Bill Clinton's Speech at DNC 2012

Bill Clinton is a Rock Star. His speech today was a rousing hit. People stood up frequently and for the last 20 minutes of his speech the were on their feet. 

The die hard democrats were anyway going to vote for Obama. What was not guaran

teed was the votes of the undecided and the independents. His objective today was to convert this group to votes for Obama. He did this convincingly by explaining Obama's ability to work with his Republicans as well as opponents within his own party.

He also listed Obama's achievements in simple but convincing words. He made a powerful statement when he said 'no President, not me nor any of my predecessors could have fixed the mess in 4 years". It was a good way of saying that he needs 4 more years to do the job.

He also strongly rebutted the allegations of Republicans by providing facts to prove his point. He drove home the point that Democrats have created more jobs than Republicans even though Republicans had the white house for more years.

Even 12 years after his retirement Bill Clinton talks like the most powerful politician. He is perhaps the most charismatic President we have known.

Movie: A Separation (2011, Iran)

A very nice Iranian family drama. 8 out of 10.

Last night I watched 2011 the Iranian movie 'A Separation'. It i a beautiful movie. This is my first Iranian movie and so I was pleasantly surprised to see that the Iranian society is quite modern. Contrary to the perception one gets from media (at least in America) Iran is not just a country that is making a nuclear bomb and threatening world peace. As can be seen in this film, they too have trials and tribulations of ordinary decent people. This movie tells the story of a wife who is seeking separation from her husband who on the other hand does not want it. The wife walks out and goes to her mother's home. The husband and a 12 year old daughter stay back. 

The husband also has to take care of his dad who is suffering from Alzheimer's disease. So he gets a helper. Without giving away the plot, after the first day he has an argument with the helper and dismisses her from employment. This leads to a complicated situation. The rest of the movie handles how these characters deal with their situations which is a trying situation for all.

The movie has excellent acting and smooth editing. The Photography captures the Iranian life in an interesting manner. The film brings out the subtle but complex phenomenon of how the human psyche can swing from the good side to the other side.

The writer cum director Asghar Farhadi should get high marks for creating a very rich and highly intricate social drama. The movie stays away from sentimentality and takes a lot of care to keep the story and situations real. There is not a frame which makes you shake your head in disapproval. 

It is a movie worth watching for people interested in world cinema. I will give it 8 out of 10.

Poem: Secret

Lost in deep thought,
I missed my way this morning, 
as I drove with my daughter. 
As we reached school
taking a longer route 
she said in a hushed voice,
"Appa let us not tell anyone,
this is our secret short-cut"

Look up

I look up at the start of the day,
it is cloudy and dull.
But only so, until I take my

first grader to her school.
Hand in hand, we walk
with other kids and parents.
In the play yard in front of the class room
Children play joyfully,
Parents are chatting too.
Then the first bell goes off,
all the kids line up,
wait with excitement,
one behind the other.
Then the second bell goes off
and out comes the wonderful teacher
and stops at the first child in the line.
With a smile she says "hello, good morning, how are you?"
The kid beams with pride and says "I am fine"
But the next one adds "How about you?"
The teacher greets each child and reaches the end of the line,
where a little girl is looking afar, lost in thought.
She smiles and puts her arm on the child's shoulder
and says "Look up.That is where you should be looking"
She points to the blue sky with cotton ball clouds and says
"You should be looking at the clouds"

Back to School Night

I attended 'Back to school night' at my 7th grade daughter's school. Back to school night which happens at the beginning of the school year. iis when parents go and sit in their child's class and listen to their teachers. For an hour and a half, each teacher kept taking classes of 10 min duration in their own classrooms. My daughter had listed the order in which I need to attend all her 7 teachers' classes. I also had a map of the school. 

At 6.15 in the evening, I attended the Life Sciences class. The teacher had 10 minutes to tell us about herself, how and what she plans to teach and what are her expectations of the students. Her motto was to get students to try stuff on their own. At the end of 10 minutes the bell rang and the teacher stopped the class. All parents hurriedly got up and went and sat in the another classroom to listen to another teacher teach World history. In this way many groups of parents kept going from class to class getting to know their child's teacher and what to expect during the new year. 

I enjoyed this experience. The thing that struck me most was the enthusiasm of the teachers. The history teacher was smiling with energy when he described a project in which the students make African masks. The Spanish teacher was standing at the door of her class and animatedly waving at parents and inviting them to her class ' Hola, espanol ,aqui' ("Hello, Spanish - here"). The Journalism teacher had plans to bring out a news paper during the semester. He wanted each student to learn how to work with others and learn how to get what they wanted from difficult team members. 

It was nice to sit in my daughter's classroom and experience the fascination of learning new things. I attended 7 classes and found out a lot about the teachers and their methodology. It was evident that for the teachers, teaching was not just a profession but it was their life's passion. It was a great event put up by the staff of the school. The fact that hundreds of parents were seen briskly going from one class to another was proof of the success of the event.

Title: A Dangerous Method
Starring: Kiera Knightly, Viggo Mortensen, Michael Fasbinder, Vincent Cassal
Directed by: David Cronenberg

Verdict: Slow paced interesting movie.
Score: 6 out of 10.

Two reasons made me watch it. I like David Cronenberg's movies and I heard about it in the critcal circles. Another reason is that it is about Freud and Jung the fathers of psychology. (Frued's theories are now debunked). There is lot of interesting discussion on psychoanalysis and dreams. The movie is well made and interesting. Viggo Mortenson plays Freud. His performance is somewhat dull. I am not a fan of Kiera Knightly's mannerisms. She looks odd. But Micheal Fasbender ('Shame') is superb as Jung. He has the charm of yesteryears. Vincent Cassel (Irreversible) gives a great performance in his small role. The film is beautifully photographed in Vienna. Cronenberg maintains a slow pace. The film is of academic interest. I think it could have been more interesting. I would give it a 6 on 10.

Trailer of A Dangerous Method

Review: Irreversible (2002)

Title: Irreversible (2002, French with English Subtitles.)
Starring: Vincent Casal and others
Edited and Directed by: Gaspar Noe

Verdict: This French movie is a shocker and will show you ugly parts of life you may not have seen before.  Watch it if you can withstand watching disturbing scenes. Score: 6.5 out of 10.


I got hooked right at the start mainly because of the scary background score. That was like an appetizer for a thriller or a horror movie or an expose of the human psyche told as a  thriller. The initial scenes where some horrible incident is shown in a very mysterious way, the ever jumping camera which keeps rolling around itself showing some kind of scary underground sex camp under dull red lights, made for very curious and daring cinema.

After a few scenes I realized this movie is being told in the 'reverse chronological order' made famous by Memento which was released in 2000, two years earlier than this film. The technique is to show what happened first - usually a shocking scene and then follow it with the scene of what led to it. This sequence repeats one after the other for entire movie, eventually ending with the start of the story.  The movie opens with a  violent murder at a gay bar, involving the lead characters Marcus (Vincent Casal)  and Pierre (Albert Dupontel). Then  for the rest of the movie we see the background that led  to this incident.

The sadistic and inhuman incident that happens in the tunnel (three fourth into the movie) is the most important incident in the movie. That is the seed of the movie's story. Since the movie is being told in reverse order I think the movie should have stopped at that point. That explains everything.  What follows after this feels like a different movie. The conversations between the two leading men and the leading woman Alex(Monica Bellucci) is so overdrawn that I got bored of it after a few minutes. And that 'romance' scene between Marcus and Alex was really cheesy. I felt we could have understood the movie without it.   I should mention that I got tired of seeing their nude romance. I felt like saying 'oh please get out of bed and go and do something else'.  That is just one gripe but otherwise the movie was a very unique experience.


The film holds the audience attention completely for most part with it's brisk editing and a different way of story telling. The music by Tomas Bengalter is superb. Gaspar Noe directs the movie as well as edits it, giving him a greater control on the way the movie is told. Camera work by Benoiy Debie and Gaspar Noe is fascinating due to unconventional angles. It shows the movie from all 360 degrees.   


Vincet Casal as the main protagonist Marcus acts with abandon. It feels like the character was written with him in mind.  I have liked his performance in Mesirine, Black Swan and a couple of other movies. The other two actors have done a good job too.


This French movie is a shocker and will show you ugly parts of life you may not have seen before (I mean in movies ).  Watch it if you can withstand watching disturbing scenes and events.

I will give it 6.5 on 10.

Move Review: Carnage (2011)

Title: Carnage
Starring: Jodie Foster, John C Riley, Kate Winslet and Christoph Waltz
Directed by: Roman Polanski
Story and Screen play: Yasmin Reza and Roman Polanski
Based of the French play "Le Dieu du carnage"


I watched this pleasant surprise of a movie 'Carnage' by Roman Polanski. 


I started the movie expecting a blood fest and a serious movie. But no! This movie is hilarious - well hilarious may not be the correct word - it is not a laugh-out-loud kind of comedy but I was laughing out loud inside my mind.

This movie is a stunning achievement for the script writer.It starts out as a fight between two children at school but that is over in the first few minutes. The parents then take over and start to resolve it in a civilized and cultured manner. But it turns out that the parents start fighting like children culminating in the adults revealing their true personalities.

These two families represent a typical American family with all the 'family values' Americans fantasize about. But then the movie starts peeling out their facade and we start seeing them for who they really are. The way the movie brings out the childishness and silliness of the adults is brilliant. Their personalities are peeled out layer by layer exposing their pomposity and fake civility.

The movie would not have worked but for the fantastic acting. All most all the movie happens as conversation between the two sets of parents. Kate Winslet, Christopher Waltz and John C Riley steal the show. Only Jodie Foster has a jarring, over-the-top performance. Even though her character is a sillier than the others, she should have been more imaginative in bringing out the character instead of over acting.

Story and Screen play by Yasmin Reza is top notch. Even though this was a very enjoyable movie, I could not help feel that it was more like a play. It turns out it was originally a French Play "Le Dieu du carnage" by Yasmin Reza.  Roman Polanski has given has an excellent film.

I will give it 7.5 out of 10.

Review: We need to talk about Kevin (2011)

Title: We need to talk about Kevin (2011)
Starring: Tilda Swinton, John C Reilly, Ezra Miller and others
Director: Lynne Ramsay

Verdict: A very psychological exploration of a family which experiences a macabre incident. It is a serious drama but the story is told in a way that holds the audience curiosity till the end.

Score: 8 out of 10

If a movie gets the viewers talking about the movie then it is considered a successful film. 'We need to talk about Kevin' is one such film.  It is a very intense story of a mother, played by Tilda Swinton  who appears to have experienced some horrible incident in her family of a husband and two children. It tells the story in a way that heightens the curiosity of the audience and holds them wanting to find out what exactly happened. If you like movies that give you some insight into strange human psyche then you will like this movie. It is not a suspense thriller but the director has used clever techniques and keeps you guessing.

Since the movie should be watched without knowing too much about the story, I will not go into the plot. Instead I will talk about the film making technique I liked in this film.


The story telling technique is very fascinating. In the beginning I found it a bit slow and I did not know what was going on. Also what was happening looked very bleak. But then I started to understand it and the movie started getting better.


A lot of things are shown to the viewer by way of the mother remembering them. But we are never able to understand the significance. For instance, in the opening scene we hear the sounds of sprinklers and the cheer leaders doing their routine. It may seem like just sounds but these are two key hints to what happened. The director makes us hang on curiously by not telling us what exactly occured till about the 80% mark. Through the suggestions of blood we know something bad happened. They show people treating the mother with hatred indicating she was responsible for the terrible events. Even though this movie is not about entertainment I liked this technique where the director uses it to increase the audience experience.

The movie is not linear. Present time and flash backs are interspersed - again not in chronological order. But then all the pieces are explained as the movie unfolds. The best part for me was this - this movie has one of the best endings I have seen - very satisfying.  Tilda Swinton is the heart of the movie and she carries it through superbly. John C Reilly gives good support. He is one of my favorite actors. Ezra Miller also gives a terrific performance. The director Lynne Ramsay has given a good cinematic experience to the viewers. 


I will give it 8 on 10.. 

Review: The Bicycle Thief (1948 Italian)

Title: The Bicycle Thief (1948 Italian)
Starring: Lamberto Maggiorani, Enzo Staiola, Lianella Carell and others
Directed by: Vittoria di Sica

Verdict: As the Netflix website describes this movie as Cerebral, Emotional, Dark, Heartfelt. Great story and beautiful narration.


Score: 8 out of 10


Okay. Today I completed what I consider a pilgrimage - watching the classic movie which is supposed to have had a great influence on the world movie scene - including Kannada movies. That is the Italian movie 'The Bicycle Thief' (1948).

I was expecting a very dreary movie somewhat like an off-beat film. But what a clean cut of a movie!!! It is beautiful. The story is beautiful, the 1940s Italy and its people are beautiful and the musical way they speak Italian is also beautiful.

The story is set during the times when there is widespread unemployment and life is hard. The protagonist finds a job but needs a bicycle. He takes a loan and buys it and takes up the job. What happens after that is a very engaging story with various interesting characters coming into the story  every now and then and showing us a good slice of the Italian society in the 40s.

I like watching movies of that time because they fill in a blind spot in my mind which is the lack of visibility to the beautiful nostalgic past. It makes me admire the past which was quite modern for it's times. Even though we know that automobiles, street cars, buses and electricity existed at that time, it gives me a thrill to see them in actual life. Watching movies  made in those times gives a better and more authentic experience than period pieces made now.

The photography in glorious black and wide is very good in this movie. The movie flows smoothly showing the fine editing job. The music conjures up an era when life was hard. The movie is directed by Vittoria di Sica and stars Lamberto Maggiorani, Enzo Staiola, Lianella Carell and others. The Netflix website describes this movie as Cerebral, Emotional, Dark, Heartfelt. Yes it is all that. I loved this movie for the various reasons I mentioned above. I will give it 8.5 out of 10.  

Progressive Disclosure

"Apppaaaaa. I want you to come here",
I hear my little daughter call me.
I am fishing for messages on FB,
while enjoying my morning coffee.
So I do not pay much attention.
The call now gets louder and
sounds like an ultimatum.

I walk over to her bed and
notice she is hiding under
the blanket.
I pretend to look for her at
all the wrong places, while
she is giggling from under
the covers.

Then I say "OK. I give up", when
she triumphantly shouts
"I am here" and
pulls down the blanket.
I act upset with myself for
not finding her, even though
she is right in front of me.

She now gets to the point.
"Appa, can I tell you a secret."
I say "Of course"
She continues
"Yesterday I saw someone smoking;
During the interval in the theater,
where we saw Mary Poppins.
She was a woman;
She was smoking right next to a child;
IT WAS HER OWN CHILD"
which I thought
was a good example of
Progressive Disclosure.

When I met Dr U R Ananthamurthy..

Dr. U R Ananthamurthy prominent Kannada writer and thinker

When I went to Bangalore in July 2011 I had the great pleasure of meeting the eminent Kannada literary figure and a great thinker - Dr. U R Ananthamurthy (URA).

Having read his works such as Samskara,  Bharathipura, Avasthe and many of his short stories and essays, I had become an ardent fan of his and so naturally wanted to meet him.  More over the fact that he had experienced being an NRI student like me had developed in me, his thoughts and writings appealed to me. His stories were drawn from personalities and life around us in and outside of Karnataka and also had the benefit of his exposure to western thoughts and culture. When I read ‘Clip Joint’ I was fascinated by the conundrums of a foreign student in UK. Earlier to that I had written a story inspired by Dr. B R Lakshmana Rao’s poem ‘Gopi mattu Gandalina” (Gopi and Gandalina). Later I learnt that this poem itself was inspired by Clip Joint. So one of my stories had been influenced by Dr. Ananthamurthy without me knowing about it.

As soon as I reached Bengaluru I called URA and expressed an interest in meeting him. I had not seen him before and he did not know me. But a friend of mine is his relative and he had given an email introduction. URA readily agreed to meet me and suggested a time when I should go to his home in Bengaluru. On that day I telephoned him but he told me he was in Mysore as a member of a VC selection committee. So he asked me to call the next day. When I called the next day he had gone to attend a book release ceremony of Kaushik Basu, the noted Indian economist.  But the next time I spoke to him over phone he was ready to  meet me and gave me his address and detailed directions. I reached his home at 4.00 PM.

When I went in I was welcomed by his assistant. He asked me to wait since URA was taking a shower. I sat in the veranda, where, against the walls, there were a series of shelves which contained hundreds of books. The book shelves were cataloged. In a few minutes URA came out looking fresh and greeted me with a smile and took me with him. We went and sat inside in the living room. I was still a bit nervous.

I introduced myself and mentioned that I had seen and heard his speech when he came to US in 1998. We talked about this and that and before I knew we were conversing freely.

I asked him about the mining scandal involving the ministers in Karnataka government, which was raging at that time. The Reddy brothers had become very rich by selling large quantities of iron ore to foreign countries notably China. He said "I have always been telling that we should never export minerals to foreign countries. That is like selling our own land."   URA said we should sell value added goods not raw iron ore. He said with pride "There is one thing I am very proud of. I stopped the mining of iron ore in Kuduremukh."  He then explained how he appealed to the chief minister S M Krishna to not renew the lease and succeeded in that effort in 2002.

Author with Dr. U.R. Ananthamurthy

Then we talked about the current state of India. As a visitor I had witnessed changes of a large magnitude in Bengaluru.  I asked him what he thought of the new found wealth of some Indians and what was his opinion on the many malls that have sprung up in Bengaluru.  He put it very well when he said "It is good that many people can afford a good living. But I think we should not celebrate this new found ability for consumerism".  He said that the malls and shopping complexes are affecting the individually run small stores. I told him that I too felt the same and seeing the malls and the crowds in them, made me very depressed. How ever when I went to the malls I saw a lot of people employed by the stores allowing them to earn a living. I also mentioned that we now see a lot of employment opportunities in food catering, transportation and other such services. He responded by saying "We should think of what would have happened to these people if there were no such employment opportunities. They would have been entrepreneurs themselves. Now by giving them this way out, we are killing their confidence and entrepreneurial spirit. Apart from that, if you go to the mall it is very impersonal. On the other hand I have a relationship with the guy in the local stores. When I go there, he says Rs 10 for a vegetable and I ask him to make it a rupee less and we argue about it and finally do a transaction. I need that social interaction. This kind of social interaction is being lost with the arrival of the mall culture."

At that time URA was in the news for making the statement "Byrappa's works are  rahugrastha (Jinxed)  kritis. Kasarvaalli rids the works of the jinx and makes his movies." I was not sure if I should bring it up since I was meeting him for the first time. But until then he was so nice and cordial that I felt comfortable asking him what he thinks about this issue. He laughed and said very cheerfully "I just said that a work should not have preplanned point of view. The writer should be willing to let his characters lead the way. That is what these people (press) are talking about".


Before I knew we had spent a little more than two hours chatting. I was amazed at his friendly and easy going demeanor and interactions. I thanked him for spending time with me. I asked if I could take pictures. He readily agreed and I took some pictures in my small point and shoot digital camera. When I showed it to him on the camera, he called his wife and exclaimed “ Did you see this small camera. It takes really good pictures”.

Then he went in and came out with two of his books. At the same time he asked “Do you take sugar with tea” for which I said yes. As he autographed the books he said “If it does not burden you I would like to give you these books.” (I am not sure if he was referring to the weight limit for flight travel). He gave me signed copies of two of his books.

Then as we continued talking his wife Mrs. Esther brought in 3 cups of tea and we all continued to talk as we drank the tea. Even Mrs. Esther was very hospitable. She spoke to me and inquired about what I do and life in general. When I mentioned that I am involved in Kannada dramas URA said a few encouraging words. When I mentioned that I had taken courses in theater in US and performed parts of Girish Karnad's Tuglak in English during that course he seemed genuinely happy. He called out to his wife and told “Did you hear this. He is involved in a lot of activities” and urged me to continue with it.

Mrs. Esther and Dr. U. R. Ananthamurthy

It was around 6.15 in the evening and time for me to take leave. When I left I was very happy for having met him. I felt good that I had overcome my trepidation about meeting a celebrated and high profile personality like Dr. U. R. Ananthamurthy.  It turned out to be a very memorable experience.

(Foot Note: I met Dr. U R Ananthamurthy almost an year back. I am writing this from memory. So I might have paraphrased some of Dr. URA's comments. We talked mostly in Kannada and so I had to also translate some of our conversation to English)

Traffic mess on the railway parallel road in Malleswaram:

I cannot believe the messy state, the traffic in Bengaluru has come to. Yesterday when I spoke with my mother over phone, she mentioned this. When she tried to cross the railway parallel road (Photo above) near Malleswaram railway station, the traffic was so heavy that even after 15 minutes she could not cross it and had to go back home.

This street has now assumed the burden of being the main access road for traffic going from Rajajinagar towards the city centre and beyond. The reason is that the actual main road that connects Rajajinagar to Malleswaram circle is a mess thanks to Metro construction. (Photo below)

Back in our school days (late 70s) the railway parallel road was a very quite and lazy road with more pedestrians and bicyclists than vehicles. Only one BTS (Bangalore Transport Service) bus would ply on this road. (# 52 Yeshwanthapura to NR Colony).  Starting at Cluny convent near Subrahmanya Nagar the road would slope down towards Malleswaram Railway station for about a furlong. That was where I and my friend would pedal our bicycles hard and speed down the slope. After we had achieved the maximum speed it was fun to take our feet of the pedals and lift up our legs in the air and cruise down full speed, now screaming. Some cool dudes would let go of the handle and balance the bicycle by guiding it with their bodies.

It was even more exciting when we would race alongside the Hubli - Bangalore Passenger train. Even though we rode bicycles, we always reached the railway station before the train did.

Now this road (extreme right in above photo) which evokes such childhood memories is so crowded, that crossing it is not guaranteed even after 15 minutes of wait. It is just beyond any redemption. All we can do is sigh and wring our hands.

Public Radio Zindabad

Public radio in US is a great source of information and discussion forum for arts, literature, politics and everything else. There is nothing that can start a day well like listening to an interview with Kenneth Branagh on Forum on KQED in San Francisco or Sasha Barron Cohen on NPR's Fresh Air while driving to work. Public radio has a reputation for high quality programs from unbiased and reputed journalists and commentators. So I respect what I see there.  You can go to their website  http://www.kqed.org or http://www.npr.org and listen to live or previous programs on their archives.   Most of the radio programs are available for downloading. So it is a podcast and not like watching youtube.  I personally cannot sit through an entire video or even a song on Youtube. I like to listen than to watch. I guess it is hard for me to sit passively. But if it is audio I can download the mp3s to my cell phone and listen to them on head phones while doing other work. Listening to interviews with accomplished personalities or to highly entertaining news quiz program 'Wait Wait Don't Tell Me' with Peter Sagal, is a great motivator to do the dishes or laundry or treadmill.

Also I come to know about movies and books which do not get popularized in the main stream media but still deserve to be recognized. Here is one such list titled
Top Ten Overlooked Movies of 2007
http://www.kqed.org/arts/movies/article.jsp?essid=21106

If you have watched any of those movies, please share your thoughts here.

Movie Review: The Drive (2011)

"The Drive" : Luckily I heard about this movie on KQED public radio in San Francisco. Public radio programs like 'Fresh Air' and 'Forum' are my sources for good but overlooked movies. I watched it on Netflix streaming last night. Boy is it good! It has action, crime, human relations and complex characters. And the icing on the cake is Ryan Gosling. That dude looks good and can act very well in emotional or action scenes. I had heard how movies should use silence to say more. I see it in this movie. There are lots of scenes where the characters just look at each other and say nothing. It was interesting to see this. The movie has a kick-ass start with a car chase sequence. It is a gritty realistic crime movie and not a good v bad bang'em up. It has good character actors like Ron Perlman (Hulk) and Cary Mulligan. You can watch the trailer here.

Review: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)

Title: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)
Starring: Gary Oldman, John Hurt, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy,
Director: Thomas Alfredson

Genre: Suspenseful spy movie. This review only gives an introduction to the plot. It does not spoil it.

Verdict:  It is a well made movie and has good acting. It is engaging but a bit slow. If you are looking for James Bond, this is not it.

Score:  6.5 out of 10

I watched this movie with a lot of anticipation. It was announced to be a film version of an excellent BBC serial by the same name. It is about MI-6 the British Intelligence agency during the seventies when the fear of a cold war hung over the western world.  The top layer of MI-6 is referred to as the Circus and it is led by a weary looking old man called Control played by John Hurt. He has five top notch spies as his closest team members and it is their job to gather intelligence to discover and thwart any gains the Russians are trying to achieve. The Russians are not just watching. They have a spy agency and it is run by someone called Karla whose name the British agents keep mentioning in an ominous tone.

In this situation, Control learns that the Russians have succeeded in planting a mole at the very top of MI-6's  'The Circus'. Accordingly the whole movie centers around identifying who among the five is the one working for the Russians. One of the five is agent George Smiley played by Gary Oldman, who is given the task of finding out who the mole is.

The movie is very atmospheric and at some times has a lot of intrigue and suspense. The movie is a bit slow but that was not what disappointed me. It did not give any thrill of watching a spy movie. The fact that most of the spies were old men - some beyond retirement age, also did not help. OK I knew I should not be looking for Jason Bourne or James Bond but still the whole story had the atmosphere of a boring government office. I think that part was realistic but did not offer much in terms of entertainment.  It is well made and has good acting. But it did not give me any kick. I will give this movie a 6.5.

Why watch movies?

Since members in this group are avid movie watchers (movie goers in olden days) I would like to bring this up. Watching too many movies in quick succession gives me an overdose. Even if I am watching good movies I start feeling that it is pointless. My disappointment comes from this thought 'What is this? All I am doing is being a spectator. What have I learnt after watching so many good movies. May be my knowledge has widened. But what have I learnt about film making. Even if I have learnt something, what am I doing with it? Answer - nothing! Well I do learn about acting and directing and that is useful to me when I act/direct dramas to be viewed here in Kannada Koota events. But that is theater. Movie making seems very daunting - not just the artistic process - even the logistic matters. I feel it is very challenging to visualize a 2 hour final product and go about doing it in hundreds of 1 minute or 2 minute shots. It is like a thousand mile journey that requires walking only one feet at a time.

Facebook IPO

Regarding the low key debut of FB share, lots of people are in the 'I told you so' mode. Hype apart this is what I think. Of the 900m users let us say only 200m are real people. FB's value prop is not how many of these people click the ads. Instead FB is a media outlet reaching 200m people who are availabe to hear any message. When products are advertised on paper, radio, TV, bill boards, the biggest benefit is not neccessarily how many buy. Instead it create familiarize the product to as many people as possible. FB is giving that value prop to current and future products. Think of youtube. If they can force you to watch an adv, why not FB? In the worst case if FB gets shallaced to a humble valuation of 1 or 2 Billion, it will become an attractive buyout target for another media company that wants to compete with google.... Yahoo anyone? (For full disclosure: I executed a trade this morning. Sorry could not resist)

Milpitas Govindaya Namaha

I watched Govindaya Namaha in Milpitas, California. It was a pleasant experience watching with other Kannadigas. I enjoyed the movie. If you like Jaggesh/Komal type of humor, then this is the movie for you.The movie is a delight and is light hearted fun. The humor is not crude, even those involving double entendre. It is a treat to watch Komal's comic touch as well as his natural acting during emotional situations. Songs are good. Pyarge agbbittaite takes the cake. What I liked most was that it was original Kannada movie. Pavan Wadeyar has done a commendable job with story, screen play, dialogs and direction.

Movie Review: The Descendants (2011)

Title: Descendants (2011)
Starring: George Clooney, Shailene Woodley, Amara Miller, Nick Krause, Robert Forster
Story: Kaui Hart Hemmings (Novel)
Director: Alexander Paine

Verdict: I loved this movie. I thought it was a very realistic portrayal of how a dysfunctional family deals with its problems. The movie is sincere and does not indulge in escapism.  The film has some inappropriate language and behavior - some even by children. But that is consistent with the plot. Great performances by George Clooney and others. The director has managed to insert a layer of comedy in this movie about a serious topic.

Score: 8 out of 10

Descendants is a very powerful movie about familial relationships and bonding. It starts with the protagonist Matt King played by Hawaiian Resident George Clooney attending to his comatose wife who was injured in a surfing accident during his absence.  Matt has a teenage daughter and a preteen daughter. As the movie progresses we see that his is a totally dysfunctional family. Matt's absence as a father due to his preoccupation with his business as a lawyer, is a prime factor. Matt now wants to change and be a good husband and father. But since his wife is in coma he now goes on to being a parent and finds himself at a loss not knowing how to do the things parents do.  Add to this, his wayward teenage daughter and her equally juvenile boy friend and he is under tremendous pressure.

At the same time Matt is also attending to a family inheritance issue. He is the trustee of an ancestral property which dates back to several generations of his family - the King family. All the descendants of the King family are about to make a momentous decision to sell the property.

The above plot provides the framework to explore family ties, parenting and interactions with rebellious kids.  There are many situations in the movie in which the kids' behave so obnoxious that I was getting angry at the kids. It was very good to see how the characters in the movie handle them.

Even though the movie deals with a serious theme, there is a lot black comedy that comes out when the characters deal with their difficult situations.

The acting is superb. George Clooney plays to perfection the role of a harried father. Shailene Woodley as the teenage daughter turns in a mature performance especially since her character has to display wide and disparate behaviour and emotions. Robert Forster as Matt's father-in-law, Nick Krause as the immature boyfriend. Amara Miller as the preteen daughter and others turn in good performances.

The movie is sincere and does not indulge in escapism. It gives a very realistic portrayal of how a dysfunctional family deals with its problems.

Raising Feminist Boys and Confident Girls

On this mother's day, I salute all mothers who are raising their children to be sensitive to gender equality.

These are my thoughts after hearing Anna Quindlen the author of a new book 'Lots of candles and plenty of cake'. She is a Pulitzer prize winning columnist for New York Times.  She was being interviewed by Terry Gross on Fresh Air on NPR.  She is an active feminist and a mother of two boys.

She talked about the disadvantages of being a female in the US culture. She mentioned that girls are told that they are not capable of doing certain things and are not allowed to develop the same level of confidence that a male child gets. So she decided to raise her boys as feminist boys. Then she went on to explain that such boys would treat women as equals. Other than that she has taught her boys not to expect special treatment because they are white men.

Lot of thoughts went through my mind on hearing those comments. The one that hit closest was the view that girls are at a disadvantage in the US. Since I have two girls I did worry if it is going to be very challenging to them to compete with men - let alone white men, who the author alleges, have a certain entitlement mentality.  America is thought to be the most advanced nation in the world. One would think that being a woman would be easier in US. So it is puzzling to me when Americans lament with statements like 'in a conservative culture likes ours'.

To it's credit women enjoy lot more freedom and equality in US than in most countries in the world. Women have also demonstrated their capabilities by reaching higher positions in the corporate as well as in public life in US. So what does the author mean when she says women are told they can't do certain things? I am aware of the fact that women are driven to think that science and math are not for them. We see there is a strong imbalance in the science and technology areas, in favor of men.  One study says that for every five persons graduating with a degree in science only one is female. I think this social conditioning depends on the environment in which the girl child grows up - home as well as external.

When I first noticed this situation I was puzzled. During my school and college days in India, the ratio of boys to girls in a class was roughly around 60 to 40. This was true even for engineering and medicine which required good understanding of science.  Even though Indian women have lesser freedom and are subjected to greater neglect and ill treatment, I think women have established themselves well in the fields of science and math. In the medical field many expert doctors and surgeons are women. In the corporate world it is common to see women engineers and bosses. This is more true in IT companies. In politics there are significant number of women Chief Ministers like Mayawathi, Jayalalitha, Sheila Dixit and Mamatha Banerjee. India even has the bragging rights for having had a woman president Prathibha Patil and an iconic and powerful Prime Minister in Indira Gandhi.

Such being the case I was puzzled by the fact an advanced country like US with impressive advances in women's social situation, would not pay attention to the fact that women are under represented in the work place. Not just that, according to the author, men act as if they are a gift from god. It appears that it is more than a man's world is US. Even when it comes to a man-woman relationship the woman appears to be the one who is trying hard to win the man. Going by popular media portrayal, middle aged single woman appear desperate to land a man. (Of course, media portrayal is not the true indicator and I hope it is incorrect. In the Indian context we have not seen middle aged women appearing to be desperate. There is an obvious explanation for this. Firstly women in India are more inhibited in these matters. Secondly there are not many middle aged single women in India)

How can this situation be improved?  One way as the author Ana Quindlen says (whom I mentioned in beginning) is for mothers to raise feminist sons. That means such sons will be more sensitive to the idea of equality between the genders. The author even suggests that she reminds her sons that they need to be extra mindful of the fact that they have a lot of privilege being white men in America  and they should be cautious about not taking undue advantage of it.

In the Indian context parenting is still more traditional than scientific. I mean people raise their children based on how they themselves were brought up. They may change their ways in keeping with the times. For example they may allow their daughters more freedom that their parents did. I hope now parents are veering towards showing a deliberate interest in raising their children such that they are sensitive to women and treat everyone as equals. One need not fear that such children will turn out be less of a man. In fact there is an advantage, The author says her sons thank her for raising them as feminist boys by saying "Chicks dig it" . (OK, that is one valuable tip for all my brothers out there)

At the same time it is also important to raise girls in a way they turn out to be confident individuals. There is a lot of pressure from the society that tells girls that they should not try to break out of their traditional demeanor. This is what forces little girls to hide their intellectual abilities and pretend to be less smart in order to get popular.  That is why from a very young age girls should be taught to confidently express their thoughts. They should be taught to expect respect and to have the conviction that their ideas and thoughts are valid and are worthy of consideration. Ask for their opinions and ideas. For example, if you want to play with your daughter, ask her what game she wants to play. And just agree to what she says. Avoid saying things like "I have a better idea". When playing with any child always let them win. Interact with them at their level.  One very simple thing to do is kneel down to their height when you are talking to them. You appear less intimidating that way.

So on this mother's day I salute all moms who are teaching their boys to be sensitive women, resulting in creating men who will  becomes and raise their daughters to be confident in their lives and in their interaction with their male counter parts.

Movie Review: Miss Bala (2011 From Mexico)

Movie: Miss Bala  (2011 From Mexico)
Starring: Stephanie Sigman, Noe Hernandez
Director: Gerardo Naranjo

Verdict: 8 out of 10.  A gritty movie which shows the tough and violent life in Mexico,a victim of  violent drug wars.  It has the feel of 'City of God' (Brazil, 2002) and is equally effective.

Mexico is making really good movies these days. 'Miss Bala' loosely based on a real incident is one in that list. It is set in Baja California the Mexican side across San Diego in US. The plot involves a young woman Laura who is from poor working class background. Miss Bala  refers to her attempt to contest and win the 'Miss Baja' beauty pageant.  Unfortunately she finds herself in the wrong place at the wrong time. When she and her friend go to a dance club they get caught in a shootout between rival gangs in the drug business. She becomes witness to this crime and as a result gets caught up in the web of drug mobs. As an innocent, helpless and simple minded young woman she becomes a pawn in the hands of a ruthless drug boss.  Incidentally 'Miss Bala' means 'Miss Bullet'

The story itself is gritty. But the movie takes this story and does a fantastic job of laying bare the tough and violent side of Mexican society which is inflicting untold suffering on innocent people there, as a result of years of fighting between rival gangs and the ineffective and sometimes corrupt  police. The movie has an exciting pace while paying attention to details. There is one shootout in a town square which is one of most fantastic scenes I have seen in such movies. The movie also exposes the involvement of the US in aiding the drug business in Mexico.

The acting by Stephanie Sigman who plays Laura is very delicate and she portrays conflicting emotions very beautifully. Noe Hernandez as the drug boss Lino,  looks so menacing and real that it is hard to believe that he is acting.

The scenes are so full of detail and elaborate sequencing, one has to tip the hat to the script writer, photographer and sound departments of this movie. The director Gerardo Naranjo has set for himself an ambitious goal and I am convinced that he has achieved his goal in full measure.

Every time I see such movies I experience two emotions in tandem. I am first happy for the thrilling experience these movies offer but at the same time I can't help feeling a bit discouraged that I am just a constant spectator of such wonderful efforts. When will I be a player?  

Ode To My Alma Mater UVCE

(I wrote this as a first post to the yahoo group which we created for the classmates at UVCE  - 1988 Electronics batch.  These are memories of my college days at UVCE. If you are from UVCE you may connect with some of my memories. Even other wise I hope you will find it interesting)

Ode To My Alma Mater UVCE

'twas an early morning in the winter of 83

with T-square on my shoulder, my mind clean and free

I put on my lab uniform and got on my cycle eagerly

And rode away to my new college called UVCE

BL Teraja wrote the bible for AC/DC

Having VKM, made it all the more EEEZ

Power electronics and material science had many repeaters

Babcock and Wilcox were boilers and not heaters.

Fortunately or unfortunately,

CNM scolded elaborately

While teaching the lab for Analytical chemistry

"It's a test-tube! Not a killer's dagger in a mystery"

Parabola hyperbola made you dizzy in the head

3 hours in the drawing hall, left you nearly dead

Chiseling and drilling was what we learnt in fitters

Smithy, carpentry and foundry was not for quitters

O how much I flip flopped the pages of Millman and Halkias

Wanting to digest the frequency response of coupled amplifias

15.2.36 is the magic formula they said

X is R, y is C, go to 4.3.5 to find out zed

Antennas by nayak at 720AM were very stressful

Last man when present you better be careful

achuth, akota and shEshaayee to escape his wrench

The safest bet was actually to sit in the first bench

At 225 outside the electronics lab

A bunch of students was waiting to grab

The few CROs which were so hard to trigger

But HSV did it, with his thumb and index finger

We cotton to electrical machines with BD

His dress was always white and tidy

You can digest back-emf, torque equation and motor speed

Watch the motion of his hands and that is all you need.

Reminiscing about those days makes my spirits lift

Lets all share what has been our gift

Please join in the effort to put back this 1988 troop

Welcome! Relax and enjoy in our UVCE_KATTE group

The Killing

Watched the complete first season of AMC's 'The Killing' on Netflix streaming. It is set in gloomy, rainy Seattle. It is a murder mystery. It is slow paced but at the end of every episode I wanted to check the next one. It does not have a narrow focus of just solving the murder. Instead the show casts a wide net in which you see sub plots in the lives of its characters. In this show I like the detective work which is realistic but not necessarily glamorous. It has a cult following and I liked the first season. 

My Week with Marilyn

Watched the movie 'My week with Marilyn' (2011). It is based on the memoirs of Collin Clark.  In 1956 Marilyn Monroe goes to England to make a film 'The Prince and the Show girl' with Lawrence Olivier . Collin Clark was the third assistant director to Sir Lawrence Olivier. Collin is a young British lad who is an ardent fan of Marilyn and during the movie shoot gets to interact with Marilyn a couple of times. The movie follows their romantic moments. Along with that, the movie also gives the viewer a glimpse into the life of Monroe - her glamorous personality, charm,her erratic behavior, insecurities and her hidden sadness. Great performances by Michelle Williams,Kenneth Branagh who received Oscar nominations.  Others include Eddie Redmayne, Judi Dench. It is a pleasant movie.

Review: Black Hawk Down (2001)

Black Hawk Down (2001)
Director: Ridley Scott
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Ewan McGregor, Tom Sizemore, Eric Bana, Sam Shephard (famous playwright )

Verdict:7 out of 10. Excellent movie making. Full of realistic battle scenes and tense action. Very good expos'e of the futility of war.

Finally watched 'Black Hawk Down' directed by Ridley Scott. It is about the disastrous American effort in 1993 to save the people of Somalia from it's war lords. 

I got tired after watching it for about an hour. The entire hour involved showing  minute by minute unfolding of the fight that ensues as the US troops attack a safe house in the middle of densely populated lanes of Mogadishu in Somalia. The movie shows war so up close that the danger and tragedy hits very hard. I stopped watching it but continued after a couple of days. Now I was able to watch it with some detachment. The movie shows in elaborate detail what exactly transpired during the couple of hours of the attack. It looks like real war. The lanes, the densely crowded houses, the Humvees, the attack helicopters appear very real. More importantly the violence of war is very stark and depressing. Anyone who watches this movie will realize the senselessness of war which treats human life an easily disposable thing. The soldiers themselves are not clear why they are fighting. One of the soldiers expresses this depressing thought. "The purpose of war is irreleant. A soldier should just fight to save his fellow soldier." (paraphrased by me)

This movie is not like the war movies which celebrate the exploits of  US Marines  who conduct a surgical attack or a daring rescue. Here things go wrong and situation goes out of control. War is not glamorised. It is shown for what it is - a tragedy full of death and destruction.

All the above comment should not discourage you from watching it. It is one of the best war movies. The movie has spectacular guerilla war between Americans and the supporters of the Somali war lord Aidid, in the narrow lanes of Mogadishu. For people like us who sit in the comfort of air conditioned offices it is a humbling experience to watch a soldier step out of the barracks not knowing if he will return back alive and  does it without questioning why he or she is doing it in the first place.

The director Ridley Scott and his team should be congratulated for this excellent movie.

MTR Packets

ಕತ್ಲಲ್ಲಿ ಹಾಲಿಗೆ ಬಾದಾಮಿ ಪುಡಿಯನ್ನು ಹಾಕೋಕ್ಕೆ ಹೋಗ್ಬಾರ್ದು ರೀ, ಅಂಆ, ಅಂಆ
ಎಂ ಟೀ ಆರ್ ಪ್ಯಾಕೇಟು ಓಪನ್ನು ಮಾಡ್ಬಿಟ್ಟು ಹಾಲಲ್ಲಿ ಹಾಕ್ಬಿಟ್ಟೇ ರೀ, ಅಂಆ, ಅಂಆ
ಕುಡಿದಾಗ್ಲೆ ಮಿಸ್ಟೇಕು ಅರ್ಥವಾಯ್ತು ರೀ, ಈ, ಈ, ಈ.
ಮೆಣಸಿನ್ ಪುಡಿ ಅಂತ ಗೊತ್ತಾಯ್ತು ರೀ. ಹಾಹಾ!! ಹಾಹಾ!!
 
(ಯೋಗರಾಜ್ ಭಟ್ಟರ ಪರಮಾತ್ಮ ಚಿತ್ರದಲ್ಲಿರುವ  'ಕತ್ಲಲ್ಲಿ ಕರಡಿಗೆ ಜಾಮೂನು ತಿನಿಸೋಕ್ಕೆ ಯಾವತ್ತೂ ಹೋಗಬಾರದು ರೀ' ಹಾಡಿನ ಪ್ರೇರಣೆ)

Midnight in Paris (2011)

Title: Midnight in Paris

Write/Director: Woody Allen.

Verdict: Beautiful and enjoyable movie about human desire to live in a different time.

It weaves a story of nostalgia with stunning details and magical visualization. The start of the movie itself is a treat with a series of great snaps of Parisian life. It recreates the golden era of cultural icons like Picasso, Dali, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein. Have you wished you had lived during their times, with them in PARIS?. You will enjoy this romantic movie.

The cast is awesome - Owen Wilson, Adrian Brody, Marian Cotillard, Kathy Bates (many more). The background music enhances the mood.

This movie justly won the 'Best screenplay' award at the 2012 Golden Globes for writer-director Woody Allen. It was perhaps the award winning script and screenplay which contributed to the richness of the story and the visual grandeur in the film.



Margin Call (2011)

Writer-Director J.C. Chandor

Watched Margin Call (2011). Have  you been puzzled by how the US stock meltdown of 2008 happen? This movie takes an inside look at a financial firm (Lehman Brothers?) which discovers that it has made extremely risky investments. Perhaps these are  now worthless assets on the company's books. What happens inside the company's power structure? What does it do on the trading floor? How does the market react?  This story unfolds in a very engaging manner.  It has exciting performances by an ensemble cast that includes Kevin Spacey, Demi Moore, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Stan Lee and Simon Baker.  The film does a great job of showing the financial players as real humans with multiple emotions and values and not just as heartless crooks on Wall Street. Any one with an interest in finance and business will like this movie. I gave it 7 out of 10.