Considering the four hours of sleep at best, I was apprehensive about this day. I figured perhaps I hadn't yet adjusted to the time difference (IST = GMT + 5:30), jet lag, all that jazz, but anyway, as planned I made my way by auto to Bandra having spoken to Mr. A from M's phone (as mine still wasn't working).

He said he's pick me up from the National College Gate. The driver had no real clue where he was going & kept stopping to ask other autos where this college was, most of them just pointed straight ahead. Obviously I had no clue at this stage, an hour or so later eventually I gave up on the guy & told him to drop me next to a payphone & that I'd work it out. I did.

Mr. A (joined by Mrs. A too) then took me to a Thali place. Thali just means plate if you take the literal translation, but when you see thali restaurants, what they mean is an assortment of foods (in a plate), this place had 4 curries, 2 starters (dhokala & samosa), dal, rice, papadoms, dessert, 2 types of bread, a lassi & a bottle of mineral water. Ample to feed on. Approximately double the variety I'd expect from a Thali in the UK. In addition, and as though this wasn't foodie heaven already, they come & top-up anything that you want at no extra charge. It goes without saying that I topped up on starters & dessert, repeatedly. The bill came to 175Rs [about £2.50]

The place was called Aram & I'll re-visit it at some point during my stay for sure. I don't think it was intended by Mr. A, but it was quite symbolic that we began here. Aram means to rest, as does Vishram, which is the name of my film banner. It was a name that conveniently came from merging part of my own first name with that of my business partner Vishal. The intent of this whole trip (which I may blog separately at some point - is in aid of developing this company), so it was a sign.

Moving on, we then went to the Mr. A residence by car & hung out there for a while. I might point out I hadn't yet got over the heat factor, any opportunity to hang indoors under a fan was welcome. It was comforting that they felt the same way about the afternoon heat in particular. He had wi-fi, so there was tweetage. I'd moaned earlier about my Sim not working yet & had some helpful suggestions to try (none of which worked, but they were sensible & appreciated), one suggestion was to pick up an alternative sim with Tata Docomo, for they would activate the Sim then & there.

So later, when it got cooler (read tolerable heat), we went for a stroll, I felt the need to get some more cash out of the SRK Bank ATM. In hindsight, I didn't need to, but better to have cash than not is what I'd figured from the previous day. Quite near the ATM I had my first of many fresh coconut waters. From my previous trip to India when I was 12, this was one of the memories I recall well. We used to have 2 or 3 a day. It doesn't seem as common these days, or perhaps it's a regional thing. *shrug*

On the way back we stumbled into a place that did the Tata Sims. In India, they seem to require a lot of documentation to even get a pay-as-you-go sim, so we got the information on what was needed, picked up relevant stuff from his place & returned to this stall. Note: it's useful to keep a few spare passport-size photos with you all the while on your travels, it was required for the sim & it was a fluke that I just had a couple in my wallet, coz I do fancy myself like that. ;)

As the myth suggested, it was active in seconds, i started texting all the tweople I'd yet to reach out to.. Data wasn't working, but simply needed APN settings, then I'd be tweeting away on the move, free, like the wind, or some such.

It was evening by this point & Mr. A was going to a Malwadi (regional Maharashtrian) event relatively close to where I was staying, so I hiked a lift & since I wasn't feeling tired, I thought I'd tag along. Upon enquiring what the event was in aid of nobody seemed to have much of a clue, much like the Belgrave Mela in Leicester each year. We Indians don't need a reason to celebrate, we just do. :D

Okay I'll admit, I didn't care for the event. I was looking forward to meeting Ms. P who was also planning on attending. In fact we organised to pick her up on the highway, so, pretty much as expected, the event didn't really interest me, it was overly crowded & was in no way film-related. I was bored & by the time we got there, I was getting tired too, I think there might be a picture of me & Ms. P somewhere where I don't look too pleased. I assured her it wasn't her, I think she believed me. :) *fingers-crossed*

The journey back was the most excitement I had all day. Despite Mr. A being a local, he got lost & in the process we managed to scout locations just as I had visualised them. Seedy allies, with occassional cows, rams & numerous dead ends. We had a vague sense of direction (I think), but many of the allies we were driving through looked like they'd reach nowhere, despite the drivers frustration, I was loving it! This is precisely what I wanted to see! It made my day.

After getting back, I pretty much passed out after having a quick shower. It had been a good day & I knew that this was only the beginning.

6 Pages has become 14 Download and Read

3 pages has become 6. -- Posted on January 14, 2008 8:07 PM

As promised here's the first 3 pages. -- Posted on January 6, 2008 11:29 PM

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.

So it's been 'repeatedly' brought to my attention that I don't make anywhere as many personal posts as I used to. I could make a bunch of lame-ass excuses or be plain honest, I'll do the latter. I've been somewhat hybernating (again) and on auto-pilot in my personal life. Creativity has been monotonous and yielded little to show. As an aside, general morales too have been on the darker side of the norm, partly due to the above, partly other reasons.

I find the "festive season" forces a bit of self-reflecton, sheding light on progression, and this always reprises my hope. My smaller goals have altered over the years, though the larger ones still remain intact. Taking a look at this whole blog thing for instance. It began when I moved to Chav Island (Woking) in search for a new life. I used this as a place to vent. A year later, I realised it was a terrible place to go looking for a new life and though I still work there, my residence shifted to a more lively and populated realm.

It was evident that a large chunk of my time was spent watching films, though admittedly it wasn't the largest of surprises, I took this aboard and focussed on making those posts about films better. I mean seriously, just compare the presentation and content of this in Dec '05 with this in Dec '07. Nice huh?? Yea I know. Thanks :)

So, this leads to the thoughts around "how far have I got now?" + the infamous tradition of New Years' Resolutions that people churn out and adhere to for a measly few weeks. I've always been one to avoid this but I'm going to give a crack at it here. So until that post, intended for tomorrow, I bid 2007 and yourselves farewell.

The Fidessa / LatentZero (a recent in the world of mergers & acquisitions) Christmas Party was held on Saturday 15th.

The Venue:
Planit Victoria Embankment Gardens, London, WC2

The Event:
6.30pm Drinks Reception
7.45pm Sit Down Dinner
For the rest of the evening, the entertainment included: dodgem cars, dancing, casino tables and simulators.

We were vaguely on time this year (only 15 minutes late), we being Demon & I, since I still don't have a hot girlfriend (or any girlfriend for that matter). Technically it was Charlie's opportunity this year, but he's now got a girlfriend, and a whole large part of his life has become a void to us, I'm sure he's happy but it allows him little time for other leisures. Maybe, next time?!)

I was quite indifferent this year about the going to the actual event. It was a large crowd. The venue was catering for it better than last year. From what memory serves, the food too was a notch up from last year. The main problem about this year was the time. It wrapped up pretty quickly and with a large number of people to meet and greet, I didn't really get round to all the worthy people that I would have wished to. On the brighter side I looked dapper as always (see pretty picture on right) and got complimented for it by a substantial number of people. It was only around the end of the night that I realised that I probably only complimented a couple of people, if that. Never "Mind it".

When we decided to finally head home at around quarter past one (on the last last train 01:42 from Waterloo), we found out at 01:40 while comfortably sitting on the train, that they'd decided to cancel it. After hanging about a half hour and developing a cold which I'm still suffering from, a replacement bus arrived that took us home.

A: So you must've heard SRK turned 42 today..
B: Isn't that the supposed answer to life, the universe, and everything else?
C: What .. 42?
A: Nope, he meant SRK ... and he's right!
B: I'm always right!

As is blatantly obvious, I've fallen a bit behind with updates here, RD15 and otherwise, I have a lot drafted but not quite publishes so I expect that to fix itself (not even vaguely in any specific order) over the next week. So keep an eye open for posts appearing over the last 3 weeks or so.

Silent Salutes
_ram-jaane'

I could be sipping champagne with Keira Knightley right about now, but I'm not. There was a screening of Atonement this morning followed by a press junket, but I had to pass because I haven't got enough holiday. Such is the cost of earning a living. :(

So you may be wondering if I'm going through yet another hybernation perios since I haven't posted for almost a week. Well that would not quite be an accurate description, in fact quite the contrary. I've been doing the film preview gubbins for Raindance. Though they haven't said so, I'm making the assumption its all low-profile classified stuff until the catalogue is printed, which by the sounds of it should be next week. So once it's out I'll put up my 2 cents with regards to that stuff.

In other news, the FTW protocol too has kept me in work this week beyond my usual 9to5 ventures. My expert knowledge has saved the world many a time, after all I'm the guy they call in when they pronounce the equivalent of a Code: Red ... "we're going to need Jack onthis one" type scenarios. but past the huffing and disappointed snarls at the initial performance of the protocol (for which I am never to blame ofcourse), as per usual, I get little credit for it.

I don't mind though. I have huge orchestas in processions and bands of soldiers saluting me in my head anyway & that's what matters. :)

No not the biological sort. Though they deserve some respect I'm sure, this is about the silent salutes to the Mother Russia India. Celebrating 60 years of Indian independence today, I pay my respects to the peace war that we won back then. Though I'm not old enough to have been there, for that matter nor is my dad, I do celebrate this day, for I appreciate what happened there even if I don't understand the in-depth details of it.

I paid my tribute by attending the cinema at West India Quay. Hey, if I'm feeling celebratory, what else did you think I'd do. Unfortunately they aren't showing Chak De! India (which would have been ideal considering), so instead of watching that a third time, I saw The Hoax. The review shall magically appear in the next few days as The Bourne Ultimatum one has done. While I'm talking of unwritten reviews, here's the current list .. (Breach, Sugarhouse, Gandhi - My Father, Cash, Harry Potter, Hairspray, Rush Hour 3, The Hoax)

On that note, I'll get to sleep, early to rise again tomorrow, my fortress awaits me.

The Professional returns after his numerous years of exile? You're thinking wait a minute, didn't he drop dead leaving his precious plant to that star wars chick? Well, you're right. I'm actualing deflecting you from what I'm saying in actuality just a little.

Since watching Waitress, I've wanted a pie. Leon has provided one. A sweet pecan pie. So who the hell's Leon? No I hadn't the jiffiest of a clue either, but apparently, they're quite a large chain. When the Benjy's round the corner from the Fortress of Solitude shut down some months back, my lunchtimes became hell. I actually had to walk further than round the block to get any sustainance.

Now however, this Leon place has opened in its place and as I mentioned earlier, they do a sweet pecan pie. Expensive but Niiiiice! I would also recommend their milkshakes. It's probably the milkshake that kicked off the idea in my head that Leon may have returned from the dead and started up this business, because well, it actually tastes like flavoured milk, not like flavoured ice & I know how he did like his regular doses of milk.

Sometimes my own imagination worries me, or so I imagine it should.

Collect remaining month's of entries & re-insert them into MT. -- Done
Re-style / Re-customise MT configuration. Having some 'issues' with its initial config too so thing may come & go in the interim. -- Done 90% (Comments section still needs work)

Write-ups to do:
Raindance Preview snippets for:
Exhibit A, Congorama, Red Like The Sky
- I've seen all 3 need to write them up 2 done 1 to go. -- I have to re-do these with new criteria! More on this later...

Filmstalker Reviews for:
Death at a Funeral, -- Done
Sugarhouse, -- 35%
Breach,
The Bourne Ultimatum
Waitress -- Done

In addition, need to review The Simpsons Movie -- Done
Now that it's Friday, I also need to go watch Cash, Gandhi My Father -- Done (reviews pend).

I've yet to see Harry Potter, Hoax & Hairspray. + almost time for Chak De!
I can't make this to-do thing regular here, I'll need to find a system such that its on the sidebar ..

For the second time in the past week, I've been locked out of my primary gmail account with the below attached message. Earlier in the week Simone pointed out I'd disappeared from Facebook too, what the hell have I done to deserve this? I have always loved and cared for the interweb. I fed it regularly, gave it every minute that I had spare. Why oh why, is it mad at me?? Answer me!!!!

Just a quick list of things I need to do, more for myself, but you may as well know:

Collect remaining month's of entries & re-insert them into MT.
Re-style / Re-customise MT configuration. Having some 'issues' with its initial config too so thing may come & go in the interim.

Write-ups to do:
Raindance Preview snippets for:
Exhibit A, Congorama, Red Like The Sky
- I've seen all 3 need to write them up 2 done 1 to go.

Filmstalker Reviews for:
Death at a Funeral, Sugarhouse, Breach, The Bourne Ultimatum and Waitress
- Seen 4 of them so far, watching one tomorrow, all yet to be written up.

In addition, need to review The Simpsons Movie .. but that's getting a lower priority based on the above. Now that it's Friday, I also need to go watch Cash, Gandhi My Father, Hoax & I've yet to see Harry Potter & Hairspray too.

Well as you've probably noticed, the site went down. Almost a week now. The website for the hosting providers went down too, which meant the only way I could contact them was one email that wasn't bound to thinktivity (which I google'd). Unsurprisingly, this isn't the first time:

I've had numerous such issues before with them:
8th May to 10th May: Downtime with further issues with mail until 15th May. I was told when it was fixed (by which time I knew as I checked every hour of the night & day).
22nd June: Down for a day, no explanation given.
18th July: Few hours downtime. Explanation "The service went down due to a DDOS attack and hard drive upgrade."

I didn't post about this as a hatred for them, as I can understand. In the IT world, some things are just plain beyond us, not much can be done. No data was lost so overall I was okay with it. That said, keeping us in the loop with what's going on .. quite important in my books.

26th July ... Still down .. One response! Unacceptable!!

The only response I got was 5 days ago (I have chased multiple times since):
"My servers and server provider have disappeared. There's nothing I can do right now."

So I've moved providers, gone for something UK based this time (EUKhost). I'll slowly fix the links, looks and images, but FilmStalker Screenings (+ 5 pending reviews), as well as watching & writing previews for the upcoming Raindance Film Festival are keeping me busy at the moment. (+ ofcourse the FTW 9to5 job I have). So bear with me, I estimate everything will be up and back to normal within a week.

So it's been a while since I did a personal post, so here goes. A note about the people that have most annoyed me over the last week (& probably a lot longer).

People with umbrellas. Nothing against the brollies, just the people. Some idiots carry their brollies as though their own required space hasn't increased at all with the brolly now open. The number of umbrellas I have dodged while walking in the rain is larger than pi which is more than enough. Rain doesn't irritate me at all, in fact its quite pleasnt in small doses, but the agony of having these muppets, walking the streets with open brollies like their mother owned the road & you had no right upon it is unacceptable.

Worse still was the damned two women I encountered two totally independent bus stops, who had their umbrellas open but wouldn't shift into the rain when walking towards me. I mean you have shelter, I don't, I'll take the shelter I can get, is it not common sense? Lestat went into the rain on one of these occasions while I simply waited blocking their way until they shifted. I honestly think I was being too kind, I should have taken her approach & walked head strong straight into her, the force would have thrown her into the road into the puddle that the stupid cow was probably trying to avoid a few moments earlier.

So, after a good year of having the issue I decide to cave and take the Powerbook to get the power socket replaced. I had to make an appointment to see a "Genius" at the genius bar at the Apple shop, was a friendly enough chap, but I must admit, I wouldn't call him or the guy to his right a genius. I explained that the battery would not charge up using a power connector because the socket had gone bent. He checked anyway & told me that they'd have to replace the socket. Hooray, on the same wavelength, that's a start. He took my contact details and quoted me £112 which included having the component installed by an expert. Not happy, but fair enough, if that's what needs doing, let's get on with it. He then tells me, it will take 7-10 days to get back.

Unimpressed, I ask if he could add a note saying I'd like it back by Friday (6th), now it's not his answer that annoys me but the way he words it. He says, that's not going to be likely, in fact he can guarantee it will take longer. Swiftly adding that's the only thing he can guarantee. I take the receipt and move away thinking, is my laptop even insured? Am I just sending it to a slaughterhouse? If this is what the Genius is like, only god knows what the experts do to it.

During this whole experience, me being me, I also caught the entire conversation the other Genius was having to the customer on my left. She was asking about how iTunes works with regards to grouping songs. A long story short, the guy in essence told her that she should not re-tag any of her music, she should only download songs from the iTunes store & if she ripped any custom compilation CD's, she shouldn't expect to see any titles, artist names or CD art.

She was also instructed not to organise her own music (though iTunes actually gives you an option to do so), she should allow iTunes and only iTunes to organise the music for her (like it's fricking God and knows everything you know). What a chump. I didn't intervene, but if I was one of those mystery shoppers assessing him, he'd be sacked, re-employed and sacked again, possibly even urinated on. I wonder how that works anyway, the whole mystery shopper thing, (I've worked out how to urinate) hmm, I'll have to look into that, potential fun.

So this woman and (I suppose) her partner enter the arena that's in some way my second home. He takes a seat and she follows shortly, following this she mutters something to him, though entirely innocent I'm sure, my instant reaction is "What a bitch!" and I come to terms with my reason behind thinking this way, when I quanitify the facts logically.

She has an irritating voice. A screech that in my head shatters all the lenses and glass panes that could have existed. Not only could it deafen, this could blind you, that's how extreme the pitch is. The man in return mumbles something back in response, I hear the word shopping in there somewhere, then they both leave. I for one am certainly thankful.

The lady sitting adjacent and to my left, seems lost in some paperwork of her own as I write this up. She doesn't speak and in this way she is quite pleasant. She could have a good voice, the best even for all I know, but for now her silence is blissful.

It was only a matter of a few minutes before my inquisitive nature got the better of me. I ask a question with regards to her paperwork, for I want to know what her voice is like. I'm pleasantly surprised. It's also the first time I actually look at her, she's actually quite attractive, sporting a 'red' coat even though indoors & more importantly with a non-screechy voice.

The conversation doesn't really go much further, I merely get a few words and a smile out of her, but the suspense is over and the resolution as simple as it is, is a pleasant one.

A few minutes later, I leave as the battery on my laptop has come to it's inevitable low & well I still haven't got the power cord socket fixed so I can't recharge on the fly, I have to remove the battery and insert it into a battery charger (at home).

So yesterday morning my car gets clamped, not for my shennanigans at the shopping centre car park on occasion, but for merely sitting in the parking bay outside my flat. Had I been driving to work each day I'd have been fuming, thankfully I get the train.

What I wasn't happy about is that I had to pay £99 to get it unclamped while it was in no way my fault. The backstory (still to be confirmed by Landlord) is such: The Parking Permit for the residence is updated every few months & I hadn't received mine due to the lettings department sending them to my Landlord rather than myself (which doesn't seem logical but), fair enough.

So I'm informed I should try & get the Parking Permit & my £99 from the Landlord, now here's the hitch. I can't seem to get hold of them. They're probably on holiday, which again is reasonable, it's not like they are barred from going away being Landlords, but it leaves me a bit stuck. The letting agents have held my car details so it doesn't get clamped again in the next week, but I have my concerns.

Amongst much catching up & discussions over the weekend with my old chums back in the town of Mini-India (Leicester), I also came across a discovery that made my day, nobody, I repeat nobody expressed the same level of excitement as myself, but now there is 1 more reason to hang out at Cafe Nero, besides the Dark & White Chocolate Cheesecake, The Chocolate cake with huge chocolate chunks, the latte's, the napkins that I've been using to deal with the man flu (that the Dead Farmer gave me), the friendly staff, the fellow writer types, et al & that is .. now they serve Victoria Spongecake .. & it is sweeeet!

As for the Tiramisu thing, that's going to get a post of it's own Charlie, I feel yourz pain, I truly do, I'll never forgive your girlfriend for this, even if you find it in your heart to, I never will!!!!

Free-flowing traffic is essential to keeping London moving. But it can take just one inconsiderate driver ignoring road signs or driving in a bus lane during operational hours to cause jams and clog up the system. This time, it was me :). In my defence it was a bank holiday Monday a couple of weeks back. I mean seriously, Sundays & Bank Holidays are like free-for-all days, right? Wrong.

TfL is responsible for governing the 580km red route network and carry 35 per cent of the city's traffic. The remaining roads are maintained by the 33 London boroughs. TfL have kindly given me a 50% reduction on my £100 fine, because I paid up within 14 days of their letter, oh I can't contain the joy, a discount. Yipeee!!

I am going to now try and see if I can appeal the matter, wish me luck!

That's right, Batman Begins Again / Batman Continues / Batman takes his Dog for a Walk .. well thankfully the job of naming the film was left to people who were willing to think out of the box and call it The Dark Knight. Official Site now up .. Word on the street is Teaser Trailer comes with the next Harry Potter film ..

While I catchup the past 2 days of East End film watching entries, may I proudly present some work that is not my own, but is quality never the less ;) ... I have got a few ideas down now & hope to launch something of this nature ofver the next few months. So keep your eyes open.

There's a bunch of stuffs happening in the background & hopefully you'll see some positive changes here over the next few days. I've already stolen the SnapShot thing from Simone's blog coz I thought it looked nifty. Let me know if it's an irritation & I'll remove it accordingly. As a quick set of bullet points, things that have happened over the last week or so while I've been away from the site.

• My home network is now functioning and I've re-arranged my flat to a more optimised state. It even look neater & by that I mean my TV looks bigger.


• I've had one of those birthday things, 25th this time, supposedly a big one. I was gifted a Director's clapper board by my partner in crime, which was appreciated & quite appropriate. Will have to put it to use soon.


• I've seen Shooter but not written it up yet. -- Entry Published Below!!


• My film script is coming along to the end of Act I (30 pages), hopefully by the weekend.


• Almost 10% of the music on my computer is correctly tagged & I'm becoming quite efficient with the process of it.


• Tomorrow I will have finished the book Shadow Man on my 10th anniversary of my relationship with Cinema.


• The East End Film Festival beginning Thrursday evening has my attention peaked.


• A while back I posted a review for Anonymous Lawyer, The author (Jeremy Blachman) has included a snippet of my review on his website. -- Anonymous LawFirm which is rather nice of him.

More reports soon ...

Some of you have noted I've added FS to my links & comment there every so often, what hasn't been said is that Richard Brunton who runs FS has been very helpful during my restructure of this place, helping me with the little things that frustrated me. Many Thanks - Rich! (This is ofcourse before I lost steam & stopped doing anything. Hopefully I'll pick up again in the near future).

Anyway, back to FS, its a very frequently updated Film information site, on which you'll find out the latest and greatest of the current on-goings of the western world of films. In particular I would recommend his reviews up there for they cover an in-depth structural analysis that's readable by the avid film-goer and the vaguely-interested alike. His knack for being in depth yet not revealing the plot in his reviews is uncanny (as Simone once pointed out). This is definitely an area that I still must develop. That said most of what I put up here is merely my 2 cents, I wouldn't really call them reviews unless I explicitly state it (mostly just the Hindi flicks).

1 year on - I find myself using Film Stalker as a reference to much of my film watching (which as you can see is quite a regular theme), the community is friendly & almost family like. Go on over & have a browse. Add a comment if you have any thoughts or questions, I guarantee you'll get a response --- FILMSTALKER

Convex Perspective - Otherwise known as 'Bent Vision' or sometimes 'Focus'. It's an interesting thought if you look beyond the physical aspect of it (except biologists, in particular opticians, who may see the physical aspect as more fruitful than the amateur philosophy that I here dwell on). The basic instrument of Optics are lenses. A lens is a device that causes light to either converge and concentrate or to diverge. Somewhere between the actual object and the focal point lies this lens which reflects the object causing what we see or Perception.

This holds differently for the perception of each lens depending on its qualities. Replacing the lens with an eye or a point of view we can say that what one person may consider a dark grey another as black depending on their lens limitations/differences. So it can be said that dualities such as black-white, sweet-bitter, hot-cold, good-evil, etc and where on the scale each is considered one or the other are all a matter of difference in perception.

This reminds me of an example of a number of blind people given a limited time to examine an elephant and then when questioned, their descriptions of what an elephant is like would vary hugely. Even with sight the example would still hold. As well as sight, there are the diferences in angles, minds, memory, what they then process, what they feel, perhaps even morality could be considered a factor.

Okay, another example factoring this in, a road accident - a driver hits a pedestrian, however just before this, they attempt to brake, quite suddenly, this results in the driver behind to hit them (possibly causing the pedestrian to get hit, possibly not). How will each spectator and participant of the accident collision perceive, react and in the end respond, when quizzed about it? My point is: differently.

Now, it is common knowledge that lenses may be combined to form more complex optical systems. The simplest case is when lenses are placed in contact, the usage of additional lenses, like a pair of glasses, this can give you further focus or take it away depending on your (eyes) original lenses. Another good example is the use of mirrors which raises the question, is what you see actually what it is? or a skewed version of it? Again a matter of perspective & what you define to yourself as real.

Perspectives can be influenced, altered, mutated, sometimes correcting perception, sometimes quite the contrary, depending on the influences around them, but who decides what is correct in actuality if we all have limited perception? Who sees beyond the elephant's foot? There's no real answer to be had I'm afraid, instead we gather facts that we can & create a reality of our own through estimation, pretty accurate estimation, but estimation none-the-less. In this reality, we believe that which we see, is as is. We should remind ourselves on occasion that this isn't necessarily the case & in this *sigh* - lies the solution to many misunderstandings.

Silent Salutes

One week on, I bring you the evidence of malice I spoke of in Muppet Syndrome:

When it comes down to it, we all have the odd jolt of Muppet Syndrome now & again, me, I've had my fair share in the last 36 hours. Okay in case the above may not cover it, let me explain: most such cases of Muppet Syndrome fall under situations whereby one could act and react a certain way to get the best possible result (assuming such a thing exists) and differently to get a different result entirely. the Boyscout Southern refers to this as "optimal strategy".

Now anyone that knows me could tell you that most of the time I'm not one to feed this strategising malarky, I'm more of an improvised kind of person. Find thyself in a situation & react. Period. Coz wasting time pensively analysing an opportunity in front of you is merely waiting for it to disappear. Sure I'll analyse a conversation or a situation after I've been through it & see where I went off track, (but this is merely due to me being an overly analytical pedantic sod who can't help but do this).

Today where I went off track ... Scrap that. The track wasn't even in sight today. It probably started yesterday afternoon a few hours after lunch (which was the highlight of yesterday I might add). I had a text message from a (possibly) wrong number asking for a lift to 'the mayflower mansion' -- anyone have any idea where that is?, which I deleted by accident so couldn't call back. Snapshot 14:43 - Muppet Moment No.1 .. from here t began, a long painful stream followed.. I'll skip off yesterday & just talk if today. Today in contrast to that perfect day was the one day I'd rather remove from the memory of the entire world.

From the very outset, I woke up naturally at 07:37 (Not by my 06:32 alarm as I'd forgotten to enable the alarm when I went to sleep), I stared at the clock in disbelief until 07:40 & got out of bed because it adds up to 11 (a whole different story). I had a shower with the broken shower head, so its just like an extended tap at the moment, got ready and departed for work at 08:03 as normal. I greeted the porter as usual on my way out & found at this point the outside world is covered in snow. Having not anticipated this (even though I had read on facebook that Geoff was eagerly awaiting snow & having had a phone call from my dear father who also told me that it would snow), I slowly plodded along to the train station, a little concerned that i was walking slower than normal & may not make the 08:22 Haslemere train.

If you're wondering why I hadn't noticed the snow outside through my window, that's because I don't really open my curtains/blinds. More on this later.