Busy week at Office and at Theatres

Sorry to keep you waiting so long from the last post. A very busy couple of weeks at the office.
Have been working lots to finish this project.
Anyways I had some interesting time in between the busy schedule.Had been to 3 movies, some
restaurants and to San Antonio a beautiful city 80 Miles from Austin.
First the movies. All 3 are very different from each other. The first one was 'National
Treasure- Book of Secrets'- a good movie to watch during a boring or tired evening. This is being screened in Regal Gateway theatre in the Gateway shopping center which is 5 mins
from my hotel. After working for some long hours i went for a walk and ended watching the movie.
A good adventure movie with Nicholas Cage as the hero trying to find a treasure and clear his
grandfathers from murdering Abraham Lincoln. Lots of twists, actions and after solving puzzles
(including kidnapping the President of USA, hahaha!) he manages to find the treasure. The
Gateway theatre is like our PVR. They charge $8.75 (around Rs.350) a ticket during evening.
There are other 6-8 cinema halls inside. Had a good time.
The second movie was "Cloverfield" in the Alamo Draft theatre. It has a wooden bench in front of
the seats so u can order and eat food while watching the movie. Not as classy and comfortable as
our PVR Gold Class, its more of a simple theatre which serves food. The name 'Cloverfield'
sounded like a cartoon chracter (like Garfield) and i thought its a comedy or a light movie when
an office collegue invited me to watch this movie in the Alamo Village Draft theatre. After
watching the movie I came out shaking after being bombed and attacked by 'something' alien
creatures. This is a very unique movie. What makes it different is that the movie is about some
alien creatures attacking Manhattan(NY) and shown from the point of view of some 3-4 people. So
basically its a amateur video shot in a handycam by couple of friends during the course of a
day. They are shooting (or rather documenting :)) a video of a party of their friend who is
leaving America to go for a job abroad and at that time aliens attack the city... and they get
into the city and try to escape and come back to save a friend in vain. A very intense movie and as the theatres warn "You may suffer Motion sickness" by watching this
movie. A very realistic and well done movie. Watch it and in a theatre and u will feel as though
u are part of the group of the people.
Saw the third movie was in the Austin IMAX theatre which is housed in the History of Texas
museum. The movie was 'Sea Monsters' in 3D and it was a breathtaking 45 minutes of 3D monsters
almost biting ur nose off. This movie produced by the National Geographic Channel is a visual
extravanza about the prehistoric animals in the Sea and oceans during the Dinosaurs age. Great
3D quality and amazing graphics made it an experience to remember.
Meanwhile had been to couple of restaurants too. One was in a place called Triumph Cafe where u
order food, pay up and go sit in any seat and the waiters will locate u with the "Country-flag"
tag which they associate with ur order which they give u when u order. Here it is salad means a
plate full of vegetable and with no masala. Great difficulty to get it down the tummy for us
Indians :)Another meal was with a collegue who is a 'vegan' and with 'vegan' friends in a 'vegan'
restaurant. Now dont get confused with 'vegan' and 'vegetarian'. I thought both were same and
was of the impression that i am a strict veggie. Well, 'Vegans' are people who are strict
veggies and also dont eat any diary products like Milk, butter, cheese etc. Basically they dont
eat/use any animal products as they are against animal cruelty. Surprising, but there are vegan
restaurants and bakeries here in the US. Alas, again no masala but interesting to talk to this
group of people who met over the internet and have monthly meetings.
I definitely have to write about San Antonio in a seperate blog entry as there is much to be
told. Getting late tonight. Hang on there till we meet again.