collage of views , perspectives and questions

Human mind is a very fascinating thing . It is complex , almost unexplored and relatively  less understood in both its actual physical and emotional aspects. The way the mind processes emotions is still a mystery . In this post I am not going to elaborate on anything that I mentioned above . All I am going to talk about is a few questions that I have always wondered why are they not handled in an open and frank manner .

Disclaimer : I consider myself to be a crazy person . If you feel  that some of my views are absurd , please refer to the first point and pacify yourselves. :D

I have always been termed as a  weirdo , different , lonely and at most times crazy and insane . I am truly glad of all the above nicknames I have earned ,  as the people I have discussed with at least made an effort to think the way I do and then compare it with themselves and finally make a declaration ( or self authorized certification rather :P )

# Why is there a need for euphemisms ?

In my opinion there is a reason why certain things are termed good and bad . By substituting a relatively harmless word for something bad , don’t you think the very purpose of differentiation is questioned ! Also , by accepting such substitutions , are we not increasing the width of the grey area between good and bad !

Consider the examples of sex and death , both are very hushed up topics. Until recently , they were never really discussed in an open fashion. I don’t really understand the need for covering up such topics as the former is a very natural thing and is the reason for man’s sustenance and the later is final step in the man’s life . Love it , hate it one just can’t ignore it or worse even think of stopping it. Another case is that of human wastes , colloquially shit and piss , its again a natural everyday process , why all the fuss to give fancy names !

# What is good and bad ?

Its all a reference point , as quoted in a famous song by Fort minor , ” One man’s trash is another man’s treasure , One man’s pain is another man’s pleasure…  ” . What is good for me may not be the same for you and vice versa .  With this sort of convoluted stalemate , then how does one define good and bad , especially the boundary between them. Is it right to eliminate good and bad and just say that these are conflicting viewpoints governed by the common aim meeting everyone’s needs ? If so , how can  one justify the society’s needs if they do not meet a general consensus ?

# Finally , What is success ?

Is earning enough money success ? Is getting a secured life success ? If so how much money ? and what is the boundary for being secured ? from human perspective, the definition of success changes with every time frame , where the time frame itself is a variable . With this sort of complexity is it wise to calculate steps towards success ? Considering realistic situations and realistic people :P who would always put their own personal safety and needs  before those of the society , is it even reasonable to include society in this definition ? with all the ifs , buts and should-haves is it even rational to narrow down in a formula of success ?

Of-course a generalized  formula for success would be the holy grail of mathematics and science ( & everything else! ). With the probability of that being similar to that of travelling faster than the speed of light :P  , is it worth feeling sad about ones failures, when the few successes(temporary as they may be)  that one did pull out   were against extremely high odds ? With good old Murphy’s laws giving punctual appearances , is it not wise to be contended with what one has .

With all this spilled out , my mind is free ( at least for the time being :P ) . I appreciate your patience for reading . Now you can happily stick up to your viewpoints and stay smug that you are not going to be deterred from them as they define who you are . :)

The Balvenie – 12 years old

Dear scotch lovers , I am back with another experience . The Balvenie 12 years old DoubleWood  (Single Malt Scotch Whisky) was the showpiece of the night, for celebrating a good semester and successfully completing half of my Masters at ASU.

The Balvenie is a very subtle jewel. It did take quite some time to figure the character of the whisky. The bottle was cylindrical with a narrow curvy neck  similar to that of the Chivas Regal 12 years old. The liquor was light golden in shade.

When I broke the seal and opened the cork , the cherry-ish aroma with mild hints of honey brought a broad smile upon my face . At first I thought it was just a cherry based whiskey with touch of honey . But I was surprised , on further tasting , I realized there were flavors of vanilla , mild hints of cinnamon too. It had a very unique wooden flavor, it is said to have been matured in 2 wooden casks . This is my first whisky that has been matured in sherry oak . I cannot forget the distinct woody flavor . I believe it’s an area to be explored and compared in the future.

The finish of this unique scotch is light , smooth and long . It’s a bit heavier when compared to Jameson – The Irish whiskey. Also it does have a warming finish .

That’s it for now, till next time you keep it classy scotch lovers.

Glenfiddich 12 years old – Review

This was my first ever single malt whisky . I am writing this review  a little late , the thrill of experiencing  Glenfiddich 12 years old again recently, persuaded me to cut down my slack and share my experience.

The bottle had a prism like shape with rounded edges . Once the seal was opened and cork released the  rich  tickling aroma of pear , mesmerizing in its own accord , juiced up my taste buds .

When I tasted my first dram of this greenish golden jewel, the light and pleasant taste of scotch set in , which gave me the indication of  its texture . It was light , smooth and had mildly creamy finish .

When I set in for my first peg with Ice , I was all set to crack the  flavor of this subtle scotch. The Pear flavored whisky with its silky smoothness quickly brought  a smile and  reinstated its quality over the relatively harsher blended whiskys . It also revealed a mild hint of tropical fruits with an underlying creamish finish.

The drink on the whole  was a pleasurable experience. A slice of cheese , some pieces freshly cut pineapple and cherries would serve as wonderful accompaniments . some pieces of chilli chicken /paneer in addition would make the experience holy :P

Till the next time , you keep it classy scotch lovers :)

Finally ! The right drink .

“The light music of whiskey falling into a glass – an agreeable interlude.” - James Joyce

After some fair experimenting , I finally realized that I am a scotch man. It’s not that I don’t like other spirits , it’s just that I tend to like scotch whisk(e)y more . Now I am not a pro but I know I am on the right track and I can fairly differentiate the different flavors , nature and complexity of the spirit. Like most stuff ,the more varieties I try , the better I’ll become in judging. :)

But, I have to say , I don’t believe in guzzling and binge drinking. I don’t think its the right way to enjoy such a pleasurable drink . Getting high is good , but its imperative that one stays within limits and drinks responsibly.

Since this is my first post about this , I would like to just briefly describe ‘what is scotch whisk(e)y ?’

Scotch is whisky from Scotland.  If the whisky  is not  made in Scotland, it is not Scotch.  Period.  A mistake commonly made is calling whisky, scotch.  This is because there are several other sub-sets of whisk(e)y, besides scotch.  Besides certain requirements on how the whisky is produced (ingredients, duration of aging, etc.), most whisky are classified according to the regions where they are made. Only water and barley are used to make scotch whisky. sometimes whole grain of other cereals may be added. All scotch whisky must be aged in oak barrels for a minimum of three years. They must have a minimum alcoholic strength of 40% by volume.

The various blends are made from 2 type of scotch whiskey :

Single Malt Scotch Whisky : It’s a scotch produced from water and malted barley from a single distillery.

Single Grain Scotch Whisky : It’s a scotch that is produced in a single distillery but is made up of water, malted barley and whole  grains of other cereals. The ‘single’ here is referring to single distillery and not single grain. These whiskys rarely get circulated in the market and even if they do they are circulated in limited numbers.

When two or more of the above mentioned whiskys are blended in the right proportion , the resultant is a ‘Blended Scotch Whisky’ which can be classified as follows :

Blended Scotch whisky is a blend of one or more single-malt Scotch whiskies with one or more single-grain Scotch whiskies.

Blended malt Scotch whisky is a blend of two or more single-malt Scotch whiskies from various distilleries.

Blended grain Scotch whisky is a blend of two or more single-grain Scotch whiskies from various distilleries.
some famous whisk(e)ys are :

  • Johnnie Walker series – Blended Scotch Whiskys
  • Jameson – Blended Irish Whiskeys
  • Glenfiddich – Single Malt Scotch Whisky
  • Glenlivet – Single Malt Scotch Whisky
  • Jack Daniels – Tennessee Whiskey
  • Chivas Regal – Blended Scotch Whisky

‘Whisky Vs Whiskey’

American and Irish liquor producers tend to favor the spelling WHISKEY, while Canadian, Scottish, and Japanese producers  tend to favor  WHISKY. Now why this difference in spelling ? Well , that’s a big debate and its better if I don’t get into it :P

I hope this article is a good start for the new section, ‘Scotch – Reviews’. I will be posting my first review soon . :)

George Lucas = Respect

I have been a Star Wars fan since a kid. To me like many Star Wars is not just a movie , it is a dream , a fantasy/science fiction epic filled with motivation and inspiration (most of my friends don’t concur this view :-( ). It’ s creator is no less than a demigod or superhero to me . George Lucas ! I always admired and loved him . The story of how he made star wars itself is an inspirational one . It was not all rainbow and sunshine for him , he was low on budget , almost every studio turned him down  saying the movie will be a sure flop . His hard work and sweat finally payed off , when star wars became the highest grossing movie of all time till 1983 when Steven Spielberg’s ET broke its streak. The creative vision which George showed to the world set new benchmarks for how movies could be made. The merchandising of the star wars brand is still strong and is a benchmark for comparison.

Crazy fans and their love – hate relationship with George Lucas.

This is bit of a delicate and convoluted topic. A group of fans took things too seriously. When George decided to make edits to ‘His’ movie to correct some errors, this section of fans went wild with protest , claiming he had spoiled something very pristine . They went to the point of saying that he had no right to do such a thing ! But George was stubborn and fighter as he was always stood his ground. This caused fans to hate him. When George made the  prequels , things became even worse and this section of fans  started hating him even more.They hated the prequels as they had piled up their expectations to such unrealistic levels that it was close to impossible to satisfy them . Some I feel were influenced by the negative propaganda by angry fans and thus have biased opinions. Jar Jar Binks was the center of most ridicule.There were some hysterical quotes like ‘ George Lucas ruined our childhood ‘,’He is a very terrible person’ and so on – which is ridiculous !

My view :

I respect George and I stand by his every decision. I say he did nothing wrong by editing the classics , as he rightfully says “… its my movie , with my name on it… ” he has every right to make it or keep it the way he wants it.  I feel its just not right to take ones work for granted and make edits yourself , but deny the author from making it ! as for the fans saying that he had no right to do so , I say , you have no right to say so , as its not your work. you don’t like the edited work,  fine ! that’s your opinion and I respect it . But, this doesn’t mean you have to castigate the author.  Regarding the prequels, I think all 3 were cool ! I don’t like Jar Jar binks but heck with it ! I love the movies , the battle, the duel scenes were just awesome ! They didn’t end up in the’ top 5′ highest grossing movies in their respective year of release for no reason.

To put the paradox bluntly ‘The more people(supposedly) hate George , the more they love star wars , which in turn leads them to love him for making it in the first place ! ‘

Imagine what would have happened if George didn’t make ‘star wars’ and he didn’t show us his fantasy world.

To conclude, regarding his latest decision to stop making blockbuster movies , all I wish to say is ‘May the force be with you :)

Welcome 2012 !

Thanks to Woody Allen , I was forced to consider the other side of ‘happy birthday’ and ‘happy new year’ . we just finished 1 more year of our worthless existence and are one more step closer to the grave , is it a reason to celebrate !! ? :-?  or is it truly worth , to be happy about surviving another year with most friends and family and looking back at the pleasant , not so pleasant and funny times during the year ? :) unfortunately , I don’t think we can ever come to an agreeable conclusion on this topic. The person supporting the former idea would be termed a negative person , but unfortunately the idea is true , so one can’t deny it . On the other hand if the person sticks to the second idea , he would be termed as emotional , nostalgic or worse as  happy-go-lucky . The only conclusion one can draw is that it depends upon personal opinion and thereby opinions and choices have to liberty to differ :) (stalemate ! :D )

Now why am I babbling all this?  well, this has been running on my mind for quite some time so I had to put it out . Alright let me get back to 2012. 2012 whether we like it or not , want it or not (unless we have a functional time machine we got no choice here really :P ) it’s here . Compared to its predecessors it has loads of expectations to maintain, thanks to Mayans, Nostradamus, Edgar Cayce , humans and every other thing in case if I left any. Homecoming of gods, Effect of global warming , changing climate , economic crisis, presidential election , London Olympics are some of the events that are to be watched (I agree the first one is too legendary for rationals to believe :P ). 2011 did handover a very rich heritage to 2012 it handed over scams , world cricket champions – India , A never before seen treasure at the temple depths (who said India is poor ! our gods are definitely not :P ) , revolutions in various countries, huge share of natural disasters (rather huge damages after the natural disturbances), a nuclear power plant explosion , a royal wedding , 7 billion world population (according to UN) , death of few bad guys (‘bad’ is the majority accepted description :) ) and Mr.Steve Jobs finally updating his status to i-dead.

But at the end of the day , despite the bitter cynicism one only hopes for the best and wishes to have good year. whether we believe it or not  events will unfold sooner or later, the only thing that matters is how much we care for it.

Well coming to the end of this circular thought , All I wish to say is , ‘Hopefully happy 2012′ to all. :)

PAUL – REVIEW

Bored with my X-Mas vacation , surfing down the internet , reading about December 21, 2012 ,prophecies, UFO encounters and related random stuff , I came across this  movie. The poster amused me so I decided to give this movie a shot.

Coming to the movie, Graeme (Simon Pegg) and Clive (Nick Frost) are 2 comic book geeks. After attending the Comic-Con Convention they plan to  visit other places of extraterrestrial importance. During their ride a car races them and wrecks up right in front of them. When they stop to investigate the crash they meet Paul (voiced by Seth Rogen) an alien who has escaped from Area 51 and is in desperate need of help. The geeks decide to help him. Paul is not the typical alien as portrayed in typical science fiction movies. He is lazy, rude,weed smoking,outright , frank casual alien. He does have supernatural powers, he gave Steven Spielberg the ideas for”ET”,”Close encounters of the third kind” and  ”Indiana Jones” and hates the fact that his face has been used as a cover image for aliens in general.He had been chest of knowledge to the government , now that all information has been extracted , the Govt wishes to surgically remove paul’s brain and harness his supernatural abilities. With the help of an insider at area 51 , paul sends an SOS to his home planet and is on the run.

The whole story revolves around the crazy events which occurs when Paul is trying to reach to the location to reach his rescue team. There are several movie connections like Close Encounters of the third kind , Indiana Jones , Titanic :P , Men in Black and star wars attributed at appropriate places :D  . On the whole , it was a light and fun movie to watch.

I am not a sci-fi geek , but I definitely am a sci-fi fan.

I give this one 8/10 

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE : GHOST PROTOCOL – REVIEW

Well , this was going to be my first IMAX experience , I was more excited about that than the actual movie. When I entered the hall I was shocked , for the first time I have seen a movie show in the US sold out ! After some careful search me and my friends had to settle down at the second row from the screen. The screen was huge ! we had to swing our necks like in tennis match whenever there was a conversation. The sound effects were awesome.

There was a 7 minute preview of the Dark Knight Rises , I have to say this was the best part of my time in the hall! After watching those 7 mins my craving to watch the entire movie increased exponentially along with the irritation for waiting :P Christopher Nolan has always exceeded my expectations , I hope he is not disappointing.

Coming to Mission Impossible : Ghost Protocol , the movie starts with Ethan Hunt ( Tom Cruise) being broken out of prison. There is the usual hacking of security systems and security cameras. After the attack on the ‘Kremlin,’ which houses Russia’s secret archives, the US president initiates the ghost protocol and disowned IMF .  The main plot  is to track down Russian nuclear warhead codes and stop Hendrics and his team from firing off war heads to the US .

The movie is jam-packed with action ! After a certain point , the movie defy’s logic and the story goes astray . The mission takes our heroes from Budapest , Moscow , Dubai and Mumbai ( and Andhra Pradesh too :P ). There are many errors in the movie apart from questionable tech. One of the worst in my opinion was confusion between Mumbai and Hyderabad ( possibly) , the plot says that the satellite is operated from a station in Mumbai , but the station shown ( Sun Network ) clearly has Telugu writings over all doors suggesting it was in Hyderabad . The war head diffusing part during the climax was very lame .

I wasn’t quite satisfied with the movie , its OK for the action if you forget logic and story flow.

On scale of 10, I give it

6/10 (scores mainly for the IMAX experience )

SHERLOCK HOLMES : A GAME OF SHADOWS – REVIEW

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are back ! Dr. Watson is to get married and this idea doesn’t seem to fit well for Sherlock Holmes. The idea of losing his brother (though not by blood) and friend to a woman is not digestible. Holmes pulls Watson in for one final adventure before he starts his life in purgatory ( gets married :D ). Tracking a series of bomb blasts and following Irene Adler ( the only woman to outwit Holmes ) , Holmes and Watson (unfortunately , cutting his honeymoon) are in  for a wild ride to save Europe and the world from a possible world war.

So , much for introduction. Now, getting to the movie, ( forgive me there are a few spoilers ) it is fast , very fast . Missing out on a few mins may make one feel bit unconnected from the flow of the plot. Guy Ritchie is at his best . Robert Downey Jr, just blends in his character from  mannerisms to expressions all are awesome. one of my favorite scenes in the movie is when he describes horses – “They are dangerous on both ends and crafty in the middle. Why would I want anything with a mind of its own bobbing between my legs?”

The are some really funny scenes between Holmes  and Watson (almost Gay :P ) , for instance  introducing their next step in the case as ” Their honeymoon in Paris” ( this is after pushing Mrs.Watson off the train to a lake and blowing off half the train, when whole train journey was meant for newly married couple to reach their actual honeymoon spot :D ). There is also scene where Holmes and Watson prance around ball dancing . :D . Enough of spoilers . Guy Ritchie employs his trademark high-speed photography in action scenes . To be honest the action scenes though looked grand , but I felt it was superfluous.

This is one of those movie’s which will engross  the viewer for its entire play time . The portrayal of Sherlock’s thinking is awesome (though it is not as detailed as in the first part ). The antagonist, Professor James Moriarty - played by Jared Harris , is a complex character . Jared Harris’s performance though captivating  lacked coldness and there were a very few expressions on his face.

On the whole the movie is a must watch ! The climax is the best of all .

The End ?

Watch the movie you’ll know if it is. :)

On scale of 10, I give it ,

8/10.