Michael Palin's Himalayas, Episode 4, lou dobbs

I few hour ago I watched the episode 4 of Michael Palin's Himalayas. In this episode Palin travels to Tibet. I had already viewed the snippets at his website but watching the whole documentary was awesome. It was one of the most detailed till date I watched on Tibet. The pottala palace in Lhasa is 13 story high and what a spectacular view it commands, it used to be the tallest building before the advent of skyscrappers. I really loved this video.
Andy is back so now I am eagerly looking forward to my first sky diving experience. Other than that I watched some more forgetful flicks like chaltey chaltey, lakeer etc. Won't even recommend it to you. Meanwhile my class on engineering statistics is getting increasingly interesting. Thanks to Dr. Mugdadi, he is doing a fine job explaining the concepts, supplanting with lots of homework. The class on Geography is kool with Dr. Horsley.
I was reading the newest edition of Getis, Getis and Fellman and was pleasantly surprised to discover Population Implosion. Few days back I also mulled the same thought. In the Times of India newspaper I read about some one Piyali Dasgupta claiming that today's women just wants children and a loving husband inspite of thier new found freedom. Well this is debatable and the fertility statistics should convince her. The latest I found on the fertility rate might shock people who are not reading about this stuff. It was sweet to discover the fertility rate in India going down from 3.2 some years back to 2.79 now. Here is the link http://www.cia.gov/CIA/publications/factbook/rankorder/2127rank.html Some of the countries like Taiwan, Singapore and Hongkong figures with the lowest fertility rate and almost 100 countries have fertility rate less than 2.1. Also the newest edition of getis, getis and fellman talks about population implosion at page 195 and fancy global depopulation could commence before midcentury. Now thats a time to call Lou Dobbs attention. He has been getting paranoid these days about China. His red star rising has become a daily rant. First it was lenovo deal and now this deal of Unocal. He contradicts himself, he has amply made known that he is against Chinese growing business ties with USA and America's decision to join CAFTA. He derides latin american countries of being too small to do any worthwhile trade with US and at the same time he gets concerned when chinese develop more economic relations with latin american countries. He is always conjuring fears of other countries turning hostile towards US, its time for him to go outside and be realistic rather than having nightmares and making himself a laughing stock. He has to realize that the era of world domination is over and we are now moving towards an era of boundryless world, where everybody has equal rights and opportunities.
In between I have just got a copy of "Why I am not a Muslim" by Ibn Warraq. Hopefully it will be an interesting read since it was written before 9-11 so it shouldn't be that sentimental. However from the first few pages I have skimmed it seems it takes a hard look at Rushdie's fatwa for his "Satanic Verses".

Few weeks back I went to this Circus in Marion with Jennifer. It reminded me of the last circus I attended in Bhimtal. It has the same kind of small town feeling. Aside from the normal stuff of Tiger jumping, Trapeeze, Joker shown and other. It had a mexican troupe performing with skipping rope to which an end has a bead or something. It was something different and I liked it very much. 

This is a scence from the story session at boat docks during Dragon boat festival. I am in love with chinese story telling. This was so funny 

Last Sunday, I spend time with my Nepalese Friends. We had a barbeque and a perfect evenning. In this pic from the top are Dipendra, Raman, Julia, Archana, Prakahji's wife, Bijay, Prakahji, Sumant, Sailesh and Manoj. It was the first time I talked to Dipendra and he is so witty and down to earth. He is also the president of Nepalese student association. Meeting with Raman and Julia was fun too. Raman also has a license for sky jumping, so I am now looking forward to my first sky jumping shortly ! The night after Manoj and I watched "The Sawshank Redemption". 

Some Predictions for coming years

Well I am taking a class in Geography and its a part of core curriculum. So far we have discussed things like El Nino, Volcanoes, Global Warming. My professor Doc Horsley is an interesting person. I especially liked his lectures on Global Warming and how it affects the perception of people. The main theory is that we are producing lots of Carbon dioxide and it will raise the temperature of earth considerably and it will lead to polar ice melting and consequently submerging of lots of low lying area. The doomsday graphy of ocean boundary was pretty interesting. However my prediction is going to be on the different thing its regarding the population in India. Lot has been written about the population of India becoming so much. From what I read the current prediction for world population is 12 billion by 2054. However I feel it will miss the mark, by how much I can't say now but I wouldn't be surprised if it misses by a billion or 2. The reason I think so is that our society is changing so rapidly that not many people really understand its consequence on the people's attitude and sex life. Other thing I see is more and more countries dismantling the artificial boundaries. Like Euro rail there will be trans asian rail network and probably a trans euro asian rail road network. Streching all the way to Africa and could be to American continent. On Religious front there will be more people claiming themselves to be non religious. Vegetarianism will be at fore front. Gay marriages will be common and people will laugh that in 2005 there were people who were opposed to it. Major religion like Islam's growth will be contained. Education will be a big business. More people will be busy updating their educational skills than anything else. People will be living lot longer than they currently live.

Kill Bill, Himalaya, Tai Chi Master

I should have updated this blog recently as I have watched now quite a few movies. These include Himalaya. It was Manoj who told me about this movie when we were discussing about Nepal and then we decided to rent this movie. It wasn't available at Hollywood but we found it easily at Family Video.

Himalaya is a story set in the beautiful Dolpo region of Nepal. The story is about a Chief who suspects the most loved guy "Karma" of his village to have killed his son. Karma has good heart, loves his daughter and even the chief. But the chief is so much angry with Karma that he even persuades his other son to join him and belittle Karma. The end is good and the movie has some of the most stunning landscape. Its a visual treat and since I watched it on a 61 inch television, I swear it was mind blowing. A must watch movie for anyone who loves story and want to watch some awesome scenery.

Kill Bill
The first time I watched Kill Bill 1 (in bits and pieces) at University hall and I wasn't impressed. But this time I watched both the movies back to back, courtsey Jennifer's DVD. If you love action this is a movie to watch. The action is superb and the wire fu is definitely a treat. Uma Thruman is awesome. Besides the action scence if you pay attention to the music then its pretty neat. Different scences have different music which enhances the mood and scence appreciably. The Kill Bill 2 is not so much action as part 1. I liked the trainning part with Chinese master is fun. I will defnitely remember the 5 point technique. While the first part is pretty fast its only when you see the second part you can appreciate the full movie as the second part tells you the whole story.

Tai Chi Masters
I loved this movie and believe it had one of the best action. Really fast. Jet li is awesome. Like most Hong Kong martial art movies it has comedy and action together. I don't recall any moment where I was bored in this movie. Fantastic movie.

Last week I went to Lombard. Its an italian resturant in Herin. We were 5 people Sumant, Jialing, Tomei, Kazuko and David. They had live music and here is the photograph of the all in one DJ, Vocalist and Pianist. It was fun to see Jeff and Auda there. It was Tomei's last friday night outing before he went back to Japan. We had talked about this resturant last week when we went to Apple bees with Bill and his wife. 

Napolean Dynamite, Phantom of Opera, Star Wars III

Well holidays are a time when I watch lots of movies and these holidays have been fun. Since my last update I have watched some more movies. These also include Napolean Dynamite and The Phantom of Opera. Two more hindi movies Jurm and Kuch kuch hota hai.

Its better if I don't write about Jurm as I don't want to spew any invectives. Kuch Kuch hota hai is one of the biggest hits in Hindi movie. No doubt the songs are quite hummable. The cinematography is excellent and you have some breathtaking locales in scotland.The story line is a little different, acting by everyone is great but the screenplay is where the movie irritates and stupid and its a rude awakenning to our cinema when I recently watched some of the best movies like "The road home", "The king of masks" and "Not a one less" and that leaves no doubt in mind why main stream bollywood movies don't even get nominated to be shown in big film festivals.

Jennifer got these two movies "Napolean Dynamite" and "The phantom of opera". I finished both of these today. Napolean Dynamite is indeed very funny. It is not one continious movie rather it is number of anecdotes sewn together. It is about this nerdy guy who is kind of misfit in his class and his mexican friend Pedro. The Phantom of Opera is a visual delight. The music is awesome. It is one of those things that you have heard about so often and if you don't know you feel kind of strange. Here is a link where you can get more information about the Phantom of Opera. http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/The%20Phantom%20of%20the%20Opera
I also watched Star Wars III and its spectacular. Even though I haven't watched the other star wars picking up the story was not difficult. So I am now planning to watch all the episodes.
The other DVD I have watched is "Why Mosquito Buzz in People's Ear". Its a funny collection of 3 stories. The other two stories include "The Village ofRound and Square houses" and "The Story of Story". All three are delightful.
The other movie I am half way through is "Walking life". Its animation and its pretty serious movie. Its about a guy who is dreaming and in his dreams he is meeting all kinds of people and listenning to thier vibes. I would say it is more of spritual nature and touches on many aspects of life, the way we think. I would have more to say about this fantastic movie when I am finished.

Words Claque, Spew, Dint

Its been a while since I made an honest attempt to learn new words. So here are few from RD Canada

Claque "hired applauders"
People hired to applaud at a theatre or an opera performance; group of fawning admirers. French claquer (to clap).

Dint
Force or power implying persistence and vigour; as, The tennis player won by dint of will, skill and enthusiasm. Old English dynt (stroke, blow).

Font
Productive source; as, Our guide was a font of information about Rome's history. Also, a church baptismal basin. Latin fons (spring; fountain

Whit
Least possible amount; particle; iota; as, He has changed not one whit. Perhaps an alteration of Middle English wiht (creature).

Ruck
Large quantity or number; great mass of average people or things; as, the ruck of curious bystanders. Also, competitors left behind in a race. Old Norse hroki (heap, pile).

Brook
To tolerate; put up with; as, The teacher will not brook sloppy language. Old English brouken (to use; enjoy).

Wile
Trickery or craftiness; as, She saw through the con man's wiles. Old English wigle (magic).