Hollywood studios have always been fascinated by making sequels, trilogies, franchisees. Just to name a few, Matrix, Jurassic Park, Godfather, Lord of the Rings, Ocean's (11,12,13), Pirates of the Caribbean, Shrek, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Star Wars Prequel, Back to the Future, Spiderman, Harry Potter, James Bond and the list goes on and on! Lets refer to this entire category of films (sequels, trilogies and franchisees) as sequels for ease of reference.
The reason is for making sequels is a practical no-brainer! There is already a existing, firm and at times cult like following for the first movie then why not cash in, add in some more glitz and masala, more special effects, (supposedly) more entertaining storyline, an excellent PR campaign calling it the "Best Ever", a well made teaser campaign and there you have it...!!
Not many sequels are actually planned... The success of the first film more often than not inspires the next.
In my opinion sequels are a failure in principle but a successful ploy in fooling the audience. A failure because hardly any does justice to theme and the thought behind the main movie. Or even worse it has the same old antics repackaged... But yet we find that they're a commercial success on most occasions. It is probabaly the single most guaranteed way to earn a million dollar profit.
It brings us to a very important principle in economics... Law of Diminishing Returns!
The sequels are hit and badly at that by this law. The law of diminishing returns states that at every consequent attempt a higher amount of effort is required to achieve the same level of output. So for example if a farmer in Punjab gets an output of one ton of wheat from a kilogram of planted seeds on a piece of land, he'll have to put in more than a kilogram of seeds to get the second ton from the same piece of land.
Now lets see how it relates to our sequel problem. The studios need to spend considerably more amount of money in coming up with a story that (atleast in theory) surpasses the original, have to pay the actors a much higher sum, have to spend a bomb on special effects, PR and marketing takes practically sinks them. And inspite of all this most sequels face sub-par reviews. So there you have it a much much higher effort for a sub-par job!
Inspite of this how is record for the the highest grossing film shattered so often by a sequel. (They sometimes even win Academy Awards for it, which is yet another myth to be busted some other day!) The answer too lies in the wheat economy of Punjab.
Each year the ticket prices for movies are sky rocketing. The number of viewers of the movies is increasing with more screens each year, add to that the ever increasing target population of 16-60 in most cases. I haven't even factored in the anticipation, hype and cult following! So that's where the profits come from in reality. The sequels dont make money because they're great but they make money the same way the farmer in Punjab makes it... By being wise enough to understand the demand-supply economics and adjusting the price in such a way that the extra efforts for the second ton of wheat are actually justified!
Cheers!
Saturday, June 02, 2007
Friday, June 01, 2007
Sing a song whole day long!
I’ve had one song stuck in my head all day long… I don’t know how it got into the complex system of neurons and dendrons and now I’ve been through the entire day and I’m still humming it, singing it, it keeps playing in my mind on and on and on…
The song… “In dino…. Dil mera… mujhse hai… keh raha…. Tu…. Khwaab sajaa… Tu... jee le jaraa... hain tujhe bhi ijjazat karle tu bhi mohabbat….” from Life in a Metro. I just sang that line all the way and now it has gone onto the next para!
I’m not a music freak to an extent that songs get stuck in my mind… I listen to songs n all but it aint no passion! I don’t watch the stupid music talent shows on television featuring some on the worst monkey crap imaginable! I can largely be classified in the category of bathroom singers but that too quite silently… I used to play instruments but never really was addicted or anything! I was more like the hobby kind of a playing… I enjoyed that but it didn’t consume me!
I got no clue why this song keeps playing on and on and on… It’s not even like this is the first time I’ve heard the song for the first time… I haven't seen the movie and have no idea whom it was picturised on or other details... It's not really my favourite song either... It’s been around for I guess over a month now… I got no problem as such with it being stuck other than the fact that I’ll just keep wondering why why why why!!!
While at work, during lunch, tea, on the way back home... Over and over again... I even tried listening to other songs or watching something on TV... Phew!
I’m someone who cant rest until I can find reasons, until I figure out mysteries, until I can find out the W’s of everything!! I’m ok with ambiguity if I have some pre-conceived notion or an idea or some weird feeling about what’s happening which is enough to pacify me momentarily but this is... strange!
Don’t even go down the road of forming an hypothesis that the song is suggesting me something and by some divine interaction it got stuck in my mind… coz it’s nothing like my life right now! My zindagi isn’t berang… I’ve probably hit a purple patch I have been waiting for ages… I have my mohabbat in order and it's rocking… Touchwood! I have been sajaving khwaab about everything from the time I remember… a really dreamy optimist to be frank! The song doesnt relate to me even a bit!
Well… cant help it… I guess this will stay around until I guess something better to chew on…
Tu.... Khwaab saja.... Tu jee le jaraa!!
Cheers!
The song… “In dino…. Dil mera… mujhse hai… keh raha…. Tu…. Khwaab sajaa… Tu... jee le jaraa... hain tujhe bhi ijjazat karle tu bhi mohabbat….” from Life in a Metro. I just sang that line all the way and now it has gone onto the next para!
I’m not a music freak to an extent that songs get stuck in my mind… I listen to songs n all but it aint no passion! I don’t watch the stupid music talent shows on television featuring some on the worst monkey crap imaginable! I can largely be classified in the category of bathroom singers but that too quite silently… I used to play instruments but never really was addicted or anything! I was more like the hobby kind of a playing… I enjoyed that but it didn’t consume me!
I got no clue why this song keeps playing on and on and on… It’s not even like this is the first time I’ve heard the song for the first time… I haven't seen the movie and have no idea whom it was picturised on or other details... It's not really my favourite song either... It’s been around for I guess over a month now… I got no problem as such with it being stuck other than the fact that I’ll just keep wondering why why why why!!!
While at work, during lunch, tea, on the way back home... Over and over again... I even tried listening to other songs or watching something on TV... Phew!
I’m someone who cant rest until I can find reasons, until I figure out mysteries, until I can find out the W’s of everything!! I’m ok with ambiguity if I have some pre-conceived notion or an idea or some weird feeling about what’s happening which is enough to pacify me momentarily but this is... strange!
Don’t even go down the road of forming an hypothesis that the song is suggesting me something and by some divine interaction it got stuck in my mind… coz it’s nothing like my life right now! My zindagi isn’t berang… I’ve probably hit a purple patch I have been waiting for ages… I have my mohabbat in order and it's rocking… Touchwood! I have been sajaving khwaab about everything from the time I remember… a really dreamy optimist to be frank! The song doesnt relate to me even a bit!
Well… cant help it… I guess this will stay around until I guess something better to chew on…
Tu.... Khwaab saja.... Tu jee le jaraa!!
Cheers!
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Return of the Complex Guy
After a long hiatus I've found the inspiration, motivation and most importantly the medium to blog. The last time I blogged was on 18th October '06. Seems like that was in the Jurassic era. That was when the client for whom I work decided to restrict internet access and with that ended my blogging days. (I still work for the same client but may be the change has happened within.)
There were so many days on which I felt like scribbling out things, but then that was it... Finally I've found the solution to revive my blogging.
I'm posting a few of my better posts (self-evaluated) dated when they were written. I decided to change the blog since this is as good as making a fresh start.
A lot has happened in the last 7 months or so which, among other things, I would be blogging about in the days to come.
Cheers
There were so many days on which I felt like scribbling out things, but then that was it... Finally I've found the solution to revive my blogging.
I'm posting a few of my better posts (self-evaluated) dated when they were written. I decided to change the blog since this is as good as making a fresh start.
A lot has happened in the last 7 months or so which, among other things, I would be blogging about in the days to come.
Cheers
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Science and God
Faith does not protect you. Medicine and airbags… those are things that protect you. God does not protect you. Intelligence protects you. Enlightenment. Put your faith in something with tangible results. How long has it been since someone walked on water? Modern miracles belong to science… computers, vaccines, space stations… even the divine miracle of creation. Matter from nothing… in a lab. Who needs God? No! Science is God.
A paragraph from Dan Brown's Angels and Demons. I am in general impressed by Mr. Brown's skills and I wouldn’t like to write about how brilliant a writer he is or how good the books that he's written are. I've read all of them. I would like to write about something that his first book Angels & Demons deals with. The conflict between Science and Religion/God.
First and foremost these are my personal opinions and I don’t wish to offend any one.
I couldn't keep these thoughts to myself so am blogging about it.I won’t say I'm an atheist. But I won’t say I believe in God either, at least not in its conventional, contemporary form. Now that’s a new concept God's change of form... God does change form not only over the course of time but also from person to person. Every person has his own interpretations. Some believe God will be pleased/happy by bombing the WTC, some believe God will be pleased by fasting/sacrifice.
I rarely visit temples. It’s not because I don’t have faith its just because I believe God as a concept is too vast and too universal to be confined to places of worship. But still the above mentioned passage struck a chord some where. Isn't it true to some extent at least? May be I'm too scientific in my thought, so probably am seeing it that way. But has Science taken over from God? Was God ever in power? Or was God a convenient escape route for all the things that we couldn't explain? Or God was the creation of man? Rather than the other way round?
Since the beginning of time, spirituality and religion have been called on to fill in the gaps that science did not understand. The rising and setting of the sun was once attributed to Helios and a flaming chariot. Earthquakes and tidal waves were the wrath of Poseidon. Science has now proven the truth. Science has now provided answers to almost every question man can ask. There are only a few questions left and they are the esoteric ones. Where do we come from? What are we doing here? What is the meaning of life and the universe?
Nothing around us cant be explained by Science. From the blooming of flowers to the construction of 120-storyed towers! The Internet provides information, knowledge and wisdom(?) like any wise man long ago...
As we all know religions are man-made no exceptions, so are all the religious texts. Then how come the God they talk about in it is Divine. Everything right from the beginning of life can be explained in a Science Lab... But how about circumstances that take place, the so-called good luck or bad luck? Those can also be explained by science! Just that what will happen can’t be predicted by it. Nor can we hope in a lab that something we want should happen.So then this is it! Hope, faith are the elements that make a supreme power necessary... Its required so that people have something as an anchor. It inspires people to do great things. Things that were in their capabilities but they wouldn’t have attempted them or would’ve taken long time to accomplish. Even though religion and beliefs are shaped by where we are born rather than what we actually think and believe as individuals, Faith is universal.
Some pray to one God from one religion, some pray to different Gods in same religion, some become scientists! In the end we are all just searching for truth, that which is greater than ourselves.This is what I believe God is and this is what God means to me. It’s not something that gives me super powers. I don’t thank god for what ever good happens in my life, I guess that's fair because neither do I blame God for anything that goes wrong.
It’s Faith.
The concept of God could’ve been brought up for a variety of reasons, including inducing discipline, fear into man. So that man never thinks that he is the Supreme Being and ends up annihilating himself. Being an anchor for the masses could also have been another reason… But now it’s the whole and sole on which people depend. I am no one to comment if that’s right or wrong.
Look around at all that’s happening. All the things that are/have been going wrong. For some of them Science itself is responsible. Or is it? Will the atomic bomb be the failure of Science or failure of man? Would the airplanes that crashed into the WTC be the failure of Science? Or man? Or worse still, God?
But whenever such points are raised, the argument that God is not at fault in this. It’s the misguided soul… God wants us to learn from our mistakes and so he lets these things take place… Is this true? I find it tough to believe this argument.
God, for me is an idea, it’s like a catalyst in a chemical reaction.
Catalyst is something that aids the rate at which the reaction takes place without affecting the eventual result. In such a case we should give the catalyst it’s due credit, but saying that it was the reason that the reaction took place wouldn’t be right… Would it?
Science provides all the answers, but God provides me the thrust for pursuing those answers. I respect both of them. For me its not a question of Science or God... Its Science and God but more importantly I know what the roles of both those things are in my life!
Cheers!
A paragraph from Dan Brown's Angels and Demons. I am in general impressed by Mr. Brown's skills and I wouldn’t like to write about how brilliant a writer he is or how good the books that he's written are. I've read all of them. I would like to write about something that his first book Angels & Demons deals with. The conflict between Science and Religion/God.
First and foremost these are my personal opinions and I don’t wish to offend any one.
I couldn't keep these thoughts to myself so am blogging about it.I won’t say I'm an atheist. But I won’t say I believe in God either, at least not in its conventional, contemporary form. Now that’s a new concept God's change of form... God does change form not only over the course of time but also from person to person. Every person has his own interpretations. Some believe God will be pleased/happy by bombing the WTC, some believe God will be pleased by fasting/sacrifice.
I rarely visit temples. It’s not because I don’t have faith its just because I believe God as a concept is too vast and too universal to be confined to places of worship. But still the above mentioned passage struck a chord some where. Isn't it true to some extent at least? May be I'm too scientific in my thought, so probably am seeing it that way. But has Science taken over from God? Was God ever in power? Or was God a convenient escape route for all the things that we couldn't explain? Or God was the creation of man? Rather than the other way round?
Since the beginning of time, spirituality and religion have been called on to fill in the gaps that science did not understand. The rising and setting of the sun was once attributed to Helios and a flaming chariot. Earthquakes and tidal waves were the wrath of Poseidon. Science has now proven the truth. Science has now provided answers to almost every question man can ask. There are only a few questions left and they are the esoteric ones. Where do we come from? What are we doing here? What is the meaning of life and the universe?
Nothing around us cant be explained by Science. From the blooming of flowers to the construction of 120-storyed towers! The Internet provides information, knowledge and wisdom(?) like any wise man long ago...
As we all know religions are man-made no exceptions, so are all the religious texts. Then how come the God they talk about in it is Divine. Everything right from the beginning of life can be explained in a Science Lab... But how about circumstances that take place, the so-called good luck or bad luck? Those can also be explained by science! Just that what will happen can’t be predicted by it. Nor can we hope in a lab that something we want should happen.So then this is it! Hope, faith are the elements that make a supreme power necessary... Its required so that people have something as an anchor. It inspires people to do great things. Things that were in their capabilities but they wouldn’t have attempted them or would’ve taken long time to accomplish. Even though religion and beliefs are shaped by where we are born rather than what we actually think and believe as individuals, Faith is universal.
Some pray to one God from one religion, some pray to different Gods in same religion, some become scientists! In the end we are all just searching for truth, that which is greater than ourselves.This is what I believe God is and this is what God means to me. It’s not something that gives me super powers. I don’t thank god for what ever good happens in my life, I guess that's fair because neither do I blame God for anything that goes wrong.
It’s Faith.
The concept of God could’ve been brought up for a variety of reasons, including inducing discipline, fear into man. So that man never thinks that he is the Supreme Being and ends up annihilating himself. Being an anchor for the masses could also have been another reason… But now it’s the whole and sole on which people depend. I am no one to comment if that’s right or wrong.
Look around at all that’s happening. All the things that are/have been going wrong. For some of them Science itself is responsible. Or is it? Will the atomic bomb be the failure of Science or failure of man? Would the airplanes that crashed into the WTC be the failure of Science? Or man? Or worse still, God?
But whenever such points are raised, the argument that God is not at fault in this. It’s the misguided soul… God wants us to learn from our mistakes and so he lets these things take place… Is this true? I find it tough to believe this argument.
God, for me is an idea, it’s like a catalyst in a chemical reaction.
Catalyst is something that aids the rate at which the reaction takes place without affecting the eventual result. In such a case we should give the catalyst it’s due credit, but saying that it was the reason that the reaction took place wouldn’t be right… Would it?
Science provides all the answers, but God provides me the thrust for pursuing those answers. I respect both of them. For me its not a question of Science or God... Its Science and God but more importantly I know what the roles of both those things are in my life!
Cheers!
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Birthday Blooper
I dont know how but I end up doing something or the other quite remarkable at each of my friends' birthday. No! No! Dont club me up with those who give a lot of thought & make the birthdays of their friends special in some way or other. I'm quite the other kind. I do something quite unintentionally and it just gives everyone a a good excuse to laugh whenever that incident comes up!
Let me tell you one of the most funniest incidents to have occured at a birthday!
This happened a year back. I was in hostel that time. In hostel, everything is different. the birthday parties are absoulte mayhem. Complete no-holds-barred apocalypse!! The more friends you have the worse your bday is... Thats the rule... and you cant do nething about it and everyone gets a chance to take revenge during the year! And people are left with cake on their faces rather than eating it! Its an all out war and the weapons are eggs, sauce, tea, juice, cold drinks, anything and everything... Creativity is your friend and sky is the limit!!
However this is an incident that dint happen at one of those mayhem-ic celebrations. We had a guy nicknamed 'Lalla'. One of the most boring personalities of all time! Probably could've won an Oscar for being the Most Boring Personality of All-time!
It was cake-cutting time. All had gathered around for the celebrations and just waiting for him to cut the cake. It would be safe to say that all of us were more interested in the 1-kg black forest cake! Instead of cutting the cake he was testing everyone's patience by just standing there holding the knife in his hand and talking something absolutely irrelevant. Then after almost eternity he starts with his characteristic "Haan bhai... toh cake kaat le kya hum?? Sab aa toh gaye naa... Hum cake kaat rahe hain ji... Pakka naa ki hum cake kaate... Kisiko koi problem toh nahi naa... Hoga toh bata do bhaiyya... (Snorting Laughter!)"
Now comes the interesting part... (This would've been in slow-motion had this been a movie!)His knife started off in motion towards the cake. The distance between the cake and the knife is just 6 inches. I think to myself I'm here just for the cake. I dont care a damn about this idiot & once the cake is cut I'm not gonna get anything!! I think I should just grab/snatch as big a chunk of it as I can... I assume that since the knife is in motion the cake will get cut and no one would realise that I ever grabbed the cake and in such a big crowd they would neways see just my hand!
I flick a huge chunk of the cake. Seeing my hand grabbing the cake all those notorious characters surrounding the cake follow suit! And 1 kg black-forest cake vanishes before the knife can travel 6 inches!!! There was no cake left!! Everything was gone... Lalla couldn't touch the cake with tthe knife forget about eating it!! and I fled from the scene of the crime... and then started off the "whodunnit!!??" trail... Most of the guys thought that it was Ganja (Baldy) who was standing next to me! But he knew and I knew what was the reality!!
I seriously had not imagined that something like this would happen! I just underestimated the power of union!! It's an incident that evokes instant laughs whenever recollected. No one feels sorry for what happened! It was all in good fun and I guess Lalla deserved it for boring the hell out of the people (this wasn't the only time he did that!) gathered there!
I did confess about my crime. Though privately! Since I deserved to get accolades for pulling offsomething like this!! It was a feeling that George Clooney and the team had after looting the casino in Ocean's eleven!I It can't be described but is certainly I enjoyed doing & everyone can have a good laugh! hahaha
Cheers!
Let me tell you one of the most funniest incidents to have occured at a birthday!
This happened a year back. I was in hostel that time. In hostel, everything is different. the birthday parties are absoulte mayhem. Complete no-holds-barred apocalypse!! The more friends you have the worse your bday is... Thats the rule... and you cant do nething about it and everyone gets a chance to take revenge during the year! And people are left with cake on their faces rather than eating it! Its an all out war and the weapons are eggs, sauce, tea, juice, cold drinks, anything and everything... Creativity is your friend and sky is the limit!!
However this is an incident that dint happen at one of those mayhem-ic celebrations. We had a guy nicknamed 'Lalla'. One of the most boring personalities of all time! Probably could've won an Oscar for being the Most Boring Personality of All-time!
It was cake-cutting time. All had gathered around for the celebrations and just waiting for him to cut the cake. It would be safe to say that all of us were more interested in the 1-kg black forest cake! Instead of cutting the cake he was testing everyone's patience by just standing there holding the knife in his hand and talking something absolutely irrelevant. Then after almost eternity he starts with his characteristic "Haan bhai... toh cake kaat le kya hum?? Sab aa toh gaye naa... Hum cake kaat rahe hain ji... Pakka naa ki hum cake kaate... Kisiko koi problem toh nahi naa... Hoga toh bata do bhaiyya... (Snorting Laughter!)"
Now comes the interesting part... (This would've been in slow-motion had this been a movie!)His knife started off in motion towards the cake. The distance between the cake and the knife is just 6 inches. I think to myself I'm here just for the cake. I dont care a damn about this idiot & once the cake is cut I'm not gonna get anything!! I think I should just grab/snatch as big a chunk of it as I can... I assume that since the knife is in motion the cake will get cut and no one would realise that I ever grabbed the cake and in such a big crowd they would neways see just my hand!
I flick a huge chunk of the cake. Seeing my hand grabbing the cake all those notorious characters surrounding the cake follow suit! And 1 kg black-forest cake vanishes before the knife can travel 6 inches!!! There was no cake left!! Everything was gone... Lalla couldn't touch the cake with tthe knife forget about eating it!! and I fled from the scene of the crime... and then started off the "whodunnit!!??" trail... Most of the guys thought that it was Ganja (Baldy) who was standing next to me! But he knew and I knew what was the reality!!
I seriously had not imagined that something like this would happen! I just underestimated the power of union!! It's an incident that evokes instant laughs whenever recollected. No one feels sorry for what happened! It was all in good fun and I guess Lalla deserved it for boring the hell out of the people (this wasn't the only time he did that!) gathered there!
I did confess about my crime. Though privately! Since I deserved to get accolades for pulling offsomething like this!! It was a feeling that George Clooney and the team had after looting the casino in Ocean's eleven!I It can't be described but is certainly I enjoyed doing & everyone can have a good laugh! hahaha
Cheers!
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