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A small group of us have started a new blog and are looking for people who would like to participate in the effort. Our aim is to provide a relaxed environment to exchange opinions about movies, BO, and beyond. No star centric or eccentric views!!! So if you came here for information on the new BW blog, it is here. This location will still host my personal blog See you around friends!!!

The enigma of Talaash – Reema Kagti’s next with Aamir Khan

Everything about this film is shrouded in smoke – Dhuaan was a very apt early rumored title that has now been changed to Talaash. Written by Reema Kagti (director of Excel Entertainment’s Honeymoon Travels) and Zoya Akhtar (writer and director of Luck by Chance and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara), the film boasts of an interesting cast with Aamir Khan and Kareena Kapoor (last seen in 3 Idiots) but also includes Rani Mukherjee. Rani and Aamir were last seen together in Mangal Pandey years ago!

So what to we know about Talaash? The earlier Dhuaan suggests events clouded in mystery, fog. Aamir plays a cop named Surjan Singh Sekhawat and Kareena is called Sunaina, and is allegedly a sex-worker (as per Mid-Day). In a recent interview with Verve magazine this is what we learnt:

….. Kagti has been refining her suspense drama about a police investigation in Mumbai with Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor and Rani Mukerji as the cast. Slated for a 2012 release, the word on the street is that the real star of the film is its script.

“Zoya (Akhtar) and I thought of the story and co-wrote it. We do a lot of writing together. We’re also best friends so it’s fun and there’s a huge comfort factor. All our creative arguments get resolved by who can bang her laptop harder on the other one’s head,” she says, grinning wickedly.
……
So is she intimidated to be directing an institution like Aamir Khan? “I’m not fazed at all, just extremely grateful to Aamir and the producers for this opportunity to make a film in a really nice way. Aamir has got a lot of foresight and is very interested in the well-being of the project. I really appreciate that and don’t see that as interference. Having said that, even if the situation gets challenging, I like challenges.”

There was to be an underwater shot in Mumbai but as per Wikipedia it was moved to an undisclosed water studio in London:

“March 2011 saw the start of principal photography with Khan and Mukerji in Mumbai, India.[10] For a specific scene involving Khan and Kapoor, it was rumored that both the actors would shoot for it in a red-light district.[11] Kagti, however dismissed it, explaining that it wouldn’t be safe to do so; the scene was later shot at the Leopold Cafe on Colaba Causeway.[9] Production of the film’s second phase continued with the entire cast in Pondicherry and was completed by the end of August.[12] The film’s final phase was expected to commence the following month in the industrial town of Khopoli, where an underwater shot was expected to take place.[13] However, due to some visibility problems, the shot was cancelled and was later filmed at an undisclosed water studio in London.[14] Principal photography was completed by November 2011 where some of the remaining shots were filmed at the Bandstand Promenade.[15]“

So what exactly is Rani’s role in the film? Is she the wife? Is she now dead? What is the police investigation about? Some of these mysteries will only intensify with the release of the trailer early next week. Knowing how tightly under wraps the project has been so far, the makers would be foolish to tell us too much about this hugely anticipated film.

Easy baked tofu and veggies – a healthy low carb meal!

Tofu Bake

Two packs of extra firm tofu cut into 2 inch by i inch by 1 inch pieces, you can set these between paper towels t drain
A large rutabaga cubed into 1 inch pieces
1 carrot cut into 1/2 inch think rounds
1 large onion cut into rings 1/4 inch thick
(these are veggies that I had on hand, you can try anything – eggplant, mushrooms, broccoli)
4 tablespoons tomato ketchup
3 tablespoons Sriracha or any other HOT sauce
1/2 cup Tamari or soy sauce
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp garlic powder or flakes (or chopped fresh garlic)
2 tbsp chopped fresh or dried basil leaves (or mint)
4 tbsp olive oil
salt to taste

Mix the marinade well with a whisk, add to the veggies and tofu (you can marinate tofu separately so it does not crumble in mixing). Let sit for a half hour. Oil baking trays or cookie sheets and set oven to heat at 350 degrees. Spread a thin layer of veggies, single layer of tofu in trays and put into oven to bake. Reserve left over marinade. Check in 35 minutes, use a spatula to flip over the veggies and tofu. Spread reserve marinade on top and put back in over for another 35 minutes. Tofu should be firm and getting slightly crisp on the edges. This is a LOT of food – so enjoy for a few days!

In my experience any recipe that calls for ketchup is guaranteed to be lowbrow, quick fix and tasty!

What a vegetarian ate at Magnolias, Charleston!

I went with a large group that was on the hunt for oysters and other seafood, and had resigned myself to a liquid diet of cocktails and some vegetarian sides. The evening started out well with an East Side Mojito, a nicely refreshing one with tangy lemon, tea and mint, consumed at the bar as we waited for a table.

At first glance there was little for a vegetarian to eat, but there were plenty of wonderful “sides” including potato chips with blue cheese, a housemade pimiento cheese with fried wafers. For my meal I chose the Fried Green Tomatoes, white cheddar and caramelized onion, grits, country ham, and tomato chutney (minus the ham!), and a special on the menu – spaghetti squash sliders. The chutney on the fried green tomatoes was delicious! The second Mojito was mysteriously devoid of lemons, but on request this omission was quickly rectified! In all a hugely satisfying meal, that left no room or desire for any dessert!

When life gives you persimmons, make persimmon cake!

Life has given me persimmons, a whole load of persimmons! Every fall the persimmon tree in my backyard flashes and glows orange when everything around it is pretty much dormant or dead. I eat two a day, I try and give loads and loads away, so finally I decided to try and make a cake with the fruit even though it is NOT the baking kind. The astringent Hachiya persimmon – I call it the one with a beak – can only be eaten once it has turned to mush. Before that try eating it and your mouth will turn into a prune and you will never go near a persimmon again. This pulpy persimmon is also the one generally recommended for baking. The non-astringent Fuyu persimmon has a delicate flavor, is crisp and generally eaten after peeling. This is the kind that goes nuts in my backyard. So I substituted Fuyu for the Hachiya and made a cake.

Grease and flour a loaf pan, and turn oven on to 300 degrees and pre-warm.

10 Fuyu persimmons
1/2 cup orange juice
Blend together into pulp – about 2 cups
To this pulp add 1 cup soy milk, 2 eggs (or egg replacer), 2 tsp vanilla extract and mix well.

Mix 2.5 cups all purpose flour, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 2 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt, 1.5 cups sugar and mix well. Pour persimmon mix into the dry ingredients, mix well until lumps are gone.

Pour into greased loaf pan and bake for 1 hour at 300 degrees. Check to see if a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. If not, then bake a further 10 minutes. Can be eaten as is after cooling, or with vanilla ice cream.

I have thought of trying a lemon glaze on this next time. It was wonderfully moist and spongy, and not too sweet.

Asli Naqli – Dev Anand and Hrishikesh Mukherjee

Added today after spending a long day listening to Dev Saab’s songs and celebrating his life!

It is hard to imagine that Dev Saab is gone. But then he lived for me as a perennial heartthrob in his films of the 50s, 60s and 70s! And no one can take them away from me. Long conversations all day today were about his songs, beautiful songs, but also about the second phase of his career. I simply want to adore the Dev of the Black and white films, I want to fall in love to the tunes from his films and I want to go on a long road trip with my iPod playing HIS songs. Rest assured Dev Saab – you will never be forgotten, the films, the music, the memories will live on.

Asli Naqli (1962) – Hrishikesh Mukherjee picked the evergreen Dev Anand (almost 40 then) to star opposite a very beautiful and very young (21 yrs) Sadhna in this film.

Clockworks, Automata and the Silents – the magic of Hugo!

A dazzling array of gears dissolved into the streets of Paris, and a single gear turned magically into a roundabout, and just like that for me Hugo went from the realm of near animation to reality. The teeming Gare Montparnasse is well endowed with clocks that all keep working on precisely oiled and turned gears. Making them keep perfect time is an orphaned boy called Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield), who lives in the forgotten spaces between the walls of the train station. Hugo’s father (Jude Law), a clock-maker and museum employee, is dead, and his guardian, a drunk uncle who is responsible for keeping the station clocks running, has been gone for days. Between stealing a meager daily meal, avoiding the lame station agent Gustav (Sacha Baron Cohen) and his ferocious doberman who are constantly on the lookout for vagrant orphan boys, stealing clockwork parts from the toy stall owner Papa Georges (Ben Kingsley), and keeping the innumerable near inaccessible clocks running, Hugo leads a busy life. But it does have a singular purpose – that of fixing an automaton his father had found in the museum. The automaton is child size, extremely wide-eyes, metallic, and is supposed to be able to write and draw when fully functioning. Hugo is helped by Isabelle (Chloe Grace Moretz), the adopted daughter of Papa Goerges and Mama Jeanne (Helen McCrory), and in turn Hugo introduces her to the movies, particularly those of George Melies.

The tale takes on a dazzling and dizzyingly euphoric quality at this point. The children want to set right what seems wrong with Papa Georges, Hugo wants to get the automaton to work and Isabelle’s heart shaped key locket holds the solution, Mama Jeanne wants to relive the memories of a time when she and George were spinning dreams, Gustav just wants the flower girl Lisette (Emily Mortimer) to love him! Scorsese takes us into this fantastical world that began as a way to capture reality when the Lumiere brothers first filmed a train coming into a station, but one man’s vision saw in it the potential to bring our dreams to reality. Only a true lover of cinema could meld so beautifully the fantasy of a boy living inside walls with the magic of the first feature films filled with action, effects and edits! The acting is uniformly wonderful, with Ben Kingsley taking top honors. Filmed in glorious 3D, bright as a jewel, and lovingly detailed be it the dwelling within the walls or the sets created and used by Melies, Hugo satisfies the senses and emotions equally well. The “reality” that is Hugo Cabret’s life seems full of fantasy, and the fantasy world that Melies creates reveals all its real sleights of hand. Scorsese thus effectively blurs the barriers between reality and fantasy and makes film a coherent whole.

Hugo was one of the most satisfying watches this year, probably the best film in Scorsese’s second directorial innings, and likely needs to be watched more than once to be absorbed fully and enjoyed the way it is meant to be. And yes, the 3D is a must, probably the best I have seen – yes even better than Avatar!

Fall harvest veggie bake with paneer

Every week I get a huge basket of seasonal veggies from the student organic farm. The arrival of the basket is an event, and the disposal of the veggies a lot of hard work. Sadly enough sometimes the disposal is into the trash bin after I forget about them in my fridge. This week I attacked the basket as soon as it arrived. The plan was to make a huge pan of roasted veggies that I could eat for a few days.

3 beets, peeled and sliced into 1/4 inch thick rounds
3 turnips, peeled and sliced into 1/4 inch thick rounds
2 large eggplants, peeled and sliced into 1/4 inch thick rounds
1 kohlrabi, peeled and sliced into wedges
2-3 red a green bell peppers, sliced
3 jalapeno peppers, quartered
1 packet of paneer cubed
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper powder
1 tablespoon cumin powder
1 tablespoon coriander powder
1 teaspoon mustard powder
1 tablespoon garam masala
1 tablespoon soy sauce
Salt to taste

Throw the veggies into a mixing bowl and add the oil and spices. Mix well, tossing around to coat thoroughly with the oil and spices. Oil two cookie sheets and spread the veggies evenly in a single layer on the sheets. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and bake the veggies. In about 45 minutes use a spatula to turn them over gently and bake for another 15 minutes. The veggies should be golden in color and not overcooked. I picked the paneer and bell peppers out and baked them separately for only 30 minutes, then mixed them in when the veggies were done. When done scoop out into a dish for serving and storing. Can be served with lentils and rice or in a pita wrap.

Greens, vegetables and mustard – Chadchadi!!!

3 turnips
2 beets
2 large potatoes
4 Japanese eggplant
1 large bunch kale
1 large bunch chard
2 bell peppers
4 whole red chillies
8 tablespoons mustard dry ground to fine powder
salt to taste
3 tablespoons cooking oil

Peel and chop all the vegetables into 1.5 inch cubes. Take the leafy parts and discard the thick middles of the kale and chard. Add the mustard powder to half a cup of water and set aside. Put a wok on the stove and heat oil, add the red peppers and stir until they start to smoke slightly. Add the potatoes and stir and fry for a bit. Then add the rest of the vegetables and continue to stir and fry until the leaves have wilted. Add salt and cover and let the vegetables release some water. Continue to cook until the veggies are mostly done – then add the mustard paste and stir in well. Cook for 5 more minutes on high heat until the water is absorbed and mustard well blended. You can add kasundi for extra mustard flavor.

Ae mohabbat tere anjaam pe rona aaya! Mallika-e-Ghazal Begum Akhtar

Updated on the occasion of her birthday!  NO one had a voice like hers, full of dard that welled up from her life experiences!

Born Akhtari Bai Faizabadi, Begum Akhtar began her training as a singer at age 7, and gave her first public performance at age 15 and soon became the voice of ghazals, dadras and thumris. In a biography of Begum Akhtar, Rita Ganguly and Jyoti Sabharwal tell us of how her father abandoned her, her mother and twin sister, a parting that led to a constant search for approval from her father, and one that she never ever got. At the age of 4 the siblings were poisoned and Begum Akhtar survived but her sister died, and a second parting left an indelible mark of sorrow on Akhtari Bai’s soul. A series of abusive relationships began with her first guru – a respected name in Indian Classical music, and was followed by an assault by a known royal patron of music from Bihar. At age 13 she gave birth to an illegitimate daughter whom she could never acknowledge as her child and always called her a sister! These traumas shaped a life full of melancholy that was channeled into the most divine music.

Lessons learned from Ra.1, or whither Ra.2?

Amitabh Bachchan acted in Ajooba in 1991 (almost 22 years after his debut) and that, along with other misfires, marked the end of his thriving career as a superstar. Almost 20 years after his debut (Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman – 1992) Shahrukh Khan made and acted in Ra.one. Has his expiry date arrived? This must be put in the context of his contemporaries. Salman Khan is 22 years into his now resurging career and going from strength to strength at the box office, mostly thanks to remakes of films already highly popular in regional languages (Dabangg being the sole exception). The other Khan, Aamir, is in his 23rd year and also going from strength to strength at the box office, with films alternating between the mindless and the message laden.

The Indian film industry is heavily box office focused, and caters to a diverse audience that ranges from highly erudite to completely uninformed about film appreciation. The most successful model is to make a film filled with content that will please crowds in the A, B and C centers, but few films mange to do that. The trick is to please the erudite with content, and not alienate the uninformed with highbrow content. Most genres that work well are romcoms, slapstick comedies, or action that has already tested the waters in regional cinema. Romance and slapstick comedy are always safe bets for mostly uneducated mass audience appeal. Unexplored, or less explored are the genres of fantasy and SciFi. These less tried genres genres are beginning to crop up recently in Indian cinema. Fantasy has been propelled by the phenomenal success of Magadheera, but the recent 7 Aum Arivu suggests that the waters are as yet uncharted. The SciFi genre is untested except for Mr. Bachchan’s Ajooba (a box office failure), Mr. India (a superhero with limited bells and whistles, a romcom in content), and Hrithik Roshan’s Krrish. In 2006 Krrish made about 70 crores nett and was successful. This was followed by a disastrous Drona (a film I badly wanted to work), and a questionable outcome for Robot (Enthiran is another story!). If reports are to be believed, then a year after Krrish Shahrukh Khan began to plan his SciFi superhero adventure on a grand scale. One has to acknowledge that it takes guts to plan a 100 cr plus film at a time when the genre had been tested in a limited way and no film had made more than 80 crores at the box office.

Today social media and the blogosphere is atwitter with comparisons between Bodyguard and Ra.one and how Ra.one was a bigger budget film, with more prints and should have done much better (as if wide releases of a film guarantee box office success). It seems interesting that such comparisons are genre blind. Bodyguard was a tested and tried action formula, starring a superstar who has become a specialist in such, and can churn out two a year. Perhaps this will continue as long as there are Tamil and Telugu blockbusters waiting to be remade. Will these highly successful movies push cinema in India ahead in any way? I have yet to see any argument on the positive side.

Why do audiences and reviewers in India fixate on the budget and the box office? Does this lead to better films? I would argue that this leads to lazy derivative film-making with a risk averse mindset prevailing. While the Indian film industry may take a step forward with a Drona and a Ra.one, it is certainly treading water or worse with Bodyguard. What do our films need urgently? They need better “scripts” (something every viewer on Twitter seems to be an expert on!), they need better technical know-how, and they need to forge a path that is NOT highly derivative.

Theoretically each genre of film has a certain audience. This determines what it will garner at the box office. But should that determine what the cost outlay should be in making it? Could any of the niche but delightful films be made at all if such a restraint was put on their budget? Coming to Ra.one, could be made on a lesser budget? Most certainly. Would that make it better? I doubt that anyone can argue that. Perhaps the producers were well aware of this dilemma and raced to do many commercial tie-ups to shave off the expenses while still not compromising on the quality of the visuals they wanted to show. If sumptuous visuals were the aim, the makers gambled boldly, and their film achieved that. That is in itself a success. What is disappointing to the fans (and reviewers) is the lack of a coherent story. With some trepidation I will insert a recent sumptuous visual feast into the equation. Avatar was the most visually stunning film in recent memory. Can anyone say the same about the story?

So where does that leave us? I think a leap forward was made, and the initial prototype developed. Prototypes are always phenomenally expensive, and usually flawed. But they do help iron out the kinks and then subsequent production is cheap. So I say that Ra.2 should be made. Now that the visuals ate taken care of, time to take care of the story and produce something that will have wider appeal and more coherence. A lesson can be learnt from the Harry Potter franchise. The first book was extremely childish, and aimed to draw in all those 8 year olds who were learning to read with Harry. Then the subsequent films grew darker and bolder in content, but the 8 year olds came along, this was their series. If the final scene is anything to go by, the stage is set for Ra.2 to have a completely different twist. If the good one incorporates within him the essence of the evil one, what do we get? A darker and more twisted tale ensues.

I am a SciFi fan and found much to like in Drona, and lot more to like in Ra.1. Yes it was childish, and not many appreciated that, but what are superheroes if not the product of our childish fantasies? A superhero who obeys every command of the child he was created to protect was the premise of Ra.1. It was endearing, childish, and fun. Waiting for the reboot.

Just in time for Halloween: Garbanzo beans with pumpkin curry

1 can cooked garbanzo beans (or wash, soaked and fresh cooked)
2 cups peeled cubed pumpkin or butternut squash
1 medium onion sliced thinly
1 inch ginger grated
5 cloves garlic, peeled and finely grated
1 teaspoon Paanch phoran (equal parts jeera – cumin, saunf – fennel, methi – fenugreek, mangrail – onion seed, rai – black mustard)
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon corainder (dhania) powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin (jeera) powder
1 teaspoon red chilli powder
1 teaspoon garam masala
2 large tomatoes finely chopped or canned tomato puree
salt to taste
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons cooking oil

Mix all the dry powdered spices except garam masala in a quarter cup of water and let sit for a few minutes. Heat oil in a pan, throw in the paanch phoran and stir untl it starts to pop and smell fragrant. Stir and fry the onions and garlic for 5 minutes, then add the ginger and cook some more. Add the tomatoes and cook until almost puree like in consistency. Add the pumpkin and salt and cover and cook for 15 minutes until pumpkin starts to get tender, then add the garbanzo beans and cover and cook until well blended. Add lemon juice and garam masala and stir well, then turn off and cover. Serve with rice or bread.

Once in a Lifetime – when sound came to the silents!

Once in a lifetime one gets a chance to watch a play written by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman. Only the lucky see it mounted as magnificently and as well acted as the ACT production of this classic. Set at he time when “talkies” exploded on the scene and led to the rapid decline of vaudeville, the play tells the story of three vaudevillians who leave the New York stage scene and go West, because that is where all the action will henceforth be. They pose as voice coaches, because, they reason no one who came from the silent era can actually speak! The play leads us on a crazy run through the insane studio culture, and the madness of movie-making in Hollywood. Jerry, May and George are first seen in a seedy little hotel room, then in a train going across the country, and finally working for Herman Glogauer at the Glogauer studios.

The studios have playwrights who are paid but never asked to write a word, nor is anything they write read! Pages flit in and out and dramatically flash placards telling us which studio executive is on which lot. There are actresses who cannot speak, an aspiring dumb blonde, a crazy receptionist, and the dumbest of the trio – George unwittingly becomes Glogauer’s second in command and produces a film that happens to be the wrong script! He cracks nuts all through the filming and often lights are not turned on during filming. Hailed as a genius ahead of his time, he continues on with his misadventures that all turn out right, a tongue-in-cheek take on what Hollywood stands for.

The play is directed deftly by Mark Rucker and the sets are astonishingly good. Acting is wonderful throughout as the same dozen or so actors enact the 40 add parts in the play. Standouts are Julia Coffey as May Daniels, Patrick Lane as George Lewis, and Rene Augesen as Helen Hobart. This one runs through October 16th at the American Conservatory Theater and should not be missed!

How I spent Friday night, watching middle-aged wannabe Casanovas – Rascals

Take a Deewana Mastana story, twist it a bit so the third guy has a more active role in the film. Take two middle-aged leading men who have lost all sense of maturity, and throw them in with two young girls who are not afraid to strip down to their skivvies at the least provocation. Add lots of references to films past, gags using blind men, disabled men, and ethnic stereotypes, give up any pretense of having a coherent story or logic and you have a David Dhawan film in the 2000s.

The dance moves deserve mention. Even since Ready, we can thank Salman for having popularized body twitching as a valid dance style. So most of the time the leads and lots of scantily clad men and wone simply stand around and twitch. The music is horrendous, so maybe I am wrong to blame Salman. Maybe that is all the inspiration the choreographer could come up with upon hearing such awful stuff.

What have Ajay Devgan and Sunjay Dutt come to that they will act in and even produce such puerile stuff? Nearing 50 and out to score women and steal money, that is the character description for both. As for Kangana Ranaut, how far she has come. From best debutante, suicidal mental girl to gangster’s moll ready to show off all the enhancements to her career, and they are all too visible in this film. Not much else has changed, as she continues to lisp and flub her way through the language. The other girl does not deserve any mention at all. Only Arjun Rampal escapes relatively unscathed out of this fiasco, but he must have been offered a packet of money to act in this one. Unfortunately neither the Chetan (Chetu), Bhagat (Bahgu) take on a much reviles writer, nor the Nangana show by Ms. Ranaut can help this mess. It is not worth any of your time.

Fall’s bounty – vegetable medley with paneer

I get a veggie basket every week and it is sometimes challenging to find time for cooking. Today was a good day. I came home with my basket and set to work immediately! Ended up with a great tasting vegetable medley that used up almost all the veggies in the basket.

Major ingredients:
2 leeks – the white parts chopped
1 large onion – peeled and chopped
2 zucchini – cut into cubes
1 large eggplant – cubed
3 bell peppers – sliced
2 large tomatoes – chopped
7 tomatillos – chopped
several assorted peppers including jalapeno – sliced
1 packet paneer – cubed
1 can cooked kidney beans – washed and drained
1 can tomato sauce

For cooking:
5 tablespoons oil
1 tablespoon paanch phoran (equal amounts of fennel seed, cumin seed, black mustard seed, onion seed,fenugreek seed) In a pinch simply mustard seeds will do
3 whole red peppers
1 large tablespoon hot red pepper powder
1 teaspoon turmeric
2 teaspoons coriander powder
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 tablespoon Garam Masala (you can buy this mix from a food coop of Indian grocery store; if not then equal amounts of cinnamon, cardamom, black pepper, bay leaves, cloves can be ground to a powder in a dry grinder and stored for use)
Lemon juice to taste
Salt to taste

Method: Let the seed mix pop in hot oil and then add whole chillies, turmeric, chilli powder, cumin and coriander and half the garam masala powder. Stir and fry until fragrant, add onions and continue to fry. Next add the zucchini and eggplant and quickly mix in with the spices. The eggplant will soak up the oil and the mixture will be quite dry. Continue to stir and fry fr a few minutes then add the salt so the veggies start to wilt and release water. Next add the zucchini, bell pepper and 1/2 cup water. Cover and cook for about 10 minutes until the veggies are half done. Then add the chopped tomatoes, tomatillos, and tomato sauce, kidney beans and paneer. Cover and cook until the veggies are done, turn over once or twice to mix well. To finish off stir in the remaining garam masala and lemon juice, mix and turn off the heat.

Best served with rice or pita bread/chapatis, but I also love to eat it by itself.

Putting the math into baseball – Moneyball

The word baseball loses you about 50% fans as women do not care for sports, math loses you 25% of the remainder as sports jocks are not very cerebral people. Adding Brad Pitt into the mix gets 25% of the women back! But Moneyball proves that it is possible to make a smart film that stays true to the source material, and by eschewing real math and replacing it with occasional flashes of spreadsheets on screen, also make it crowd-pleasing. Brad Pitt plays Billy Beane, the GM of the Oakland Athletics. He describes his team as “There are big market teams, then there are the poor teams and then there is large gap and then there is us!!” Without any money, having just lost three of his best players, he is scrambling to put together a team that can play. That is when Peter Brandt (played by Jonah Hill) comes on board and things start to change for the Oakland As. A team of misfits that are supposed to do the job, are put together. But the team manager Art Howe (Philip Seymour Hoffman) refuses to buy into the big vision of Beane. Finally Beane guts the team to leave Howe with no other choice. The As go on to a dream season, but of course this is no Cinderella story. What it shows though is how Beane, using Brand (though in reality it was DePodesta) and statistics, was able to change forever how baseball is played.

Moneyball is smart crackling story, full of highs and lows, real baseball, and thrills. The performances are superb throughout – be is Pitt as the semi-reclusive Beane (if I get close to them I’m not gonna be able to fire them!), Hill as the obese unathletic young Brand who sees baseball as a series of numbers (he gets on base!), and Seymour Hoffman as the beleaguered manager on a yearly contract who stubbornly refuses to play ball. Oh, Robin Wright Penn and Spike Jonze have 2 minute parts that are not needed at all. If you love baseball or any sport, or even if you are completely unathletic, go see Moneyball! You will be richly rewarded.