Endgame for Detroit?

Chrysler was officially declared bankrupt today after months of being on the federal government bailout drip.

This comes after GM announced Pontiac's impending discontinuation. I liked most of Pontiac's models ..... there was a sporty, performance oriented slant to them. And one of them ....

.... remains one of my most loved automobiles ever.

These are really bad times for the American big 3. The recession has brought them to their knees.

Elections 2009 - Phase 3

Half way through the 5 phases. And same to you AB and family .... idiots.

RIP Feroz

I 1st saw an Alfa Romeo in one of his movies.

He was using European dancers in his films before Bollywood cottoned on to the idea .... 20 years later.

The 1st authentic Uzi ever used in a Hindi movie was in Qurbani.

Nazia Hassan and Biddu wouldn't have been who they are if it weren't for him.

He used the Merc S Classes as the don's car & a Chevrolet Suburban as his entourage's, while others wouldn't have known beyond an Ambassador and a Mahindra Jeep.

In short, here was a guy after mine own heart. Living a lifestyle that revolved around fast cars, beautiful women & high living. And made no bones about it.

The news came as a shock. He was one of my favorites. And he'll be missed.

The Google logo today, on the occasion of Samuel Morse's birthday. Superb!

Nauman wins ...

.... the 6th season of Roadies, MTV Roadies Hell Down Under.

Elections 2009 - Phase 2

We get the day off from office as MMS and wifey stand in line at a polling station in Assam.

A change of hairstyle ....

.... for the 2nd time .... ever. Sid says it makes me look like a 'poora dude'!

Vendor change

The cafeteria gets a new vendor from today. I liked the old guys with their East Indian touch & ease with Hindi (they were all Bengali Muslims).

The change has been very sudden. I wonder if it's got something to do with the ongoing recession and plans to shift this facility elsewhere.

IPL 2 is go

Fast & Furious

It has everything .... babes, muscle, imports, speed, action .... but I felt there was something missing.

Maybe Rob Cohen's direction as in the 1st one. Maybe the sheer abundance of cars as in the 2nd one. Maybe the exotica & craft as shown in the 3rd one. Or maybe I had my expectations too high.

Liked the R-34 that Brian uses for the 1st race. Didn't like Han's blink-and-you-miss role. And got irritated by the overly Latino sounding soundtrack.

On to part 5 then.

Elections 2009 - Phase 1

The 'dance of democracy' begins today. I pray this country gets a competent government.

Note to self: Avoid fiddling with the VOIP phone even if the manager keeps droning on half an hour beyond the lunch hour.

Now Playing

• Just Close Your Eyes - Waterproof Blonde
• This Fire Burns - Killswitch Engage
• Voices - Rev Theory
• Some Bodies Gonna Get It - 3-6 Mafia

..... or in other words, the entrance themes for

• Christian
• CM Punk
• Randy Orton and
• Mark Henry

WrestleMania 25

The opening montage was nicely done. It was the silver jubilee WrestleMania after all.

The Money-In-The-Bank match was super with lots of high-risk maneuvers from everyone. Punk became the 1st to win this kind of a match twice in a row.

Mickey Rourke's presence in the veteran's match was surprising. What was more surprising was Ricky Steamboat's performance in the same match versus Jericho. Ricky was one of the 1st wrestlers I saw back in the 80s when few in this country knew what WWF was, let alone cable TV. It was good to see him in action again.

Jeff and Matt's face-off was great. These 2 have been the most extreme wrestlers in the business for a long time & setting them off against each other was a masterstroke.

Mysterio's win for the Intercontinental title was comedic. JBL will now be leaving .... good riddance.

Shawn & Undertaker's match had the potential of being an epic. It turned out looking like a forced performance between 2 aging war horses just meant to prolong Taker's WrestleMania winning streak into 17-0. Not impressive. Loved HBK's kicks though.

Edge, Big Show & Cena's triple threat for the Heavyweight Championship was good. Cena never fails to impress me & lifting Show & Edge together (even if for the 5 seconds it lasted) is some feat. Any way, Cena is champ again.

Then there was the Hall of Fame induction with Austin's appearance. Boy, the pops this guy still gets from the crowds. He celebrated in his own inimitable quad-bike-beer-swilling style. Great to see.

And finally there was Triple H & Orton's face off for the WWE Championship. A farce basically. It's amazing how much booking influence Hunter wields, being a part of the McMahon family. Randy, I feel, should have won.

A good WrestleMania overall.

Letters From Iwo Jima

One of the best war films I've ever seen.

Flags Of Our Fathers

Turned out to be a documentary.

Much Music

Came home this evening at the end of a tedious week & ahead of a long weekend (tomorrow, Friday, is Good Friday). Had thought of watching the cam print of Fast and Furious I'd downloaded, but couldn't get myself to (blame aXXo for having spoiled me).

Checked up on IndiaFMS on a lark. Since the tussle between Bollywood producers & multiplex wallahs began about a month back, new OST releases have ground to a halt. Today was no different. So checked up on the HipHop section .... and found Bohemia's latest release. Initial impressions are positive.

Had dinner.

Continued surfing around while running the Smokin' Aces climax scene in the background to hear the OST. Then thought of searching for that particular track cause it really stood out. Torrents weren't in plenty & the 1 torrent available had just 1 Canadian seeder (bless him/her) with the track that I wanted .... missing! Anyhow, kept searching, serendipity ensued & esnips came to the rescue. Finally found it. Much respect to Clint Mansell for his compositions.

It wasn't the end of finding cool stuff though. One of the links related to Clint that I looked up also had mention this film. And so I decided to check it out ..... and it turns out to be Johnny the Depp's upcoming release! Directed by Michael the Mann, no less! Must watch is a foregone conlusion for this movie.

The trailer has a cool background track towards the end with a very catchy Banjo track. It turned out to be Otis Taylor's 'Ten Million Slaves'. A new artist was thus discovered. I had to rip the track off off youtube though. And I'm not complaining.

So .... much music ..... what would my life be without it?

Images of the day

Aamir & SRK ....

.... put up a united front for the producers in the ongoing tussle with the exhibitors.

Union Home Minister Chidambaram has a shoe thrown at him .....

.... by a disgruntled Sikh reporter protesting against the non-justice in the 1984 cases.

Sanjay Dutt & Amar Singh meet up with ....

.... Chiranjeevi to line up pre-poll alliances. 9 days to go for the 1st phase of voting. Munnabhai meets Shankardada.

And finally, MSD doing what he does best .....

.... winning against the odds. This time, India's 1st test series victory against NZ in NZ after 41 years.

Phew, too much for 1 day!

Malaysian GP

Button is the man & Brawn GP the constructor, proving that their wins in the Australian GP were no flash in the pan. The race lasted only 31 laps because of rain & winners were awarded half points.


I'm still too amazed by the huge success achieved by this team.

Smokin' Aces

Flashy cardwork, females firing sniper rifles, neo-Nazi bounty hunters, FBI agents, contract killers .... a huge cast of characters unlike a lot of films that I've seen.

It all gels pretty well though & the way the film builds up to the chaotic climax is superb. And there's a nice little twist in the end. A good watch.

Layer Cake

The story about people and their betrayals moves on as if in a drug induced haze. Which was pretty cool actually. The background score is good and so is Daniel Craig.

On the Threshold ...

The ol' hometown isn't doing too badly. Good to see.

IAF's new BBJ

India's first Boeing Business Jet takes over as the new Air Force One. I wish we had a more deserving President.

Google Suggest

Google has made the 'suggest' feature available as default on its home page since yesterday. I don't know if it's only for India or worldwide. Quite nifty.