The Sane Lunatic

2020 has been a shit year for more reasons than I'd care to list. There'll be a rant and some reviews from the Sane Loon in January but as a final post of this year I just wanted to say this: Fuck 2020.  Hope everyone has stayed safe, kept good health and let's hope that 2021 proves to be less shite for most of you. Thanks for the support as always!

My first phone was a Nokia 1100. Everyone at home had Nokia phones. As time went on and smartphones became the new normal for everyone who could afford one, I stuck with the Nokia brand. Around the same time, people I knew had or were getting Samsung smartphones. One specific range comes to mind as the one with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard - the Corby. As cool as I thought the phones were, I just hated the comical font all Samsung phones had. Then I noticed that most guys who had Samsung phones were a certain TYPE. I prided myself on sticking with other brands like Sony, Blackberry and in 2019 I upgraded to a OnePlus device. FYI, I rarely buy expensive smartphones, just mid-range ones and that segment has gotten stupidly crowded in the last few years with the influx of  brands like Mi, Huawei, Poco and so on. I don't like any of them or their products or most people who buy those products. Its not a rational dislike but it is a strong one. My boycott of Samsung phones continued as w...

Any high-budget video production around the character of Sherlock Holmes seems to be a surefire success these days. We saw it with the 2010 British TV show adaptation  Sherlock  featuring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman and with the American film series that had Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law. This time we have a Netflix original that focuses on the less famous Holmes character — the sister, Enola.   Unlike the one showcased in the Cumberbatch TV series, this is a more friendly Enola played by Stranger Things star, Millie Bobby Brown. It's her movie and it constantly breaks the fourth wall with Enola also doubling up as the narrator. Her famous brother Sherlock the detective (played by Henry Cavill) and ambitious bureaucrat Mycroft (played by Sam Claflin) left home early while Enola is raised by their widowed mother Eudoria (played by Helena Bonham Carter). Enola is homeschooled in various fields like math, science, sociology, literature, coded messages and hortic...

 Hello folks! It's been a while. Over three months to be precise. But it's been far longer since I last posted a rant on the blog that was originally called 'Rants of a Sane Lunatic'. The short answer which is also the title of this post is simple: I couldn't be bothered to.  Don't get me wrong, I still rant a lot but mostly to close friends or internally.But it just became exhausting to put it out on the internet. Over the last few years, outrage and abuse have become the staple for most online content across platforms. While I agree or disagree with some people's anger, I don't care for most of them. Not because I find their cause unworthy but simply that I just didn't give a shit.  The passing of time allowed me to earn some more XP and possibly some wisdom too. In a space and cultural era where exclamations like "HOW COULD YOU?!" and "HOW DARE YOU?!" or "I'M OFFENDED"...it just became uninteresting to vent some o...

Some of the pedantic readers here will probably know what the word means and wonder why it isn't obvious to anyone who is a fluent user of the English language. But the truth is, most people don't see any difference between the two. Perhaps because the word 'entitled' is also closely related to 'privileged'. It is yet another case of lost meaning thanks to the unchecked misuse of words in the increasingly toxic social media space. I actually got the idea for this post from a very close friend who shared her disdain for the entitled during this pandemic crisis. I share her sentiment but it made me question the actual meaning of the word itself and I too was faced with the same linguistic smack as I saw the flaw in my wordy ways. It is no surprise that modern English, like any widely spoken language, is extremely confusing once you get into the details. I have come across the phrase "sense of entitlement" to describe someone who has unreasonabl...

My old man reads a lot of books. Often, I get to hear of some random quips, quotes and facts from whatever he's been reading or if something catches his fancy. In one of our discussions, he mentioned this phrase that is sometimes used to curse one's enemies: "May you live in interesting times". It's funny, it made me laugh and it was catchy enough to stick in my brain. Looking at how things are today, I can't help but think of it as one of the most devious curses one could wish upon someone. I have abstained from my rants for a long time now as the political discourse in my country of residence is a risky topic. As a person who wishes to take sides with no party, good or evil, it's in my best interest to prioritise survival, even if that means lurking in the shadows. While those issues have been plaguing my surroundings for a few years now, I have managed to find a sort of nihilistic calm in my chambers. After all, these are democratically elected oppre...

Sonic The Hedgehog is yet another in a new trend of video game based live-action feature films. After many delays, including a main character redesign and a few extra million US dollars, the movie is finally out. It was first meant to come out in 2018. Then something happened with the studios and they decided to push it to 2019. When the first teaser trailer dropped, most of us were aghast at the humanoid version of our favourite blue hedgehog and the internet was awash with memes ridiculing it. Thankfully, the studio paid heed, put the right bunch of noggins together and put together a much more likeable version of Sonic. Thank goodness they got the perfect guy to play Dr Robotnik, aka, Eggman from the start: Jim Carrey. I've been hyped for this one since the first trailer, just for Carrey's performance alone. I've not played many SEGA games as a kid, but I was lucky enough to own a Sonic game on the first-gen XBOX and enjoy watching one of the cartoon series on te...

I love a good Guy Ritchie movie about British gangsters. Snatch and RocknRolla are among my top picks for a good viewing experience with cool music and adequate violence. The geezer has now got a new one out on the cinema screens called 'The Gentlemen'. The premise, without too many spoilers, is quintessential Guy Ritchie. A marijuana kingpin, a dumb but ambitious son of a rival drug lord and a third conniving drug lord who thinks he's smarter than everyone else. Add a gang of youths eager for cash, their much cleverer mentor and a third perspective from an equally scummy character playing the narrator and you have all the elements for Guy Ritchie film. 'The Gentlemen' packs an impressive ensemble of actors too. The lead character Mickey played by Matthew McConaughey, his right-hand man Ray played by Charlie Hunnam, Colin Farrell as the Coach, Hugh Grant as Fletcher the scumbag and it even has a character for Eddie Marsan. Awesome! The overall plot? Mickey ...

Yep, I just watched the movie that won the Oscars. Funnily enough, it's not the first Bong Joon Ho movie I've seen but we can talk about that another time. My first thought after watching 'Parasite' was that it's not a great movie. It's a really good story, told extremely well through film.   The plot, without spoilers, is quite straightforward but features many layers to it. A poor family of four living in a sub-basement of a Korean metropolis. They're hopeless and unmotivated but sharp when it comes to making a quick buck. The family's patriarch Kim Ki-taek is played by the awesome Song Kang-ho, who is particularly relaxed about the difficulties of life. His supportive wife Chung-sook Kim (Jange Hye-jin) is shown to be a former athlete of competitive level in the field of ball and chain. Their son, Kim Ki-woo takes after his father while daughter Kim Ki-jung has a shorter temper with a more cynical view. Times are tough until Kim gets reco...