Year: 2008

reviewing movies

I like watching movies. I like watching good movies even more.

I remember a time when I actually built an entire system to allow me to review movies. I even designed it to allow multiple users. It would grab all the movie details from IMDB, all you had to do was enter the imdb url, and it would grab the actors, director, year, language, length etc etc… It was pretty neat for what it was back then. This was in 2004.

I think I reviewed 15 odd movies before being sucked into work and leaving the blogging world behind. Methinks I shall pull in some of those old reviews into this blog.

I was trying to get the movie review site back up, but it was giving me technical issues. meh…

I’ve been watching movies again lately, more than before. What’s with movies starting slow and picking up a little steam later on? (Gone Baby Gone, 13 Conversations, and a few others I’ve seen lately). I want to see a movie that captures my attention right at the start and keeps up the pace. Not that there’s anything wrong with slow movies (I loved Gerry, but that was slow all the way along). But there’s something else about the well paced movies… Fight Club, The Bourne Identity, Company come to mind, where I’m sold on the movie within 10 to 15 minutes.

at work

In an ongoing email discussion about redirecting users to a third party billing site, I asked a developer to do a code check to see if the site was up before we do a redirect.

He asked me what we can do if the site goes down after we do the check… my response:

then we can’t do anything. then it’s up to God.

take care,
Adnan.

like winning a new life

I’m in the drive-thru line, waiting for my turn at the mic. As fate would have it, I didn’t get this turn. My window was stuck from the wintery freeze coldness, and it just would not come down. Undeterred by fate, I parked in the lot and walked into the actual Tim Hortons. Ordering a medium hot chocolate, a croissant and a chocolate glazed donut to boot (to eat actually).

Of late I’ve been finding things that I’ve been looking for, so I thought it would be really neat if under this rim was a “winner” sign. Unlike other folk, I have no issues finishing my cup before checking. I can wait… for as long as it takes.

I don’t remember where exactly I found out, but I sensed inexplicable joy when it happened. On my first try! When I got to work I placed it on my desk. People walking by or coming over for a chat asked, “oh did you win?”, “I did, I did, I won!”, my excitement still not translating into words, but holding its own in my eyes. “oh yeah? what did you win?”, I could see anticipation building in their eyes now. “I won another coffee!”, my excitement still high and rising. “oh, just a coffee? I thought you won a boat…”, anticipation body count: 4.

So what if I didn’t win a boat? Is my excitement not justified? First of all, I won on the first try. Second of all, I won another cup! It’s like winning another life, one cup from another cup. This is awesome. I don’t understand why folk are disappointed by my level of excitement.  Why don’t /you/ go win a boat? I’ll enjoy my moments with another life. Thank you very much.

But my luck with the cups doesn’t end here. Two “please try again”s later, I won again. Guess what I won? Don’t try too hard, I’ll just tell you. Yes, I won yet another life. That is 2 wins in 4 tries. Those are very very good odds.

Though the second time, to avoid killing anticipations, I kept the winning cup safely hidden. I’m yet to claim my prizes.

Sunday TED: Juggling

So I figure I will start sharing a TED video every so often. or so often every. or often every so. whichever comes first.

This one is approx 15 minutes long. But well worth watching the entire thing, well worth the standing ovation at the end. It is also extremely funny. If it doesn’t make you laugh, I’ll give you your time back, with interest.

This reminds me of contact juggling and how I should continue to learn that. Contact juggling is much harder than it looks.


gerry

Gerry

I’ve wanted to watch Gerry for a while. But it was always hard to find. I was going to watch ‘Gone Baby Gone’ but thought I should try and watch Gerry before that.

Gerry is a  movie about two guys named “Gerry” and their trek through a desert. They get lost, and they don’t have any food or water.

Gerry is a slow movie. There are stretches of the movie that have absolutely no dialogue. These last anywhere from 1 minutes to 10 minutes. There are multiple such stretches. The average shot length is 60 seconds! This is not your fast paced hollywood movie with an overdose of car chase scenes, blasts, evil villains, awful comic relief and romance/sex. This is just two guys in a desert. I liked this movie.

The lack of dialogue intensifies other sounds and visuals in the movie. You feel the sounds of the walking and the sounds of the winds that much more.

There were bits of the movie that were obviously adlibbed, some of them were great, others not so much. Matt Damon has better improv skills than Casey Affleck.

I will admit that I wasn’t able to watch the movie in one go. I had to watch it in two sittings. Generally I will watch new movies in the early morning when everyone is sleeping. Nights are for tv shows or movies I’ve seen already. I prefer watching movies in one go without any talking or interruptions otherwise. But Gerry, even with no interruptions, I could not watch in one go.

I also found the ending very disturbing. But I really enjoyed the opening of the movie. I will divulge no further information. If you watch it in one full sitting, let me know.

9/10

reminders

maghrib mein ho gareeb, to mashriq mein kya ameer thay
gintee tumhe na wahaan aati thi, na yahaan aati hai

par sukoon ab na raha, raatein khojati hai
neend tumhe na wahaan aati thi, na yahaan aati hai

karti hai baatein tumhari, diloon ko sab ke tang
sharam tumhe na wahaan aati thi, na yahaan aati hai

thodh ke apna ghuroor, karlo khuda ko yaad kabhi
par duaaein tumhe na wahaan aati thi, na yahaan aati hai

Thanks to mystic for contributing the second sher. Although I did modify it a little. I may not have completed the rest of it if you hadn’t asked. so thanks! =)

Hmmm… I want to actually go into an explanation of this. At the same time I don’t. I want folk to read and interpret as they may.

So I’ll say just one thing, yes it’s harsh. It was written as a reminder for us all, so we realize certain things that we should do, and certain things that we should avoid.