Conquered the Hindu Crossword. Finally. Happy, happy, happy :D

Across
1 Choppers hit corps Lee fanned out (11)
9 Prompts Rex to hang out denims (7)
10 Person for whose performance there is no accounting (7)
11 Stop being an outsider (5)
12 All over the U.S. studios? (9)
13 Tripura's leader questions undertakings (5)
15 Occasions when balloting is done (9)
18 The verdicts of the court on indices so cleverly manipulated (9)
21 Some official U.N. articles associated with the moon (5)
22 Full of life, greet nice representations (9)
24 Agreed to be presented (5)
26 A burning issue may come out of it (7)
27 One drink gulped down by Miss West in picture (7)
28 Within these an afterthought is expressed (11)

Down
1 Gathered the rabi or kuruvai? (9)
2 Restrict it after 51, Monsieur (5)
3 Draws a distinction between the light and the dark, perhaps (9)
4 Bearing not zilch but first-class grazing land (7)
5 Inspect knife springing up on quarry (7)
6 Haphazard races cause panic (5)
7 As used to create a stir in the cup (8)
8 Spoken lesson doesn't start (4)
14 How the agents work behind somebody's back (8)
16 Wire : "Great help needed" (9)
17 Unfamiliar persons are U.S. commandos, by the way (9)
19 Excel in getting gold in a kind of game (7)
20 Notices broken fragment (7)
22 Covet some housed in green Vyasarpadi (4)
23 Take hold of a key file (5)
25 Aids to circulation (5)

A:
1 - helicopters (hit lee corps anagram = choppers)
9 - reminds ( Rex + denims anagram = prompts)
10 - amateur
11 - enter
12 - universal ( = all over = US studios)
13 - tasks ( Tripura [leader = first letter] + asks [questions] = undertakings)
15 - elections
18 - decisions (on indices anagram [indicator - manipulated] = verdicts)
21 - lunar (official U.N. articles [indicator - some] = associated with the moon)
22 - energetic (greet nice anagram [indicator - representations] = full of life)
24 - given ( = agreed (adj.) = presented)
26 - volcano
27 - imagine ( i(one) + mae(miss west) + gin(drink) = ima(gin)e [gulped down] = picture (verb))
28 - parentheses

D:
1 - harvested
2 - limit ( LI (51 in roman numbers) + M (monsieur) + it (after) = restrict)
3 - contrasts
4 - pasture (posture (bearing) - o (zilch) + a (first class) = pasture = grazing land)
5 - examine (exa (axe=knife reversed, indicator - springing up) + mine (quarry) = inspect)
6 - scare (races anagram, indicator haphazard = panic)
7 - teaspoon
8 - oral *
14 - secretly
16 - telegraph (great help anagram)
17 - strangers (st (state, US) + rangers (commandos) = unfamiliar persons, i think)
19 - outdoor *
20 - section (notices anagram, indicator - broken = fragment)
22 - envy (green Vyasarpadi [indicator - some housed in] = covet)
23 - grasp *
25 - veins

others - direct
asterisks - me not sure how

Isn't relief such a wonderful feeling?
This is one of those rare I'm-so-happy-I-could-kiss-Michael-Schumacher moods.

(Please don't ask me why. Just try to feel happy for me :) )

I watched Apocalypse Now and Dead Poets Society this week.


Apocalypse Now I liked immensely. The narrative is captivating. The acting is brilliant. The story is unconventional, and gets more and more twisted as the film progresses. Some of the dialogue (especially Marlon Brando's) is truly inspired. The film is mesmerising.

"I watched a snail crawl along the edge of a straight razor. That's my dream. That's my nightmare. Crawling, slithering, along the edge of a straight... razor... and surviving."

"We train young men to drop fire on people. But their commanders won't allow them to write "fuck" on their airplanes because it's obscene! "


Dead Poets Society was beautiful. It has some memorable scenes, and it has Robin Williams. But it's also got a flawed ending. The way I saw it, the events that unfold towards the end contradict the very message that the rest of the movie is trying to express. But then again, it's got some memorable scenes, and it has Robin Williams, and the poetry is tolerable. That makes it worth watching.

"Carpe diem, seize the day."

.._. . ._ ._. * ._ _. _.. * ... . ._.. .._. * ._.. ___ ._ _ .... .. _. __. * .__ .. ... .... * .. * .__ ._ ... * .. _. * ..._ . __. ._ ... * .. * .... ._ _ . * .... ___ .__ * .. __ * .._. . . ._.. .. _. __. * ._. .. __. .... _ * _. ___ .__ * .. __ * .__ ._ .. _ .. _. __. * ... ___ * _.. . ... .__. . ._. ._ _ . ._.. _.__ * .._. ___ ._. * _ ___ __ ___ ._. ._. ___ .__ * . ..._ . _. .. _. __.

Random thoughts #2

Brown is an underrated colour.

I can do 4 partial push-ups on the trot.

Going down an escalator wearing a helmet draws a lot of stares.

I want a Condolezza Rice mask.

The concept of randomness is hard to understand.

This update may be a little late in coming, but my scientific calculator (a relic from that period in history when I used to see the computer lab, smell hydrogen sulphide, feel Foo's aura and hear Thambidorai's "Errrr.."s practically everyday) tells me that approximately 98.69 percent of 2006 is yet to occur.

Let's have a great year, all of us.