From a Deviant Mind

Its been absolute ages since my last post. Been quite busy sometimes, and plain lazy at other times. Kids (yes, I got two of em now) Illyssa Hrdaa is a fine young lady of two and Tvisha Shoshanna is just 7 months young. They are growing up fine and dandy, being quite a handful for dear mom. God has blessed me with two beautiful, intelligent, totally wonderful daughters... and a man like me can't ask for more.

Anyways, I'll be moving to an agency in another country which is affiliated to TBWA. I am going to get some international exposure, which is essential in my line of work.

Just got back from a reception in Nuwara Eliaya (which is about 200km away from Colombo) Getting there took 5 hours... luckily we hired a comfortable van to take us there. The weather was looking kinda gloomy. It was wierd to go from the hot, dusty streets of Colombo to the misty, wet climate of Nuwara Eliya, in just like five hours. It was cold, trust me... I am not much of a 'cold-climate' person, but my kids loved it. I was so happy that it was so nice for them. The entire house was so packed full of relatives... lots of women and children in the house. My two kids, my cousins brought their's along too... wow that house was loud.

Friday evening came around and me and the guys got together for a little drink at the Grand Hotel. Five of us with a bottle of Johnny Walker Red, Black and a bottle of Jack Daniels. Yes, it was kinda much... but what the hell, it was great. Then went for the the reception on Saturday morning... had lunch, saw the rest of the tribe from my wife's side... wished the newly married couple and then got the hell out. Saturday evening was the same story. Except the location where the drinking was done. It was done in my uncle's store in Kandapola town. We had at our fingertips an entire general store. All the Coca Cola, Soda, and Bottle Water we wanted, plus access to the confectionery cupboards. Sunday came back to Colombo... and boy was it a round trip. Kandapola --> Ragala --> Digana --> Kandy --> Colombo. Total of 8 hours on the road.

Yep, still recovering.

Next post will be from another country. Take care people.

I just got back from a three-day visit to Singapore... that little dot of a country in Asia. Wow, what a grand place it is. Its so clean and neat, and the people are so used to following the rules. Its true that you can walk from one end of Singapore to the other in about a day... and that once you see it, you've seen it all... but I found it neat and orderly... I tell you I come from a country that is chaotic at the best of times, and sometimes it can be absolute madness.

We went for a couple of things, one was to get a understanding of how branding works in a country where shopping is the second pastime, behind eating of course. And the branding is amazing. Every post pillar and wall is taken up by branding... street corners, side of the shopping centres, even branding is done at construction sites... We visited all the malls and department stores, from Centrepoint to Raffles City... from Sim Lim Plaza to Lucky Plaza and the Paragon... that was brilliant.

The second was to visit the Singapore JewelFest 2005... to understand how the showy side of jewellery marketing works... and boy it was fun. Was also able to catch the jewellery fashion show at the Parkway Parade... and then it was time to hit the stores again.

The third thing we wanted to do was pick up a camera... and boy did we pick a camera up. People, say hello to my (actually it was brought for the company) Canon EOS 350D (Digital Rebel XT) 8 megapixel with the newest CMOS and DiG!C II processor coupled with a 1GB CF card and a 100mm Macro lens (see more here [link]). All for the price of... US$ 1480.00! yes mates, Mr Muller has a new toy... and something to do some brilliant photography on.

After the shoppoing, it was taking in the nightlife. As three men went on the trip, we hung out at the usual places with the usual suspects. Gaylang was a destination, so was Boat Quay and Orchard Plaza... and the other place I can quite remember as I was quite drunk when I went there... The food is so good (and safe mind you) and the variety available... you wouldnt believe. Plus there are someplaces (like the Kopitam in front of my hotel) thats open 24/7. Can you imagine getting a meal at 4 am here in Sri Lanka? And that food being cheap AND safe?

To be honest, I fell in love with the place. its so clean and controlled and so neat and the roads are so orderly. Lot of people tell me that i'd be bored outta my mind in less than a month.. because you can see it all in a month in that city state... but with the chaos I have put up here, I don't actually care. Lets see what happens, I might even go there again...

Anyways I managed to watch some movies over the weekend, well it seems that they are limited to the weekend now anyways... so much work to do now it seems. But now I learnt the fine art of delegating it.

Back to the movies, first on the list was Stealth... Jamie Foxx did THAT? You gotta be kidding. Ok... how many time have we seen a AI machine becoming self-aware and trying to atomise the world? Anybody? A Million times in a million languages? Its supposed to be a supa-fly supa-fast no-human-pilot UAV.... you really want to let those things loose in the sky? With high-explosive, or maybe nuclear/biological weapons attached to them? Are you freaking mad? Ok, I agree, this was supposed to be a summer blockbuster/cash-cow, but people, at least make the movie a little believable, not like it was a comic-book/strip made into a movie now was it?

Well, the acting could have been way better... I personally think that this could have put Jamie Foxx on the action-smart-mouth-black-hero bracket... but like the UAV, it was blown outta the sky. The action was cool, the FX was ok, the areial combat was ok... but the rest just sucked.

Batman Begins was a good movie... it was dark, brooding, just like Batman himself. What do you expect the movie to be? Bright and sunny? Here is a man, who havent gotten over the fact that his parents got popped in front of him, cant have an open relationship with anyone, likes to spend time in far-flung prison camps, has a love/hate relationship with bats and likes caves... hello!

but all in all, it was a well crafted movie. the characters were pretty well-chosen... only I think that Michale Caine was ill-chosen as Alfred, and why was Katie Holmes even in the movie? Alfred's character should have been a more stiff-upper-lip English-to-the core butler (and he looked the same age right throughout)... and Katie's character should have been given to Uma Thurman... I know she did the Poison Ivy bit.... but she looks so strong and gritty for that character. She also looks good as the damsel in distress bit.

This was meant to be a dark movie, and it was a dark movie. And thank goodness there were no boy-wonders... I couldn't have handled that. We were introduced to some more sinister characters, like the Scarecrow... I think this is the beginning of a whole series... and I hope it continues in the same vein.

Kingdom of Heaven was an excellent movie. The setting, the premise, the characters... the whole kit n caboodle. The good guys were saints... the bad guys were bad motherf**kers.

Set during the crusades (try Wikipedia if you dont know) it was Christiandom's fight against the heathen mohamaddians. It shows the Christians as blood-thirsty land grabbers (true) wanting to dominate the Holy Land for their own benefit... and the Mohamaddians under Salahadin as good people and great warriors (also true) The battle scenes were great and the choice of characters were great. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie.

The storytelling had a flow to it... the character's relationships with each other was balanced.... and that made it a good movie. the characters had time to blossom... from blacksmith to warrior to savior, from princess to queen to commoner... am expecting to buy the Director's Cut Extended DVD set the moment its out. Will make a great addition alongside Gladiator, Quo Vadis, and other historical epics.

The Island. Wow, men/women cloned to be spare-parts for their orginals, so they can live forever!! What a synopsis for a movie... quite original... in quite a while. Not ripped from a comic book (Fantastic Four) or rehased from an old radio-serial (The War of the Worlds) something totally original... I dont give two hoots what movie critics say... or even the jaded movie buff says... all I am saying is that the plot is an original...

Ok maybe the acting is not that great... maybe the actors chosen for this is not great... and maybe the director was not great... but hey, it was a great plot (ok it was smashed into oblivion, but who care) This is a thriller/action/think about our future which is bad/cloning is bad kinda movie. But hey... at least the plot rocks.

Well thats it for my meanderings on what movies I watched. Waiting for the new releases to get going so I can start watching them and writing more movie reviews.

Oh yes i'll be getting my hands on Alias: Season 4. watched it from Season 1 till 3... on local TV... they stopped... so I thought what the hell, shell out the $20 for the 8-disc set and watch them at my leisure, without waiting for that day of the week or having to put up with the f**king ads. More about Alias here

Stop.