Obelisk by Dedon

It's not the Gherkin. It's Obelisk by Dedon – the makers of outdoor furniture. Dissemble it and within minutes you have four comfortable seats and a table on your deck, garden or terrace. When the guests are gone, you can stack it up. And this is only one of the fabulous designs in their range.

The furniture is made from Dedon® synthetic fibre which is totally weatherproof, so you don't have to worry about lugging it back indoors every time the clouds come around, which is perfect for London.

Don't leave the cushions out though!

Cape Fear [1991]

Another Martin Scorsese thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat. An ex-convict [Robert De Niro] returns from prison after 14 years only to seek vengeance for his wrong imprisonment, because of betrayal by his own defence lawyer.

The psychopath stalks the lawyer [Nick Nolte], his wife [Jessica Lange] and daughter [Juliette Lewis] in this gripping tale of revenge. I must warn that the movie gets a bit dark and gory in places, but it is well worth it.

Robert De Niro and Juliette won Academy Award nominations for their performances in the film.

Rating: *****
Click here for a teaser

Music for your ears. And eyes...

Whoever said that the best things in life are free, was having a laugh. The best things in life are not free; and they are not cheap either.

Bowers & Wilkins has been making speakers in England since 1966. Known for their quality of sound and unconventional designs, the company also supplies equipment for Jaguar cars [XKR & XF]. They have made a surprise foray into the iPod generation market [which has been growing faster than any other in the music business currently] with B&W Zeppelin.

Keeping to their tradition of beauty-meets-brawn, the oval shaped speaker [with iPod dock] could be mistaken for a piece of art. This speaker carries more punch than the Bose SounDock [from £299] or Apple's own iPod HiFi [£249] and is priced at £399 – I have seen and heard it play. Believe me - it is worth every penny.

Jewellery, for your ears...

I have never been a fan of averages - which is a mistake most of the earphone manufacturers make; making earphones for average sized-ears.

Bang & Olufsen used a different approach - the result is A8 - one of the best earphones available in the market today. Each earphone in A8 has three moving parts to fit every ear perfectly - hence the sound is delivered directly into the ear canal. These are not advertised by B&O as noise cancelling, but they eliminate most of the unwanted ambient sound [as I write this listening to them, Nidhi is watching a movie on our surround sound and I cannot hear a thing]

The sound quality is brilliant and would satisfy even the discerning audiophile, I promise. The bass is better than any non-sealing earphone; so are the vocals. They give a whole new meaning to my iPod. I wonder what took me this long to discover them.

Coming to the beauty, I titled it accordingly. It is 'high-tech jewellery' as B&O calls it. And, at the the price they sell them, it sure is.

Design with technology...

Honestly, I had not expected a design like this from LG - home cinema speakers in the shape of champagne flutes. They come in black piano finish and look absolutely gorgeous - if you have the space. [I was not much impressed with the subwoofer's looks, but that can always be tucked away out of sight]

This home cinema is full loaded - HD ready, 5.1 surround sound with 700W and a built in FM radio. What impresses me most is that the DVD player has a USB port - so if you have content on the computer, it can easily be watched on the telly through the DVD surround sound. Something I blogged about last year. Given that the capacity of the USB drives going up all the time, I am surprised why we don't have movie dispensers to pick up something after hours.

The specs are great and the reviews are excellent...all that in £499. If this was from B&O, it would most definitely set you back by a few grand.

Home Before Dark

Neil Diamond: Not a very popular choice amongst most of my friends, but as it is said about him: "There are two types of people in the world: those who like Neil Diamond and those who don't".

Because, if you are fond of music, you cannot ignore a singer & songwriter who has sold 120 million records worldwide and has been around for last five decades [he wrote his first song at 15].

And, he is still going strong - he will be performing at the Glastonbury festival this year...he's released an album, earlier this month - Home Before Dark and if you fall in the first category of people [like I do], it's worth it's money. His unmistakable voice is still amazing at 67.

I am going for his upcoming concert in O2 on June 24th, 2008 and I am reasonably sure I will not see many known faces there...

Click here to listen to a track from his latest album: Pretty Amazing Grace

Wireless & Sich-like by F Austin Hyde

1979 – a group of us were selected to act in a play for School's annual day - Wireless & sich-like. No one remembers how such an obscure play was chosen. Almost 30 years later – I found pictures and then searched for the play on the web. I came across a 1946 publication – Seven Modern Plays, which had this one too

The story is that the lead character, Geoffrey (played by yours truly) convinces his friends to play a prank on his grandpa [who says sich for such] that he has managed to make a wireless radio. They all team up, get under the covered table and wait for grandpa. Geoffrey then convinces his grandpa that it works. When he switches on the radio on the table, his friends below the table start to sing….but too many friends under a table for too long is not sustainable and the table cloth drops…

It was funny; it was entertaining. We all became recognisable faces in school – and got selected for other plays for the rest of school and college lives. Losing stage fright at an early age lead to shaping extrovert and confident personalities [at least in my case] for which I would always thank my teacher who selected me for Wireless & Sich-like.
Here's to you Sir. Here's to you Mr. RP Bhatnagar.

Cast: L to R:

Summet Singhal; Mukesh Keswani; Rana Nanda; Umar Iraqi; Anuj Mattoo; Rajat Ranjan; David Osmond; Mr. Rajendra Bhatnagar; Rajesh Joshi; Vish Dhamija; Atul Dubey

Letter to a friend...

I had a friend (he's still a friend but has now moved from England) who, after a few pints, would always ask me - "What is life?; What does happiness mean?"

I wrote him an eMail today - here's an adapted extract of the same...

Matey,

Thought of you yesterday...as I think I have an answer to your [eternal] question - "what is life?" - I hit upon the answer by chance so here it is:

"Happiness is lying in grass [I was in Greenwich] on a sunny day with iPod playing Led Zeppelin in your ears".

Those 20 minutes I got on my own were peace and tranquility that one does not get when one tries hard to meditate in solitude. And I got it amidst a crowd of 5000 souls.

Life is nothing but a series of happy moments - spent with yourself [and your loved ones].
Everything else is a distraction towards capitalism. Those billboards will keep telling you to buy a bigger car always - they are meant to - isn't it?...

GoodFellas (1990)

I have one word for it – CLASSIC. As previously stated on my blog – I love thrillers; and if you say it's based on a true story and it's about gangsters – I love them all the more. The movie is long (2 DVDs) but worth every minute. If you enjoyed The Godfather, this is in the same league.

It starts with Henry Hill (played by Ray Liotta) admitting, "As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster"

Robert DeNiro, Ray Liotto and Joe Pesci (who received an Oscar for best supporting actor in this film) star in this movie directed by Oscar winner - Martin Scorsese.

Rating: *****+

Click here for a teaser

Down memory lane....

I saw this Vespa in Sainsbury's yesterday. It took me back 20 years when I had a similar scooter – almost identical model in cream colour. It also reminded me that a lot of my friends had a similar Vespa/Bajaj, which was the main mode of conveyance in our college days. I still remember the registration number of mine – RSZ 7701. I request you – if you come across this blog, to leave the registration number and colour of your scooty please…

CONfidence

Saw another good gangster movie on Sunday – Confidence.

Jake is a grifter who unknowingly steals from a big fish – the King. When one of the friends involved is killed, Jake walks in to make peace with the King, only to be tasked with the biggest con of his life. With no other way to make good King's loss, he accepts…

Dustin Hoffman, Edward Burns & Rachel Weisz play the lead characters

Fantastic thriller

Rating: ****
Click here for teaser

21

First of all, I am excited that we watched two movies in one night at the theatre. The first one was 21. Inspired by the book - Bringing down the house by Ben Mezrich, which is based on the true story of six MIT students who took Vegas for millions by counting cards.

An amazing book and the inspired movie was no less - though I admit, I am not sure if there was a reason why they couldn't make the movie based on (and not inspired by) the book. Good performances by Kevin Spacey & Jim Sturgess. A must watch movie...

The other movie of the evening; Krazzy 4 - the less said about it the better.

Rating ****

Click here for teaser

The Bank Job

The movie is based on a real 1971 London bank robbery at Lloyds Bank, Baker Street, which was instigated by a few MI5 officials to recover compromising photographs of a certain female member of the Royal family. Like all operations, after the robbery, it goes out of control with the local police, the MI5, the corrupt police officials and local porn-club owner (a club ledger containing the corruption records of local police also goes missing from one of the lockers) looking for the culprits. The culprits soon realise that they have got more than just money…and understand the plot and involvement of one of their team members. They quickly turn it around to negotiate a 'no prosecution' agreement with MI5 and get the corrupt police officers & club owner arrested.

An estimated £4m went missing from the locker (more than the great train robbery) but a lot of people did not come forward to report their loss. Surprising?

An amazing film. A must watch.

*****

Click here for a teaser.

GM Diet: It really works...and I am not paid to write this!

There are various theories of why it is called "GM Diet" - some say it was designed for executives of General Motors; some call it a"Genetically Modified" diet.

The truth is: IT WORKS.

Nidhi & I have tried it a few times now and it works everytime - though I admit the laws of dimnishing returns do come in. But, it actually gives you a kick-start to lose weight and you can always follow it up with excerise/healthy eating. It's a seven day diet program which goes as follows:
Day 1: You eat only fruits. As many you want, but no bananas
Day 2: You start with a medium size baked potato with a little butter. The rest of the day you can eat all the vegitables you want, but no potatoes
Day3: You can have all the fruits and vegitables you want with the exception of bananas and potatoes
Day4: You can have up to 8 bananas and 3 glasses of milk. You can supplement the same with a vegitable soup (no sugar please)
Day 5: Have some meat (e.g. sausages, steak, grilled chicken) and 8 tomatoes
Day 6: Have a feast - all the meat and vegitables, but no potatoes
Day 7: You can have brown rice and vegitables, but no potatoes

On all 7 days, have plenty of water (recommended: 8-10 glasses) and weight yourself on the 8th day.

Jodhaa Akbar

How much can one falsify facts and still try to sell a story as a piece of (Indian) history? I am no historian, but it doesn't need one to see through the mega distortion of it in the movie and I am not talking about the controversy doing rounds in India about Jodha's real name. The garble extends even to the culture and customs of the time.

The movie fails on almost all accounts - weak storyline, mediocre acting, average direction and poor research (I am happy they got the name Akbar right). Full marks to the sets, locations, photography and costumes - if that can keep you awake for 223 minutes, go for it....zzz....

The Departed

Two cops: One is a mafia rat in the police force, other's a police rat in the mafia. One helps the police to close-in and the other helps the mafia to get away... fantastic thriller.

Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Martin Sheen, Alec Baldwin and Jack Nicholson star in this 2006 Academy Award winning movie.

*****

Click here for the teaser

Better late than never....

I admit, I have discovered Andrea Bocelli almost a decade after he made it on the international scene. Hence, the clichéd title to this blog. Céline Dion introduced him to America with "If God had a singing voice, he would sound a lot like Andrea Bocelli." I couldn't have come up with a better introduction, even if I tried.

Most of his music is in Italian (Music doesn't have a language – apologies for another cliché) but he's done some in English. The music is brilliant and the voice - divine. So, to experience heaven in your living room, pour yourself a glass of red, put on Vivere and sink into your sofa…

Click here for a sound/video clip

Bobby Fischer (1943 - 2008)

Robert (Bobby) Fischer - the greatest chess player of all times, died last week. He was a grandmaster at 15 and went on to win 20 consecutive championship level titles between 1968-71. He can truly be described as the eccentric genius, with chess being his sole passion in life - he had chess boards set up beside each bed in his Brooklyn house, ignoring everything outside to compete with himself. Never married, he did not do any other job but dedicate himself to the black and white board. He was the only American grandmaster but unfortunately after having played a game in Yugoslavia, he had to take asylum in Iceland, where he passed away.

Not known for his political correctness, he claimed most of the championship games were pre-arranged and went on to invent a new version - Fischer Random, where the back pieces are lined up by a computer generated program. I admit, I have never played this version, though I am a lilliputian-master in orthodox chess.

Car of the Year 2008

I am sure everyone knows by now that the Fiat 500 has won the Car of the Year 2008. It isn't easy re-launching an icon – much less winning a prestigious award as this (Neither the new Beetle or Mini got one). But this blog is not about the car itself.

I requested a brochure which was promptly delivered. I am not exaggerating when I say that it is one of the most ''interactive'' pieces (of print) I have ever got my hands on. I have seen classier/glossier and more premium brochures and DM from the Cartier's and Jaguars, but never this interactive. It let's you play with the wheels, colour combinations, stickers etc… I am sure the cost of the piece is significantly higher than other similar product brochures, but it does its job brilliantly. It has prompted me to book myself for a test drive as soon as it is available in London.

And that is exactly any DM/brochure is designed to do – salesmanship in print. Whether I buy the car or not, depends on the product and service, not on the marketing piece.