Jesus and Mo

You know, a year ago, had anyone asked me what my favorite comic strip was..... Calvin and Hobbes i would have replied without batting an eyelid. Well, that was before i came across this totally amazing comic strip on the net called "Jesus and Mo"... which for me is as good as, if not better than, c&h any day.

for those who've not seen it as yet... this strip is a tongue in cheek look at two of the most dominant religions today- Islam and Christianity. The USP of the comic are its two spokesmen jesus and mo (yup prophet mohammed himself... as explained in the first comic, its not a depiction of the prophet, as that is not allowed, its just a body double that they are drawing :) )... using whom the cartoonist has a go at most of the contentious issues prevailing today and even those dealt with in the Koran and the bible. Equally important, i feet, are the comments posted by the viewers which will go quite a way in enhancing your knowledge about things written in the so-called holy books... these comments also help in both understanding the deeper meaning in each comic and appreciating the subtle innuendos made. With 'guest stars' like Moses and Ganesha joining in the fray once in a while...the strip makes for quite a pleasant read. Apart from Jesus and mo, the other important character in the strip is the barmaid, an atheist, whose presence adds a different view altogether... that of science whereas jesus and mo argue with her on most of her opinions....

The comic may seem to be a little pro-science and anti-religion, well that's just because it is pro science and anti-religion, ...so one needs to approach it with an open mind, if you are the highly religious sort that is. Take it in the right spirit, since no matter what your beliefs, Jesus and mo is a really funny offering. so have a look at it cuz, imho, its worth it
www.jesusandmo.net

till next time....

Catch 22 ........

right...what now?

I've been thinking [u do that a lot when u have no other work] lately and i realized that i could possibly just possibly occupy my time constructively... but by doing what? that remains the question... I'm into my umpteenth post now and i still have no idea where im heading... or for that matter where my blog is heading. while i ponder upon this and other important questions plaguing mankind today [like who ate the last MnM from the fridge?] ill just leave u guys with my views on a book i read recently.

catch 22 by joseph heller has been around for quite some time now and i was surprised it had taken me so much time to lay my hands on it. Well frankly, if you think highly of war and heroism in war.... this book will pretty much remove the scales from your eyes. The main character yossarian is caught up at the front while a war is being waged... and his main struggle is not to win the war or to be a hero but something more realistic... his main aim is to stay alive come what may... goddamn his country. As the book begins to grow on the reader so do the characters and i for one started identifying and empathizing with them and their emotions. well i dont want to disclose the story because that wouldnt be fair, but suffice to say that it gives us a glimpse of the lives and the mindsets of the poor guys at the battlefront who have to risk their lives fighting a war that was started by old geezers, farts and friggen politicians who remain safe and cooped up at their homes while young lives are wasted fighting their egotistical wars. personally im not one of ur emotional sissies who wets their handkerchiefs while reading a storybook but catch 22 is one book that really tugged at my heart and made me go through several emotions- anger, sadnees, helplessness etc. as u see the characters suffer one by one and kick the bucket.....

You know.... if im stranded on a deserted island and am allowed to keep only one book with me... this would be it. yeah, you will probably not find a bigger Wodehouse or Douglas Adams or for that matter, LOTR fan than me.... but Catch 22 is way above any of them.

For those who have read it- the part which affected me the most was the part when the poor chaplain is tortured because of the irving washington joke played by yossarian... followed by the part where kid sampson dies at the beach... they all die one by one except orr and yossarian. For those who havent read it... what are u waiting for? get out there and read it... if u cant get ur hands on a copy contact me for the ebook, but please do read it... u wont regret it.

of course if uve never read anything beyond tinkle and archies or for that matter enid blyton.... ummm forget it. others just go and read it and im sure most of u will not regret it.. most of u. This is a book that stays with you for a long long time.

Oh and while you are at it, you might want to see the movie 'A Clockwork Orange'. All I'll say is that its worth the watch. [:)]

TO DO OR NOT TO DO ....

I recently read The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch and I'd definitely recommend everyone to hear his lecture atleast once (its available on youtube). Anyway what struck me most, apart from the optimism and resilience shown by the guy, was the fact that he had a set of goals in mind which he had waned to accomplish and which, by the way, he did. That set me thinking... now what are the things that I absolutely definitely have to do once in my life ?? And guess what... I did come up with a list !!!
Without further ado, here's all the things I want to do in my life atleast once (as on this date that is)... Maybe sometime in the future if I draw a list.. it will be totally different but for now this is it...

• Go on a world tour
• Go to Wacken
• Watch the FIFA World Cup final in person
• Bunjee jumping
• Paragliding (done)
• Zorbing (done)
• THE BIG SECRET ONE WHICH I WON'T REVEAL.....
  

But then on a more immediate basis what I really need to do is get my 500gb Maxtor hard disk replaced. Yeah it crashed.. thanks Maxtor for your reliability... thankfully its in the warranty period. The only regret being that thanks to my hard disk crashing... not only have I lost around 450gb of data but I've also lost a whole season of ATOM ANT, 2 STUPID DOGS, WACKY RACES and ED, EDD AND EDDY and 2 seasons of METALOCALYPSE!!!!!! NOOOO !!!!! Now i'll have to download the whole thing again.. :(
I only wish there were some way in which to recover the data....

Ohh and before I forget, a big thank you to IIT Kharagpur for reopening on the 30th of December and so thoughtfully depriving me of the opportunity of spending the New Year with friends in Jamshedpur.
And to top off a string of bad news... its time for me to miss another kickass concert. This time the lucky band is Opeth , yes OPETH (!!!) , who are coming to Chennai (of all places) just when my college fest will be on... But, on a more optimistic note, ill see them when I go to Wacken anyway so its alright... :)

Death....

Well what with the terrorist attack on Mumbai and the results of my end semester examination due, it seemed that the world couldn't get any bleaker. But you know what? Fate has a cruel way of dealing with stuff... Just a few hours ago I got the news that an old schoolmate of mine passed away yesterday. Apparently he had a tumor that spread to the lungs... It just feels weird you know.. someone you know is gone.. just like that... I mean what happened to all the advances in medical science ?? Why couldn't they stop the bloody thing from spreading ??
Anyway while I'm cribbing, can someone tell me why oh WHY do our security forces still have to go into battle wearing World War II memorabilia ?? I salute the brave people.. the real heroes of the nation... the NSG, the ATS and the police squads which took the terrorists head on while still wielding 303 rifles and bulletproof vests that date back 1965. We are not a small and impoverished country... and we can definitely arm our troops with the best weapons available. Where was our intelligence when this happened ? How could they not know any of this ? This attack was planned way in advance as is apparent in the way that it was orchestrated... Maybe a revamp is needed of the whole system. Hopefully this will open the eyes of the USA and they'll stop helping Pakistan the way they are doing now. Maybe the Pakistan Govt is not directly linked to these attacks but we all know that vested interests in the ISI, the Pakistani army and the government are responsible for the flourishing of the terrorists camps in that country. Something needs to be done.. and its us, the common people, who need to step up and make sure our voices are heard. Look at all the lives that were lost. Its horrendous how anyone can commit such a dastardly act.. and the worst part is that all the terrorists were aged 18-28 !!
Now the future is in our hands... the youth of this nation... but the most terrifying thing is that these terrorists are of our age too. Agreed that there is a lot of ignorance prevailing in the previous generations but then you would expect our generation to know better wouldn't you? Why cant these people see that no matter what you believe in, no matter why you are angry, no matter what you need to say... killing innocent people is just not the way to go about it.
Anyway
Signing off with a heavy heart

In Memory of all the lives lost in Mumbai
and in memory of Kavan...
May your souls rest in peace....

Rewind >> more than a year ago...

You know what... a few days ago I remembered that I used to have another blog... so I thought why not check it out, see what i'd written earlier... Well this is what I'd written just after my JEE results were out, school was over (OVER!!) , and I was really really confused about a lot of stuff... seems such a long time ago... [sigh]

well.. its off to college for me. im off to this place called kharagpur..which is really famous for two things.. firstly, the iit and secondly for having the longest platform in the world... in a nutshell, quite a boring place by the looks of it... but hey, who knows? i may come to like it.. havent got much choice though considering ill be spending the next four years of my life there....

anyways this is the time when all ur friends go off to different places and you sorta lose touch with most of them ... so there is this partying and hanging out together sort of thing... (which is why im spending most of my time in the club)  who knows what the future holds in store..?? a lot of people tell you a lot of different things about this graduation... guess what you can do is listen to them and then promptly forget most of it... some guys are like "why dont you go to bombay", while others are "kharagpur is the best".. so basically noones of much help.. uve got to form ur own opinions..

this is the time when you are most confused about what awaits you and what decisions you should take.... but the most amazing thing seems to be the way the past two years just flew past.. man...you blink and its over kinda thing. it seems like yesterday when i first went to my coaching class..not to mention school.. hmm a lot of memories persist..gets sorta nostalgic remembering those times..

there was this guy, who along with me bunked every single economics period we had in the eleventh.... we got caught a lot but always managed to wriggle out with a good excuse.. then there was the time when along with two other guys i was pulled up for bunking assembly.... and thats just standard 11..... then quizzes debates and other activities that always provide you the opportunity of not going to class.. god im gonna miss loyola...

u know.. our school gets a lot of adverse publicity but we've always managed to pull through such rough phases and emerge stronger than before and no matter how much people try to malign the reputation of loyola.. no one ever succeeds.. thats what the strength of loyola is... no matter what people say they still want their wards to study in loyola... the fact of the matter is that loyoleans always carve out a place for themselves wherever they go... u can always recognise the loyolean in the crowd... i dunno how that is but thats the way it is...

Well its been almost two more years and reading this stuff made me go back to those days again and you know, those WERE the times I'll never forget... everything we were up to in school... 

And then I realised, almost two years have past since I've come to this place, KGP!!! Well I guess thats how time flies... before you know it most of life has just passed you by...

And thats when I realised what the most important part of life is, the thing I've been doing all these years, the thing I plan to do for the forseeable future :: MAARO PEACE... :)

BAD MOVIES .....

There are two ways to make a bad movie.... one is making it while flipping the finger to the rest of the world and not giving a damn about anything. The second way... well to know what the second way is.. watch KIDNAP. Or rather... don't.
In my opinion the whole cast and crew including the producers distributors and anyone remotely connected in anyway to the movie should be put in a straitjacket and be made to watch KIDNAP.... forever. How could they inflict such a movie upon us unsuspecting humans ?? In my opinion, if you have to make a bad movie.. make it like GUNDA. When GUNDA was made, its makers made no bones about the fact that they had made a pathetic movie... rather the USP of the movie is the fact that it is mindbogglingly bad. Hats off to them for the movie though..!!! Its so bad that its really really funny. Like the part where atleast 50 ambassador cars come up to beat Mithunda (yes the one and only) , and all the cars stop and the doors open... and only 5 guys come out to fight. Or the parts where the character introduce themselves... "Mera naam hai Bulla, aur main rakhta hoon hamesha khullam khulla " !!! Brilliant. When while going to kill his enemies, Mithunda suddenly stops to do an absolutely irrelevant song and dance sequence, you dont clutch your head in frustration... you cheer along with everyone else around you watching the film. THAT is where Kidnap fails.
The makers of Kidnap told the world that they were making a good mainstream film, and thats where they messed it up. When people go to see GUNDA they go with a certain mindset, they go to be entertained... they know that the movie does not need to make sense... rather the fact that it doesnt make sense half the time just adds to the entertainment factor. ( http://www.gunda-faqs.blogspot.com/ ...yes some true fans and disciples of the great director Kanti Shah and Prabhuji Mithunda have endeavoured to answer the questions posed by the holes in the storyline.) Anyways, Kidnap disappoints on each and every level and Imran Khan is AWFUL ...even Upen Patel would have been ashamed of this performance and thats saying something. Minissha Lamba, the girl who mysteriously keeps changing her clothes every time Imran is not around, is equally rotten. Vidya Malvade, who plays her mom, is much much better looking.. and thats about it. The dialogue delivery leaves you wanting to bust open your head by banging it repeatedly against the wall.
"This is a kidnapping. I have kidnapped you." ,says Imran to Minissha... Even the furniture in that room gives more expressions that this duo. I would point out atleast 50 other points in the movie that would make you feel like killikng yourself if you were watching it but I wont as I suspect even the effort of typing them in may leave me brain dead or maybe paralysed for life.
I would just like to implore the people who make movies to please see the film once before you release it. Our people have been tortured enough... we dont need it anymore. Please.. please if you do make a bad movie, there s no harm in owning up to it. I suggest you release it with a advisory sticker proclaiming it to be a bad movie and I swear we will watch it. Just do not catch us unprepared.. let us be ready for what we will face when we come to see your movie. Look at GUNDA.. we made it work... it has become a cult movie... a phenomenal success . Thank you.

P.S.
If you people did not know, GUNDA is rated 8.6 on imdb ... At one point of time, many puritanical devotees of the movie from IIT Kharagpur even managed to get it into the top 10 by repeatedly voting for it (yes on the same list with Shawshank Redemption, Godfather etc). YEAH!!!
A suggestion... if you are free this weekend, dont go to watch crap like Kidnap... go out there and rent a classic, rent GUNDA. I sincerely believe its one of those movies that you should see atleast once before you die... Bulla, Lambu Atta, Chutiya, Ibu Hatela, Prabhuji (Mithunda) and everyone else.. may your legacy live on forever in the minds and hard disks of your devotees !!

P.P.S.
Also on a more serious note watch Shawshank Redemption (if you haven't yet) and Grave of the Fireflies. These are movies that leave an imprint upon your heart... For people who thought animation is just for kids, watch Grave of the Fireflies about a brother and sister orphaned during WWII and their struggle for survival. Who said all animated movies have a feel-good ending ?

Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps ...

Ok... Now, I know that most of you will vouch for F.R.I.E.N.D.S. , a few of you may go for How I Met Your Mother or maybe lean towards Two and a Half Men, and my buddies in IIT will move towards The Big Bang Theory... and while I'm the first one to admit that all these shows are extremely funny, having seen them all, let me just put past you another show which I know most people haven't seen but I assure you is equally rib ticklingly funny, Coupling.
You know what I've noticed ? Every IITian, well atleast every KGPian, well atleast every normal KGPian, watches atleast one sitcom or the other..!!! I mean, what is it with us and sitcoms? Anyways cant say that I've got anything to complain about..
Now where was I ? Oh yeah, Coupling, right... Well I brought the first four seasons home to watch during the pujas and I found it to be as absorbing as the aforemetioned shows. Do give it a try and I dont think you'll be disappointed.

Anyway, be that as it may, one thing that always bothered me is my apparent inability to remain interested in anything for a sustainably long period of time. I mean, I probably have had more hobbies than a whole army combined but somehow... I start with full enthusiasm and shoot off the starting blocks but, as time goes by, my enthusiasm keeps waning until I just sort of stop doing it. I used to collect matchboxes, then round stones, then keyrings, then coins, then stamps, then playing cards, not counting the times I collected WWE trump cards, tazos (remember those things we used to get in Lay's ?? I had 113 of those) and pokemon jenga cards among others. Then more recently I started googlewhacking and a few days later promptly forgot about it until I chanced upon my post on the same.. (necropaedophilic psychopath.. sometimes I crack myself up :) ...HAHA ) .

Oh and before I forget... guess who is coming to GIR ???
You'll never believe it ....
SATYRICON !!!!!

Why does it have to happen to me ?? WHY ?? First the Megadeth concert, then the Maiden gig and now.. SATYRICON !!! I'll be missing this too !!! Its like Fate was readying me for this, like fattening the pig or rather cushioning the blow...
"So you miss the Megadeth concert, you must be feeling bad".
"OK so you missed the Maiden gig, dont be gutted, you missed Megadeth remember, though this is a little bigger..."
Now its :: "Hey, remember you missed Megadeth and Iron Maiden live ?? Well umm, lets just put it this way, umm, you're going to miss one more, nothing big, just satyricon.. OK" . WHAT??!!!
Anyway I'll just have to resign myself to the fact... theres nothing I can do about it now... but SATYRICON...

\m/ metal rules \m/

P.S. I'd just like to add that Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit, Evanescence, Marilyn Manson, Rammstein, etc. are NOT METAL !!!!! And please do not call them metal bands, thus degrading actual metal bands... Thank You..

P.P.S.
Give Coupling a try. Also the other shows mentioned in the off-chance you haven't even seen those.

P.P.P.S.
When I say that these bands are not metal, I mean that they are not. See, there are bands who would probably get classified as metal though they are now a disgrace mostly like Korn or Slipknot... but the bands mentioned above are not metal.