Finally it's over!

After weeks of speculation Michael Owen decides to move to Newcastle. Two factors must have made up his mind - a) This is a world cup year and he needs regular first team football b)The arrival of Robinho and Julio Baptista to the already burgeoning striker list means less and less first team football at Madrid.

So that's that then. Shearer and Owen, Englands best 2 stikers in the past decade should make an interesting combination. The arrival of Luque from Deportivo seems a good move. So all in all things should look brighter for the magpies, however the pressure on Souness to perform and on the injuries to players would be the major stumbling blocks. I don't think anyone who loves british footie would like Newcastle to go down. They deserve their place in the first division just on name much like Arsenal,ManU and Liverpool.

From bursting on the world scene with that wonder goal against Argentina, to the Anfield Darling to Spain has been quite a journey for Owen in a short time. Somehow unless Newcastle perform much beyond expectations(esp. with their loss in this year's InterToto Cup) Owen does not seem to 'belong' there. Anyway here's wishing him all the best!

Read the offical report here.

Cheers,

My Two-Panse on Pande

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Not reading the following may cause you to waste a good 100 bucks and 3hrs used best elsewhere

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End of the first 'sextet' of exams seemed a suitable enough opportunity to watch this.

* a movie definitely inspired by the Mithun genre and suddenly springing the idea of a historical comedy.

* Low hemlines and some really *ahem* dialogues.

* Corny and some appaling/disgusting scenes

* Toby Stevens and Aamir Khan do boost their performance in parts, but IIRC The Times rightly put it as - 'Aamir Khan has taken himself too seriously for a Manmohan Desai type flick'

* An entirely passable music score, ordinary and below ordinary performances from the two leading ladies (RM and AP resp.) and a really mystifying storyline. Not to mention to 'claimed' historical distortion.(try The Sepoy Mutiny/The First War of Independence is the bloodiest struggle in the history of mankind.)

* Actress Mona Ambegaonkar of CID fame actually has two whole scenes in which the only thing she is doing is first breast feeding a 'gora' child. Then some stupid bastard went over and asked her what her role in the movie was.

There's neither the out and out laugh rioting as with Kisna nor 'high-end' quality as with Lagaan. Nothing, in short, for one to watch or rather watch out for.

There - I've saved you a 100 bucks.

Some Quotes 'this guy' would like:

* Beware of a thick book - Richard Wagner

* No real Englishman in his secret soul was ever sorry for the death of a political economist. - W.Bagehot

* Around the splendid public buildings we are erecting in Philadelphia, there stood till very recently a stiff and angular structure of wood. Like that scaffolding is the Tariff around the edifice of our national industries. It is not aesthetic. It adds nothing to the beauty of the edifice. But we cannot do without it. - Robert Ellis Thomson

* Well, I don't give a [expletive deleted] about the lira - Richard M. Nixon

* Of the rivalry of first-class powers for the control of foreign markets, whether for the sale of goods or the investment of capital, has proven itself a menace to the peace of the world (and that such is the case, no one will care to deny), the explanation must be sought in the arrested development of political relations rather than in the in the development of industrial conditions. The integration of political control has not kept pace territorially with the expansion of commercial interests. - Henry C Adams

* For every problem, economists have an answer. Simple, neat and wrong. - H.L.Mencken

* In the long run we all are dead - John Maynard Kaynes

* The world has narrowed to a neighborhood before it has broadened into a brotherhood. - Lyndon B. Johnson.

* Rich Men's clubs take care of their own members and we are told to fend for ourselves. -Indira Gandhi

* When you get there, there is no there there. - Gertrude Stein.

[From MODERN INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS - WILFRED J. ETHIER]

Dear, Be careful in America !

After detailed dissection of the prospects of Double Cross - Ek Dhoka, I am rubbing my hands in glee at this new piece of data coming in. Apparently after being unceremoniously deported from India, Nigar Khan has apparently found 'work' in Italy. She is acting in an Italian film called 'Dita Smeralda' along with a 'locally famous' actor called Luigi Cassandra. Apparently after ditching Sahil-I've got muscles too-Khan, (after these astounding allegations) she has moved on to greener pastures. Also rumoured is an alleged link-up with famous designer Roberto Cavalli.

Currently the only info available in relation to the movie or the actor in question seems to do with Ms.NK. Till then, find out more here,here and here. As for the title, click here.(courtesy JR)

Mrs.Smith and her Development Plan

The United Nations has announced that it will soon release a fresh list of developing countries. The sole criteria for the countries to be chosen on this list is for them to get a child adopted by Angelina Jolie. So, as of now, Cambodia and Ethiopia are the two lucky ones to get a seat on this elite group and there is fresh news of Sri Lanka joining, as it has been discovered that Brad Pitt who is under Ms. Jolie's care is originally Sri Lankan. In fact he is said to be the American agent for the Tamil Tigers, secretly aiding their activities. This includes the famous training/educational videos made for the S.Y.B.Ter students in colleges across SL covering the two most difficult subjects a) Discrete Structure and Loot Theory (Ocean's 11) and b) Introduction to Advanced Weaponry (Mr. & Mrs Smith). He is also said to be the Norwegian Govt. in disguise trying to fool the SL government into a false pact. Apparently he also has a dog called 'Oslo'. He claims he picked up the term from some NRI Bengali who was trying to say 'I oslo na.. wont a woife.'

'Popular Mechanics for Kids' reports that he threatened an employee of the Sri Lankan embassy from disclosing this fact leading to this employee getting married to David Schwimmer on another training video. (It is interesting to note, though trivial, that the writer of the article in question, Pallavi Kharade, who recently got a job at PMK came up with the brilliant idea of plastering Aniston's photo all over, leading to best ever sales in the millenium. She has been nominated for this year's Pulitzer for 'great contribution to making children understand how nice boobs should be'. There are certain reports from Pune, India about copyright violations, but they seem to be currently busy finding jokes from the Internet.)

It has been reported that the newly formed consortium G4 have shifted their agenda from becoming a member of the Security Council to finding a place in Jolie's homes for one of their millions of homeless kids. The G8 have strongly opposed this move towards a multi-polar world and have said that Jolie should not have anything to do in shifting the balance of world power. George Bush when asked about this, candidly replied that he strongly supported the idea of a multi-polar world and promptly went on to question if this was biologically possible. Tony Blair is said to have agreed fully with 'George's Views' and Jacques Chirac said that even if whatever Bush said was possible, France would not allow it, it being morally unethical and utterly self-indulgent.

Meanwhile the Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and his Japanese counterpart Mr.Koizumi have said that they would personally handpick the Honda workers who would make the sales pitch for the G4. In response Prakash Karat, the Indian MP has gone on record to say that such an irresponsible use of the country's labour force would lead to a massive outburst of political opposition. Later in the day, a physically handicapped and mentally spent Jyoti Basu would back this up vehemently. The BJP president L.K.Advani called for the Prime Minister, the entire cabinet, the deputy ministers, the bureaucracy, the state congress MLAs, the President of the Dabbawalla association, Uma Bharati and the office chaparasis appointed under the Congress rule, to immediately resign. Narendra Modi and others have called for L.K.Advani to resign for yet another careless statement by not mentioning Mrs G's foreign origin issue and saying 'Sharma Jee, Nah' instead of 'No, Mr. Sharma'.

This has lead the new UN GS, Mr. Handi Paratha (worthy successor to Mr. Kofta inNaan') to clarify that by 'developing' country he meant that Ms. Jolie herself was a 'fully and beautifully developed' country. This has created a furore the world over causing great protests amongst the more 'well-endowed' nations. The PM promptly sacked his Honda team and has now asked a delegation of any 10 girls from COEP to attend the conference on behalf on India. Pakistan President Parvez Musharraf had warned India about being over-confident, but on seeing this particular crop of beauties has sporting accepted defeat. Another interesting observation has been the sudden increase in the sales of large sizes in Kashmir. India has accused Pakistan of trying to infiltrate it's 'maal' over to India. Also worth noting is the rise in number of 'eligible bachelors' travelling to J&K.

After much deliberation and discussion Ms.Jolie is expected to come up with her list any time this week. Meanwhile the Indian PM and his financial think tank are busy allocating the new cash-flow to massive programmes of rural 'development'.

Excusez-Moi

I haven't been blogging for a few days and as usual I will claim that this was more due to a paucity of time rather than paucity of ideas.( Though the discerning reader might guess that this is not entirely true. Hell! I've been reading too much of DNA.) Anyway, a return to blogging with this long due post on Helicon. Do check it out.