WEAK-end

I stayed at Gaurav’s place the whole weekend. We went on Sat’day morn for the GD/PI. He did well, I screwed up. My GD was OK, which is surprising considering I know next to nothing about current affairs and social issues. The topic was estimated changes in several macro-economic parameters of India (GDP, trade, FDIs). The rest of the group appeared well informed.

The interview started off with the panel asking me to suggest an algorithm to solve a sudoku (he spotted the mention of a Math Olympiad cert from amongst the b’ball, tennis, f1, dumb-c, guitar, athletics). Got off completely on the wrong foot and it went downhill from there (business, TV ads, etc. which I admitted I’m not in touch with).

Anyway, no regrets. For the last few weeks, I’ve been acting like someone I’m not (‘cuz I’m not the MBA-type of guy) and it feels good to be natural again. Quaffed many a can of amber at Gaurav’s place and watched many movies, all terribly despairing. Torque was so unrealistic it made Ethan Hunt seem retarded (tho’ Monet Mazur is positively HOT in it).

Got the DVD of a tragical Hotel Rwanda (A good warm-up, I expect, for Schindler’s List which I haven’t watched), and followed it up with an equally discouraging $1m baby (*movies- 2nd time I’m watching, so stopped at the last fight scene). Then we put in the CD of The Girl Next Door, but at the first kiss, we looked at each other and unanimously voted to switch off the TV.

Sunday wasn’t too good either. Woefully, Kimi was bumped off in the first lap by Klien. Another sad retirement which stole the fun out of the race was Rosberg’s. Renault thus finished 1-2 without much challenge tho’ I’m happy it was Fisi who took victory. Button could have challenged for third if he hadn’t been held up by Scott Speed in one of the cheating STR cars running V10s.

Monty fetched some points for McLaren who are tied for 2nd place in the C’structors’ race with Ferrari. Massa on a one-stopper almost did a Kimi by finishing in the points from the back of the grid in front of his illustrious teammate who was on a different strategy.

[Listening to: Adat – Manchala (3:48)]

KRIGA!

YES! OH YES! I’m whooping like Tarzan of the Apes. Get used to seeing this phrase appear often on my blog titles in future. It stands for: Kimi Räikkönen is God Almighty!

My predictions weren’t very much off mark, except Button didn’t win (I did want him to so badly, ‘cuz I thought he deserved it). I’m sure its ‘cuz he tussled with Barrichello (who, I strongly suspect, forgot for the first part of the race that he’s no longer driving for Ferrari). Alonso beat Schumi. I’d said “better Ferrari than Renault”, but I hate both of them almost equally, so it gives me immense pleasure to see either one hang the other up to dry.

A pal sent me a sneer-mail with “Ferrari 1-2 yeeaah!!” just after qualifying (Yes Staney, I’m talking about you!) and Alonso went a li’l higher in my favor when he very skilfully avoided greenhorn Massa (who skidded dangerously close while trying an overambitious overtake) so I just loved it when Alonso barged out of the pit lane exit later and skewed just in front of Schumi after that magnificently-calculated 6.5 sec pitstop.

Kimi deserved worship from Dennis y’day, instead of the snide “you’re replaceable” remark. That was the last nail in Ron’s coffin and if JPM keeps performing like this and Räikkönen leaves McLaren next year (Newey’s already gone and Alonso’s joining), my loyalty will leave with him. I’m sure F. Briatore or F. Williams wouldn’t have been so ungrateful!

Prediction (Sakhir)

Wishful thinking:

DWC:
1. MS, 2. JB, 3. FA, 4. FM, 5. JPM, 6. CK, 7. MW, 8. KR,
9. NH, 10. DC, 11. JT, 12. JV, 13. NR, 14. SS, 15. CA, 16. YI,
DNF – 17. GF, 18. RB, 19. TM, 20. VL, 21. RS, 22. TS

CWC:
1. FER (15), 2. HON (8), 3. REN (6), 4. McL (5), 5. RBR (3), 6. WIL (2),
7. BMW (0), 8. TOY (0), 9. STR (0), 10. MID (0), 11. SAH (0)

[Listening to: Céline Dion – A New Day Has Come – Ten Days (3:37)]

Disappointing, but..

Ferrari are back! Massa is already breathing down Schumi’s neck. From the last practice session, it looks like the only other teams who are in the top league are:

1. Honda (If they keep up this form, I can foresee Button’s first victory not too far away)
2. Renault (Alonso will soon rue his impending switch to McLaren)

I just hope Raikkonen makes me eat my words. 😦
I hope even more Montoya does the same. :`-(

Post-qualifying update:

It went just as I expected, though McLaren’s reliability is even worse than I predicted. It will be interesting to see Kimi charge (on a full fuel load pit stop strategy I hope) from the back of the grid tomorrow, but I’ll be impressed even if he manages to break into the top half.

The quality of the competition has gone up immeasurably since 2005. Better Ferrari than Renault anyway (and Massa is so good!), so I just hope they beat the tires off Alonso. If I ever change loyalty from McLaren, it will be to Honda.

[Listening to: James Blunt – Back To Bedlam – You’re Beautiful (3:33)]

The Green Mile

Watched the second movie from the past. It was my first Hanks starrer. He isn’t the main guy though, and it has some stunning performances by Michael ‘Big Mike’ Clarke Duncan.

I went out with Krishnan y’day. We visited the newest building on Marine Drive, viz. Bay Pride Mall, which has Marrybrown (I didn’t know it was Malaysia-based). The usual Nike, Adidas, Levi’s et al will open soon! I also discovered that Kittoo’s account has unlimited downloads from 0200 to 0800.unlike mine, so ripped 150MB during those hours 🙂

Winamp 2.91 was crashing, so I now have v5.2 Lite. Got WMPamplog and msgramp too.. Native Instruments has this software called Guitar Rig which I heard (from a very reliable source) is better than a hardware processor, so if anyone has it, do let me know.

[Listening to: James Blunt – Back To Bedlam – Wisemen (3:42)]

The Village

I’d blogged about this a long time ago. I watched it on *Movies just now and it brought on a fresh spate of tears. I observed that the music contributed a lot to it, in contrast to Troy (watched it y’day), which would have been so much better if not for the distasteful yodelling.

Shyamalan is the best director IMHO, in spite of all the criticism this movie has drawn.
James Newton Howard’s responsible for the amazing impact the music makes on the viewer.
Bryce Howard is absolutely the class act (I’m sorry I didn’t mention her in my previous post). She was cast without an audition, replacing Kirsten Dunst (and thank God for that!).
Adrien Brody’s no longer an unknown name to me n’ I HAVE to watch The Pianist.
Sigourney Weaver looks sexy even at 55.

I read MBA. Its a whole damn sight better than the pathetic FPS & ONTCC, but this sort of thing inspires any Tom, Dick and Harry to come up with trash to sell at throwaway prices. Frankly, I’d be embarassed to pick up a pen to write something that’d sell at Rs.200. Whats worse, these works aren’t even worth that. After the likes of H2G2, the language in used these books makes my skin crawl. They blemish English literature.

The Guide

Surprising that I should talk about Godfather being my fave (after Ayn Rand’s book of course) just a couple of days back and have it ousted soon afterward, a decade since.

I’ve been on the Ultimate H2G2 (all five volumes) for a month now. Today, I finished the last. Though Mostly Harmless took quite an effort, it was very rewarding in the end.

I felt in the very beginning that Ford Prefect was my fave ‘cuz I related to a lot of his traits. It stayed that way till the very end. 🙂

[Listening to: Kansas – Dreamweaver (4:25)]

LOTR

Its by far the most boring book I’ve ever read. Anyone who’s actually read every page of the whole thing is either very jobless and very persevering. I did. 😐

Here’s an excellent Tom Hanks quote (used in The Polar Express):

“It’s the same stuff they used in that 4th Lord Of The Rings Movie. Or was it the 19th Lord Of The Rings Movie? You know, the one where Boldo and Jingy travel across the bridge? I don’t know, I don’t know their names. When I watch Lord Of The Rings I just think ‘someone got their finger stuck on the word processor for too long’“.

Tom Cruise

If you’re a fan of his, there are three movies you MUST watch.
If you’re not a fan of his, there are three movies you MUST watch, n’ then you’ll be one.

1. The Rain Man
2. Jerry Maguire
3. A Few Good Men

I just watched the last today. And now he’s the second Tom on my fave actors’ list (after Hanks). This has finally wiped out the impression that my first TC movie (MI-2) built.

This guy is GOOD.

Btw, Kevin Bacon’s done some terrible roles (Tremors, Hollowman). I watched a decent movie of his lately. n’ he’s done a good job in FGM too. My pal Sandeep tells me I should watch Footloose. The guy is s’posedly a great dancer!

Fight Club

First, thanks to all my friends who’d already watched the movie, for abiding by the first rule.
Second rule is, you do not comment on this blog about Fight Club and spoil it for others.

I usually have words to describe the movies I’ve watched, but this time I’ll merely note that I never had a favorite movie till today. I also understand now, why I belong in it.