A Nice Saturday!!


Saw the movie 'City of God'(COG) yesterday. Its a brazilian movie about the underworld's race to occupy a territory known as the 'City of God'. The movie reminds you of Satya, with all the raw violence attached to it except that COG is based on a true story and revolves around a group of children from the streets who start extortion and looting at the age of 11-12. A very well made movie worth for its nomination to the Oscars.
CBS and NBC have taken censorship issues seriously. Yesterday I was watching some recap of the Oscars from previous years. They were talking about J.Lo and noticed that whatever designer gown(No no not the green one....that was in the Grammy's ;) she had, they had censored her complete upper half of the body just to be on the safe side! Now thats real precaution against something real popping out :))))
Also when I returned home was surprised to see Asad, the only Pakistani friend in our group and I remember when I first met him through my previous room-mate my mind went thro' a tizzy on meeting a Pakistani for the first time. I had this feeling in my mind of being all defensive for the sake of my country. But I also started to realize that he was not what I had expected to be....I have known him for three years now and never saw him loose his temper. Completely to the baseline with a very calm attitude. Relishes meat but does not touch alcohol. And if you want to listen to the perfect hindi or the purest urdu vocabulary, he is the man! Aap, Janaaab, Shukriya, Shauk, Mashgul etc etc are the wrods sometimes not known to the common Bambiya Hindi!!
So yesterday called for a nice celebration and it was long since we had been to Shalimar, one of the really really good moughlai restaurants in town. We reached there only to find to our surprise that they had a buffet dinner and what more do you need for a hogger like me! It just made my day as I prepared to launch a pre-emptive attack on an empty stomach! Asad asked the manager whether we have to pay before or after the meal ...and I thought he asked 'Do we have to pay for the meal?? I asked Asad what he was upto and hearing the manager also say sincerely 'Yes' I realised my mistake and we had a real good laugh. Asad works in California and hence it was a good surprise get-2-gether after a long time.

   [ posted by PseudoFreud @ 12:09 PM ] [ | ]

   Friday, February 27, 2004  

After playing circket with my bumping neighbor and friends on Sunday the week started with its normal ratrace. But there were a lot of new and exciting things to come up. The week started with some good news from a corporate wishing to assist my research project after a long no-reply silence. Atleast a word of hope from them made me go bonkers. So talks are going on so that the collaboration works out well. Then Thursday we had a piano concert by Leone Fleisher and cello player Bion Tsang. It was just amazing.....the auditorium had a seating capacity of 600 and I was one of the last persons to get in. I had attended a concert inthe same auditorium 6 months back and the seat I had that day was the same seat I had for this concert! Amazing coincidence.....but this is not all! When getting out of my house, I bumped into my same ol neighbor and may I say My Goodness!! she was looking absolutely gorgeous! I opened the door of my apartment and I could just see her running into me. I ofcourse gave her a gentle "Hi" and she gave me that kind of a confused loook. She might just be thinking that it was a planned bump. I had decided to take the campus shuttle to the auditorium and was waiting at the stop when she came over with her friend. Ofcourse then I accompanied her upto the auditorium, she was going to another opera(Phantom of the Opera) currently playing and would have heaved a sigh of relief after knowing that I am not going for the opera! Well then we went our own ways....I reached the auditorium and since I was the last and the lucky one to get a seat, I had been chatting to the girl escort at the entrance of the auditorium. The concert started got over, since I had chatted with her for a while I wished her goodnight while leaving. Now that is supposed to be the end of the story and thats it!
But no....Life has its strange ways...Today while on campus..we crossed each other not once but twice! I still think its coincidence and hence just said Hi to her each time we crossed. But yes if we cross again, probably will ask her name and maybe a coffee or so! Sweet coincidences isn't it???

   [ posted by PseudoFreud @ 8:14 PM ] [ | ]

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   Monday, February 23, 2004  

Marcia Gay Harden, a 1980 graduate from the College of Fine Arts and Rene Zelwegger, a 1992 graduate from the college of Liberal Arts have made it to the Oscars and made our University proud! Harden has been nominated for Mystic River, and Rene for Cold Mountain, in the Best Supporting Actress category. Also Rene is one of my favorite actressses. Cheers to Rene.....YYEeeeeeeee...other alumni include J.I Tompkins, Owen Wilson and Wes Anderson who have been nominated in the previous years.

http://www.utexas.edu/opa/news/04newsreleases/nr_200402/nr_oscars040223.html

   [ posted by PseudoFreud @ 11:16 PM ] [ | ]

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After sleeping at 2.30 in the morning yesterday I was quite fresh with just 4 hours of sleep. im usually like that...Was talking to a schoool friend yesterday after a long time. Then went on to read some new blogs and came across shraddha's blog. She writes goood and her smiling picture made me read more of her blogs. I had to proctor my lab today so had to mget up early and was in school by 7.30. Got everything ready before the students would drop in and the ruckus would go out of control. my stidents are just amazing.... they are having their first wet-labs after graduating from high school and I reallly admire their patience and the understanding they have to get the right results. Some are very good at their work and some are slow but that doesnt deter them from trying to get the right results. Todays lab was pretty easy and so was free by 10.30. Had to go in for a conference at 2pm so left my office today at noon. The conference was Ok with all the corporate big wigs giving their view of the industry. It was an enrching experience but as known the human brain can concentrate only for a limited time and in such cases I do consider myself as human. Suddenly it started thundering and there was a huge smile on my face. I just love rains and the cooling effect it has.....Got out of the venue at around 7.00pm and dashed straight home. Sleeping at 2.30 made me kind of feel I should stay home. So put on some Enya...and enjoyed my evening. Plan to watch Clint Eastwood's 'Fistful of $$'

   [ posted by PseudoFreud @ 9:51 PM ] [ | ]

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   Sunday, February 22, 2004  

Had a nice day today! Usually my sundays are lazy and boring...either I watch a movie or spend time preparing for mondays ratrace. Woke up at my usuall time around 10.00am. Put on some music by Sanjeev Abhyankar.. which seemed to really wake me up and make me feel fresh. I decided to see the movie 'City of God' today so got ready and as I was stepping out of the house I saw some junta playing cricket on the nearby lawn. Man that was really tempting so just went across to see the game for a while. Moments later I was there batting and bowling, and it was real fun. I played after a really long time might be 4-5 years or even more. I dont remember playing cricket when i was in India last december. The game was like box cricket and so quite exciting. The girls(including the neighbor whom I always manage to bump into!!!) also played pretty well to my surprise. No no I am not a MCP but basically girls do not play a lot of cricket in India and hence sometime it is funnny to see them bat and bowl. No offenses please....PEACE!! later I went to my lab and prepared a report due tomorrow. and then went on to see the 'Triplets of Belville'. Its an awesome movie, great animation. They also showed a short movie before that named 'Destiny' which was really really cool. Well in the theatre there was this elderly couple sitting behind me, and the man was reallly enjoying the movie laughing out loud as a small kid would enjoy. I was initially a bit irritated, but then as the movie went on I guess I did not seem to mind ablout his constant rattle. the movie was funny but the animation and the storyline was better than the fun. Rest Ok more later someitime...

   [ posted by PseudoFreud @ 6:40 PM ] [ | ]

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   Friday, February 20, 2004  

Go Out In A Blaze Of Glory

Utah lawmakers have decided to stop the practice of putting criminals to death by a firing squad. I did not know that this practice still existed in the US and was pretty surprised. Well, just like me if you are thinking that the practice is being stopped so that the criminals have a peaceful death........you are absolutely wrong!! The practice is being stopped because criminals take great pride in dying with a spray of bullets which they term it as "GO OUT IN A BLAZE OF GLORY". As a consequence, since the criminals take great joy in dying like this, the relatives of the victims who witness this execution are deeply pained by their joy. Hence this practice is being stopped. Of course mind you the last execution in Utah that took place with a "Blaze of Glory" was in 1996, which is not a long time ago....and states like Oklahoma and Idaho still have this practice of execution. You can find a picture of the death by bullets execution chair at the following link..

   [ posted by PseudoFreud @ 7:26 PM ] [ | ]

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   Wednesday, February 18, 2004  

A research colleague of mine turned 30 today and when I wished her she said "Turning 30 makes me feel weird and creepy" i dont understand about feeling weird and creepy. I understand that you have lived on this earth and survived for 30 years... whether you accomplished anything or not is solely a question of your state of mind. But feeling weird and creepy....UUUhhh UUUmmm!! i think ofcourse the older you get the wiser you get. I think the older you get, the more you have to look back and learn from what life has given to you! The older you get, I think the more tolerant you become, the more understanding you become. Call it compromise or whatever... you surely widen your threshold and are capable to take more things in your wingspan. Your head becomes more firm on your shoulders and you start listening to your inner voice. You have always been capable of choosing the right from the wrong, but as you get older, your thoughts become more independent and whenever you take a decision you know its the right thing cos something inside tells you to go ahead inspite of the world being against it. I think thats life and thats how we survive. Its just like falling in love.... only yo know when you are falling into it......and when you realise the fall you are already down there..:)

   [ posted by PseudoFreud @ 5:33 PM ] [ | ]

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   Monday, February 16, 2004  

Hi Everybody !
Im a new entry to the world of blogging. Lets see if I can stay sincere to it. I shall try to be as regular as possible...so lets see. Here you will find an analysis to everything that goes on in the everyday world. Lately I have been having this tingling sensation of ESP.... I shall put my thoughts here whenever that tingling occurs, and then lets see if PseudoFreud is correct or not! So lets get started!

PseudoFreud..

   [ posted by PseudoFreud @ 8:37 PM ] [ | ]

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