Shawshank Redemption and Crash

I watched two more movies recently. The Shawshank Redemption and
Crash. The former is amazing nice novel; one of the best I ever saw. I
have seen many good movies, but this one indeed stands out among the
many others. Hope is the main theme throughout. I was so mesmerized by
it that I could not even speak for a while. I really strongly
recommend everyone to watch this masterpiece.
Crash was not anything very special in my view. The main theme is
racism and white/black tension. No wonder it got a few Oscars though I
honestly don't think it deserves so many Academy awards. I guess since
I am not an American per se, I would probably not understand all the
sentiments. In any case, still its not too bad a movie. Another
important thing to take away from the movie is that we build our own
image; we humiliate ourselves and its only we who can earn respect
among our peers through our actions. Good childhood education is a
must for a health upbringing. Thats all the movie says; sometimes we
change due to our circumstances; but we can correct ourselves anytime
we want ....

Anyway, I am just slacking off again; need to get started on some
reading I have been procrastinating for a while as well as go back to
kernel coding as soon as possible. I am looking forward to the
California trip ahead with my supervisor. Must be loads of fun!

New Year's Eve

Man, the thing I like so much about Vancouver is its liveliness. Yesterday, on the new year's eve, I went out with a friend to downtown & north Vancouver (oh btw, I had my first Translink ferry ride since I came here ;)). Man, it was awesome. In north Vancouver, we went to the Sailor's point, just 5 mins walk from the ferry and you could see all the city lights across the waters. It was really something unique. You could also actually see the Grouse mountain lights from there. The dark night and melancholy environment added some extra juice to the whole experience. We came back and had beer at the Steamworks Brewery in Gastown. We were there when the midnight clock struck and the ambiance around was awesome. Such a lively city man, everyone is out partying, hanging around with friends or sweethearts! I guess I am falling in love with this city ...

Dante's Peak (*spoilers*)

Man, I saw my favourite movie Dante's Peak again. Really, Pierce is awesome! But most importantly, the thing I like about the movie is the story. Pierce plays a vulcanologist who arrives at a country side (fictitious) named Dante's Peak after his boss instructs him to investigate the possibility of a dormant volcano (the Dante's Peak) getting active again in that region. As story progresses, we see that Dalton (Brosnan) getting increasingly convinced that the volcano might blow up but his boss is reluctant to declare an emergency in the city yet (because of possibility that if the volcano finally does never erupt, the real estate prices will plummet anyway and the city might loose a huge financial investment deal). Unfortunately, the common residents of the area know nothing about it until very late. Finally, when Dante's peak does erupt, the city panics, some does not survive the catastrophe, including Dalton's boss and for Dalton and the mayor of the city (who falls in love with Dalton) and her children, it becomes a race against the pyroclastic cloud to save their own lives.

Volcanoes always fascinates me. The truth is that this fictitious movie might come to life when mount Vesuvius erupts. It has not had an eruption since 1940s and scientists say that the next time it erupts, its eruption will be extremely intense. Considering the facts that such volcanoes erupts massively in every 2000 years or so and that it has been roughly 2000 years since the Pompeii and Herculaneum disaster, the likelihood is intense. Unfortunately, the millions of people living around it are not aware of this. Those who are are blindly in belief that Vesuvius will never harm them (its like God to those people living over many generations around it). There are no effective evacuation plans in the city, nothing! Isn't this amazing? With all the technology and advancement of science, we are still in the brink of a even bigger disaster, even after 2000 years since Pompeii and Herculaneum perished. They say, history repeats itself. I guess this is it. People of Pompeii also never respected Vesuvius. They lived by their death every day, never caring what would happen to them when Vesuvius replies back. 2000 years later, nothing changed.

Its only a matter of time when Vesuvius answers back again ....