My tid bits

Chelsea - A Hitler Regime

2009-02-10T10:28:00.003+05:30

Firstly whoever is reading this, I would like to shout out and say that I am not a Chelski Fan.. I am an out n out United fan.. Now coming back to the topic, as i logged on today morning on soccernet.com i was greeted by the news that Luis Felipe Scolari has been sacked.. As a United fan i think its really great caz i know how great this guy is..

Scolari the coach who won the World Cup with Brazil in 2002, took portugal to the Euro finals and looked like he would win everything in sight in the opening weeks of this season, is sacked with a ruthlessness that has shocked even friends who support Chelsea. They obviously weren't happy with the results this season but a great time is built over time. It doesn't happen over the night. Fergie who was signed by United in 1986 took about 4 years to start winning some silverware.. The point that i am trying to make is that Fergie before joining United only had experience with Aberdeen with whom he won European cup winners cup beating Real Madrid in finals.
Unlike a scolari who had won much bigger things before joining a Chelsea, the issue with the club is not the manager but the general atmosphere itself, i mean when you have an Owner who sits and buys players even the manager doesn't want E.g. Shevchenko whom Mourinho didnt even want. You are not giving that freedom to a manager then, there are a few players i have seen at Chelsea whom they should have sold. Drogba since last season end seems like he doesn't want to be here, his needless sending off at Champions league finals and a few bit part players such as malouda and kalou.

If the Russian is thinking that he wants a club that will be like United you need to invest some time for it. You cant simply buy it with money. The 2 years that United didnt win any trophy and where Chelsea won 2 back to back league trophys, that time was utilised by ferguson to rebuild a new team. Eventhough United only won an FA Cup at that time, the powers above didn't sack him and knew what he was trying to do.
At the end of it there will be many fans who would have liked Scolari to go away and would want an ex player like Zola or so taking the reigns but they need to understand that a club where one doesn't get his time or space will never go on to do anything great. Losing Scolari in my opinion is the biggest mistake they have done post sacking Mourinho.

Mad Ad men

2009-02-02T22:40:00.004+05:30

There are two shows that are currently on air in US.. Both have one thing in common - Advertising..
1st being Mad men - Its set in New york's Madison Avenue Mad Men takes place in the 1960s at the fictional Sterling Cooper advertising agency . The show centers on Don Draper, a high-level advertising executive, and the people in his life in and out of the office. PS If you are planning to quit smoking, don't watch Mad men.

2nd being Trust me - This premiered just last week on TNT and its set in Chicago. It talks about advertising in today's time.

One stark difference that is there is that Mad men talks about advertising but there is another parallel story running. Unlike trust me which i felt was hardcore advtg. From the very first scene in trust me it talks about campaign, copywriters, deadlines, client, consumer groups, tag lines etc which is so very advtg.. When i was watching it i felt as if this is what i go through at work and it was great fun..
Ultimately i felt great that i am in this field and to who all those who are aspiring to be in advtg or dont know wt its all about.. Trust me its just something else.. :)

Hindi Music

2009-01-10T00:13:00.003+05:30

Well i was born in the 80s and all i can remember hearing those days ranged from RD Burman to Bappi daa..But i got more into hindi songs in the 90's when Nadeem Shravan ruled the charts. At that time there were 4 things which was synonymous music - Nadeem Shravan, Kumar Sanu, Anuradha Paudwal and T Series. I mean practically every movie had these guys in it.. And lemme tell u i still have a playlist in my pod with Kumar Sanu and Nadeems-S songs n it..
But today a lot has changed, theres a lot of experimentation thts happening with music. U name the genre of music and people r making music in it. Just 3-4 days back i got the album of Dev D.. Didnt know what to expect from it esp when i saw there were 18 tracks on it..
Firstly its a Anurag Kashyap film whose films have always had some different tracks, be it Paanch (I got the audio CD of it :)), Black Friday & No Smoking.
Secondly the music is by Amit trivedi, earlier he had done the score of Aamir.. Some brilliant compositions on it.

So i begin listening to the songs and let me tell you each song was different.. Simply awesome stuff.. I also read on AK's blog about the music but seriously kudos to Amit, the songs are brilliant... My recommendations from the album being: Aankh Micholi, Dev Chanda Theme 1 and 2, Nayan tarse, Paayaliya, Emosanal atyachar, Hikknaal and Saali Khushi.

Magic Bus

2008-03-24T01:12:00.002+05:30

Well have you ever had these days wherein you wanted to leave everything behind and just run away. Run away from everything, from everyone. Well if you are in advertising you go through those emotions sometimes when the workload, the late nights etc takes a toll on you, u just wanna leave everything and just run away.. Well this movie is about a guy who’s graduated and has gotten into Harvard. He then decides to leave everything behind, family, money, career everything he abandons and goes into the wild.

This movie will inspire the traveler in you .Chris (Emile Hirsch), he donates his life savings of $24,000 to Oxfam. He eventually finds his way to Alaska, his dream, where he sets into the pure wilderness with nothing more than a gun and some reading material.

The movie works on a lotta levels, it’s about self realization, it’s about this stubbornness that Chris has and many other things.

The acting is excellent throughout, the visuals are stunning, and the script is tight. Eddie Vedder provides most of the soundtrack which is perfect with the whole tone of the film.

One of my friends at Xavier’s was a lil familiar to the main lead; I remember hearing stories about her leaving to some place alone in the middle of the week even without telling anyone. And its not even like she would plan this and stay in some nice hotel n all, she would just head off without thinking anything. I have always wondered if I would be able to do that, don’t know yet but I just might one day (maybe not go so far the way Chris did but just head out far all by myself)

So go ahead and watch this movie, but make sure you are in that little mood when you want to watch smething like this.. It will surely move you and inspire you..

Hmmmm....

2008-03-03T17:11:00.002+05:30

Isn't that one of the most annoying things that come up when chatting online.. I mean you are in this deep discussion and you are explaining a situation or so and you are waiting for some answers, or thoughts of the person, and HMMMM... comes on ur screen.. *&^%% at that time you just wanna beat the living daylights of the other person...

So in this irritation even i have started using this in my chats and ya heheheh its gud fun..

No Smoking Review (Contains Spoilers)

2007-10-27T02:51:00.000+05:30

A lot of questions ran through my head before entering the movie hall.. will it be good? will it be better than black friday? what story would it be, the treatment etc etc.. I felt very close to this film maybe because i have been reading a lotta stuff about it in Anurag Kashyaps blog. From day 1 when he started to cast people for this movie till the post production, i had read everything that he had to say. So it was like this special connection that i had with this movie..

So there i enter, Cinemax Bandra, my first time there.. A small but a good theatre.. So wanted to sit in one of those Red Lounge seats.. But anyways the movie starts, 1st half i felt was very crisp. The movie basically being a story of guy whos addicted to smoking. His wife is about to divorce him, his friends also urging him to quit. They suggest he go to a Rehab centre.. John Abraham the main lead is called K in the movie..K's character is that of a Rich Narcissist, a guy with a huge ego who has done it all.. So he goes to this centre where this Baba Bengali played by Paresh Rawal. The place itself was a sight to watch.. From the moment he enters you feel as if reality has been left out.. And thats where the logic to the movie goes outta the window.. Caz the way these people would make John quit smoking would be by hurting him or his loved ones..

This is a movie wherein the AK has gone crazy with his imagination, his earlier two movies were both on true life incidents.. This one is totally fictional and to the point that its not logical..
AK has taken a lot of references from Hollywood that ranges from Oliver Stone (Natural Born Killers), David Fincher, Stanley Kubrick and David Lynch.

All in all a truly different hindi movie which will keep the audience thinking as to what, why, how etc. If you are going with an expectation of it being realistic, meaningful or so, then am sorry you would be disappointed. I know a few of my friends like that open endedness in movies but am not so sure if the Indian audience esp the hindi ones are ready for such a take on a movie..

To all the Non advertising people

2007-10-22T17:36:00.000+05:30

This is something I have been wanting to write for a long time now. From the time I have started working in an ad agency, many of my non ad friends keep asking me if theres some kind of a mass orgy that happens in the office. OK I kinda exaggerated it but what they wanna know is since people in ad industry are creative and blah blah blah, theres a lotta sleeping around happening..

Well lemme clarify some things, yes out here u do find people who are from varied backgrounds, yes many of them are those open minded types and yea they don’t shy away from topics such as sex, lesbianism, live in relationships etc.. But that really doesn’t mean that you enter your office and it suddenly turns out to be Hugh hefner’s mansion. And they wont just randomly pounce on u and start making out. And believe me its not just my friends who think this, my ex boss long time back was at an event. He was introduced to a popular film star at that time and he asked my boss what he did for a living. He replied advertising and the first thing he asked him was “Advertising, ladki wadki bahut milti hogi na (You would be getting a lotta women right)”.

I mean it just seems like as if we are in some really perverse kinda industry which to the outside world is doing advertising but on the inside its some sexual mass orgy that’s going on. But ya the ad industry is different than the others in some ways. We don’t call our seniors Sir or Boss, we call them by their names, we have lazy bags in our offices, music is played throughout, Our fav holiday spot is GOA with lotsa booz, ciggs and pot.

Many of them live for the moment so usually end of the month u end up bankrupt. After retirement many of them want to go open up a bar in goa and settle down.

Fav topics of discussion – Music, Movies, Sports, Food, where to drink, etc.

So yeah we are a little different i guess.

The Chase

2007-10-21T04:04:00.000+05:30

You might have seen endless chase scenes in movies between cops nd heroes.. Well have u ever experienced it. Well I just did a while back..

Was in Vertigo, a nice pub in Bandra. On our way back, my friend hit this cart which a guy was pushing. It was by mistake but instead of stopping the car he just drove off . A few minutes later near the signal we see that cop was chasing us.. Oh man this guy drove like crazy after that, drove on the wrong side of the road, took some sharp turns, all fast n all… hahahhaha it was such a rush..

He felt really bad about what happened but I just sat there thinking what the heck I loved every minute of it.. Luckily we didn’t end up getting caught..

Arbit conversations ( Part 1)

2007-10-04T01:25:00.000+05:30

Had gone out with some friends tonight for dinner.. So when i was coming back home, i was alone, usually am listening to some songs but my battery conked off in my cell phone. And then Pradeep (Rickshaw driver) turned around and asked me:

P: Sir aaj kya din hai?

Me: Wednesday

P: Achhaa wednesday. Sir Sunday ko main Sukh Sagar padh raha tha. aur usme ek kahaani thi.

And then this guy went on to narrate this story (with a moral) for about 20 min which seemed more like a story from ur champaks or twinkle mags. And he ended it with a quote n all.. I mean usually i really wont bother about such things, but i ended up listening to whatever he said and in the end i just sat back and a lot of thoughts ran through my head.
Maybe in the whole day he mite not be getting enough time for any kind of a conversation with anyone so he keeps chatting along. Secondly hes just trying to create some kind of a good impression with his customers (dont see the reason though) or thirdly it could be that what he read in that book sukh sagar has moved him in some manner that he wants to spread the good word. ( Something that i do when i see some good movies).

It was great fun and to think of it this kind of things will only happen in Mumbai. For me this city can never bore me. There is so much happening in this city. I can just sit and observe people for hours together and theres always something or the other happening.

Paris Je taime

2007-08-25T09:05:00.000+05:30

Saw this movie a few days back.. loved it.. sharing my fav short film from it.. Let the whole video load.. Directed by Tom tykwer ( Run lola run and Perfume ). Music is also composed by him.. really brilliant stuff.. yenjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Vnv3GoydDE

The movie is a compilation of 18 short films from 18 different directors. Each with their own take on LOVE with Paris as its background.. Even though am giving the link of the Tom tykwer film, there are many others which are awsme like the ones by the Coen brothers, Wes Craven, Gerard Depardeu and a few others.. All in all its great viewing.. I mean each of these directors are given 5 minutes to tell their story and to really capture a viewer in those 5 min aint that easy..
Actually this film seemed like a compilation of On the Lot movies.. Anyways dont miss it..

Need a bloody break

2007-07-21T23:38:00.000+05:30

And i don't mean a 2-3 day one.. but a bloody 10-15 day break.. For the past few weeks quite a few of us in the servicing team have been all screwed up in the head with the amount of work thats coming in and no bloody creative people to do it.. All of em r tied up in some pitch or the other and we are taking up pitches like theres no tomorrow.
Ok now coming back to what i wantd to say was last friday i was so fried in ma head that i just wanted some kinda change i mean bloody something.. and for lunch me and a friend of mine head to Soul Fry ... Am telling you for the next few hours or so i was like kinda transported to Goa.. I mean i saw chicken xacuti and vindaloo and i was like goa here Im coming.. and to top this i also had a beer and felt like some king.. hehehhe but sadly it just lasted for about 2 hours after which i had to go back to my mundane routine life..
Aaaahhh I need a break... and i dont mean a 2-3 day one.... but......

Can you not think??

2007-07-18T12:14:00.000+05:30

This was a conversation i was having with a few of ma friends yesterday .. it was regarding the fact that can you at some point of the day just go blank and not think about anything.. I do that a lotta times when i am kinda spaced out (not on dope) but am not thinking about anything.. whenever someone sees me in tht state they think am in some deep thought or am upset about something.. well am not and upset about something, hmmm that comes very rarely too.. i dont get angry or upset that easily..

but anyways the others in this whole discussion said they could never have a moment when they r not thinking about anything.. Is what i go through a common thing or am i just weird.

Magnificent 7

2007-04-11T10:12:00.000+05:30

Dailymotion blogged video
Manchester United vs AS Roma Goals
Video sent by FootballHeaven

Propaganda

2007-03-22T13:46:00.000+05:30

Man with this as my title it sounds like sme political post of sme sorts.. Well this aint bot politics but its about this propaganda of sorts which i undertook after watchin a certain movie.. this was way long back , i think i had sme exams the next day or so, on tv a movie was goin on which for tht brief 2-3 hours made me forget evertythin .. I havent been so mesmerised by a movie , so caught up in it tht even this day when i watch it for about the 20th time (i think) i still go into a trance of sorts.. well this movie is none other than shawshank redemption..

Everything about this movie from direction, background score ( One of the best i have i ever heard esp " Brooks was here") , to the acting everything was brilliant.. And at the end of the movie you are left with this big smile .. After watchin this movie i went on this whole spree of propagating this movie to pepl.. it was like if u wanna talk to me u gotta watch shawshank eheheheheh.. ya and i wud watch it wid them 2.. i mean it was like i was some missionary preachin bot Andy Dufresne and Red... In the end i wud still say watch this movie and see the kind of effect that this movie can have on u..

My Homecoming

2007-03-14T08:20:00.000+05:30

I knew one day i will posting about one place that i truly love i.e my workplace TBWA. Its been about 1 and half yrs here.. Early this Jan or so when errol had quit i suddenly thought maybe even i have to move on.. A good boss leavin is not the onli reason y i eva wanted to quit.. There were many reasons like betta pay caz i have really slogged my ass off here , we as an agency never being able to standup to clients with what we believe in and a few others..

This is when i came to know that there was an opening in Lowe Lintas and like any other client servicing guy when i heard i was on cloud 9 , caz here was an agency from where many greats have come out and its rather an institution here in India.. Well ya i got through and i was very kickd about me goin .. all of em congragulated me.. and on the last day when i was leaving i just couldnt help thinking if i was making the right decision, i know maybe logically i was but in my heart it was going all wrong and in juss 6 days i was bak here in TBWA..

But i went ahead and joined lowe.. well lowe is one huge place wid pepl everywhere rather it seemed like a honeycomb wid tons of bees around.. 1st day and i was havin bad tbwa withdrawal symptoms.. its not like people in lowe were bad or so but it juss wasnt the guys here in tbwa.. i used to count my time there so tht in da evening i cud rush bak to TBWA.. and thts when i knew that i need to get back to the place where i truly belong and this decision gt even strong when i got the farewell from tbwa..

This was one helluva emotional nite and one nite i hope i dont have to go thru again.. One of the main and huge USP's of this place are its people be it at the top level or at ur bottom , this place is what it is today all becaz of its people.. i hve made friendships here tht wud really last a life time.. this agency is more like a family to me, i mean if the top guys gave me a bed and a bathroom i wud start living in this plce.. Another gr8 thing about this plce is the personal space that they allow u to do ur own thing which in other plces u will not get..

There are a few of us like Neville, Namrata, Smriti etc who totally swear by this place and we all truly believe tht this place can one day become what it is worlwide and i pray all of us are there when this happens..

Save the Cheerleader

2007-01-14T12:04:00.000+05:30

Ah ya this is what u all gonna be hearing come Jan end .. the new series from NBC is hitting India this month end and lemme tell u its one helluva show.. i saw the ad of the series on star world a few weeks back.. well i thought ok i'll download bot 2 episodes to see how it is..

and man was i hooked onto it , i mean i saw the whole 11 episodes in the space of about 6 days..
this has got everything from extra ordinary to the Indian connection to the series to the gripping storyline .. i mean its got everything.. not just me my whole office is hooked onto it.. i got to know that people at 4:30am were sitting n watchin the whole thing./.
and ya to sum it this series is smthing that u have neva eva seen before on TV..

Cybernations

2006-11-27T11:55:00.000+05:30

I have been hearing bot this game for god knows 3 months or so in ma office.. there are quite a few people in at ma work who r into it and have been braggin about it.. and finally about 6 days bak or so i joined the game and lemme tell u its god damm addictive.. i mean its juss too engrossing and i have been calling up ma friends to join the game and play..

juss log in to www.cybernations.net

4 hours to go

2006-09-01T01:51:00.000+05:30

In about 4 hours the transfer window is gonna close and i cant see anythin happenin at united's end .. We have juss bought 2 players this season carrick imo a good buy still has a lot to improve and kuzchak a goaly who i have neva seen playin.. so basically only one buy..
last season end lotsa promises were made by gill bout buyin a lota players n all.. am sorry it hasnt happend yet.. but am the eternal optimist and i pray tommrw when i gt up united cud have pulld of some transfer..

and btw am still bloody shockd at west ham gettin tevez and mascherano on permanent deals.. That for me has been the transfer coup of the year.. anyways bak to me prayin tht smthing cud happen in 4 hours

D- day coming soon

2006-08-09T13:20:00.000+05:30

The month August.. Its da month when my bday is , another reason why i love this month is because the English Premier League's new season starts every year on this month.. Football to me is my biggest passion.. I got into it during the season of 98. Before this i was this big cricket buff, its not that i don love cricket now but during one of those vella days i was home watchin TV and while switchin channels, i saw this clip of my fav player Roy Keane having a confrontation with the arse Patrick Vieira.. it got me hooked and i ended up watchin the whole match and as they say rest is history... From that day i got badly hooked onto football and Manchester United - the greatest club of all time.. Man when they play its so much of passion, commitment and the love of the game which u can see.. For the past 15 yrs they have been the team of England under the helm of Sir Alex Ferguson.. His commitment to the club and the vision that he had made manchester united the best.. In 1986 he was appointed when united were in a very bad phase.. Its not like he came in and we started to win everything but it took him nearly 4-5 years for him to get them going...

Alex always had an eye for talent and one thing that he wanted was a player who could stamp his authority on the team, who could single handedly change a game for the team and had all the qualities of a leader.. So in Nov of 1992 alex found his talismanic player in the form of Eric Cantona.. the mercurial frenchman was bought from leeds for meagre 1.2m pounds.. this player till date is voted the best player United ever had in their history.. In 5 yrs with Eric United won four Premeirship titles in five years, including two league and FA Cup Doubles.

This winning of trophies after that became more of a habit.. In 14 yrs 8 Premier league titles is a huge achievement.. But its bin 2 yrs since we won something major and for a fan like me its a lil unusual and it hurts..

So this new season like anyother United fan i wait to see who we will sign and if this will be the year when we get our hands on some major trophy... amen

Rainy Monday

2006-08-07T15:39:00.000+05:30

here goes my first blog,,, its a monday a damm rainy one to top tht.. the weekend was so so.. saturday was home , playin fifa online was fun.. sunday i got to meet my sweetheart after a long time.. I waded thru rain, wind n all to meet her ( sounds like some romeo meeting his juliet, but ya she is ma juliet). Had an awsme dinner .. at nite was lying down and was thinkin names for my blog with her.. this name was her idea..
today bak at work din feel like comin at all but kya karein paapi peth ka sawaal hai( see again i go in this bollywoodi style dialogue)..
i hope to keep this blog alive for sometime..