Wedding in the shadows

I attended the wedding of two fellow bloggers in India last week. Since I have not gotten the green signal from them yet, I will post a picture of their shadows now and their faces later...

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

A quick review. Shalini and I did get a chance to see the first screening of the latest Harry Potter movie, "HP and the Goblet of Fire" at 12 last night. The movie is definitely the best Potter movie, yet. Its dark, its definitely more mature and it is outright gorgeous. The sets and effects are fantastic and there are very few areas where the computer effects stick out like a sore thumb. Effects are felt as experiences and not as just effects.

The acting has improved significantly with the only complaint being that Hermoine cribs too much and Dumbledore seems a trifle too angry at times contradicting his character in the book. That said, the chemistry between the lead characters is very good and new additions are all good. Ralph Fiennes as Voldermort, rocks !

The best part about the movie is the picturisation of the TriWizard tournament. It looks unbelievable and the thrills are many and great.

In short, the movie to beat for the winter and well, the movie to beat for future Potter ones themselves.

Here are some critics reviews:
NY Times
Chicago Sun Times

Fall, falling, fallen !

And Fall is over. Atleast officially. The weather has been surprisingly pleasant for the last week or so but things are changing...and the colorful leaves are history. For the year atleast.

So until Spring, here is to a bleak landscape and nightfall at 4.

Fall, at the door.

The nights are getting colder.
There are still a few that are holding on to their color.
But soon, it will be all black and all grey.
And Winter will be here.

Spicy!!!

This picture was taken at the same place I got many of my Fall pics and the previous Halloween post.

Its Halloween

Here is a Halloween picture that I shot in a nursery close by. I have since then seen a lot of innovative Halloween arrangements but this one blends the natural significance with pumpkins and the one with ghosts and all. And for trivia buffs, here is some information on the significance of Halloween.

Fall in Pa

Fall colors have started appearing all over town and this one is the best I have seen this season. This was taken on an evening drive around the place I live, Devon, Pa.

Man, Machine, God and Nature

This photo was sheer good luck. I had parked my car on a rainy night under the lights and the rain and lights together were creating this unique pattern above the dashboard of the car. Thankfully the camera was on hand and I got Shalini or rather her hand to pose for the photograph.

The honeymoon is over.

And thus the reign ended. It was nice and glorious while it lasted. After a comeback for generations last Fall to win the World Series, the RedSox sputtered and fell yesterday to the Chicago WhiteSox in the ALDS. It was shocking to few but expected by many. Inspite of tying for the top position in the AL East with the Yankees, the 2005 RedSox had been plagued by injuries, player chemistry and everything else that made it almost impossible for the RedSox to defeat a much better White Sox. There was a finality for the Idiot team of 2004 which will spread far and wide in the off season. While Theo pulled the almost impossible in holding most of the champion team together last offseason, changes are inevitable this year.

Yesterday, the loss was much less of a thought. The feeling of sadness in seeing the team splitting this offseason was evident in fan forums and message boards and the field. Millar, Damon, Timlin, Mueller have probably played their last game for the RedSox. And much as I hate even thinking about it, one of the greatest hitters in recent memory, Manny Ramirez, might be soon saying goodbye to the Fenway Faithful. The lovable RedSox of 2004 are soon going to be distant dream but the camaraderie and sheer joy they brought to the clubhouse and field would be remembered forever.

Goodbye team of 2004/2005. We loved you inspite of your problems and inconsistencies. We believed. You delivered . That alone is worth a lifetime of joy and joyful retrospection. May the best happen to all of you.
We will never forget the Fall of 2004.

A photo to celebrate photography

This photo was taken on Labor Day in downtown Philly. This happens to be the location of the oldest surviving photograph by Joseph Saxton in 1839. Others in the picture include my wife Shalini and fellow blogger, Saranyan. The photographer is a blogger himself, Pradeep.

Note: No one actually posed for the photo. The fact that we have all adopted similar poses is just coincidence and credit to Pradeep for having captured it at the right moment.

Fall Tracker: 09-04-2005

Not much change in the foliage this week. The hope persists. I am expecting to see significant change in the next two-three weeks. The temperature is starting to come down especially at nights.

Fall Tracker: 08-28-2005

I am tracking Fall in PA this year by taking photos of the same subject over the entire season. This is the first of the set taken last Sunday, the 28th of August, 2005.

No hassle or too much hassle

If you live in the US, you probably are groaning even thinking about it. If you work in India as a software engineer or as a professional in a big city, you pretty much know what I am talking about. Why do the credit card companies torture us with the unending mailers for pre-approved credit card offerings?. I have had days when I got 4 of them. On an average I get about 10 pre-approved card applications a month. And that doesnt include the ancillary credit card offerings like magazine subscriptions and credit protector schemes and what not. I have cursed them so many times, and still fallen short of how many preapproved applications I have received from them.

The bad news is that it never gets better. As your credit improves, the offers pour in more and more. The good news is that you can actually stop this mail bombardment. The credit bureaus offer you a choice of phone in (1-888-5-OPTOUT), mail in or an online mechanism of opting out of receiving the applications. All methods come with a big caveat- revealing your social security number. While there is no obvious threat to doing so, such a move needs to be done judiciously. Here are some websites to help in the decision making process.

http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2004/3/1/13940/79585
http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs24a-optout.htm
http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs24-finpriv.htm
https://www.optoutprescreen.com/?rf=t

Hope this helps. And as a friend told me, never trash your preapproved card offers as is. Shred them to avoid any possibility of privacy theft.

Update: As per a legal ruling, the preapproved ads I have been getting since August last week (after the time of this posting) give me the option of opting out from the ads. The notice bears the aforementioned number and website for the same.

To opt out of telemarketing calls, please use www.donotcall.gov. Its very effective.

Kalimdor Diary

Kalimdor Diary
Originally uploaded by geeky_rp.

This is a collage of pictures taken while I(Bheema and Bheeshma - my game characters) visited Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdom in the World of Warcraft.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

No spoilers here. This past weekend, Shalini and my wait for the sixth Harry Potter book came to an end. We had preordered a copy at the local Borders and picked it up on Saturday. Here is a quick review with no spoilers whatsoever.

The book is great but could have been better. Bear in mind that J.K.Rowling is so good that even a less than fantastic effort from her is much better than most books out there. That said, the focus on apparently unimportant issues (could become important in the last book but does not appear so, to me) is more than the important ones. Romance is given lot more space than in the past and understandably so. The kids are 16 and romance is pretty high on the list of 16 year olds. I would have preferred a little less romance but thats just me. There is much more Dumbledore-Harry interactions in this book than ever before and that is a good thing. Sometimes a bit too disconnected but nevertheless pretty interesting, we see more of the human side of the great HeadMaster that we always wanted but never got until the sixth book.

Harry is not a pain in the a$% like in the "Order of the Phoenix". In fact he is the total opposite. He is mature, intelligent and getting to be the role model he is expected to be at the end of the series. The lovable Harry who got lost in Book 5 makes a triumphant return in book 6. Ron and Hermione undergo changes too and for the better. Ginny gets more space and so do a bunch of people.

The two main characters in Book 6 are Snape and Dumbledore, not to mention Harry and each one gets an excellent character exploration from Rowling. The Book is worth reading for just them if not anything else.

Finally, there is a death. Much more sadder than Sirius's death in Book 5 and far reaching too. For the faint hearted and emotional ones, there are tears here for certain. So be prepared with hankies and all.

The stage is all set for the final book in the Harry Potter series. It is expected in 2007 but could very well get to 2008. Nevertheless, the events have been set in motion and the reader can be assured of an explosive ending to the beloved series. I personally cant wait for the final book!

Enjoy.

Image Courtesy: Scholastic and Bloomsbury. Picture refers to the cover of the deluxe edition.

Three days in Chicago: A casual tourist guide

Its hard to imagine cities bigger and nicer, having lived in Philly, Boston and Dallas, not to mention being close to NYC, Baltimore and DC. While Chicago doesnt match NYC in size it does come very close if not match the big East coast cities in being a sheer tourist delight. My wife and I were lucky to get a room along the Chicago river and right opposite to the Wrigley Building. This meant that we could see all the downtown attractions without having to worry about travel.

Downtown Chicago is magnificent, not just because of its high rises, but also its picturesque location by the Chicago river and the glorious Lake Michigan. The Magnificent Mile (N.Michigan Avenue) is a shoppers paradise. Lake Michigan is a true jewel in Chicago's crown. Spending time walking by Grant Park was an awesome experience embellished to no less extent by the annual Taste of Chicago food festival. This being the 4th of July weekend, fireworks were aplenty. We chose to see the one on the 3rd of July over Lake Michigan from Grant Park. This was one well attended event with people everywhere. For more on that, check the previous post titled Resident Evil.

For art and museum lovers, Chicago is an absolute delight. There are museums of all sorts peppered all over town. We chose to visit the excellent Art Institute of Chicago on Michigan Avenue. With nice sections on European Impressionists, it was a great trip. The best part though was to come outside the Museum and see the section of road named Swami Vivekananda way. For a moment, my chest swelled with pride. Rarely does one get to see such public recognition of an Indian in the US. The second museum we visited was the very unique and interesting Museum of Science and Industry. This is supposedly a kids place but has so much for adults that makes it a must visit for all ages.

A sight to behold is the view of Chicago and the Lake from atop the Hancock Observatory or the Sears Towers. We chose the former based on recommendations from friends and it was definitely a glorious sight atop the skyscraper.

Last but not the least a trip to Chicago is incomplete without a walk by the uniquely designed, excellently executed Millenium Park. An oasis amidst skyscrapers, its so unique, it needs to be seen to be experienced.

This was all we could squeeze in three days and there was so much leftto do. So we are already looking forward to a trip in the future where an evening Buddy Guy's Legends blues place, an evening in the Navy Pier and a ballgame at the venerable Wrigleys Field would take priority over everything else.

The Windy City sure is rockin'!

Resident Evil

Resident Evil
Originally uploaded by geeky_rp.

This photo is a collage of photos taken after the fireworks shown in the previous photo near Grant Park in Chicago. It reminds me of zombies from any one of the tens of zombie horror movies.

Fireworks over Lake Michigan

Fireworks collage-Chicago-small
Originally uploaded by geeky_rp.

This is a collage of pictures taken during an excellent fireworks display at Grant Park in Chicago on 3rd July. It was glorious to watch and crowded too, in the company of probably a 100000 people.

Take me out to the ballgame

Take me out to the ballgame
Originally uploaded by geeky_rp.

A stopgap pic while I write my next post. This shot was taken during last week's trip to the Phillies-NY Mets baseball game at the Citizens Bank ballpark in Philly. And no, the red does not mean that I support the Phillies, it means I support the RedSox :)

A Tale of Two Movies

Last weekend, I had a chance to catch up with two of the biggest Hollywood and Kollywood offerings this summer. On Friday, I saw Batman Begins on IMAX and on Saturday I drove all the way to North Bergen, NJ to see Anniyan. I shall try to objectively review and compare the two in this post. Bear in mind that my tastes have changed significantly over the last five years I have been in the US and might even indicate a bias towards all things American. I can assure the reader that while its a possibility, its not always the case, since I loved Chandramukhi and a large part of Mumbai Express too.

Batman Begins in one word to me is all that can be done right with a movie. Good star cast, good cinematography, great sets and most of all, excellent writing and directing. Chris Nolan of Memento fame, gets everything right with Batman Begins. Hours after watching the movie, I was still trying to remember any perceptible flaw in it and the effort has continued to be futile. Its that good. Frame after frame, the effort shows and the result is a very enjoyable adult comic book movie that blows past all expectations.

Anniyan, on the flip side is really all that can go wrong with a highly touted movie. A good message of civic responsibility is lost in the cacaphony of over the top acting, glaring holes in the script and a loud movie if ever there was one. Vikram not only acts, but overacts too. In the enthusiasm of trying to delineate multiple characters in the movie, he goes completely overboard. The movie is supposedly U rated with no censor cuts. I am really not sure why we need a censor board if this is the job they are doing. The movie is bloody, gory and violent. Some of the scenes were really unwatchable for the gore content. The only things that work for the movie are the songs and their picturisation and vivek's comedy that sparkles after a long time. Even the songs could have been done better, what with almost no dancing of mention by the lead stars.

Batman Begins was an adult look at a comic book hero. It works well with both adults and kids, although it skews more towards the former with a PG-13 rating. Anniyan is an adult look at a very contemporary issue that really supposedly skews towards everyone but it fails badly in that. I didnt have hopes for a classy movie from Shankar. What I hoped for, was a sensible movie (Mudhalvan is a case to point, if you exclude all things Manisha Koirala from it) and what I got instead was a rehash of all old Shankar movies with more gore and Matrix like stunts thrown in for a good measure.

I very highly recommend Batman Begins and ask that people approach Anniyan at their own risk.