Inglourious Basterds

Quentin Tarantino's much awaited Inglourious Basterds (Inglorious Bastards) is finally ready to hit the theaters on August 21, 2009. This is what QT calls his version of Where Eagles Dare, Guns of Navarone and such like. Here is the first trailer. Can't wait!!

Review : Dev D

An egotistical brat returns from London to meet her childhood love, only to blow her off with his saddistic ways, resulting in love getting married to a widower and brat resorting to liquor and a kothewaali. That's as crisp and accurate summary of Devdas you can do. Still it's surprising to see fascination of bollywood with the character and the story. Three times, three directors made their version with top actors of respective times. Anurag Kashyap definitely does not belong to aforementioned genre. He believes that those movies/story are too melodramatic. He believes that Devdas is nothing but a sore loser. And that's how Devdas takes a big leap of faith, if you will.

Kashyap's Devdas is not totally a biographical of a man of misery. Dev, Paro and Chanda all get their own narrative until they converge. Dev, in the beginning, is no cute child artist who gives a hug or an innocent kiss to his childhood love. Instead he threatens his girlfriend to bite her hand if she doesn't obey him and he does. In one of the rare hilarity of the movie, when asked to leave for London, Dev asks whether he is being sent to London because he was caught smoking or for calling his father 'Sattu'. Shahrukh Khan's passion towards Paro is in expression is with melodramatic Koi tumhe chhue yeh main bardaasht nahi kar sakta, while Dev (Abhay Deol) here, looking at nude picture of his girlfriend,with expressions full of lust, goes Paro, main aa raha hoon. Paro (portrayed beautifully by Mahie Gill) too, on the other hand is no silsila yeh chahat ka girl of yours. She is succumbed to lust as much her man is. I was probably the only one in the whole cinema to laugh out loud when she starts carrying a mattress on her bicycle stand, but that shows the extent she is willing to go to follow her lust and that of her man. When, now cult song, "Emosional Atyaachar" by Patna ke Presleys breaks during her marriage celebrations, uncaring of her surroundings she breaks into a zesty dance, much to shock of her relatively-old husband. When asked by his ex about physical satisfaction from relationship, she not only retorts, she goes on to say, tumhe tumhari aukat dikha rahi hoon. While Sharat Chandra's Chandramukhi does not have much background to identify with, Kashyap's Chanda (Kalki Koechlin) goes through roller-coaster of teenage, scandals, hatred until succumbing to Easy Money for her life. Dev's journey of rise, fall and redemption goes through dark --figuratively and literally-- nights, lots of vodka, mountains of himalayas, grief of the father's death, misery of a criminal and lot more. Even if that meant a little dragged and arbitrary second half of "self discovery" and "epiphany". That's where movie deserves its share of criticism.

Two strongest department to come out of these movies are cinematograpy and music. Kudos to Amit Trivedi and Kashyap for not only creating a surreal music, but also blending it to the film so beautifully that in spite of 18 tracks, it never distracts narrative, but only adds to the effectiveness. For example, after confronting her ex, when Paro leaves hotel, in slow frames, hiding her sorrowful eyes with sunglasses, to the tunes of saavan barse/ chubhan de hazaar/ saavan barse. And it's amazing how much sense Dhol Yaara Dhol or Paayaliya makes after having actually seen the movie. DevD's sojourn through underground pubs and drug bars reminds you of another visually stunning expression of misery, Requiem for a dream. Originally, Abhay Deol himself conceived the idea of Dev.D and he knows his character well. It's sure a challenge to portray someone whose perpetual mood is that of sorrow and masochism. I will go on to say that Devdas is one of the most unidimensional character you'll ever come across in hindi cinema in the ranks of all babujis of Alok Naths and maas of Nirupa Roys and Reema Lagoos. Only for that, if for nothing else, Abhay Deol deserves accolades. Mahie Gill as Paro makes an interesting debut. She does not make a cute or girl-next-door debut, but a role that requires her to shed clothes in first few minutes of movie and not for titillation that one. Challenging and well done! Kalki Koechlin is passable as Canadian-Indian high class prostitute. Chunni here gets more color than Sharat Chandra's counterpart here. He is not just an accomplice of Dev, but a shrewd drug dealer and an accomplished pimp. Kashyap will surely get some of his fans back he lost with "No Smoking".

Thumbs up for beautifully crafted and visually stunning film. I say bring on more.
PS:- Just as I was about to publish this, I got the answer for Special Thanks to Danny Boyle frame at the beginning of the movie.

Roger v. Rafa

Although not as big a classic as Wimbledon 2008, but we all can agree upon that we saw a great final in Australian Open 2009. I have so many thoughts about it, so many, that they are so messed up inside my mind. I need divide them up and put it in context to make sense out of past, present and future and significance of this event. Someday I will, hopefully.

Review : Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi

There is a sense of irony with Shahrukh Khan. You, as a director, can't let Shahrukh Khan be "Shahrukh Khan" if you want to extract performance from him. "Shahrukh Khan" can be all mushy. He can sulk for the whole movie if you want him to. He can flow through the role easily. and that's the Shahrukh people flood the theatres to watch, but that's the "Shahrukh" we are tired of watching, because practically there is no difference between Raj of DDLJ, Rahul of Dil to Pagal hai or Aman of Kal Ho Naa Ho. On the other hand, if you are adept at it, you can get Mohan Bhargava (Swades) or Amjad Ali Khan(Hey Ram) out of him, but with the exception of Chak De India that doesn't go to well with boxoffice. So Aditya Chopra, after 8 long years of deliberation, probably decided to have his cake and eat it too.

Surinder(Shahrukh Khan) is your typical first-bench-sitting, specs-wearing, dull topper, who is now working Punjab Power. You can't help but smirk when he picks up the phone to greet "Punjab Power. Lighting up your lives" where as a matter of fact, he himself could do with some light up himself or how suitable the headline of the newspaper "Living in the fear" applies to him. He knows affection for sure, but does not know what love is as he has not even talked to any "ladies" in his life. He works hard to make life easy for his reluctant wife Taani, who has been through series of accidents in no time. You feel for Surinder or Suri's sincerity and honesty, even his little gestures of affection. He is the underdog you want to win, but that's clearly not what his wife desires.

Enter Raj. He is combination of all the previous Shahrukh Khans you have seen in your life what with "Raj... naam to suna hoga" and all those hand-swooshing gestures. He is someone who is meant to sweep-the-girl-off-her-feet, but you fail to understand whether he is himself or parody of himself. As the movie unfolds, I found myself asking the same question which the little annoying girl next to me kept asking to her parents through out the movie, "kya ho gaya?" and by the end of the movie, you, as audience, have lost the sense of the purpose, you no longer know what you actually want to happen with mess that has been created or rather you no longer care. As most of the characters in the movie do, you leave rest of the things to the Rab(God) to solve.

You fail to go along with the character of Shahrukh Khan. He begins with good intension of just making her happy, but it's incomprehensible as to how he expects Taani to love her husband when in fact Raj is doing all the work. Also the ease with which Suri fits into the character of Raj leaves you wondering what would be the befitting word? Schizophrenic or alter-ego or masochistic? Parodying themselves seems to be the flavour of the season for YRF and SRK. First Om Shanti Om, then Dostana, now this. Sure it's funny when Raj hums the tune of Dhoom or Taani does a John Abraham, but they are on the verge of overdoing it. Although to the credit of Aditya Chopra no hariyale khet, sarson da saag, makke di roti for this one. Thanks for that!!

Shahrukh Khan proves he is, for good or for bad, as the cliche goes, "director's actor". Otherwise how do you explain a perfectly restrained and lovable portrayal of Surinder and at the same time straight-from-previous-movies, annoying, repetitive portrayal of Raj in the same movie? Anushka Sharma almost fits the mould of a YRF heroine. Vinay Pathak as Bobby Khosla is decent as over-the-top-fashion sidekick of Suri.

If this is what Aditya Chopra came out of exile for after eight years, he better go back to it again.

Guess who needs life?

Slashdot, recently published, a story based on a survey titled Unhappy People Watch More TV . The story says, quote:

A new study by sociologists at the University of Maryland concludes that unhappy people watch more TV, while people who describe themselves as 'very happy' spend more time reading and socializing.

Cause-Effect notwithstanding, it got me thinking. I tried to come up with the tv series, sitcoms, I watched in 2008. The results were astonishing. I surprised myself. Before I say anything else, here are the results:

• Seinfeld - 5 seasons - 86 episodes
  
• 24 - 6 seasons + 24:Redemption - 145 episodes
  
• How I Met Your Mother - 4* seasons - 73 episodes
  
• The Big Bang Theory - 2* seasons - 26 episodes
  
• Avatar: The Last Airbender - 3 seasons - 61 episodes
  
• Scrubs - 7 seasons - 150 episodes
  
• 30 Rock - 3* seasons - 40 episodes
  
• Heroes^[1] - 1 season - 23 episodes
  
• Flight of the Conchords - 1 season - 12 episodes
  

'*' indicates currently running series.
^[1] Heroes is the only series I have decided to stop in between.

You do the math. Ok, I'll do it for you. That totals to 604 616 episodes. And I am not even counting almost daily dose of The Daily Show, The Colbert Report and Friends revisit once in a while. That averages to almost 2 episodes PER DAY. Funnily enough, this story was published on my birthday. Guess, who needs life?

Federer vs Murray, Masters Cup Live!

You know you are watching too much 24...

You know you are watching too much 24, ...

... when you report any event with, "The following takes place between 1 pm and 2 pm ..."

... when you pick up phone, you say your name first instead of "Hello"

... when asked for your favourite super-hero, you respond with Jack Bauer.

... when somebody is not on his/her seat, you think he/she is a mole.

... when you ask for coordinates instead of address to locate your friend.

... when instead of your spelling your name as N-A-M-E, you say November-Alpha-Mike-Echo

... when you think of invoking 25th Amendment when your boss disagrees with you in the meeting.

... when you ask for immunity from the president, in return of the information that you sold out to your rivals.

... when you say "9 o' clock" instead of "to your left"

... when you'd rather be outlaw than follow order of your superior for "greater good".

... when you are jobless enough to write such a post in first place!!

UPDATE : one more,
... when you change your cell phone ringtone to that of CTU. (I and Praveen just did!)

Things we missed in Obama Mania

I, for one, stayed awake whole night when Barack Obama made history on November 4th, 2008. Felt elated, after following US Elections for almost a year, Barack Obama won. After reading whole lot of blogs about pre-election analysis, election analysis, post-election analysis and post-post-election analysis, I think it's time to return to the normal news. It's not going to be easy I know, I am going to end up like xkcd predicted. Nevertheless, it's worth a try. So I am putting up just a list, which I think were significant news but got burried under Obama's huge victory.

• Gagan Narang sets the world record and wins the world cup.
  
• BR Chopra passes away. RIP
  
• Rafael Nadal pulls out of year-ending Masters cup. Sad!
  
• Chelsea lost to AS Roma 3-1. (This one is for schadenfreude)
  
• Can Bobby Jindal lift GOP in 2012?
  

Damn it, that last one was not supposed to be included. Any way, do you think I missed anything else? Tell us!

Raja Sen = Frankenstein's Monster?

"Who the hell is Raja Sen" you may ask! Fair enough, but if you happen to be a Rediff reader and still ask this question, I'd have to say, "Dude!!!!" So for the starters, Raja Sen is a regular contributor and, I presume, an employee at Rediff, India's perhaps most popular portal. Known among readers mostly as a movie reviewer at rediff.

First of all, let me say that let my title of the post not misguide you. I, in no way, hate Raja Sen. I have been regular rediff reader since quite some time. To put it in perspective, Rediff is my one of the guilty pleasures, in the lines of Gunda, Loha, Classic dance of love, and such like Mithunda movies. Nothing can provide good mid-day laughter like headlines "Do you think Shahrukh is selfish? Tell us!" or heartfelt chat with "Loveguru" and most importantly rediff's "commenter's base", which I would come to later. In spite of all these, rediff has had its fair share of good articles. Contributors like Raja Sen, Prem Panicker, Sidin Vadukut have provided articles that make it worth your time. Now, coming back to Raja Sen. Raja Sen has been writing for rediff since as long as I can remember. He is one of the movie reviewer, whose words I have found myself to be agreeing with. When everybody was going over the board with Christopher Nolan's "Batman Begins", Raja Sen described it as "Ew!" Being an avid Formula-1 and Michael Schumacher fan myself, I have enjoyed monday afternoon chat sessions with Raja and Sumeet about previous day's race. So far so good, but then something happened.

Back in those days, Rediff's comments were moderated, so if you comment on an article, it may not be visible till next day, but one fine day, Rediff decided that this was not working and made the comment section "open for public". Now everybody could talk, thrash, kick, spit... and they did! Comments deteriorated day-by-day and topics knew no bound. "Northies" vs "Southies", Amitabh vs SRK, Sania Mirza's hype, conspiracy theories.. all of them got served equally at Rediff's message board and as the time passed mob found their scape goat. What happens when you rate hugely popular star's hugely popular movie as "one star" (case in point, Bhul Bhulaiyya) or term universal hit like At World's End as "Disappointing!"? You get mobbed, that's what happened. People had found him. Comments ranging from as mild as "who da hell do u thnk u r raja sen", "r u writing reviews or givng GRE exams" to "hey u raja, u gay srk chamcha, go home" were abundant on every message board. Each and every Raja Sen article turned into a flame-bait. If you were to judge any review by the number of comments it got, Raja Sen can outnumber Sukanya Verma or Elvis D' Silva by 100-to-1. Sidin aptly introduces Raja Sen as one of the most popular writers on Rediff when measured on the popularity metric: "House most likely to be burned down."

It seemed as if Raja Sen has outgrown Rediff -- Monster has taken over Frankenstein. On one auspicious Friday, in spite of three reviews, none of them was reviewed by Raja Sen and his "fan base" got impatient. All three of the message boards got flooded with letters of unrequited love with touchy messages like "whr da hell is moron Raja Sen", "this reviewer sucks! at lst idiot raja sen used to give honest opionions", "bring raja back!" and needless to say, when Mr. Sen was back next Friday, people were overjoyed. They had their target back. As for us, our Friday evenings were spent literally rolling on the floor laughing, courtesy this fan base, which I am sure is the same scene in Rediff as they fervently refresh those comment sections to see if the next message can beat the previous one in inanity.

Of records, joy of records and nostalgia of joy of records

First things first : Laying out the foundation for the post. Sachin Tendulkar surpassed Brian Lara as the all-time top scorer of test cricket and surpassed 12,000 as well, along with his 50th Fifty although missing a well-deserved ton. Needless to say he holds this distinction in ODIs too. Sourav Ganguly surpassed 7000 runs mark along with a half-century on the way (and going) and India ended up with good score on the board at the end of the day.

This probably was destined many years before it actually happened. Everybody knew that some day or the other Tendulkar will end up with all-time top scorer in both longer and shorter form of the game. The only question was when! After two splendid innings Tendulkar-style down under, predicting game had begun. Optimistics predicted it to be towards the end of the Australia series. Pragmatists predicted it in the series against Sri Lanka. Neither happened. After fabulous Australian series, just like rest of the middle order, Sachin struggled against Sri Lankan bowling attack and collected only 95 runs in 3 tests. Probably it was destined that he would achieve his record against his favourite opponent and he sure did!

His critics have alleged time and again about Tendulkar putting his records before team, and I can counter everyone of them, but that's not the point of the post (An older post about it here). Sachin's records, however personal, have been a cause of joy in this cricket crazy nation. His every record among cricket fan is revered and celebrated. Tendulkar is a hero people have looked upto for last 19 years and seldom he has disappointed them. His record of staggering 673 runs in 2003 world cup (surpassing his own previous record) was important part of India's much touted appearance in final. His any sort of record hasn't pulled Indian team in negative direction, if not towards the victory. Sachin has never shown lack of commitment to the cause of the team, and records just have fallen into place. That's the reason his every century, every milestone, every record is cheered and savoured among fans. Have you seen the wildness, have you heard shouts when Sachin Tendulkar enters the ground? I have. Just thinking about it gives me goosebumps. It will be 19 years this November since Tendulkar first set a foot on the arena, but common man fascination is still same. These 19 years have seen rises and falls of heroes, even to the extent of putting them ahead of Tendulkar, but this man has stood still. Kambli, Ganguly, Dravid, Sehwag, Dhoni all have had their heydays, but it's Tendulkar that still towers two feet above them in public scrutiny. And that doesn't come for a player who plays for himself.

Another important aspect of today's game, may be eclipsed by heap of records, was partnership between Tendulkar and Ganguly. It was extremely joyous to see these two share a century partnership. This best opening ODI pair ever (with record 26 century partnerships and most runs by a pair) was a nightmare of opponents what with attacking approach combined repertoire of impossible shots. There was no taunting these two. Ask Henry Olonga what happens if you do do it. But sadly that was past and before this when was the last time these two shared a century partnership? Can't remember and that's probably why this is so important. With Ganguly retiring at the end of this series, this might be the last big partnership these two greats shared, but those opponent-trouncing nostalgia will always remain with us.

An idiot's guide to 2008 subprime mortgage crisis

What actually it's that has taken global financial world by storm? "Sub-prime mortgage crisis" as they call it. What is it about? A few tutorial/article I found easier to understand:

1. Subprime works. Comic-style cause-effect subprime crisis tutorial.

2. Greatbong's guide to The Great Wall Street Meltdown (1, 2, 3). Treat for Gunda fans among other things!

3. A Visual Guide to the Financial Crisis, by Mint.

4. The crisis of credit visualized (via Shreeni)

Do we really need The Onion...

...when we have GOP and FOX news to entertain us? FOX news says it is "fair and balanced" and I totally believe them.

FOX News is angry at Newsweek for NOT retouching Sarah Palin's photograph on the cover, given that it was so much close up. You can feel the anchor's anger and to add to the spice you always have GOP's media commentator Andrea Tantaros. Watch this clip and you can have your own drinking game for how many times Tantaros says slap in the face.

GOP has broken space-time continuum and acquitted Sarah Palin of Troopergate scandal before jury announces its verdict. How about swearing Mccain in for President on 3rd of November?

PS:- Sorry for being all election-y on blogs these days, but it's flavour of the season. Because when I am not watching 24, it provides me daily dose of all the drama, thrill, action and comedy.

(Link via Praveen)

Open Letter to Sarah Palin

Dear Ms Sarah Palin,

You know how it is these days. When you are in politics, nobody is your friend and everybody tends to ask you wrong and irrelevant questions, until you found a shoulder to cry on, FOX news. You were quoted on FOX news that, Katie Couric annoyed you. I can totally understand your feelings. All you wanted to do was talk to American people irrespective of what an interviewer wants to ask. Then how does she dare ask about your economic policy, your foreign relations experience, your relevance to VP post. HOW DARE SHE? Atleast you got to talk to American people irrespective of moderator's questions in the debate. From now on, please refuse interviews to any other channel than FOX news, they are ruthless, heartless people.

Lots of love,
Nishit

Change HE needs! Change HE can believe in!

I can't say this is "out of the blues". I can't say it's a total surprise. Somehow --deep down-- I really saw it coming. Roger Federer has decided to take a break, which may last upto end of this year. Now all those "Roger is past his prime","Rafa will rule", please don't jump to conclusions. Hold your horses.

First of all, this is definitely not a Ross-Rachel we-were-on-a-break break. This is well thought out, well deserved and much needed break. As you may well be aware, Federer has been suffering from monoculosis/grandular fever since beginning of the year and still he has not missed any major. His grandslam record includes one trophy, two finals and one semifinal. Now, don't tell me that Monoculosis is your grandpa's excuse for his less than exceptional performance this year. It says here, complete recovery will take several months provided the person is not involved in strong physical activities, which Roger is. Preponement of couple of Masters series and addition of Olympics, thus cutting down a month's break after Wimbledon doesn't help either.

I do not claim that physical fitness is the only factor. With constantly improving Rafa, he would have won Roland Garros and Wimbledon, Monoculosis or not, but more than one external and internal factors do put your harmony out of sync. Roger's fascination for #1 is no secret and with Rafa breathing on his neck, he wanted to cling on to it with his dear life, but inevitable had to come sooner or later. After incredible 237 weeks, he had to give it up to Rafa just after the Olympics, which I believe was a major paradigm shift. It meant that he could now take a few deep breaths and relax. It was reflected in very positive mindset and relaxed game during the US open, resulting in his 13th major.

With that win, put into perspective, makes this break even more pertinent. He is not running away. He is not hiding. He needs a break and now is better time than any. No grandslam till Australian Open in January i.e. four months. Although my guess is that he may return for the year-end masters cup to defend his title. It's as simple as it gets : Better to take a break and strike down with vengeance to reclaim #1 than to drag behind with #2 tag, so till then fans, you too take a break, shed off doubts and be prepared to re-welcome our Spartan in the cardigan.

Chaos Theory

House of Reps rejects 700 billion dollar bailout plan...

Democrats blame Republicans for not gathering enough support...

GOP claims Nancy Pelosi is responsible, because of her...wait for it... SPEECH!!!! (Surely WTF moment of the day)...

Obama says, "Keep calm, the bill will pass" ....

Mccain says, "These partisan politics by obama and the democrats is why the bill did not pass"....

Asif Zardari has fatwa on his own name for flattering Palin.....

DOW falls 700 points...

CBS has more footage of the Palin interview which is even more damaging, if thats possible... (http://interviewpalin.com/)

Somalian Pirate Ship Surrounded By US Navy For Fear That Arms Onboard May Fall "Into The Wrong Hands"...

All or some of above mentioned may or may not be related. Let the world rest in peace!

(Via inputs from our sources all over the world, especially Praveen)

Turtle post and Sarah Palin

Originally I intended to put up this post with some links that incompetent, unaware Sarah Palin as VP pick is, and not to mention stupid, idiot that she already is, but now there are just infinite of them,so go to the internets and take your ownn pick, I'll just put up, what might be a little summary

While suturing a cut on the hand of a 75-year old Texas rancher whose hand was caught in a gate while working cattle, the doctor struck up a conversation with the old man. Eventually the topic got around to Sarah Palin and her bid to be a heartbeat away from being President.

The old rancher said, "Well, ya know, Palin is a post turtle."

Not being familiar with the term, the doctor asked him what a post turtle was.

The old rancher said, "When you're driving down a country road and you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top, that's a post turtle .You know she didn't get up there by herself, she doesn't belong up there, she doesn't know what to do while she is up there, and you just wonder what kind of dumb ass put her up there to begin with."

(Via Praveen)

I'm gonna fly

As my Miyazaki craze refuses to die down, I am going one after another on all Miyazaki movies, so after Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Nausicaa of the valley of the wind, Howl's moving castle, Castle in the sky, today was turn of Kiki's deliver service and needless to say I loved it! It may not be Miyazaki's best of works, but after all it's Miyazaki creation. As of now, I am thinking of doing a detailed post on Miyazaki's movies, and hope it WILL come some day, but till then I'll leave you with this beautiful song from Kiki's deliver service

I'M GONNA FLY...

One day the whole world looks like an open page.
And you've been dancing as fast as you can,
With a smile on your face.

Then the Earth and the sky they open together,
And carry me away as light as a feather.
Chase the clouds from the ground in the big blue sky.
Don't wanna watch it all go by, so I'm gonna fly.
Higher than I ever could.

Feel the wind blow through my hair,
Feel the sun dance with the moon.
And my feet can't stay on the ground any longer,
With every leap of faith I feel a little stronger.
Wanna swing from a star in the big blue sky.
Don't wanna watch it all go by,

** So I'm gonna fly.

** And see for myself what it looks like from up there.
** And taste the star dust in my mouth,
** Chase the clouds until they disappear.

** And if I can make just one life better,
** Bring a smile to your face when you're under the weather,
** Then I'm feelin' like I've finally found my home.
** I'll plant the seeds and watch them grow.
** And I'm gonna fly.

** Fly. Fly. Fly.
** Higher than I ever, ever could.

I'm gonna fly.
I'm gonna fly.
Higher than I ever, ever could.

Here is the video

Fiction : Harry Potter and Closet of Fire

This is a fan-fic dedicated to morons at Rediff and everywhere else.

(Somewhere in the middle of the sixth book, Harry Potter and the half blood prince)

Harry was about to go to spiral downstairs then monster rose inside his heart and he halted.

"Yes Harry?" asked Dumbledore

"Professor Dumbledore .. err.. may I ask you something?"

"Go right ahead" said Dumbledore smilingly.

"Professor err.. did you ever err.. did you like any girl?"

To this Dumbledore paused for a moment then gave sheepish smile. The Dumbledore rose from his seat and gestured his wand towards thin air and conjured letters out of thin air, which read "Albus Dumbledore" and soon they re-arranged themselves into "Male bods rule, dude"

Harry slipped into shock for a moment and forced a grin on his face and started his movement towards downstairs. He could not decide what exactly what he was feeling at that moment, but he was certain that he saw nostalgic expression on Dumbledore's countenance...

The New Roger

Let me start with some facts. Federer has not won a single grandslam this year, he may not even defend his US open title. Heck, Federer has not even won a single masters series this year. He lost on his favourite turf Wimbledon to his arch-nemesis. His lead at the top of the ranking will be cut down to sub-300 by end of this week and definitely subsequently will be given to Nadal. He may not be year-end number 1. So, are we done? Ya I guess that's pretty much it.

Here is my answer : I DON'T CARE!!! Not that the Wimbledon loss did not hurt. Not that after almost 250 weeks Federer will have to give up his #1 ranking wouldn't wrench my heart. This was supposed to be the year where he could potentially have a golden slam (four grandslam and an olympic gold, only achieved by Steffi Graf -- men or women), but it has been totally opposite. But a consensus has been reached inside. Fans have realized that time has come to accept that their hero is a human. Stupid journalists are getting courageous enough to ask questions like "To some extent, do you agree with Justine Henin's decision to retire at the peak of her career?" only to see Federer red-eyed and replying "Do I agree with that? Not today. Ask me another day. Please don't kill me with questions like this."

Inspite of all these, I am still looking forward to the rest of the year. I will not even say how I have savoured being a Federer fan with not just winning but subtletly and perfection that took the tennis to a new level. I will stay in present. As Monx put it, now is the real time to be a Federer fan. I will no longer be a supporter of man-at-the-top but an underdog. An underdog, whose competition now will not only be with Rafael Nadal but also with the rest of the world. An underdog, whose every victory will not be taken for granted and an underdog, whose win will pump up the adrenaline rather than "yeah.. it was just another victory" For long Rafa fans have enjoyed his dark horse status and Federer fans have faced the questions "oh, so he lost? Is that end of Federer?" No more my friends... NO MORE. All Rafa fans around me, beware. As wonderful player as Rafa is, be prepared to face the taunts as he is the number one, while I sitback and see my hero challenging #1. Go Roger...

Au Revoire Justine...

Much to the shock of fans and the tennis world, Justine Henin today announce retirement with IMMEDIATE effect, not even defending her French Open title! I will not claim to be big fan of the lady, but she did provide some good consistent tennis. Au Revoire Justine!