Brown Motion

I think after a long time I watched a Sholayisque 2.5 hour western melodrama that was more than mildly humorous as well as a classic Tarantino. With its depiction of slavery circa civil war period, the western touch was evident in the music and the horse riding gangsta with the fastest draw but the story meandered in the plantations of the deep south. Christoph Waltz picked up his second Oscar for his supporting role, which in my opinion is a travesty since he seemed to have a more prominent role without having to mess with a lady love and therefore become the protagonist. As Dr. Schultz he pretends to be a German dentist traveling through the south when in fact he is looking to score by killing his next target as a bounty hunter. Some of the funny touches include a spring loaded molar (with a cavity which we see later on in the film to store cash) that bobs on his horse drawn carriage. A fascination with the use of the proper English language which many of the thugs (he encounter...

One of the events that irks me most these days is that of Registering. I have a school going child and it is obvious we are registering for something or the other every other day. I mean a lot does not register for me every day what with so much registering every other. From registering for the new school year in the middle of the year - that will throw you for a time loop what with added Daylight Spending Time (or was it savings - does not seem likely what with our penchant for the former than latter) and what not added to the mix - to the registration for after school enrichment programs there seems to be a lot of onus on the entire family to ensure that education keeps dripping into your offspring. Outside of educating they also want you to be extra curricular and register for walk or bike to school day to participate in tile paintings to register to feed the hungry. Then there is the registration for the Archery Camp which will also accept registration for the field trips. I ...

I thunk this weekend as I lazed away on a corn on the cob. This itself made me ponder the use of the phrase. Now I was not exactly lazing on the corn which was on the cob. I was lazing and enjoying the corn on the cob. Corn when consumed many years back from a road side vendor in India was simply that Bhutta or a delicate yet crisp, grilled to prefection snack. What is this cob? Turns out the pole in the middle around which the kernels are hanging has the dubious distinction of being known as the COB. Then again it gets more confusing when some certain individuals in the Midwest of America keep calling it Ears of Corn. So now its ears of corn on the cob? What about the other parts then? Why waste time on the ears when there is a whole abdomen somewhere? Who knows. So moving to more erudite observations - 1. If a person saw another getting pecked to death by a chick (which can happen if the pun was applied) should we suspect fowl play? 2. Did the Malaysians get influenced ...

Its been said that a fool is defined as one who knows the price of everything but the value of nothing. Philosophical minutae aside it is indeed fascinating to see what people will pay for certain product or service in context of their circumstance. Clearly circumstances at time of purchase are a key determining factor in transaction completion. They can be attributed to - 1. Net worth of an individual 2. Disposable funds available at time of decision making 3. Competitive standing within society (Jones or Li or Phadke or Gupta phenom depending on your continent) 4. Ignorance (of the buyer that is about to transact about the product or the actual transaction in question) 5. Influence (of the very society that he or she wants to transact in) Lets focus on items 4 and 5. We know that there is no point in discussing 1 or 2 since there is a debate on whether anyone is worth anything these days and besides the government is giving it away at 0% so go forth and froth. 3 is for another d...

Here is another essay on the subject of first names. As in birth names. Or names provided to an offspring at birth. While the developed world tends to shy away from the exotic like Refrigerator or Coca Cola for their new production there is a plethora of Jims and Johns and Bobs or Robs. Speaking of which I do not think there is a categoric decision point at the time of birth if a child will be hereafter called as Bob. I mean have not yet met a toddler called Bob or Rob for that matter. At some point though the parental instinct to mouth out multiple syllables runs out and they switch from calling the crawler Robert to simply Robbie to Rob. Now speaking of - it is strange that the name sounds like something you would not want Rob to do - i.e. Rob anyone. Then why call someone that? After all Rob Peter to Pay Paul is not exactly a maxim to live a young life? Is it? Perhaps Peter or Paul might want to have a say in it? Then there is this matter of going to the John. Why degrad...

Got to recently experience this newest incarnation of automotive variant. Fully electric and therefore quiet with no tail pipe it is produced in a factory that ironically was used by former General Motors to crank out some mediocre sedans that did have tail pipes. The factory is in Northern California suburb and does everything an average car company does not do today. It gets labor from a non unionized workforce and is the brain child of an inventor who made millions in the e-commerce business. The car hopes to provide no hassle pricing and some government subsidies for being green. I am not sold on the green narrative since the gas if not emmitted by the car has to emit somewhere (perhaps a coal fired electric utility thousand miles away). The migration to solar panels in the desert and other renewables for sustainable and reliable electric power across the country is still a mirage. The car also will liekly be marketed and sold by the company's own showrooms much like...

In 2D without any special rays blu or otherwise 'Life of Pi' was quite enjoyable. Very engaging from the start and told in a manner of Malgudi days with computer imagery to enhance the story telling was watchable with our 10 year old. That it comes from a Taiwanese director is I think key to how certain aspects of the story are handled. It has also become a financial success with multiple awards including some Oscars and over half billion dollars at the box office in worldwide sales. I am not sure if it was rated by the MPAA as child friendly but is clearly a cross between The Black Stallion and Castaway (of Tom Hanks fame) or more recently Canadian born Survivorman-isque narrative. That it has a message for the masses of the mature variety towards the end is perhaps its departure from merely being a tale of animals and survival. A variety of individuals from different backgrounds made up the cast from Gerard Depardieu (Frenchman) to an Englishman who interviews Pi about ...