The cover of the first issue of RAVE, which came out in October, last year. RAVE is the newsletter of the University’s Student Activities Committee (SAC).

The picture used for the design has been taken by me, on the Nagoa Beach, in Diu, and the designing has been done by Hitesh. The actual photograph can be found here. Both of us are on the three-member editorial board of the newsletter, the third member being Asmita.

We’ll be coming out with our second issue soon. Hope it is better than the first.

The theme of the first issue was Inception, which should explain the presence of the “One Simple Idea” line on top. Yes, the film did have that big an impact on all of us. The issue can be read online here, and downloaded here.

Just Watched: Hot Fuzz

Coincidences are a strangely funny thing, and I’ve been known to make a big deal out of them, so much so that I label even seemingly random occurences as coincidences. When I returned from the weekly gig at Café Buon Giorno last night, little was I to know that a film I will watch will end up hitting me like a ton of bricks in the ‘lame coincidences’ department.

When Arko mooted the idea of watching the film calling an out-and-out action flick, I gave him the go-ahead. About an hour into the film, I felt that the director had cluttered up the film with too many unnecessary characters, something which had kept driving me up the wall as the film had progressed. Arko kept defending the film for some reason, and I kept disbelieving his claims about the film’s supposed awesomeness. However, he managed to ensure that I don’t stop watching the film, something I often do when a film annoys me. I am thankful that he did this, for what came after the absolute WTFness phase in the film was not just awesome, but utterly epic.

This is one of those films that just blows your mind away, almost literally. Some brilliant acting only ensures that you don’t stop watching the film, even as it starts out pretty slowly. Simon Pegg is absolutely brilliant in a role that makes you think of the film as a situational humour piece for most of its first half. He also happens to be the co-writer of the wonderful screenplay. Nick Frost is quite annoying, but when you realize that there is a reason to his madness, you are left quite awestruck. The star of the show, though, is the fantastic Timothy Dalton, who is, well, a supermarket manager. Writing more about his character will skin the body that is this film.

As the end-credits rolled, I felt that the director’s name seemed familiar. When I looked the film up, I realized that Edgar Wright was also the director of the film that I had just seen about 24 hours back (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World). If that wasn’t enough, the release date of the film was four years back to the very day. Well, that is quite lame from the sound of it, but there’s more, and it’s not the numerous film references made in this film. In fact, even Arko was shocked after we read something about the film; the film happens to be the second film in what is called the Blood and Ice Cream Trilogy a.k.a. the Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy, a series of three films created by Wright and Pegg, and starring Pegg and Frost. Apparently, each film in the trilogy is connected to a Cornetto ice cream flavour. The use of the three colours of Cornetto is a reference to Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Three Colours Trilogy. Arko happens to be a huge fan of Kieślowski’s films and he was left speechless when he came to know this. Also, this film was referenced in a recent episode of Psych, which continues to be one of my favourite TV shows. Also, one must watch out for the cameos, for they aren’t really in-your-face. Hitesh shouldn’t have fallen asleep. He has no idea what he has missed.

This film is the perfect guy film that can be watched on, er…, Valentine’s Day, at least it was for us. By the power of Greyskull, this is one amazing film. Oh, and a look at the time this post was published may just tell you how I have to control coincidences sometimes. Yarrp!

Personal Rating: 8.7/10

Just Watched: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

A few hours back, as Hitesh and I were wondering what to watch, I mentioned having the film with me, and he jumped at the thought of watching it. Little was I to know that I was going to stay up for a joyride of sorts.

Adapted from the Scott Pilgrim graphic novels, this film is incredible fun to watch. There’s no point going into the plot as that would be quite futile. It is as if a comic book was made to come to life, so to speak. Michael Cera in the titular role is fantastic and Mary Elizabeth Winstead as the mysterious Ramona Flowers is wonderful. The chemistry between the two is surprisingly good. Watch out for Chris Evans, Brandon Routh and Mae Whitman in their short roles, for they are quite effective, something which must also be said of Jason Schwartzman and Anna Kendrik.

This isn’t a film which I can write much about. Don’t blame me, for I was, well, blown away, to say the very least. Some great music along with tight editing made this an enjoyable watch for me. Here’s a film that is exactly what its tagline says: “An epic of epic epicness.

Personal Rating: 7.7/10