Happy Holidays!

Just because we are a non believer does nt mean we wont go see him and eat the candy cane he gave. Like mommy like daughter, I guess. For all the "theres no God" lectures I gave while I was young, that did nt stop me eating Puliyodarai at the perumal kovils, did it? ;)


Happy Christmas, guys! We are off for the vacation from the vacation tomorrow. See you all in the brand new year. Wishing everyone all things wonderful in 2010!

Winter Holidays.

So we are in the US now. Mom, Hd, the girls and I. 3 weeks with my sister and Bil! Its all nice once we get home and eat hot idlis with gothsu. But the travel! OH GOD THE TRAVEL! So we left on Tuesday early morning at 6 am. Guess where Hd was the previous day? He was out of town and came home at midnight! And Ashu had a terrible cough and I did nt send her to school. Antu had such a bad cold that she was throwing up. My mom and I had sore throat. Shall I go on? OK if you insist... so the airlines screwed up our food request and did nt have vegetarian meals for us. For both the legs. So we survived on lettuce and juice for 19+ hours! Ashu and Antu were absolute dolls the entire trip. Hd on the other hand picked up a fight with the trolley guy at the Newark airport, talked back to the immigration guy instead of following "saringa officer" routine and got on my nerves like only he could! My mom? Well, she and Ashu had a kudumipidi fight for the window seat. My mom won!

Needless to say, we are having a ball here. Still not out of the jet lag. But that means watching TV at 4 am sipping hot tea and playing bowling and tennis in Wii, so I'm not complaining! We are all off for a mini vacation from this vacation for a week. More on that later.

Ms. Know It All.

A couple of days back, Ashu in a matter of fact tone told me, "Santa Claus is not real, amma"! I just nodded my head and went my way. The thing is we have never talked about Santa that much in this house. She has seen him on TV, read a few books with him in it. She went to see Sami Claus (Swiss Santa) with her class last week. So that's about it. Since I have never believed that Santa is real when I was a kid, it was nt such a shocker to me. But later thinking about it, I wondered how she knew. So I asked her tonight just before bed. Here goes...

Me - So? Santa is not real, huh?

Ashu - No amma. He is not.

Me - How do you know?

Ashu - I know.

Me - But what about the real Santa who comes through the chimney and gives gifts to kids?

Ashu - Hes not real. Only amma appa give gifts!

Me - huh? *wondering how she knows that. she does nt even get xmas gifts from us!*

Ashu - and also to fly in the sky and give gifts, he needs thousands and thousands of reindeers. but there are only very few reindeers in the forest. so Santa cant fly fast and give gifts without reindeers! *get the logic? less reindeers affecting gift delivery hence no Santa!*

Me - But Santa might know magic right? What if he does magic and sends gifts?

Ashu - No amma. Only people dress up as Santa. Like we saw Bob the Builder in Legoland.

Me - *faking shock* WHAT? bob the builder is not real too?

Ashu - amma! he comes on TV. so its not real. except animals. only animals are real.

Me - Wow! You are very smart, Ashu!

Ashu - No amma. Im super smart!

Me - !!!

Later, I read the book, Grandmother Winter to her before bedtime. In the book, grandmother shakes her feather white quilt and snow falls through the air and everyone prepare themselves for winter. So I asked her,

"how do you think snow falls, Ashu? in this story, grandma shake the quilt. Can you make up a reason like that?

Ashu - hmmm....

Me - You know what I think? Theres a big ice cream truck in the sky. And when the doors of the truck open, all the vanilla ice cream is falling down like snow!

Ashu - (laughs)

Me - So you tell me now.

Ashu - I think that the rain drops are feeling very cold and they become ice and they fall down as snow.

Me - Sigh!

I give up. Theres nothing left to teach.

Movies Galore.

It has been a movie marathon for the past couple of months.

Pasanga
About two little school boys who fight all the time. And their families.

It was a cute, sweet, real, feel good movie with a filmy climax. The two little boys were wonderful to watch without the over the top acting which is very common with child actors in Tamil movies. I could nt name even one actor in that movie. Every ones new but what a fantastic performance! I especially loved the female who plays Anbus mom. The way her expression changes when her husband disappoints her on their anniversary is fantastic. I always like movies with a rural touch in them. I fondly remember my Dindigul days, the Madurai slangs and get nostalgic.

Eeram
A super natural thriller. A young wife dies. Her ex boyfriend whos now a Police officer investigates the case.

Brilliant movie. I was blown away by how sleek the movie was. Agreed that I had expectations since it was from Sankar productions but this from a first time director? Awesome. Not that the movie was without flaws but I could easily overlook them because of the brilliant dialogues, the cinematography and the wonderful performances by all the actors. A must watch. Sent a shiver down my spine when I went to the restroom after this movie and saw a red tube of hand cream on the top of the sink staring at me while I was washing my hands! :) Water and the color Red are a constant part of this movie.

Achamundu Achamundu
Set in the USA, its about an Indian family's ordeal when the guy who comes to paint the basement turns out to be a paedophile.

The movie was OK. Prasanna and Sneha have done a good job. The dialogues were good. Kannil Dhaagam song is awesome. But I did not like the story. What was the point of this movie? What does the director want to convey? One has to be very careful with messages like this in a movie. According to me, most of the target audience is going to take this movie in a wrong way. That these bad things happen only in the US.(since its set in the US and the painter guy is an American) That even little girls should be "properly" dressed and be adakkam odukkam in this Kali Yugam! And the people who will take the right message from this movie - well, they already are aware. So whats the point? I would ve liked it if this movie was set in India. And if the child were a boy. Now that would send the right message.

Wake up Sid
A carefree, rich boy gets life lessons from a girl with whom he falls in love with.

Cute movie. The one which would ve made my heart go flippity flip if I had watched it while I was in college! :) Ranbir and Konkana have given a beautiful performance. Actually, every one has done a good job in this movie.

Blue
A stupid movie about a stupid treasure.

Who does Akshay think he is? John Travolta? Oh please!! And Sanjay Dutt - dont put wordsu in my mouthu!!





Tha Taking of Pelham 1 2 3
Hostage situation. Sleek Villain. Smart Hero.

I can never get tired watching John Travolta scheming some bad, bad things! ;) and add Denzel Washington to the mix, its a treat to watch them just talk. One lazy Sunday last month, I just wanted a break(shut up, sis!) and took off to watch this movie alone not knowing anything about the movie. It was a good time pass.





Inglourious Basterds
Is it a war movie? Is it a Tarantino movie? Hey, its both!

Now that's what I call a movie! Oh boy! What a treat to watch a movie like this. Amazing, just mind blowing. I just did nt want the movie to end. Christoph Waltz steals the scenes. The first 20 or so minutes of the movie is so gripping that even if the rest of the movie had Sanjay Dutti in it, I would nt have noticed!




2012
Another Doomsday movie. Yawn!

Agreed that the visual effect are mind blowing. But after a point, I stopped caring. Tell me this. When the ENTIRE world is being wiped out and billions and billions of people have died, do you really care if a big bunch of rich snobs and the protagonists family live or not? I dont. Die, die, die. Lets kill everybody, I say.

It has begun!