Not so famous movies I Enjoyed...

The number of movies that I watch has risen over the last few months. We manage to watch at least 4 - 5 movies in a week. Not all the movies are the latest ones. The movies range from Godfather to Finding Neverland, Pulp Fiction to Juno and occasionally some good Tamil or Hindi movie.

Last month had been quite momentous in this sense. We managed to watch a few big hits such as Robots, Patch Adams and LOTR. Apart from that we watched a few movies which were not so famous. We actually picked them because we couldn't find any other movies. But as luck would have it we were very glad we picked these movies. They were just awesome.

Let me share those wonderful movies.

This movie tells the true story of Truman Capote. The movie centers on the Kansas murders which Capote wants to use for his new book. This experience affects him like no other. The movie was taken very well. Toby Jones just sank into Truman with ease. The whole movie was very enjoyable and very touching.

This was one those feel good movies which was set in the depression period. The story was very simple. It was about a golfing prodigy who becomes disillusioned after he is the sole survivor of a dangerous mission in the war. Due to a sequence of events he is pulled back to the game of golf but he's unable to touch his talent. A mystical caddy appears out of nowhere and helps him get his strokes back. Once his work his done the caddy disappears again. The movie holds the viewers' attention from the first scene. Very well taken. Not sure why it didn't do so well.

Offside is a very interesting movie. I'm not sure whether to put it as a movie or a very interesting documentary. It is set during the 2005 World Cup qualifying match in Iran. As the rule goes Iranian women cannot go to the stadium to watch sporting events. Due to the love for the game a few girls disguise themselves as men and try to enter the stadium. Some of them are caught. The movie shows how they try to get a glimpse of the match and of the relationship they develop with the soldiers out of pity for each other.

All the 3 movies reinforced the fact that good cinema is still out there. We just need to search harder to get to it. So let me hunt a little more and try to appease my thirst for excellent movies.

Reactions...

Ever since I landed in US I have been amazed by the diversity of the country. You can find people from all parts of the world here. By and large everyone is friendly. Whosoever we meet we are greeted with a warm smile, a friendly nod of the head, a wave or a pleasant "Hi". If you are approaching a door and someone is just passing through it then they hold it open and wait for you. These are all pleasant mannerisms which are quite alien to most of us back home.

Back home we would walk hurriedly past people without meeting anyone in the eye. If unfortunately our eyes did meet we mostly maintained a poker face. There was no system of waiting for people with doors open.. ("Well if they couldn't run to the doors why should we wait and waste time?" was our thought)

Whenever we go out (walking, shopping, to a movie, dining...) we get to see wide variety of people - Americans, Mexicans, Chinese, Indians,... List goes on. And these are the way people react:

• American meets American - The smile nod routine which may extend to a long chat.
• American meets Indian - Again the smile, nod routine.
• Indian meets Indian - This is a BIG NO NO. As soon as one guy or family spots another they either lower their heads or give the best frown or stare possible. Very rarely will the person smile at you.
  

I initially thought something must be wrong with the way I was dressed or maybe I was staring at them. But I realised nothing was wrong from my end. Soon I found from my friends that this was not my experience alone. All of them were given the cold shoulder. Upon more observation I found it to be true. Why is it that those who are capable of smiling at seeing people of a different nationality can extend their hand of friendship to them but not to people of same nationality? What was their fear? Or was it hatred? Did they dream of being the only Indian family in the entire USA?? Well I got news for them. U can't run away from fellow Indians :) The sooner they realise the more they will get to flex their happy smiley muscles. As for me I continue to smile at anyone I see. No necessity to change a good habit.

Good Old Days of Disney

Yesterday I was browsing through the favourite videos of one of my friends and as one thing leads to another on youtube I was soon way off the track from where I started.

Before I knew it I was revisiting those classic cartoons from the older Disney movies. The cartoons back then had such wonderful songs and stories. Who can forget "Hakunamatata" from Lion King or "Colours of the Wind" from Pocahontas?

Some of the videos that I enjoyed...

Hakunamatata:





Colors of the Wind:





Mulan:



Beauty & the Beast:




All these clips made me wonder why we don't get such cartoons or music any more. Somehow such imagination has become a rare thing. We don't get many good cartoons these days. Sad but I guess we have to learn to appreciate the new things. I'll definitely return to this page whenever I feel nostalgic. And keep adding to the collection of wonderful videos. Anyone remember any other great songs or cartoons?

Skyrocketing Prices

If you are a frequent visitor to the grocery store you would have noticed the steep rise in prices of goods, especially Indian goods such as dal and rice. It's amazing how quickly the prices have risen. Rice which was being sold for $8 is now $30 within a matter of 7 days. And same for dal. As usual many people have started panicking and they are stocking up on rice from all possible sources. Costco and BJs have run out of rice stock. And even ordinary shops where no one used to bother buying rice from have put notices indicating one customer can take only one bag of rice. What a turn of events.

What puzzles me the most is this - did all the rice and dal just disappear on one fine day? What stopped the suppliers from rationing the supply initially itself to stop such a steep rise and subsequent stampede of customers? Isn't the supplier playing a foul game by suddenly declaring that we have been hit by a shortage? Some where there has been a black marketing of these commodities and now we are left with the shocking prices.

The funny thing is that the governments of various countries are now doing what they do best always - Playing the blame game. They are trying to figure out which country ate into the world's supply of food instead of forming a strategy to avoid further shortage.

One thing is true though. We have been neglecting farmers for a long time and slowly forcing them into extinction. Now we are paying the price and a little heavily. Let's hope this stops soon.