My thoughts on - Suicide Squad

Suicide Squad - 2016
Release - 1st August 2016
Director - David Ayer
Executive Producer - Zack Snyder
Rating - PG 13
Runtime - 123 minutes.

Every comic book movie has a big baddie, who manages to entice the audience, making the movie memorable. A villain becomes just as much part of the movie as the hero. The Dark Knight has carved its name in history, for being such an amazing movie, thanks to the iconic role of The Joker played by the sensational Heath Ledger. So if a villain makes a good movie, imagine the movie with the whole lineup being a bunch of villains. DC’s last movie of the year left me both excited and disappointed, and this is what I think about the most anticipated summer release of the year. 

Straight up, it doesn’t have a full-fledged story. Amanda Waller brings together the worst of criminals and makes them a team, and they beat a villain. That is the whole movie summed up in a sentence. But that doesn’t mean the movie didn’t serve its purpose. This movie wasn’t necessarily meant to tell a story, but to introduce a bunch of new characters into the DC cinematic universe, and it did deliver in that context. All the characters were very well covered in terms of origins, giving a clear image of the mindset of each character, making them seem original and real. 

What are characters in a movie without the perfect cast to play them? The casting for the movie was star-studded, and all of them were just perfect. Will Smith, playing Deadshot, had just the right mix of ruthlessness and the emotion he needed for the role. Margot Robbie, playing the psychiatrist turned psycho Harley Quinn, ideally balanced the crazy and human combination needed for a believable Harley. Another character who deserves a standing ovation is Amanda Waller(possibly the worst of the bad), played by Viola Davis is an exemplary character. She is on the good side but plays an anti-hero. In the comic books, people called her ‘God’. This portrayal of her makes that title believable. 

 And who can forget the mini-villain of the movie, The Joker portrayed by method actor Jared Leto. Leto isn’t very convincing as The Joker in the beginning but by the end you sort of believe it. Jared Leto is quite convincing, but again, if anybody has seen The Dark Knight, you know he isn’t the best. Heath Ledger took the cinematic rendition of the crazy villain Joker, with him to his grave, and I don’t think anybody can take that from him in the distant future. 

Another reason this movie managed to deliver what it was intended to,  was to introduce the concept of magic into the DC Cinematic Universe. Enchantress, played by Cara Delevingne, is a very powerful witch who has bad intentions and gets out of hand, becoming the main villain of the movie. Her portrayal was quite flawless in my opinion and she makes a good Enchantress. Marvel is also dipping its toes into magic with its upcoming movie starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Doctor Strange, this fall. Suicide Squad doesn’t explain the magic, just says that it existed. This is not entirely wrong, but a little explanation would’ve been apt for the first time watchers. 

To sum it all up, Suicide Squad didn’t live up to its expectation on delivering a good story, but the actors managed to lift up the movie and after the 123-minute seating, left you happy. 

Marina Joyce - Hoax or Scary Reality?

Have anyone of you guys heard about the Marina Joyce thing? Well if you don't have a clue, I'll tell you a little. 

So, Marina Joyce is a youtuber who was, recently in the news for apparently being 'held hostage by ISIS', because she changed a bit in her videos. I got interested and started comparing her current videos with her videos a year back, and I can say with most certainly that something is wrong. She has like bruises, and it just doesn't feel right when the two videos are compared. 

Once this got a bit of attention(by trending on twitter for like a day), people were asking her to give signs by liking certain tweets, and she was doing exactly that, worrying her fans even more and as I live in London, I was almost convinced that ISIS is coming to Bethnal Green or something. 

Now, she says that she was binge-liking tweets and without even reading stuff she liked tweets. The police went to her house and checked it through, giving it the green light and made sure that none of the stuff was happening with her. In an interview with Scarce, she sounded okay and acting calm and well, normal. She said all the bruises were because she fell down the steps or something, which is as convincing as Rahul Gandhi speaking in the parliament trying to make a point. 

Now that stuff is checking out, I think that its a clever ploy to get more views and subscribers. She doubled her subscriber count in a week, and has got millions of views. Guys, do check out this thing, it's quite interesting. Why am I talking about this? Well, because I follow some you tubers and they say that they are being true and claiming that its just how they are. If this is a ploy, it's so cool to see how she manipulated the people who loved her and who were worried sick for her, and I am not trusting another online personality again, which I wouldn't like to do. If she is actually in trouble though, god save her.

London: My Experience

London, the city I never thought I would live in, I was living in. From the fish and chips, to the Barclays Premier League craze, I was part of it all. But, from a country with the status of “Developing” to a country with a status of “Developed”, can be like chalk and cheese. So, to answer the question everybody asks me of “Kaisa Hai London?”(How is London?), I have decided to write these posts.  

Being a student has its own advantages here.  For example, student discounts. Every student has the liberty of availing discounts of approximately 20-30% off, making it easier for us kids to convince our parents to buy expensive clothes or gadgets. This also includes discounts on tickets for the museum, the movies, tourist attractions, memberships, pretty much whatever you think of. Even travel can be made cheaper, which you will read about ahead.

Living in Mumbai and travelling in the yellow brown local trains, where the sight of people hanging from doors is completely normal, seeing the London Underground(Also called the ‘Tube’ or ‘Subway’) altered my perception of a train system. The London Underground is a diverse train system, consisting of over 8 lines, connecting the whole city as well as many county’s and districts, all together. You can literally go from one corner of London to another, just using trains. But, you NEED an Oyster Card. An Oyster is essential for living in the capital.  The Oyster card is basically a form of an electronic ticket, which can be used for buses, the Tube, and trams(quite rare, but do exist).There is an option of buying tickets as well, but the price of one ticket is the double of what an Oyster card will charge, so people don’t usually go for the more expensive option. Oysters are a very common sight in London, and almost everyone has one, but during rush hours there are queues along the ticket counter. But again, you need to know what type of Oyster you need. There are zone Oysters, TravelCards, Pay-As-You-Go Oysters, and 10 others. I have a Kid Oyster, which involves applying for it by filling up 4 forms, a hundred formalitieas, passport data, and a lot of struggle, but it reduces the travel cost for kids by half, in comparison with a regular oyster. 

This is how a regular Oyster looks like. Many kinds of others. 

One thing which you will do in London is sit down with a cup of tea and admire the view in front of you. No matter where you live, probably a 4-5 minute  walk away is an extravagant display of scenery, enticing you into admiring the beauty of architecture and nature. For example, right from my residence, you can enjoy the view of the Thames River(dubbed as “London Ki Ganga” by some), and watch as it glistens in the occasional sun. Places like Westminster, to name one, has a stunning display of architecture, which will most probably leave you in awe. 

This is the Thames River.
Standees on the sail are real people. REALLY. 

These are just some of the many things I have experienced in my 2-3 month stay until now. I will be here since a long time, so you will see many of these posts, at least another 2-3 more. Do stay tuned, as I have a lot of free time and I will post every week. 

I am currently at 1085 page views. I would love if you could share the word of my blog with your friends and family, it will just encourage me to write more and more. Help me turn that current number to 2000! 

Anti-Socialism

Imagine walking into a classroom. All that’s happening is appalling. It is buzzing with some talking about makeup and some about Messi. Somebody is hitting each other and some are hitting on each other. In the shadow of the electricity being conducted by the students, there’s this one person who just sits. Doing something weird/silly/stupid, probably because he is anti – social. And there are again these other people who end up hurting people, because they don’t want to follow the rules of socialism. They think it’s just too cool to be rude. Is it cool to be anti-social? Is it okay to be anti-social?

I have this one friend who tells me he’s very anti-social. Ironically, he doesn’t only tell me, but tells everybody. And I think he’s right. Just to clear it up, there are two kinds of anti-social. One of the kind is the objectionable kind. The one who will not obey the rules of socialism, and be on a separate path. If there is a road on which social people walk, he builds his own one. Being rude, awfully sarcastic, ignorant means that he doesn’t like people. But, is this right? I am sick and tired of telling him it isn’t good. But, you know. Anyway, this anti-socialism has quite a lot of disadvantages. Firstly, this will not allow you to share stuff with others, will not give you the freedom to talk to people. Why won’t it? Because, you hate them. Moreover, this will prevent you from having people to help you out in times of need. Why will people not help you? Because, you be rude to them. Though these bits might not seem essential, they are quite crucial in the long run. If you think being rude and anti-social is cool, boy are you wrong.

After this, there is the second type of anti-social. Who just can’t socialise. Quite solitary. Again, there are two reasons to this happening. One reason might be that the person doesn’t try, and the second being that others don’t try accepting him for being himself. If you don’t pick up the glass to drink water from it, how will you quench your thirst? Make the move, go and talk. Talk to anybody. Might seem difficult, and though I know it’s said easier than done, might as well try it. Considering the second reason ; if they don’t really like you for who you are, don’t change stuff that makes you ‘YOU’. This one guy in the class was ready to do anything for the girl, and he did, and he ended up being laughed at. Why? Not because he got rejected (that was funny later) but because he became different and the difference didn’t suit him. If you don’t like it, it’s okay. Eating beef is not cool, if you don’t like it don’t eat it. Not knowing how to do something is completely okay. There is no need to do it if you don’t like it.

Concluding, this anti-social thing is eating my brain and I get agitated when my friend says he’s anti-social. Dude, you talk to people, telling them about how anti-social you are. Do you want others to point out the irony of it, or are you going to see once for yourself?

Role Models And The Society

Having the role model like Lilly Allen or Michael Jackson, is very common. Role models like Stephen Hawking, David Blunkett seem a little less common amongst the teens. According to me, disabled people like Stephen Hawking and David Blunkett should be also looked up to. And now a question arises. Why?

At the age of 21, Stephen Hawking was given the most shocking (Shawking) piece of news he could’ve heard. Though he had been given a life expectancy of only 2 years, now he writes books on the cosmic realms and the universe. After I heard about this, I was in shock and awe, just wondering about what all the man would’ve gone through, and how on earth did he manage to brush off the doctor’s statement, and continue on with his life. This is something which should be learned from. Children should be introduced to a disabled person, so that children who are disabled can realise that their weakness can be their strength; and for children who are not to live by these rules. There have been role models like the blind athlete Damon Rose, and the well-known David Blunkett, who has helped many teenagers and young adults view their visual impairment as a boon and not a bane. The society doesn’t in a way, ‘accept’ disabled people, ignoring and considering these people weak. But, if these same disabled people are introduced to the children, not only will this help the children be more tolerant and obedient towards friends and the crowd in general, but also will this help in introducing diversity into the eyes of the future citizens of the nation. I think that the presence of visionaries like these, will truly show children what they can achieve, no matter what the circumstances.

If sat down and told about the situation of the disabled, children will actually be motivated to do things. To bring change in not only themselves, but they will have enough courage to change others and everything around them. They should learn that one barrier is not the end. That they have got to jump above the hurdle and run into success. “If he can do it with a disability, I can definitely do it.” Should be what the kids should say. 

10 Common Myths - Busted

10 common myths – Busted.

Truth is part of daily life. We are surrounded be truth, and that’s what we have to live by for about our whole life. But, this post will show you how you haven’t entirely been floating in the ‘all truth’ sea. Here are 10 of many common misconceptions.

Myth Number 10 – There are different sections for different tastes on the tongue.
Actual Fact – There are no different taste-buds or any different ‘sections’ on the tongue, which has been proven by latest studies.

Myth Number 9 – The 5 Second Rule
Actual Fact – The bacteria on the ground doesn’t take 5 seconds to stick onto the food you’re holding, it takes less time than that. A little too less. So the next time you drop your apple, make sure to not eat it, even if it’s on the ground for a second (Yes, it’s that fast).

Myth Number 8 – Bulls hate Red
Actual Fact – No they don’t. Bulls are colour blind – means that they can’t distinguish between different colours. It is the bullfighter’s cloth movement, which is perceived by the bull as a threat.

Myth Number 7 – Left and Right Sides of the Brain
Actual Fact – There is no solid separating structure to separate the two hemispheres. Moreover, the ‘left side’ of the brain can learn actions of the right side, and vice versa.

Myth Number 6 – You should drink 8 glasses of water a day
Actual Fact – This myth is very common, but not true (Duh). You should drink only when you’re thirsty. Especially, in places where there is a dry climate, excessive water intake can be unhealthy.

Myth Number 5 – Humans have 5 senses
Actual Fact – We do have 5, and more. Humans have close to 20 senses, which include Hunger, Pain, Thirst etc.

Myth Number 4 – Dogs sweat by Salivating
Actual Fact – They don’t. They sweat by their footpads. As they have small sweat glands, they have a generally warm body. To cool off, they use panting as a cooling activity.

Myth Number 3 – Fingernails and Hair keep growing after death
Actual Fact – Not true. All the body matter starts to decay. As they fingernails and hair take time to decay and the skin doesn’t take as much, it seems like an illusion as there is less skin and hair is still seen.

Myth Number 2 – Cracking Knuckles leads to Arthritis and bone damage
Actual Fact – No it doesn’t. The sound is just of the gas bubbles popping, in between your bones.

Myth Number 1 – Sushi means raw fish
Actual Fact – Sorry to disappoint, but it doesn’t. Sushi actually means rice-vinegar, whereas Sashimi means raw fish. As Sashimi is put on many sushi rolls, this became a misconception.

Phone Review - Moto G(2nd Gen)

With there now being hundreds of different choices along the path of budget phones, this one mobile device shows features which make a good budget phone. The predecessor did up the ante for the future, will the successor follow suit and keep up to its expectations?

The Moto G2 consists of a 5"(12.7cm) IPS LCD multitouch screen, with a resolution of 720x1280 pixels, capable for smooth playback of HD video. The graphical specifications for the Moto G2 remain the same as the previous model: the Adreno 305, with the 450Mhz Single core. The glass is a Corning Gorilla Glass 3, protecting the XT1068 from what I call pocket scratches (keys, pocket knives, things in one's pocket). However, if not gripped properly, resulting in the phone plummeting towards the ground (Gravity, Why?), the glass does have the tendency to make a rather unpleasing design of a crack. If dropped from the height of your head, it does have a tendency to fall.

The dimensions of the phone are 141.5 x 70.7 x 11mm, with the phone being ~150grams. The phone is sleeker, and easier to hold than the previous phone, which is an improvement. Though it is slightly heavier than the previous model, it's easy to hold in the hand and provides a comfortable fit.

The MotoG2 creators did not fiddle with the specs. It's still got the same 1.2Ghz Quad Core Qualcomm SnapDragon 400 processor. The big advantage with this phone however, is that it comes pre-installed with Android 5.0.2(Lollipop), the latest Android update, which is buttery and smooth to use and navigate through. This experience jells well with the 1GB of RAM. Games like Subway Surfers and Fruit Ninja can easily run on this device, without any/slightly noticeable lags and buffers.  

They got the camera section up a notch, from both the sides. The Moto G2 has an 8MP camera, which is an improvement on the Moto G1, having a 5MP camera. Other features remain the same like Touch-To-Focus, Panaroma etc. The video recording quality follows suit, recording at 720p and at 30 frames per second, which can be classified as very average. It can magnify 4x, having a digital zoom of 4x. Even the front facing camera has been given an upgrade, with the MotoG2 having a 2MP camera, a bump ahead from the MotoG1, with 1.3MP. So, for all the Selfie addicts out there, you’ve got a bonus.

 Picture Taken From MotoG2

Picture Taken From MotoG2

Picture Taken From MotoG2

For all the folks who having memory and storage issues, give them a kiss goodbye. The new MotoG2 has 16GB of internal storage, which should be quite enough for budget users. Also, creators of this new phone have finally included an option of expandable memory in the phone, which is up to 32GB. That is a game changer, and certainly this proves that Motorola is listening to us consumers. And I think they should.

The one negative about this phone, is the battery life. The phone has a 2070mAH battery supporting it, which is the same as the previous model. I believe they should have increased the battery size, as the screen has also been larger. The battery is slightly inadequate for the phone, with services like YouTube, Chrome etc. chomping at the battery quite a lot.

Overall speaking, the phone is a buy for those restricted by a little less than average budget, and looks like Motorola has again shown the consumer market how to make a good budget phone.