Baby Steps: Housing at USC, Los Angeles

ADVISORY: The information shared here may NOT be factually accurate. All the information used here is may be freely reproduced. The Author is NOT responsible for any outcomes based on using advice listed here. Heck, its a personal blog!


#‎HousingatLA‬

Decide a budget
-less than 400, shared with a few people
-greater than 750, single room
-shared upscale living 900-1100 (Lorenzo, Gateway, Icon Place...)
-Individual apartment 1500+

Usually you pay separately for Utilities (Water, Electricity, Internet, Cable) varies from 80-150$ a month per apartment. Housing prices are fairly stable +-100, you could find a great place at very cheap rates or pay outrageous rates for a dump. The above are mainly right next to USC. Call on lady luck. Location and price are interrelated. Craigslist is the Housing bible of LA. Also ZIlliow and other sites.

Decide a location (close to/far from; I prefer as close to Uni as possible), furnished/Unfurnished, check-out places, talk to people, then decide. If you are not sure you can come here and find a place, please don't sign shitty deals from home.

Ellendale is mini-Indo-China and considered super secure, but I think its over rated. Off Figueroa is commercial and fun, South Vermont is quiet but sketchy. Lorenzo is in a sketchy area but like freaking palace. So make decisions based on your preferences.

Happy home hunting.

BTW I'm new too so asking: Neil, Is 1699 Hogwarts a good place to live, may not get you the ideal answer! By the way if any one from USC Cinematic Arts, Undergrad, screenwriters... looking for a fully furnished room in a 2BHK bang opposite USC, message me. Cheers! 

Baby steps: Life in USC, Los Angeles

#LifeinLA

-The West coast of the US is generally very casual. Shorts and Tees are the norm. You will understand that when you're here, so lease carry some shorts. 

- Safety is very relative. From what I see the American standards of safety and that of our own are very different. More so I've not heard of an Indian getting mugged ever. (May be because those mugging know we aren't worth. There are like 3 police forces: LAPD, Highway Patrol and USC Private Security. Duh!

- A great pair of polaroid sunglasses, invest your rupees & you will save quite a few $.

- A car would be awesome but not needed, a zip car would be great. LA is a car-city; Every Tom, Dick and Ramamurthy has a car here.

- A telephone is like basic necessity. I think you should reach drop bags, open bank account and get a connection if possible on the same day! Could be the best thing ever!  

Baby Steps: Touchdown LA

I reached LA yesterday. Sleep as much as possible based on the time in LA; it would be easier to adjust! 

The first thing I did was open an account; the main options are Bank of America (BoFA), USC Credit Union (CC) & Chase Manhattan (Chase). 
If you are a USC Student below 23 years BoFA offers a college account, and USC student below 24 then CHASE offers a college account. College accounts are free and you only have to pay for incoming wire transfers and additional cheque leaves. I opened with Chase, though there's not much of a difference between them. MOst Indian students use BoFA.

Form the airport terminal, once you are done with your formalities (verifying i20, claiming baggage) you walk out to the right of the terminal... keep going straight and you find a "Super/Prime Shuttle boarding area". Prime is a little more expensive 20$ while Super Shuttle costs 15$ to the USC area. You can ask the attendant(Mr.Mahmood Suba for Super Shuttle) for the other places like Culver city. The costs are pre-fixed, you also have to tip the driver about 3$. The shuttle's are big vans that take people around.

Any other doubts, feel free to shoot.  And today I'll be getting a phone and also checking out Housing! 

PS: This place is BEAUTIFUL!

Ayalum Njanum Thammil Review

The Neil Vincent Review of 'Ayalum Njanum Thammil': 4/5 Stars 

Every once in a while, there will happen a movie that touches you very deeply. You relate to its characters and feel a bond with them; and leave your seat with moist eyes. Lal Jose's "Ayalum Njanum Thammil" is one such movie. I don't think anyone doubts Lal Jose's genius but this is by far his best movie. What I loved most about this movie was its sincerity and the respect the makers had for the intelligence audience! No over the top drama or madness. ANT is proof that there exists sensible cinema which also pays commercial dividends.

The movie is a coming of age tale of Dr.Ravi Tharakan. It begins in the present day and keeps switching between his past and the present. Narian, Samvritha and Siddharth as his college mates aide in generating peals of laughter as they tell the story of doctors and medical education in Kerala. Kalabhavan Mani's is a policeman who highly intrigued me. It explained the very simple reason why doctors are bestowed with so much respect. . Remya Nanbeesam and Rima Kallingal are quite apt for their roles along with Salim Kumar (who happens to be one of my favorite actors)

Pratap Pothen and Prithviraj are stellar in this movie. Pratap Pothen is an outright genius of an actor. His performance as Dr. Samuel mentoring Dr.Ravi Tharakan (Prithviraj Sukamaran) was stand out and their chemistry would bring tears to your eyes.

Jomon T John is a cinema prodigy and this movie is further proof of that. He shows you some incredible sights of Munnar that will make "Swiss flying directors" rethink on their shooting locations. The music of the pen of Ouseppachan and Sarath and soothing and will continue to haunt way after you have left the cinema.

I honestly think I'm not worthy to review this movie, because it could well be one of the best Malayalam movies made to date but then again I'm a critic and an aspiring actor; aren't I?

Now go watch this movie and you will not unlike it on Facebook or otherwise!

The King and the Commissioner Review

“The King and the Commissioner”: 1.5/5 Stars



"It’s all about the commercial quotient. So why not cash on that? “This was Renji Panicker’s statement before the project began. How true! This could be the laziest film of the year with such poor homework done. I don’t just mean logical fillers but just BAD scripting. This entire movie is based on the two characters. Its more like the story of Joseph Alex with Bharath Chandran thrown in to assist him.

Mamooty is indeed Joseph Alex, IAS. He’s panache and suave with crisp dialogues and prolific dialogue delivery playing the role to perfection as usual. ‘Mammuka’ looks young and so dashing and yet sophisticated and in control.

Suresh Gopi lost 30 pounds to get into the skin of Bharath Chandran IPS and he’s a thorough treat to watch. I don’t think he shares great chemistry with ‘Mamooty’ but every strand of hair on my body stood up and saluted when he said: ‘Ormaya undo e mugham?’

I was also thinking in real life if ‘Mammuka’ and ‘Suresh Gopi’ could mug all those dialogues they should have applied for and written IAS. The number of trees cut for the paper on which those dialogues were written could easily have been a forest in Palakkad.

Janardanan as Minister GK was so effortless, possibly the only sensibly etched supporting character in the movie. Saikumar brought so much of sense to such a senseless role. I can’t stand meaningless demigod super villains whose sole motive is money. And Mohan Aghase was an awesome Prime Minister who did actually make me smile. Jayan Chertala was bad to say the least. He seemed lost and in a hurry to finish his lines. I did not know what was worse, his acting or his makeup. Janardanan, Saikumar and Mohan Aghashe did a job worth my ticket price. Their acting made me realize that there are no small roles, only small actors.
Alas I have finished telling you everything good about this movie. Now if we had a few bullets of that which were fired all across the screen then you could use three for the cinematographers! Bharani K. Dharan, Sharavanan & Shaji Kumar handled the camera and it looks like the whole of what they shot was stuffed onto the screen. The entire movie is not shot straight but from such hard to view angles and they change so fast that your mind cannot even process them. It makes me wonder what did Samjath do while editing this movie. I got lost many times when scenes that had no relation just followed each other.


Murphy’s Law is so adept for this movie. Everything that can go wrong will go wrong! Let’s begin with the great Shaji Kailas. Since 2001, Shaji Kalias has done 19 movies of which 16 were colossal flops. In that regard this is a huge improvement. Comparatively. Renji Panikar needs lessons in GK, Current Affairs and also technology.

TKATC portrays India as a devolving anarchy. The villains are so typecast with money being the sole criterion for anything they do. That again is the fault of poor scripting with such shallow meaningless characters. Moreso, the film is unnecessarily long at 3 hours and 10 minutes and I’m not a fan of constant senseless killings.

Please watch TKATC with your friends; and before you walk into the theatre for TKATC please carry two dictionaries (English & Malayalam). The amount of dialogues the villains and the heroes speak would require the use of dictionaries; and with your friends around, searching becomes easier.

I felt numb after the movie and so did all those around me. Dear Mr.Shaji Kailas & Mr.Renji Panikar, please treat the ‘malayee audience’ with respect, don’t write out garbage just for the money. Create something worth watching.

'Casanova' Review: 2/5 Stars

India today has only 5 actors capable of doing this movie. From the opening shot to the climax, the whole of 'Casanova' rests on the mighty shoulders of Mohanlal. He has indeed done a great job as expected but for a few scenes.

'Casonava' is an absolute treat to the 'Mohanlal fan'; it has simply stunning visuals reminding you of all the action games you played from NFS to Max Payne. And this probability is the best part of the movie: the cars, the women and the soothing locales of Dubai.

Now coming to the cracks: If you want to get munchies during the interval; don't!, you will feel very tempted to walkout. You would need to glue yourself to the seat to watch beyond a disastrous first half. The scripting is completely devoid of logic and makes you weep with the level of senselessness especially when girls world over croon over a flower seller. Its completely shallow and the characters so poorly scripted.

Another outrageous factor is the 'flash-back' that happens without any coherence. The entire movies' humor is provided by Riyaz Khan's English as an INTERPOL agent. Actually, the entire movie has BAD English and what adds to the misery is the acting of the newbies. The acting is horrendous and they shoot do 'dhoom' in an uncool way. I almost cried when Mohanlal did the 'Matrix' stunt when the villian threw plates at him. If you are not a Mohanlal fan, this one scene will provide your annual quota of Mohanlal jokes.

Laxmi Rai does provide eye candy and Roma looks lost in the movie but Shriya has managed to do well in a shallow role. Lalu Alex, Shankar, Jagathy Sreekumar have salvaged all they could from the script. Sanjana did a good job for a fresher.

Some stunts are just done for the stunts' sake without any requirement in the script for them. You ask yourself why choppers have to shoot out the entire floor of a building with just 5 people in it. The cops and the cops cars are a joke. It so reminds you of Kerala police ka jeeps.

I hope Jim Ganesh got a fat cheque for his amazing locales, and apart from the title song; the songs are forgettable. The editor deserves all the brickbats he gets, a really bad job.

Casonova is a treat for Mohanlal fans only with fantastic stunts, great visuals, hot cars, girls and our dearest Lalettan. It would be a crime if you are a Mohanlal fan and you did not see this; and it would be a crime to yourself if you're not a fan and you watch it.

Withered Rose IV

Indran was not the shy guy; he was the life of the party. Anitha’s presence had drastic changes in him least of which was his fluctuating grades. He was just different; he found the flowers to be fresher and the sky to be brighter and it all seemed to be a beautiful life. He seemed like one of her soft stuffed toys! Their first coffee was quite a scene, Indran had convinced the can
teen owner to wear an outfit and take his order in French. He later confessed that it was the only way he could tell her he knew proficient French. They seemed to be a couple but Anitha was just not ready to be in a relationship again. She fought through her inner demons. She liked Indran, but not romantically; just liked him the way pe
ople like to go to a beach in summer or drink hot chocolate in winter. She was definitely confused and it was this confusion that was the stem of Indran’s hope that she was THE one! She in never gave him any verbal signs ever expect suddenly saying, “I wish...“; and then stopping or flirting with his eyes. He was completely lost in her.

Indran had recommended [& extensively lobbied] for Anitha to be placed it the student committee and she appreciated the fame & popularity that came with it. Now he had even more excuses to spend time with her. She also loved the amusing and lively chatter with him. Indran could talk about

diffusion of inorganic waste in amoeba with as much enthusiasm as discovery of life on mars.

Anitha was several people at the same time. She was no eye turner but she was intelligent; care free and bubbly, and cheerful and impatient. At times she felt even she did not know who she was. Indran melted like butter to her 1000MW smile and people were beginning to notice h

er effects on Indran.
Indran had been extremely popular in college, and he had his own little network of spies who did his dirty work; from organising a flash strike in college to informing him the change of Dosa’a price in the canteen. He found a friend, who knew a friend who studied at St.Bede’s, Anitha’s School; Salman was filled with awe at the presence of Indran, it was out of respect that he accepted his invite for a party that Saturday. He found it strange that he was taken to Toxic, the most happening club at Chennai for free with Indran & his friends; and he felt uneasy on the barrage of questions Vishnu and Nazim were throwing at him about Anitha. He answered them dutifully. He noticed that Indran drank only orange juice and many people seemed to be gesturing hello’ to him. Vishnu Nambiar and Nazim Khan were the wingmen of Indran, one is junior and the other his batch mate. High on the free booze Indran offered, th

ey did not like it one bit when he walked out with Salman alone; they sat puddle in their alcohol. Salman broke news of Tariq and he could see that Indran did not like what he heard. He called Vishnu on his phone and asked him to drop Salman;

before which he looked straight into his eyes and said, “Not a word, Salman, Never again!” Salman wanted to caution him but was too unsettled to think further.

Irrespective of how drunk he

was the thought of his father sobered Vishnu Nambiar instantly. He was the grandson of MN Nambiar, the famous south Indian actor known for the Villain Characters he essayed. His father Mohan Nambiar was a prominent businessman at Coimbatore. Vishnu was an only son and was lavished from an early age yet taught to be a good Brahmin; being a strict Brahmin home ‘the idea of chicken’ had not penetrated him till college. The pudgy smart boy was saved from an awkward pole dancing session in the name of ragging by Indran and has been his lieutenant since then.

Nazim hailed from a poor family & lived on the outskirts of the city. He lost his father at a very early age and his mother was unwell now. He had a sister who lived in Bangalore with her husband; and it was debts from the marriage that made Nazim work every evening. Indran supported him several times with money and that was the first time Indran bought loyalty but would never be his last.


“This is not right, Anitha”, Arati screamed! “This will end up really bad!”
“What? I am not doing anything, we’re just friends!” Anitha retorted.
“Friends? Which friend does what he does for you? He may even do you assignments if you ask him to!”Arati was known for her sense of justice. She could not stand the presence of Indran though. It was not anything personal but general hatred for his being. Her family was Indian with roots in every part of the country. Her mom was from Assam and Dad from Rajasthan and they lived in Delhi, Pune & Hyderabad which made her more Indian than others and also a strong believer of Karma. She warned Anitha to explain the dynamics of their friendship to Indran before it becomes awkward.


It was Indran’s final year of law and Anitha’s third of journalism; and that was that fateful day, February 14, 2008 Indran walked into ‘Media Laws & Ethics’ class in a crisply ironed white with a red rose in his hand and called out:
“Anitha Basu!”
Everyone smiled at the look of a possible romance blossoming, and it had to be a yes; because Indran was asking. Some girls by the window shed a silent tear while the guys gasped in relief and also excitement. Arati was shell shocked and had the most bewildered expression, she covered her face; she didn’t have the guts to face what was next.

Indran continued: “There’s nothing in the entire world I want but you--and your precious love--All the materials things are nothing. I'd just hate to live a sordid, colourless existence-because you'd soon love me less--and less--and I'd do anything--anything--to keep your heart for my own--I don't want to live--I want to love first, and live incidentally...

”

Brain freeze!!