The Truant Tales

Yeaaaaaaaaaah. Hooooolidays!!!! Oh, wait. That post has already been written.

Writer's Block. I'd like to blame that, but actually I'm averse to ANY thinking during the holidays. Instead, I shall regale you all with my holiday escapades.

Movies Seen:

One Flew over the Cuckoo's nest (Pretty good. Great ending)
Dog Day Afternoon (A Classic. Al Pacino is brilliant. "Attica, Attica"!!!!)
Monster House (An average Animated film)
Next (Hopeless. Bad. Rubbish. Crap. Its a typical Nic Cage aware)
The Inside Man (Loved it. Spike Lee, Clive Owen, Denzel Washington)
Blades Of Glory (outrageously funny)
Anchorman (Silly. Rarely funny)

Music :

Thin Lizzy - The best of
Aerosmith - Pandora's Box
Bon Jovi - Crossroads
Steppenwolf - The collection
Doobie Brothers - Best of the Doobies 1 and 2

I'd recommend all of the above.

Books :

Children Of Men - P.D James (Good Premise like 1984, but loses rack towards the end, unlike 1984)
100 Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez (An absolute Classic. A must read)
The Awakening - Kate Chopin (Archaic. Boring. Got it because it was there in the Everman's Library)
Misery - Stephen King (Good book. Glad there are no aliens, demonic possession, rabid dogs in this book, unlike the other King books)
Day of the Jackal - Frederick Forsyth (A classic. Very entertaining)

Currently reading 'Nostromo' - Joseph Conrad. A great Read.

And, I've been spending a lot of time at cracked.com . Hilarious.

The Bat Battle
Retarted Gas Saving Schemes

HOLIDAYS...HOLIDAYS...HOLIDAYS...WOOHOO....Happiness at last. One and a half weeks of torturous exams are over and now I have a WHOLE month of holidays to look forward to. The moment the last exam got over, ecstasy (the good kind) filled the students. To celebrate, we ran (literally) to the nearest theatre and saw 'Taare Zameen Par'. Now I know why everyone calls it the Hindi movie of the year.

TZP is a great movie. Not a classic by cinema standards, but compared to the mindless mass produced crap in Bollywood, TZP is superb. It's a charming little movie (reminds me very much of 'little miss sunshine'), with no glamour or any sort of 'commercializing' of the movie. Its simple, with a great story and a brilliant brilliant lead. Darsheel Safary's animated expressions are hilarious and the films first half rests only on his shoulders. In fact the only big name in the movie - Aamir Khan (the director too) comes only in last 1 hour of the movie.



The story is simple and is brought alive by all the actors. Ishant is dyslexic and everyone around him has trouble understanding his condition. From the pushy father to the overachieving brother to the frustrated teachers, all are acted beautifully. The boy is then sent to a boarding school in a hope of getting him 'disciplined'. It is in the boarding school that he meet Ram Prasad Nikumb who helps him out. The climax is really touching, and beautifully handled by the director.

It follows the same formula of other 'inspirational teacher movies' like "To sir with love", but what sets it apart is the direction and the lead. Can't stop praising the kid.

In short, the movie was soooo good, that I forgot about the horrendous last week or so. NO, I'm not talking about my exams, I'm talking about the India-Australia Test Series. India has lost the first two test matches. We could've atleast drawn the second test, but dubious and shitty (for the lack of a better word) umpiring decisions that set India back. Aww, I'm depressed again.

Ok, So in keeping with the theme of this post, Here's this weeks lists (Friday night list on a Sunday);

5 Movies that ALMOST made me weep

Firstly, I DON'T cry. Very few movies actually touch me ( I was the only one who was laughing when Jack died in Titanic). But some do get me thinking and sympathise with the lead. So here's a list of movies that almost almost made me weep;

5) Phenomenon : Such a campy movie. Its stereotype and tries to tug your heartstring all the time. But, John Travolta is great. A very thin story line, but my god Travolta is great. Everyone hated the movie except me. He also touched me in Mad City (which would've made the list, if not for the fact that its a crap movie). One more time, Travolta is great.

4) Taare Zameen Par : Its fresh in my mind. The only Bollywood movie in the list.

5) Schindler's list : So very realistic. Spielberg's masterpiece is also his best. Saving Private Ryan was great, but not "Schindler's list" great.

2) My left foot : Wow!!! Daniel Day Lewis (Yes, the same guy who in the horrible 'Gangs of New York') is perfect as Christy Brown, a Cerebral Palsy patient. A Must see.

1) Life is beautiful : Wow, Wow....After seeing the movie mom looked at me and said "Is that tears?", I replied "No, that's dew accumulating near my eye". I obviously saw the English dubbed version, but it didn't dim Roberto Benigni's brilliant acting.

Narrowly missing the cut : Forrest Gump, Legend of Bhagat Singh, Monster, The mighty, The Iron Giant, philadelphia (Damn that Tom Hanks), Vaastav.

5 Movies that made me cry

I usually do a lot of research before seeing a movie in the theatre, but once in a while I listen to my friends (or family) and be a little more spontaneous. Big mistakes have been made.

5) Transformers : All the Little kids in the theatre were so excited that they kept screaming "Optimus Prime", "Megatron". I couldn't believe that I was the smartest person in the theatre. Horrible Horrible movie, that made me cry. Also tied with Tansformers is another Michael Bay movie, Bad boys 2. The first half was OK, but then it quickly disintegrated into utter farce, not even fit for Bollywood. Can't believe I blew up another 100 bucks on a Michael Bay movie.

4) Ghostrider : So tacky, so corny, so baaad. I liked Nic Cage in Matchstick men, Moonstruck and snake eye, but this is his low point. If I had set fire to the 100 bucks, I would've had more fun.

3) Aap Ki Khatir : I never see Hindi movies in the theatre. But a family friend wanted to treat us before he left Bangalore, and unfortunately, this was the only movie playing in the theatre. It had himesh Reshamiyya's music, the 'acting' talents of Akshaye Khanna, Priyanka Chopra, Dino Morea, Amisha Patel, Sunil Shetty and Anupam Kher, (i.e all the B-grade Bollywood actors) all adding to the pain. Its a 'remake' of a really bad Hollywood movie 'The Wedding Date' .

2) Spy Kids 3-D : We were in the multiplex and all movies were sold out except two; 50 first dates and Spy Kids 3-D. Thinking that 50 was a campy love story, we saw SK3-D. What a waste. The 3-D effects were annoying and can't believe that the Oscar winner (for screenplay of Rocky) Sly Stallone was there in this crap. This movie makes 'Rambo III', 'Cobra' and 'demolition Man' look like masterpieces.

1) Battlefield Earth : I didn't see this in the theatre, but I bought the DVD, so it qualifies. Very bad special effects, and a horrible performance by Travolta. John Travolta is horrible. One more time, Travolta is horrible. But atleast the CD makes a great Frisbee.

Narrowly missing the cut : Pirates 3, Matrix Revolutions (I didn't understand a thing), 102 Dalmatians, War of the worlds.

Two down, Three to go. Chemistry and Computers over. Only Maths, Electronics and Environmental Studies (EVS) to go, of which EVS is a 100 marks paper of which we only need passing marks as it is not counted for the final percentage. Moreover, it's a Multiple Choice Question (MCQ) paper and hence, the trusted "Eenie meeni mini moe" method can be used.

Tomorrow is Maths, which I'm pretty good at. In fact I've finished studying 70 % of it and just 50% more to go.

I couldn't be more distracted. I've already watched 3 more films to celebrate the end of the computer exam - "Citizen Kane" : I found it really boring and still can't understand why critics call it the greatest movie ever. "V for Vendetta" : Stylish with good cinematography. A look into the depressing future. "Thank You for smoking" : funny satire about a tobacco company executive who backs up smokers.

But it is during the exams that my mind wanders. Especially if there is any outside noise. What's worse than writing a computer exam for which you haven't studied? The answer is to write a computer exam for which you haven't studied, while Himesh Reshamiyya's music is being played loudly. Just outside the window, a group of seniors were listening to Himesh's music. That dreaded "Aap Ki Suroooooooooooooooooooor" song which got stuck in my god-forsaken brain.

I hear footsteps in the foreground. I guess, my mom is coming. Time to open MS Word and pretend I'm studying.