Bangladesh thrashed India..

Well, this is the big news this Sunday morning. All news channels and blogs are beaming up their opinions on the same.



reproducing my comments on Amit's blog on the same...



IMO, its all about incentives. This Indian team has but few incentives to push their game up. Most of them are millionaires.. raking in more moolah promoting biscuits and colas than winning matches. What is in it for them to put their heart in the game (and in turn risk injuries..) when they are doing quite good as it is.



Bangla team on the other hand was enthusiastic as a team can be. All of their 11 members were gunning for their spot in the limelight. You could feel it on the TV screen.



I dont think replacing a few players here and there would make that much of a difference.



I mean cmon, this IS World Cup. and you know Sehwag is woefully out of form. And still you want to tag him along. That itself speaks for the way they planned. If it was another warm up tourney I wouldnt blame Dravid for giving him another go, but here on the biggest arena, it was sheer madness... playing your luck too far.



I personally would like to see India out of the Cup in Round 1 itself, and that should catalyze into retirement for the 'stars', although I doubt if the stars would share the blame even now.



Anyway at the loss of India's chances we have a better team gunning for the cup.. almost.



end of comment...



BTW, if you wanted to find respite on this hot Sunday morning, find solace in the fact that India has company. Pakistan got knocked out of the World cup losing to debutants Ireland.



A mug of beer, anyone?

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Technorati Tags: World Cup, India, Bangladesh, Sehwag, Dravid

Rear Window

Recently saw Alfred Hitchcock's "Rear Window".



A fantastic thriller and a great watch. What really amazed me about this movie is that not a single frame, and not a single line of dialogue is redundant. Everything adds onto the story and the plot. Its that tight..



I mean it might sound straight forward but you should see the movie to understand what I mean..



This is my first Hitchcock movie in years so I cant generalize.. but I hear that was his style.. to keep strictly to the plot in his narrative..



I know of some equally wonderful movies that meander around the plot quite a bit.. they focus on stuff not directly linked with the plot.. but in the big picture it adds to the mood of the movie..



So can't say its absolutely necessary to do as what Rear Window does.. but it was remarkably evident here.. hence the post.



By todays standard, the plot is not convoluted enough. There is no major twist at the end or anything as gimmicky. Things move towards one direction and the first suspect IS the actual murderer.

But what really contributes to the thrill and suspense is the fact that the viewer is an equal party to piecing together the hints on display. We all, like the protagonist look outside the 'rear window' at the happenings. And like Jefferies, we are as incapable of playing an active role in the proceedings.



Anyway this is not meant to be a review. For the same visit here or the IMDB page.







Technorati Tags: movie review "alfred hitchcock" "rear window"

My VisualDNA..

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Game 1: West Indies vs Pakistan

So, finally the Cup has begun..



The first match starts off tonight.. and it has WI, the hosts facing off against Pakistan.



Hard to pick one from the two..

But if I have to, which I did in a friendly game of Cricket Satta with friends, I would pick West Indies.



WI are on their home turf.. which has increasingly been unpredictable.. what with slow and low bounced pitches with a tendency to crack..



They had the slight edge, mainly due to their batting.

Lara, who is playing his last tournament in his long career would like to go out on a high.

Gayle, debatably, the most destructive batsman in the world. A man to reckon with for the Paki bowlers, none of whom are world class.

Chanderpaul, really reliable specially when the team needs him.

Samuels, in my opinion, the next big thing. A solid bat.

While on the other hand, Paki batting is not much to talk about. Haq and Yousuf are good but not ably supported by others. Then they dont have a stable opening partnership. Also, with no Akhtar and Asif, they lack the sting in their bowling.



I know they were humbled rather badly in a warm-up game against India, but these warm-up games dont speak much about a team like WI which is more instinctive than even India.



I think WI should make it.





Technorati Tags: Cricket, World Cup, West Indies, Pakistan, Samuels, Lara, Akhtar, Asif, Haq

Should we ban it?

I am not talking about something specific here..



But have you noticed how often people providing their feedback on a topic will simply exclaim that such-and-such thing or phenomenon should be strictly banned in India.



Also, if they feel strongly about something, it should be made compulsory..



Just the other day reading up TOI's Hyderabad Times, I remember

a reader commenting that Yoga should be made compulsory in Indian schools, for its benefits..



Isn't this a worrisome pattern?

People in general seem to be getting more and more stubborn with 'their' views..



If I feel this way about an issue, then it should be made compulsory and the other way should be banned.. and so on...



So make Yoga and Vande-matram compulsory and ban smoking, violence in movies, Valentine's Day..



Sometimes it makes me wonder where are we heading towards as a country !!





Technorati Tags: ban, yoga, vande matram, hyderabad times, valentines day

A prolonged break from blogging..

Its been a real long break since I posted anything here..

The reason has been both my being busy as well as not enough motivation to put down my thoughts...



I did start on a few posts.. but then never went past the midway mark on any of them.. so now I have quite a few unfinished posts lying around...



I HAVE been watching quite a few movie all this while.. almost every weekend, its been almost 2-3 movies.. mostly English, but have managed to fit in most of the latest Bollywood releases..



Well, that shall be another post another day.. time permitting..





One reason I quite never really find motivation to post all this while was, that I am not really sure what this blog is about..



I can really put place it in any category I know.. its quite a mix-up to put it decently..



That is something I would want to do sooner than later..

find a genre that I want to stick around to...



Well, any of the readers (who are a rare phenomenon on this blog as of now!!) reading this blog for sometime, do propose what I do good enough to really carry it on...



BTW , the World Cup is almost on its way..

And it should be interesting this time.. with no team the clear leader at this point..



Its real hard to put your money on any one of them.. though I wouldnt put it definitely on INDIA.. (lets not get started on that here....)



Cheers and happy watching...





Technorati Tags: cricket, world cup, india, genre, bollywood

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