Top Ten Movie Lines.

Disclaimer: The following post reflects the individual opinion of the Author alone and is in no way related to general public opinion or any other poll conducted by any other reputed agency (Oh god, I'm crapping!)


10. Terminator 1,2 AND 3!

"I'll be back"

ONLY because no ranking of movie lines is complete without this! Personally I think it is the dumbest, most cliched, most meaningless line ever uttered... but it ROCKS ;)

9. Jerry Maguire

"Show me the money"

If ever there was a case where an actor got an Oscar for uttering a single line, THIS has to be it. Though one must admit, Cuba Gooding Jr. was excellent in that movie. It is almost an injustice to give him a Supporting Actor Oscar there... Best Actor would've been fairer.

8. Good Morning, Vietnam

"Gooooood Morning Vietnam!"

No other reason except for the fact that this is one of the lines which is just stuck in my head. This is where the disclaimer is applied in its fullest...

7. Apollo 13

"Houston, we have a problem."

Apart from becoming one of the most used AND most misused line of its times, I love this line simply for the number of wisecracks it spawned. For example, imagine the people on Apollo 13 were watching an asteroid heading right towards the earth. What would they have said? "Houston, YOU have a problem!"

6. Casablanca

"What in heaven's name brought you to Casablanca?"
"My health. I came to Casablanca for the waters."
"The waters? What waters? We're in the desert."
"I was misinformed."

This dialogue is the epitome of lying with a straight face. Humphrey Bogart just skips from line to line, or rather, lie to lie with a face as serious as Ganguly reacting to his loss of captaincy...

5. Gladiator

"Fratres! Three weeks from now I will be harvesting my crops. Imagine where you will be, and it will be so. Hold the line! Stay with me! If you find yourself alone, riding in green fields with the sun on your face, do not be troubled, for you are in Elysium, and you're already dead!!!
Brothers:
What we do in Life echoes in Eternity...."

A monologue which has remained etched in time since the third time I saw Gladiator, and which I say along with Russel Crowe everytime I saw the movie again (currently on 9 times...)

4. A Few Good Men

"You want answers?"
"I want the truth."
"You can't handle the truth!"

A small part of the long court scene in the movie, and a favourite monoacting piece as well. Though it has to be said, no one can pull off the Jack Nicholson part...

3. Godfather

"I'll make him an offer he can't refuse"

The line which went from the book to the movie and which has been immortalized by Marlon Brando in that unbelievable role as Godfather...

2. Spiderman

"Whatever life holds in store for me, I will never forget these words, with great power, comes great responsibility. This is my gift, this is my curse. Who am I? I'm Spiderman."

A very meaning-filled dialogue... or rather monologue. I have had the same thought myself, of course, not about having Spider-Powers, but about other things...

1. Gladiator

"My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, Commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius, father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife, and I will have my vengeance -- in this life or the next."

Ok, so I'm obsessed with this movie. Go ahead, shoot me.


I have three exams in a row coming up from tomorrow. I find myself not caring a bit.

"I loathe myself" - Chandler Bing.

Yeah well...

I've been tagged to do this (I sugggest you read it first) by my dearest, bestest, closest friend Gobaz, and I simply couldn't refuse him.... could I??? ;)

And since I'm apparently supposed to prove that I AM a true IITian, I'll try to put forth the best description of the stereotypical IITian

1. IIT LINGO ROCKS! It is THE most functional language ever discovered. Why say football when footer would suffice? And OBLY, there can be NO English word which can adequately substitute for RG or CUPPED. And DON'T even get me started on the unbelievable multi-functionality of 'puteetz'. I can keep going like this about other words which are now an intrinsic part of my vocabulary... so let's stop.
2. I don't say "Stop talking" or "Shut up" or "I know better" or any such lame thing. The phrase currently in vogue is "JUST cock up" with a sufficient emphasis on and pause after 'just'. It is so incisive, like you are scything through the dumb thing the other guy just said.
3. My LOWEST level of swearing is f***... and from then, it increases exponentially with suitable adjectives added as the situation warrants.
4. Crash! Bang! Clang! Growl! Roar! is still my favourite type of music. I'm sorry, but nothing else gets me high than a guitarist at full speed, a drummer at full blast and a singer at full pitch.
5. As hard as I try to study non-stop the day before the exam or a quiz, sometimes I just give up and lie back and wonder about the futility of it all. And ask the common question that EVERY IITian would've asked himself at some point of time- "WHAT am I doing here??!"
6. I'm more nocturnal than a bat. So what if the Dean came up with the brilliant idea of severing the Internet by 1 o'clock? I'll watch a movie from 1 to 3...
7. Breakfast is a meal which has disappeared from my eating habits. Mostly I wake up just in time to unload my bowels and rush to class... or I wake up after the mess has closed!
8. I CAN'T live without my laptop. The first two things I open as soon as I wake up are my eyes and my laptop... not necessarily in that order!
9. I bathe two days a week (just above average, I think).
10. I find classes INCREDIBLY boring. As soon as I sit in one of them, the yawns just keep coming. And don't say it's cos I don't sleep. I crash well enough in the afty.
11. I hate the mess. It's one thing here which lives up to its name. Every time I eat a little fillingly in the mess, I start getting acid-smelling burps and... stuff. You know...
12. I drink tea and not coffee in the mess (I don't know how this is stereotyping an IITian... I think we are split right down the middle w.r.t that)
13. My Favourite Time of the Year is SAARANG!!! Am I an IITian or WHAT!
14. The first time I went to our gigantic library was to take my ID card photo... it was the last time as well.
15. I slip into English much more often than Tamil... but then, more appropriately, I slip into IIT lingo, and not English :)
16. I watch Champions League matches from 1 to 3... in the night.
17. FIFA 2005 ROCKS!!! and Career Mode in that rocks even more.
18. And finally, to say the same thing as Gobaz, I respond easier to "duckman", "ducky", "ducker" and all other such variations than Anand :)

I rest my case.

Should I tag someone??? Dharik, Spanky, CB... anyone would do.

Boulevard of Broken Dreams

The thing about dreams is that they are such double-edged swords. I am of course talking about ACTUAL dreams, the things that come in the night when you are in your REM sleep... not the "I dream of owning a HUGE house some day" kind. Those I would call aspirations or hopes or wishes or fantasies or any other n number of words that Roget's Thesaurus can throw up for dreams.

But anyway, getting back to why Dreams are such double-edged swords... As long as you are IN them, or HAVING them you are all happy and contented. (Again, if you are in dreams that do NOT make you hapy and all, I would classify them nightmares, so I ain't talking about THEM either.) You are playing out what you always wanted to be, topper guy, knight-in-shining armour, football player, secret agent... whatever. And all the details appear so very vividly that it's like you're watching this extremely well made movie with you in the lead role and you feel extremely satisfied inside. (Again, I don't know how this is possible. I mean, you are ASLEEP, so how can you FEEL anything??? And yet, when I wake up, I distinctly remember running through a gamut of emotions during the dream...)

And then of course, you're up and awake and everything vanishes in the small instant of opening your eyes. And then the depressing reality dawns upon you that it was a dream after all... AGAIN! I mean, you've had so many by now that you would hope that at least ONE of them would turn out to be true, turn out with the perfect storyline as the dream promised but NO! It always ends in a vague babble of words and thoughts and that shrill ring of the alarm in your ear. For a moment you are feeling very low, as if you had been promised heaven and then had it taken away just as you were entering it. But then you shake your head, realise that such excitement and perfection as was portrayed in the dream would never be possible in real life and swing your legs out of bed to throw yourself into another day in the drab, everyday world...

If you're wondering what prompted this post, yes, I had a wonderful dream yesterday night... Perfect setting, story, ending etc... and then I woke up!

And so, the world still goes around

You know what they say about life being stranger than fiction? Clearly those who said it KNEW what they were talking about. If this was a movie, the two incidents would probably have been sequenced side by side (as it DID actually happen)... maybe taken in reverse chronlogy, Memento style!

I mean, there is my life, going on as it is, with nothing much in it. And then this first thing happens. I mean it's one of those things you know. Boom, boom, boom they hit you and then when you're where nothing MORE can hit you, Boom, boom, they go again :). And by then you're pretty much convinced that all of life AND its artillery is lined up right against you.

And then there's this other guy... I barely know him, I'm dumping him with what I myself can see is a very unfair amount of work this time of the semester and he cheerfully does all of it, comes back and says "It's done."
Me: "Sorry Man, I had no choice."
Him: "No Problem! Cya..."
And then you realize why the world still goes around, why it still rains in Chennai and why there is still hope for this world...

Matthew Perry Says.

"After I got my first laugh on stage, I was hooked."

"If there's a silence in a room I'll try to fill it as soon as humanly possible."

"The goal is to have to do the shot again because the camera guy shook a little bit as he was laughing. Without that happening, I'm not happy because there's nothing better for me than a world that everybody's just trying to make each other laugh."

"I really lived life to its fullest and that got me in trouble from time to time."

"I used to be a real prince charming if I went on a date with a girl. But then I'd get to where I was likely to have a stroke from the stress of keeping up my act. I've since learned the key to a good date is to pay attention to her."

"There are two ways to go when you hit that crossroads in your life: There is the bad way, when you sort of give up, and then there is the really hard way, when you fight back. I went the hard way and came out of it okay. Now, I'm sitting here and doing great."

"Well, I was lucky enough to be involved in about 19 failures at an early age, so I'm realistic about the success I'm having and how quickly it can go away. What's important is to be smart about it."

"When I read the script of Chandler, I thought WOW I can really shake hands with this guy. Chandlers a sarcastic guy, dry, funny - a guy who's not comfortable unless he's joking and hiding the emotional stuff that's going on with him. And Yeah, I can relate to that a bit."

-Matthew Perry (a.k.a Chandler Bing on "F.R.I.E.N.D.S" (1994-2004))

I recently had to do a presentation on some personality. I picked this guy. It's like he himself says... when he read the script of Chandler, he wanted to shake hands with him... so do I.

There ARE people whose lives mirror your own, whose actions, thoughts, feelings tend to be the same as yours... they are the ones you can draw your inspiration from, look up to and say "Hey, look, this is as near a preview of your life as you can get. So use it as a template, modify it to your own situation and hope you come out tops..."

As Chandler would say- You big Freak of Nature!

(Met)a(l)lice Revolutions

This is the concluding part of my "dream-story". It will obviously be the crappiest too as I HAVE to necessarily use the remaining songs, unlike Part I or Part II where I could choose the songs. Anyway...


On hearing the summon, The Hare and The Hammet set off behind the horsemen like they were answering the Call of the Ktulu or something. Lars and Hames looked at each other, shrugged, and decided to follow them. Just as Lars was about to start walking, he heard a tiny voice scream, "Don't Tread on Me!"

The two looked down to find a tiny caterpillar with puffs of smoke around his head. Hames lifted it up in his palm and saw a two-headed caterpillar smoking a Hookah. "And what might you be?", asked Lars quite naturally, as he had lost the ability to be surprised by things in that place.
"I'm a 2x4, see. Two heads and Four legs." Then it stiffened its miniscule body, drew a deep breath in and started in a stentorian voice, "I'm the Leper Messiah, the one who represents all the unfortunate, the handicapped, the two-headed..." At this, its voice trailed off and it looked melancholy, "I'm the Harvester of Sorrow. I collect the woes of all such people and submit them to the queen."

"Oh, but how did you end up as such a Damaged Case?" Lars was curious to know.

"A Bad Seed, that's how. My Mama Said I could eat it and that it was the same as any other. But no sooner had I done so, poof! There I was, two-headed and four-legged. It must've had some Thorn Within, and now, there's no Fixer who can cure this problem."

"Ah yes, very sad, the story of this Damage of yours. But we're going to the trial now, you wanna tag along?" asked Hames.

The caterpillar, however, went on as if it hadn't heard him, "Yes, yes. You want to hear another story? It's a story Of a Wolf And Man. It..."

"That's Red Riding Hood." interrupted Lars, unceremoniuosly.

"It is?" the caterpillar asked thoughtfully and then conceded, "Ok, it is. But then, can't you allow one moment of Free Speech for The Dumb? Do you HAVE to interrupt? Oh my stars are all wrong... My whole Astronomy is screwed up." it lamented.

"You mean ASTROLOGY?" corrected Hames.

"There! You did it again! Didn't let me finish!", shrieked the caterpillar. By now Hames was reaching the Frayed Ends of Sanity. Shaking his head, he put the caterpillar down and said, "Whatever, we are off to the trial. See you there, hopefully. Hasta La Vista, Baby."

"You mean Carpe Diem, Baby, right? You can't use Spanish here, the Metal Militia will be onto you in a flash."

But by now, Lars and Hames were tired of the caterpillar's constant bickering and had moved away. Pretty soon, they came upon the courthouse, which was nothing but a palatial mansion which bore the name "Greenhell". They entered to find that the Rabbit was already pleading its case, "...Bleeding Me. That's why I couldn't make it on time. It was no fault of mine, Oh King. Blame it on him, blame it on my Loverman."

"So you should have Fought Fire with Fire, right? You should've knocked him down, left him to his Creeping Death and made it on time!" said the King. Turning to his Queen, he asked, "What do you think Dear, 50 Whiplashes?"

"What!" screamed the queen, "Let him off that easily? Of course not! Kill The Wabbit!" she screamed again. Then, turning to the Rabbit, she grinned wickedly, "Die, Die My Darling."

"Wait!" shouted Hames as the whole court turned and looked at him.

"Ah, Enter Sandman." the Hare announced. Hames walked up and took the stand. He looked around till the crowd fell silent and then started off in his deep voice, "How can you condemn someone to death just like that? Look at him, a poor Outlaw Torn between death and duty. Do you know the impact a death can cause? Do you even understand the value of life. that you take it away so easily? Do you" he asked, pointing at the queen, "know how it is to Ride The Lightning? Have you felt the Ecstacy of Gold? Have you ever lost yourself in the Low Man's Lyric?" At this point, Hames' voice had reached a crescendo and he stopped to catch his breath. The whole crowd stared with bated breath at the queen, who had gone prety red in the face. Then she drew a deep breath and screamed, "Off with his head!"

Hames felt the floor of the stand dropout from under him and plunged into a gaping hole. Lars was shocked at this and not knowing what to do, ran and dived in after Hames into the same hole. After a long fall, they landed on grass of some kind and were dazed for a second. They shook their heads and got up on their feet to find themselves back on the riverbank. They looked at each other for a moment, not knowing what to say and then Lars asked, "Hangover?"

"Oh yes... Yeah, guess so, sure." Hames hesitated, "You don't remember any Rabbits or Hares, do you?"

"Well, I mean... yeah, it's kind of vague in my mind, something about Hares and Queens and stuff. I think it's best if we agree that our trip Through the Neverland just didn't happen."

"Yes yes." Hames hurriedly agreed, "You know, it's like a story. It gets over, you Turn The Page and move on."

They walked along in silence towards their car. Then Hames turned to Lars and said, "You know, after ALL that, I've attained a new outlook in life. From now on, I'm going to concentrate on my music, NOTHING ELSE MATTERS!"