Marathon

Everybody's running marathons these days. It's like some sort of "latest fad". Bombay ran a couple of months ago. New York ran one yesterday, and so did Sunita Williams - from the International Space Station, no less.

Endsems have a habit of knocking some nonsense into us. They inspire us to do the oddest of things, and in general, waste a lot of time. What we did yesterday isn't really very odd. It's a very common thing in IIT. But it's something I don't do very often.

Yes, I'm talking about a marathon. Not a *real* marathon: A symbolic one. A movie marathon. We stayed up all night - watching movies. Nothing too odd or anything, just that I needed a pretext to rave about the awesomely cool movies we saw last night. In chronological order (and coincidentally in increasing order of awesomeness):

The Lady in the Water by M. Night Shyamalan is a bizzaro-max movie. It's very strange, yet very simple. Revolving around a bed-time tale involving mythical water-women and strange grassy-wolves that prey on them when they leave their aqueous surroundings, most would consider it a rather bad movie. And so did I - except for this small tinge of confusion.
You see, the movie started with the concept that "man had stopped listening. They were interested in only what appealed to them; and paid no heed to anything else." Avi pointed this out in the middle when I was getting increasingly pissed-off with the movie. And yes - it made sense. Suddenly there was a point to the whole pointlessness.
Plenty of bad acting, a weak script, silly dialogue an rather pointless overall. Yet it carries a message. A very funky message. Start listening.

A Clockwork Orange, adapted from a novel by Anthony Burgess. Psycho. Surreal. Scary. A story about a charismatic delinquent who couldn't resist pretty girls, a bit of ultra-violence and Beethoven's 9th. They go on the rampage every night, beating and raping helpless victims.
And this is where the movie is brilliant. Instead of the usual scary/Jaws-like music playing while hapless old men were beaten and women raped, there was a symphony. All this violence being played out to Beethoven. Beautiful.
Without giving out any further plot details, all I shall say is that the content of the movie is brilliant - in every possible way. And in some ways that aren't even possible. Go watch it. It'll unsettle your mind for days.

V for Vendetta.
Remember, remember
The 5th of November
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot
I know of no reason
Why the 5th of November
Should ever be forgot.

V for Vendetta is one of the most thought out, one of the most amazing movies I have ever seen. The concept, the acting, everything.

The dialogue. Oh the dialogue. More words with V than you've encountered in a lifetime. Very Verbose. I'm merely remarking on the paradox of asking a masked man who he is. Lines that reach into your brain and twirl it around. People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people. Just the political content in the movie deserves applaud.

And after you watch the movie and fall in love with it, read the graphic novel. Your ideas and love for freedom will change. Forever. I just hope that *real* terrorists aren't so charismatic and ferociously skilled in the art of combat and deception.


... And that is what I do during endsems. Watch out for another 3D landscape soon :)