General Stuff

Students writing Exams in India.

2008-03-24T09:08:00.000-07:00

Students are forced to write exams in water logged class rooms in Rajamundry ( Andhra Pradesh, India).

The exams are 3 hour long and there is no chance of a re-exam if they miss it (Until the next year).

[I have decided to get the pics from the regional news papers and post them here since they dont have a static link for the pictures.]

Courtesy : AndhraJyothy.com

Date : 03/24/2008

US Visa in Toronto - Dos, Donts and Some tips.

2007-08-06T09:06:00.000-07:00

Our visas are set to expire in October and we have to get a new stamp to avoid any issues with the immigration auhtorities when we come back from India after the vacation.

The issue is I used to work with a company A and then I got the H1 visa transfered to another company. So I had to get the visa on the new company's name. This seemed a little risky but I had all my supporting documents ready.

Documents : I have all the documents and pay stubs. Here is what you need.

1. I - 797 (Original as well as the transfer)
2. Passport (ofcourse)
3. Most recent pay stubs. Most companies offer online pay stubs and its ok to print them if you have not get the ones in mail.
4. All the W2 documents and if possible the Tax return documents.
5. Bank statement.
6. All your certificates.
7. You might also need the education evaluation documents. They would be a part of your H1 filing documents that your employer gave you.
8. Employer and Client letters about your pay and job.

Well all the above are important. And its better to take all the documents rather than feel sorry later.

Getting Canada Visa:
Getting Canada visa is the step 1 of the process. A US visa interview in Toronto needs a visa to Canada (unless you are a Canadian). If every thing goes normal, you can get the Canadian visa in mail in about a weeks time. http://geo.international.gc.ca/can-am/main/visas/fee_schedule_us_dollars-en.asp is where I would start.

Our case, we wanted to go there in person. When we mailed the documents last year to visit Niagara Falls, they sent the passports back for want of a document. We ended up visiting Niagara from the American side and the Canadian side was left pending.

So, If you decide to travel to Detroit or another Canadian embassy, here is what you can do :

1. Download all the application forms from the above mentioned URL.
2. Your i -797
3. Bank statement
4. Letter from the Employer (This is a compulsion)
5. Recent Paystubs
6. All your documents and Passport (ofcourse)

The process in Detroit takes about 2 hours on a normal working day. The Canadian consulate is in the Renaissance Center in Downtown, Detroit.

We stayed in a Motel, 1 hour away from Downtown and we drove to the consulate early in the morning. There are a lot of public parking spaces available and for about 8$ you can park your car. There is a train loop that takes you around in downtown and the fare is a mere 50 cents.

This train takes you directly into to the renaissance center. Finding the Canadian consulate is not tough and any security guard would be able to put you in the correct direction.

Try to be there at the consulate by the time they start accepting the applications and you would save the entire day.

If you miss the documents and wanted to get some printed or downloaded, dont look for a kinkos, instead, ask for the business center for the hotel in the building. That is fast.

Any way, the Canada visa for us took about 2 hours and we were out with the visa. Make sure to check the names on the visas since I had my name incorrectly printed there.

You can pay the fees in USD at the Canadian consulate. Thats very cool.

Getting An appointment in the Toronto Consulate :

This is the tricky part. https://www.nvars.com/ is the website to make appointments for the Visa. You need a credit card and your passport number to make appointments. Generally, there are no appointments available for the next day. You need to keep an eye on the calandar and book one when there are appointments. If you are in a hurry , try Halifax and Calgary . They have more appointments than Toronto. For us, we had time, so we picked Toronto.

The key is they add new appointments regularly between 7am-9am EST(The site says 7am-10pm but I obeserved that this time window is more frequent). If you check during that time, the chances of you getting an appointment are good. The web site charges 9$ - non refundable for the appointment. The good part is you can always reschedule the appointment once you book it and there is no additional fee for that.

Make sure you have all the documents filled. DS 156,157 (for you and your spouse) and 158 for you. Make sure you put all the info and None, NA where ever they are applicable. If you dont, then the person checking your documents before you enter the actual counter, would mark them with a red coloured pen that shows up odd and might get unwanted attention from the person interviewing you.
Get all your documents ready and in parallel plan your trip.

Planning your Trip :

The US consulate in Toronto is in Downtown Toronto. If you fly in to Toronto then try to look for a hotel close by to the consulate. There are a lot of hotels. If you want a 4 star hotel then use http://www.priceline.com/ . There you can expect a room for 95$ per night and that would be cool because you would be saving on Taxi when compared to a cheaper hotel slightly away from the downtown.

Reaching the Hotel from the Airport : There are airport shuttles which have their numbers online and you can book one of those. If you plan to rent a car then make sure you have GPS with you. Most GPS devices work in Canada. Donot rent a car from places like Pay less. They seem cheap but the over heads would make them no cheap. I suggest companies like Avis/Budget/national which are slightly cheap and have a kiosk in the Airport. This saves a lot of time. Trust me. Also, Rent a car only if needed. Parking in Downtown is a pain.

The subway system in Toronto is very simple with just two routes. Once you know your hotel, some homework with the subway system online would save you unnecessary headaches.

From the airport, take the bus to Kipling subway station (costs you 2.75$). The subways take you into downtown and most downtown hotels are walkable from the closest subway station. I would suggest this mode of transport if you are travelling from the airport.

Tip: If you are flying in into Toronto, try to be prepared to stay there for 2-3 days since the Visa now takes 3 days (this is the current info from 1st Aug 2007). We had a bitter experience with the airlines as they quoted 500$ each for rescheduling our journey. So, even if its slightly expensive, try to get a flexible ticket (If there is one of that kind)

Attending the Visa: Try to reach the consulate 15-20 mins earlier than your appointment time. They would let you in. Once In, they would take your 156,157 and 158 (for H1-B and other technical visas) along with the passport and your approval document(797 - in most cases).

Be prepared to spend 2 hours there atleast. The officer there generally has few items to worry about. Your confidence is the first thing. Remember that you are not illegal in the US so be confident. I saw a couple of guys who were tense and were asked more questions than the confident looking fellows.

The Application Fees is to be paid in any Scotia bank. The problem is if your appointment is at 8am or 830 am, there are not many banks open at that time which are close to the consulate. You have to find some one who can pay the fee on your behalf and pick uip the receipts from them. They dont accept Credit cards and Cash.

They take the documents, call you to verify the finger prints and then finally for an interview.
This is when, they might ask you for the extra documents.

All this time, you would be made to sit in a small room with all the other applicants.There would be water, no food allowed. So try to eat some thing before you go.

They would give you a slip that says when to come and collect the Passport. After that you are free to go.

Toronto :The Niagara falls from the Canadian side is much better than the American side.The drive is about 1.5-2 hours. We stayed a day there. By the way, try going to Niagara falls early in the morning. There would be absolutely nobody and its a good experience.

Down town Toronto is very good. There is a Mall in the center called the Eaton Center. That is very close to the Consulate and 2 blocks away. This is a good place to spend some time.

Tim Hortons is a breakfast/bagel place that can be found at most locations in Canada and it appears as if its Canada's most preferred food place.

We chose to travel back to the USA in a Bus (Grey hound from Toronto - Detroit.). The Grey hound bus stop is right in the downtown and 2 blocks away from the Consulate. If you have to check out from the hotel by Noon and pick your passport by 3 pm, You can keep your luggage in the Lockers provided at the Greyhound bus stop. They cost about 2$ CAD for 24 hours.

Money and Exchange:

Use Credit cards where ever possible. Withdrawing CAD from the ATM machines would add an unnecessary surcharge and exchange rate (Do it only if necessary). Instead use USD for purchases ranging till 5$.Most people accept USD so no issues there. The USD and CAD are almost same and it appears that they would be equal in the days to come.

Untimely snow today

2007-03-01T10:43:00.000-08:00

We woke up to see a lot of snow today.Though its not unseasonal, it was not expected today.It took me an hour to drive to work because of the traffic jam due to an accident.
I ilked snow initially but as the season progresses, it is getting bad.

Indiana Jones

2007-03-01T10:40:00.000-08:00

Last crusade and Raiders of the Lost Arc.
Both *ing Harrison Ford are good. Healthy action and some interesting stuff. Both have snakes in them and they are not limited to 1 or 2.So if you hate snakes you would hate this movie.

Unleashed

2007-03-01T10:39:00.000-08:00

*ing Jet Li. We thought this would be an action flick. Instead this movie turns to be an utter disappointment. eeks - Jet Li is kind of a dog and wants to change. again not an action movie that you want to watch.

Crank

2007-03-01T10:36:00.000-08:00

* ing Jason Stantham (transporter fame) and Amy smart. This is easily one of the worst action movies that we watched recently.Dont even go near the DVD

the illusionist

2007-01-25T10:12:00.000-08:00

I cant recollect the names of the actors but this movie is too good an entertainer. If you like the illusions in general, there is every chance that you will like the movie.

Miami Vice [2006]

2006-12-19T16:19:00.000-08:00

*ing Collin Farrel,Jamie Foxx. Movie about two cops who go undercover to expose the drug traffickers.Well made movie.

Presumed Innocent [1990]

2006-12-19T16:16:00.000-08:00

*ing Harrison Ford., Interesting movie about a Deputy prosecuter who gets accused when the woman[a colleague] with whom he has an affair is murdered. Interesting movie

Rumour has it

2006-12-14T14:34:00.000-08:00

*ing Jennifer Aniston,Kevin Costner.,. The movie begins with a narration that in the 60s,a young man's affair with a 42 year old woman , then in some days, the affair comes to an end when he has an affair with her daughter and her daughter gets married to some one else with in a week.
Jennifer Aniston[sarah], on this current day, suspects that she is not born to the guy whom her mother married but to the other guy[kevin costner - Beau Borough] who she had an affair with.After meeting with Beau, she finds that he is not her father and then ends up in bed with him that night[yeah ! weird].
The movie ends with sarah going back to her boyfriend-who she is engaged to[and the boyfriend accepts].
I guess this movie is ok and you can watch it with friends once but does not go beyond that.

Phir Hera Pheri

2006-12-13T14:42:00.000-08:00

*ing Paresh Rawal,Akshay kumar and Sunil Shetty. This is the Indian version of the movie Lock, stock and two smoking barrels. The hindi version is good, funny and worth watching once.

Tata Birla madhayalo Laila

2006-12-13T12:04:00.000-08:00

*ing Sivaji,krishna bhagavan and ali.Slightly better commedy but was not extraordinary.can watch it once.

Nepoleon Dynamite

2006-12-13T12:02:00.000-08:00

This movie based in rural America is about a loser Neopleon who helps his immigrant friend Pedro win the school election for the president. It might be interesting for guys who grew up here but in general it was boring.

Superman Returns

2006-12-07T12:24:00.000-08:00

*ing Brandon Routh,Kevin Spacey,Kate Boswoth. Superman goes to krypton and comes back after finding no one on his planet. I didnot know that Superman has a sexual affair with Louis Lane. So this one was a surprise for me. But in total, the movie was awesome.

Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna

2006-12-07T12:19:00.000-08:00

*ing Amitab bachan, Shah Rukh Khan,Abhishek Bachan,Rani mukharjee, Prety zinta,kiran kher. Its a story from the west. I think it didnot suit the Indian backdrop. Its about two married people having an affair which later gets supported by their spouses [after divorces and other junk]. Barring a song sequence, the rest of the movie is absolute Junk.

Dhoom 2

2006-12-07T12:15:00.000-08:00

Hrithik Roshan,Abhishek Bachchan,Aishwarya rai,Bipasa basu. The movie was a weak attempt of making an action thriller from Bollywood. Barring Hrithik Roshan and Abhishek Bachan(at some places), the movie is absolute junk. Aishwarya Rai looked Tired and looks as if the age is catching up. If you are really bored, you can watch it once but definitely not worth going to a theatre.

You,Me and Dupree

2006-11-30T08:21:00.000-08:00

*ing Owen Wilson,Matt Dillon,Kate Hudson et al., Commedy about Dupree coming and staying with his newly married friend and his wife. Slightly adult but ok commedy. We can watch it once but dont have any expectations. This is better than the wedding crashers though.

Casino Royale

2006-11-29T07:53:00.000-08:00

*ing Daniel Craig,Eva Green et al., Daniel Craig is too good. He successfully redefined the Bond character defying all the opposition from the traditional Bond fans in an unconventional but a very good movie. I have read the reviews about Daniel Craig and saw him in the movie 'Munich' but this one was very impressive . Go get a ticket and you will enjoy it.

Ice Age 2 - The Melt Down

2006-11-29T07:48:00.000-08:00

The sequel is generally not as good as the first part. But this case, if we donot compare it with part1 then this is awesome. The story this time looks as if it is woven around Manfred[manny-ray romano] but the animators did a real good job. The Possums were awesome. A must see but make sure you donot compare it with ICE Age 1.

A Sound of Thunder

2006-11-27T11:46:00.000-08:00

*ing Edward burns,Ben Kingsley et al., The movie about a company that offers tourism into the past. The movie mainly discusses the idea of what happens if they change some thing in the past and its repurcussions. You can watch it once...

Gautham SSC

2006-11-20T12:34:00.000-08:00

*ing Navadeep,Sindhu Tolani and others. The first half was painful and the second half was less painful. A couple of songs were good and barring that this movie is an average. Dont bother watching the movie unless you can beleive a Degree-Third class passout guy can make "a revolutionary carburetter and can create records by being an IAS topper all while working in a mechanic shop in about 2 years" is an exciting and plausible thing.

Cars

2006-11-17T12:27:00.000-08:00

Voice over by Owen Wilson [for Lightning McQueen]. I loved the movie. This is the first movie with no human character in it. [barring the animal documentaries] . The way the story was told, I envied those guys for the creativity.. Must see.

Little Man - This movie, we thought would be good. But this is aweful. This didnot even deserve a place in my blog leave alone a DVD. Dont bother watching it.

Don

2006-11-13T11:39:00.000-08:00

*ing Shahrukh khan,Isha koppikar,Priyanka chopra. Its Farhan Akhtar's effort to remake the old Don. It is not exactly comparable the old one but I should say Farhan akhtar did a decent job to keep us up till the end of it.

Veerabhadra

2006-11-08T08:33:00.000-08:00

*ing Balakrishna,Sada,Tanusree Dutta(?). I always have believed that if you watch Balakrishna's movies, you can have a lot of fun commenting on literally every thing in the movie.I always knew that the movie would not be entertaining. Coming to this one,I insisted that all of us should see together and i some how managed to make every one sit to watch the movie instead of the regular friends or every body loves Raymond or some thing else.
This movie is an absolute rape. We tried to have that so called fun commenting but, this movie exceeds all the limits. No connection between scenes, editing was s**t, comedy was awful,dialogues were artificial [Need less to say The hero looks awkward] .
Intoto, this was one of the most disastrous movies that i have seen in the recent times.

Mission Impossible III

2006-11-06T12:15:00.000-08:00

* ing Tom Cruise, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laurence Fishburne. It could be termed as an excessively technical action Flick. Some of the scenes were good and Shanghai was impressive but On the whole, I think the movie fails to impress. Its ok to watch it once.

Behind Enemy Lines (II) - The Axis of Evil

2006-11-06T12:12:00.000-08:00

Rajesh picked this DVD hoping that it would atleast be good (he was comparing to Behind Enemy Lines). But this movie turned out to be a bad choice. I think the name raises a lot of expectations and the movie completely fails us. Dont bother watching it.

Lady Killers, The

2006-11-01T15:13:00.000-08:00

*ing Tom Hanks is a remake of the old Lady Killers. Other than Tom Hanks and a couple of scenes which are funny, there is nothing much in the movie that makes it a must see.It was not unbearable.

The Departed

2006-10-28T06:32:00.000-07:00

*ing Jack nicholson,Leonardo DiCaprio,Matt Daemon,Mark Wahlberg. Directed by Martin Sorsese is about two men who are undercover : one for the mafia and the other for the cops.Reminded me of govind Nihlani's Droh Kaal.But a must see for its screen play.

Thank you for Smoking

2006-10-24T08:01:00.000-07:00

*ing Aaron Eckhart,William H Macy, Katie Holmes.. Too good movie about a Tobacco lobbyist and how he proves his case in the midst of all the anti Tobacco campaign. Must see.

Click

2006-10-24T07:58:00.000-07:00

*ing Adam Sandler,Kate Bekinsale,Chirstopher Walken is a movie about an ambitious young man looking for a universal remote control to get things done in his life. Again a good one with a subtle message. :)

Crash

2006-10-24T07:55:00.000-07:00

*ing Sandra bullock,Thandie Newton,Brendon Fraser,Ryan Phillippe,Matt Dillon and a lot more familiar faces. Basically a movie about the race and gender issues that connect a group of people with a series of events. A good one.

Scar face

2006-10-13T11:08:00.000-07:00

[I got the DVD recently and watched it recently. Now this should answer some of your questions like why am I writing about this now..]

*ing Al Pacino. Must see for Al Pacino's acting and screen play.

Fast and Furious : The Tokyo Drift

2006-10-11T08:31:00.000-07:00

This movie, a part of the Fast and the Furious series does not have any actors that i could recognize(i looked up the name of the character Neela. Nathalie Kelly, a peruvian, ). If you like movies with car races and car drifting action(skidding all the wheels ..till now for me) then you might like it. Other wise there is not much in the movie.

V for Vendetta

2006-10-11T08:26:00.000-07:00

*ing Natalie Portman,Hugo weaving is directed by the wachowski brothers. It was an interesting and amazing movie about a masked man's revenge and a revolution on the Chancellor and other government officials who commit a lot of crimes...

Lucky Number Slevin

2006-10-09T10:08:00.000-07:00

*ing Josh Harnett,Bruce Willis,Ben Kingsley,Morgan Freeman,lucy liu is an interesting movie about mistaken identity going bad.Looks like a Quentin Tarentino's movie with violence and sexually explicit scenes but its not. Worth watching once.

Hidalgo

2006-10-04T08:32:00.000-07:00

*ing Viggo Mortensen is a movie about a rider and his horse named Hidalgo. Frank Hopkins goes to the middle east to take part in the great desert race with his mustang to compete against the healthy arabian horses. The movie was gripping and well made. worth watching once.

Shaggy dog, The

2006-10-03T07:49:00.000-07:00

*ing Tim Allen,Kristin Davis,Danny Glover is about a man bitten by Dog and becomes a dog when ever he gets agitated and excited.The movie was good fun its ok to watch it once. Vadina and Sowji were more worried about avoiding the snake scenes and they possibly missed the major part of the movie.

The Black Hole (TV)

2006-09-27T08:19:00.000-07:00

This movie, is made for the TV. It a (bad )combination of immature knowledge and some bad cast. :-).

Family (Hindi)

2006-09-27T08:16:00.000-07:00

Family - *ing Amitab Bachchan,Akshay kumar,Bhoomika and Another new guy(every one mentioned he is the producer's son). This new guy is the main character in the movie and the movie ended up a boring option.

Sentinel, The

2006-09-26T10:34:00.000-07:00

The Sentinel *ing Michael Douglas, Keifer Sutherland etc is ok enough. It would keep you involved in the movie till the end. The movie about a mole in the secret services has an interesting plot but it fails impress on a whole. Worth watching once.

The Nugget

2006-09-24T07:31:00.000-07:00

*ing Eric Bana (I am not sure about the rest of the cast) is a commedy about the consequences when three friends find gold. Its ok but definitely not a must see.

Lage Raho Munna Bhai

2006-09-24T07:25:00.000-07:00

Lage Raho Munna Bhai - *ing Sanjay Dutt,Arshad Varsi,Dilip Prabhavalkar(MK GANDHI),Vidya Balan,Boman Irani... This is a Good movie. Definitely worth 5 Stars.The funny movie yet thought provoking is a must watch. Arshad varsi's spontaneity is amazing. Though the entire movie is based on maharastrian hindi, It should not be tough for most of the people to understand. This movie goes into the category of Swades,Rang De Basanti and beats them comprehensively when it comes to message.

Incidentally, these three movies give a whole lot differrent idea when you are not watching them in India.

KRRISH

2006-09-24T07:19:00.000-07:00

KRRISH *ing Hrithik Roshan, Priyanka chopra is an Indianised super hero. Though the movie has got a lot of sentiment, there was a lot of effort that went into the movie that makes it worth watching

Telugu movies in India

2006-09-21T11:55:00.000-07:00

Bommarillu - *ing Siddarth,Genelia. The movie was ok except that the heroine appeared as if she is mentally 10 years old

Pokiri - *ing Mahesh Babu, Iliyana. Puri's Version of state Rowdi..Good one

Vikramarkudu - *ing Ravi Teja, Anushka. Good movie but it is definitely an "A certificate" movie. I like it when Anish says Zintata :)

Ashok - * NTR, Sameera Reddy. we came out in the middle

Andala Ramudu - *Sunil, Aarti Agarwal. I didnot like the kind commedy or it appeared a bit over dose for me.

Telugu movies

2006-09-21T11:51:00.000-07:00

Emandoi Srivaru *ing Srikanth, Sneha,Nikita was ok. The first half was hilarious ...atleast when you are in the US :). I think a Night Blind - Watchman and Lip reading ,deaf - Apartment Secretary is always a hilarious idea...

Kitakitalu - *Allari naresh. Cheap commedy.

Off late...

2006-09-21T11:43:00.000-07:00

Poseidon *ing Kurt Russel and Josh Lucas. I would call it Titanic - 2.
Dont bother bringing in a DVD home unless you like one of the actors. Wait for it to be on TV

Inside Man - *ing Denzel Washington, Clive Owen ,Jodie Foster, Williem Dafoe and others. Its an interesting movie though it had some questionable logic etc etc.
A R Rahman's Song Chayya chayya was used during the Titles. It is a good song but I am not sure why the director chose to use that song.

Along came a Spider - *ing Morgan Freeman about the kidnap of a girl. Saw this on TNT. It was good.

Few more movies..

2006-07-21T09:36:00.000-07:00

12 Monkeys - *ing Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe. It was ok , interesting but Anniah said its a Revenge I took on him for Solaris :)

16 Blocks - Again Bruce Willis . This time it was good. I kind of liked it.

Cheaper By Dozen -2 :*ing Steve Martin. It was not i would have regretted missing.

Siriyana: *ing George Clooney,Matt Demon, Amanda Peet. Interesting movie considering the current political scenario but it could have been more interesting. The book would make a nice read for sure.

RaNam

2006-06-28T05:08:00.000-07:00

Ranam - This week. *ing Gopichand and Kamna Jethmalani. An ok movie. For most of the time, we were laughing. Ali,Venumadhav entertained with some good fun.

Catch 22 for USA Soccer Team.

2006-06-22T10:06:00.000-07:00

I am not a big soccer fan. I like the game and know a few names.
After I came to the US of A, I was really forced to learn Football [American Football] and forced to follow NBA. Both are interesting games but given to the fact that they are only competing with in the US, they are not such popular sporting events in the rest of the world.
Tennis: They broadcast Wimbledon and US open. I like that sport, i follow it.
Formula 1 : They dont watch it. I am surprised that they all follow Indy . I will have to wait till the July 2nd when they have a US Grand Prix.

So all this left me with watching the World cup soccer. Like I said, I like that game.

When I first saw the US team, in the last worldcup, their performance was pedestrain. This time, when they were playing Czech republic and Italy, I thought they had a real chance to go to the next round(If they beat Ghana).

I felt that there is not enough support for the US team from with in the US. I clearly saw lack of encouragement for the game. I cannot say if there would be more support had they made into the final 16 but they didnot. They lost Ghana 2-1. (one of Ghana's goals was a penalty so technically 1-1). Ghana also were accused of wasting time towards the end. So the US team didnot have to feel bad about the defeat. They tried.

What is more bothering is, now that they are out of the world cup, the average American kid,who is already inundated with NFL and NBA, would not be interested to know about soccer.So there would be not much of an incentive for the team going in next.

If they win , they will get popular. If they are popular, they will have an encouragement required to win.

I just hope the TV channels take the onus of popularising the game and there by getting some fame to the coutry in the soccer world....

http://www.tajavartha.com

Fire Wall

2006-06-21T07:36:00.000-07:00

Firewall (*ing Harrison Ford in the lead role) was ok movie. You can watch it once.

The Da Vinci Code and Godavari

2006-06-18T18:05:00.000-07:00

The Da Vinci Code : It was a decent enough movie. Its a pity that most of the indians donot get to see this. I found that it was not blasphemeous at all. but who cares about my opinion :)

This sunday it was Godavari. Sekhar Kammula's effort to put a decent story infront of the audience with out using regular cheap movie tactics was impressive. Surprisingly, I donot recollect a 3 hour long slow telugu movie these days recently except this which I liked.

Movies this week

2006-06-10T08:02:00.000-07:00

Confidence: Good movie ...probably Bluff master in Hindi got inspired by this movie.I cant quite recall the hero's name but the cast included Rachel Weisz , Andy Garcia and Dustin Hoffman. You wont get bored.

Identity : * ing John Cusack, Ray Liotta, Amanda Peet et al,. Its about strange murders in a Motel where a group of people get stranded.It was Ok. I remember seeing the Hindi version of this but cant recollect the name.

The new Website

2006-06-09T08:01:00.000-07:00

http://www.tajavartha.com a comprehensive news site that gets you the latest from the web. This is a tailor made site for the Indians and Telugu people.

check out http://tajavartha.blogspot.com

http://sumtechstuff.blogspot.com

Move - When A Stranger Calls

2006-06-07T20:27:00.000-07:00

When A Stranger Calls : Ok movie for guys who like crime thrillers. The music was good and till the end we were convinced that it might be a movie based on devils or dead people.

Movies this week

2006-06-05T14:26:00.000-07:00

Guy Ritchie's Lock,Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. A British comedy crime thriller starring a bunch of familiar guys whose names I didnot know. But the movies was too good.

Steven Speielberg's Munich starring Eric Bana and Daniel Craig et al.( i didnot feel that this guy would look like a Bond at all. we need to wait and see). I liked the movie despite reading criticism that this might be distorted version of the truth. I am not much of a history buff but I liked this movie.

Movies again..

2006-05-26T12:55:00.000-07:00

Solaris : Trust me. Dont even go near this DVD. If you think there is a book, go for it. I felt that we wasted our time here on this movie.

Movies ...

2006-05-16T14:09:00.000-07:00

Recent Movie List that we watched.

Ronin - Good. I liked the car chase scenes

The Usual Suspects : Good Narration and Screen play.

King Kong - Too Good. Peter Jackson takes you into the past.Serkis does it again.

Lord of the Rings -1,2,3 . You would like Peter Jackson's Ability to take you into a differrent world. Andy Serkis is amazing

Harry potter - Literally watched all the parts. Ok if you have nothing else
Notebook - One time

Ghost and the Darkness - Must See. Make sure you watch it on a big screen with out interruptions

Detonator - Boring...Aravind said it right. Why did you rent a Snipes's movie?? Are you out of your mind?

The Island - Watch it once.

Flight of the phoenix - Why did you make a movie like this? I appreciate your ability to get investors for this movie :)

Thirteen days - This is good if you are interested in world history.

Memento - Good

Enemy at the gates - Must See

Behind enemy lines - I like the back ground score when the fighter plane takes off the ship..."Its got a CD Player.."

Yours, Mine and Ours - Its Ok. I expected more fun.

Indian :

Pokiri - Good.

Sri Ramadasu - Good

Rang De Basanti - A must if you have not seen it.