December approaches and Guitar Prasanna is already in Chennai. Usually he comes over with an agenda. Last time he played in the IIT Saarang and what a pleasure it was to listen to his performance. I did missed writing about his show last last year and this year if he performs again in IIT Saarang, I will be missing it.

This Take Two feature in Hindu, alongwith another guitar artist Pandit Bhatt, announces his arrival. This time he has a special news for his fans. Two of his albums are releasing in span of two months. Raa Rama, a carnatic album is releasing by December 2005. Electric Ganesha Land, a tribute to Jimi Hendrix is releasing by Jan 2006.

I am hoping these albums would be as classy as his previous albums. And yeah, I am expecting to listen to them as before. If you miss to read the Hindu feature, he is in Chennai to record for an ‘untitled’ film of Shankar. Are you guessing it is Rajini’s Sivaji ? Me too.

P.S - Don’t miss listening to the samples especially the number Snake in Electric Ganesha Land. Was surprised to hear Aadu Paambe tune in the end of it. Super Cool.

It’s a biggest shame on the newspaper which people from Chennai, like to read. Its not shame on the man who wrote it. It’s shame on Hindu to publish it without validating it’s writer’s abilities.

The review of the hollywood movie Alexander appeared on The Hindu dt Friday, Feb 11, 2005. This was written by Gautaman Bhaskaran. The ending note aka last passage of the review reads this -

Stone has always made stories about men for whom ordinary life is impossible by accident or by choice. As a storyteller he has long made a habit out of extreme personalities, a preoccupation that during the 1990s was matched by one of the most playfully expressive styles in American mainstream pictures.

Read this movie review written by Manohla Dargis for The New York Times dated November 24, 2004. Try to locate the passage given above. It’s there. In Verbatim. I’m planning to send this note to The Hindu and I hope they invalidate this review. We have seen plagiarism of movie reviews between blogs or even just plagiarism in the Mainstream Media during the recent times. Though it’s little late find, I think this is a question on the newspaper’s credibility.

This was intially exposed by Nina and here is the URL to that post. She has also written about other plagiarisms of the same author. Brilliant find, Nina. Ofcourse, I caught this via Desi Pundit.

You and me
We used to be together
Everyday together always
I really feel
That I’m losing my best friend
I can’t believe
This could be the end
It looks as though you’re letting go
And if it’s real
Well I don’t want to know

No Doubt I like her. Just that I don’t speak much.

Not much to talk about the film. Didn’t generally like it except for parts. With a Quentin Torrentino like start, I grabbed a bag of chips by my side but by the time it completed, I let out a deep breath. The focus of the story keeps changing and if you didn’t know who Stephen Chow was, you would be scratching your head to spot the protagonist. First it seemed like the yuppy hair-cutter. Then it was those 3 sudden heroes in the village. Finally, it seemed like the landloards before the real hero emerges. Oh !! yeah it’s fun but then it can turn into irritation as the movie proceeds. BTW, I knew who Stephen Chow was, atleast 2 years back.

Kung Fu Hustle is stylish and has an attitude but hasn’t coherently been brought together. With a story like this Stephen Chow’s expected humor isn’t sparkling. Blame it on the not-so-interesting situations and expected twists at the end. I prefer watching Shaolin Soccer again !!

If you enjoy Stephen Chow’s Kaathulla Poo stunts, you’ve got to enjoy Rajinikanth and Vijay doing their idiosyncratic dishum dishum. Both are derived from the theory magical realism. In fact, the Kung Fu fighters forgetting the force of gravity is a nerve tickling comedy-time than Vijay’s Sivakasi stunt.

Sujatha in the preface of Eppothum Penn says that much of what he wrote about women in this book was by reading Simone De Beauvoir’s The Second Sex. De Beauvoir’s famous book deals in depth about the women from biology to history and civics of women. Not only it holds you spellbound but also it’s insights are straight from a woman herself. De Beauvoir details with sheer skill as to how a woman isn’t born but she is made.

If you fit the analogy of a woman as described by De Beauvoir into a tamil girl, what happens ? Sujatha’s Eppothum Penn. This marvelously written book not only provide depths into the species called woman but also makes you live through the life of a woman as you read through it. Eppothum Penn was written as series for a women’s monthly Mangayar Malar. And Sujatha accepts that there are continuity issues when writing a montly series. Still, the crux of the story remains intact and the pace is kept till the final full stop.

Eppothum Penn is one of Sujatha’s finest novels. While there are other sensitive issues which Sujatha has dealt in his novels, Eppothum Penn represents the top of the them. The Woman. And whats so special about being a woman ? Nothing. Just about Nothing. But if you follow the life of Chinnu from the time she gets formed in her mother’s womb, you would agree with Sujatha as to why a woman is a little bit of magic. EP has one of the devastating continuity issues unlike many other Sujatha’s novels. The growth of Chinnu from being a kid to a thavani clad girl is pretty fast paced. And if you are the one to finish the book in a single breath, this is one book that needs such a treatment.

From a unbelivably voyeuristic start to the absolute ending this book will make you sit up and re-think all your notions about a woman. And even if you are those cold-hearted types, you just couldn’t resist the single drop of tear rolling down as Sujatha enables us through the mind of a woman. All this and more without hype and any unnecessary comparisons of a woman to the embodiment of shakti. Sujatha Rocks !!

[Click Images for a bigger version]

I know that a dude named Zombie who has been a long term commenter here is upset that most of what he spots on this blog, these days, are crap. Zombie, Thanks for the note and truly understand what you are saying. Will try avoiding such stuff. Still, couldn’t resist posting this.

Thanks to Anti who forwardded this snap of Kamal and Jyothika in New York. This is the second Kamal NY Sighting in the past few days. The first one is here. Looks like the Vettayadu Villayadu crew is having fun around. Spot the third VIP in the picture.

I am not an electronics nut. Still the plan for tonight is this. Myself and a bunch of self-proclaimed geeks are haunting the COMPUSA, opening at 11:59 pm. Have decided to buy a couple of ‘essential’ electronics including an 160 GB external hardrive at $49.99. Thats a kill for that money.

Also, planning to wait in the Seattle cold from 4:30 am for the opening of Best Buy at 5:00 am tomorrow morning. Haven’t yet decided what to buy because there is always something to buy. XBOX 360 ? Not sure but I’m raking my brains and thinking if $399 is worth it. If it was PS3, I would have readily bought it. But then, the ads of XBOX 360 is just scintillating. Looks like it will be a quite an experience.

There is also a wireless broadband router at sale. Sony 5 megapizel with 10x zoom on sale. DV-Rs, CD-RWs, DVDs, Camcorders, MP3 Players are all on sale for this Black Friday 2005. For a male, even if you window shop, electronics is dope. And BTW, who said I am not an electronics nut ?

Vijay on Paalabhisehgam in an interview to Kumudam. Heck !! What a standard answer this has become in kollywood.

[Pic - India Glitz]

Lady beside Suhasini - Atho oruthar vellai vaeti kattikittu irukaarulla, avaru kitta thaan Kushboo madam sorry ketaanga. Neengalum poi kelunga, periya manasu panni manichiduvaaru.

Suhasini thinking - Mudiyaathu…kandippa mudhiyaathu.

Me loudly - Right of speech ki jai !! Official sorry listener ki jai !!

P.S And you know all this is a buruda.

Ganesh a music enthusiast and a singer himself writes about his friend Jay Krishnan who composes music and also give us a sneak peek into Jay’s works. I just can’t believe that the Panithirai song, rendered by Radhika was recorded in a homse studio. One I’m amazed about the tech wizardry that crawls into your living room and two the huge talents Jay and Radhika. Do listen to the song Panithirai. Pretty Cool.

This superb tiny post of Chenthil, I apologize, sums up the Tamil Nadu affairs for you. Did I link to the post, I Apologize.

Karthik finds Sujatha’s Shortstory themes to be repetitious. But he also drafts the reasons for Sujatha’s popularity.

Suderman Kamath bangs again with this superb post, Maja and the politics of stardom!. I’m buying his arguments and think the issue people had with Sivakasi can’t be explained better. Until someone comes up with an counter argument, Ellarum Majavaa Irunga !!

CCG is blogged-out and hence wants to log-out. I don’t think he can.

There’s another, yeah another Chennai Blogger Meet coming up. Kribs is doing the roll-call.