Crumpled Nothings!

I am totally waiting for this movie to release this September. I mean its got my girl, Sushmita Sen. She is the bomb. I mean it. I mean I like Priyanka, yes. But Sush is my original favorite. She is the one I could bring back home. Priyanka is the one I could see myself flirting around with for a while. Why not? It's all imaginary anyways. So please, let me dream.

Ok, so back to the topic. This film is getting really good reviews. 'Zindaggi Rocks' had its music launch party recently and it was glittering with huge stars.

"The who's who of Mumbai glitterati were Present including Shah rukh Khan, Govinda, Sachin Tedulkar with wife Anjali ,Kiran More, Karisma Kapoor,Yukta Mukhi, Jackie Shroff, Moushumi Chatterjee, Chief Minister Shri Vilashrao Deshmukh, Shri Uddhav Thakrey, Shri Kripa Shankar,Shri Mukesh Ambani with wife Neeta Ambani, Police Commisner Mr. A.N.Roy ,Director Madhur Bhandarkar, Sudhir Mishra, Satish Kaushik, Anupam Kher, Suresh Oberoi with wife, Producer Manish Goswami, Juhi Parmar, Kulraj Randhava, Hussain, Samir Nair, Shailaja Kejriwal, Maya Alagh & Sunil Alagh, Mukesh Bhatt

Venue: Taj Lands End, Bandra, Mumbai, Wednesday Night" - Source: NowRunning.Com

Story Here, and pictures from the party here.

Although its said the soundtrack released August 26th, I can't find a single mp3 online from this movie. If you readers come across any, please hit me back.

Also there's one more thing. Sush baby will be in Argentina soon to be a leading lady opposite Richard Gere in a movie titled EXPAT. Of course, looking forward to this too. This year is 'Surely Sush 2006'. Rock on babe!



Some say she's like has the Jolie lifestyle. Nevertheless, yes, I'd marry her. I really would. Tamz, how about an SIL like her?

Sushmita Sen Official Site

It's about 5:45PM. Just hung up with Tamz/Pari. Cookie just boarded her plane and is on her way here. I am so excited again. I was starting to get really lonely without the chitter-chatter I used to listen to for the month-and-a-half that she was here. So I have this bitter-sweet feeling now...well, more sweet right now than bitter coz she's coming back. I have one more weekend to spend with her and want to make it memorable as she leaves in 6 days back to Dubai...then the bitterness kicks in.

I don't know how long it will be before Tamz and I get to see her again. I hope if Dad can get her US visa re-stamped on her new passport, then maybe, just maybe, I can get her to join all cousins as we make the move to New Jersey/New York this New Years'. She would absolutely love that. It gets hard for me to be around her on days when I have to come to work and she is by herself all day, getting bored. There's not much to do in Dallas. So yeah, trip to NYC, where all (or most) cousins are together on vacation spending time in a happening place rather than Dallas would really be a LOT of fun for her. THAT would be something that she can lock in her memory box...else we'll see her probably after 3-4 years.

She's in 9th right now, and next year is her board exams in 10th. She could come here for summer when she's in 11th grade, but don't know if that will fly and then 12th grade when its boards again. So see, now she's 13..and when she comes back after completeing highschool, she could be 17!! Tamz and I regret not being with her and that we missed out on her growing up. We regret that sooo much.

This weekend, I want to take her to Hawaiian Falls, take her out to eat, go watch KANK (yes, again for me) coz Cooks didn't get a chance to watch the movie in Minneapolis. I just want to have loads and loads of fun with her. Will post again about how all this turns out.

What else is going on you ask? OK how about this - My car is giving up on me. For the past two days, it gets overheated, and I have to stop everytime that happened at a gas station and fill it with 2 bottles of coolant. A few hours later I realized I have to freakin fill coolant everytime before I hit the road now. WTF?! So I called my mechanic guy, he towed the car this morning and is having everything fixed by tomorrow. This includes coolant hoses, alignment, state inspection, oil change, lube, tune-up and new tires. My car basically is being overhauled. I am getting around in a rent-a-car today. Turns out coincidentally, the rent-a-car Avis gave me is a Ford Taurus. My Freakin' luck! Stuck with a Taurus all my life I think.

Let's not just copy the look or get inspired. Let's just rob the look. What a cliche? Stealing a pirate's look from the pirate himself. That's not cool..Savvy?

The Original - Johnny Depp from POTC



The "Oh! So Fakes"

Jackie Shroff from Bhoot Unkle



Shahrukh look in a Pepsi Ad

So what has been happening lately. Ok, here we go:

This past weekend Sayeed & Seher had left for San Antonio to get their cousin moved into a dorm. I was going to go with them, but then thought I'd rather spend a good day with my aunt who's here from Dubai. I watched a couple of movies: Little Miss Sunshine and Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna. Let's start my short, but informative reviews shall we?:

Little Miss Sunshine

If you don't already know this, then I should tell you - I am a huge fan of Steve Carell. And this movie is uber-hilarious. Dry, but you'll be laughing your butt off.

Its about a dysfunctional family (dirty Grandfather, bankrupt but over-focused Dad, suicidal and depressed brother-in-law, color-blind brother: wants to be in the air force, frantic Mom, and aspring model-to-be sister) who hit the road to get the little girl to be in the beauty pageant in California. The above mix of personalities should already have made you chuckle. I am afraid if I say any more, I'll give out more.



I have to say that the directorial husband-wife team of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris have made this a superb film. It got a standing ovation at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and distribution rights were bought by Fox Searchlight for $10 mil, which is supposedly to have been one of the biggest deals ever made in the festival's history.

Take my advice: Go watch this movie and don't slurp your sodas too often or you'll surely spray yourself. After you've watched it, hit me back.
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Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna

Karan Sahaab. Kya baat hai? Noticing how you've made movies and always end up with lovy-dovy-fluffy movies that have a four letter titles starting with "K". See a pattern there?

Anyhoos, that's what I thought this movie is going to be. Don't get me wrong. I loved Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham and Kal Ho Na Ho. But Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna is different. It's not fluffy by any means whatsoever.

I think Karan Johar has brought to light that most married couples are not exactly what his previous movies have always shown to be. So happy, so jolly, so much in love. In this one he's beautifully highlighted the fact that there are some folks who have deep rooted problems of their own that are so flammable that couldn't even be said to your own spouse, such as, your uncertainty about being married to them.

I'll try to set the stage maybe instead of giving a spoiler. I want you guys who haven't watched it to enjoy the movie rather than reading a spoiler.



Shahrukh Khan, who does the normal sporting thing in almost all YashRaj film banners, is a soccer star, which comes to a screeching halt following a car accident. Now he's crippled, bitter and short-tempered. Lives his life as a football coach married to Preity Zinta, who's career seems to take more importance in a fashion mag company, since she brings the real bread and butter home. Only that doesn't allow much time for her husband and son.



Then there's Abhishek who runs a firm that throws VIP parties (that would be some job!). He's a party boy, tries to find humor in every situation and is married to his best friend since childhood, Rani Mukerjee, a mature and mellow person who is iffy about being with him intimately. Her and Shahrukh bump into each other for the first time on the day of her wedding where Shahrukh basically tells her that what's better than spending the rest of your life with your best friend around you at all times. But she thinks that what if love precedes over friendship and then there's no room for the latter anymore.



So things happen and 4 years pass by. Rani and Shahrukh have a common bond as far as a half-hearted marriage is concerned on both sides. They talk to each other about problems with their spouses which starts casual, but over weeks, they not only realize that they are truly not happy with their marriage, but also very fond of each other.

I think the above sets the stage. Now let's talk about the man, Big B, the one and only Amitabh Bachchan. His character was really cool. It was set as a diffuser in the movie and he played the part very well. He was like desi-Hugh Hefner, keyword being desi.



[Side-Track for a second: I would really like to see Amitabh Bachchan and Al Pacino in one movie. Both these men command presence when they walk into a room. I mean can you imagine the fire in that movie? The deep voice Amitabh Bachcan playing like a Sarkar kind of role and Al Pacino playing something a mix of Carlito's Way and Michael Corleone (from Godfather III). That movie would rock every guy's dream. It'd have to be a mob/gang/mafia/action movie of course. (*Hoping Mr. Bachchan just read the above and reclines back in his chair smoking a beedi in his hand and chuckles with that deep voice of his---Oh Man!)]

OK back to KANK:

The soundtrack is good. I have heard from a few about about how its just 'Mitwa' and the title song that are really good, which they are. But I liked 'Tumhi Dekho Naa' and 'Rock N Roll Soniye' as well.

Of course, Karan Johar believes one person to bring luck to his movies and always has had her in cameos - Kajol is in the movie for 4 seconds. Another cameo is John Abraham in the 'Where's the Party tonite' soundtrack.

How 'bout some "Did you know?"s (courtesy-Wiki):

1. Karan Johar has stated that 'Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna' is his original idea and refutes claims that the story has been inspired by Yash Chopra's 'Silsila' or the Hollywoood film 'Closer'.

2. The film appears closely inspired by Falling in Love (1984)

3. The original cast was to consist of Shahrukh Khan, Kajol, Ajay Devgan and Rani Mukerji. However, since Kajol's daughter was very young, she wanted to work on a film that was going to be shot in her hometown- Mumbai, so that she could spend time with her daughter.

4. Since Karan Johar considers Kajol his lucky mascot, he made sure that Kajol was present in his film by way of a brief appearance in the song Rock and Roll Soniye.

5. Shibani Bathija who co-wrote the screenplay of this film is also the writer of 'Fanaa'.

6. Like previous Karan Johar movies ('Kuch Kuch Hota Hai', 'Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham' and 'Kal Ho Naa Ho'), 'Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna' has a four-word title that starts with 'K'.

7. Riteish Deshmukh originally had a guest appearance in this film, but his scene was cut during the editing process.

8. You can spot director Karan Johar sitting in the train, a few rows behind Shahrukh Khan, during the climactic sequence.

Some say the movie is a hype. But I disagree. The only thing I would probably do is speed it up a little, but then again, that is a Bollywood signature.
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This past weekend, I also got to move my furniture up in the room and have it all setup. It looks good. I got the TV stand from Seher, which goes perfectly with my TV, boom-box and DVD player.

On a serious note, P.Diddy broke her wrist yesterday. She was working in the kitchen and the kids were playing behind her. Somehow she tripped and so as not to fall over the kids, she put her left hand out to the floor and a direct hit on the palm which smashed both bones in the wrist and other fractures around it. Took her to see an MD who basically confirmed the above. Thanks to Sabeen for helping her get a slot today at the ortho clinic where she works. After the dignosis, the surgeon said that surgery is required, which is scheduled Friday. P.Diddy is fine now in the sense that it seems as though her pain is somewhat contained due to Vicodin and Hydrocodone (thanks to Munawar Uncle). I am signing off now and on my way there and then home.

I haven't slept well since yesterday, so I need to crash.

A new stew boiling at Google Labs is Google Music Trends. A place where users can participate to vote for music each time they listen to it from their computer. Google then displays the trends based on user votes for you to see what songs are most popular. Now this is something that's not really needed, 'cause most people normally keep up to date with pop culture and probably know the top 10 songs of the week anyway.

The songs are broken down by genre, artists and category. Yes, they have Hindi too. BTW, I looked at the Hindi list and for some reason Bappi Lahri's "Auva Auva" is on the charts. Go figure!

I think the tool is good, but its only on a need basis. The other thing is you have to have Google Talk installed in your PC to atleast be able to contribute a vote. As much as I love Google and what its done (and doing) to make the world even smaller, I think this one is like a side dish being served with a juicy meal..I just don't prefer the side dish...that's all.

Ok...so by popular demand, or popular reject, this logo is now scrapped.

Still looking for good crumpled paper designs. While there are many images, I haven't found any the kind I have in mind. I want to it look crumpled, yes, but also aged, with a brown yellowish taint, and a translucent look. I may have to just create one from scratch. Feel free to drop me links as you see anything.

August 15th today. 59 years of independence. Few milestones accomplished. Many miles still to go. At this time all I can think of is the following poetry we would hum at school on Wednesdays:

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action --
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

Rabindranath Tagore

Jai Hind.

So Texas has now joined Hawaii, New Mexico and California and the District of Columbia to have a growing majority of immigrants. These states are now officially declared as having whites as a minority group. This does not mean that by count whites are less, no. What it does mean is that at the rate the Latino and Asian population is increasing, whites just cannot keep up.

Right now, in Texas, 2/5 people are immigrants. By 2040, that will be close to 4/5. Recall that Russell Peters 'beige' joke? I guess its coming true.

"California, New York, Texas and Florida have the nation's largest immigrant populations. The new data shows that immigrants will travel beyond those states if there are jobs available."

Listen to this audio interview by Dr. Murdoch of UT San Antonio

Also, here's something a little surprising. South Carolina's immigrant population burst out at a little over 47% since 2000 and Arkansas grew by 48%. Damn! What's going on there?
Michael MacFarlane, South Carolina's state demographer says that the healthy economy and growing jobs that require skills is mainly the reason for that growth. Makes sense I guess. Someone I know moved to South Carolina for contract job at IBM as an SAP Consultant.

The only state that has a strong majority and an increase in white population is West Virginia.

So what does this mean for the white population. I don't know really. I mean 50 years from now, US will be fading out from country/rock/heavy metal and mix it with a fusion of fiery salsa and mariachi.

What would be interesting though is that this topic may come up again 100 years from now, only instead of whites being the declining group, it would be the Latinos who wouldn't be able to keep up with the Chinese and the Indians. Maybe then someone would blog about how salsa mixes so well with bollywood jhankaar beats, the streets will be clogged with Latino chai-wallahs and 7-11 will sell pani-puri - 2 for $1 instead of toquitos. I would love to live through that transformation.

News Source

Priyanka Chopra aka Piggy Chops, who I absolutely adore has been crowned Style Diva of 2006 by eBay India. She was the unanimous choice. Hell Yeah, of course it would be her. I mean look at her. Perfection, just perfection.

"Priyanka announced an opportunity for all Indians to participate in a charity auction and raise funds for the education of the girl child, through the NGO-Nanhi Kali."

Here's where I get so mad. The person who donates the most to the Nanhi Kali Foundation gets to be with Piggy Chops on set with her all day....on the set with her all day...ALL DAY!!!! Arrggggghh!!! Man I wish I could go back to India for this. I would absolutely LOVE to spend the day with her....(*dreaming: "maybe life"*). And oh yes of course, be the highest to donate as well.

So the current bid as I am posting this is Rs. 38,000. With 8 days and 4 hours to go, that number will be astronomical.

Click here for current bid on eBay

So Piggy Chops, keep on doing what you're doing...while I sit here and drool

News Clip: Here

Yesterday it was 'Rakhsha Bandhan'. The day a sister ties a thread that holds valuable meaning to her brother(s), who in turn takes an oath, if you will, to be there to protect her and be there for her.



I started the day out rushing out of the house so I don't get late to work. Made it in time, but the day was very phlegmatic (*Yes, learning new words, thanks to Sabeen*). I felt lazy too and was just waiting for the clock to hit 5. It did, and I bolted.

I go to P.Diddy's since the ceremonies were to be held there. I had my chai, and realized that I still had to go get something for the sisters. Cash was always an option but that's getting old. The family was coming in an hour and I had just that much time.

Target to the rescue. I think I did good. I went on a DVD craze.

- I got this for Manisha:



Gotta LOVE the classics!

- And this for Neetu:



- And this for Cookie:



I wanted to get her a DVD too, but figured she can use this to shop in Minneapolis.

- For Vini, got a sari-print candle stand. She loved it. Couldn't find pic, use your imagination :)

- And this for Tamz (from other store - can't remember which one):



Tamz: I hope you like it. I thought that you and Pari are really warm hosts and since you guys talk about really cool drinks all the time, I thought y'all could use this as to entertain yourselves as well shock your friends and family by mixing cocktails and surprise them with your bartending skills. Rock their world!

I can't say yet what I got for Sabeen and Seher, coz I haven't given it to them yet, and I know they're prolly reading this ('Sup y'all?)

But I know Cookie had planned something on the back end with Seher and Sabeen coz I kept getting hints all day. Seher let me know later briefly that it was their plan to meet up if I get done soon enough from P.Diddy's. I tried to get it out of Sabeen, but she wouldn't budge. (Note to Sabeen: Won't tell you what we got planned for you). Anyways, it got so late at P.Diddy's that I couldn't go over to Seher's later. But guys I really appreciate that y'all went out of your way to do this for me. Hopefully meet up with y'all tonight.

Priti Didi: I already know what to get for you. Will give it to you in December when I see you. Happy RB Day! :)

IN OTHER NEWS:

Dropped off Cookie this morning at the airport. She's now with Tamz and Pari and I am sure she's gonna have a BLAST. I wish we could all be together and enjoy since she won't be coming back for about 3-4 years after she leaves. So a little bummed out about that.

Cookie's really very excited to be there though. I felt that at times she may have gotten bored here on weekdays when I am at work. Things will be a LOT different with Tamz being there with her.

(Note to self: Must take Cookie to Hawaiian Falls when she comes back. She has been requesting this even before she came to Dallas, but these past 3 weeks I have been packing and moving, so this time...take her!)

This story just gives me a burst of mixed emotions. Here's your US troops stooping to a new low. Just when torturing prisoners at Abu Ghraib wasn't enough, Seargent Cortez thought why not go rape and kill some Iraqi family? And that too over a game of cards and high on Iraqi whiskey.

Some of you may have already been following the news about how three U.S. soldiers took turns raping a 14-year-old Iraqi girl before murdering her and her family. These guys are 19-23 years of age. They are effin young guns who should be in school and college.

What happened? My guess is they dropped out and thought "Dude, we could travel and play with guns and go kill people", "Yeah dude! Let's join the Army - US Army totally rocks man!"

Effin' potheads!

Read the FULL STORY here: Court told US troops gang-raped Iraqi girl

There's not much going on on TV these days. So a couple of shows that I do watch are:

Rescue Me



This show rocks! I mean its as simple as that. Highly recommended.
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Treasure Hunters



Alright this one I wasn't into that much in the beginning. I liked Amazing Race and thought this one could be like it. But I started watching this show half way through the season, and I have to admit I was wrong. I like this show and I think for those of you who haven't watched it, then now's the time. There's only 3 teams left (out of starting 16) and it gets really nail-biting. I am rooting for team Air Force - these guys don't stop for anything. Always end up # 1.

Now Fall 2006 has some shows coming back with new seasons. I can't wait for these (or atleast the ones I can think of) :

Heroes - NBC



I wanna see what angle they have taken to ascribe "Mohinder" in India.
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The Apprentice - NBC



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My Name is Earl - NBC



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The Office - NBC



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Las Vegas - NBC (James Caan's one hell of a bad-ass! This show is excellent)



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Amazing Race - CBS



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The Sopranos - HBO (This show def has muscle - Love it!)


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I know I haven't been posting much during the week and pretty much posting weekend updates. With work, its hard to post during business hours, and at home I am moving and don't have internet access...so I try to post atleast on Mondays with a quick weekend update.

Took Friday off so I could help Seher and Sayeed move. I have packed all my stuff and boxed it up and need to get the big furniture sold, which I find hard to do mainly coz I haven't given it much time. I plan to try and sell my stuff this week if I can avoid being indolent.

Sayeed and Seher's place has come together beautifully. Brand spanking new house. 4 bedrooms, media room, game room, kitchen with marble counter-tops, nice tiled backsplash, stainless steel appliances, hardwood floor in the formal living and family room, wrought iron spokes on the stairway and office/study area at the entrance outside the master bedroom downstairs. This house is really nice and warm. Kudos to Seher/Sayeed on their design scheme and creativity.

As some of you know, I am moving in with them. After a slap on the wrist by Sayeed and Seher who talked me out of wasting money on my apartment and renewing my lease, they instead offered me to live with them and get one of the rooms upstairs. Now I hang out with them all the time and probably use my apartment just to sleep. So instead of spending a few hundred bucks just to sleep and add to that utilities and cable, I could put it away in savings and come out ahead about 2 years from now.

I can use these two years to clean up my credit, rack up the score and save money that would be enough for a down on my own house later on. I loved the idea and gave it some thought for about a month. But I know I have always liked my space and if I have to pay a little bit for that privacy convenience, so what?

A month or so later, Sayeed asked me what I had thought and basically ran through the whole deal again of how it would benefit me. So I gave it some more thought and we ironed out any plausible issues, and the deal was set.

So here I am now fumbling with boxes and scrap newspaper putting stuff away as I leave the apartment on August 13th. Cookie will be in Minneapolis with Paresh and Tamz, and when she comes back on the 24th, she gets to stay in the other room in the house until she leaves for Dubai.

I don't know if Seher/Sayeed read this blog, but guys, thanks for giving me this chance to get myself back on my feet and to come out ahead 2 years from now. I really appreciate that. It's great to know I have friends that will take time out and go out of their way to have a serious sit down with me randomly and that too, TWICE to make sure that I too shouldn't be left out to figure things on my own. Thanks again.

I can tell you this though....that media room will surely be used. :)

So now all that remains for me to do is sell my furniture and then by the end of this week move in to a new home in McKinney, TX.

Women have a way of dealing with tough times. Most that I have seen suck it up, cry it out and space themselves out for a while, till they get over it.

And then there's this: That Girl Emily

If every woman, wife, fiance or girlfriend out there just printed this post, enlarged it, framed it and put it up on the bedroom wall, then cheating husbands will probably go on an all time low.

Guys listen up - They can make you or break you. Don't Eff Up!

Brief post. Some know what I am referring to.
*Had to let it out*