The Sane Lunatic

Another Spider-Man movie? Did they change the lead actor again? Nope. This a totally different kind of Spider-Man movie and it's as true to a comic art as it can get. It's animated, but the art-style is old-school like the comics are and the storyline? Well, it's probably the best one yet. This time, the central character isn't your friendly neighbourhood Peter Parker, it's young teen Miles Morales. Yes, he is an African-American character who lives in the not-so-nice part of New York and while not poor, he isn't living a life of comfort either. So when he happens to be a smart kid and gets a scholarship to get into a high-society school for prodigious minds, his parents are very much on board with this opportunity. But Miles is not. He's smart but he doesn't want to be part of the snobs. And he wants to work on what really makes him happy: art. Also, his dad is a police officer and his uncle is a cool-but-shady guy who believes in his art. But t...

Hi! It's been a while since the last post because I haven't been out to see a movie which is mainly because of how busy I am nowadays. But I couldn't pass on the opportunity to do a short year-end post as we head into 2019. I'm going to focus on the last four months in particular because they have been quite the turnaround in my fortunes in so many different ways. Starting off with September which kicked off with a round of interviews for a new job, the kind of job I had been looking for throughout the year. Even better was finally getting the job, despite all manners of issues coming up in the last minute that could well have led to completely different outcomes. My success in getting this new job was also a big boost to my self-confidence and made me feel so, so relieved because it meant that I had not stubbornly put myself through all that pain and anxiety for nothing. Another big part of September was how hard I was working on my automotive blog, The Auto Loon...

I like watching movies and I like listening to certain kinds of songs. Sometimes I watch musicals but unlike most of Bollywood, I'm happy to enjoy the two separately most of the time. This is different though. It's a movie about songs, some of the most iconic songs of the 20th Century and the men behind them. One man in particular, who possessed prodigious talent and lived a life worth debate - Freddie Mercury from Queen. This biopic gives a brief insight into the story of Farrokh Bulsara, ie, Freddie Mercury. Born in Tanzania to a Parsi family that then fled to the suburbs of England, Freddie is brought to life by the splendid performance of Rami Malek. Following the man's passion for music, his distinguished dressing sense and how Queen came to be as a band. While some may argue that this part of the story was treated with too much brevity, I find it the perfect directorial choice to keep the film entertaining and not make it into a BBC special documentary. From ...

Oh, look. It's another superhero movie. Which one is it this time? Marvel or DC? What? What d'you mean neither? Sony? I thought they're working on Spiderman flicks with Marvel Studios only. It's not Spiderman but it's kind of related? Would you just temme already, this is quite a tiresome questioning you know? (Gets shown trailer for Venom). Ohhhhh. This should be goood (rubs hands gleefully). Venom. Possibly the most badass anti-hero character in my memory from the Spiderverse. Tom Hardy. One of the best badass actors of this generation. Add it up and what you should have is an epic comic-book live-action movie. But there's this big, big problem and it's got to do with legal ownership of characters and their fictional universes. Venom is an alien symbiote life-form with a back story rooted deep in the Spiderverse and involves Spidey himself. But with the third-gen reboot of the friendly neighbourhood Spiderman being driven by the Marvel Comic Univer...

Sequels and prequels have a tendency to disappoint, even more so in the case of horror movies. Yet, this particular movie had the burden of some high expectations given how impressive the previous instalments had been - The Nun. 'The Nun' is the prequel to the highly acclaimed horror movie series called 'The Conjuring'. The first Conjuring movie was definitely a surprise in how it deployed the element of jump scares and is definitely on my list of top scary films, but the second one left me wanting for a deeper storyline. A demon called Valak is the source of all misery in these films and appears in the form of a nun with yellow eyes and terrifying features. This prequel dives into the story of the demon and its history in the 'Conjuring' series. We follow the journey of a priest and a nun-to-be around the events dated to have taken place in 1952 in post-war Romanian backwoods. That sets it up nicely for a gothic feel with a massive Christian abbey that ...

Alessandro Zanardi, better known as Alex Zanardi, is an Italian racing driver, born 23rd October 1966. He is a two-time CART champion, ex-F1 driver, sports car racer and Olympic gold medalist. His racing career isn't one of the most successful ones but he is one of the most inspirational racers out there today. He is also a double-amputee above the knee. This is his story as I know it from various sources. Alex began racing karts at the age of 13, building his kart from the wheels of a dustbin and pipes from his father's work. By 1988, he joined the Italian F3 series and in the following year, he took two pole positions and three podium finishes. In 1991, he partook in the Formula 3000 series, won his debut race and two others to finish second in the championship. This strong performance got him a seat in F1 with three starts for Jordan that same year. However, he remained a test and guest driver for a bunch of F1 teams over the 1992 season before getting contracted by ...

It's been a looong time since I shared some of the Sane Loon life here. The last time I opened up, things were looking pretty grim in my opinion. And three months later, not a whole lot has changed in the areas of life that I've been struggling in but a lot of other stuff has happened since then. Near the end of May, I went on a short road trip with family to a secluded coffee plantation resort in Himachal Pradesh in the newly acquired family car. It was a good drive and for the most part, it was a welcome break from the noisy bustle of the city existence. But the trip didn't end so well as I was way beyond my limit in terms of putting up with family in a small, confined space with no breaks. As such, it was weighing heavily on my mind and my attention span. Knowing that, I should have cleared my mind before I got behind the wheel to do my share of the drive back, but I didn't and through a case of poor judgment and unfortunate circumstances, found myself between ...