sj-the-great

[sj-the-great]

Knives Out & Bullet Train

24 June '25

I love watching films. In 2025, I've seen many remarkable ones. The most notable watches however, came out in 2019 and 2022. Knives Out by Rian Johnson, primarily starring Ana de Armas, Daniel Craig, and Chris Evans (amongst an altogether stellar cast), and Bullet Train by David Leitch, primarily starring Brad Pitt, Joey King, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Brian Tyree Henry (amongst another stellar cast), were those notable watches.

Knives Out is a wonderful whodunnit tale investigating the apparent murder of writer Harlan Thrombey (played by Christopher Plummer). There exist way too many reviews and analyses of the same, and I'd say everyone should check them out in order to understand the intricacies of the film. It even switches genres midway through the runtime.

Bullet Train follows former assassin Ladybug (Brad Pitt) as he boards a bullet train (who knew) for a simple assignment but discovers there's something much bigger going on, with there being six other assassins on the train with him. All the assassins' stories are intertwined and flow beautifully together. Again, many reviews and analyses exist for the same. Another worthwhile watch.

I absolutely loved both these films. Their stories don't qualify as exceptional or profound, but rather reliable, strong, complex, and interesting. They tackle core but subtle aspects of life. Knives Out places emphasis on Ana de Armas as a simple good person, and how by just being that simply good person in a viper's nest is sometimes good enough to get you out. Bullet Train showcases how you often meet the thing you wished to avoid by taking the road of avoiding it. Simple ideas and powerful scripts. For the last time, many reviews exist and I'd encourage you to check them out.

A few commonalities of both films really stood out and appealed to me.

Characters. Both films have a stellar lineup of characters, all played by actors clearly having fun on the job. More or less every character is interesting, complex, and adds their piece to the story. The story itself is largely supported by the interactions between these characters, making all the events feel natural. From the exaggerated personality of Benoit Blanc to the frustrated competence of Tangerine, from the simple good common sense of Marta to the why-the-hell-am-I-here-screw-this mentality of Ladybug, I can surely say that the characters make these films what they are. A round of applause to ALL the characters. 10/10.

Both films have distinct and wonderfully crafted aesthetics, showcased through beautiful cinematography. The bullet train in Bullet Train drags along a new environment with every carriage, all lit up with the neon brightness of Tokyo. All the assassins (and victims) have their own sense of fashion and accessories, from Ladybug's bucket hat to the Twins' suits, all characters show off their personality. In Knives Out, the story is set mostly within Thrombey Mansion estate. The mansion is intricately crafted with too many details (and easter eggs) to process. Every room is stocked with books, decorated with statues and paintings, beautifully furnished with antiques. The mansion is practically a character in its own right. The visual appeal of the films is so strong that even if one feels lulled by the story, there's just so many things of interest to see that you're never bored.

Humour and acknowledgment. Both films strike a nice balance between taking themselves too seriously and not at all. Through all the fourth wall breaks, meta jokes, character voice-overs, jokes, murders, hilarious conversation, and careful fights, Knives Out & Bullet Train take themselves just seriously enough that the audience enjoys and laughs throughout the film while being deeply invested, like I was.

All in all, both films are some of my favourites. If you're ever bored and want something you know you'll enjoy, these two films can certainly do the job. I do not have much experience writing reviews, but I hope I did enough of a good job that you'll give these two a chance.

[sj-the-great]

23 June '25

More than a decade ago, my mother found out from a colleague that something called a Kindle exists. I was a voracious reader, needing a new book like every week or so (I still am, but now I need a new one like once or twice a month), and our house was slowly running out of shelf space. So to my mom, an e-book reader sounded great! As a kid, it was essentially a reading tablet and which kid doesn't like tablets? I was sold.

Soon enough, we bought the Kindle Paperwhite. It was a beautiful device - sleek, quick, and efficient. Its battery lasted for days, weeks even. And my dumbass didn't know how to use it. It was a new piece of technology in the world, and as a little kid, I had no idea how to make an Amazon account, 'register' the Kindle to it, and have a book miraculously appear on it. I swear, the books I bought appeared on phones, laptops -- everything aside from the Kindle itself. Eventually I gave up. I just started buying physical books.

Around 2019, when I grew half a brain cell, I figured out how to make the Kindle work. Even then, I was so used to physical copies that I didn't use the Kindle much.

Finally, in 2020, the pandemic hit. And I had absolutely nothing to read. I had reread the books in my library a dozen times. Books being delivered was unusual. In that moment, like an angel, my Kindle appeared. In the span of six months, I read so many books on it that it became my default. Everywhere I went, the Kindle came with me.

Nowadays, I have a decent balance. I don't buy many new physical books, mostly because the obscure crap I read isn't available in stores and takes a while to be delivered (also refer aforementioned problems of space). So Kindle it is.

I can't sing enough praises of the thing. It exists for one and only one reason: to read from. And it serves that purpose wonderfully. If anyone is considering buying one, I'd say it's a worthwhile investment, especially since I've had mine for over a decade and it's still in great working condition. Sure, it may take you some time to get used to reading on a screen, but once you do, nothing makes reading more convenient than a Kindle.

[sj-the-great]

29 April '25

"I swear to tell the tooth, the whole tooth, and nothing but the tooth, so help me God."

A Molar shivers in the corner, knowing all the details.

[sj-the-great]

10 April '25

As of now I'm in university. I'll graduate, probably work on my master's, and then work for as long as I want to on the field. After that, I think I wanna return to university, but as a professor. Being a teacher who's invested in his subject would be so cool. I could have so much fun. Can't wait to show fifty rocket launch videos simply because I wanna show rocket launches and because they're cool. I could play thunderstruck as an intro to my class. I could call it PHYS0.01: The Fun Things.

[sj-the-great]

8 April '25

Science is so ridiculous at times.

Like whaddya mean 'a rather drastic solution to climate change is launching sulphate into the upper atmosphere'.

I'm all for shooting rockets into space but what part of that sounds like a good idea? I know it works but it really sounds like it shouldn't.

[sj-the-great]

31 Dec. 2024: House of Quotes, S3:E31

"Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." - Samuel Beckett

The ultimate quote of 2024 is this number by Samuel Beckett, an Irish writer. This quote is one of SJs favourite, found in Ruskin Bond's Mr. Oliver's Diary. The quote serves as a great blueprint for the mentality required to be a student. It worked for SJ particularly well as he tripped over the intricacies of math again and again. While you may not succeed in the second attempt, if you try to just fail better than the first, then keeping the effort up and trying again and again, failing better and better, will eventually get you to some level of success.

And with that, we end the House of Quotes, 2024! Season 3 was an absolute blast to put forth, especially on this platform. SJ received inputs and feedback from many people, and he extends his heartfelt thanks to everyone who read this series. SJ will see you all next year, for House of Quotes 2025, with its fourth season.

[sj-the-great]

30 Dec. 2024: House of Quotes, S3:E30

"Men are apt to mistake the strength of their feeling for the strength of their argument. The heated mind resents the chill touch and relentless scrutiny of logic" - William E. Gladstone

Behold the penultimate quote of season three! We are almost at the end of the House. This quote, in the form of a metaphor, very nicely conveys how people tend to make arguments emotionally. These emotional arguments often end up baseless. A wonderful reason for this quote to be in the house is simply because of how beautiful the metaphor

[sj-the-great]

29 Dec. 2024: House of Quotes, S3:E29

"You did your best, which is never a waste of time" - Jean Millburn, from Sex Education

Sometimes, you do your best. Give a project or an assignment or a relationship your all. Yet the project doesn't work out, the assignment doesn't get a perfect score, and the relationship falls apart. It is easy to lose interest in trying after that failure of meeting your expectations. This quote gently reminds you that that effort was not wasted. Maybe it didn't get you exactly what you wanted, but you did all that you could. You can categorise it as a failure if you so desire, but you shouldn't categorise it as a waste of time. Failures encourage you to try again, thinking that something is a waste of time, does not. And if it was worth trying for once, maybe it is worth trying for again.

[sj-the-great]

28 Dec. 2024: House of Quotes, S3:E28

"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." - Aristotle

A wonderful achievement of successful education is that the student is able to see multiple perspectives for the same topic. Not knowing any other perspective aside from your own is simply an opinion. Well-rounded education (not usually by school, as far as SJs understanding goes) exposes one to a wide variety of topics and perspectives on that topic, to do with as one wills. SJ likes to explain topics of dark humour with this analogy: it is like browsing in a supermarket - you can take something, play with it, check what it is, but necessarily buy it. In dark humour, you can joke about many topics frowned upon, but you don't accept or inculcate any of them. Educated minds, as per this quote, should be able to do something similar. One should be able to play with a topic, look at it, understand it, check the pricing, reviews, and if one chooses, simply not buy it. One shouldn't just throw the item away just because it looks unfamiliar.

[sj-the-great]

27 Dec. 2024: House of Quotes, S3:E27

"You don't need to have an opinion about everything. Do not get worked up about things you cannot control. These things didn't ask for your attention. Leave them alone." - Marcus Aurelius

A great bit of advice for getting some measure of peace in your life.

[sj-the-great]

26 Dec. 2024: House of Quotes, S3:E26

"All of man's miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone" - Blaise Pascal

One of SJs favourite quotes, this one has been in stock for a while, waiting for the perfect moment to be revealed. A rampant issue seen by SJ is the inability to sit with one's own thoughts. No one else. It can be uncomfortable, scary or downright unpleasant to simply pay attention to what's going on in your own mind - sometimes a direct result of that is that your thoughts seek attention and come out in weird ways, making you miserable. Things in the brain left unattended weigh a person down, and the stain of unpleasant thoughts and sorrowful memories becomes blatant on the walls of the mind. Much healthier to just sit in silence, doing nothing, and reflecting.

[sj-the-great]

25 Dec. 2024: House of Quotes, S3:E25

"Love is never wasted, for its value does not rest upon reciprocity" - C. S. Lewis

Merry Christmas! On this wonderful holiday, SJ presents this short but sweet quote. It reminds us of the Christmas family spirit, and the feeling of togetherness and kindness that can follow family. It's a beautiful feeling to have family around you, whether they're blood or simply friends. Sometimes you're also in a state wherein a friendship or relationship has phased out of your life - in that case, this quote provides some reassurance. What you did, the care you showed, the happiness you spread, the love you gave - was not in vain. It never will be. The love you gave goes out into the world and to it's people but the warmth often stays with you even if the person it was aimed at moves out. The love was never wasted. This quote connects to the quote from Episode 11. Similar sentiment applies, just in different words.

[sj-the-great]

24 Dec. 2024: House of Quotes, S3:E24

"The most spiritual men, as the strongest, find their happiness where others would find their destruction: in the labyrinth, in hardness against themselves and others, in experiments. Their joy is self-conquest... Difficult tasks are a privilege to them; to play with burdens that crush others, a recreation." - Friedrich Nietzsche

Nietzsche has said a bunch of stuff - but this quote carries a certain oomph factor which is undeniable, whether you agree with it or not. People who think, embrace a challenge and do things with a wish to learn, find it enjoyable to deal with that situation. A situation wherein it's equally easy to complain or give up.

[sj-the-great]

23 Dec. 2024: House of Quotes, S3:E23

“Despite being alone, the silent company of strangers enjoying art or music together made me feel anything but lonely.” - Jing’s YouTube Channel, Oxford Diaries Ep.3

SJ adores this piece of script of the Oxford Diaries. It gives a nice insight into the difference between being lonely and being alone. One is a negative feeling, the other is simply a state of being - nothing out of the ordinary, and even something to enjoy. SJ adores his friends, but equally appreciates (and leaves time for) his time alone. The solitude is just as important, allowing oneself to think, reflect, focus, relax...and observe. Just sitting and observing is a wonderful part of life. It is exciting to play the game, but often just as fun as being in the spectator stand and watching. One learns a lot, maybe about others, usually about oneself.

[sj-the-great]

22 Dec. 2024: House of Quotes, S3:E22

"Even when I'm in danger, I'll be okay because Mother will save me" - Anya, from Spy X Family

Pretty much says it all, really. SJ certainly has that confidence. One of SJs starter reasons to read and write were his parents, which is pretty much why the general populace get to enjoy these quotes. Thanks, Mom! (And you too, Dad. Love you both.)

[sj-the-great]

21 Dec. 2024: House of Quotes, S3:E21

“Perfection is an instagram filter” - Azeem Banatwalla

This quote made it into the House mostly because it's such a pretty metaphor. It perfectly connects the fact that perfection is unattainable to a very common phenomenon. Also SJ is using this metaphor as reassurance because he submitted an assignment five minutes before it was due without really proofreading.

[sj-the-great]

20 Dec. 2024: House of Quotes, S3:E20

“Do what’s fun, not easy” - Bokuto, from Haikyu!!

The anime 'Haikyu' is absolute gold through and through. One of SJs favourites in the anime is the character Kōtarō Bokuto, the captain ace of team Fukurodani. Every time he is on screen, he dominates the room with his bright, energetic presence. He thoroughly enjoyed everything he does. This quote rally encapsulates how Bokuto makes decisions, as when one takes decisions based on having fun instead of the thing's difficulty, one has a higher goal. You push yourself more and you learn a lot more. Its just fun.