The Pizzazzy

Initially I wasn’t very keen on watching this movie. I wasn’t even waiting for this movie to release although I loved all the songs of this movie especially ‘Dard-e-Disco’ mainly because of my favorite Sa Re Ga Ma contestant, Raja. The first time I heard the song was when Raja performed it in the contest and till date I find that better than the original.

Yesterday we simply had an idea about watching a movie. And to my great surprise I found that Golden Village was showing ‘Om Shanti Om’ so off we went for the afternoon show. All movies release on the Thursday of the week it is releasing in India. And I get to give a review to all my friends and cousins back home.

‘Om Shanti Om’ is like ‘Main Hoon Na’ the earlier venture by Farah Khan, a feel good and happy ending movie. Infact one of the dialogs of the movie also says that ‘if it’s not happy it’s not the end’ Good one I must say.

The other repetitive thing that you would get to hear in the movie is ‘If you really want something very badly, the whole universe conspires to make it possible’. Are you wondering where you heard that before, and then let me tell you this is the very theme of Paulo Coelho’s Alchemist, the best seller novel written in simple English and simple sentences, but giving great meanings and teachings of life.

Then the second half of the movie was quite predictable. Ya, the very twist of the movie was predictable Farah. That’s all about the movie bashing that I can do for ‘Om Shanti Om’. Just like the name of the movie first there is Om and Shanti then again Om. Righto! OM’s reincarnation. No not Shanti. But since we cannot leave our Hindi movie hero without a heroine there’s a look alike of her as Sandy. Howzzat?

On a positive note, the movie is worth-watching-once. All the songs are really good and infact in one song you can see many bollywood actors. It’s a visual treat to see all of them dancing in this one long song ‘Om Shanti Om’. Yes Treat, it is! There are cameo roles by Abhishek, Rani, Pretty, Karan Johar, Farah Khan etc etc…

The story line is same as Karz with some twists. But Deepika Padukone really looks great in both the roles of superstar of 70s and normal girl 30 years later and what more she can act as well. Shahrukh’s six packs look really cool, and the item number with Shahrukh and none other than his six packs is again a visual treat. Ladies watchout. Shreyas Talpade rocks again.

Now the must see in the movie is the rich editing which shows Deepika dancing with Jeetendra, Sunil Dutt and the likes. The yester years looks is portrayed beautifully by the set, clothes, hairstyle and acting. And some intelligent bashing of bollywood stars makes good comic sequence.

Om Shanti Om is really a Diwali treat and tough one for Sawariya. Enjoy the movie with family and friends.

I never got my site reviewed from anyone. So, when I got to know from my sister about OurBlogReview and the interesting review they did for her blog, I wrote to them for a review. I basically was interested in knowing what they felt about my blog and especially as they have read so many blogs.

So, here’s what Rachel had to say about my blog which you can also read at ourBlogReview

The Pizzazzy mainly has articles about food and travel. I liked the recipe post as not only did it have the recipe but described how it was to actually cook the dish. I especially liked the article about the authors sister and son’s trip to London. As someone form the UK it was great to hear what a 4 year old foreigner thought of the city. All of the articles have a lot of detail and most are quite long. I enjoyed the style of writing - it flowed well and I felt that I wanted to read the whole post despite them being long. I liked the photographs on the blog and the small amount of advertising made it more pleasurable.

Well, I appreciate the review and was very happy to know that someone who regularly reads and reviews many blogs has such good review for an amateur blogger. If you are a blogger do write to her and know what she thinks about your blog .

Just finished reading this interesting novel by Dan Brown : Digital Fortress. This is the third book of Dan Brown that I have read, the other two are The Da Vinci Code, and Angels and Demons. And just like the previous two books I enjoyed, this one is also a thoroughly gripping plot. Well researched and intelligently narrated, each page presents a new level of excitement. The book is about digital code breaking and super computers on the battle of privacy and security.

After reading the book I read everything else on the pages of the book like acknowledgement, publishing details and  one of the pages mentions about www.danbrown.com I checked it out and came across some interesting and bizzarre facts about the book. First of all was that it is based on a real life experience. Read on..

In the Spring of 1995, on the campus of Phillips Exeter Academy, the U.S. Secret Service made a bust…

THE TARGET : A teenage student flagged by a government computer as being a threat to national security.

THE CRIME : Sending E-mail to a friend in which he said he thought President Clinton should be shot.

THE MISTAKE : The same mistake many Americans make every day…believing that what they say in E-mail is private.

In the wake of the incident, Dan Brown, an English teacher at the school, surprised by the government’s apparent ability to “listen in”, began researching the intelligence community’s access to civilian communication. What he stumbled across stunned him…an ultra-secret, $12 billion a year intelligence agency that only 3% of Americans know exists.

This clandestine organization, known as the NSA (jokingly referred to as No Such Agency), employs over 20,000 code-breakers, analysts, technicians, and spies and has a 86-acre compound hidden in Maryland. Founded over half a century ago by President Truman, the NSA’s technology is unrivaled. They have the ability to monitor all of our digital communications–cellular phone, FAX, and E-mail. They are bound by presidential directive to do whatever it takes to protect our national security… including “snoop” our most private conversations if necessary.

Brown coaxed two ex-NSA cryptographers to speak to him via anonymous remailers (an E-mail protocol that ensures both parties privacy), and the cryptographers, each unaware of the other, told identical stories…incredible accounts of NSA submarines that listened in on underwater phone cables, of a terrorist attack on the New York Stock Exchange that never went public, and also of a chilling new NSA technology–a multi-billion dollar supercomputer capable of deciphering even the most secure communications. Nonetheless, the cryptographers sang the praises of the NSA and insisted that ensuring our nation’s security can only be done at the expense of civilian privacy.

“The battle between privacy and security,” says Brown, “has no clear-cut answers. The stakes are enormous. All I know is that when I learned the truth about the NSA, I had to write about it.”

DIGITAL FORTRESS
Only the most shocking parts are true.

Some bizzarre facts that we are all aware of but to read about it in numbers and details is what makes them more bizzarre.

In large cities, Americans are photographed on the average of 20 times a day.
Everything you charge is in a database that police, among others, can look at.
Supermarkets track what you purchase and sell the information to direct-mail marketing firms.
Your employer is allowed to read your E-Mail, and if you use your company’s health insurance to purchase drugs, your employer has access to that information.
Government computers scan your E-Mail for subversive language.
Your cell phone calls can be intercepted, and your access numbers can be cribbed by eavesdroppers with police scanners.
You register your whereabouts every time you use an ATM, credit card, or use EZ PASS at a toll booth.
You are often being watched when you visit web sites. Servers know what you’re looking at, what you download, and how long you stay on a page.
A political candidate found his career destroyed by a newspaper that published a list of all the videos he had ever rented.
Most “baby monitors” can be intercepted 100 feet outside the home.
Intelligence agencies now have “micro-bots” — tiny, remote control, electronic “bugs” that literally can fly into your home and look around without your noticing.
Anyone with $100 can tap your phone.
a new technology called TEMPEST can intercept what you are typing on your keypad (from 100 feet away through a cement wall.)
the National Security Agency has a submarine that can intercept and decipher digital communications from the RF emissions of underwater phone cables.