Revenge of the Sith : A Review

The beginning of the end, or the end of the beginning or the beginning of the beginning?
Ummm, just so we can get the general tenor of this review out from the beginning:
I am a Star Wars Nut. As a 5 year old kid growing up in Hong Kong, I used to come home EVERY DAY after school, and put on the first Star Wars movie (which is now known as Episode 4 – A New Hope). So much so that I know every dialogue, complete with R2-D2’s beeps, every piece of music which plays in the background at each particular time, and also when the commercial breaks are about to appear (I had a tattered VHS cassette of it in Hong Kong – and now of course am the proud owner of the DVD).

Yes, we can discuss the possible repercussions this may have had on my future(lack of exercise, lack of women, hypertension, e.t.c), but let’s save that for some other time.

So Revenge of the Sith. Yes, it beats Episodes 1 & 2 hollow (i.e. The Phantom Menace, & Attack of the Clones). But it’s still a little bit below episodes 4,5,6.

Sure the effects are perfect and the dialogue is cheesy (this is a Star Wars tradition – it’s just that when Harrison Ford would say cheesy lines, he’d sound cool saying them).

The battle scenes kick ass. Enough light-sabre duels and general laser-gun stuff to keep you going through the first half.

Sometimes people wonder: Why couldn’t the Jedi Council detect the Dark Side – well they say as much in Epsiode 2- that their power to use the Force has diminished. Besides, if Sidious/Palpatine is as powerful as he says, he probably found a way to avoid being detected as ‘evil’ – sure the audience already knows he’s the emperor, but that’s besides the point.

Plus I think it’s very believable that the Jedis could have been duped – they just hung around like a bunch of pompous poopcakes, plotting and scheming as much as the Emperor. It showed why Anakin would be confused about where his loyalties should lie. Sure the Jedi are meant to be the goodies, but in this movie they did come across as just another bunch of politicians scheming for their own “noble” ends.

And then Anakin’s fall. Although you understand why he falls and switches over to “The Dark Side”, you still don’t see how he does this – more time should have been devoted to this. Sure you get an inkling of this in Episode 2 with the slaughter of the Sand People…but somehow it just seems missing here. Anakin seems to give up meekly after he kills Mace Windu (played really well by Samuel L. Jackson).

There’s that – and then there’s the fact that it seems Yoda gives up a little quickly too, when he almost kicks the Emperor’s ass. But in his defence, we could say lots of things. Maybe he wearied of the fight, maybe the grief of all those dead children, and what was to come distratced him, making him weaker, maybe maybe maybe. Who can say? Lucas left a bit too much to our imagination.

But the fight between Anakin and Obi-Wan was too good. It was brilliant. Obi-Wan was a really well fleshed-out character, and you can see him growing older and turning into Alec Guiness. As proof, I saw Episode 4 after watch Sith, and yes, Alec Guiness retains the spunk that was given to Obi-Wan by Ewan McGregor. Nice transitioning.

And the closing scenes – when the helmet slowly slips on for the first time, and you here the breathing begin… sent chills down my spine at least…

And the final scene back by the igloo on Tattoine makes you want to see episodes 4,5,6 again – which is what I’m now in the process of doing. And it’s fun to compare a young Anakin to a young Luke and Leia. And even more fun to see Darth Vader in full action, knowing that once upon a time he was a nice young WASPy boy.

Definitely worth a watch.

I think that Star Wars should actually be watched in the following way:

Watch episodes 3,4,5,6, in that order. And leave episodes 1 & 2 as appendices, for those who like a lot of (not-so-well-made) Back Story…

Oh and to those who don’t think much of Star Wars, I don’t have much to say to you except that you have a very limited imagination. Sometimes, the best way to tell a story, and to project a message, is to dress it up, and tell it in an indirect sort of way (in case you missed it, it’s all about Fall and Redemption, with some family values and politics thrown in to boot). The authors of the Mahabharat and Ramayan (be they Supernatural. or simply Natural) could see that. Lord of the Rings, and it’s derived works (Star Wars) are merely Anglo-Saxon attempts of doing the same….but they have a lot of Eastern philosophy embedded in them too…

A trip to the seven islands

I went to Bombay/Mumbai…
Long post – be warned!
Ok, so the next best thing to being rich, is having a brother-in-law who is Managing Director (South Asia) for a gigantic American Bank. This means that when you visit Bombay, you don’t get to have fun with the rest of of the commoners. You don’t get to wander the beach aimlessly (though I suppose I could have if I really wanted to). You don’t get to ride the bright red BEST buses, and you don’t get to be flattened like a chapati in the local trains…but there are compensations. You do get to ride around in an S-Class Mercedes (which has reclining rear seats, among other things). You do get to live in South Bombay (Malabar Hill), and have a frikking glorious view of the sea. You also have a duplex flat/apartment. This may not seem like a big deal to some, but Bombay is to India what New York is to USA (in more ways than one). Now maybe you can appreciate what it means to have a duplex apartment. Oh, you also get to watch “The Last Samurai” on a screen which retracts from the wall, and has a picture projected on to it from an overhead projector while 6 speakers blast the sound at you from all different angles…Anyway, I took a few atypical pictures of bombay (beware, I am an AWFUL picture taker), so “read more”

Note: Clicking on the pictures takes you to a larger size image.

Ok so this first pic is a view of Marine Drive (also known as the Queen’s Necklace, you shall soon see why)..

Just some random Bombay skyline…

Ok I couldn’t stop obessing over the brownish building to the left hand side of this photo. It’s a building called ‘Haveli’ and the unbelievably brilliant architect did the following: He created duplexes (or is there some other plural), and EACH floor has this HUGE triangular balcony, which most of the residents were using as a garden. I have yet to see this idea replicated in either New York or Hong Kong (but somebody correct me if I’m wrong). Someday I will rich and vulgar enough to buy one of those places.

Ok, once upon a time, there were lots of textile mills in Bombay. Well they all went bust, and of course, the logical step in the evolution of that land is in the form of bowling alleys, restaurants, and shops. So I present to you Phoenix Mills, complete with a McDonald’s to the right, and Spaghetti Kitchen (yummy Italian food) to the left.

Some random building facing Phoenix Mills…

How many McDonald’s do you know of, that come with their own smokestacks?

Ah. Marine Drive by night. Do I have to explain why it’s nicknamed the Queen’s Necklace? It’s also a place where lovers go for moonlit walks. I would go there, it’s jsut I don’t have any partner to take with me Someday, I swear, I’ll stop being the software geek and wow the world by wooing a woman…in the meantime… I have some surfing to do…(no, not on Shaadi.com).

Ok, this is a VERY SMALL and NARROW take on Bombay. The city is a lot bigger, and has a LOT more crazy things about it. I’ve only covered about 0.0000000001% of the city (duh), and that too from a rich, elitist standpoint – plus I was only there for the weekend. There are beaches, and slums, and movie stars and gangsters and pao bhaji, and bhel puri, and Trishna Seafood Restaurant and Swati Snacks, and Gateway of India and Elephanta Island and Parsis and Reliance Interactive Movie-on-demand Cable Television (just about to start up soon) and really-good-driving-compared-to-the-rest-of-India and why Rohinton-Mistry-and-his-stupid-book-A-Fine-Balance-can-F-off which need to be talked about, which I don’t have the space for here, and will refrain talking about, because I’m a Delhi-ite.

A few more notes (What I learned on my way from The City(Delhi) to The City(Bombay))
1) Do not fly Air Deccan. I understand that they are a low-cost carrier and all, but please, surely water can be served for free? That being said, I booked my tickets on a Wednesday (for Friday) for Rs. 7500 return (that’s US$170).

2) My title is called Seven Islands, because once upon a time Bombay used to be seven islands (or was it 9), which eventually started reclaiming land during British Rule, and ended up as the out-stretched hand known as Bombay). Question – why did they stop reclaiming land? Hong Kong reclaims some land every year – 20 years on, it’s unrecognizable!

Till next time, folks

I’m Home

Mera Bharat…well Sadda Dilli Mahaan, at least…
It’s 38 Degrees outside. This means we’re all melting.

People drive in Delhi like people weave through the New York crowds….

They have implemented Queueing at the IGI Airport. They’ve also turned on the escalator, and are replacing the tacky marble which made the airport look like a bathroom with that modern steel look. There is a bright and clean counter opened by the Tourism Ministry, to HELP tourists(unfathomable)! There are no customs agents waiting to harass you and go through your bag from goodies brought over from “The Decadent West”

As the plane descends into Delhi, you see a lot more bright lights than you used to.

The roads are in good condition.

As soon as you walk off the plane, your nose is assaulted with the smell of dust, courtesy the dust storms blowing in from nearby Rajasthan- which everybody else confuses for air pollution.

The cellphone rings, and I almost disconnect and run to the land-line…when I realize incoming is free. And I don’t have to hop on one leg until I get good network coverage.

There is a buzz in the air, of activity, of growth, of life.

I’m jet-lagged.

I’m home.

So Long New York (and thanks for all the Fish!)

While I’m waiting to be sent home…

Deesha.org. !#@#!@##$#%#%#$!$#!#@
As can be visibly seen on my blog, I dislike Deeshaa.org. I dislike it for lots of reasons. The latest is its attempt to mock and denigrate the Indian Software Industry. The Indian Software Industry is a subject I know reasonable amount about….so when I saw the most recent post, I had to comment on it. But I’m banned from Deeshaa.org because I seem to be the only dissenting voice among its sycophants, so my posts usually get deleted from it. So this time I posed as someone called Vivek, and instead of my usual diatribe, proceeded to answer the !#$ker with a thought-out response…. hehe. I mention this simply because I want to show what obvious bias lies in Deeshaa.org. A few friends of mine have accused me of being too-biased as well, in the opposite direction – my justification for it is that there is too much negative press and I am merely correcting that imbalance. The war continues…

I’m leaving….

…On a Jet Plane. E.t.c. e.t.c.
So at last my departure date approaches – just 4 more days since I cross continents and get back into the Sub-Continent.

In the meantime, I notice I’m not the only Voice who think s/he’s from a 2.5-World Country. There are other bloggers noticing that India’s a 2.5-World country too…..

Here

and

Here

Great going, guys!

Some Voyeurism

Spin the globe, and where do I land?

So here’s a big glass window looking into my current state of affairs:

Bank C hires big American Software Company U to do some projects for them.

Big American Software Company U comes up with the following bright idea:
Bill Bank C at $300/hour, and outsource all the work to employees(me) of Indian Software Company H, which bills work at $90/Hour (of which the poor employees don’t see any of…)

A few million dollars and 2 years later, Bank C realizes that software company U has done an awful job with the project is considering suing Big Software Company U.

Mercifully, the employees of Indian Software Company H, who the work was outsourced to at a very late stage (long after the project was about to explode in everybody’s face) will not be held liable, but will have to be shifted to other projects, as this one is coming to an early end, and may it rest in peace!

This whole episode will give rise to the next post, which shall be titled:
What I learned in a failed software project in the City

In the meantime however, I will be leaving New York. My current choices are as follows:

I can either be sent to Clinton(no, not Clanton as mentioned in the John Grisham books), Mississississississippippippi or New Delhi, India. I am to be interviewed by the Mississippi client today, and am thinking of purposely flunking the Interview so that I can be sent back home (and then go kiss my boss’s back side and get sent to Singapore or Australia. Yummy!).

So those are my two choices. Does anybody have any insight into Mississippi. I’ve have only heard nasty things about it so far.

It’s meant to be the poorest state in Country. They apparently still lynch coloured people over there, and you have to allegedly enter some restaurants through the back door, because coloured people aren’t allowed in the main part of the restaurant.

Can anybody confirm these allegations? Is there any truth to them? Or are they just exaggerations?

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