Saturday, May 24, 2014

X-Men days of future past

X-Men: Days of Future Past 

Monkeyrating: 7/10 

Waddabout: set in the future where mutants are being driven into extinction by sentinels developed by trask, wolverine's consciousness is sent back in time to stop certain events that could alter the course of time and prevent the apocalyptic future. 

I say: not as great as First Class, but definitely close. Action sequences are amazing, cg is good, story holds well and the only thing a tad bit disappointing is the music. 

Watch out for: the amazing jail break slow motion sequence. It's mind blowing. 

Watch the full review:

watch the trailer:

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Jamie Oliver Food Revolution - Challenging the System for a good change.

Oliver, a celebrity chef and health campaigner in the UK, used a grassroots campaign in the US to curb obesity. In the first season, his efforts focused in Huntington, West Virginia, statistically one of the unhealthiest cities in the country. In an early trailer for the show, Oliver challenged a group of first grade schoolchildren to identify fruits and vegetables, and they are unable to do so. The show sort of rolled together the concepts from at least two of his previous TV series' campaigns in the UK:Jamie's Ministry of Food and Jamie's School Dinners.

In 2010, Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution was nominated for the Do Something TV Show Award from the VH1 Do Something Awards for its efforts to promote healthy eating at public schools. The show also won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Reality Program.


- Pushkaraj S Shirke

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

when men refuse to marry


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When men refuse to marry... I couldn't have put this better myself. But the worst double standards are the ones set by politicians. with two-faced hypocritical culturally dramatic bastards coming into power in India, I hope things don't head for the worst possible scenario in the typical moral police / RSS / I'm holier than thou style. Last heard, they were going to crack down on live-in relationships coz they got tired of lying to their wives and hiring prostitutes on the sly and had nothing better to do.

 #relationships #hypocricy #moralpolice #doublestandards "

Sunday, May 18, 2014

Let Me In


Monkeyrating: 8/10 

Genre: horror. romance. thriller. 

As a guy who gets bored of horror movies, this is one truly genre redefining film that is a landmark in filmmaking. An intelligent horror film on the brilliantly scripted lines of 1408 and conjuring. 

Waddaabout: a shy, bullied boy finds himself growing into a relationship with a new neighbour who keeps moving towns with a man who appears to be her father. An uncertain romance ensues that opens up a trail of bloodlust into his life.

I say: amazing story. Brilliant direction. Amazingggg performances. Brilliant sound and music. Totally blew away my mind unexpectedly! 
 I love the way the parasitic romance of a vampire is explored with human senses in the movie. 

The sacrificial nature of love and the nature of habit balanced in a story that's supposed to scare you - but ends up making you feel the characters and their flurry of emotions. The little twists aided by the spectacular performances by all actors keep you gripped to the seat all throughout. 

When 100 twilights are made, one such movie rises and redeems the little respect that the vampire genre has. Truly magnificent. A must add to your DVD collection. 


 #film #filmreview #moviereview #movie #letmein #horror #vampire #romance #thriller" 

Godzilla (2014)

Monkeyrating: 5/10 

Waddabout: Godzilla takes on 2 mega insects and saves the world for imminent destruction. 

I say: 
Im a hardcore Godzilla fan but this movie totally disappointed me. i actually gave it a 4/10 - but I added one point for the cg, the character design and vfx. Which are worth admiration. Actually they are the only things worth real admiration in the movie. The movie has no story whatsoever. It has the most school level dialogues possible. And it seriously lacks any sense of emotion evoking action except for maybe at 2 points in the movie. 
The reason it even scores 4 points is for 4 reasons:
1.It's true to the original Godzilla franchise. 
2. The Godzilla Is the hero kaiju and is very humanesque. 
3. Bryan Cranston and ken watanabe make the movie tolerable with their acting. 
4. The larger than life feel is very dominant. The scale is indeed epic. 

Note to director: 
When you make a remake - don't just re make the original. Take it's essence and place it in a modern time or make it relevant to the era you place it in. That's a good fucking remake. 
You got all the emotions and actions right, but hey, remember that a movie still needs a fuckin good story. 

The movie is Definitely not worth the price of a premium movie ticket. Watch it over a matinee to kill some time maybe. 

My review of Godzilla on film pickle: 

Thursday, May 15, 2014

10 Fitness Tips that can Improve any Physique

Life hacking is something that truly amuses me - to find a way to do/learn something really fast, but in an effective way. Without losing out on the core essentials. And since I'm majorly against the 'get fit quick' and 'get rich quick' scams run in mainstream media, i took up the challenge of actually writing a genuine 'get fit quick' and a 'get rich quick' lifehacker guide consisting of only 10 points.

This, is the lifehackers guide to getting fit. Apply these 10 tips to your life and you WILL find yourself stronger, fitter and healthier within 3 months - and will be successfully able to translate it into a lifestyle. Are you ready? Here goes:
1. Join a Gym.
As simple as it may seem, it is the first rule to getting results in fitness. you may want to believe the million get fit at home ads you see on tv and mass media, but they are all crap for a reason. So join a good gym - and by good i don't mean swanky - i mean well equipped with quality free weights, a good squat rack and certified trainers that have been certified from a credible institute. And hire a good trainer/fitness consultant - atleast for the first 3 months. A standard fitness consultant charges as low as 10k for a year of mentoring.

2. SQUAT, DEADLIFT, BENCH PRESS and OVERHEAD PRESS.
Whether you want to lose weight, get abs, get bigger biceps, look like a model, grow stronger or fight aging and get younger - these lifts are your holy grail. If you have the option between doing all the exercises in the world on the fanciest machines OR doing these lifts, choose these lifts. These lifts build your entire body strength, are most functional and directly applicable to real life movements, cause the highest amount of muscle microtrauma leading to highest amount of fatloss through raising your APOC and are universally the best workouts irrespective of your sex and age.

3. Go full range. Go heavy. 
There's no point in doing a workout if you are going to cut corners and do half range motions. Doing your workouts with complete range of motion is healthiest for your body and your joints and for muscular development. Don't listen to quacks who tell you that full range squats are bad for your knees. Also, dont be afraid to go heavy. As Kaizzad Capadia says "you are always stronger than you think you are".  Aim to lift as heavy as you can - the goal should be to get stronger. When you get strong - aesthetics, fat loss, confidence, everything else just follows.
4. Cut out Sugar.
Corn is the greatest cash crop of the US and of the modern world - so the whole corn and sugar industry has you believing that FAT is what makes you fat. but dietary fat and body fat are two entirely different things. Body fat is created from excess glucose - which is a sugar - which comes from carbs. So when i say cut out the sugar, i mean SUGAR, WHITE BREAD, SWEETS, POLISHED RICE and all things with cornflour.
For everyone, cutting out all of these wont be possible - so start with just cutting out actual sugar itself, along with white bread and white rice and that will be enough to drop fat considerably, reduce LDL, feel lighter and be healthier overall.

5. Have more Protein.
How can i advise you that even without checking your diet? because most probably, unless you are a competing bodybuilder who has taken pro nutrition guidance, i'm pretty sure your diet lacks protein. And that's thanks to the mass media that keeps scaring you with myths regarding protein. If you are vegetarian, have loads of paneer, milk and whey protein supplements. If you are Non-vegetarian, add eggs to your breakfast, chicken and fish to your meals and paneer to your dinner everyday - and have some protein supplements too. Research has shown that by simply by adding 2 good quality protein shakes to your diet everyday, you can actually reduce 4-6 kgs of fat in a month.

6. The Universal Supplement Stack: Protein, Creatine, and a good preworkout.
No matter what the fitness magazines tell you, there are only 3 supplements you REALLY need - and that's the protein, creatine, and a good preworkout. Creatine allows you to train heavier, protein gives you the nutrition to rebuild the body and a good preworkout ensures that you can give it your 100% even when you are feeling down.


7. Make a workout group
Influence matters. Get with a group of motivated people who genuinely love being fit. This makes your workout a social activity which is fun and rewarding and also gives you a group of motivators instead of just one.

8. Take up a martial art / activity.
Besides going to the gym, indulging in a physically intense activity on the weekends or 2-3 time s week can be very rewarding. Not only for the body, but also for the mind. It gives you a new sense of accomplishment and confidence and requires higher and higher levels of fitness to keep getting better at it - which goes a long way in keeping you driven to stay fit.
9. If you get injured, visit a sports physiotherapist.
Usual physiotherapists, from my personal experience have been a waste of time - because they try to return your body to normal - where as an athlete or someone aiming for superhuman capabilities, thats just not enough. You need a sports physio who can guide you to recuperating quickly and getting back to training asap.

10. Don't read magazines, and celebrity crap - read actual research papers instead.
Magazines and mass media are 99% crap. Pulishers lie to sell products and celebrities faff to protect their image. It will take you a lot of personal experience and research to be able to tell the good from the bad from the outright ridiculous. Searching the very first pages on google will only give you the sponsored pages and not the real articles. So if you want genuine knowledge on not only fitness but on any topic, search deeper, read books by authors with real qualifications and engage in conversations with real experts on social media or if you can, in real life.

This is it. This is the fitness lifehack. Plain and simple.
If you just follow these 10 simple things, I personally guarantee you that you will find your physique better and stronger and your body healthier than ever before in just 3 months.

-Pushkaraj S Shirke

K11 Trained Fitness Consultant
Creative Director, Climb Media

The Amazing Spiderman 2

Monkey Rating: 8/10

About: the sequel to the amazing spiderman takes us deeper into the fight between oscorp and spiderman and into the secrets of spiderman's existence.





Whats worth watching: action sequences, originality to the comics, 3 great villans, amazing chemistry, decent acting. its a complete packaging basically.




follow my review youtube channel FILM PICKLE on: http://www.youtube.com/user/FilmPickle

film trailer:


- Pushkaraj S Shirke

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

My magic pill for anti-aging and building


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The magic pill for anti ageing and body building does exist.
 #bodybuilding #fitness #antiaging #projectbattleready #beachbody 

Monday, May 12, 2014

Do You Have a TYPE that you fall for?

Its 'romantic' to fall in love with an absolute stranger. Someone totally different from what you imagined you'd like. But as a random discussion last evening drove me to consider is that we all have a type.
And even if i initially thought it is not so, i found evidence to prove otherwise.

I tried to find out 10 things that the people i have been in love with had in common - and i actually could.
So it does define a 'type' if all of those people had these qualities. that's too bizzare to be just 'coincidence'.
Here are the 10 things all the women i have ever been in love with had in common:

1. writes poetry.
2. is kind towards animals.
3. loves movies.
4. prefers a rustic life to the urban life.
5. is as comfortable at a roadside chai tapri as at a 5 star cafe.
6. draws, paints and colors - even if it is just doodles.
7. is genetically gifted with a beautiful body.
8. sings. with an earthy voice.
9. loves travel.
10. has an innate sense of calm even in chaos.

So the next time i see these 10 things in a woman, i should know better and keep my distance. or maybe not. who knows.
Well, atleast i'd know how predictable i am about to be if i start falling for her.

If you read this, consider yourself tagged and write down the 10 things all the people you've loved have had in common.

- Pushkaraj S Shirke

Saturday, May 10, 2014

FILMPICKLE: concept art




Film Pickle scratch design sketch. Launching the channel tonight and Looking forward to reviewing movies, ad films, videos, shorts and really good an crazy stuff of video. Finally people sick of paid media reviews have an option to look forward to. If you support the concept, join the tribe. 
 #unpaidmedia #filmpickle #filmreview #design #art #illustration #film #movie #advertising #filmcraft

Friday, May 9, 2014

Johnny Express

This animated short about a lazy guy in outer space is pretty hilarious
Cute story. Good art. Great animation. 
Say hello to Johnny Express.

The Truth About 'Love'

Growing up blasted by commercialism infested cinema and media that thrive on the concept of 'making each person feel special' - you grow up in a universe where only a stereotypical concept of romance is celebrated. Since that allows for most amount of 'specialness' to be put into the script.
And given that most people will never bother to look out of the bubble or to think for themselves, the stereotype made for selling stuff, becomes the norm.
Is that how love actually is?
Have you ever questioned whether it is love or just genital slavery?
Or is it just a certificate from your guilty conscience to appease your inner needs?
Or is it just a reenactment of your fantasised concept of 'love'?
Are you really in love the way you think or are you just recreating an idealised concept? 
Are you in love with the concept of love rather than in love with a person?
Why do we find people feeling that all other loves were not 'real' love once they find someone they get serious about again or get married to - Even if it happens in a period of 3 months or less from the previous relationship? 

To open your mind to some concepts of love that exist in the real world - beyond the stereotypical view of commercialist cinema, this is a brilliant illustration. 

My current book titled 'stray' also deals with the same topic and above mentioned questions. But as usual, Indian publishers find it too 'risqué' to publish in India. And that is one of the reasons why such concepts never reach the people. They just remain as ideas in the minds of people who happen to have glanced at life beyond the bubble.

I myself, btw, am polyamorous. And it too a long long journey full of stumbles to stop lying to myself, get over my fears of loneliness and to learn that for myself. 

-Pushkaraj S Shirke 

V for Vendetta



V for Vendetta' the graphic novel is a piece of literature that goes way beyond its medium and into the very fabric of human life. Which is why no matter what country or time you are in, it will speak volumes of sense to you. Based in dictatorial France, the story is about a revolutionary who single handedly takes on the government whilst inspiring the people to stand up against the injustice. 

The movie was a masterpiece and truly complimented the graphic novel. The direction, performances and music really touched the essence of the story. Even the cinematic techniques used very well echoed the time and location of the story without making it subject only to that era. It's a movie everyone must watch. 

Some, may not like it immediately. But trust me, give it time, and it will grow onto you. 


Monkeyrating: 8/10 

My fav dialogue:
 "ideas are bulletproof" 



Tuesday, May 6, 2014

what kind of lifting gloves should i use?



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Q. what kind of lifting gloves should i use in the gym? Every time I get this questions, this is my standard answer. Use straps if necessary. Gloves are useless accessories that add no benefit to your lifting capability except looking pretty while doing it.

Saturday, May 3, 2014

Breaking Bad: Review and Tribute

Rating: 9/10
The only point deducted is for stretching it a bit far and taking too large a break between the final season segment 1 and 2.

I say: MUST WATCH.

Story: The story is on the canvas of the life of an over qualified yet simple high school chemistry teacher who is forced by circumstances to explore meth drug manufacturing and dealing. BUT it is actually an intense psychologically profound drama of human life, power, desire, greed, eventuality and fate. It follows two men of dire circumstances and how they ride their way through them with its ups and downs - complete with little joys and heart wrenching betrayals, love and murder, charity and greed and the complete unpredictabilty of life against the power of human will.

Characters: The characters are dickens like - very stark and intense. Good is good and bad is bad, yet with a human side. The casting is mind blowingly perfcet. Infact it is so good that not once does any character not convince you. Its like watching a real documentary of real lives. It is no wonder that one of the characters has already been picked for a spin off - 'better call saul'.

Cinematography: The scenes in the movie are a case study in macro and timelapse photography. This is one series that does justice to the fact that good cinematographers work on TV too - and not just for film. Every frame tells a story, every scene is a setting. you could literally freeze frame any scene and make a poster out of it.

Music: Even when the well written dialogues are missing, the sound is never lacking in storytelling or emotional grabbing. This soundtrack is worth a download and definitely ideal to be set as a writers mood music setting. Its intense, emotional and perfectly picked.

You know something in popular culture has had a far reachin effect when it inspires artists to work for it for free.
Just check out the number of posters and fan arts created for the series, and you'll know what im talking about.







No more words needed. my second favourite tv series of all time has been done justice in this tribute:


- Pushkaraj S Shirke

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