Movie Review: Casino Royale

Loved it.

Didn't think I would; tired of the previous Bonds; wasn't looking forward to this one. Instead, I walked out of the theatre, excited and wistful for the next in the series.

The screenwriting was actually good, unlike in the recent past, where tongue-in-cheek garbage spewed from Bond's mouth (i.e. "I thought Christmas only came once a year" *cue Denise Richards silhouette*).

There was no strange unbelievable sci-fi gadgetry, in fact, there was no Q (think invisible cars racing through frozen lakes).

Bond was not immaculate or infallible - in fact, he stumbles during chase scenes, gets cuts and bruised from fights, leaves his tuxedo a bit untucked, and a few other signifiers that if I divulge will give some of the good stuff away. Very tellingly, he even washes blood off his hands.

Casino Royale gave the audience what it really wants: A psychological thriller about spies. Throw in some daring action sequences, a love story (and this time, it's really love), gambling, torture and Europe, and you have a great movie that is believable. Ian Flemming is probably frollicking in his grave.

The biggest con? Bond would never drive a Ford.

If you haven't seen it yet, it's worth watching. I would say it's the biggest comeback since Batman Begins. And who didn't love that movie.

"Thanks!"

Teachers will never know how much their words mean to their students.

From: R--- ------ -----@cornell.edu
Date: Nov 20, 2006 11:59 AM
Subject: Thanks!
To: Jeanne j-------@gmail.com

Jeanne:

It was good to see you again. I am glad to hear you are doing well. I very much enjoyed our conversation, and hope we have the chance to talkagain before too long.

Please keep me posted on your career developments!

Regards,
R---

Reflections above Cayuga's waters

Being back at Cornell, I am surprised at how... little... things have changed.

The students are the same - bundled up in wools and fleeces, heads down, rushing to class, thinking about (1) tonight's frat party (2) next week's paper. The buildings have not changed - Uris Hall is still tall, ugly and brown. MVR is still under construction. The exception is Bailey Auditorium, which is now elegant inside - light blue suede cushions on redwood seats have replaced the once squeaky oak-stained wooden duck-bill type seats.

I went into Willard Straight Hall to meet with Jenn D., who is the Class Council Advisor. As I walked into the building, I worried that I wouldn't be able to find her, thinking that she may have moved offices. But as I trekked up from the Cinema, past the pottery workshop, past Okenshield's cafeteria, and onto the 3rd floor, I was relieved to see that she still sat, in the same office, with the same layout. We chatted for 30 minutes (I was late), before she had to run out to pick up her daughter. Not changed.

This morning, I went to meet with Professor G., who I wasn't particularly close to during my time here, but close enough that I wanted to reach out and say hello. Again, I was surprised to see him where I last left him two years ago, surrounded by papers, pens and a new photo with George W. What has changed is that instead of talking about my paper or some question on Japanese cross-shareholding corporate governance mechanisms (true), we instead talked about work and aspirations. And, we went to collegetown for some Pho, together - a professor and his previous student. Nice, huh?

I guess my expectation was that everything would be different. But that expectation, I now understand, is a result of everything having changed for ME. I have changed; my life, my friends, my work, my travels. And just because I have, doesn't mean that everything else has as well.

It's a surprising insight, but a grounding and even reassuring one.

Ithaca is Gorges

Just safely landed in Ithaca.

By the way, Ithaca has its first Starbucks! I never thought it'd happen, but this town is seeing some changes.

The one time I return to Cornell in two-plus years, there's torrential rain coming down in Ithaca. It's to be expected though, as the sun only shines here during prospective student week, and when the students are not around in the summer.


I am here for my first recruiting experience, at the Johnson School.

At 5:30, we have a recruiting team meeting (8 people in total).
At 7:30, we are presenting to prospective 1st year MBA students.

I am exhausted from lack of sleep though, so we'll see how that goes. Hopefully, I don't give my company a bad name by falling asleep in the middle of conversation. Ha, that would be funny. No? Not so much? Ok. Gotta run.

New Links

For your viewing pleasure, I have added a few links of my favorite posts under the "Links" section to the right. It seems a little narcissistic, as it'd probably be more interesting if I linked to my favorite posts of other people's blogs. But then what if you like the other blog much better than mine, and never visit mine again?

Better stick with the original plan.

Atlanta this weekend

I reread my "Secret Hopes" post and boy it sounds a bit sad. Let me add a bit of color:

Despite this secret hope not coming true, I had a great time on Saturday night.

Finally partied with the people that I will be hitting the slopes with in February (a.k.a they will be fortunate enough to see me fall on my face many times that weekend), ran into friends from my American Red Cross days (he even bought me a drink; I didn't even know what went into a "drink" back then), and hung out with two of my best friends. The secret hope that didn't come out, well, he's done other things to show up the secret hope so I have no complaints there.

This weekend, I'll be visiting Arj the Large's hometown of Atlanta. What will I do this weekend? Party it up at Sutra? Late night leering at Cheetah? Midnight crappy-ass eggs at the Waffle house?

No....

I will be with Granny Hwang, listening to two old ladies talk about the "olden days" (actually, that was about 70 years ago so I'll give it to them), and helping her two night visit to be as smooth and wonderful as possible. Can you believe, I'm actually excited!

Secret Hopes

It's 4:44 a.m., Sunday morning. Tomorrow at this time, I will be on my way to the airport for my regular 6 a.m. flight. But tonight? I just got back from a night of partying and I have some thoughts to share before I pass right out on my pillow.

First, Shanty and I went to catch the American Ballet Theatre, where they performed one mediocre piece, one fantastic piece, and one comical piece. Afterwards, we went to Ben Ash and got some much-craved, but not very satisfying, Latke. Finally, we went to Plan B for Diana's birthday celebration.

The point of my story is that I was secretly hoping that a certain someone would come to Plan B. He said he wouldn't, but in my mind, I was really hoping that he would surprise me and show up. These thoughts tonight remind me that we all have these secret hopes that we wish onto others, and that these little hopes sometimes stay with us through the day/night/week/year/lifetime. It's amazing what these secret hopes hold - and I'm a little disappointed that mine did not come true tonight.

Luckily, he was incredible in fulfilling another secret hope that I have had: to be given flowers for no reason. Secret hopes do come true.