Oscar Predictions

I don't recollect an Academy Awards season when I felt less meh. There were very few good movies last year, very few movies that made you sit up and think. Sit up and watch, yes - we did have Avatar after all. But movies that made you think? Movies that made you scratch your head, go look up the Wikipedia entry on it, movies that made you burst out laughing or those that got you walking on air out of the theater, silly grin plastered on your face? Just compare this year's crop to 2007, when we had No Country For Old Men competing with There Will Be Blood and Juno.

Like I said, meh.

 

At any rate, here are my predictions for this year's Oscars. Not the ones that I like, but the ones I think will win:

Best Picture - Avatar. Yes, I did like The Hurt Locker, but I think Mr Cameron will be back on the deck.

Best Actor - Jeff Bridges. The dude has it coming.

Best Actress - Sandra Bullock. I hated myself writing that, damn! I really don't think there's a better actor alive than Ms Streep, but one more Oscar? Unlikely.

Best Director - Kathryn Bigelow. No, James Cameron. Nah, Bigelow. I'll stick to Bigelow.

Best Original Screenplay - I'm going out on a limb here and predicting Up. 

 

There, I'm done. Didn't enjoy doing it, but I'm done.

Posted via web from Mostly Charmless

The best films of 2009 - Roger Ebert's Journal

via blogs.suntimes.com

Nice list. For the first time in years, I find myself viewing Ebert's top ten year end list without having watched a single one of them. And this time it's more like a top twenty.

Posted via web from Mostly Charmless

Once Upon A Time In Kerala

Once upon a time in Kerala, there used to be a very entrenched, heirarchical caste system. Some would argue that this still exists even in modern Kerala, but let's not go there. We are all honorable men and women.

So, once upon a time in Kerala, there was a deep rooted caste system. Some say this started with the advent of the Nambuthiris, who pretty much treated anyone not a Nambuthiri as an untouchable. This extended to other castes soon enough, which meant you had the Nairs who were expected to instantly cut down the heads of lower caste people who presumed to defile them. This defiliation could occur because the lower castes were on the same road as them, were looking at them or were within 72 feet of them. The Nair man - for it was mainly men who walked out on the road anyway - was expected to have a bath in a temple pond immediately, to wash off this pollution. The Nair man was not expected to eat before he did this cleansing and was universally shunned till he corrected this sin.

Thankfully, we live in an advanced society now where this does not occur anymore. We are all honorable men and women and we do not differentiate. Right? Right.

Posted via email from Mostly Charmless

The Hotmail Scam

I really can't believe that 20,000 people fell for this scam. Then again, there's one born every minute.

This is the email which found its way into my Inbox. Why do I feel this has an Indian origin? 

From: hawkmiller2@hotmail.com
To: windowslivecommunications@microsoft.windowslive.com
Subject: Warning !!! Verify Your Account Now To Avoid It Closed (VJ2G99AAQ)
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 2009 17:15:52 +0000

Windows Live Hotmail Alert!!!

CONFIRM YOUR WINDOWS LIVE ACCOUNT SERVICES. VERIFY YOUR HOTMAIL ACCOUNT NOW TO AVOID IT CLOSED !!!

 

Dear Account Owner

 

This is email from Windows Live Hotmail® and we are sending it to you account user for your safety. Due to the anonymous registration of our account which is causing congestion to our service, so we are shutting down some account and your account was amoung those to be deleted,so the purpose of this email is for you to verify that you are the owner of this account and you are still using it by filling the information below after clicking on the reply button:

* Username: ...............................

* Password: ................................

* Date of Birth: ............................

* Country Or Territory: ................

After following the instructions in the sheet, your account will not be interrupted and will continue as normal. Thanks for your attention to this request. We apologize for any inconveniences.

Warning!!! Account owner that refuses to update his/her account after 48 hours of receiving this warning will lose his or her account permanently.

 

Sincerely,

The Windows Live Hotmail Team

Posted via email from Mostly Charmless

The Aggregated Web

Everyone wants a meta site. You know, an umbrella thingy which aggregates your twitter, facebook, blogger, orkut, flickr, youtube and bank accounts. Okay, maybe not the last bit, but you get the idea. The good news is, there are sites like posterous which hope to become the master of meta. They can connect to all your social networking sites, they can parse pictures, view videos, you name it. And all this over email, to boot. Impressive, I'd say.

But then, once you have a few meta sites around, what's stopping a super-meta aggregator which would rule them all and in the darkness, bind them? Hmm?

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from Mostly Charmless

Back to school

Rachu started 'proper' school today. She's done with the Montessori levels and has entered Std I. I dropped her off to school in the morning; she was dressed in her new uniform, complete with a school belt and tie. Damn, she's growing up faster than I'd want her to.

Bugged

I took the easy way out the other day at lunch. The easy way out was to pretend the cockroach in my food didn't exist and get back to work without barfing my guts out. I also resolved never to order food from that stall in the food court again. This resolution should last till end of the week. Hopefully.

It's been worrying me, though. Why didn't I create a fuss and demand to see the manager? Why didn't I demand a full month's lunch, free? Maybe because the cockroach was so tiny, it really wasn't their fault it had sneaked into my plate. Or maybe because the first thing that came to my mind was the old scene in movies where the hero tries to weasel out of paying for lunch by inserting a roach into his plate at the end of the meal. Balachandra Menon in Chiryo Chiri and Jayaram in Nagarangalil Chennu Raapparrkkam, if I remember correctly.

Which reminds me, it's time for lunch.