Shokugeki No Soma - An Anime Made Me Fall In Love With Cooking

I am not a big foodie, but love to eat a good meal. I love the difference between home cooked food and the food served in a restaurant. Its as different as eating a five star mean and a udipi meal, or perhaps your mother's cooking and your friends mom's cooking.

Out of sheer lack of good shows to watch in Anime genre on Netflix, I took a leap of faith in watching a food related anime series. I was pleasantly surprised by what I got myself into.

Let me say this. If you appreciate good food, you will fall in love with this show.

The show emphasises the art of making a good dish or a meal. Let's you understand the story being every dish and how it evolved. The sensory assault or arousal that each bite evokes with taste, smell and visual appeal. At times outlandish, but then that is anime for those who have never gotten hooked to this genre of story telling. By the way, it's got a good story line and well written characters.

I will not elaborate the storyline. Go watch it if you love food related stuff. What's truly amazing is the fact that the artwork (most of the anime are hand drawn), is truly work of art. The visuals created are truly amazing, be it the glaze, transparency, viscosity, moisture, heat, dryness, crispness, gelatinous or any other 'ness' that one can associate with describing food.

Rich ramen, steaming hot

I slowly but surely got hooked on to this show and am about the close in on the last third season. I have started enjoying the process of cooking food my self. I may not be capable as a sou chef, but can definitely see myself as kitchen porter. heh!

If you love food related shows, go watch. You will always remember it like a good meal you had on a hot summer holiday at beach resort. Or something in those lines.  Bon appetit! 

URI : The Surgical Strike | India's Zero Dark Thirty

Uri: The Surgical Strike. Movie Scene. 

We as a nation have been attacked so many times that one tends to forget which specific attack this movie was based on. The last chapter titled "Bleed India With A Thousand Cuts' hits hard. The ugly truth about Pakistani Army sponsored terrorism in India, not just Kashmir. Don't forget Punjab.

For a moment (at least when watching this movie), suspend your thoughts on jingoism, government propaganda, pro-Government agenda and what not. Just try and watch this movie as is. Just try.

It is a movie worth watching. Energetic, Emotional, Entertaining, well crafted and well performed. The story had its flaws. For me it was the limited depth of character development. Still, you did felt for them when the time came. You will understand what I mean when you watch it.

My first, and surprising eyebrow raiser moment was when I saw Swaroop Sampat on screen after, I don't know, how many eons. Her performance just made me realize why I loved watching her get back on screen. The sound design in this movie was damn good. This is a movie to be watched in a theater. The story telling was a mix bag as who ever wrote it was trying to compliment documentary style narration with a protagonist centered story telling. That too when the spotlight of the story is an event and there are many conjoined facets to that story.

The movie style technically is a copy of American 'Zero Dark Thirty' with sound design inspired from several sources including 'Dunkirk'. At least its implemented well.

Now for the jingoism and propaganda part ...

Why do we need movies like these?

People have short memories. Generations are unaware of what the previous ones endured. The learning are easily lost in the vastness of information. Capitalist and Socialists countries are well known in making propaganda material. Be it to justify wars or glorify achievements (sports, technology, exploration, success etc.). Of course there are manipulations and distortions in the truth, but awareness is better than non at all.

Uri reminds us how leadership, decision making, execution and logistics are applied in taking national decisions. Irrespective of which government runs this country. This is a movie for all of us, the collective. We should remember what happened to us. How we responded and endured and grew from there on, as citizens and people. Not all of them are great, not all are success, not all are good. But we should remember so that when the time comes, we are well informed before taking the next decision as a society.

Movies like Uri, Parmanu, Border etc are needed just as individual biopics are needs to tell stories. Stories that shed some more light beyond the limits of a rectangular patch of print space or the click baiting article for views. If you hunger for some  more truth, do some more reading. :)

Godzilla (2014) Movie Review

Godzilla (2014)

We all know this creature. Its beyond our comprehension and we can only relate its existance to that of a God. This is Godzilla and his stories have been told for decades though cinema.

So, Hollywood wanted to reboot the story and make it more realistic and larger than life. I frankly fell for the trailer since the day I watched the first trailer online. I wanted to watch this movie. Period!

When I walked out of the hall, all I can say is that the 3D sucked, considering it was iMax. The story fell short of excitement and Godzilla was no where to be seen for the most part of the movie. Disappointment dawned on me. I needed a drink.

The best part of the movie was the performances of Bryan Cranston, Juliette Binoche and Ken Watanabe. They and the God himself were the saving grace of the movie. Rest simple placed several questions on my mind. Why do we need to place human stories in the foreground and have the main action be part of the background? Imagine Transformers battling out in the background and the human subjects driving the plot all through. Will you like that? No!

Godzilla's enemy, the MUTO was better understood as a creature than Godzilla himself. The character who held the movie's story telling thread and who we were suppose to get attached to, simply was eliminated half way through the plot. That, for me as an audience, left me somewhat lost. Catching up with another character and his drive to do what he did, just didn't have the screen time to establish.

Military was a waste and so were the scientists. If in an age of guided inter-ballistic missiles, you need to carry payloads in a train, that's lame (I am aware of MUTO's capability). And if you are trying to kill a creature with what's his primary food source, it falls way short of being clever or well researched.

I just hope they get better script writers. Perhaps the Japanese can help with this. They know their God better.

The New Godzilla (2014) Teaser Trailer Looks Freaking Awesome

The new Godzilla looks fantastic in its teaser. Unlike the previous one which ended up being ruined by the human characters in the movie, this one looks hardcore with a much larger Godzilla going on a rampage. Of course, you just get to see glimpse of this creature. But then, for a first teaser, its the right appetizer. Enjoy!

Godzilla 2014 Movie Poster:

Godzilla 2014 Trailer
Releases May 2014 

Straight Jacket - Anime Movie

Straight Jacket is a short series by Ichirō Sakaki with illustrations by Yō Fujishiro, published by Fujimi Shobo. It was made into a three part anime series which was then released worldwide as an anime movie.

Straight Jacket - the Movie

Its based on a future world where magic and sorcery co-exist with science and technology and has been integrated into every aspect of human life. The story revolves around the protagonist Rayotte Steinberg.
[SIC: Anime]
Rayotte Steinberg, a lone wolf "tactical sorcerist", fights against monsters. They used to be human beings, but they have overused forbidden power, magic, to turn into monsters. What he wears is "mold", the straitjacket that keeps him human. He carries an explosive magic wand. If he casts magic, he moves one step closer to being a monster. If he doesn't, he will be killed. Among the harsh battles, he will face a sin he committed in the past.

Its a story of redemption, friendship and love. Although they all are layered into this fictional dark thriller involving sorcery, balck magic and demons. A good watch. Enjoy!

Asura's Wrath - The Movie (Game Play Cut Scenes)

Asura is a know character in the Indian mythology. So when i discovered this movie on YouTube, I knew that this had to be a mythology. What surprised me was the 4 and half hour length that it had. Anyways, I started off to watch this epic.

Asura's Wrath - A Game for XBox & Playstation released in 2012

Asura's Wrath is an Japanese Video game produced by Kazuhiro Tsuchiya. The movie is made from the cut scenes from the game. The game was designed episodic and was termed as a multimedia game rather than a typical game. It had opening and ending credits just like episodes of a television serial. For more you can visit the wiki page of this movie.

The begining got me hooked as Asura, a demigod, gets betrayed by other demigods and in doing so, looses his wife and child. His rage, there on, has no bound and he goes after the gods relentlessly trying to quell his inner rage, which he too seems to have lost control of.

The movie, though long, takes you through a journey and has been inspired from Hinduism and Buddhism and their mythologies in creating this epic fictional tale. It took me three sittings to complete this movie. But I did, and it was a great watch. It seemed to be focused on a single character, the protagonist Asura. But the layers and plot phases that get added along the way makes it an engaging journey. The climax is worth the long watch, in case you sat though it with interest.




On a side note - I know this is a game and general entertainment, so to speak.But, there was so much to take away from this movie for me. I guess, that is what got me to like it in the first place.  

Five Reasons Why Iron Man 3 Sucks As A Superhero Movie

Iron Man 3 - This Saga finally ends.

Let me start by saying that this is my personal take on Iron Man 3 and I am not a critic. Just a comic/superhero fan with no favorites. Well, I like Hulk the most. But then who doesn't.

Most superhero movies, now a days, have a lot of action, special effects and 3D tossed in to save it from a bad plot. That was not the case for iron man 3. Not for I-3, for sure. Here are 5 reasons I could come up with, which I felt were responsible for the mess that I experienced. And a total disappointment the say the least. Even the charisma of Robert Downey Jr. could not help salvage the repeat view for this movie.

So, here goes ...

No. 5: Am I watching a Disney movie?
The movie starts off at such a promising note with chaos and danger engulfing the world with the Mandrin on the loose. Iron man seems to be having his own problems. You expect thing to trun worst. Just when you are bracing for the impact, the movie changes gear to something else. When you get a kid to help Iron man to get on his feet, you know where the plot if heading. The second half was so damn clear that making a prediction was like giving direction for something in your line of sight.

No. 4: Non of the characters were well-established
A superhero movie should have the main character's personality explored. Its a great opportunity to start liking the character or at least understanding them so that you have the ability to react to or feel for them. But nothing of that sort happened in this movie. It was designed around an event and all characters played for that event. There is nothing wrong in doing that. Even situations can reveal human personalities, context and past. But here, that was not the case. Mandarin had that potential, but they blew it.

Why I love my iBall Slide Android 2.3 tablet

When everyone is talking about the fastest and the most badass tablets on earth, here I am raving about a Rs12000 tablet. We are currently at a point when quadcore tablets would become a norm of some sort. But my needs are very basic and I need something that would suffice what I really, really need.

So what  do I need?

• I want a device that disconnects me from power chords. And any other cords, for that matter.
• Keeps me mobile even when I am accessing digital information.
• Gives me internet on the go.
• Pocketable and easy to carry. And not a pain to handle.

What do I want to to do with it?

• Surf in internet, access mails and chat.
• Access some social apps.
• Read some books and play some music.
• Watch videos and movies.

All dream ports that you want in your tablet.

Without going through the BS of how I bought this device, here is why I bought one.

Pros

• Surprisingly, a very responsive screen
• Good display quality
• Access to USB port and SD card slot.
• 7 inch screen (very convenient)
• Decent audio speakers onboard.
• And most importantly, Price point

Some cons that I will have to live with.

Cons

• No sim card slot, but there is provision for a 3G dongle through USB port.
• Android 2.3. Already ICS (4.0) is coming in all new devices.
• 720p playback. Which is half HD.
• A bit chunky and not that stylish.
• Confusing button structure.
• Need to purchase a mini to regular HDMI cable.

USP

• Low cost means I don’t have to be extra protective about the device. Yet it is sturdy enough for a little rough handling.
• Preloaded apps to manage unnecessary background apps. I hate android for allowing apps to activate on their own. There is a limited provision to set apps not to do so.
• USB port can take 32Gb and the SDcard slot can take another 32GB. Inbuilt space is 8GB. So a total of 72Gb can be played with at any given point. That's awesome!
• A hard boot always comes handy. Though I never really have had to use it yet.
• iBall has done a very limited customization. But they sure come handy and I thank them for that. Especially the ESTask Manager and ES File Explorer app.

So there you are. A short and to-the-point reason for my choice. The only thing you need to be prepared to do is swallow your pride when someone next to you is on a Samsung Galaxy Tab or a iPad 2 and you are with this gear.

It’s ok, you made a smart move and are not a show-off  :) 

Cheers!