Sigur Rós

The western classical music of today. This is the genre to which Sigur Ros fits.
I have 4 albums by them and I don't understand a single song; however, it is one of my preferred artists when driving or when sitting at home. I can listen to them when I am writing and even when I am reading. I have tried listening to true 'western classical' but cannot find the same temperament.
Sigur Ros is a true treasure of today. Today, with its loud music, independent styles, bold lyrics and unsoulful but excellent melodies, is a fantastic petri dish for various forms of music and expressions - in that clutter (even though I haven't heard as much music as I would like to) Sigur Ros stands out as being fiercely independent.
The capitalism of today has its merits - Rehman chose (or so I think) a song by Sigur Ros for the soundtrack of the movie '127 hours'. May be it's going to bring them more recognition, but that is the magic of music isn't it?
To fall in love with a band, an artist or a group that many don't know of, dislike or are ignorant of.

Into the Wild

Chris / Alex McCandless wrote well.

"The very basic core of a man's living spirit is hit passion for adventure.
The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun."

"You are wrong if you think Joy emanates only or principally from human relationships. God has placed it all around us. It is in everything and anything we might experience."

This is from the book "Into the Wild" and the above quotes are Alex's own.
The last quote he negates before death when he notes:

"And so it turned out that only a life similar to life of those around us, merging with it without a ripple, is genuine life, and that an unshared happiness is not happiness... And this was most vexing of all. HAPPINESS ONLY REAL WHEN SHARED."

Did he have to go through his ordeal to realise this? Could he have been one of the very few who actually realised this? I ask because most of us don't know the other possibility, of living without society and love.


The book is quite excellent. It's not as glorious as the movie but is sobering. Jon Krakauer is the author and he expressed his compassion for the kid in the introduction/ foreword. There are two chapters which I really liked. One in which Jon talks of other weirdos/ loners/ pursuers and the other when he describes his youth and his journey to Alaska to conquer Devil's Thumb. Fantastic stuff.
I enjoyed the part where when he came back to the town and recited his tale to the town folk, they didn't seem to care :)
I relished the part where he compared his ... well... this is the statement (He was 23 years old then):
"At that stage of my youth, death remained as abstract a concept as non-Euclidean geometry or marriage."

This book and books like this make one realise how shallow a city-dweller's journey can be. Yes.

127 Hours

Too many spoilers. Read at will.

My eyes were wet twice during the movie; first during the flooding scene and the next actually made me flinch, when the family of 3 start running towards Aron (James Franco).
The movie itself didn't impress me for the first half but Danny Boyle did something brilliant towards the second. Cropping three scenes into once frame, the music, Sigur Ros and AR Rehman and Jame Franco outdid himself.
During the first half I liked James but not too much, during the second he blew me away. I loved the flashbacks, the dreams/ hallucinations, Rehman's background score. I knew, like many others that he makes it out alive but the movie still gripped me.
It will definitely be a memorable movie. Cheers to Aron Ralston and the spirit within us all.

Special mention to the flashbacks and hallucinations. Absolutely brilliant.

There are odd things I liked about the movie:
The fact that none of the girls were pretty.
The masturbation scene. Some would be humoured by it and I thought it completely natural - momentary pleasure can be wonderful.
The way Aron ran off after saying goodbye to the girls towards the beginning of the movie.
The flashback when he chose not to receive his mother's phone call.
The premonition of him with his son.
The way Aron kisses the hooks when he approaches the cliff after he had sawed off his hand.
How swiftly the canyon flooded, how easily he freed himself and how believably he made it to his girlfriend's house just for the audience to understand that it's some sort of a dream.
The ants on his face.
How the audience is forced to gasp when he drops his bottle of water.

Cannot forget how the family of three ran towards him :) - That scene just gnawed at me from my insides. Something so animalistic about how they ran to help Aron.

The Matrix

It's 2011 and I'm watching a movie that was released in 1999. This movie is still cool.
"C'mon - Stop trying to hit me and hit me!"
"Everybody falls the first time."
Some of the dialogues are embedded.
In 1999, the world did not have Google. Internet was a novelty. America was free of terrorism. India was still a 'bad-land'. People didn't care about China.
The Wachowski brothers decided to market the idea of the world being a dream in which we are stuck. This idea may have influenced people the world over. This movie, I want to believe, somehow made people become independent.. in their thoughts and actions.
The movie - Cool. That's it. Stunningly intelligent in the nuances planted at certain junctures. Great effects, fantastic direction, crisp, great story and rather excellent acting by Laurence Fishburne and Keanu Reeves.
I wonder if it will retain its coolness 20 years from now :)

The best quote of all : "There is no spoon."

Into the Wild

I'm appalled at myself for not having written about this movie. It has been one of the most influential movies in my life - and that is the reason you should watch it.
It is based on a true story based on that of Christopher McCandless. A man, disillusioned, curious and gaining consciousness decided to leave society - to a degree. He met random people on his journeys with his eventual goal of going to Alaska, or as he said it "Alaskalaska"

It's difficult to not let my emotion cloud this 'review' but I shall try. Emile Hirsch, Sean Penn and Eddie Vedder created magic. The music and the lyrics breathes life into dull patches and gets the viewer interested in trying to understand this creature called 'Alexander Supertramp'.

One issue with the progress of society, especially over the last 100 years, has been the influx of people, technology, communication, capitalism and a bull-headed focus on getting ahead. Christopher saw what was happening around him and disliked the materialism that surrounded him and just wanted to go away from all these accepted rituals of daily life.
MGMT's song, Time to Pretend, was written well -
" Yeah it's overwhelming, but what else can we do? Get jobs in offices and wake up for the morning commute... We're fated to pretend."

People who don't like the movie have said, ' Ya.. it's about this guy who goes to Alaska right?'
People who like the movie sound like Jeff Bridges and say, ' Just watch the movie man'


Special thanks to Eddie Vedder for moaning and groaning through his simple, hearty lyrics that instantly makes me question our society.

Just watch the movie man.

The Raghu Dixit Project

I read about this band in the newspaper some days ago, I then moved to youtube to see them perform their song on a BBC show and instantly fell in love with them.
They had an odd South Indian/ Western fusion attire with fusion music; there was an electric violin along with acoustic and electric guitars backed by percussion and tablas; I saw a weird joy in Raghu's singing.
Luckily my friend told me that they were going to perform at Hard Rock Cafe in Mumbai (the gig was yesterday). I had to go.
I was so happy with the performance - they seemed like intelligent guys (Raghu is some sort of engineer I believe) and their sound was magnificent. They jumped, swayed and Raghu's voice captured me. Resounding, effortless and full of heart.

There is also a filmy story involved where Raghu had been turned down by production houses because his music wasn't "Bollywood" enough. Vishal and Shekhar heard them perform at Zenzi (Bandra) and decided to launch this guy as the first produce of their new label. The 'Project' has been touring the US, UK and Australia.
I will not be surprised if these guys make it big. Their sound is just so full of joy.

District 9

A movie that will be categorised as 'just another alien flick', however, it is one of the most brilliant creations I have seen. Brilliant in terms of the thought process, the independence, the sincerity that is evident through the movie and a very natural screenplay. What I mean by the last part is that if an alien were to see the movie he would assume it without doubt to be a sample of life on earth - a bit of a stretch, but only a bit.

It was portrayed as a documentary on the life of and the life around Wikus van de merwe. The make-up of and the chemistry between actors was incredibly unbelievable. References were made to humans' need to have sex with the alien 'prawns' where the prawns would serve as prostitutes... The aliens were technologically quite advanced, yet quite weak - there was something very human about them and there was a small story behind their presence - Wikipedia does a great job of it. Search for 'District 9' - apologies for the complex steps.

I couldn't help but see how poor humans are at times and yet, we have a compassion for other beings. Wikus was discriminated against because he was different, scary and a potential research resource.
'Let it be'.
A must watch. Touching, gripping and almost non-fiction.

Bridges of Madison County

Has to be one of the best romantic movies of all time. Sadly, it's a questionable topic and one of my favourites... Infidelity.
Meryl Streep has done an outstanding job and that almost goes without saying :)
The slow movie does a great job of picturing the romance that apparently develops over a very long period of time but is in fact only a day. Before the intimacy begins, all along, the viewer is forced to believe that physical intimacy will lead to passion and so forth - but this story was about a very mature romance born out of the desire for something new and a form of security.
Meryl's character is quite evidently lonely and bored and when she finds a person who has traveled the world, is a gentleman and very secure about his own identity she experiences a lust which later develops to belonging and hope.
Loved the part when she is about to run out of the car her husband is driving and go for Robert's (Clint) car.
Regret - Francesca lived with it for her life and the movie shows her son and daughter living with similar circumstances where they adjust to 'normalcy'. It is something that many people accept and adjust to even though the possibilities of changing course could lead to greater paths. We often choose security over adventure and potential fulfillment.


Just a note about Clint Eastwood's brilliance.
Francesca asks Robert, "Tell me the most exciting place you've been to in the whole world, unless, of course, if you are too tired..." Clint almost takes a sip of his beer, glances at Francesca in a weird way, goes back to the bottle, takes a sip, looks back at Francesca and comments about how much guys like talking about themselves. The nuances to that scene and many others... :)