Category: Random Effects

The Blind Side – Movie Review

Q Whats a movie review doing on a data mining blog? A Because blogs are read by people who ALSO like movies.

Over the Thanksgiving Holiday- I didnt get much Turkey and spent more time reading Tukey, and the only offer I got on Black Friday in Knoxville, East Tennessee was to take a discount for a tanning studio at Kingston Pike, near my house. So you can imagine my trepidition when I decided to go for a movie on Saturday- hoping for better luck.

There are amusing things in Blind Side, especially if you are a brown guy wearing a bright orange U Tenn T Shirt as I was doing. The beautiful game of the movie, as in all sports movie is however overshadowed by Sandro Bullock’s performance as a rich white woman who takes a black teenager under her wing. Despite the innuendo in a Memphis, Tennessee- which is quite realistic. And horrifying for a non American like me to watch. It kind of reminded me when I was the only guy cheering in Austin Texas at the end of the movie “W” -2008.

For non Tennessee football fans, watch as how the game unites all- as how a common God and morality finds rescue for a kid among horrors. And how number 74 discovers his destiny as the guy who protects the quarter back.

This could be the Hollywood version of SlumDog Millionaire of 2009. Nicely crafted. and yet an intelligent movie. For people who don’t like Twilight 🙂 If you have ever felt unsafe while traveling in a poor black neighbourhood watch this movie. If you live in a black poor neighbourhood- then watch it with your homies.

if you ever watched a game of football and marveled at the magnificent heart break of college football. Watch the movie.

As someone said- Football is like the Mafia in the Godfather movie.

Sooner or later you will get whacked.

A website for God

Here is a website I built in less than 15 minutes for my fellow Bible Study and Church members. I am hoping to introduce the concepts of search engine optimization and social media to the people who have prayed for me all this year in 2009 and helped me out of very torrid personal times and battles.

It is called

Prayers2Go.com

Basically: you order dinner or burgers for friends all the time. Maybve all they ever needed was a prayer.

For Here or For to Go.

Poem: The Extroverted Engineer

The Extroverted Engineer

The residuals of my creativity,

are expressed in left brain poetry.

But when it comes to talking tough,

Numbers, above words,  is what I like to love.

The sheer elegance,

of clear concise code.

Compiled Swiftly,Executed flawlessly,

On a digital yellow brick road.

Numbers do not lie, People do.

I would rather Continue reading “Poem: The Extroverted Engineer”

New York Diner

In a New York Thai restaurant
I dine alone being new to York town
Borrowing conversation from left and right
Bringing no conversation of my own in the fading twilight

As bubbles slowly bubble from a sparkling dollar five glass
I watch from shadows as pretty people come and go as they say excuse me and quickly pass

I am an odd ball I know
Brown monkey nowhere to go
The waiters give me a look best called quizzical
What on the napkin do I scribble

Will the fellow eat and clear in peace start by giving chicken panang a nibble

Will I pay up this after all is west Harlem
Asians don’t tip they have been before on this trip

And I drink and devour
Dinner fine and dine
IMG_0084
Watching conversation sparkle up
As sparkling wine goes down
I nod I say people are just the same
Appearances change but they play the same old games

Up when happy when sad they are down
Every big big city every new yet old town

We drink different wines
But then think similar thoughts

Daily joys and same different struggles
That our love and life bought

Wine brings heat to our face
Letting my jacket slip a bit
The waiter slips me a seen it all look
Are you. Serious he thinks you silly twit

Leaving all pretences
I chug wine like we chug beer
Expensive to my sponsors
But hey it brings me cheer

Ole  lady on my left
Drunk college chicks on my right
Smart  dame right across room
Cute Thai waitress completes a pleasant sight

IMG_0114

Chug chug chug
We drink sparkling wine
Eating and being merry
Old wine makes new troubles all fine

Now thinking deeper-

In the middle of urban sub arcana
Face to face verbal smacks in your space
Comes a concept called Americana

Passionate adjectives and superlative passions
Americana is an euphemism for monetary nirvana

Nasal voices on my right
Deep bass slightly in front
To my left a wavering voice wavers
Aromatic cacophony my ears take the brunt

Wine slipping down slowly
But hey rising so fast
After effects may disappear soon
But the mellow pleasure promises to last

Movie Review- Inglorious Basterds

When a Knoxville born director creates a movie with Brad Pitt speaking in an East Tennessee accent, Orange country citizens cant help but catch the movie. If you need escapist fare to charge them ole grey cells with good ol fashioned American movie- this is the one.

I could wax eloquent on the direction and deft artistry of Quentin Tarantino, or the acting of Hans Landau- or even the breakthrough perfromance of Brad Pitt who plays the leader of a Nazi hunting commando unit. For the first time- you see Brad’s character overshadowing his adorable mannerisms. Watch how he rolls those Southern R’s.

But there is plenty of that- and you need to watch it yourself.

As the director himself puts it- A Basterd’s work is never done.

Inglourious-Bastards-1819

This is just a loong weekend post..

If you liked the concept of data mining and entertainment- well I actually got inspired by the entertaining writing of the prominent R blogger J D Long of Cerebral Mastication

http://www.cerebralmastication.com/