Finally finished with Guns, Germs & Steel by Jared Diamond, which gives a researched analysis of how certain civilizations came to dominate over others in the history of the human world. Although I initially found the repetitiveness of the text irritating, I learned to appreciate its usefulness as my reading grew more sporadic and I liked how it helped me to recall the author's important arguments. Quite a good book on the whole, if you don't try to read it all in one go.

The title story in the detective collection The Menagerie & Other Stories (Byomkesh Bakshi) was quite disappointing in the sense of it having ridiculously contrived plot mechanics (even for a detective story, where one normally likes a bit of Rubik's Cube-ery). The film adaptation of it (Chiriakhana aka The Zoo by Satyajit Ray) had a much more streamlined and better constructed structure than its source.

Just watched Network (1976). The movie shows a network news show strip itself of all its credibility in a quest for ratings. The show transforms from a straight news program to a variety hour of tabloid journalism and propaganda. It's well acted for the most part with Peter Finch putting in a phenomenal performance as Howard Beale. Faye Dunaway is good as well as the heartless bitch who's married to her job. I didn't care for William Holden and Robert Duvall's performances. Thought it was pretty heavy handed and dated. What's amazing is how prophetic this movie was. Glenn Beck IS Howard Beale, except a lot more morally bankrupt and stupid.

Also watched Hard Candy. Nice flick.

We were just talking about Network last night. PRanoy Roy was blathering on in a disturbingly insane manner and I was like "Hm, he seems to be having his Network moment" and then had to explain to my dad what I meant by that. I saw The Thing by John Carpenter and it is quite a spectacular film. Antarctic explorers discover shape shifting beastie and find they cannot trust each other anymore. Brilliant special effects and a brooding atmosphere of paranoia and tension that never lets up.

Finished The Death of Bunny Munroe by Nick Cave and pretty much hated it. An utterly pointless book and Bunny Monroe is without a doubt one of the most despicable central characters I;ve come across in a book for a long time. The dark humour wasn't very humorous and Bunny's life seemed like it may have been fun to write but really quite fuck all to read. Truth be told I skipped about 80 pages in the middle so maybe the book totally redeems it self in those 80 pages but I seriously doubt it.

Also finished Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian which is one of the most brutal and honest westerns I've ever read. This was intense and wholly satisfying.

The 1954 film of 20000 Leagues Under The Sea is one of the most badass things Disney has ever produced. A spectacularly mounted live-action adventure yarn with lavish steampunk production design, gorgeous underwater footage and a solid performance from James Mason as Captain Nemo.

TinTin:Flight 714

Karthik Calling Karthik: This was badly done for a somewhat interesting premise. An introvert, socially aloof guy suffers from psychological problems and finds it difficult working in his office. One day he gets a call from himself and this helps him get past his problems (almost instantly) till he has to confront this phone call thingy with his GF. The climax even has a lengthy epilogue, laying out the entire plot and leaving out any sense of mystery . Funnily enough, for a character named Karthik Narayan, it is his Bengali GF (Deepika Padukone) who has a south Indian accent.

Do Gaz Zameen Ke Neeche

After an excruciatingly dull opening half hour, this one shapes up to be a nice early Ramsay chiller before they discovered their fetish for purani havelis and taikhanas. Story is very EC comics-esque - rich widower hoodwinked by gold-digger woman into marriage, who then gets him killed by her boyfriend only to find him not quite resting in the grave. Imtiaz Khan does a fine job as the boyfriend dragged into murderous proceedings with a more nuanced character than one'd normally expect. Even some of the scares are played with more subtlety than later entries in the Ramsay canon.

In fact from a certain POV, you could even regard this as the Ramsay's take on Macbeth :p

Saw Crazy Heart with Jeff Bridges as a down on his luck former country star and Maggie Gyllenhall as the reporter who wants to interview him. Great performance from Bridges although if he wins the Oscar for this then I guess he's only getting it as a sort of cumulative prize because Jeremy Renner was way better in the hurt locker. Still, the chemistry between Bridges and Gyllenhall is terrific and she's pretty good too. The movie follows the usual routine of down and out alcoholic singer who meets pretty woman, loses pretty woman, cleans up act and starts writing songs again. Skipped through parts of it and the songs are all quite boring. Overall, worth watching only if you really like Jeff Bridges.

I watched The Blind Side. I thought it was fairly shitty. It's based on a true story about NFL star Michael Oher. He was once a huge homeless black teenager, but a wealthy white southern family takes him in and turns his life around (and he, theirs...aww). The real life story is pretty remarkable, so it's pretty amazing that they still managed to make the movie shitty. Sandra Bullock is pretty hammy and she really shouldn't be nominated for an Oscar. Kathy Bates is the only likable one in the movie. The script is pure shit. It was a really great story, but they had to go and fuck it up with their silly Hollywood nonsense.

Also watched Whip It. This was not bad. On the whole, somewhat shitty, but much better than I expected.

Justice League: The New Frontier
Animated JLA movie set in the 50's where issues develop between superheroes and the US government, and then a massive extra-terrestrial threat turns up. While I'm all for trimming a plot to its bare essentials and keeping a brisk running time, this one takes it too far. I assume the source comics are more substantial with the build-up and resolution of the superhero conflict. Some damn good spectacle sequences though (and one very clever scene of Manhunter watching TV), making it worth the watch.

Hurt Locker - Brilliant movie! Makes so much sense about soldiers get addicted to war after prolonged stay in the frontline of action. I 'm betting on this movie to win the Oscars.

District 9 - Now this is how 'aliens-interact-with-human/alien-land-on-earth' should be made. Really looking forward to District 10

Once Upon a Time in West -*speechless in awe*

Looks like THREE people here still give a shit about the Oscars.

Saw Mario Bava's Twitch of the Death Nerve/ Bay of Blood last night with the commentary on. The commentary is provided by Tim Lucas, author of the biography Mario Bava: All the Colors of the Dark and it's very good. I guess enjoyment depends purely on how much you like the film and generally like Giallos but this is like a history lesson with Lucas coming up with tons of cool trivia, talking about everything from how the movie got made to the actors and what happened to them and Bava's totally unique style. Re-watched this after ages and totally enjoyed it. That opening 8 minutes has to be one of the most stoner friendly opening sequences ever.

Yes, I still give a shit about Oscars. Even more in this year, 'cause its not every time you notice more than 5 movies getting nominated for Oscars.