Paint it Yellow!

Im not very patriotic. In fact Im not patriotic at all. That is fair to say. As much as I hate making these posts entirely personal, the above is best explained if we get a tad below the skin - so to speak.

So far as I understand it, patriotism stems from a love of one's nation. The emotion buried within [some] people that propels them to want to do something for one's country, for the land that you live in and that is essentially what classifies you as a certain...[type?] of person.

I was born in Australia. Ive lived here for almost 23 years now. That equals to half a lifetime provided I die at about 46. That must be the average life expectancy in some country somewhere, Im sure.

My mothers of Indian descent and we speak Hindi and a hybrid language I refer to as Hinglish. Combination of Hindi nouns and English verbs. Yes, interesting language that is. Other than that Ive taken a strong liking of sanskrit since I was younger, there's something about the way the words flow and sound so incredibly noble as the word rolls of your tongue. Difficult to explain until you've understood the nounce of each word. Regardless, we're talking patriotism now.

Paint it Yellow! [The exclamation is required] Or Rang De Basanti, is a film about five kids at Delhi University who realise the true meaning of patriotism when a British journalist comes into their carefree existence.

To begin with, there are several complications to this story from the onset, apart from my overthinking nature, it seemed to me the second time that I saw this, that it was a tad distasteful to have a Britisher have to remind Indians [the same lot who were ruled by them] of their heritage and the sacrifice many made for a free India.

Particularly as the freedom fighters our British Sue is interested in are Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekhar Azad etc, who were all fighting for freedom from the British Raj. The third time I saw this film, I rethought this point of view. Since then, Ive come to realise that it doesn't so much matter who causes the realisation to occur to so much as that the realisation actually occurs. 

My second bone of contention with the film is that the conclusion of the protagonists and the film: the death of them seems to be sending out the wrong message. Sure, they go from a 'who-gives-a-damn' attitude to, 'no-nation-is-perfect, each of us has to help make it so' with an incredibly convincing ride, and there is absolutely no preaching, or no one, myself included could have sat through it. However the fact that they die post changing their attitudes and focus, to me seemed a collosal waste. 

I wish they had lived. In retrospect I can see why they choose to kill off the main characters. With their death you see just how foggy the law enforcement system can be sometimes. Through their death, thousands of students and youth receieve a strong message [in the film and outside] that for a society or nation to change, the people, their mindsets must first demonstrate change. But still, I wish they had lived.

Im still not patriotic. Im not sure where my allegiance lies in all honesty. I love the atmosphere of Australia, sure. I appreciate the fact that we have so much freedom, that I as an Australian citizen have so many freedoms that people in other nations don't. I can be grateful for everything I recieve in this country: education, a degree of equality and many human rights. I love that because of my mum I'll always have ties to a place like India, where the culture is so seeped within tradition and ritual that I couldn't escape it if I tried. Im glad that because of this hybridity [technical term] I'll always be different, not quite part of one, but never entirely the other.

But it also means I come with this sense of non-belonging. I don't fit into either culture entirely. Not just me, but so many people from my generation will find themselves in similar predicaments. We won't ever belong to just one nation, one place or one ethnicity. Which is perhaps what our world needs. More universality, more internationality. 

Anywho. My opinion, Paint It Yellow is awesome. There's something of every college kid in those characters. The aimlessness, ambiguity we all carry. Not always knowing where your going, but getting to tomorrow is the aim. Rushing towards deadlines with uncompleted work and extending the prolonged doom. And then, suddenly, there's a boom! A Crash! Someone, something comes along and makes you think.

Mon&Me: 10 Men from the silver screen that deserve worshipping.

10. Patrick Verona - 10 Things I Hate About You

 We love the chracter, Mon's not a Ledge fan - I dont mind him as an actor but in this film- OH boy Oh Boy! Bad boy from the wrong side of the tracks who hates the world but ends up falling hopelessy in love. How can you not love that? In Mon's opinion he looks the best when he has his hair tied back in the paint balloon scene. Doesnt give a crap bout how weird ppl think he is, he just rolls with it, that alone is so damn hot. My favs the serenade attempt on the steps - re pic. *Swoon*

9. Troy - Reality Bites

Grungy, unkept, sarcastic, intelligent, smart ass and pissed off at nothing in particlar, need i say more? Oh he has long hair. Reality does more than bite, it makes us just a little more light headed.

8. Guy Patterson - That Thing You Do

We've always had a thing for drummers lol. He's goofy, sweet and genuine and Im entirely with Mon when she expresses the desire to hug him forever! My fav part is the end when, him and Liv Tyler are at the cafe and u know they want eachother but neither say anything, she leaves then he chases after her and finally the 'big kiss' moment that every movie needs. He's so cute in this film. Sadly, this was the first and last film that he was oh, so adorable in.. it all went down hill from here on..

7. Sebastian Valmont - Cruel Intentions

He's mean, sexy and absolutely incorrigible. The bad boy who turns sweet when the right girl comes along, does this not reinstate your inner girly-girl who knows she can reform the hunky bad boy? Right on it does!

6. James Wright - That Thing Called Love

He's on Mon's list by default =p He sings, he broods and he's just damn hot. This is the only movie where he had dark hair, and its long hehehe, just adds to the whole fantasy. The first kiss scene is so hot, but he looks the best in the scene where he's just gotten out of the shower and he storms into the kitchen ( i hate to say but he is fully dressed) hair all wet and his shirt buttoned only half way, gets me everytime. He's high in almost every scene but its his last completed film so it had to make the cut lol.

Adding my 10c - I feel this picture says it all, loud and clear.

5. Jack Dawson - Titanic

Leo's on purely because most girls who grew up in the 90s [us included] wanted, required a Titanic poster to breathe at some point or another in their lives. We can admit it.. with a cringe on my part. We refer to this as part of the blonde boy phase.. c'mon, you went through it too!

4.Rick O'Connell / David Green - The Mummy + School Ties

I don't know what I'd do without Mon to share my movie loves with. We unanimously agree that Brendan Fraser was beyong beautiful and brilliant in both these movies. Drawback? He has short hair in School Ties and the whole ending up with Rachel Weisz kinda ruined it for me in the Mummy.. but he's just so damn hot. Whether in a trench coat or a 1920s hunter *swoon* outfit.. he does it for us!

3. Chase Hammond - Drive Me Crazy

So strange to think that when Mon first watched this at 14 she thought he was eww, and now she wants to bloody kick herself, what the hell was she thinking? He's bloody gorgeous in this movie, like omg. Grungy, loner (Kind of), rebel, shit stirer, sarcastic, generally not giving a shit bout anything and dark haired. 

Why cant every girl have a boy next door like him? I prefer him 'pre make-over' but he's still hot when he's in a clean shirt lol. Oh man i love when he appears at the prom at the end. That slide, that glide and the oh not so subtle 'I was hoping to cut in.' There is no man hotter that Chase for me [yours truly].. but to get to ten, we continue.

2.  Jack Tavern - Speed 

Aside from the fact that he wears a tight, white wife beater throughout the whole film, he's one guy i prefer with short hair. He's so rugged and ripped in this movie (have a look at those arms would u) that it makes u melt and silently curse Sandra Bullock. Oh and the best part...when he ends up all dirty and sweaty by the end with big tears in his shirt... Oh Lord, Have Mercy! This is entirely Mon's description, but I agree absolutely, not only that I totally appreciate the man in the Matrix, so extra brownie points from me!

1. Don Juan / Edward Scissorhands 

In the movies with the same name, Johnny Depp rocks us all over and repeat! God must have been in a very good mood when he made this man. Best part of all, he has long hair in it. Im sure u understand the whole Johnny Depp thing anyway, so no need to go on.. We rest our case and head off to watch one of the said hunks [we mean, movies] *breathe in, breathe out*

Double, double, toil and trouble

Most of my halloween memories come from films. What can I say, apart from the occasional trick-or-treater back in 'the hood' and now here where I be now.. Halloween is just another excuse to party that I am not utilizing this year. Next year, we dress, we treat, we trick and we cause some severe mayhem.. jailcard here I come!
This year, we check out my top 5 Halloween scenes from various flicks and bask in the glory of favourite-lists.. why? Because, this dear audience, is the only thing I could come up with..

5. Can anyone say Nightmare on Elm Street? Freddy Kruger has to be one of the best terrors out there. Baby-sitting is never quite the same once you've seen these films.. a mass murderer burnt to death returns in the dreams of children to enact his revenge.. one girl realises his power lays only in the world of sleep. So she stays awake.. and tries her best to draw him out to start the real game.. Mhmm. Classic horror. Minimal screaming. Total nightmare material.

4. Buffy: It's just ... You're never gonna get noticed if you keep hiding! You're missing the     whole point of Halloween. 

Willow: Free candy?

One Halloween in Sunnydale, the costume becomes her, and him, and them. That is Buffy all dolled up in her 18th century finery finds herself a helpless *ahem* young damsel in distress.. Willow's a ghost and Xander's the saviour. Role play, anyone? Another Halloween sees the gang trapped inside a haunted house where there is no door.. very shiningesque of them.. all in all, all hallow's eve is always exciting with the Scoobies.

3. Silence of the Lambs.. I seem to be on a scary movie trip here, but how can anyone go past Silence of the Lambs? Cannibal man, female cop, sexual tension that could seriously develop into a feast for one of these two. He could always eat her, and as she well knows, he would enjoy every last peice of her flesh. Eeek! But fantastic film, all the same.

2. Double, double, toil and trouble. So it has a few vices, but it has the Olsen twins at their cutest! Not to mention the whole, twin thing was always one of my favourite places to float around in. *If only there was another me..* Basically, twins! Who save the day with a little help from magic, a little sisterly love and lots of seven-year old charm. What's not to love?

1. The Shining. "Heeeeeeerreeeee's JOHNNY!" If you haven't seen this, dear lord, get out from under that rock and rent / buy it now!! Jack Nicholson totally freaks me out everytime I see him as Jack, the crazy father of young Danny and husband of gutsy Wendy, who is driven to kill both his wife and child through the persuasion of a ghost.. or is he? Never will I go to a ski lodge, alone or with less than five people in tow, a mobile phone, several forms of outside contact and prefrabbly? Lets just go in summer. *shudders*

Dhan Te Nan: Bastards

In my humble opinion the best film to come out of Vishal Bhardwaj's creativity thus far. Kaminey or Bastards as I suppose the English translation would read, is largely crude, immensly enjoyable, its bold, its funny and its unpredictable. If your Indian, think RGV's Company executed with panache and humour; for the rest of you, its a case of mixing Edward Scissorhands with Tarantino- a rather frightening concoction, but if done well it has the perfect hit of tequila!

Kaminey, follows the lives of twins Charlie and Guddu [Good-ooh] as different from one another as the 1920s were from the 1960s. What I loved [and the fangirl in me swoons silently] Shahid Kapoor plays both characters and as anyone with eyes and good hearing can see, he is perfect as both. Charlie's lisp "I pronounce Fff as Fff" [Ss as Ff is what he means] and Guddu's stammer are not only humorous but endearing in the oddest way. For the first half of the film we see their separate lives unfold: filled with a nonchalence for each other, love for money [Charlie] and Sweety [Guddu] propelling their lives in different directions.

Drugs, guns, money and gangsters collide head on with both brothers' lives. And then begins the real fun. Mistaken identities, rogue politicians and crooked cops begin the chase down a rabbit hole as the brothers run to protect their love, dreams and sanity.

It took the first twenty minutes to become accustomed to the lingo, the settings, the tone and the characters and their relationships. From then on though, it was me and the boys taking a trip down their exhilaratingly brilliant, not to mention immensly colourful lives as they race against time to come out on top of impossibly volatile junctures.

All in all the best movie experience Ive had all year. And I don't see this changing anytime soon. Dhan te nana, is the wrapping on an already beautifully brilliant [and yummy- mmm Charlie] cake. The song is bound to be a regular feature on my ipod for weeks to come..

Fmafhing! Juft Fmafhing!