Movie Mania - Results

Here are the results of the movie quiz that I posted three weeks ago. You did really well, but there were one or two that I thought someone would get.

1. I have since heard of people under extreme duress speaking in strange tongues. I became conscious that a steady torrent of obscenities and swearing of all kinds was pouring out of me as I screamed. "A Christmas Story" -- Libby

2. Man has climbed Mount Everest, gone to the bottom of the ocean. He's fired rockets at the Moon, split the atom, achieved miracles in every field of human endeavour... except crime! "Goldfinger" -- Libby

3. I'd like to spell it out for you...only I can't spell! - "The Apartment" (1960 Academy Award for Best Picture; currently #89 on imdb.com's Top 250.)

4. Will you look at that! Look how she moves! It's like Jell-O on springs. Must have some sort of built-in motor or something. I tell you, it's a whole different sex! "Some Like it Hot" -- Miriam

5. “Do you know what's wrong with you?” “No, what?” “Nothing!” "Charade" - James (Nexus-6)

6. "X" never, ever marks the spot. "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" -- Joshua T

7. A movie! That's your problem! You don't want to be in love. You want to be in love in a movie. "Sleepless in Seattle" -- Libby

8. Our people, our people. I would have would have followed you, my brother... my captain... my king. "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" -- Joshua T

9. No, you're not a bad mother. You're just a barking lunatic. "About a Boy" - James (Nexus-6)

10. It's spooky! She knows more about you than you do! -- "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" (I was really surprised no one got this one.)

11. Do not speak to me of rules. This is war! This is not a game of cricket! "Bridge on the River Kwai" -- Libby

12. Okay, now I'm going back to Graduate School. That was the agreement. "Mystery Men" - James (Nexus-6)

13. Mary Ellen Moffat. She broke my heart. "Jaws" -- Joshua T

14. Tell me what to say. But don't tell me what to say. "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" -- Amy

15. If he'd just pay me what he's spending to make me stop robbing him, I'd stop robbing him. -- "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" (Won 4 Academy Awards for 1969; ranked 149 on imdb.com's Top 250.)

16. Every story's gets to have a really big coincidence and here's ours: -- "George of the Jungle" (One of my favourite lines of all time.)

17. Food is fuel. You get picky about what you put in the tank, your engine is gonna die. Now shut up and eat your garbage. "Ratatouille" - Charlotte

18. If you want to do something to make your mama proud, promise me. Promise me you won't let nobody turn you into no cripple, you won't become no charity case, and you'll stand on your own two feet. -- "Ray" (Academy Award winner for Best Actor in 2004, although this was said to Ray Charles by his mama.)

19. If you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth. -- "Gandhi" (Won eight Academy Awards for 1982, including Best Picture; #165 on imdb.com's Top 250.)

20. Are you interested in joining? The benefits are terrific. The trick is not to get killed. That's really the key to the benefit program. "The In-Laws" -- Libby

21. Please consider me as an alternative to suicide. "The Princess Bride" -- Amy

22. A - You can never go too far. B - If I'm gonna get busted, it is not gonna be by a guy like that. "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" -- Dave Hale

23. Michael O'Sullivan was my great friend. But I don't ever remember telling him that. The words that are spoken at a funeral are spoken too late for the man who is dead. What a wonderful thing it would be to visit your own funeral. To sit at the front and hear what was said, maybe say a few things yourself. Michael and I grew old together. But at times, when we laughed, we grew young. If he was here now, if he could hear what I say, I'd congratulate him on being a great man, and thank him for being a friend. "Waking Ned Devine" -- Libby

24. When a girl is under 21, she's protected by law. When she's over 65, she's protected by nature. Anywhere in between, she's fair game. Look out. -- "Operation Petticoat" (Said by my favourite actor, Cary Grant.)

25. For what we are about to see next, we must enter quietly into the realm of genius. "Young Frankenstein" -- Libby

US Presidential Inauguration Special

With my previous convictions for having followed the US Presidential election on this blog last year, I was duty-bound to write a post on the Inauguration of Barack Obama as the President of the United States. Unfortunately, I've been unwell of late and haven't been up to composition. Fortunately, I can still read, and I found that I couldn't express it any better than Gregg Easterbrook did in his Tuesday Morning Quarterback column on espn.com:

In national news, Tuesday is the inauguration of Barack Obama as 44th president of the United States. We've been so wrapped up in various forms of financial panic, real or imagined, that some may have lost sight of what a great day this is for America. Regardless of whether Obama ultimately proves to be an outstanding president or an average chief executive or a dud, only in America could this happen. A country whose eternal shame is that it once held slaves elects a black man as its leader, and a black man who came from nothing, entirely self-made. Obama is so appealing because he is the embodiment of the American story -- and that story is still in the early chapters. Today every American, even those who exercised their right to oppose Obama, should beam with pride. Until now I felt proudest to be an American on July 20, 1969, when Neil Armstrong put his foot on the moon. I thought then, "No other nation can accomplish such a thing, no other nation can dream so big." Today I feel prouder, because Obama represents a much grander and more important dream. Today America proves to the world that we meant what we said about freedom and equality.

Pun of the week #24

Jock, the painter, often would thin his paint so it would go further. So when the local Church decided to do some deferred maintenance, Jock was able to put in the low bid, and got the job. As always, he thinned his paint way down with turpentine.
One day while he was up on the scaffolding — the job almost finished — he heard a horrendous clap of thunder, and the sky opened.
The downpour washed the thinned paint off the church and knocked Jock off his scaffold and onto the lawn among the gravestones and puddles of thinned and worthless paint.
Jock knew this was a warning from the Almighty, so he got on his knees and cried: “Oh, God! Forgive me! What should I do?”
And from the thunder, a mighty voice (you’re going to love this):

“REPAINT! REPAINT! AND THIN NO MORE!”

Tagged...again

Rules:

Link to the person that tagged you—this would be Tiffany.

Post the rules on your blog.

Share 6 non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.

Tag 6 random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.

Let each person know that they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Let your tagger know when your entry is up.

My 6 non-important quirks (What? Don't you guys know enough about me already??):

1. Whenever I visit a new country, I seek out the local chocolate. I almost failed in Spain, because they cleverly import almost all of theirs from Switzerland, France or Belgium, but I did succeed eventually.
   Another interesting search was in Holland. I didn't know if the Dutch made chocolate, so I asked my host, Jos. He said there was a good brand called Droste, and that it was made in his hometown. I wrote down the name and went looking for it in the supermarkets. I found a box, bought it, and subsequently found it to be delicious. The sequel: I now notice that practically every airport Duty Free shop that I pass sells Droste chocolate.
   (PS: American chocolate is useless.)
2. I have over 25 shot glasses from Hard Rock Cafes around the world, almost all of which were bought by me. The three that weren’t (Las Vegas, Hong Kong and Singapore) were from places that I had previously visited. That’s the rule: only from places that I have visited. A friend of mine went to Lisbon on holiday and offered to buy me a shot glass, but I declined her generous offer as I’ve never been there.
3. I haven’t owned a car for the past five years. In fact, I’ve only driven on two occasions since 2003. Give it up for public transport in Europe and Asia (and a smaller carbon footprint pour moi)!
4. I became a fan of the San Antonio Spurs without knowing where San Antonio even was. Actually, I became a fan of David Robinson during the 1992 Olympics and decided to support the team for which he played, which happened to be the San Antonio Spurs. Good decision.
5. I will hardly ever print on one side of the paper. If the printer has a duplex setting, I will use that. If it doesn’t, I will feed the paper by hand so that I can print on both sides of the paper. My little way of giving some love back to the trees.
6. I seem to enjoy movies set in France. Charade, To Catch a Thief, the Pink Panther movies, Ronin, The Transporter…heck, I even started to like Mr. Bean after watching Mr. Bean’s Holiday ("O Mio Babbino Caroooooo…").

And now for the good part: tagging people. Well, I'm tagging people without checking if they've been tagged previously or not. If you have, now you have extra reason to get on with it. I tag:

• Alina
• Bobbie
• Christy
• Dave
• Erica
• Jill F (This is the closest I could get to F)

What's in a name?

We've all come across names that seem strange to us. My own name, for all you non-Indians, results in any number of variations in pronunciation. The most extreme case was when someone addressed me as "Mr. Carr". Still, I don't think that's as unfortunate as former England cricketer, Sir Ian Botham, whose has legions of fans in India who pronounce his name as "Iron Bottom".

There are also names that make us laugh, as they have silly/embarrassing connotations due to differences in languages, cultures and vernacular. Therefore public figures like footballers Nicky Butt and Dean Windass or British politician Virginia Bottomley always cause a juvenile grin whenever their names are heard. I'd always thought that the most unfortunate name of all-time was that of champion Russian figure skater, Irina Slutskaya (poor girl).

That is until I returned to India last June and heard about an actress called Asin. Seriously? She claims her name means "without blemish and pure", but that is not what comes to my mind whenever I come across that name. I think it's even more inappropriate than those who spell their name Sindy.

On the bright side, her name reminds me of one of my favourite songs, the Pet Shop Boys' "It's a Sin".

Here's a site with more funny names, some of which are actually real.

Pun of the weak #23

A low-quality sausage is the result of a butcher doing his wurst.

Movie Mania

It's quiz time! I've seen this doing the rounds on Facebook and I thought I'd see if it would work here on the blog. These are the rules:
• Pick 20 of your favourite movies (I'm going to be generous and pick 25).
• Go to IMDB and find a quote from each movie.
• Post them in a note for everyone to guess.
• Change font to bold when someone guesses correctly, and put who guessed it and the movie (so this will be updated as and when someone guesses correctly; I may re-post on a weekly basis few times).
• NO USING GOOGLE/using IMDB search functions. Feel free to ask friends and family, though (if you are really stuck on a topic for conversation).

1. I have since heard of people under extreme duress speaking in strange tongues. I became conscious that a steady torrent of obscenities and swearing of all kinds was pouring out of me as I screamed. "A Christmas Story" -- Libby

2. Man has climbed Mount Everest, gone to the bottom of the ocean. He's fired rockets at the Moon, split the atom, achieved miracles in every field of human endeavour... except crime! "Goldfinger" -- Libby

3. I'd like to spell it out for you...only I can't spell!

4. Will you look at that! Look how she moves! It's like Jell-O on springs. Must have some sort of built-in motor or something. I tell you, it's a whole different sex! "Some Like it Hot" -- Miriam

5. “Do you know what's wrong with you?” “No, what?” “Nothing!” "Charade" - James (Nexus-6)

6. "X" never, ever marks the spot. "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" -- Joshua T

7. A movie! That's your problem! You don't want to be in love. You want to be in love in a movie. "Sleepless in Seattle" -- Libby

8. Our people, our people. I would have would have followed you, my brother... my captain... my king. "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" -- Joshua T

9. No, you're not a bad mother. You're just a barking lunatic. "About a Boy" - James (Nexus-6)

10. It's spooky! She knows more about you than you do!

11. Do not speak to me of rules. This is war! This is not a game of cricket! "Bridge on the River Kwai" -- Libby

12. Okay, now I'm going back to Graduate School. That was the agreement. "Mystery Men" - James (Nexus-6)

13. Mary Ellen Moffat. She broke my heart. "Jaws" -- Joshua T

14. Tell me what to say. But don't tell me what to say. "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" -- Amy

15. If he'd just pay me what he's spending to make me stop robbing him, I'd stop robbing him.

16. Every story's gets to have a really big coincidence and here's ours:

17. Food is fuel. You get picky about what you put in the tank, your engine is gonna die. Now shut up and eat your garbage. "Ratatouille" - Charlotte

18. If you want to do something to make your mama proud, promise me. Promise me you won't let nobody turn you into no cripple, you won't become no charity case, and you'll stand on your own two feet.

19. If you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth.

20. Are you interested in joining? The benefits are terrific. The trick is not to get killed. That's really the key to the benefit program. "The In-Laws" -- Libby

21. Please consider me as an alternative to suicide. "The Princess Bride" -- Amy

22. A - You can never go too far. B - If I'm gonna get busted, it is not gonna be by a guy like that. "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" -- Dave Hale

23. Michael O'Sullivan was my great friend. But I don't ever remember telling him that. The words that are spoken at a funeral are spoken too late for the man who is dead. What a wonderful thing it would be to visit your own funeral. To sit at the front and hear what was said, maybe say a few things yourself. Michael and I grew old together. But at times, when we laughed, we grew young. If he was here now, if he could hear what I say, I'd congratulate him on being a great man, and thank him for being a friend. "Waking Ned Devine" -- Libby

24. When a girl is under 21, she's protected by law. When she's over 65, she's protected by nature. Anywhere in between, she's fair game. Look out.

25. For what we are about to see next, we must enter quietly into the realm of genius. "Young Frankenstein" -- Libby

Good luck!

Arise, Sir Terry

My favourite living author, Terry Pratchett, was awarded a knighthood in the New Year's Honours List that was announced at the end of December. I was delighted by the news as Pratchett's...er, Sir Terry's...hmm, Sir Terence's?...nah, Sir Terry it is on this blog. Sorry, where were we?

Oh, yes. I was delighted because Sir Terry's writing style is absolutely wonderful in my opinion, and his most famous creation, Discworld (a flat world balanced on the backs of four elephants which, in turn, stand on the back of a giant turtle, Great A'Tuin) has previously been described on this blog as "sublimely lunatic", and I stand by that description.

The strange thing is that I am not normally much of a chap for the fantasy genre. Even "The Lord of the Rings" and Harry Potter required the movies to provide incentive for me to read them. I picked up my first Discworld book, "Monstrous Regiment", solely on the advice of a friend who seemed to share similar literary tastes to mine. I've read about a dozen or so of the Discworld books so far, and only wish I could put life on hold for a while to be able to read the rest of them. One reason why I like Sir Terry's writing so much is because one of his influences is my favourite author of all time, P. G. Wodehouse. The Discworld novels have a wonderfully entertaining style about them, just like Wodehouse's stories, and a fair dose of spot-on satire as well.

While reading the BBC article announcing the Honours List, I was stunned to discover that Sir Terry suffers from a rare form of early-onset Alzheimer's disease. It is such a shock to think that the man's wonderfully imaginative brain, that has provided me with so much delight, may slowly be shrivelling up and dying.

Sir Terry has donated $1 million to the Alzheimer's Research Trust, and an internet campaign has been set-up called "Match It for Pratchett", which aims to raise another million for the same purpose. Please do what you can, and also spread the word. I have put a permanent link to the site on the left of my blog if you need to find the site later on.

PS: Great quote from Sir Terry: "Wikipedia, eh? Must be accurate then!"

Happy New Year