than taller ones. And his partnering with Sam Troughton (playing Much) is funny enough from time to time. Much portrays a feminine man by taking care of his master and being in charge of cooking food and talking a lot. Will (played by Harry Lloyd, a descendent of Charles Dickens) is the creative, quiet, shy teenager in the group, whose skills help in smuggling arms and creating ingenious hideouts for the group. Allan (played by Joe Armstrong), though, not entirely gallant, owing to his shady past, helps the group with entering the castle. Little John (by Gordon Kennedy) is the strong, passionate man known for his physical strength and weak mind. Lastly, Djaq (Anjali Jay) joins the group as a Saracen boy, but is found out to be a woman disguising as her dead brother. She has a physician background, assisting her father in the Holy Land.
kannamoochi yennada
Starring Prithviraj, Sandhya, Satyaraj and Radhika, the movie is about a couple gaining acceptance of their love in their respective families.
Prithvi meets Sandhya in Malaysia, where she is pursuing her studies. After repeated meetings they fall in love. Prithvi’s foster parents, also his uncle and aunt, have plans of getting him married to their business partner, but Prithvi reveals his love and they fall apart. With the help of his friend, he flies to India to meet Sandhya’s parents, doubting police officer Satyaraj and his soft wife, Radhika. Everyone in the family seems to like Prithvi except Satyaraj. Prithvi confides his fallout with his foster parents to Radhika and she accepts him as he is and they plan to reveal everything at the right time. One day, with the turn of events, Prithvi gets accepted by Satyaraj, but wrongly believes a concocted story by Prithvi’s uncle in Malaysia, about Prithvi being a crook. Satyaraj insults Prithvi and shows his ‘true’ colours to his family. Although Radhika tries to stop him, she fails and in frustration of having a not-so-understanding or trusting husband leaves the place. Sandhya goes along with her. Satyaraj continues to search, while Prithvi also tries to search with his own methods. Finally he finds out that they might have gone to the house of Satyaraj’s estranged sister in Ooty and decides to follow and his discovery is right. He also informs Satyaraj, who follows him a while later. After a few misunderstandings, Satyaraj and Radha get together, while the young lovers are still separated. As Prithvi is leaving the town, Sandhya has a change of mind and tracks him down to re-concile. After an over dramatic chase, they come together.
An excessively annoying movie. I had high expectations for Prithviraj and he seemed to be pretty weak in the story. There wasn’t much scope for acting for any in the movie. Sandhya was absolutely annoying. She’s probably the one actress who doesn’t have either looks or talent and is still in the industry. I’d definitely suggest leaving this movie out of your ‘want-to-see’s.
Prithvi meets Sandhya in Malaysia, where she is pursuing her studies. After repeated meetings they fall in love. Prithvi’s foster parents, also his uncle and aunt, have plans of getting him married to their business partner, but Prithvi reveals his love and they fall apart. With the help of his friend, he flies to India to meet Sandhya’s parents, doubting police officer Satyaraj and his soft wife, Radhika. Everyone in the family seems to like Prithvi except Satyaraj. Prithvi confides his fallout with his foster parents to Radhika and she accepts him as he is and they plan to reveal everything at the right time. One day, with the turn of events, Prithvi gets accepted by Satyaraj, but wrongly believes a concocted story by Prithvi’s uncle in Malaysia, about Prithvi being a crook. Satyaraj insults Prithvi and shows his ‘true’ colours to his family. Although Radhika tries to stop him, she fails and in frustration of having a not-so-understanding or trusting husband leaves the place. Sandhya goes along with her. Satyaraj continues to search, while Prithvi also tries to search with his own methods. Finally he finds out that they might have gone to the house of Satyaraj’s estranged sister in Ooty and decides to follow and his discovery is right. He also informs Satyaraj, who follows him a while later. After a few misunderstandings, Satyaraj and Radha get together, while the young lovers are still separated. As Prithvi is leaving the town, Sandhya has a change of mind and tracks him down to re-concile. After an over dramatic chase, they come together.
An excessively annoying movie. I had high expectations for Prithviraj and he seemed to be pretty weak in the story. There wasn’t much scope for acting for any in the movie. Sandhya was absolutely annoying. She’s probably the one actress who doesn’t have either looks or talent and is still in the industry. I’d definitely suggest leaving this movie out of your ‘want-to-see’s.
pirivom sandhipom
As usual Cheran proves that any movie with which he is involved, is sure to be one that makes the audience think. Coming together with Sneha once more, the movie is about a newly wedded couple.
Sneha is an only child and hates being alone and being so, creates situations to be along with her friends – asking them to stay overnight, inviting them for movies, etc. Cheran is from a huge joint family with generations of sons living together in one roof in their ancestral home. Every trip together takes hours to leave and there are so many relations that he deosn’t have a separate name for each one of them.
Being of marriageable ages, a common friend proposes marriage between the two families. Things happen well and they welcome their daughter-in-law as their own daughter into the family. Sneha is also very understanding and caring towards all. Life seems to be smooth sailing until she finds out that her husband has an offer to go another location. Even though the job offers him promotion and a higher salary, Sneha is not happy because she would be lonely. In spite of her doubts, she follows her husband faithfully.
In the new place, she meets some new people and every one of her socializing effort is thwarted by her husband since he wants peace and quiet for the two of them. Cheran starts noticing some change in his wife, but thinks nothing of it. A local doctor, played by Jayaram starts noticing problems with Sneha’s loneliness and urgently requests her husband to meet him as soon as possible. But it is too late, when they find out that Sneha is heavily drugged with sleeping medicines one night. They manage to save her and Jayaram is also able to educate Cheran about the situation. The movie ends by showing the couple returning to Cheran’s huge joint family.
The movie had no violence or disturbing scenes. Even the commonly abused subject of in-laws was beautifully and delicately handled. The actors didn’t overdo their love, but acted as humans should have and humans would – very realistic! The subject itself was unique – not for just namesake. Excellent acting by the supporting cast – each and everyone of them is still memorable and cute. Cheran did a good job in his role as well, but could improve some bit. He is seasoned enough yet there seems to be something lacking in it. Sneha did a good job as well, yet I felt her emoting was not complete. I suppose the sense of incompleteness overwhelms when the load of the character is huge and the role players not so strong enough to carry them. But definitely a movie worth the watch with the entire family.
Sneha is an only child and hates being alone and being so, creates situations to be along with her friends – asking them to stay overnight, inviting them for movies, etc. Cheran is from a huge joint family with generations of sons living together in one roof in their ancestral home. Every trip together takes hours to leave and there are so many relations that he deosn’t have a separate name for each one of them.
Being of marriageable ages, a common friend proposes marriage between the two families. Things happen well and they welcome their daughter-in-law as their own daughter into the family. Sneha is also very understanding and caring towards all. Life seems to be smooth sailing until she finds out that her husband has an offer to go another location. Even though the job offers him promotion and a higher salary, Sneha is not happy because she would be lonely. In spite of her doubts, she follows her husband faithfully.
In the new place, she meets some new people and every one of her socializing effort is thwarted by her husband since he wants peace and quiet for the two of them. Cheran starts noticing some change in his wife, but thinks nothing of it. A local doctor, played by Jayaram starts noticing problems with Sneha’s loneliness and urgently requests her husband to meet him as soon as possible. But it is too late, when they find out that Sneha is heavily drugged with sleeping medicines one night. They manage to save her and Jayaram is also able to educate Cheran about the situation. The movie ends by showing the couple returning to Cheran’s huge joint family.
The movie had no violence or disturbing scenes. Even the commonly abused subject of in-laws was beautifully and delicately handled. The actors didn’t overdo their love, but acted as humans should have and humans would – very realistic! The subject itself was unique – not for just namesake. Excellent acting by the supporting cast – each and everyone of them is still memorable and cute. Cheran did a good job in his role as well, but could improve some bit. He is seasoned enough yet there seems to be something lacking in it. Sneha did a good job as well, yet I felt her emoting was not complete. I suppose the sense of incompleteness overwhelms when the load of the character is huge and the role players not so strong enough to carry them. But definitely a movie worth the watch with the entire family.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus
Here is another attempt at trying to define and analyze the differences between the two most inexplicable creatures on earth. The Ph.D. graduate, Dr. John Gray, brings in examples from his own life and many others to explain the intrinsic personality differences and expectations coming out of it.
The basic psychology of what you expect from others is what you give is brought to our attention and from here, he strives to explain women give men what women need and vice versa. As a result neither of them is satisfied. He suggests that by understanding what the other wants or needs, the individuals will feel more energized and fulfilled as not only are you trying less harder, but you are also receiving what you need and this makes all the difference.
The basic difference is explained as follows: women are very nurturing by nature. They feel that to help someone is to show that they care and love them. By trying to make them perfect, they have completely loved and accepted the other person. Men, on the other hand, take it as an offense if someone tries to change them. In the eyes of their women, they like to stay as their heroes and when that isn’t reflected (when she constantly tries to change him), he feels he is not good enough and he is broken and thus, slides away from the relationship. They also have the philosophy of ‘fix only when broken’, which extends to their relationships as well. Right after courtship and marriage, they feel that they have done enough to settle and ‘fix’ and need to take some time off. On the other hand, with the emotional turmoil and hormones of women, they need to be reassured from time to time about their love and life. But this constant ‘nagging’ is seen as broken relationship by men.
Such are the conflicting opinions of the two genders which hve resulted in many battles – many quite ugly. Although I sympathized with many of the situations in the book, seeing my relatives’ relationships in them, it boils down to the aspect of awareness and respect for each other. At the end of the tunnel, the whole issue about communication pops up. The author himself didn’t have this book to teach him how to deal with issues, yet he took the step of communicating with his better half. Humans are probably the only species that have so many languages to communicate with and yet they are the only ones who feel incomplete and misunderstood in the society.
The basic psychology of what you expect from others is what you give is brought to our attention and from here, he strives to explain women give men what women need and vice versa. As a result neither of them is satisfied. He suggests that by understanding what the other wants or needs, the individuals will feel more energized and fulfilled as not only are you trying less harder, but you are also receiving what you need and this makes all the difference.
The basic difference is explained as follows: women are very nurturing by nature. They feel that to help someone is to show that they care and love them. By trying to make them perfect, they have completely loved and accepted the other person. Men, on the other hand, take it as an offense if someone tries to change them. In the eyes of their women, they like to stay as their heroes and when that isn’t reflected (when she constantly tries to change him), he feels he is not good enough and he is broken and thus, slides away from the relationship. They also have the philosophy of ‘fix only when broken’, which extends to their relationships as well. Right after courtship and marriage, they feel that they have done enough to settle and ‘fix’ and need to take some time off. On the other hand, with the emotional turmoil and hormones of women, they need to be reassured from time to time about their love and life. But this constant ‘nagging’ is seen as broken relationship by men.
Such are the conflicting opinions of the two genders which hve resulted in many battles – many quite ugly. Although I sympathized with many of the situations in the book, seeing my relatives’ relationships in them, it boils down to the aspect of awareness and respect for each other. At the end of the tunnel, the whole issue about communication pops up. The author himself didn’t have this book to teach him how to deal with issues, yet he took the step of communicating with his better half. Humans are probably the only species that have so many languages to communicate with and yet they are the only ones who feel incomplete and misunderstood in the society.
Animal Farm
George Orwell writes about the power-hungry world that we live in, by putting it in the context of an animal farm. The animal farm started off with ill-treatment, enlightening, secret meetings, rules and behavioural code, rioting, battle, usurping, hard work, peevishness, breaking of rules, selfishness, power hungriness and everything that you would see in today’s world to gain power and position. The only difference was this was set among the animals of the farm.
There is not much in the story itself as to where the beauty of this classic come from but the similarity to the life that we see in politics and even in some families.
The farm animals are mistreated for a long time and they realize eventually that since they are the ones making the farmer survive, they should overthrow him and take the profits and goods for themselves. The secret meetings happen and the riot and battle that ensues sees many casualties and it also brings freedom. The animals come together to make their laws and continue to work hard to make their life. Many feel that they are working harder than before but content themselves in thinking that they are working for themselves. Yet, after a while, they start feeling as though some of the initial rules made were broken by their leaders, but the leaders carry out many dark dealings, which makes it seem as though the animals’ memory might be at fault. The book ends by showing that there is no difference between the animals’ chosen leaders and the men that they drove away from the farm in the first place.
After reading 1984 in a forced condition, I wasn’t a fan of George Orwell, but as I grew up and saw more of politics in play in the world and in my office, I started appreciating his ideas and Animal Farm can also be safely added to his extraordinary books. A good, insightful read.
There is not much in the story itself as to where the beauty of this classic come from but the similarity to the life that we see in politics and even in some families.
The farm animals are mistreated for a long time and they realize eventually that since they are the ones making the farmer survive, they should overthrow him and take the profits and goods for themselves. The secret meetings happen and the riot and battle that ensues sees many casualties and it also brings freedom. The animals come together to make their laws and continue to work hard to make their life. Many feel that they are working harder than before but content themselves in thinking that they are working for themselves. Yet, after a while, they start feeling as though some of the initial rules made were broken by their leaders, but the leaders carry out many dark dealings, which makes it seem as though the animals’ memory might be at fault. The book ends by showing that there is no difference between the animals’ chosen leaders and the men that they drove away from the farm in the first place.
After reading 1984 in a forced condition, I wasn’t a fan of George Orwell, but as I grew up and saw more of politics in play in the world and in my office, I started appreciating his ideas and Animal Farm can also be safely added to his extraordinary books. A good, insightful read.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
O. Henry
No author has broached the subject of short stories with the theme of 'Man proposes, but God disposes' as well as O. Henry a.k.a. William Sydney porter has. The easy flow of his stories with an equally easy twist, brings a smile of acknowledgment on every reader's face, since each one of us has experienced ruin of our plans in a good or evil way. And yet, no one has figured why some things that should run smoothly end up so rough.
The collection of stories starts off with the infamous 'The Gift of Magi', which is the story of a loving couple, who lose their best possessions to make their other half's treasure more valuable, yet, in the end, find out that their love for each other is the best present they could have got for Christmas. Second in line is 'Mammon and the Archer', which is the story of a rich father who believes in money's power to achieve anything and proves so, when he stages the situation for his son's proposal to the lady he loves. 'After Twenty Years' tests the bonds of friendship between two men, along with a moral crisis, since one of the men, now, is a wanted criminal, while the other, a dutiful law enforcer. 'Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen' shows how not knowing how to refuse can overfeed a man to hospital and brings his benefactor to death bed. Human spirits and beliefs are tested in the 'The Last Leaf', when a woman close to deathbed survives, which the man who saves her succumbs to death. Old habits die hard in 'A Retrieved Reformation' for a hard core thief, who even after turning a new leaf, is forced to re-live his old habits at the time of a crisis, while his old mate, who is waiting to expose his old habits accepts his new situation gracefully.
My grandfather introduced this author to me and as much as O.Henry's short stories are much celebrated, seems like the local library has little momenta of his to remember.
The collection of stories starts off with the infamous 'The Gift of Magi', which is the story of a loving couple, who lose their best possessions to make their other half's treasure more valuable, yet, in the end, find out that their love for each other is the best present they could have got for Christmas. Second in line is 'Mammon and the Archer', which is the story of a rich father who believes in money's power to achieve anything and proves so, when he stages the situation for his son's proposal to the lady he loves. 'After Twenty Years' tests the bonds of friendship between two men, along with a moral crisis, since one of the men, now, is a wanted criminal, while the other, a dutiful law enforcer. 'Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen' shows how not knowing how to refuse can overfeed a man to hospital and brings his benefactor to death bed. Human spirits and beliefs are tested in the 'The Last Leaf', when a woman close to deathbed survives, which the man who saves her succumbs to death. Old habits die hard in 'A Retrieved Reformation' for a hard core thief, who even after turning a new leaf, is forced to re-live his old habits at the time of a crisis, while his old mate, who is waiting to expose his old habits accepts his new situation gracefully.
My grandfather introduced this author to me and as much as O.Henry's short stories are much celebrated, seems like the local library has little momenta of his to remember.
Bachelors Anonymous
Here's another classic comedy from P.G.Wodehouse bringing a marriage addict and a bachelor together in one book.
Ivor, an American movie moghul, is a recently divorced personality, who wants to avoid getting into any more impulsive marriages, like his last one. He seeks his lawyer, Ephraim, who is a member of a club called Bachelor's Anonymous, for advice. Ephraim suggests Ivor should leave for England and get a personal bodyguard, who'd protect Ivor from rash decision of proposing to women when he has run out of things to talk to. Thus, Ivor leaves for England.
Joseph is an upcoming story writer. Thus far, he has been supporting himself at a lawyer's office, but his passion lied in drama. One of his story's was going to be performed at the local theatre with Vera as the leading lady. As part of her journalist job, Sally had to interview the story writer and proceeds to interview Joseph. For Joseph, it is love at first sight, but he is unable to get a date with her. Meanwhile, he gets a call from his friend Jerry about the possibility of a new job. The new job is being the bodyguard to Ivor, which is a chance in a million for Joe, since he could finance his stories.
Sally receives a letter from Jerry's company mentioning a matter of importance with regards to her old boss, who was a campaigner against smoking. It's fate that brings Joe to Sally again and this time, he fixes a date with her. After he leaves, Sally finds out from Jerry that her old boss had left her a fortune and a home, under the condition that she doesn't smoke and to monitor that, a detective would be living with her in her new apartment. She returns home to share her joy with her roomie, who insists on seeing the new place. As they are viewing the new place, Sally tires out and falls asleep, missing Joe's lunch date. Panicking, she reaches the restaurant, only to find him gone. She is remorseful, since she had started to like him as well.
Meanwhile, Joe starts his new job with Ivor. Ivor quite liked his bodyguard, but is disturbed when Joe starts raving about when an interviewer, Sally, comes by to ask him questions. Ivor immediately insists that Ephraim come to England, while Sally apologizes and fixes a lunch date with Joe. Ivor attends Joe's play and is delighted to meet Vera and according to his usual self, invites Vera to have dinner with him.
Joe prepares himself tiptop for the date and meets Ephraim with Ivor, when he returns. Ephraim enrages him by speaking odd things about love and finally loses his mental balance, when he drinks a seemingly harmless concoction that Ephraim hands him and thus, misses his date with Sally.
Meanwhile, Sally moves into her new apartment and finds out her detective roomie, Daphne, to be not-so-formidable. She easily fits in with her and feels on cloud nine thinking she's never be smoking, so the fortune would be hers in no time. However, her day starts going wrong when she's stood up by Joe and is angry at him. Surprises of surprises, her ex-fiance, Jaklyn, who finds out about Sally's new fortunes (and decides this is the solution to all his debts), arrives at the restaurant and in fit of anger, Sally agrees to be engaged to him again. She returns home in low spirits and tells of her engagement to her roomie, who is decidedly shocked, since she is engaged to Jakyln as well, however, she keeps her calm.
When Joe finds out the next day about what happened to him, he is annoyed at Ephraim and tries to make peace with Sally, however, Ephraim follows him around with discouraging words. Finally, they follow Sally in a cab to her nanny's home. Ephraim loses Joe and Sally and tries to find them by asking the nanny, Jane, however, Jane is a stout woman who refuses to let him in. To try again, Ephraim enters the neighbour's lawn and gets bitten by the dog. The owner, Amelia rushes out to help him and Ephraim falls in love with the nurse, who works at St. Swithin's.
Joe is unable to convince Sally and returns disheartened to Ivor's house, where he finds a panicking boss. Ivor is worried about his n-th lunch with Vera and is convinced that he would be marrying Vera soon. Joe suggests Ivor to hospitalise himself, such that Vera will not be able to find him. Ivor does so accordingly. Ephraim returns and apologises to Joe and insists that he would clear up the matter with Sally. Sally is very happy when she hears of the truth, but shares the problem of her engagement with Jaklyn. Ephraim volunteers to clear it up with the third guy and leaves with Joe. The matter seemed to be utterly simple when Ephraim, single handedly, offered some money to Jaklyn to break up the engagement and the couple is much obliged to him. However, Sally loses her fortune since, in her restlessness, she takes up the cigarette.
Meanwhile, the readers find out the reason Jaklyn was so easy going was because Daphne (to whom he was engaged first) had given him a surprise trip to the church, where they had been hastily married off. And Ephraim's offer was a bonus to the already available riches that Jaklyn was to receive because of his marriage to Daphne.
Ivor is much angry at being left at the hospital and calls and fires Joe, since Ivor had now proposed to his nurse, Amelia, and she had replied that she would consider his proposals. Ephraim finds out about Ivor whereabouts and visits him at the hospital only to find out that Amelia is his nurse. He loses no minute in proposing and securing her hand.
When Ivor finds out that he is in no danger of marrying Amelia or Vera, he happily receives Joe again and also agrees to finance his movies. Such ended the hilarious book of English humour and wit. Certainly, Wodehouse is the king of the 'Comedy of Errors'.
Ivor, an American movie moghul, is a recently divorced personality, who wants to avoid getting into any more impulsive marriages, like his last one. He seeks his lawyer, Ephraim, who is a member of a club called Bachelor's Anonymous, for advice. Ephraim suggests Ivor should leave for England and get a personal bodyguard, who'd protect Ivor from rash decision of proposing to women when he has run out of things to talk to. Thus, Ivor leaves for England.
Joseph is an upcoming story writer. Thus far, he has been supporting himself at a lawyer's office, but his passion lied in drama. One of his story's was going to be performed at the local theatre with Vera as the leading lady. As part of her journalist job, Sally had to interview the story writer and proceeds to interview Joseph. For Joseph, it is love at first sight, but he is unable to get a date with her. Meanwhile, he gets a call from his friend Jerry about the possibility of a new job. The new job is being the bodyguard to Ivor, which is a chance in a million for Joe, since he could finance his stories.
Sally receives a letter from Jerry's company mentioning a matter of importance with regards to her old boss, who was a campaigner against smoking. It's fate that brings Joe to Sally again and this time, he fixes a date with her. After he leaves, Sally finds out from Jerry that her old boss had left her a fortune and a home, under the condition that she doesn't smoke and to monitor that, a detective would be living with her in her new apartment. She returns home to share her joy with her roomie, who insists on seeing the new place. As they are viewing the new place, Sally tires out and falls asleep, missing Joe's lunch date. Panicking, she reaches the restaurant, only to find him gone. She is remorseful, since she had started to like him as well.
Meanwhile, Joe starts his new job with Ivor. Ivor quite liked his bodyguard, but is disturbed when Joe starts raving about when an interviewer, Sally, comes by to ask him questions. Ivor immediately insists that Ephraim come to England, while Sally apologizes and fixes a lunch date with Joe. Ivor attends Joe's play and is delighted to meet Vera and according to his usual self, invites Vera to have dinner with him.
Joe prepares himself tiptop for the date and meets Ephraim with Ivor, when he returns. Ephraim enrages him by speaking odd things about love and finally loses his mental balance, when he drinks a seemingly harmless concoction that Ephraim hands him and thus, misses his date with Sally.
Meanwhile, Sally moves into her new apartment and finds out her detective roomie, Daphne, to be not-so-formidable. She easily fits in with her and feels on cloud nine thinking she's never be smoking, so the fortune would be hers in no time. However, her day starts going wrong when she's stood up by Joe and is angry at him. Surprises of surprises, her ex-fiance, Jaklyn, who finds out about Sally's new fortunes (and decides this is the solution to all his debts), arrives at the restaurant and in fit of anger, Sally agrees to be engaged to him again. She returns home in low spirits and tells of her engagement to her roomie, who is decidedly shocked, since she is engaged to Jakyln as well, however, she keeps her calm.
When Joe finds out the next day about what happened to him, he is annoyed at Ephraim and tries to make peace with Sally, however, Ephraim follows him around with discouraging words. Finally, they follow Sally in a cab to her nanny's home. Ephraim loses Joe and Sally and tries to find them by asking the nanny, Jane, however, Jane is a stout woman who refuses to let him in. To try again, Ephraim enters the neighbour's lawn and gets bitten by the dog. The owner, Amelia rushes out to help him and Ephraim falls in love with the nurse, who works at St. Swithin's.
Joe is unable to convince Sally and returns disheartened to Ivor's house, where he finds a panicking boss. Ivor is worried about his n-th lunch with Vera and is convinced that he would be marrying Vera soon. Joe suggests Ivor to hospitalise himself, such that Vera will not be able to find him. Ivor does so accordingly. Ephraim returns and apologises to Joe and insists that he would clear up the matter with Sally. Sally is very happy when she hears of the truth, but shares the problem of her engagement with Jaklyn. Ephraim volunteers to clear it up with the third guy and leaves with Joe. The matter seemed to be utterly simple when Ephraim, single handedly, offered some money to Jaklyn to break up the engagement and the couple is much obliged to him. However, Sally loses her fortune since, in her restlessness, she takes up the cigarette.
Meanwhile, the readers find out the reason Jaklyn was so easy going was because Daphne (to whom he was engaged first) had given him a surprise trip to the church, where they had been hastily married off. And Ephraim's offer was a bonus to the already available riches that Jaklyn was to receive because of his marriage to Daphne.
Ivor is much angry at being left at the hospital and calls and fires Joe, since Ivor had now proposed to his nurse, Amelia, and she had replied that she would consider his proposals. Ephraim finds out about Ivor whereabouts and visits him at the hospital only to find out that Amelia is his nurse. He loses no minute in proposing and securing her hand.
When Ivor finds out that he is in no danger of marrying Amelia or Vera, he happily receives Joe again and also agrees to finance his movies. Such ended the hilarious book of English humour and wit. Certainly, Wodehouse is the king of the 'Comedy of Errors'.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Mulliner Nights
P.G.Wodehouse gives his fans a series of short stories as told by Mr. Mulliner about the tales of his relatives.
The series begins with Adrian Mulliner of 'The Smile That Wins', who was suffering from dyspepsia, which made him smile strangely from time to time and was usually interpreted to be a kind of evil smile, which made people scared and cautious. He uses this smiles to eventually win the lady of his heart, from her foreboding father, Reginald, and her balding fiance, Jasper, with the help of a kleptomaniac Sutton.
'The Story of Webster' boasts of a pristine cat gone rotten with Lancelot, a struggling artist, who is forced to give up his Bohemian habits when his rich uncle bishop, Theodore, leaves his cat, Webster, under his care. The cat was also indirectly to reform Lancelot of his waywardness, by giving up his love, Gladys, and offer his hand to a boring pill, Brenda, who also posed for Lancelot.
The sequel to the above comes in 'Cats will be Cats' where Theodore finds himself in the grip of Lady Widdrington, a lover of cats and power. Theodore implores Lancelot to help him and bring his cat back. To the former, Lancelot is willing, however, the second might bring him trouble, since Webster, isn't exactly in his former glory. So leaving the cat to a reformer, Lancelot arrives at Lady Widdrinton's castle as Theodore's lawyer. After fruitless efforts to detach his uncle, the surprise arrival (to Lancelot) and state (to Theodore) of Webster and the fight ensuing between him and Lady Widdrington's cat, Percy, puts an end to all of Theodore's misery, reserving a definite part of his fortune for Lancelot's future.
'Knightly Quest of Mervyn' makes a hero out of a shy, quiet person, Mervyn, by making a hero out of his disposition. To prove his love for Clarice, Mervyn ventures the impossible of obtaining strawberries during the off season. Although he succeeds in getting the strawberries, first by using his uncle Joseph's name falsely, then by escaping with it, he loses by tasting and finishing them by the time Clarice asks him to wait. And then he is forced to get it again, when Oofy also seems to be competing with him for Clarice's attentions.
Change in confidence levels and fear of headmasters rules the plot of 'A Voice From the Past'. Sacheverell is a soft spoken Mulliner, who is now engaged to breezy, confident girl, Muriel, who was previously engaged to her cousin, Bernard. And the reason she broke it off was because he was very commanding. However, when the subject asking Muriel's hand in marriage comes, Sacheverell is worried and to impress her father, he takes up a correspondence course on Muriel's father, Col. Branksome, interests. But he realises, after more than half the course, he still hasn't seen a word on what he wants, feels furious and stomps down to the school's office and finds out that he has seen results of a confidence builder course. Pleased with himself, he returns to Muriel and expresses his confident self, much to the chagrin of Muriel. But when he realises, his headmaster is in the same castle, he returns to his former self and Muriel's lover.
'Open House' sees another version of Jeeves and Wooster where Eustace is thrown into a mess because of his valet, Blekinsop's, incomplete information. Marcella, his lover, leaves her canary and dog under his care, while she travels to Paris. At the same time, his widowed aunt leaves her cat with him. While trying to keep all of the pets alive, Eustace's actions are misinterpreted by his animal lover neighbour Orlando. Meanwhile, a drop in visit by Eustace's old flame throws his affairs into a further disarray, displacing the dog, bringing in both his lover and aunt as surprise during the most untoward hour. But thankfully, his valet's quick ideas save him.
'Best Seller' outlines the relationship between a novel author hating news correspondent and a new authoress. Egbert is the correspondent and he checks if Evangeline is not a novel writer before falling in love with her. Over time, she feels like writing her relationship with Egbert as a novel. Although he is shocked and is perturbed with his personal relationship becoming public, he allows her to proceed. With the fame, she becomes closer and closer to her manager, Henderson, until the day she breaks down confessing that she can't be an author anymore to Egbert. Egbert is happy to have her back and promises to help her complete all her assignments.
Mystery and nature lovers duel in the story of 'Strychnine in the soup'. Cyril and Amelia are in love and share the passion of mysteries. However, Amelia's aunt, Lady Basett is a hindrance to their union, as she finds interior decorating (Cyril's profession), not manly enough. Cyril tries to reason but to no avail. She has other plans of having Lester, a hunter, marry Amelia. Drawing Cyril, Lady Basett and Lester into a twine of mystery, the story ends with Lady Basett consenting to Cyril and Amelia's marriage.
'Gala Night' is another tale of a man misinterpreted due to his love for the arts, dancing. Ronald and Hypatia are in love, yet her uncle, Percy, a bishop is against it. Using the assistance of Augustine, Jane and an energy booster, they manage to make Percy and his wife Priscilla dance and hence accept Ronald's love of dancing after a mysterious gala night which they attend without proper consciousness.
The series begins with Adrian Mulliner of 'The Smile That Wins', who was suffering from dyspepsia, which made him smile strangely from time to time and was usually interpreted to be a kind of evil smile, which made people scared and cautious. He uses this smiles to eventually win the lady of his heart, from her foreboding father, Reginald, and her balding fiance, Jasper, with the help of a kleptomaniac Sutton.
'The Story of Webster' boasts of a pristine cat gone rotten with Lancelot, a struggling artist, who is forced to give up his Bohemian habits when his rich uncle bishop, Theodore, leaves his cat, Webster, under his care. The cat was also indirectly to reform Lancelot of his waywardness, by giving up his love, Gladys, and offer his hand to a boring pill, Brenda, who also posed for Lancelot.
The sequel to the above comes in 'Cats will be Cats' where Theodore finds himself in the grip of Lady Widdrington, a lover of cats and power. Theodore implores Lancelot to help him and bring his cat back. To the former, Lancelot is willing, however, the second might bring him trouble, since Webster, isn't exactly in his former glory. So leaving the cat to a reformer, Lancelot arrives at Lady Widdrinton's castle as Theodore's lawyer. After fruitless efforts to detach his uncle, the surprise arrival (to Lancelot) and state (to Theodore) of Webster and the fight ensuing between him and Lady Widdrington's cat, Percy, puts an end to all of Theodore's misery, reserving a definite part of his fortune for Lancelot's future.
'Knightly Quest of Mervyn' makes a hero out of a shy, quiet person, Mervyn, by making a hero out of his disposition. To prove his love for Clarice, Mervyn ventures the impossible of obtaining strawberries during the off season. Although he succeeds in getting the strawberries, first by using his uncle Joseph's name falsely, then by escaping with it, he loses by tasting and finishing them by the time Clarice asks him to wait. And then he is forced to get it again, when Oofy also seems to be competing with him for Clarice's attentions.
Change in confidence levels and fear of headmasters rules the plot of 'A Voice From the Past'. Sacheverell is a soft spoken Mulliner, who is now engaged to breezy, confident girl, Muriel, who was previously engaged to her cousin, Bernard. And the reason she broke it off was because he was very commanding. However, when the subject asking Muriel's hand in marriage comes, Sacheverell is worried and to impress her father, he takes up a correspondence course on Muriel's father, Col. Branksome, interests. But he realises, after more than half the course, he still hasn't seen a word on what he wants, feels furious and stomps down to the school's office and finds out that he has seen results of a confidence builder course. Pleased with himself, he returns to Muriel and expresses his confident self, much to the chagrin of Muriel. But when he realises, his headmaster is in the same castle, he returns to his former self and Muriel's lover.
'Open House' sees another version of Jeeves and Wooster where Eustace is thrown into a mess because of his valet, Blekinsop's, incomplete information. Marcella, his lover, leaves her canary and dog under his care, while she travels to Paris. At the same time, his widowed aunt leaves her cat with him. While trying to keep all of the pets alive, Eustace's actions are misinterpreted by his animal lover neighbour Orlando. Meanwhile, a drop in visit by Eustace's old flame throws his affairs into a further disarray, displacing the dog, bringing in both his lover and aunt as surprise during the most untoward hour. But thankfully, his valet's quick ideas save him.
'Best Seller' outlines the relationship between a novel author hating news correspondent and a new authoress. Egbert is the correspondent and he checks if Evangeline is not a novel writer before falling in love with her. Over time, she feels like writing her relationship with Egbert as a novel. Although he is shocked and is perturbed with his personal relationship becoming public, he allows her to proceed. With the fame, she becomes closer and closer to her manager, Henderson, until the day she breaks down confessing that she can't be an author anymore to Egbert. Egbert is happy to have her back and promises to help her complete all her assignments.
Mystery and nature lovers duel in the story of 'Strychnine in the soup'. Cyril and Amelia are in love and share the passion of mysteries. However, Amelia's aunt, Lady Basett is a hindrance to their union, as she finds interior decorating (Cyril's profession), not manly enough. Cyril tries to reason but to no avail. She has other plans of having Lester, a hunter, marry Amelia. Drawing Cyril, Lady Basett and Lester into a twine of mystery, the story ends with Lady Basett consenting to Cyril and Amelia's marriage.
'Gala Night' is another tale of a man misinterpreted due to his love for the arts, dancing. Ronald and Hypatia are in love, yet her uncle, Percy, a bishop is against it. Using the assistance of Augustine, Jane and an energy booster, they manage to make Percy and his wife Priscilla dance and hence accept Ronald's love of dancing after a mysterious gala night which they attend without proper consciousness.
Friday, June 6, 2008
What Not to Wear
Written by the BBC hosts of the programme with the same title, Trinny Woodall and Susannah Constantine, the book provides women with varying physical problems to overcome them with their dress sense - big chest vs no chest, big bum, saddlebags, short legs, big calves and ankles, no neck, no hip - the list is endless.
The book does a good job of portraying what's good and bad since there are good visuals and the contrast is shown by what not to wear on the left and what could be worn on the right. The readers can see the difference the clothes make in achieving the slim killer look one can achieve with their own body type.
A good read for all those with 'defects' to help them flaunt what they have best.
The book does a good job of portraying what's good and bad since there are good visuals and the contrast is shown by what not to wear on the left and what could be worn on the right. The readers can see the difference the clothes make in achieving the slim killer look one can achieve with their own body type.
A good read for all those with 'defects' to help them flaunt what they have best.
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