The first one

Hmm.. First half was rather good. One and half hours whizzed past. Much like TDK. Though a bit less "heavy". By heavy, I mean weight. Hmm... Second half was good too. Though a bit over-hyped by the reviewers generally. Overall, pretty good.  Better than good. More drama. No scene stealers as such. Alfred was good. Wayne was good. Selina was good too. John Blake - pretty good. Bane - hmm. Needed to have MORE Batman.  At least one more action set piece with the Bat was needed. The Bat Suite looked fantastic. Caught Batman Begins and The Dark Knight over the weekend on TV. Begins seems to be the best of the lot. Need to watch TDKR again.

3 Noodles. Missed the start of the movie. But good overall. Enjoyed it. Keeps balance between making outright fun and handling Muslims and Jews and their faiths sensibly. Ending a bit too convenient. Good performance by the cast - especially by the central characters. Good comedy. Laughed out loud may be 3 times. Recommended. And yes, super sexy Ms. Punjabi without ever trying to be.

This is an old post written after the ecstatic first viewing of "The Dark Knight", one of my all time favorite movies, when the film first released here in Pune. I am reproducing it here again as a submission for the Reel-life Bloggers contest run by wogma and reviewgang . The Knight is Darkest I am incoherent (should probably turn off the TV). The anticipation was there for the last three years. The excitement, had now become palpable. It had become almost too hard to concentrate on work. I don't remember the last time I got this excited. May be it was the hype. May be it was the raves being showered already by the critics. But mostly, it was curiosity, I suppose. Can the Bat seem plausible in the real world past its origins? How do they make it real, this time? But first, my story till the multiplex. Ah.. no, doesn't matter anymore. Suffice to say that it involved waiting, more waiting, tickets, cancellation (Are you Serious), disappointment, more wait...

Can't be four years in a row. Go Roger. Let me be in peace. (The only thing left then would be to beat Rafa on just one more Orange final. Oh.. ok. Semi will do.)

I am surprised by how little you need to upgrade in order to get by in a software job. This, of course, applies only to them to whom the difference between MS Word and Vi stop at being primarily made available for two different operation systems. Then of course, you at least need to know that the thing waiting for you to do something when you boot up your PC is a part of Operating System. Then, of course, there are other things to it, the OS I mean. Can't remember most. But I know where the books are. At least the one with basics. Can get there. Hmm.

I have recessed from "lets wait if the value rises further" to "I told you not to put this much in the market" speeches to some people I know. Most notably, my dad. Dabble and fall.

Though the colors in his nest have faded, I doubt that he can ever get rid of them. Or, put simply, I don't think Kevin Pietersen can do the job for England. Not the captaining one, anyway. As batsman, he has been excellent. But he is definitely not captain material. I'd be very surprised if he were. Captaincy is more about man management skills rather actual playing skill. KP has been seen more as his own man. What one requires is a People's person. KP is not one of them. Andrew Strauss, I think, would have been a good bet. England erred before in handing Flintoff the captaincy as against Strauss in the last Ashes. Everyone knows what happened then and after. Only when Vaughan returned did the semblence of normalcy returned to the English camp. KP is more in the mould of Flintoff rather than Vaughan or even Nasser Hussain. He can be one of the blokes but not lead them. Even handing capataincy to Alistair Cook would have been a good move keeping an eye on the future. The b...

I am incoherent (should probably turn off the TV). The anticipation was there for the last three years. The excitement, had now become palpable. It had become almost too hard to concentrate on work. I don't remember the last time I got this excited. May be it was the hype. May be it was the raves being showered already by the critics. But mostly, it was curiosity, I suppose. Can the Bat seem plausible in the real world past its origins? How do they make it real, this time? But first, my story till the multiplex. Ah.. no, doesn't matter anymore. Suffice to say that it involved waiting, more waiting, tickets, cancellation (Are you Serious), disappointment, more waiting, tickets, waiting, traffic jam, parking full (Oh.. no!!), parking open, running, settling in the seat, just in time. Back to the earlier question. Do they succeed in fitting the Bat in Big Apple? Yes, very much so. Does the Joker provide a plausible enemy? Yes. Does the Joker rise to become a formidable foe? Yes. ...

Taking this opportunity to revive my blog by posting my comments on Ramanand's blog about the Roger-Rafa Wimbledon Final 2008. So, here goes... Got to see the match between the two rain beaks. So, I saw the best part of the match. After watching Nadal play in previous matches, I had predicted a comfortable Nadal win. Federer surprised me. Federer will never win French Open against Nadal . Its very difficult if he will win again here in Wimbledon against Nadal . Why? Because Federer doesn't practice enough. He doesn't bring his best game with him to every match. He just does what is required. This is very unlike Nadal who plays every point to the best of his ability. That is why he always has his best game to his beck and call. Federer doesn't. True, I rooted for Federer . But the true champion won. And so he shall remain. One final point. This not a decline of Federer . This is the same level at which he has played for years. Its just only now he is up against ...

I have been wading through an onslaught of soap after soaps since the time my parents descended. Must say, gets to you after a while. But I did like Indian Idol, better programming and contestants, I suppose. And of course, Anu Malik, a la Simon Cowell, is it? But I do find myself agreeing with him more often than not. On the movie front, found out a new site from which I can see most of the new movies (english) and make use of my broadband connection.

No wonder its Dieing Hard, at least in India. If you are the type who likes things blown to bits and hurtled to every conceivable edge of the screen, you are going to love Die Hard 4.0. Its more in the mold of True Lies than Matrix. And thank God for that :-)

1. Kill as much Time as possible because Time WILL kill you. Eventually. 2. Free your Marriage!! 3. I've had lot of IDEAS. But I haven't been able to RUN with them. 4. YOU have NO Idea. Pick any of the above that might suit you today. Random thoughts...

Roger Federer did it!! A very good quality match ensued with Rafa. Roger came out on top mainly because of his booming serve. Twenty odd aces to one is some testimony to how good he served his way out of trouble. Specially, considering the number of time he was in trouble facing break points and number of unforced errors he made. Rafa simply doesn't have that intimidating serve that has been the hallmark of all recent Wimbledon champions, most notably Sampras. But he WILL win Wimbledon in couple of years. He nearly did today. But all credit to Fedex for hanging in there. And he played some great points in the decider. Sure he was push to the limit. But he himself wasn't playing at the highest level. Now he is in the throwing distance of equaling Sampras's seven. He should be able to do that in the next few years. But Rafa is fast approaching there.

Serbs have risen and how! Not one but at least two serbs have featured in Semis of the last two Grand Slams, both in mens and womens. One seems a fun loving teen on rampage and the other seems to have swam out of an empty swimming pool to drench the world in her beauty and of course, her fierce cross court forehands. Of course, I am talking about Novak and Ana. It would be very interesting to the see how they develop in the years to come. But they have the potential to be best in the world. Novak specifically has that spark in him, that personality, that touch of Becker, Ivanisevic, Rafter, Agassi that is so devoid in the game today. Nobody seems to be enjoying these days. All are in one heck of a mission to win one match after the other. Djokovic, if he can sustain his current level, can bring that enjoyment of watching the game back. Ana Ivanovic, on the other hand, as talented and beautiful as they come. And she has loads of heart. Although, she lost in the semis in Wimbledon, she ...

I will be short and swift. Watching Venus and Serena Williams strutting their stuff at the Wimbledon makes one realize their obvious difference in approach towards matches. More specifically, Serena doesn't seem give any credit to the opponent. After losing to Justin Henin in the quarters, all she can come up with was that she was not fit or else she would have DEFINITELY won. She also seems to resort to playacting on court, making faces displaying pain, disgust and utter superiority. The lower ranked the player, the better. Venus on the other hand seems more controlled and rarely shows any emotion. She seems like a great athlete and runs down every single ball as possible. In the post match interviews as well, she is not shy of giving credit to the opponent, as she did to Ana Ivanovic after her semi final win, alongside reiterating her confidence in her abilities. Both are gifted women and have been definitely good for tennis, but Serena's attitude has not endeared her to anyo...

I think we have already seen the final of French Open 2007. Well, 70% of it, at any rate. The Semifinal between Rafa and Djokovic was nothing short of spectacular for the first 2 sets and the second half of the third. That Nafal won was only testamont to his supreme fitness apart from the consistent classy level of tennis he plays. Djokovic, on the other hand was supremely spectacular as well, let down only by his fitness today. Here was finally a young man, not afraid. not nervous, confident and enjoying his game. And assuming that there was no pressure on him would not be true. He was playing his first Grand Slam Semifinal. The pressure would have been immense. But soaked it all an twice came back from behind. He seemed the only guy capable of giving Nadal a run for his money, literally. That he is just twenty bodes well for Men's circuit for the years to come. At the risk of sounding a bit too optimistic, I would say that we might have seen a rivalry in the making. At least, on ...

Will it be Roger? Or Rafa again? Depends on the day. Federers . Nadal can't be run down. Federer can be. And then he starts making mistakes. Have seen it again and again. His only chance on clay against Rafa is to keep rallies short and try to serve and volley. Sure he can churn out magical cross courters routinely but Rafas ability for the same has been largely overlooked. So, my bet is Rafa but I want Roger to win. At least give us a decent game. Moya game was a complete washout. Even Hewitt fought better. I thought, Hewitt just ran out of sets and probably started a bit too slowly. Else, we could have had a major upset already. Djokovic is a complete unknown quantity to me but I don't expect him to spring a surprise. Although, he did mention that he has beaten Rafa before on hard court. Davydenko , on the other hand might give Federer a tough time if he holds his game together. Very agile on court but has a fairly straight forward game. Anyways, lets hope we have a ...

Back on the blog after a long time ... Does John Terry look like Kevin Spacey? I certainly thought so after watching him celebrate after scoring off one bent it from Beckham. Taking a cue from quatrainman .... And what about Clint Eastwood in his prime and Hugh Jackman now?? Guess, who's who?

The recent comments made by Rahul Dravid about the report presented by Indian Cricket Team's manager for the tour of South Africa, Chetan Desai , did not come to me as a surprise. Not that I was expecting such a comment from him but its more a question of capability of doing such a thing or making such a comment, which might be considered silly by many. Talking about one person's credentials in the Indian Cricket History, who is doing a managerial job with the team, is at best laughable. Furthermore, since the comments made were more about general attitude of Sehwag's and not about batting or bowling technicality, they don't seem unfair either. No cricketing knowledge is needed to gauge general attitude. And I think, Mr. Dravid erred in criticising a person while batting for his player. Defending your player is one thing and questioning managers credibility is quite another. So, why am I not surprised given Dravid is a nice guy and all that? Simply because he has...

Finally, England have their first win against Australia during the ongoing travesty called the "Commonwealth Bank Series " after their miserably botched Ashes campaign where the only thing that they won was the toss a couple of times. And by travesty, I meant for the English. They have been generally deriding one day cricket during their build up to the Ashes. How very stupid of them.. I mean, I can understand Australians deriding one day, tests or whatever form of cricket. Hell, the guys win most of the games, any form of it and win every single one that matters. What I don't understand is how can England, so miserable in anything which says limited overs or any cricket in general these days, have such a complacent attitude . Specially, with the World Cup barely few months away. Till the Ashes were comfortably snatched, every other English player seemed to be in Ashes dreamland. Anyways, Ashes have gone to dust now and the English need wins like the other day to boost/ s...