Malaysian Cuisine
I had dinner at
KK Restaurant in Epsom yesterday evening and the food was divine. The place was super busy and it stayed that way through out the stay there. I ordered KK Chicken and the dish was awesome. The restaurant has displaced
Sri Pinang as my favorite malaysian eating joint in Auckland. I would highly recommend that you get a reservation before going and also the place is not flash or anything - but don't let the looks disappoint you. The food is gorgeous.
I am a bit peeved because the domestic air fares fell recently and because of a 1 day difference I have spent 120 bucks more for the same flights. Oh well - you win some, you loose some. What are the flight tickets for? That's for attending Rachel's marriage that's happening in March, in
Alexandra. Plan is to go to Queenstown and from there go to Alexandra. I can't wait for the trip because it will be the first time ever that I am going to the south island.
Juno was a really cute movie and I think the best part of it was that it achieves that without over playing emotions and events. Ellen Page is fantastic as always and the rest of the supporting cast do a really nice job doing subtle stuff which makes everything that much more credible.
I am feeling restless and pensive at the same time for some strange reason.
That's me for now.
Amit
Labels: Food, Movies, New Zealand
Movie Downloads
Ok. So here is the first part of the international strategy. FIVE & MEMORIES OF TOMORROW are now available for a DVD quality download through international website caachi.com. There’s no DRM (i.e., anti-copying measures) on the Caachi films. We trust you so you have the freedom to watch your downloads where & when you want (i.e., on computer, TV, video iPod etc).
If you are wondering how that website works for downloading -it is pretty simple. You can check out a detailed page
here. Simple steps - join the website, go to the movie page, pay through Paypal, download movie, enjoy.
Soundtrack of the movie and NTSC DVD coming soon.
Amit
Labels: Five
Crossroads
Time after time we come to a point in our lives where we have to make crucial choices - a crossroad of sorts, where anything you decide will have bearings for a long time to come. Anything we do always has future implications but at the crossroads the implications become even more heightened. I love those moments as they are filled not only with drama but also with character - it defines who you are and who you will become.
Amit
Labels: Random
Rumble
So what do I write about? Movies? My movies? Books? Well - I guess the big thing for me is that FIVE soundtrack is complete and it has been mailed off to the company in US. It will only be available as a download instead of as a traditional CD as that reduces headache for me by not having to keep constant track of orders and mailing the orders, especially considering that Unkreative Artists is not a record label. It also keeps the costs down. I am pleased with the overall soundtrack as the compilation is rounded off nicely by trimming down on the dead spaces and ambient undertones, so what you get is 36 minutes of eventful music. Big thumbs up to the composers - Spencer Powell, Jamie Newman and Andrew McMillan as well to Benji for compiling the soundtrack beautifully.
I mailed off the DVDs of FIVE to 2 different outlets, so I can make it available for DVD quality download for PC as well as for portable devices like ipod and PSP; along with normal DVD sales. So more status update on that once those things go live. But before I stop on this topic - here is a thought for consideration '
Grace is Gone' - an independent movie starring John Cusack was picked up by Weinstein company for $4 million (that's $ 4,000,000) and to date it has earned back $37,000 in ticket sales. It will probably make that money back through cable TV sales and DVD release but it still highlights the plight of independent cinema and if you don't have a name on board the movie then you can but just hope. There are examples where smaller movies have made it huge but those you can count on your fingertips.
I watched '
Charlie Wilson's War' and it was an OK movie - the acting is brilliant but somehow the truncated runtime on this one seems to have done more harm than good. Tom Hanks is brilliant and so is Philip Seymour Hoffman. The last 20 odd minutes of the movie kind of spoil the real nice build up. It is a good watch neverthless. It was weird seeing the movie because in the book 'Ghost Wars' that I read recently Charlie Wilson was in the book for 4 pages out of the 600 page book.
I am loving the tennis lessons - I think for me the best part of learning a new game is trying to master a skill which you never thought you had. I reckon serving is the hardest bit in tennis (even though it only accounts for 4-5% of the game time) - it takes a lot of skill and precision to get the ball in correctly. Forehands are fun and probably constitute about 80% of the game.
Anyway I will probably go off on a different tangent, so will stop for now.
Amit
Labels: Five, Movies, Music, Tennis
Junebug
Junebug is a small gem of a movie. It is so human and fragile and real that the journey is even harder to take with the characters you see on screen. All the performances are bang on target and Amy Adams is fantastic in the movie - her character drives the movie in a way. Watch it if you get a chance.
I also watched '
The Pursuit of Happyness' and watching it after Junebug just made it look just so fake and sugary even though it is based on a true story. Maybe watching it on it's own some other time my opinion would have been different but as it is - I thought it was just an OK movie.
I had my first
tennis lesson today and we just focussed on forehand, which was good because I didn't have to run around - which meant that I didn't strain my hamstring. which is recovering nicely. It is so much fun when you get it right.
Till later,
Amit
Labels: Movies, Tennis
Dreams & Responsibility
I am reading an excellent book called 'Kafka on the Shore' and a line that really has stayed with me is 'In dreams begin responsibility'. The line is so profound and at the same time so simple. One of the characters is explaining about why people stop dreaming - to dream would be to start being accountable for your own actions and that is a scary thought for most people and so they give up on their dreams. The book itself is a marvelous masterpiece - no praise can be high enough. I am about 100 pages out from finishing the book but the journey so far has been great - unexpected, twisted, shocking, hopeful, entertaining - all without sacrificing readability.
I finally managed to fire off my documentation and stuff to apply for my Overseas Citizenship of India, since I am a NZ citizen now and my Indian passport doesn't hold any good. The way I see it - it is just more paperwork and more bureaucracy and more money out of one's pocket to give you the same rights that you had before (infact a little less). I hope the whole thing goes off without a hitch - my last dealing with the Indian High commission here a couple of years back was really painful and I was swearing at the Indian bureaucracy.
The physio sessions have been good and I am recovering slowly from my pulled hamstring - it will take another 4 weeks to come completely right but the strengthening exercises will start from next week. The tennis lessons that I am taking will be interesting since I have told them I can't run, which means I will be the black sheep in the classes. I guess it is better than skipping them altogether. I might start swimming from next week to start getting my body into better physical condition.
So yeah thats the lot from me for now.
Till later,
Amit
Labels: New Zealand, Random
Cloverfield
WOW. Finally a movie which doesn't spoon feed the audience. I enjoyed the movie and it is a great watch. A good chunk of the audience thought that the ending was weird and crap and that it was a crap movie but I think that was the perfect ending. I hope they don't make a sequel for it either. The movie is by no means a landmark but it definitely reinvigorates monster movie genre. This is what Godzilla should have been like. Even though the technique used is not new - it does put it to good use and the movie feels epic even though it is not. And the monster - oh my!!!!!
I am now a member of Screen Directors Guild of New Zealand and I received my membership card today. Wohooooooo....... I don't know if having the membership will do anything or not but good to finally get around to doing what I had been planning for the past 2 years. :-)
I picked up the NTSC DVD masters from Lucas at
Digitalus and I am now just waiting on the artwork before I mail it off to the US of A for further processing and then it will be available for DVD sale as well as for download. Yay!!!!
Till later,
Amit
Labels: Directing, Five, Movies
Falling Man
Oh man, I pulled my hamstring yesterday evening and now I am limping everywhere. I have an appointment with a physio later today and that will start off the process of recovery I guess. I had a lovely dinner with the Mamea family and it was a nice way to chill out plus the home made pizzas were absolutely, mouth wateringly , delightfully scrumptious.
Christina and David making pizzas
Summer time I was supposed to have acted in a promo but the whole thing fell through because of lack of proper production planning by the people who were making it and it was a bit of a shame really. Acting classes start off from next week and it will be a long year.
Can't think of a description for this
Sunset in Downtown Auckland was a harrowing read and coming straight after 'Ghost Wars' it was harrowing still. While Ghost Wars was a macro view of events leading up to 9/11, 'Falling Man' is a micro view limited to the impact of 9/11 on one family and the neighboring community and it is a highly emotional read. Not a light reading again. I will be picking up my next lot of books from the library today, so that should be exciting.
That's me for now.
Till later,
Amit
Labels: Books, New Zealand, Random
After the Wedding
FIVE is available to view for a limited time only
FOR FREE HERE (You just need Real Player installed).
Hurry up before the week runs out.
'
After the Wedding' is a brilliant movie. It hits you where it hurts and never let's go. Everything about the movie is great - the acting, the cinematography, the editing and the directing. The movie will haunt you for a long time after you leave the theatre. It is a danish movie directed by Sussane Bier and it was nominated for a 'Best Foreign Film' Oscar in 2007 and lost to 'The Lives of Others'. Between the 2 movies I definitely prefer this movie over the other one - even though I enjoyed that movie as well.
Aliens must have implanted a metal plate in my head or something - I seem to be setting off shop security alarms ( atleast I did in the 2 shops - once yesterday and then other one today). I wasn't even carrying anything - just myself and the shop keepers were as puzzled as me as I was entering the shop when the alarm went off - so it was not like I was taking anything out of the shop. It is a bizarre feeling. It caused a fair bit of amusement to everyone standing nearby as I slowly discarded any movable items from my body - like keys, wallet, i-card and the alarm would still go off. Amusing indeed!!!!!
Chur,
Amit
Labels: Five, Movies, Random
Ghost Wars
I finally managed to finish reading '
Ghost Wars' by Steve Coll. It was an exhausting read. The main book is only 600 odd pages (the rest being detailed notes and explanations about things) but it felt like I had read close to 3000 pages. It is that comprehensive and thorough and the best thing about it is that it is immensely readable. It is a page turner. And to think all this happened it is easy to see the state of the world politics right now, in relation to the fight on terror. The book deals with the secret history of CIA, Afghanistan and Bin Laden from Soviet invasion to September 10,2001. It unfolds as a story of hope and then soon turns to absolute horror as it progresses. The book is not an easy read (read -not light entertainment), it asks you to pay full attention to whats happening as everything has a consequence. I was so absorbed in the history that it was hard to put the book down even while going to bed. I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to understand whats happening with our world. If you are interested then you can read
an excerpt from the book and also here is a
Q&A session with Steve Coll.
How exciting!!!!Well - now that I finished reading that book, I can try and take a breather before plunging into my next one. At this point I have 9 important things to sort out at professional and personal level and I have initiated action on all of them in one form or the other. Some will take a little longer than the others but I intend to strike them off my list within the next couple of months.
That's me for now.
Amit
Labels: Books
The Devil Dared me to
The list of movies and books keep getting bigger.
The books I finished reading since the last post:Disgrace by J.M.Coetzee : Awesome book. Thrilling and painful and vivid as his other books. A must read.
Trinity : It is a graphic novel but nonetheless - it was a fascinating read and it comes out more as a character study of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. I thoroughly enjoyed it and the art work was fantastic.
The Life Eaters by David Brin: Another graphic novel which takes an interesting premise and turns it upside down on it's head. The story telling is fantastic.
And the movies that I watched were:The Devil Dared me to : Blah!!! A NZ movie. The film makers spirit is infectious but not the movie. It has a few good jokes but that's about it. Watch it if you love 'Jackass' kind of humor.
What's eating Gilbert Grape: Fantastic movie. Leonardo Di Caprio's performance is something to savour and overall the movie is gentle and very touching.
For Your consideration: Average movie. It has funny bits and pieces but the whole thing goes on too long. It would have been a more enjoyable experience if the movie had lost about 10 minutes odd.
Letters from Iwo Jima: Fantastic movie. It was a painful experience watching the movie and it just shows that war has human casualties no matter what the final outcome is. Ken Watanabe is awesome in the movie. To read more about that war
click here.
That's me for now.
Amit
Labels: Books, Movies
A Thousand Splendid Suns
I finished reading both the books that I was reading. '
A Thousand Splendid Suns' is shocking, human and epic - all at the same time.
Khalid Hosseini is a fantastic writer where the observations become poignant truths that hit home without batting a lid. The journey is incredible.
Interpreter of Maladies is a collection of short stories and each of them is different but similar at the same time. The stories are lyrical and very observational at heart. There were so many times that I was laughing at what was happening within the stories and so many times that it felt that someone was standing there with a mirror in their hand reflecting things back as an immigrant from India. I think the themes are further amplified and written into a long form narrative in 'The Namesake' - a book that was made into
a movie that I watched last year.
In the past month or so I have read more books than I have done in the previous 5 years prior. It is frightening to think but I have been here in NZ for 5 years now (well almost!!!) and time has flown by so quickly. It has been eventful all along - the struggles, the pains, the joys, the achievements, the failures - all snowballed into one big lump of time. It has taken me all these 5 years to start from nothing and just about stand up on my own 2 feet. I don't think this would have been possible without all the people who have been supportive and encouraging of the ways of this mad man.
Anyway I will sign off for now but not without a
BIG SHOUT OUT for Lucas Young at
Digitalus, who has completed the DVD authoring for the NTSC release of FIVE. Now it is a matter of getting the DVD cover and disc print finalized and then I will be mailing it off to the website through which the DVD will be available. More on that when time comes.
Till later,
Amit
Labels: Books, Five
Child of Our Time
I just recently watched '
FARGO' - which has been on my to-watch list for over 3 years. For one reason or the other I never picked it up or would give it a pass for something else but I sat down and decided to finally watch it. I loved it. It is fantastic and the dark humor is hilarious and the accents and mannerisms are great. It is a definite classic and a must watch for so many reasons.
I saw this year's set of '
Child of Our Time' and it was fascinating to watch. It is a great social experiment but the question which immediately popped up in my head was - would the camera affect the behavior of the children? At this point - it doesn't seem to impact on them too much but what happens when they grow older. I guess we will just have to wait and see each year.
Till later,
Amit
Labels: Movies, TV Series
I am Legend (Not...)
I am Legend is a really good movie for the first half of it's running time and then it turns into utter crap. Will Smith gives a fantastic performance and it is a pity that the haphazard third act with plot holes galore ruins the movie. What made the movie interesting was the lady sitting right in front of me who for some reason wouldn't turn off her cellphone and it rang 3 times and each time it took her longer and longer to find her cellphone and the experience wouldn't have been complete without a lovely young couple sitting right next to me, deciding to catch up on their gossip and love lives once the movie started. I reprimanded them 5 minutes into the movie and they promptly shut up and watched the movie for rest of the time. Oh my.....
I did a second round of raid to the library and got 3 more of the books that I wanted. I am currently reading 'Interpreter of Maladies' and 'A Thousand Splendid Suns'. How can I read 2 books at the same time? I have 2 eyes, no? Just kidding. 'Interpreter' is a collection of short stories and the way I read short stories is to read one a day and let it seep into you before reading the next short story, which obviously gives time to carry on reading another longer format story.
I start back at work from tomorrow and it should be a good way to get back into the groove of things. I feel primed again to start jumping back into the fray of things with all the feature projects and all - after taking a good month's break from it. First and foremost on my list is to try and get the NTSC DVD of FIVE out for sale. The rest of the things will follow.
Till later,
Amit
Labels: Books, Five, Movies
The Last Mughal
It has been exhausting and exhilarating reading '
The Last Mughal' by William Dalrymple, which covers the fall of the last Mughal king during the
Great Uprising of 1857 [also known as the Indian Mutiny in Britain] bringing to an end the
Mughal rule of India and also the dissolution of
East India Company soon after. It is vivid and fascinating and heartbreaking seeing Delhi ravaged and raped and almost destroyed to nothing before some sense prevailed. History is littered by predictions of the future and the last few pages in the book provide a crucial link to what's happening today (and will again be repeated sometime in the future). A highly recommended read if you have the slightest interest in history. Oh don't let the word 'history' put you off because William Dalrymple writes so elegantly that you think you reading a novel more than anything else.
K-Pax was an interesting movie. It kills off any sense of mystery and intrigue in the first couple of scenes in the movie and tries desperately hard for the rest of the movie to try and keep the audience guessing. If only they had chopped off the first 5 minutes of the movie!! But even in the shape it is right now it is an interesting watch nonetheless because the cinematography is fantastic and so is the acting by Jeff Bridges and Kevin Spacey.
That's the lot for now.
Till later,
Amit
Labels: Books, Movies
Rome
I lapped up the entire first season of
ROME in a day. It is a fantastic series and it is supposed to be historically accurate as far as depiction of the roman society in that era goes. The thing which makes the series work above everything else is the acting. I have already seen most of the second season when I was at work earlier this year and the only episodes I haven't seen is the last episode of Season-2. I will see them when the DVD comes out for rental.
It is a new year and things ought to be different, no? Well - nothing has changed for me yet. I made 2 resolutions last new year and I managed to get one of them done while the other one has disappeared into the ether for now. I haven't made any resolutions for this year yet but will do so in due course of time.
Hope you enjoyed the new year celebrations.
Till later,
Amit
Labels: Random, TV Series
