The Sane Lunatic

I am totally for relaxation on censorship of language and behaviour, challenging norms, breaking perceptions, not making any topic a taboo. But I do find that I often argue with myself regarding the same matter. The basic question being, who gets to define what is within the bounds of 'good taste'.  Taste and preferences are highly personalised and therefore hard to lay general guidelines for. To highlight my point, lets take a point of reference that I am exposed to and can share with you. Fastrack is a brand that always has trendy, edgy brand communications, pushing the latest social trends and breaking social norms, with the tag line 'Move On'. Now, I am a fan of a few of their ads, for example the ones below: Now I like these ads, for the same reasons I mentioned above. But the very same brand has a few ad films that I find near distasteful. For example: Now, same brand, same style, same themes. But in both cases, I had very different react...

"I ain't afraid to die anymore. I done it already." For a story based on true events, life sure put its knee right in the back of Hugh Glass, real life tracker and fur trapper, brilliantly portrayed in body and soul by Leornardo DiCaprio. And I saw what the cast meant when they would say in the promo interviews that the film was very physically and psychologically demanding.  Director Alejandro G.  Iñárritu, a groundbreaker from Birdman, damn near tortures his cast and the audience  in telling the story of Glass' revenge against the man who took away the one thing he had in life, John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy at his acting supreme). Set in the untamed West of 1823, it is one brutal, badass epic. Bear Grylls ain’t got nothing on this man. But along with this great story, you get to experience the power of cinema unleashed beyond any imagined limitations. Iñárritu and cinematographer Emmanuel "Chivo" Lubezki shot on locations in Canada and Argentina and the...

For the regular readers wondering if I have forgotten how the days of the week work, or that I don't have a job anymore, let me reassure you, that is not the case(mostly). I simply thought that if I can wake up early enough, I can go for a quick ride even on a weekday.  I managed two 5:30 AM rides this week, on Tuesday, and today, Friday. The previous one had me going on a very familiar route, down the HAL Airport Road and back up to Domlur via the dim back roads of Yemlur and the Wind Tunnel road. Now, the reason I picked such a familiar route, is because I had made an educated guess that these roads will not have adequate lighting to see where on earth am I going, and I was right. Surprisingly, even the main roads did not have the street lights on, and I took the help from the headlights of the few vehicles at this hour, mostly buses. The worst of it was a small narrow stretch of really rough terrain that was pitch black at that hour would most likely have strays napping aroun...

As I begin to write this review, my fingers hover unsure over each key. I may get this right in the first draft or not at all, but I will put it out there, and let you, the reader, decide its worth. I'll be honest to admit I had never heard of Dalton Trumbo till I saw this movie. And now I feel I am unsuitable to review the biopic of not only one of the greatest writers of his time, but of a great man. Already, I know I have strayed from writing a review of a film by confessing my admiration for the man that the film is about, but perhaps I will write more about that another time. A movie based on a true story about a Hollywood film writer who goes broke(almost) fighting for his principles and for his rights. Sounds like a dull biopic don't it? Well, it ain't. With a casting powerhouse that has Bryan Cranston at the helm, delivering another brilliant performance as the charming and unusual Dalton Trumbo. Turbo got rich writing movies in the 1940's, a big personality ...

I, like millions of others, had been waiting for this movie for such a long long time. And since the announcement, the teasers and trailers have kept many fans waiting anxiously. And the movie does not disappoint at all. This movie is in a way an origin story and an introduction to Marvel's funniest anti hero. Wade Wilson(Ryan Reynolds, who's first appearance had the women in the theatre hooting away) is a do good mercenary for hire doing the odd jobs to help people out but he is no hero. He meets this crazy, borderline Nymphomanic woman named Vanessa (the ever sensual Morena Baccarin), and over the course of their sexual and fun escapades, they fall madly in love. Classic valentine weekend movie release, right? No. This is when things go all cock up for Wade as he gets diagnosed with late stages of cancer in very important parts of his body. Having given up on the better life that he had dreamed with Vanessa, a suit shows up promising a cure. With no options, Wade agrees an...

This post shall be brief. Just like the ride was. Right, the next weekend, and time for riding as fast as I can peddle. This Saturday's short ride had only one novice rider, the others being experienced enough. New faces for me, two buddies and an older mustached man who was clearly one who loved being active and fit. Not only did he leave me in the dust as he sped off on his kickass roadster cycle, conversations over breakfast revealed he is an enthusiastic runner and swimmer too. A triathlete almost. The two buddy guys were interesting people. And moreso because one of them was a guy who used to live in the same sector in Noida as me and he too had moved to Bengaluru for work not too long ago. Small world no? The ride was to Cubbon Park and back to Indiranagar, so short but with good roads. Now, I've been to Cubbon on a few weekends, around 9-10 AM times. We were there around 7, and what we saw up the long straight road through Cubbon, is a sight I'd describe as ...

Okay, so for the regular readers wondering where is this week's post for the 'Sane Bike Loony Rider', there isn't one because I didn't go for a ride this past Sunday. I did go for a short ride with the group, all familiar faces now, on Saturday but it was just another pleasant ride with nothing special to write about. I did however discover an awesome place to eat weekend breakfast, a place called Cafe Max, on the roof of the Max Mueller Bhawan in Bangalore. If you have the time, definitely go there. The variety isn't much, but the food is really good, and the ambiance is amazing. For more concise foodie reviews, you can follow me on Zomato, @rexavore. Right, now thats outta the way, onto what THIS post is really about. The regular readers would know my constant favorite for rants is the difficulties in travelling across town, when I was in Delhi NCR. And now that I've moved to Bangalore, let me assure you the situation here is a lot worse. The road i...