Okay, so I'm publishing one week behind.. but the point is that the learning is cultivated -- and that it is

Sojourn

The Back Story
A woman named Arwyn, her dog Kreeg, and a one-eyed man named Gareth travel throughout the lands of the planet Quin looking for 5 shards of a magic arrow to defeat the evil dictator of the land, Mordath. -- Plot for a film?? Not quite, this is the description of a comic I used to collect. So what's the relevance? It was called 'Sojourn'. How come I haven't hard of it (assuming you haven't)? Well, if you ask the average man of the street to name 5 comics, they'll probably reel off the superhero films/comics that have been prominent, these tend to come from the worlds of Marvel and DC.

'Sojourn' was part of a whole different universe by a company called CrossGen. They made some pretty neat comics, original & interesting stories, amongst them were Negation, Ruse, they even started one called Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.. all very different genre-wise, but they did encompass a common thread too.

The unfortunate scarring events that followed in my sojourn in the world of CrossGen is that somewhere along the way, it all went terribly wrong for them -- they got some bad publicity and when this happens to a small company, naturally troubles in the finances department soon followed. CrossGen went bankrupt in 2004, with numerous titles ending abruptly / incomplete.

By this point I had stopped getting all but 2 Marvel comics (Hulk and Punisher). Soon after this loss, I stopped getting comics altogether.

Sunday'

Plot Outline:
A murder is committed. Sehar (Ayesha Takia) wakes Monday morning with unexplained scratch marks on her neck, Supari (Contract) killers out to kill her, A taxi driver who turns pale and yells 'bhoot, bhoot' (ghost, ghost) every time he sees her & this is just the beginning. Seher is at first amused, then mystified and then terrified when she realises she has a connection with all these totally unconnected incidents. but she can't remember a thing,

Sehar's world turns topsy-turvy when she gets a clue about the missing Sunday of her life, which points to a possible violent attack on her.

A.C.P Rajveer (Ajay Devgan) takes up the case to sort out the complicated and jumbled up threads of Sehar's life. In the process of solving Sehar's case it comes to light that on Sunday, a whole bunch of different people interacted with her and amongst them, one is likely to be the accused to now a double-homicide.

The list is a long stream of unknowns, so we begin with Sehar's close friend Ritu (Anjana Sukhani) who was last seen with her on the Saturday night, leading us to a number of random people including Ballu (Arshad Warsi) the taxi driver, his regular passenger & struggling actor friend Kumar (Irrfan Khan) amongst numerous others.

As each of the people are questioned, we patch together the missing Sunday to reveal the culprit behind the murder.

In the Valley of Elah

Plot Outline:
The film tells the story of war veteran Hank Deerfield (Tommy Lee Jones), his wife Joan (Susan Sarandon) and the search for their son Mike (Jonathan Tucker), a soldier who recently returned from Iraq but has mysteriously gone missing.

Sergeant Deerpoint is uncertain that the version of events being given to him by the army he once served with respect and love are true. He doggedly questions the army investigators with the aid of Detective Emily Sanders (Charlize Theron).

Officially, every army door is closed in his face, but between an ex-army man's pull with the people with an uncanny knack for hands-on investigation, and the one detective looking to solve the mystery rather than discard it, between them they investigate using whatever resources they have accessible, to eventually put together all the evidence.

Eventually, from the 'off-the-record' materials and investigation, they finally piece together the events of the tragedy, but even through all the difficulty it has taken to reach results, sometimes finding the truth is easier than facing it.

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

Good Night, The

Plot Outline:
Gary (Martin Freeman) is at a crossroads in his life: As a former pop star who now writes commercial jingles for a living, his job is going nowhere, his wife, Dora (Gwyneth Paltrow), drives him crazy, and he passed his thirtieth birthday four years ago.

Add to that his best friend Paul (Simon Pegg) seems to become more successful every time he breathes. Gary is feeling depressed and dejected... until he meets Anna (Penélope Cruz). She's beautiful and smart; she's sexy and funny. Best of all, she's crazy about Gary. Anna is the girl of Gary's dreams. Thie itch is she is in his dreams .. quite literally.

Naturally that's a problem. Gary can only see Anna in his dream life, so he's got to find a way to carry on the most satisfying relationship of his life, in his dreams. He aims to learn more about lucid dreaming by buying books and even attending classes taught by an eccentric lucid dreaming enthusiast, Mel (Danny DeVito).

Eventually he discovers that the girl about whom he is dreaming does, in fact, exist. Paul arranges the two to meet, but she does not meet up to the expectations that have been built up by Gary's dream version of her. He eventually continues to dream about her, and even soundproofs his apartment, and makes other efforts to be able to sleep longer, so that he can remain with her for longer periods of time, but how long can a dream last if it's not real?

The weekly word idea remains cultivated for now & hasn't seemed to onerous so far..

Carrion

The Back Story
My good friend Tim has been pretty engrossed in his upcoming novel for the last few months, almost lost in the fine-tuning process. Though he seems pretty stressed in recent times I must admit I almost envy him. What he's doing is an admirable thing. He has put aside some savings from his previous career and taken the time out to focus on living out this dream. It's a high-risk investment, it certainly takes guts -- & money ;) .. the latter part is what I'm struggling with.

Anyway, for the entire time I've know him, he's been pretty protective of this current novel (& rightly so), but over the last week, finally he let me read the first few paragraphs.

It's little enough to have my interest peaked, but not enough to really have any idea where the story could possibly go. Yet being the ignorant man with a small vocabulary, within this little extract I did manage to come across a word which I almost pointed out as a typo, instead I asked and learnt the meaning. Now I know what that description in that extract was saying about the protagonist's career choice: Law.

I wasn't too surprised to find a dedicated Wikipedia article on Carrion: It refers to the carcass of a dead animal. Carrion is an important food source for large carnivores and omnivores in most ecosystems. Examples of carrion-eaters, or scavengers, include hyenas, vultures, .. you get the point. I also manage to use the word carrion when describing the meat pies in Sweeney Todd to somebody. Actually I forced it into conversation but we're all allowed that to some degree.

AVPR: Aliens vs Predator - Requiem

Plot Outline:
Onboard the Predator ship (and immediately after the events of Alien vs. Predator) we see the body of Predator erupt with a Chestburster. The chestburster has taken the characteristics of the predator and quickly grows into a new hybrid (Pred-alien). It sneaks into a Predator Scout ship that was attached to the main ship and attacks and kills another Predator. In an attempt to kill the creature another Predator fires away inadvertently damaging the ship, causing it to crash in the forests outside the town of Gunnison, Colorado. The last surviving Predator from the crash activates a distress signal to its home world, just before it is killed by the Pred-alien.

The distress signal reaches the Predator home world and is answered by a battle scarred Predator ("Wolf"). He views a recording from the Predator's mask that caused the ship to crash-land. He watches how the Predalien killed crew members, the ship's crash, and knows Aliens are loose on Earth. He prepares his gear, selects a mask, and departs.

A man & his son hunting in the forests near the crash site soon become the first victims of the facehuggers, once the Predator arrives and seeks out the Pred-alien, the inhabitants of the town become targets of the Aliens and the Predator as they battle it out.

Sweeney Todd:
The Demon Barber of Fleet Street'

Plot Outline:
Based on the hit broadway musical by High Wheeler and Stephen Sondheim, which tells the story of Benjamin Barker.

After hard years in exile for a crime he didn't commit, Benjamin Barker now Sweeney Todd (Johnny Depp), returns to London to find his wife dead and his daughter in the hands of the evil Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman).

In his anger, Sweeney goes on a murderous rampage on all London, with the help of Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter), he re-opens his barber shop in which he lures his victims in with a charming smile before casually ending their life with a flick of his razor across their neck. But not one man killed, nor ten thousands men can satisfy Sweeney's lust for revenge on those who've caused his years of pain.

No Country or Old Men'

Plot Outline:
Based on a novel by Cormac McCarthy, the plot follows the interweaving paths of the three central characters set in motion by events related to a drug deal gone bad near the Mexican-American border in southwest Texas in Terrell County in 1980.

Llewellyn Moss (Josh Brolin) is a welder and Vietnam War veteran who stumbles across the aftermath of a drug-related gun battle which has left everyone dead except a single badly wounded Mexican. Moss finds a truck full of heroin and a satchel with $2 million in cash. He takes the money, but leaves the Mexican alive, which ignites a hunt for Moss and the money.

Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) investigates the drug crime while trying to protect Moss and his young wife with the aid of other law enforcement. Complicating things is the arrival of Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem), a violent sociopath hired to recover the money. Chigurh carries a captive bolt pistol (a compressed air cattlegun) using it to kill many of his victims. Clearly his weapon of choice.

The weekly word idea remains cultivated for now & hasn't seemed to onerous so far..

Recluse

The Back Story
A few weeks back, the pub after work on a Friday evening. The team has got together for their last social venture of the year. As per usual of such an event, people talk, a lot. Most of the subject matter covered tends to be hit or miss. Naturally, when people want my attention, they bring up 'cinema'. My boss did just this.

He spoke of a cool cinema that he had been in Birmingham if I recall correctly. A small one-screen cinema where they ran double-bills. I was informed you got a coffee & cake in between these two films and that the owner (mentioned as a recluse millionaire who ran the place at a loss) came and interacted with the clientèle as they enjoyed their coffee and cake.

Sounded pretty damned awesome huh? I mentioned it sounded like something I'd do in retirement days. My boss was amused, he told me he didn't really see me as a recluse millionaire. I didn't really understand, I figured it'd be due to the debts that he knows I'm in, so I quizzed him about it later. He told me it was both: he didn't really see me as a "recluse" or "millionaire". He thought I was too friendly to be a recluse & he hadn't seen any evidence of my millions. I was confused and mildly offended & I wasn't too sure why. Perhaps it hadn't occurred to him that I had said it was a retirement plan, as in future.. long way ahead in the future. I still have time.

Anyway, I sent a text to my fellow comrade Demon to inquire about what a recluse was. His response was: "Basically, me" (by me he meant him rather than me, but things became clearer.) The boss knows of my fondness of the shift work at the Fortress of Solitude, but I can see how he doesn't perceive me as a recluse. Outwardly I'm good at covering that up, in the end I took it as a compliment. The guys at work really don't know me as well as they should in the three years I've been there & this gives me hope.

I write this today in seclusion, as I woke up with a splitting headache this morning and have skipped off work. I slept through most of the morning & feel a bit better now. So there we have it, one more word in the kitty. I should probably go get some 'fresh' air.

Definitely, Maybe'

Plot Outline:
Ryan Reynolds stars as Will Hayes, a 30-something Manhattan dad in the midst of a divorce when his 10-year-old daughter, Maya (Abigail Breslin), starts to question him about his life before marriage. Maya wants to know absolutely everything about how her parents met and fell in love.

Will's story begins in 1992, as a young, starry-eyed aspiring politician who moves to New York from Wisconsin in order to work on the presidential campaign. For Maya, Will relives his past as an idealistic young man learning the ins and outs of big city politics, and recounts the history of his romantic relationships with three very different women.

He hopelessly attempts a "PG" version of his story for his daughter and changes the names so Maya has to guess who is the woman her father finally married. Is her mother Will's college sweetheart, the dependable girl next-door Emily (Elizabeth Banks)? Is she his longtime best friend and confidante, the apolitical April (Isla Fisher)? Or is she the free-spirited but ambitious journalist Summer (Rachel Weisz)?

As Maya puts together the pieces of her dad's romantic puzzle, she begins to understand that love is not so simple or easy. And as Will tells her his tale, Maya helps him understand that it's really never too late to go back...and maybe find a happy ending.

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead'

Plot Outline:
The film open ups with a robbery of a jewellery store that's gone terribly wrong. We are taken back to a few days before the robbery and the leadup to the heist is shown in the perspective of Hank (Ethan Hawke) going a little past the incident itself. We then get a little more information as we see the same leadup in the pespective of Andy Hanson (Philip Seymour Hoffman), a finance executive in desperate need of money, as he convinces his also strapped brother Hank to rob their parents' jewellery store.

This happens a few times, each time giving us more crucial backstory. Once we get the pre-perspectives done with, it moves forward to the present, the funeral, the attempts to cover up the robbery, the internal investigation, the witnesses, the bribery, the drug habits, the illicit affair. It's all there in this family & it's all coming out.

Charlie Wilson's War'

Plot Outline:
Based on a novel by George Crile, about the events in the early 1980s: Charlie Wilson (Tom Hanks) is a womanizing US congressional representative from Texas who seemed to be in the minor leagues, except for the fact that he is a member of two major foreign policy and covert-ops committees.

Once prodded by his major conservative supporter, Joanne Herring (Julia Roberts), Wilson learns about the plight of the people are suffering in the brutal Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. With the help of the maverick CIA agent, Gust Avrakotos (Philip Seymour Hoffman), Wilson dedicates his canny political efforts to supply the Afghan mujahideen with the weapons and support to defeat the Soviet Union.

He also comes to term with a terrible truth, quoting him directly: These things happened. They were glorious and they changed the world... and then we fucked up the endgame.

Halla Bol'

Plot Outline:
Ashfaque (Ajay Devgan) is a small town boy aspiring to be a film star in the Hindi film industry. He joins a street theatre group run by a reformed dacoit Sidhu (Pankaj Kapur) who uses street theatre as a medium to bring about an awakening in the masses. Ashfaque struggles to give a creative vent to the actor in him in order to realize his dreams. Ashfaque's determined struggle pays off and he gets a break in films. With this he gets a new screen name - Sameer Khan.

With the passage of time, the roles start becoming better and he moves up the success ladder in a very short time becoming a superstar - one who can enact any role with finesse, get under the skin of any and every character with ease and walk away with audience applause. Sadly, amidst all adulation and applause, he slowly loses his own identity. Corruption takes over his entire system, alienating him from all loved ones.

A shocking incident at a party changes everything, rocking Sameer Khan's lifestyle. He gets caught between his human self on one side and his corrupted superstar image on the other. Whether the conflict within him gives way to good sense and whether he is able to discard his corrupted image and emerge as a true life hero, becomes an integral part of this true life cinema.

St. Trinians'

Plot Outline:
St. Trinian's is the sixth in a series of films based on the works of cartoonist Ronald Searle. The first four films form a series, starting with The Belles of St Trinian's in 1954. The books are supposedly based on the Perse School for Girls situated in Cambridge where Searle spent his childhood and where he later trained to be a cartoonist, at the Anglia Ruskin University. This is supposed to be a reboot of the series.

It's about St Trinian's, an anarchical school for uncontrollable girls. The film starts with Annabel Fritton (Talulah Riley) being admitted to the school. Initially an outcast, she slowly integrates as she realises where the loyalties of those around her lie. When it comes to their attention that the school is gong bankrupt and likely to be shut down. They take it upon themselves to save the school by hatching a plan to steal the painting 'Girl With A Pearl Earring'.

The weekly word idea remains cultivated for now .. let's see if it lasts?

Onerous

on·er·ous (ŏn'ər-əs)
1. burdensome, oppressive, or troublesome; causing hardship: onerous duties.
2. having or involving obligations or responsibilities, esp. legal ones, that outweigh the advantages: an onerous agreement.

It's not common for unknown words to come up at work, with regards to actual 'work'. This one is though. You can probably tell by just looking at the meaning.

The Back Story
In the glorified version of 'pass the parcel' that is played at work, there are occasions where people/organisations will haggle for a product that they wish for. The ideal result of such a scenario being the gain of something for free. If not free the least price possible would still be acceptable. The full price is the worst case scene. You can't blame them for trying, but when it means you end up with the booby trapped parcel, sometimes measures have to be taken, to make sure you're not being abused. So in response to my questioning this I received the below which was comforting but not entirely clear, until I looked it up:

________________________________________
From: ZZZZZZ
Sent: 08 January 2008 12:33
To: Ram Solanki
Subject: RE: call_id: xxxxxx

Hi Ram,

If you could give them some advice 'this time'.
If it becomes too onerous, let me know and I will push back.

Feel free to advise them that this assistance is normally given through consultancy.

Cheers,
ZZZZZZ

I think this means I better get back to work ,,,

Lust, Caution'

Plot Outline:
Shanghai, 1942. The World War II Japanese occupation of this Chinese city continues in force. Mrs. Mak, a woman of sophistication and means, walks into a café, places a call, and then sits and waits. She remembers how her story began several years earlier, in 1938 China. She is not really Mrs. Mak, it is merely an alias. With WWII underway, she has been left behind by her father, who has escaped to England. As a student at university, she meets fellow student Kuang Yu Min.

Kuang has started a drama society to shore up patriotism. As the theater troupe's new leading lady, Wong realizes that she has found her calling, able to move and inspire audiences. He convenes a core group of students to carry out a radical and ambitious plan to assassinate a top Japanese collaborator, Mr. Yee. She happily volunteers. Each student has a part to play; She will become Mrs. Mak, who will gain Yees' trust by befriending his wife and then draw the man into an affair. Wong transforms herself utterly inside and out, and the scenario proceeds as scripted until an unexpectedly fatal twist spurs her to flee.

Shanghai, 1941. With no end in sight for the occupation, Wong having emigrated from Hong Kong goes through the motions of her existence. Much to her surprise, Kuang re-enters her life. Now part of the organized resistance, he enlists her to again become Mrs. Mak in a revival of the plot to kill Yee, who as head of the collaborationist secret service has become even more a key part of the puppet government.

As she reprises her earlier role, and is drawn ever closer to her dangerous prey, she finds her very identity being pushed to the limit...

So. as promised I have that first entry here with regards to the "Weekly Word" I've learned.

Cultivate

A conversation that goes back a couple of months, perhaps longer. Robo-Ninja and I had feasted upon the grease that is available at the Pizza Hut Buffet, however something was missing from this meal, we weren't satisfied.So we headed to Starbucks & ordered a Signature Hot Chocolate each. Robo insisted on also getting a Cinnamon Swirl. I personally am not big on desserts drenched in icing, so I passed. Somewhere between paying up and receiving our ordered beverages, Robo obliterated that icing-topped monster of a cake. I was in awe and I'll admit it, I envied the look on his face. Saying that he looked blissful in the moments he devoured it would be a huge under-statement.

Later that afternoon, I admitted this envy to him. I expressed how the envy was not of the cake, but the fact that, with little regard to his surroundings, he enjoyed it, like an innocent child having his first taste of something that he would grow to love. His response in true Robo-fashion was somewhere between surprised and appreciative. He mentioned that I had a knack for pointing out the little things that the average person wouldn't and that he found it refreshing and appreciated it. He said that my pointing this out probably meant he lost a small part of this innocence and that it's something he would like to be aware of but not lose. Finding the balance between the two is the Opportunity Cost. I agreed totally.

So about a week ago myself & Robo-Ninja went to see I Am Legend, as the trailer played, we started discussing the merits of the recent Taare Zameen Par. He hadn't seen it and I was expressing how the novel aspect in it was how it focussed on a child's perspective, the details of the simple things that as adults we don't stop and appreciate. He concurred and agreed this was an interesting approach. However he felt he maintained some of this. I pointed out this sort of reflected on the above stated conversation, and he reminded me that even them he had shared that he wanted to cultivate this innocence. I looked puzzled, I misinterpreted this for culminate. So it's only when I admitted to my ignorance of this word, that things were clarified.

As a sidenote: It was that first conversation that shall always make me remember the Starbucks Cinnamon Swirl as "F*cking Awesome Cake". Given it's new name, which I couldn't get out of my head, I gave in to my distaste for icing and tried it the following week. It does what it says on the tin, it is as above stated F*cking-A!

Bee Movie'

Plot Outline:
Barry B. Benson (Jerry Seinfeld), a bee who has just graduated from college, is disillusioned at his lone career choice: making honey. On a special trip outside the hive, Barry's life is saved by Vanessa, a florist in New York City. As their relationship blossoms, he discovers humans actually eat honey, and subsequently decides to sue us.

Overall Impressions:
Firstly, I'd like to mention that I'm pleased that Dreamworks is doing other work and not just banking on Shrek by sucking the franchise dry - a shame that they are still doing that too. It's economical, I get that. Once you have 3D characters that function on disk, why not re-use them? Well, fine, re-use them, but use them wisely, don't just spend less and less time on fleshing out the story... *side-tracking* -- Halt

Right, Bee Movie *cough* .. Contrary to numerous other reviewers, I felt that a lot of what is going on here is probably wasted on the kiddies. They seem to have focussed more on keeping the parents entertained here, after all, it's usually the parents that have to sit through these things when they take their tiny protege's to the cinemas, right? and kids will be happy with simply seeing live animation, the addition of ample vivid colours will have them right over the moon, right??!

You thought I wouldn't get it up for today didn't you?
Actually I have a lot to get through here, so I'll get straight to it. I was talking last year about the present. ie; what I've achieved and how my goals for this web presence have evolved over its (almost 3 year) existence.

It all began when my first car blew up, I kid you not, it happened. From here, the blog seemed to develop itself as a leisure diary of sorts, the goal then was so that I had an account of what I did with my time (and even what I ate -- I think the goal there was that if I shared I might improve my diet, in a few weeks I stopped sharing that part) heh ;) I also threw in the occasional "Check this out" post, or a shout to a friend, or reflected on interesting/odd thoughts/conversations that I had. The blog was in essence an array of venting journal entries.

It soon found itself mutating into a large number of "I went to watch this & thought it was.." posts. So I helped it move along and made this part a little formal, (using the word as loosely as possible). I don't claim that 'all' my posts on films are to be interpreted as formal reviews. Actually on the most part, especially a lot of the earlier ones, they are just a captured expression of my afterthoughts of watching the film. Is that not the same thing? No. "I saw Blah-Di-Blah and I feel Bzzzzz" is not the same as a structured review. I think the first proper review I did was Kaal. It took me well over a year to do another decent review. The intermediate period got quite zany, I saw a whole bunch of films, as per usual, but the blog didn't really have a direction. I wasn't blogging all that I was watching & I hadn't set any ground rules for myself.

In Autumn of 2006, I went to my first film festival RD14, it's here that I realised that I should probably use this outlet more wisely, for it has scope to help with my longer term goals. As I gained more focus, posts started gaining more logical sense, rather than just Ram-sense. By the beginning of 2007, I had set myself a goal of getting more involved this year in the film festival circuits, this I achieved. The East End, Sci-fi-London, Cambridge and Raindance were the four I attended, at all of which I left my trademark impact in some way or another. I had also made a point of watching more (yes, it was possible) and ensuring that I wrote up every film that I saw at the cinema. That too I achieved. As well as this, Richard and Marina kindly got me more closely involved with Press Screenings and Junkets. This was a push in the direction I wanted to be going, so thank you both for that.

So the end of 2007 has come came ... and this time round I've decided to share my goals for the year with you beforehand .. so when I have a post of this nature next year, We can share the progression rather than just me gloating to myself. ;)

The film reviews and articles: Well, my posts with regards to my film watching shall continue as per usual. However I've identified in the past that there needs to be some sort of rating system, I've through the art of plagiarism thought up a couple of ideas that I could use, please 'do' comment as we go along on how this makes your reading experience, positive or negative alike. I will also try to do more structured reviews rather than stated snapshot thoughts, but no promises there.

As a number of things that I need to progress over the coming year, being realistic, some shall be achieved, some not. I'll focus clearly on the realistic goals, that way I'd be a total idiot if I fail:

Online Screenplay: I know that I haven't got a problem with doing the work at hand. I have a problem getting my act together and to keep doing it. The lack of motivation is the barrier that I am hoping to overcome here. In order to do this, I will build a screenplay here in front of you all. it will probably be one of my weaker works, but thats for first drafts are for. Did you know M. Night Shyamalan's "Lady in the Water" had over 10 drafts before the film was actually even begun? Anyway, the main objective is that I complete a first draft within the year. Ofcourse, this won't be the only screenplay I'll be working on, just one I'm willing to have a bit of fun with.

At the end of year -- if you don't find a complete screenplay, with a beginning, middle and end (length: approximately 150 pages) than I have failed. This means around 3 pages each week, which is no real task at all you might think? I agree, but with my lack of complete & sale-able product over the last year, I see that one project being in the public eye will help me getting into the swing of things.

What does this mean for you, the reader?
I'm letting you read a first draft of one of my screenplays as it gets written. From beginning to end (of 1st draft). You'll be able to leave me feedback on what you read. I feel this 'may' have its merits too. I'll not tell you anything about it at this stage except a treatment has been completed, so I know where the story is going & I'm quite excited about it. Each week I shall update a .pdf file located here.

Vocabulary:
Considering my aspirations to sell what I write, I think it only makes sense that I should constantly be improving my vocabulary. As a bare minimum I'm going for 1 word a week. This means at the end of the year, provided I store these words in my RAM then I'll have 52 words more than I do now. Sounds pathetic huh? Only 52? Now imagine what how many I would have learnt if I didn't do this.

I will try to see to it that the words will be things I pickup from conversation, film quotes, or reading. Ideally words that are common but I didn't know. Worst case I'll search one out from Word of the Day but from experience these tend to be words nobody really uses unless they're showing off they're vocabulary.

What does this mean for you, the reader?
Each Wednesday, I shall post about the word I learnt over the last week, so be prepared to amuse yourselves as I name and shame myself into how ignorant I was. This will begin tomorrow. The fact hat I didn't know what this word meant is laughable, really. At least I've learnt now.

Other ongoing objectives that need more work, but may not be as immediate as he above:
The "Koffee with Ram" section is still rather empty. I have a rather adventurous plan for this (again plagiarism at work here) but I'm not sure I'll be able to pull it off, we'll see. The idea being having coffee with random people, to develop personal communication & social skill, as well as an appreciation for different social groups & networks. It's a rather large project and though things are in the works, realistically I'm not certain of its long-term outcome.

The "About Me" section: I know that if somebody wants a simple snapshot over-view of what I'm all about, the only thing they would pick up from an initial browse is that I'm full of myself confident and I have a certain love for films, the Bollywood ones in particular. So a clear and concise page would be a good addition to show what the Ramchandra brand if you can call it that is really all about.

More photos -- Again, Im not very clear as to what I want to get out of this, but firstly I need to work out an optimal way of displaying pictures an a reader-friendly format. I've tried a couple of Photo album style add-ons to the Movable Type package but nothing I've been satisfied with.

The "comic" that I've been promising for ages will still happen but is on the backburner somewhat. It links in slightly with the above, but that's just an excuse to a degree. I have a lot of ideas, characters and even complete strips on paper, but my drawing is terrible and I'm not entirely comfortable with the rough drafts that I've been doing as to be able to share them. An alternative is to do the whole thing in photoshop from scratch, but even there I'm not as well-versed as I'd like to be.

There is also the building of a database-driven look at my film collection, that I'm hoping to progress. The hindrance here is the rumoured API for imdb has yet to be released. I may look into alternative ways of doing this, but I think I have got a fair chunk on my plate considering I have a full-time job doing something else entirely.

Well, there you have it, plans for me, you and 2008.