Wassool (as in Worth it)

Not to be confused with Oosool for those that follow the language. Wassool is a concept that is born out of conserving capital till there is enough to watch a movie with a theme that is worthy of your liking. Could be dhammal (comedy) or action (lot of dishooms) or mystery and adventure. For some its the chance to see scant to copious versions of scantily clad characters preferably of their liking in the 2 hours or so for which they paid a king's ransom. This was true especially during college days when dineros were hard to come by. Scrape, beg, borrow or earn you were able to catch a flick that once in a while hit the mark and made it feel worth it. Today Hollywood is using this sentiment to turn the tables on the viewership ... Bollywood has also done it for a while. Use prominent cast as advertised lead roles but actually have them only as a cameo in the drama. Sell the picture on their past glory and bag it with a bunch of nobodies shooting their mouth or their guns at each other with some weirdo nudies running amidst the chaos. Sometimes the sequence of events is comical enough and so far out that it does not matter that the cast is bunch of nobodies. In fact it lends some credence to it where these idiots in some faraway village are doing things that no sane person would attempt. Sort of like the Jackass series. I rented and watched such a funky movie last night which was sold on the basis of Billy Bob Thronton (once married to a Jolie of prominence) as the chief character. He perhaps had seven minutes of camera time and fewer lines in the entire 90 minute shootout. Of course when 'shooting' is involved there are really no characters except a lot of ketchup. Perhaps the lead role should announce the condiment volumes used in the production?

Comments

Back in DC

This time for a tech conference in the realm of what else? AI. But applied to an oft neglected space called Knowledge Management. The latter is a community of practice that focuses on analyzing, organizing and making available reams of data that have been gathered over time by various functions within an organization for anyone in the company to utilize. This function or process is ripe for applying AI agents (or agentic AI framework) and optimize for better outcomes. It was informative. More rewarding was getting acquainted with folks who practice this craft as well as learning of what they see in the corporate or public sectors. Since the venue was Washington DC it also afforded me the chance to take evening strolls albeit the weather was trying. With wind chill in the single digit it still is a glamorous place to perambulate through history absorbing what this country has been through since its founding days. I was able to visit the place Lincoln was killed along with his monument t...

Costa Rica

Our first foray into Central America. That elongated isthmus that forms the geographic boundary between two vast continents of North and South America. Specifically landing for NYE 2026 in San Jose, Costa Rica. Capital city for this region that does not have its own army, instead relying on its big bro the Estados Unidos to the north is a metropolis of approx. 500K people. Largely wilderness and with both a Pacific and Carribean/Atlantic coast the country is rich in bio diversity. In Spanish it means the rich coast so named by Columbus landing in early 16th century and being mesmerized by the local tribes sporting gold jewelry. Our stay included visiting the foothills of a large strato volcano called Arenal and enjoying the naturally heated thermal baths for a while. Lunching amidst lush forest and watching indigenous species of avian noise makers fly overhead. Toucans, some sort of pea hens, multiple song bird species completed the spectacle. Iguanas and a lonel...

A few good books

On an informal mission to read one book a week as long as the eyes allow for such ambition. Fiction or non is not important as long as it entertains and /or educates. To that end the past few weeks have brought a bounty in the form of some wonderful and then not so engaging literature. Among the notables are - Non fiction category: 1. Good arguments by Bo Seo (how to handle a dispute or debate the most efficient way possible) 2. Genesis by Eric Schmidt (and former US Secy of State Henry Kissinger, who recently passed) - how AI might affect our lives as we know it 3. One in a billion - Zarna Garg (an autobiographical look at an Indian born American woman with a bindi narrated in a standup format - yes it is at times cliched but still funny) Fiction: 1. Personal by Lee Child (a vigilante story with Jack Reacher the giant, nomad protagonist of Child's novels goes hunting for a sniper) 2. Ramayana unraveled by Ami Ganatra (she might disagree about it being a work of fiction but oh wel...

Brown Motion

Search This Blog