Oh my dear England!

Damn Sreenidhi Cables. To hell with ESPN-Star. Yes, it’s my infamous foul temper at work. My cable operator has blacked out ESPN-Star since Saturday evening and I have missed the best part of the last four days of action at Wimbledon and Euro2004.

Even though the punks are out thanks to Portugal, England continues to be the flavor of the month for me. These Brits are never short of real entertainment. Take Tim for example. Come June and the whole of this nation gets into a frenzy hoping to see their local boy crowned champion atleast this time around at Wimbledon. When was it the last time around? Fred Perry in 1936? I never support Brits but this time my heart goes out to Henman. He has struggled through the early rounds but surprisingly beat the Scud yesterday. Next up is Ancic and then it’s the usual semifinal date. Never matters who the opponent is - this one will be Tim's mental match. If he can cross this, it will be his year.

Sunday evening had another British treat in store for me as I finally saw Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I have always had crazy tastes and just to give you an idea, my favorite character in the books is without a shadow of doubt, Severus Snape. But then he hardly gets any screen time in the movies which narrows down my choice to Hermoine Granger. (Pronounced: Her-Moy-Nee: I insist on everyone getting their pronunciation right) Wanna know why ? Read on..

Intelligence is a rare commodity to find amongst women and when this is coupled with oodles of loyalty and loads of attitude, the combination can be truly deadly. Born to Muggles, Hermoine is the smartest of her lot at Hogwarts. She's studied wizardry since childhood and has answers to all the questions. Backgrounds of creatures, histories of characters - If it’s ever been in a book, Hermoine knows it. And just like all other brilliant people (pat on my back), Hermoine can't tolerate stupidity and rubbish. Check out her disgust for Cybil Trelawney and Divination, watch out as she ticks off Ron over and over again :-) Sigh !! Hermoine is one heckuva intellectual turn-on :-)

Emma Watson.. Hmm.. Don't get ideas folks but I would be failing in my duty if I did not compliment this wonderful lady for her glowing performance in HP3. Be it the scene when she ticks off Harry for trying to reach out for the magic pendant or when she punches Malfoy, Ms. Watson is a sheer delight. She more than compensates for the drab and boring Daniel Radcliffe and is a wonderful foil for the adorable Rupert Grint. IMHO, this is clearly the best of the three movies and full credit to Alfonso Cuaron for extracting such wonderful performances and also deviating from the book to add his own magical touches. Couldn’t agree more with this wonderful review.