Honestly

Jay Dwivedi's personal page.  His business blog is here. Also visit my daily blog.

The Pink Panther movie review


Photo of Steve Martin in Pink PantherOver the years I have learned that it is perfectly safe to watch a Steve Martin movie for good laughs. Yep, I am talking about falling off the couch laughs and this film provides them in plenty. Actually, Steve Martin is as his very best as Inspector Jacques Clouseau who has been asked to investigate the death of French soccer team coach and disappearance of the Pink Panther diamond.

In his quest for the killers with the help of Gilbert Ponton (Jean Reno and you might recall him from The Da Vinci Code), he must make a fool of himself at every point (after all he has been set up to fail by police chief Dreyfus played by Kevin Kline), including making a complete mess on his first trip to New York City, where he gets arrested at the JFK Airport. In the process of his investigations, he must also try to get information out of Beyonce (who plays Xania, a pop singer who was dating the coach).

Strongly recommended for Steve Martin fans and comedy lovers.

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The Devil Wears Prada movie review


Photo of a Prada shoeMost magazine editors become very powerful but Anna Wintour, the editor of Vogue, is above them all. The top designers in the world have to be on good terms with her because Vogue is literally the Bible for the fashionistas and nothing gets inside the magazine until Wintour says so.

She is reportedly the inspiration for the book and the movie. And those of us have had the misfortune of dealing with mean bosses know what it feels like and how frustrating it can be to work with nasty supervisor.

Miranda Priestley (a role that was literally made for Meryl Streep) hires yet another assistant Andy Sachs (I would have never thought that Anne Hathaway was such a fine actress) not just to answer phone calls or to act as an executive assistant, but also to bring coffee for her boss and be treated worse than a maid.

It is the story of a right-out-of-college graduate with all the aspirations of making it big and always doing the right thing, but then finds out that the world of business is one ugly place where there is no place for sweet, polite, considerate people.

She learns a lot of lessons about work and life from her boss but like anyone with even a bit of personal values would do, she quits (as dozens of assistants have done in the past). In the end she realizes that a great job is not worth it if it means stepping on people's toes and sacrificing your personal values.

Strongly recommended if you like fashion, comedy, New York, and Paris.

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Paris fashion week


It can be overwhelming to following all the fashion weeks but it is nice to follow what is going on Paris. I have to say that Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel did a remarkable job - dresses that are fit for those "power" girl moments. If you are looking for glamorous, red-carpet-ready dresses, pick John Galliano for Christian Dior. Valentino was at his best with yet another set of beautiful clothes. I found designs by Christian LaCroix and Jean-Paul Gaultier fit for a Halloween party (I am not kidding).

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