The twitweek that was… 2009-12-13

• RT @phonelicious: Spiderman IV Villains Announced image Anne Hathaway to menace Tobey Maguire? #
• mmhm.. Well.. Super Star Rajni was Born today.. If I wish him on twitter will he notice it? Waste of twit #
• Indian pacer S Sreesanth tested positive for the swine flu virus, H1N1 http://is.gd/5ktwT #
• Google #wave invites anyone? Have 5 invites left #
• RT @ManiKarthik: The sexiest santa I’ve ever seen – http://bit.ly/8TbB4o #
• Interesting read RT @yohanik: Why Women Don’t Have Sex Scandals http://bit.ly/92P5dd #
• The lens cleaning cloth given with Crizal lens as OEM… is of quality like.no.other. Super stuff #

Law Abiding Citizen – Movie Review

Title: Law Abiding Citizen
Language: English
Starring: Gerald Butler and Jamie Foxx

Clyde (Gerald Butler) is a super intelligent person with a wife and a 10-year-old kid. One day a couple of crooks break into his house and brutally murders his wife and daughter. Nick (Jamie Foxx) is the assistant district attorney who is handling the case. Due to lack of pressing evidence he strikes a deal with one of the captured murderer and gets him to testify against the other murderer. The second murderer is given death sentence while the one who testified walks away with 10 years RI. Clyde is not happy with it. In fact he is not happy with the entire legal system. He vows to bring the legal system to its knees.

After 10 years when the murderer is released, Clyde brutally murders him. He cuts him alive into 25 pieces and tapes the entire execution. Nick and the police department together figure out that Clyde is the murder and arrest him. But they don’t have any hard evidence against him and they need his confession. The real game starts now. Clyde makes a series of demands in exchange of his confession and other odd requirements in Jail. Nick and the DA’s office yield to his demands only to find more bodies to bag. Clyde continues to stage the murder of prominent people in the Philadelphia legal system and he proves to be unstoppable, though he is in jail. Nick looses all his colleagues to Clyde’s carnage and he tries really hard to figure out how Clyde manages to carry out the murders from within the cell walls.

The plot of the movie is wonderfully woven to give a gripping experience. The story questions the legal system of USA, but it’s quite valid for many other countries too. But with such a weak system in place, how to mend it? The answer isn’t there in the movie climax. Instead the climax is very cinematic and totally absurd. But all credit goes to Gerard Butler and Jamie Foxx who work perfect against each other. They have moulded themselves into the characters they play. Jamie Foxx as a prejudiced lawyer and Gerald Butler as an intelligent con murderer with lots of vengeance and a point to make, have clearly played their roles to pinnacle.

This movie is worth a watch, but the climax can be skipped. Be warned that the movie has a lot of brutal violence.

gAdvice: Watch it… jump the climax

gRate: 3.5/5

The twitweek that was… 2009-12-06

• Christina, the better half of Mahela, is shattered and so are many other Lankan supporters. Mahela Jayawardene c Dhoni b Zaheer 12(24) #
• Penelope Cruz http://is.gd/5cOYR [pure awesomeness] #
• Twitter lists and @TweetDeck are made for each other #
• RT @cathzz: RT @steph1985: #followfriday @sushmeet@dunkdaft @artfanatic411 @benjezzy @_Aditi @Shadez @Chetan_Gole @cathzz @ishwarkanse #
• Watching ‘Planet 51′ #

A peek into the southern most tip of AFRICA

I would like to introduce, Gowri Shenbagaraman. Hostel and College days brought us together and life from then on, stuck us together for ever. Gowri is an MBA professional, graduated from TAPMI with specialization in Human Resource. He is in Zambia working for Konkola Copper Mines, a part of The Vedanta Group of Companies.

The following is a travelogue, as penned by him based on his experience from his recent visit to South Africa.

Myself, my wife Laxmi and parents visited Cape Town & oudtshorn in SA on Nov 09.  Our first stop was Cape Town,”The mother city” widely considered to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world and a must see for any visitor to this part of the world.

The first things that hits you as you move into cape town  is whether you have taken a wrong flight and landed somewhere in Europe, yes it is completely a white dominated area. As you travel into the city from airport  “We can’t wait, Lets Go 2010” boards dot the skyline showing SAs much advanced preparation for 2010 trying to do a Beijing 08 out here. Infact in FIFA 2010 ,it  is pride of Africa that is at stake and all African countries are upbeat about that with record 6 African teams participating and Ghana and Ivory Coast having a chance to cause major upsets.

We stayed at a place called Camps Bay .Most accommodations here are self catering .I realized later why it became like that. The first day morning mother woke us up to see that majestic table mountain right next to our place.  Cape Town is actually a peninsula. Table Mountain is the one that adds additional beauty to this city compared to other sea side cities. This mountain bisects the city and wherever you go you could see the mountain staring in front of you. (Remember Newlands Cricket stadium) .Much of the Porsche localities are nestled in between the mountain and the Atlantic.  We first went to camps bay beach called as the “Other LA”… the best beach in the city with lot of places to hangout. We took the Hop on Hop off Bus and there we had our first look at this beautiful city. We were bowled over by the beauty. May be had we visited Europe or US before the excitement could have been less. For the next 15 Kms or so, with  Atlantic on one side,sea side, joggers, pet dogs, surfers, swimmers along the entire coast and beautiful  resorts and cottages dotting the other side.   Unlike India though there is commercial exploitation they have done it beautifully hence converted all olden houses into modern accommodations without altering the skyline. Then I got to see what I have been waiting for , The green point  Stadium, right next to the sea , the  Venue where  I will be coming to see the Quarter finals next years. FIFA has gone on record that this would be the most spectacular foot ball stadium in the world for its superb location.

Swift VDi – Test Drive [5 min review]

So far I have checked 3 hatchback and I was not completely satisfied with any of them. Either it was the high price or the low spec that kept them at bay. Maruthi Suzuki Swift is one of the most common hatchback you can find in Indian roads. It’s no more a car that can make heads turn. But the design of the car is such that, it can be modified and pimped up to make heads turn. Maruthi cars in India have been a success story from day one. There is a Maruthi authorized service center in almost every part of the country and even a basic car mechanic can fix the car in minutes. No other car manufacturer has studied the pulse of the nation and its roads, like Maruthi Suzuki has mastered. Most of their cars have a good resale value and buying a Maruthi is a very safe bet. My Dad’s first car was Maruthi 800. It was an integral part of our family. The tag line “India comes home in Maruthi”and that advertisement connects with us as much as it connects with any Indian family.

A Maruthi is already parked in our garage. It’s a Maruthi Swift Dzire VDi, the sedan version of Maruthi Swift. This car is totally awesome and its the best value for money one can get in Indian Automotive market. But we already have a Maruthi, and I was reluctant to get another Swift into the house. With much reluctance and with not much options left, I called for a Test drive. The local dealer got the Demo car. It was a Swift VDi version and I expected it to have all the features of the Swift dZire VDi. But it doesn’t come with the integrated Audio system like the one in dZire. Plus there were a few other minor features missing.

I don’t have anything new to talk about the Swift. But this particular Demo car was an aging horse. It was not maintained well and it didn’t give me the driving pleasure unlike my year old Swift dZire. So I sent away the car and called up a friend who owns the Swift, but the petrol version. After driving it around, I felt that I must definitely drive a diesel version, if at all I have to choose a Swift. The driving experience in a petrol version Swift is much different than the diesel version.

Still waiting to test drive a Diesel Swift and the decision is more likely to be in favor of Maruthi.