Vi Veri Veniversum Vivus Vici

"By the power of truth, I, a living man, have conquered the universe"



"V for Vendetta" stands well apart from others I'v seen in recent past. Ucompromisingly gripping moview it is. It has every element that would make you predict and go wrong (well now that I'v said it u'd probably make a good guess). The only clue I had was the movie trailer which set my mood to not miss the movie.

The movie keeps the plot simple - vengence, set in a political back drop for the story line. The chancellor's regime comming into power potrayed similar to Hitler's Nazi regime.

Our protagonist who goes by the title 'V' is set to take vendetta on those who were responsible for what he was, masked by his outfit and smiling face mask.

The 1st impressive part of the movies was V's fast reflex stunts with his knives. Esp with the trail of the knife movements it just looked jawdroppingly awesome.

The 2nd impresive part of the movie is that such flicks usually have banal dialogues. But here you find the deliverance by 'V' quite scintillating and enchanting. Not what you expect of an action hero. The suave demeanor and husky voice, and his composure back at the Shadow Gallery was quite unique for a hollywood flick.

The movie does have some ficticious setting so better be prepared to take on some BS if you want to enjoy this one.

The other reason why I enjoyed the movie was Natalie Portman, god she is such a doll. Is it her eyes ;;)? She has done a good role in this movie.

Maybe this is given to having had involvement from The Wachowski Brothers /:) (same guys who made The Matrix Trology). There has been so much importance to the symbol 'V' here.

At the onset of the 1st fight, Mr.V delivers a speach mostly with words starting with the letter 'V' but for scattered prepositions and such. Leaves you stupefied.

Even the way he holds the knives before throwing it at his combatants. The orchestration of fireworks, and the list goes on as to how much this letter is being linked with (just as in The Matrix movie, with numbers like 101).

The movie does have some scenes which turned me off, but if you can filter those off you should be able to enjoy the rest laid back.

Bottomline, this movie is simply awesome among the recent flicks. I'd definitely grab my copy of the DVD once it hits the shelves.

Money Money Money

Am sure most of you would have heard of some quixotic individuals going about preaching that - "Money is of no concern to me" (me inclusive :">). Many a time it is regarded as evil to want for money, when usually their intended meaning was 'quick money' regardless of the means or consequence.

Here are some quick thoughts that ran through my mind when I check up the meaning for the same. Probably just a difference in choice of words to express it, nevertheless.


What does money represent?

Need is the fact I'd put foremost in the list. Guess there is nothing new about this, for economics primarily revolves around the maxim Demand & Supply. Since this is too conspicuous I leave this here.

"The value of goods and services" is the most widely accepted definition, simple and comprehensible for most people in their senses. There are some subtle implicit links from the above some of which I failed to notice till today.

In a fair competition, later factor directly relates to the Skill and Time invested by the supplier / provider respectively, though the former factor determines the importance of both firsthand. This is where the industry gets broadly classified into Commodity (or products sector valued by the quality endowed by skilled personnels) and Solutions (or services sector driven by the thoughput per person-hour with little or no stipulation over their skill).

Ultimately this is the value we associate with individuals - contractors (organizations) and contractee at different levels. This post - 'The worth of a job' deals with the same with a deeper perspective, the subtlties of which matter I'll skip here.

So money grossly put is a quantification of the value of an individual to his/her society. No wonder this is one concept which has withstood the toll of time, though civilizations which failed to understand this well have succumbed to others.

Fortunately we live in an era where the world is flat leading to an all time high transparancy of one's worth. Unfortunately this fairness is something many can't compete with and resort to their shrewd means of scheming, squabbling and even deceit for money. Guess thats skill again :), for its money that is widely considered a measure of an individual in society (of course, but for exceptions).

Frozen Thoughts

Am no avid reader. But this magazine did catch my attention on the 1st go. My initial attraction was for the covers and the lovely plush matte finish of the paper. But usually this facination just follows the say that beauty is only skin deep :).

I was surprised to see a magazine with most articles to my taste. I love reading (and to some end writing) articles that motivates by making you think. This magazine scores in that aspect very well.

The wide array of different facets of life these guys cover in their magazine make it quite interesting for most people. Be it professional, personal or even social, they have article that would make you think. Or rethink that which you already have, but muffled for the lack of attention.

More so I found the articles to be assertive over my convictions, beliefs and values. The best motivation for an individual are those people with similar tenets and expressions. And for such people the views of other such individual can be quite insightful towards refining one self. Even the greatest self-motivated individual slowly starts breaking amidst a bunch of insipids over time.

The social articles seem to revolve around an aura of south-indian lifestyle. Being critical over the follies of our lifestyle in a positive manner, was another reason for my inclination. It doesn't breed a new culture influenced from elsewhere but rather the very culture that surrounds me in a contemporary setting.

Definitely the best part of the magazine is its pricing. I find the pricing to be very reachable considering the quality of articles they give. I ain't gonna miss another edition of the tabaloid. But I'd suggest you lay hands on a copy in the stands before you subscribe.

Can't live without it?

Life is so simple without it and yet almost everybody craves for it.
Life is so exciting with it, only to realize soon that its quite a liability.

Until you get it, its all that matters in the world.
The moment you get it, seems like it ain't what you thought it were.

It can drive a sane person into insanity.
It can also bring back an insane person into sanity.

For some its just a trifling indulgence and hapless celebration.
For others its an inextricable experience of life.

It can be the most ethereal experience of your life.
Or its can be the most painful one in disguise.

What this - *it*, means to you is a choice for those who choose whilst its fate for those who don't.

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1. What is *it* for you?
2. What else do you think this *it* can be when you see the people around you?
   

Kill the Phoenix

A comic strip made into a movie is what this is for most. But every story has some subtle message which many people fail to notice :(. When it comes to the X-Men series taken all together, its about two men who have the same goal but take on different means - Charles vs. Magneto in their quest to make a future for their kind.

A good entertainer even for those who haven't laid eyes on the 1st and 2nd. The special effects in the movie are extravagant (esp. the one in which the scene almost freezes as the camera swerves), with plenty of support from sentimental values #-o *sob sob*.

There is nothing grossly lacking in the movie, and neither anything commendable about it. A watchable movie per se. Somehow I felt it did lacked the rush of ruthlessness that was there in the 1st two. I watch this movies esp. for the grace with which 'Ian McKellen' does his role as Magneto. His role was a bit of a let down this time. Though the usual finnale with the 'I am not done with as yet' message was sooo clichéd.

Phoenix has always been the 'Everyboy loves Jean Grey' kinda character. I admit she is really attractive :) to eye on. But this time they made her into a, as much as I hate to say - 'bitchy' :(. Its much more acceptable to see a man out of control than a woman. Just doesn't fit in well.
Maybe I should just see this by the quote - 'The female is the more viscious in every species'.

A nice timepass if you need a break.

The Much Awaited Pet Talk

I was awaiting for the goof up and the PM delivers it himself. If I am not mistaken, yesterday out honourable railway minister promised presence at the scene. Maybe not sure how to handle the tirade of questions, he decided to stay low. Much of the bureaucracy seems to be in shelter.

I have to admit that our honourable PM Dr.Manmohan Singh is one of the few politicians for whome I have utmost respect for. He was among the elite few who took daring steps paving way for the economic growth we see today. But ever since INC came to power, he seems to be nothing more than a puppet (proly a good choice by the party to appease the situation then).

His talk was like the campaign talks during election season. I am not sure if he even composed what he read out, if it was even his voice. But here are my comments on the highlights of the talk.

"war against terror will be won and no one can make India kneel" - Please Sir ^:)^!!! No country will. IMHO it is never possible that evil will be gone, though I appreciate the spirit and enthusiasm.

"These elements have not yet understood that we Indians can stand united. That we will stand united. They have not yet understood that we will never let them win" - They know we are united which is why they are doing this. Please spare the cliched phrases, Sir. I presume the populous is quite attuned to such happenings without warning. People are in dire need of answers than a mere morale boost. The more time you take, the more fabricated it would appear.

"this is living proof of our contempt for terrorism" - its contempt for more than just terrorism.

"good work" done by the police, the security forces, railway staff, firemen, medical personnel - :-o the 1st two were blatantly ineffective over this incident, allegedly not ariving at the scene until an hour past the happenings. Kindly express your gratitude to the people who helped each other until the services took charge.

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For me to say all this sitting in a chair here is so easy, in contrast to the responsibility that our *leaders* uphold. All that I hope for is that they truly in action uphold the nation that just through pet talks.

Hoards of people are railing our intelligence. Remember that the top intelligence in the world have gone amiss. They are humans too, and a liable to err. This does not justify the failure of the system in anyway. But to find scapegoats at this hour is really disgraceful. Time and again I see this Indian mentality to blame someone and not take responsibility and do a root cause analysis to fix the leak.

And then these insipid suggestions to set up metal / bomb detectors or scanners for our transportation system, gooosh #-o. Have they ever considered the cost of doing that? More that which, have they even had the slightest thought of viability considering the number of people who commute. Seriously such insipid arguments to fill the new hour is so bland and shows your unprofessionalism.

Lets wait and watch the postmortem of the incident :-w.

Sad state of affairs :(

Yes!!! The most pressing issue of the hour. The mumbai bomb blasts :(. Like to highlight different aspects of the incident.

Foremost about the infrastructure of Mumbai to handle situations. One of the things noticed during the repeated videos of the scene is that much of the rescue - to quickly bring people to safety, was done by the local people. I wouldn't wanna blindly blame the police and allied services for not being present, but their absence was lucid and felt grossly. Were they waiting till all the blasts were over and the dust settled? Much of the rescue had been done by the people (porters, nearby dwellers, taxi's n henceforth) themselves before these people could pitch in. Is *this* the effectivity of the system we have to rescue our people?

Common people were scuffling for survivors amongst severed hand's, leg's and other body parts. These were the true heros of the day.

It felt ridiculous to know that the telephone (mobile incl.) network in almost entire mumbai was in shambles. Am not very comfortable to call this a coincidence, so am having questions of whether Indian cities can be brought down this way in a snap. Are we so blatantly vulnerable to electronic warfare?

And then of course the reporters. Off-late with a proliferation of yellow-journalism, I'v developed a hatred for these news channels (so beware if am being biased). As much as these channels are helping out, they are probably adding more to the chaos. Each channel have their own helplines service where people can report their whereabouts. Now with about 3/4 new sprawling channels where do you expect the eager onlookers to hunt for their loved ones? Government doesn't even seem to be in the picture?

Why don't these people orchestrate with the government to bring a unified service for people? Is all that they care about boosting their numbers?

And just to cover an all night story on the indident, they ask the most insipid questions. One for the home minister - "Did the government / intelligence know about the possibility of these attacks and was any measures taken" X-(. If they ever did and didn't act, would they go public about it. And then this female who has become the limelight of the news world asks here reporter to arbitly put a man from the street live (maybe she ran out of ideas). The old man hardly knew about the incident and didn't add any value.

Added to the fire, one absolutely smart reporter gives advice to people - "Don't rush to the train stations in search of your loved ones, instead go to the hospitals". Considering the number of commuters who by train to work, guess the hospitals shouldn't have any problems accomodating them *sigh*. There is as much worse things about these new channels as much as they are good.

Government needs to be lauded of all parties. People are mighty tired of these bureaucratic statements - "I solemnly condemn ... India will do all it takes to fight terrorism". If you didn't, then you have no right to hold your position in the office you do so give us a break will ya? Wondering if these politicians are nothing more than puppets who read out whats handed to them. It was the firing at academician at the Indian Institute, Bangalore and now this. Considering the populous of the country I do see the difficulty in enforcing security.

The worse part was that the railways was urging people in other parts of the city to continue using the train system. But when questioned as to whether security measures have been made on the other trains in operation - no answer, utterly shameful. How do they expect people to catch the next train, when no such security measure is promised especially at the onset of such an incident. Just to ensure that the traffic jam problem is resolved. Simple brilliant!!! I do know the value of life down here, but such wretchlessness is inadmissible.

Such incidents are bound to happen. The more secure a lock you device, that much more means the thief has to break it. The game just gets better and better. Guess its been evident from incidents in recent past that no country is all too safe. Its a question of how quickly you find the leak, fix it or at the least give the masses a cogent explanation to all. It about how quickly one can recover from an injury.

As always Mumbai will be back on it feet tomorrow making money for India, all thanks to the spirit of its people.

Reminds me of some of the tracks by A.R.R. The mumbai theme from the movie 'Bombay' (which talsk about the incidents at the onset of similar blasts in 1993), and Bombay Awakes / Sleeps from his musical theatre stuff.

Dream Advertisement

I really dig advertisements. Esp I never miss the good ones. Probably nobody does. The creativity that goes into the good one's do leave me with goosebumps sometimes. But I don 'tremember having seen such advertisements for quite sometime now. But thanks to FIFA fever we have one right under the hood, not sure if people really realized it. I am not a sports guy, but thanks to my sweet cousins nudging (not letting me sleep inclusive) I caught a bit of it aaaand this lovely flick.

Check out these two advertisements by Adidas in sequence - Adidas Jose +10 1#, Adidas Jose +10 commercial 2#.

The whole stuff is simple. Two guyz getting borred of the summer decide to play football. Its not unusual to see kids take the name of big sports guyz and try to play like em ;)). They talk like em, walk like em, it its down to earth hilarious watching em do it with all the fervor.

Here these two guy start pooling in the big names of the game, like its their own club tournament. In Part #1 the team selection is made, team assembled and the little fello's edify the big foots on their strategy. In Part #2 more of the game, with fouls n substitutions come in and the heat builds on as they debate over a goal. Finally the little fellos mama shouts loooooud pulling him in, back home. All players are disappointed and teams are dispersed. The little fello picks his football and leaves with a smile, thinking. Game Over → Dream Over.

Now wait a minute!!! That was all just a dream :-o. An advertisement over a little fellow dreaming in the day about football :-??. For those of you to whome your bells don't ring -

Adidas - All Day I Dream About Sports

Now wasn't that a ingenious way to say the message. The question being, to how many people did the bell's ring :-/ when they saw it /:).

What would you want?

1.a) Would you choose to earn million a year, with hardly any time for a personal life? or
1.b) Would you choose to earn 50 grand with a good personal life?

2.a) Would you do things the right way, and feel gratified?
2.b) Would you do things no more than the way it is mandated?

3.a) Would you be a monkey, coz that entails security?
3.b) Would you be an inventor, stick out your head and risk being bitten?

I stop the list here to stick to the thought that sprang up these questions at the onset of certain events here.

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The buzz word of the day is 'Quick Money'. Quite honestly I only pity those souls running after it. Deserve before you Desire is the matra being preached to inculcate values into todays generation, but is hardly getting noticed.

My point is, people are so much after Money that they compromise on things that truly add value to their life. Be it in Management or IT (people of which kind I get to meet often), most young blood take pride in working at unearthly hours for the biggest names without much botheration to upsetting their biological clock. Just to earn the title of employee of the month / year people work 12-14 hours diurnally, yet they remain a needle in a haystack. At the end of the day, not enough time is left / having got too old and worn out by age to enjoy that which you have earned.

What's the point in earning so much and not being able to spend time with you friends and family? As much as its true that at the end of the day you need money to pursue you hobbies and indulge in pleasures, is it worth running after more and more money, something over which u'd never be content with?

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The seconds one is more of a choice that people make. More of a choice as to what to compromise upon. We'v got so many things to take care of and we can't give 100% to everything. Usually boils down to work vs. personal life vs. hobbies etc.

What I find funny is that a lot of people fall into the second category and get away with it. Quite honestly I detest such people, for they are such a disgrace to what sets apart a human. Maybe I am being to staunch but then, I guess that is just my opinion :).

On the other hand it is quite possible that anything more than what's mandated is hardly appreciated or recognized. Plausibly they do not invest their effort since it ain't gonna pay. It all boils down to marketing, which most people are quite bad at (inclusive of me).

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This I believe is kinda linked to the above two. Mostly attributed to people sense of insecurity. And once people see a regular supply of money, they are just not willing to let go of it and try something else. This is where entrepreneur's differ from the rest. Mostly people are afraid of failure and play defensive.

Maybe many of you think that I am talking about extremes and not the middle ground. The truth is, most of the people slowly diverge towards one of these extremes. Should I say the distribution is that of an inverter normal distribution curve. Would that explain why there are so few achivers :-?.

Regardless of what I'v said above (for thats just my opinion), what is your answer to the above three questions? And why? If you are afraid to answer then you are probably not doing what you want to, rather doing what you think you have to :). As for the rest, the world is ours so let out you call ;).