The Sunday Evening Guy

The Sunday evening guy within us is very different from the more popular weekend guy or the notorious weekday guy. The Sunday evening guy is also very very unlike the Friday/Saturday night guy, the sports guys and the vacation guy. The Sunday evening person has no ambition. He is terrified of the weekday guy, especially the Monday morning guy that he is about to become soon, and he already misses the weekend guy. The Friday night guy is now a distant dream. He does not even remember that guy anymore. But he longs for that guy. Everybody wants to be the Friday afternoon guy. You know, the one who switches off the light in his office, shuts down his computer and heads home for the weekend. Friday afternoon guys lead the happiest life among all of them. They were the guys who got to pack their school bags after the Friday 3:20 - 4:00 social studies period and run home for the weekend. Friday afternoon guy, Friday night guy and Saturday guy are happy guys. They have the future in front of them. There is no doubt that every Sunday Evening Guy wants to be them.

The Sunday Evening guy is at the center of a person's universe. He is the central pivot around which everybody rotate and live their lives. He holds the key to the overall well-being of that universe. He is the key transition point between a person's life and person's work. Sometimes the birth of this guy is premature. He is born immediately after people take a bath on Sunday morning (read as afternoon). The ancient rishis uvach'ed out a proverb that defined the Sunday evening guy. They said "if you take a bath, Sunday is over, the weekend guy dies and the Sunday evening guy shall be born". Which is why the weekend guy is so afraid of taking a bath early on a Sunday morning. It is a curse some weekend guys live with. The weekend guys who survive the bath, live long enough to eat a hearty meal on a Sunday afternoon and take a 2 hour nap. That is as far as any weekend guy gets to go. The guy who gets up after that nap is the Sunday evening guy. There is no turning back after that.

Sunday evening guy is a pensive guy. You could say that he has got that tinge of sadness about him. He rues his career, his ambition, his work and his entire life. Legend has it that Sunday evening Isaac Newton initially wrote his first law as "An object will stay at rest and at extreme incredible intertia unless a cheap dastardly unwanted massive humongous force acts on the particle against the particle's wishes". The Monday morning Newton got into a lot of trouble for that and so it was changed eventually. If the Sunday eveing guys ran the world they would halt all progress and extend the Sunday evening up until Thursday. It is the pleasure of being the Friday afternoon guy that will eventually stop them from extending it all the way.

Now, that does not mean that the Sunday evening guy is an unhappy guy. Sunday evening is that nexus of the universe where a person experiences an uneasy mixture of sadness and happiness. Sunday Evening guy's mental state is similar to that of a prisoner who experiences a conjugal visit before being sent to the gallows. The danger of what is to hit that person on Monday morning at school, at work lurks in the corner of the mind. However, there is peace for the moment. You don't have to deal with it now. The real world has been suspended for now.

In the days where Friday/weekend/Sunday Evening guys didn't have the 24 X 7 satellite channels, Doordarshan's Sunday evening movie was culmination of a series of rare but valuable entertainment events for the weekend that began with the Friday night guy watching Oliyum OLiyum. The Sunday evening guy peacefully loses himself with a walk in Marina Beach, maybe a light tiffin at Woodlands Drive-in before he quickly hurries back home to watch the movie. He might get to see a really bad movie but the Sunday evening is a period of serenity that will be unparalleled for at least a week. In today's world, the lives of weekday, weekend, Friday night guys have undergone massive changes whereas the changes to Sunday evening guy's life has been minor. You could go as far as saying that the Sunday evening guy's life has become less peaceful. He does not like to be surprised on Monday so he watches a movie on Sunday afternoon and spends Sunday evening catching up on email and arranging his Inbox. Sunday evening guy may experience a few minor lifestyle changes over time but the essence of the Sunday evening guy will remain for eternity.

Independence Day Follow-Up

With reference to what was mentioned here.

On Copying

Not that there is anything wrong with it. But it is a time-honored tradition of this blog to have a hawkeye and point out such things.

Award Winning Photograph on Face Painting:

I suppose the web page I have to credit is a whatatop.com. I got this as a forwarded email. I instantly thought I had seen this image somewhere. After a few minutes of scratching my head I remembered where I had seen it.

Kandaswamy Stills

These images available in the movie's official web page kanthaswamy.net.

Vaaranam Aayiram Trailer II

Gautham's latest seems like a "Forrest Gump from Thamizh Naadu" kind of a movie. Both the trailers are very impressive. The songs that I've heard and the picturization are super 'aaasum'. It is interesting to see that he now presents himself as "Gautham Vasudev Menon". In Minnale, he just credited himself as Gautham. He mentioned being told by industry folks that he was better off not advertising "Menon". Anywho this is a movie, I am expecting a lot from. Can't wait to see it.

On Conversations

Me: dei, pesaama nee Rajinikanth photoo'va perumal room'la vechukko.
Cousin: Illai, venumnaa, naan perumal photo'va Rajinikanth room'la vechikaren

P.S: I'll let some of the esteemed commentors attempt an english transliteration. I tried but couldn't do it.

Krishna Jayanthi II

ஆய்ச்சி மார்களும் ஆயரும் அஞ்சிட
பூத்த நீள் கடம்பேறிப் புகப் பாய்ந்து
வாய்த்த காளியன்மேல் நடம் ஆடிய
கூத்தனார் வரில் கூடிடு கூடலே!

Song: Jagadodhaarana

மாட மாளிகை சூழ் மதுரைப் பதி
நாடி நம் தெருவின் நடுவே வந்திட்டு
ஓடை மா மத யானை உதைத்தவன்
கூடுமாகில் நீ கூடிடு கூடலே!

Song: Kaatrinile

அற்றவன் மருதம் முறிய நடை
கற்றவன் கஞசனை வஞ்சனையில்
செற்றவன் திகழும் மதுரைப் பதி
கொற்றவன் வரில் கூடிடு கூடலெ!

Song: krishnashtakam

அன்றின்னாதன செய் சிசுபாலனும்
நின்ற நீள் மருதும் எருதும் புள்ளும்
வென்றி வேல் விறல் கஞ்சனும் வீழ முன்
கொன்றவன் வரில் கூடிடு கூடலெ!

Song: Mhoree Tho Giridhar Gopala



Song: United Nations Performance: Jagadodhaarana



Note: Andal's Paasurams on Krishna interspersed with Videos.

Krishna Jayanthi Vs Gokulashtami

Nrihasimha Jayanthi is celebrated on the day of Swathi star. Nrihasimha was born on Swathi star date (Janma Nakshathram). Rama Navami is celebrated on Punar Poosam day. Rama was born on PunarVasu star date. There is agreement among everyone on this.

Sri Krishna Jayanthi (also called Janmashtami, Sree Jayanthi, Gokulashtami, Krishnashtami), for some reason, seems to have split into several factions. Krishna was born on Rohini star. The day he was born was also an Ashtami (8 days into Krishna Paksha - the dark half of the moon). Today (Saturday) is not Rohini. Today, however, is Ashtami. Ashtami begins from midday and extends well into midday Sunday. Smarthas celebrate it on Ashtami - i.e today. Rohini begins Sunday early morning and extends all the way to Monday afternoon. So, some SriVaishnavas celebrate it when Ashtami & Rohini intersect (tomorrow). Some SriVaishnavas ignore Ashtami and celebrate it on pure Rohini star date (Monday).

North India is very correct in this. Janmashtami is celebrated over two days (Saturday & Sunday). The first day is called Krishnashtami and second day is called Kalashtami. To be precise, since Krishna was born at about midnight, celebrations happen at the stroke of midnight. Maharashtra has a nice celebration, which I have only seen in movies. They re-enact the stealing of the butter by Krishna. This enactment involves people reaching out and breaking a pot full of butter with a stick in a competition-style format. Eating habits also have a divergence on this day. Many eat a truckload on this day. Some (mostly in N.India and some in S.India) go on a fast as this day is considered on par with Ekadasi.

Last summer I visited Mathura. The temple has been revamped and spruced up since the last time I visited in 97. There are 2-3 large structures that have been erected there. There is a line you have to join to go down to the basement prison location where Sri krishna was born. South Indians used to huge temples and large deities might be underwelmed with the prison trip. There is no deity in the 'place of birth'. There are a few photos of Sri Krishna kept on a shelf and that's it. Quite underwhelming. However, in these places, especially in the north, one is stunned by the amount of 'prema bhakhi'. Its hard to put this into words. There are less of slokas and yagnas. But people there seem to love Krishna so much. They literally roll on the ground that Krishna walked in. Quite an experience just watching it. And remember, the place was boiling hot. Since I didn't know better, I kept my slippers in he car and walked into the complex barefoot. It is a huge complex and the floor was like boiling coal. Incredible.

Well....I love festivals, little Krishna legs, seedai, murukku, thattai and sweet. However, limiting special food to just one day instead of all three is what I don't like that much.

Yadhaa yadhaa he dharmasya glanir bhavathi Bharatha;
abhyuktaanamadarmasya tadaatmaanam srijaamyahamh

- Srimad Bhagavadh Geetha: Chapter 4 Verse 7 on Krishna's Birth.

Ghusboo Temple

Now, we've all heard of this story. North Indians, surprisingly, seem to know more about this than most who grew up in TN. I was narrated a story about how a small one line rumor led to a war etc etc and that got me thinking about this story. Was there really a temple? Has a photo of this temple ever been published? Did it have a Khusboo diety in it? Did worshippers ever come there?

Did two people really keep a Kushboo photo inside a hut, kept two bricks underneath it, shat on the brick and began to call it a temple ? Or, is it one of the myths about Thamizh Nadu that pleases some very stupid N. Indian media people (Barkha Dutt types)? You know the one where they go like "here is a negative story about Thamizh Nadu. Lets add it to the pile of negative Thamizh Nadu stories, which show them as cine-crazy medieval stone gathering Neanderthal conservative people, and refer this in every alternate news item about that state".

How did the 3rd entry in three major stereo types of TN - (1) Thamizh Nadu has politicians who are cinema actors, (2) Thamizh nadu is conservative and (3) Thamizh Nadu has Kushboo temple - get created? (The fourth stereotype about Fair & Lovely apparently isn't getting much traction because it tends to give some sort of a back handed compliment). In most conversations I remember from the past - people from north, who want to feel good about themselves, take so much effort and pains to point this out that I'd like to get to the bottom of this. There are certainly idiots among Thamizhans. Pal Abhishekam of Rajini posters is a testament to that. So there is a semi-decent chance that such a temple might've existed. But something tells me that this is a rumor worth investigating. Last I knew this great holy place was rumored to have been located near Trichinapalli. I haven't seen a single photo of it. Has anyone seen a photo of this place?

Michael Phelps' Swimming History

(via)

Chakra Vyuham around Mambalam

I wonder how people coming form the East side of the Railway track will now go to Mambalam in an Auto

According to a press release, autorickshaws will be prohibited from the Venkatnarayana Road-Nageswara Road junction towards Duraisamy Road; from Brindhavan Street towards Duraisamy Subway and also on service roads from Pothys to Madley Road-Burkit Road junction and vice versa.

On a related note, a couple of years ago when the Usman Road flyover project began, I gave my own pet plan on how the idea might work. Anything to alleviate the problem would be a huge help. It was a positive sign that the government was doing something about it. What the DMK government has done is not something. Their actions can only be classified under anything. They might as well have built a candy machine at the center of Panagal park instead of this flyover. Both would have had the same effect. They just built a stupid flyover that connects South Usman and North Usman road. Doraisamy/Usman road traffic is not a Traffic Signal related problem. The problem is - too many vehicles travel in a narrow stretch of road. The flyover does nothing to divert those vehicles. Stopping Autos won't be enough. One has to remove the purpose of travelling through that stretch.

That's it. Now all the Kazha bolts in Mambalam will send a million letters to the editor of The Hindu, which will probably be used by the DMK people to wipe their asses.

Ad Zap

I initially started making fun of this college culturals clip. Then I was reminded of my own trip to the very same college culturals for the very same Ad Zap. 'Arva kolaru' (this term cannot be explained in English so I'll settle for "enthusiasm disorder") has spoiled the lives of more college students than any other single quality. We were given 'Annie French Shampoo" as the topic. The boys in our team (JB, Idea Mini and yours truly - for benefit of blog readers from my college) did not know what Annie French meant. The funny thing was - the girls in our team wouldn't tell us what it meant (I'll refrain from revealing my suspicions here). We went and did 1 round of advertisements in a generic sort of way and were cruelly boo'ed out.

The innocence of the college kids in this clip is very nice. Not even remotely funny. But it does remind one of college.

Random People who change your life.

She signed my thesis. She needn't have. She could have let me drown in that quick sand called thesis-option. In a chaos called life, strange unknown people from far away lands who speak strange languages are placed in curious positions and situations, where, for no specific reason, they get to help other unknown people from far away lands who speak a strange tongue.

Independence Day

I love the way Indians in American Grad Schools (and outside grad school too) celebrate different days in completely diverse and unique ways. Take Diwali for instance. They get together in a community hall, eat catered food, drink alcohol and dance all night to random Bhangra music. New Years Day is just remarkable. Its completely different as in a "violently different love story" from Bollywood. Desis get together in a community hall, eat catered food, drink alcohol and dance all night to Random Bhangra music. Indians celebrate their birthday in uniquely different way. They get together in some one's house, eat food served by the birthday person, drink alcohol and then dance all night to random Bhangra music.

Independence day is unique among all these days. The patriotic fervor of true red-blooded Indians comes to the fore. Maybe I am an emotional Indian at heart and simply can't stop loving this country more and more. But I love it when patriotism is expressed out by loving citizens in its truest form. On this day Indians do the radical stuff. They stick flags in their shirt, get together in a community hall, drink alcohol, eat catered food and dance all night to some random bhangra music. When I see the message "come celebrate Independence day at the Downtown dance bar and club" I want to shout "I love my country".

On Assumptions

What prompts people to assume things? Can we do/say anything without assumptions? Can one discuss the topic of assumptions without assuming anything? Let us assume a government officer is caught by officials for some corrupt act and the story finds its way into the papers. People who read the papers use the story as a tool to display copious amounts of self-righteousness. "I can't believe some one in a responsible position can be so corrupt. If a treasury department official can be corrupt then he should be shot dead. This is the state of our country. Damn these institutions." It wouldn't be too extreme an opinion to point out to them that they are assuming stuff. That they would have behaved in the exact same fashion had they been in the accused's shoes. That they aren't any more or less honest than the accused. However, since there is no "proof" or "data" to support the statements one abstains from making such obvious claims on people's assumptions.

However, I would assume any logical person would be tempted to ask questions like "but how are you so sure that the guy indeed committed the crime?" The logical person views his audience as educated people, people of science, rational people - who believe in "data" and "evidence" as opposed to a newspaper story - and asks them such a question. It is interesting to observe the various reactions to such a question. People take the question as an ego issue and answer as if their reputation depended upon the accused being guilty. "He would have 100% done it. He is right there in the treasury department. He handles everything. If not he, then who else". In fact, in my observations, 99% of the people who read such a story come to similar conclusions. These are the very same people who insist on "data" and "solid proof" in other discussions ( a classic example being discussions surrounding religion). The 1% of the people who push for the data are the accused's relatives, people who know the truth and a minuscule few from the vigilance department who are used to cross-examining everything.

It is interesting to note that nobody is interested in the case details. Finding out the truth is the least of all priorities. Most are very good in absorbing news stories and movie plot situations and adept in extrapolating those learnings to future unconnected real life situations. Most times when an obvious open & shut case comes in the news (like a watchman robbing the house he guards, servant maids kidnapping the babies they take care of, cashier stealing money etc) I am very curious. I ask people "how can a cashier steal money that he counts daily. Won't he know that he'll certainly get caught". But a few past incidents have gone a long way in dumbing people's intellect. A few hundred cashiers getting convicted can probably damn every one of the million cashiers who get accused in the future. I assume that the first thing that the police do is grab hold of the guy who is responsible for locking the door and make him a suspect. An inside job angle is the sexiest and most damning catch of them all. Probably because it helps in validating several unconfirmed assumptions. But mainly because such an arrest is tailor-made for public consumption. They would love it, so the press would love it and so it is convenient. The court case can proceed any which way it wants to but the most important thing for the police officer is to make an arrest that would be popular with the public.

An interesting question to ask, if one wanted to explore the causality here, would be - What would it take for people to refuse to make any assumptions and simply say "I don't know. I'd like to look at the details"? What is the psychological basis for not doing so? What gratification do assumptions provide? Why do we find it to be so irresistible. For example - On reading a news story how many have the honesty to say that they don't know anything about the said case and so can't say anything without looking into the details. The details, much like the truth they hold, tend to be complex and typically hold the key to most questions. Since they are mundane, un-entertaining, voluminous and provide no revenue for newspapers, I suppose it is easy for anybody to dismiss the most relevant as irrelevant and base all their opinions from a news story.

There have been several instances where the accused has been found not-guilty and released. However, that is never a news story. So the tarnished image of the accused continues to remain so and the readers (other people) when reminded of the judgment shrug feel an ego-hurt and say, "Maybe he paid money and escaped. Its all a cover-up." It has become unfashionable to dig into the mundane details. If one is hooked on to the party line one can always come up with opinions that are popular - "government people are corrupt, politicians are corrupt, Women in BPO have sex indiscriminately 24 x7 , there is no God, ". Then one never needs to be specific. One can fire cliche after cliche from the canon and simply move on. Subscribing to the most popular assumptions becomes an important tool for a person to be considered normal.

The Raised Finger

Ben Johnson. It has been 20 years since that race but some events just stick in memory.



Side Note: Carl Lewis when he was eventually handed over the gold medal 3 days after this race, was interviewed immediately after getting the medal. He said "I could see the pain in his eyes. He was undergoing massive pain. That's what drugs do to you" etc.. etc. I believed his self-righteous speech. Many years later Sports Illustrated found out that C. Lewis was banned before 1988 Olympics for taking drugs and that the ban was overturned just prior to the Olympics.

Movie Review: Subramanyapuram

The movie's beauty lies in the way it juxtaposes the infatuation of several people. Between a boy and a girl. Between 4 youths and their employer. Later between two youths and their employer. More importantly the infatuation of a friend with another. The dubious and fragile nature of this sort of infatuation is exploited in this movie. The movie brings out the randomness of trust and essentially says no one knows how it is forged. In a very classy way. I tell you this movie has style. We are shocked, incredibly so, several times because the director chooses to be less contrived during certain situations.

Sometimes parents, who keep warning their children on various forms of infatuation, can predict the ruin of a child exceptionally well. The movies that shows rebels as succeeding in life don't tell you the full story. Subramanyapuram, which switches narration between a stabbed person in a hospital in 2008 and the lives of 4 men in 1980s, tells us exactly that. This is probably the best movie to release this year. It does not start off remarkably well, however. In fact this movie reminded me of the meandering methods of Paruthiveeran. There are times during the first half where you wonder what the hell is this movie all about. It focuses on how people of Subramanyapuram lived their lives. What prestige and self-esteem was to them. It gives us a peek into their culture. From one perspective there is no life there. Its a sad place. But one could enjoy the simplicity of that life if one chooses to. The contract for kovil thiruvizha and party meetings seem like an adequate career that one can grow old with.

Most of the characters seems like someone you already know or could get to know. The mother (a widow) of one youth is sad that her son isn't getting serious in life. The elder brother of another youth refuses to talk to him until he mends his ways. They are all people who use the standard ego-based persuasion techniques to woo youth from some infatuation or other, which work with dubious success in most homes. Interestingly, the viewer finds these old people irritating. The 4 youths are thugs who who work for local politician who was an ex-councilor but now has hit a road block in his political life. If the story gave that politician any cadre higher than councilor the movie would have failed. The small-time nature keeps everything balanced. The youths receive some sort of self-esteem and status because they think they work for a politician. They have decided to escape from life by servicing this politician. Their rowdyism is like typing skills or short hand skills. Its their competence with which they have to live a life. It looks ugly to us but they are normal people. They aren't even scary. They can just get violent whenever they want and so think that's a skill set they can improve on. They literally try and build a career around it.

The violence in this movie aids the pace of the story. Like several successful templates have done before - this movie too ends strong. Unlike Sethu and Paruthiveeran (where only the last 20 minutes were good) this movie has a fantastic second half. It almost makes you forget the slow(er) first half. The guy-who-looks-like Vijay-in-chennai-28 seems to be playing one of the four guys (that's what I guessed from the voice). I couldn't recognize the other 3 characters (or for that matter any other character). There isn't much scope for performance as most of the people are hidden behind beards and I couldn't discern any subtlety in their expressions. It is a good thing that these were 4 arbit people. I am prety sure Vikram, Vijay or Ajith would have screwed up this perfectly good movie in the name of heroism for the masses. New faces seems the only way the audience can get to see good movies today.

One song, the love song, was very good. Apparently Sun TV James Vasanth is the MD. There are several 80s themes that this movie shows. I loved the ink pot type of things that is shown in that song. Today's directors and cameramen have techniques where some part of the frame momentarily provides an extreme close-up while the rest is shown normally. The frames where the break open a whisky bottle or where one bearded guy hands over a coin - shows the bottle and coin in close-up and the rest in normal mode. This is oft-used but fascinating technique. All-in-all I am glad a thoughtful person recommended this movie to me. I highly recommend it to everybody. Note: This movie has violent sequences that may not be suitable for children.

Nikita Mehta Case

The pro-choice arguments that almost all the women bloggers have put forth essentially work to justify female infanticide or killing off a 10 year old mentally disabled kid etc. Allowing pro-choice, for the reasons mentioned by these women, would set a precedent for killing life outside the womb. I like pro-choice. Rather than some human rights group activists, who just want publicity, to be in control - it does make sense for the people who are responsible and accountable to have more control. But that is not enough to ring fence the problem. If one wants to argue for pro-choice the key would be to make an argument that distinguishes between life inside a womb and a life outside the womb.

P.S: Changing the definition of "life" requires religious endorsement, which might not be a bright idea.

Criticism

One can come up with a reasonably valid criticism against anything in this world. This includes the previous sentence. When one is aware of this, one merely indulges in picking and choosing what one likes to criticise and leaves out the rest that gives one relatively less entertainment. That's why it is perplexing when somebody else comes along and picks out a criticism, not with the intent of gaining pleasure but to point out a contradiction in one's criticism. With the hope inducing a change in opinion. In which case one is not wrong in assuming that this 'somebody-else' is less self-aware. This pushes the above-mentioned first sentence one more inch closer towards being an exception to itself.

The Other Man Was Partially Blind

At least 7 men travelling in that 12B bus condemned, caught and turned in the boy who pulled the lady's saree. A few months later when they saw that lady again in the bus stop, 6 of them could remember that one hook in her blouse was undone and that she had a mole in her midriff.

Movie Review: The X-Files: I Want To Believe

Chris Carter throws us another movie installment of X-Files almost 10 years after the TV series finale. Seeing this movie reminded me of how much I missed the TV series. X-Files is credited for a lot of good things. Most of it with good merit. But to me the entire series was essentially about a man's beliefs. And how other people who did not understand him, ridiculed him and systematically worked on withering his will power. The aspect where Fox Mulder thinks and almost internalizes the assumption that everybody else is wrong and goes about his pursuit in a psuedo-rebel way is the most endearing aspect of the TV series. Chris Carter in this movie picks out this aspect and refines it in a cyclical way. There are 3-4 Mulder type characters in this movie. They all want to believe that their pursuit is correct and the way the go about to achieve their target, regardless of the general disagreement around them, is correct.

Scully wants to believe that she can save a patient's life. The Father (priest i.e), who aids the FBI with his visions of murder scenes, wants to believe that he can be forgiven of his pedophile track record. The so-called villains in this movie aren't altogether dark. They have shades of grey just like the Father, Scully, Mulder and everybody else. They believe that their methods are correct. This movie blends these individual beliefs and brings about a cohesive story where the fate of all the characters are intertwined. They don't give up inspite of the persuasion to do the opposite.

Any X-Files fan will vouch that it is a perfect blend of drama genre and sci-fi genre. From the early season shows X-Files was always about drama, human emotions and the way we react to situations instead of special effects, stunts and machine guns. This movie brings out that drama while still giving us a feeling that we are journeying along a paranormal story. It all looks so real. There is not a moment where I thought that I was watching an action flick. The trademark location/time stamps are there. The people behind X-Files seem to love snow, foggy locations and rain. The mood is always dull and he lighting is always dusky. The camera work was phenomenal in the TV series and it continues to be different in the movie. There are some shots which make you wonder how these people conceptualized that shot. The opening scene where a line of FBI agents dig through snow was fantastic. The one where Mulder looks up after getting out of his crashed/pushed-down car is another X-Files special. The creators have a way with snow. It is almost as if snow decided to make itself pretty for them.

I loved this movie. It may not be a great movie but it revives a forgotten genre. While I do like special effects intensive movies, a good drama-based movie like X-Files always looks better in comparison. True suspense and genuine surprise are created by great characters. Mulder is a fantastic character. In this movie there is a more human side to him. His ferocious single-mindedness is tuned down. He is more sarcastic and humorous. And I have to say this- Scully is still sexy. Gillian Anderson is a cult-level sex goddess. I can't believe she is real. The TV series held back on to the Scully-Mulder-in-the-sack situation for a long time. Here the movie blasphemously jumps right into it. Beyond being beautiful (which certainly helps) she is the world's eye into Mulder. She is the anchor through which the viewer comprehends the X-files world. She is shown slightly differently in this movie. She hates the priest from the outset and seems to be the temperamental one here. If one wishes to experience the mood the TV series created, they should watch this movie. Its a sample of this fantastic world.

Motor Cycle/Bike in America

It is possible to derive a lot of pleasure from bikes if one ridicules people who buy Motor Cycle Bikes in America. Since it has been handed down from one generation of men to the next that such bikes are a macho thing, some men grow up wanting to believe that they should drive bikes. Many don't really have a clue on exactly what particular aspect of the driving-the-Motorbike like thing they should derive the said pleasure from ( I have heard some lame desis use the fuel-economy and traffic excuse). They just buy terribly terribly boring books on motor bikes, pretend to read them, and try to get laid. It is a ritual that rivals the barbie doll obsession of little girls. Talking about a Motor Cycle for hours together should be rated as the most boring topic ever discussed by a group of men.

Since these bike people can only drive for 3-4 summer months and are wrapped around in layers of helmet and other ridiculous clothing, one can pretend to be a biker by just renting that ridiculous piece clothing during winter and keep telling others how "the weather has made it impossible for me to drive (under speed limits of course) with my gzillion Horse power (throw in a "stroke engine" jargon for effects) bike". On the other hand if one ridicules people on Motor Bikes and takes more pleasure in not driving a Harley Vs not driving a Yamaha, the benefits to one's economic condition can be enormous. Without spending a single penny on bikes one can wallow in happiness from new and fancy Motorbike Products by simply pointing out and laughing at the various models one is not driving at that time.