I know what I did last summer

I know what I did last summer
.. savored the potpourri of these books and movies.

Books -

1. Life of Pi By Yann Martel
I am intrigued by the cover of this book. It's stunning: A small brown figure lays huddled at the rear of a tiny boat. Underneath and around the boat the sea is streaming with marine life while at the front of the ship lays a fully grown tiger, head resting, and one paw dangling over the water.


2. The Monk who sold his Ferrari by Robin Sharma.
Just another self help book.

3. Good to Great by Jim Collins
A sequel to "Built to Last". Jim tries to figure out why only a handful of companies become great leaving behind a pool of good companies.

4. Sands of Time by Sidney Sheldon.
Author ka bas nam hi kafi hai.

5. Are you afraid of dark? by Sidney Sheldon.
When finished reading Sands of Time, I just thought to read one more novel by Sidney Sheldon. There is something about this guy. He really makes the reader "feel" the plot.

6. The Saint, the Surfer, and the CEO by Robin Sharma.
Don't know whether it is a prequel or a sequel to 'Monk who....'

Movies -

1. The Constant Gardner Directed by Fernando Meirelles ( "City of Gods" ) Cast :Ralph Fiennes & Rachel Weisz
Exploitation of a Third World country by a Pharma company makes Rachel Weisz (Tessa Quayle )concerned. She gets brutally murdered by the bullies in this game. Her husband, Ralph Fiennes (Justin Quayle) , haunted by remorse, embarks on a personal odyssey. Using privileged access to diplomatic secrets, he risks his own life but stops at nothing, to uncover and expose the truth - a conspiracy more far-reaching and deadly than he could ever have imagined.

2. The Man
Hollywood never runs out of such "Cop-Comedy" movies. Samuel Jackson and Eugene Levy are found making humble efforts to make the audience (is there anyone BTW) laugh. Thanks to a "less" well-known director Les Mayfield, this movie is a flop. Even the humble efforts by Samuel Jackson and Eugene Levy couldn't save this movie.

3. The 40 Year Old Virgin:
Paisa Vasul Movie ... great job Steve Carell. Keep it up.

4. Monster In Law
Watched for JeLo.

5. Wedding Crashers
Why can't David Dhawan think of such a theme? I bet, Govinda and Aarshad Warsi would knock down Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn.

6. Something's gotta give
I can not stop myself watching this one thrice over a weekend Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton are at their best. I added Nancy Meyers in my list of favorite directors.

7. 50 First Dates
"Can I have the last first kiss?" sums up everything. Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore are awesome.

8. Ant Z
Just watched again.

9. Finding Nemo
Just watched again.

10. A Beautiful Mind
Russell Crowe's Cinderella Man directed by the same director Ron Howard is now on my TO DO list.

11. The Transporter - II
Jason Statham is the "six-sigma" compliant transporter with a simple mantra "Rules are made to be broken" .

Human Resources

Hey don't worry, I am not going to discuss here Abraham Maslow's theory. Tell me, given a chance, would you like to watch a movie - Human Resources. If at all you would, what would you expect from such a movie.

Rented this DVD from Seattle Public Library and watched it (actually read it coz it was a French movie with subtitles in English. )

A very straight story. Franck, a guy doing his MBA in HR joins a Manufacturing Comapny as a summer intern. He belongs to a lower middle class familiy. Father and sister are working in the same factory. Father has been working as a shop floor worker for last 30 years. His job definition is simple - make 700 spot welds per hour, six days a week. He likes his job in fact he loves it. This job is everything for him.

One day Franck,- young, enthusiatics & influential MBA enters into the factory with lots of MBA ishtyle strategic planning and process improvement fundas. He initiates a summer project in the company to evaluate 35 person hours week hoping to improve the profitability by restructuring the workforce. The top management likes this idea but changes it a lil bit, replaces restructuring workforce with retrenchment.

His project becomes successful (?). Result- he gets a job offer and his father, along with other 30 workers, gets a ditch.

This forces the son and father to ponder their relationship and their ultimate expectations from their own careers while realizing their individual lives. The emotional hub of Human Resources is the ensuing clash between Frank and his father over the nature and meaning of work. The old man loves his job and doesn't have a clue as to why his son thinks it is important for him to have more leisure time every week in the form of a 35 hrs/week job. And Frank can't understand why his father doesn't cherish the idea of a less monotonous job and more input from the employees on working conditions.

Finally, Frank also changes his mind and strikes a battle against Management. The movie just ends there without any fuss while keeping many stunning questions unanswered.

Why do we all work?
Do we work for job security or job satisfacton?
Can we isolate our lives from our jobs?