Was Tamil cinema slowly reaching up to international standards set by Hollywood, asked a scribe. "No," he said. "Maybe our cinematography and sound are world class today but in the screenplay department, we have progressed only just a little since the silent era. It is unbelievable that the land that produced Kamba Ramayanam cannot produce scripts. We have lost the art."

This is probably the biggest truth of our Kollywood. I agree with every inch of this comment. Many film buffs would agree too. The dude who quoted this was a film buff himself. Guess ??

P.S If you had read the original interview where it was quoted, I would request you to restrain from giving out the answer. Guessing is so much fun.

Update No points for guessing it right. As many guessed it was none other than Kamal. Here's the link to the mentioned interview. The most odd guess was Sarath Kumar and Cheran(?!) made by Cocoa. I assume he/she was mocking at this whole post by making a guess like that.

BTW, the musical show that Kamal was mentioning in that interview was Banyan's Netru Indru Nalai. It was actually planned to be executed last year and was washed out due to rain. Sudhish says its back with a bang. Flashback 2002 - Netru Indru Naalai.

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Even if Sri Thyaga Brahmam is upset about me, misusing his world reknown pancharatna kirti, I'm cool but I have to say this. Watching the broadcast of Jaya TV's Thygaraja Ardhanai Vizha, which was performed in Chennai, was a MahaAnubhava. The true meaning of Endaro Mahanubhavulu Andariki Vandanamulu is, there are many great men and to all my salutations.

On an unassuming sunday morning, I clicked on the archives of Jaya TV[through NUM TV] to find a 2 hour program broadcasted few days back and it read Thyagaraja Aradhanai Vizha. All along I was thinking that the customary Thiruvaiyaaru program was only awarded to Doordarshan. As I expected it turned out to be a program sponsored by Jaya TV in Chennai. It looked like Narda Gana Sabha, where it was performed. For a distanced soul like me, this was by itself a mahanubhava though it didn't evoke the emotion a yearly broadcast of Thiruvaiyaaru program would.

For starters, Thiruvaiyaaru Thyagaraja Aradhanai Vizha happens in Thiruvaiyaaru where Thyagaraja attained samadhi. Its the kind of function, you would expect to watch it live. Its all about the best carnatic artists of country, coming together and sing along that could give goosebumps.

Jaya TV's Thyagaraja Aradhanai Vizha seems to be a big hit. The hall was surprisingly full with people sitting on walking spaces. It sure didn't have all the best carnatic artists but the ensemble was very good. They sang nothing but pancharatna kirtis. Starting from the auspicious Sethulara, the five kirtis followed like gems. Though all of them are the best of keerthanais, my personal favorites are Jagadhananda and Endaro Mahanubhaulu.

Some noted artists who performed in the show were Thavil Maestro A K Palanivel, Umayalpuram Sivaraman, N Ramani, Bombay Sisters, Sowmya, Neyveli Santhanagopalan, Rajkumar Bharathi(as in Bharathiyaar) and Priya Sisters (with 'kannai parichidum' fluorescent green saree). Umayalpuram Sivaraman is one of personal favorites in mridangam. Such a graceful player of the instrument that he makes you drool over an mridangam. Just like how Vikku Vinayakram make me yearn to be a gadam player.

If you wanted to read about what happened in Thiruvaiyaaru this year, Samanth Subramanian has a wonderful column on the festival named, The music man. A must read.

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I love Milk Bikis. Yeah, It sounds like a naive statement but I love eating Milk Bikis. Ask my family and they would sing my childhood adventures with Milk Bikis.

This post isn't a Milk Bikis reminiscent. This is a much serious(!!) observation that I had over a period of time. Has anyone noted this or is it just me. I find South Indians going crazy over Brittania's Milk Bikis while the northies love Parle-G. Donno if it’s just due to the logistics issue of the goods or has it something got to do with the taste.

Not that I don't like Parle-G. Its actually tastier than Milk Bikis when I don't get to eat Milk Bikis. Sitting in Seattle, the only option is to eat the mini Parle-G [sold 4 packs/dollar].

And yeah I love biscuits. The critics of this blog [who term this as the Worst Popular Indian Blog] can now go and call this as the Blog of a Koyindey Payyan. Infact I should be thankful for that written word for after all namma ellam etcetera thaaney, maamu !!.

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As everyone churns a review or two (!!) of Rang De Basanti, why should I be sitting idle. If not for Basanti, there is always a favorite dish, Basundhi. A quick search on Google for Basundhi, gets us to this page which lets out the recipe for Basundhi. And yeah, I love Saravana Bhavan's Basundhi.

Jokes apart, the desi blogosphere seems to be bursting with action on writing reviews for Aamir/Rahman's latest flick Rang De Basanti. Even folks who were in out-of-action, seem to have come out of the clout. I notice the blogosphere going ga-ga over RDB over the weekend and before I could put them in words, Anti wrote a neat piece on this recent love. This is what Anti had to say -

Rang De Basanti seems to have captured the attention of the desi blogosphere and the Indian media like nothing else before it. Oh wait, a small correction. Before RDB, there was IIPM. But as Jerry would quip, not that there is anything wrong with it. At last notice, a simple search on Blogger Search for "Rang De Basanti" turns up 2,234 posts while a similar search on Technorati returns 1,257 results. In fact, Rang De Basanti has been in the top 15 list of searches on Technorati for the last couple of days and is in the top 10 currently.

People are excessively using internet to get a feel of the movie before they go for it, I would assume. Even if 50% of these searches were by people who wanted to make a decision on RDB before they spend time and money on it, blogs have won hands down. Back in early 2002, when I started to know this thingy called blogs, I never imagined that blogs could be put to use in such a way. Except a handful of badly written sites, there wasn't much of internet concentrating on this arena. Now with such facts, the Indian Film Industry should turn towards blogs for promoting or taking note of short comings.

This hasn't happened yet to tamil movies. Sometimes, I have seen sharp spike on stats as people trying to reach this blog during a movie release. But there aren't many who write about tamil movies on blogosphere. And even if they do, they write as bad as me or they are just trying to make a satirical post to showcase their 'engpilish'. There is plenty of space for good tamil movie reviews in blogosphere. Just Plenty.

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The girl sitting opposite to me was reading a book. This was in the bus, during my morning commute to office. The book looked like a pulp fiction paperback. As the bus approached Downtown Seattle, she suddenly turned to last page of the book and continued reading from there. She was approximately in the middle of the book before took this wild jump to the last page.

She completed the last page, read the blurb in the back of the book and got down from the bus. Donno how much fun it was to do that ?

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[Click to enlarge]

Aranmanai Siruvayalil is a play sponsored by Seattle Tamil Sangam on the account of Pongal celebrations at Seattle. Though Pongal completed a week back, on Sunday Jan 29th, this play will be staged in Sammamish High School, where the Gujus play Dandia during Dussehra.

Incidentally there are two bloggers out here, who are playing a role in this play. A long time blogger Swami and his wife Lakshmi are the bloggers who are playing play roles in Aranmanai Siruvayalil. Both of them have prior experience in stage plays, given their experience in staging S. Ve. Shekar's Thattupillai, and acting alongwith him. If you are around Seattle, do take a spin.

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I'm going nuts over NPR. National Public Radio as its alternatively called, NPR is one of the finest resource of un-biased news, told in the most interesting way. Though I was aware that such a thing exists, its only a couple of months back I discovered the profoundness of news stories in NPR.

One of the programs that I get to listen everyday is The Market Place, produced by the American Public Media. The core team of Market Place team is currently visiting China and for the last couple of weeks they have been reporting on the Chinese market culture. Though I have read at least one book on Chinese Market and its culture, these reports that come-in through Market Place team has provided some fine insight into Chinese market behavior and prevailing situation in their market. It's a treasure. And I loved every inch of it.

If you live somewhere in the USA, NPR is a must-listen. And its probably the only news source thats enough to keep you ahead without causing an information overload. This blog alongwith other numerous blogs and news sites, is adding to the information overload on every single individual reading it.

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Ezhai Dhinam Dhinam Sirikanum
Oru Pidi Soru, Avanukku Kidaikanum
Maayam Vilakanum
Arasiyal Saayam Velukanum

Medai Pechum
Vaarthai Veechum Enn !!
Theemai Engey
Thedi theerpom Vaa !!

Sathyaa. One of those rare films, dropped by the us(Tamilians), in the box-office. How crazy can we get ? From Sathyaa to Mahanadhi to Hey Ram to Anbe Sivam, we owe Kamal Hassan more than what we can comprehend.

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Raja Sen writes an amazing ode to the copycats, especially to Sanjay Gupta. Sanjay known for shot-by-shot unauthorized remake of hollywood films in Hindi, is on the hot seat. His recent flick, Zinda seems to be an outright rip-off from famous Korean flick, Oldboy.

I read about Oldboy on Hemanth's Instant Kaapi. Someone had commented there about Sanjay Gupta re-making Oldboy as Zinda. Seems like this has come to the limelight, finally. Even if Sanjay Gupta originally concieves a film, the next time, people would be trying hard to find a similar match from the hollywood world.

This one is a well rounded column. A must read. From the column, Why I won't watch Zinda[Via - Sunny] -

Cinema belongs to no one, Mr Gupta, and when we watch a film that excites us, we want to share. There is a school of thought which actually says that you are being altruistic, by remaking films most Indians have never seen, and 'bringing them good cinema.' I disagree vehemently. When Tarantino is thrilled by something like Iron Monkey, he doesn't make a version of it himself, he just makes sure enough people in the US know about it when he re-releases it.

It would be incredible if you pioneered such efforts here in India, ensuring people get to see quirky, incredible, violent, earth-shattering films in theatres, instead of just the standard Hollywood popcorn fare. Get Sanju to redub them in his groovy voice, have rocking press-conferences, talk about why the movie is so special. Fans will freak out. I'll wear a 'Sanjay Gupta Rocks' t-shirt, I swear.

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[Source - Madras Talkies. Via - Brijesh]

There is this relatively old rumor[a month old] that Mani Ratnam's latest flick will be a Bollywood film with Aamir Khan.

Few days back, they let the cat more or less out of the bag that Mani is looking to direct another bollywood flick with Abhishek, Aish and 'Parineeta' Vidya Balan.

So what's the movie name? GURU. Yeah, more or less[in Times of India tone], its Guru. Is that why my collar seems to be perpetually raised, since then ?

P.S - Its a surprise to see the image of Mani Ratnam on Madras Talkies site. Its probably the first time, I see Mani indulging in such a self-promotion. Either Yuva must be spotted in some recent film festival or, I'm guessing, some webmaster who is an ardent fan like Guru[yeah, this is me] put up Mani's photo on the homepage.

Mr.Mani , If you are reading this, can you ask that webmaster to send me a bigger image with better resolution. I need an image like this to be hosted at maniratnamfilms.com.

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IIT Madras has this yearly event, Saarang, that brings together the best of talents from colleges all over India. Even if you are a student or not, this one is a must-go, if you are in Chennai. From quizzers to fine arts performers to the geeks, there is something for everyone in this show.

This serving of Saarang's Pro Shows include Violin-fame Ganesh / Kumaresh's carnatic show, Shankar Mahadevan's Light Music Show and the custom rock show performed by Led-Zepplica & Parikrama. Personally I've been to both Ganesh / Kumaresh's carnatic show and Shankar Mahadevan's music show. Shankar Mahadevan, came over to IIT 3-4 years back and it was fun riot. Given Shankar's zest for experimenting, I was in for a true music show. Of course, Dil Chahta Hai tracks proved to be the best in the show but it was for the folk number Uppu Karuvaadu, the whole stadium jumped in frenzy. Shankar has this amazing spirit that gets on to you, during his shows. One performer who makes his presence felt heavily.

Sulekha arranged a Sulekha Saarang Blog Fest in 2004. This year, they seem to have come out with three different categories in the Saarang Blogathon Contest. Of course there is this classical blogging contest but mobile blogging contest seem to exciting. This way, the spirit of Saarang could be caught on camera. There is also an official Saarang Blog out there.

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The knife on my neck would be drilled-in, if I wouldn't link to the most famous Vettaiyadu Vilaiyadu trailer. More than 10 emails and a bunch of comments on this blog is good enough to ensure the expectations on this movie.

First Impression. Very mediocre. Maybe I expected more, but that rap for the trailer is a grave mistake. Kamal looks and walks with extra firmness. The shots don't appeal too much. They didn't create a 'wow' factor. And those tag lines like A Cop From India are starting to get on the nerves. Maybe I haven't got back from the Kakka Kakka hangover.

Its good to restraint from over-analysing a mere trailer which could be the bad twin of a wonderful flick. This is kamal rasigan in me, hoping/talking.

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Update - Looks like this video is dated more than a year back. It's old stuff. Still, the contents could hold right even today. Watch this if you haven't seen it before. Thanks to Tambram/Vasant.

[Source - Google Video]

Yeah !! Yeah !! It's about making fun on the Indian Call Centers. Nevertheless the guy who goes to one of Hyderbad's call center is comical, especially while he flirts with the girl in the call center. This video was a part of Conan O' Brien talk show on NBC.

Watch out, this video is lengthy. Should be accompanied with speakers and 8 minutes of your time.

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One of the best column in Tamil print media, Writer Sujatha's Katrathum Petrathum in Ananda Vikatan, has stopped again. Sujatha has decided to take a break and continue it later. Katrathum Petrathum has had 3 three servings until now. All the three times, the column has appeared atleast 54 weeks before it ended. And every time, I couldn't wait for Sujatha to start it again.

This old man is a heap of intelligence, who at times is mistaken for being a pseudo intellectual. It's his immense popularity that make his contemporaries corner his writing as popular writing and not include him in the so called 'serious literature writing'. They don't get that popular writing is as much literature as a 'serious literature' attempt. Sometimes though he makes couple of superficial statements like this, his column has been a quintessential read. This 3rd serving of Katrathum Petrathum has been in action for over 90 weeks now.

In this final week of Katrathum Petrathum, Sujatha writes about the new year party hosted by Kamalhassan. The party is supposed to include Kollywood's Who's Who and many other top stars of Indian cinema. Thats when Kamal chose to discuss the Dasavatharam storyline by remarking to Sujatha, Bruce Arasuvoda Naaiya Konudaraan, Sir. And now people would go bonker bonks on guessing who would be Bruce and Arasu. I think, both are two of the 10 characters enacted by Kamal Hassan himself.

If not for such teasers of Kamal and Shankar flicks, Katrathum Petrathum had in itself a gamut of topics from Sci-Fi, Haiku, Tamil books/writers, Contemporary Literature and the most famous Best of Year columns. It had become a sort of weekly dose of all the topics I would love to read. And a habit of reading it, similar to drinking filter coffee, couldn't be stopped so easily. More than other weekly columns it had a tinge cynical humor that makes you relate to every single issue, so easily. Until such time, when Sujatha prefers to start it again, we will wait. Rather I would.

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[Source - Vikatan.com]

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After graciously failing in attempts to get Sun & Vijay TV, the only option was to get connected to Chennai was through Jaya TV. So I subscribed to Jaya TV through Num TV. Sometime back, Uma and few others recommended Jaya TV but I wanted to watch the tamil channel on a television. So I didn't pursue that seriously. Left with no options, I succumbed to watching TV on the PC.

Surprisingly, it wasn't a bad deal. The streaming video is at 300 kbps with good clarity, good enough for comfortable viewing. It doesn't match the TV-on-TV quality yet it ain't bad. The good news for me is that kollywood has moved nearer to me through Jaya TV. And I could see Kushboo and the jacket design on Jack..Jack..Jack...Jackpot. So much for missing Tamil Channels. Anything written here in relation to satellite channel, hereafter refers to Jaya TV, unless otherwise specified. So if you start smelling too much of kollywood here, you know why.

This morning, I got see Simbhu's pongal special program, with clippings from his latest flick, Saravana where he was trying to acting like Rajini and even like Vijay. He claims to have done comedy for the first time. Deja Vu or is it me. He said the same stuff during his movie Trisha named Alai. Alai never got to see even 25 days in theatres and this 'i'm doing comedy for the first time' seems to be coming around. This whole thing seems to be a big comedy itself. For the kind of opening he go and the oppurtunity he gets, Simbhu should just act for the character given instead of developing his 'own' style. Given KS Ravikumar and Jothika in the movie, I'm hoping Saravana would be a bearable watch. Or is it not ?

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[Src - Indibloggies.org]

there is no idea of closing down this blog even though the votes were much against the wishes. Truly, its overwhelming, year after year, to win an award where people who read the blog, vote for it. Makkal Shakthi wins. Checkout the winners of Indibloggies 2005.

Life Time Indibloggies Achiever 2005 is just a recognition from those who read the blog. Thanks. More coming this way...keep coming.

P.S - This blog at Indibloggies 2004, Indibloggies 2003

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Endhan Paadal Kaettu
Idi Indru Kaithattum
Thadai Ondrum Illai
Mazhai Vandhu Ketkattum

Nijha Mazhayai Isai Mazhaiyaal
Nanaithiduvom Naangal
Kulireduthaal Vaanathukkey
Kudai Kudungal Neengal

Paatukkal Vaan Varai Kettkumey
Enn Aatathil Minalum Thorkumey
Mazhai Sindhum Neerum Theyney !!

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This is the 23rd consecutive day of rain in Seattle. The record is 33 days, set in 1953, reads the headline in Seattle PI. Another 10 more days of rain and Seattle will break its own record which is set to 33 consecutive days of rain in 1953. CNN has more on this marathon rain.

And now you know why there is not much spice in the blog. Before I could tackle the windy downtown rains and reach home, a Netflix DVD awaits me. So there goes the blogging spirit. Jokes apart, coming from chennai(I mean the Chennai before the monsoon of 2005), this Seattle rain was like heaven, when I first reached here. I still enjoy the drizzlings especially the early evening drizzles are a cheer to the bored souls. Last saturday, while walking to Subway, my umbrella just broke due to heavy winds. Its then I realized that the rains have started to be a daily affair.

Being locked in the house, due to this rain, I planned to get the 'amusing' SUN TV via Dish network. Guess what. No Signal. Two trees standing right in front of my apt are blocking Sapthaswarangal and Selvi entering my home. DirectTV broadcasts Vijay TV but I'm not sure if the trees would allow its signal. So I went ahead and booked the suite of HBO channels today combined with a digital box. With the 8 HBO channels and numerous On-Demand movies through Comcast, I hope to wade through the rainy days. I hope.

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[ Pictures from Sify and Indiaglitz]

Ajith's Paramasivan and Vijay's Aathi go head to head this pongal.

Truly, I'm not keen to see how they fare in box office. Was just entertained by the Ajith's hairstyle and Vijay's facial makeover.

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Testing the new option given by Google Video to put a video on site. I wanted to test with a right video. All I could find was this Sivakasi Trailer. This is like providing a link to the video, I'm not sure if it will overload the already overloaded host server. Will take out this link tomorrow to make sure loading of this blog doesn't get delayed because of a movie trailer that's already a success. All I did was to go the page of the video, click on the link, 'Put on Site' and copy paste the code provided. It's as simple as that and you know how such audio and video distribution would revolutionize the media in coming days.

The worrying part is you find videos that go against copyright. Incidentally I found an entire second part of a hit movie, a first part of a not-so-hit movie and all the songs of a movie that was just released. I am wondering how Google Video team actually allowed a clipping for close 1 r 30 mins. Google hasn't clearly tightened its watch on copyright violation or its planning to just point the people who uploaded the videos in cases of copyright violations. This is a new cause of concern especially for kollywood, which had a financially bad year of 2005 except for Chandramukhi. Good cinemas are always a rarity in Kollywood so let's not talk about it. Every single advancement in video distribution has proved to be a hinderance for not just kollywood but even for the International Film Industry. This is one more. They have to be countered just like thiruttu VCD/ DVD. And its a pain, you know.

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There is a consipracy theory going on against this blog. And what a way to execute it. Some 'Anon' who was totally bored, nominated this blog for IndiBloggies 2005 Lifetime Achiever .

Also after being awarded for two consecutive years as the Best Media Indiblog, the indibloggies pushed the blog out of contest due to a rule which read "don't award the blog again and again". Wait. It wasn't that rude. Still, once awarded in one category, the winner cannot be participating in the same category again.

Being nominated for a Lifetime Achiever feels like some old Dharmendra or Poornam Vishwanathan. And after taking the award, I probably should go straight to close this blog. Its the Anon's way of threatening, Mavaney, Inimey Ezhuthuva !!. And a request to vote here, is a like digging a 1024 * 768 pixel hole to bury this blog. So forget this blogpost, have a cup of suda suda coffee and don't vote.

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So the Google PC turned out to be a rumor. May be its not released, just now.

The hottest show in town was Larry's keynote address at the International Consumer Electronics Show, Las Vegas. Nearly the entire tech world was waiting for a huge announcement from Google. And yeah, Larry announced that Google Video will become an open video marketplace, where people can buy or rent videos.

Also the Google dudes have come up with a bundle of software that can downloaded at one go. Check out Google Pack. Fron Norton Anti-Virus to Adobe Acrobat, there are a host of Google Software that one could download and install for free.

Here's the live coverage of the Google Keynote with Larry Page and Robin Williams. Yes, Robin Williams.

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[From Badri]

It's that time of the year, when I'm repent for not being present in Chennai. Chennai Book Fair 2006 is happening from 6th to 16th of Jan. This is the 2nd time in the last two decades when I got to miss the Chennai Book Fair. Ramblings apart, the last few years have witnessed a phenomenal increase in the sales of books in the Chennai Book Fair and I'm expecting that probably very soon, Chennai Book Fair would turn out to be the Khumb Mela of books in India. Ofcourse, the book fair certainly needs more english books to reach there.

Uyirmmai Publishers are staging two gala shows on account fo this book fair. 10 books of Sujatha are being released on Jan 6th at the Sound Indian Chamber of Commerce. This includes 6 new releases and 4 re-prints. Desikan has compiled these books and has more information on his blog. Few interesting ones are the compilation of Sujatha's stageplays and Sujatha's mystery stories. Also their second function to be held on Jan 7th has some very interesting book releases including S. Ramakrishnan's Vizhithirupavanin Iravu and Jeyamohan's Aazhnathiyai Thedi.

Badri Seshadri's Kizhakku Pathipagam has a special blog for Chennai Book Fair 2006. Kizhakku Pathipagama is releasing Aathavan Sirukathaikal by Aathavan. This is one book that I'm personally looking forward. Being a huge fan of Aathavan and his amazing literary works, I'm expecting to get my hands on this book ASAP. I think this is probably the first compilation of Aathavan's shortstories, ever.

If you are in and around Chennai, do drop in. For you may not get this oppurtunity ever. Dear friend, please get ready to recieve an email with some 30 odd book names that I want you to buy and send across.

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This fabulously written blogpost, The fourth hand of Vishnu, was written back in June 2005 by Venkat.

Truly stunning. Am not hinting anything else which would take out the suspense. Do read.

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Here comes the most awaited and much rumored Google PC.

If only what the LA Times story turns about to be true, which we would find out in a couple of days, Google PC is certain to trigger a revolution of Cheap PCs. All we do until then is hang-on and watch the show. From the LA Times report, Industry Feeling Presence of the 800-Pound Google -

Google will unveil its own low-price personal computer or other device that connects to the Internet.

Sources say Google has been in negotiations with Wal-Mart Stores Inc., among other retailers, to sell a Google PC. The machine would run an operating system created by Google, not Microsoft's Windows, which is one reason it would be so cheap - perhaps as little as a couple of hundred dollars.

Bear Stearns analysts speculated in a research report last month that consumers would soon see something called "Google Cubes" - a small hardware box that could allow users to move songs, videos and other digital files between their computers and TV sets.

Larry Page, Google's co-founder and president of products, will give a keynote address Friday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Analysts suspect that Page will use the opportunity either to show off a Google computing device or announce a partnership with a big retailer to sell such a machine.

More reading -

- Talk Mounts of Google Computer
- The Google Box
- Google News on Google PC
- The Google PC…why not?
- Technorati on Google PC

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[Click 'n' enlarge]

On a new year day like yesterday, found some time escape from the usual and drive to Snoqualmie Pass, a skiing facility. Snoqualmie Pass is located some 52 miles east of Seattle and is also called as Snoqualmie Summit. The northeast of Seattle, is filled with mountain ranges and shopping malls(they are there everywhere). These mountain ranges get snow throughout the winter and hence serve as a perfect skiing escapade(read as vazhukki vizhara area). Because I wasn't prepared to push myself from the top of the mountain and keep falling down like the Roja's Arvind Swamy, I was playing with the snow, like a Mani Ratnam heroine. Though I had been to a skiing resort once in Chicago but it was only yesterday, I got myself amidst mountains, covered with snow. Am planning to plan for another week of this slipping down(read skiing) exercise.

As you hear the priest say, after giving you three sips of the theartham, " Please keep moving !!", you know you are in a desi temple. Common language. The temple at Bothell was overfilled with people and was full of chaos. Amidst all the chaos, I found some time and place(!!) to meet Raj Kumar, a fellow blogger from the other side of Seattle. We had planned to meet since March but were able to meet just yesterday. What else. Had the lemon rice served as prasadham and drove back in the drizzling rain.

Watched The Polar Express. Being a big fan of Robert Zemeckis and especially being aware of his enthusiasm in animation, I was expecting a gala fare. Zemeckis widely known for his Forrest Gump, was actually the guy who revolutionized the animation industry in Hollywood by having animated characters act with the cast in Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

If Sin City was re-telling of the teenage comics, The Polar Express is like opening a children's book. I was reminded of some russian comics, I read during my childhood. The animation isn't the same as other hollywood movies. The characters are extremely real. Tom Hanks looks exactly like him. From the wrinkles in his face to his expressions, its just Tom Hanks. Seems to me that all the characters were performed by a cast including Tom Hanks and then they converted the film into animation.

In a time where the spirit of Santa Claus getting diminished, year after year, the movie expresses a noble motive by trying to keep the spirit going. Contrary to the name, the movie doesn't travel in express speed except for the beginning sequence. That should probably be a reason for the movie failure. Also in a world of Incredibles and Shrek, where animation movies feed the adult, Polar Express is for kids. To keep them as kids and induce the belief of Santa. Certainly a treasure in your house, for the kid in the house.

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