Whirlwind Update
So much for trying to update things about India straight away. I was hoping to slip back into work mode in a controlled manner but the first day back at work I was made Acting Team Leader since our current team leader, Adrian, is on parental leave. It was kind of unexpected but still a pleasant surprise. It has been very busy doing my own job while also doing other stuff related to the department. One of the first things I got for being the team leader was a free pass to watch a couple of matches at Heineken Open Tennis later in the evening, by one of the managers in another department that we constantly have dealings with.
So in the evening (of Monday) I made my way to ASB Tennis Centre and as I was walking there I bumped into Andy- one of the cast members from 'FIVE', whom I hadn't seen in a while and had a quick catch up with him before proceeding to the tennis. TVNZ had a box seat, so had a great view of the proceedings from there plus has good food and good company to accompany - so it was a perfect start to the work year. In addition to that I might also get a free complimentary pass to 'Big Day Out' which is this huge annual international music gig as I helped someone out of a difficult spot - so I feel very lucky right now [the tickets to the gig are pretty expensive].
End of the first match
Start of the second matchIn between the return and now I have snuck a couple of movies in - '
Vicky, Cristina, Barcelona' and '
Frost/Nixon' - both of them turned out to be surprisingly good and Rebecca Hall is now my favorite actress as she played 2 very different roles in both the movies extremely well plus she is gorgeous. I have slowly unpacked my stuff and settled into my room but the house is in a state of flux with all the visitors and short term flatmates and now waiting for the new flatmates to move in.
I have started walking to work and back and it feels good. Lance, Dan and me have had a few games of tennis and I seem to have forgotten how to play since I am playing bad - hopefully it'll come back to me sooner rather than later. My 1 week trial at a local gym starts next week - I think I'll try and stick to the gym as much as I can to shed off the extra weight I put on during the India trip. One of my old friends, Barbara, is in the country for a short while,so caught up with her yesterday and traded stories and views since she has been working in China for the past 6 months or so and is planning on a trip through South East Asia during her 2 month break.
The acting classes start soon and I am trying to get back into the flow of things there. On the movie front - Simon Ward is on board to work as writing partner for 'Rejected' and we'll start working on that from next week. There will be some radical changes to the script - mainly brought about by my indian influence on the trip this time around. It should be heaps of fun.
Tomorrow i'll be going fishing with Lance's parents, Lance, Max and some of his friends. It'll be an interesting experience since I've never ever fished before. And I'll try and buy a scanner to scan the polaroid snaps from the trip. And i'll sneak in the update about India within the next month or so. :-)
That's me for now.
Amit
Labels: Rejected, Tennis, TVNZ
Tennis
The weather cleared up on Sunday afternoon which gave Dan. Lance and me a window of opportunity to play some tennis even though it was super-windy for a fair bit of the time. And we ended up playing for about three and half hours. And the matches ended up pretty even in a manner of speaking - Dan would beat me sometimes, Lance would beat Dan most of the time and I would beat Lance most of the times. Luckily Lance had his camera and took some photos.
Me serving to Dan
Tracking the return
Dan likes to flash dance while serving
Concentration is the best way to stay competitive
Dan at his flamboyant best
After winning an almost impossible point against Dan
Lance with his bullet serves - too bad there is a net inbetween
Dan with one of his classy returns
Lance is a special kind of a tennis player
Dan going for the kill
So yeah it turned out to be a relaxing weekend. Just what the doctor ordered.
Till later,
Amit
Labels: Tennis
I'm not there
It has been a nice weekend and it can be easily summed up in 2 words - biryani and tennis. I cooked Sindhi Chicken Biryani on Saturday and that basically took up a big chunk of the day - shopping for ingredients and the cooking. The result was delicious and now I have enough for 3 days. :-)
And today was tennis - Dan Grade and Fraser Ross, ex-classmates from South Seas days came over and we had a doubles tennis match. Lance & Me v/s Fraser& Dan - and we won the match 7-5; 3-6 ; 6-2. It was a hard fought victory especially considering that we were down 5-1 in the first set. All bones are still in place and nothing is broken or pulled at the end of the game, so I am happy. After the game all of us went and saw '
I'm Not There' and it was a good movie- fantastic acting and fantastic everything but it was half an hour too long.
So that was my weekend - pretty much. I did some other small stuff but those 2 things sum up my 2 recent days of life.
Thats me for now.
Amit
Labels: Food, Movies, Tennis
Rumble
So what do I write about? Movies? My movies? Books? Well - I guess the big thing for me is that FIVE soundtrack is complete and it has been mailed off to the company in US. It will only be available as a download instead of as a traditional CD as that reduces headache for me by not having to keep constant track of orders and mailing the orders, especially considering that Unkreative Artists is not a record label. It also keeps the costs down. I am pleased with the overall soundtrack as the compilation is rounded off nicely by trimming down on the dead spaces and ambient undertones, so what you get is 36 minutes of eventful music. Big thumbs up to the composers - Spencer Powell, Jamie Newman and Andrew McMillan as well to Benji for compiling the soundtrack beautifully.
I mailed off the DVDs of FIVE to 2 different outlets, so I can make it available for DVD quality download for PC as well as for portable devices like ipod and PSP; along with normal DVD sales. So more status update on that once those things go live. But before I stop on this topic - here is a thought for consideration '
Grace is Gone' - an independent movie starring John Cusack was picked up by Weinstein company for $4 million (that's $ 4,000,000) and to date it has earned back $37,000 in ticket sales. It will probably make that money back through cable TV sales and DVD release but it still highlights the plight of independent cinema and if you don't have a name on board the movie then you can but just hope. There are examples where smaller movies have made it huge but those you can count on your fingertips.
I watched '
Charlie Wilson's War' and it was an OK movie - the acting is brilliant but somehow the truncated runtime on this one seems to have done more harm than good. Tom Hanks is brilliant and so is Philip Seymour Hoffman. The last 20 odd minutes of the movie kind of spoil the real nice build up. It is a good watch neverthless. It was weird seeing the movie because in the book 'Ghost Wars' that I read recently Charlie Wilson was in the book for 4 pages out of the 600 page book.
I am loving the tennis lessons - I think for me the best part of learning a new game is trying to master a skill which you never thought you had. I reckon serving is the hardest bit in tennis (even though it only accounts for 4-5% of the game time) - it takes a lot of skill and precision to get the ball in correctly. Forehands are fun and probably constitute about 80% of the game.
Anyway I will probably go off on a different tangent, so will stop for now.
Amit
Labels: Five, Movies, Music, Tennis
Junebug
Junebug is a small gem of a movie. It is so human and fragile and real that the journey is even harder to take with the characters you see on screen. All the performances are bang on target and Amy Adams is fantastic in the movie - her character drives the movie in a way. Watch it if you get a chance.
I also watched '
The Pursuit of Happyness' and watching it after Junebug just made it look just so fake and sugary even though it is based on a true story. Maybe watching it on it's own some other time my opinion would have been different but as it is - I thought it was just an OK movie.
I had my first
tennis lesson today and we just focussed on forehand, which was good because I didn't have to run around - which meant that I didn't strain my hamstring. which is recovering nicely. It is so much fun when you get it right.
Till later,
Amit
Labels: Movies, Tennis
Razor
Festive SeasonIt is that time of the year here in NZ where everyone goes crazy doing Christmas shopping and closer to Christmas the entire country comes to a virtual standstill. The main streets are decorated with various stuff and it just kicks in the point that we need periods of extravagance like these to connect with people we care about. If only we could connect with people and be good to each other all the time.
I just watched
Battlestar Galactica: Razor - it was an interesting watch and adds a little more plot detail before the last season kicks off. The only thing that bugged me is that they did not add more threads to tie it up tighter to Season-4.
I had a day off work today and it has been a nice relaxing day. Played some tennis with Lance {he started teaching me how to play the game and this is the first time ever i put my hands on a tennis racket, so was nice to lose the set 6-5}; watched the BSG movie {refer to above paragraph}; lazed around and have now started reading
Mister Pip by Llyod Jones, which is turning out to be a fantastic read.
Maybe I should get some pending work done tomorrow. :-)
Till later,
Amit
Labels: Books, Festival, Tennis, TV Series
End of the first match
Start of the second match
