Author: Amit Goyal

  • Too much cricket?

    England opener Marcus Trescothick has quit the Ashes Series citing stress related disorders. He had also cited stress when he pulled out of England’s tour of India earlier this year as well as the Champions Trophy.

    The stylish bastman, a consistent performer (he scored well over a thousand in Tests for three consecutive years), had been the backbone of the English batting line up along with Kevin Pietersen during their amazing Ashes victory last year.

    This brings us to the main question. Is he unable to handle pressure or is he a victim of too much cricket being played? Cricket, unlike football, tennis, and basketball, is no more a seasonal game and is played through the year all over the world. Players spend a lot of time away from their families traveling to various places, at times even to meaningless places like Malaysia to play in meaningless contests. Is it taking a toll on their physical and mental fitness. Adam Gilchrist, one of the toughest cricketers around, has in the past criticised the ICC for imposing no upper limit to the number of matches being played in a year.

    I tend to agree with people who think that we have had too much of cricket, and remember too much of anything is bad. Its taking its toll on the players physical fitness as well as their mental makeup. Its not only the body that is tired after a five day game but also the mind. Also the players are required to handle the pressures and expectations of playing for the national team. One cannot concentrate for that long without mental fatigue setting in. As more and more players start facing physical problems early in their careers and the problems of Treschothick surfacing, I hope ICC sits up and takes notice. Else we might lose many more Trescothicks.

    Meanwhile, I hope he fends off the bouncers from the demons in his head and we get to see him again.

  • The Fountainhead – A Review

    Ojas reccomended this movie to me. The novel I had already read and liked greatly. The movie sadly fell short of expectations. It could have been a brilliant movie, and is in parts, but is paced so fast that, for someone who has not read the novel, it is difficult to put two and two together.

    Movies based on novels very often do not do justice to the original. But there have been movies otherwise. The Godfather, the LOTR trilogy and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest being excellent examples. This however, belongs to the former category.

    The major problem with the movie is the length of the movie. According to me the movie should have been at least 3 hours long. During most parts the movie seems extremely rushed and at times it is difficult to connect pieces. The screenplay by Rand is crisp but haphazard at the best. For example, the relationship between Roark and Dominique could have been explored a little more.

    Gary Cooper are Howard Roark and Robert Douglas as Ellsworth Toohey are extremely good. The other actors however, do not leave a mark. Patricia Neal, playing Domonique Francon, is good only in parts but mostly has a wooden expression that fails to convince you.  Raymond Massey as Gail Wynand is ok.  Peter Keating, played by Kent Smith, hardly has any screen time to be judged.

    The fans of the novel however, must watch the movie once. I rate it as 3.5/5.0.

    Interesting: You can read a NY Times review (of 1949) criticising the philosophy behind the movie, and the movie itself, here (sign up required).

  • You‘re just oblivious

    From Vantage Point:

    D: I loved Sarah, Charles. It was mine, that love. I owned it. Even Sarah didn’t have the right to take it away. I can love whoever I want.

    K: She thought you were pathetic.

    D: That was her business, not mine. You are what you love, not what loves you. That’s what I decided a long time ago.

    Awesome piece. I really do not know what Orchid Thief is, but I am keen to find out.

  • Happy Children’s Day

    To all those still kido at their hearts, Happy Children’s Day.

    The only good thing about Chacha Nehru is that we used to get a holiday and lots of those little red candies on his birthday 🙂

  • The Day The Music Died

    A quiz, sent by Sandeepan (ex-BITSian) yesterday, had a connect for Don McLean with American Pie and Vincent Van Gogh. While I figured outthe Vincent connect, Ojas knew the American Pie one.

    But February made me shiver,
    With every paper I’d deliver,
    Bad news on the doorstep…
    I couldn’t take one more step.
    I can’t remember if I cried
    When I read about his widowed bride
    But something touched me deep inside,
    The day the music died.

    McLean was a paperboy in his youth, and the incident is about the death of Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and The Big Bopper in a plane crash on February 3, 1959. Since all three were so prominent at the time, the day came to be known as “The Day The Music Died“. Holly’s recent (widowed) bride, Maria Elena, was pregnant when the crash took place; she had a miscarriage shortly afterward.

    The lines were also used by Time in December 1980, on the death of John Lennon. The song has many more references to both political and musical events during the life of Don McLean. You can read more about it here.

    Also came across two new songs yesterday. Linger – Cranberries and I Can’t Tell You Why – Eagles. The latter has beautiful lyrics and below are my favourite lines from the song.

    Nothing’s wrong as far as I can see
    We make it harder than it has to be
    and I can’t tell you why