I love Dr. Horrible

What a week it has been !!

One scary villain and one not so scary supervillain.

Heath Ledger totally rocked as the Joker in The Dark Knight. The movie as a whole was absolutely fabulous. This is one movie that haunted me for the entire day after leaving the theater.

Now, about the not so scary supervillain. Dr. Horrible comes from Joss Whedon, the man behind my television favorite, Firefly. His genius lies not only in creating intense drama but also in finding ways to insert comedy without breaking the flow of the narrative.

Dr. Horrible is divided into three acts each of which was available in the last week as a webisode (a portamanteau of web and episode, for those not in the know :)). Officially titled as Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, it tells the story of a supervillain who hasn't quite made it in the world of supervillainy. He needs to do something quick to be accepted in to the Evil League of Evil.

Everything starts of a lighter than air note and gradually slides down the slope of darkness till in the final shot it strikes you that all along you have been watching a tragedy disguised as a comedy.

Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother, Doogie Howser) and Nathan Fillion (Firefly) play their parts fantastically well and Felicia Day as Dr. Horrible's love interest plays her part too. The show belongs, however, to the eponymous Dr. Horrible as played by Neil Patrick Harris.

And best of all: It is a musical. I can't get the songs out of my head :)

So, if you are in the mood for something very original and very creative go check out Dr. Horrible. It should be available till the night of July 20th, 2008 after which you can buy it on iTunes for $4. It is worth it !!!

Cheers.

Edit: It's now available on Hulu

A Soldier's Lament

A stanza penned by Javed Akhtar for the movie Border illustrating the feelings of a soldier torn between his duty and spending some time with his newly-wed wife.

मैं कहीं भी रहूँ ए सनम
मुझको है ज़िंदगी की कसम
फ़ासले आते जाते रहे
प्यार लेकिन नहीं होगा कम
जिन्हें चाहूँ जिन्हें पूजूँ
उन्हें देखूं उन्हें छू लूँ
ज़रा बातें तो कर लूँ
ज़रा बाहों में भर लूँ
मैं इस चाँद से माथे को चूम लूँ
तो चलूँ तो चलूँ ...

Political Ideology

There is a field in my Orkut profile which I had always left unanswered; my political views. It wasn't so much that I didn't know where my views are but rather that I was just not sure what label was attached to my particular set of views.

After some reading on Wikipedia and taking a very short quiz I realized that the label that best fit my views was "Liberal".

Here's what the quiz website had to say about liberals.

LIBERALS usually embrace freedom of choice in personal matters, but tend to support significant government control of the economy. They generally support a government-funded "safety net" to help the disadvantaged, and advocate strict regulation of business. Liberals tend to favor environmental regulations, defend civil liberties and free expression, support government action to promote equality, and tolerate diverse lifestyles.

I also like the strong military viewpoint of the conservatives.