After a successful production of Barefoot in the Park, Evam group returns to their roots. Evam's name was derived from a Badal Sircar's play, Evam Indrajit. A Bengali play translated by Girish Karnad was considered to be a milestone of Modern Indian Theatre.

Having seen their last play, I am sure that Evam can make this challenging play into an interesting venture. Although I miss being in Chennai, I'm hoping for a nice review of the play which is scheduled to be staged from the coming weekend for six shows.

Here's the schedule for Evam Indrajit -

Date & Time – On 4th, 5th, 11th, 12th June 2005 – 07:15 pm. On 5th, 12th June 2005 – 02:00 pm. Venue – Sivagami Petachi Auditorium, near Alwarpet Lifestyle Showroom. Alternatively you can also call Evam Helpline @ 98402 22363 to block tickets.

lazy geek | # | Comments (3)

Kaiveesidum Thendral Kan Moodidum Minnal
Idhu Kaniyo Kaviyo Amudho Silai Azhago
Pan Paadidum Sandham Unn Naavinil Sindhum
Adhu Mazhaiyo Punalo Nadhiyo Kalaiazhago
Megamondru Nerilingu Vaazhtha Vandhathadi
Dhaagam Konda Bhoomi Nenjil Serththu Kondathadhi
Idhu Thodarum Valarum Malarum
Ini Kanavum Ninaivum Unaiye Thodarnthidum...

....entrancing piece of raja's flute.

lazy geek | # | Comments (17)

Do you know ? Google's "70% engineers" consume, 2300 lbs of chicken, 1600 lbs of coffee, 500 lbs of pasta and 112 lbs of wheatgrass. Apart from this there are some worthy stuff that's happening in Google, including the Google Earth intiative. Just in case, if you have tons of bandwidth to spare, check out the webcast of Google's Factory Tour. Also flip through the presentation.

Haven't you unplugged the bad IPODs ? I just did after reading this scary Newsweek article, A Little Bit Louder, Please, that still resonates in my ear. If you are still busy listening to a loud shout of Aerosmith this what they say - One study estimates that as many as 5.2 million children in the United States between 6 and 19 have some hearing damage from amplified music and other sources. If they don't take steps to protect their hearing, the iPod Generation faces the same fate as the Woodstock Generation. Or worse.

How Jobs turned the iPod into an icon ?. This man, Steve Jobs never stops from being impressive.

Sacred Cows, Their Horns talks about the protests gone wrong. Why and what went wrong with Jo Bole So Nihaal ?

Why India is searching for Edisons in Dozens ?. A long read but truly makes sense to me.

lazy geek | # | Comments (6)

If jeans was the only trouser type available, I would be happy as hell. Like most of us, I love the jean clinging onto the legs and make you feel much younger than you actually are. Especially the original dark blue denim color like the one Rahman wears in Vande Matharam is my favorite.

It's a great feeling to enter a new jean, straight from the store, with the labels still untouched. If only it's fits you as though it was handwoven for you, like the Ray Ban on Kamal's nose in Kurudhi Punal, WOW. Who wouldn't love a perfect fit ?

P.S - Honestly, I wrote this non-stop with a stream of conciousness and couldn't avoid those filmy mentions. Heck !!

lazy geek | # | Comments (11)

[Click image to enlarge]

Isn't that lovely ? Doesn't that seem like a mountain of snow just descended from heaven and was placed in the midst of greenery. That's Seattle for you. It's only on a lucky and sunny day you would see Mt. Rainier while travelling along I-90 highway. And that makes me even more curious. I turn back everyday while travelling on I-90 to see if I can spot Mt. Rainier.

On a clear day, I did spot the mountain and I fell in love, almost instantly. It reminds me of my favorite Thiruvannamalai mountain. While Thiruvannamalai's mountain and it's surroundings have a divine serenity, I am yet to discover Mt. Rainier and it's personality. Am planning to take a trek soon to grab the beauty of Mt Rainier. Before you fall in love with this mountain, FYI from National Park Service, Mount Rainier is the most hazardous volcano in the Cascades in terms of its potential for magma water interaction and sector collapse, and major eruptions or debris flows even without eruption. It poses significant dangers and economic threats to the region but despite such hazards and risk, Mount Rainier has received little study.

That was a picture which I shot while travelling along I-90. Some more pictures also on Seattle Photoblog. With pun intended, an ending statement worth pondering, Who knows what's burning inside a mountain of ice ?.

lazy geek | # | Comments (6)

[Click on the image to enlarge]

After a heavy debate on why people protest for posters of kodambakkam, here's a banner which I had shot few months back in Chennai. When nobody protested this banner where Kamal has his hands on more than two girls and two more girls hanging onto him, there shouldn't be a issue at all in Simbhu's Vallavan poster. Afterall its just a single girl in Vallavan.

My point of argument is simple. If they are protesting for one poster, then lets do it for very other poster. Or take as poll as to what is good/bad to have on posters. Then, probably we won't have any Ad banners in Chennai. Chennai will look clean and simple.

BTW, they didn't protest this Vasool Raja MBBS poster because it was being protested already on a different issue. Post dedicated to Katz for his high-flying debate !!

lazy geek | # | Comments (6)

[Pic - Rahman Fan Club]

Haven't this happened to most of us ?. Everytime you listen to tutung...tutung..tutung...tutu tung..tik you feel refreshed. I've felt it. For me, it opens up the screens of Abirami theatre where I was transfixed watching the camera panning over a villages of Sundarapandipuram with that tutung tutung pacing behind. For someone who was already in state of sweet shock after the intial scenes of 'Waasim Khan Kaithu', that was a pleasant start. By then, I knew why people outside the theatre where raving about the new kid playing some 'different' music in the movie Roja.

The kid went on score evergreen hits like Kadhal Rojavey, Kannalanae, Pachai Killigal , Vande Matharam, Tanha Tanha and ofcourse the Zikhr to name a few. The kid flew to say a Hello to Webber and now becoming Ring lord. Not just that but also got his name on the Time magazine's list of Best Soundtracks of All-time. Though Richard Corliss quotes the songs from Hindi version of Roja, I would prefer to believe thats the version he got to see and hence he does.

To cut the controversies, I have to say Roja is certainly not the best of soundtracks in Tamil. It's one of the best. It's as revolutionary as Illayaraja's Annakilli. Roja gave the world a revelation of sorts. It gave A R Rahman to the filmdom. And it took a Mani Ratnam to find the genius in Rahman. I am profoundly happy for what Rahman and Mani Ratnam have done for tamil movies. The world [which reads Time magazine, ofcourse] would start noticing Tamil movies. Though I believe that this should have happened sometime back with the genius of Illayaraja, its better late than never.

Thanks Prabhu and SriKriz aka Rady for passing on the info real quick.

lazy geek | # | Comments (52)

Thats Simbhu and Nayanthaara in Vallavan. Looks like this poster got the film into trouble. As India Glitz reports, Simbhu must enjoying the publicity, the movie is getting even before it's launch.

I am not certainly not in support of these baloney protests. When songs like Cheena Thaana can get into the living rooms through cable, there are no issues in children looking at Simbu biting the lips on their way to school. It's a similar controversy that got Shankar's Boys back to the box. While Boys was a honest try of Shankar, I am not sure of the intentions behind this poster. But such protests have become an everyday affair and there has to someone regulating these protests.

The more interesting information on Vallavan includes three heroines including Nayanthara, Sandhya and the famous Reema Sen. Adding more to the spice, Simbhu directs the movie, himself. No, I didn't say that the title of this post was relating to this. While Manmadan was a good effort if not a great one, Simbhu should probably be looking a getting a grip on the hero dominated kollywood rather than wearing the director hat. Ramp-up Remo !! Slowdown Simbhu !!

lazy geek | # | Comments (31)

God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off.

That was one of my faves from an entire gamut of such levelheaded quotes as spoken by Tyler Durden aka Brad Pitt in Fight Club. Even after this being playing-in-a-loop at the back of mind I went ahead to buy an IPOD. Not exactly an IPOD. But the other IPOD. God created Apple, ITunes and IPOD for the classy dudes. For the masses he gave Windows, Media Player and Creative Zen. Creative Zen isn't a poor man's IPOD but indeed it's an intelligent man's IPOD. Yep, I may admire the professional qualities of Steve Jobs. I may re-read The Second Coming of Steve Jobs, I may have booked ICon at the local library even before it is released or I may even aspire to build a small network of Apple Mac Mini at home but I may not buy IPOD.

Why ? I hate to pay Apple 100 bucks every year when my battery dries up. $105 just to open a lid of IPOD and tuck in a mobile phone battery may prove a costly for the masses like me, especially for ones who loves to listen every single genre of songs available. While I love the IPOD wheel and have read enough of gaga over it's UI, I felt that on the same price with an extra GB of storage, a FM radio and voice recording capabilities(which I am sure I would never use), Creative Zen Micro was a killer buy. A true replacement for those IPOD Minis . It has a battery that can be easily replaced. Infact only after I bought it I saw for myself that the batteries of Zen can be easily misplaced too. Yeah, the back lid is just not tight that even when Unni Krishnan is singing Enakke Enakka!!, in your ears, it might have fallen down on the stairs.

Creative Zen looks cool to me just because I haven't used any other mp3 player except CD players until now. It is certainly not durable. The casing looks as though it might even break with the first fifteen days that I might return it to Best Buy to take a refund. But the user interface is nice as an IPOD. As anti-hyped, the touchpad isn't all that bad. I got used to it before I was out of the store counter. Creative Inc known for their computer audio/video accessories have done a great job in designing Zen and it's generation of MP3 players. It's been born from the dis-advantages that IPOD currently has and will attract people who don't want an IPOD. I'm just a little curious about the performance of mini drives, which is used in Zen or IPOD mini. I would feel comfortable with a flash drive because these mini drives poses risk of read/write issues and might soon end up with clusters of bad sectors. The sound is crystal clear but don't believe if someone says Zen or IPOD only have such clear sounds. MP3 players are digital and will certainly have more or less the same frequency. It's actually your headset/earbuds that might make the difference.

I've been hearing the podcasts for the last few months. So for those who religiously worship Creative's Zen, let it be re-christened as Zencasting. And the thing about podcasting is that it simply doesn't impress me much. Podcasts may be a hit but may not take-off as blogs, is my humble belief. This may not be a prophetic statement but may become true as Podcasts are widely understoof. I may also probably change minds once Evhead's Odeo is released for public. But for as of now, other than BBC stuff I am still figuring out the good Zen[Pod]casts.

I might stick with this Creative Zen until Steve decides to gift me an IPOD or he releases IPODs with replaceable batteries. This Zen unit is a lucky one. It gets to play some of the best songs ever composed. Be it Illayaraja or Rahman. Currently our Maestroji is singing the cult classic, Adi Vaadi Enn Kappa Kezhangey.

Update 26 May 2004 IST - As an anti-climax, the ZEN which was fully charged this morning, lost all it's battery charge by evening even though I had only listened to it for two hours. I had switched it off for the rest of the time. Yep, I'm returning it for an IPOD test drive. I might probably settle with those 1GB flash drives with FM and voice recording(as said before, though I wouldn't be using it). Best Buy, here I come.

lazy geek | # | Comments (34)

There is some ghost on this blog. This is the nth time unintentionally a Kamal post follows a Rajini one or viceversa. On Saturday, when I was writing the Rajini post I was determined that the next post was not going to be on Kamal. Somehow the Nayakan post one sneaked in. Save the blog from the ghost. Laka Laka Laka.

Living in PST timezone has its own share of dis-advantages. The prime time on cable starts by 5:00 pm EST which is 2 PM here in Seattle. By the time I reach home at 7 pm the New Yorkers are into the second round of sleep. Hence, the cable sucks after 7PM PST. The good thing about it is that you get to see the replay of those afternoon shows. On today's Oprah replay, Tom Cruise declared his head-over-heels love for Katie in public. It seemed like Dhanush declaring his love to his group of friends. I've always admired Tom for his controlled acting but today he was his true self. Un-controlled.

Steven Spielberg who was on a recorded interview to Oprah wished Tom Cruise on his love and spoke his latest flick starring Tom Cruise, War of the Worlds. They also played a lengthy teaser on the movie. Mark your calendars, War of the Worlds opens on June 29.

Sunny Deol's new movie kicks of a huge controversy. Following the bomb blasts in two theatres of Delhi which were screening the movie, cities all over India stop screening the movie. Chennai joins the list.

The economic transformation of India since liberalisation is real, but it will be a while before the average middle class Indian tosses her Lakmé aside for a Lancome, or trades in her handmade salwar-kameez for a Ralph Lauren pantsuit. After all, why shouldn't globalisation speak with an Indian accent?. My favorite Shashi Tharoor writing that on his Hindu Column details on Who is this middle class ?

Bhaskar Ghose writes on Poile Sengupta's latest theatre work, Keats Was A Tuber. At first I didn't understand the meaning of the play name. But as I read through, I nodded in acceptance. FYI, Poile Sengupta isn't Bengali. She is from Tamil Nadu and I happy we have yet another brilliant playwright from TN.

[Pic - Dan DeLong for Seattle PI ]

That guy ?. Yeah he is probably the biggest Star Wars fan of all. Jeff Tweiten, incidentally a Blogger too, was waiting outside Seattle's Cinerama Theatre ever since Jan 15 2005, waiting for Revenge of the Sith to release on May 19th. He was there camping for 139 days. I've heard my dad recollect that people were waiting for more than two days for MGR's Adimai Penn but this one just beats them to death. George Lucas must be happy for this true fan. Thanks to Ram for the info.

lazy geek | # | Comments (10)

Bollywood is shorthand for Bombay Hollywood, seat of the largest Indian film industry. But it manufactures only about 200 of the thousand or so Indian feature films; a half-dozen regions boast production sites larger than most of the world?s national cinemas. Madras, capital of the Tamil state, is one such place, and its leader - arguably India's top pop-film auteur - is Mani Ratnam. His movies, often dramatizing social unrest and political terrorism, churn with narrative tension and camera energy that would be the envy of Hollywood directors, if they were ever to see them. Nayakan, an early, defining work in his career, tells the Godfatherish tale of Velu, a boy who embraces a life of crime after his father is killed by the police. Velu (Kamal Hasan) has trouble juggling his family life with his life-and-death mob "family"; Ratnam has no such difficulty blending melodrama and music, violence and comedy, realism and delirium, into a two-and-a-half-hour demonstration that, when a gangster's miseries are mounting, the most natural solution is to go singin' in the rain. - Excerpt from Time Magazine.

Again, just like the Oscars for a tamil movie, I don't think something is achieved when you have a Tamil movie featuring in the list of global all-time favorites. But it's a feel good factor. One reason why I am personally happy is for Mani Ratnam's Nayakan[needs subscription] making it to the Time's Alltime Top 100 movies, is that despite being based on Mario Puzo's God Father script, Nayakan had its own share of Mani Ratnam's brilliance at throughout the movie. If you ask me to stick out a single favorite shot from the film, I may be dazzled.

Nayakan had a team that was one of the best during that decade. It had geniuses like Illayaraja, PC Sriram and the Nayakan himself.

I haven't subscribed to Time and hence couldn't read the entire article. Thanks Vilvanboy and Srivats for passing on the link, It made my day.

lazy geek | # | Comments (148)

[Thanks - Vikatan]

Yeah, North but not to bollywood. To Himalayas. After having put Chandramukhi on-screen, Rajini takes-off to Himalayas. This time a Vikatan reporter joined him to write a mini-travelogue[by subscription].

While, I would have expected a longer version of the travelogue, this picture of Rajinikanth with the typical red towel reminds me of PithukuliI Murugadas. For the starters, Murugadas as a voice of bronze and has sung some of the most authentic devotional numbers about on the tamil god.

Adutha Padam Eppo !!

lazy geek | # | Comments (17)

Anand's Aeroprise wins First Prize at Mobile Showcase 2005. A time to rejoice. Congrats Guest Blogger!!.

Anniyan website is now functional with some more odd looking Vikram's snaps. I am not sure how many more different Vikram's are inside the movie. The trailer is also up but it isn't the version thats has hit the Chennai screens.

Walmart closes down DVD rentals, hands them over to Netflix. Now it's Netflix Vs Blockbuster assuming Amazon stick with it's business.

Dilip D'Souza has good set of easy-n-tough Tin Tin questions. Try your hand. I got atleast 5 correct answers, I think.

lazy geek | # | Comments (3)

After long time in Pre-Beta testing GMAIL RSS webclips are up for the GMAIL which by itself is in Beta. So now you can customize the webclips which you want to see. Obviously as you can see from the screenshot, you can add your 'fave' RSS feeds. I hear you saying, Lazy, What a PR to put up your own blog rss there on the snapshot.

At this point, I am not sure what kind of a value addition it is but after Google starting to deliver RSS ads through Adsense, we might expect to see some ads appearing there too. In Gmail as you switch from one mail to another, the webclips like the Google Ads, keeps changing only to re-inforce the famous Apple Ipod Shuffle Ad, Life is Random.

P.S : Google's goes Yahoo with a personalized portal. Via Kinglsey.

lazy geek | # | Comments (8)

It's never too late to create a fave list, especially for Rahman. In the Ascending Order -

.01 Zikhr a.k.a Alah hoo - For the Rahman's voice of sheer passion and the amazing piece of harmony that creates magic throughout the song. Usually you would humm a song for not more than two-three weeks. But I've been humming Alah hoo!! Alahhoo for more than a month now and the craze hasn't still reduced. The tempo keeps increasing in mad pace, so no driving with this song on the disc. Rahman mesmerizes !!

.02 Ekla Chalo - I've never been a Sonu Nigam admirer. This one made me. Classy Vocals leading to a high pitch and you hear the quick run of piano keys as the pitch comes down. Though the tune seems very similar to a song which I couldn't identify the mix of bengali lines by Nachiketa Chakraborty made it to the top.

.03 Azaadi - A Rahman solo. On the lines of Vande Matharam even the base tune resembles it constantly. He stops the music for a quick moment before he starts in high pitch saying Azaadi Paayenge!!. Grand Orchestration.

.04 Afghanisthan Theme 2 & 1 - This clandestine instrumental number reminds me of the yester year movies with the wind instruments opening the B & W screen in front of you. Can't stop thinking Chandralekha or Vethala Ulagam.

.05 Des Ki Mitti - With the little Dilwale Kuch Dulhania Kuch Le Hota Jayenge Hai hindi I know, this one has a well written lyrics. Yet another Sonu Nigam gem. And there is also our Anuradha Sriram to accompany with a cute hindustani aalap.

.06 Hum Dilli Dilli Jayenge - The trumpets and the band march past as the synthesizer follows. So do you. A true independence song.

.07 Jana Gana Mana - The can make Rahman's version as the official version of National Anthem. There is no modernisation or any kind of nonsense which can trigger political eruptions. Just the same tune with some nice synthesized music and surprising interludes. I remember my friend saying that Cho replied to a question on Rahman's Vande Matharam that we don't need an A R Rahman to induce patriotism in the people. I liked what he said then. Now it may seems pointless. This is really a neat version of the national anthem if you are open-minded.

.08 Hitler Theme - Haven't heard the amount of violin used in a Rahman song before. Violin was always a speical instrument of Illayaraja. Can't stop comparing here but Rahman does a great job with the violins. I think these aren't computer generated violin sounds. Just true violins playing. I haven't heard his violin composition for Vanessa Mae but this one rocks.

.09 Kadam Kadam - Yet another marching army song but this one has a good mix of female vocals. After few times you might turn it down for being repetitive.

.10 Ghoomparani - Before I could grap that this was a lullaby melody it put me to sleep. True. Though it has a very simple folk tune, its Sapna Mukherjee's voice that gives the lift. Listen the water flowing through your ears as your hear it on the earphones. I bet you would sleep.

.11 U Boat Theme/War Theme - Even as your listen to one a war happens in front of your eyes. Would make for a good viewing on-screen just like the Sundari Kannal Oru Sethi interlude. I am sure Rahman loves the piano as he keeps dropping those easter egg piano bits inbetween songs.

.12 Nethaji Theme - The kind of theme for the movie with more silence than sounds.

.13 Emily Theme/Durga - For visual viewing. Good on the first listening but you may not listen as your proceed further.

Wondering why I named it as Top 13 Rahman hits ?? All these numbers are from Shyam Benegal's Bose - The Forgotten Hero, my current Rahman favorites. One of finest Rahman albums in recent times. All the numbers talk about Rahman's maturity and sheer growth in his composition skills. Rahman can run for Prime Minister. Allah hoo !!

lazy geek | # | Comments (26)

The big change in the read-write sphere came about because of applications such as weblogs, the personal journals that put newer material at the top, and wikis, sites on which anyone can edit any page. Not only could people make their own sites, but they could update them easily and rapidly.

Blogs have been especially important in the world of the read-write web.

They are far more than the “what I ate for breakfast” diaries of cliche; they have become a key part of a growing, complex global conversation.

We are moving quickly beyond text and pictures in this version of the web, to audio and video.

The cost of the gear we need to make high-quality content is plummeting while the power and ease of use continue to grow.

And then comes the latest web. This is where it gets really interesting.

The emerging web is one in which the machines talk as much to each other as humans talk to machines or other humans. As the net is the rough equivalent of a computer operating system, we’re learning how to program the web itself.

Dan Gilmor's column on the paradigm shift of the web, Web 2.0? Try 3.0 was an interesting read. Link via Emergic. Offlate the talks about Web 2.0 is on the rise. As some try to call it as - It's a Whole New Internet, Bloggers like Kottke and Andre Torrez have their last laugh.

Whatever name it's been called and however it's been debated out, this is getting to be one of exciting times for the WEB.

lazy geek | # | Comments (4)

It was probably 19 years since I watched E.T on screen. Obviously, I was a kid then. My orientation towards ET had different dimensions. My eyes were filled with tears when the lonely alien lies there in the middle of a hall in Planet Earth and weepingly utters,"Mom Mom!!". Since then I believe(!!) I've grown up. I have discovered my liking towards movies. I've watched hundreds of films since then. Have watched the T-Rex walking mightly in Jurassic Park. Have enjoyed the gigantic space ship on the skies on an Independence Day. Have seen Titanic go down, Apollo 13 getting stuck in the space, Robots getting away with Artificial Intelligence and Darth Vader fighting Star Wars. Having this huge line-up of graphical wonders lined up, ET still seems to a wonder of movies. As I watched it yesterday, I still had tears running on the same shot. I don't call it empathy for an alien. I prefer to call it as the magic of E.T.

Steven Spielberg's ET The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) brings out the child in you. As Spielberg says, ET is like a good quality wine. The more the age the better it gets. What a genuine storyteller we have in Steven Spielberg. After E.T, he has a share of heaven reserved for him. He has soothened so many souls with ET just like what Illayaraja and SPB did to millions of tamilians.

When I finished watching the movie, this is what I felt - If only...If only I get to make a movie and If I can weave a story as profoundly imaginative and strikingly humane as ET, I would feel accomplished.

lazy geek | # | Comments (11)

And you know how I would feel for this title on an Hindu article, Namma Chennai.

The green buses, occasional smell of filter coffee, the cursing in Tamil on the roads, and the roads themselves impart to Chennai a rare flavour. The youth are relatively uncorrupted. Branded clothes and video cameras are still not too visible. But Mylapore and Mandaveli - they are too ancient, dude!

Hugh Hewitt's book, Blog : Understanding the Information Reformation That's Changing Your World wasn't a very inspiring read. I probably read it with a perspective of a blogger while Hewitt summarizes the advent and growth of Blogs as history. You would love to read it especially if you wanted to know how Blogs revolutionized the information spread and how the popular acronym MSM[Mainstream Media] was used and sometimes abused in the blogosphere. It also talks on how CNN's popularity was came tumbling while FOX News was starting to be accepted by the American people. Hewitt's earlier writing on Blogs given in the Appendix are lucid with a strong passion for blogs.

If you are looking for a good book to understand the mechanics and practical ways of maintaining a blog, I would recommend Rebecca Blood's The Weblog Handbook. Above all if you are looking for some suggestions on blogs, do it the classical way. There are no suggestions, Just Blog.

I have no clue why Rediff is so bold over by Aishwarya's presence in Cannes festival. Someone's is fetish.

Illayaraja's tunes for Adhu Oru Kanaa Kaalam hasn't come out with flying colors. Except for Andha Naal Nyaabagam rendered by Vijay Yesudas/Shreya Goshal and the Bhavatharini song, the rest of songs can missed without creating a sin. The moment you hear the first song you know it has Balu Mahendra + Illayaraja combo. But no classics here.

lazy geek | # | Comments (27)

[More on Flickr]

Other than polishing my monday shoes and watching three flicks in a row, I did some nice tripping around the suburbs of Seattle to glimpse the forever beauty they had in themselves. The state of Washington is called as the evergreen state and every inch of that is goddamn true. Lush green trees around you would make your ride a comfortable one. Especially if your headphones sing Illayaraja, Rahman or Dire 'Sultans of Swing' Straits, your drive would be certainly memorable.

Seattle is the the kind of place you would aspire to plan a honeymoon. Often, honeymoons settle down to be moneymoons. Thats a different story though. If you live in Seattle, you could enjoy that same atmosphere day in and out. I wished to take a trip to Alaska to enjoy it's natural beauty. But after glimpsing Seattle, I'm certainly happy that I saved bigbucks on that trip. It appears exactly like the Dehraduns and Mussories as described by Ruskin Bond in his lovable stories.

Lake Washington seperates Seattle from the town of Kirkland. And that provides a great view of the Seattle landscape from Kirkland. Kirkland has the smallest of roads and cross flags planted on crossings. Yet it consists of the costliest of condos and a hugely priced real estate. Kirkland and Mercer Island are the small heavens of Seattle.

The Argosy Cruise which takes off either from Seattle downtown or Kirkland, takes you through the long strech of Lake Washington for an hour and half. There is a live running commentary about what we see on the shores, throughout the trip. Lake Washington's shores are filled up with the homes of rich and famous. You encounter the ultra famous home of Bill Gates, the neo designed house of the Author of Excel/Word and others. So the interesting commentary sounds like a stock quote with number droppings quite often. You also travel beneath the hanging bridge of Seattle which is a freeway called IWA-520. Other than the sour cream and onion chips packets, I heard(?!) they serve good cocktails.

While the cruise was exciting and refreshing just like greenery you see around, it is also a must-go for the visitors. Some pictures of the Kirkland Cruise on the Flickr.

lazy geek | # | Comments (16)

Watching the Steven Spielberg's extended interview in The Directors DVD set me thinking wildly. While talking about Schindler's List, Spielberg says, When my kids ask me "What did you do dad ?", I didn't want show them the big gothic movies which I made. I wanted to show them something that truly happened. Something that happened to our people.

When Iruvar released, this is what I remember Mani Ratnam stating for an interview. Iruvar was a film for the next generation to come. For them to look back at the history of their Tamil Nadu and have an unbiased view of it. He went on to say that when entered the movie making business, he had in mind the kind of movies he enjoyed making. Unfortunately due to commercial pressures, the lanes departed and he was soon making run-of-the-mill movies, according to himself. Iruvar was comeback to his path, style and love of movie making.

Though I am just quoting what I remember from the interviews, these are not exact statements that they had shared in the interview. If you look deep into these lines, they sound similar by idea. Both movies are the best of each of them. Schindler's List touched millions of people with it's moving images of holocaust. Iruvar didn't do a similar thing but it talked about how the political history in the state shaped up in an unbiased manner.

For me they are strikingly same. If Spielberg was talking about his Jewish history, a born Tamilian like Mani Ratnam can only talk about the making of Tamil Nadu. He probably could have talked about Indian Independence you might think. But a movie maker should probably be making what he can relate to the most than what others want him to. Mani Ratnam did exactly the same. With the available resource, technology, cast and crew Iruvar was an exemplary movie of Kollywood. Something that only movies like Uthiri Pookal, Mundraam Pirai or Nayakan can come close to. Spielberg's Schindler's List was arguably his best movie till date. Not because it was shot in B&W and it gave a sense of a classic film. It's because he was able to tie down 25 of us watching the movie in a lonely Sathyam theatre. Twenty days after Iruvar released, there were hardly 20 people in the ultra-cold Woodlands Theatre. And I was there watching the classic with 10 other friends who slept half the way through. Classics don't show up as classics the first time around. A pity.

lazy geek | # | Comments (30)

Well, I'm late. But it is never too late to watch a good movie. Especially to discover a good movie when you watch it with no expectations. Ab Tak 56 could be Ab Tak 156 by now but it's only today I got to see Nana Patekar lighten up the screens. Ab Tak Chhappan released more than a year back but would be talked about for the years to come.

It's not a cop's saga nor some brave attempt of a single man fighting against all odds. Sadhu Aghase is a normal no-nonsense-cop and if you try to brag him with sentiments, he might not budge. Though he is special. He has mastered the art of encounters and can make great South Indian sambhar. Not just that but he demands grammatically right English. In the life of a cop, he gets into a special crime branch and heads a special division thats is formulated to wipe out long-time criminals by encounters. Though he doesn't keep count of his encounters, someone keeps reminding him of the count. When things go hayward, things change drastically, but for him it is Ab Tak 56 and still counting....

I hated Ram Gopal Varma's hyped-up movies. I certainly loved Satya. More than liking it terrorised me about a city called Mumbai. But the so-called on-the-road movies that followed were nothing but hype. Even Company wasn't great. But with a debutant director, Shimit Amin, Ram Gopal Varma produces a movie that more classier and more stylistic than his earlier movies. I wonder how cop movies are made slicker than the romantic ones. Both Kakkha Kakkha and Ab Tak 56 have great BGMs, camera and more importantly some great piece of editing. Not only Shimit Amin gets us into the plot very soon, he also manages to take the movie without a drag. Until the final 20 minutes, I never felt a need to getup and get myself a cup of coffee. The cop story also encompasses the affairs of internal politics in the police department.

Even with a bad supporting cast, the movie would have survived. Shoulder courtesy; Nana Patekar. As Sadhu Aghase, Nana Patekar is at an all-time ease. He isn't roaming around like someone dipped in starch like most of the cop movies, smokes too many cigarettes than all the Rajini movie put together and utters Saala and Chutiyaa more number of times than any other hindi movie. Performs like a true spirited actor. Nana Patekar has immense talent thats been under-utilized by stuffing him with pyscho roles with an alto voice. I am unable to stop comparing him to Prakash Raj in Tamil film industry. He can also be on the likes of Nasser if used appropriately.

While I was assuming that Revathi was in there because there was a huge role ahead of her in the movie, her miniscule character gets a bullet in the midway. She was probably there to represent the South Indian wife of Sadhu Aghase. Ram Gopal Varma could have probably gone with the humpteen stand-like-a-doll actresses available in dozens in the Bollywood. Kunal Vijaykar gets a role that demands enough eating as much as acting. A role that he would have waited for a long time. Great show.

What a theme of Ab Tak 56 that was. Salim and Sulaiman well known as Salim Sulaiman just took Ab Tak 56 to great heights. With no songs and pelvic-3D-thrust dances, they have used their music positively in the BGM that grips. If only I was worried that I missed the movie in theatres, it was because of the background score. The titles read Murad Siddiqi as the editor. I don't know anything about him but his job in the movie is a commendable effort.

Shimit Amin chooses to take the reality path in movie making and emerges as a winner. With no unwanted situations and scenes, the movie has a tight screenplay. Except for the lastpart when the movie begins to loose away from the track and treads on the revenge mode, it has been well made. All these exceptions are however handled in the final conversation that ends by saying, Once a Cop, Always a Cop. Watch it, if you haven't yet for it's just 56 as of now.

lazy geek | # | Comments (58)

Sujatha replies to the previous blogpost on his Katrathum Petrathum article, in the comments section of the blogpost itself. Here.

dear friend
Rarely I answer blog references One of the greatest pleasures in wriring is perceptive readers like you are reading every line and its echo is loud and clear It was a general essay I wrote on turning seventy It had a global response The purpose is not to scare people about growing old and dying but to inspire a sense of urgency in whatever one wants to pursue in life and in its wake revise and simplify the targets
Sujatha
Posted by Sujatha at May 10, 2005 12:48 PM

Wow !! It made up my day. Thank a Ton.

lazy geek | # | Comments (15)

lazy geek | # | Comments (23)

I know its a silly title to the post. But it has to be this way like Sujatha's last week's Katrathum Petrathum in Vikatan. Just as how Sujatha can easily describe toughest things with a sublime humor and practised ease. Sujatha in his weekly column, enunciates the issues of ageing and memory loss. More to it, without any pretence, he talks about the idea of death from the perspective of a rapidly ageing man. All this and more on the event of his 71th birthday. If you had missed the print edition, Desikan has published this Vikatan column, here.

Just like Desikan, it sent shockers to me. Not just me but many others who had commented about this in the previous post marking the Birthday of Sujatha. While describing memory loss, Sujatha describes about his evergreen memory with respect to nicest times of his life. His memory loss pertains to mostly petty things like, Who's the girl who acted alongwith Rajini in Padayappa ? or What would you call an Aandhai in English ?. Did you just say, Ramya Krishnan or Owl to yourself now. I did. Then you are testing your memory to see if you have any memory packet loss.

In Srirangathu Devadhaigal, when Sujatha describes the world of Srirangam and the minute details as he enjoyed in his childhood, I've wondered if he had an elephant's memory. The way he had recollected the pillars of Kamba Mandapam in the temple of Srirangam was immaculate. When I had been to Srirangam few years back, I went to the temple alone, in the wee hours of a calm day, to feel the pillars of Kamba mandapam and to relive the experience of Sujatha.

Now after a decade, when I read ageing brings acute memory loss to a your favorite writer whose memory you thought was robust, gives a selfish shock. The fact that you will also become soon like that. I've seen many old people reading the obituary columns as their first serving, in morning newspapers. I never knew it had an inner meaning as suggested by Sujatha. Above all this, Sujatha talks about Progressive Compromises. A term which anyone of us who has lived life can relate to. Probably its one of most abstract theories of life told in the most simple words.

Whatsoever, the column has all the fans and non-fans of Sujatha very upset. Many of them have left messages on Sujatha's posts that they pray for his longevity. Even more, in this week's column Sujatha had published a small poem that Crazy Mohan had sent to console Sujatha. BTW, here's an interesting email of questions, that Latha had sent me.

..... Fyi, i still havent finished reading Kadavul Irukirara. But read Eppozhudhum Penn for the nth time. Man, sometimes I wonder if he ever transformed into a girl for a while and then got back to being a guy.

I must have read his article in this week vikatan n number of times. The emotions my face registered during the read must have given a freudian student enough to write 100 thesis. How does he manage to say so many things so very simply and in so little words. Enna memory ?! How can he quote so many people, at the right time, right place with the right facts. Only some people can grow younger every year and with such grace. I am 20ish now and when I see 16/17 year olds I feel I have grown old and trust me guru, I cant relate to most of their thoughts and opinions. I sometimes dont even approve of the latest fashion, the trend, the 'take-it-easy' attitude and how does this man, all by himself, keep track of everything thats happening/been happening for the past few decades. Enakku enna threiyuma kekkanum Sujatha kitte, if ever I meet him, I wanna ask him if he had time to check who his son's friends were in school ? Did he ever get time to play cricket/carrom/chess with his children? Did he fight with his wife for less salt in sambhar ? Did he have misunderstandings with neighbours ? How did he manage office politics ? Parents meeting attend panni irukara? Theatre poi movie paarpara ille thiruttu vcd-ya? Thaligai panna theriyuma? Pondattikku kitchenle help pannuvara? Perumal sevikkumbodhu slokam solluvara? Beram pesi kaaikari vaangi irukkara ? Autokaaranoda sandai pottu irukara? Sight Adichirukara? Vasanth character avara ille vera yaaravadha?. Evalo questions. I just wanna know if he ever lived like a normal human being ?

Any answers, Sujatha !!

P.S : Sujatha Replied. Purpose of this blogpost met. Comments closed for you-know-why ;-)

lazy geek | # | Comments (12)

Probably for the first time, I am very unhappy with Google. Even when they had plugged in My Search History, I was pondering why Google would go in for a service that makes this little privacy intrusion. It's accepted that My Search History was a boon for people to come back and look at their search phrases, even after a year but then isn't it like giving Google your email address and all what you search using Google.

Now with their latest offering of Google Web Accelerator, I am at an uncomfortable state even more. GWA is a plug-in that gets attached to your browser and whenever you hit a web URL, the page is either fetched from Google's web server through pre-fetching mechanisms or the Google's web servers nominated just for this purpose will get the page loaded from the respective website's servers through differential or parallel loads. There is more to it than just this.

Google says that it gets the same information as what my ISP gets. Agreed. Why am I getting hassled here? Two Reasons.

One - My ISP is Comcast and Comcast knows what I am browsing. But there are umpteen ISPs around and I can switch to anyone of them any time. Google is ubiquitous and unique. Imagine just 25% of browsing population in the US installing GWA and using it regularly. If only this 25% of them browse 100,000 sites a day, the traffic to those sites gets routed through Google web servers. So those 100,000 web servers would get to know that most of their traffic came through Google Web Server and not the actual IP address or geography of the browsing source. Last night, when I installed GWA and at clicked on this blog URL for numerous times, the traffic page was showing that the hits came from Google Inc, United States and not from my IP address. Not only GWA acts as a free anonymizer[proxy] to the web but also grabs away the nominal information a site owner should know about his audience.

Two - Google as of yesterday knew my email address, my personal search history and my home address [if subscribed to Google AdSense]. Until now, if only I searched something with Google, I sent some information to Google. Now with Google Web Accelerator, I don't need to search anything to give Google some pie. Whatever I browse/see/read/visit goes through Google and it knows all that. You might think what's wrong with that. Being a Google fan/admirer/patron I feel Google is run by honest dudes who are just trying to enhance the web. But then, just too much of everything isn't good. Having been involved with Data Warehousing technologies, I perfectly understand the power of analytics and business intelligence. With so much of browsing data and web page calls sent through Google, its as simple as building an OLAP cube to get the taste of web. Give a me that RDBMS/Flat File/XML that contains the URL calls and IP numbers, I can get you a scorecard for the web within minutes. With Google being a Data Mining company, this should be just a click away. They will eventually know what goes on in the web. Who sees what? And if only that data is used for enhancing user experience, I am the most happiest of all to salute Google. Will Google assure of that?

As I had supported the Autolink tool of Google, I said that Autolink is a service that's available for people who download the Google toolbar and also enable the option. The so-called privacy intrusion happens only then. But even if 10% of broadband users subscribe to GWA, I think it's just much info in the hands of Google. Autolink wasn't a slippery slope like GWA. I'm just thinking if people were booing at the Autolink feature, imagine what they would do to GWA. Google is risking its brand loyalty and probably that's the best way to run a successful company. However, appreciate the guts to take the risk.

lazy geek | # | Comments (17)

[Reed Hastings, CEO Netflix] [Pic: detnews.com]

As Starbucks is for coffee, Netflix is for movies, says Reed Hasting, Netflix CEO. I prefer to change Reed Hastings' words. Like Google is for search, Starbucks is for coffee and Netflix is for movies. For all the three brands have been under-estimated when they came about. And slowly people started submitting to them. Now they rule their areas of operation, however modularized they are.

Having a Blockbuster right outside my apartment complex, I was tempted to join Blockbuster's DVD by mail program so that I would also get some coupons for in-store movie rentals. After all I thought, brand doesn't matter. A movie buff requires only a store with movies and it will do. After constant pressures from few of my like-minded friends, I landed at Netflix.

Netflix was a suprise to me. I got DVDs delivered in one day interval and I've been watching movies nearly everyday for the last month. More than my urge to watch movies, it's Netflix thats pushing DVDs one after the other, three at a time, like a server robot to make me watch movies. Thats one reason I started the two-minute reviews category in the blog. Still, with the in-flow of movies, I've not been able to jot much. The more I watch the less time I get for other stuff. Cable no more attracts me. Even HBO seems so trivial. When I have Netflix, I can nearly watch any hollywood movie I wish, within a day's time. Though I miss those days of watching a movie trailer in Star TV and waiting for it to be premiered, Netflix is a killer service.

A friend who went ahead with Blockbuster cancelled it's service because even the first DVD arrived five days after him subscribing to it. Another friend gets movies regularly from Blockbuster. So Blockbuster isn't any less than Netflix except that Netflix has seven years of pioneering experience in DVD rental-by-mail industry. They also have a stupendous back-end. Probably a well developed Data Warehouse I suppose. They analyze every subscriber's movie likings and have put up a movie recommendation section that just rocks. Also their strategically placed collection centers play a vital role in Netflix's progress.

Netflix heavily relies on the well developed the American postal service. Else even day-dreaming a service like this would be waste of time. With heavy rumors surrounding Netflix being takenover by Amazon, though I hate consolidations in the industry, if only Amazon could add more value to the existing Netflix service, it would be a warm welcome. Also, Blockbuster planning to double-up it's rental stores as collection centres would increase it's service capabilities exponentially and would be a looming threat to Netflix. If only success depends on customer satisfaction, Netflix wins hands-down.

I already have 65 movies in a queue ranging from Psycho to Identity to Malena to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. So one day it's Dennis Weaver trying to runaway from a truck driver in Spielberg's Duel. Another day it's Branko Djuric as Ciki becoming victim of a bombing in No Man's Land. Be it Antonella Attili falling in love with movies and Cinema Paradiso, Renée Zellweger as Bridget Jones writing a diary, Robert De Niro boxing his way with the Raging Bull, John Cusack and you getting crazy inside the head of John Malkovich, Shahrukh as the stupendous Mohan Bharghava catching the next AirIndia to India or even Nana Patekar doing a realistic act as Sadhu Agashe while couting Ab Tak Chappan, the possiblities with Netflix are limited by the number of movies released. Netflixing Life !!

lazy geek | # | Comments (14)

In the coming days, one would probably see these images multiple times on the blogosphere as Shankar starts to aggressively market Anniyan through the print media.

Its a kodambakkam culture to release promos via Ananda Vikatan. Kamal in the Iyengaar make-up with a gun appeared on the covers of Vikatan for Hey Ram, Shanmugi with Madisaar appeared similarly. There are many more such Vikatan introductions. Per the classical way, Shankar releases the first 'different' pics to Vikatan. I loved the one above. Very different Vikram. I am sure the disappointment of Anniyan's music will be offset by the visuals. Atleast we hope.

Doesn't that kick-off the countdown for Anniyan. I have added all the pics from Vikatan here, Faces / Vikram / Anniyan. Thank You Vikatan.

lazy geek | # | Comments (47)

A friend of mine came from India last week. He brought along some Ambika appalams and Manga thokku bottles. I threw them aside and got hold of something else which I wanted desperately. Sujatha's Selected Shortstories Part II. He gave me a wierd look and said, "Machan Itha ethukku eduthundu vara sonna ? ". I smiled and started reading the first page. He wasn't bitten by the Sujatha bug. I was, badly.

It wasn't until I read Nila Nizhal I went gaga over Sujatha. Like Sidney Sheldon, I was thinking Sujatha was a female writer initially. I was amused when (s)he wrote about teenage bloopers in Nila Nizhal. It was just a beginning and it was there my journey alongwith Sujatha started. From the Purasawalkam's Tana street potti kadai to Tambaram Sanitorium library to Mylapore Azhwar Kadai, I have bought/read/enjoyed Sujatha everywhere. I even carried a Sujatha novel to my first interview. To read when I got some spare time.

As a teenager, I was quite amazed how could realistically write a teenager's mind in Aathalinaal Kathal Seiveer and that same amazement follows me through the wineshop scenes of Shankar's Boys. When I watched Enn Iniya Iyandhira on cable, I had the book in my hand to follow it real close. With Anithaavin Kaathalgal, I was convinced that this guy wrote better romance fiction than many contemporary tamil writers. With Kanavu Thozhirchaalai I was sure that my interests matched Sujatha. I read Madhyamar and started worshipping. Roja, Indian, Mudhalvan, Kannathil Muthamittal and Boys continues to say what an interesting dimension a book writer can bring into a movie. I am still positive that my interests match Sujatha's. What a stupid statement you would think. I am not bothered. But I relate to him so much. A millions of other fans join me. It's probably this USP of relating to him makes him supreme than others in Tamil writing scene. Just last week, I completed reading his Madhyamar and Thoondil Kathaigal, again, in the bathroom. Though till day, Guruprasadin Kadaisi Dhinam continues to reamin as my all-time favorite of Sujatha.

Why would directors like Mani Ratnam and Shankar go back to Sujatha when they are savvy enough to pen screenplay & dialogues by themselves. When Mani Ratnam shot Uyire[Dil Se] he discussed the story with Sujatha. Sujatha then wrote the story in a novel format. The format was then converted to screenplay and dialogues were written.

Sujatha's first story was published in 1954 in a magazine named Sivaji. His next story Athirchi was published six years later in Kumudam. So if we assume 1954 to be his official start date as a writer, he completes 51 years in writing.

I probably cannot finish the post as I have a tsunami of thoughts on his writing. So here's wishing a man whose brains I would wish to own, A Very Joyous Birthday, as he completes 70 years on planet earth. Here's Sujatha about himself -

lazy geek | # | Comments (16)