Calvin and Hobbes

My favourite cartoon strip - Calvin & Hobbes

The first comic strip by Bill Watterson was picked by Universal Press Syndicate in 1985. Bill was earlier a political cartoonist and also designed ads for a weekly shopper. He developed comic strips working after hours and on weekends. Calvin and Hobbes ran in over 2400 newspapers. The last strip was written in 1995, after which they have only been republished.
Interestingly Calvin never turns old (he has always been 6!), his parents have no names. Bill named Calvin after the 16th century Protestant theologian and Hobbes was named after the 17th century philosopher who once observed "life is nasty, brutish and short"
The only 2 kids in this strip in addition to Calvin (ofcourse), are Susie (the woman brigade) and Moe (the bully)
In 1995 Watterson drew one final cartoon and let a boy and his tiger take off downhill on their snow sled and slide into comics history.

Movie reviews

Special thanks to www.clixflix.com

For those ignorant of this wonderful site, it is an online library of movies. They offer various membership plans. To get membership to this library, simply visit the site, and all else is self explanatory.
In this life and times, when one is not necessarily living in the heart of the city, it does help to have access to some goodies read dvds. Clixflix allows one to simply pay a nominal fee and register oneself after which one can decide which movies one wants to view and they deliver it to ones doorstep.

This service is readily available in Mumbai, while I am not quite sure of other cities in the country. But shortly our friends are going to face tough competition from 70 mm, a company based out of Bangalore. So all those headed to Bangalore or already there, dont lose heart......70mm is coming to your doorstep!!!

Having said that, let me quickly recount a few movies that I have managed to catch in the recent past.

The Passenger *ing Jack Nicholson - an ultra slow movie about a reporter who lands in a civil war striken area and takes the place of a dead goon.

Moral of the story - its better to be happy with what you are, rather than get into a dead man's shoes!

Under the Tuscan Sun *ing Diane Lane - a romantic fare. Not the typical "and they lived happily ever after...." kind of movie.
Shot in the beautiful Tuscany (a lovely little town in Italy) . Tuscany now figures in my holiday list. The movie is about a lady - an author and critic, who gets divorced from her husband, owing to his infedility. Finds herself holidaying in Tuscany, buys herself a house - falls in love all over again (this time with a groovy Italian), to only realise that the man of her dreams has already tied a knot with someone else. Just before the climax completely disillusions you, in walks another hunk (a co author) ........so all's well that ends well

The other movies will be reviewed in the subsequent posts.

More movie reviews.....
TransAmerica *ing Felicity Huffman, who won an Oscar for her(his) role in the movie.
The movie is about Stanley, who prefers to be known as Bree (Sabrina), and has a mental disorder which makes him always want to be a woman. He behaves like one, dresses like one and is soon to undergo a sex change operation. A day before the operation he receives a call from the juvenile delinquent's cell, stating that a young boy; of 18 who claims to be his son is in the cell and awaiting bail / help from his family. Now Stanley choses to ignore this and carry on with the operation, but his therapist does not allow him to do so. She asks him to first sort out his life and only then take a step like that.
The movie, deals with the emotions and sentiments of Stanley, his reaction to his new found son and his dilemma about having to undergo a sex change operation.
It is a gripping story, and worth a watch.

Yours, Mine and Ours *Rene Russo and Dennis Quaid (ex husband of one of my fav stars Meg Ryan)
Just like the name suggests, it is about 2 single parents (who have lost their spouses) who decide to get married. And what do they have ------18 kids, 10 here and 8 there!!!! Complete chaos, while Dennis Quaid plays a disciplined Commander in the navy, Rene Russo is the frivolous, eccentric fashion designer.....and both have brought up their children "their way". It is indeed a fun movie to watch the 18 + pig + dog etc...etc....learn to live together.
For those of you who also watch hindi movies, it is quite much on the lines of Khatta Mitha *ing Ashok Kumar and Pearl Padamsee. Just that the family in Khatta mitha is much smaller :)

Wedding Crashers * Nicole Owens and Vince Vaugh (Mr. Aniston)
Eeyuck! what men won't do to sleep with women!!!

It's about these close friends played by Nicole and Vince, who crash weddings, to only befriend pretty young women and get them into bed.
Not quite my kind of movie. But well then, I am the 80s type!!!



Samsaara
This one I would definitely recommend. Directed by Pan Nalin, shot completely in the hilly and immensely beautiful terrain of Ladakh. The key protagonists are however Korean.
It's 'The Buddha' retold. The story questions whether Siddhartha indeed had to leave his wife and son to attain Nirvana.
The story line is quite simplistic. It is about a buddhist monk, who has been in the monastry since the age of 5. He decides that to renounce anything he needs to first experience it. He leaves the monastry and goes back to mainstream living, experiencing all materialistic pleasures. At the end however, after he has married and had a son, he decides to give it all up and go back to the monastry. But well, unlike Yashodhara (the wife of Siddhartha - The Buddha', will Pema - the wife of Tashi, the monk let go that easily ????
Watch it and decide.