Ravings of a Nomadic Mind

Jeremy Clarkson's tribute to Steve Fosset

I spent some of my summer holiday on a small Caribbean island. Created by a volcanic burp at some point in our ever-changing world's past, it was what most people would consider to be paradise.

Surrounded entirely by the sort of sea you normally find in airbrushed travel brochures, it was ringed by an uninterrupted
sliver of perfectly white, perfectly deserted beach and, further out,
a tropical reef blah blah Jacques Cousteau blah blah etc.

There were no hotels and the only other house I could see from ours belonged to Bruce Willis.

Hopefully, you have a mental picture of the scene because now we move onto the meat and potatoes. You see, the island in question was only a few miles long and a few miles wide. So how do you get about?

It's too far to walk from the one shop to the little dock where people keep their boats. But it would be ridiculous to drive. And so, while there is one pick-up truck - used to pull boats out of the water when a hurricane is coming - the residents move around in a collection of communal golf buggies.

It's all very communist. You help yourself to a cart and then, if you're the last to use it at night, you have to plug it into the mains and charge it up.

Brilliant. No noise, no fumes, no pollution, no jams, no sense that Bruce's golf cart is bigger than mine and I must respond. And of course, absolutely no chance of anyone being even slightly killed...

You'd think. But that ain't necessarily so because, you see, sticking its oar into this Liberal Democrat's idea of heaven comes something called youthful exuberance. Mix that with a T-junction and someone's going to need the flying doctor.

If the golf buggy had had an engine, the person going the other way would have heard it coming. But it didn't. So he came round the bush, and bang. Of course, you may argue that a golf buggy can only do 15mph and that no harm can come to a driver at this speed. True enough.

But when it has a head-on with another buggy, also travelling at 15mph you have a 30mph impact. Doesn't sound like much? Really? Well try running face first into a wall and then send me an email explaining how things turned out.

Did the accident bring everyone to their senses? Yes... we thought. But wait, what's this? Why, it's a teenager attempting to do a donut in his buggy. And over there, there's an 11-year-old trying to jump his over an iguana.

This is the problem, the concept that our friends in the yellow and green parties just can't seem to understand. That for some, taking risks is fun.Of course, they'll say that the people I'm talking about are yobs. They'll point to someone called Darren in a Nova, doing handbrake turns in a Tesco car park. But me?
Well I'll point to Steve Fossett.

As I write, the American adventurer is missing in the Nevada desert. There are fears that he's crashed his plane and that he's dead. It'll be a terrible shame if it is true, because Steve to me is what the baby Jesus is to the Archbishop of Canterbury.

I met him once many years ago and he didn't really fit the profile. I knew, from reading his biography, that he'd made a fortune on Wall Street and since retiring had raced at Le Mans, swum the Channel and beaten the world speed record for crossing the Pacific in a sail boat.

So I was expecting him to be a cross between Gordon Gekko, Thomas Crown and the Terminator. I was expecting him to break every bone in my fingers when we shook hands and for him to slap me on the back with such force that my spine was shattered.

This turned out to be wrong. "Can you tell me where Steve Fossett is?" I said to a man in tatty combat trousers, sweeping the floor in a big aeroplane hanger. "That's me," he said quietly.

He was a rubbish interview, stammering and not quite being able to enunciate what drove him. But when the cameras were off and we were just chatting, he was funny, extremely kind and driven by a quest for adventure so powerful that if you took out his soul, it could be used to light the world.

Since our meeting, he's gone properly berserk, setting 23 world sailing records and nine distance race records. And when he breaks a record, he doesn't do things by halves: when he crossed the Atlantic in 113 hours, he shattered the previous record by nearly two days.

Most people would have had their work cut out keeping ahead of the game in the world of sailing. But not Steve. Because during this time, he set a new record for crossing America in a non military jet. His average speed was 726mph.

And then he turned round, went back to the West coast and set a Transcontinental record for turbo props. Then he broke the record for crossing Australia. And then he broke one for flying round the world. Of seven world records for fixed-wing aircraft, Steve has three.

I have nowhere near finished.On top of this, he's broken 10 of the 21 world records for gliding. He's gone further than anyone else and he's been higher. 50, 727 feet. And then, just last year, he got back into a powered plane and flew round the world again without refuelling in 76 hours and 45 minutes. The longest flight in history.

He has competed in several triathlons, is one of only eight men to have done all of the world's 10 toughest ski races, he has done the 1,165-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Alaska and he has piloted an airship at 71.5mph. Another absolute world record.

And I haven't even got to the ballooning yet. He was the first to cross the Pacific in a balloon and, after six attempts, the first to go all the way round the world. You get the impression he's circumnavigated the globe more often than most 747 pilots. Oh, and he's climbed six of the world's seven highest mountains.

He disappeared while on a flight looking for somewhere in Nevada where he could break the land-speed record. He had the car, 47-feet long and powered by an afterburning jet engine from a Phantom F4. He just needed somewhere to drive it.

A menace? A one-man carbon snowshoe? I don't think so. I dislike using the word 'hero' because I think it should be mainly reserved for soldiers. Or at the very least, people who risk their lives to help others. But in a way, that's exactly what Steve Fossett did. He risked his life to show that there's still some hope in the Liberal Democrat's stupid vision of a perfect golf-buggy-and-cotton-wool world.

At the very least, that makes him an inspiration.

The 2007 formula one season began very much like any other. The teams had done their pre-season showing off of their new cars and announced their new driver lineup, however one team stood out. McLaren Mercedes announced their number two driver was a young Englishman by the name of Lewis Hamilton. Few people had heard of him until now and fewer expected what was to come.

Australia

The first race of the season and Lewis Hamilton qualifies 4th on in debut grand prix. Finishing only three tenths of a second behind team mate and reigning world champion Fernando Alonso he expressed his delight:

"I'm overwhelmed to be on the second row for my first Grand Prix," said Hamilton. "This weekend is what I have been preparing myself for during the past 13 years and I'm enjoying every moment. I think we are in with a good chance in the race."

The relationship between the two McLaren drivers began on a high note with Alonso quoted as saying "I'm pleased that Lewis is right up there with me which puts us both in the best position to score points for ourselves and the team, I can't wait for the race."

Living up to the massive hype surround Lewis Hamilton's entry into Formula one he managed to pull off a podium finish in his first race, finishing third behind Ferrari's Kimi Raikonnen and team mate Alonso.

Malaysia

Having qualified fourth on the grid Lewis finished in a respectable second place, managing to keep the Ferraris at bay and help team mate Alonso secure a race win and also completing McLarens first one-two since the Brazilian GP in 2005.

"That was the most difficult race I have ever had...I had Kimi hunting me down for most of the race. I can't explain how tough that was, it was getting hotter but I had to keep pushing and I made no mistakes."

Bahrain

LH qualified second between the two Ferraris with Alonso starting from fourth place. Hamilton pressured Massa for most of the race and eventually finished in second place to become the first man to take podiums in his first three grand prix.

Spain

Another second place in Spain mean't Lewis Hamilton was now leading the championship, just four races into his F1 career. He managed to keep team mate Alonso behind him to go two points clear in the title chase. Lewis was quoted as saying "Things just keep getting better and I continue living my dream" while things are not going so well for the reigning champion as the chance of winning his home GP disappeared as he tried to overtake Massa in the first corner, damaging his car.

Monaco

Things start to go right for Alonso as he manages to beat team mate and win the Monaco GP for the second year in a row. Hamilton settles for second place, saying "I knew we were both extremely quick, so I could only apply pressure, but he's a two-time world champion and he doesn't really make mistakes".

Canada

Lewis dominated qualifying and took his first pole position. In only his sixth race Hamilton drives his way to his first GP win after a race full of drama and incidents. Confidently Hamilton says "I've been ready for this for quite some time, ready for the win - it was just a matter of where and when". Meanwhile things weren't going so well for Alonso, finishing only 7th USA.

1. Casablanca (1942), dir. Michael Curtiz
2. The Godfather Part II (1974), dir. Francis Ford Coppola
3. North By Northwest (1959), dir. Alfred Hitchcock
4. Citizen Kane (1941), dir. Orson Welles
5. Lawrence of Arabia (1962), dir. David Lean
6. Manhattan (1979), dir. Woody Allen
7. Gone With The Wind (1939), dir. Victor Fleming
8. Chinatown (1974), dir. Roman Polanski
9. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), dir. John Ford
10. City Lights (1931), dir. Charles Chaplin
11. Raging Bull (1980), dir. Martin Scorsese
12. Sunset Boulevard (1950), dir. Billy Wilder
13. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), dir. Stanley Kubrick
14. The Philadelphia Story (1940), dir. George Cukor
15. To Have and Have Not (1944), dir. Howard Hawks
16. The Graduate (1967), dir. Mike Nichols
17. The Maltese Falcon (1941), dir. John Huston
18. Star Wars (1977), dir. George Lucas
19. It's A Wonderful Life (1946), dir. Frank Capra
20. The Wild Bunch (1969), dir. Sam Peckinpah
21. Vertigo (1958), dir. Alfred Hitchcock
22. Singin' In The Rain (1952), dir. Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly
23. The Godfather (1972), dir. Francis Ford Coppola
24. E.T. - The Extra-Terrestrial (1982), dir. Steven Spielberg
25. The Palm Beach Story (1942), dir. Preston Sturges
26. Blade Runner (1982), dir. Ridley Scott
27. Double Indemnity (1944), dir. Billy Wilder
28. The Manchurian Candidate (1962), dir. John Frankenheimer
29. All About Eve (1950), dir. Joseph Mankiewicz
30. The Searchers (1956), dir. John Ford
31. Rear Window (1954), dir. Alfred Hitchcock
32. Annie Hall (1977), dir. Woody Allen
33. Ninotchka (1939), dir. Ernst Lubitsch
34. Blue Velvet (1986), dir. David Lynch
35. The Wizard of Oz (1939), dir. Victor Fleming
36. Bringing Up Baby (1938), dir. Howard Hawks
37. The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957), dir. David Lean
38. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb (1964), dir. Stanley Kubrick
39. Pulp Fiction (1994), dir. Quentin Tarantino
40. Some Like It Hot (1959), dir. Billy Wilder
41. On The Waterfront (1954), dir. Elia Kazan
42. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (1975), dir. Milos Forman
43. Taxi Driver (1976), dir. Martin Scorsese
44. Touch Of Evil (1958), dir. Orson Welles
45. Nashville (1975), dir. Robert Altman
46. Apocalypse Now (1979), dir. Francis Ford Coppola
47. The Hustler (1961), dir. Robert Rossen
48. The Big Sleep (1946), dir. Howard Hawks
49. Bonnie And Clyde (1967), dir. Arthur Penn
50. Unforgiven (1992), dir. Clint Eastwood
51. Network (1976), dir. Sidney Lumet
52. The Silence of the Lambs (1991), dir. Jonathan Demme
53. Jaws (1975), dir. Steven Spielberg
54. The Deer Hunter (1978), dir. Michael Cimino
55. Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), dir. Woody Allen
56. Gunga Din (1939), dir. George Stevens
57. Schindler's List (1993), dir. Steven Spielberg
58. Hud (1963), dir. Martin Ritt
59. The Third Man (1949), dir. Carol Reed
60. Modern Times (1936), dir. Charles Chaplin
61. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), dir. Steven Spielberg
62. Red River (1948), dir. Howard Hawks
63. The Empire Strikes Back (1980), dir. Irvin Kershner
64. Hamlet (1948), dir. Laurence Olivier
65. Notorious (1946), dir. Alfred Hitchcock
66. A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), dir. Elia Kazan
67. Last Tango in Paris (1972), dir. Bernardo Bertolucci
68. Sweet Smell of Success (1957), dir. Alexander Mackendrick
69. Out Of The Past (1947), dir. Jacques Tournier
70. All That Jazz (1979), dir. Bob Fosse
71. Top Hat (1935), dir. Mark Sandrich
72. The Misfits (1961), dir. John Huston
73. Tootsie (1982), dir. Sydney Pollack
74. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), dir. Frank Capra
75. Short Cuts (1993), dir. Robert Altman
76. The Grapes of Wrath (1940), dir. John Ford
77. The Apartment (1960), dir. Billy Wilder
78. A Clockwork Orange (1971), dir. Stanley Kubrick
79. Psycho (1960), dir. Alfred Hitchcock
80. Moonstruck (1987), dir. Norman Jewison
81. GoodFellas (1990), dir. Martin Scorsese
82. Stagecoach (1939), dir. John Ford
83. The Last Picture Show (1971), dir. Peter Bogdanovich
84. Die Hard (1988), dir. John McTiernan
85. Midnight Cowboy (1969), dir. John Schlesinger
86. West Side Story (1961), dir. Robert Wise, Jerome Robbins
87. The Quiet Man (1952), dir. John Ford
88. Reds (1981), dir. Warren Beatty
89. Rebel Without a Cause (1955), dir. Nicholas Ray
90. A Hard Day's Night (1964), dir. Richard Lester
91. A Room With A View (1986), dir. James Ivory
92. From Here to Eternity (1953), dir. Fred Zinnemann
93. The Piano (1993), dir. Jane Campion
94. Adam's Rib (1949), dir. George Cukor
95. This Is Spinal Tap (1984), dir. Rob Reiner
96. It Happened One Night (1934), dir. Frank Capra
97. Do the Right Thing (1989), dir. Spike Lee
98. The Thin Man (1934), dir. W.S. Van Dyke
99. Patton (1970), dir. Franklin Schaffner
100. The Terminator (1984), dir. James Cameron

1. "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." — Rhett Butler (Clark Gable), Gone with the Wind (1939)
2. "I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse." — Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando), The Godfather (1972)
3. "You don't understand! I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I could've been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am." — Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando), On the Waterfront (1954)
4. "Toto, I've got a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore." — Dorothy Gale (Judy Garland), The Wizard of Oz (1939)
5. "Here's looking at you, kid." — Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart), Casablanca (1942)
6. "Go ahead, make my day." — Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood), Sudden Impact (1983)
7. "All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up." — Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson), Sunset Boulevard (1950)
   
8. "May the Force be with you." — Han Solo (Harrison Ford), Star Wars (1977)
9. "Fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy night." — Margo Channing (Bette Davis), All About Eve (1950)
10. "You talkin' to me?" — Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro), Taxi Driver (1976)
11. "What we've got here is failure to communicate." — Captain (Strother Martin), Cool Hand Luke (1967)
12. "I love the smell of napalm in the morning." — Lt. Col. Bill Kilgore (Robert Duvall), Apocalypse Now (1979)
13. "Love means never having to say you're sorry." — Oliver Barrett IV (Ryan O'Neal), Love Story (1970)
14. "The stuff that dreams are made of." — Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart), The Maltese Falcon (1941)
15. "E.T. phone home." — E.T. (Pat Welsh), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
16. "They call me Mister Tibbs!" — Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier), In the Heat of the Night (1967)
17. "Rosebud." — Charles Foster Kane (Orson Welles), Citizen Kane (1941)
18. "Made it, Ma! Top of the world!" — Arthur "Cody" Jarrett (James Cagney), White Heat (1949)
19. "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!" — Howard Beale (Peter Finch), Network (1976)
20. "Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship." — Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart), Casablanca (1942)
21. "A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti." — Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
22. "Bond. James Bond." — James Bond (Sean Connery), Dr. No (1962)
23. "There's no place like home." — Dorothy Gale (Judy Garland) The Wizard of Oz (1939)
24. "I am big! It's the pictures that got small." — Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson), Sunset Boulevard (1950)
25. "Show me the money!" — Rod Tidwell (Cuba Gooding Jr.) and Jerry Maguire (Tom Cruise), Jerry Maguire (1996)
26. "Why don't you come up sometime and see me?" — Lady Lou (Mae West), She Done Him Wrong (1933)
27. "I'm walking here! I'm walking here!" — "Ratso" Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman), Midnight Cowboy (1969)
28. "Play it, Sam. Play 'As Time Goes By.'" — Ilsa Laszlo (Ingrid Bergman), Casablanca (1942)
29. "You can't handle the truth!" — Col. Nathan Jessep (Jack Nicholson), A Few Good Men (1992)
30. "I want to be alone." — Grusinskaya (Greta Garbo), Grand Hotel (1932)
31. "After all, tomorrow is another day!" — Scarlett O'Hara (Vivien Leigh), Gone with the Wind (1939)
32. "Round up the usual suspects." — Capt. Louis Renault (Claude Rains), Casablanca (1942)
33. "I'll have what she's having." — Customer (Estelle Reiner), When Harry Met Sally... (1989)
34. "You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and blow." — Marie "Slim" Browning (Lauren Bacall), To Have and Have Not (1944)
35. "We're gonna need a bigger boat." — Martin Brody (Roy Scheider), Jaws (1975)
36. "Badges? We ain't got no badges! We don't need no badges! I don't have to show you any stinking badges!" — "Gold Hat" (Alfonso Bedoya), The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
37. "I'll be back." — The Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger), The Terminator (1984)
38. "Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth." — Lou Gehrig (Gary Cooper), The Pride of the Yankees (1942)
39. "If you build it, he will come." — Shoeless Joe Jackson (Ray Liotta), Field of Dreams (1989)
40. "Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get." — Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks), Forrest Gump (1994)
41. "We rob banks." — Clyde Barrow (Warren Beatty), Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
42. "Plastics." — Mr. Maguire (Walter Brooke), The Graduate (1967)
43. "We'll always have Paris." — Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart), Casablanca (1942)
44. "I see dead people." — Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment), The Sixth Sense (1999)
45. "Stella! Hey, Stella!" — Stanley Kowalski (Marlon Brando), A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
46. "Oh, Jerry, don't let's ask for the moon. We have the stars." — Charlotte Vale (Bette Davis), Now, Voyager (1942)
47. "Shane. Shane. Come back!" — Joey Starrett (Brandon De Wilde), Shane (1953)
48. "Well, nobody's perfect." — Osgood Fielding III (Joe E. Brown), upon being told that the woman he hopes to marry is actually a man in disguise, Some Like It Hot (1959)
49. "It's alive! It's alive!" — Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive), Frankenstein (1931)
50. "Houston, we have a problem." — Jim Lovell (Tom Hanks), Apollo 13 (1995)
51. "You've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, punk?" — Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood), Dirty Harry (1971)
52. "You had me at 'hello.'" — Dorothy Boyd (Renée Zellweger), Jerry Maguire (1996)
53. "One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I don't know." — Capt. Jeffrey T. Spaulding (Groucho Marx), Animal Crackers (1930)
    
54. "There's no crying in baseball!" — Jimmy Dugan (Tom Hanks), A League of Their Own (1992)
55. "La-dee-da, la-dee-da." — Annie Hall (Diane Keaton), Annie Hall (1977)
56. "A boy's best friend is his mother." — Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), Psycho (1960)
57. "Greed, for lack of a better word, is good." — Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas), Wall Street (1987)
58. "Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer." — Michael Corleone (Al Pacino), The Godfather: Part II (1974)
59. "As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again." — Scarlett O'Hara (Vivien Leigh), Gone with the Wind (1939)
60. "Well, here's another nice mess you've gotten me into!" — Oliver (Oliver Hardy), Sons of the Desert (1933)
61. "Say 'hello' to my little friend!" — Tony Montana (Al Pacino), Scarface (1983)
62. "What a dump." — Rosa Moline (Bette Davis), Beyond the Forest (1949)
63. "Mrs. Robinson, you're trying to seduce me. Aren't you?" — Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman), The Graduate (1967)
64. "Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room!" — President Merkin Muffley (Peter Sellers), Dr. Strangelove (1964)
65. "Elementary, my dear Watson." — Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone), The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939)
66. "Get your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape." — George Taylor (Charlton Heston), Planet of the Apes (1968)
67. "Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine." — Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart), Casablanca (1942)
68. "Heeere's Johnny!" — Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson), The Shining (1980)
69. "They're here!" — Carol Anne Freeling (Heather O'Rourke), Poltergeist (1982)
70. "Is it safe?" — Dr. Christian Szell (Laurence Olivier), Marathon Man (1976)
71. "Wait a minute, wait a minute. You ain't heard nothin' yet!" — Jakie Rabinowitz/Jack Robin (Al Jolson), The Jazz Singer (1927)
72. "No wire hangers, ever!" — Joan Crawford (Faye Dunaway), Mommie Dearest (1981)
73. "Mother of mercy, is this the end of Rico?" — Cesare Enrico "Rico" Bandello (Edward G. Robinson), Little Caesar (1930)
74. "Forget it, Jake, it's Chinatown." — Duffy (Bruce Glover), Chinatown (1974)
75. "I have always depended on the kindness of strangers." — Blanche Dubois (Vivien Leigh), A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
76. "Hasta la vista, baby." — The Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
77. "Soylent Green is people!" — Det. Robert Thorn (Charlton Heston), Soylent Green (1973)
78. "Open the pod bay doors, HAL." — Dave Bowman (Keir Dullea), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
79. Striker: "Surely you can't be serious!" Rumack: "I am serious… and don't call me Shirley." — Ted Striker (Robert Hays) and Dr. Rumack (Leslie Nielsen), Airplane! (1980)
80. "Yo, Adrian!" — Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone), Rocky (1976)
81. "Hello, gorgeous." — Fanny Brice (Barbra Streisand), Funny Girl (1968)
82. "Toga! Toga!" — John "Bluto" Blutarsky (John Belushi), National Lampoon's Animal House (1978)
83. "Listen to them. Children of the night. What music they make." — Count Dracula (Bela Lugosi), Dracula (1931)
84. "Oh, no, it wasn't the airplanes. 'Twas Beauty killed the Beast." — Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong), King Kong (1933)
85. "My precious." — Gollum (Andy Serkis), The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
86. "Attica! Attica!" — Sonny Wortzik (Al Pacino), Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
87. "Sawyer, you're going out a youngster, but you've got to come back a star!" — Julian Marsh (Warner Baxter), 42nd Street (1933)
88. "Listen to me, mister. You're my knight in shining armor. Don't you forget it. You're going to get back on that horse, and I'm going to be right behind you, holding on tight, and away we're gonna go, go, go!" — Ethel Thayer (Katharine Hepburn), On Golden Pond (1981)
89. "Tell 'em to go out there with all they got and win just one for the Gipper." — George Gipp (Ronald Reagan), Knute Rockne, All American (1940)
90. "A martini. Shaken, not stirred." — James Bond (Sean Connery), Goldfinger (1964)
91. "Who's on First?" — Dexter (Bud Abbott), The Naughty Nineties (1945)
92. "Cinderella story. Outta nowhere. A former greenskeeper, now, about to become the Masters champion. It looks like a mirac...It's in the hole! It's in the hole! It's in the hole!" — Carl Spackler (Bill Murray), Caddyshack (1980)
93. "Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death!" — Mame Dennis (Rosalind Russell), Auntie Mame (1958)
94. "I feel the need — the need for speed!" — Lt. Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (Tom Cruise) and Lt. Nick "Goose" Bradshaw (Anthony Edwards), Top Gun (1986)
95. "Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary." — John Keating (Robin Williams), Dead Poets Society (1989)
96. "Snap out of it!" — Loretta Castorini (Cher), Moonstruck (1987)
97. "My mother thanks you. My father thanks you. My sister thanks you. And I thank you." — George M. Cohan (James Cagney), Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
98. "Nobody puts Baby in a corner." — Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze), Dirty Dancing (1987)
99. "I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too!" — Wicked Witch of the West (Margaret Hamilton), The Wizard of Oz (1939)
100. "I'm the king of the world!" — Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio), Titanic (1997)

Where art thou lady luck ??

Lewis Hamilton is one of the most impressive talents to emerge out of the formula one paddocks in the recent years. And by hiring him in when he was brought in, Ron Dennis again proved that he had amazing eye for talent. All through the past decade he has bet on drivers who on over sight showed amazing talent, I mean just look at the list, Kimi Raikkonen, Mika Hakkinen, Fernando Alonso, Juan Pablo Montoya, to name but a few. They were let down for by the car some time or where overwhelmed by the competition (namely one guy called Michael Schumacher) but they were all good, but the thing about Hamilton is that he just might be the biggest and best driving talent to step into F1 after Senna or Prost. Well, hear me out before you start throwing things at me, and don’t even think about throwing that kitchen sink at me. Michael supporter can go take a hike, he was a good driver but he won most of his races on team strategy, he overtook more times in the pits than on the track. Mika was mediocre, with a great car and team, Juan Pablo was only good at going round and round in circles. Jenson Button, Massa, Davidson, Wurz, webber and every other driver who came on with great fanfare just kindoff failed. Kimi could have come over as a great but he was always outclassed by Schumi. And now that F1 is free of the Schumi-Todt-Brawn Triumvirate he will always live in Shumacher’s shadow.

So again, Awesome talent, Raw temperament and the best car in the field and one of the most exciting F1 seasons in 21 years and still the dominating news was what was going on off the track be it the Alonso – Hamilton competition or the spying scandal. It just kept getting funnier and funnier as the season went on. There is this kid first season in F1 and an Amazing car and he was on the podium every race and all that people could talk about was the spying scandal. He kept walking allover two seasoned veterans namely Kimi Raikkonen and Double world champion Fernando Alonso and all people could think of was the spying scandal. So, so idiot got a little greedy, is that what F1 is about?? No it isn’t over all these past years when Shumi was beating the crap out of every one left right and center we moaned the fact that F1 wasn’t exciting enough, and now that we actually have a really talented bunch of drivers and teams that are capable of giving their drivers good cars day in and day out no body noticed the racing.

I have gone round and round in circles about my bitterness at the way the season ended so now we will talk about the racing highlights of the season.

1. There was one constant through the entire season. That was Lewis Hamilton Amazing consistency, at getting podiums, Alonso’s growing amazement and to some extent jealousy at his teammates exceptional performance and talent, and the way Ferrari and all the other teams where stumped and then fumbled around with the amount of talent on display.

2. Kimi’s amazing comeback in the second half of the season, no doubt due to excellent teamwork and loyalty towards the team from Massa.

3. Kimi again with a donut at the pit lane exit at spa was arrogance personified. May be his move to Ferrari has given him the confidence he needs

4. inspite of the abundance of talent in the top 4 to 5 teams the championship was an open fight the first time in 21 years if i can recall correctly

The low point was the acrmonius dispute between Alonso and Lewis, and the unbelievable spin Lewis had at the Chinese GP neither were McLaren and neither was Lewis naive enough to make such an elementary mistake.

5. so here’s to kimi the new world champion, and here’s to Hamilton saying that he wants to win the championship on the track not by appeal. And I thought racing drivers were and extinct species.

So bring on the 2008 F1 season I say and may the best driver win and perform more burnouts ……………………..

when you are going downhill and you know you have no brakes, then u might as well enjoy the ride.......... and pray to god that there are no trees or sadistic boulders in your path. and hope that the momentum carries you thru the valley and starts taking you up ones u hit bottom

Jokes apart what I’m trying to say here is if this bunch of people weren’t here I would probably be sitting at home brooding about the mistakes I made, the streak of bad luck that had brought me to the edge of disaster I was at and listening to my father recount my mistakes from the time I was two every time he looked at me. Though he is probably and more likely right. They still believed in me they let me close my eyes and step into the void because they told me that they believed in me and pushed me to rediscover myself. When I thought I was no good to anyone, another friend called me telling me that she missed me and needed me? Needed me when I wasn’t even sure where my day was heading. I went to Bombay and the moment I saw them I knew it was a mistake. Mistake, because that moment I realized how much I missed them and depended on them to keep me on track with life, tell me that no matter what happened or how spectacularly I failed or self destructed I could always count on them to pick up the pieces and put me back together, it might take them some time and it might take me more time to decide which way is up but eventually it tells me that everything will be all right eventually and they will still be around to egg ne on to new heights. That is the good thing about friends, when families will be thinking about how badly you’ve let them down and how disappointed they are in you. Your friends would already be busy picking up pieces, mopping up the blood and gore and preparing to help you stand up again and regain the footing you’ve lost. They will never tell you how bad you have been but only what you can do and how much they believe in you. They will lend you money when you don’t have any, the will provide you shelter, and take care of you. Does this make you weak and dependent? may be. Would I give up this for all the riches in the world? (are you out of your mind).

But the question is such a dependence good?, and the answer is that I don’t know, I really don’t know, maybe I make more mistakes because I know there are people around to bail me out and just may be I would be better off without them but would I be happy? That I can answer positively – no, never. I would probably die if I was left to my own devices. I need them and I would do anything for them they are my life. And I’m honored that they consider me as their friend.

thanx , Deepti, Sakshi, Mudassir, Vineet, Raj, Sowmya, Shival , Anuj, Cheriachen , Babu , Abhishek, Harshita, Vnieeta , Moose , Sonal, Vinitha, Arpita, Surya, Urmi , Preena, Vishruti new and old you guys helped me back on my feet . give me a call when ever and what ever you need . I owe you guys one . love you All

watch me tango. follow my lead,
i will teach u how to dance, i will ful fill your every need.
watch me twist and turn,
ill teach u how to crash and burn.

I know you think we can't be together, but can't you respect me enough to let me make my own decision? I know there'll be risks but I want to face them with you. It's wrong that we should be only half alive... half of ourselves. I love you. So here I am - standing in your doorway. I have always been standing in your doorway. Isn't it about time somebody saved your life?
mary jane watson to peter parker - spiderman 2

FOR YOU

there is a sweet song penned just for you
but its missing some thing cause its not sung by you
there is a beautiful picture but it looks dull
cause its not your's
its the same in every thing i do
whatever i do
where ever i go
i keep missing you




TWO DREAMS