The Twilight Saga: New Moon

By Robert L Sungte (Deccan Herald) English (U/A) Cast: Kristen Stewart , Robert Pattinson , Taylor Lautner Director: Chris Weit

A sequel to the mega-hit ‘Twilight’, the ‘The Twilight Saga: New Moon’ begins with Bella Swan’s (Kristen Stewart) 18th birthday party where she tells her vampire boyfriend Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) to transform her into his kind. But her 109-years-old-beau, stuck-in-a-17-year-old-boy’s body has no desire to suck out her blood and soul. So, the party becomes a turning point in the entire plot. Edward breaks up with Bella.

Separated by distance, Bella soon  begins to see why Edward did not grant her wish. But desperate and lonely she soon finds solace in a handsome hunk, Jacob Black (Lautner) who has his own werewolf secrets. As Bella’s life sinks deeper into a possessive relationship  she soon realises she’s standing on the cliff of danger. Now, all she needs is a savior and who is to come to her rescue and how is what keeps the plot of the film engrossing. The film is based on Stephenie Meyer’s second book on the ‘Twilight’ series and director Chris Weitz refined it as a modern day Romeo-Juliet story where you have action and melo-drama.

If we look ‘New Moon’ from ‘Twilight’, it is moody most of the time until Bella meets the warm and cheerful Jacob. The second half of the film is also slow with many show offs scenes. However, the eerie howlings and comical stunts save the good versus bad vampire saga. Another good news is that ‘New Moon’ is a ladies charmer. You have one of the sweetest hunks around trying to capture the heart of Bella. As Pattinson is out of the scene for a long period Lautner’s charm and biceps are much more noticeable.

The film ends in a sentimental note leaving the audience to conclude that they have to see the other two parts of the ‘Twilight’ books on the silver screen.

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Airtel’s New Tariff Rates for Roaming… Is it the best for now?

[By Veena D’Souza for Nahai]

The telecom industry in India has become a stage for farces as one service provider starts slashing tariffs, its peers start leveraging cross product USPs to communicate value propositions in a desperate effort to gain maximum number of user while maintaining their current subscriber base. Considering the fact that Indians are among the most price sensitive consumers and ones who flow with emotions, the constantly evolving tariffs by operators today, promise a lot, but fall short on deliveries.

 

Touching different sects of consumers, newer tariffs are being offered to maintain the subscriber base and the only benefit that telecom operators today seek, are those for themselves. The local call rate differences are evident and have been clarified by certain parts of the media for whom it is crucial that the consumers know facts as they are.

 

The most recent announcement by Airtel launching the reduced tariff for Roaming charges falls short on many fronts. As a consumer, one is drawn to great savings at different levels – especially in the times of inflating lifestyle expenses. But a closer evaluation of the promise brings into light the actual cost differentiators.

 

The newest tariff by Airtel offers Roaming charges at 60p and 80p. Although Airtel reduced the roaming tariff, it is still on a per /minute pulse. A customer who has taken Airtel’s per second tariff will continue to pay 60p for incoming roaming and 80p for outgoing roaming calls on a per minute basis, while he/she enjoys 1p & 1.2p/sec for calls made within and outside Airtel’s network.

Roaming tariffs still remain high in the country barring Reliance and Tata DoCoMo, who have taken roaming to per second frontier.  Vodafone and Idea are yet to match such tariff cuts for roaming. 

As a consumer who is aware, a comparison of various offering is the most obvious route to be taken. On doing so, it is clear that the tariffs offered by Reliance Mobile are extremely simple and easy to understand. Under their “Simply Reliance” plans they are offering customers 2 options – a 1p/sec tariff and a flat charge of 50p/min. Both plans offer consumers the benefits of a ‘no-frills’ charge – everything is either at 1p/sec or at 50p/min; and they have not secluded Roaming from their array of offerings. It is truly a simple plan. Tata DoCoMo’s plans also have the same theme of a flat rate of 1paise per second. But, is only suited for callers with short duration calls. Unlike Reliance, Tata DoCoMo does not offer per minute and per call tariffs to satiate the needs of those who talk for longer durations, to whom the per second tariffs of Tata DoCoMo will prove to be prohibitively expensive!

 

By coming in late with the Tariffs on roaming, one would have expected Airtel to come about with the best offer, since its competitors have already played their cards; but it is clearly not in their agenda to offer 1p/sec for Roaming customers. As is mentioned in their billboards – Freedom and Advantage – one may question where the two important factors vanish when it comes to roaming. After making loud announcements of the per second billing which has covered endless reams of new print and television commercials, consumers are still going to be charged on the per/min basis for Roaming and that too more than other operators in the country. One may ask why this discrimination?

A Christmas Carol

True to the original Charles Dicken’s classic ‘A Christmas Carol’, this animation film follows the transformation of an old miser and money lender Ebenezer Scrooge (Jim Carey) into a kind and loving person.

After his closest friend and business partner Marley passes away, Scrooge always complains about life. He is also unpopular with the people around him. He not only burdens his clerk Bob (Gary Oldman) with his endless criticisms but refuses to have dinner with his nephew Fred (Colin Firth).  But, one night Marley’s ghost appears to give him a chance to change his life. Thereafter, Scrooge is visited by three spirits — the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Christmas Present, and Christmas Yet to Come (all voiced by Carey). These ghosts take Scrooge to the different stages of life he has had, and also to the future. And, with Director Robert Zemeckis, has who always been a pathbreaker in animation film industry, in control, the film narrates the timeless classic like a flowing river unobstructed by silts and stones.

The 3D image looks fantastic with the each settings having unique aura of the time. Details like pimples, coins on a death man’s forehead, etc., are some of the minute details which the film can also boast about.

Facial movements and voices of the characters also resemble the actors in real life. Carey’s flexible face is clearly reflected in all the characters he lends his voice to. Carey brings back memories of him jiggling, singing, sliding down a railing in mega-hit ‘The Mask’. Oldman and Firth also lend good support.

However, it is important to remember that despite the ‘A Christmas Carol’  being a children’s classic, it basically is a ghost story. As such the film has some scary scenes which are well enacted to keep you on the edge of your seat. There are ghostly images which might haunt children for days.

Overall, the film is a big morale booster in this period of gloom in the markets. There are not many funny lines, but it will cheer you up with its faith on hope, redemption and love.

Reviewed by Robert L. Sungte, Deccan Herald

English (U) Cast: Jim Carrey, Colin Firth, Gary Oldman, Robin Wright Penn Director: Robert Zemeckis

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