Last blog post of 2007 in the world.or first post of 2008

I am going to hit the “publish” button for this at 23:59:50…10 seconds before the new year.If it gets posted within 10seconds i hope this will be the last post by a blogger in 2007 and by chance if it takes more than 10sec to get posted then it will be the 1st post of 2008 by a blogger….I hope so…….

HAPPY NEW YEAR……….

am i insane…i think so

One Night @ The Call Center—A Dream

 

Last day i finished reading a book called “One Night @ The Call Center” by Chetan Bhagat,the same guy who wrote the book “Five Point Someone” about the 3 underdogs in IIT.What i am going to say here is a dream that i had yesterday night.In the book the author said the story through the eyes of “Shyam”,a guy who stands close to the character of the author.

So in my dream i was with “Shyam”,i was with him on our way to the Call Center where he worked.And then we reached there and i found the place look more like a Govt. office rather than a Call Center(trust me weird things happen in dreams).There I saw all the characters from the book,i met them,i talked to them.”Esha” looked really hot so was “Priyanka”.”Vroom” was screwing some dumb American on the phone.”Radhika” was cursing her husband,”Military Uncle” was on his computer at one end of the room and “Shyam” was tapping the conversation between Priyanka and Ganesh.

This is the outline of the dream.I have dreamt about a lot of things.I have dreamt about “the girl” a lot,i have dreamt about my family,my didi,my friends,me being a celebrity..But this is the first time i have dreamt about the scenario of a book and characters of the book.I felt awsome.

p.s:- I donno how people who haven’t read this book will understand this post.Shyam,Vroom Esha etc are all characters of the book.

I am Happy that I am in India and not in my neighbouring country

Yesterday Pakistan’s former PM Benazir Bhutto was assassinated.News said that she was shot in the face and chest and then the suicide bomber blew the place up.

Even if my country is not ran by ideal people,even if my country is not perfect.I am happy that my country is stable,achieving a great economic growth.My country didn’t face any Emergency,there was no military coup,there is no terrorist attack back to back in succession.

My country may not be perfect but I am so happy to belong to my country.And there is a line from Rang De Basanti “Koi desh perfect nahi hota,Usse perfect banana padtha hain”

I am supposed to say all these .After all I am a guy who only because of his love to the nation and armed forces wrote the National Defence Academy( NDA) entrance exam inspite of his mother’s constant opposition,but couldn’t get through may be because of my mother’s prayers.

I am proud of my Nation..

Untitled

“A ship in the port is safe,but its not what the ship is built for”

I saw this quote on the board of my classroom two days back.Couldn’t help but to think about it.I don’t know who wrote it,whose words are these but it did strike.

Michael Jackson–The King Of Pop

Like most of the people who belong to my age group,i also started listening to english music or the first pop artist i came to hear about was Michael Jackson.I can say that i was kind of crazy about him when i was in my 9th and 10th grade.I even remember once when i was in school i emailed to a show called “Most Wanted” on MTV requesting an MJ song and guess what they played my request.I was amazed by his talent as a singer,dancer and above all a performer.I wonder about his ability to pull the crowd.The #1 entertainer in the history,the most succesfull entertainer of all time in the show business.He is trully the “King Of Pop”.I have no idea how many times i have tried to imitate his step called ‘the Moon Walk’.

His successfull career and personal life have been a part of pop culture for almost 40 years.Michael Jackson is widely regarded as one of the greatest entertainers and most popular recording artists in history, displaying complicated physical techniques, such as the robot and the moonwalk, that have redefined mainstream dance and entertainment.He has been named the “Most Successful Entertainer of All Time” by Guinness World Records.Jackson began his musical career at the age of five with the Jackson Family vocal group.

In his solo career, Jackson recorded and co-produced the most selling album of all time Thriller , which has worldwide sales exceeding 104 million.After Thriller, Jackson continued to release internationally chart-topping albums like Bad (1987), Dangerous (1991), HIStory (1995), and invincible (2001), his latest album of fully original material. Michael Jackson has received thirteen Grammy Awards and charted thirteen #1 singles in the US, more than any other male artist in the Hot 100 era. In November 2006, the World Music Awards announced that Michael Jackson had sold over 750 million units worldwide and given $300 million to charity, making Jackson one of the best selling music artists and one of the most charitable humanitarians of all time, whose efforts on the latter front have been acknowledged with a Nobel Peace Prize nomination.

Rumors of sleepover parties received negative media coverage after it was revealed that children frequently slept in his bed or bedroom. These first came to light when he was accused of child sexual abuse in 1993.Then later in 2005 Jackson was tried and acquitted of all charges.

My tastes in music has changed,i mean it has widened.But still MJ is unique,some of his songs never give me a repetetion feeling.

A song “Stranger in Moscow” is one of my all time fav. Then “Heal The World”, “Who Is It” ,”Billie Jean”,”Dangerous”………

MJ in India

 

 

 

He is the KING OF POP…..

The Return Of ‘Led Zeppelin’

Once may be enough for Led Zeppelin as band members reunite for the first time in 19 years at a much hyped London concert.Some 20 million people competed in an internet lottery for the 18,000 tickets for the show at O2 arena.It has been postponed for a month because of guitarist Jimmy Page’s broken finger.

Page,63;John Paul Jones 61,and Robert Plant,59-original members of the band-have recruited drummer Jason Bonham,41,to take the place of his father,John Bonham who died in 1980.The band split up after his death and whether there will be any more Led Zeppelin re-unions is an open question.

Led Zeppelin had reunited briefly in 1985 for the live Aid event and again in 1988 for a major 40th anniversary concert for Atlantic Records.They also played a short set with other musicians when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995.

This is the article i saw in the newspaper today.I am not a die-hard fan of Led Zep,but i like their music.Songs like ‘Stairway To Heaven’ ‘Dream On’ and ‘Kashmir’ are too good…

The University Exam Which Chopped Me Down

Today my 4th semester university exam results are out.Out of the 8 subjects I am screwed for 2.As a part of the tradition most of the “big daddies” in the software field will be coming for campus recruitment in my next semester and by that time i am supposed to be a “no-fucking-back-fucking- paper” person and right now the placement seems like a distant shore and i am standing in a wrecked ship.

The way i screwed my exams

Last semester i was hit with ‘Jaundice’.The normal count of bilirubin of a healthy person is supposed to be less than 1 and i was hit so hard that my bilirubin count went upto 14.4.And during my internal exams i was having a bilirubin count of 7 and obviously i screwed all the internals.As a result i was under-sessional for 4 subjects.And out of the 4 subjects i failed for one.The next subject which i failed is called “Signals And Systems(SAS)” fearfully called as “Supply After Supply”.Out of 25 boys in my class 21 got fucked for this fucking subject(Great na out of 25..21 got kicked on their b***s).Cheers to those who got through.

And i had a back paper in the 3rd semester and it was “Electrical Circuits And Systems(ECS)” fearfully called by me as “Extremely Catastrophic Subject”.There were students from my class to write the supplementary exam there were my seniors,my super seniors, a lot of people to write that supplementary and the result came as “Nobody from this so-and-so college passed”…ya not even a single person passed…what the fuck on earth will cause such a mass fucking failure….i think that the university might not have even seen the papers…Ya that kind of things happen in my University……

So here i am an “Inglorious Bastard” standing with a total of 3 back papers with a fear that i won’t be allowed to appear for the campus placements…But remember I am still fucking standing…I am still fucking standing….I am no way fucking broken…

P.S1:-yeah its true that there are lot of people in my class whose results are worse than mine…but with all that bull shitting facade people has put up for me…i am supposed to be placed in a big company…am i not…What say you?…..

P.S2:-All the abbreviations given in the topic are made by me…i am damn good in that

You Talking To Me—Link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tquSRFKuv4Q…check it out

You Talking To Me

Robert DeNiro (Travis): You talkin’ to me? You talkin’ to me? You talkin’ to me? Then who the hell else are you talkin’ to? You talkin’ to me? Well I’m the only one here. Who do you think you’re talking to? Oh yeah? Huh? Ok.

Fabulous acting by Robert DeNiro in the movie Taxi Driver(1976).This dialogue is named the #10th best movie quote…

Infromation for those who have seen this classic.I just copied it and pasted from IMDB

• Various studios considered producing this film; one suggested Neil Diamond for the lead role.
• Brian De Palma was also considered to direct but the producers were dragged to a private screening of Mean Streets (1973) (Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese’s previous collaboration) before they told Scorsese he could direct, but only if he got De Niro to play the lead.
• Harvey Keitel was originally offered the part of the campaign worker, eventually played by Albert Brooks. He decided to take the role as the pimp, even though in the script he was black and only had about five lines.

• Rock Hudson was once considered for the role of Charles Palantine, but was not able to due to his commitment to the TV series, “McMillan & Wife” (1971).
• Robert De Niro worked twelve hour days for a month driving cabs as preparation for this role. He also studied mental illness.
• The scene where Travis Bickle is talking to himself in the mirror was completely ad-libbed by Robert De Niro. The screenplay details just said, “Travis looks in the mirror.” Martin Scorsese claims that he got the inspiration for the scene from Marlon Brando mouthing words in front of a mirror in Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967).
• ‘Bernard Herrmann’ wasn’t going to write the score for this film, but agreed to do it when he saw the scene where Bickle pours Schnapps on his bread.
• Harvey Keitel rehearsed with actual pimps to prepare for his role. The scene where his character and Iris dance is improvised, and is one of only two scenes in the film that don’t focus on Bickle.
• Director Martin Scorsese claims that the most important shot in the movie is when Bickle is on the phone trying to get another date with Betsy. The camera moves to the side slowly and pans down the long, empty hallway next to Bickle, as if to suggest that the phone conversation is too painful and pathetic to bear.
• Robert De Niro claimed that the final shootout scene took particularly long, because of both technical problems and the humor which arose from the tension created by the carnage in the scene.
• Jodie Foster was 14 years old in 1976, so she could not do the more explicit scenes. (Her character was 12 1/2.) Connie Foster, Jodie’s 21-year-old sister, was cast as her body double for those scenes.
• Legendary composer ‘Bernard Herrmann’ died on Christmas Eve of 1975, just hours after completing the recording sessions for this film.
• When Travis calls Betsy from a payphone to apologize for having taken her to a porno movie, he makes that call from the lobby of The Ed Sullivan Theater (1697 Broadway).
• The sex film that Travis takes Betsy to see is Kärlekens språk (1969).
• The restaurant where the cabbies gather to eat was a real-life hangout for taxi drivers called the Belmore Cafeteria at 28th St. and Park Avenue South. It has since been demolished, but the apartment building that replaced it is named the Belmore.
• The girl with whom Jodie Foster studied in order to prepare for her role as Iris also appears in the film, as Iris’ friend on the street.
• Director Martin Scorsese’s parents (Charles Scorsese and Catherine Scorsese) appear as Iris’ parents in the newspaper article hanging on Travis’ wall at the end of the movie.
• Due to injuries sustained in an accident during the production of the 1975 movie The Farmer (1977) actor George Memmoli had to decline the bit-part of the Travis’s disturbed passenger who was ultimately played by the film’s director Martin Scorsese.
• Director Cameo: [Martin Scorsese] sitting down, behind Betsy as she walks into the Palantine campaign headquarters in slow-motion. He also appears as the irate husband in Bickle’s cab.
• In Paul Schrader’s original screenplay, the characters of Sport, the Mafioso and the hotel clerk were all black. Martin Scorsese felt that, combined with other events in the film, this would have stacked the deck too much towards racism, and suggested that those characters be changed to white men. Schrader relented.
• Jeff Bridges was considered for the part of Travis Bickle.
• The record that Travis buys for Betsy is “The Silver Tongued Devil and I” by Kris Kristofferson. In the restaurant they quote from a song on the album, “Pilgrim Chapter 33″ (”he’s a prophet…”).
• The movie’s line “You talking to me?” was voted as the #10 movie quote by the American Film Institute
• In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked this as the #52 Greatest Movie of All Time.
• The movie’s line “You talkin’ to me?” was voted as the #8 of “The 100 Greatest Movie Lines” by Premiere in 2007.
• Paul Schrader was inspired to write the script after reading the published diary of Arthur Bremer, the man who was convicted of shooting presidential hopeful George Wallace. Eerily, Bremer was 26 years old in 1976 (the year the film was released), the same age as Travis Bickle in the film.
• The producers were looking for a “Cybill Shepherd” type to play the female lead in the film. When agent Sue Mengers heard this, she reportedly called them and asked why not hire Cybill Shepherd.
• Travis’ name was an homage to the Mick Travis character in If…. (196 and O Lucky Man! (1973), the latter of which was supposedly one of Martin Scorsese’s favorite films at the time.
• According to Amy Taubin’s book, the character of Iris was partially inspired by Paul Schrader’s memory of 1950s’ Coppertone ads. One of Jodie Foster’s first acting jobs was a Coppertone commercial.
• While it may be true that the scene where Robert De Niro stands before the mirror and asks his reflection, “You talkin’ to me? Well, I don’t see anyone else here” was improvised, the exchange is a quotation from Shane (1953) where Alan Ladd and Ben Johnson square up to one another just before their barroom brawl.
• Travis Bickle’s famous “You talkin’ to me?” scene may have been inspired by De Niro’s training under Stella Adler, who (as an exercise) had her students practice different interpretations of a similar phrase. The legendary acting teacher was surprised to see one of her former students use “You talkin’ to me?” as a psychotic mantra. Martin Scorsese was encouraging De Niro just below the camera while shooting the scene, which lead to the rest of the “dialogue” Bickle has with his mirror.
• The story was partially autobiographical for Paul Schrader, who suffered a nervous breakdown while living in Los Angeles. He was fired from the AFI, basically friendless, in the midst of a divorce and was rejected by a girlfriend. Squating in his ex-girlfriend’s apartment while she was away for a couple of months, Schrader literally didn’t talk to anyone for many weeks, went to porno theaters and developed an obsession with guns. He also shared with Bickle the sense of isolation from being a mid-Westerner in an urban center. Schrader decided to switch the action to New York City only because taxi drivers are far more common there. Schrader’s script clicked with both Scorsese and De Niro when they read it.
• When Travis is talking to a Secret Service agent, he gives his address as 154 Hopper Avenue, Fair Lawn, New Jersey. There is a Hopper Avenue in Fair Lawn, but there is no 154 Hopper Avenue.
• After Brian De Palma, who was originally attached to the project, was let go, producer Michael Phillips gave him a gross point as a parting gift, to assuage Phillips’ guilt.
• Tony Bill, the producing partner of Julia Phillips and her husband Michael Phillips, wanted to make his directorial debut with this movie after Brian De Palma was cashiered. He was convinced to wait to direct a film more suitable for his sensibilities.
• Around the time Tony Bill was considering directing the movie, the Paul Schrader script was sent to Al Pacino, but he declined the role. Julia Phillips never knew whether Pacino declined the role because he didn’t like the script or because he didn’t want to work with Bill.
• When Martin Scorsese agreed to direct, he brought Robert De Niro on board with him, much to the delight of Julia Phillips. Much less delightful was that De Niro was committed to making Bernardo Bertolucci’s Novecento (1976) and when he left for Italy, Scorecese committed to Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974).
• After seeing “every blonde in town”, producer Julia Phillips still preferred Farrah Fawcett over Cybill Shepherd for the role of Betsy.
• Cybill Shepherd turned down the chance to appear in Nickelodeon (1976) in order to accept the role of Betsy.
• Producer Julia Phillips tells in her auto-biography that Cybill Shepherd had a hard time remembering her lines during the coffee-and-pie scene with Robert De Niro. She writes that De Niro in particular was getting fed up with her and that Phillips and editor Marcia Lucas laughed over all the unusable footage they had to work with in the editing room.
• ‘Paul Schrader’ wrote the script for “Taxi Driver” in five days. As he was writing, he kept a loaded gun on his desk for motivation and inspiration.
• This was the last Columbia feature to use the classic Torch Lady logo in her classic appearance.
• When Travis is watching television alone and he kicks over the television, he is watching a scene from the Young and the Restless, which debuted in 1973. The scene is a conversation between Brock Reynolds and Jill Foster (not June as the closed captions state) about Brock’s love for Jill and Jill’s love for Brock’s stepfather (Phillip). Truly trivial is that even though Brock and Jill married, they later found out the marriage was invalid because they were in reality half-siblings.
• The cab Travis drove was Checker. They stopped production after 1982 and the last one in New York City was retired in 1999.
• In the coffee and pie scene, Travis orders apple pie with melted cheese. When serial killer Ed Gein was arrested, he asked the police for a slice of apple pie with melted cheese in exchange for a full confession.
• Premiere voted this movie as one of “The 25 Most Dangerous Movies”.
• Uncredited Tom Scott delivered the dominant, haunting alto saxophone solos over the Bernard Herrmann score.
• The apartment building where Iris lived was 226 East 13th Street, as seen on an exterior shot, as well as in the Then-and-Now Special Feature on the 2 disc DVD. As a sad coda to the movie, in 1988, as reported by the NY Times, two young girls were killed when the stoop outside this address collapsed, crushing them both.
• Martin Scorsese at one point said he discussed the role of Travis Bickle with Dustin Hoffman, but is unclear in what capacity Hoffman was considered since Scorsese was always supposed to direct as a package-deal with Robert De Niro.
• Robert De Niro’s on-and-off girlfriend in the 70s, Diahnne Abbott, appears as the concession girl in the porno theater near the beginning of the film.
• Paul Schrader guessed that the thought of isolated anti-hero being a taxi driver may have been instilled by the Harry Chapin song “Taxi”, which was a big hit at the time.
• When Paul Schrader was first writing the script, he believed that he was just writing about “loneliness”, but as the process went on he realized he was writing about “the pathology of loneliness”. His theory being that, for some reason, some “young men” (such as Schrader himself) subconsciously push others away to maintain their isolation, even though the main source of their torment is this very isolation.

Boulevard Of Broken Dreams-Greenday

One of the best songs ever made……

Boulevard of Broken Dreams   by Greenday

I walk a lonely road
The only one that I have ever known
Don’t know where it goes
But it’s home to me and I walk alone

I walk this empty street
On the Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Where the city sleeps
and I’m the only one and I walk alone

I walk alone
I walk alone

I walk alone
I walk a…

My shadow’s the only one that walks beside me
My shallow heart’s the only thing that’s beating
Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me
‘Til then I walk alone

Ah-ah, Ah-ah, Ah-ah, Aaah-ah,
Ah-ah, Ah-ah, Ah-ah

I’m walking down the line
That divides me somewhere in my mind
On the border line
Of the edge and where I walk alone

Read between the lines
What’s fucked up and everything’s alright
Check my vital signs
To know I’m still alive and I walk alone

I walk alone
I walk alone

I walk alone
I walk a…

My shadow’s the only one that walks beside me
My shallow heart’s the only thing that’s beating
Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me
‘Til then I walk alone

Ah-ah, Ah-ah, Ah-ah, Aaah-ah
Ah-ah, Ah-ah

I walk alone
I walk a…

I walk this empty street
On the Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Where the city sleeps
And I’m the only one and I walk a…

My shadow’s the only one that walks beside me
My shallow heart’s the only thing that’s beating
Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me
‘Til then I walk alone…