Quick Review Truth or Dare [Blumhouse Extended Director's Cut] Netflix India

This is perhaps not the right time to review Truth or Dare since the movie's ending, which might have appeared phenomenally smart at the time when it was released, now looked cliched and way too predictable for a movie that really tries to surprise you but still falls much short of the expectations. The problem is not with the movie's plot which is somewhere between being the most likely possibility and I-knew-it, but the story's handling.

Reviewed: Don't Knock Twice [2] on Amazon Prime

I never saw the first part of this movie, but still, I would say that Don't Knock Twice [2] on Amazon Prime is good enough for a one-time watch. Don't get your hopes up. The content is not refreshing. The performances are just decent. What plagues this movie is the storytelling. It is not as gripping as you would expect. When the Rotten Tomatoes community gave it a one-star rating, I felt a bit for the makers but you have got to realize that the entire story has been told before, via different movies in the horror genre. You can find similarly themed movies with rituals, demonic forces, and witchcraft in the mix. Don't Knock Twice uses all these elements and tries to tell the story with a mother-daughter relationship also thrown into the mix. What you get is somewhat interesting. 

Keeping Up With What is Trending: MINIMONY

In 2022, Sarah Gill, writing for Image, presented an interesting editorial piece regarding the rise of microweddings. For many, it seemed like an outcome of how wedding plans and celebrations all over had contracted with Covid taking a toll on people's enthusiasm and spending bandwidth and not just the industrial and IT workspace. Come to 2023, and it seems like that microweddings are still emerging as a trend but differently for differently abled/scaled people. For celebrities, a minimony might be a way to escape the limelight that comes with hosting a typical, celebrity-standard wedding whereas for young couples saving for their immediate future and hoping to land a memorable honeymoon across the oceans, in an idyllic island setting, a micro-scale wedding makes more sense from a financial perspective - save money on the wedding cake and spend it where it seems to matter more!

Recalling First Few Days of Returning to Work [April 2022]

Returning to work has been a somewhat unexpected journey for the last 3 months, and it continues to be a bit disruptive, and a bit of relief at the same time. The first week in the more-than-familiar office cabin was slightly suffocating. The COVID wave hadn't subsided when we were called back, and there was every reason to feel apprehensive. With just the senior managers and the upper hierarchy called in, the team, people who contribute to the dense headcount at our office was nowhere to be seen.

Just to share some insight about my personal struggles to keep wearing the mask, I have been claustrophobic since I was around 17, and I have been on & off anxiety medications for more than a decade. Being grounded at home due to the pandemic, having just become a father to a baby girl, also took a toll in some way though, at many levels, I am also thankful for giving me the opportunity to be there when the little monkey was gifted to us.

Anxiety | Mental Health | Lionel Messi - It Happens to the Best!

This discussion about mental health, anxiety, and how being anxious chronically can happen to the best, people as good and great as Lionel Messi, is inspired by this article by Adam Alter, on Ideas.Ted.com 

For many people, when celebrities talk about mental health issues, it becomes a bit easier to comprehend the problem and understand that it can happen to anybody irrespective of the amount of inherent talent or the fandom that comes with being the best in anything, ranging from movies to soccer. The latter has its smart, Messi, whose psychological challenges of holding up his performance in the middle of a growing, global fan following. The problems with Messi' preparedness for the big stage have been doing the rounds for some time. Reports suggest that he usually vomits and according to some sources, his vomiting is a bit of a chronic thing that tends to happen en route to a big match. It was in 2014 that reports emerged about Messi showing symptoms of vomiting and perhaps, the condition being associated with trouble in handling anxiety.

For those who have IBS in the times of Corona Pandemic

If you have a history of IBS, it is most likely that no one and I mean not even the most qualified physician out there, would have been able to fully understand your set of symptoms -  that is the problem with IBS, it is highly symptomatic and very unpredictable. That is how complicated IBS can be but strangely, despite all the medicinal and guidance-based support, nobody really understands what the sufferer is put through. At this time, when the Corona scare is at its worst, you need to double-up your layers of protection to ensure a flare-up is prevented. For starters, the Corona global pandemic is about a lot of cynical views around you - don't let this get you into that space where you start believing that the world is coming to an end. It looks like it but in reality, we will bounce back - everyday folks like you and me and the governments that are responsible for protecting us. Don't read too much into how much worse it can get. The idea is to control your anxiety levels on a daily basis since right now when the more normal Joe seems to be slightly frantic.

Reviewing I am All Girls on Netflix India

I am All Girls is perhaps one of the most underrated movies on Netflix India. There is every reason the channel and more so, its marketing team should have promoted this title a bit more. Even the online ratings seem a bit poorly done, underestimating the subject tackled in the movie and the manner in which the story has been told. I am All Girls may or may not be for family viewing depending upon how your ecosystem handles movies that are a bit graphic about subjects as sensitive as child abuse, child pornography, child trafficking, and the system that feeds off young girls taken off the streets, taking a toll on their families, and ruining lives without any logic to it.