9.30am, Tuesday, using his BSNL cell phone Srikanth calls a number
After 5 rings, very polite Lady Voice: Halo
Sriks: “Namskaram, en peru Srikanth, unga Son oda friend I am from Marlyland, I like to meet uncle and give my CD.”
Mami: “Konjam irungo.” [After 30 seconds]
Male Voice: “Halo , …… Here “
Srik: “Namsakaram sir, SRIKANTH from usa, I Like to meet you and give my Audio Cd. “
Voice: “Na vandhu evening 7.00pm aporam free, oru phone panitu vango sir. “
Srik: “sure sir, Romba thanks.”
------
6.30pm: one more call to the same number.
Srik: “Halo morning phone panene srikanth pesaren.”
Lady voice: “Avar walking poi irukar, neega vango. “
Avar= Sujatha
Very polite Lady Voice: Mrs. Sujatha
Meeting the Genius.
7.22pm.
I walked into his house in Mylapore, a smiling Mrs. Sujatha welcomed me, and followed by the “Small” size “Daschund” who did the same by wagging his tail and barking using his XXL size voice.
In the living room couch Mr. Sujatha was seated in his usual posture. He welcomed me a smile. I introduced my self. However he seemed to know about me. His son, Keshava a good friend of mine had already updated him about my visit. He knew about my Thirupavai compositions and other musical ventures. He inquired about my job, and asked few questions about me.
While talking to him, One needs to really concentrate, because he talks about 20 things in about 5 minutes. The information that comes out is really hard for common man to digest. Within 10 minutes he took me around Tamil music, Alwar and Pasuram, Fusion music, Computers, music Studio etc. The words kept flowing and he even quoted Pasurams from Thirumangai Alwar. After this quick coaster ride, I gave him my CDs and told about my projects. I invited him my Studio in Maryland, he told me it would be too cold for him but did not give a Yes or a No. I congratulated him for Anniyan dialogues.
I asked him for guidance on my Thirupavai experimental compositions. For which he gave me various pointers and suggestions. How to strike a balance between [religious] literature and music? This is the million-dollar question. When it comes to music, he told me that lyrics are bound get compromised up to a certain percentage. This cannot be avoided. He quoted Madurai Mani Iyer and splitting of words. The music essence from him was so high in quality most never bothered about the words. The composer has to strike the right balance between displaying his musical skills and maintaining the essence or Sanctity in the lyrics. He gave me a good tip, he told me while working with religious works, it would better to if musical skills are kept to a minimum. He requested me to try and compose Thirumangai Alwar and Periya Alwar pasurams, It seems they display various kinds of emotions that no one has every tried. I asked about the grammar for such type of compositions, he gave me few ideas and slowly the conversation turned towards the Thiruvasagam Oratorio that is to be released in Chennai today.
Mr. Sujatha had already heard the work. He was all praise for the Maestro. He told to me that every Tamil music lover should own one and should gift copies to their friends and relative living around the world. The work done by Ilayaraja is something phenomenal. It seems that, for this project Ilayaraja wrote scores by hand for more than 70 parts. Sujatha compared this achievement of Raja to that of Verdi, Mozart or Beethoven. He talked about a prelude function attended by all the music directors, film directors, Singers and lyric writers. He mentioned to me that A.R. Rahman‘s speech was the highlight of the evening, A.R. Rahman was in all praise for this musical work. Ilayaraja became very emotional while talking about this Oratorio.
Mr. Sujatha felt that few people in crowd did not know the actual value for Ilayaraja. Like every other film music album they still keep saying to him “this album would be a hit”. According to him this is one of the kind music albums that would change the interpretations of Tamil religious literature. And will give a new dimension to music composers. He did not prefer using cine terms for such art.
The CD has the Tamil and translated English verses from Thiruvasagam. The English translation just takes the essence of the verse. Reason being the translator felt this literature was too high in quality to be translated word to word. This is not as elaborate the G.U.Pope’s translation. However the English lines cover most of the points in a nutshell. Mr. Sujatha mentioned that this is not a fusion. According to him there is no clear definition yet for fusion music. What Raja has done is clear western classical music that renders Hindu verses using Oratorio concepts. Mr. Sujatha has already explained concepts of Oratorio in his weekly columns. He will be doing more columns on this in order to common folks to know about it. He says though will be pleasurable to listen to this in your Car, this CD requires a preset calm mood and some basic knowledge in Tamil literature. Once these 2 criteria are met, the album would take you to new listening pleasures. This would also encourage common man to read about Tamil Literature. I took me about 30 minutes to digest all this information.
Recently I had purchased a book on “how to write a screenplay” written by Sujatha; this book got promoted - it is now the official “autographed version”. When the conversation ended he asked me to call him tomorrow. He also quoted that “Ilayaraja is certainly a genius of our times” I walked out from his house thinking! “ A Genius could only spot an another Genius”
I was very happy that I had the great pleasure of talking to the greatest writer of my times.
Sriks.
Ps: I called him yesterday, and he told me to meet him sometime during this week. He liked my music and told me that “I have potpourri of musical ideas” within me and he likes to talk to me in this regard. As of now I am thrilled and in 7th Heaven.
6/29/05
6/27/05
Chennai
Marina Beach
My Brother
It is about 2 weeks in Chennai now. My Brother and his family are here from Bangalore. Last weekend we went to the Marina Beach. The Tide seemed to be normal, few told me Tsunami had pushed the seashore by 20 feet or so. I spent some time in the water.
I also traveled to Kanchipuram temple and my Great Grandfather’s native village called Uzaiyur, very small hamlet that has 2 roads and about 20 houses. There was a cable TV dish Antennae, a water tank and our native Temple. Village People were very nice and treated us with great respect. There was a small function in the temple that was attended by various family members. Had a chance to meet various other siblings in the family tree.
Marina 2
Uzaiyur Village
6/25/05
Natwest One day Series Review.
Bangladesh Vs Australia
Bangladesh Back to Form.
**** T H E E N D *****
6/21/05
Anniyan
A fiction which is also the fact
Last Sunday I managed to get tickets [at Subham] to watch the latest Tamil movie Anniyan. First impression, Shanker and Co have given a fantastic entertainment with wonderful social messages. Being an NRI for about a decade now, having seen various countries and been among societies, frankly this movie had a great impact on me. Shanker was able pinpoint each and every, I have no words in English – in Tamil “Athangam” I had while visiting and living in other countries. Why people in my country are socially irresponsible? This question pops in my head each time I witness such acts. I cannot rise up with a multiple personality to kick their ass out, most often the feeling gets subsided down with in myself. I am sure there are many out there with similar feelings.
The story is about a well-disciplined “Iyengar” boy who goes over board with civic rules and behavior. Meaning, he gets agitated even by a minor law violation. For example, If a bike driver cross the yellow line in a traffic light hero Ramanujam alias Ambi boldly requests them to be more disciplined. However people trash his deeds and tease him by calling names like Rules Ramanujam. They make fun of him, including the heroine.
I have been travelling in Chennai for about 2 weeks now. I have witnessed each and every careless traffic violations that is shown in Anniyan. People drive without disciple or care. Crossing the center yellow line happens on most roads of Chennai. Most never care about anything other than peeking their vehicle ahead of every one at every given chance. This is a fact. If they don’t find a way, they don’t bother to push their horn to the maximum and create a sound pollution. When it comes to Road rage, Banglore and Chennai compete quite well to prove the worst amongst them. Other day, I was returning from a studio I was on an Auto. The traffic was jammed packed on the light. However the care less auto driver kept nagging other drivers and suddenly drove on the pavement in order to get ahead of others. Anniyan clearly talks about such ruthless social behaviors. Wait! The story does not end with Traffic violations.
The hero tries to control various other kinds of social carelessness. For example the break cables on a bike. I am sure many would have gone through this agony. Ambi buys a cable by paying a price. But the manufactures do not offer a quality product for the money paid. He simply cheats. The cable on his moped snaps and he almost ends up being killed in the traffic. Let me tell you, being abroad for a decade, if you spend a dollar and buy a product, the quality of the product will be worth the money spent. There will no double standard. Consumers are automatically protected. Here Yesterday I went to one of the biggest shop in Chennai, where the other side of their bill reads “Good once sold cannot be taken back”, meaning, it is buyers responsibility to make sure you don’t get crap. The Seller has the right to sell you crap.
By using Ramanujam, Shanker clearly establishes the fact that we are an undisciplined society and we don’t care for people and quality of life. But this time Shankers script does not blame the politicians or civil servants. He simply says people are responsible for such social evils. It is the people who need to change and it is not worth any more blaming the politicians. He is dam correct. Muthalvan was about politicians who used the society for their political gains, in this movie we see how people themselves are responsible for the civic disobedience.
Let me give you some more on the story. Having been tormented by this undisciplined and careless society, timid Ramanujam suffers from a Multiple personality disorder. Vikram comes good in 2 roles. He simply rocks with his performance. The 3rd guy, Remo did not impress me, He was just created for romance. Rather than a “hep” model, the character looked as though he was struggling from “midlife crises”. The song “Kadal Yanai Remo” could have been done well. It was technically amazing but looked like an AVM song form the 80s that would be shot in a studio set. Same goes the another song by Remo. But the photography and locations were totally cool.
The best song for me was “Anadang kaka” the way it had been shot is simply amazing. Shanker’s “directorial touch” can be been seen all through the song. This song video is worth the money that I paid to watch the movie. The other 2 songs “Kumari” and “Iyengar vettu” were also done well. “Kumari” has an Amazing visual treat in a Tulip farm. Though Tulips looked digitally placed, the song will be treat to your eyes. FYI: The heroine Sadha fits in to the role. But her role was similar to the last item in the Saravana Bhavan menu. No one really cared.
Ramanujam, - Anniyan. He goes in the dark to execute people who does not care for the people and society, How does he know whom to kill, he runs a web site, where people can post their grievances. Yes kind of Indian + Muthalvan but this in a different form. Anniyan does not go after corrupt officials, He takes on people who really disobey laws and cheat people.
The way the story unfolds is crisp. Some felt the first half was slow though I did not feel so, the second half is really quick paced. Before you know the movie would conclude. Vivek with Vikram comes good. Each and every frame Vivek appears is a laugh riot. And best part was Vivek’s role does not super seed the main character. His character is well knit in the story. And the Police officer, PrakashRaj underplays his role well. His usual “chelaaam chelam” excess rush of blood is not found anywhere. Good work by the director to use this talented artist properly.
The Fight sequences were done with great care. Yes Matrix or what ever, I don’t care. Shanker, his crew and the producers have taken great pains to do these shots. The fight sequence in the dark alley was amazing, an overhead camera captures Anniyan , the shot is “ramped” quickly and the technique used seemed totally new to Tamil movies. There are also few fight movements new to Tamil movies. Fights will look real and you will never feel bored by them. You need to watch this to feel what I am talking about. Thanks to Shanker and DP for not over using the “Ramping” concept.
Finally, in a nutshell, this movie is worth watching and I am sure it will do well in the box office. The sound was too jarring and loud in “Subbham”. In fact the speaker was vibrating badly and could be heard for few songs. There is no need to raise the volume to get quality. Just proper sound balancing will do the needful. However theater owners think other wise. I wish the music director/sound engineers took care of the sound ergonomics in the theaters too.
When it comes to Social message and perfect entertainment, Shanker is the king and he retains his thrown and crown.
Ps: Few people might not like it, because it pinpoints their fault. :)
The story is about a well-disciplined “Iyengar” boy who goes over board with civic rules and behavior. Meaning, he gets agitated even by a minor law violation. For example, If a bike driver cross the yellow line in a traffic light hero Ramanujam alias Ambi boldly requests them to be more disciplined. However people trash his deeds and tease him by calling names like Rules Ramanujam. They make fun of him, including the heroine.
I have been travelling in Chennai for about 2 weeks now. I have witnessed each and every careless traffic violations that is shown in Anniyan. People drive without disciple or care. Crossing the center yellow line happens on most roads of Chennai. Most never care about anything other than peeking their vehicle ahead of every one at every given chance. This is a fact. If they don’t find a way, they don’t bother to push their horn to the maximum and create a sound pollution. When it comes to Road rage, Banglore and Chennai compete quite well to prove the worst amongst them. Other day, I was returning from a studio I was on an Auto. The traffic was jammed packed on the light. However the care less auto driver kept nagging other drivers and suddenly drove on the pavement in order to get ahead of others. Anniyan clearly talks about such ruthless social behaviors. Wait! The story does not end with Traffic violations.
The hero tries to control various other kinds of social carelessness. For example the break cables on a bike. I am sure many would have gone through this agony. Ambi buys a cable by paying a price. But the manufactures do not offer a quality product for the money paid. He simply cheats. The cable on his moped snaps and he almost ends up being killed in the traffic. Let me tell you, being abroad for a decade, if you spend a dollar and buy a product, the quality of the product will be worth the money spent. There will no double standard. Consumers are automatically protected. Here Yesterday I went to one of the biggest shop in Chennai, where the other side of their bill reads “Good once sold cannot be taken back”, meaning, it is buyers responsibility to make sure you don’t get crap. The Seller has the right to sell you crap.
By using Ramanujam, Shanker clearly establishes the fact that we are an undisciplined society and we don’t care for people and quality of life. But this time Shankers script does not blame the politicians or civil servants. He simply says people are responsible for such social evils. It is the people who need to change and it is not worth any more blaming the politicians. He is dam correct. Muthalvan was about politicians who used the society for their political gains, in this movie we see how people themselves are responsible for the civic disobedience.
Let me give you some more on the story. Having been tormented by this undisciplined and careless society, timid Ramanujam suffers from a Multiple personality disorder. Vikram comes good in 2 roles. He simply rocks with his performance. The 3rd guy, Remo did not impress me, He was just created for romance. Rather than a “hep” model, the character looked as though he was struggling from “midlife crises”. The song “Kadal Yanai Remo” could have been done well. It was technically amazing but looked like an AVM song form the 80s that would be shot in a studio set. Same goes the another song by Remo. But the photography and locations were totally cool.
The best song for me was “Anadang kaka” the way it had been shot is simply amazing. Shanker’s “directorial touch” can be been seen all through the song. This song video is worth the money that I paid to watch the movie. The other 2 songs “Kumari” and “Iyengar vettu” were also done well. “Kumari” has an Amazing visual treat in a Tulip farm. Though Tulips looked digitally placed, the song will be treat to your eyes. FYI: The heroine Sadha fits in to the role. But her role was similar to the last item in the Saravana Bhavan menu. No one really cared.
Ramanujam, - Anniyan. He goes in the dark to execute people who does not care for the people and society, How does he know whom to kill, he runs a web site, where people can post their grievances. Yes kind of Indian + Muthalvan but this in a different form. Anniyan does not go after corrupt officials, He takes on people who really disobey laws and cheat people.
The way the story unfolds is crisp. Some felt the first half was slow though I did not feel so, the second half is really quick paced. Before you know the movie would conclude. Vivek with Vikram comes good. Each and every frame Vivek appears is a laugh riot. And best part was Vivek’s role does not super seed the main character. His character is well knit in the story. And the Police officer, PrakashRaj underplays his role well. His usual “chelaaam chelam” excess rush of blood is not found anywhere. Good work by the director to use this talented artist properly.
The Fight sequences were done with great care. Yes Matrix or what ever, I don’t care. Shanker, his crew and the producers have taken great pains to do these shots. The fight sequence in the dark alley was amazing, an overhead camera captures Anniyan , the shot is “ramped” quickly and the technique used seemed totally new to Tamil movies. There are also few fight movements new to Tamil movies. Fights will look real and you will never feel bored by them. You need to watch this to feel what I am talking about. Thanks to Shanker and DP for not over using the “Ramping” concept.
Finally, in a nutshell, this movie is worth watching and I am sure it will do well in the box office. The sound was too jarring and loud in “Subbham”. In fact the speaker was vibrating badly and could be heard for few songs. There is no need to raise the volume to get quality. Just proper sound balancing will do the needful. However theater owners think other wise. I wish the music director/sound engineers took care of the sound ergonomics in the theaters too.
When it comes to Social message and perfect entertainment, Shanker is the king and he retains his thrown and crown.
Ps: Few people might not like it, because it pinpoints their fault. :)
6/20/05
“Nemesis” - The Greek Goddess.
I was unable to find words today to explain the misery faced by Ponting and his “baggy green” pals. England won the 3rd match in the NatWest one-day series Aussies are 0/4. I do remember mentioning about England. It will be team to watch this season. Yes they are proving to be good. After the 20/20 loss, Ponting laughed it out and told that he did not take the game seriously. He went further to comment “it is not real Cricket”. What ever, today he finds himself in a stinking duck pond. The game is laughing at him.
During past 3 games, it was quite clear that team batting second had a better chance to win the game and having lost 3 matches in a row I thought if Ponting wins the toss he would be more prudent to opt for bowling first. But he looked as though he had no clue about the conditions. He pushed his out of form batsmen to play first. Gill Christ is out of form, yesterday he was struggling to strike the ball. He has to play well so that rest of the Aussies can piggyback on his initial slaughter. Hayden also looked dull and tentative but the opening pair managed to launch few sixers. However the run rate was well within 5.00 an over. Hamirson stuck, Gill Christ finally gave up when the score was 57.
Ponting walks in; even average cricket fanatics like my brother and me were discussing about his shuffling weakness. Ponting shuffles too much in first 10 overs at least, 5 out 10 times he gets good help from the umpire for LBWS. However we were discussing that a ball that moves in at a good speed will rattle Ponting down. This is exactly what Hamirson did, a ball that came at about 90 miles stunned shuffling Ponting. He was caught plumb in the middle. It was a definition LBW. Ponting out in the first ball he faced! He walked along with the Cartoon duck on ESPN. The best part was just about 24 hrs ago he was out in the similar fashion against Bangladesh. My first Ponting joke; It would better for Ponting to face few trails before “all-Reals” After all he does not take the game seriously.
Martin walked in to save a Hat trick. He did save the hat trick but was out in the next ball trying to play over 3rd Man. One more duck for the supper.
The best part was yet to come, Collinwood took a catch to get rid of Hayden. This can be termed as the best catch in last few years. The ball flew about 5-6 feet over his head, he timed his jump perfectly and got the hold of the ball. Hayden had to go. Catches win matches but for this catch, England can win the ashes. Get this Ricky, “When bad luck strikes it really strikes you hard”.
The Australian middle order once again saved some pride. Michele Clarke looked really comfortable. He seems to have the qualifications to be next captain. It is just matter of time. The crude truth for me is - when every one is in form captaining a powerful team is no big deal. Today, Ponting’s capacity as the captain is being tested. Frankly, I really don’t see him coming out in flying colors in this acid test. However Aussies are fanatic bunch of professionals, they have the power to come back at the right time. But it has to happen soon if not all of their great performances will be simply forgotten by the people. It is high time for them pull up their socks, shoestrings or what ever. If not floods gates will be opened and people like me will supply free Archana tickets for Greek goddess “Nemesis”, who is in charge of retributive justice or vengeance.
During past 3 games, it was quite clear that team batting second had a better chance to win the game and having lost 3 matches in a row I thought if Ponting wins the toss he would be more prudent to opt for bowling first. But he looked as though he had no clue about the conditions. He pushed his out of form batsmen to play first. Gill Christ is out of form, yesterday he was struggling to strike the ball. He has to play well so that rest of the Aussies can piggyback on his initial slaughter. Hayden also looked dull and tentative but the opening pair managed to launch few sixers. However the run rate was well within 5.00 an over. Hamirson stuck, Gill Christ finally gave up when the score was 57.
Ponting walks in; even average cricket fanatics like my brother and me were discussing about his shuffling weakness. Ponting shuffles too much in first 10 overs at least, 5 out 10 times he gets good help from the umpire for LBWS. However we were discussing that a ball that moves in at a good speed will rattle Ponting down. This is exactly what Hamirson did, a ball that came at about 90 miles stunned shuffling Ponting. He was caught plumb in the middle. It was a definition LBW. Ponting out in the first ball he faced! He walked along with the Cartoon duck on ESPN. The best part was just about 24 hrs ago he was out in the similar fashion against Bangladesh. My first Ponting joke; It would better for Ponting to face few trails before “all-Reals” After all he does not take the game seriously.
Martin walked in to save a Hat trick. He did save the hat trick but was out in the next ball trying to play over 3rd Man. One more duck for the supper.
The best part was yet to come, Collinwood took a catch to get rid of Hayden. This can be termed as the best catch in last few years. The ball flew about 5-6 feet over his head, he timed his jump perfectly and got the hold of the ball. Hayden had to go. Catches win matches but for this catch, England can win the ashes. Get this Ricky, “When bad luck strikes it really strikes you hard”.
The Australian middle order once again saved some pride. Michele Clarke looked really comfortable. He seems to have the qualifications to be next captain. It is just matter of time. The crude truth for me is - when every one is in form captaining a powerful team is no big deal. Today, Ponting’s capacity as the captain is being tested. Frankly, I really don’t see him coming out in flying colors in this acid test. However Aussies are fanatic bunch of professionals, they have the power to come back at the right time. But it has to happen soon if not all of their great performances will be simply forgotten by the people. It is high time for them pull up their socks, shoestrings or what ever. If not floods gates will be opened and people like me will supply free Archana tickets for Greek goddess “Nemesis”, who is in charge of retributive justice or vengeance.
6/18/05
Just Blame “the Jet lag” . Trust me it works
Yesterday, I had a mild stomach upset, thanks to the 2 XXL size mangoes I gobbled. But local medicines cured me in about 20 minutes Forget my stomach upset, but the upset Ricky Ponting and his men faced yesterday has no words to explain. There is no drug in the world that is going to fix their upset for quite a while. The world number one lost to the weakest team in the world with about 4 balls to spare. Bangladesh after their poor performances for about “n” number of years finally saw light. They managed to do something that no one on could have predicted. Even the experts in Vijay TV would have struggled to predict this one. [Star Vijay TV devotes about 40hrs a week to lucky stones, numerology, Vasthu shstram, stove Josiyam etc,]
I was watching this game on ESPN. When you get your basics right, the percentage of success increases drastically. Bangladesh team got their basics right, while Aussies are yet to know what hit them. Ricky Ponting did not have any answers to offer for their pathetic display. Australia started really bad by loosing 2 quick wickets. However Clarke and Martin managed to lubricate the rusty Australian Batting lineup. But Bangladesh bowled some tight line to restrict Aussies for about 247. Ponting made One – he danced and moved across the line for about 16 balls, it was matter of time for a leg before. The devastating “Gilly” was sent back in the second ball. May be it is too early to say but still I want say like Sachin or Sehwag for India, it is Gill Christ who carries the Aussies. He has to score big for them to get a big total.
Aussies bowling was near pathetic while the eastern Tigers played some sensible batting. Mohammad Ashraful's the twenty-year-old player scored a brilliant 100 that laid the foundation for the win. Ashraful was particularly harsh on Glenn McGrath, spanking him for two massive fours over extra cover in one over and Australia wilted along with his captain he added 130 in about 23 overs. The pace at which they planned their innings was brilliant. May be this many losses have taught them a good lesson.
Though Ashraful was out at the crucial point of time, the following two batsmen managed to complete the task. Bangladesh had to score 7 runs in the final over bowled by Jason Gillespie. Ricky “the nail biting” Ponting spent an extended amount of time with his bowler and fielders in planning the final over. [Ps: If it had been Gangully, match referee would have forfeited his earnings and his 401K pension for this delay.] But as anticlimax Aftab simply lunched Gillespie for a massive six that sealed the game for Bangladesh. Aussies walked out with a dazzed look, while most of them were unable to hide their expressions. Yes! it was a crude pleasure not to be missed.
I have never seen a Bangladeshi simile after a game. Their captain during the awards ceremony will play a recorded message in broken English stating “we need to improve”. But today these guys and their loyal fans were seen rejoicing and dancing. Frankly beating Australia is a task and they have every right to celebrate. There will be elite’s who doubt this as “match fixing”. Yes it does look doubtful on a team that has never won but suddenly out of the blues manage beat the world champs.
But in my opinion, I watched the entire action unfold live on ESPN. I don’t want to take anything away from the Bangladesi’s. The golden rule is “When you get your basis right, there is very minimal room for pathetic failures”. They bowled, fielded and batted with some sense, while the mighty Aussies looked pathetic all through. Congratulations to Bangaladesh. Hope this victory boosts their over all confidence.
Today the “0/3” Aussies take on the pumped up home team. [War of the worlds Episode 1]
Just one more loss for the Aussies, then it would be matter of time before Ponting starts to crib about the pitch or light or the travel schedule. Ricky, [wink wink] you can blame “the Jet lag” for now. Trust me it works.
I was watching this game on ESPN. When you get your basics right, the percentage of success increases drastically. Bangladesh team got their basics right, while Aussies are yet to know what hit them. Ricky Ponting did not have any answers to offer for their pathetic display. Australia started really bad by loosing 2 quick wickets. However Clarke and Martin managed to lubricate the rusty Australian Batting lineup. But Bangladesh bowled some tight line to restrict Aussies for about 247. Ponting made One – he danced and moved across the line for about 16 balls, it was matter of time for a leg before. The devastating “Gilly” was sent back in the second ball. May be it is too early to say but still I want say like Sachin or Sehwag for India, it is Gill Christ who carries the Aussies. He has to score big for them to get a big total.
Aussies bowling was near pathetic while the eastern Tigers played some sensible batting. Mohammad Ashraful's the twenty-year-old player scored a brilliant 100 that laid the foundation for the win. Ashraful was particularly harsh on Glenn McGrath, spanking him for two massive fours over extra cover in one over and Australia wilted along with his captain he added 130 in about 23 overs. The pace at which they planned their innings was brilliant. May be this many losses have taught them a good lesson.
Though Ashraful was out at the crucial point of time, the following two batsmen managed to complete the task. Bangladesh had to score 7 runs in the final over bowled by Jason Gillespie. Ricky “the nail biting” Ponting spent an extended amount of time with his bowler and fielders in planning the final over. [Ps: If it had been Gangully, match referee would have forfeited his earnings and his 401K pension for this delay.] But as anticlimax Aftab simply lunched Gillespie for a massive six that sealed the game for Bangladesh. Aussies walked out with a dazzed look, while most of them were unable to hide their expressions. Yes! it was a crude pleasure not to be missed.
I have never seen a Bangladeshi simile after a game. Their captain during the awards ceremony will play a recorded message in broken English stating “we need to improve”. But today these guys and their loyal fans were seen rejoicing and dancing. Frankly beating Australia is a task and they have every right to celebrate. There will be elite’s who doubt this as “match fixing”. Yes it does look doubtful on a team that has never won but suddenly out of the blues manage beat the world champs.
But in my opinion, I watched the entire action unfold live on ESPN. I don’t want to take anything away from the Bangladesi’s. The golden rule is “When you get your basis right, there is very minimal room for pathetic failures”. They bowled, fielded and batted with some sense, while the mighty Aussies looked pathetic all through. Congratulations to Bangaladesh. Hope this victory boosts their over all confidence.
Today the “0/3” Aussies take on the pumped up home team. [War of the worlds Episode 1]
Just one more loss for the Aussies, then it would be matter of time before Ponting starts to crib about the pitch or light or the travel schedule. Ricky, [wink wink] you can blame “the Jet lag” for now. Trust me it works.
6/15/05
Ricky Ponting & co - whats up dude.
Australia lost again this time to a county team. May be Ricky pointing would say this does not “count”. He would comment “we are bored by winning hence for a change we tried to feel loss”.
Australia made about 342, a score that assures victory in general. Hayden trashed a 50 in about 39 balls, while Ponting’s graphite bat managed to pick about 80 after his pathetic duck in the first 20/20 game. However for Somerset, Jayasuriya the most unpredictable batsmen of my times along with South African captain Graeme Smith took the game away from the Australians. They took their bowling right on from the first ball and directed the home side to a fantastic win. Karprowicz was the prominent donor while the mighty [K] D. Mcgrath went for about 5 runs an over. Bret Lee was hit for about 26 runs in first 4 over resulting in a shoulder injury, may be he chucked too many balls in the course of action.
Aussies have not tasted twin losses in long time. Insult to the injury was loosing to a 2 level county team. Congratulations to Somerset. May be who knows this would be a part of a strategy that coverts English confidence to a huge over confidence. [Wink Wink]. Mr. Poiting get this - if you treat the game lightly [like the 20/20], the game will not treat you in the same manner, rather it will be treat you badly. Hope for Aussies recovery soon.
Today England takes on Bangladesh, instead of wasting time, they can settle scores with a game of Book cricket [Using the new Harry potter book] this would save some pride for Bangladesh and more promotion for the book. I am just wondering what a bookie with think if I check the odds for a Bangladesh win. Harry Potter’s magic wand would be handy.
The hunter is now being hunted. For past 5 days in Chennai the entire news network keeps talking about the Pataudi case, He is supposed to have hunted rare species of animals for recreation. Courts have issued arrest warrant on him but police are yet to track him down. Pataudi has become a rare species for the police. Many political parties have screamed out saying he is been given special treatment. He is still on run, he is now hunted by the police. summava sonnaga - pirarku innA murpagal sei in thamaku inna thAmE varum
Yesterday heat was devastating in Chennai. It was humid even at 11.30pm. I went a restaurant called Cornucopia near Nandanam for dinner, they had varieties of Italian and other types of food in their menu. Tried the Indian edition of Lasagna, did seem ok to me. Average price per item ranged from Rs.70 to Rs.250. Four of us eat for about $20.
Good day;
Australia made about 342, a score that assures victory in general. Hayden trashed a 50 in about 39 balls, while Ponting’s graphite bat managed to pick about 80 after his pathetic duck in the first 20/20 game. However for Somerset, Jayasuriya the most unpredictable batsmen of my times along with South African captain Graeme Smith took the game away from the Australians. They took their bowling right on from the first ball and directed the home side to a fantastic win. Karprowicz was the prominent donor while the mighty [K] D. Mcgrath went for about 5 runs an over. Bret Lee was hit for about 26 runs in first 4 over resulting in a shoulder injury, may be he chucked too many balls in the course of action.
Aussies have not tasted twin losses in long time. Insult to the injury was loosing to a 2 level county team. Congratulations to Somerset. May be who knows this would be a part of a strategy that coverts English confidence to a huge over confidence. [Wink Wink]. Mr. Poiting get this - if you treat the game lightly [like the 20/20], the game will not treat you in the same manner, rather it will be treat you badly. Hope for Aussies recovery soon.
Today England takes on Bangladesh, instead of wasting time, they can settle scores with a game of Book cricket [Using the new Harry potter book] this would save some pride for Bangladesh and more promotion for the book. I am just wondering what a bookie with think if I check the odds for a Bangladesh win. Harry Potter’s magic wand would be handy.
The hunter is now being hunted. For past 5 days in Chennai the entire news network keeps talking about the Pataudi case, He is supposed to have hunted rare species of animals for recreation. Courts have issued arrest warrant on him but police are yet to track him down. Pataudi has become a rare species for the police. Many political parties have screamed out saying he is been given special treatment. He is still on run, he is now hunted by the police. summava sonnaga - pirarku innA murpagal sei in thamaku inna thAmE varum
Yesterday heat was devastating in Chennai. It was humid even at 11.30pm. I went a restaurant called Cornucopia near Nandanam for dinner, they had varieties of Italian and other types of food in their menu. Tried the Indian edition of Lasagna, did seem ok to me. Average price per item ranged from Rs.70 to Rs.250. Four of us eat for about $20.
Good day;
6/13/05
Various Ramblings.
Sweet news, England hands over the first blow, though a 20/20 game, the mighty Australia had to taste loss. Yes I hear they will bounce back with vengeance yada yada yada, until then the renovated English team has every right to celebrate the victory. Michael Vaughan, the English captain played down this win and called it a lottery. While his counter part Ricky “the graphite bat” pointing commented that this was a fun sort of game and it does not count [Oh Yeh]. FYI: ICC calls it an international.
Nasser Hussain, the Chennai born Ex-English Captain and the man responsible for a revamp in the English side was commentating in high sprits for sky sports. He had nice little comments to offer at the pathetic batting display by the yapping Aussies. English made 179 in 20 while the mighty “baggy green” squad were bundled out for 79, The English won by 100 Runs. It might be a 20/20 game but I feel the so-called Australian invincibility has been questioned for the first time in past few years. Why?, the English took 7 wickets in about 20 balls giving away just eight runs. Frankly, It will be a pleasure to ridicule the Aussies until they make a “come back”.
The match fixing scandal is again on the Air, The same Indian players are in the news again. There was new name mentioned in the scandal - “Mark Waugh”. However today he denied any links.
Jackson was let go free from all 10 counts. Jury vindicated him for all the 10 cases filed against him. It seems he has a debt of about 3 million dollars for this case. The pop star responsible for changing music in the 80’s finally gets to breathe of fresh air and if he comes out with a new album for XMAS 2005, I am sure he would get back the lost money and fame. He is also expected to make a life style change. Some speculate that his never land ranch might be converted to a Senior citizen home. Meanwhile the jobless media in the US has to find some other scandal for their live feeds. I was wondering about the actor who played Jackson in the E-Channel would do now. Poor guy lost his job today.
I have plans to collect various types of hand drums and percussion used in various world genres. Just few days before I left for Chennai, I purchased an African hand drum from Guitar center. The one that you hear in the prelude of “Andangkaka from Anniyan.” I really want to carry a Thavil and a Dhol from India, they are too big though. Need to figure out a way to carry them. The afternoon temperature is too hot to venture out. But Yesterday I went to various music stores in search of instruments, my favorite “udukai” tops the list.
Good Day.
Nasser Hussain, the Chennai born Ex-English Captain and the man responsible for a revamp in the English side was commentating in high sprits for sky sports. He had nice little comments to offer at the pathetic batting display by the yapping Aussies. English made 179 in 20 while the mighty “baggy green” squad were bundled out for 79, The English won by 100 Runs. It might be a 20/20 game but I feel the so-called Australian invincibility has been questioned for the first time in past few years. Why?, the English took 7 wickets in about 20 balls giving away just eight runs. Frankly, It will be a pleasure to ridicule the Aussies until they make a “come back”.
The match fixing scandal is again on the Air, The same Indian players are in the news again. There was new name mentioned in the scandal - “Mark Waugh”. However today he denied any links.
Jackson was let go free from all 10 counts. Jury vindicated him for all the 10 cases filed against him. It seems he has a debt of about 3 million dollars for this case. The pop star responsible for changing music in the 80’s finally gets to breathe of fresh air and if he comes out with a new album for XMAS 2005, I am sure he would get back the lost money and fame. He is also expected to make a life style change. Some speculate that his never land ranch might be converted to a Senior citizen home. Meanwhile the jobless media in the US has to find some other scandal for their live feeds. I was wondering about the actor who played Jackson in the E-Channel would do now. Poor guy lost his job today.
I have plans to collect various types of hand drums and percussion used in various world genres. Just few days before I left for Chennai, I purchased an African hand drum from Guitar center. The one that you hear in the prelude of “Andangkaka from Anniyan.” I really want to carry a Thavil and a Dhol from India, they are too big though. Need to figure out a way to carry them. The afternoon temperature is too hot to venture out. But Yesterday I went to various music stores in search of instruments, my favorite “udukai” tops the list.
Good Day.
6/12/05
BSNL DATAONE DSL
a Broad band connection was installed in my house few days ago; to my surprise, during installation no software was used. On the first go I had no clue about this process, a person walks in and connects a modem to your computer [windows 98], and it starts to work. I asked him about it but failed to get an answer, I let it go.
However it was matter of time for me to explore the logistics behind this plug and play modem [HUAWEI] miracle. This has a firmware that can be updated directly. A qualified person will preprogram the firmware on the modem at the BSNL office. The installer plugs it in and wishes good luck. The DSL connection by BSNL was peculiar. In US, a direct phone line can be plugged into the modem while the every phone in the house gets a DSL filter. The order in which the modem is connected is not important. Here things are different. The DSL modem connection has to be the first connection before connecting to a phone or a fax. Meaning the modem has the filter installed which split the phone calls and Internet data. The positive side, No filters needed for every phone however the negative side wiring changes have to be done to make the DSL modem the first connection. But you are rescued by the BSNL lines-men. They will do this for a small fee. It is worth the money.
Support documents/software: BSNL did not provide any software, technical support or a one-page document. In fact there was no documentation to find the email account. We might have to call them to get the account id, and password. Once this was obtained, I was able to configure [POP] via outlook in few minutes. Thanks to little help that I found in DataOne.in web site. Help found there clearly gives you easy steps to configure the email. A simple 1-page document is all that takes to explain this, Why can’t they bundle this in the installation kit?
Next step was to explore the modem miracle. Frankly it was not that hard to explore. This modem has a web based client that can be reached by typing http://192.168.1.1/ on your browser. The browser will then ask for a login and password. [Admin and admin respectively]. From here you can have access to various modem functions, that includes a firewall. You can enable the firewall to protect your computer from attackers. This control page also has a rest set function that comes handy during abrupt power failures. Also here is where the expert at the BSNL office uploads the pre-programmed firmware with your account details engraved.
Service Speed: Technically it is called broad band, but speed during office hours is pathetic. From morning 6.00am to 8.00am, the bandwidth is good [sagikkable] [150kbs-200kbs]. As heat increases outside, the bandwidth falls down to 40, at times slower than a dial up. Frankly browsing during these hours is annoying. When asked about this to BSNL, I was asked to clean the IE browser Cache to improve speeds. Duh!.
Bottom line, being a computer nerd it was not that bad for me to get things going, however people who have no clue about the modem, networks etc would have a hard time. The general DSL speed is about 500. Though Broadband here is only 256 and today the speed never seem to go any where near 250, I am sure it will get streamlined. It is definitely a welcome start from Dialup users, however only a good customer service along with promised bandwidth makes it count. I have no documentation for DSL being installed in my place. I never signed a document to accepting the service. BSNL needs to get some kind of process in place to streamline broad band. I wish, soon they will have an installation kit on a CD-ROM that contains help and FAQ to make the Broad band experience a pleasure rather than a pressure.
However it was matter of time for me to explore the logistics behind this plug and play modem [HUAWEI] miracle. This has a firmware that can be updated directly. A qualified person will preprogram the firmware on the modem at the BSNL office. The installer plugs it in and wishes good luck. The DSL connection by BSNL was peculiar. In US, a direct phone line can be plugged into the modem while the every phone in the house gets a DSL filter. The order in which the modem is connected is not important. Here things are different. The DSL modem connection has to be the first connection before connecting to a phone or a fax. Meaning the modem has the filter installed which split the phone calls and Internet data. The positive side, No filters needed for every phone however the negative side wiring changes have to be done to make the DSL modem the first connection. But you are rescued by the BSNL lines-men. They will do this for a small fee. It is worth the money.
Support documents/software: BSNL did not provide any software, technical support or a one-page document. In fact there was no documentation to find the email account. We might have to call them to get the account id, and password. Once this was obtained, I was able to configure [POP] via outlook in few minutes. Thanks to little help that I found in DataOne.in web site. Help found there clearly gives you easy steps to configure the email. A simple 1-page document is all that takes to explain this, Why can’t they bundle this in the installation kit?
Next step was to explore the modem miracle. Frankly it was not that hard to explore. This modem has a web based client that can be reached by typing http://192.168.1.1/ on your browser. The browser will then ask for a login and password. [Admin and admin respectively]. From here you can have access to various modem functions, that includes a firewall. You can enable the firewall to protect your computer from attackers. This control page also has a rest set function that comes handy during abrupt power failures. Also here is where the expert at the BSNL office uploads the pre-programmed firmware with your account details engraved.
Service Speed: Technically it is called broad band, but speed during office hours is pathetic. From morning 6.00am to 8.00am, the bandwidth is good [sagikkable] [150kbs-200kbs]. As heat increases outside, the bandwidth falls down to 40, at times slower than a dial up. Frankly browsing during these hours is annoying. When asked about this to BSNL, I was asked to clean the IE browser Cache to improve speeds. Duh!.
Bottom line, being a computer nerd it was not that bad for me to get things going, however people who have no clue about the modem, networks etc would have a hard time. The general DSL speed is about 500. Though Broadband here is only 256 and today the speed never seem to go any where near 250, I am sure it will get streamlined. It is definitely a welcome start from Dialup users, however only a good customer service along with promised bandwidth makes it count. I have no documentation for DSL being installed in my place. I never signed a document to accepting the service. BSNL needs to get some kind of process in place to streamline broad band. I wish, soon they will have an installation kit on a CD-ROM that contains help and FAQ to make the Broad band experience a pleasure rather than a pressure.
6/10/05
Chennai Week #1
For the past week, the entire city of Chennai was talking about the conclusion of a Tele-serial Meti oli. While shopping in land-mark or walking in the Natesan park T.Nagar, I heard many people discussing about this drag. It has not been my cup of “Chaya”, hence I really don’t care. Been to land-mark yesterday to buy Audio CDs. Price for Audio CDs range from Rs.65 to Rs.250 [old songs from HMV with UPC [Ultra poor recording]. Sa re ga ma is the only company that dumps something from a spool tape directly on to a CD without any kind of CD digital re-mastering. The quality sucks right royally, however the song are worth to be in any collection. Had to buy it.
Yesterday went to a Food joint in Besent Nagar called Eden. [yeh! I made sure I got the name this time]. A small place but filled with people. By 8.00pm it was full and I saw people waiting for their turn. The menu apart from regular tandoor types included various Irish, Italian cuisine like Pasta, Lasagna etc. I had the Chef ‘s baked bowl, which was something similar to the Shepherds pie in Irish Restaurants. A baked bowl of Mushrooms and Vegetables dipped in white Pasta sauces and herbs. Cost was around Rs.90 but the cholesterol in it was kind of alarming. However after 12 hours, My stomach seems to be in its home base, hence the food can be certified as “good“.
Where there is a will there is a way – for autos in Chennai, where there is little room for the front wheel, there is a runway. These guys ply anywhere in any direction at will. Thank god - autos don’t have wings. For local commute Rs.20 is the minimum auto fare. Most accept it with a smile. Best was, standing in my street corner, I waved at an auto, he was travelling at a good speed but screeched and stopped for me, never cared about other vehicles behind him. I jumped in and to my surprise he asked me “when did I come from US”. I was surprised, it seems last time when I was here he drove me couple of times to Rajive menon studios. He is from the local auto stand in the street corner and knew my house quite well. These days there are no big arguments for the fare because there are more number of autos than mosquitoes in Chennai. Both parties accept terms and conditions ahead of time, an agreement is signed at the origin. The auto meter is just a showpiece has no real purpose. I am planning to get one for the Smithsonian in DC.
One more things I noted - I have not seen any stray animals on main roads. The roads are always kept clean. The only bad factor in Chennai is the “driver’s discipline”. None seem to have any. The excellent reflexes of the drivers and some luck are the two main factors that keep the traffic up and running in the safe mode.
Finally, Ganguly scored a century for his county team Glamorgan. He took time to settle down however he never looked pathetic anywhere in the innings. Few more innings like this will get back his lost form.
Good Day.
Yesterday went to a Food joint in Besent Nagar called Eden. [yeh! I made sure I got the name this time]. A small place but filled with people. By 8.00pm it was full and I saw people waiting for their turn. The menu apart from regular tandoor types included various Irish, Italian cuisine like Pasta, Lasagna etc. I had the Chef ‘s baked bowl, which was something similar to the Shepherds pie in Irish Restaurants. A baked bowl of Mushrooms and Vegetables dipped in white Pasta sauces and herbs. Cost was around Rs.90 but the cholesterol in it was kind of alarming. However after 12 hours, My stomach seems to be in its home base, hence the food can be certified as “good“.
Where there is a will there is a way – for autos in Chennai, where there is little room for the front wheel, there is a runway. These guys ply anywhere in any direction at will. Thank god - autos don’t have wings. For local commute Rs.20 is the minimum auto fare. Most accept it with a smile. Best was, standing in my street corner, I waved at an auto, he was travelling at a good speed but screeched and stopped for me, never cared about other vehicles behind him. I jumped in and to my surprise he asked me “when did I come from US”. I was surprised, it seems last time when I was here he drove me couple of times to Rajive menon studios. He is from the local auto stand in the street corner and knew my house quite well. These days there are no big arguments for the fare because there are more number of autos than mosquitoes in Chennai. Both parties accept terms and conditions ahead of time, an agreement is signed at the origin. The auto meter is just a showpiece has no real purpose. I am planning to get one for the Smithsonian in DC.
One more things I noted - I have not seen any stray animals on main roads. The roads are always kept clean. The only bad factor in Chennai is the “driver’s discipline”. None seem to have any. The excellent reflexes of the drivers and some luck are the two main factors that keep the traffic up and running in the safe mode.
Finally, Ganguly scored a century for his county team Glamorgan. He took time to settle down however he never looked pathetic anywhere in the innings. Few more innings like this will get back his lost form.
Good Day.
6/9/05
Visting Home!
After about 9 years I felt the 100 Degree mark; no not my cricket scores or CD sales [You day dreamer]; Flying about 37,000 feet above Mumbai the display on the 747-400 read “-50”. As the altitude decreased the temperature was climbing. The reading was about 87F after the plan had landed in Chennai. As I walked out of the airplane along with other 399 fellow passengers, I felt the heat. Yes, the experience of meeting Dr. Heat is something. The outside temperature was about F-93-F. Welcome to Chennai.
I ignored the heat, the greatest pleasure for me is visiting my native town – C H E N N A I . My previous trip to Chennai was about 3 years ago. The first glance at Chennai airport, I felt it was just the same. The immigration officers worked at the same speed. Baggage claim was just as messy as the previous time. But nothing can take away my “Sprit of Chennai”. I love this dam city.
Just about 500 yards outside the airport the city was already active; as we exited the airport with family members, it was around 6.30am, and the traffic was quite heavy. It was Sunday, still many were travelling early in the morning. The first big change I noticed was fleets of little Korean cars plying around the narrow streets of Chennai at will. Colorful 99.99999999 CC bikes were the next big change. Finally, almost every one regardless of age had a cell phone.
First day in Chennai, I managed it and took the heat by its horns, heat index had already reached triple figure by 8.00am. To keep myself hydrated I drank cold Bisleri water at regular intervals [Totaled about 10-12], I had no clue about its consequences Yes! It did hydrate me quite well but it gave a serious infection. I ended up with a throat infection, which was upgraded to a fever that competed with the local heat [aka weather] report. Scored a brilliant 102 on the first day; after a span of about 9 years I was forced to gobble various kind antibiotics in different colors, shapes and sizes.
Current situation on the 4th day, a 12+ hour Jet lag, “The heat is sweet” and the truth is I could not take it, my Agony is I could not convey this to anyone. Reason being I could be treated for ORS – “Over Reacting Syndrome” because most seem to think being a Chennai native my body should handle the heat automatically, The temperature was about 55F-60F when I left DC, its been like this from early march. But for the past 4 days it was about 95F-100F, It is amazing that people don’t seem to believe that a 40-degree raise in temperature could cook variety of food, including me.
I completed a 3day PGDIPLOMA course on various Antibiotic meals. Yesterday Gods went crazy! Yep, it rained in Chennai and cooled a bit. Evening I ventured out to a Restaurant in Besent Nagar area, I did not get the name, my cousins [I have about 10 of them] just drove me around, Yes these kids are driving now and have their own cars too. The joint had a projector and a 5.1 bose audio system that was blasting music videos of Will Smith and my favorite Eagles. I managed to find a Mexican material on the menu card. “Enchilada”, though not 100% authentic mexi stuff, it was the Mexi breed from “Chennai”, glazed with Indian spices, managed to eat the entire portion. My cousin drove me back home, a fun filled evening that I have been missing for about 5 years now! Dam! How can I afford it miss it? Today planning to invade another joint, and this time my Amex Blue will take the load.
Today I would be getting DSL at home, this should help me to boost my enthu to browse the internet. In fact I don’t mind trading this 0.556565 kbs dial up browse to watch Dravid and VVS play for a draw against South Africa.
I ignored the heat, the greatest pleasure for me is visiting my native town – C H E N N A I . My previous trip to Chennai was about 3 years ago. The first glance at Chennai airport, I felt it was just the same. The immigration officers worked at the same speed. Baggage claim was just as messy as the previous time. But nothing can take away my “Sprit of Chennai”. I love this dam city.
Just about 500 yards outside the airport the city was already active; as we exited the airport with family members, it was around 6.30am, and the traffic was quite heavy. It was Sunday, still many were travelling early in the morning. The first big change I noticed was fleets of little Korean cars plying around the narrow streets of Chennai at will. Colorful 99.99999999 CC bikes were the next big change. Finally, almost every one regardless of age had a cell phone.
First day in Chennai, I managed it and took the heat by its horns, heat index had already reached triple figure by 8.00am. To keep myself hydrated I drank cold Bisleri water at regular intervals [Totaled about 10-12], I had no clue about its consequences Yes! It did hydrate me quite well but it gave a serious infection. I ended up with a throat infection, which was upgraded to a fever that competed with the local heat [aka weather] report. Scored a brilliant 102 on the first day; after a span of about 9 years I was forced to gobble various kind antibiotics in different colors, shapes and sizes.
Current situation on the 4th day, a 12+ hour Jet lag, “The heat is sweet” and the truth is I could not take it, my Agony is I could not convey this to anyone. Reason being I could be treated for ORS – “Over Reacting Syndrome” because most seem to think being a Chennai native my body should handle the heat automatically, The temperature was about 55F-60F when I left DC, its been like this from early march. But for the past 4 days it was about 95F-100F, It is amazing that people don’t seem to believe that a 40-degree raise in temperature could cook variety of food, including me.
I completed a 3day PGDIPLOMA course on various Antibiotic meals. Yesterday Gods went crazy! Yep, it rained in Chennai and cooled a bit. Evening I ventured out to a Restaurant in Besent Nagar area, I did not get the name, my cousins [I have about 10 of them] just drove me around, Yes these kids are driving now and have their own cars too. The joint had a projector and a 5.1 bose audio system that was blasting music videos of Will Smith and my favorite Eagles. I managed to find a Mexican material on the menu card. “Enchilada”, though not 100% authentic mexi stuff, it was the Mexi breed from “Chennai”, glazed with Indian spices, managed to eat the entire portion. My cousin drove me back home, a fun filled evening that I have been missing for about 5 years now! Dam! How can I afford it miss it? Today planning to invade another joint, and this time my Amex Blue will take the load.
Today I would be getting DSL at home, this should help me to boost my enthu to browse the internet. In fact I don’t mind trading this 0.556565 kbs dial up browse to watch Dravid and VVS play for a draw against South Africa.
6/1/05
The new term in Cricket that denotes mediocrity
What is the new term in cricket that denotes mediocrity? - “Bangladesh”, they simply don’t want learn or at the least improve. Ranking them along with other international test playing teams mocks genuine cricket. They have played about 37 tests and have won only one. They managed to draw 4 while losing the rest [32] The Dubious distinction of losing to Bangladesh goes to Zimbabwe.
Bangladesh lost 80% of time they played international games. They have tried about 42 players. The only notable or commendable player Habibul Bashar who has about 2500 runs [with an average of 34.09] to his account. The only victory came under his captaincy. Their team scoring rate has never touched 3 runs an over. It is been always in lower 2.x, they had an average of 2.83 per over in the past decade. They are now in England on tour; The English whacked them by 261 runs in the first test, I did hear the commentary on BBC. The batting display was totally useless and not worth to be an international game. The good part in this, after this loss many cricketers like Richie Benaud Shane Warne and Javed Miandad have come forward and voiced out their opinions. “It is time to demote Bangladesh from the test playing status.” For many present day cricketers, playing against Bangladesh helps boosts their statistics and their batting form to record setting heights. This does not stop with the top level players, for international batsmen regardless of their batting position playing against Bangladesh is mere net practice or an extended stay at the batting cage.
It is rumored Mr. Jagmohan Dalmia the king [push] pin of Indian cricket got them in first place to increase his number of votes in ICC meetings. What ever, I don’t really care, but the truth is I am kind of sure that Tamil Nadu or Bombay Rajinee team will whack Bangladesh. Think about the spectators, it would be a real embarrassment for them to sit for such games. It is time for ICC to suspend them from Test playing status. We should not allow hacks to reduce the quality of the game. Dav Whatmore, the Australian coach might be confident but he has been given enough time. looks like they have no hopes; The best bet for Bangladesh would be to play 2nd tier cricket for next couple of years before taking on the 1st tier. As of now it is embarrassing and bad for the game of cricket. I would want Bangladesh to prove themselves against 2nd or 3rd tier teams from 8 test playing nations.
BCCI is meeting this week and the main matter would be how to deal TNCA. It seems Tamil Nadu Cricket Association allowed local clubs to file case against BCCI and TNCA; it is believed that BCCI would take action, how? Simply reduce or completely remove funding to TNCA. The point is Chennai has a great cricket ground that often favors the home team. MAC cricket ground is popular around the world. But it looks like Chennai people will not get any international game in near future. Already their cable TV system is screwed up by the set [top-box] theory, most places in the country gets live cricket on regular cable TV while people in Chennai were forced to play book cricket instead, this move by BCCI will add to their agony.
Finally, the joke of the week, A Pakistani Astrologer has predicted that Sachin will never be in the lime light again. It is a real shame and pity that he was not able to predict recent “the brawl”, if he had done so friendship between Inzi, Afridi and Yunis Khan would have stayed intact.
Good day folks.
Bangladesh lost 80% of time they played international games. They have tried about 42 players. The only notable or commendable player Habibul Bashar who has about 2500 runs [with an average of 34.09] to his account. The only victory came under his captaincy. Their team scoring rate has never touched 3 runs an over. It is been always in lower 2.x, they had an average of 2.83 per over in the past decade. They are now in England on tour; The English whacked them by 261 runs in the first test, I did hear the commentary on BBC. The batting display was totally useless and not worth to be an international game. The good part in this, after this loss many cricketers like Richie Benaud Shane Warne and Javed Miandad have come forward and voiced out their opinions. “It is time to demote Bangladesh from the test playing status.” For many present day cricketers, playing against Bangladesh helps boosts their statistics and their batting form to record setting heights. This does not stop with the top level players, for international batsmen regardless of their batting position playing against Bangladesh is mere net practice or an extended stay at the batting cage.
It is rumored Mr. Jagmohan Dalmia the king [push] pin of Indian cricket got them in first place to increase his number of votes in ICC meetings. What ever, I don’t really care, but the truth is I am kind of sure that Tamil Nadu or Bombay Rajinee team will whack Bangladesh. Think about the spectators, it would be a real embarrassment for them to sit for such games. It is time for ICC to suspend them from Test playing status. We should not allow hacks to reduce the quality of the game. Dav Whatmore, the Australian coach might be confident but he has been given enough time. looks like they have no hopes; The best bet for Bangladesh would be to play 2nd tier cricket for next couple of years before taking on the 1st tier. As of now it is embarrassing and bad for the game of cricket. I would want Bangladesh to prove themselves against 2nd or 3rd tier teams from 8 test playing nations.
BCCI is meeting this week and the main matter would be how to deal TNCA. It seems Tamil Nadu Cricket Association allowed local clubs to file case against BCCI and TNCA; it is believed that BCCI would take action, how? Simply reduce or completely remove funding to TNCA. The point is Chennai has a great cricket ground that often favors the home team. MAC cricket ground is popular around the world. But it looks like Chennai people will not get any international game in near future. Already their cable TV system is screwed up by the set [top-box] theory, most places in the country gets live cricket on regular cable TV while people in Chennai were forced to play book cricket instead, this move by BCCI will add to their agony.
Finally, the joke of the week, A Pakistani Astrologer has predicted that Sachin will never be in the lime light again. It is a real shame and pity that he was not able to predict recent “the brawl”, if he had done so friendship between Inzi, Afridi and Yunis Khan would have stayed intact.
Good day folks.
5/31/05
Madagascar
I want to Move it Move it...
Gloria the Hippo (voice of Jada Pinkett-Smith), Marty the Zebra (voice of Chris Rock),Alex the Lion (voice of Ben Stiller) and Melman the Giraffe (voice of David Schwimmer)in Dreamworks' Madagascar
Pic:Yahoo Movies.
“Madagascar” A computer animated movie about bunch of zoo animals. These animals get life from fantastic expressions and voice overs provided by popular Hollywood stars. They just come alive in front of you. The whole movie is an excellent humor filled entertainment. The way the story is expressed is clean and neat. The main character of this movie is Alex the lion, Voice by Ben Stiller. Frankly in my opinion, he is better of giving voices.
The Alex the lion is a megalomaniac, a typical city born “lion” that hates the wild and always keeps talking about him. His close pal is a Zebra (Chris Rock), who does not know if he came from black stripes on white skin or white stripes on Black skin. With his typical timing “Chris simple rocks” They have 2 other “friends”, the hypochondriac Giraffe [David Schwimmer ] called Mel man and Gloria, the pregnant Hippo girl [Jada Pinkett-Smith]. This four animal team makes you laugh all through the movie. My vote goes to Mel Man, the Giraffe; David Schwimmer is really funny with his excellent sense of timing. Every line for him relates to a medical condition. In my opinion, he is the main event in the movie. The script writers have done a very good job in framing his script.
There are many little things that happen,. You need to be really attentive with the screen play. For example when the animals lose their way to Madagascar island, Alex fights and splits with his buddy Zebra , he builds his own home paradise, which eventually burns down, thanks to Mel Man, but During that break down, just for a second Alex screams to his imaginary pal “Spalding” , reminding you the movie Castaway for a second. Quite funny, there are many places in the movie with similar hidden humor.
Another wonderful character is “The lemur” king; he is introduced with a Rave-Dance party for the song “I want to move it move it”. He talks in a Hollywood Indianish+African accent. He is a sophisticated little thug who rules the lemurs. His expressions and dialogues are framed with humor. Also don’t miss the psychopathic genius penguins, these lovable moon walking little ones are characterized as underground dons.
The over all story is about pampered animals getting lost in the wild. The story is shot and sweet, a set of psychopathic “penguins” decide to break away from New York central park zoo. The destination –“Antarctica”; The Zebra who is also bored get this idea from the penguins and decides to runaway on his own. His friends come after him to get him back to the zoo, however the end up in Madagascar island, where they meet the locals “lemurs”. I don’t want to give away a lot, just go to this movie and be dam attentive with each and every line. It’s worth the money. BTW: Kids would also love it.
Good Day.
5/26/05
ARE YOU READY! FOR THE.....
The announcement that I wanted to make was about my next music album. “H1 BEES”, this is nearing completion. It is in the final stages of production cycle. The scheduled released date: 22nd August [2005], and of course we do have a rain date scheduled in September.
3S Enterprises a multi-media company owned by Srivatsa is co-producing this album with my Sri Inc/Studio1234 label. I don’t want to give away a lot until it is complete 100%.
The main track [in English] is titled “H1BEES”, Vocals:Kartik,Lyrics:Devesh & Kartik,Guitar:Kartik,Keyboards/Drum/Hand Sonic:Srikanth.The other track I can talk about is the fast paced typical Tamil song sung by Ramesh [NC] and Usha Krishna [DC metro].The entire album will have about 8 tracks.
God willing we should be getting it out for sale in August, I made sure with my co-producer that the retail price will be kept low; this should encourage people to buy the CD. Please wish us luck and we don’t accept pre-orders [Just kidding]
Thanks for all the wild guesses!
Good day.
5/25/05
The Glamorous “karaoke" Show.
Tonight the overvalued glamorous “karaoke” show or popularly known as “American Idol” will reach its grand season finale. Final 2 contestants, Bo and Carrie are all set to become the next “star”. The have come a long way and the best is their winning margins. It seems to better the presidential elections. Tonight only one of them can win. The winner gets a multimillion dollar recording contract while the runner up gets a free box of Kleenex and free coupons to hug Paula;
It seems guy [Bo] is a rocker and the gal [Carrie] is a country singer. Oh is it so? Music making has changed over period of time. I really don’t know how many votes the Johns from the Led-Zeppelin or the Beatle John Lennon or the big boss Bruce Springsteen would get in this democratic formula of choosing the best singer if they go onstage with their “traditional” attire. The evolution is such that it is not the score that counts; it is all about how they look and how best they can imitate other musicians. Do you imitate all the songs of a singer from past and do you look better or trendier than other, do you have a wardrobe from a top dress maker who often talks in French; if that is the case, you have the best chance to be next the American Idol. “Srikanth! What the hell? You are getting old”. May be true, but I am happy that I grew up listening to Deep purple or the Beatles or Led-Zeppelins or the Rolling stones, even today these bands are often referred to as “Real Musicians”.
You might ask me how the American Idol is different from our good old “Saptha Swarangal”, don’t the singers sing the same old songs. “Karthick” the most popular play back singer in Tamil today found his way to stardom via this program right, “don’t you get it”. Actually I feel Saptha Swarangal is different program. This is my opinion, it might sound biased. I feel Saptha Swarangal is more sincere and original when compared with this media hype American Idol. Why? The singers featuring in the Idol show behave as though they wrote the song, composed it, and recorded it, while our singers in Chennai really know what and where they are from; they just do not create an artificial image. Sincere performance is the key, every other aspect comes next. This is the difference.
Any way all said and done, tonight a large portion of America that loves the “Idol” show will be sitting in front of their plasma or DLP or projection or other old fashioned TV sets. Few will get emotional and supporters of the contestants will get banners that would be shown on a fast moving Fox camera.
Alight, here is the news; Gangully signs up to play for Glamorgan. He might start as early as next week. Way to go I think this should help him to regain his form. I wish him good luck and I hope he keeps his nerve under control. The only goal he should have now is to get back his lost form. Can he? Let us hope of the best. Btw: As usual BCCI say it does not know about this deal what ever! Who Cares!
Sachin underwent an operation for his tennis elbow in London; about 13-15 weeks out of action. Hope he recovers to settle account with the new coach.
Finally, I will keep you guessing for next 24hrs; I am all set to make an announcement tomorrow;
Good day.
It seems guy [Bo] is a rocker and the gal [Carrie] is a country singer. Oh is it so? Music making has changed over period of time. I really don’t know how many votes the Johns from the Led-Zeppelin or the Beatle John Lennon or the big boss Bruce Springsteen would get in this democratic formula of choosing the best singer if they go onstage with their “traditional” attire. The evolution is such that it is not the score that counts; it is all about how they look and how best they can imitate other musicians. Do you imitate all the songs of a singer from past and do you look better or trendier than other, do you have a wardrobe from a top dress maker who often talks in French; if that is the case, you have the best chance to be next the American Idol. “Srikanth! What the hell? You are getting old”. May be true, but I am happy that I grew up listening to Deep purple or the Beatles or Led-Zeppelins or the Rolling stones, even today these bands are often referred to as “Real Musicians”.
You might ask me how the American Idol is different from our good old “Saptha Swarangal”, don’t the singers sing the same old songs. “Karthick” the most popular play back singer in Tamil today found his way to stardom via this program right, “don’t you get it”. Actually I feel Saptha Swarangal is different program. This is my opinion, it might sound biased. I feel Saptha Swarangal is more sincere and original when compared with this media hype American Idol. Why? The singers featuring in the Idol show behave as though they wrote the song, composed it, and recorded it, while our singers in Chennai really know what and where they are from; they just do not create an artificial image. Sincere performance is the key, every other aspect comes next. This is the difference.
Any way all said and done, tonight a large portion of America that loves the “Idol” show will be sitting in front of their plasma or DLP or projection or other old fashioned TV sets. Few will get emotional and supporters of the contestants will get banners that would be shown on a fast moving Fox camera.
Alight, here is the news; Gangully signs up to play for Glamorgan. He might start as early as next week. Way to go I think this should help him to regain his form. I wish him good luck and I hope he keeps his nerve under control. The only goal he should have now is to get back his lost form. Can he? Let us hope of the best. Btw: As usual BCCI say it does not know about this deal what ever! Who Cares!
Sachin underwent an operation for his tennis elbow in London; about 13-15 weeks out of action. Hope he recovers to settle account with the new coach.
Finally, I will keep you guessing for next 24hrs; I am all set to make an announcement tomorrow;
Good day.
5/24/05
Tuesday Ramblings
After being rejected, Jimmy Amarnath has vented out his frustration to the media. When ever you go for job interview, it can go either way. I think he should let it go. He should wait and watch the performance of new coach, if he fails, he can nose cry to media. Until then Jimmy please remember “Silence is golden”.
Yesterday I read various website posts supporting the blunt statement made by the new coach select. Many [Including Raj in the feed back section] have mentioned that this will eventually help Sachin 1. Sachin appreciates Chappell’s point of view and thanks him for empathizing. This would create a good wave length and hence he would continue to play well under the coach. Or 2. Just to prove Chappel and the media wrong he would start to blast like before. From Chappell’s point of view it might be favorable strategy that can put him in win-win situation. However the method he picked to execute this strategy was totally poor. I would not get this message to Sachin via the media;[who knows he did speak to Sachin and got his consent, just a speculation]. But all said and done, I would do it within my office walls and doors. A one on one chat with Sachin would do the trick [if at all there is one]. I really don’t know why Chappell went to the media; this is an internal matter concerning a senior employee, who is also an ICON in the country. The right method is to deal this in private with Sachin. In my opinion, Chappell even before his first pay check, tries here to go over board to prove is authority. Using this opponent can right royally sledge Sachin now
“Mate! How ever you play, your coach will not be impressed...why waste (y)our time.”. I am sure Sachin's bat will put an end this speculation.
Tamil Oviam , a web site run by my good friend Ganesh Chandra [GC], recently when I was browsing through Tamil Blogs I happen to read his interview.[Here is the Link ]. From a software background building and maintaining a website may look kind of easy, however getting the recurring material and keeping the web site up to date is very hard. Tamil Oviam apart from giving you latest news snippets uses popular global coding standards like UNICODE, XML, RSS, XSLT via their home build Content Management System in “Sanga” Tamil. Tamil Oviam also sells Tamil E-BOOK that can be purchased in their website using your Credit Card, yes "E-Commerce Transactions". Thanks to the System Analyst Role played by GC.
All said and done, the two keywords that drives hobbyist are “Devotion and Enthusiasm”. Frankly with a day job that feeds you any other additional task feels very hard; often caught in between dilemma 2 entities; I know this feeling quite well. The Will power to keep things running is something GC should be proud about. I have known these guys for long now and I very happy to see them move forward, I wish GC and his team all the best for the future growth.
Sunday I saw the Dinakaran award show on SUNTV. Thank god, they had very minimal Record dances. Agency reports says the opening Dance by Swarnamalia and co was to test the maximum load the stage could handle. My man, Silambarasan, got the award for best script - Manmadan. Way to go guy. Vijay the best actor; came on stage without any kind of expression. He could have at least smiled for jokes from Sriman. Is smiling in public a costly deal for the Tamil star?, Kamal presented Nagesh with an achievement award. Nagesh gave a very frank speech for being ignored for Padma Shree awards. Valiee was also given the Achievement award by KB, Valiee is an amazing writer who can deal generations. He made a wonderful statement in his speech, “Talent without patronage is a waste”. 100% true. Unless you have someone to push I don’t see raw talent getting noted. Vallee thanked all the composers, directors for their patronage. Since Corrs could not show up from London, Yuvan Shanker got the award for best music in 7G Colony
[Ps1: The pathetic part was Sriman called him “Isai Puyal”, The irony the title is also copied.] , [PS2:Yuvan Fans to Sriks : S.T.F.U]
Yesterday I read various website posts supporting the blunt statement made by the new coach select. Many [Including Raj in the feed back section] have mentioned that this will eventually help Sachin 1. Sachin appreciates Chappell’s point of view and thanks him for empathizing. This would create a good wave length and hence he would continue to play well under the coach. Or 2. Just to prove Chappel and the media wrong he would start to blast like before. From Chappell’s point of view it might be favorable strategy that can put him in win-win situation. However the method he picked to execute this strategy was totally poor. I would not get this message to Sachin via the media;[who knows he did speak to Sachin and got his consent, just a speculation]. But all said and done, I would do it within my office walls and doors. A one on one chat with Sachin would do the trick [if at all there is one]. I really don’t know why Chappell went to the media; this is an internal matter concerning a senior employee, who is also an ICON in the country. The right method is to deal this in private with Sachin. In my opinion, Chappell even before his first pay check, tries here to go over board to prove is authority. Using this opponent can right royally sledge Sachin now
“Mate! How ever you play, your coach will not be impressed...why waste (y)our time.”. I am sure Sachin's bat will put an end this speculation.
Tamil Oviam , a web site run by my good friend Ganesh Chandra [GC], recently when I was browsing through Tamil Blogs I happen to read his interview.[Here is the Link ]. From a software background building and maintaining a website may look kind of easy, however getting the recurring material and keeping the web site up to date is very hard. Tamil Oviam apart from giving you latest news snippets uses popular global coding standards like UNICODE, XML, RSS, XSLT via their home build Content Management System in “Sanga” Tamil. Tamil Oviam also sells Tamil E-BOOK that can be purchased in their website using your Credit Card, yes "E-Commerce Transactions". Thanks to the System Analyst Role played by GC.
All said and done, the two keywords that drives hobbyist are “Devotion and Enthusiasm”. Frankly with a day job that feeds you any other additional task feels very hard; often caught in between dilemma 2 entities; I know this feeling quite well. The Will power to keep things running is something GC should be proud about. I have known these guys for long now and I very happy to see them move forward, I wish GC and his team all the best for the future growth.
Sunday I saw the Dinakaran award show on SUNTV. Thank god, they had very minimal Record dances. Agency reports says the opening Dance by Swarnamalia and co was to test the maximum load the stage could handle. My man, Silambarasan, got the award for best script - Manmadan. Way to go guy. Vijay the best actor; came on stage without any kind of expression. He could have at least smiled for jokes from Sriman. Is smiling in public a costly deal for the Tamil star?, Kamal presented Nagesh with an achievement award. Nagesh gave a very frank speech for being ignored for Padma Shree awards. Valiee was also given the Achievement award by KB, Valiee is an amazing writer who can deal generations. He made a wonderful statement in his speech, “Talent without patronage is a waste”. 100% true. Unless you have someone to push I don’t see raw talent getting noted. Vallee thanked all the composers, directors for their patronage. Since Corrs could not show up from London, Yuvan Shanker got the award for best music in 7G Colony
[Ps1: The pathetic part was Sriman called him “Isai Puyal”, The irony the title is also copied.] , [PS2:Yuvan Fans to Sriks : S.T.F.U]
5/23/05
Various Ramblings
Starting on a wrong foot, suppose I join a company and comment about one of its presidents, Just say he is too old and we will not see the best of him again, how would every one react?. This is what Greg Chappell did yesterday commenting about Tendulkar. Even before his first day in office I don’t know why there was need for an incoming coach to comment on an ICON of Indian cricket. Sunil Gavasker last week commented on out going John Wright; according to him Wright was abused by few Indian players which triggered him not to renew his contract. John Wright has not complained officially to BCCI, but this message is from another Indian Icon, Sunil Gavasker. Hence we need to assume “there was some smoke”. I think having gone this far, Sunil Gavasker should list down the players who are accused of “abusing” the coach.
Weekend happened to watch a H.O.L.Y - C.R.A.P, I cannot write down the name of the movie, it is very inappropriate to mention I saw …… during the weekend. You would laugh at me or I may look cheap. I am really surprised that there are producers out there who could spend money on such celluloid C.R.A.P. There was no story, no logic, No Music, no idea or no creativity- bottom line- it had nothing that was associated with tasteful film making. They director set out to make the movie just for the reason has got the call sheet from the big hero and the ace comedian. Man, I could not stand even for 45 minutes. Keeping guessing the movie; to compensate this HC, I went and got the DVD of “Shark Tales” that features the voices of Will Smith and Robert Di Nero. Very good entertainment and the script for this movie is well written and deserves a special write up.
Star wars made more money and broke records. The main event of this part is, ANAKIN SKYWALKER [Luke Skywalker’s pithAJi, to know more about this Galactic Family tree click here, ] becomes the DARTH VADER. He gets to pick his masks and its associated asthma breathing. The most stupid star wars character - “AR JAR BINKS” the camel looking boring thing that suffers from no-humor but yet made to look funny syndrome. The irony is “The trilogy started of with Episode 4 called A New hope”., A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away when I was really a kid, I saw this movie when we visited New Delhi in 1977-78 summer holidays. This was followed by 2 more, episode 5 and 6. Seeing the money inflow, Lucas then reverted back to Episode 1, 2 and now the 3rd and the final called “revenge of the Sith”. However,I am sure Lucas is planning for Episode 7. But before the Major 7th he would get out Minor 10th through 13. I should go to this movie this week at least. Review says the movie is filled with action.
Just like star wars I have a script for Tamil trilogy; “Muthalvan” Episode 1 called “The Politician Menace, How Raghuvaran grew up by seeing his dad, an evil politician. Little Raghuvaran gets to know the tricks in the trade. Then Episode 2, about Arjun, who drinks whole milk to develop strong muscles. Episode 3 - Attack of the MLAs where the Young Raghu joins the dark side. Episode 3a, Pazi vangum Politicians, this is not actually shot; we take lots of left over scene from Indian, Kadalan, Boys and cook a movie. Shankar Sir”, if you read this just one email will do, I can finish the script and over night it via FedEx.
Anyway, waiting for Anniyan, Trailer was very impressive. I am a big fan of Shankar and Vikram, hence I am expecting a good treat.
Good day
Weekend happened to watch a H.O.L.Y - C.R.A.P, I cannot write down the name of the movie, it is very inappropriate to mention I saw …… during the weekend. You would laugh at me or I may look cheap. I am really surprised that there are producers out there who could spend money on such celluloid C.R.A.P. There was no story, no logic, No Music, no idea or no creativity- bottom line- it had nothing that was associated with tasteful film making. They director set out to make the movie just for the reason has got the call sheet from the big hero and the ace comedian. Man, I could not stand even for 45 minutes. Keeping guessing the movie; to compensate this HC, I went and got the DVD of “Shark Tales” that features the voices of Will Smith and Robert Di Nero. Very good entertainment and the script for this movie is well written and deserves a special write up.
Star wars made more money and broke records. The main event of this part is, ANAKIN SKYWALKER [Luke Skywalker’s pithAJi, to know more about this Galactic Family tree click here, ] becomes the DARTH VADER. He gets to pick his masks and its associated asthma breathing. The most stupid star wars character - “AR JAR BINKS” the camel looking boring thing that suffers from no-humor but yet made to look funny syndrome. The irony is “The trilogy started of with Episode 4 called A New hope”., A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away when I was really a kid, I saw this movie when we visited New Delhi in 1977-78 summer holidays. This was followed by 2 more, episode 5 and 6. Seeing the money inflow, Lucas then reverted back to Episode 1, 2 and now the 3rd and the final called “revenge of the Sith”. However,I am sure Lucas is planning for Episode 7. But before the Major 7th he would get out Minor 10th through 13. I should go to this movie this week at least. Review says the movie is filled with action.
Just like star wars I have a script for Tamil trilogy; “Muthalvan” Episode 1 called “The Politician Menace, How Raghuvaran grew up by seeing his dad, an evil politician. Little Raghuvaran gets to know the tricks in the trade. Then Episode 2, about Arjun, who drinks whole milk to develop strong muscles. Episode 3 - Attack of the MLAs where the Young Raghu joins the dark side. Episode 3a, Pazi vangum Politicians, this is not actually shot; we take lots of left over scene from Indian, Kadalan, Boys and cook a movie. Shankar Sir”, if you read this just one email will do, I can finish the script and over night it via FedEx.
Anyway, waiting for Anniyan, Trailer was very impressive. I am a big fan of Shankar and Vikram, hence I am expecting a good treat.
Good day
5/20/05
Ra Ra “chintaku” Greg Chappell Ra Ra
Ra Ra “chintaku” Greg Chappell Ra Ra, he is the next Indian Coach and will be so till the next world cup in 2007. His speculated salary was about 500k per year. The Australian gets to hit the jack pot at 56. The new in coming coach (s)elect has promised to dedicate his expertise to the better of Indian cricket for next couple of years. .
[No! he is not
running for election]
Greg Chappell lost some carrier mileage by playing for the Kerry packer world series; he was banned from playing for Australia during this period. What ever, he as good records as captain, his team was able to beat the mighty West Indian team under Clive Lloyd [75-76]. He has also provided consulting for the MRF pace foundation in Chennai. He retried from international cricket in 1983 – 84.after a scoring devastating 182 in Sydney against Pakistan. He does have very good cricketing record and deserves this job. Let us hope the best for the team. Welcome Mr. Chappell. Ps: I hope other candidates who appeared for the interview got their expenses statement cleared by BCCI
Donald Trump balanced the equation yesterday. For last 2 seasons it was all male pick, this time he chooses a lady as his next apprentice. Kendra, the center of attraction of the board room will be heading a billion dollar home construction in Palm Beach Florida. Teaming with Best Buy she organized a video game boxing challenge. Do you know her new salary? She would be making about 5 times more than a H1 Desi or to put it positively she would make about half of what Greg Chappell would be making in a year. The next season of the apprentice will feature Martha Stewart.
CSI, the top rated crime television serial in the country that airs on CBS; I watched it for few weeks, the good part was the teleplay or the screen play, it was simply excellent. The speed at which the story is told was quite interesting, audience will never be bored; However most of the perfect prediction made by the forensic detectives can be stringed together on a 10 feet organic banana fiber and a 1 basket full of freshly plucked “Crossandra infundibuliformis” [அதாà®™்க! நம்ப ஊர் கனக்காà®®்பரம்]. I feel Law and order more logical and believable than CSI.
Summer is supposed to begin officially this weekend. The weather here in DC has been quite horrible. The temperature here never went above 75f. at nights it slipped down to lower 50f. Almost a fall weather dull feeling. Coffee is the only thing that keeps me running. Have a good weekend folks.
[No! he is not
running for election]
Greg Chappell lost some carrier mileage by playing for the Kerry packer world series; he was banned from playing for Australia during this period. What ever, he as good records as captain, his team was able to beat the mighty West Indian team under Clive Lloyd [75-76]. He has also provided consulting for the MRF pace foundation in Chennai. He retried from international cricket in 1983 – 84.after a scoring devastating 182 in Sydney against Pakistan. He does have very good cricketing record and deserves this job. Let us hope the best for the team. Welcome Mr. Chappell. Ps: I hope other candidates who appeared for the interview got their expenses statement cleared by BCCI
Donald Trump balanced the equation yesterday. For last 2 seasons it was all male pick, this time he chooses a lady as his next apprentice. Kendra, the center of attraction of the board room will be heading a billion dollar home construction in Palm Beach Florida. Teaming with Best Buy she organized a video game boxing challenge. Do you know her new salary? She would be making about 5 times more than a H1 Desi or to put it positively she would make about half of what Greg Chappell would be making in a year. The next season of the apprentice will feature Martha Stewart.
CSI, the top rated crime television serial in the country that airs on CBS; I watched it for few weeks, the good part was the teleplay or the screen play, it was simply excellent. The speed at which the story is told was quite interesting, audience will never be bored; However most of the perfect prediction made by the forensic detectives can be stringed together on a 10 feet organic banana fiber and a 1 basket full of freshly plucked “Crossandra infundibuliformis” [அதாà®™்க! நம்ப ஊர் கனக்காà®®்பரம்]. I feel Law and order more logical and believable than CSI.
Summer is supposed to begin officially this weekend. The weather here in DC has been quite horrible. The temperature here never went above 75f. at nights it slipped down to lower 50f. Almost a fall weather dull feeling. Coffee is the only thing that keeps me running. Have a good weekend folks.
5/19/05
THE G-FORCE IS HERE
The Next generation Cricket bats - Indians Seek ICC permission
NEWS : ICC lets Ricky Ponting to continue with Graphite bat.
Photo: Viru's tests fires the new G-Force 20, a new cricket bat designed by Gucci for Indian Batsmen.
5/18/05
Tamil Movies in Trouble - oh not Again
Politicians trying to restrict Tamil movies, issue is out once again. Very recently they tried to enforce Tamil titles for Tamil movies, etc, most of their demands sounded ridiculous. Now the demand is “celluloid cannot show a person smoking or drinking, if shown it should carry a warning message”. I feel political parties should not tinker with freedom of expression. Some elites might come to defend and tell there is some meaning in the politicians demand.
Oh Ya!, but did people elect them to work for better movie titles or to censor movies? If the health minister is worried about evil of smoking, try to run it through a legislature where you take action on the manufacturers of such products. Just by Banning clips that show actual smoking will not reduce smoking. Females watch movie right? But most don’t smoke why? Why weren’t they spoilt? I really don’t know why our press gives coverage to such silly issues.
Recently US congress took the baseball dope issue in their agenda. Press here termed it as total waste of time. People here feel when there are so many other problems to fix congress should not waste its time and money on an issue that is not concerning them. Let us list down few problems we are facing in Tamil Nadu? As per Sun TV, everything and any thing concerning the ruling government is a problem in Tamil Nadu. Seriously, like festivals year after year we have the water crisis, professional College Entrance exam fiasco, power shortage, Industrial and automobile pollution, mind blowing traffic, and many more. A genuine politician will take up these as priority and help people to resolve issue, but today we see a bunch that waste their time by taking up issue that is not worth a penny. These kind of political stunts are mere escapism to avoid work.Tamilans weakness – “the Tamil language” is misused for such stunts.
Last week on SunTV I had a chance to sit in front the kids program. I like this program just for the kids, they are so natural; but the show host Mrs. Pushpavanam Kuppuswamy, Beware if you want your kids to feature in this program better train in “Sanga Tamil” ; if the kid is caught red handed using common English terms, you would be prosecuted right away. There was child from US; do you know the first question the poor little girl got? What do you call you mom? Amma or mommy, poor 4 year old did not know the sarcasm in that question. Thanks god she answered “à®…à®®்à®®ா” after few seconds. What is the problem if the little one calls Mom or à®…à®®்à®®ா ? Will the relationship change if called in English or Hindi, or Gujarati or Tulu? Or by calling your native call “Amma” will expand your language love by 10 inches?, I agree mother tongue is important, teaching kids their mother tongue is one important activity which I do, but I don’t agree a 3rd person questioning a poor little kid on TV to display her so called narrow language love. The next one was the best, there was girl dressed as nurse, so what is Tamil for nurse, the poor kid was forced to pronounce with hardship “sevili thayAr”, Does this lady have the guts to ask Radhika, just watch the latest “ungal choice advertisement” that suffers from the “Illness” or 9 out of 10 Tamil announcers who cannot pronounce properly, why don’t they correct them instead of troubling these tiny toddlers? Tamil will not grow if we Tamilans are narrow with other languages. We have umpteen statements like “oorAr piLLaiyai otty vaLarthal than piLLai thame vaLarum” but we never follow this and appreciate other languages. Aaaaa Ya! Am I am inviting trouble from Tamil life savers? Just in case let me apply for a bail -- “வாà®´்க தமிà®´்”.
Anyways, Randaka Randaka Randaka, Randaka Yes I have been hearing this song for about 24 hrs on my "வண் கூடு" [athan than sir - Ipod] This song is by far the best song in the album that has very good vocals with a bouncy feel and genuine music. Just like in the IPOD commercial you would dance crazy for this song. I hope Shanker works out a kick ass video for this track.
I watched the America’s most clumsiest and crummiest show on TV, can you guess it?, Britney’s reality TV shame, Let me write a separate Blog reviewing this joke that airs on the WB network.
Oh Ya!, but did people elect them to work for better movie titles or to censor movies? If the health minister is worried about evil of smoking, try to run it through a legislature where you take action on the manufacturers of such products. Just by Banning clips that show actual smoking will not reduce smoking. Females watch movie right? But most don’t smoke why? Why weren’t they spoilt? I really don’t know why our press gives coverage to such silly issues.
Recently US congress took the baseball dope issue in their agenda. Press here termed it as total waste of time. People here feel when there are so many other problems to fix congress should not waste its time and money on an issue that is not concerning them. Let us list down few problems we are facing in Tamil Nadu? As per Sun TV, everything and any thing concerning the ruling government is a problem in Tamil Nadu. Seriously, like festivals year after year we have the water crisis, professional College Entrance exam fiasco, power shortage, Industrial and automobile pollution, mind blowing traffic, and many more. A genuine politician will take up these as priority and help people to resolve issue, but today we see a bunch that waste their time by taking up issue that is not worth a penny. These kind of political stunts are mere escapism to avoid work.Tamilans weakness – “the Tamil language” is misused for such stunts.
Last week on SunTV I had a chance to sit in front the kids program. I like this program just for the kids, they are so natural; but the show host Mrs. Pushpavanam Kuppuswamy, Beware if you want your kids to feature in this program better train in “Sanga Tamil” ; if the kid is caught red handed using common English terms, you would be prosecuted right away. There was child from US; do you know the first question the poor little girl got? What do you call you mom? Amma or mommy, poor 4 year old did not know the sarcasm in that question. Thanks god she answered “à®…à®®்à®®ா” after few seconds. What is the problem if the little one calls Mom or à®…à®®்à®®ா ? Will the relationship change if called in English or Hindi, or Gujarati or Tulu? Or by calling your native call “Amma” will expand your language love by 10 inches?, I agree mother tongue is important, teaching kids their mother tongue is one important activity which I do, but I don’t agree a 3rd person questioning a poor little kid on TV to display her so called narrow language love. The next one was the best, there was girl dressed as nurse, so what is Tamil for nurse, the poor kid was forced to pronounce with hardship “sevili thayAr”, Does this lady have the guts to ask Radhika, just watch the latest “ungal choice advertisement” that suffers from the “Illness” or 9 out of 10 Tamil announcers who cannot pronounce properly, why don’t they correct them instead of troubling these tiny toddlers? Tamil will not grow if we Tamilans are narrow with other languages. We have umpteen statements like “oorAr piLLaiyai otty vaLarthal than piLLai thame vaLarum” but we never follow this and appreciate other languages. Aaaaa Ya! Am I am inviting trouble from Tamil life savers? Just in case let me apply for a bail -- “வாà®´்க தமிà®´்”.
Anyways, Randaka Randaka Randaka, Randaka Yes I have been hearing this song for about 24 hrs on my "வண் கூடு" [athan than sir - Ipod] This song is by far the best song in the album that has very good vocals with a bouncy feel and genuine music. Just like in the IPOD commercial you would dance crazy for this song. I hope Shanker works out a kick ass video for this track.
I watched the America’s most clumsiest and crummiest show on TV, can you guess it?, Britney’s reality TV shame, Let me write a separate Blog reviewing this joke that airs on the WB network.
5/16/05
Various Ramblings
What would YOU call a hardware that has Three symmetrical cores running at 3.2 GHz each and Two hardware threads per core with six hardware threads total VMX-128 vector unit per core; three total 128 VMX-128 registers per hardware thread 1 MB L2 cache, not a main frame from IBM, it is the new XBOX2 from Microsoft, it was dedicated to the world of gamers on a MTV 30 minute infomercial last week. The new XBOX2 offers online voice chat between 2 gamers!, and more features which a non-gamer would care the least. The Xbox3 is on pipe line, this might have 2 editions I suppose, One called the Home edition, where you get MS-Outlook, Ms Word, Ms-Excel, users can check email and browse the net while playing games, the second version the professional developer Edition would have the Visual Studio plug in, where a .NET programmer can code games in C# or test games of others users online. [Yes! I made it up]
ICC has told recently that Ganguly has got a middle level ban, I don’t care about the levels, why others captains are let go from this middle level, I am sure it is impossible to get an sane explanation from ICC in near future.
Desmond Haynes joined the coach race last week. Patil pulled out the race due to a match fixing scale in Kenya. It seems ICC Anti Corruption group did not prefer him. Tom Moody is speculated to be the next Indian coach. I remember Moody, leading the under 21 team to India in the 80s. Now he might be next coach to teach our players how to play the game. BCCI has also told that there is no problem with the Coach “Fee” Chappell’s remuneration is speculated around $400k to $500k per year [almost 2 Crores a year]. This is amazing, and here is an organization that nose cries when the government asks to pay tax that would help the general public but they don’t mind paying a foreign coach what ever he demands. Kind of ridiculous, why should BCCI get a tax exempt? As an individual I work for my family and not for profits and I spend the money for the wellbeing of my family. While BCCI works for the Cricket and uses is profits for the betterment of Cricket, What’s the difference? Cricket is a professional sport and people are not half boiled fools to believe BCCI to be a non-profit organization. It is time to Tax BCCI. May be our own Pa. Chidambaram can do it;
On Politics, I see this morning that AIADMK won the by elections. For last 3 days Sun TV was trying very hard to smear in their newscast, they interviewed various locals who complained on election rigging and money donations, they showed autos and cars being seized Etc, however most seemed as well cooked episodes. Any way, do I really care about local politics? Not really
I finally got to hear a legitimate version of Anniyan songs. Though nothing much has changed in my initial opinion the Recording seemed clean and perfect. Kadal Yanai Remo track, as I mentioned before the vocals team rocks throughout the song. I feel Nakul [Boys Fame] in particular; he screams his heart out and fills the song with energy. He might be singing more songs in future. Hopefully the video saves this song and takes it to some heights.
The final episode of star wars will be out this week in US, it seems it takes political shots at current government in Washington. Duh who does not these days. If you have lost track of the episode numbers, this is episode three called Revenge of the Sith [will also be dubbed in Tamil titled – “Pazi Vangum Sithan” don’t confuse this for Pithamagan Episode -1 ] . This should be the grand Finale that should end this loooooooooooong story. Hopefully they give the most kept secret in this final episode at least, “What is the relationship between R2D3 and C3Po? Is it something similar to “Sponge Bob and Patrick”?. For the amount of money this movie makes who knows if Lucas needs quick funds he might churn out an Episode 1A - Mudi strikes again [This cannot be dubbed in Tamil for obvious reasons]. mudi is a hairy clan, [When there can be a Jedi, mudi is also possible], Wader’s 5th wife's 3rd kid becomes a mudi and takes revenge on Wader.
May the force be with you.
Good day.
ICC has told recently that Ganguly has got a middle level ban, I don’t care about the levels, why others captains are let go from this middle level, I am sure it is impossible to get an sane explanation from ICC in near future.
Desmond Haynes joined the coach race last week. Patil pulled out the race due to a match fixing scale in Kenya. It seems ICC Anti Corruption group did not prefer him. Tom Moody is speculated to be the next Indian coach. I remember Moody, leading the under 21 team to India in the 80s. Now he might be next coach to teach our players how to play the game. BCCI has also told that there is no problem with the Coach “Fee” Chappell’s remuneration is speculated around $400k to $500k per year [almost 2 Crores a year]. This is amazing, and here is an organization that nose cries when the government asks to pay tax that would help the general public but they don’t mind paying a foreign coach what ever he demands. Kind of ridiculous, why should BCCI get a tax exempt? As an individual I work for my family and not for profits and I spend the money for the wellbeing of my family. While BCCI works for the Cricket and uses is profits for the betterment of Cricket, What’s the difference? Cricket is a professional sport and people are not half boiled fools to believe BCCI to be a non-profit organization. It is time to Tax BCCI. May be our own Pa. Chidambaram can do it;
On Politics, I see this morning that AIADMK won the by elections. For last 3 days Sun TV was trying very hard to smear in their newscast, they interviewed various locals who complained on election rigging and money donations, they showed autos and cars being seized Etc, however most seemed as well cooked episodes. Any way, do I really care about local politics? Not really
I finally got to hear a legitimate version of Anniyan songs. Though nothing much has changed in my initial opinion the Recording seemed clean and perfect. Kadal Yanai Remo track, as I mentioned before the vocals team rocks throughout the song. I feel Nakul [Boys Fame] in particular; he screams his heart out and fills the song with energy. He might be singing more songs in future. Hopefully the video saves this song and takes it to some heights.
The final episode of star wars will be out this week in US, it seems it takes political shots at current government in Washington. Duh who does not these days. If you have lost track of the episode numbers, this is episode three called Revenge of the Sith [will also be dubbed in Tamil titled – “Pazi Vangum Sithan” don’t confuse this for Pithamagan Episode -1 ] . This should be the grand Finale that should end this loooooooooooong story. Hopefully they give the most kept secret in this final episode at least, “What is the relationship between R2D3 and C3Po? Is it something similar to “Sponge Bob and Patrick”?. For the amount of money this movie makes who knows if Lucas needs quick funds he might churn out an Episode 1A - Mudi strikes again [This cannot be dubbed in Tamil for obvious reasons]. mudi is a hairy clan, [When there can be a Jedi, mudi is also possible], Wader’s 5th wife's 3rd kid becomes a mudi and takes revenge on Wader.
May the force be with you.
Good day.
5/12/05
5/11/05
A Non-performance piece
If you walk past the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Downtown DC, you would find a woman silently standing on a platform in front of. She looks as though she was making some statement. Next to her platform is a row of glass jars, few are empty, few were filled with liquids, yes it was “urine”, she has been using as a bathroom since 6 o'clock yesterday morning. Her name, Melissa Ichiuji's , who ever passes through her pose, did not have a clue on what she was up to, might be a protest on something? Her dressing looks very much exposed. Who is she? She is just a performance artist in the final 36 hours of "Stripped," What her performance piece? (or "non-performance" piece [ as she calls it]). Washington post reports, “It is the last leg of a month-long journey toward little and less, and, in these final hours, public privation”.
Post further reports, the so called piece began in January when Ichiuji -- a married third-year Corcoran student in her late thirties from Front Royal, Va. -- started giving up things: coffee, television, soda and medication, followed in February by fast food and alcohol. As the seasons changed, she gave up cosmetics and chocolate, meat and magazines. Since the beginning of May, she's had: no newspapers, no music, no mirrors, no cell phone, no e-mail, no driving, no sex, no books, no family or friends or running water. No appliances, no speech, no clocks, no shoes, no food, no shelter. The idea is to let go of things that matter to the woman as a meditation on what matters most to the artist and, by extension, the audience.
Ichiuji's performance is scheduled to end this evening at 6, when presumably she will drive off with her husband. Perhaps later she'll talk about what she found when she went without, and went deep, and went in search of the there that's there when everything else is gone. Or, perhaps, as with any piece of art, it's for viewers to say what they took away. To Read more on this Click here
pic:The Washington Post
Post further reports, the so called piece began in January when Ichiuji -- a married third-year Corcoran student in her late thirties from Front Royal, Va. -- started giving up things: coffee, television, soda and medication, followed in February by fast food and alcohol. As the seasons changed, she gave up cosmetics and chocolate, meat and magazines. Since the beginning of May, she's had: no newspapers, no music, no mirrors, no cell phone, no e-mail, no driving, no sex, no books, no family or friends or running water. No appliances, no speech, no clocks, no shoes, no food, no shelter. The idea is to let go of things that matter to the woman as a meditation on what matters most to the artist and, by extension, the audience.
Ichiuji's performance is scheduled to end this evening at 6, when presumably she will drive off with her husband. Perhaps later she'll talk about what she found when she went without, and went deep, and went in search of the there that's there when everything else is gone. Or, perhaps, as with any piece of art, it's for viewers to say what they took away. To Read more on this Click here
pic:The Washington Post
5/10/05
I Spoke to Jimmy Amaranth, a Rewind
While the race for the Indian team coach continues, there was a surprise last minute entry, Mohinder Amarnath. Let me recollect my school days, when I was in my higher secondary in M.C.C.H.S, our school use to organize the famous Vinoo Mankad Cricket cup for city schools. Being in the school cricket team it is always fun to play in such tournaments, especially to bunk classes, in fact I use to go for umpiring during non- playing days.
At that time England were touring India, Indians after this series were scheduled for the Champions of Champion league in Australia [Benson and Hedges mini world cup] under Sunil Gavasker.
Vinoo Mankad tournament was sponsored by Thumbs up; Thumps up used to get famous cricketers to talk to budding players. Being the host, our school team had the privilege to meet test cricketers, our team got training from few of the English Cricketers also; I think it was Foster and Edmonds.
But the best part was, the super senior team happened to have a session with Jimmy Amarnath. During the session, He fixed flaws in the batting and bowling technique of various players and gave measures to improve them. He used excellent language and methods to tell the cricketers about their ability and way to improve them. He gave lots of tips on bowling to a predetermined field; using variations to force the batsmen rethink his game plan, few I remember even today.
Later in the Q&A session, this is still green in my head, I asked him about the prospects of the Indian team in Australia [Benson and Hedges mini world cup]. There were doubts in the minds of many, thanks to the demoralizing West Indies series. Jimmy’s scores looked like a pin code. I had the guts to ask him directly about his poor form and so called pin code scores.
Jimmy answering to my question, smiled at everyone and told yes “my form is kind of worrying” however I should play well in Chennai, and he also assured that Indians would win the Cup in Australia. It seems the team had made attempts to fix various flaws and they are ready to take the world again.
I did not buy it at all, most of us thought it was a usual remark by a player just to boost confidence; however I wished him luck in Chennai and told that “I will be looking forward for a big knock filled with his famous hook shots”, Jimmy asked us to pray for him. I think few did pray, Jimmy scored 78 and 95 in Chennai and was out hooking in the second innings. Though India lost the test to England Jimmy scored as promised and but the best part was, as predicted by Jimmy Amarnath, Indians won the “champions of champion’s trophy”, Srikanth top scored with about 238 runs while Ravi Sastri was given an Audi. Jimmy Amarnath played 2 innings, and his bowling E/R was about 3.00 World started to accept Indians, the world cup achievement was not a fluke.
Jimmy amaranth, I think would be a very good coach. He clearly knows what he is capable; however he is the copy right owner of the famous statement “Bunch of Jokers” hence he might have to face the music now.
At that time England were touring India, Indians after this series were scheduled for the Champions of Champion league in Australia [Benson and Hedges mini world cup] under Sunil Gavasker.
Vinoo Mankad tournament was sponsored by Thumbs up; Thumps up used to get famous cricketers to talk to budding players. Being the host, our school team had the privilege to meet test cricketers, our team got training from few of the English Cricketers also; I think it was Foster and Edmonds.
But the best part was, the super senior team happened to have a session with Jimmy Amarnath. During the session, He fixed flaws in the batting and bowling technique of various players and gave measures to improve them. He used excellent language and methods to tell the cricketers about their ability and way to improve them. He gave lots of tips on bowling to a predetermined field; using variations to force the batsmen rethink his game plan, few I remember even today.
Later in the Q&A session, this is still green in my head, I asked him about the prospects of the Indian team in Australia [Benson and Hedges mini world cup]. There were doubts in the minds of many, thanks to the demoralizing West Indies series. Jimmy’s scores looked like a pin code. I had the guts to ask him directly about his poor form and so called pin code scores.
Jimmy answering to my question, smiled at everyone and told yes “my form is kind of worrying” however I should play well in Chennai, and he also assured that Indians would win the Cup in Australia. It seems the team had made attempts to fix various flaws and they are ready to take the world again.
I did not buy it at all, most of us thought it was a usual remark by a player just to boost confidence; however I wished him luck in Chennai and told that “I will be looking forward for a big knock filled with his famous hook shots”, Jimmy asked us to pray for him. I think few did pray, Jimmy scored 78 and 95 in Chennai and was out hooking in the second innings. Though India lost the test to England Jimmy scored as promised and but the best part was, as predicted by Jimmy Amarnath, Indians won the “champions of champion’s trophy”, Srikanth top scored with about 238 runs while Ravi Sastri was given an Audi. Jimmy Amarnath played 2 innings, and his bowling E/R was about 3.00 World started to accept Indians, the world cup achievement was not a fluke.
Jimmy amaranth, I think would be a very good coach. He clearly knows what he is capable; however he is the copy right owner of the famous statement “Bunch of Jokers” hence he might have to face the music now.
5/9/05
Oh! Botanical romance.
If you want to check my voice, Please! Do it today, yes it is at its best, you are welcome to call me and please don’t blame me if you hear a tin sound mixed with an air blow timbre, yes that’s me. Thanks to the yellow little things that were flying around in my area. Male Plants shamelessly produce a powdery yellow substance to attract their female “country woods”, they use wind and insects to carry this material to the female settlement; if you happen to reside some where in this line of love fire, your nose takes the first punch.
As if it was my fault to come in between their Botanical romantic life I was victimized, like many innocent people walking with temporary hand kerchiefs a.k.a Kleenex, I was forced to carry a box of them now. Dam these yellow beings, technically called pollens. The attack was so powerful, my Allergies brew up a deep sounding dry cough, over the period of time this cough turned into a full size COW, finally my voice ended up sounding like R2D2 and C3PO talking during St. Patrick’s Day parade.
However if you see the positive side in this, my voice almost sounded like an Analog synthesizer. This temporary talent [or ailment] of mine produced some unique sounds, Hence not wasting this pollen given talent, I sampled my voice by uttering today’s most fashionable words like “Devuda Devuda” ,”Repeatu” , “ipoodu choodu”, Yesterday’s fashionable words like “No No No No”, “Kadavul pathi mirugam pathi” etc. and created new sound patch on my Yamaha motif ES. Later in the evening, I swallowed various kinds of Sudafed [Sinus, Flu, Cold, Cough, and Congestion] that had list of side effects which sounded worse than my dry cough, a nirvana state of totally drowsiness was also promised, adding to this agony Sun TV aired”alavandan” , now there was a big competition in my body between 2 major forces both of them trying diligently to push me into a deep sleep, but finally Alavandan won without much of the side effects.
Good day folks. Stay away from Botanical romance.
As if it was my fault to come in between their Botanical romantic life I was victimized, like many innocent people walking with temporary hand kerchiefs a.k.a Kleenex, I was forced to carry a box of them now. Dam these yellow beings, technically called pollens. The attack was so powerful, my Allergies brew up a deep sounding dry cough, over the period of time this cough turned into a full size COW, finally my voice ended up sounding like R2D2 and C3PO talking during St. Patrick’s Day parade.
However if you see the positive side in this, my voice almost sounded like an Analog synthesizer. This temporary talent [or ailment] of mine produced some unique sounds, Hence not wasting this pollen given talent, I sampled my voice by uttering today’s most fashionable words like “Devuda Devuda” ,”Repeatu” , “ipoodu choodu”, Yesterday’s fashionable words like “No No No No”, “Kadavul pathi mirugam pathi” etc. and created new sound patch on my Yamaha motif ES. Later in the evening, I swallowed various kinds of Sudafed [Sinus, Flu, Cold, Cough, and Congestion] that had list of side effects which sounded worse than my dry cough, a nirvana state of totally drowsiness was also promised, adding to this agony Sun TV aired”alavandan” , now there was a big competition in my body between 2 major forces both of them trying diligently to push me into a deep sleep, but finally Alavandan won without much of the side effects.
Good day folks. Stay away from Botanical romance.
5/6/05
Has the Toughest job in the world
but never agrees so
What is the toughest job in the world? Being the CEO of a XYZ multinational? Or being the president of US? [Duh!], a Lotus notes programmer Or an Oracle Administrator? Or being Tendulkar or Lara? Keep guessing; you know the answer. If not, here is a clue; the person who has the toughest job in the world and never agrees so, will be honored this weekend. Yes! Mothers!
In today’s world, we see various kinds of mothers, not the one in the movie “Nanda” The bizarre Kind or to put it politely, it is a Bala’s movie what else you can expect? Coming back to the topic, Home maker Mom, without the fancy blue tooth devices or gadgets she is on call 24 x 7 x 365 [or 366 if the year is divisible by 4].
Moms only worry would be her kids and their betterment. She never cares about anything other than her kids. All roads lead to Rome. What ever she does, she would come back to make sure that her kids are ok. Just to put it in a dramatic Tamil movies way “the bond the placenta creates is much stronger than the “ring” or the “holy rope” [Seri Seri, I meant ThriuMangalyam”]
The mothers who undergo the most ordeals are the working ones, due to their financial and other life situations they are forced to go to work, they are forced to drop their kids in an unknown environment trusting someone. When it comes to child care, 10 out of 10 times a mother would never trusts even her own parents or her husband. Be it adoring, pampering, scolding, feeding she will want to do it on her own. The mothers at work, apart from their work pressure, they face unknown disturbances by just thinking about her baby every second. Working moms definitely undergo lot of additional stress due to this factor;
In NBC Today show this morning they showed a video clip of a mom’s typical day, starts from waking the kids, breakfast table, sending them to schools until they are back in the bed tired for the day. A 12 hour task without any break, a mom cannot take a vacation or even a day off from her routine; in spite of this tiring schedule her patience and the love for her kids never reduces, rather multiplies. She cannot watch her kids struggle to do things on their own.
But at the end of the show, for doing this tireless job a dollar value was tagged for being a mother. The face value they gave was $130,000 a year, yes there is group who have researched it, meaning $130,000 can yield a mother for you, I felt it was an absurd research, I think the researches have not heard about “NO QUID PRO QUO”; I was wondering can anyone really estimate the mothers love towards her kids? There is no “financial body“in the world that could pay for this natural love and affection. There is no limit talking about mothers, I thank my mother for providing me this invaluable life.
A very happy mother’s day for all the mothers out there; seriously without you folks the world would not be spinning and going around the sun.
Have a great weekend folks
In today’s world, we see various kinds of mothers, not the one in the movie “Nanda” The bizarre Kind or to put it politely, it is a Bala’s movie what else you can expect? Coming back to the topic, Home maker Mom, without the fancy blue tooth devices or gadgets she is on call 24 x 7 x 365 [or 366 if the year is divisible by 4].
Moms only worry would be her kids and their betterment. She never cares about anything other than her kids. All roads lead to Rome. What ever she does, she would come back to make sure that her kids are ok. Just to put it in a dramatic Tamil movies way “the bond the placenta creates is much stronger than the “ring” or the “holy rope” [Seri Seri, I meant ThriuMangalyam”]
The mothers who undergo the most ordeals are the working ones, due to their financial and other life situations they are forced to go to work, they are forced to drop their kids in an unknown environment trusting someone. When it comes to child care, 10 out of 10 times a mother would never trusts even her own parents or her husband. Be it adoring, pampering, scolding, feeding she will want to do it on her own. The mothers at work, apart from their work pressure, they face unknown disturbances by just thinking about her baby every second. Working moms definitely undergo lot of additional stress due to this factor;
In NBC Today show this morning they showed a video clip of a mom’s typical day, starts from waking the kids, breakfast table, sending them to schools until they are back in the bed tired for the day. A 12 hour task without any break, a mom cannot take a vacation or even a day off from her routine; in spite of this tiring schedule her patience and the love for her kids never reduces, rather multiplies. She cannot watch her kids struggle to do things on their own.
But at the end of the show, for doing this tireless job a dollar value was tagged for being a mother. The face value they gave was $130,000 a year, yes there is group who have researched it, meaning $130,000 can yield a mother for you, I felt it was an absurd research, I think the researches have not heard about “NO QUID PRO QUO”; I was wondering can anyone really estimate the mothers love towards her kids? There is no “financial body“in the world that could pay for this natural love and affection. There is no limit talking about mothers, I thank my mother for providing me this invaluable life.
A very happy mother’s day for all the mothers out there; seriously without you folks the world would not be spinning and going around the sun.
Have a great weekend folks
5/4/05
Entertainment in installments,
Best Subject for mockery
For past week there has been lots of discussion going on Entertainment, people preference, etc. So it’s my turn to talk about Entertainment, this time I choose Entertainment in installments, what do I mean by this? Checking the thesaurus you might get a popular matching word – SOAP; NO!, not the XML based data protocol from Microsoft, I am going to talk about the serial killer that visits homes ever day - Drum roll - “Tamil serials”
Recently I spoke to my school day buddy, I was happy to see his business flourish, he owns a big single family home in a posh locality and drives Honda City, and he says “thanks to the television serials”, if you think he is producer or an actor, you are wrong, he is one of the main supplier of Glycerin to the movie/TV industry. Don’t believe me, you are dam correct I made up the story, but the fact in it still remains true, the Glycerin is one most important “must have” prerequisite for any television producer. Often in party’s lady folks are seen busy discussing about their favorite TV “entertainment in installments” AKA soaps. Men usually bump in to spill their esteemed comments before they walk away from the scene. Most men swear that they don’t watch it and treat it like crap. Yes I have also done this quite well.
For most in my neck of the woods, Metti Oli ranks first, followed by may be Anandam. Experts tell me the amount glycerin sales have tripled for past 4 years, this time I did not make it up, this is due to 24/7 weeping heroine in Kolangal. Hope the divine elephant rescues the script soon. Hope you remember the director of this television serial, last year he made fun of a so called American return Tamilan, this character talks Tamil in a very bizarre manner. But if you carefully watch this director talk, he would miss pronounce most Tamil letters and will not hesitate to substitute with few hand made letters at his own comfort. His Tamil sucks quite royally. It is pity that there is no single soul to put it up straight to him. Alright, we hear”Srikanth that’s enough” stop yapping and “for once why don’t you talk about the serials in a positive way”. Ok here it is.
Each episode is carefully planned and laid out by its producers in order to fetch more money. They make sure they break even in the cost, and keeps the story [if any] running. It is a business and they earn by selling the advertisement slots. There are about 10 serials a day ranging from pathetically made the magical my dear Mamiyar oops Bootham to urban life Selvi. Though some of them are “grinded batter”, we need to appreciate the technical efforts that went into these productions. For example Music, though loud in most places music production is sincere, like wise the camera work, editing and few more technical aspects are very sincere. What are the benefits of TV serials? [I promise this question was not asked in this years SSLC exam] Answer: pure entertainment, push advertisements, making money, kill time, increase creativity? You are welcome to guess the answer.
In my opinion, apart from the primary motive of making money, there are good points coming out of them “The quality of production”. I consider these serials to be like county cricket, first the actors, they get to practice over and over again which will eventually raise the quality of acting. Stage dramas helped stalwarts like Nadigar thilagam/Major, using it they established a standard in acting, like wise, these serials over a period of time will create a good community of artists. It will take time but we will be there soon. People will be trained to do every roll. This will serve as an acting school for many.
On the technical side, in some of the episodes I do spot tight camera work with good lighting. We can clearly say that the Director of Photography [DP] and his crew have worked hard, however the quality of the script is so boring, most their effort goes unnoticed or simply it is drowned in the tears of the crying heroine. Coming back to Music, the title songs are really clean in most serials. Especially in the morning shows. The success here is repeating the same thing about 5 times a week, anything that is repeated is bound to be remembered. More than the title song, the music director who scores the backgrounds works really hard; I do hear many good sequences that are worth a mention. But just like the camera work, this also goes unnoticed why? Once again Thanks to the passed out stale script. The directors need to run the story for 5 years, he/she over kills anything in the teleplay. For example for a normal person to walk down the stairs it takes about 30 seconds but in a serial the director makes sure they waste about 2 minutes of music before the character actually walks down.
In my opinion I feel there is no point for a title song with group dance every day. There is a difference between cinema and TV, What? You might ask, if you want to do a song like in a movie, the efforts are totally different. TV group dances due their budget constraints end up as Saturday night live comic. The “ammii ammii “dance [metti oli] in particular, in first place the story seems to be very serious and over the period it has changed so much that there is no meaning for the title song and its ridiculous dance. Take “Sukanya” she is portrayed as a mid aged lady in “anandam” but she is seen dancing in full swing in title, does that match the script?, just for having a dance some where in the title, directors force themselves to have one , and that too showing this daily is a punishment [for the TV].
In a 30 minute program clock, the first 30 seconds – laundry list of all the sponsors, read by someone who would eventually end up in asthma. Next 5-7 minutes - the same Title song with a group dance. [Some serials show previous day’s clip for and waste about extra 2 minutes] ; Scene One – 5 – minutes ; Commercials for 3 minute ; Scene two – 5 minutes ; Commercials for 3 minute ; Scene 3 – 3 minutes; Scene 3a- a dramatic still pose for 30 seconds. Finally - 50 seconds to the read the laundry of sponsor once again. Directors! Don’t you have any creativity?
To conclude, there are areas that these television serials help improve. But there is one major area that is going to degrade everything over period of time. The script writers/the directors/ the creative heads [Yes we have lots of new designations] will lose their ability to think genuine screen [Tele] play. Often they are forced to slow down the story at snail pace. Thanks to the stupid life span of the serials, “Entertainment in Installments”. Everyone is forced to see things at slower pace. Just to keep the show running even a well planned show gets compromised. The directors adopt stupid and silly methods just to complete the dam assignment, result - our Television serials are the best subject for mockery. Do we blame the audience here? Actually we can’t, TV is a forced medium that reaches people hence they don’t have any other choice other than to watch, even if it is a crap. Most watch it, many like it, love it, enjoy it,some hate it, preferences are different, I cannot question them, however I have the right to feel that it is the responsibility of the directors/the script writer/creative heads to use this medium properly. The crude truth in my opinion - "As of today the enormous medium of Tamil satellite television is right royally screwed up".
Recently I spoke to my school day buddy, I was happy to see his business flourish, he owns a big single family home in a posh locality and drives Honda City, and he says “thanks to the television serials”, if you think he is producer or an actor, you are wrong, he is one of the main supplier of Glycerin to the movie/TV industry. Don’t believe me, you are dam correct I made up the story, but the fact in it still remains true, the Glycerin is one most important “must have” prerequisite for any television producer. Often in party’s lady folks are seen busy discussing about their favorite TV “entertainment in installments” AKA soaps. Men usually bump in to spill their esteemed comments before they walk away from the scene. Most men swear that they don’t watch it and treat it like crap. Yes I have also done this quite well.
For most in my neck of the woods, Metti Oli ranks first, followed by may be Anandam. Experts tell me the amount glycerin sales have tripled for past 4 years, this time I did not make it up, this is due to 24/7 weeping heroine in Kolangal. Hope the divine elephant rescues the script soon. Hope you remember the director of this television serial, last year he made fun of a so called American return Tamilan, this character talks Tamil in a very bizarre manner. But if you carefully watch this director talk, he would miss pronounce most Tamil letters and will not hesitate to substitute with few hand made letters at his own comfort. His Tamil sucks quite royally. It is pity that there is no single soul to put it up straight to him. Alright, we hear”Srikanth that’s enough” stop yapping and “for once why don’t you talk about the serials in a positive way”. Ok here it is.
Each episode is carefully planned and laid out by its producers in order to fetch more money. They make sure they break even in the cost, and keeps the story [if any] running. It is a business and they earn by selling the advertisement slots. There are about 10 serials a day ranging from pathetically made the magical my dear Mamiyar oops Bootham to urban life Selvi. Though some of them are “grinded batter”, we need to appreciate the technical efforts that went into these productions. For example Music, though loud in most places music production is sincere, like wise the camera work, editing and few more technical aspects are very sincere. What are the benefits of TV serials? [I promise this question was not asked in this years SSLC exam] Answer: pure entertainment, push advertisements, making money, kill time, increase creativity? You are welcome to guess the answer.
In my opinion, apart from the primary motive of making money, there are good points coming out of them “The quality of production”. I consider these serials to be like county cricket, first the actors, they get to practice over and over again which will eventually raise the quality of acting. Stage dramas helped stalwarts like Nadigar thilagam/Major, using it they established a standard in acting, like wise, these serials over a period of time will create a good community of artists. It will take time but we will be there soon. People will be trained to do every roll. This will serve as an acting school for many.
On the technical side, in some of the episodes I do spot tight camera work with good lighting. We can clearly say that the Director of Photography [DP] and his crew have worked hard, however the quality of the script is so boring, most their effort goes unnoticed or simply it is drowned in the tears of the crying heroine. Coming back to Music, the title songs are really clean in most serials. Especially in the morning shows. The success here is repeating the same thing about 5 times a week, anything that is repeated is bound to be remembered. More than the title song, the music director who scores the backgrounds works really hard; I do hear many good sequences that are worth a mention. But just like the camera work, this also goes unnoticed why? Once again Thanks to the passed out stale script. The directors need to run the story for 5 years, he/she over kills anything in the teleplay. For example for a normal person to walk down the stairs it takes about 30 seconds but in a serial the director makes sure they waste about 2 minutes of music before the character actually walks down.
In my opinion I feel there is no point for a title song with group dance every day. There is a difference between cinema and TV, What? You might ask, if you want to do a song like in a movie, the efforts are totally different. TV group dances due their budget constraints end up as Saturday night live comic. The “ammii ammii “dance [metti oli] in particular, in first place the story seems to be very serious and over the period it has changed so much that there is no meaning for the title song and its ridiculous dance. Take “Sukanya” she is portrayed as a mid aged lady in “anandam” but she is seen dancing in full swing in title, does that match the script?, just for having a dance some where in the title, directors force themselves to have one , and that too showing this daily is a punishment [for the TV].
In a 30 minute program clock, the first 30 seconds – laundry list of all the sponsors, read by someone who would eventually end up in asthma. Next 5-7 minutes - the same Title song with a group dance. [Some serials show previous day’s clip for and waste about extra 2 minutes] ; Scene One – 5 – minutes ; Commercials for 3 minute ; Scene two – 5 minutes ; Commercials for 3 minute ; Scene 3 – 3 minutes; Scene 3a- a dramatic still pose for 30 seconds. Finally - 50 seconds to the read the laundry of sponsor once again. Directors! Don’t you have any creativity?
To conclude, there are areas that these television serials help improve. But there is one major area that is going to degrade everything over period of time. The script writers/the directors/ the creative heads [Yes we have lots of new designations] will lose their ability to think genuine screen [Tele] play. Often they are forced to slow down the story at snail pace. Thanks to the stupid life span of the serials, “Entertainment in Installments”. Everyone is forced to see things at slower pace. Just to keep the show running even a well planned show gets compromised. The directors adopt stupid and silly methods just to complete the dam assignment, result - our Television serials are the best subject for mockery. Do we blame the audience here? Actually we can’t, TV is a forced medium that reaches people hence they don’t have any other choice other than to watch, even if it is a crap. Most watch it, many like it, love it, enjoy it,some hate it, preferences are different, I cannot question them, however I have the right to feel that it is the responsibility of the directors/the script writer/creative heads to use this medium properly. The crude truth in my opinion - "As of today the enormous medium of Tamil satellite television is right royally screwed up".
5/3/05
My Bloglogue May 3rd 2005
Have you watched Alton Brown in action? No, he is not a wrestler or a race car driver. May be a NBA player? No, Then instead of wasting our coffee time who the hell is he? He is the master mind and the lead Chef in the popular TV program called “Good Eats”, which airs on the Food network. Oh! Yet another TV cook, if you think so you are thoroughly mistaken, he is not the stereotyped Chef you often bump on various cooking shows. He is little more mmm… what to say? “Goofier”, or may be “witty” or simply “interesting”
Every “Good Eats” episode has a well written script filled with Humor. Yes, he is funnier than “Kamehswarn” and wittier than his rich quintuplet Madan. Alton Brown has many unorthodox methods to cook in his kitchen. You will be surprised by his perfection. Most of his shows are ingredient based. Meaning, He takes an ingredient and explains about its origin which is then followed tons of receipts and preparation methods. He provides lots of historical anecdotes on the recipe.
The 30 minute program is interesting and funny because Alton Brown apart from being a chef, he is also a movie maker. He has hands on experience on developing screen plays. The best episode I have seen in this series was about “Butter”, someone in the food world sues Butter for its bad quality, the litigation “Butter pollutes the human system with fat”; “Butter” is taken to the court in front of the judge. In a Court room set, M. Brown is the lawyer for “Butter”, he establishes lots of scientific facts on Butter and its related recipes using various “exhibits”, finally bails out Butter from the case. The script for this episode is simply fantastic, for 30 minutes you would be glued down to watch the program. This program attracts little kids more than the adults and my daughter will not mind to skip Lezzy McGuire but she would never miss “Good Eats”. He often cooks Meat, we are vegans regardless of what he cooks I really don’t mind watching his show. The way the program is presented is totally outstanding. When you get free time surf to the food network, Good Eats usually airs on the 7.00pm EST or 10.00pm EST.
My friend Arun had recently written an article about quality of movies and branded Chandramuki a mere waste of time. I do respect his opinion and have no problems with it, yes may be for him and many more like him, Even my better half did not like the movie. But the fact we all miss is CM is making money, How? Easy - just call people dumb? If you assume this and call it a poor taste or something I am sorry you are mistaken.
I don’t consider my self as inferior to clap for Rajinee, or superior if I like only the Malayalam version of Chandramuki. It does not establish a fact.
100% enjoying Chandramuki, I would also enjoy a movie like Mumbai Express [I did enjoy this movie, my review proves.] or Matrix or Million dollar baby. I am entitled to like Rajini or Kamal or any other hero in a so called tight script from Hollywood; Basically Taste is ones own choice and this does not denote anything about them. It is very hard to make entertainment decisions for others. The producers of CM knew the market quite well; they catered for it and made money Period. The same reason the movie Vasul Raja MBBS was made - just to make money. Kamal himself told this, however Kamal goes one step ahead to use this earned money to spend on his other favorite projects. Good for him but, at the same time ridiculing persons who stops with making money is kind of silly, before making CM no one told they are here for “art service”. The crude truth is, Rajini has more fans, they seem to get a pleasure watching his actions - is that a crime? What’s your problem? Like there are fans who liked “Alavandan” there are fans who liked BABA. Choice is yours, Take or leave it.
Anyway, I don’t intended to argue over this, waste of time. Few feed backs was very interesting – "don’t pay for such movies". Very good idea, don’t pay and watch if you feel the material is mediocre.Over a period of time a majority would filter out movies based on their preferences and this will called as "good movies". Agreed..but mmm..as a musician I have this in my mind, does this rule apply to "good music"?, will people start to pay for good music instead of downloading it for free over the internet. But now What the hell is good music? I will have to find it, will I be able to?
Every “Good Eats” episode has a well written script filled with Humor. Yes, he is funnier than “Kamehswarn” and wittier than his rich quintuplet Madan. Alton Brown has many unorthodox methods to cook in his kitchen. You will be surprised by his perfection. Most of his shows are ingredient based. Meaning, He takes an ingredient and explains about its origin which is then followed tons of receipts and preparation methods. He provides lots of historical anecdotes on the recipe.
The 30 minute program is interesting and funny because Alton Brown apart from being a chef, he is also a movie maker. He has hands on experience on developing screen plays. The best episode I have seen in this series was about “Butter”, someone in the food world sues Butter for its bad quality, the litigation “Butter pollutes the human system with fat”; “Butter” is taken to the court in front of the judge. In a Court room set, M. Brown is the lawyer for “Butter”, he establishes lots of scientific facts on Butter and its related recipes using various “exhibits”, finally bails out Butter from the case. The script for this episode is simply fantastic, for 30 minutes you would be glued down to watch the program. This program attracts little kids more than the adults and my daughter will not mind to skip Lezzy McGuire but she would never miss “Good Eats”. He often cooks Meat, we are vegans regardless of what he cooks I really don’t mind watching his show. The way the program is presented is totally outstanding. When you get free time surf to the food network, Good Eats usually airs on the 7.00pm EST or 10.00pm EST.
My friend Arun had recently written an article about quality of movies and branded Chandramuki a mere waste of time. I do respect his opinion and have no problems with it, yes may be for him and many more like him, Even my better half did not like the movie. But the fact we all miss is CM is making money, How? Easy - just call people dumb? If you assume this and call it a poor taste or something I am sorry you are mistaken.
I don’t consider my self as inferior to clap for Rajinee, or superior if I like only the Malayalam version of Chandramuki. It does not establish a fact.
100% enjoying Chandramuki, I would also enjoy a movie like Mumbai Express [I did enjoy this movie, my review proves.] or Matrix or Million dollar baby. I am entitled to like Rajini or Kamal or any other hero in a so called tight script from Hollywood; Basically Taste is ones own choice and this does not denote anything about them. It is very hard to make entertainment decisions for others. The producers of CM knew the market quite well; they catered for it and made money Period. The same reason the movie Vasul Raja MBBS was made - just to make money. Kamal himself told this, however Kamal goes one step ahead to use this earned money to spend on his other favorite projects. Good for him but, at the same time ridiculing persons who stops with making money is kind of silly, before making CM no one told they are here for “art service”. The crude truth is, Rajini has more fans, they seem to get a pleasure watching his actions - is that a crime? What’s your problem? Like there are fans who liked “Alavandan” there are fans who liked BABA. Choice is yours, Take or leave it.
Anyway, I don’t intended to argue over this, waste of time. Few feed backs was very interesting – "don’t pay for such movies". Very good idea, don’t pay and watch if you feel the material is mediocre.Over a period of time a majority would filter out movies based on their preferences and this will called as "good movies". Agreed..but mmm..as a musician I have this in my mind, does this rule apply to "good music"?, will people start to pay for good music instead of downloading it for free over the internet. But now What the hell is good music? I will have to find it, will I be able to?
5/2/05
May Day
Kamal’s interview on Mayday; usual remarkes were offered, and a story of a priest and the dog was also mentioned. They also made sure they showed a song from Mumbai Express. In the morning show, Talk with the director Surya was interesting; hope the movie he makes is as interesting as his lectures.
That same evening, they showed a ridiculous movie, I could manage only for 30 minutes. Movie - TamiZan. The movie opens on a big bang inauguration; yes every philately expert will get goose bumps, a postal stamp is released for Vijay. Post master dedicates it to the nation; even the post clerk is not ready to punch a cancellation directly on the stamp. Ok ok, before they could show a stamp exhibition filled with Vijay posters, I agreed that Vijay had done something noble in the movie, what is it? Vijay in a temple [Yes a Hindu temple], finds a Shakeela there, he gets into the jam-packed “sanathi” where he drops “kunguman” right on her hip. Shakeels in return offers a horny expression. That’s it, time to turn off the TV; I never switched it on till this morning, fearing the MOVIE would show up again. A craptacularly caught crap, not even worth for its scrap. I wasted 3o minutes.
Thanks to Lazy Geek, the hall of fame Blogger from Chennai. He had quoted about my review in his recent Blog. I see many people visiting my site to read the review. I am very happy that many are reading my review, also worried that I might invite trouble for my compositions. :)
I bought a new DVD, “Unfortunate Events” I am big fan of Jim Cary, he is a one such actor who could offer about 10,000 expression for a given dialogue. His roll in this movie was stunning and quite clearly deserves an award. I am yet to watch this movie, I ve just seen few clips. I should find time to watch it this evening.
That same evening, they showed a ridiculous movie, I could manage only for 30 minutes. Movie - TamiZan. The movie opens on a big bang inauguration; yes every philately expert will get goose bumps, a postal stamp is released for Vijay. Post master dedicates it to the nation; even the post clerk is not ready to punch a cancellation directly on the stamp. Ok ok, before they could show a stamp exhibition filled with Vijay posters, I agreed that Vijay had done something noble in the movie, what is it? Vijay in a temple [Yes a Hindu temple], finds a Shakeela there, he gets into the jam-packed “sanathi” where he drops “kunguman” right on her hip. Shakeels in return offers a horny expression. That’s it, time to turn off the TV; I never switched it on till this morning, fearing the MOVIE would show up again. A craptacularly caught crap, not even worth for its scrap. I wasted 3o minutes.
Thanks to Lazy Geek, the hall of fame Blogger from Chennai. He had quoted about my review in his recent Blog. I see many people visiting my site to read the review. I am very happy that many are reading my review, also worried that I might invite trouble for my compositions. :)
I bought a new DVD, “Unfortunate Events” I am big fan of Jim Cary, he is a one such actor who could offer about 10,000 expression for a given dialogue. His roll in this movie was stunning and quite clearly deserves an award. I am yet to watch this movie, I ve just seen few clips. I should find time to watch it this evening.
4/29/05
Trip to the Indian Embassy
This morning I visited the Indian Embassy in DC for a renewal task. I did not prefer driving; the closest metro station was DuPont circle. It was about a mile from the embassy. I decided to take this long walk from the DuPont circle metro station and today’s 60 degree weather made my walk a very pleasant one. Massachusetts Avenue, this is where you will find most of the embassies in DC. You can find various embassies ranging from many new offshoot countries that broke from the former USSR to the big guys like Japan.
The Indian embassy operates from 2 locations. the 1st location is on 21st and Massachusetts, where you will also find the famous
Mahatma Gandhi statue Dedicated by President Clinton in the year 2000, when ever I pass this location, I am make sure I stand in front of the Statue just for few seconds. To me, the feeling of being an Indian can be felt standing at this spot. In case you disagree this with me, I would request you take a walk along this road. Yes it does tickle our proud Indian nerve for few seconds. There was no other statue other the one on the circle [round about].
Surprisingly today the traffic was very low on Massachusetts Ave. I walked to 2nd location on the 2500th block, thinking about recent articles on New York Indian Consulate, I slowly walked into the passport/visa section in the basement of the embassy. It was 9.23am, already there were about 10 people waiting. The counter opened at 9.30am, things started to move very fast. Most instructions on visa/passport applications are published in the embassy’s website, and they are really clear and easy to follow. Like they accept only cash and they don’t accept credit or debit cards. As any other embassy would be, here too officers are strict.
There were few foreign nationals who did not bring proper denominations and few other requirements, they were querying the counter officer for every alternate option. The officer at the counter gave a soft sounding but a stern reply stating the rules. However they seemed little bit upset. I could clearly read it that they were not happy about the answers. However I thought to myself, the music these guys just heard was about 1/100th of what we use to hear in US consulate aboard. At least our consulate has a photo vending machine installed in the building; most who have applied for a US visa knows how sticky the officials would be on the photograph size issue, the size is totally a non-world-standard.
I felt the counter officer did the job perfectly and I was happy to see the token numbers move. My turn was called and quickly the counter officer took my papers, she knew exactly what was required, I had got everything ready in place, and the process was over in about 3 minutes. Yes I timed it. As I stepped out I felt as though I was walking back from a visit to Chennai. I started to walk to back to metro admiring the embassies on the right side.
To get into the DuPont circle station you have to go through an escalator, yes so what? What is the problem here? What if this one is among the world’s tallest escalators, it takes about 2 minutes to travel one way on this. Yes metro can appoint an Escalator hostess to serve peanuts and pretzels during the winch ride. Who ever named it as escalator must be a crazy, yes it was actually a standing winch to me, and who ever built did not care about vertigo;
For me traveling on this was a real nightmare because when it comes to “height” coupled with "movement", I am a full blown coward, I stepped on the first moving step thinking what would happen if the speed increases?, but when “the cat closes its eyes the world goes dark”, I closed my eyes like a kid till I reached the destination. If you visit DC make sure you pay a visit to monster escalator. There was an elevator some where in a shady looking corner, I never bothered to check it, because closing my eyes during the escalator travel is better than being mugged early in the morning.
Have a good weekend folks.
Pics:Dcist.com
The Indian embassy operates from 2 locations. the 1st location is on 21st and Massachusetts, where you will also find the famous
Mahatma Gandhi statue Dedicated by President Clinton in the year 2000, when ever I pass this location, I am make sure I stand in front of the Statue just for few seconds. To me, the feeling of being an Indian can be felt standing at this spot. In case you disagree this with me, I would request you take a walk along this road. Yes it does tickle our proud Indian nerve for few seconds. There was no other statue other the one on the circle [round about].Surprisingly today the traffic was very low on Massachusetts Ave. I walked to 2nd location on the 2500th block, thinking about recent articles on New York Indian Consulate, I slowly walked into the passport/visa section in the basement of the embassy. It was 9.23am, already there were about 10 people waiting. The counter opened at 9.30am, things started to move very fast. Most instructions on visa/passport applications are published in the embassy’s website, and they are really clear and easy to follow. Like they accept only cash and they don’t accept credit or debit cards. As any other embassy would be, here too officers are strict.
There were few foreign nationals who did not bring proper denominations and few other requirements, they were querying the counter officer for every alternate option. The officer at the counter gave a soft sounding but a stern reply stating the rules. However they seemed little bit upset. I could clearly read it that they were not happy about the answers. However I thought to myself, the music these guys just heard was about 1/100th of what we use to hear in US consulate aboard. At least our consulate has a photo vending machine installed in the building; most who have applied for a US visa knows how sticky the officials would be on the photograph size issue, the size is totally a non-world-standard.
I felt the counter officer did the job perfectly and I was happy to see the token numbers move. My turn was called and quickly the counter officer took my papers, she knew exactly what was required, I had got everything ready in place, and the process was over in about 3 minutes. Yes I timed it. As I stepped out I felt as though I was walking back from a visit to Chennai. I started to walk to back to metro admiring the embassies on the right side.
To get into the DuPont circle station you have to go through an escalator, yes so what? What is the problem here? What if this one is among the world’s tallest escalators, it takes about 2 minutes to travel one way on this. Yes metro can appoint an Escalator hostess to serve peanuts and pretzels during the winch ride. Who ever named it as escalator must be a crazy, yes it was actually a standing winch to me, and who ever built did not care about vertigo;
For me traveling on this was a real nightmare because when it comes to “height” coupled with "movement", I am a full blown coward, I stepped on the first moving step thinking what would happen if the speed increases?, but when “the cat closes its eyes the world goes dark”, I closed my eyes like a kid till I reached the destination. If you visit DC make sure you pay a visit to monster escalator. There was an elevator some where in a shady looking corner, I never bothered to check it, because closing my eyes during the escalator travel is better than being mugged early in the morning.
Have a good weekend folks.
Pics:Dcist.com
4/28/05
Movies I watched recently
I watched 2 movies in about 3 days now, and both the movies raced among themselves quite well to waste my other wise idle time. We hear international cricketers often brag about the Indian team and pass esteemed comment like “Indian team deserves a better ranking” and “have the potential do better” etc, like wise I like to brag one thing about the heroes in the both the movies. Both of them are talented artists but will not hesitate to dump their skill set to the movie masala. Yes I am talking about Arjun and Danush. The 1st movie I watched was Giri, I am very sorry it was simply 175 minutes of bull. The story and the script for Giri can be written on a finger nail. It is up to you to choose the finger, most would choose the middle finger. It is a story about a samurai, who tries to protect his masters. Yes like every movie of our times we have 2 rich families in a racially divided village full of thugs. At the start the first big guy begs the second one [“SerrRRRrruapala adipen” fame] Vennu Chakaravarty, [another very good talent wasted] to take care of his sons who are wanted by the police. But someone in the second gang double crosses; hence they “fully grown” kids kill themselves before being caught by police. Yes! Yet another movie where our police treaded as mere pedestrians. So you know the rest of the story, Vennu packs his son along with the loyal employee’s son to some unknown village, but the villain finds it and comes after them, they split, both the kids are lost. You would guess the rest in about 2 minutes from now. The few good aspects were stunt coordination and proper CG usage. Arjun should divert his effort towards proper script. I wish he works the same to get the script straight. Music D.Iman I did watch 2 songs without skipping after pallavi.
Next movie, Devathaiyai Kandan, Danush, poor guy, must have accepted this long time ago to full his commitments. I wish he does not act in such weak movies that too with a cheap comedy segment, the so called comedy was crude, rudimentary by any standard. Totally lacked humor, in fact the part in which Danush talks to the gods was much funnier and natural. You need to be really depressed to laugh for Karunas and Co who make merry by wasting about 1000 feet of film. The story, a guy sues over his failed love. The girl withdraws her consent hence he takes her to the court. For this script, a screen play of more than 30 minutes will be an over kill. The story sounded very absurd, it is about breaches of trust, Judge [my name sake] allows this and we have about 4000 feet of Court dialogues that puts most to sleep. Finally when the gal accepts the proposal Danush says good bye to her, it seems he wanted to prevent similar incidents in the future.Dam!, in that case I also learnt a lesson never get movies like this in future and waste time by Bloging about it.
What else, hang over is still around in me for Anniyan songs, I tried again couple of times now to get some good points about the album. NOP my review is well intact; may be the CD can change my opinion; Few have quoted lots of old songs and new song influences. Yes! may be copied, but I am very careful in this second guessing game. I do believe “2 composers can think the same”. But at the same I agree there are blunt copies for example Yuvan Shanker lifted the Corrs song Runaway for “Nejodu kalanthidhu” - 7G Ioooo colony [reading this word in tamil would sound too rude]. YSR managed to convince Selvarangan who let him import the violin prelude/Hooks from the song called Runaway for his pallavi. You can watch the song video in Yahoo music section. Search for Corrs+Runaway.
Anyways, before speculating more on Anniyan effort I would wait for the CD, movie should be released in May, may be songs worked for the video until then let me play the waiting game.
Good day.
Next movie, Devathaiyai Kandan, Danush, poor guy, must have accepted this long time ago to full his commitments. I wish he does not act in such weak movies that too with a cheap comedy segment, the so called comedy was crude, rudimentary by any standard. Totally lacked humor, in fact the part in which Danush talks to the gods was much funnier and natural. You need to be really depressed to laugh for Karunas and Co who make merry by wasting about 1000 feet of film. The story, a guy sues over his failed love. The girl withdraws her consent hence he takes her to the court. For this script, a screen play of more than 30 minutes will be an over kill. The story sounded very absurd, it is about breaches of trust, Judge [my name sake] allows this and we have about 4000 feet of Court dialogues that puts most to sleep. Finally when the gal accepts the proposal Danush says good bye to her, it seems he wanted to prevent similar incidents in the future.Dam!, in that case I also learnt a lesson never get movies like this in future and waste time by Bloging about it.
What else, hang over is still around in me for Anniyan songs, I tried again couple of times now to get some good points about the album. NOP my review is well intact; may be the CD can change my opinion; Few have quoted lots of old songs and new song influences. Yes! may be copied, but I am very careful in this second guessing game. I do believe “2 composers can think the same”. But at the same I agree there are blunt copies for example Yuvan Shanker lifted the Corrs song Runaway for “Nejodu kalanthidhu” - 7G Ioooo colony [reading this word in tamil would sound too rude]. YSR managed to convince Selvarangan who let him import the violin prelude/Hooks from the song called Runaway for his pallavi. You can watch the song video in Yahoo music section. Search for Corrs+Runaway.
Anyways, before speculating more on Anniyan effort I would wait for the CD, movie should be released in May, may be songs worked for the video until then let me play the waiting game.
Good day.
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