Somehow, Husband and I ended up discussing superheroes yesterday (probably promted by my watching Smallville). Now, he likes comic books, but all my knowledge comes from movies.
First, we had an exchange that went like this:
Me: I want to see Aeon Flux. But I am too tired, and I am not keen enough about spandex to overcome that.
Spouse: It's not about the spandex. It's about contents therein.
Me: Yeah, but Charlize isn't my thing.
Spouse: What, she is not Wolverine?
Me: Not a Wolverine girl. He needs a shave and a bath. Cyclops all the way.
Spouse: But he is boooooooring.
Later I ended up telling him about what I read on
crumpeteer's journal about an Aquaman "adaptation." He was most amused because apparently not only does Aquaman have pathetic powers, his sidekick's name is Aqualad. Heeeee. "Aquaman and Aqualad. Their names are very bad." And his real name is Arthur. Ugh. What next, Nosehairman? A superhero with the great power of growing his nose hair extraordinarily long? So we tried to think if any superheroes had any cool sidekicks but came up blank. The conversation culminated with:
Me: Oh, oh! Spiderman has a cool sidekick.
Spouse: Mary Jane is not a sidekick.
Me: No, no, it's what's his name. That rich friend with really good cheekbones.
Spouse: You mean the future Green Goblin? Nope.
Then we had a following conversation about Smallville:
Me: I had such a weird disconnect seeing the Teen Soap Lex, because the only other one I can think of is the one from the 70s movie. And so we go from slick advertising-type con man, to "woe is me. Going bad is angsty and broody" type. And Clark is so wholesome you want to smack him.
Spouse: Wouldn't it be fun if they set this in the REAL Kansas? With some Bible-thumping Midwesterners who think Clark is a spawn of Satan because he can do all these freaky things?
I also watched quite a bit of Dil Jo Bhi Kahey.
Plot: Jai (Indian) meets Sophie (White). Both are from Mauritius, they fall in love, families are not happy.
I am about halfway through, and I really like it. It's no DDLJ or Devdas, but it has a certain naturalness and understatedness that I rather like. Even its rough edges are kinda adorable. It doesn't feel canned.
Plus, on a purely shallow level, it's great to see Sweden, where Bollywood never goes, and Mauritius as a setting for a movie (Bollywood loves to do its fantasy songs there, but I've never seen a movie set there before).
Also, it has to be the first Bolly movie I've seen where there is an Indian Boy, White Girl romance where the two end up together HEA. It's a recent thing to have a White love interest at all, but this isn't like Kisna where the hero marries the psychotically jealous if very flexible Indian Girl instead of his true love. Here, the good Indian Girl (Bhoomika Chawla whom I adore. Go back to Radhe and get him out of that insane asylum, pronto!) doesn't get the guy.
Also, the contemporary (and not in that hideously too-hip way that too many movies try to project nowadays. Neil and Nikki I am looking at you) vibe makes me like the characters more. I mean, I can sympathize with Jai and Sophie's problems a lot easier because while I can abstractly understand how impossible it is for a Pakistani aristocrat to be with an Indian Air Force Pilot (Veer-Zaara), that situation is somewhat removed from me. But this? This is more prosaic, every day, and I can see that happening in my (former) college. It doesn't make it an epic love story that causes me to weep buckets (Veer-Zaara, I am looking at you), but it has a fresh charm of its own.
Karan Sharma who plays Jai is not my type, as he is too boyish (though, boy, is he tall), but that makes him quite appropriate for a 20 year old college student. Understandably all my Bolly crushes are in their 30s (I guess Abhi is the youngest) but the very puppyishness that I find unappealing for drool purposes makes him very right for the role. And I like Sophy (though Bolly fixation with blondes continues). She is pretty but not in a startling way and is rather natural.
Song transitions are a bit abrupt but I like them. Basically, quite cute.
Sophy:

Jai:

Mush:

First, we had an exchange that went like this:
Me: I want to see Aeon Flux. But I am too tired, and I am not keen enough about spandex to overcome that.
Spouse: It's not about the spandex. It's about contents therein.
Me: Yeah, but Charlize isn't my thing.
Spouse: What, she is not Wolverine?
Me: Not a Wolverine girl. He needs a shave and a bath. Cyclops all the way.
Spouse: But he is boooooooring.
Later I ended up telling him about what I read on
Me: Oh, oh! Spiderman has a cool sidekick.
Spouse: Mary Jane is not a sidekick.
Me: No, no, it's what's his name. That rich friend with really good cheekbones.
Spouse: You mean the future Green Goblin? Nope.
Then we had a following conversation about Smallville:
Me: I had such a weird disconnect seeing the Teen Soap Lex, because the only other one I can think of is the one from the 70s movie. And so we go from slick advertising-type con man, to "woe is me. Going bad is angsty and broody" type. And Clark is so wholesome you want to smack him.
Spouse: Wouldn't it be fun if they set this in the REAL Kansas? With some Bible-thumping Midwesterners who think Clark is a spawn of Satan because he can do all these freaky things?
I also watched quite a bit of Dil Jo Bhi Kahey.
Plot: Jai (Indian) meets Sophie (White). Both are from Mauritius, they fall in love, families are not happy.
I am about halfway through, and I really like it. It's no DDLJ or Devdas, but it has a certain naturalness and understatedness that I rather like. Even its rough edges are kinda adorable. It doesn't feel canned.
Plus, on a purely shallow level, it's great to see Sweden, where Bollywood never goes, and Mauritius as a setting for a movie (Bollywood loves to do its fantasy songs there, but I've never seen a movie set there before).
Also, it has to be the first Bolly movie I've seen where there is an Indian Boy, White Girl romance where the two end up together HEA. It's a recent thing to have a White love interest at all, but this isn't like Kisna where the hero marries the psychotically jealous if very flexible Indian Girl instead of his true love. Here, the good Indian Girl (Bhoomika Chawla whom I adore. Go back to Radhe and get him out of that insane asylum, pronto!) doesn't get the guy.
Also, the contemporary (and not in that hideously too-hip way that too many movies try to project nowadays. Neil and Nikki I am looking at you) vibe makes me like the characters more. I mean, I can sympathize with Jai and Sophie's problems a lot easier because while I can abstractly understand how impossible it is for a Pakistani aristocrat to be with an Indian Air Force Pilot (Veer-Zaara), that situation is somewhat removed from me. But this? This is more prosaic, every day, and I can see that happening in my (former) college. It doesn't make it an epic love story that causes me to weep buckets (Veer-Zaara, I am looking at you), but it has a fresh charm of its own.
Karan Sharma who plays Jai is not my type, as he is too boyish (though, boy, is he tall), but that makes him quite appropriate for a 20 year old college student. Understandably all my Bolly crushes are in their 30s (I guess Abhi is the youngest) but the very puppyishness that I find unappealing for drool purposes makes him very right for the role. And I like Sophy (though Bolly fixation with blondes continues). She is pretty but not in a startling way and is rather natural.
Song transitions are a bit abrupt but I like them. Basically, quite cute.
Sophy:

Jai:

Mush:

no subject
Date: 2005-12-09 05:39 pm (UTC)There's some wierd Japanese import on Cartoon Network called Bo-bobo-bo-bo-bobo wherein as far as I can tell, the hero uses his long nosehair like a whip. So, yes.
And I've just put Dil Jo Bhi Kahey up at the top of my Netflix queue. Should get it when they realize that I've returned Shaun of the Dead.
no subject
Date: 2005-12-09 05:40 pm (UTC)Later I ended up telling him about what I read on crumpeteer's journal about an Aquaman "adaptation." He was most amused because apparently not only does Aquaman have pathetic powers, his sidekick's name is Aqualad. Heeeee. "Aquaman and Aqualad. Their names are very bad."
Actually they realized how lame Aqualad was and his name is now Tempest in the comics. He is all grown up and hot now and a big time sorcerer. He even scored with Aquaman's occasional girlfriend Dolphin and married her (she is not actually a dolphin, that's just her name).
no subject
Date: 2005-12-09 05:44 pm (UTC)You are kidding. Right. Riiiiiiight?
And I think you will enjoy DJBK. It's cute, sweet fun fluff.
no subject
Date: 2005-12-09 05:45 pm (UTC)He married the Boss' cast-offs? Heeee. Well, at least he isn't named Aqualad any more.
no subject
Date: 2005-12-09 05:50 pm (UTC)Yeah, it's even kinda angsty because on some level he is still hung over his dead!girlfriend Tula (aka Aquagirl), despite having a baby with Dolphin. She occasionally shows up in dreams or as a shapeshifter.
I loved my fucked up DC comics relationships.
The issue where Aquaman finds out about Dolphin and Garth (that would be Tempest's actual name) was hilarious, because there is like this huge fight where Arthur kills everyone and in the end it's just a nightmare and the real Arthur is like "Ok, whatever. Go and be happy.".
no subject
Date: 2005-12-09 05:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-09 06:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-09 09:26 pm (UTC)Haha...we always laugh when we watch Smallville (I live in Kansas) because of all the evergreen trees and mountains. And the lack of bible-thumping republicans.
no subject
Date: 2005-12-09 09:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-10 01:30 am (UTC)I actually don't know where I'd have to move in Australia to encounter Bible-thumpers every week. We've had a few, though, but not since we moved here. Regional towns are generally more conservative.
no subject
Date: 2005-12-10 04:09 am (UTC)