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To deny that Shakespeare’s plays could have been written by a man of relatively humble background is, after all, to deny the very possibility of genius itself—a sentiment increasingly attractive in a democratic culture where few harsh realities are so unpalatable as that of human inequality. The mere existence of a Shakespeare is a mortal blow to the pride of those who prefer to suppose that everybody is just as good as everybody else. But just as some people are prettier than others, so are some people smarter than others, and no matter who you are or how hard you try, I can absolutely guarantee that you’re not as smart as Shakespeare.
- Denying Shakespeare by Terry Teachout in the Wall Street Journal 4/17/2010, P. W14 (Print Edition)

There has been considerable speculation over the last 150-years or so that a commoner like William Shakespeare with scant education and limited travels could not have written the acclaimed plays attributed to him.

Among those suspected to be the real authors of the great plays are the 17th Earl of Oxford Edward de Vere, Francis Bacon, Christopher Marlowe and the 6th Earl of Derby William Stanley.

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Indian movie critics have savaged the new Bollywood movie Paathshala (Shahid Kapoor, Nana Patekar).

Here’s what a sample of Bollywood critics had to say on Paathshaala:

Reuters:

“Paathshaala” is an incoherent mess of a film which takes a serious issue and manages to run it to the ground.

Why someone like Shahid Kapur would want to do a film like this is beyond me — of course, he doesn’t have that much to do, except smile and strum the guitar.

There is no script to speak of, the dialogues are so bad they are good (”these kids maybe the best players but they are not the best payers”, says one character) and the actors all appear to want to run ten miles away from the set.

I would recommend the same, run ten miles away from any place showing this film.

NDTV:

Paathshala is staggeringly inept. The script by Hanif Sheikh has no discernable arc.

…..Director Milind Ukey splashes his titles across newspaper stories of the problems that beset education in India – stress, suicide, the demand for donations. These are all relevant and urgent issues but Ukey’s treatment is singularly hare-brained and juvenile.

….The trouble is that film doesn’t stray into unintentional comedy territory either. It’s just unremittingly dull.

I recommend that you steer clear. I’m sure, unlike the principal, you can find other alternatives.

Rediff:

Unfortunately the title of this film will have most parents’ think of it as a children’s film. But Paathshaala is not a kiddie flick.

Neither is it targeted at an adult audience. In fact Paathshaala is a film which won’t keep anybody entertained (young or old).

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Boy, oh boy, what a movie.

Folks, Kick-Ass, which debuts in theaters across the U.S. Friday, is an absolutely delightful superhero film.

In a 100-years million years, the monkeys in Bollywood, Kollywood, Tollywood et al can’t dream of making such an entertaining movie.

Wild Ride
A high octane film bursting with energy, Kick-Ass accelerates from the get-go and never slows down.

Not for one minute does the action, or for that matter the fun, stop.

Great dialogs adds to the overall entertainment quotient.

We went for the 10PM special show at a theater on the East Coast and going by their vocal reaction the folks in the hall thoroughly enjoyed the film.

Based on a popular comic book, Kick-Ass starts off on a comic note before moving full throttle into full action mode.

Three Stories = Infinite Entertainment
Three inter-related stories come together to deliver a powerful adrenalin jolt.

We see a geeky looking high-school kid and superhero wannabe Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) lamenting his sorry fate of being completely invisible to girls.

Alas, all he can really do is jerk off in his room fantasizing over his English teacher’s massive tits.

Utterly ignored by the girls and mercilessly bullied by the boys, Dave resolves to take the plunge into the superhero world with the moniker Kick-Ass setting the stage for some riotously hilarious moments. But before you know it, Kick-Ass has become a superhero in the eyes of the public, with his popularity skyrocketing on the Internet.

In the second story, we see Damon Macready a.k.a Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage) with his young daughter Mindy a.k.a Hit Girl (Chloë Grace Moretz).

Robbed of a childhood and deprived of a mother because of a ruthless crime figure, pint-sized Hit Girl knows her way very well around the guns and the knives. And she doesn’t hesitate to use them to dispatch the bad guys

Guys, we’ve got to tell you this. The chemistry between the veteran Nicolas Cage and the young Chloë Grace Moretz is nothing short of amazing. Continue reading »

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(via iPhone)

Here we are in the theater again.

We’re waiting for the new Hollywood movie Kick-Ass to start.

Big crowd in the hall, guys. Easily more than 100 plus people. And they are still coming.

Not surprising because the movie has garnered mostly positive reviews.

Directed by Matthew Vaughn, Kick-Ass features Nicolas Cage, Aaron Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Chloë Grace Moretz and Mark Strong.

We’ll post the review of Kick-Ass later tonight.

Update:

We’re back home and working on the Kick-Ass review.

Related Content
Kick-Ass Review – Wildly Entertaining

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Aaahh, Oooohh, Aaah
More, Faster, Yes, Yes
Faster, More, Yes, Aah
Oh My God, Oh My God
I’m Saravanaaing, Ooh
Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh
!
Nirvanaaahhh
@
Saravanaa Bhavan ;)

Folks, of how many Indian restaurants in New York City can you boldly, honestly declare that the food repeatedly produces a body shaking, rippling, lengthy orgasm that jerks you out of your seat.

One shuddering, exhilarating, quivering 10,000-volt orgasmic jolt after another.

Oh yeah, one jolt after another that had us panting gimme more, baby, gimme more!

Yes, that is the high Saravanaa Bhavan on 81 Lexington Ave (at 26th St) in NYC delivered right to our table.

We swear we saw glimpses of the starry heavens and the celestial nymphs Urvashi, Rambha and Manekha dancing in their itsy bitsy attire during our meal at the NYC Indian vegetarian restaurant Saravanaa Bhavan.

Schmucks, you think we’re exaggerating or that this is all hyperbole?

Then tell us why there is a crowd waiting only outside Saravanaa Bhavan on Lexington Ave when most Indian restaurants in the area, both vegetarian and non-vegetarian, have an empty, woebegone, forlorn look?

Simple answer, kiddo. Simple.

You see, the food at the Lexington Ave outpost of Saravanaa Bhavan is so lip-smacking delicious that people are willing to tolerate the elements and even the irritation of the wait for a chance to experience the heaven that lies just beyond the restaurant’s glass window.

We had been there for lunch a few years back (an unsatisfactory experience, by the way) but lately whenever we headed to the Indian strip on Lexington Ave we invariably noticed a crowd waiting outside.

Made us wonder what had changed at Saravanaa Bhavan that in a recession people (mostly Indians) would stand in line outside a restaurant.

So off we headed to this vegetarian Indian restaurant for breakfast the other day to investigate what was luring the crowds.

Breakfast at Tiffany’s Saravanaa‘s
As we stepped into the Saravanaa Bhavan dining room the other day, the place already had five diners (both Indian and American) and more came after we were seated.

Not bad, we told ourselves. After all, we live in an depressed economy when many Indian restaurants on Lexington Ave would be lucky to land five diners for lunch or dinner!

Now, ask not what SI had for breakfast at Saravanaa Bhavan. Ask, instead, what we didn’t.

Idli, Medhu Vada, Pongal, Masala Dosa, Coffee, Masala Chai, we had it all.

Ah, we can see you guys extending your drooling tongues out, saliva falling to the floor and just dying of jealousy.

Oh wait. We even gorged on the most tabulious Badam Halwa ever made this side of the Atlantic.

Sweet, na.

Saravanaa Bhavan NYC - South Indian Vegetarian Restaurant on Lexington AvenueSaravanaa Bhavan,  Lexington Ave, NYC

Indian Vegetarian Mecca on Lexington Ave
Gosh, how do we describe the heavens to ye schmucks that have endured only the Hades of Indian restaurants on Lexington Ave in NYC.

Let’s start with the Idlis.

Round and large, our two Idlis came on a stainless-steel plate with Coconut Chutney, Tomato Chutney, Mint Chutney, Mullagai Podi and a small cup of Sambar.

In a country where most Indian restaurants serve cold Chutney, we were delighted to eat fresh Chutneys. All three of our Chutneys were rightly spiced for Indian palates and prepared to satisfy even the most querulous of diners like yours truly.

Did we tell you? Though the Idlis were large in size, they were still light.

Dip the Idli pieces in the medium-thick beans+onion+tomato Sambar or have em’ with the Chutneys, either way they are simply divine.

The large Medhu Vada was crisp, evenly cooked inside and seemed to have been prepared for the very Gods.

Pongal with its subtle pepper flavor and the different Chutneys kicked us up to a bigger high. Continue reading »

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A man without a gun is not a man
- Nicolas Cage’s character Terrence McDonagh in Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans after his gun is taken away by fellow cops for misbehavior with an old woman.

Darn, sometimes we make the stupidest moves.

Like for instance, not watching Nicolas Cage’s Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans in the theater.

We watched the previews of the movie at one of the Ritz theaters in Philadelphia and found it very appealing.

But for some reason that eludes us now we ultimately never saw the flick (did the movie even get a wide release here) on the big screen.

Instead, we went and watched tons of junk movies like  Paiyaa, My Name is Khan, Kedi, Veer, Varudu, Pravarakyudu, Goa, Arya 2 et al.

What’s wrong with us.

Mucho stupid, right.

So when we learned this morning that RedBox (the $1 DVD rental kiosk in the U.S.) had released the movie, we hotfooted over to the nearest kiosk for our Cage fix.

To all the desis here who think $1 is a buck too much and would rather wait for the ‘Free RedBox Code,’ the movie also features the Hollywood sizzler Eva Mendes.

Update:
We finished watching the 2-hour movie a short while ago.

Wow!

Doesn’t that single word say it all, schmucks.

You need more? Well, here you go.

If this is not Nicolas Cage’s finest performance, could any of ye dodos please let us know of any better.

Non-Pareil Cop
Cage plays a New Orleans cop Terrence McDonagh in the aftermath of Katrina.

But the hurricane itself, destructive as it was, is really not relevant to the movie at all. Merely, the starting point of the movie when we see a flooded lockup in a police station, a snake slithering in the water and a nervous prisoner petrified at the swiftly rising water. Even as his colleagues are willing to abandon the guy behind bars, Sergeant Terrence jumps into the water, his $55 fine underwear notwithstanding.

The reward – a chronic back pain and promotion to lieutenant.

Of course, Cage is the bad lieutenant Terrence McDonagh (just promoted from sergeant at the start), the anti-hero of the fast-paced movie.

As the coke-snorting, gambling addict, crooked cop in love with his hooker girl-friend Frankie (Eva Mendes) and willing to yank the the oxygen tubes of an old woman to extract information on a key eyewitness to a bloody murder, Nicolas Cage’s performance as the forever-high cop in  Bad Lieutenant is nothing short of brilliant. Continue reading »

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